Superman..............

This is what some of our kids call Paul and they may be right. He pretty much amazes me everyday and I am hanging onto his coattails for dear life.

Yesterday he called home around 4:30 and said 'Let's meet for dinner'. So we met and he said 'Happy Anniversary'! I said 'What?' He said 'Happy 10th Anniversary'! To which I again said 'What?'. 'Today is the exact day I found out that I had cancer for the first time and I think we should mark this day with a celebration. He went on to thank me for being there during the dark days of cancer and how grateful he felt to be alive. Then he gave me a really nice present. Really? I got the present? He should be getting a present for surviving it all. He's just so thoughtful.............did I mention I'm hanging on to his coattails? Hard..............

Goodbye....You have served us well.

We bought two of these chairs..........21 years ago! They have moved with us - moved up and down in the house - been laid on - eaten on - and generally lived in. But more importantly, they are our famous 'white chair talks' chairs. Everyone of our children have been asked on many occasions to join us for a white chair talk. We have discussed many things with our kids on those chairs. A few of our in-law kids have had some explainin' to do as to why they were marrying our kids. We've cried in those chairs. We laughed in those chairs. We've yelled at those in the chairs. We've been yelled back at by those in the chairs. I've fallen asleep with my own kids and my grandbabies in those chairs. They are famous in our family circle.

And I will say that only one of our children felt so left out for never having been called for a white chair talk that she asked for one on her own and confessed. What did she confess to? To seeing a movie that was different than the one she said she was going to. What a pathetic confession Alli!

We bid these chairs goodbye. They know more about our family than anyone. They are being adopted into a new home that has no children. They will be lonely for sure. So until we meet again.............

Seriously...........

Seriously cute, seriously funny, seriously a lot of babies, seriously in love with all of them!

Taytum - 1yr almost, Remi-3 1/2 months, Hudson - 1 month, Jay - 4 months



Andi - 3 , Grayson - 4, Carter - 4, Reece - 1 1/2, Calvin - 2 1/2



Carter, Taytum, and Andi Harmon. Reece and Remi Andrus. Grayson and Hudson Stewart.
Jameson Stewart. Calvin Stewart. Gray, Hudson, and Calvin are brothers.

I love this man..............

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband who is truly an incredible father and an example to our boys of how to be a man. I love you Chito!

#9 - Our new addition!

Hudson Grant Stewart
June 2nd, 2010
2:24am
6lbs.3oz.
18.5 inches long
Parents: Ben and Sharon Stewart
Sibs: Grayson, 4 and Calvin 2 1/2
Happy Grandparents: Paul and Suzanne

Best Tatoes Ever!

So my good friend April, has gotten me addicted, hooked, obsessed, etc. with The Pioneer Woman. This mostly started from April giving me The Pioneer Woman's cookbook. Her pot roast is indeed the best pot roast I have ever eaten and it was the only reason I had to get new pots and pans. Her online recipes are fun to look thru and I seem like I've discovered something new and interesting in my life - cooking! This potato recipe was online and was truly delicious. It may have been so delicious because they accompanied baby back ribs that were truly to die for that Paul grilled up and roasted asparagus! ( Does anyone besides my family say Asper-grass?) At any rate, here is an easy and delicious way to cook potatoes:

12 or however many you want WHOLE red/yellow/new potatoes.
12 fit on the cookie sheet.
Boil whole until fork tender.

Spread some olive oil on a cookie sheet. Take a hand masher and squish them one way and then the other. It's important to have enough oil so the potatoes don't stick. Then brush with olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and fresh chopped rosemary. Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes or so. Oh and my...............

Let me know if you try it..........

And by the way, kosher salt is my new 'thing'. It is so tasty and pretty forgiving. It just is different than plain old iodized salt! You should go out immediately and get a box of it for your tasty cooking!

Arghhhhhh....................

Carter turned 4 while he was here in Klamath. No 4 year old party would be complete with out pirates. Here is a look at my pirates - notice that Carter has a hook! They all had an earring on as well. Most of you know my oldest son Ben so this story will make you smile. We made a treasure hunt for the kids and the adults just followed along behind them as they figured out where the pirates treasure would be. As we were walking out of my bedroom I heard Ben say to his youngest Calvin 'Calvin, just leave your earring on!'. I never thought I would hear those words come out of my son's mouth!

I can't be outdone!

I just couldn't be outdone by Nikki's rat story! I was out in the horse shed to get some high fat oats for our horses this morning - they just seem to struggle with weight in the spring - and I saw the saddle move. I just froze and thought 'Well it's probably a pack rat if it was big enough to move the saddle'. I eventually unfroze and opened up the plastic garbage can we keep the oats in and there were two mice in there just stuffing their faces with the high fat oats. I think they looked up at me but I'm not sure because I'm pretty sure I was screaming in a high pitched girly scream and running out of the shed. I'm so NOT girly in any way, shape, or form except when it comes to the mice. Then when I turned back around to look at the shed a wild cat came running out! Glad it wasn't a pack rat. I came and told Paul my dilema and that he would just have to deal with it. So he pulled on his work gloves and went out to the shed in his beautiful suit and scooped them out and threw them over the fence. It just got him a laughin' because as he threw them they spread their hands and feet out and just sailed. Mountain living I tell ya!

