...Not just Rylee...

After back tracking on my blog a few months I realized that all I ever post is pictures and updates of Miss Rylee. Which isn't bad, but since this is my journal I guess I should write about me and Chasey sometimes too! Its just so hard when Rylee is so dang cute, and who wants to see pictures of me and Chasey?! So, once a month I'm going to TRY and update about the whole fam! 

Chasey is still working up in Salt Lake working on the City Creek project across from Temple Square. Although he loves what he does, he hates the drive... 3 years of driving to SLC everyday is getting old. He does carpool so that makes it nice. He has had some neat experiences working up there. One of them was a few months ago when he got to go under the temple to fix something. Who knew that the Salt Lake Temple had under ground rooms? Chasey said that you lift a patch of grass up on Temple Square to get down there. I'm sure there are other ways, but that's how they got down. he said it was awesome... lots of neat pictures and he said it was BEAUTIFUL!!! I want to go there on a date, but Chase said no. Boo! 

Lately  ( for the past year) Chasey has been talking about going back to school. I wish he would just decide and go, or not decide and let me go back! 

Spring is here which means softball season is back! I love  it, Chasey loves it, and I'm sure Rylee will learn to love it! We grew up at the ball park, so its a favorite of mine to go sit at the ball park and watch Chasey play! He put together a team with his friends at work. My brother sponsored their team this year... Larsen Law. Nothing better then some sunflowers and my hubby in tight baseball pants!
Chasey is still building furniture when he can. Too bad he cant do that for a living cause he is dang good at it!
That's pretty much the update on Chasey.

Me, lets see... I play with Rylee all day and love it! I really don't have much to update. Still making and selling my bows, tutus, and other stuff. I do pretty good at it and I like doing it so it works out good.
I joined the gym at the first of the year... something that was long overdue! I didn't have the excuse of " I just had a baby" anymore, so it was time to loose the chub! So far I have dropped 24 pounds, but still have 15 more pounds to go.
That's seriously my update... BOOOORING!!!

Maybe this is why I don't update about us... we aren't that interesting!  

...Rainy Days...

Utah springs are not the best... a lot of rain, some snow, and the OCCASIONAL beautiful spring day.

Being inside all winter gets real old real fast, so going outside in a little rain is no big deal to us . Rylee actually likes it cause she gets to wear her raincoat and use her umbrella. The other day she was out in the rain for an hour or so, and threw a fit when it was time to come in. She doesn't care if its wet, cold, rainy, snowy, sunny, or windy... she just wants to be outside!!!

Have I mentioned that I LOVE this girl?!  

Good thing pink cowboy boots go with everything cause thats all we are wearing these days.  

Chase usually stays in when its cold (his Florida blood isn't used to all the cold weather ), but this time he geared up and came out. 

The only way she came inside was because we let her bring her car in too.  

...April Snow...

   The first Sunday in April I gotten woke up to a loud noise. At first it sounded like someone was trying to come in the back door. I got a little nervous,a nd got up to see what it was. I looked out the front door first, only to see about 6 inches of snow, and some of our tree laying on the porch! The loud noise had been the limbs breaking off, and one of them hitting the front door.   

Ry was so excited when she woke up.

" Mommy, it noing!"  

Despite the hatred I have for snow in the spring , it did look really pretty! 

Most everyone around us had their trees break. It was a really heavy and wet snow. Our whole neighborhood still has limbs piled up in front of their houses.  

Grandma Darling 

July 17, 1921-April 2, 2011

I know I have blogged about my Grandma twice before, but those were more just jumbled posts of everything I was thinking. Now that things have died down, I need to do a post that makes sense! 

Really the best way to start this is to say that I honestly had the worlds BEST Grandma ever! I have so many memories of her, and I'm so thankful for the all the time I was able to spend with her through out my life. Grandma was so much fun to be around, except the time I spilt red punch on her kitchen chairs! I remember sitting in her chair reading books with her, doing puzzles, going shopping, and just being at her house with her and Grandpa. Because of how close we lived to Grandma and Grandpa, and how often we saw them they were like second parents. 

Grandma always looked so beautiful. No matter if she had somewhere to go or not she got up every morning and got her hair and make up done. I loved walking in Grandmas kitchen and watching her put her make up on at the kitchen table. She used a blue mirror, and LOVED clinique make up. If you went early enough in the day the kitchen smelt like coffee.... One of my favorite scents to this day cause it has always reminds me of Grandmas house. Grandma always had toast and cheese whiz ( it sounds gross, but don't knock it 'till you've tried it) to offer, or the famous jar of candy corns and cashews! 

