My precious granddoggy!

As most of you know Kelly and Jamie are right now in the middle of the Caribbean having a grand old time. They left the cats at home but knowing that Harley needed extra love and attention they opted to let grandma babysit. The first day Harley was totally lost - he whined and looked for Jamie and Kelly all day long. Then on Sunday evening Jamie called me to say "we're heading out of the harbor right now!! Kelly got on the phone to bark at Harley and his ears perked up and he sat listening, simply entranced. (I can imagine how 'entranced' the people on the ship were, listening to a grown man bark into his cell phone!!) But evidently Kelly told Harley to be happy and have a fun week with grandma (see, I can understand dog speak too!)


Harley has been so cute all week. He is my shadow!! Reminds me of when I had babies at home!! He follows me upstairs, he follows me downstairs, he follows me upstairs again. He sits and whines at the bathroom door when I close it for privacy!! Best of all, he can't stand to see me sitting in my Lazy Boy recliner without him being in my lap. I had gotten into the habit of eating my breakfast in the chair while reading the newspaper. Have you ever tried to read the newspaper and balance a bowl of cereal on your lap when you have 20+ pounds of dog jumping into your lap? FUN!! I have given up trying to work online during the day because if I am upstairs in my chair working on my laptop he is sitting there with his big brown Harley eyes whining for me to let him on my lap. So then I go downstairs on my main computer and he sits and whines because he can't jump into my lap there either. It is now 9 pm at night and Harley dog is in his favorite spot - under the covers of my bed, right next to me as I read!! Its a tough life!!

Kecia's baby pictures

We have all been wondering who Emma looks like so I got busy and found some old pictures of Kecia, which is not really easy because Kecia has scrapbooked a LOT of her baby pictures so I had to really hunt. These two were taken in early 1981 - probably when Kecia and Kelly were about two months old. I would say Emma does look a lot like her mama - except her mama didn't have nearly as much hair. And, Emma doesn't have a twin brother that she had to hold onto all of the time!! What do you think Glenn and Kecia - is it a match?

My daughter's daughter, my baby's baby

I started to write this blog days ago, but got stymied every time I thought about my other fantastic wonderful precious grandkids and kids. So I decided I would start with a disclaimer: I have ten beautiful, precious, fun, intelligent and wonderful grandchildren. #11 is on its way. I love each one of them. They are all so fun and I am so blessed to have Cade and Adrie and MaKae and Jerod and Ethan and Jace and Joshua and Caleb and Benjamin and Emma in my life. I love the hugs and the hi there's and the cute stories from each one. I also have a really soft spot in my heart for each of the wonderful people that my five children have married. They are choice and intelligent and loving human beings, each with a strong belief in Christ and how He would have them live. Kristanne was our first 'in law' and I was and still am amazed that she saw the beauty and intelligence in Shawn and claimed it for her own. Then came Ira and he added a whole new dimension of humor and love. Then we had to wait years and years for Kelly and Kecia to grow up and amazingly enough Jamie fell in love with Kelly and added her wit and fun to the family. Kecia followed shortly in expanding our family with Glenn - he has a gentle humor and a love of children that is simply amazing. Last, but certainly not least, Dirk found Melinda and her intelligence and sweetness has been a real boon to the family. We are sssoooooooo blessed with each of these 'in-laws' that I truly do love as my own. I wouldn't want to hurt any of them. Of course, it goes without saying that Mauri and Kecia and Shawn and Dirk and Kelly are the most perfect wonderful human beings in the world. They are mine after all. Yeah, they have a couple flaws each, but basically they are beautiful people. That said I can now move onto my blog thoughts without worrying about hurting someones feelings because I may have left them out!!


Kecia just posted some more pictures of Emma on her blog spot and I thoroughly enjoyed them. It is amazing how dear a grandbaby can be to ones heart. I don't know why I have let Emma 'in' so close ... Maybe because Kecia and Glenn opened their hearts and home to me and let me cuddle and love her...I got to do the same when Adrie Anna was a baby too and I hold some special memories there. I hope I don't hurt any feelings but somehow a daughter's daughter is...not more special ...but more ...would the word be "available"??

I need to be careful of what I say here because I know that I have some fantastic daughter in laws that might read this...I love everyone one of them too - but I have allowed them to set the limits and even when they don't I set my own limits -- I don't want to be the bothersome mother-in-law taking over their new baby... but with my own daughters - I can be me totally and they have to love me anyway!! So I can get away with more holding and hugging and grandmothering.

I hope you all can understand what I am trying to say - my baby's baby holds a special place in my heart - she is so little and so warm and so innocent.

