Oh, just kidding it feels like winter

 Another couple weeks have flown by.

It snowed and stuck.... Here it comes... Asher was like, "BRING IT"! 

This kid loves the snow. He actually loves all the seasons and is excited to see each one come. Sometimes I am the lame and get cold, and hate driving because of the crazy of other people. But I can stay home and snuggle in a blanket. 

My Sweet Grandpa Groesbeck passed away. I am pretty sure that my Grandma was there waiting for him, to give him the biggest hug and to grab his hand and say "I am so glad you are here, we have so much to do and I needed you". 

I love that he got to hug his kids that went before him. To see them happy, and whole (and probably super busy being a guardian and a helper on the other side). I bet that was a joyful time for him. 

We had his funeral this Saturday. It was a great time to learn about him. I was fascinated that he was a botanist, that he loved trucks so so much (even driving and owning a truck in his 90's) and that he spent so much time taking care of the people he loved so much. His dad died when he was a baby, he had 3 brothers that were in the military and one that died but not recovered until many years later, because of that he took care of his mom, and then grandma, by then he was an expert to care for a wife and 9 children. I could ask him any gardening questions and he knew what to do. Even a couple of days before he passed I asked him about planting garlic. I needed his wisdom right up until he left this earth. 

When I was a kid, Grandma and Grandpa would come out on the porch and wave at us as we left to go home. They would stand out there until the car was far enough away that I couldn't see them. 

They always looked this cute, my grandma would let us try on her high heels, red lipstick, clip on earrings, and carry around one of her purses that had a hankie, Trident gum, whole cloves, and a dollar bill.  Grandpa would let us slide down his stairs on our bellies. Even though he would threaten to hang us by our toenails on the clothesline if we did. He pushed us for hours in the tire swing in the backyard. He took us out to pick raspberries, apples, corn on the cob, cucumbers and cherries in the garden. He let us sit with him on the tractor and would drive us to the city pool to swim. Grandpa would let us sit in his wood shop while he worked, he told me about all the jars that held screws, nails and blots. All of them were my baby food jars, and would tease how much I ate because there were probably 40 jars. He let us make phone calls on the old rotary phone, it only needed 4 numbers to work when I was a kid. I still remember the number 6030, I had it memorized in case I was running away, cause I was going straight to grandma and grandpa's house. Grandpa let me ride his old green bike. I could barely reach the pedals from the seat. I had to stand the whole time I used it. Then practically wreck to stop. If I could use Grandma's red bike, that was better. Her bike didn't have a high bar like his did. Grandpa and Grandma would come up with little jobs we could do, like stack news paper and tie with panty hose for the fires, hang clothes, or iron shirts. Then we would take that money and ride on their bikes to the dairy for a punch bag, slush and candy. Or a raisin filled cookie at the bakery, or a bag of burnt beans, sliced fruits, black licorice, or spiced drops at Christensens. Grandpa let us eat all the rhubarb, green apples and salt that we could stomach. He was also the most quiet chewer I have ever met. Even for fresh carrots from the garden. They had a pantry of delight. I could sniff out all of their treats. In the pantry or in the cookie jar. Grandma and Grandpa taught us how to hollow out a cucumber to make boats, they would let us race them down the open ditches. Those ditches were entertainment for many activities. I caught Skeater bugs, built dams and "swam" in them. Grandpa always found a way to call someone he knew to take me on a horse back ride. He drove me out to Billy Whites, or had one of the young men from his ward take me after their chores were done. During the Fourth of July celebrations, grandpa would give us a little extra money to use at the carnival where I would always try and win a frog on the table where you threw dimes onto plates. He would smile the biggest when I caught a fish with my bare hands out of the ditch. In that game you had to lay on your belly by the ditch, they would let the fish go and you had to try your darnedest to grab one. Those are slippery suckers. The parade was also a fan favorite during those celebrations too. Grandpa was busy at the family reunions helping grandma run the huge VHS camera, holding a baby, or tinkering with something. Grandpa and Grandma had the biggest breakfasts there were. With eggs, toast, mush (cream of wheat), bacon, sometimes even pancakes or french toast. I loved to have mush Grandpa's way. You add milk before the sugar so nobody new how much sugar you put into it. I am pretty sure on some mornings it was more sugar than mush. And I would hope and pray for a lump. They were warm and squishy and so yummy. I asked Grandma how she made it so good, she said she stirred with a fork instead of a spoon. 

