Solo trip to Idaho

I left Friday afternoon after the Memorial Service. Paul suggested I take the trip in two days to be easier on my aching back. I stayed at Nampa with my cousin Vaughn wife and son. I showed her the Disappearing 9-patch quilts that I brought with me to finish. She said her Ward has a quota of quilts to make for the Deseret Industries. Saturday morning I went to visit my Aunt Thelda. Then Vaughn and Tami led me to the Cemetary so I could take pictures of the graves of our relatives there. May 30th was the anniversary of my Grandpa Waite's death 40 years ago. I drove across Idaho all day with stops in Boise and Twin Falls. It was sultry and Hot. Storm clouds were all around and to the South of where I was going. No rain fell on Saturday. I will have to upload pictures later. I need to have Brant help me with the uploading. Caleb is doing good and I am having fun playing with Christopher. He calls me "Gaga". His words are begining to be formed into sentences. It's fun to have him repeat. Caleb will come home Wednesday, then I can really hold him. Lots of wires and tubes to worry about dislodging, so I haven't held him yet. Tina said she took the little Cowboy hat that I made when Brant was a baby to the Hospital with Caleb's outfit to come home in. I'm glad I'll get to see him in the hat. I saved it for many years to have his son's try it on too. I'm grateful I could come and be here right now. More later with Pictures... I went to take Tina to stay at the Hospital for the night and got to hold him. He was ready to burp. Lots of sneezes like Grandpa Crowther.

Time for a ROAD TRIP?

Ready or not, I'm hoping to be on one soon! I can hardly stand not being close to where my new grand baby is. I just wanna kiss those chubby cheeks!!! I could leave Friday after noon and drive on down to Utah for my friend's son, Nick's Open House on Saturday... oh the choices... I more likely will drive straight to where that baby is and go to Utah later when I can visit with Ellen. To keep my mind off the fact that I'm at least 9 hours away, I had to quilt. Today I got Lydia's quilt on the wall, sort of...it was bigger than the wall that I use at Lynn's. I thought I bought the right sized batting and will need to piece on one side. I am glad the quilts are making some progress. I wanted a better picture of it too so while it was all pinned up, I took one. The BOM (Block of the Month) is the 'Bear paw' block. Since I'll be gone I needed to get one done at least. These blocks are HUGE. 18" finished size. Four of them will make a baby sized quilt. Milton called and asked if he could take us out to lunch today. He was working in town so we went to the new Tiki Terriaki grill. Who doesn't like trying out a new place to eat in town? It was good. They even had the chocolate macadamia nut clusters like you can buy in Hawaii. Were they ever YUMMY!!! Thanks, Milton!!!

#14 Grandchild is born

I spent the day at my quilt buddies house making quilt tops. I left to go and get us some lunch, came home to check e-mail and read that Tina was trying to have the baby today. I grabbed some more fat quarters to make the Bebe's quilt. I thought I had at least another week. I got the last two borders on Lydia's strip flower quilt and sewed a Noah's ark D9P quilt for guild in two weeks. I've never made one using the "bee-daisy" setting, as we call it, so I tried it both ways. The 2nd one needs to still be sewn together into the 9-patches and then cut to finish it. Then I made two Little Genius D9P's, one for Brant and Tina's 2nd son. I put a blue flannel on the back and got it pin-basted tonight. The regular setting on the 2nd one will be for here at G-ma's, maybe. I may donate it... we will see how it turns out after I quilt them. They look so different through the lens of the camera. It is now tomorrow and no word from Brant since 9:45pm our time. He said the Dr would be back at Midnight MDT to check on Tina again. I will wait patiently by the phone because I told him to call no matter what. Grandma isn't excited much... Brant called to let us know he is born. 6# 10 oz, 19-1/2" long. He will spend a couple days in NICU like his father did to clear his lungs. Keep him and his parents in your prayers. Good night!!

Memorial Day!!!

I had to scan in some pictures of my Daddy's flower gardens in Moses Lake. There are many more in slides that he took of the yard while I was growing up there. Every "Decoration Day", that's what my mother called Memorial day, my mother and aunt Naomi would cover tin cans with tin foil and pick daddy's flowers and take them up to decorate the graves of Aunt Caroline and others who had passed away. They would fill a jar with water to put in the cans so the flowers would stay nice. And not spill water in the back of the car. The first pictures are taken in 1965. I was born in Moses Lake so this is when I was only 9 years old. I see in the black and white photo the start of the gigantic snowball tree in the back yard. My father had a 'green thumb' and loved his roses, peonies, gladiolas, bridal wreath and bleeding heart. Can you tell which flower is which??? I included a picture of my parents taken on the occasion of their 25th anniversary and a picture, probably the last one ever taken, of my father in Arizona. He's waving good-bye to my brother Derlyn. I'm so glad my brother took it. To me he's saying "So long far just a little while!" The collage pictures are ones that hung on my grandmother's wall in the Nampa Care Center where she lived the last 11 months of her life. Picture on the left is of my Grandfather's family, on the right is her polygamist father and his 2 wives and surviving children. He had 23 total children. My grandma was #13 of the 23. #7 of 13 from the 2nd wife. His wives were sisters so the 1st wife was called Auntie. This Memorial Day has me remembering those days of taking flowers and searching for the graves of loved ones. My children will remember us taking them up on Christmas Eve day to dig in the ice to find my mother's grave, so I could put roses on her headstone. It has a metal flower vase included in it. We like to include a Flag for my father's service in the CCC's. [that's Civil Conservation Corps, in case you wondered] I'm not sure if I'll get to go up there this week-end, so this is my tribute to them, who have gone before us. Ones that we loved so much and miss every day!

