Tribute to My Grandmother

So the reason for my visit to Arizona was to spend my birthday with my grandmother. I was born on her 50th birthday but I've only been able to celebrate less than half of my birthdays together with her. So this big year for us (25 for me and 75 for her) we finally got to spend together.

In the years that I have known my grandmother I have learned that I have many of her "loves" of life. She was the first to sit me down in front of her organ and she taught me to play "Oh, Them Golden Slippers" and "It's A Small World". She loved singing and painting. Oh the beauty she would capture in her paintings! She amazed me with the mountains and streams she painted. She would let us paint with kids paints on her big windows in her kitchen. Then she would leave our paintings up till we visited again. A tradition that I have shared with Kallyn. Hopefully someday I will have windows that can be painted on.


She taught me how to crochet for my 5th birthday. She has had the tradition of making an afghan for each grandchild when they get married. And she quilts too! I remember many times going to her house and finding her quilting frame up in the basement with a marvelous blanket stretched out in front of the couches and she would put us to work tying it. She would bring her pattern blocks with her and we would watch her stitch beautiful patterns onto the fabric in the hoops. I have yet to finish a large quilt, but I love making baby sized blankets.

They live in Orem, Utah where I was born and lived until I was 9. They have a huge acre yard where my grandpa has the best vegetable garden and the most beautiful lawn. My grandmother adds a splash of color with her flower gardens. She has a Lilac bush that blooms the most fragrant bunches of blossoms. I loved the mixed smell of lilac blossoms and fresh baked bread in her kitchen every spring. She also had 2 rows of the sweetest raspberries and every year after the cherries were picked and eaten we would peek to see if there were any ripe raspberries yet. I will always be reminded of my grandmother every time I eat a raspberry.



My Brother and sisters and I would bring out all her kitchen chairs when she would mop and wax her floors and we would make trains and buses and pretend to go up the canyon to play with our cousins in Heber. Brian would pretend to fly an airplane or Helicopter like the ones my grandpa flew. Grandma would bring out her large blankets and we would make HUGE tents and forts and serious mazes of tunnels. Of course her snacks were always a sweet refreshment. I'll never forget the red punch and cheetos mixture we made once. The things we eat as kids!

Grandma and Grandpa loved the outdoors and would take us on picnics and camping trips often. We once saw a moose or an elk. Whatever it was it was big. My grandpa built a camper by himself and we spent many fun hours playing Uno or Mouse trap on the tiny table that colapses down to make a bed. We sometimes spent the night up on the bed above the cab of the truck. My grandma always had a camera handy and we would have to repose for whatever it was that she wanted to capture on film. Or we would have to wait untill all the family got in the picture and posed just the way she wanted us. I appreciate that she loved her family just the way we were and still continues to do so now. I love reminiscing over her photos and the vidoes my grandpa took. Just this last week we watched a video of my sister and I singing the same songs that Kallyn likes to sing today.

Grandma has always had a heart for sevice. Ever since I can remember she has been singing in a womens choir that shares such sweet music with the community. She is a temple worker for the Timpanogos temple and finds great joy in watching brides covenant with worthy Priesthood bearers. Especially when they are her own grandchildren. She stands as a great example of what I aspire to be for my husband and posterity. She has always been very active in the Relief Society and lends her help whenever it is needed. She is always talking about how much she loves her visiting teachers and the sisters she visits on her monthly route. She is a great friend to anyone who needs a smile or a helping hand. She is always the first to find a compliment for anyone and everyone she meets. She is most asuredly a sunshine scatterer.

Happy Birthday Grandma and thankyou for being such an aspiring daughter of God and being a great example for me and the rest of your family and friends! I love you!



Songs my grandmother sang to us as kids:

Fiddle dee dee, fiddle dee dee,
The Fly that married the Bumble Bee.
The Fly said he "Will you marry me,
And live with me, sweet Bumble Bee."
Fiddle dee dee, fiddle dee dee,
The Fly that married the Bumble Bee


Wyoming Campfire Round:
Wagon wheels, wagon wheels,
Keep on a rollin', wagon wheels.
Roll along, sing your song.
Wagon wheels carry me home.

I get the campfire blues
Underneath the moon
in old Wyoming, Wyoming.
When the sun goes down and I'm all alone.

Wyoming, Wyoming, Wyoming


Songs I devote to grandma
O Mio Babbino Caro-by Giacomo Puccino, My first Opera piece, she gave it to me as a piano solo

Pachelbel's Canon in D Major- our first real duet on the piano

Oh, That I Were an Angel-a common request when we visit. She likes to sing the harmony with my mom or sisters.

As Sisters in Zion-because it always reminds me of how hard she works to uplift Gods children

March of the Toy Soldier- We would play musical chairs while she played it on the piano.