Steve & Marilyn

2011-03-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

We went for a gondola ride and had a singing Italian driver who is also an elementary school music teacher by day! She sang "O solo mio" for us and she has a beautiful, clear voice. What fun!This butterfly is made of flowers! It was in the middle of the Palazzo. Cool place.
And, of course, we saw Nunsense and had pictures with all the nuns. We even got them to sign the 'holy card' Dad won at the beginning of the show during the 'quiz' section! Then we had steak and lobster at Benihanas and went to see "Jersey Boys" after dinner. That's the story of Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. It was wonderful! What a fun trip - and it was really only 1 1/2 days! I flew in Friday afternoon and left early Sunday. Well, Steve knows how to plan a good time!

2011-03-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

Here is my specially autographed 'used' drum head from Blue Man Group. I walked up to one of the performers after the show and asked for his autograph (the salesman in the Blue Man store advised me to do that). I told him I didn't have a pen... No problem! He just kissed the drum head with his blue lips and left quite the impression! Then someone walked up to me with a couple of clear, round sticky thingies and said to stick them over the 'autograph' so it wouldn't smear. Well, then I found another performer and asked for his autograph figuring I'd get 2 lip prints - and he took the drum head and smacked it on his forehead! Voila! The forehead print! Could you have more fun than that? The drum sticks were 'previously used' also. How cool is this?

My new favorite show!

2011-03-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

Our first night in Vegas we went to see the Blue Man Group. What fun!!! These guys don't ever say a word, but they are funny!!! And they are GREAT percussionists! Wow! And at the 'meet and greet' after the show, they still don't say a word, but they just stare at you! It's a little creepy, but LOTS of fun!This one found out that I was a teacher and he shook my hand. That was cool.
Anybody wanna go see the show with me? Next time I'm going to buy tickets for the first few rows where they hand out ear plugs and rain gear!!! Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll invite me on stage! Woo-hoo!

Cutest Luggage on the Planet!

2011-03-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, while I was in Las Vegas, Steve and I went into a luggage store so he could look for a new piece of luggage... I saw the cutest stuff ever made on the back wall, and it wasn't even that expensive! (for luggage, that is...) Anyway, it made the trip home only a little scarred by it's maiden voyage, so it is safely stowed away in the closet waiting for my next excursion!

Oh, and I had to make a trip to the M&M store for a cute bag tag to go on it!

Me and my teacher buddy "Orel"

2010-10-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought you'd all like to see a picture of you dear old Mom/Granny on Halloween at school! Here I am with my good friend Orel Higene (aka Ron Stone - 4th grade teacher) We saw each other at the school Halloween parade, and immediately realized..... We have the same dentist! Trevor, we need you! There's plenty of work waiting for you in North Idaho!!!

Happy Halloween everybody!

What???

2010-08-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently I have to download a CD and study it before I can add the photos from Dad's new camera onto the computer.... Anyone want to make a quicker suggestion? I've got the camera hooked up to the computer, but nothing happens... so, I guess I'm just going to have to do some studying - except that I was hoping to get this done quickly since I've got LOTS to do (big surprise...) and there's a picture of Ashlyn meeting ARIEL, for crying out loud! We've got to get that on the blog!

Help me, Obewan! You're my only hope! (whoever you are now...)

Disneyland! (with SEVEN grandkids!!!)

2010-08-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

Wednesday and Thursday we spent time at Disneyland with Ava and Vivian and their parents (Lindsay and Riley) so we could have it all scoped out for when the other grandkids came on Friday!!!

Here is a shot of Ava taking her grandpa on a bumper car ride at "Tuck and Roll" in the Bug's Life area at California Adventure on Thursday. Looks like F-U-N!!!

The Carousel was a favorite - either the disney one with all of the beautiful horses, or the one with all the sea creatures at California Adventure. They were both high on the list of 'we-gotta-do-that-again'!
Aren't fairies supposed to be SMALLER than average kids? They look pretty tall here!
I thought it was so cute to see these fairies having such a serious 'fairy' discussion with Ava. If I remember correctly, they were discussing when she would get her wings!
And then there's "Baby Vivvy" as Ashlyn liked to call her. She was very happy that Gramma wanted a Mickey Mouse ice cream treat. She was intent on getting her fair share! I think we even got a better picture the next day when she got another one!

Coeurimba at the Chewela Chataqua

2010-07-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend (July 10th) Coeurimba was invited to play for the Chataqua at Chewela, Washington. This was my third time there, and it has always been a fun event, so I was able to convince Steve that it would be ok to play 'chauffeur' to most of the Coeurimba gang and attend the event with us. He liked it! I asked him to be our photographer, too, so I could put some new pictures on the blog - that's why most of them feature 'yours truly' - but I guess they are still interesting! I don't remember which song I was playing in this first picture, but it's a soprano marimba, so that's something!
I do remember what I was doing in this picture! I was introducing "Shariaku" to the audience - it's the African 'Romeo and Juliet' without the tragic ending. I also get to play lead for that song, so I really like it!
That's me on the bass - duh! Duh is right! I well remember which song we were playing here: Chipandani! I had a fine practice and warm-up with the song, but when it came time to perform, I just couldn't do it right until I finally got to segue into the main part of the melody and play a bit easier rhythm! Oh, well, nobody except us players really knew I flubbed it!
And here is a shot of our performance space. It's really cool with lights and all! We felt like such super stars! And they LOVED us! Ah, life is fun!

I'M LEGAL!!!!!

2010-07-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

It's official! I passed the Praxis test! I am now accepted as a certified music teacher - thanks to study and prayer. I'm NOT kidding! I was promised that if I did my part and studied to the best of my ability I would not only pass the praxis, but I'd pass it with "flying colors". Well, after taking the test, I wondered if that blessing was for the first time I took the test, or a subsequent time, but I found out that even though I had some 'doubting Thomas' tendencies, I was still blessed beyond my abilities. I needed 148 points to pass, and I scored 165!!!!! Proof positive that miracles have NOT ceased!

Celebrate!

Now all I've got to do is teach!

Teresa's Retirement Party

2010-05-24T16:15:00.001-07:00

This picture is for Heather. Teresa heard about the half marathon, and she decided to show you her medals for winning races - she said that since most serious runners run longer races, she usually wins for her age group in the 5k and 3k's because most ladies her age (73) walk!Here we are making last minute preparations for the retirement party at Mary's house. Left to right: Teresa, Mary, Viva, Crystal (traveled to Europe with Ellen when we were in Belgium - remember her?) Ellen and John.
Teresa's graduation from Law School picture!
This one is for Lindsay. These earrings (Kathy took the picture without her glasses on - that's why it looks blurry....)are made from bottle caps taken from a soda that Robert liked on one of his trips to Mexico. They were so cute! Thought you might like the idea. Teresa has a soda bottle cap necklace, too.
Kathy and Judy - sister and niece. Judy is Ellen and Ruffin's mom.
Amanda (Philipp's wife) and Mary, my niece.
Ruffin, Andrea (Rachel's daughter), Viva and Teresa (Rachel's youngest)
Lance - Mary's 'man' and one of my favorite people!
On the right is Philipp, Teresa's son, my nephew - I don't know the other guy.
Viva, Bryce and Cody.
Ruffin and his wife - forgot the name, but she is a really nice girl.
Another earring shot... and I'm holding one of the 400 mini-cupcakes that Viva made for the party. They were pretty spectacular - especially the Persian love cakes with the dried flowers on top!
Teresa, Kathy and little Teresa.
Ellen, party planner extrordinaire!
Mary and Kathy. It was a great time together. We all want to plan to get together around Dallas next Spring. Start making plans!

How the West Was Sung

2010-05-02T17:32:00.001-07:00

I'll just describe the pictures in order, since I can't seem to make this post follow my orders...

Thursday evening we had our first grade program "How the West was Sung". We played to a packed house, and the kids were SO CUTE! (they were probably inspired by my own 'cuteness', so they just couldn't help themselves...)

Anyway, here we are singing the Canoe Song and playing xylophones and "boomfloppers" (a creation of mine using sewer pipe, end caps and a few precise measurements - not to mention a GREAT wooden 'holder' made by my son-in-law Lyle.)

Next is my line up of Cowhands singing "Cowboy's Lament" (aka 'Saddle Sore') while riding some of the cutest stick horses ever! Ms. Deyo the art teacher made about 7 of them for the program, and she even gave them names like 'Zeke' and 'Princess'! How cute!!!
Next is the opening scene: a backyard campfire with fake marshmallows on sticks 'roasting' over a flickering campfire. We dimmed the lights and turned on the disco ball for a 'starry' night effect and sang 'Home on the Range' and 'Little Old Cowboy'. Cute is a word I'll keep using to describe this show, I promise!

The next picture is of me and my 5th grade stage crew. They love doing their jobs, and I really give them stuff to do, to! They hand out and collect props, set the stage up, run sound and lights, and help clean up and get the music room put back together after the program. They are a bunch of great kids!

And the last one is a picture I tried and failed to turn right-side up! I am posing with one of the great "Deyo Horses". She really is an artist! We had a cardboard train, sheep, cow, pig, mountain and tunnel, too! What a fun show. I had lots of help from the parents, too, so it was fun working with them and getting to know them better. What a fun evening! OK, on to passing the Praxis in 6 weeks, and I'll only have school to worry about! YEEE-HAAAW!!!

At long last - NEWs!

2010-04-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I am not only the proud owner of a real piano that I am actually learning to play (and I even love to practice!) but this weekend I bought my first ever pair of REAL cowboy boots! And they are cool, too! I've wanted a pair of cowboy boots since I was 6! I even had a horse as a kid, but you know, cowboy boots aren't cheap, and you can ride a horse in tennis shoes, so I never got that pair of boots - until yesterday! And the saleslady (at D&B Farm and Home!!!) was so nice! She found out that I'd waited so long (Steve said 20 years... but that makes me younger than my kids...) and she wanted me to get the PERFECT pair!

So, how do you think I'll look with my jeans, boots, hat, western shirt (when I find one) and bandana around my neck when I lead the first graders in their program "How the West Was Sung" on the 29th??? Lookin' goooooood!

But, it won't let me put the pictures on the post! Help! You need to see my cool cowboy boots!

Read it on my blog or do without!

2010-04-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

I have tried to figure out how to 'post' anything on my facebook page, and I simply cannot figure out how to let people know anything at all! So, read it here or go without news from me. I'm old. Deal with it.

Last night we had our "Julie Johnson Jamboree" at Lake City High School. You can see pictures on the Coeur d'Alene press web site. (Dad took some, but I don't know how to get them off his new camera...) Anyway, our kids performed "Mutiwambuya" and it was really fun: rhythm sticks, djembes, marimbas, "Boomfloppers", chanting, singing and a big, loud "GO, GO, GO TEMA!" that shook the rafters and ended perfectly with not a sound happening after! It was the coolest dramatic moment! The audience sat stunned for a couple of seconds before they burst into applause!

The rest of the evening was just as cool with each chorus performing really great and quite varied music. There were other marimbas, an electric guitar (by a 4th grader who is already a virtuoso on the guitar!!!) and a drummer (Garret Knotte who is also a member of Couerimba who is in 7th grade!) Anyway, a really cool night. Lots of fun.

That's my news - now I'm going to plan next week's lessons!

What did you do with your Spring Break?

2010-03-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well, while I was gone to St. Louis to play with grandkids and just kick back and have a little fun, Steve had to stay behind to get some business done. Good thing. A pine tree from our back yard blew over in a storm and crashed through our roof! Steve said it looked like a war zone. It will be well into 'cleaned up and getting fixed' before I get home on Saturday, so I'm just waiting for pictures to be e-mailed to me.

The good news is - besides the fact that mostly we just have to do clean up and repair - nobody was hurt and it didn't hit anything that we'd have to replace besides perhaps a bit of furniture. Sure, the ceiling, walls and roof are in bad shape, but the trusses were so strong they kept the thousands of pounds of pine tree from actually crashing through more of the house. Not to mention that Steve was not home sitting in the chair watching T.V. RIGHT under where the tree fell. And his car wasn't in the driveway where the top of the tree sent the bricks from the chimney! All-in-all I'd say we were pretty lucky. And, insurance will be paying for most of the bill, so it's all good. A bit inconvenient, sure, but lucky!

