Category: Family is important

Birthdays, Vacations, I can’t believe it’s June!

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share24 Comments
My pretty tiny Iris bloom

Welcome to my weekend coffee share. Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea as we sit and chat? I have been one busy Mom, Grandma and cowgirl. I have been a bit under the weather as I returned from my visit to my family in Arizona at the end of May and have a head cold. My grandson was sick the week before and they thought was better but still had a bit of a cough. I wasn’t worried and would have still gone and visited even though I ended up sick too, I am getting better each day. I didn’t share last week because I haven’t been feeling great. Onward, as I have so much to share I hardly know where to begin!

How about birthday celebrations! My daughter-in-law and my son both have birthdays in May. We headed there for my sons birthday May 30th and had a ton of fun. My grandkids are growing up as my granddaughter will be turning 7 years old this August, she’s getting so BIG!! My grandson is just over 2 years old and is so smart and into everything. He is quite the handful but is as cute as can be and I cherish every minute I spend with these cutie patuties!

Me and my selfies! I have to take them fast but they are so FUN! I’m a crazy Grandma!

My daughter and other son joined me as we visited with the son that lives in Arizona. It was wonderful having all 3 of my grown kids together. My son in Arizona is the only one who has children and they may end up being my only grandchildren at least in the foreseeable future. That’s A-okay with me as I feel fortunate and very grateful for my beautiful family and grandkids!

My daughter with my grandson, isn’t he adorable? I couldn’t decide which photo to share of my daughter with Teddy so I just shared them both! And the center photo of my granddaughter who has the cutest smile. I think she has had so many photo’s taken of her that she often makes silly faces. I will share a silly selfie as she loves to make funny faces. What characters and what FUN!

She’s so silly!
Happy Birthday!

This may end up being the last birthday celebration at my son’s house in Arizona as he has been applying to jobs in other states. We do not know what the future holds but I know he will do excellent as he grows with his career in Medical physics or Bioinformatics which is a growing field with technology and the medical field. He is currently working on his Master’s attending online at Stanford for Bioinformatics study. I am so proud of all he has accomplished as with all my children, I’m a proud mama!

How are you doing, can I get you a refill? I have gotten a fresh cup of iced coffee as it’s been pretty hot this last week and into this weekend. It hits the spot, I did not grow up drinking iced coffee as we just didn’t have such a thing. Now I LOVE iced coffee, haha, how things have changed! Now let’s see, where was I? In Arizona it was only really hot on the first day but Memorial day weekend had nice weather. We visited a mall and ate lunch at the Tikki Shack which was delicious. I took a few photos as we ate and walked around the outdoor mall. We spent most of our time at Barnes and Noble bookstore. 😀

Great memories and fun times with family. I could not ask for a better vacation and I am so appreciative of my children and all that they do for each other and for the family as a whole. I love them so much! ❤

Can you believe it is June? This year just seems to be flying by and I have been thinking a lot about my blogging and more like the lack of it as I have been rather absent lately. I am a creature of habit, and so with that I have my habits of the things I enjoy doing each day (and I have to squeeze in the things I don’t enjoy as much too, which is usually housework. Haha!) I do enjoy sharing and blogging but I feel like I have kind of lost my groove. I lost that “habit” of sitting down and writing! I use to think of things through my week that would stand out to me and I would say to myself, that would be fun to blog about. I think as I stepped back I lost that lust of thinking about what will I blog about today or this weekend, does that make sense?

I will say since I am writing about this that last year was a really tough year for me even though I had some real ups (the purchase/adoption of my beautiful Murphy) and some real downs (the loss of my sweet horse Zack and I did not write a blog about him but we put down our dog Drew as well). I also had some friendship problems that really hurt my feelings but the wounds have healed and I am much better now. I did not want to blog about these feelings, just too personal and I just needed to work through the emotions. I sometimes have worried that all I write about is happy cheerful stuff, like my life is so rosy and perfect when clearly it isn’t nor can it be….. BUT if you are an avid follower you know I like to stay as positive as I can and share smiles and laughter which in turn makes me happy. Sorry, I didn’t know I was going to write about all this but it has been weighing heavy on my mind! I feel much freer now! YAY!

You make me SMILE Murphy!! ❤

This post makes me smile! I will end with Murphy and I am hoping to write another post tomorrow and it will be all about my horses. Next weekend I am going to attend a horse clinic at Monty Robert’s Flag Is Up Farm which is near Solvang, CA. It will be 3 days of clinic training with clinicians attending with Monty which includes the trainer I got Murphy from and I can’t wait to meet her in person! I am also really excited because I will be staying with my daughter as she lives nearby. I can’t wait to learn new and exciting horse training and so I won’t be sharing a post next weekend. I will share when I return.

