Trying to get Lexi

She just kept responding to the request so I could try to get a better picture. What a trooper.

Life with Missionaries & Princesses

Just some pictures of fun at Nana and Grumpaws.

OOPS!!!

It has been so long I forgot how to post a blog. I hit post the pictures before I said what I had to say about those cute Grossarths.

I showed up at Regina's on a Monday during her cleaning and she sent me to take Hayden out of school early to go to the movie. What a treat!! McKenna and I picked up Hayden and went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" And then, as you can see, the two of them posed like models for their pictures to be taken. What fun we had playing and making little loaves of bread and a great dinner. Thought I would get home at 5 and got home at 10 after a visit to Grandma.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN

Adventures in Folsom with 3 Princesses

The 3 Princesses

I had a wonderful time at Ryan and Michelle’s in spite of being sick. It is really hard when you don’t act and look that sick. Ryan still wants you to empty boxes. Michelle took really good care of me. She cooked great meals every day and as much as I hated it she took the kids out without me 2 days while I slept and coughed without worrying about waking the little ones.

Whit and Connie had us over twice while I was there. Ryan and Michelle are lucky to have them there and we are lucky to have them there to look out for our kids. (They better remember who the REAL grandparents are.)




Mom loves to walk Emmy to school and and Bella and Lexie ALWAYS want to go with her. I think Bella stayed home with me 1 or 2 times.

I got a story every night too. Mom has a story and Dad has a song and a prayer. What more could a princess ask for.

I had lots of fun with the girls. Playing games, putting together puzzles, coloring. We started planting a few plants and I developed a terrible fear of going outside in the wind and weather so Michelle and Lex planted tomatoes, watermelons, squash, and strawberries. Ryan and Bella planted peas in the planter box they built. What a fun Dad. (Please take note of the red heels.)

This is us one night when we were alone trying to all get in a picture. Doesn't it look fun? It was. I love those girls. I love the kisses from Lexie to when she calls "Hi Nana!"

GOOD SAMARITAN

We walked with Trent and Regina to our cars after the Undy 5000 last Saturday. We came upon an older man in the parking lot with a flat tire on his car. Trent immediately asks him if he needed any help and if he had all the parts he needed to change the tire. The man wasn’t sure. Trent quietly changed his tire, no fuss, no muss. Trent would not want any notice but he was practicing what he believes and who he is. What a good example of the Good Samaritan. Thanks Trent.

Heaven on the Coast

This has been a busy week. We just got back from visiting the 3 little princesses in Arroyo Grande, CA. Ryan and Michelle went on a 7 day cruise and we went to spend 7 heavenly days with the girls. Richard, Raelynn and I had a great time with Emily, Bella, and Lexie. Since they don’t seem to miss their Mom and Dad when they are gone it is lots of fun to be with them.

Lexie is just like the youngest in all the Rodger’s families. She can do anything the oldest one can do. She kept us pretty darn busy. Michelle warned us but we had no idea of the extent of her busyness. She was into everything and I mean everything. If it was quiet for more than 60 seconds, it was too late. Repair work had to be done. The last night at 3 in the morning she emptied the fridge: milk, yogurt, cheese, carrots, water bottles, and other food stuff. Came and stood by the bed at eye level staring at me. That was the night she was awake from 12 midnight till 5. Never cried even when I threatened her with bodily harm. I think she smiled when the rocker dumped me on the floor when I fell asleep in it. At 7, when Bella and Emily came and got in my bed (the one I had made to block the door) she did too, all was forgiven, by Lexie and me. In explanation for Lexie running loose at night, Ryan and Michelle wanted Lexie trained to her youth bed while they were gone. She was great the whole time till the last night. She went to bed and went to sleep with Emily and Bella just fine every night but Friday. We never had to repeatedly put her back in the bed. She made up for it that last night. She never cries except when getting up from a nap. Makes you not want to give her one. And is always smiling that great smile of hers. When you catch her at something and say “No” or “Naah” and she jerks back and smiles, you can’t help but smile at her and grab her and kiss and hug her. She eats like a little horse too. Made our hearts glad.

Bella chose not to walk to school each day with Emily, Lexie, and me. She wanted to stay with Grumpaw and get tickled. She loved sitting and watching TV with him, “Tom and Jerry.” Bella helped me a lot with organizing drawers. We spent a lot of time talking. We didn’t do puzzles very much this time because Lexie’s hands were in everything. But Bella told me about everything from her birthday at Disneyland, to her cake, to all about her friend Gage, to being a Mommy someday. She is very prim and has all the hand motions to prove it. Bella and Emily just recently had their ears pierced. Everyday we went through the routine of cleaning and changing earrings. It was really quite fun. Bella had hers done first and has quite a few earrings and is very generous about sharing them with Emily. Bella is a sweetheart.

