The End of a wonderful Summer

Well it's been quite a long while since I've written here, but let's just say I've been busy having a fun Summer with my grand kids.  John and I are so fortunate to have kids who allow us to keep our grand kids as much as we'd like to each summer and so it was again this summer. 
It began in June when we were down in the Salt Lake Valley with our oldest grand kids.  We'd dropped our grandson Jeff off at the Missionary Training Center for him to begin his two year mission to the St Louis, MO area.  We had spent almost 3 weeks at the kids' house with all the celebrations and activities related to the beginning of his mission.  We took him to the training center to begin his mission on June 6th and a few days later John and I headed out for a big bluegrass festival in Grass Valley, California.  The 3 oldest grand kids wanted to come with us and spend a month with us so we headed out and got to bring them with us.
As it turned out the teenage brain has set in and the kids didn't enjoy their time at the festival whereas years ago they used to love to get to go with us to bluegrass festivals.  It was a boring week for them and it sort of spoiled it for grandpa and I but we understand how it is with teenagers and so off we went to get them home here where they could do the fun things they love around our house here. 
Before the final drive home though, we stopped off at Weiser for 3 days at the National Fiddle Competition so that I could play some music with my friends there and the kids enjoyed that slightly better cause there was a lot of booths of people selling their wares and they had fun shopping.  Other than that though they were bored once again so anxious to get back to our house here. 
Once home we enjoyed another 2 weeks with them and Tanner our 13 year old loved that grandpa and I had brought his Honda 100 motorcycle home with us so that he could actually ride it.  You see where he lives, right in the city, there's no place for him to ride and now they'd just sold their truck so they didn't even have a way to haul it somewhere that he could ride.  Grandpa and his dad had made a rack for it on the back side of our 5th wheel and we were able to get it here for him.  The next two weeks leading up to my 4th of July annual family reunion was spent riding the 4 wheelers, swimming, and Tanner riding his motorcycle.  He's a really good cyclist and was able to take it way up into the mountains on the trails with no trouble controlling it at all.  I was totally amazed at how well he had remembered how to ride.  You see his parents had him riding a little Suzuki 50 when he was only 3, but on that cycle you didn't have to shift, so now with this larger bike he had to learn to shift.  He took to it like a duck to water and wanted to ride it day and night.  I was so happy that we could get it up here to our place so that he had that opportunity, and surprisingly he's grown so much that he's almost too big for the cycle already, but it was really a good two weeks for him especially.  He was in 7th heaven getting to ride it as much as he wanted every day. 
Then came the 4th of July and we hosted the family reunion once more, so that entailed the bluegrass concert here with the grand kids getting to play.  Tanner who had always embraced getting to play didn't want to play with the kids this year so I began to see him pulling away from it like the others have done also, but when he was one on one with me he enjoyed playing still and has become a real decent bass player.  When their parents left at the end of the reunion this set of grand kids went home with them. I was sad to see them go.
Now during this reunion time our oldest son Tyler and his family came with their 3 kids, Pyper, Ryker, and Greisyn.  They got to stay with us an extra week once the reunion had ended so it was really enjoyable to have them all to ourselves.  When the adult kids left though we got to keep those 3 grand kids for the rest of the summer.  John and I had so much fun with them and they learned so much and grew so much in the 7 weeks that they were here. 
Pyper learned to swim in the deeper water and not be afraid of it, and even though she still needs to wear a life jacket this was a huge step, because just 2 years ago she was deathly afraid to be in water deeper than her knees.  Now here she was swimming clear out to the dock in Gail's pond all by herself so her parents just couldn't believe the progress that I was able to make with her there.  Then Ryker also learned to swim but he's never been afraid of water so he actually learned to swim without his life jacket and now can swim across the pond and back several times with no life jacket.  Greisyn also learned to trust his life jacket so was swimming way out into the pond too and I would send pictures home to their parents showing how good the kids were doing.  I think we swam in the pond almost every single day that the kids were here.
Ryker learned to ride the 4 wheeler even better than last year so was able to take it all by himself and go around our property here just like a pro, and meanwhile Pyper learned to drive one by herself too.  I would always ride behind her though as she was just learning but at least she wasn't afraid and she did it all by herself each day.  Once again their parents were in shock at all the things these kids were learning to do! 
Now I'm saving the best for last.  I was able to really work with the kids musically and they advanced like crazy.  Pyper learned to play the bass, changing chords fluently in the Key of D, and Ryker also learned to play it even pushing down notes on the fingerboard.  His true passion is for the mandolin though and he's always loved mandolin.  He found our oldest grand daughter Cortney's mandolin here in my bedroom and he immediately gravitated to it and wanted to play it all the time.  I was able to teach him to play 4 songs while he was here, all three parts to Boil Down the Cabbage, Hot Corn, Cold Corn, and Angeline the Baker, plus one more Handsome Molly.  I taught him how to take breaks and come in right with the singing and the down beat as he took his break on it.  It was so awesome that these kids were playing so good and we were having so much fun each day playing music together.  We were able to play music pretty much every day that they were here too.  Ryker promised me that he wouldn't ever stop playing! 
John and I were able to take them to the Hardtimes Festival where they played the "Kids In Bluegrass" and did a fantastic job!  Then some of us from my Foggy Mtn Girls band along with 2 of Gail's grand daughters, Callie on fiddle and Victoria on banjo, and then Pyper on mandolin competed in the band contest and we won it again this year!  Pyper was so excited that we won and we had Joy, the mom to Callie and Victoria take our picture in front of an antique car that was there.  It was so exciting for Pyper that she talked about it the rest of the summer. 
Finally after a busy summer of fun it was time to take the kids back home to Pocatello but not before dropping John off at the Round Valley Festival area for him to work on finishing building the stage that they'd begun last year.  When Ryker found out that they weren't going to get to stay for the festival and play on the stage he cried.  I felt so sad for him and then Gail suggested that they could get on the stage and play before we had to take them home and that I could get pictures of them.  So even though they couldn't play on the stage for the festival they could play on it beforehand and I could take their pictures.  This cheered him up and so when we dropped grandpa off he and Pyper and Greisyn got up there and I took a whole lot of pictures of them.  I got some wonderful shots, and it was a fun way to spend my last summer day with them. 
As we drove home I was able to talk to the kids about a festival being held right there in their own town of Pocatello that very weekend and how I could take them to that festival.  Ryker went with me for two full days and he stayed up clear until 1AM and midnight the next evening jamming with a whole group of us the entire time.  A new friend we met there Joel, was a dobro player and Ryker was really taken with his dobro so this guy went home and brought one of his dobros for Ryker to play and jam.  Before the end of the festival he actually made Ryker his own Hawaiian guitar/dobro to keep at his house and work on playing and he also offered to help him keep learning it now that I'm home which was way nice too. 
Finally to top off our perfect summer the kids put on a concert for their other grand parents and an aunt and uncle on their mom's side of the family.  That side of the family were so impressed that I thought they were going to cry when they saw the kids playing so well, then I took them back to the festival for the last day and signed them up to play the open mic time.  They got on stage and played 2 tunes, Hot Corn Cold Corn where Ryker got to show how he could take a lead on his mandolin and how he could come in on the downbeat and everything, and Pyper got to play the bass and show that she could keep great time on it, and then per the kids' pick they wanted to do their favorite song they learned this summer, "Barefoot Nellie" which switched Pyper and Ryker on the bass and mandolin duties.  It was an awesome way to end our summer. 
Now before I end this post I want to say one more thing.  I got a phone call yesterday from our daughter-in-law LaDeena telling me that Pyper went into the office at her school and told the secretary that she'd learned to play the bass this summer and then she sang the song "Barefoot Nellie" to her.  The secretary told my daughter-in-law Deena how cute it was and how impressed she was that Pyper could play the bass.  My heart about pounded out of my chest with pride to hear this. 
I'm praying that my older grand kids will come back to playing and grow up to have the desire to learn more and once again want to play, and that my younger ones who are so enthused right now will keep up the good work and stay with it forever.  I've taught and given every one of my 11 grand kids the opportunity to learn, and it's been a huge blessing for me to see them each have a time in their lives when they embraced it and loved it.  I have a feeling that Pyper and Ryker are going to stick with it though because they're both self motivated even while I'm gone to keep practicing.  I taught Ryker how to tune his instruments too. 