I thank you all for reading and sharing coffee with me this weekend. I also want to thank you all for your support of my blogging whether I blog a little or a lot, you all are awesome! I want to thank Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare, I so enjoy linking up and I will try and visit other coffee shares this weekend. Take care ya’ll!

Crazy Grandma horse lover forever,

~Diana ❤

P.S. I have been told from fellow bloggers that I can save on space on WP if I share videos from YouTube but I don’t have a YouTube channel, another password another site another something to manage. So I am slowly running out of space here on my blog for my photos and videos which in turn makes me stress about blogging and sharing as eventually I will run out of space! Haha, it’s always something!! I guess it’s time to get a YouTube channel, sigh….

My Weekly Smile; March 29, 2021

On By DianaIn Family is important, weekly smile17 Comments
  • Desert blooms!

Welcome to my weekly smile! I had such a wonderful weekend visiting my family in Arizona. I was in Grandma heaven as I spent the weekend with my son and his family. I can’t get enough of them and feel extra excited because I had just visited last month for baby Teddy’s first birthday and then I was able to return so that my son and wife could celebrate their anniversary. They had a wonderful time together and I had so much fun baby sitting. They have a lot of energy these little ones and I was able to take them for a walk in the neighborhood and thought I would share some photos.

My grand daughter said she knows some tricks with her scooter! She is so cute as she balances on one leg and holds up the other. She only scooted around half the block though, giving it up to walk. Lucky the scooter fits under the stroller so I didn’t have to carry it and push the stroller. As we rounded the corner there was a road runner and he didn’t shy away at all! I should have zoomed in but if you click on the photo I think you can see him pretty well. I should have walked all the way around their complex – they live in a townhome in a very nice area. My grand daughter was getting tired and I hate to say she was whining but yes, she was saying she was tired and I thought it best to cut through the complex for a shorter walk. Haha, she wanted to sit in the stroller with baby Teddy! I told her she doesn’t fit and she is 5 1/2 years old and the exercise is good for her. Oh my, she’s so adorable and silly. I think she likes acting like a baby around me because you know, I’m Grandma! She sure makes me smile! 😀

I don’t know when I started to take selfie photos with the grand kids but it has become sort of my “thing”. It’s funny because I don’t particularly like seeing photos of myself but the selfies became a ton of fun! I have tried taking selfies with my horses, Haha! Now that is difficult because they are so huge. I once had a selfie stick which back when I got it as a gift years and years ago, I never used it and it is long gone. So I just go with the length of my arm selfies, and my grand daughter gets so excited she just makes funny faces. It’s fun and so now I have to add Teddy to the mix so here are some selfies that turned out I think….. well, at least the ones here aren’t too blurry! The kids move so much, I deleted the blurriest ones. I hope you enjoy them too! They sure make me SMILE!

  • Silly faces!
  • More silly faces! Haha!
  • He is so adorable! ❤

I so enjoyed my time away and now it’s back to work this week. The sun is shining and my heart is full! What makes you smile? I wanted to get this together today and I have just enough time to make my lunch before I head to work. I will end with one last photo of the brothers. It was great to see them and they curled up together and I got to take this photo.

They were very friendly except when they were on my bed they tried to bite my toes under the covers! Silly kitties. I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you so much for visiting!

Happy Grateful Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Busy Days!

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share31 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekly coffee share where we catch up with old friends and new! Can I get you a cold brew? or an ice tea? Too hot here to share a warm brew. How are you doing?

Welcome, and for those of you that need a hot cup of Joe, of course I have that as well. It was a bit cooler today but will be hot again going into next week. It’s going to be a very hot October, time for me to body clip my horse Zack. He grows a thick winter coat and so to keep him comfortable in our warm winters here in Southern Cali, I partially clip him (it’s called a trace clip) and I shave off the hair where he sweats the most and leave the hair along his topline to keep him warm. It’s an easy clip and I have these huge sheep shearing clippers that makes it a fast and easy job! Now I’ve gone off on a tangent, which I do sometimes. Let’s bring this back to heading into the weekend as I wanted to share a sunrise photo which I took on my walk this morning.

This is across the street from my house, the new school buildings are almost complete!

The last month or so have been hard for me as we are trying to figure out our future and what plans are good or bad which include where we want to live. I’ve shared lots about moving which may not make sense at this time and so because of this it is taking time away from what I would call my “normal life”. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions and I won’t delve into all the details here but suffice it to say I have been a bit absent from blogging. It has been a bit hard to focus my thoughts and when you feel anxious and a bit confused, it makes it difficult to put thoughts to virtual paper. I am pretty sure by the end of next week I will be able to write about something I have been working on, so it will be a surprise! Excited? I am, as it will be something totally worth sharing and am hoping set me up for a much better future!