TREVOR is 3 today

Trevor is 3 years old today. He is our 7th grandchild. Should I call him 'halfway'? #14 will come later this month in Idaho. I mistakenly blogged that Trevor was 2 this week. I corrected myself after thinking about it a while. I'm surprised one of the girls didn't correct me sooner, but with 0 comments it's hard to know who read it. Today Paul and I will go to visit him and Lydia. I'll add more pictures of him with his Birthday giftie after we get home... These pictures are almost as old as he is. I loved taking the boys to meet their new brother and taking this picture of Christen showing her boys. Truly showing a Mother's love!

Happy Birthday LYDIA!!!!

It is our youngest granddaughters 1st birthday today. She has learned to walk already and we love her cute little 'cheeks' that her mom posts on her Blog. After 4 sons Lydia was a very welcomed child and is loved by all her big brothers too!Here are her 4 brothers on Mother's Day, Sunday Morning looking at the balloons from the back yard. Grandpa took this picture. They are all dressed in pj's from the past and grandpas coats. This is my new design wall...I covered it with Muslin because I had some that was 108" wide and I could cover it all the way around with that. Unfortunately, I didn't measure before asking my friends' hubby to bring me 2 sheets of the 'soundboard'. My walls in the basement are NOT 8' high. I think it will still work and I am going to try it out later today. I have Lydia's quilt ready to sew the top together--- almost. It should be sandwiched before her birthday is over... Thanks to Keith for the early morning delivery!

Friday night and nowhere to go...

I have enjoyed having solitude tonight. Paul went to the Stake Father & Sons outing. I pin-basted 2 quilts at Lynn's today and have just finished the diagonal stitching. I put blue flannel on the back of these two 'boy' quilts. I really like how well and how quickly they quilted up. Now I need to find some binding fabric and sew it on, then hand-stitch it down with the label. One is for Trevor's 2nd, (opps, I mean 3rd) Birthday on Wednesday. I call it "No more Monkeys jumping on the bed". It has some sock monkey fabric in it. Lydia's quilt top will be done for her birthday, but she will get it later. I'll need to sandwich it next week when I go quilting. I still don't have my design wall to use. :(( I have two more that are waiting to be quilted. I haven't decided how to quilt them yet. I need a new pattern to use on the D9P quilts. The spiderwebs were so fun, but they don't work so well on girly quilts. The Noah's ark one needs to be done for guild in June and I want to do something fun on it. Besides stitch in the ditch... The second quilt is one for another birthday later in the year... maybe October sometime... There is a funeral for one of the older ladies I knew from Daughter's of Utah Pioneers in Tri-cities tomorrow in Kennewick. I'm still debating whether I will go. I could sew/quilt all day if I stay home... HMMMMMMMMM? What to do???? The neighbors we share the driveway with have granddaughters visiting this week-end. They are pretty quiet compared to all the noise we made last week-end.