Meet Me In St. Louis!

2010-03-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, what a wonderful treat for Spring Break! I got to come to St. Louis (Edwardsville, Ill) and play with the grandkids. But that's not all! Saturday I got to hop in the car with Heather and drive out to Ohio (my first trip there...) and meet some of my favorite cousins! (I've never met them before, but they quickly became some of my favorite people!) This has been a really cool treat. Pete Roan (aka Kenneth Jr.) is my cousin's son - so my first cousin once removed. His son, Tater (aka Matt) is a 25 year old good-lookin' Roan boy who is in law school. I promise, once I find pictures I'll post them. His wife had a baby the day before we got there and she is C-U-T-E!!! (yes, both mother and baby are cute!) Anyway, we (Heather and I) had such a great time with those guys! I hope they can come visit us, or we can have a reunion or something. It was so wonderful to meet them and just sit around and visit (and stare!) for a while. I want to do it again!

Lewis and Clark....That's Clark and Lewis!

2010-02-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

Woo-hoo! My life just got easier! Lewis and Clark went off without much of a hitch this evening, and I got applause and flowers! The kids did great, I have the day off tomorrow, and life is getting easier now! All I have left is the third grade, second grade and first grade programs - but they are all so much fun (and quite a bit easier than "L and C") - that I am looking forward to putting them on. Life is good - now I just have to study my brains out so I can pass the Praxis!

I hope there's room enough in my head for all of this new stuff!

2010-01-31T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I've just started piano lessons and tutoring sessions so that I can pass my praxis on June 12th! I'm just cramming information in, but it is fun to learn at the same time. If I seem distant or unresponsive, let me give you a quick overview of my week: Monday at school 7AM - 4PM meeting at MidTown center to introduce new teachers (me - they'd notice if I didn't show up...) Then home to finish off preparing 2 more lesson plans for kindergarten and first grades; Tuesday school 7 - 4 then Coeurimba 7 - 9PM; Wednesday; Special Chorus rehearsal before school, school collaboration until 4PM and then District collaboration until 6PM; Thursday; school 7-3:30 (I leave early so I can get to Bryan by 4PM to have a tutoring session with Sally until 6PM. Friday I have the day off (HA HA!!! - yeah, so I can do laundry and prep my lessons for next week - and have a piano lesson on Friday afternoon!) Then Saturday usually is 'mop-up' from what I didn't get done during the week (including that laundry I probably ignored on Friday).

My Christmas decorations will probably be up until after the praxis test in June. I just have to use every spare minute to cram info into my little old head!

Anyway, just remember I love you all, and when I pass that test I'll be a relaxed gramma again! Woo-hoo!

a Kroc full of Christmas!

2009-12-12T15:44:00.000-08:00

Friday night I took a big risk and took about 14 of my Special Chorus kids to the Kroc Center to perform with Laura Sable and her husband Bill Wiemuth in Christmas from the Heart. We had one week's notice that we would be performing, hence the low turnout of singers. I can't lie - I was a little nervous that only 3 kids would show up. But we got about 14 (out of 45 - bad night for conflicts....) and they did a fine job. The good news is kids are always cute. But I am not striving for 'cute', I'd rather have 'astounding', but you've got to give me a little bit of time to learn the techniques for producing that! It was fun and they kids, I am sure, will be talking about it on Monday! Could boost my special chorus numbers for January, huh?

Professional development conference!

2009-11-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

Wow! The first time I've ever gone to a "Professional Development Conference" and it was WAY FUN and so educational I think my head's going to blow up! I had a blast, and I'm SO EXCITED for school tomorrow so I can use what I learned! Such fun stuff! New ways to teach recorders, reasons why music influences and supports learning to read, how it helps developing brains, fun ways to get kids to learn complicated rhythms! You name it, I saw a workshop on it, and most of the time I participated in the learning! We were just supposed to 'be' the 5th graders (or kinders, or whatever) for the presenter of the workshop! I got 3 free recorders, and I bought a sopranino (really small, high recorder), a couple of hand puppets, handbells, a cool thunder tube, SO MUCH STUFF! You guys will have to come and play with my new stuff!!! I am SO HAPPY that I get to do this.

The only sad part is that the woman who was supposed to be teaching at Hayden Meadows (Julie Johnson) has taken a turn for the worse and now is calling family in for the end. Hospice is working with her. I sent her a card last week, and I'm really glad I did. This is really sad, but she's a good woman and she's ok - she just is regretting not having more time with family and grandkids. She's not that old, so that makes it sadder. Plus, what little time I've spent with her was really sweet. She's a good person - and a great, kind music teacher.

But, to do her justice, I am working on being the best music teacher I can be, and this conference gave me LOTS of information for doing that! I'm just having fun THINKING about going to school tomorrow and having the kids come to class! I sure do hope that my grandkids have 'Orff' trained music teachers - they are THE BEST!

Such craziness, but LOTS of fun!

2009-09-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been at this teaching thing for about 3 weeks now, and it has gone by F-A-S-T!!! I am having lots of fun, and that's good, because I'm basically busy 24/7. And that's with Friday's off! Not only do I teach 22 classes in 4 days (3 1/12 if you count that Wednesday is early release...) I am in the middle of planning my 5th grade patriotic program for November 10th (that's 7 weeks away!); the Kindergarten Christmas program (there's never enough time to get the Kinders ready!) and I've got to get the Hayden Meadows Special Chorus (aka: Harmony N Motion) ready for festival of the trees, Hayden Lights Parade, and a visit to a rest home here in Hayden Lake! Add to that Coeurimba practices (good thing I love going!), new teacher meetings, and a weekly assignment due on Fridays for my on-line class with LCSC, and you can see that it's a good thing I learned to juggle lots of things when I had little children!

Friday we managed to find the time to meet Darbye and Lyle in Spokane for an afternoon at the temple and late lunch/early dinner at Red Robbin and then we went to see 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'. It really wasn't much at all like the book, but it was a fun movie. Take the kids!

Then, Saturday, I spent most of the day at an Orff workshop (music) in Spokane Valley learning about exotic drumming. I thought it was going to be about how to do a drum circle, which I've been wanting to learn for a year! But the guy spent most of the time trying to get us to understand East Indian drumming - it was even hard for the music teachers! How was I going to do that for my kids??? But, the last hour was worth the whole day! What fun! We made bucket drums and did a really fun 'stomp-like' activity that I am SO SURE even my most hard core "I'm-not-interested-in-music" type 5th grader couldn't help but enjoy! Wow! I'm so excited to do this! But there's no room in the lesson schedule until after Christmas, but that's probably good because they tend to get less interested in school about that time.... I'll save the best stuff for last. Anyway, I bet you can just imagine your old granny/mom bustin' some moves while playing a drum made of a big plastic bucket, a milk crate and bungie cords! It was so fun I would just have to show you. OK, me and the grand kids are going to have some BIG fun this summer!

Woo-hoo!!!

Viviann Roan Crebs is here!

2009-09-02T21:47:00.001-07:00

Viviann Roan Crebs is here! She was born this afternoon at 4:49. She was 8 lbs 3oz and 20 3/4 inches long and BEAUTIFUL! It was a long day, but we were sure glad we were there. Nurse Janet met us at the hospital and Sarah, Riley and I were able to wait it out with Lindsay (the bionic mom) the whole day. She did it! And little Ava LOVES her little sister. She even cried when she came home to grandma's house because she wanted 'sister' to come home with her.... Tomorrow!

We love baby Viviann!

Holy Cow! Summer's over and I've got lots of news!

2009-08-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

OK, I know I'm a slacker, but this was one busy summer! June was spent getting all the information together (transcripts, letters of recommendation, professional reference forms, resume, some traveling to Boise and Logan to get fingerprinted for another background check - are you tired yet???) so that I could renew my teaching certificate so that I could apply for the job of music teacher at Hayden Meadows. To make a LLLLLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG story short.... I got it!!!! I am now a certified professional! I got the call Thursday, and now I'm WAY into preparation for the new school year to start. But I've jumped ahead! Oh, My!

July was mostly spent preparing for Darbye and Lyle's wedding on August 8th. Volunteers came out of the woodwork to help with things. It was SO FUN! I guess we finally figured out how to get it done with the last one - and, NO, I'm not going into wedding planning! But call me if you need the names of GREAT helpers! Janet, Ramona, Erin, Jeff, Jenneke, Lindsay, Heather, Amy, Pam. The list goes on and on. Every time we thought of something we needed, someone came forward and said "I'd love to do that!" What a deal! Anyway, it was lovely and we all had a great time. Thanks to ALL our great friends!

And a BIG WELCOME to the newest member of the family: Lyle Vaniman. What a great guy! We are so excited to get to know you even better in the years to come! Ask Riley - it gets easier every year!

Grampa and I took a quick trip to LA after the wedding to visit with Tamar and the kids since they weren't able to come up for the wedding. We spent time at the beach, Knotts Berry Farm and Disneyland. F-U-N!!! And such CUTE kids! (It's genetic....)

Now we are waiting for the next newest member of the family to join us. Lindsay (cake maker and hairstylist extraordinaire) was due last Friday, but, just like her mother, she has children who are in no particular hurry to get here.... We even went to the Kootenai County Fair on Friday and had the medically proven Elephant Ear to try to get things moving, but, alas, we are all still here.....

I assume you have noticed that there are no pictures in this blog entry. There's a good explanation for that - Grandma keeps forgetting the camera! (yes, I even forgot to use it during the wedding reception. I KNOW!) Anyway, at least I don't take pictures of some of my kids and just leave out a few. I leave them ALL out! But you can just imagine how great they all looked! Or probably go to the other blogs and they'll have pictures!

Well, I don't know how many entries I'll be making this year, since I'll be busy again with school music and taking an online class from Lewis Clark State College to earn an endorsement in music. But, just remember I LOVE YOU ALL!

Mrs. Music

Garage cleaning with a 2 year old! (and picking raspberries!)

2009-07-17T10:52:00.001-07:00

We may not have the lush, thick bushes of 'yesteryear', but we can still find enough berries to satisfy the picking pleasure of a few grandkids! (Actually, picking is all Ava wants to do with raspberries - which she calls 'strawberries' - she doesn't want to EAT them!)
And here is Ava helping us clean out the garage! She found an obviously better use for Gramma's golf bag push cart: She 'rode' it in and out of the garage and called it her trycycle! Great fun having her around here! Love the new twist on helmet fashion, yeah?

Wisconsin Week at Hotel Griffitts - part deux!

2009-07-17T10:00:00.001-07:00

So, we are starting with the last picture first, and they become more mixed up from there! Anyway, this is the Shumway's leaving from our home this morning about 9:30 -

but you can pretend that we were out in the driveway greeting them on Thursday night when they arrived!

This picture is actually from the first visit last Friday. Starting from the far left, we have Ava, Lyle, Darbye, Jo Jo, Danielle, Scott, Wendy and me. (Dad is behind Danielle...)

This was this morning, too. Checking everything twice before taking off for Oregon - hopefully NOT for another 3 year absence! We LOVE the Shumways!!!

Sheralyn, Danielle and Tanner ready to take off!

The 'Girls' - Sheralyn, Danielle, Darbye, Wendy, me, Ava and Lindsay! Aren't we a lovely group!

The Bishops, Steve and Scott - called within the same week 3 years ago - there is something poetic in that....

Wendy and Sheralyn performing death-defying bicycle tricks! Sheralyn even pedaled Wendy UP from the lake the night before! She's an IRONWOMAN!!!

It was hard to say goodbye to such fun friends! We hope they won't stay away for 3 more years! We try to show them a good time while they are here so they'll come back again! We had a baby shower last time they visited, and this time we were planning a wedding.... What next??? Just come back and play with us!

Welcome to Wisconsin Week at "Hotel Griffitts"

2009-07-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call on Tuesday from an old friend who lived in Wisconsin with her great family while we lived there with our great family. She was spending a few days in Spokane, and when she found out how close it was to Coeur d'Alene, she came on over for a visit! How fun it was!

Here is Rosie Johnson with Lindsay and Darbye (who were 10 years younger when we last saw each other!)

The good news is that neither Rosie nor I have aged at all since we last visited! We've made plans for her whole family to visit soon so we can have some REAL fun! We survived Wisconsin together!

