Gramma Heaven!

The Little House seems awfully quiet these days. For ten glorious, loud, busy, crazy days it played host to our grandson, Lucas! He arrived with his Mom, our daughter Diana, on big airplane that let his Thor action figure zoom up in the clouds...WhoOSH! His Daddy arrived three days later and together they graced our home during their spring break. Bless their little San Diego hearts...they froze! We had enjoyed several sunny warm days up in the high 60's up until they got here. The temperatures dropped dramatically and rain came in to remind them of their former Utah home.

In preparation for their arrival Auntie Britt bought a toddler bed so her sweet nephew would sleep in comfort. The old Pack-n-Play was way too small anymore. Uncle Richard deserves a medal of honor for trying to put that thing together! It was very tricky but he persevered with great patience.

Lucas was very impressed with the results.

"What is this strange sort of crib that I can get into and out of all by myself?"

 Tackle!!

Pretty soon Aunt Britt came over and we all visited while Diana unpacked.

Soon after, the young Jedi master snuck (sneaked?) up the stairs. Only one of the adults noticed.

 "This is not the toddler you want to keep an eye on. Move along..."

What he found next fascinated him for the rest of the visit.

The dog's bowls!

"Whatcha got there doggy? Can I try some?

Does he look innocent enough?

And thus went the rest of the week with this very active, very curious 18 month old! He goes from one thing to another to another to another to another! His parents joke that he's like a shark. 

If he stops moving he will die. I fear they are right!

The first few nights were rough. He had a bad cough. So bad, in fact, that the 2nd night his Momma and I took him to the ER. Her insurance likes out-of-state ER's better than Urgent Care places. The doctor worried about RSV, but gratefully that test came back negative. His lungs were clear too. Just a horrible virus that plagued him for the next week.

He was not happy after that x-ray and nose sucky-thing! It was midnight and he wanted to be in bed!

It didn't seem to bother him much during the day. I was tired trying to keep up with him! Diana welcomed the extra hands and hearts that loved and took care of her son so she could have some moments of freedom and we all had the BEST time!

 Roxie soon grew used to all of the attention and loved following Lucas around because he tended to drop Goldfish crackers and Cheerios!

 One morning Diana was resting after a rough night of coughing. Gramma found it difficult to put on makeup while trying to keep this boy out of the toilet, shower, bathtub, hall closet,... so I resorted to the old stand-by, "Jake and the Neverland Pirates". Awesome!!! (sheet washing day!)

 Louie was everywhere! The window seat was a favorite spot. Roxie stayed close! I am a bit annoyed that Lucas taught her how to get up there!

 Pa had fun showing Lucas all of the old toys we had saved for this very time in our lives. The wooden blocks were a hit, as was Uncle Richard's old car mountain.

He loved to play with our old play dishes and kitchen.

Some people get rid of all of their toys when the kids outgrow them. I never could. I am too sentimental.

I'm glad we kept them!

Aunt Britt came out almost every night to join us. She loves this boy so much!

Isn't she looking quite "Google-y" these days?!

 There was the fun night that Nick and Diana bought "Frozen".

 There were "Man Cave" moments too. Like the guys watching "Miracle" together.

 Pa cried again for the 40,000th time!

 More to share next time!

LA Roundup and a Championship!

When last I left you in Los Angeles, I had just tended my grandson for the evening. How lovely is it to take a trip far from home and have it be in a place where your married children can come see you?
After Diana, Nick, and Lucas went back to San Diego I spent the next few days at the swim meet with my husband. One afternoon I sat and took splits for him as his distance swimmers raced in the 1650 Freestyle. That's 1,650 yards folks. These kids are hard core! They swam it in an average of 15 minutes. I was in awe.

 One morning I read by the pool some more and sunned my poor white legs. By the week's end they were a rosier shade of white!

 

 We had a lovely lunch one day out on the back patio and watched the golfers go by.

 Coach Dee was naughty and fed the squirrels!

Then it was back to the pool every evening for finals. I was so proud of our BYU kids. The sportsmanship, team spirit, dignity, and modesty shown by them was so good to see! On the last night Diana & Nick came back up to  LA to watch finals. Lucas was a riot! We taught him how to cheer the swimmers on just like his Pa does! Fluttering arms means kick harder!

 Then Lucas wandered down the observation deck and flirted with some 

cute UC Santa Barbara blondes. They let him wear their Gauchos hat!

 

I borrowed this photo from Haley Bertoldo on Facebook.

It shows the many styles of coaching a swimmer on to go faster! From left, John and Yolanda do the flutter your arms (kick harder) move, while Tamber, Sherry, and Dee point and lean forward as if by doing so the athlete will be magically propelled onward. I asked Coach Dee once if the kids can actually see their coaches jerking and undulating on the sidelines

 and he said, having been a former swimmer himself, "Yes!"

There is always a break between the evenings' main events and the final relays so that the relays can warm up. sometimes coaches get a little giddy after a week long meet and let their guard down a bit!

 That's our little Cougar in his Gaucho hat. Good thing Pa was busy coaching and didn't see!

 There's always time for a Gramma/Lucas selfie!