Mother's Day 2009

The day is come and gone now. I had 4 boys at Church with me. Two fell asleep during the meeting. It was funny to watch as their heads just drooped and landed on their brothers' shoulder. Poor Jared couldn't move. The talks weren't that boring... They were good boys and asked on the way home if they were 'reverent'. I guess their parents let them "practice" sitting reverent on the couch at home, just like my children did in Umatilla. Milton, Christen and Lydia joined us for Sunday dinner. Milton used to always ask on the way home from Church if we were "invited" to G-ma and G-pas for dinner. It was fun to remember past Mother's Days. I was thinking it was 9 years ago we were expecting our first grandchild and Joe came home from his Mission to Guatemala and spoke in Church on Mother's day. I wore the same dress yesterday that I wore 10 years ago. [correction:10 Mother's Days ago]. Joe has only been home 9 years from his mission and Jared is only turning 9 this June. WEIRD how that happened, but I went looking for a Purple Dress to wear with the corsage Janessa had delivered and that one came to mind. I asked Jared to take my picture outside by our snowball tree so I could show Janessa a picture with it on. I wish I could just not talk when I'm waiting for the picture to be taken, I always look funny. I'm not mad, it just looks like I am. I did it again when Milton joined me in a picture. I took a picture of Christen with her 5 children too. They brought me a 'Willow Tree' figurine called "Child's Touch". I appreciate just being remembered on Mother's day. Brant wrote me a nice letter, that arrived on Saturday and asked if I'd rather have flowers or a card. The letter was fine. Joe and Kori bought me flowers and Andy and NaDell brought home a pincushion with a thread bag below it to sit by my sewing machine from their trip to Wallowa Lake (it is pictured in the slideshow). I got a cute e-card from Mandy & Ben and phone calls Sunday from NaDell, Brant, and Janessa. I think another of my very favorite Mother's days was when I came home from a PTA convention in Portland, and Paul had planted me 6 rose bushes in Umatilla. One for each of our 6 children. Now he just reminds me that he only has one MOTHER! I'm ok with that, now. After a 2 hour nap I felt much better and today I'm a bit sore from using muscles that haven't moved quite as much in a while. The story behind wanting a picture by the Snowball tree is related to my Father and his planting of the snowball tree in my childhood backyard in Moses Lake. I have taken starts from the one in Moses Lake to Mesa to Umatilla to Burbank, and Milton has some in Kennewick now. The house here in Walla Walla already had one so I haven't gotten another start YET! Paul keeps pruning it and I think it should be left to grow however BIG it wants to. The grandchildren noticed the huge one across from the Church on 2nd street after Church yesterday. We counted and pointed to all the beautiful white and pink and dark pink Dogwood trees on the way to Church. I love springtime here in Walla Walla with all of the trees in bloom!

Balloon Stampede 2009

It has been a very busy week-end thus far. Having 8 grandkids is alot for one day. I'm not as young as I used to be. Losing sleep because of kids waking up wasn't as fun as when I spend the night quilting... I put up the slideshow of all the pictures I took of the wonderment of the Grandchildren watching the balloons. That part of the day was as much fun as I anticipated! I'm so glad we got up in time to go watch the Balloons take off. I took some videos of the kids as well. Enjoy! The kids played outside and blew bubbles, picked lots of flowers, ate corn on the cob and just enjoyed being together. It's almost Mother's Day and this Grandma is going to enjoy it.

Before the stampede...

Before the stampede of grandchildren arrive...for the Balloon Stampede this week-end. I am taking a rest now that the Homemade (Colby) Buns are made and the floors are clean. Paul will be so surprised when he gets home... Janessa told me I needed to stay at home this afternoon. She is so thoughtful and ordered me my corsage for Mother's Day and had it delivered. This year it looks like this... My youngest daughter, who spent more time listening and watching her mother cry on Mother's day because her mom isn't around, knows what this means for me. I read somewhere that because my mother is deceased that I am to wear a white carnation on Mother's Day. In years past I've gone to the grocery store and got the Carnation to make my own. I've even made them for all my SIL's at Church and my MIL. My Mother-in-law is the best! I do what I am doing this week-end because she took such good care of me when my babies were coming during the first 10 years of our marriage. We moved away or she would still be taking care of me, I'm sure. I hope that my Daughter's-by love and my Daughters know what a great lady she is. I hope that they, through me, have seen my Mother's great example. I can never be a good as my Mother, she was much more selfless than I will ever be. But I try to exemplify both of my Mothers. Happy Mother's Day to all the "Mothers" in my life. Near or far you have all made me a better person.

Catch up day!

Tuesday and Wednesday have been catch up days for me. I finished the hand work on a row robin and put borders on a baby quilt. Thanks to Brant/Tina sending the missing fabric! I even got a charity quilt set together for Guild next week. I have been working on a stash quilt project at Judy L's blog and I stayed up late/early trying to get it up to the step that was just posted. Yea, it is ready for the scrappy sashings, then some fun borders. Aren't they pretty stars??? Click on Judy's link to see the project. Going to see a musical play of "Little Women" at the WW High School later.

Krazy Horse Quilt Show

Today Lynn, my quilting buddy and I went to the quilt show in Pendleton. The show was well attended and the Featured Quilter from Salem- Karla Alexander brought enough quilts to do a lecture and trunk show impromptu. I took a bunch of photos and will link a slideshow to this post. You can watch it if you choose. We had a build your own sandwich for lunch with some yummy country tomato soup. The ribbons will be awarded Sunday so I won't know until later who won the People's choice and Challenge prizes. We know which one we liked the best...

Temple wedding

We were privileged to be able to attend the wedding of Erik & Stephanie Alter on Friday. I also got to take some pictures of the beaming newlyweds. It was a beautiful day for a wedding in the Tri-cities. In the picture above is the Alter side of the family. The groom's mother and I are 'birthday buddies'.Here are three of the returned Missionaries from last year. Erik is the first to take the plunge. Good looking guys congratulating their friend. Here is the happy couple at their reception Saturday night.