Playing with the "Kids In Bluegrass" on stage at the Hardtimes Festival over in Montana, July 2012. Ryker and Greisyn.

Pyper and Ryker playing on stage with the "Kids In Bluegrass" at the Hardtimes Festival.

The winning band from the Band Contest.  We called ourselves "The Hens and Chicks."  Pyper was so proud that we won.  We each got a jar of Huckleberry jam and the button you see the kids wearing here.  It has a picture of two hillbilly guys on it and says. "We Dun Won"  Hardtimes 2012.

Ryker learning to play the dobro that our new friend brought for him to try. He jammed both Friday and Saturday night with us until around 1AM.  The next day he told his mom, I won't be home with grandma until after midnight, and he thought it was so cool that he got to stay up that late playing music each night.  I got a real kick out of it!

Playing Hot Corn, Cold Corn at the open mic time for the Pocatello Festival.  Ryker is taking his lead.  He did great and afterwards I had 3 different parents come up to me and ask me how I teach the kids because they want to teach theirs and don't know where to start or how I do it. 

The Round Valley Festival that their grandpa helped build and this was the day that we had to take them home so before we left grandpa there we let the kids get on the stage and play while I took their pictures. They loved it!

Greisyn who's almost 6 here is still too young to learn to play so he sings with the kids.  He gets upset though that he doesn't have an instrument so sometimes we let him hold one while he's on the stage.  Next year I'll begin teaching him. 

11 year old Pyper loves to play the bass and is learning it really well.  She can really sing good too and can sing while she's playing it which is hard for some people to be able to do.  I'm so lucky that my friend Joel who lives in Pocatello sold me this smaller quarter bass so that the kids can learn on it.  She looks so small with this bass but the bass is only about half the size of a regular bass.  They call them quarter basses.  This one is even a Kay Bass which is a real find as instruments go. 

