My Grandma Reece

It's been 10 years since my sweet Grandma Reece passed away. Both of my grandmothers passed away within a year of each other and I never knew my Grandpas. I really cherish all the memories I had with both of my grandmothers. They were both very strong women. For those of you with all your grandparents or at least some of them, how lucky you are...a.k.a. Brandon! He is one of those lucky people who has all four grandparents alive and well. A couple of years ago, I wrote some of these cherished memories of my Grandma Reece and since some of my cousins read this, I thought I would share:

*We were the same ward with Grandma in Orem when we moved to Utah in the early 80’s.
*She baked bread and liked to find new “healthy” recipes.
*She always took care of me at her house when I was sick and my mom had to work.
*I stayed with her when my Mom and Dave went to Hawaii for a week.
*She loved to watch People’s Court everyday with Judge Wapner! He was the best.
*We congregated at her trailer on Sundays with the Johnson girls. I have fond memories of this and I think at about 7 pm, the "grown-ups" would come in the bedroom with us girls to watch “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. We used to joke that the adults thought everything was funny-even the "toast popping"! Grandma loved us all there visiting together.
*After Dave died, I had to go upstairs to talk to Grandma. We lived beneath her in the four-plex at the time. She was so distraught. She loved Dave so much. It was a very hard time for her and all of us.
*When I lived beneath her in the four-plex, I took her goodies periodically. She was a “child of the depression” and always saved the paper plates to give back to me! But she really appreciated the goodies.
*She was a true republican. She loved Rush Limbaugh and listened to the radio a lot.
*In the few hours after she passed away, some of us were gathered at my Aunt's house clear until midnight to say our goodbyes. My cousin's daughter Tawni was about 3 at the time, and she called Grandma Reece "Reecie". When they wheeled Grandma out the door to the mortuary van, she called out, "Bye Reecie."

I'm so grateful for her presence in my life! What a great legacy she has left. Love you Grandma!

Happy Mother's Day!

Love ya Mom! You are the best ever!

Goal!

Tanner just finished a great soccer season. He has absolutely come alive with soccer! He has excelled in it and also enjoyed it. I say this because he probably had an average of 4 goals per game but also worked on passing the ball to his teammates when he had to. Although it was a large team, he had great coaches and nice teammates.
They all received medals.

Go Tanner! Congrats on a great season!

A Night Out...

Last week, Tanner said that his art teacher, Miss "K" was in a play. He said that she told the kids that she had tickets if anyone wanted to go. I read about it in the paper the next day. It was "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and I thought the kids(Tanner and Meg) would enjoy it and I'd never seen it. Well, we didn't get free tickets, but she did have BOGO coupons which I thought was well worth using so off we went!

Miss K played "Ruth" and did a fabulous job. When we met up with her afterward she was so thrilled that the kids had come to see her. She just went on and on. She is a real sweetheart. Don't you just love teachers like this?

We really enjoyed the play. It was very well done and we laughed a lot. We took my Mom also as an early birthday present.

It was worth being out late on a school night! ;)

The Last Hurrah

Brandon and I were lucky enough to be able to attend the last great Jazz game of the season! It was louder than loud, but amazing to sit where we did(look at those seats!) and watch such an amazing game. What an experience!

This was also the last season for Hot Rod. I found myself becoming a bit emotional about his recent retirement. He has been with the Jazz since they began. I grew up listening to him. My stepdad (this was another post) being a Jazz fan, I can remember Hot Rod's voice on the TV in the basement which was his den or "cave" where he watched sports and relaxed with his "pop" and snacks. I have such fond memories of that distinctive voice and I will miss it!

You gotta love him baby!

At the beach

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Gavinator turned 2!

Look...I'm 2 today!
Loving all my presents!
This Elmo sings and dances! I love Elmo!
My Mommy made me a horse cake because I love horses!
Voila!
Just a nibble...please?

Happy Birthday to me!

Well it's official: My baby boy is 2! Words can't describe this special little fellow and the effect his arrival has had on each member of the family. He is one sweet, smart and sassy boy, that's for sure. We all literally can't get enough of him. The twins ALWAYS fight over who kisses him first. Tanner calls Gavin his "identical twin", because their pictures look so much alike. Gavin is both a Momma's boy and a Daddy's boy as well. There isn't a day that goes by that we all aren't extremely thankful for him! I can't do a slideshow of his last two years because my computer is having a problem, but I will when it is fixed. Love you to pieces my sweet little Gavin. I will love you forever and ever!


Disney pics and an update are in the post below:

Disney...Disney...and more Disney!

We didn't want to come home! Next time, we are thinking 5-day passes all around! Maybe our next-door neighbors are rubbing off on us...they hold SEASON passes! We had SO much fun and we even drove! Well, maybe the new DVD player in the van had a little to do with that! :) Brandon felt like a changed man and now we are thinking, maybe someday even...New York! Ha ha...well, you see what I mean. I just love bonding with my children and hanging out at that place. Tanner and I had some great night-time bonding. On the 3rd night he said, "Hey Mom, are we going to hang out tonight?" That we did!

Favorite rides:

Brandon: Space Mountain and Pirates...Lovin' that Davey Jones fog screen!!! He couldn't stop talking about that!

Jen: The updated Pirates with Johnny D., the updated Small World, and dare I admit it...Tower of Terror!!! It was my first time and Zach and I are dying to go again! Although riding Space Mountain and Splash Mountain were also soooooo fun to go on with my three kids(and Brandon too of course)

Tanner: Nemo Subs...although Indiana Jones was a first for him this trip and he loved that too!

Meg: Space Mountain! This girl couldn't get enough of that one!

Zach: Pirates, Tower of Terror, and Small World...he knew the entire course of Small World from all his youtube viewing! He was our tour guide.

Gavin: He said the horses(carousel) but he also loved the Jungle Cruise, and the Dumbo elephants. He's an animal lover, what can we say?!

P.S. I am putting a plug in for those Sit 'n Stand strollers. We can actually put all four of our children on this thing! I bought it for the trip. When Brandon first found out, he was like ANOTHER stroller!? You can imagine, we have seen our share of strollers(even a triple at one time). But after using it at D-Land, he was singing its praises! Seriously a fabulous invention. A child can just jump on and stand there for a few minutes and rest their legs. Mostly we had two sit and one stand, but sometimes for a few minutes two sat AND two stood! Crazy fun! Beach pics to come later...

Easter '09

Fun times! The kids looked really cute this year. Even Meg coordinated with the boys' outfits, so I was a happy mom! We always do Easter baskets on Saturday instead of Sunday. It always works out, 'cause the kids are so excited and anxious anyway, and then we can attempt(notice the attempt!) to show them that Easter Sunday is really all about Jesus and his atonement. Plus if you have 9 am church that really helps. On Sunday evening we went up to Grandma and Grandpa's for an Easter dinner and hunt. It was a nice evening. We headed home and packed 'til about 3 am. Disney pics and an update should follow soon. Let's just say we didn't want it to end. I was in the park until about 12:20(AM!!!) on the last day(well all three days!)...and WHO are these trips for anyway? LOL! The beach was lovely too. Sigh...back to the real world.

Just call me Ty Pennington...

We are getting the kids up to surprise them in the morning. They have no idea they are headed out for a week in Cali to Disneyland and the beach! Tanner thinks he is going to play basketball and jump on the trampoline all week. I'm getting out my Ty Pennington megaphone and getting them into the car in the morning. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter! I will post more Easter pictures and trip pictures later on.