So, I am going to share my kitties, my sons kitties and my sweet grand daughter which I miss terribly. I know I am not alone missing grand children and am thankful for technology since we can visit virtually which I am hoping we can do this weekend. I have been crocheting a baby blanket for yet another relative, my niece who had a son. Families growing, no matter what happens time keeps ticking. Oh speaking of time, this month is my birthday month. Hold on, I will post a birthday post as its a few weeks away. I think I am extra emotional because I am turning 60 this year. Yep, I can’t believe it and want to just stop counting. But I am a proud 60, healthy and going very strong. Here I go rambling again! Can I get you a refill? 😀

  • Duchess in her hammock
  • Dinah all comfy!

Funny story, my hubby came across a cat tree for free that was really tall. I didn’t take a photo of it but it had lots of cubby holes and was at least 5 feet high. Hanging rope to play with, all the fun things cats love so you would think this is a wonderful kitty jungle gym. After the cats checked it out it began. Dinah started hiding under the beds and would barely come out to eat. She would leer towards the room where this big cat tree was waiting, and running back under the bed at the slightest noise! YIKES! I told my hubby that cat tree has to go right away! He said he cleaned it really well, vacuumed the heck out of it and sprayed it (not sure what with) but it doesn’t matter, the scent will always be there and my Dinah was sure a new cat was in the house!

It took her 3 days to finally come out and about sort of ~ she is almost back to normal except if she hears a loud noise she scurries back under the bed. She is doing much better and I told my hubby no more used cat trees, EVER! Duchess didn’t blink an eye, so interesting their personalities. She doesn’t let a thing bother her, Duchess is brave and unaffected. 😀

If you follow my blog, this is my 4th sweet dreams blanket! Haha, I know, again? It is actually really fun to make, I can’t help myself and each one is a different shade of blue, one was pink!
Aww, my sweet grand babies! Alice and Wolfie kitty as they watch Saturday morning cartoons. You can see baby Teddy sleeping on Dad! My son and wife have the sweetest family!

My niece had her son at the end of August and so I am trying to get the baby blanket completed so I can send it to her. Darn, it’s already October. I just have threads to tie off on the back and stitch a border and it will be complete. These Sweet Dreams blankets are so much fun to stitch up, but this will be the last one for awhile. Next year I may make a few to sell at the local craft fair.

I just had to share the cute photo of my grand children. Oh how I miss them, but it is what it is and I know they are happy and healthy. I will be visiting them sometime soon so I have that to look forward to and I am thankful I can easily drive there, flying even better! ❤

My sons house, Wolfie and Dublin ~ Brothers, being brothers!

Thank you for having coffee with me and sharing with me my ramblings. I am hoping to get back on track soon. I will call it growing pains, haha, since my family is growing and there are so many moving parts. I have family all over the place when I think about it and so I need to be thankful I have the wonderful family that I do. I had a wonderful chat with my sister today, and I just have to be thankful to be here and that I am able to share. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Confused kitty crochet loving Grandma,

~Diana ❤

August 19th, 36 Years Together!

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, Memories6 Comments
  • Earlier this year, together in Hawaii with my daughter! ❤

I can’t believe it is our anniversary today and to think we were married 36 years ago on a hot sunny afternoon. My dad walking me down the aisle, all my family gathered in a small quaint church. Oh the memories, and there are lots of them. I wonder if he sometimes looks back and wonders to himself, what did I get myself into? Haha, he married me with 3 dogs and 2 cats as I was in-between horses at the time. I think we would have a much better nest egg for our retirement if we did not own horses. But I have always said I don’t ever want to retire, not completely. I want to stay busy even with a part-time job so that I can keep my hobbies and my horses! We have never ever in my entire life not had an animal in our home. I grew up with parakeets, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits and lots of fish in some cool fish tanks and when I was 10 years old my first horse. AND I didn’t even live on a farm, nope, just suburbia with an animal loving family!

When my husband met me I was riding my sister’s horse. She needed help and so of course I loved helping her keep her horse fit and exercised. This is back in the early 1980’s, I should have warned him but he had to have known as horses are in my blood. I am hoping to be riding as long as my body can ride! My husband has actually ridden with me before. I had a gentle bay Morgan that would rather eat than work. My husband did very well with him but riding really isn’t his thing and he only rode a short time. If you were to ask my husband his love, he would have a sweet corvette in our garage! Haha, cars are his thing. Maybe one day he can buy a nice Sunday car to drive around and go to car shows with ~ someday! ❤

  • I’m sure you don’t have to guess, this is my card to my sweetheart!