Ryker playing the Cole mandolin that I'd bought for my oldest grand daughter Cortney.  She was told that if she didn't stick with it and play it then it came back to me, so since she isn't playing it I've had it at my house.  Ryker immediately gravitated towards that better mandolin and played it the entire time he was here, so I let him take it home to keep practicing on.  His mom tells me that he gets it out every day is plays, so I'm very excited to see his self motivation. 

Pyper playing her bass and singing.  She's really good at both!

Ryker takes his turn on the bass.  Not many 9 year olds can say that they know how to play 3 instruments, but he sure can and is learning them all really good too.

Ryker playing the Cole mandolin that may end up belonging to him if Cortney doesn't come back to it and if he sticks to playing. 

Pyper chops the mandolin whenever Ryker takes the bass.  I love these guys and love that I get to teach them.  It's the best thing ever in life getting to be a grandma!

What a great summer filled with lot's of memories and great times.  And now you see why it's been such a long time for me between posts on here.  Life is Good. 

My Grandson Ryker is a bluegrasser thru and thru

I had a heart warming and heart breaking experience today with my 9 year old grandson Ryker.  He's always loved to play bluegrass and jam with me from the very first time I put a guitar in his hands at age 7, but when he heard me play my mandolin for the first time his eyes lit up and he came running then begged me to teach it to him.  Ever since that first time he heard me play it he's been hooked on the mandolin. So last year I found an F style Savannah brand, which is Chinese made of course, but it's a beautiful mandolin with super cheap tuners, but it actually sounds good and looks beautiful too.  Anyway I was able to get him this mandolin for only $200 including a hard shelled case.  It's even got the curly maple sides and back, finished in a nice sunburst and as I said it plays easily and sounds pretty dang good for tone too.  So he's had this mandolin for a year now and has gotten a few lessons from me but now this summer we've really had the chance to start learning it better.  He's self motivated and practices it on his own 4 or 5 times a day plus the lesson time that we have together.
Now the point of this blog...
Today I went to town to teach my regular students and my grand kids were with me of course.  He loved that he got to come to the lessons and I had my core kids in The Bluegrasshoppers practicing for their stage set that they'll be playing on stage over Labor Day Weekend at Round Valley.
Now Ryker won't be able to be with us for this festival because I have to return them home to Pocatello, Idaho before Labor Day so that they can be back for school.
I didn't mean to hurt the poor little fella's feelings but I announced to the rest of the Bluegrasshopper band that he was going to sit in with us today and just practice, but that he wouldn't be playing with us on the stage at the Round Valley Festival.  Little Ryker looked at me and his whole countenance changed.  His eyes welled up with tears and he held back from crying but I felt like the worst grandma in the whole wide world.  I'd hurt his feelings and made him sad that he wasn't going to get to play. His thoughts were that I just wasn't going to take him.  I knew that I needed to set things straight and console him so I asked my Bluegrasshoppers to go ahead and practice the song "Man Of Constant Sorrow," and I'd be right back.  I took Ryker aside and explained to him that it wasn't anything to do with me not wanting to take him to this festival but that I had to have him back because of him needing to start school.  I explained to him that if I could I'd keep him forever and he would be able to go to all festivals with me but that he would have to be home to start school and this was the only reason he wouldn't be able to come and play.  Then I put my arm around him and told him that there was a good side to this though and that is the fact that because he has to go back to start school, we would be able to play for his class again and that our practice today would help him to be able to play better for his school when the time comes. He cheered up and regained his composure then joined in with our practice once again and was exuberant to get to play, but boy for a moment there I felt like a real crumb bucket of a grandma. 
It was an innocent remark by me to explain to the other kids that he wasn't new in their band but was just there to play with us for today.  I had no idea that his feelings for playing bluegrass are so close and in his soul so deeply at such a young age.  It taught me a valuable lesson.

Grandson Ryker playing with the Kids In Bluegrass at the Hardtimes Festival July 28th, 2012

Grandson Ryker playing bass and is sister our grand daughter Pyper playing mandolin.