We also got an e-mail earlier this week from another wonderful Wisconsin connection: The Shumways! They're coming through town the end of this week for a family reunion up in Canada, so they'll be staying at the Hotel Griffitts one night this week and one night next week on the return trip! We had so much fun the last time they did that, that we are already FAR into the planning stages for this trip! I'll be sure to post pictures of that encounter, too!

On the down hill slope!

2009-05-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

School is almost out! Can you believe it? I survived the Performing Arts Night (comments were positive...) and the First Grade Program (again, comments were positive except for the one 5th grader who said it was 'boring'.) Well, I didn't have time to do the 'fish' program and collect a bunch of costumes and stuff! Give me a break! (I'm not insulted or anything, just explaining myself!)
Anyway, next up is the Kindergarten program on May 13 (the day after the Special Chorus sings for the volunteer appreciation breakfast) and then we have the recorder recital on May 27th. I just hope I can get those kids ready for the recital - we've just GOT to be able to play more than 'Hot Cross Buns'! We'll just hit songs like 'Zippy Toad' and 'B A Superhero' really hard for the next couple of weeks!
Next year CAN'T be this hard!
Summer is already getting packed up with Coeurimba dates! We are even having the luxury of turning down some dates! How cool are we!? Oh, it's nice to be loved!

Wow! The blog fairy did it again!

2009-04-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have to tell you guys that I've not been a very good blogger lately, but Lindsay keeps the page at least looking respectable! Thanks!
Last Thursday night at school we did the production of Lewis and Clark, and it turned out just fine! Mrs. Windisch came back to help with the sound system since we had lapel mics and lots of other kinda weird and wonderful things to deal with. With her help - and lots of other people stepping in to lend a hand - it ended up being just great and the parents were happy with their little darlings! Yippee!
Now all I've got left to do is Performing Arts Night in two days, the First Grade program the following week on Wednesday, a week with no programs(!) following that, then the kindergarten program, and last, the third grade recorder recital! What a fun (ok, YES, it was stressful at times, but fun nonetheless!) year I've had. I think I've learned more this year than any other year of my life! Really!
I am excited to get my teaching certificate reinstated and then start taking music classes to get a music endorsement added to it. From all indications, it looks pretty positive for me to be the official full-time music teacher at Hayden Meadows next year. Nothing official until after the levy on Tuesday, but it looks like that will probably pass. So, I could be doing this for a few more years! Wow! Who'd a thought? NOT me!

Faith and Begorrah! Lindsay did it again!

2009-03-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Lindsay for the beautiful Irish background for my page! I thought for sure that the 'Little People' had paid me a fine visit already and done a good trick for me! Instead, one of my favorite people in all the world had done it! How nice!
I had the very good fortune of attending a workshop for most of the day yesterday in Spokane called "Moving the Musical Mind". Oh! I am SO INSPIRED by how music, done in the right way, can make HUGE changes for people of ALL AGES!!! I want to try some new stuff out on the grandkids when we get to see them for Spring Break! It's all fun stuff, and I'll bring some cool, new 'toys' with me, too! I am so lucky to have this all fall in my lap! What a cool way to change from 'empty-nester' to 'gainfully employed grandma'!!! I'm having a wonderful experience, and things just keep getting more and more interesting all the time! Just wait until I teach you guys the "Brain Dance". It's so cool, and you won't even notice you are doing good things for your brain! It's just really well-desguised as fun! I'm loving this!
Happy "second-most-important-holiday-in-the-whole-year" month!!!

An ecclectic collection of random happenings lately...

2009-01-30T16:39:00.001-08:00

Well, I saw this poor little snow-bound penguin and it looked like he was signaling for help, so I just had to take his picture! Maybe by Spring we can dig him out!

This is how he looks to the neighbors... I hope they don't turn us in for 'decoration abuse'!

And here's a cute picture of Mylie Suzanne Reynolds when she was just over 12 hours old! Tytan LOVES to hold her, and he is being quite patient and sharing her with all of her admirers. I thought this was such a cute picture of the two siblings!

And here is the picture we took of our new do's with our camera that wouldn't download on Lindsay's computer. Aren't we a couple of dolls!?

And, one last picture of the famous 'musical clock' that is all folded up and taken to the dump now - but it was fun while it lasted! The kids still ask about it every-so-often. Onward!

Fashion Models

2009-01-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

Here is the final result of our jaunt to Rexburg to get our 'dos' refreshed. Don't we look lovely? We are so pumped to be such gorgeous dolls! We are on our way to Idaho Falls to have dinner, and we think that we'll have to stop somewhere and buy a couple of big sticks to beat off unwanted admirers! Wish us luck! We are having fun!!!

Gramma is going back to school...Really!

2009-01-11T17:50:00.000-08:00

Well, the most I knew last month was that I was going to miss the kids when the 'real' music teacher came back to teach in January. Unfortunately for her, she is NOT getting any better - in fact - she's getting worse. That's really sad news because she is such a wonderful, nice teacher. But the bright side is that I still get to teach music at Hayden Meadows Elementary. In fact, I've been looking in to getting my teaching certificate re-instated (it was issued in December 1977, and I've NEVER really used it, so it expired...) AND I'm going back to school to get an endorsement in music so I can become a REAL music teacher! I owe a debt of gratitude to the area music teachers who are so generous with their support and encouragement. And I especially owe thanks to Julie Powell and Sally Sorenson - two of the coolest music-teaching friends a girl could have, and two of the most fun members of Coeurimba, without whom I would not have had the courage or the experience to have taken on the job of long-term music substitute which has lead to this life-altering decision to go back to school!
In fact, last week we had two snow days and Julie and Sally took time from their schedules to meet me at Hayden Meadows and work with me for 2 1/2 hours! They could have been home doing pretty much anything else, but they decided to help me out, and they insisted that it was a good thing for them to review stuff they hadn't done for a while. They really are some wonderful friends!
I'm excited for this new phase in my life! How cool is it that at my age I can now say that I really AM going to learn to play the piano! AND I'm going to finally take that music theory class! This is so cool! I'm really earning the name "Gramma Jamma"!

"what time is it?"

2008-12-30T13:25:00.001-08:00

It's time to prepare for the next week of school! It's really a good thing I didn't wait to start on this giant clock until Saturday, because I know now that I never would have gotten it finished in time for class on Monday! Here it is in it's nearly finished state... And here it is practically ready to go! I need Dad to load it up and take it to the church tonight so I can set it up and see if it actually will stay standing... It's too tall to stand up in the house, and too COLD to try it outside, so the church is the next best place that I can think of! All it needs to make it complete is the "Griffitts Clock Works" logo on the clock face. Then it will be all done!
Oh, yeah - I made this for the kids at school to dance to a piece of 'clock music' that has at least 4 different sections, (like section 'A', 'B', 'C', and 'D') so they can learn about form in music. I thought this would make it more fun - but the tall kids are going to have to really scrunch down to fit through those doors! It's been fun to make it, though. It really ended up coming out pretty much how I imagined it! That's a first!

It's also 'time' that gramma got some new jammies! Grampa thought it would be fun to open these for a Christmas Eve present in Pennsylvania so the girls would be happy that I got some
jammies. Well, we weren't there, so I just opened them on Christmas and wore them to Alan and Sandy's for dinner! They sure are cosy!

and, last, but not least, icicles!

2008-12-25T11:39:00.001-08:00

These pictures speak for themselves. Icicles all over the place.

Oh, yeah...Darbye came home!

2008-12-25T11:18:00.001-08:00

We were not technically late to the airport, but Darbye was already there, so we WERE late to greet here. Thankfully, Jeremy and Amy were there to greet her! But, we do have pictures to prove that we did get to the airport to pick her up! Here are Ramona, Caleb and Alyssa at the airport to greet Darbye.

Dad was happy to see his youngest daughter home safe and sound!

Another Ramona and Cousins picture!

It's been good to have Darbye home for the last couple of weeks. She is working hard and we are especially happy to have her here for Christmas! Woo-hoo!

Baby, it's cold outside!

2008-12-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

The view from the front door - even deeper than last year! And it's STILL SNOWING! The only bad part was that we couldn't fly out on Monday, so we aren't in Philly right now.... Oh, well. It was a white Christmas, and we have had a nice, quiet time together with Darbye. The view from the back door...

I got a couple of musical gifts from Dad - this is my new guitar strap. And Darbye printed off some easy guitar carols for me to practice!

AND! I got two sets of really nice marimba mallets! REALLY nice ones! I've already used them to figure out how to play Silent Night - WITH harmony! They really sound great, so it's fun to use them.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad (aka Gramma and Grampa) at Suzie's house for the annual Christmas party. With jingle bell earrings, jingle bells on my shirt AND jingle bell slippers, I was jingling all the way! Grandma Shar read a story about Candy Canes, and then gave everyone a candy cane at the end!

The cousins all sang a pretty song. It was so fun to watch them all together.

One of the highlights was Tytan reciting his lines in the christmas program: "Fear not! Jesus is born. There's the star. Go find him!" It was SO CUTE!!!

It was a house full of people, but it was sure fun!

Special Chorus: Festival of the Trees

2008-12-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

Blitzen's Boogie - THE favorite song of all time! Aren't they cute? Their parents all thing so, so it was all good!

Bishop got a really nice picture of one of his 'flock' - Katheryne!

I can even look like a choir director when I try hard! It was lots of fun, and I got to watch the programs of several of the other Special Chorus leaders in town - most of them new friends of mine...

Thanksgiving

2008-12-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

The Crebs family visited for Thanksgiving. It was so fun to see them all! Ava discovered how to play the recorder. She's going to be quite the musician.

This is a cute picture, but Ava didn't like the looks of the Elf behind us, so she wasn't happy about sitting so close to him! We were lucky to get the picture.

The last 3 months: First, Coeurimba Bunco Party!

2008-12-25T10:01:00.000-08:00

Sometime in October or November (it's been so long I can't remember exactly...) we hosted a Coeurimba Bunco party at our home for the members of 'the band' and their families. It was so much fun we kept talking about it for weeks! Dan Powel is showing off his prize globe.... Tina was hoping Bob would pick this fancy 'head scratcher' as his prize, but I think she had to take it back home with her and save it for the next Bunco party.

We had a house full, but we had a bunch of fun, too! Behind me is Bob, Eileen, Garrett, Garrett's Dad and sister, and Tina. What a fun time!

Dan, Lincoln and Bailey Powell posing with their 'v' is for victory sign!

It's been a long, long time!

2008-10-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe how busy teachers are! I've barely had time to sleep and get dressed between all the lesson planning and school time I'm putting in! But I am learning lots of fun stuff. I'll have to teach you all "Fuzzy Wuzzy". So far that's one of the coolest rhythm things I've learned! (and, no, it's not just the poem!) Anyway, all next week we'll be singing 'Pumpkin Carols', so I've learned one to the tune of 'Oh, my darlin' Clementine' on my guitar, AND I can play 'She'll be comin' 'round the mountain', too! We are going to do an exercise in composing and make new Halloween words to that song - should be fun!
OK, funny story: One of the little kids in a first grade class didn't realize that I attend church with him until I filled in for the absent chorister a few weeks ago. Then he saw me at school and said "Mrs. Griffitts, I never knew you ever went to church!" Then, Thursday he said "Mrs. Griffitts, I know something." When I asked him what he knew, he stuck out his chin and said "I know how to talk to you without raising my hand." When I asked him how he was going to do that, he leaned into the room and said "I can talk to you at church!" Funny kids!
Well, life is still good but busy! Gotta go!

Recorder lessons...

2008-09-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Too bad there aren't any pictures to go with this one! I was just talking with the music teacher I am subbing for, and I mentioned that I'd never played the recorder before, and I was hoping to get the knack of it before I began that teaching unit in October. I still squeek quite a bit. Well, she told me the FUNNIEST THING!!! She said she shows the kids that you don't need to blow with much force at all by playing "Mary had a Little Lamb" with her NOSE!!! I actually just tried it and ... IT WORKS! This could make an interesting party trick... Just DON'T try it with a cold! (EEEEEWWWWW, GROSS!)
Well, I'll leave you with that pleasant thought!
Gramma Jamma!