It’s funny because my hubby texted me after I got my card this morning saying he hoped I didn’t think it was too cheesey! I LOVE Cheesey, the more gooey the better, because the love of my life isn’t a gooey, cheesey romantic kind of guy, far from it – so a nice card like this is from his heart! Even though he says he isn’t good at picking out cards. I am glad he went this route. LOOK, I did the same thing! Haha, If you look at my card with the horses (I think it is cool I found one with a grey horse like Zack, and Chloe isn’t that color brown, but has white on her face!) My card is pretty cheesey too! It says inside ~ Sharing life with you gets more beautiful all the time ~ AWW, and the front is the most beautiful art work with lots of birds, butterflies, flowers, nice and cheesey. But worth sharing because life is too dang short to not be ooey, gooey, and cheesey, every once in awhile. What loving fun!! Especially after 36 years. I JUST LOVE IT AND I LOVE HIM!

As I was trying to figure out what I wanted to include in this post, I went back through the photos of this year and some videos. As I try and share as many smiles as I can, this video I made when we were in Hawaii made me laugh! We had so much fun on that trip, I can’t wait for the day we can freely travel again. We were visiting the Dole Plantation and they have the most scrumptious Dole whip. We all know what it should taste like, and I sometimes ask silly questions. Haha, I am kind of a nerdy gal, but hey, that’s me and as I laughed I decided heck, why not share! What a fun memory!

So happy I can share videos! Fun vacation!
  • My daughter surprised us with these beautiful flowers! ❤

When I got home from the barn this morning I found these beautiful flowers which were delivered on my front porch! My daughter sent them, she is so very sweet, with a loving note that just melts my heart. I am so truly blessed and lucky to have the most loving children. I want only the best for them as parents do…. This anniversary fell right smack in the middle of the week. So we still have an anniversary dinner to celebrate and am not sure how this will take place as we may just have to order food. But I am feeling really good about our future, as plans to be closer to my grand kids are still in the making. Thanks for visiting today on my anniversary, it was fun to share!

Happily married Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; July 9, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, weekly smile19 Comments
  • Welcome to my smile post! What made you smile this week?

I usually write my smile post either on Tuesday or Wednesday but this week has gotten away from me, and here it is Thursday. My smile post this week goes to my big sister. We had the best sister chat this week and I wanted to dedicate this weeks smile to her as she made me smile and it was so GREAT catching up! I don’t want to offend any of my sister’s and some of my sisters read my blog posts – so sending LOVE to all and if I haven’t chatted with you, maybe we can catch up with each other this weekend! It’s never too late and always WELCOME! ❤ ❤ ❤

  • Talking to your sister is sometimes all the therapy you need!

We live in different states. I am one of 6 children and we occupy 5 states in the Western United States. We all moved away for one reason or another from Southern California where we grew up. I am the only one left here and miss my family so much. I actually had wanted to travel this year and was hoping to visit each sister and brother and along the way make it a celebration as this year I turn 60. BUT those plans got canceled and we all know the reason why. So I plan on phone chats more often and catching up with them all before to much more time passes. 😀

I just wanted to share how family can be so supportive and how much I miss everyone. Talking with my sister really put a huge smile on my face, and is I believe the best therapy especially when Mom and Dad are in heaven. My sister’s and brother are all a blessing, and I should reach out and connect more often. I am so thankful for the ones who keep in touch with me with my blogging as we actually exchange messages each week. I think this blog post will surprise them. SO I AM GOING TO TELL THEM, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! HUGS! ❤

Happy Smiling Sister! 😀

Love, Diana

Weekend Coffee Share; A Very Busy Week

On By DianaIn Family is important, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share27 Comments
Thinking about my Grand babies every day! I can’t help myself, he’s my lead in to my coffee share!

Welcome to my coffee share where we share the weeks happening or what we will be up to this weekend. I have had such a busy week, I think I am getting busier instead of what most people have been doing and that is staying inside and probably fighting boredom. I am not trying to defy the staying at home orders and those that follow me know that I am a essential worker and work full-time in a Veterinary Lab and I own two horses. So I am always on the go and I enjoy my gardening too! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I just had to share baby Teddy again, to be able to hold him in my arms, oh my, just thinking about that makes me sad (because I’m so far away) and joyful all at the same time! Love you grand babies!! Missing Alice, my grand daughter too. ❤

I have so much to share! I have my tiny garden which is in containers this year and I am having really good luck and so far nothing is dead and things are flourishing. I am going to share some photos as I should get tomatoes and hoping for some bell peppers too! I am really excited.

This is my tomato and bell pepper container. The photo on the left I just took this morning and the photo on the right was taken last week. What growth in one week! I am so excited they are thriving!!
Photo on the left is my tea rose which hasn’t bloomed in a few years! It has been going crazy with blooms. On the right my container of flowering perennials. Pretty!

I got help this last week with weeding. My hubby gets out there with his weed wacker and boy, he makes tedious work go much faster by using this tool. He has a nice gas powered one which he tackles all areas where we have tons of weeds that grow. Then I tend to the roses with pruning and I water too. At this time we don’t have too many things growing that need watering. We use to have automatic timer watering but that was back when we had a front lawn. We are definitely conserving water since the lawn is long gone. We are going to landscape eventually with a water friendly decor. Not sure what that will be, or when this will happen, haha, something on our to do list for our house!