I tied my shoes for the first time on her front lawn, learned to play 21 at her kitchen table, and fell in love with Murder She Wrote in her front room. Most every good memory I have Grandma is in it. I loved being at her house, and I loved being with her!

Ill never forget the time Chasey and I tried to teach her how to play Clue! I don't think either of us have laughed so hard. We thought she would catch on easy cause she likes to play board games, well that wasn't case at all.  She couldn't get the hang of it, so she said," I'm just going to hang out here in the hallways until you finish the game." She did to. She didn't go into any rooms to try and make a guess. The one game she was good at was Pollyanna, Rummikub, and of course Old Maid. I cant count how many times I have played Old Maid with Grandma... its our game! I'm so glad that a week before she passed away that we were able to play one last game.

I'm going to miss her so much. For a split second when I walk in her house I think she is going to be sitting her chair in the front room. Its weird that she isn't here anymore, and that I cant just stop up and see her whenever I want. She was a beautiful women, and loved her family. She has left a great example for all of us to follow!  

We all loved Grandmas hands. 

Rylee and Grandma

4 Generations

...22 months...

Another month and more updates on my little girl! I cant believe how much she is learning and changing! I am so happy she is learning and growing, but it makes me sad that she isn't my little baby anymore. I don't want her to grow up. 

Here are the NEW things she is doing and saying...

She loves her Mamma ( grandma) Paula and gets o excited when we pull up to her house. She points and squeals and cant wait to get out of her car seat. 

(Let me clarify that she LOVES all her grandmas, we just spend a lot of time with my mom.)

She has started saying, "I love you much mom," out of the blue. She hugs me and says it, or comes up to me and says it. It is the sweetest thing to hear. 

She can open DVDS and put them into the DVD player... not a fun thing for me

She says Yesh ( yes) to everything

My sisters name is Shani, but when we tell Ry to say her name she calls her honey. Shani is now known as Aunt Honey. 

Rylee loves her cousin Sayla! When she sees her she runs full speed to her and they hug each other. If she sees my brother or SIL and cant see Sayla she asks for her. Its pretty cute. 

She repeats everything... I mean everything. When I call someone a stupid idiot when I'm driving, I hear a sweet little voice in the back say, "tupid iyiot." I need to be real careful with what I say. 

She is still an angel in nursery at church. I'm the only mom that doesn't have to stay in there with my child. 

She is talking up a storm. I LOVE IT!!! 

When I ask her to go get me her clothes to get dressed, she always brings me jamas. She would wear jamas all day if I would let her. 

Her fav movie for this month is Tangled. I don't know how many times we have watched it in the past week. 

Her favorites toys/things are her babies, her barbies, her cell phone & keys, sunglasses, crayons, and of course books. She also carries a purse EVERYWHERE!! Instead of calling it a purse she calls them pack packs. 

She is my little sweet tooth. She calls candy, nanny. 

"Mom I have nanny pease?"

Its so hard to tell her no, but she cant live off of sugar for the rest of her life.

Lately she has been saying that she wants a baby boy. Im NOT pregnant, nor have I talked about getting pregnant. She just keeps saying that she wants a baby boy?!

I love when she comes up and says "hugs mom." She wraps her legs around you so tight and about chokes you, but oh I love it!!

Thats all I got for now.

...Greatest Grandma Ever...

I know most every person can say and will say that their grandma is the greatest grandma in the world.  I'm not arguing the fact that this is true, but I have the greatest grandma in the world too. The best apart about my grandma is/was that she was a parent and close friend to me on top of being a grandma! I am so grateful that I had the chance to be as close as I was to her. 