Gramma Goes To School

2008-09-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have officially finished my first week of school. I tried to take a picture of myself before I left for my first day of classes, but the flash kept going off in the mirror and it didn't take a good picture. Just believe Steve when he says I look pretty funny biking down the road with my red helmet on and a guitar on my back!
But this is really fun and will surely make me a more interesting gramma! I'm learning all kinds of kid songs and rhymes - not to mention that I can now play "G", "D" and "A" chords and switch pretty well on my guitar- and I'm working on "C" and "E" now. I hear that will make me able to play just about any kid song ever written! And to think I've only had my guitar for one week! It's really fun to learn new stuff, though.
I met with Barb Windisch (the retired music teacher) and Julie Johnson (the sick music teacher) this afternoon, and they were being SO NICE, but pretty much FLOODED this old head with new information! I'm taking on Special Chorus (we've already gotten the request to sing at Festival of the Trees - a bit of a scary thought!) and I've learned about how to get the 4th graders started on playing their recorders and stuff! YIKES! Anyway, like I said, it's a great learning experience for me and I'm having a blast with the kids.
Anybody know how to play the piano? I need an accompanist for Special chorus....
We drummed today!

You want me to do what???

2008-08-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! What a morning! I got a phone call this morning that really revved up my heart rate! The school district called to see if I would agree to take on a long-term music sub job at Hayden Meadows school! I was set to sub for a few weeks for that teacher (who is new there since Mrs. Windisch retired last spring), but I had heard that her son was coming in to help for the semester. Well, he can't do it, so they asked me if I'd fill in for her...until January! Well, after consulting with Tamar and local music teacher Julie Powell, I decided to go for it. I had to cancel my sub job with Jerre Coleman at LCHS teaching French in October, and I'm sad about that, but it's going to be fine. Julie Powell is sure I can do it! The poor teacher has just been diagnosed with cancer and is hoping to be over the hard part of therapy by January. I'll sure be praying for her, too! I guess we'll see if I really am 'Gramma Jamma' after all!

WHAT A WEEK!

2008-08-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

You have all probably seen our anniversary pictures by now, so you know that last Monday we spent the afternoon on the Hiawatha trail and had a picnic lunch. Well, here's the 'rest of the story'.
On the way home Dad suggested that we go to a new Italian restaurant for dinner. OK, but I wasn't hungry yet since we'd had a late lunch, so my mind started working, and I said "we can ride our bikes to the restaurant (it's by Albertsons, so not too far...) and then we can bike up to Zips and have a dip cone for dessert!" Well, we finally came to the conclusion that we didn't need to have 'real' dinner, and since we are adults now, we opted for having dip cones for dinner instead! Good thing we didn't ride our bikes, though, because Zip's doesn't sell them anymore, so we had to go all the way to Dairy Queen to get them!
Tuesday was pretty busy with golf and Coeurimba practice that lasted until about 10:00 since we were preparing for TWO gigs in one week! Then, Wednesday was spent having a massage and cleaning house. Thursday I played about 6 holes of golf before we got rained out, ran out to the fair grounds for our first gig of the week and we got 'rain delayed' twice (both times having to quickly dismantle the instruments and run with them for cover from the rain and hail into the poultry barn!) Then, we picked up Sarah and Josh (our adopted young adult kids - since we don't have any of our own here in town...) and went to dinner at Bonsai and then to see Les Miserables at NIC. That was great! Darcy Wright was Eponine and she did a great job! It was really fun to see her.
Friday I baked cupcakes for Brad and Jessie's reception and then got ready to leave for Pullman in the afternoon. We got to the hotel about 5:30 and then walked through the lentil festival and got some food and had ice cream for dessert. Tina actually got a whole scoop of lentil ice cream! She let us taste it and we were glad that we'd gotten more traditional flavors....
Saturday we got ready for our gig in the park and we realized we were pretty much the main event musically speaking. That was fun! We played for two hours and had a great time! Then we packed up and headed up to CdA. I got home just in time to get ready for Brad and Jessie's reception and it was really a nice time! The weather was beautiful and we sat in the back yard and had hot dogs and chips and cup cakes! It was really fun. I think we were the last group to leave - we stayed quite a bit past dark!
Yesterday was Stake Conference and it was nice, too. Lots of good messages - a few that hit a little too close to home, so we have to be humble and accept the counsel from our leaders! Then we pretty much spent the day with Alan and Sandy and Brad and Jessie and TJ eating left over hot dogs and cup cakes! But it was all good. Then we played up & down the river and watched the closing ceremonies from the olympics. Good week.
Here we go again: it's Monday!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-08-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

Today is our 31st anniversary, and we decided it would be fun to take a bike ride in Montana and Idaho! This is the coolest trail - we recommend it to anyone who loves the outdoors! Check out these pictures! Here is the end of the 2 mile Taft tunnel. It was DARK, wet and pretty cold - but it felt good in the 90+ degree weather! This was really cool, but next time we do this, we are taking our own lights! The ones we rented weren't quite good enough, but we managed to make it through to....
...This beautiful sight! A pretty waterfall that sounded as good as it looks. Of course, the camera can't quite capture the absolute beauty of the place, but this is a good representation anyway!

And just below the waterfall was this pretty stream. We looked down on it and had to take another picture!

Just another 'ho-hum' scene from the trail.... WOW!!!
Didn't I marry one handsome dude? He is so good looking that he made the background look good!
And WHAT A BABE! (that's a quote from Dad...) This is while we were both still relatively clean!

Cool picture of the end of yet another tunnel. There were several on this trip of varying lengths!
This picture was taken on one of the many trestles we biked across. This trail was built over the old "Milwaukee Road" train tracks. Since the train doesn't run anymore, they made it into a bike trail, and it is SO COOL!If you look through the trees you can see a picture of one of the trestles that we crossed. And below is a clearer picture of that same trestle. Can you believe we biked across it? The view was just stunning!

And here I am at the bottom of the trail - slightly dusty but still ready to dig into the pic-a-nic basket full of sandwiches, veggies and fruit that we'd carried with us the whole way down the trail!
And here is the handsome man I married after getting off the shuttle bus and going back up through the tunnel where we'd started so we could get to our car. The second time through the tunnel it didn't seem so dark and dangerous, so we went fast enough to get a good sized mud stripe up Steve's back!

Truly, you all NEED to make this trip. It was fun and beautiful!

Lookie what I found!

2008-08-03T20:30:00.001-07:00

When I got home from church this afternoon my neighbor was outside and said 'hello', so we started talking since we hadn't seen eachother for a while. Well, pretty soon, I heard a 'buzzing' sound, and I looked around, and there was a humming bird flying really close by my head. I looked, and the bird was hovering by a tiny nest in a tree limb not a yard to the left of my head! And, inside the nest, there were TWO baby humming birds! Well, I ran into the house and got my camera to take a picture, but when I got back there was only one baby in the nest. But I waited patiently and sure enough, the other one came back, and here it is, hovering next to the nest. How cool is that? I went out just now - at dusk - to see if I could get another picture - and I got a good one, but I can't get it to download onto the computer. Where's Riley when I need him?
Anyway, cool pictures. But if I can get that other one to upload, I'll include it, too!

QUICK trip to Rexburg...

2008-07-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, after getting home from Philadelphia on Monday, I vowed I wouldn't travel for a while. However, after seeing my hair in the mirror I became desperate, so I called my friend Janet Shirts and asked if she was willing to take a quick 7 hour drive to Rexburg to get our hair done by Lindsay. (I happen to know 2 important things about Janet: 1. She won't let anyone but Lindsay cut her hair - unless she gets really desperate, and then she does it herself, usually with disasterous results! and 2. She had already done her own hair twice since Lindsay had done it last, so she was in need of a 'fix'.) She was agreeable to the journey, so we left for Rexburg at 2:00 Wednesday afternoon - I'd talked to her about it at 12:45... - and we arrived at 10:00 PM Rexburg time. *Remember, we loose an hour going to Rexburg from here... This is a picture of Ava getting the request for services from Janet and me.
This is a picture of Ava checking Lindsay's schedule to see if she could fit us in on Thursday morning. Good luck! She had room for both of us! (she also let us use the couch and floor on Wednesday night!)
And this is the final result of Lindsay's work. I feel MUCH better about public appearances now! I don't have a 6" wide stripe of grey down the middle of my head! I'll have to see her again before I go to Tahoe! Janet looks good, too, we just didn't think about getting a picture of her before we parted ways this afternoon! (we arrived back in Hayden at about 7PM Thursday evening!)

And the finishing touch!

2008-07-27T06:34:00.001-07:00

Here are the 'little princesses' or 'Fancy Nancies' dressed in their dad's duds! I think they look a little more like cute hoboes here! Cute hair, girlies!

more pictures from Philly - just for you, Rob!

2008-07-27T06:21:00.001-07:00

We all had a fun Friday with the Bishop and his family at the ginormous pool and later at the ginormous kid's castle playground - followed by a picnic dinner and a castle cake! What fun!

At the ward picnic on Saturday, Emma took aim at one of her 'little friends'. Must make the Italian side of the family so proud! Every princess needs a manicure and pedicure in the hospital, right?

What I did for my Summer Vacation

2008-07-22T18:25:00.001-07:00

***OK, I don't have this blog thing down really well yet... that should be obvious due to the fact that my background, though cute, doesn't change each week with a new and totally creative theme. I'm doing good to get pictures posted at all - and these are NOT in the order I intended them to be...
If you want to know what I've done for the past 3 months, start at the bottom of this post and work your way up - sort of. Each 'all caps' heading is part of a new adventure. I started at the bottom in May, and worked my way all the way through today in Philly. Good luck...

AND HERE I AM AGAIN IN PHILLY PLAYING WITH THE GIRLS! This is how we entertain ourselves while we are at home all day while 'dad' is off at school and 'mom' is in the hospital taking care of herself. We play "Fancy Nancy" and dress up as Nancy and her pretend dog (who is actually her little sister). We tried to be authentic to the book, except instead of using black permanent marker for Abby's doggy nose, we used grandma's eyebrow pencil...
Don't you just love the 'sock' ears on this cute puppy? And did you notice the pink boa tail?
And how about the fancy duds on this version of Nancy? Actually, this is princess Emma of Andorra (the part of Philly where this extension of the Griffitts live). The other picture is of Princess Abby of Andorra pretending to be a cute puppy!
And here is the whole royal family - King Trevor, Queen Tamar and the Princesses Emma and Abby. So far, so good! (The Queen Mum took the picture...)

THEN I WENT TO ST. LOUIS FOR HEATHER'S 30TH BIRTHDAY!!!
Here she is blowing out the twisty candles on her very special fresh raspberry/lime cake! YUM-O Of course we had to take the kids - and a few friends and mommies - to Grant's farm to see the animals. These little creatures were a bit shy... But the llamas are pretty self-assured!
And the camels figured out that they could get treats, so they got friendly...
And Bud got a job, so we celebrated with some custard for the rest of us, and a gigantic banana split for Bud! (yes, that's a loaf pan!)

Ashlyn liked the ice cream pretty well...

And Payson thought it was "finger-lickin' good"!

NEXT, COEURIMBA PLAYED THE FOR THE FIRST KPBX KID'S CONCERT OF THE SEASON. We played at Riverpark Square right under the clock tower for a large crowd of kids and their parents. It was a hot, fun day in the park!

FIRST WE WENT TO PHILADELPHIA FOR TREVOR'S WHITE COAT CEREMONY MAY 9TH Here is Trevor with his new white coat with his name on the front! It's official - he survived the first two years of dental school! Notice the wide smiles on both Trevor and Tamar!
We were also there to celebrate Mother's day. Nice!
And Grandpa got a little reading time with Abby. Life doesn't get better than this!

1-2-3 NOT IT!

2008-07-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, good news/bad news! Gramma Jamma will NOT be appearing in the local community theatre production of Nunsense after all. The good news is that not only does this free up more of my summer schedule and allow me to visit with my sisters in Tahoe in September to plan our reunion, but I have also added at least one new skill to my ever-increasing repertoire of tricks: I can whistle with 4 AND 2 fingers in my mouth. I must confess, I'm still working on learning how to do more than just spit when I try the one-handed two-finger whistle... but it will come! I'm about 85% successful with the other two versions, however!
The bad news is that no one will ever have the opportunity to watch me sing "I just wanna be a star" on stage in a nun's habit. Oh well, I guess the world will just have to keep waiting for that one. But it would have been good.
I'll see you in the funny papers!
Gramma Jamma!