How’s your coffee, need a refill? I forget for some it may be dinner time, but then I know many that drink coffee with their dinner! I would be drinking ice tea with my dinner, speaking of dinner I need to figure out what’s for dinner? I digress, I really wanted to share my busy week with all the horse back riding I’ve been doing. 😀

I have been asked by a really nice horse woman at the barn I left recently to help her with her horse. She is around my age and new to riding (hmm.. I keep forgetting to ask her background with horses, I must ask her the next time we meet) but needless to say she has had some scares, falling off a time or two and has some fears and does not feel confident especially riding the trails. NO PROBLEM I tell her, I will help you gain confidence and tackle your fears!! She has hired me to ride her horse and give her lessons. I am taking on more, but it is something I am very passionate about, HORSES!

This is Ava, my clients horse. I am not in the training business but will help when people ask and this mare is a ton of fun to ride!

I am having a ton of fun riding this pony. This photo was the first day I rode her and after this day I lengthened my stirrups as they are rather high for western, I had to ride her “English style” in the western saddle. The horsey people who follow me should understand. I think I will just write another blog post about my horsey fun and training, and giving lessons to this super nice lady who just wants some help with her horse. She wants confidence and I told her I would love to help her. The little extra money I will earn will go directly to my horses, their grains I buy and shavings for their stalls. It will mean some extra time out of my days off but worth it I think!

Crochet linen place mats for my daughter! So FUN!

I keep so busy, if I am not at work which is night shift, at the stables most mornings, tending my garden mid-afternoon, I am probably crocheting before I head to bed! I need to fit in sleep on my work days but some how I manage. I Love crochet and my daughter bought this yarn and it is fine so I can make these pretty place mats. When I visited my daughter last weekend we went online shopping and she found this yarn in pretty pastel colors. Perfect for her house and I may need to make some for my house too! I’ll have to buy more yarn! FUN!

I’ll finish up by saying that I am enjoying our beautiful Spring weather. We have had only one heat spell where the heat spiked and now it is much better. We have had mild heat this month and I am very happy about that. I was able to visit the ranch and ride out on the trails today with my girlfriend. I’ll close with a couple of photos of my silly horses. Fun, fun, fun! I hope you are having a good if not great weekend. I’ve so enjoyed having coffee with you and sharing my busy week and am getting in some relaxation this weekend!

Haha! Love my horses! Miss Chloe and Zack giving ya’ll a lick! What a great shot!!

Happy Grandma Cowgirl!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Mother’s day weekend!

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share15 Comments
Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mother’s out there! A rose from my garden!

Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new). Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us!

I am so excited about this weekend as I am sitting here with my coffee and some cinnamon rolls ready to tell you why. I didn’t realize when I made these secret plans (shhh, don’t tell anyone but my son and I drove up to see my daughter this weekend) it is Mother’s day weekend. I had no idea and it was just a coincidence but a super, cool, wonderful, fantastic coincidence! We have been very good about keeping social distancing, and please, no judging as there was just the three of us at her apartment as we enjoyed visiting, helping her with some projects in her apartment and breaking bread together!

While we are here we only went out one day to see if we could find a dryer which she needs for her apartment. She already has a washing machine and really needs a dryer and so we went to Lowe’s and found the right model and it turns out she can buy it online. (She was hoping to get a military discount. But the dryer is on sale so they won’t apply another discount so she decided to just order it online). While out we went by our favorite ice cream store and we figured it would be closed, but it was open!! YAY, we had to eat it in the car and there was no tasting of the flavors, but we were very grateful it was open! A super good day.

We rearranged the family room area, and her two guinea pigs taking a nap! Adorable!

I so needed this break as my work has been very stressful lately. We have actually gotten very busy at work and I think it will stay this way for awhile. I think it is great, for many reasons including job security. We are there helping pets and animals from across the country, and so I guess everyone that needs to see the vet are heading there which is good for everyone! Anyways, it has been so wonderful to spend these few days with my daughter and son. We video chatted with my other son in Arizona!! I’ll share a few photos I took.

My grand kids! My grand daughter is 4 1/2 and the baby is just 2 months old! ❤ ❤ ❤

It was GREAT FUN to video chat with them. We were going to do zoom, but decided to just do video chat instead. It worked out great and my son in Arizona put us on their TV and my grand daughter was just jumping up and down, so excited to see us practically larger than life! Haha, when he showed us on the TV it was a crack up. At least I thought it was. I’m old remember, so seeing all that technology does always amaze me and it was great fun. What a WONDERFUL way to spend Mother’s day weekend. I am in Mom Heaven!!

