Things I enjoyed this weekend.....

First the most enjoyable thing was the Princess. She decided to start walking last week, we watched her on Saturday and had the best time getting her to walk back and forth between us. Then her parents came and spent the evening with us. Issy kept teasing everybody and walking over and hugging Uncle Nate. We watched a movie later and she only wanted Grandpa. when I would try to take her she would holler up a storm to go back to Grandpa. So I might need to take that whole "things I enjoyed this weekend" stuff back. I was very jealous of Mike and Nate, and I now know that my Princess is partial to men! I love this picture below it is so fun!

So we really enjoyed Stephanie Meyer "Twilight" series of books. Her new book "The Host" came out Mothers Day weekend, so we bought it. I told Mike he could read it first, because I was finishing a book for our ward book group. We had heard it isn't as good as the Twilight books, but it is still a page turner. So Mike finished it in a few days, but man it's taking me a while. I just haven't found the time, I'm about 100 pages into it and have 500 more to go! I do like all of the familiar Arizona stuff she puts in, as she is describing the bushes , trees, and smells in the desert, I picture and smell them.
I love clouds. White fluffy clouds, heavy dark clouds, just clouds in general. They are a gift to me from God. So I was loving the sky this weekend, this is the view from my living room/back porch.
Then I was naughty, and bought these special brownies at COSTCO. They are small bite sized and fudgy. I am weak in their presence. So I did indulge, but I still have some left, I have the smallest bit of self control:-) As for the jerky my friend Gina introduced me to this brand. They found it on a trip. Well Wal Mart has started to carry it. It is often sold out when I try to get it. But I got some on Thursday night, I was amazing. I have never had jerky so fresh, and soft, it literally melted in our mouths. It was gone by Saturday because we just couldn't stop eating it. I doubt I will ever find jerky that fresh again, but I have my memories:-)
School will soon be out and summer will be upon us. We are thinking of going to Chicago this summer for our family vacation. Mike has a show there so we thought we might tag a long. If any of you who might read this know anything fun to do there please let us know. It's weird to have a family vacation with just 3 people.

Friday fun.....

Well Issy hung out with us on Friday, she was fun. We went and picked Uncle Nate up at the park. She loved watching all of the kids. Nate tried out for a private soccer team, but he didn't make it. I was sad for him, he would have loved it. But they had so many kids and kept most of the ones from last year. He wants to go to the practices and make them sorry they didn't choose him! And Issy moved up to her "big girl" car seat. She was to long for the baby car seat but a few pounds to light for the bigger one. The doctor told Erin to go ahead and put her in the big one.

Cute Baby.....

So today I ran my Brother-in-law, niece, and her little ones to the airport. And while I was on that side of town I had to swing by and visit my little princess. It was just a week ago that she was covered in those spots and so sick. We spent all day Saturday together, but it was fun to see her a week later. I called Erin to see if she was home and went on over. Issy was still taking her nap when I got there. So Erin went up and got her up and brought her down to grandma. when Issy so me she made a happy little gasp, smiled with her little nose wrinkled up, and put her hands out to me. It was amazing for me! I have loved that baby since Erin came down the stairs at my house with her little pregnancy test that had a "line" on it.
I was there when she was born, and I gave her her first kiss. But all these months I have told Mike that I couldn't wait until she knew who I was and was excited to see me. And today it happened, an AWESOME grandma moment! I am truly happy!

Crazy weather....

Well I have tried to post pictures for 4 days and things just haven't worked pout . So i am going to make several shorter posts to catch up. This week started off so hot. We got up to 93, which I know in AZ is not so hot. Then we got a crazy wind storm Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, it was a cold front coming in. Wednesday we were 53 degrees, 40 degrees difference in 24 hours. Anyway when we woke up there were sheets of plywood blown all down the street from that new house. Click on the picture to make it bigger. I am glad none of them blew into my house!
We have some little critters making lots of holes in our backyard. Nathan and I tried to set off these smoke bomb things to get rid of them, but I don't know if they worked.

Charity, Polka-Dot Princess, and Addiction.....

So this is a little hat I actually followed the directions to and made something you could recognize. It's not done I have about 4 or 5 hours into it so far. Our ward was ask to supply 350 of them for doctors in Africa. We have had 2 babies born in our ward this spring, who's little bodies couldn't regulate their body temperature, they were both given a little crochet or knitted hat. They are the best things to use for the little babies. It helps them with their body heat, but doesn't cause cradle cap. There are a group of doctors heading to Africa to try to teach the doctors to keep little babies alive. And they need to take these hats with them. I found out I could use a loom the make the hats and I have almost 3 made in the time it took me to make the first one, which is not finished yet. You just have to use soft yarn so it won't be rough on their little heads. If any body would like to make some to help out that would be awesome. I was surprised at how much yarn has gone up in cost since I used to buy it. but there are some supper nice, soft ones out there.
And here is a picture of my Polka-dot Princess's leg. Some of her spots looked like cheetah spots. I told Erin she just ate some Cheetos and must have been allergic to them:-)

And now that her mother tells me she looks great today, here is another picture from yesterday. This was a happy time, she was smiling, and the spots were starting to fade off of her head and chest. We were so relieved at this point.
Then on to my addiction. I have mentioned in the past that I have enjoyed going to DI and buying books. Well they are taking over, I have so many I don't have a place to put them all. What you can't tell from this picture is that the books on these 2 shelves are stacked 3 deep.

This is my latest stack. I have some really good books, I just need a few years to read them all.
And I filled up our book case fast. I need some sort of filing system so that I can find them all.
When I'm at DI I see people come in and grab cart loads of books. then they have little scanners with them and scan the books. they keep some of them and put a few back. There are lots of people who do it. I'm supposing they are selling them on-line. I don't want to get rid of any of mine!