Whistler's Mother!

2008-07-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

OK, biggest news ever! This old Gramma Jamma has just learned to whistle with fingers inserted into my mouth! How cool is this? I can make an ear drum-piercing whistle almost every time I try now, and I just learned how at about 4:30 this afternoon. Let me tell you the story...
Tomorrow (Monday) night I am auditioning for Nunsense, the musical. I would like to be Sister Robert Ann, the street-wise Nun with the New York accent. Well, I have thought for quite a while now that being able to perform one of those shrill whistles would be a great assett for that part, so today with so much family around, I thought I'd ask who knew how to do that so they could teach me. I thought, perhaps by September I would have it down pretty well.... Yeah! I got it already! Bobby tried to teach me the 2-finger whistle, and I almost got it a few times, but Kyle came in and showed me how to do the 4-finger whistle (two fingers from each hand) and I got it almost immediately! How fun is that? I've whistled for the whole family (they still think it's funny, but it could get old soon....) and even for the neighbors. They were actually impressed because neither of them could do it! I'm still working on the finger/thumb whistle as I think it could be impressive to be able to do a few versions of the finger-whistle trick. Either way, Dad is actually proud of me, and doesn't complain at all when he's watching golf and I suddenly come out with a loud, shrill whistle and shake him out of his happy place!
OK, everybody whistle now!

Lindsay tagged me...

2008-06-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

OK, I figured out not only how to do this blog tag, BUT I also figured out how to put more than 5 pictures on one blog entry! And Riley didn't even help me! (It's OK, Riley, I won't try to get the presidency of the BYU-I computer geek society from you - your position is safe... for now!)

Anyway, here are the pictorial answers to the tag questions.

Birthplace: Dallas, Texas - home of the Texas State Fair and BIG TEX!!! Really fun memories of Big Tex saying "El-e-men-ta-ry da-y" when he was announcing who all was invited to the fair that day!

Favorite Vacation Destination:Brugges, Belgium. I love chocolate and lace, and they have it ALL! (this is a picture of "The Lake of Love") Awwww!
Favorite color: Green. It's peaceful.... AND IRISH! (remember, NOBODY messes with St. Patrick! I don't care WHO you think you are!)
Dream career: Teacher - does this prove I'm a real dweeb? I just love helping kids learn stuff.
Guilty pleasure: Chocolate cake and ice cream. Y-U-M!!!
Favorite hobby: Playing my marimba. I even played Uncle Alan a four-verse version of 'happy birthday' as his birthday present on Sunday. WAY FUN!

Favorite Restaurant: Outback Steakhouse. Probably another 'dweeby' choice, but I still like it. Any place where the manager will come out and fall in love with my granddaughter and carry her all over the restaurant has my business!

Favorite Actress: Joanne Woodward. She has the stuff it takes not only to be a good actress, but to keep a man like Paul Newman married to her for all these years! You go, girl!

Favorite actor: Paul Newman. He is smart enough to have stayed with Joanne Woodward all these years. Plus he does cool stuff for kids with his 'Newman's Own' brand of dressings and stuff. And we all know how I love helping kids....Go, Paul! (does that mean he's a 'dweeb' like me?)

Favorite vehicle: When I was home from college for the summer once I got to drive a convertible red Volkswagen! It wasn't good to drive it if there was a chance of rain, though - the top wouldn't come up! I got caught at work once when it started to rain, and the girls helped me wrap the entire car in plastic wrap to keep it dry! Ha!

Favorite place to shop: My new favorite place to shop, that I discovered while visiting my sister in Austin, is DSW shoe warehouse! Thousands of shoes, and discounted prices! Monica even let me use one of her coupons while I was there! (Good thing, I bought 3 pairs of shoes and I was only there for 10 days... I guess it's a good thing there's not one close to Coeur d'Alene....)
Favorite Flower: The humble, versatile and long-lasting carnation. It comes in so many colors, and lasts for weeks! A real hard-working, budget-minded flower! I love things like that!

ABC because Riley likes me....

2008-06-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to be tagged....so Riley came through big time....Okay, here we go with a lightening fast round of ABC

Attached or Single? Who's asking?Base upon the wounds I have on my arms and legs from Mom beating me, I have to say I'm married......I mean attached...

Best Friend? Taffy loved me unconditionally.But Mom comes a close second.

Cake or Pie? Sometimes cake but mostly pie.....or maybe cake....at least it needs to have ice cream.

Day of Choice? Friday nights two ball with Marilyn Cecile Roan Griffitts/Saturday for football, Final round Sundays after church for the four majors/ Monday Pro-ams/Thursday is Stag day...Sunday is Church....so any day.

Essential Items? Remote Control/water/golf clubs/

Favorite Color? Blue for the sky/Green for the trees/Red for Mom's forehead when she's mad at me.

Gummy Bears or Worms? I don't get this question, mwhy would you use Gummy Bears for fishing?...Plus I don't fish..

Hometown? Born in Pasadena, California/ Live in Hayden Lake , Idaho. Slept throughpout the US and Western Europe.

Indulgences? Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream with frozen M&Ms and Milk in Ice cream..

January or July?....After this year 's winter....it's July...

Kids? 7 of them Heather, Tamar,Bud, Trevor, Lindsay, Riley, Darbye ( if the question was Kids or Grandkids....Well, What do you think?

Like or Love? Really Love

Marriage Date? I did not go on a date the day I married your Mom... August 18, 1977

Number of Siblings? Teresa, John, Urlene, Charles, Jim, Jim's wife, Kathy, Monica ,Farid,Greg, Tabitha, Dennis, Kelli, Suzie, Doug, Alan, Sandy, Bobby, Erin, Amy, and Jeremy...so the answer is......21
Oranges or Apples? Apple fritters, Apple Jacks, Apple Pie, Apples by themselves, Apple cake, Gee Forrest there are lots of ways to eat Apples.....

Phobias/Fears? Running out of Money, Snakes, Scorpions, Gila Monsters.....and Shanking the Golf Ball.

Quotes? I love Mom..I'm sorry I said that Taffy was the one who unconditionally loved me...I love Mom...I love Mom...I love Mom...For my health I love Mom. My other quote is "Far better it is dare mighty deeds though overcome by failure than to take rank with those poor timid souls that know neither victory nor defeat".

Reason to Smile? Waking up next to Mom...Seriously..

Season? Well probably pepper more than salt, but I like other types of seasons as well..Like golf, football, summer without humidity, the fall in Texas...and golf..

Tag Six? My brother Alan and five wonderful grandchildren.....Emma, Payson, Abby, Ashlyn and Ava..
Unknown fact about me? I used to love being in musicals when I was 12-15. Church usually.

Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals(Obedient to the Word of Wisdom)? Duh.. I am obedient.

Worst Habit? I have many bad ones so it's hard to really identify one more that another..Probably too much humility.

X-Rays or Ultrasounds? I have had X-Rays so that's my answer..

Your Favorite Food? Mexican...or Breakfast

Zodiac? Libra

This was fun... Thanks

My twin "Sister"...

2008-05-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

In a parallel universe, this is what I might look like if I weren't a Mormon! Last night we had a dress rehearsal at Suzie's house for our weekend performance of the first two songs from Nunsense at the Lake City Playhouse. Suzie asked if I'd help out and take the part of Sister Robert Ann (the street-wise Nun) and sing for a short performance before a matinee on Saturday. It's an advertisement for the fall production of Nunsense. She said it could lead to a part in the show, but not for sure. I checked the calendar for the playhouse, and the production would happen right when we were supposed to be in Tahoe with my sisters... Well, I decided not even to audition. But then we had that dress rehearsal last night, and we performed for Doug and the kids, and it was so fun that I've lost my resolve not even to try out for the part.... Don't I look like a convincing Nun? And I can sing with a Brooklyn accent, so that's good... well, trying out doesn't mean I will get the part, but I'm pretty good, if I do say so myself. Maybe I'll just invite everyone to come up and see the show! Stay tuned!

The Verdict is in... No need to amputate!

2008-04-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sure you will all be relieved when I tell you that they told me today that there is no need to plan a head amputation! I met with the Dr. this morning and she set up a consultation with a neurosurgeon (Dr. Larson - same as for Dad's back) so he can discuss what - if anything - should be done about the pain in the neck I've had for the last year... At least I know my hair do is still safe! All I know is there is 'no nerve impingement' and all they found was some 'narrowing' in a couple of the discs and some 'degeneration'. Shoot - wish I hadn't fallen on my head that day in gymnastics class in High School...
Oh, well, as long as the hair is good, I'm ok!

Finally, after almost a month, I've got something to say!

2008-04-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the REAL Diego! He goes to Hayden 2nd Ward, and he's a really cute 3 year old boy. His mother and father own a really wonderful Gourmet Latin Lunch place down by NIC. His dad was just baptized last year and we got to go through the temple with him last Saturday night! Cool stuff! Oh, his dad's name is Carlos, and his mom is Columba. He's my spanish teacher! (Diego's dad, not Diego...)
And, here I am modeling my new spring 'do' that Lindsay gave me last week! It's just TOO CUTE (as Mona would say). My other big news is that today I did something I've never done before! I listened to Jack Johnson (or tried to...) while I got my first ever MRI. It wasn't so bad if you keep your eyes shut. But it was LOUD. Anyway, I'll find out tomorrow morning why I've had such a 'pain in the neck' for so long! I actually put that on the form I had to sign! Ha! I have a 'pain in the neck'! Well, I'm off to be cool and play my marimba with my cool buddies!

Texas Wildflowers

2008-04-10T16:48:00.001-07:00

The beautiful Bluebonnet - State flower of Texas. Aren't they bright and pretty? It was cool to be there during the blooming time... And this is an Indian Fire Wheel (also known as and Indian paint blanket). They bloom everywhere!
Here is the pink version of buttercups - I think some people call them wine cups...
And I don't know the name of this flower, but it was blooming everywhere! So cute!
Alas, the Indian Paint Brushes just started blooming at the end of my trip, so the only time I saw any was out the window on the freeway on my way to the airport. Sorry, no paintbrush pictures this year. I'll just have to try again next year! That's a great idea!
The truth is, we've already scheduled another visit with Monica, Farid, Teresa and John for Lake Taho in September. Farid wanted to know if any of my kids could come. Well, probably not, but maybe Lindsay could find a way....? Anyway, he sure loves the family! What a great time we all had together. Wish you could have been there. Nobody got tired of being together!

This one's for Lindsay!

2008-04-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Lindsay, I thought you'd like to see what Aunt Monica has done with her guest bath. Check out the flat glass beads in the bottom of the sink!

A Beautiful day for a birthday party!

2008-04-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

Charles and Urlene and Whitney made it to town for the weekend, so we decided to have a birthday party for Urlene since she maintains that she never got to have one growing up because it was too inconveniently timed - April 15th - TAX DAY... She got a beautiful, 4-layer vanilla cake with cute flowers all over it. Sami and Caki thought it was a great 'dry run' for their birthdays on the 28th of this month!
We discovered another visitor to the party... a bright green lizard! He was showing off his 'fan' under his neck for a while, but, of course, not for the camera! At least he stayed put long enough for us to get a decent picture!
Here's another picture of the gang on Sunday afternoon. Whitney, me, John, Teresa, Urlene and Monica darling... sitting in the shade out of the HOT SUN!!!

Saturday Afternoon at the Baseball Festival

2008-04-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Uncle Steve said he couldn't find Caki. I think he wasn't looking too hard! She was right behind him! Her favorite thing to say after that was "Do it again!"
Here is a picture of Uncle Charles enjoying himself on a bright, sunny Saturday at the ball park!
Aunt Teresa gives the 'thumbs up' after hearing her number called at the cake walk. She knew she'd win... she has a history of winning at cake walks. She once won twice in one day at the grocery store! OK, it's official! Cake walk luck runs in the family! Whitney got cookies, and Sami got chocolate cupcakes at the cake walk.
Here is Sami enjoying his winnings - EVERY LAST MORSEL! What a good day!

The Bat Boat

2008-04-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

Here is Caki waiting for the bats!