Emily is a Rodgers. Quick witted and could talk you to death. But of course she has something to say. On the way home with Em and her Dad, who can hit 100mph on the on ramp in 10 seconds, I said “Is your Dad a crazy driver”? Em said “Nana, THAT is a stupid question”. Isn’t that cute? Emily is a picky eater but she loved Grandpaw’s cooking. We couldn’t believe it. You would think we had bribed her the way she complimented and soft soaped us about how good the food was or how well I did a list or some other thing. Maybe it was how many times we went to her favorite yogurt shop. We loved having her be the first one in the bed with us every morning at 6 or 7, even on the weekend. She came to talk not to sleep. In the years to come she will probably share her inter most secrets with her parents at that time. We played Apple Scrabble and she beat the pants off her friend and me. She has even taken on crossword puzzles and Sudoku. Emily is sharp. Friday night we had a Night at the Drive-in on our deck. We set up the lawn chairs on the deck to face the TV room window, opened the window, waited on the sun to go down, turned the lights out, turned up the volume, fixed hot dogs, fries and soda, popcorn, and candy. Emily wrapped up in a blanket and watched all of “ “. The rest of us were to cold to stay out side and watched from inside the movie theater. It was a fun night.

We read stories every night. I read the story from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle titled “Harbin the Slowpoke”. Emily became Harbilina. (It isn’t her favorite nickname, hum Lulu?) We’re still looking for the powder from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle to sprinkle on Emily’s shoes. Does anyone know where it is? Nana will give a reward for it.

They were all 3 so happy and easy to get along with. I’m glad we’re in good health because we were running all the time and came home not needing to rest. That made it a really fun trip and the kids really enjoyable.

Lastly, Regina and Trent; take a trip so we can come and stay with your kids. We want to watch the cute things they do and say on a daily basis. It has been a while. They grow up so fast.

We're happy we get to see the 3 little missionaries all the time. We love them. We love our life.

Grandma Joyce

How lucky can one person be???



















I’ve spent some time with Grandma Joyce all by myself the last couple of months. It has been like a vacation for me. She has really slowed down from her hundred miles an hour that she has run for the last 85 years; but she can still run small circles around most of us. If nothing else the stories she tells about her adventures through life as a wife and mother are enough to tire any normal woman out.


Last Wednesday I had Jury Duty and had to be there at 1:00 in the afternoon. The case was going to last 5 to 7 days. The judge said not to try to use the grandmother excuse to get out of jury duty. We are leaving for Ryan’s on Thursday. I feel a patriotic responsibility to serve so I would never use the grandmother card unless Lexie was calling. Well Lexie is calling, I told the judge, he had no choice, and he let me go.

I arrived at Grandma Joyce’s with 2 of our Rodger’s family Christmas projects. Grandma’s monitor stopped beeping. She had a new reason for living. She went to work and if she hadn’t had so many phone calls and so much company we would have gotten finished with the stockings. Nancy helped a bit. (We are really going to owe them when Crystal gets married.) I left the stockings and pillow cases at her insistence. She hasn’t been this happy in a long time. I may have to look for other projects for her.

I learned a few new things about Grandma during this visit. One is where Ryan gets his desire for long, long, long showers. Grandma told me she loves to get in the shower and stay there. She pays the bill so she can. I told her about Ryan and she said “You go Ryan.” . I made a late run to Sam’s Club Wednesday night for chocolate and we ate nuts and chocolate for dinner because we could
We called Dad/Richard and ask him to bring stuff we needed on Thursday. He was wonderful. He did. The garage door stopped working so we called Dad and he came on Friday (and brought stuff) and he and Uncle Alan worked on the garage door. Dad left and Uncle Alan finished up. Dad left at 3:30 to run an errand for Wendy and for a meeting at home Friday night. On Friday afternoon Grandma and I talked about needing my sewing machine to finish the stockings in just a couple of hours. Grandma laughed a mischievous laugh and said “Call Richard one more time and ask him to bring your machine in the morning and we could be done.” She was half kidding but would have loved it if I had. I didn’t. I came home on Friday night before she wore me out. Hopefully she is resting now.

Life is good.