He's just like me with a tender spirit with such a passion to play and at only 9 years old it's already there.  I hope he always has this same passion to play and that he'll be just like me when he grows up wanting to play like crazy.  I have taught him guitar, bass, and mandolin and he does pretty well for a 9 year old who rarely gets the help he needs for sure.  Anyway I've had deep feelings in my heart all day because of what happened earlier today.
I'm editing this post from what I had written earlier, because we were headed out the door to a neighborhood dinner and I was pushed to hurry so forgot to say the other very fun thing that happened today.  After our lessons, I went to the bank to deposit my pay I earned playing for the Hardtimes Festival last weekend.  All the ladies in the bank know that I teach bluegrass and that I play in a couple of bands.  Now living in such a small town our banks are much more personable than big cities so as I was doing my banking one of the ladies working at a desk began visiting with my grand kids. She was asking them about their names and what they've been doing all summer with grandma etc.  Naturally the grand kids told her about getting to play bluegrass.  When she asked them who their teacher was of course the answer was grandma.  So she commented that she'd like to hear them play sometime.  Well upon this request the grand kids tell her that they have their instruments in my Jeep.  So she asks if they'd like to bring them in and play for the bank.  I'm thinking okay I'll just grab the mandolin and the guitar and they can take turns on the mandolin because I didn't have either of their little Martin guitars with me.  So I head out the door to grab my guitar and the mandolin when Pyper says to me "what about my bass, I want to play my bass."   So then I of course couldn't leave her out on her main instrument so I had to haul in the big bass, the mandolin and my guitar.  They all helped me of course.  We played 3 songs for them "Hot Corn Cold Corn" of which Ryker took a break on it, then he played "Boil the Cabbage" with all 3 parts to it on his mandolin while Pyper was on the bass for those two, and finally we switched out and Pyper played mandolin with Ryker on bass for their favorite song, "Barefoot Nellie."  All the ladies in the bank just went crazy to hear them play.  As we were walking back to the car putting our instruments away the bank president came running out to the parking lot and thanked us for playing for them and told all the grand kids how good they were and how much they enjoyed it.
Our day in town ended with a bang.    I love you Ryker, Pyper, and Greisyn.  You guys and I will always play bluegrass together. How many people can say that they played bluegrass in their local banks for all the tellers... You guys can! 

5 year old grandson Greisyn, sings and "holds" the mandolin

I love being a grandma

I haven't posted in here for quite awhile at least for me it's been quite awhile, so tonight I am making sure that I don't go to bed until I take the time to write my thoughts.
My kids have all been so good to me allowing me to keep my grand kids in the summertime as much as I want to, or as much as possible with church camps etc.  Every one of my kids have been so good to let me have them and John and I have had so much fun through the years doing all these fun things with them. 
One set of our grand kids lived with us for 6 years while our oldest daughter went back to college and got her PharmD degree so we became very close to them.  The other set of kids lived with us for about 2 years and during that time had one baby grand daughter.  This was Pyper who is now almost 11 years old.  The last 3 years we've been able to keep her and now her brother Ryker who's 9 and their younger brother Greisyn who is almost 6.  We have so much fun every summer with all the kids. 
In June we were able to take our 3 older grand kids with us to Grass Valley, then to Weiser and then on to our home here where they got about 10 days before having to go home with their parents. 13 year old Tanner got to learn to really ride his motorcycle well while they were here and we would take him way up the mountain onto trails where he honed his skills.  I wish we could have kept him here a little bit longer but he's of age to be going to scout camp so his parents had to take him home after our July 4th family reunion. 
Now our son Tyler and daughter-in-law Deena have also been so good letting us have the kids for as much time as we want in the summertime too.  The parents came for our family reunion and then left the kids when they had to go home around the 12th of July and we are going to get to keep them clear until the end of August. 
I cherish every moment I have them because we get to have so much fun and I get to teach them life skills that they don't get to learn at home.  Pyper has always been afraid of the water and timid to try hard things.  This summer while she's been here we've been able to teach her to be comfortable  floating all over the pond and finally today she even let go of my hand while swimming and floated for 3 or 4 minutes without panicking.  This is a huge step for her and I even took pictures of her doing so well so we could show her parents.  At the end of our swimming time I asked her if she was ready to get out and instead of the usual yes, like she couldn't wait to get out of the water, I got the response "I think I'd like to swim a little bit longer."  I sent pictures of her way out in the pond without me and floating alone for the very first time today. 
The other very cool milestone we've crossed is that she was willing to learn to ride the 4 wheeler by herself and is now driving all over the place on it with confidence and a new feeling of self esteem in all these things she's overcome this year. 
Ryker learned to swim without his life jacket a couple of days ago and he's now doing really well and doing better and better each day. I sent their parents pictures of all our fun today and their mom sent back an e-mail to the kids so excited that I could feel her pride through her words. 
I really feel like I've grown super close to these grand kids this summer, even more than all the past years. 
Every day Ryker gets out his mandolin and practices on his own several times a day.  He's self motivated to practice and learn and I get so happy when I see him go get out his mandolin and play it. 
Today was no exception, not only did he practice it 3 different times but when I'd mentioned to the other kids that we needed to take a little time to practice our music tonight he never let me forget it and reminded me asking if we could play on our front porch like he'd remembered us doing a few years ago with a friend of mine. 
Finally at 9:00 we headed out there in the dark and spent an hour practicing.  He can play a guitar, mandolin, and bass already and is learning them quickly and well.  His sister Pyper is learning the bass and mandolin and she is also very self motivated to learn.  She sings our bluegrass songs around here all day long as we do different activities.  Okay I guess I'm rambling now and so I need to just write all about how our day went today and call it good.
After our morning breakfast, I took all 3 kids down to the garbage dumpster on our way to the post office.  Ryker who is always very helpful jumped right out and into the back of the pickup to help me get a whole lot of sheet rock scraps into the garbage.  We made short work of it, so then we headed to the post office where I mailed off Jeff's care package.  When we left there I took the kids into "Hoots" cafe so that they could see where I go to play my fiddle when I always talk about it with them.  They got to sit up to the counter on those fun vintage swiveling stools and I bought them an ice cream cone. 
When we finished that we came home and almost immediately went on a 4 wheeler ride up into the mountains.  We saw 3 mules up there which was fun, and several cows of course along with a grouse bird who flew up beside us on the trail.  When we came home we were all dusty and hot so we put our suits on and headed to the pond for a swim.  By the time we got home from that it was time for me to fix dinner, and then we practiced music late tonight.
My back patio door is full of hand prints, and my bathrooms need cleaning, but those things don't bother me a bit when I have the kids here.  There is plenty of time to wash the hand prints when they go home but for now my focus is on having fun and teaching them valuable life long skills. 