I have been reading this book my daughter has near the bed I am sleeping in, Lagom – Not too little and not too much. The Swedish Art of Living a Balanced Happy Life!

The Swedish people have it right and I am half Swedish! If I can find that balance of loving life, loving my family and loving myself no matter how silly, foolish, or crazy I can be sometimes than I will be one happy person. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family. To my Loving husband who puts up with all my animals and my horsey lifestyle, bless him as I probably spend too much money each month on those giant beasts. To my children, all grown up with family and busy lives of their own. I am one lucky lady, Mother and Grandmother. I hope each and everyone of you have a wonderful weekend, and for all the Mother’s out there, a Happy Mother’s Day!

Love, Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; April 15, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekly smile15 Comments
THE SUN! Makes me SMILE 😀

What a difference a week makes! I had to look back at last weeks smile partly because when I looked at my stats, last weeks smile was viewed and read by many, and so I thank you all for the reads. I also am grateful and thankful for all who comment. It was so wet last week, so much rain. This week is sunny and bright! The sun has finally decided to stay for awhile and I can’t tell you how happy the sun makes me feel. I think this is true for us all, we all need the sun!! I have a lot to SMILE about this week!

My smile this week also goes to my family. Sunday was a fabulous day as I was able to video chat with my family in Arizona. Oh my, it was THE BEST MEDICINE in these times. I laughed so much as my grand daughter was so entertaining! She watches her mama put on makeup and she gave her some so now she has her own. Her mama also watches makeup videos and so Alice was explaining how to put the makeup on! She did a great job considering, but had me in stitches as she applied eye makeup to only one eye, and blush to one cheek and lip gloss. I suppose you had to be there, makes me giggle just thinking about it!

I am really blurry, so much so I took myself out of one photo. I think I like seeing both of us though as you can see how much fun we have together!

She is so adorable, I can’t say enough about being able to spend time with family even remotely! Baby Teddy was very sleepy. He opened his eyes literally for a minute before dosing back into mama’s arms. I didn’t get a good photo of him this time, such a little guy but just as adorable as ever. Of course I am prejudice as ever, loving my grand babies, I’m in grandma heaven! ❤ ❤ ❤

The next day, Monday April 13th was my hubby’s birthday! We ordered an early dinner from a nice restaurant and he bought a pie too. We are continuing the celebration of birthday week as I made a chocolate cake today which I will frost after it cools. The next day April 14th was my daughter’s birthday! We video chatted and she was able to celebrate with her best friend who she also works with so they see each other every day. I am so thankful her friend was able to make her birthday a special day, and these birthday’s will be longed remembered – Birthday’s – during a pandemic.

Happy Birthday, Love You! I can’t wait until I can come and visit, hopefully soon!

I want to continue my smile post with more things I found to smile at which includes the flowers I like to share that I found on my walk this morning. The sun hitting them as it rose in the sky. I am trying to motivate myself to get to Home Depot to buy some starters for my container garden. At one point some weeks ago there was long lines to get in and I totally understand why as they were only letting in so many at a time. I will have to set aside half of my day just to buy or shop for what I’d like to plant, my how things have changed. Praying for a return to normal, for us all.

On my walk this morning! That’s the morning sun making flowers bright and beautiful!
Same flowers from above but really close up! This is my phones “live focus” feature. ❤

I will end with the last photo my son sent to me of the brothers. For those of you who follow my blog, these kitties were split up (in my family, different houses) and then reunited. I have the sister kitties which I share often and are doing great! I hope this week finds you well. What makes you smile? There must be one thing or some things? I am staring out my front window of snow peaked mountains, as the snow has not melted away yet from last weeks storms. The world is a beautiful place, the plants blooming from spring rain, and we all need to stay strong as we can get through this and we can do it with a smile! 😀

Brothers 😀

Smiling, happy, grandma!

~Diana

\

My Weekly Smile; March 25, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekly smile13 Comments

I wasn’t sure what I was going to share this week for my weekly smile. And then my son was able to chat with me and I am so thankful for today’s technology. We video chatted and I was able to take some photos I want to share. I was so excited to chat with my grand daughter and see up close baby Teddy! I took a lot of photos, they are not the best but worth taking and I thought I would share. Today was so fun as it is amazing how it almost feels like you are there visiting, video chat is AMAZING! 😀

Baby Teddy was asleep and Mom picked him up and he just fell back to sleep in her arms!
Hi Alice! Grandma sure misses you, we had so much fun today!

My smile goes to this wonderful technology and to my beautiful family! I miss them so very much but this really brings us together. Baby Teddy will be one month old tomorrow! WHAT! Wait, it’s been a month already? I can’t believe it but he is doing great. I will share more photos. I was in grandma heaven today!!

