Grandberries

Those of us blessed with grandberries, as I like to refer to them, can likely relate to the saying, "If we'd known how much fun they'd be, we'd have had them first." I suppose that's true because we're free to spoil them, on the one hand, and don't need to shoulder all the responsibility for their turning out right, on the other. This past weekend, Steve and I were privileged to have Reed spend Friday evening and night, and Kyra spent Saturday evening and night. Both grandchildren have seen a couple of the digital albums I've created recently using Smilebox, and were quick to respond enthusiastically to my invitation for them to create their own.
Reed's took a long time to load and we couldn't figure it out, inasmuch as it contains only one picture, until we viewed it. We LOVED it! So, I've decided to post it on my blog as a "challenge" to Reed's male cousins. I hope they will write back to him/me.
Kyra wanted to do one on her family in black and white, and had fun selecting the pictures and writing the captions. Again, maybe her female cousins will accept the challenge to create a blog entry of their own and share it with us. We would enjoy that.
Three of my 4 sisters had birthdays within the past few days. One of them (I won't mention any names) just reached the half-century milestone, so this was a big one. They got together (along with some of their daughters) and spent time together attending a Time Out for Women in Billings, MT this past weekend. Since I was not able to join them (Steve and I recently returned from spending two and a half weeks in UT and WY, so this was out of the question.), I admit to feeling a little left out. It was a good thing, therefore, that our Stake Relief Society Conference took place this same Saturday. It was AWESOME! One can imagine what some of the topics might have been with the theme "Becoming a Daughter of Zion." The classes, speakers, music, decorations and luncheon were great. I even learned how to can (well, actually, bottle) butter (something I'd heard you could do but I was clueless as to how).
Grandchildren are such fun! Ours have outgrown sleeping all night with us but we love having them pile in our bed when they awaken in the morning. Reed loves to put his arms around his Papa and Nina and declare, "Family Hug!" Aahhh! Melts one's heart! Saturday morning before I took him home, he told me he'd had a really good time. I told him we had, too, but that it hurt my feelings a little when he'd told me Friday night that he wanted to go home and see his Mommy. He quickly said, "I was just kidding about that part, Nina." I laughed and told him, "No, Nina is kidding you! It's fine if you miss your Mommy and Daddy. I know you love them, and they love you very much, too." He said, "Yes, but YOU love me, too!" I assured him we do.
Kyra recently saw the TWILIGHT movie, "an action-packed, modern day love story between a vampire and a human starring Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen." She thinks she's "in love" with Robert Pattinson, but doesn't like "Bella" because, "she's my competition, Nana!" She admitted last evening that the song DRAMA QUEEN pretty much describes her at this age. And you might have noticed that Ky calls me "Nana" and Reed calls me "Nina." I dare say most grandmothers will answer to whatever endearing name their adorable grandberries choose to call them. :) We hope you enjoy their creations.