On another note, pictures have been found (okay, they were sent by Dani) of the other grandkiddies that didn't seem to make my first post very much. Here are a few other looks at my beautiful babies!


The new family - Sam, Nikki, and Jay



Chito, Carter, and Andi



Carter took this picture of the grownups at the Aquarium!



Deej and me....



New daddy Sam and his boy, Jay



The kiddies at the aquarium!



Happy Happy Tay



G'Nite Carter............

Bubba Jay.......presh.....



Jay curled up sleeping



Sisters Reece & Remi........can anyone think of a third girls 'R' name? (and no, this is not an announcement!)



Carter, Reece, and Andi in their Easter duds.....Andi thought Carter should NOT be in the picture - "It's just girls Carter!"



I did a lot of this with ms. Remi...............yum for my Gramzee arms!



Good looking husband makes good looking kids which makes good looking grandbabies!



Newbies Jay & Remi



I love this picture of Taytum - Tay Tay - TayWa - Tater Tot - looking interested in ms. Reece!



Easter dresses.......Reece and Andi.........total girls the both of them!



Gramzee and Reece - we got to be best friends while I was there. Grandbabies are so good for the self esteem - they are soooo excited to see you when they wake up in the morning - when they wake up after naps - when you leave and come back - just about anytime.



Somehow I can't seem to find pics of me and Bubba Jay...hmmmmm..........oh where oh where have the pictures gone.....and Tayter Tot was there too! hmmmm.......... And Carter?

One week in Palm Springs with my dear friend Judes, one week in Utah with Summer and Reece and Josh while Summer cooked the baby til perfectly done - one week in Utah being best friends with Reece, one weekend with all but two of my grandbabies, one week with Dani, Carter, Andi, and Taytum, one weekend with Ben, Sharon, Grayson, and Cal added to the mix = happy Gramzee arms, happy Gramzee soul, and happy mom! I sure had a good time. I love you all! mom, z, zan, gramzee, tink............

No name baby has a name!

Remi Kate Andrus

and 11 days later..........

I got another one.............grandbaby #8!




Baby Girl Andrus
Born March 27th
7:37pm
8lbs. 10 oz.
22 inches long
(yes, we know...............she is a big baby!)
The people who made her: Summer (Stewart) and Josh Andrus
Sibling: 18 month old Reece (who has no idea how her world is about to be rocked!)
We love you baby girl.............

Welcome to the world baby boy!

Jameson Paul Stewart
March 16th, 2010
11:43am
8 lbs. 1 oz.
20 inches long
The ones who made him: Sam and Nikki (Peterson) Stewart

Can't wait to meet you baby!

Love - Gramzee

I TOLD YOU SO!

Paul didn't ask me not to type it, or mutter it to others, or to think it.

He has been sick with cold, cough, and general chest yuck for 4 weeks - at least! - and I have been telling him, as any good wife would, that he should see the doctor to which he ALWAYS replied 'I'm fine, I haven't been sick as long as you think, I'm doing so much better, You're not my mother'

So I get a call last night from the aforementioned and he had a confession to make. He started it with 'Please don't SAY 'I told you so' which was followed by the confirmation that he had pneumonia.

On the other hand, we know he has this because he had his 5 year cancer PET scan and they found his right lung pretty messy with the general chest yuck. The blessing is that we are on our way to knowing that he is cancer free (for the second time we/he has hit the 5 year mark) and the other blessing is that I can feel very vindicated when I type, think, or mutter 'I TOLD YOU SO!'

2010......so far...............

What a whirlwind of a year it's been already. Paul and I took our annual two week getaway.........we picked Maui again this year. Beautiful. I think I may have taken one picture and I think Paul took one picture. Oh and well.

I hit the pavement running when I got back. I needed to get Sam and Nikki's nursery started and finished. I did - it's mailed. Turned out really really cute. No picures. Then I decided to ask Nikki if she needed a diaper bag. She said yes - I made one of those for her which of course, tipped the domino - I made one for Summer and now I'm going to make one for Sharon. It's an Amy Butler pattern and super super sturdy. I had made one for Dani and she really loves it. Then I made the dress you see. I think it's one of the cutest things I've ever made. You take a t-shirt and cut it off and just add strips of gathered material. I have a pattern for a 2/3, 4/5, and 6/7..........anyone want to look at it? Jaime?

Singin' In The Rain!

Yup, I have the sewing machine back out and look what it made............raincoats for my three granddaughters! The two matching ones are for sisters Andi and Taytum and the other one is for Reece!




I saw these 'zipper' flowers at a store on a headband and fell in love with them. Here are a few brooches that I have made tonight!

Happy New Year To Me!