Pyper, Greisyn, and Ryker having fun in the cone flowers.

Pyper

Ryker shows me how he can balance on the front of the 4 wheeler.

Greisyn loves wearing this big helmet. 

Greisyn loves playing with Maggie who comes to the pond with us every day.

Ryker is showing me how he can swim with no life jacket and I take his picture so he can show his parents how good he's gotten this year. He's so proud of himself!

Now Ryker wants to show me how he can float. "Take a picture of me floating grandma."

Look grandma no hands, hurry and take my picture before I fall. 

Pyper floats without me near her for the very first time today.  I had to take her picture so that we could show her parents how good she's doing.  She's always had a horrific fear of water so this is a huge step for her.

Pyper and grandma practicing and getting her confidence up to float alone without me near.  You can see from the previous picture that she did it too!

Pyper and Ryker having some fun now that Pyper has shown that she isn't nearly so fearful anymore. I'm so proud of her conquering her fear!  We did it Pyper!

Am I tired every night?  You bet I am, but I'm so happy that I get this opportunity each summer.  I wouldn't change it for anything.  I just found out that my other 4 grand kids are going to get to come spend a week with us this month too. 
All 11 of them got to spend time at grandmas and grandpas once again this summer.  They love it and call us the day school is out each year asking when they can come.  Ryker said to me that he wished he could stay here for 6 more months, then he said, wait maybe I'd like to stay here about 2 more years or maybe even till I'm 16. 
Earlier this summer our 13 year old grandson said that he loves coming here because he can just have so much freedom to wander around.  Tori our 15 year old grand daughter had so much fun here too that I think she would move in and live here too.  Then Cortney our 17 year old grand daughter told me that she loves it here because a person can just be themselves and not worry about how they look or having their makeup on or anything like they do living in Utah. 
Me I have to agree with everything each one of these kids have said.  I love my grand kids and being a grandma is what I was meant to be. 
Today was once again just awesome. 

Today was filled with mostly "ups" and a couple of "downs"