Thursday night we went out on a barge to watch the bats fly out from under the Congress Street bridge. I didn't get any good pictures of the bats - it was too dark. But we did get some nice pictures of us on the boat as we waited for the little flying bug-eating machines to emerge!

Here are Steve and John...
Here is Helene the night before she left for France.
Guess who!

Crepe bash!

2008-04-05T15:55:00.001-07:00

Dad was so excited when Helene (pronounced el-EEN) made real French crepes for us on Thursday. She left early Friday morning for France, and we miss her! How do you like the way she can flip a crepe?

Mexican Shopping Trip to Nieman's!

2008-04-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

The trademark symbol of Nieman Marcus is the butterfly. When we went in the store, Monica was actually buying stuff (a purse to be exact) so Teresa, John and I decided to just browse around. Going up the escalators was wonderful! The whole atrium area was filled with butterflies made of feathers! Aren't they beautiful? This one is made of feathers and glitter.
This one is painted with silver paint.
This is what they look like if you look up above your head as you ride up or down the escalator!
And here we are outside the store just to prove that we were really here!

We Are Family!

2008-03-31T06:58:00.000-07:00

We are family. I've got all my sisters with me (well, not really, Urlene and Kathy are not here, and Greg is...but that wasn't part of the song!) Anyway, here we are Sunday in Monica's living room: John, Teresa, Greg, me and Monica.
Colin and Shane were busy with the x-box.
Tim and Tabetha. He's just graduated from High School and he's a concierge at a local hotel - he's got it goin' on!
I just had to include the picture of the beautiful cupcakes we found at the store. They were remarkable! (we bought the cheaper ones, though...)

Take me out to the ball game...

2008-03-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

Sami and Farid warming up before the game. Cute, huh?
Run, Sami, run!!! We won! Again!
What to do when your brother is playing another game...

Sami got the game ball for his stellar playing! This kid is related to me, right? (anyone remember my baseball story playing left field?)

A Room With A View

2008-03-31T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here is my room in "the Villa"! Lovely, right? What fun to be here! I could get used to this!
And here is the view from my balcony! Bet you wish you were here with me!
And, the upstairs living room. Remember this place? I know that at least Tamar and I slept here on the floor for the family reunion - there was no furniture at the time! This is the improved version!

Texas, my Texas!

2008-03-30T14:15:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it has taken me 7 years to get back here! That will NEVER happen again!
Friday was mystery reader day - Monica dahling was the mystery reader in Caki's class, so we had lunch with the twins first, then off to the classroom for reading "Fancy Nancy". Monica even brought 4 of the gaudiest, sparkliest rings I've ever seen, so she could wear them while reading the 'fancy' story! It was great!
Here we are in the lunch room with Caki, Sami, Monica, Teresa and John. I took the picture, but you already know what I look like...
Monica was the consessions lady at Sami's game Friday evening. I thought she looked lovely there, even though she wasn't wearing her fancy rings for this job! I did help her with fixing the drinks for the team for after the game - they won, by the way!
Here is Caki with her package of Doritos. She knows how to watch a baseball game - get a snack and walk around visiting all of your friends, and all the people who are walking friendly-looking dogs! The time just zips by!
Farid really tried to let us be in charge of taking the pictures, but after only 3 shots, he asked for the camera for himself so he could get some good ones. Here he is taking a picture of me taking a picture of him!
And here is a picture of 'Slammin' Sami' getting ready to really whop one out of the park! (well, not out of the park, but he did get to first, and his team DID win!)
As soon as I get Farid to download the other pictures I've taken, you'll see 'the villa' where I'm staying - it's WONDERFUL - and pictures of Saturday's game, and lots of other fun stuff! I'm really enjoying myself here. I don't want it to end. I love you all!
Gramma Jamma!

"Sweet Violet"

2008-03-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

In order to get our grandchild 'fix' for the month we borrowed little Violet for the day Saturday while her mommy and daddy were moving to their new home. Her mom is my masseuse and needed a little help since Violet thought she was in charge of a little too much of the moving process! We needed a little grandkid time, and she had started calling me grandma on Friday - and even volunteered to let me change her diaper during dinner - so how could I refuse? We had a great time, and the move went smoothly, so it was a win/win/win for all of us!

Here is little Violet eating her lunch of peanutbutter and jelly, apples, oranges (she really liked oranges) and cottage cheese. Only one thing on the plate at a time, though! Another interesting habit is for her to taste and then spit out the first bite of EVERYTHING and then go right ahead and eat all the rest... She loved to read, but only for short snatches at a time.
Jammin' on the marimba was a hit - in more ways than one!
She really enjoyed the walk with Grandpa! Outside is a favorite place for Violet.
But, after a long walk, and an even longer nap, a girl can work up a healthy appetite, so we needed a little cupcake time!

THE REAL DIEGO!

2008-03-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I'm really trying for favorite gramma here, but I will do it with my head held high! Most of you know that I've started taking Spanish lessons. Well, the first teacher moved back to Mexico recently, so we had to find another teacher... He happens to live about a block past my back yard, he goes to Hayden 2nd ward, AND he has a 3 year old son named DIEGO! He even looks like "Dora's" brother! Of course, he speaks fluent 'kid' Spanish! I just know that my grandkids now think I know someone famous! I'm sure he'd love to play with them whenever they come for a visit! But don't forget to visit Grammie Jammies, too!

It's official!

2008-03-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Well, this afternoon, after a half day of elementary music and some asprin for my headache, I signed the paperwork for selling the house. Don't panic - we won't end up out in the street! We have a clause that says any offers are contengent upon us getting the house we want before we agree to sell! I've got writer's cramp from signing so many forms, but let's all pray that this time the $575 K selling price will actually be enough to buy Sam's house and get us out of debt! (Big hint: Sam needs to get a little more realistic about his asking price of $495....) Anyway, that's the news. I really do like this big, old house. It has been a great place to live, and it would have been nice if we could have kept it long enough for one of you kids to buy it, but it looks like that won't be happening. That's ok. Now none of you will feel obligated to buy it!
I'll keep you posted on how it all goes!

Visit to Rexburg

2008-02-24T16:26:00.001-08:00

We got to see Lindsay, Riley and Ava this weekend. I got here first on Thursday - after a long day flying and waiting.... Got on one plane in Spokane, got off that one (Seattle was fogged in, so we got re-routed to Portland) and after I finally got on the plane to Portland, as they were closing the door the handle fell off (!) and we had to wait for a mechanic to repair it before we could take off... then, I figured out in Portland that I was going to get to SLC too late for the noon bus to Rexburg. Well, I had to call to let them know not to wait for me and put me on the 3:00 bus. I figured I'd be sitting waiting for a while in Salt Lake. Well, no need to wait for long! I couldn't find my luggage (neither could Southwest), so I had to go to the office to report that, so that took up lots of my sitting and waiting time! But, they couldn't get it on the next bus to Rexburg, so I borrowed Lindsay's jammies for Thursday night (Abby should like knowing that I had more than one pair of jammies for this trip, thanks to Lindsay!) Then, they called me to tell me that they had my luggage, but the driver left without it on Friday at noon, so they'd get it on the 3:00 bus, so I FINALLY got my luggage Friday night at 7!
Grandpa got here while I was getting my hair done on Friday. Then we went out to dinner with Riley and Lindsay and Ava at a place called the Hard Hat Restaurant. The food was really good, but we were most impressed with the dessert we didn't buy! It was called a Skyscraper Chocolate cake. It was 7 (yes, SEVEN!) layers high! One slice was enough to feed all four of us! It was truly HUGE! Yes, I realize I said we didn't buy any, but we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner for Saturday so we could justify buying a slice of cake for dessert on Saturday.
Before we went out for lunch/dinner on Saturday, Ava got car sick, so we took her to the hotel and cleaned her up, but Lindsay had so many bags to bring for the trip, she'd forgotten the diaper bag, so while Ava was soaking in the jetted tub at the hotel, Grandpa and Riley went to the store to get diapers. They came back with diapers, wipes, jeans, a pink tee shirt and this cute pink dress!
All-in-all it was a good day! Plus, we went to Rexburg to eat the cake and play up and down the river, and Grandma WON the game! Woo-hoo! Good trip to Rexburg!

MOOSE!!!

2008-02-20T15:09:00.000-08:00

Here's the story: I've heard there is a big old bull moose roaming around the club grounds - and many sightings have occurred across the street from our back yard. Therefore, I have felt a little left out not having seen the moose - either of them - yet. Well, all that changed Tuesday morning!
I got a call from the school about 5:45 to sub for a sick teacher at CHS. She has a zero hour class that starts at 6:30 AM, so I had to hurry. I got out the door about 6:30 (which was excusable ahead of time - I'm not so unreliable as all that!) and had to scrape the frost off the windshield of the car before I could go anywhere! I was in an understandable hurry!
I got in the car, backed out of the driveway, and noticed another car headed S-L-O-W-L-Y my way, so I pulled over for it to pass me. (you know this street is quite narrow). Well, when I got to the corner and looked to my left to check for on-coming traffic (yeah, even at 6:30AM...) I saw something that looked a little like a stand of shrubbery out of the corner of my eye. I looked closer, and it was THE BULL MOOSE! He was lying down in Mrs. Brown's yard! I immediately thought of calling and allerting Dad, but noticed that my phone was up in my room being charged! AARGH! I was half way to school before I thought that I had my camera with me, and that would have made a cool blog picture! But, I was already late, and I COULDN'T go back and take a picture after I'd thought about it! DANG!
Well, that afternoon, while driving home, I wanted to make sure it hadn't just been my imagination, so I looked toward the spot where I remembered seeing the big old guy lounging around. I thought I'd see an indentation in the snow or something to confirm that he'd been there.... He'd been there, all right! He left a little 'package' for us to remember him by. I just didn't think that made the best picture, so you can use your imaginations for that!

Fiesta!

2008-02-16T10:22:00.001-08:00

Friday night we had a Mexican fiesta at our house. I am taking a Spanish class at church with Shawna Miller and Linda Rattigan (pictured below) that is being taught by Isabella and Jim Kinsey. Isabella will be leaving for Mexico in early March, so we wanted to get together before she left so we could have some fun. I hosted the dinner, so I went to the 50% off card shoppe and found some fun stuff to decorate with.
Here is one shot of the table - plates and glasses from Target, goblets from Ramona, table runner and red napkins from an auction Dad and I attended a couple of years ago, drinking straws with paper sombreroes added a really festive touch! Here is a shot of the table from the other direction so you can see my string of chili peppers! We had tortilla soup, fruit salad, sliced fresh fruit and vegetables, guacomole and chips, black bean soft tacos, and a really "delicioso" corn and black bean salsa. Isabella also made a very interesting drink from steeping purple flowers. I'm not sure how to spell it, but it sounded like 'formica' only with an 'h' sound instead of the 'f'. It was a deep purple color and I developed a taste for it by the time the dinner was over. Oh, and there was flan for dessert! Another little something I'm going to have to walk a few more miles to recover from, but it sure did taste good!
After dinner we all went down stairs to watch "Tortilla Soup". It was pretty good. We had a great time and I think I want to start hosting dinners here more often. This party wasn't over until about 11PM! And I was awake the whole time! Woo-Hoo! I'm a fiesta animal now!

My Pretty Valentine

2008-02-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

Well, for Valentine's day, my valentine got me flowers and a wide-screen digital picture frame so now we can upload all the cute grandkid pictures and show them off to anyone who dares come into our home! It even comes with a remote control so we can "help" our guests see all the pictures! Great idea! Then we went out and had a 5 course meal at the club and it was really nice! The best (and fanciest) shrimp coctail I've ever eaten, followed by corn chowder served in a tiny glass bowl with a crusty piece of bread with oysters and a pate (I know it had a fancy name, I just don't remember it now...) then a salad that was something like a gingam, but tweaked a bit, then a choice of entrees: scallops or beef or lamb (that's what I had) or ahi (that's what Dad had) and then the dessert! A molten chocolate cake with gigantic cherries and whipped cream. Dad didn't eat all of his, but I found a way to eat all of MY dessert! I walked off about half of it the next morning!
Happy Valentine's Day!