I love Grandma Joyce's philosophy on life. She always wanted to make a lovely home for her husband and children and see her children grow in truth and righteousness. She has done a great job achieving her desires. She is a great Matriarch. Any of us would do well to pattern ourselves and our lives after her.

This is it

Trailing.................2009

I loved taking Savannah to the airport to send her to EFY on July 12th. It was so fun to spend the afternoon with her. I wish it hadn't been sandwiched between two very exciting activities -

Wicked and EFY

We thought it would be a quick drive by and drop off but it turned out that I went with her to the gate and then her plane was delayed and we had dinner and talked and talked. They swapped her plane for one that worked and she was on her way to one of the best weeks of her life. I'm glad I was a small part of it. Savannah, you are so put together and so beautiful. Wow!!

Trailing Thoughts From the Summer 2009

Some happenings I don't want to forget so I better start putting them down. Now that the kids are back in school maybe I will catch up. I sure love all of these kids. I must tell this one on Bella. Only the adults can read this. Don't mention it to Bella. I believe we were home from the beach 2 days, like Sunday evening, and I was talking on the phone with Richelle and Grumpaw was watching TV. I was standing in the family room next to my desk. Emily was sitting at my desk. The card table was set up in the family room in front of the TV with a 1000 piece puzzle on it. I had been working on it for about a month and had almost finished it. It lacked about 25 pieces being finished. Bella walked over to the card table and tried to put in a puzzle piece and then with both hand made circles on top of the card table with the puzzle pieces. I went berserk. Richelle thought someone had drowned. It was the only time Bella cried while she was here. We all got over it.

I think I will put the puzzle back up today and start over. I love Bella. I love Mary Ellen's statue that has magic marker on it by someone who shall remain nameless. I love the foot prints on my back from the bottom of the pool. I love the foot prints in my garden. I love holding their hands next to my bed at night. I love being asked if it's time to get up yet at 6:30 am. I love being ask "Can we come swimming?" or "Will you come to my party?" or "Havn't you finished it yet?" Or being call Nana or Monkey. Or even Grandma, yuk!

A Concerned Mother,Sister, & Friend

The last couple of weeks have caused me to reflect quite often on the need for balance in our lives and how hard it is to maintain. It is next to impossible to 'take care' of ourselves, the family we live with, our children, our extended family, our close friends, and those we want to be close to. (Take care of and feel satisfied with the care we are giving.) Care meaning love them and communicate with them and try to interact with them. Lots of prayers have been offered to get us through today (and I mean particular today today.) Today is a hand ringing day for me. It is bad enough that it is a MONDAY and a new week is starting; i.e. school, work, doctors, clinics, out patient. (I'm not leaving the house.) I will have a prayer in my heart for each one of you today. I will be waiting to hear by bedtime that you are all home safe and 'well'.

My sister, Judy (Aunt Sandy) has her first Chemo treatment today, a 6 hour drip. She has been told she could be violently ill and it could take longer because they may have to start and stop a number of times but it will get easier with each treatment. It looks like it would be easier the first time. My heart breaks for her. I wish I could do it for her. I wish no one had to do it. She is good at biting heads off but I hope today she has a calm spirit and has an over abundance of the comforter with her.

My brother Frank is spending the summer in Cottonwood, AZ. It is nice to have him close. Richard is so good about calling and checking on him and his wife Janie. Frank has had stints put in and has an aneurysm and disk in his back that need to be repaired. The doctors will not do the second without doing the first. Vicious circle. Looks like some action may be taken with him this week. We are waiting on pins and needles to hear. Richard will call to check on them.

My very old and dear friend Linda lost her husband Dave a week ago Friday to cancer. They thought they at least had a couple of months but his heart and lungs just gave out. She has certainly had her trials. She lost her son Lewis to juvenile diabetes a few years ago. She is a strong woman and has a lot of faith in Heavenly Father. Still, being a lone is going to be very hard. She has a daughter she is very close to. They are lucky to have each other. The memorial service is today in Colorado. There will be another one here in Arizona.

What a good looking bunch! Will we ever have ALL of us together again?

Worrying about all these kids is enough to cause an ulcer. One has a CT scan today, Randi has a colonoscopy, Richelle has an appointment for a colonoscopy, Regina just had one, Ryan and Robyn are making appointments, Raelynn just had one last year. Doesn't need one for 4 more years. Maybe we'll do it sooner if this doctor wants to study her along with the rest of the kids under the same CLOUD, or umbrella as the case may be. I am so glad the Rodgers are not procrastinators about their health and they take it seriously. This is serious and I do worry. Thanks!