As I reflect on the things that we did today it was mostly a lot of "ups" and only a couple of "downs" so as this day ends, I'm going to talk about all the "ups". I'm grateful for those moments that came my way. 
I'm not sure who said it but I love the saying that, "in all things we can find something to be grateful for," and today I had a lot of really cool "ups".  I'd like to talk about those here tonight.
We have been so lucky to have kids who let us keep our grand kids each summer and bond with them as grandparents can do when we have them all to ourselves.  Living here has afforded us many fun things to do with them each and every day. 
Earlier this summer we had our older grand kids, Cortney, Tori, and Tanner for a month and now we have some of our younger grand kids for the rest of the summer, or about 6 weeks. 
The oldest of this set of kids is a grand daughter named Pyper and she's a 10 year but turning 11 in about 5 weeks.  Pyper was born tiny at just over 4lbs and has always been tiny and slightly younger for her age so sometimes she can be fearful of trying new things or of doing things that are age appropriate.  Every year we've watched her slowly closing those gaps which has been thrilling.  Each summer that we've been able to have them I've been able to help her and work on those things in her life that will help her. 
This day was a moment in time when we broke a lot of barriers with her shy, and timid personality and we were able to help her grow tremendously in her abilities. 
It started right away this morning as we had our daily bluegrass music lessons.  A few years ago, I had tried to get her interested in learning to play a guitar like her brother Ryker is learning, but she would always shy away from it because it was just a frustration for her trying to learn it. So for several years she would just throw up her arms and say that she didn't want to learn to play, and I could see that the reason was that it was just too hard for her co-ordination level. 
Well last Winter I received the prompting to start her just chopping on a mandolin with dampened strings and this was our answer.  She was able to do it and had success so she got to play for her class at school with Ryker and his classroom too. She hasn't looked back ever since that day, and now is willing to learn the bass too. 
So back to my morning today... We got out the little Kay quarter bass which is huge for her and for our lessons her brother Ryker started off on playing mandolin, and her the bass.   Then we sang with all three kids, and even 5 year old Greisyn was singing with us as we practiced.  For the first time today Pyper learned how to change chords on the bass and was able to watch my hands and change with me getting it right almost the entire time.  This is a huge step for her to be able to do this and she was keeping good time and best of all, is having fun with it too.  This is so awesome for me to see. 
Then we switched over and had Pyper chop the mandolin and I put Ryker on the bass.  He's been playing the bass since last winter too but he has been playing guitar for 2 years and now is learning mandolin too.  He could already changed chords with the bass on just the open strings.  At 9 years old he's doing pretty good with his music.  So today we practiced with him changing chords on all the open strings and after that I began teaching him to play the pressed down notes for the key of A.  He was able to do it fairly decently for his first try and for such a little guy.  I was so happy to have moved both kids forward with their music.  Learning something new on the bass for each one of them and starting Greisyn on the singing was an "up". 
Then at around lunch time I asked Pyper if she would like to learn to drive the 4 wheeler like her brother Ryker has already become a pro at.  Now normally she would have bulked at the idea and been scared to try but she suddenly just perked right up and said "sure".  We went outside and I began to teach her.  She surprised me because she's been more observant than I'd thought and she knew just how to start it.  I had to somewhat help her but for the most part she had watched Ryker or me enough that she knew.  So she started it all by herself and I taught her how to shift from reverse to drive and to neutral.  I helped her to back it up and then I taught her how to work the gas and drive it. I was riding on it with her but I let her do everything herself and she did it!  I thought for sure that she would panic and not be comfortable when it started to move but, no, off she went and drove it clear up to Will and Gail's and back to our place twice.  All I had to do was remind her to keep looking way out forward so that she could steer it and stay in the middle of our road better.  Other than that she drove it all by herself and shocked the dickens out of me. 
Then if that wasn't enough we all went down to swim in Gail's pond at around 1 this afternoon.  It was a nice hot day and the kids wanted to go swimming.  Now in the past she's been afraid of water and it's been a real deal to help her get over her fear of it.  We've worked pretty hard with her to get her to understand that her life jacket will keep her afloat. She's just one of these kids who has a fear of the water and we've really tried to help her get over that.  Each year that we've been able to have the kids she's gotten slightly better though.  I've had to remind her each time we go swimming that there's no whining and that when I ask her to try and float and go in deeper than her feet can touch she doesn't need to fear but that her jacket will hold her up.  It's been a long haul but today we broke down that barrier as well. 
She willingly went on the float with me first and we floated around together, then I told her that we were going to practice swimming and she didn't complain a bit, so I was once again shocked.  I worked with her and got her to let me completely let go of her hands and everything and float in her life jacket.  Then I would walk away from her by about 5 feet and have her swim to me and she did this too.  She was laughing and not a bit bothered by getting splashed from Ryker actually having fun swimming and this was the first time that's ever happened!  I just couldn't believe all the leaps and bounds that this little grand child made today.  She even drove the 4 wheeler all the way down to the pond for us to swim too, so this little girl has amazed me to no end today.  I told her that we needed to call her parents and tell them about everything she did today so as soon as her mom was home from work we called and she got to tell them.  I think her confidence with all these other things started with her learning to play the bass and chop the mandolin and having success with it at her school.  Suddenly she is learning that she can do so many things.  I love getting to help her and be a part of her growth.  I can't wait to see how far she'll advance by the time summer is over.
Ryker was learning to ride the 4 wheeler last year but couldn't do it without us being on it riding with him.  This year he's an ole pro and he is able to drive it all over our property all by himself.  I've watched him and he's been very respectful on it driving carefully and at a regular speed so I've complimented him on this and hope that he always drives them this way.  Anyway this has been my "ups" today.

Pyper Redman age 10 almost 11

Grandson Ryker, 9 years old does so well with his music he's really a natural and learns quickly. 

You can see how small the kids are and this is a Kay quarter bass but still dwarfs them.  Ryker is playing actual pressed notes as of today.  Way to go buddy, I'm proud of you.

I'm not going to delve into the "downs" of today, but one of the things that happened was that the little deer we found on our 4 wheeler ride 3 weeks ago and that Gail and the Limehouse's have worked so hard to save died this morning.  It was very traumatic for Gail who'd spent so much time and love trying to save the little guy.  The other down was related to this but even in that we can all find things in all things to be grateful for, so I'm going to just leave it at that, and say that all the "ups" trumped any of the "downs" today and I need to remember to show gratitude in all of life. 

