Dinner in Honor of Grandma

Grandma was a great cook and we thought we would have a few things with dinner tonight that she loved to bake and we loved to eat. Homemade bread of course and her oatmeal (bacon grease) cookies. I put in the left over breakfast oatmeal into my bread and forgot to cut back on the water. I had to keep adding flour. I thought it might go over the mixer before I was done. But it turned out excellent.
As a newly wed I found out grandma put bacon fat in her cookies. Yes they were good but I was so grossed out that I did not eat them for years. Several kids later it seems nothing can gross me out. They are the best oatmeal cookies ever! I quadruple grandma's original recipe and substitute half the bacon fat with butter. Hopefully that is a little more heart healthy. But I add an extra egg so maybe not.

One more grandma memory I would like to put down before I forget...

One spring day 5 to 6 years ago the kids and I planned a day to visit two of the grandma's. My mom had recently planted a Passion vine in her yard but she had no butterflies yet so the kids and I had gone out that morning and gently harvested lots of Gulf Fritillary (agraulis vanillae) caterpillars off my Passion Vine to take to her. On our way to Mesa we stopped by Great Grandma Johnson's home to do yard work. We spent the morning raking leaves, digging grass out of flower beds, picking up pecans and various other little tasks.
As we were leaving Grandma said to me "That plant you gave me is growing really well. But there are these little worms that keep eating it." I was very excited and replied " Oh grandma, those are caterpillars. They become beautiful butterflies!" Her response was "Well, whatever they are they are eating my plant so I go out every morning and I squash them!" All of us could not contain our horror. There was a collective gasp/shriek. My kids were kind of shell shocked. Eyes wide mouths open. We composed ourselves and got in the car. We spent most of the drive to Mesa laughing at the irony of our caterpillar relocation plan to one grandma while the other was murdering our little friends.
Gulf Fritillary visiting my home on Mother's Day 2009

Grandma Eva Johnson

This morning at 6:23 am Great Grandma Johnson passed away. She had a massive stroke Wednesday. She will be so missed. She was my grandma for over 20 years a few months shy of how long I had my maternal grandma. We are all taking comfort that we are a forever family and she led an amazing life for over 91 years. The last eight she spent wishing she was with grandpa.
I spent the first decade of our marriage hearing "you should be a pioneer woman like grandma" every time I asked Ron for help with something physically hard. I haven't heard that in a while so maybe I am getting close. But she has always been tougher than me.
Some of my favorite memories include...

Her visits to my home on 9th ave. On one visit I realized I had only ever seen her in a dress and pumps. I was a new mother and had given up on heels and lipstick. But there she was with her hair done, lipstick on, wearing a dress with matching pumps and handbag in her 70's.

Aubrey had a class assignment this year where she had to interview the oldest person she knew. Grandma won hands down. When asked what was the best invention in her lifetime she said electricity. Why? "It made all of the difference in the world!"

Touring the dairy, now bed and breakfast, where she grew up in Prescott. The owners were very gracious and it was nice to have grandma give us the grand tour. We got to hear and see where grandpa kissed her when he brought her home from dates.

Groom Creek...will always be synonymous with grandma. When Ron and I went to see her Friday she couldn't open her eyes or communicate that well but she managed to ask if there was snow at Groom Creek, pronounced Groom Crick.

The time she almost got in a fist fight at the parade. We were in Holbrook. Two women were being very rude and came and stood in front of our chairs. Grandma was so mad and was trying to get Aunt Maralynn and I to jump in the fray. Luckily Aunt M would have nothing to do with it so I hid behind her.
Doug and Eva Johnson with Amber and Tyler January 1994.

Spelling Bee Queen

It is hard to believe I contributed any genetic matter to a kid who could win a school spelling bee. I never made it out of the classroom for one of those things. The picture above was taken after winning her school spelling bee. The bottom picture is from the district spelling bee held on Jan 14th. Our district includes jr. high schools so she was bumped out pretty quick. Aubrey is one smart kid. I have warned the older children they will be working for her when she takes over the world.

What happened!

Look at what someone did to my baby boy!
The picture on the left was taken after he was blessed. The picture on the right is after he was ordained a priest in the Aaronic priesthood. I held it together the day he was ordained. I kind of forgot what that meant until the next Sunday when my baby sat up on the stand. I teared up through the whole sacrament. Then again in primary when the kids sang "I Know My Savior Loves Me" To top it off Jonas, our primary's very autistic kid jumped up from off the floor and started squealing and doing his happy dance when we started singing I am a Child of God. He was testifying in the only way he could and I felt it. It ended up being a very sniffily day for me. I talked to his teacher later, I was so surprised that he recognized a song. She confirmed that his reaction had nothing to do with what he was doing on the floor. Then I talked to his mom. She said they sing that song every night at bed time. There was no reaction this last week when we sang it again. So now it really feels like a special treat.