The Long, Long, Long Summer

We wouldn't have it any other way. Grumpaw and Nana have reminised a lot about our on happy childhoods this summer as we have spent time with Bella, Emily and all the other grand kids. We have had such a wonderful time with all of them.

As we were preparing to leave San Diego to come to Phoenix Bella told her Mother she needed bandaids and she needed them sent to Phoenix and she needed them to get there the next day because Bella was going to Phoenix and she needed the bandaids to be waiting for her. We thought that was great that she didn't even consider going north, she was going east. We are so happy to report that there was never a tear or a request for Mommy or Daddy or to go home the whole 3 weeks (that is 21 days) that they were with extended family. G and N think that is a tribute to their Mom and Dad and to us and loving aunts and uncles and counsins for teaching them to love each other and want to be together. It was like Christmas but it was finally over. It was lots fun and we can't wait to do it again. No regrets and lots of good memories. We'll have some comments as we recall them and some pictures other than the ones Richelle and Michelle didn't post.



(R&M this picture was not taken on the way home from SD. It is a sample of happy children watching vedio's. Emily's carseat was used from SD.)








The aunts Richelle, Randi, and Robyn and even cousin Sydney had a great time shopping with the Bella and Emily. They are lucky girls. Every girl should be so lucky to have benefactors like them. And then one day Aunt Robyn came over and spent some time (Aunt Richelle already mentioned it) playing with all the kids. It was a MARVELOUS break for Richelle and Nana to sit back for a while and watch them have fun with crayons and playdoh and silly string. I think Aunt Robyn had as much fun coloring as anybody else. I bet the pictures she colored are on her refridgerator. We'll look next time we are at her house. What a great time that day was! WAIT... Maybe she was using coloring as an excuse to not wash out that poopy diaper that everybody was getting blamed for.













































Hayden, McKenna and Brooklyn were here for 2 nights and we had lots of fun. Richelle is a hands on aunt. She is so helpful and she lets me be involved lots of times. She is the instigator most of the time.
Anyway, one morning McKenna and Bella were playing upstairs after they got up and Bella insinuated that McKenna had an accident in her pants. McKenna said "No I didn't." That was the end of that. I came down stairs and Hayden says "Grandpa needs to take a bath and brush his teeth. He stinks really bad." He was so serious. It turned out that Raelynn had been to the bathroom and we needed to set a bomb off to get the smell out of the house. The Rodger's curse. I will not post a picture.
I will post a picture of what we did at 9, 1, 3, 5, and/or 7:00. We didn't need or feel like going away from the house.

Quote for July 2009

We found this sheet of paper laying around one day. Raelynn's handy work is quite often a surprise and this one was a real surprise. It read as follows:

HEY. YOURE DROPPING ALL OUR MONEY. YO FOOL!

We wondered how she found out!!!! She's smater than we thought.

The Beach 2009

Just cute!

The dare devil!!

Our little home is behind the loving child and ancient one.

Grumpaw and I thought it would be a great idea for Emily and Bella to join us at the beach this year and then come home with us to Glendale for a week or two. We are in day 16 and could not have asked for a better adventure. The 4th of July Ryan and Michelle left and we put the girls to bed in the cottage and they have not once cried to go home, attribute to us and their parents.

We're sharing some of the wonderful pictures we took when my battery wasn't dead.
----------------------
Billy slept on the air bed on the floor in the living room and the 2 princesses slept on the futon in the living room. Every morning Emily got in bed with us, and continues to. Bella has slept till 8 or 8:30 every day. Even if Billy slept till 9 or 9:30 he never even once complained about them being 2 feet from his head and coloring and eating and talking. They were very kind to each other. He played with them and teased them until it was time to go get the other cousins from the beach house.
Beach Cottage - about 400 sq feet. You can emagine how big the bathroom was.

Our fun mornings with Billy sleeping at their feet.

Things we did at the beach:

Inside we read silly poems, sang songs, watched movies, played dominoes (I really hate getting beat by a 7 year old more often than I win. She is so darn cocky about it too.)and a few other kid games.

Outside we walked on the beach, hunted for shells, went to the Shell Shop, went to Cow-a-Bunga, ate at the Peir for my birthday (Fisherman caught a big shufflenose.), went fishing, played in the sand, played in the water (I couldn't take pictures. I had to watch Emily like a hawk or she would have been out with the surfers.), played in deep sand holes (The Jr Life Guards dug holes 10 ft deep by 15 across.), went to the park (Chased the motorized cars like robots.), went to the Lifegaurd monument.