She made me sad today!

You all know as any good grandma should, I think my granddaughter is the most beautiful baby in the world. But today she made me sooo sad! She had been on an antibiotic and after a few days she started reacting to it. She was allergic to penicillin. I had been busy all week, but had planned to go spend some quality time with my sweet little princess. Imagine my shock when this is what I saw.

Her face was very swollen when she woke up in the morning. But I took this picture after her nap, when she was a little less swollen. Nathan and I could not get over how bad she looked.
She wouldn't eat or drink a thing. I really started worrying about her getting dehydrated. She had a little raccoon mask across her eyes. She was just sad.
She was so miserable. She didn't know what she wanted. She would cry for food, then when we would try to give it to her, she would really cry hard. She played a little on the floor, and Uncle Nate actually got her to smile, just a little.

Finally I was so worried I had Erin call the doctors office and take her in. They freaked out and said Issy had this skin disease called "erythema multiforme". They apologised for misdiagnosing it and gave her a prescription to help it. They told her she could get worse and if she did get her to the hospital fast. So Nathan and I were heading home, but Erin was pretty shaken up and I was worried sick. We went and met them at the pharmacy. Issy's spots had lightened up some. But she looked worse than the picture is showing. Issy wanted to be held, and I wanted to hold her. My back started hurting and I needed to sit down. There were people sitting in the chair area, and I told Erin watch it clear out when we sit down. Sure enough it just took a few short minutes for us to be alone with our sick little baby.
She actually started drinking while we waited and we were thrilled. She had a bad case of the chills so we had to wrap Grandmas sweater around her so she would quit shaking. Erin took her home and gave her the medicine, and in about 2 hours it started to get a little better. She actually sat in our laps and laid her little head down on us, she never snuggles, so that was nice. The whelps started to get dark red then lighter in the middle, they left a bruise looking thing under most of them. In this tub picture you can see 3 finger shaped hives on her shoulder blade. She was so much better in this picture.
Then all of the sudden she wanted to eat, she drank, and she laughed and smiled again.
Erin has to be careful because she could get worse. but she did seem much better and very happy when we left.

Mothers Day Weekend.......

Well Nathan had a big change this weekend. He decided to cut his hair OFF! He is really enjoying it, and I think he looks cute. This was a big thing for him. He never cut his hair short because of the scar across his skull. Last time he had short hair, 4th grade, the kids kept on bugging him about "what did he do to his head". But the stylist showed him he could just comb it forward and cover the scar. So I hope it goes over well with the kids at school. Cross your fingers for him! So here is his new look. It's kind of a faux hawk, as I said, he is liking it.
Then on Saturday night our neighbor gave us his tickets to the REAL Soccer game. We went, they were playing Dallas, and we had a fun time. I got to sit up in box seats with my Baby Girl and my Little Princess. Mike, Nathan, and Jon got to sit down way close to the field, they had great seats.

That was me talking to her grandpa. He kept on calling to tell me he missed me!
Issy with the mascot. She was not entirely sure she liked him.
So on Mothers Day, Nathan set his alarm, and came and got his dad and they made me a special breakfast in bed, Lehi Roller Mills Pancakes, real maple syrup, and scrambled eggs. Mike is going to make me a garden spot, we are thinking square foot gardening. Erin got me a Mother/ Daughter one and a half hour massage. Chris called and told me he loved me. And Steven brought me flowers. My family treated me very well. I made Posolle (that I was going to make for the Family Party) for for dinner.

Then I put a chunk of chocolate in the oven with only the oven light on all night. And by the time we got home from church it was like this completely melted. It's cool because it was all melted but still holding it's shape.
So my Mothers day ended with a whole bunch of Chocolate Covered Strawberries, and what you can't see from the picture is that the strawberry are huge. So big one would fit in the palm of your hand, Yummm!

Bad end of the week.................

Oops, this is a little out of order, the bottom picture was supposed to be first. Anyway I found myself pretty sick this week. I ended up with bronchitis and severe allergies. I was achy and miserable, trying to cough up a lung, my head felt like it wanted to explode every time I coughed. I spent 3 hours in my tub during this week. It was the only place I got releif from my coughing, I also sang alot of 70's songs, because it didn't hurt to sing in the tub either:-) Mike was afraid to come home! I did go to the doctor and got help but it has taken days for me to fell better. In the mean time I exposed Nathan, Erin , and Issy. So say little prayers that they wont get sick. We have a Niece and Nephew going on missions very soon. So we were going to have a family dinner with everybody before they left. Our niece is going to Spanish speaking San Jose. So I was going to make Posole in honor of her. It is a yummy stew like dinner of pork, hominy, and red chillies. You top it with shredded cabbage, cilantro, onions, sliced radishes, oregano, lime wedges, and I like to add sour cream and cheese. It is so good, but it didn't get made . Because I was to sick and we had to cancel our family dinner, we didn't want to get everybody else sick.
Then our nephew is going to Argentina. I made a chimichurri sauce to serve over roast beef in honor of him. (these aren't pictures of my food) But that sauce was yummy, and I think I will make it again. So I have been sitting around my house very sick for a few days. But I'm starting to feel better. Just very disappointed that we didn't have that family party.

So I watched Issy last week. She went to church with us Sunday, and her grandpa had to take her to High Priest with him. I got to be alone with her for the next few days. I loved it, except that every morning she woke up she had more and more bites on her face. This is how she looked the day her mother came home. Nathan said he could turn this picture in to the Child protective services and get me in trouble, notice her "RED" eye. she is better now. Let's hope we have a better week ahead!