Friday, July 25, 2008

Memories

In reading my girls' blog yesterday, and receiving an email from my longtime friend, Sidney, I realize that I LOVE reading blogs, but am NOT good at keeping mine up! All 3 blogs reminded me of so many good memories with 3 very special "girls" in my life.

(I have known Sidney for.... 35 years? Wow, how time flies! And as Sidney's blog reminds us, so do hairstyles! You always hear when you are young that the older you get, the faster time flies. It's so true. I just need to keep up by blogging. I will try to repent and blog more often.)

So Miq and Jess's blog challenged us to recount favorite memories of them. Toooooo many to record in one paragraph. To any who might read this, go to their blogs and see what others remember. It's pretty fun.

Anyway, I want to tell you about my fun time with my favorite granddaughter last week. I look forward to several days of one-on-one time with my Jules every so often. We have been having these "times" since she was a toddler. Never having this luxury with a grandmother myself, nor my girls with their grandmas, I treasure these times. I try to think of fun things to do, sometimes with a friend, but most often just the 2 of us.

The time started with Mique bring all three kidlets down to spend the night on a Friday. Julia was my date for a wedding reception for one of my favorite seminary students. We both had a good time, me mostly introducing her to friends and showing her off. Julia is famous for her funny statements, and that night was no exception. When asked by a friend what she had planned to do while at Grammy's, she said "We're going to Grammy's cousin's farm." Several months ago I had told her that someday I'd love to take her to visit Cousin Raelyn, and show her around their farm. Obviously, Julia is looking forward to that visit.... SOMEDAY! (Maybe I'd better ask Raelyn if she'd like visitors before we just show up.)

The next day, after Mique took the boys home, Julia spent the whole afternoon in the spa, perfecting her newly learned swimming skills. Yep, 3 hours in the spa! She finally got out to get ready to go with Uncle T and Papa and me to an exhibition water polo match with the Olympic team, and a friend of Papa's . Funny to watch her swim, then go watch these crazy good swimmers! She was exhausted by the time we finally drove home after a long day.

Julia enjoyed coming with me to my Primary class the next day, and felt very grown up attending class with 7 and 8 year olds. They were very sweet to her.

Monday we went to the Wave Waterpark in Vista. Last year we went there, and she wanted to go again to show off her new skills in the water. She played in the big pool, floated in the "Crazy Lake" (that's what he called the Lazy River), played in the water play structure. Lots of fun; a full day in the sun!

Tuesday was breakfast with my former neighbors, hosted by Susan Yermanos. Nicole Yermanos was very sweet to play with Jules, and Julia didn't want to leave. But she knew we were going to the beach, so that made it OK. We joined some mothers and kids from the ward, and again Julia didn't want to leave, after 4 hours in the sun. (Even I was getting tired of so much sun!) Thanks, Rocky B. for entertaining us all!

Wednesday we picked Morgan Cummings up at 9:30 and headed to Stagecoach park. The girls had met last summer at a beach night, and Julia couldn't wait to play with her again. We came back home, had lunch, went in the spa for a few minutes, played with as many toys as they could, then it was time to take Morgan home. Then we picked Kloe Porterfield up to go to the movie- "Kit Kitridge, An American Girl." Kloe was sweet to join us, even though she is several years older than Jules. Both girls have AG dolls, so they loved the movie.

Thursday was time to go home. We went to Long's to fill a prescription for Papa, and picked up some treats to take on the train. We headed to Oceanside, after saying goodby to Uncle T. The train ride was fun; Julia was a very good girl!

Am I a lucky Grammie or what?! I hope I can make many more memories with all my girls. And I love my boys, too! Owen will be here in a few weeks for a 2 week visit. I'm sure we'll have more fun. And 'Drew and JJ are such special boys. No grammy is more proud than this one.

Now, if I could just learn to post pictures, then you would see my beautiful kidlets. I'm hoping to learn that soon. In the mean time, please look at their blogs!