Oh yah, I just found my genealogy clear back to Adam and Eve

Well tonight was a very interesting night and I truly believe that because of the service my son Tyler gave to our friends the Limehouse's with their computers and Iphones we were blessed in service back from them with help on our genealogy tonight. 
Yesterday Tyler went up to the Limehouse's house and spent 3 hours helping our friend John Limehouse learn how to put music onto his Iphone and also how to use his Ipad better and also how
to extract pictures off of it and put them into his computer.
This morning PT Limehouse called me and offered to make dinner for all of us then come down and all of us could eat together.  When they called they asked me what Tyler's favorite food was and we came up with Taco's for dinner tonight.  Tyler our son was frustrated with trying to do genealogy a few months ago, and was having trouble with the church's website newfamilysearch.org trying to navigate it.  I mentioned to Tyler that the Limehouse's were really good at doing genealogy and that we could ask them for some help when they were here.
John Limehouse was able to show Tyler how to find the information for our lines and it was so amazing what happened after that.  Here's the story.....
We started on my husband John's lines and it just kept going back further and further until we ended up in royal lineage and I'd been told that if you have any royal lineage in your lines you usually can go way far back.  So this excited us when we found the royal lineage on John's line.
As we kept clicking and clicking to the next generation it ended up taking us clear back to Adam and Eve.  My son was so excited he was jumping for joy.  At first he was typing in all the names into his own Ipad, but when he realized that it was just going to keep going and going he decided that he would have to do it at home later.  Finally it was so long that it took us clear back to Adam and Eve as I said.  This was all on my husband John's line.
So we called the Limehouse's and told them the good news and they were excited that they were able to help us, just as Tyler was excited that he was able to help them yesterday.
After that I was curious if any of my lines might go back to Adam and Eve also and so our daughter-in-law began researching my lines.  The last I'd checked was over a year ago when I had some help to enter in my meager 5 or 6 generations that I had too, and like I said I've never been very good at doing my genealogy either.  I only expected to just see those same meager generations of names.  Imagine my surprise when some of my lined kept going too.  Some dead ended at around 700BC but she kept on going and checking other lines and we found a line that took mine back to Adam and Eve too.  My line has me related Mary the mother of Jesus and so Jesus too, then it went clear back to Adam and Eve on one of my lines just like John's did.  I had a lot of royalty in my lines too and it was on more than one line, but this one particular line took us all the way to Adam and Eve. 
We called my John on the phone to tell him this good news because he's over in Missoula tonight.  He couldn't believe it either because both of us had only plugged in our recent lineage like about 6 generations back but someone else who's done more research has been able to tie into our lines and this has brought up all of our genealogy clear back like this.  Neither dad nor I dreamed that this would be connected and this information on our family tree clear down the lines like this would be there, because the last we knew only the names we had submitted were in our genealogy. This was a complete surprise to both of us.  My John mentioned when we called him that he wished there was some way to print off all these names in a pedigree chart form, and then John Limehouse told my son of an app that he could download that would print it off for him and he wouldn't even have to type it all into his own program like he was doing earlier tonight.  From this Tyler and Deena said that they will compile and have all this printed off into a book for us as a Christmas present, and they plan to do it for all of our kids and family members that would enjoy having it.  Tyler was so excited that this idea came to them because he loves using his computer and he's so excited to have learned this information tonight too, so he's really going to have fun making our Christmas present this year now. 
What an awesome night this turned out to be!  I know that the blessings of service come many fold and in many different ways.  Tonight I know that Heavenly Father blessed us from Tyler giving his service to the Limehouse's yesterday because they were able to serve us back tonight not only with the dinner but with showing Tyler how to use the church's website better which now is going to bless all of us to have our genealogy compiled into a book.
Peter and Lynda Schostag also bought a new TV and were having trouble getting it connected so that it would work to play a DVD player. Tyler went up to their house this afternoon and helped them too, so he's become known in our neighborhood as the tech support guy.  He was happy to be able to help them and said to me "Well it is my specialty".  It made him excited to be able to help all of them and now in turn it came back to all of us many times over.
It's obvious that I've never been interested in genealogy because of how little of it I had compiled and it just takes more time than I'm willing to spend researching it all, but now here it is all there for me and suddenly I'm very interested because it's so awesome learning that I'm related to Mary the mother of Jesus and thus also Jesus through my bloodlines.
It gives me a whole new outlook on who I am too.

