He makes me laugh

I gave Jake some strawberries yesterday,
and as I was cutting them up and putting
them in a bowl for him, he said "oh grama,
berries are the spice of life". What a funny
funny thing for a two year old to say. He is
the "spice of life" for me.

Rising to the Occasion

"In real life, serenity depends on coping and coping well. Rising to the occasion. Consider the following scenarios. You have a flat tire on the way to an important business meeting. You find yourself locked out of the house. You discover that your husband's college roommate is coming for dinner in two hours. The pipes freeze. The puppy swallows an earring. Someone's sick or snowed in. You're asked to send money, switch car pool trips, show up for jury duty. One minute you're called out of town, the next your're asked to step in on a moments notice to save the school bazaar.
Real life is the collision - day in, day out - of the improbable with the impossible. Longfellow believed that situations that call forth our coping abilities are "celestial benedictions" in dark disguises, sent not to try our souls, but to enlarge them. Just as dough rises in a bowl, expanding before it becomes bread, we become larger than we ever thought possible when we rise to occasions, performing miracles with good humor and grace. Coping well enables you to see beyond the circumference of circumstance, so that the real in the center of you daily round is not hidden by happenstance. Most women are geniuses at rising to the occasion. But we've never realized how extraordinary this talent really is, because it's second nature by now. We've never given credit where credit is due, because we've never given coping much thought. But if women who cope well ran everything, Nirvana wouldn't only be the name of a grunge band. We become more adept at rising to the occasion each time we see ourselves doing it. Every time we cope well with whatever real life throws our way, it's another deposit of confidence, creativity, and courage in our self-esteem account. So congratulate yourself each night for handling the unexpected with finesse. Well done. Today, when you need to rise to the occasion, do it with style. Do it with a knowing smile. Confound them. Astound yourself. Make it look easy, and it will become so."

This was taken from the November 6th of the Simple Abundance Book. I like this passage, because it reminds me of so many great women in my life, and the great way they always rise to the occasion. I look at my sister Jolyn and see how when she was just around 40 she became a widow and took that challenge and not only astounded herself, but everyone watching her with her courage. I look at my sister Marty and the challenges she's faced with Dee's health problems, also how she set the example on how to raise kids for me with her creativity. The list goes on the way my nieces with twins seem to just carry on and all the other's with their little ones. My own daughters amaze me. Abby with her knowledge of computers and the way she handles work, mothering and continues to quilt. And Whitney's talents with decorating, stitching, cooking and I love the way she teaches yoga. You all cope with everything that gets thrown your way and flourish through the growth life brings. I know it's hard, but most of the time you do make it look easy and fun. So congratulate yourselves. To my friends, sisters, aunts, nieces, and daughters, you cope and live with style, finesse and creativity, you confound me. Well done!

Hogan turns 9!

This handsome boy is grandson #3. He turned
nine this past week. Can't believe how big he's getting.
He's certainly the athlete of the family. Every week
we hear how he has scored 20 of the 30 points in his
basketball game and made 2 of the 3 goals in his soccer
game, all in the same day. Then off to do a little
snowboarding with the rest of the gang. Love those
brown eyes. Happy Birthday Hogan!

"Like the musician, the painter, the poet,
and the rest, the true lover of flowers is born,
not made. And he is born to happiness in this
vale of tears, to a certain amount of the purest
joy that earth can give her children, joy that is
tranquil, innocent, uplifting, unfailing."
Celia Thaxter

Maybe spring will come, one can hope.

I need to start getting one of these prepared.

Because sometime in the next few weeks I'll be
seeing a miracle like this coming up from the earth
out in my yard. It seems impossible at this time of
year, and yet it always happens.

And then, (I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but
I have to dream) a month or two later my yard will
start looking like this. Isn't that just the nicest thought?

The Visit

As I sat there visiting with Uncle Mel all I had to do was change his hair color in my mind and it could have been dad laying there in the hospital bed. Jim and I headed south for the weekend and since we were this far, we decided to keep going and go visit. He's been pretty sick, but like Dad was before Dad got really bad, Uncle Mel has that fight going, mixed with the depression of a very active man not used to being down and not doing everything he wants to. But he seems determine to get up and get back home and on with his life. It was fun to hear him talk about sports and then tell us his stories of how he got his real estate business going. He loves talking about his lake in Pinedale and all his lawyery grandchildren. What a smart group of kids! Bobbi and Gerry came by, so we had a good visit with them too! I don't know if I've ever seen two brothers so much alike as Mel and Dad. They look the same, they laugh the same, they talk the same. What a twosome they must have been growing up! I'm glad we made the trip.