Another good reason we live in Idaho

2008-02-14T09:29:00.001-08:00

I am so glad I had the camera in my purse! I was driving home about 5:00 yesterday evening when I looked west to the sunset and decided to take a few minutes to find the perfect view for taking a potentially spectacular picture of this beautiful sunset. The funny thing was, I wasn't the only person on the road looking for a place to pull over to grab a shot of the blazing colors on the horizon! I found my spot where Dacota and Strahorn come together at the top of the hill overlooking the sixth fairway at the Hayden Lake Country Club. The sunset from the day before was equally as beautiful, but I was out walking and didn't have a camera - good thing it happened twice! Feel free to stare at it as long as you want!

OK, Lindsay, Maybe I do like these things!

2008-02-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

4 jobs I've had in my life: I've worked at a vending company where I put mixtures of small toys encased in plastic spheres in bags (for loading into bubble gum machines); I've worked at an Orange Julius at the Irving Mall; taught sign language for several elementary school's after-school language programs in Madison, Wisconsin; and I've been substitute teaching in the Coeur d'Alene school district for the past 4 years (I REALLY like this job.)

5 places I've been: 1. Ireland, to my grandfather's birthplace. Such a beautiful place! And friendlier people I've NEVER met! 2. Paris (and lots of other places in France). That's a cool place, plus I can practice using French - always an adventure! 3. Hong Kong. As a 'Western European' type you can't just blend in there, but the people, the scenery and the culture are quite interesting. 4. Scotland. That was a fun place! Urquhart castle with a bagpiper at sunset! Really fun! 5. Coming in with a tie for my most favorite place is The Grande Place in the heart of Brussels, Belgium; and Brugges, the city of lace and chocolate. What a step back in time!

4 favorite foods: Well, it would be easier to list what I DON'T like, since food and I have had a love/hate relationship throughout my life! But, this is asking for my favorites, so here goes. 1. Fried chicken - I don't eat it too often (I'm too short for that many calories...) but it does taste wonderful, especially with sides of mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans! 2. Homemade banana nut (pecan) ice cream. My Aunt Tete used to make that for me whenever we'd go visit her and Uncle Don in New Mexico. That's how I knew she loved me! 3. Chocolate pudding with whipped cream on top. Mama used to make that for us sometimes, and we'd sit on the front porch and stirr it all up together and take about an hour to eat it! Yum! 4. Hot homemade bread fresh out of the oven with butter and jam! Doesn't that just make your mouth water to think about it? Heavenly!

3 people I'd like to get to know better: I'm just going to lump all of my nephews and nieces together here - my sibling's children. I haven't been close enough to get to know them for the last several years (18?). I had the opportunity to get to know Whitney in France, and she is such a doll! I would like to get to know the others, too!

4 reasons I love being me: 1. My family - what else is there? 2. The places I've gotten to go to and experience other ways and cultures. 3. Being from Texas. I know there are a lot of people who make fun (or worse) of Texans, but being from Texas always gets some kind of response from people, good or bad. At least everyone knows where it is! (besides, some have tried, but you just can't fake that accent!) 4. I am glad I inherited the 'southern' story-telling gene. It's really fun to captivate an audience with a story, and I think I got it from both of my parents!

4 classes I wish were offered to me and I could participate in: 1. I have recently decided that I need to take a music theory class. If I understood a little better how music worked, maybe music would come easier to me (not that it's that hard, but I think this would make it easier...). 2. I also want to find time to learn to play the piano. (again, music theory would help!) 3. I want to learn to speak Russian. 4. I am currently learning Spanish, so I guess that doesn't count... 4b. I'd probably go with Lindsay to the anatomy class. I've always thought it was interesting to learn how the body works. That would be cool.

4 friends I want to tag: OK, you already know that I don't know too many people who have blogs besides my kids, so I'm just going to tag Gail Goodwin. I just helped her set up her blog page a couple of weeks ago, so I'm just about sure she hasn't been tagged. Since I helped her set up her page, can she count for all four friends?

Would you believe....part trois?

2008-01-31T09:40:00.000-08:00

OK, guys, here is yet another picture of my patio table under snow. A not so careful observation of this picture (taken this morning) and the one below it from a few days ago, will show you that, yes, we've had more snow! In the paper this morning I read that we are on the verge of declairing a state of emergency! Schools are closed throughout the area, Spokane is RENTING extra plows to clear the roads, and our roads are getting narrower and narrower with street crews and police and firemen working extra, exhausting shifts! Yikes! Oh, and we are supposed to get more snow this weekend, but the weather won't get warm enough for this snow to melt at all before the next dumping! Thankfully someone plowed my driveway while I was gone teaching yesterday, and they thought to plow out the mailbox, too, so we finally got mail for the first time this week! ("Neither rain nor wind, nor snow, nor ice...." yeah, yeah!)
Stay tuned for Saturday's picture! I hope the table holds up!

Snow Day, part deux!

2008-01-28T12:28:00.000-08:00

Another snow day - ho hum! But this one is different - this is some SERIOUS snow! I looked out the back door and noticed that the snow was not accumulating under the patio table, so you can see how deep it really is! Holy Cow! And we've got more snow coming Tuesday and Thursday! The kids around here may be going to school until July to make up for the days they might miss this week! Sure is pretty though, right? Hot, hot, hot, Hot Chocolate!

Life is never boring even for empty nesters!

2008-01-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm taking a cue from you girls who don't always post pictures, so I figure if I have something interesting to say, I can say it without having to 'illustrate' it too! Here goes. Monday started out as a pretty regular day - I went for PT with Lori Ann, and she leaned on my shoulder with her elbow, and I'm really GLAD she did. I'll trade temporary pain for longterm relief! Tuesday I was going to clean the house, but I slept in the chair most of the day, except for the time I thought I might need to 'unload' the breakfast I hadn't eaten.... at least I lost a couple of pounds! Hope I can manage to keep them off....
Here's the really interesting part! Wednesday I subbed at CHS for the choir teacher. It was finals week, so we had 2 one our study periods, one 2 hour test period, lunch, and a final 2 hour test period. Mr. Nelson came through during the first study hour and introduced himself, walked through the room, checked out the practice rooms and left. I thought that might have been routine, but I found out later that it wasn't! In the middle of the first 2-hour test block, one of the administrators came into the room and handed me a pink square of paper with the words "For Your Eyes Only" printed across the top. (I have to admit my first thought was of James Bond, but this was actually reality...) He said not to mention anything to the students yet, but we were in a modified lock-down and no one would be allowed to leave the campus for lunch (it would be lunch time in about an hour). The police were searching for a student who was suspected of being involved in a theft the night before. He was a student at CHS. That's why Mr. Nelson was in the choir room earlier! They were making a sweep of the school to make sure the kid wasn't hiding somewhere in the school!
Well, as it turned out, they got the kid before lunch started. He was at LCHS - which ended up being in a full-fledged lock-down! He had stolen guns, ammo and scopes from a home and the police were tipped off by his parents. There were 12 police cars (both marked and not) at both schools, and when they saw him drive into the parking lot they nabbed him. Yikes! We didn't get the details until lunch time when it was all over. Some of the teachers complained about being left in the dark for so long, and I understand their point, but I was glad I didn't really know what was going on. I'd have been MUCH more nervous! You can read all about it in today's Press!
Oh, yeah, I was at school again today, but all I did was sit through the study times and one test. Ms. Monitz doesn't have a 7th hour class, so I got to leave at 11:45!
My advice? Prayer - don't leave home without it!

SNOW DAY!!!

2008-01-09T11:30:00.001-08:00

Well, I was supposed to be teaching French at Lake City today, instead we got a snow day! I think I'm happier about that than the school kids are - and I don't know why - I like teaching French...
Anyway, I took this picture yesterday thinking you might like to see how much snow we've gotten, but this morning there is even more....
Check out today's picture of the back yard! You can really see the difference in the ammount of snow on the railings around the porch!

And then we can come to the front yard and play "find the Christmas decorations"! The penguins are buried - all you can see (if you look closely) is one tiny black wing poking out of the mound of snow. Poor penguins! But the snow is great. It's still falling, and we just paid some guy $20 to plow the driveway that is already covered in a layer of snow only 1 hour later! But, it's all good! Time for some hot chocolate and marshmallows! Hope Oprah is good today!

Shovelin' in a Winter Wonderland!

2007-12-29T12:12:00.001-08:00

Well, the house is quiet again now that all the kids and grandkids have scattered to the four winds! But Gramma and Gramps aren't just sitting around with nothing to do! No-sirree-bob! We got a big storm last night, so Gramps decided to get his new-fangled snow shovel out for a test drive, so Gramma had to go out, too and make sure Gramps didn't injure himself (at least this way, if he did, she could injure herself, too, and he couldn't be the only one sitting in the house moaning!).
Well, so far, so good. We helped another lady in the ward who had hurt herself even though she was using a snowblower. We went out with another couple and, with shovels in hand, cleared her driveway for her. Then we went by Gramma Shar's house, and sure enough, her's was deep in snow, so we started to shovel there, too. It proved to be a little too much for the two of us, so we drove around until we found Jake from the Country Club out plowing, and Steve jumped in with him to go out doing good the easier (and less painful) way!
Anyway, we thought you all would like to see how the house looks with the snow, penguins to the left, and sled and train to the right. It really is a winter wonderland, and we love it here. Snow is beautiful! Have a happy new year!

Christmas Morning

2007-12-26T18:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning finally arrived. Payson, Ashlyn, Ava and their parents and grandparents were so excited to get to the presents! But we had to wait for Aunt Darbye to call, so it wasn't until about 10 AM before we actually got to the paper-ripping! First, Payson gets to try on his new chef's hat. Then, Ahslyn decides to play with the wrappings and bows, and looks cute no matter what she's doing! (and she knows it!)
Ava got the present thing figured out, too. She really liked the tissue - it made for some interesting and fun times!

In this Porter family picture, Paysons father (the most responsible member of the family...) was showing Payson how to blow up and use the new 'woopie cushion' he got from his Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Riley. You can't imagine the giggles that cascaded from Payson! I think it was the perfect gift! Way to go, guys!
And here is Lindsay posing with her "married girls" present. She loves being on of the 'grown-ups' now! What a fun Christmas! Maybe we'll see you ALL next Christmas?

Christmas Eve Extravaganza at Suzie's house

2007-12-26T18:16:00.001-08:00

Miss Mona and Gramma Francis couldn't believe all the food! What fun to see her having a good time watching all the kids!
Ava had a good dinner, then she was ready for a nap - as you can see, she has her Grandpa's ear in her hand so she can relax and get ready to sleep!
Brinley and McKenna played the piano for the talent show in the 'little theatre' in Suzie's basement.
Uncle Bob had to do a command performance of his 'Aerobic' version of Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is You". Too fun!!!
And then there was the 'angel choir' to wrap up all the festivities. What fun to have family together for Christmas.

Ava's first birthday!

2007-12-26T16:31:00.001-08:00

Ava had a few friends (cousins) over for cake for her birthday - a few days before Christmas (Dec. 20) Here are Papa, cousin McKenna and Ava waiting patiently for the first bite of cake! Ava had a cake all her own to eat with her hands! This is the 'before' picture....

This is kind of an 'after' picture. Shortly after this was taken, Ava dived face first into the cake! What a fun party girl!
And after all that (and a sponge bath....) it was time to open presents! This birthday stuff is F-U-N!!! We love Ava!

Tagged again!