A story of my mom's childhood

In the last few years my mother has opened up and started telling me a few stories from her childhood.  She may have told me some of them in the past but recently she's been talking more openly about some of her life's childhood stories. 
Recently during our family reunion my grandson Ryker along with one of Gail's grandson's Emilio found some small bottles of craft paint and they had a hey day breaking the small bottles and smashing them making a paint splashed mess on our back patio.  My mom was here when this happened and was interested in if the little boys cleaned it all off, so when we talked on the phone tonight it was a topic of conversation that came up.    
This incident with Ryker sparked her to tell me this story of herself.  I wanted to get it written down before I forgot it, so I'm posting it on my blog to get it recorded for my kids.
As she began telling me this story I began to remember hearing it before but now that I'm older and wiser and I realize that I won't have her forever either I'm interested in writing these things down and having them for my posterity. 
She began with how there was a family the Walter Hoven's that lived down Hallowell Lane from where she was raised, which was also where I was raised as a child so I'm quite familiar with the area. This family lived about 2 blocks away and then you had to turn down their driveway which was about a half a block long to get to their house.  They had one boy who was 2 years younger than my mom, the same age as my mom's sister, my aunt Merie.  His name was Harley Hoven. My mom and my aunt Merie used to walk down there and play with their son Harley.  My mom said that she was about 1st grade age and she was old enough to know about and to have played a game called Jax at school each day.  This game is played with a small red ball and some little metal jax.  You bounce the ball and you have to grab one of the jax before catching the ball using only one bounce.  As you get all the jax picked up this way then you toss them out on the sidewalk again and you have to grab 2 at a time with a single bounce of the ball until they're all picked up, then 3,4, 5 in each single bounce of the ball until finally you have to grab all 6.  The first person to be able to do this wins.  Well my mom had played this at school but she had never realized that people could actually own a set of jax themselves, she thought they were just a game that the school had.  So she told me that when this Harley Hoven had a set of jax she was fascinated that he owned them but was especially fascinated with that little red ball, so after they were through playing it at his house she slipped the little ball into her pocket.
Later that night when she was home she was bouncing the ball and having so much fun with it when her mom asked her where she had gotten it.  She told her mom that Mr. Hoven had given it to her, but her mom knew better and she told my mom that she would need to walk down to their house and return it that very night.
It was pitch dark and Hallowell Lane didn't have any sidewalks plus the houses were spread further apart and people never left their lights on like they do now days.  My mom said she was so scared to walk in the dark the 2 1/2 blocks to their house.  She said that she walked slowly because she was scared to death and like petrified to be all alone in the dark and walking clear down to their house alone to return it.  When she got to their house she had to turn down their drive which was another half of a block long to get to their front door. 
She said that she knocked and was so happy when Harley's mom opened the door and she was able to return the ball. She told me that his mom just said to her, "thank you, he'll be glad to have this back because he needs it to be able to play the game."  So then my mom turned to walk back home and she got out to the main road and saw something move in the dark near her.  At first she was so scared but then she realized it was her mom and that her mom had followed her all the way there to make sure she would be safe.  She said that she was never so happy to see her mom and she ran to her as fast as she could then happily skipped all the way home.
She told me it was one lesson she's never forgot, "never take anything that doesn't belong to you."  and it's been more than 70 years ago since that day, but she told me that she can still remember her feelings and the lesson she learned just as clear as if it had happened just yesterday.
So now this brings me to what happened here with my grandson Ryker and Emilio.  Both of them had to pick up all the tiny pieces of glass by hand and with a little scraper dig up the excess paint as best they could, then they had to scrub with sponges that have the scratcher side on them and we had to use paint thinner on the concrete.  We never got all the paint off but we got it somewhat better.  Both boys worked with a good attitude and Gail's other grandson Abrahm, who didn't even have anything to do with it came down to help clean it up too.

Grandson Ryker scrubbing the paint mess he made.

Ryker and Emilio

We all hope it was a good lesson learned and that they'll remember not to do anything like this again.  My son Tyler who is Ryker's dad supervised the cleanup and got some pictures of them.  I had to laugh about it all because I remember our oldest daughter Traci throwing mud and smearing it on a neighbors garage door one time when she was about the same age.  The neighbor called us and we had to take her and the other little boy who had helped and make them scrub it all off too.  So all kids do things like this and it was just another Idaho memory for my grandson Ryker.    

Grand kid fun this summer

We are having so much fun getting to keep our grand kids this summer.  It started off with the teenage ones from Herriman, Utah when they got to come with us the first part of June. We took them to Grass Valley and Weiser with us then brought them back to our house for about two weeks before their parents arrived for the family reunion.  We live in such a paradise for the kids to get to do all sorts of fun things they can't do at their own houses and it's so much fun for us to be able to offer them all the things around here.
Tanner got to ride his motorcycle as much as he wanted to and every day he rode it for hours.  We went way up on the mountain with him and he was able to hone his skills on the trails.  Then they got to swim in the pond as much as they wanted to, and just hang out and rest from all the busyness that they have when they're at home.
They left this last Sunday morning and I think they were ready to go home by then but it won't last long and they'll be begging to be back here again.  John and I just love it having our grand kids and seeing them loving being with us doing all these fun things.
Now we're loving the time we're getting with the next set of grand kids.  Our son and daughter-in-law Tyler and Deena are here with us this week and lucky for us we get to keep their 3 kids for the rest of the summer.  Pyper, Ryker, and Greisyn have been so excited to get here and to get to ride the 4 wheelers, swim, and just play outside.  My neighbor and one of my best friends Gail has her grand kids off and on most of the summer too so these grand kids of ours are in 7th heaven getting to play with all her kids too.  We go to the pond and we swim with all the kids and they just love it so much having all these kids to play with.
Now today Pyper and Ryker are up at Gail's doing things with her grand kids.  Pyper got to have a finger nail painting party and they're making bracelets and doing crafts something she really loves too.  My heart burst with joy as she asked me if she could go up there with the other girls and play and then I called to see if she could come up and was told yes to send her up for the party.  She was skipping and running up our road to Gail's and was waving and laughing as she went saying, "Thank you grandma."  "I love you."   It's so fun for us that our grand kids love it here and that we get to keep them each summer like this.  I want our grand kids to have grandparents who build memories and bond with us so that we are always a close family.  This place we live in is soooooo a grand kid haven. 

Grand daughter Cortney in the red inner tube and nieces Whitney and Heather Baxter.

Grandsons Ryker and Cody jumping from the new dock in the pond.

Grand daughter Pyper Redman

Grandson Tanner tries the new slip and slide going into the pond. I love all the wild daisy's blooming out here right now too.  You can see them in this picture.

Grandpa and our niece Mijandra learning how to ride the 4 wheeler by herself.

Tanner on his motorcycle riding way up on the mountain. Notice the pretty purple wildflowers behind him.

Grand daughters Cortney and Tori

I love it getting to live here and give our grand kids these experiences, and maybe this is part of the reason I love summer so much.