You only get to live in happy teary land so long before your kids check you back into the reality of motherhood. Amber leaned over this last week as the sacrament was beginning and in a mocking tone said, "Are you going to cry again?" I was sure I did not!

Vegas Baby

Ron and I spent two days in Las Vegas. I have very few pictures for proof, because it was a business trip and we attended the Shot Show and the ANME (Army Navy Military Expo). Not the most exciting photo subject material unless you like dead animals or thousands of guys in camo. Actually it would be a great place to meet men if you were single. A 1 to 1000 ratio. This year we skipped the main floor and concentrated on law enforcement, tactical and military distributors. It still took the entire two days but thankfully I was spared seeing video after video of hunters shooting cute deer and elk. I needed therapy after the last Shot Show.
This year it was fun and very productive. It was good to see our very nice vendors, touch and feel their new/upcoming products and place a lot of orders. But I always wish it was a craft show.
This was the cutest thing I could find. Chuck Taylor reproductions (I wanted to buy some but they are no longer made) O.D. converse were standard issue during WWII. The only other thing that was pretty was the ballrooms. Part of the show was in the Venetian. One of the prettiest Hotels on the strip. Beautiful rugs, embossed wall paper, chandeliers, gilded everything. The bathroom is the prettiest one you will ever go in. All of the above and they pipe in classical music. Total luxury, I wanted to take a pic of that but I thought the bathroom attendant would think I was out of my mind.
I wish our big craft show in Phoenix next week would take notes. I am not looking forward to the stinky state fair setting.



We ate dinner at KOKOMO'S. It is super swankified. The waiters walked around with towels over their arms and there was a wine bucket at every table. The picture of us above was taken by a photographer working in the restaurant. I forgot to take a pic of the dessert. It was a chocolate torte. I am not one for chocolate cake. But it was amazing. Normally we would skip an expensive restaurant and just grab something to have more time to see the sites. But it was part of a dinner and show package. We thought we had tickets to Mystere as part of out hotel package at Treasure Island but our trip fell on a black out night. Ron in his desperation even looked to see if we could go to Donny and Marie ( I have been hinting about them for months.) They were blacked out also, whaaa! So he got this package, dinner at one of the Mirage restaurants and tickets to Terry Fator. Terry Fator and his opening act, Ben Harris were both so fun. We have avoided comedy acts in Vegas for obvious reasons but luckily it was clean.
This was by far the highlight of my trip. What an honor to meet (and get a hug from) Ed "Doc" Pepping of Easy Company 506th Parachute Inf Reg. 101st Airborne Division. He served as a medic during WWII. He took part in the Normandy Invasion on June 6th 1944. The Book and movie "Band of Brothers" are about his company's experiences. I have not seen the movie but I now have a signed copy of the book!
I always love meeting WWII vets. It is the best part of my job (next to hanging out with Ron all day.) Two weeks ago a Navajo code talker was shopping in my store. I had a wonderful visit with him and wish I had the guts to ask for a picture. The WWII vets are sweet gentlemen who remind me of my grandpa.

1987

I have been in a cleaning and purging frenzy.
I found my student ID from my senior year in a mystery box in the garage.
Except for the big black splotch on my face I think it is a cute picture. My kids were unimpressed. First they didn't know who it was, which is very insulting because I think I was kind of cute back then. Next they didn't know what it was, apparently student ID cards have evolved so much retro ones are hard to identify (am I really that old). They could not believe how "ghetto" my ID was. "It is just laminated!" I think as punishment I should take all of my music back. No more Michael Jackson or Boston for anyone under 35!

Obviously I survived high school and I had some great teachers and good friends. And unlike a lot of my friends by the end of high school I really liked my parents and enjoyed being at home. I feel blessed to consider my parents and siblings my best friends. Isn't that what we are really suppose to learn in high school?

Strategy

These were intended to be Christmas gifts for the kids but of course I missed that deadline. I have been practicing free motion embroidery and was finally brave enough to put it on something other than ratty cabin towels.
My main purpose was to cut down on laundry. I am hoping the kids will hang up their towels after their shower. It is very frustrating to walk into their bathroom after they have all gone to school and find a huge heap of terry cloth.
My Aunt Linda is a real inspiration and has embroidered several of my kids really cute baby things over the years. I used octi-hoops and had to practice a lot but I think I am finally getting it. Just don't look to closely.