We chatted for awhile, sharing and laughing together and then Teddy woke up!
I Love this photo of baby Teddy! ❤

We had so much fun and we got to catch up with everything. We have been painting the inside of our house, so I could show them with the video chat. We also showed each other the kitties as we made the kitty exchange back in the beginning of the year. Now I have the two sisters which are doing great. They have the two brothers which are also good. I’ll share a photo of one brother and one sister. 😀

Wolfie asleep in Arizona and Duchess on the couch at my house.

My son showed me how they have rearranged some furniture in the downstairs and they also showed me the Chore Chart they have for Alice. This is so good for young children and she really likes doing her chores and earning rewards. My son was explaining this to me when Alice asked him if he could have grandma watch her do a chore! She is just so adorable, so I was able to watch her as she loaded up the washing machine. Yay! Good job, well done! ❤

Alice showing me how she is doing her chore for today! So cute!

I just had the greatest time and was elated we were able to spend so much time together. Yes, we have done this many times before but the last few weeks have felt like months. It felt like a long time ago the last time we chatted. I think its just the overall craziness of what we all are going through that makes each day seem even more precious and since I can’t travel which breaks my heart, this all makes up for that. It definitely fills me up with happiness. Was there anything that made you smile today? I hear of many good deeds happening these days, people stepping up and helping elders in grocery stores and other wonderful things.

One last photo, HAHA! It was truly a blast to see these kids!! ❤

I really wanted to share and help bring a little smile to your day. Thank you for visiting my smile, and maybe this brought to you some cheer today! Take care of yourself and enjoy the rest of your week, the best you can. We are all doing our best!

Stay Safe, STAY STRONG!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; March 18, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekly smile6 Comments
Some early blooms which makes me smile!

Welcome to my weekly smile. I want to keep smiling even though I am finding it more and more difficult each day. We are facing something no one could imagine except for maybe all the scientists out there that have been predicting this very thing. I have listened to some very good podcasts which have featured some renowned scientists, but it still doesn’t ease ones worry. So I need to stay positive and see how each day unfolds. For now I want to smile. I think trying to smile about one thing a day helps keep our chins up, and hopefully makes it ease the worries. 😀

Mt Baldy snow covered peaks. The rain brought snow in our local mountains!

I went for my walk this morning and it was a chilly 46 degrees with wind bringing it down close to 40 so I did not walk as long as usual. But as I walked by this park close to my house the view was stunning! I do wish at these times I had a better camera, but I walked into the park to take this photo above. It was really gloomy out with the cold wind and clouds, but looking at the mountains you can see the sun hitting the mountain range off to the far left of the photo. In person it almost glowed since the sun shimmered off the snow caps of this range. It got me thinking as I walked this morning that I made the right decision to stay home. I was to travel today, it was just not going to happen. It is too crazy out there and I want my family to stay safe. Traveling today is not a good idea.

My little grandson! I miss seeing him but I know more importantly is to see that my family is safe! ❤
Missing her SO MUCH! Love this photo! Will see her hopefully next month! or?

The photos make me SMILE! I love my family so very much and it just didn’t make sense to visit during these trying times. I woke up Monday night and went to work and thought my throat felt scratchy. I feel fine now and maybe it was just stress, paranoia I know can make you think you are sick, and I was so worried I would drive to Phoenix and bring something with me to my family there. I would just die if I brought to them any kind of virus, corona or any other flu. I feel fine today. I am home resting and am taking these days off by taking care of things around the house I often neglect. I pray for everyone, and especially that all of my family near and far stay safe. AND if any one of them gets sick, I hope it will be mild.

My ponies today! They always make me smile! I need all the smiles I can get these days!!
What a handsome boy! He is standing perfectly for this photo!! He also looks pretty good for being 23 years old! 😀 😀 😀

I really wanted to share my smile for this week. I always get such warm and loud welcomes when I come to the barn as my horses recognize me walking in and whinny! I just love hearing them and they are always waiting at their gate waiting to come out for some fun. They really make me smile. What makes you smile? I am sure there must be something, at least one thing? I have filled my smile today with pretty blooms, beautiful mountains, my most precious grand-babies and my bestest friends, my horses! Stay safe out there!!

Lovingly,

-Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Babies 2020!

On By DianaIn Family is important, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share19 Comments
Weekend Coffee share is a time for us to take a break out of our busy lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new). Please grab a cup of coffee or tea and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? It’s been a busy week!

Welcome to my coffee share and I have an announcement to make, I am a Grandma again! YES, my grandson came early this last week and what a crazy week. I also am noticing that I am writing this on 2/29/2020 leap year! 2020 is truly an exciting year as in my family there are many babies due this year. My Niece had her fourth son two days before my grandson was born and this grand nephew? I think he would be to me? was born on my oldest sister’s birthday 2/25! EXCITING! Everett is the son of my niece and two days later on 2/27 my grandson Teddy was born. I AM SO EXCITED! I may explode!! HAHA! I JUST LOVE BABIES! ❤ ❤ ❤

We had made plans for my youngest son who is in-between jobs to fly out this last Thursday evening to be in Arizona to help with my granddaughter while they are in the hospital delivering baby Teddy. My oldest son had planned this time with the help of doctor visits, Teddy wasn’t due until 3/9 so they thought this last week would be a good week to get brother out there to help. Around 7am mom’s water broke! OH NO! she is going into labor and my son isn’t going to arrive until that evening to take care of Alice.

