Of Tractors and Such

Ty loves tractors! Here's a picture of him on his tractor (thank you Ellen and Gary) next to Papa on his John Deere. Aren't they handsome!

The other day when I had popped by Carynn and Jamie's while out running errands I asked Ty if he wanted me to read to him. He didn't want me to read TO him; he wanted me to read MY book and he to read HIS book. His book of choice was "Ty's Tractor Book." He's had this book, it's actually a catalog, for a few weeks. The cover of the catalog came off so I made a cover for it when he was over for his day of play.
Back to my story- here's Ty VERY carefully turning the pages of his tractor book and me reading various board books. It was fun to read WITH him even though he didn't want me to read TO him. He's definitely getting more independent.

Back to tractors: Ty loves calling out "TRACTOR" whenever he passes one. Depending on where one is driving there are quite of few of them around. He identifies other heavy equipment as tractors as well.

He doesn't mind taking a ride with Papa on his mowing tractor (just around the driveway), but doesn't much like the noise. I think it might be fun to take Ty to a tractor dealership so he can see some up close.

I love my tractor boys!

NS

A Day of Play

It was so fun to have Ty over for a day to play last week. I actually called Carynn and asked, "Can Ty come over to play?" She worked it into their schedule and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to have our grandson over for an enjoyable day and it gave her a chance to have lunch with her husband and run some errands without a 2 1/2 year old helper.

We played inside and outside.
Happy May!
NS

Trip Home

We decided to vary our trip home a little bit this year. The first part of our trip we drove up to Salt Lake to see Bret and Laura. Laura's parents are always so gracious, they invited us to spend the night and we were happy to.

Because we spent the night Bret and Laura invited us to come along for Laura's ultrasound. We were excited to do this. Laura's mom joined us as well. Since they limit the number of people in the ultrasound room, Michael, Cathy and I "tag-teamed" our participation. Bret stayed in there the whole time of course.

It was a comfort to see their little guy (Yes, it's a boy!). They can already tell by the ultrasound that he has his fingers and toes and his spinal column is good and he doesn't have a cleft lip. There is such amazing resolution nowadays. I remember my first ultrasound over 30 years ago, it was hard to tell that the baby was a baby. By the time I had Melinda 20 years ago, the technology had improved significantly and it has only continued to do so since then. After the ultrasound Cathy had errands to run so Bret and Laura joined us for lunch at 5 guys Burgers. Great food!

We left after lunch and headed to Rexburg. We stayed with some new friends. We had been planning on just eating dinner, but they insisted we spend the night so we did. It was an unusual experience, but not uncomfortable, to spend the night in someone's home that I hadn't "officially" met before. Sure, we'd talked on the phone and e-mailed, but never met. They're great people. They invited their bishop and his family to dinner and Family Home Evening as well. We had a wonderful time. After the bishop and family left, we spoke with them about their experiences of teaching English in China. Michael and I are applying to be part of that program. We turned in after visiting a few hours and woke up to....SNOW .

So here it is mid-April and we look outside and it's snowing! After a yummy breakfast we headed out, a little concerned about the passes, but confident that all would be well. It was well, but the snow in Idaho and Montana caused us to drive a little slower than we normally would. The snow finally stopped and turned to rain about 2 hours from our home. We arrived home while it was still daylight. Claire took the trip well, she slept nearly all the time.

I'm glad that we were able to take the extra time to visit and so thankful that prayers were answered and we ALL arrived safely home.

NS

All in a Row

One of the things that Ty enjoys playing with at our home is a small bin of cars, trucks and airplanes. In fact I've written before (a long time ago) about when we would play open & shut the car doors and his instructions to me to "Fix it!" when the semi tractor/trailer would separate (which they do ALl the time).

Ty's been consistently doing something else with the cars,trucks, airplanes, Nephi (a Book of Mormon action figure that we gave to him that happens to live in the cars and trucks bin. What is that, you may ask? He likes to arrange them all in a row. I haven't necessarily noticed a pattern (as in colors or types), but there may be one. So I looked out the other day and there they all are-a line-up about 3 or 4 feet long all in a row of all the items that live in the car and truck bin.

Now, here's something else he does. When he takes one of them out to play with, he moves all the other items in the row in to fill in the blank spot. Then when he's done playing with the item, he puts it at the end of the row. He's been very meticulous with this. For a 2 1/2 year old, I think that's great. I'm going to observe him to see if he continues to do this.

Carynn says that she first noticed him lining up the toy cars and trucks when Jamie lined up the cars in a row one time. Ty sure picked up on that quickly. Isn't it amazing how the power of example is evident even in small things? Amazing and a little scary. Our little ones (and others) definitely notice what we are doing and they learn so quickly.

