Well it has been months since I did a posting, due to the fact that I cannot rely on Cathryn's expertise any longer. So here I am actually dusting off the cobwebs of her lessons on blogging. My thought is to use my blog for a different purpose than previously, so I made a few changes to it.... thus begins The Ramblings of a Grandmother. It's funny I don't necessarily feel like I have gained the wisdom, experience or the "age" of a Grandmother to particularly entitle me the privilege of sharing anything wise. In fact on the inside I feel quite young and inexperienced, I hope I grow up pretty soon, or I am afraid I will be leaving this realm wondering if I have anything to "return and report". Nonetheless, I have decided to accept the mantle of this role and share with you a few "pearls" of experience I have picked up on my journey.

A few things have happened of recent that have served as my inspiration in this undertaking. First I spent a some days in Utah with my son Steven and daughter-in-law Katherine visiting in their home to welcome the arrival of "little buddy" (Benson) so named by his older sister Savanna. One of Savanna's frequent questions to me while there was to tell her a story about my childhood. Not that my childhood was anything particulary interesting or entertaining, but Savanna loved hearing the stories over and over again. The same request has come from Tyler and Brandon, most likely to forestall bedtime, as opposed to making any lasting impressions. But we have had some good laughs! Steven, in listening to my stories to Savanna, decided that his Mother wasn't really all that smart as a child, so it will be with some hesitancy that I expose my more eventful childhood experiences "stories", but my plan is to go beyond the childhood into the parenthood stage as well, hopefully I grew a little in wisdom during that time.

My other source of inspiration came from our recent Church General Conference. To me there seemed to be an overlapping theme and emphasis on strengthening the families. My hope with this undertaking is that my words and thoughts will serve to strengthen my children and grandchildren as they follow the principles and teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Perhaps some of my limited experiences will serve to as a "step up" to them, so that they will find themselves further along the path of good experience and righteous choices than I at similar stage. It is my desire that my posterity go beyond and build upon the foundation which has been laid down thus far. As I observe my grandchildren growing and learning and my children laboring to teach their offspring I would like to offer small assistance in seeing them learn and emulate that which is good and true in this life. I am not sure any of my experiences will serve as much wisdom, or perhaps only as a little entertainment, but if they do in any small way then this undertaking will be of worth.

I suppose that is enough in the way of introduction or excuse whichever you choose to call it. This won't be a chronological event, because my brain files don't seem to always find their way to the surface in that manner. I will just give them a title and then perhaps one day I will go back and organize them, but for now I will just randomly share.. oh and many of these will be things you may remember from your childhood experiences or have heard me tell previously. So I apologize for any repetition or if there is no "wisdom" to be gained - maybe just a little entertainment value instead.

39 Years of Marriage!

On the 25th John and I celebrated our 39th anniversary by going out to dinner at "Pine Tavern". A very nice resturant in Bend, OR. We walked along the river and John gave me two dozen red roses:) 39 years..wow.

Then we decided to continue our celebration by taking the Crooked River Dinner Train on Saturday the 29th.

Events from this summer

This summer has been really fun! I spent a lot of time with the family. I've been to Billy Chinook quite a bit, to Salem to see Nathan and Shiara and on to Portland to visit Matthew and Verenice. All the kids came to visit mid-july and we went rafting, took family pics and again went to the lake. Then some of us went to Cannon Beach! Here I am below with Benjamin in the sand.

One out of the two rafting groups

Cathryn, John and I went hiking around Silver Falls

Discovering starfish and ocean creatures

Cruising the Caribbean

We had a great time in the Caribbean with the family. The first picture is John and I sailing (looks like blowing) away from Ft. Lauderdale. We were on the Westerdam with Holland America. This is our second time on this ship - a few years ago we went to Alaska on this same ship and loved it.

We had the steward open up the balcony door between Brian and Marnae's and our room, and then we all spent a lot of time hanging out between the two rooms. This is when we headed out to open sea.

Cathryn modeling a stylish life jacket. On HAL they have you all go out on deck for a full roll call fire drill the first afternoon.

Our first Port of Call was Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. Or was that Full Moon Cay... hmm...We swam and snorkeled and enjoyed the sun. Some fish seemed very attacted to us, especially once Scott discovered that they liked a variety of food. Scott, John M. & Cathryn.

Scott went dumpster diving to find all sorts of fun delectables for the fish to eat - it was pretty much a feeding frenzy after that!

Second Port of Call was Grand Turk - We weren't overly impressed. Hurrican Ike had ruined the reefs so there really wasn't good snorkeling but we did some kayaking in the ocean and John M. actually saw a sea turtle. You can see by the picture that it was cloudy in the morning - but it totally cleared up as we were headed back to the ship!!

That night there was a really cool moon over the ocean with the reflection on the water. This was taken from our balcony.

Third Port of Call was Grand Cayman or the famous Tortoga (Pirates of the Caribbean). Here is Brian and Marnae as we head out to the coral reef to snorkel and swim with the sting rays.

Steven hanging out the window of Captain Martin's Boat

And here are the StingRays - Kat was sooo happy that they were eager to greet us as our boat pulled up to their sandbar!!

Our last Port of Call was Costa Maya, Mexico, where we had employeed a private 10 passenger van and tour guide to take us to some ruins - it was quite impressive but our guide was a little difficult to understand and a bit long winded - I think I saw Cathryn nodding off as he was talking!

But he made up for it as we left the ruins and headed off down this dirt road and through the jungle for many miles. We then came to these little huts - very clean - run by a couple from Germany. They had fixed us fajitas and fresh orange juice for lunch. After eating way too much - we changed our clothes and went kayaking and canoeing in the Lagoon Azul. We were the only ones there. It was beautiful and a great way to end our last excursion in the Caribbean!

Our days at sea were spent at the pool, playing games reading, lounging around, laughing at the guys funny stories and antics, going to ship's entertainment.... but I think our guys had better jokes..

and of course......EATING.. - is that 3 or 4 desserts Jaime? - that has to be a record!

examing how they make these towel animals..

and doing Step with with Marnae!! She was trying to help us stay in shape from all that eating!

It was soo much fun - I look at these pictures and dream of going again!! We all took the books of upcoming cruises they gave us before leaving the ship - and at the airport home we were looking through them planning where to go next...

I will attempt to explain the pictures. First Eva and "Nina" as she calls me are sledding - great fun - it was such a beautiful white Christmas this year - picture perfect day. Then Cathryn and Kaitlin are singing a Christmas song for the family at our very informal Christmas get together where we all attempt to play the bells (actually pieces of cut pipe) to create Christmas carols - very entertaining. Next I think is a picture of Cathryn getting a roll of TP from Shiara and Nathan as part of her "prepardness Christmas gift" from them - always carry in your car in case of emergency. Then is a picture of Owen opening one of his gifts, and finally a picture of Steven, Kat & Savanna, along with Jaime, Scott, Annica, Grace, Clara, & Benjamin at temple square to see the lights - the grandkids thought that the best part was riding the train to get there. That's another story as to how we picked the busiest night of the year to go to see the lights - it was fun!

Well Christmas is over and I am still trying to figure out how to get Rudolf off my blog. Oh well it's kinda like potty trianing your kids to give grandma a blog, as long as they learn before they start kindergarten all is well...so as long as I learn before the next holiday all is well, or maybe I can just be like one of those people who leave there Christmas lights up for the next year. I am just 11 months ahead of the game. If I am coordinated enough I will try to post some pictures.