I say Happy New Year to Me! I have an awful lot to be thankful for and am excited for the coming year. I have never been much of a resolution maker and I am sticking to that sort of. I have been thinking (weirdly enough) about how hard it is to cook for only two people. You should have seen the pot of pasta I made tonight. It was homemade noodles with my new KitchenAid attachments and there were homemade meatballs involved but it was just too much. I decided that I need to learn how to scale back on my cooking amounts. I'm just so darn wasteful. So that thought process got me to thinking about other goals. I wondered IF I should make them, if I could keep them, and if I wanted the stressers of making/not making a goal. So I decided to keep them simple and pretty generic. So here is a semi-list of goals and things I'm grateful for all rolled up into one. (This is where you click to get out of here because truly this couldn't be very exciting reading to anyone except ME. And afterall, it's always about me now isn't it.....)

1. I am going to read more this year. I am not setting a goal of how many books or how much time to spend doing it but I just need to read more. I love to read. I had an epiphany in the PDX airport a few years back. I was in Powell's bookstore and was about to pick up a book and I thought to myself "I need to figure out what I really like to read" (This reminded me of Runaway Bride when Julia Roberts decides she needs to figure out what kind of eggs SHE likes.) I like books about real events. Especially WWII. I loved reading and am still working on it - it's a hard read - MAO. Fascinating to learn about that time period and the beginnings of communism and the weird turn of events that allowed MAO into power. It has some similar themes to Hitler. I'm going to read more this year.

2. I am going to figure out how to cook for two people and this cannot include dining out as this is the most convenient way to cook for two. I have found a bit of a passion for cooking this past year thanks mostly to my friend April. She's amazing at cooking - however, not baking (this is her opinion - not mine!) I love trying new things and have been quite successful at it except for the amount thing. You should have seen the chop salad we had for New Years Eve. We are still eating on it. Nic and Alli have had to endure it for two nights. There is still a giant bag left. Along with rolls, pasta, prime rib, sausage pies, and the likes. I am not going to be so wasteful with my cooking.

3. I am going to continue excersising. April, my aforementioned friend, and I hiked and hiked for almost 6 months. We did it mostly every weekday morning and averaged 3 -4 miles in the mountains. It was fantastic. My life revolved around getting to bed early enough for the 5:20am wake-up call. I am looking forward to the weather being nicer so I can get back to that. However, in the mean time, I can go to the YMCA with April and do yoga and treadmill - namaste, namaste...........it's such a still activity and I find myself in giggling mode quite often. If the guy behind us just wouldn't breathe so heavily it would help.....

4. I am going to treat my friends better. I feel like the few friends I have are just the best. They are so thoughtful of me and my concerns and I fear I haven't been the same to them. I am soooo selfish by nature and it's the one thing (among many others for sure) that I stuggle with. My friend Judes is the most kind, loving, caring person I know. Always thinking of others. Always stiving to help out where she can. She is an incredible example of how I need to be.

5. I need to enjoy the journey more. I am such a destination seeker. I rush thru the process of getting to where ever my journey may be taking me and I forget to enjoy the journey there. I don't know when this happened to me. I thought I used to be a journey lover but I am absolutely the worst journey lover now. Relax, laugh at the stress, enjoy the journey.

I have many other things to add to this list - mostly about family, music, etc. but I have now gone on for what seems forever and I'm certain if you are still reading this you should have been gone long ago and gotten back to your family......

Here are some things I am soooo grateful for and hope that I always show my gratitude for them:

1. My husband. A.Mazing. Loyal. Integrity. Thoughtful. (He gave me a pencil bouquet on the first day of school when my last kid went off to college.) Loving. Dedicated. Man, I could just go on forever with his qualities. I'm not sure how I roped him into marrying me but I've been riding his coat tails ever since. Recently he was talked about in a negative way behind his back by some people and I thought to myself, "If they only really knew him......." We will celebrate 31 years of marriage this month. Where did the time go by? I couldn't be more grateful that he is cancer-free. I think about it often and I can't believe he/we went thru that twice. It's a life altering event and while I would never ever trade the lessons learned, I wouldn't wish it on anyone under any circumstances.

2. My family. See list above. They bring me such joy. I LOVE being a mom. I LOVE being a grandma. It's just every good joy all bundled up into a family. God really knew what He was doing when He created families. I love them all so much.

3. My beliefs. I am so grateful that I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. I am grateful for the opportunities it gives me to serve.

4. Music. I love that I can listen to it. I love that I can participate in it. I love how much joy it gives to people in general. I love the positive influence and feelings it can give people. I just love love love music. Thank you mom and dad for giving me the appreciation and gift for it. I dragged (tho I hardly think you were really dragging) you along to so many lessons/recitals/performances etc. You paid for all of the lessons - the instruments - and for me, it really 'paid' off. You are incredible examples of how to support your children in their interests. (Even tho you did try to bribe me with money to quit 'banging' on the piano. It didn't work very well did it?)

5. Life. I love being on this earth. I oft times will hear people say that they are ready to move on. Not me. I am staying firmly planted here. I love where I live. I love those who surround me.

Happy New Year to all of you! (If you made it this far in reading, this wish is for you. You deserve it after reading this post I have bloviated on. However, it is my blog and I would argue that I can write for as long as I want - and I did! Afterall, it is all about me......see #4 goal......)