Tomorrow we get to see little Samuel James blessed.

It's been a lovely weekend.

Two beautiful daughters

A late birthday wish to Melanie.
What a lovely daughter in law!
I am so grateful you came along and caught my son's eye.

Tyler would do just about anything for her.

Who else could get him to take guitar lessons?

And a happy early birthday to Whitney. My
youngest. Can't believe you're grown and graduated
from college and married. How grateful I am
to have such a sweet, talented daughter, with such
a beautiful smile. Thanks for growing up and becoming
one of my best friends.
love, mom

going to church

(Norman Rockwell)

(my husband does go to church with me)

I love to go to church. Not because of the pious feeling (as this picture depicts, although it is cute!) you sometimes
get when you go, I like to go because I love everybody there.
But most of all because of what I learn. ( isn't that why we go?) I have gone to church all my life, and I am still learning and
relearning. That's why I can never stop, because I have to continually be retaught and internalize
all the lessons and be reminded of what is important. I learned today that Jesus loves me, unconditionally. (Haven't I heard that somewhere before)? He was humble above all others. When He lived on the earth, he taught: "I came down from heaven, not to
do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me..." (John 6:38) He did His part to help us return to Heaven.
I am eternally grateful and will not question such a great gift. I love the people in my ward, these people have pretty much learned the lessons and live by example, "love one another," and I feel that if this little corner of the world is just a bit like Heaven then Heaven will truly be a glorious place. The reason being is the feeling of love is so tangible you feel it. No one is living a "charmed" life. Everyone is real and we all learn from and feel for each other. There is no judgement, just love. When I feel down and not quite myself,
whether it be circumstance or something I've done. I think of these good people and I think of the Savior and I
am so grateful that they are there for me, what a blessed woman I am.

Sending a Valentine to
those I love
on this special day.

Happy Valentines

(tomorrow)
Love, Polly

Ad and Abby

My grama Ad's house always had a quilt set up
in the living room. Often when I would go over
she would be sitting around the quilt with her friends
stitching and visiting.

The stitching on those old quilts spoke of great
talent, and also said alot about the women who
worked on them. I loved to wrap up in the warmth
of those soft folds my grama made for us with such
loving hands.

I spend my days at my daughter Abby's home. She has
inherited this great talent. The quilting bees are
a thing of the past for her. She has a giant quilting
machine in her basement, with stacks of fabric ready to
be stitched together to form yet another beautiful quilt.
And as I wrap up in one of her exquisite creations, I am
reminded of my dear grama and how the two of them would have
loved to sit around a quilt together and share ideas
and their love of fabric and patterns. The thought warms
my heart.

(photo taken from Victoria Magazine)

"I wish the sky would rain down
roses...They would fall as light
as feathers, smelling sweet: and
it would be like sleeping and yet
waking, all at once."
-George Eliot

A beautiful Day.

"What matters most is that we learn from living."
Doris Lessing

I had great parents. They gave me a great childhood.
My mom taught me about being kind and serving others. My dad
taught me to work and to never give up. They weren't perfect, but who is? They
lived great lives and I will ever be greatful to be placed in their home, to
learn from their example. I continue to learn. Today I learned from my
little two year old grandson. After a dreary winter, we went outside for an
hour. I had been feeling a bit down and as Jake ran around his
backyard like a prisoner being let out of jail, he kept yelling loudly,
"it's a beautiful day, grama- it's a beautiful day". " Look at the dirt, look at
the leaves, jump on the trampoline grama". As I jumped, he said "I have a
jumping grama!" I learned from Jake today that it is a beautiful Day.

The Gang's all Here!

The Eastern Gang have arrived,
and the rest of us gathered so
all the boys could get to know
one another. Jake had a great time
playing with his bigger cousins.
They all had to hold little Sam.
Wow! Six boys, smiles all around-
Who do you think had the biggest smiles?
(Probably grama and grampa)

I think I'm almost Real.

"What is Real?" asked the Rabbit one day. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stickout handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a
long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit. "Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are
Real you don't mind being hurt."
Does it happen all at once, like being wound up." he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why
it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully
kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes
drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because
once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
-Margery Williams

My eyes are drooping, my joints are loose and I am pretty shabby. I think I am starting to "become", and I think those that matter don't care what I look like, only what's in my heart. It does take a lifetime to become Real.