Dog Days

I can definitely feel the end of summer coming, the days known to me since childhood as the "Dog Days of Summer"! I have no idea where the phrase came from other than my mother has lots of those little tidbits she has taught me over the years. Last week we had an especially exciting day involving an actual dog, a dog named Tobee, my dog to be precise. The boys, Buddy, Tiny, and Lino were playing with me and Tobee and 3 hoses. Now Tobee's favorite thing to do is play in the water. We were having a great time spraying her, watching her jump and do flips, biting the water. She is crazy. We played for quite some time and then moved on to making boats and castles. I noticed as we sat to eat popcicles that Tobee was acting a little funny, walking crooked and just not moving normally. I called her to me and she was barely breathing. I thought she must be having a heat stroke so I took her quickly to the sink and hosed the dirt off of her. She felt cool, her nose and ears were cool to the touch. But her breathing was becoming more and more labored. So I put her down and she went right into her kennel. I called the vet, described her symptoms and she said to bring her right in. But I had 3 little boys, covered in mud. What to do. Tom was out to lunch. So I yelled at them, they were still out in the mud, and told them to come quickly and get in the car. No questions, just run fast. They did and I dropped them at Lino's house, mud and all, no lunch, on the door step. The nanny came to the door, she doesn't speak English well and I shoved the boys into the house and told her my dog was sick and I had to go. I have no idea what she thought but I felt bad about the mess the boys were in. Anyway, I raced to the vet and just knew my dog was going to die in my arms before I got there. They took her right in, gave her some oxygen and stabalized her. To make a really long story shorter, she basicly had inhaled the water to her lungs and was suffering from fluid in her lungs. We had basicly about drowned her. She also was over heated, and had gulped so much air her stomach was 3 times bigger that it should have been. They put her on IV fluids and medicing to take the fluid out of her lungs and tissues. She came home for the night because they had no one to watch her and then I took her back in the morning for another 8 hours. She's back to normal now, barking and annoying Tom to no end, but it was scary. Anyone who knows me knows how attached I am to my dog. So this week when the boys come to play with Grama, Tobee is restricted to the house and from the hose. I would have taken pictures of our fun in the sun but Tom had "the camera" somewhere.... I am saving to buy my own! I guess I should just get batteries for the old one and use it until I get the new one.

Camp and Then

First there was camp and then there wasn't. It seemed to come fast and leave even faster! I had a great time at Camp Zion and will hold all those memories dear to my heart but I can't say that I am much melancholy over the end of it all. I will miss working with all those fun ladies I have grown to love though, most of all. And I will miss getting to know different YCL's each year. And I will miss, ok wait, now I am a little bit sad so I won't go on about that!!! Here are a couple of pictures from this year. We laughed and laughed as usual and cried some too. That's camp. The funny story of the year was... the quilt or should I say quilts. The wards all made quilts as a service project and I wanted the stake leaders to give one to Sonnet as a surprise. So Renae, our quilting guru and I selected and cut the fabric and then I sewed it up. I was so excited to present it to her. Unknownst to me, she had decided they should do one for me and so we each had a quilt to give the other. Surpise!!!! We came home a day earlier that usual because of the 4th of July and I think everyone was pretty happy about that. I slept most of my birthday away, worn out and coming down with the flu. I spent the following week in bed, recuperating. Then we took off to Hawaii, the Big Island. Tom and I had a splendid time, laying around, sipping Pina Coladas and reading. The island was a little dissapointing, all covered in lava as it was, but never the less, it was Hawaii so how bad could it be, right? We rented a boat so we could see the coastline but Tom got sea sick so that was a bummer. We saw lots of lava flows and some rain forest. Tom turned into this camera nazi and I didn't take very many pictures. Bobby got a new camera for New Zealand and Tom really liked it so he went and got the same one. But he doesn't like it when I use it I guess cuz he won't take it off his belt. I think I will have to get one of my own. We did get a couple of shots but he took almost all of them himself. Which is hilarious because we have been married 40 years and he had never been the one to take pictures. Funny man!! So now we are home agin, home again, jiggiety jig!!! We will see what the lovely month of August holds in store for us!

Best Day

You know how most days you get up with a plan in hand. And most days it unfolds differently than designed? Well, today was one of those days. And it was the best day!! Of course I have no pictures as I left the camera on the counter. I was invited by Jade to come to her awards ceremony in her class room this morning. When I got there I found out that Kaylie was having her 6th grade graduation. So after Jade's class was done, I ran to the graduation just in time to see Kaylie get her diploma. Then I ran back to Mallory's to watch her get her awards and then over to Malaya's room. I didn't make it for all of her awards but was there for one. So then I decided we should all go to lunch so I went to Sydney's class and kidnapped her and then we all set out for Triple P. After stuffing ourselves we headed over to the 99Cent store where we killed a few dollars and an hour. We had so much fun! I loved the last day of school when I was a child and today I was happy to experience the fun with 5 of the most beautiful granddaughters in the world. They keep me young at heart. Today was my BEST DAY!