So it was decided that he drive out (5 hour drive) as his ticket was basic economy, the cheapest and there was no standby option. He would have to buy a whole new ticket which was pricey. He made it in time to pick up Alice at the hospital and take her home. Teddy arrived 5 hours later. What a crazy week!!!

Welcome Theodore “Teddy” David to this world! 7lb 1oz birthday 2/27 ❤
Love these two SO MUCH! Photo taken before Teddy arrived in the hosptial!

So EXCITING! Such a great time for these young’ins. I remember those days, being pregnant and giving birth to some wonderful children and now it is their turn. I labeled this post as babies 2020 and one of my sisters has 5 grown children and they are all married with kids, but 4 are not done growing their family’s. The oldest has 3 girls and won’t have any more. How is your coffee? or maybe you are sipping some tea? I am trying to take in this last week, it’s like pinch me, grandma again!

I thought I would run down the list real quick. I already mentioned one niece had her 4th son on 2/25. My nephew’s wife is due 3/21 with a girl, and the next nephew’s wife is due 5/25 with a boy. Then there is one more niece due sometime in September and we do not know yet the sex so I have some time for home made gifts. My best friend has made baby crochet/knit items to help share with all these babies and I will make another baby blanket and baby hats to go with more baby booties. OH MY, so many babies this year! My oldest sister has a spreadsheet she keeps updating and sends to us and this family is blooming!! She will be busy updating it this year! 😀

Completed baby blanket for baby Teddy! I will make another with a different blue for niece or nephew. Maybe I will make two, it would look cute with purple yarn too!
Kitty thinks it is a nice blanket too! KITTY -follows me all around!
Here is booties and baby hats for a girl or boy. My best friend knitted the booties from my Mom’s pattern. My sister knows how to knit these booties too. I don’t knit, only crochet. Need to mail these out soon!

Thanks for visiting my coffee share as I am just so incredibly proud and very happy my family is growing and that everyone is happy and healthy. My youngest son will stay and help out for a few weeks and then come home. I’m so curious how my granddaughter is going to feel with a new baby in the house. She was the only one for the last 4 1/2 years, now baby brother will take time away from her! I know this will be very good for her in many ways. I am so excited for my son and his family. We are still working on moving to Arizona but the planning and figuring everything out is very daunting, never giving up on our dreams. Just need to take things one day at a time and keep plowing away on our goals. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 😀

Excited, grateful, proud Grandma!

~Diana

My Weekly Smile; Feb. 5, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekly smile16 Comments
What makes you smile? I so enjoy sharing and I have to thank Trent who hosts the Weekly Smile so we have a place to meet and share!

Proud mama weekend! I had the best weekend this last weekend being able to see my daughter be promoted to Major in the Air Force. How she has excelled and her dedication to serving this great country is humbling and I admire her determination and fortitude. I know I shared last week but the cup runneth over with gratefulness as I sit here thinking about this last week. As I share we have a lot happening as we have a planned vacation with her to Hawaii next week! (So EXCITED!) Lots to smile about! I’m smiling from ear to ear! 😀

Major Greener with her father. Smiling big, so very proud! ❤

We had a nice time up in Orcutt, CA which is next to Vandenberg AFB. We explored a bit and I took a selfie of my family, minus my daughter who had unfortunately got a 24hr flu bug before she was promoted. She was home resting and of course made it to the ceremony but it was a bit stressful for her but it all worked out and she is thankfully feeling much better. We had great weather while there and thought I would share that photo too!

Me, hubby and brother!

As we headed into this week we had really strong winds. These winds can be so bad, up to 25 mile gusts and it just makes being outside miserable. They were cold winds as well, and so I really missed riding this week. It is calm outside today so I think I will be able to ride. I took the next photo of my trail ride on Sunday afternoon as it was not windy and we made it back in time for me to see my ponies. My obsession with them will never cease! They are my therapy, my muse and what helps keep me smiling! 😀

Beautiful day with my horses. Zack is here too walking by my side! I’m smiling!

Thank you for visiting my smile for this week. Can you believe its February? I probably will say this every month as these months just tick by. Haha, time just flies but I have to say that this blog has helped me slow down and enjoy each week. It makes me think back and be more observant which makes me appreciate each day. What makes you smile? Anything happening in your neck of the woods?

Thankful Proud Mom,

~Diana ❤