Respectful but heart-wrenching changes

If anyone saw my blog on Saturday and early Sunday you saw pictures of my granddaughters than recently visited us from the east coast. My son and his wife asked us to please not post pictures of their girls on our blogs, facebook or anywhere on the internet. Due to this request, I have deleted the pictures. I respect the request and understand it. I have no ill feelings about it, but do have to say that it was hard to do. As most parents and grandparents, we are so happy and feel blessed when we are able to spend time with them. Pictures of those times are priceless gifts and we tend to want to share them with others. It is also because the children are loved by their parents that they feel the need to protect them from any possible exposure to those who may have intentions that could harm them. How do you argue with that?! I intend to put a book together eventually from my blog. It will feel incomplete without their pictures, but at least this insert will explain it. Andrea tells me there is a way I could still put them in the book without the public postings. I am hoping I will be able to do that...for the story of my family would not be complete without them. Every family member is precious. Love you all!

The height of it all....

We all tend to compare ourselves with others from the start even though we are individuals with different qualities, abilities, backgrounds, genetics, etc. We had the opportunity to witness a very cute and changing moment with our granddaughters.
Nathan and his girls arrived at our house and were anticipating the arrival of their cousins. Ksenya and Ally are a year and 9 months different in age. Ally has always been a little shorter than Ksenya. I think we all expected it to be different this visit....including Ksenya. When Andrea arrived with her girls, Ksenya went and hid behind the family room couch. This is not normal behavior for Ksenya and we asked her what she was doing. She told us she was scared that Ally was taller than her. It caught us off guard that she would be sensitive to this possibly. When Ally first entered the room and Ksenya came out of hiding, we truly believed at first by the way they were standing that Ksenya was still a wee bit taller than Ally...but that was soon proven to be incorrect as grandpa measured the two of them. Ally ended up being almost a half inch taller. It is funny how all this played out. Before Ksenya would look at Ally as her younger cousin. This time, the girls played more as equals and seemed to really enjoy each other's companionship more than other visits. Awwww....as we grow we see people differently and come to accept others and ourselves in a new light.

I am a Purple Rock

Jeremy & Andrea have been at the coast for the last few days. I was in front of my kitchen sink thinking about them and the girls when my eyes went to the collection of rocks I have on my windowsill above the sink. The collection is mostly rocks that have been given me by Ally. A couple of them by Kaitlyn. It all started with George and I taking Ally to Cannon Beach with us a couple of years ago. We had a fun day. Like most grandparents, we wanted to buy her something to take home. We browsed the many shops. Of all things what caught her eyes was a huge bin of colorful polished rocks. There were little drawstring bags you could fill with these rocks and pay for the bag full. She was so excited to fill the bag with rocks....not just any rocks, they had to be the right rocks for different members of the family. She looked them all over carefully and thought of each family member as she picked each rock. There were special colored rocks for mom and dad, sister, and grandpa & grandma. The big purple rock in the middle is the one she picked out for me. She was so thrilled to share her rocks when she got home. Since that day, my purple rock has been sitting on my window sill gathering friends as Ally continues to collect her family of rocks.

Too Loud!!!!

Our Bishop lives in our neighborhood and also happens to be Andrea's employer.
Each year while George is usually sleeping for work the next day I can watch the fireworks from his home from my upstairs window. He and his family always have quite the show.
This year since George didn't have to go bed early, we all decided to walk up the street to their house and watch from their front yard.
The picture above is how both Ally and Kaitlyn chose to sit and watch... Kaitlyn on Andrea's lap, Ally on mine...neither of them liked the loud bangs. I don't think I saw Kaitlyn smile the whole time she was there. Ally ended up coming home early with me because she began to get scared when she saw her daddy start to help light the fireworks. We were able to watch other neighborhood fireworks from our kitchen while playing the game 'memory' which she seemed to enjoy much more. About an hour later everyone was back home safe and fireworks 'soundless'.

4th of July Breakfast and Bike Parade

Each year there is usually a 4th of July Breakfast no matter what ward we seem to be in. This is our second year in this ward and the first breakfast we have been able to attend while in it. What was so nice about this one is that they also had a children's bike parade. The children were asked to decorate their bikes. They all seemed to love it. Andrea and Jeremy came to our ward this year and so Ally and Kaitlyn were able to participate. They seemed to enjoy it.

Ally on her bike

Kaitlyn on her bike.

In line in the parade

The girls standing with an old neighbor and ex-babysitter, Megan.