Family

Sunday Jared blessed our new granddaughter, Alexis Reign Lemmon. It was a wonderful blessing and I felt blessed to have been there. She is our 13th grandchild. My cup is full to overflowing! This picture is of some but not all of the family. Grandpa had a Bishopric meeting, and Zulema was home with sick children. Tanya Thompson happend to be walking by and I snagged her to take this shot. I love it. Sabra had to chase down Maverick and he was no way going to get his picture taken. And I especially love the look on Lino's face. And we call Naomi the poser. Every time I take her picture, she poses. She will probably grow up to model one day!! We all had some laughs, especially when Tanya showed us our family picture that she carries in her scriptures. We were all amazed that she would have it, for one thing, and then we laughed about how funny we all looked in it. It was taken around 1989 or 1990. Jason referred to it as the Cardigan picture. The boys all had sweaters on. Funny!! And Jared is leaning into the picture like he was just some kid who walked by and wanted to be part of it. One of the kids said they could't believe we paid for that picture. It is the only professional family photo we ever had taken. We do have one other and it was actually taken in the produce department at El Rancho Market in 1982! Now that one is hilarious. I always love how families get together every year for an annual picture. For some reason, I just never made that happen. I think it's because I have never liked one picture of myself, ever! I have great pictures of the boys and Ashley and even a couple of Tom. But I just can't get one of me that makes me glad I had it taken! I am not what you call photogenic. I need to be Photoshopped!!! Anyway, the day was wonderful and in the evening, most everyone came over. We missed Aaron's family but the rest of us had some laughs and watched the cousins play. I am so blessed!!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Sorry to say we have had no April showers to speak of but the flowers seem to be blooming quite nicely in the yard!



When I was a little girl we used to celebrate May Day. I would decorate baskets, sometimes the little ones strawberries came in, weaving ribbon in and out to make them pretty, or making whem out of paper, into little cones with ribbon. Then I would go pick dandelions to fill them and hang them on the neighbors door, ring the bell and run. Such fun! Where have all the flowers gone!! And the traditions and fun of a simple life? Well, no matter. Happy May Day. And here is a bouquet for anyone who reads the ramblings of a nostalgic granni!!

Forgot to add the pictures to my Spring Break Sleepover with the girls. We had breakfast and went to the park. (Earlier Post) These are pics of the girls fixing breakfast and the menu and place settings. We also said the "Pledge of Allegience" at breakfast. Malaya or Mallory made the flag and taped it up on the wall so we could say it before breakfast. So funny! We said it with great conviction!

Spring Break At The Zoo

I forgot that I went to the San Diego Zoo with 4 of the grandkids the first week of spring break. What can I say, it was 2 weeks ago. But I downloaded pictures from the camera and there they were to remind me of the fun time we had. We left on Monday morning and headed directly to the beach, where I sat ensconsed in blanket, sweater, jacket, and shoes and socks. The kids all had swimming suits on. We buried them in the sand. They chased the birds and built sand castles. When their lips were blue we packed them up and headed over to the rollercoaster at Bellmont Park. We rode the Merry Go Round and a couple of other rides, the headed to the hotel. There they immediately sought out the pool and continued to cool their body temps to just above freezing. I stayed under 2 huge towels and shivered most of the time. It was even too cold to get in the hot tub. After everyone had showers and warmed up Zulema and I couldn't bring ourselves to load them all up for dinner. So we ordered room service. Grandpa is still trying to float a loan to pay for that but oh it was so worth it. Jade,Dawson, Brooke, and Naomi all thought it was the best! After watching Beverly Hills Chihauha and some other movie I don't recall, we decided to get them to bed. Since we had 6 of us, Zulema had brought her blowup mattress. But it was in the car which we had Valet parked. so she went down, got them to bring the car around, and she lugged this thing up to the room. It had to weigh 50 pounds I swear. Then she unfolded it to blow up with the electric pump. The pump that Jason forgot to put back into the bag when they used it last. So the kids slept on the floor and didn't seem to be any worse for it. Early, well not that early, we got up and headed to the zoo, via MCDonalds. OH YEAH, TOYS Pancakes all around! Then off we went. Had a fun bus ride, saw all the snakes, oooh, and went to the petting pens. Most of the animals were resting from being petted so that was a little dissapointing. But still, you don't get to pet a goat that often in the city!! Then we rode the tram, saw the polar bears and rode back in time to catch the sea lion show. I enjoyed it but the kids thought it was too short. Hey, this is the zoo, not Sea World! By now it is mid afternoon. The kids are tired and whiny so they want to leave. We did have lunch at one point and snacks a couple of times but they were pretty much done. As we headed out the gate I remembered that last time I was at the zoo I had missed the gorillas so I determined that we had to see them this time. So we all hiked down the long hill, glimpsed them from behind a wall of people before they fled to the other side of their enclosure and hiked back up the hill,which by now was twice as long. Naomi had a little accident and we had no extra clothes so used Dawson's sweatshirt to wrap around her waist. This did not please Dawson at all and he walked the entire way to the parking lot, giving us dirty looks over his shoulder and clenching and unclenching his fists. His mom told him he had better stop being so mad by the time we got to the car or she was going to leave him. You could see him trying to get over it but when we got to the car he had reached meltdown stage and cried long and hard. Not because Naomi was wearing his shirt but because we didn't go to Tiger River to see the tigers. I had no idea Tiger River was that important or we surely would have made the effort to hike one more enormous hill! After about 20 minutes all was calm and we had a fun ride home. That was our Spring Break Trip To The Zoo and we all have fond memories and pictures, too.