It only takes one time.

NS

Lip Smacking Delicious!

Ty's always been very expressive verbally. One of my new favorites is the way he says the word "delicious." Yesterday at A & W he was enjoying some rootbeer. He smacked his lips, breathed out and said "Delicious!"

Another thing that Ty thinks is delicious is chocolate milk. Since chocolate milk and A & W rootbeer are two things I think are really delicious, I'm glad to see that my grandson and I have the same, shall we say, excellent taste!

Delicious!

NS

Less than 6 degrees of Separation or It's a Small World!

Who knew that St. George, Utah area would be such a gathering place! Here's what happened:
Friends from our church in Washington started wintering here a few years ago. We saw them last year and they said, "You need to come to the Hee Haw next year." So they got us tickets and we went. It was crowded to overflowing. We sat next to our friends and two strangers sat near us. During the intermission a lady came to talk to the strangers. Her voice was very familiar and so I asked her if she had lived in Yakima, Washington. She said she had. I asked her if her if her name was Margaret and she said it was. She didn't recognize me, which considering she hadn't seen me in nearly 29 years isn't that unusual. That plus my hair color has gone from blonde to brown to blonde to silver would have also made identification a bit more difficult. Plus I no longer weigh 120 pounds. She looked nearly the same, but of course older. We determined that we'd see each other before I left to head back north.

Margaret's life has been busy the past 29 years. She was able to fill in some missing pieces of people that I knew but hadn't stayed in touch with. It also turns out that she knew my mom, which I hadn't realized. Margaret's husband died in November so she's missing him terribly, but has stayed active and busy with her two children and their families that live in the area.

So time passes...Margaret and I tried to schedule something, but the timing wasn't right. Finally about two weeks ago the stars were in alignment and I made an appointment to go see her. I arrived at her home and she showed me around. We were also killing some time as Margaret's daughter LeeAnn, that I remember as a teenager, was going to stop by. As we talked about what her future plans were she indicated that she felt she needed to go see her aunt as the aunt is very aged and in poor health. She didn't want to make the trip up north by herself necessarily, but felt she could go. She indicated that her niece by marriage, Dorinda was going to caravan with her. The wheels started turning in my head and I said "Dorinda P.?" and Margaret said that was her name before she married and then it hit me...That was the same Dorinda I had worked with 31 years ago at Longview Fibre in Yakima. Margaret indicated that Dorinda was in town visiting her mom and said I'm going to call her and see if she can come over. She did and Dorinda did.

I didn't work at Longview Fibre very long, but remember Dorinda well. I was a hazy memory for her, but after speaking a while she was able to dredge up a remembrance of me. I always remember that she thought my husband was cute. She had made a comment when she saw him in the parking lot not realizing that he was my husband. It was a compliment to his physique and well, a girl/wife doesn't forget those things even after 31 years.

But wait, there's more!
As Dorinda and I were talking it turns out the she's married and living in Vancouver, WA. When she told me her married name I said, "Oh, a friend of mine married a guy from Vancouver with that last name. So now it's time to start singing, "It's a Small World After All" as that man is Dorinda's stepson.

We had a great reunion! They took pictures and I took pictures and we determined to meet again for lunch before they headed up north and Michael and I headed home. Margaret called (or was it Dorinda?) and we arranged to meet at Dorinda's mom's home. Margaret was going to be there and wanted help tying a quilt. I helped her do that (as did Dorinda). I also met Dorinda's daughter (I only remembered her as a little girl) We decided to go to Oliver Garden for lunch. LeeAnn and one of her children met us there as did Dorinda's sister and some assorted nieces, and also another friend of the family. Dorinda rode with me to the restaurant. It was great to reconnect with her. There were about 16 of us in all. We had a great time chatting.
We've exchanged e-mail and other contact information so if I'm ever in the area Dorinda and I can see each other.

So it is a small world after all!

NS

Ty Michael

I met another Ty Michael! I had stopped at a new friend's home. She had just returned from a LDS mission to Oregon and was having an open house at her parents home. Her sister, brother-in-law and their children were there for the occasion. The youngest child was taking a nap. The other one, a boy, was doing a puzzle with his dad. I asked his name and they said, "Ty." I replied, "Is that short for anything and they said, "No, his name is Ty. (period)" I asked if he had a middle name. They said, "Yes, his middle name is the same as his maternal grandfather."

I said something like, "It isn't Michael is it." Or words of that sort. They said "Yes, it is." That's when I asked his birthday. They answered July. I'm glad they didn't say October 31. That would have been a HUGE amount of coincidences!

Their Ty Michael is cute. My/our Ty Michael is cuter.

Of course, that's MY opinion. :)

NS