2007-11-30T10:41:00.001-08:00

OK, I'm so old by now and I talk so much, I figure you guys could just as easily fill in these blanks, but I'll do it so you can get my side of the story! Here are the answers to the following questions about my husband (Steve)...I love you, Steve!
1. Full name: Steven James Griffitts
2. How long have you been married? 30 years last August
3. How long did you date? (play some syrupy music for this one!) We're still dating!But we started dating before his mission, broke up and then got back together 2 years later and dated for about 6 months before we got married. Does that count as about 3 1/2 years!?
4. How old is Steve? 52. He's younger than me by a year and a day - ok, do the math - I'm 53, and dang proud of it! I'm shooting for 100, and I think I can make it!
5. Who eats more? Probably Steve. I'm on a perpetual diet, except when I don't want to be, then I eat more, which causes me to go back on my perpetual diet....
6. Who said "I love you" first. Definately Steve. He used to get so ticked off because I wouldn't just say "I love you" all the time. I didn't want to use the phrase out! I've since changed my mind about the frequency of using that particular phrase, but he's still got me on that one!
7. Who is taller? Steve. I am now the shortest person in the family - unless you compare me to the grandkids - but they are growing up fast, so I am sure that soon I'll get to retain my title as shortest in the family!
8. Who sings better? That's like comparing apples to oranges - I'm an alto and he's a bass. But he's a more confident singer than I am...
9. Who is smarter? He'll say it's me, I'll say it's him... are we too sweet, or what!
10. Who has the worst temper? I do. It usually takes a while to get me to boil, but I don't boil quietly!
11. Who does the laundry? Well, I do, but he would if he were home more often. It's sort of an obsession with him. (check out the answer to the following question)
12. Who does the dishes? I do because I'm home more often, but when Steve is home he runs the dishwasher with only 3 or 4 dishes in it! He really is 'OCD' with dishes and laundry! (It's a deep-seated family problem...)
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? This is one of those hard to answer questions depending on where the right side is. Our answer has much more to do with where the door to the bedroom is - he has to be closest to the door - not to get crying babies in the night (although he did do that when we actually had them in our home) but he wants to be the one who gets to nail an intruder first if one ever actually intrudes on our home in the night!
14.Who pays the bills? Steve. He's kind of OCD about that, too, so I gave up the idea of paying bills early on.
15. Who mows the lawn? I used to. Steve would get all guilty watching me mow on Saturday while he sat watching a football game or something, until I finally explained that it was free time for me while he watched the kids! Besides, I always did like working outside. But now we pay 'Mikey' to mow.
16. Who cooks? Usually I cook. Steve orders take-out.
17.Who drives when we are together? Steve. It's a guy thing. He says it's because I'm not on the insurance for his company car, but it started WAY before that, and after our experience in Belgium when I had to drive because he'd broken his hip, we both sort of agreed it was better for our marriage if I let him drive when we are together.... (use your imagination - type 'A' personality being driven ANYWHERE by someone other than a paid driver....) We're still married!
18. Who is more stubborn? I let Steve think he is. I win more arguments by saying (sweetly, of course!) "I'd rather be happy than right..."
19. Who is first to admit being wrong? (refer to the answer to #18 - VERY useful for winning any kind of contest!!!)
20. Who's parents do you see most? Steve's mom is the only one still among us - that we can physically see, anyway! I'm sure they see lots of us!
21. Who proposed? Steve. I'm an 'old fashioned' girl!
22. Who has more friends? Steve. He knows everyone in town. I have acquaintances - and Mona.
23. Who has more siblings? I win this one by one! I've got 6 siblings and Steve only has 5.
24. Who wears the pants in the family? Again, I'll reference the answer to question # 18. It's amazing how often you can get your way by being sweet. My grandmother used to say "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar" - I listened to that!

OK, I tag Sandy, Meagan, Tawni and Suzie

2007-11-23T20:57:00.001-08:00

Supper time with Dennis and Kelli

2007-11-04T19:11:00.001-08:00

Dennis and Kelli just fed us all haystacks this evening. YUM!
And pie for dessert! This was the only group picture I was able to get, but there were more people there tonight - just not in front of my camera!

Big Fun with Marimbas at the Fall Folk Festival in Spokane!

2007-11-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

What fun! Today Coeurimba performed at the Spokane Community college for an anual event called the Fall Folk Festival. Walter and Ramona came with us and it was so much fun! Here is a pretty good picture of the group. Tina is on the floor in front of a marimba, Char is next sitting behind the other marimba. Standing starting from the left is Julie, Bob, me, Denise, Eileen and Sally. It's cool because each performance is more fun than the last!
There is just no way a still picture can capture the speed and intensity of playing the marimba! Suffice it to say that I did't need to wear a coat! Marimba playing is a pretty good work out! Don't believe me? Watch Julie play the bass for Mhnanga - it's an aerobic experience just to watch her!

This is not only an aerobic activity, it is rhythms, patterns, music, lots of brain excercise! My friend calls this 'Brain Age live'!

A Bee-utiful time in Rexburg!

2007-11-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

OK, I may never get this blog thing exactly right... The first time I ever up-loaded pictures they came out in the order I selected them - which was backwards for the story, so I have learned to pick the last ones first and work backwards from there. However, as you can see, something has changed, and now the first pictures (which are the end of the story....) are first! Anyway, we had fun carving pumpkins and then soaking and baking the seeds. They are really tasty, and the pumpkins turned out just fine!
And Ava was the cutest little bumblebee in the whole place! Anyone dare to disagree with Gramma?!
See what I mean? C-U-T-E!!!
That smart little girl knows that it pays to snuggle up to Gramma (in front of the not-yet-opened Rexburg temple!)
Sleeping beauty taking a nap while Lindsay and I eat our lunch in the park by the falls in Idaho Falls. Another beautiful day with my girls!

Real Thanksgiving Decorations!

2007-10-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

OK, here's the whole story! I got home last night from marimba practice (which is still lots of fun, for anyone who wants to know!) and as I pulled into the driveway I noticed that the dining room light was on. Curious.... I know Dad does not routinely walk through that room, and if he did, he'd turn the light OFF, not on, so I figured there was something I needed to see in the dining room. Sure enough, Sir Steven the Galant had gone to the cool store next to his office and gotten me some REAL Thanksgiving decorations! Now I don't have to look like a heathen who promotes Halloween over Thanksgiving! And these particular decorations are really... NICE. Voila! Mr. and Mrs. Pilgrim. Looking good on the table!
Not to be left out of the feast, is Mr. and Mrs. Native American. Don't forget to notice the turkey at his feet - remember, I know what one sounds like choking on toilet paper in the middle of the night now!

Tag, I'm it!

2007-10-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Lindsay said I've been tagged, so I need to tell 6 things about myself that you might not know. That's the easy part - then I have to 'tag' 6 other people to do the same thing. Trouble is, do I know 6 other people with a blog????

Well, I have come to the conclusion that I talk too much, because I can't think of 6 things you don't know about me, so I'll go for stuff I think might make for a little interesting reading:
1. Last weekend I went to 'little Philmont' with Steve and we got locked out of our cabin in our flannel jammies for 20 minutes while making a 5:45 AM bathroom run. I also now know what a wild turkey strangling on toilet paper at 2AM sounds like. (It would make a great sound effect for a haunted house!)
2. Before I die I would like to learn French well enough that I would be able to call myself fluent. I've been in love with the sound of French since I was a little kid and heard Maurice Chevalier speak English with an accent. (I thought he WAS speaking French - turns out it's not that easy...)
3. I've always been a little afraid of public humiliation, but that didn't stop me from trying new things, and now I play the marimba with Coeurimba. It's really fun, and my secret desire is to be assigned to play lead on one of the numbers we play - I think I'm getting close to that goal.
4. Not only have I learned to play golf rather recently, but I am actually learning to enjoy the game and not feel stupid when I make a bad shot. I have learned that if I decide I'm only interested in having fun when I play that I usually get a lower score! Go figure!
5. I am so intent on doing things that are different from the ordinary that sometimes things don't turn out the way I planned. Luckily I have not screwed up any of the grandchildren's birthday presents yet! (at least not that I've heard...!)
6. I actually enjoy substitute teaching! It's sort of 'teaching lite'. I get to show up and do some stuff that is usually fun and then I don't have to worry about grades or discipline problems or other stuff like that. And if I don't want to work, I just say so and they can't assign me to work that day - and they won't fire me for not being available! What a job!
Now I'm supposed to tag 6 people - but I'm not sure I know 6 people with blogs! OK, Sandy, Suzie, Tawnie, Brad (that's only 4...) Can I tag the other 2 later? Amy! I know Amy, and she has a blog! Now I only need one more....

2007-10-02T19:04:00.001-07:00

Astoria, Oregon and surrounding delights!

2007-10-02T17:48:00.001-07:00

The Cannery Pier Hotel was the coolest place I think I've ever stayed! The views were spectacular - as you can see - all the rooms face the Columbia river! And the staff were friendly and quite helpful.
The layout of the rooms was unique. The focal point was always the view.

Notice the binoculars provided at the windowsill.
Our transportation to dinner was provided by the hotel staff (our driver's name was Dave) in the hotel's very own restored automobile! We really felt like celebrities tooling around the town in this little gem!
And nobody was more thrilled to have their picture taken than the trolly driver. Everyone we met was so pleasant! We took a trolly ride on the waterfront on my birthday (after climbing to the column!!!) and we found out that it was our drivers birthday, too! He and his wife met as volunteer trolly drivers, so they were married aboard a trolly! Too Cute!

2007-10-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

On the road to Tilamook, Oregon. Spectacular scenery, and LOTS of wild blackberries.
Who can go to the Tillamook Cheese factory and NOT get a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch??? Then we toured the Cape Mears lighthouse, and came back for dessert - a two scooper of fresh Tillamook icecream! YUMMY!
This is the Cape Mears lighthouse. It is really an interesting piece of engineering and art all rolled into one. What an amazing piece of history. We climbed up inside and listened to the story of the lighthouse by a volunteer guide while standing up where the light is! Cool, huh!
This beautiful shoreline is what the lighthouse was protecting the sailing vessels from. The lighthouse is behind me from where this picture was taken.
This is the 'octopus' tree. Named because of it's unusual shape. It stands a few hundred feet inland from the Cape Mears lighthouse. We had to go hike up and take a picture!

2007-10-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

The Astoria Column is one of the outstanding tourist attractions in the town. It was built to commemorate Lewis and Clark's epic journey that ended here on the western-most edge of Oregon. The mural depicting scenes from that time winds around the column.
After climbing the 164 steps to the top of the column, you can see out for about 100 miles on a clear day. As you can see, the day we climbed up it was overcast, but we could still see for quite an amazing distance!
We hiked up this trail 1 1/2 miles to the column, then climbed the 164 circular steps to the top, then had to hike back 1 1/2 miles to the car through this lush, dense forrested area. Lots of beauty all around us! What a great way to spend a day turning 53! After all that climbing and hiking I felt just fine about having dessert with candles in it for dinner!

And last, but not least, a trip to IKEA!

2007-10-02T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn't remember to take a picture of the IKEA store, but this is better! We got almost a new room out of our trip! New curtains and matching bedding! Cute, huh?
See how tastefully the comforter cover compliments the bolster pillow and the accent pillows? And the bolster pillow is the same fabric as the curtains!
And how about that cool shag rug under the coffee table??? Are we uptown now, or what!!! Lookin' good in the 'hood!

Go, Granny, Go!

2007-09-12T20:38:00.001-07:00

This evening Coeurimba played for Ramsey Elementary's open house. It was a lot of fun, and we played until it was too dark to see! Starting at the far left of the picture you can just see Char who is playing the baritone. Julie is on bass, Tina is down in front of her on soprano, Eileen is playing a frog (rhythm) - she's standing in the back. Bob is wearing the ball cap playing a soprano, Sally is facing him and I'm behind her. You can just see the top of Denise's head next to Char! We do have fun together!

Here I am playing the tenor and Sally is playing the soprano. It was quite the different performance with little kids standing right next to us - sometimes grabbing a mallet and trying to play along!
That's me and Julie Powell playing together. She had her own open house to attend at Lakes Middle School later in the evening, so we had to do all her songs first!
There's me again, this time Char is playing the tenor behind me. We did have lots of fun! Music is great! The people I play with are a cool group. Char teaches elementary school in Spokane, Julie and Sally are both music teachers in the district, and Bob and Eileen are involved in music at NIC. Tina teaches marimbas in the morning before school with Julie. Only one member of our group is not involved professionally with education, (Denise) but we like her anyway!
Grandpa missed my first bass performance, and he wanted a picture of me playing that instrument, so he had me play something during the break so he could get a good picture - but I kept hitting wrong notes, and it made me crazy! (oh, wait, I've been crazy for a long time now, so that didn't just happen!) Anyway, it was lots of fun and the crowd loved us!

2007-09-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

And they're off. Urlene was trying not to cry, but it didn't work! We had a wonderful time - making jelly, picking crabapples, shopping for tea pots, exploring the area, playing golf, eating gooeys, Hudsons hamburgers, pastries at Bakery by the Lake, attending the CdA football game and lots of visiting. We crammed an awful lot into one short week, but we sure had fun! Now it's my turn to get a 'ding' and visit Mineola. Watch out, Urlene, here I come!