Most likely it is because Emma is the newest and the whole family is excited - being there when she was just minutes old and then getting to return and be THE GRANDMA. Emma only wants to be held and cuddled right now and I can fulfil that calling to my hearts content. Anyway - I love Emma - I love all of my children (and that includes those fantastic in law children) and I adore all of my grandchildren. I thank the Lord for such blessings in my life. I hope they know that even though I am not the 'cooking' grandma that always has cookies on hand for them I do think of them often.

I went down to Provo last night with Kristanne and Mauri and Jamie and also Mickey and Adrie and we have decided that we need to get our Utah County kids closer - Lehi isn't too bad - it is just 45 minutes away but Provo is much to far. However - Dirk and Glenn - you need to sell your houses and move to Davis County. I have spoken!! Now we will see who will actually listen!! Hee Hee Hee

Another picture

Need I say more?

Butternut Squash Soup

I promised my family at the birthday party last night that I would get this yummy recipe out there. I had some butternut squash soup on my cruise and loved it. So when I got home I googled for a recipe and it came up with this yummy squash soup. Be sure and use the correct amount of onion - I had to substitute dried minced onion for the fresh onion and used way too much onion. It was awfully strong. I even added another squash and another package of cream cheese to the first batch and that helped but it was still toooooo oniony! But if you follow the recipe you will find a nummy meal - easy too

SLOW COOKER BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

makes six servings

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 medium onion, chopped (½ cup)

1 butternut squash (2 lb), peeled, cubed

2 cups water

½ teaspoon dried marjoram leaves

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)

4 chicken bouillon cubes

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

1. In 10 inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; stirring occasionally until crisp-tender

2. In 3-4 quart slow cooker, mix onion and remaining ingredients except cream cheese

3. Cover: cook on low heat setting 6-8 hrs

4. In blender or food processor, place 1/3 to ½ of mixture at a time. Cover; blend on high speed until smooth. Return mixture to slow cooker. Stir in cream cheese. Cover, cook on low heat setting about 30 minutes longer or until cheese is melted, stirring with wire whisk until smooth.

NOTE: I cooked the squash whole in the microwave for about 8-10 minutes in order to make it easier to peel and cube. Because it was partially pre-cooked the soup was done in three - four hours.

Prettiest granddaughter of the Century!!

It is safe for me to make that statement since my other granddaughters were born in the 1990's and Emma is a 21st century baby! What a joy! Kecia and Glenn are going to make fantastic parents. She was born November 13, 2007 - she weighed in at 8lbs 1 ounce and is 19 1/2 inches long - that makes her so plump and pretty - dark dark eyes and dark brown hair. So far she seems like she has a very mellow personality - other than when she is hungry!! The whole family has made it down to Provo to pass inspection and they all agree that she is precious. We haven't figured out who she looks like yet - I think she has Glenn's smile.

They are naming her Emma Lynn Gilliam - I love it. She has her mama's middle name. I get to spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday playing grandma (that means holding the baby!! YEAH!!)

Crafts - old and new!

NOTE: CORRECTED COPY!!! Most of you that read this blog know how much I love making pretties with silk flowers. So when my daughter in law's mother emailed me asking what she would need to make flower head dresses for her granddaughters (for Sam's wedding on November 16) I jumped at the chance to have some fun and offered to make them for her. She was so glad to let me!! To her it was stress - to me it was enjoyment. So I went over to Michael's and found some ivy that wasn't too big and some sparklies and some small flowers and ribbons in gold and champagne and went to work. I got them delivered to Marilyn today. I hope the girls enjoy them. I wanted them simple and they should look really pretty on the girls. I will tell Dirk to make sure and take some pictures since I won't be able to go to the reception (I will be playing grandma at Glenn and Kecia) . I also made some small boutonnieres for the boys so they wouldn't feel left out (actually I bet they would prefer not to have a flower pinned to their shirt but tough - Its a wedding, they'll just have to suffer!

The new craft that I am learning makes just as much a mess in my workspace!! I bought a scrapbook on my cruise and have been trying to organize my pictures in a fun and cute manner. I sat down in the corner of my living room and had stuff everywhere in no time at all. The filler kit that I also bought on the cruise has lots of cut scrapbook paper, stickers, pictures, ribbons, and even little spongey squares that you put under the cutouts to make them look three dimensional. The kit also came with two glue pens and a black marker with a felt tip and a slim tip. So I went to work. I got about half way through the week and I will take the rest of the stuff to the Orem Hospital to give us something to do tomorrow while we are waiting around for Emma to show up. I don't think I am going to get in too deep into this craft - there are just too many cutsie things to spend your money on REAL fast. I did buy a couple of sticker sets at Wal Mart tonight for Kecia to use in Emma's scrapbook.