a joyful visit from grandma jo

i had the great fortune of growing up in the same city as all 4 of my grandparents. i truly have a special love for each and every one of them, and i tear up thinking of what each one means to me. my grandma jo and granddaddy cornell (my mom's parents) lived about a 5 minute walk from the house i grew up in. we passed their home as we walked home from elementary school, so of course we stopped by almost every day to get some love from grandma (granddaddy usually wasn't home) and a homemade treat, which grandma always had waiting for us. my favorite treats were gingersnaps, ranger cookies and bread dough. nobody can bake like my grandma! shortly after russ and i were married, grandma jo, who was in her 90s, moved in with my uncle doug in st. george. things have sure been different without her living here. don't get me wrong...i am very grateful that she is in a loving home with all the amenities and care that she needs, but i miss her. very much. my uncle and his wife recently took a trip with some of their kids and grandkids, so grandma came to stay with my mom and dad for 5 days. my whole family was so excited. i made sure to see her each day she was here because i love the way she makes me feel, and i love watching my kids get to know her. she is 100 years old, and you wouldn't believe how sharp she is! for years she has been crocheting 3 inch wide, 4 foot long bandages for a leprosy colony. each bandage takes her 8 hours to complete. she crocheted the entire time she was visiting. i actually don't think i ever saw her without a hook in one hand and floss in another. i love my grandma's stories. she told me all about the birth of her baby sister, enid. she told me stories about her father. she told me stories about her horse, banjo. i could go on and on...

this is a familiar scene to me...grandma jo sitting on a couch crocheting, sewing or mending

the bandages are almost as tall as she is!! she is 4'7"!!!

we visited my granddaddy's grave on may 14th, the 22nd anniversary of his death. i miss him so much.

mia really took to grandma. she sat with her, talked to her and picked her fresh flowers. grandma talked about it for days.

left to right: jamie, josh, lucas, skaught, grandma, chelsea, and my mom and i are in the back

go cubbies!

russ's all-time favorite baseball team is the chicago cubs. their minor league team, the iowa cubs, played the las vegas 51s friday night, so of course we were there to cheer on the cubbies! even though i like the 51s, i enjoy to cheer with russ unless of course byu is playing utah...then i'm not loyal to my husband. we had awesome seats right above the cubs' dugout, which was really fun. we got to see ryne sandberg (one of russ's favorite former chicago cubs) up close and personal since he is now the iowa cubs manager. hopefully he'll be the chicago cubs manager sooner than later! the cubs kicked some baseball b-o-o-t-y!

ryno signed lots of baseballs and baseball cards before the game. we had a perfect view of him greeting the fans.

dressed to impress!

this photo is especially for grandma dolores! this dress was a birthday gift to mia rose from grandma dolores. in fact, mia received 3 beautiful sunday dresses from her grandma. this one, though, is her favorite because it twirls the best! mia got LOTS of compliments the day she wore this to church. i have to smile at this picture because you can see our neon "u" in the background.

sunshine dance company

mia had her dance recital today, and it was so much fun! she performed a tumbling routine to "friendship is a dance," a cheerleading dance to "popcorn," and a ballet dance to "how to believe." her teacher, miss amy, was able to secure the auditorium at desert oasis high school, which was awesome! the show went perfectly, and of course we were so proud of our little beauty! here are a lot of shots from the day...

i took some pictures of mia in her costume just before we left for the recital. i love her sneakers paired with her pretty dance costume. she reminds me of me...

one more hug before the show!

george was pretty patient through the performance (it was only 30 minutes). we cracked up a few times because he looked totally bored. little does he know he has a lot more recitals in his future!

our cute cheerleader!

in the fairy ballet, mia and gabby woke up the other fairies by tickling them with their flower wands

the silly dance contest!

mia was showered with praise and flowers!

the whole fam damily

aunt jamie gave mia some darling daisy earrings and matching bracelet

isn't miss amy the cutest dance teacher EVER!?!?

we love our little sweetie!

what a cool trophy!

i often go walking

we heard from my uncle gary that there were thousands of wildflowers on the drive out to nelson, nevada. papa steve took us on a saturday adventure to go and check them out. as many years as i have lived in southern nevada, i have never been to nelson. the drive was quite beautiful with literally thousands of yellow flowers lining the road. we quickly discovered that while i brought my nice digital camera, i didn't have the sd card in it! i was so disappointed. lucky for us, this little shop in nelson sold disposable cameras. i felt like i was taking pictures with a toy, and it took me awhile to get used to the fact that i couldn't immediately see my pictures! i'm glad we were able to get some shots of our fun day. i definitely want to do some more exploring in this area.

outside the shop where we bought the digital camera. we learned that donny & marie recently filmed a music video here, and they also took all their album photography here. it's a neat spot and has a ton to look at. it's also a great spot to come and take pictures. lots of interesting collections. i'll be back with my good camera!

the colorado river was blue and clear. we are most definitely renting canoes this summer!

papa and georgie were playing with a ladybug

mia next to ghost flowers, which are fittingly named because you can hardly see them!

look at all that color lining the street!

russ teaching george all about reflective striping

mia and i made a haku out of wildflowers. it took some finagling, but we got it!

george caught a ladybug in his hat!