This house has so many memories. The apricot tree that everyone hopes freezes every year because it produces so much. Well, and it was messy. My OCD grandpa wanted all those fallen fruit to be picked up so nobody tracked it into the house.  Upstairs was the brown room with the sky lights. The blue room that had the crib and very squishy bed. The yellow room, and the room by the bathroom. I also remember before they did the kitchen remodel. There was a bench around the table. Grandma never eating with us because she usually had to get up to finish grabbing something off the stove. And the deep doorways that we would climb up by pressing our hands and feet inside. Grandpa and Grandma would watch a show in the evening. Grandpa couldn't ever stay on one channel. He watched six shows at one time. It was maddening. Gram would just sit with her bowl of popcorn and have a smile on her face, a piece of popcorn halfway to her mouth and have her eyes closed having a little tiny snooze. 

Grandma and Grandpa had a tire swing that could go so high. Gram would stick a dish towel in the bottom of the swing to cushion it a little. I could be out there for hours. I perfected the underdog and sharing a swing. we could sometimes even fit three to four kids in that swing by sitting spider. The Rhubarb used to be in a row right by the swing and it grew so huge. My momma says its because of the gorgeous red dirt. Mom and Dad took rhubarb from Grandma and Grandpa's mother plant and then I took it from their plant. It still lives in my backyard. There also used to be an apple tree next to the swing. In spring time when the apple tree blossomed was the best time to pretend to be a fairy,  because you would swing almost as high as it's branches. All those tiny blossoms would smell fantastic and would sprinkle on you. I had a really good imagination and a magical childhood.

I would hang clothes out on the line to earn a little money for penny candy at the Ideal Dairy. Grandpa and Grandma's clothes lasted forever because they would wash and hang. Then press anything that was too crunchy or wrinkly. Some things they threw in the dryer to soften them up. The birds loved their little bird house on top too. Grandpa and Gram collected birdhouses. 

Grandma could can and store anything. She had cold storage all over, this was one of the cellars, but I knew of three. The one behind the wood shop was scary because we were told there were salamanders down there.

This is the rotary phone, so awesome. My kids commented that it takes forever to make a call, you have to wait for the little dial to rotate before you can do the next number. Grandpa wrote a couple of important numbers over it so he could remember. All just four numbers long.

I lived in this little yellow house next door to grandma and Grandpa when I was really little. My very first memories are in this house. What I actually remember is, my folks had a waterbed I took naps in. I also remember being on the porch and going through the little gate between the yards to go to grandma's house. I lived tiny before it was cool.

These swinging doors go into the laundry room, my grandpa used to wash his hands after coming in from working in the garden, in the little sink before dinner. They also have these doors going into the bathroom.  It was pretty hard to scare someone because you could see their feet under the doors. But I remember my dad scaring my mom really crazy one time. She let out a scream and pushed the doors hard enough to jam them into my dad. They laughed at each other because he got her good, and she got him back.

 

We also celebrated my grandma Clawson's 93rd birthday. It was a fun dinner together laughing and eating. 

I failed to snag a picture with her, so I will have to go back for another visit soon.

Gah!!!

We have had another main water leak, in less than a year. Not only that, but our next door neighbor had a leak too. Our other next door neighbor had a leak last year. Neighbors up and down the streets have had leaks. 50% are city fixes and 50% are property leaks. After having it repaired again, listening to all of theories of why this might be happening, I have come up with my own idea. I think we may have had a batch of faulty pipe. Nobody knew it was going to fail. Clearly the city didn't now and contractors didn't know either. It is just that, and probably mother nature (the earth quake). This time we had insurance, so lucky for us, this little issue cost us the price of insurance monthly. The water payment we are still figuring out.

Yellow arrow was the first repair... Red arrow is where the new leak was. 

Spamalot was a huge success!!! Eden did a fantastic job. She wasn't even going to try out. Then Ry encouraged her. She made it as a Laker Girl. Then got a solo part. Which she did an awesome job on. We Had SPAM for dinner on the last night of the show to celebrate. 

 

I gave Milo boy a haircut...

Before

After

Alex gave him a bath this time, and I gave him a haircut. He smells so nice now.

May has really been feeling creative lately. She made this little room the other day. I love her little details. We have started on some junk journals. It calms her and helps her to get out some of her good ideas. I will be posting some pages another time. 

Bye for now!