Playing on the wall was something they all had to do. They had to see if they could kee from falling off on to the rocks.

Emily made a new friend at the beach.

I think the little ones were happy not leaving the beach the whole week. I certainly was.

Fruits of the Earth

Here is a whole meal from our garden. The wonderful part is Nana is the only one who will eat any of it. Nana can't even bribe anyone to eat them. What strange people the Rodgers are! No wonder Nana is so healthy. She just can't understand why she is so fat.

Have a veggie day.

One More Great Moment

We were up till 2 on Thursday night watching movies. Another story.

Friday morning Nana was dreaming away in a very pleasant dream. In my dream I had run into an old friend (from an old Ward) who in the past had always been a little sour but now she was very contented. I didn't ask her what had changed her, but she started telling me anyway about a program that centered on a book about positive thinking and forgiving. She had been married and divorced, sour before and sour after, but this book had shown her how to forgive and go on with her life and be HAPPY.

(This is where it gets good.)

Derek just happens to be sitting next to me in my dream. In my dream my thought is "I should get this book and maybe it would show me how to forgive and forget and be happy."

STOP!!!!!

At that moment I think "I've done that", and I'm roused out of my dream in the fetal position with my prayer hands under my cheeks and a smile on my face and mouth "My life is perfect. I don't need that book."

DaDa!

Next moment, the whistle blows and it is Richard blowing the whistle at the bottom of the stairs for me to come to breakfast. Remember the Princess in the movie 'Enchanted' flowing around the room? That is how I looked when I came down the stairs in my green print Pj's and Derek, Savannah, and Brooklyn were already seated at the table and Richard was putting one and half inch thick French toast made with home made bread on the table with hot syrup and juice. He is the best!! What else can I say? Of course the story goes on. It was about 10:15 and we were meeting Richelle at the movie at 11:10. Needless to say we were out of there and Grandpaw did what he always does and cleaned up after us. We love him.

Another great day in my GREAT life.

Quote from the Parents

Saturday morning, May 30th, was a little different. Nana was still lying in the bed at 9:30 (no comments please) and Grumpaw had come upstairs. The phone rang and he lay down on the bed to talk. It was his friend Gene Saunders calling from Logan, Utah to check on one of their home teaching families. After they talked about that they went on to other subjects and Grumpaw says "Dianne had some of the grand kids here the last couple of days playing with them and having a good time. They're going home today. Talk to you later." Sounded like a normal conversation. I'm flattered. He didn't even know what happened. Of course 15 minutes later he had to make it up to me and go to Safeway and buy donuts for all of us, which he did without any complaint at all. I got apple fritters which I love.

HAPPINESS

You are the flowers in our garden!!!

This past week we had the start of a discussion on being happy in this world in spite of the difficulties that we encounter and the trials we face. I mentioned I had read something recently that was encouraging and I would look for it.
I found it.
April 2009 General Conference, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The Power of Covenants -
"We need strong Christians who can persevere against hardships, who can sustain hope through tragedy, who can lift others by their example and their compassion, and who can consistently overcome temptations. We need strong Christians who can make important things happen by their faith and who can defend the truth of Jesus Christ against moral relativism and militant atheism."
My perception on this is simple. These strong Christians have a smile on their face. Having HOPE suggest we see the bright side. Everyone faces tragedy. We just have to keep picking ourselves up one more time. Don't we love to be around people who are good examples or who are compassionate toward us? When someone put their arm around us or touches our hand doesn't that tell us they love us and are concerned for our happiness? When we do that aren't we expresses our love and concern? When a little child says "Thank you" or "I Wove Vue" its because you have been a good example in saying those words. When we get up and go where we're supposed to and practice what we're supposed to and stop ourselves from saying things we would like to say when it would hurt someone we're overcoming temptations. We all have to do that.
And boy we better have a STRONG faith in Jesus Christ and stay away from those last two things. Nana had to look them up; moral relativism and militant atheism. I would rather play in the pool with the 3 year olds. I may have to grow up. Heavenly Father protects the simple minded but YOU are not simple minded.
Gain all the knowledge you can and be "Strong Christians" and finally endure to the end. Enduring to the end requires more than just being here till the end. We need to endure WELL to the end. Put a smile :) on your face. Poop happens. We all go through it. We've got each other. There is always a haven and someone to talk to (Heavenly Father and Grumpaw or Nana.)