In the previous post I mentioned that she got sick at the end of February, and was later able to come home with hospice care and help from the family. Her condition continued to get worse, and the Hospice nurse told us she wouldn't make it through the weekend. Between Wednesday- Friday of last week every one of her grand kids, and a handful of her great grandchildren were able to come and say bye to the GREATEST lady. On Wednesday and Thursday she was alert, and remembered everything. I had about 4 or 5 good talks with her. I don't think I ever left her house in those last 4 days. If I did leave to go home to sleep I was back first thing in the morning. I cant begin to describe how grateful I am that I was able to care for her, and be there with her. My two sister in laws, my Uncle and Aunt, and of course my mom all made it possible for her to be in her own home. Everyone pitched in and helped so much. I wish I would have written down some of the things she told me when we visited those last couple days. It was mostly just talking about memories and how much I was going to miss her. While I was there with her I had a couple neat experiences. I wont blog about them, but I know my grandpa was there. I love this gospel so much, and am so grateful for the knowledge we have of eternal life. Thursday night I slept over at her house with my Aunt and brother ( Dustin). In honor of grandma we played Old Maid, had a coke, and ate some toast and cheese. The next morning she was pretty out of it. I told her I loved her, and she rolled over and very softly said I love you. That was the last thing I heard her say to me. That day she kind of went into a come like state. There were lots of cousins there that day, and despite her being sick it was really good to see everyone. I stayed until late Friday night, and was not wanting to leave that night, but my mom and her siblings needed some time with grandma. My mom promised she would call me if anything happened, and I could come right back over. I slept ( well tried to sleep) with my phone on my chest all night just in case my mom called. No call until the next morning at 7:30. My mom said her breathing was changing, and to come over before everyone woke up. I was able to go sit with her for two hours that morning. Hold her hand, cry, and tell her I loved her a few hundred more times. It was such a peaceful morning with her. I know that day that grandpa was there. We took turns going in to check on her that day. We usually left for a little bit during the day to get out and have a break. At about 2:15 me and my Aunt ran down to Maceys to get some more Coke. While we were in line paying my Uncle Merl called and said get home now. I threw some money at the cashier and we took off. I still dont know to this day how much I gave her. We made it from Maceys to my grandmas house in under a minute and a half ( usually a 5-10 minute drive.) We didn't stop at one stop sign, and passed every car on the left hand side. I don't know how we didn't get into a wreck. We walked in to the house at 2:56. She had passed away at 2:54. I thought I would be a total mess when she went, but she looked so peaceful and it just made me calm. She was out of pain, and with her family. I am so thankful that I was able to be there. We sat there with her for about an hour until the mortuary came and got her. It was hard that day, but each day since has gotten harder. Ill walk in her house and start crying. Ill see a picture and start crying. Ill be in Walmart and see a little old lady and bust into tears and have to leave the store. She was the most amazing grandma and I'm going to miss her so much! Rylee walked into her room the day she passed away, stuck her head in the door and as happy as she could be said, Mamma! When she couldn't see her she turned and said, " Where Mamma go?" It broke my heart. For two weeks we were there every day taking care of her, and Rylee would go in and talk to her. My mom explained to her that Mamma is in heaven and she is very happy. That night we were talking about Chaseys mom coming out, and Ry points to the ceiling and says, " Mamma in Heben and is bery happy." Melt my heart. I love her! Today my mom and aunt dressed her in her temple clothes, and I painted her fingernails. She looked beautiful, and peaceful. I know its just going to get harder, but its better then seeing her in pain. Im sure some of this doesnt make sense, but its my journal and Im  just trying to get everything out on paper.  The day she passed away was conference. During the second session there was a talk about death. It was her favorite speaker ( I cant remember his name), and he was talking about how we live to die and die to live. Grandma passed away during that talk. I'm sure Ill write more during the next week or so, so bare with me. I am sure going to miss her! 

...Little Trooper...

Lately my sweet little girl is not so sweet and more like hair pulling difficult. I find myself saying  one of three things...Ry get down, No Ry, or Stop Ry, ALL DAY LONG!!!! Today we went to get some stuff for my mom at Desert Book. Rylee wanted to walk, so I put her down and held her hand. She was good until I let go to open the car door. Little pill ran into the parking lot and wouldn't stop. I could have went crazy. Here I am in stiletto boots... not a good choice of boot when hanging out with a 22 month old... clip clopping across the parking lot trying to catch a little girl who is looking at me laughing and running as fast as she can from me. All I could think was "people are looking, just act cool." on the inside I was furious. When I picked her up I could have gotten really mad and told her NO RYLEE ( for the 20th time that hour), but then I remembered the VERY LONG couple of weeks she had been through. All the mornings I woke her up at 7:30 to go take care of grandma. All the days I spent taking care of grandma, while Ry just kind got left watching TV. The 2 weeks of eating happy meals and mac and cheese cause I have been too busy to cook a good dinner. All the busy days of getting ready for a funeral. All the late nights of shopping trying to find Aunt Judy something for her to wear to the funeral. All of this going on and she was still my sweet little Rylee. She has had her moments, but for all the confusion that has been going on, her routine being completely turned upside down,  she has been wonderful.. she has been a little trooper!!! I also thought of conference and the Saturday morning talk about children. Ry is hear to teach me a lot, maybe more then Ill ever teach her. She is my little buddy and I love her so much. I need to be more patient and more loving and stop wearing those damn boots when I go out with her!! I'm so so so happy that she is patient and forgiving with me... I need to be more like her! In the words of Rylee.... LOVE YOU MUCH!!! I do love her much too!!!