 Here are the final scores before the last relays were added in. The places stayed the same though.
Our Cougars Men won the MPSF Championship!

 Our Lady Cougars took third! (We are not sure if the grandson wearing 

the Santa Barbara hat made a difference here!)

 Here are our Seniors being recognized.

It's always sad each season when we get to the last meet and we have to say goodbye to the Seniors who have worked so hard. The coaches really come to love them.

 

It's tradition for the winning team to leap into the pool after being receiving their trophy, and to pull their coaches in as well! Dee is so superstitious about this. He will not bring the extra clothes into the pool area until all is said and done. They have to stay locked up in the trunk of the car. It's a sad, soggy coach who forgets a change of clothing and has to ride back to the hotel all wet. Someone forgot dry underwear this year. I won't say who, but it wasn't Coach Dee this time!

There's my Sweetie on the far left.

The next morning we were up before the sun to get to the Long Beach Airport. After a 90 minute fight we were back in chilly Utah! At least this year we didn't come home to a fresh foot of new snow! I am looking forward to next year.It should be a good one!

February~the Frozen Month of Love & Other Stuff

Every February 1st the world anxiously awaits the appearance the next morning of old Punxutawney Phil the Ground Hog, or Agua Fria Freddie the Gila Monster, or Radar the Weather Dog depending on which part of the country you live in. Here in our house though, we sort of forget about the predictors of spring and focus on the Master of the house. He was born on 2/1 which is kind of a cool birthday! He was out of town this year on a recruiting trip on his birthday so we celebrated on 2/2.
  It would have been fun to give him a tutu...get it?








We sent him this photo as a teaser and made him wait until the afternoon of the 2nd, after he had arrived at the airport, after church was over, and after Brittany had a chance to join us. He was such a baby! He wanted to open his big present so badly!

 

My husband loves hot cocoa. He wants to marry hot cocoa he loves it so much! He had a "Cocoa Motion" cocoa maker that sadly broke this fall. He was so sad. We went deluxe this time!

 Here he is checking out the spout and scheming the making of his first batch!

 Valentine's Day was............

 Lucas sent us a darling valentine with his thumbprints. It said "Thumb-body loves you!
 



 As usual Roxie was eager to eat-- umm,  help with the decorations.

 Don't give me that "sorry" face young lady!

 Dee and I ate a yummy lunch a Zupa's and I even pulled off making sugar cookies.
 OK, it was really late when they were done but I did it!

 

 We had a little heat wave in February! It was awesome! Notice, no coat?I am stopped at a red light here, I promise!

Does Roxie lok a bit blurry here? It's because she was! She had her annual dental  cleaning and was coming out of general anesthesia. She was very loopy and could hardly hold herself up! Notice her cute little hospital collar? Yeah, she wanted that thing off ASAP!

 Lucas asks his Mommy quite often if he can Skype with us. He climbs up into the chair and pats the computer. On this morning he showed me his amazing yogurt eating skills. What you don't see is his Momma's face moments later when he tried to feed her!

For the second year in a row I have been blessed to be able to travel with Dee and the BYU Swim & Dive Team to Los Angeles for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships. Last year I wrote about my train journey and my four day visit to Diana and her family here.

This year I stayed in LA with Dee and My grandson came to me!

 Here he is opening our little gift for him, Megablox guys to add to his collection, and enjoying them while we waited for our dinner.

Later at the hotel he wanted to try on Pa's swim goggles.             

 

 The next morning I sat outside and read my book while I waited for Nick, Diana, & Lucas to arrive from their hotel. Did I say I was outside...in flipflops?!! Yeah, yeah, I now all of you people in AZ and St. George are not impressed, but I was giddy with happiness!

 Soon enough my kids arrived and we went on jolly adventures with the boy. He loves fireplaces, calling them "hhh-ot". There were two "Hots" in the hotel so he was busy going back and forth between them!

                 Outside "Hot".                                                                                 Inside "Hot".

We waited for the team to return from prelims around noon, then we spent the day together until Dee had to go back to the pool in the late afternoon for finals. Nick and Diana had a proposition for me. They had been given gift cards to have dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Since they hold resident passes they can go in at any time but didn't want to have their restless, squirmy son along. I don't blame them! It's kind of romantic in there! So...

I got to babysit my grandson! We had dinner together in the hotel room and played with anything and everything he could find! It was a busy, busy time. Did I mention that this kid has no hips? His pants are always coming down!

He had to try on the goggles again.

 Next he helped Gramma crochet while we watched some cartoons.

It was getting to be Sleepy Time but the boy would not slow down, so we put on our shoes, and our pants of course, and took a walk.We explored every nook and cranny, every spotlight and flower,

 

 

 Then we came back inside, got into our jammies, and settled in to watch some awesome Olympic bobsledding!

 

 Pretty soon Pa came "home" from the night's swims and the boys watched some Dumbo together. Lucas is really into elephants right now.

If you have stuck through all of these photos until the end you are to be congratulated, or revived! I took a lot of pictures. I love this little boy SO MUCH!
 Next time I post I'll share all about the conference meet with you! We had some great swims!