Christina Gregerson (my mom's mom)

Christina Gregerson began her life with parents who were known for the love that they shared.  Her mother, Lenora Worthen ("Lennie") was known as a beautiful lady and her father, Andrew Eric Gregerson ("Andy")  always gave his wife attention.  They were married on February 27, 1908 and on December 8 of that same year their first child was born.  Her parents named her, according to her brother Clyde, after her father's oldest sister, Rosina Christina.  She was known throughout her life as "Christie."

She grew up in Pintura, a town located between St. George and Cedar City in southern UT.  Her father was a farmer and her son Don remembers her talking about raising watermelons as a child.  As the oldest of 5 brothers before a sister would come into the family, Christie thought of herself as a tomboy when she was growing up.  She could ride horses, climb trees as fast as her brothers, and kill rattlesnakes.  But most accounts attribute  Christie with such good qualities as hard working, a good cook, a good housekeeper, and an uncomplaining attitude.  Those qualities developed early in her childhood as the oldest of nine children as her mother was sick much of the time.

Christie on the left when she was 7.

Christie always had a good relationship with her mother and honored her parents.  She could bake bread at a young age, and was known by neighbors to sew cute clothes for her younger sister Lenore.  Lenore remembers Christie taking care of her like a second mother. When staying with the family, Her aunt Sarah noticed Christie's responsibilities and cheerful attitude.  Leland remembers that she had a good singing voice and a high moral code of conduct.

Electricity and running water were luxuries that Christie and her family did without while she was growing up. Leland, her brother, remembers hauling buckets of water into the house and cooling themselves off with a soaked gunny sack in place of air conditioning, using a separator to divide cream from butter, and canning 800 quarts of fruit.  Although their living conditions were basic, the family was happy.  Lennie's younger sister Lucile recalls them sitting on the porch together listening to their father, Andy, sing to them.

Christy with mother and siblings.
She's the girl on the middle right.

Christie went to elementary school in Toquerville and attended high school with her brother, Leland, in St. George.  They stayed with their Grandma and Grandpa Worthen.  The Gregerson family was never well off, and to help financially, Andy and Lennie would rent their home as a place to stay for travelers going between St. George and Cedar City.  Lenore was known to take in wash to help the family.  As a waitress at Zion's National Park for a couple of summers, Christie is remembered by her brother, Clyde, to have helped her family when they were in particularly difficult times.

Christie's sister-in-law recalls her beautiful, kind, brown eyes, pretty dark hair, and most of all that enduring, loving, happy personality. Carol Baird rememberbs Christie tending her when she was a preschooler.  She said, "I loved to go there because she was so happy and fun to be with.

Zion's Canyon waitresses.
Christy is on the back row in the middle

During the summer at Zion's, Christie met a park gear jammer named Max Edward Miner. Christie said that he was very kind and sweet to her.  Although they had religious differences they were married in Parowan, UT on October 3, 1930.  They moved to Salt Lake City shortly after being married.  On April 11, 1934 their son, Alan Edward Miner was born.  Christie was very sick for 2 weeks after Alan was born.  Two years later on April 5, 1936, Janet was born.

Because Christie didn't talk about her first marriage, little is known about what exactly happened, but Max and Christie were divorced July 5, 1940.  This was a hard time for all concerned.  On January 16, 1942 and  April 10, 1942 Christy and Max remarried, respectively, wonderful people who cared deeply for their children, stepchildren and grandchildren.

Alan Miner, Deanna Fawson, Christie Fawson, Don Fawson
Vern Fawson, David Fawson, Janet Miner (my mom)

Christie died in Grantsville, UT Oct. 21, 1967

The Outlaw and the Birthday Girl. A fun story from the life of Brigham Casto 1850-1929 (My father's mother's uncle) by Bob Johnson

Brigham Casto was the Sheriff of Salina, (UT) and served as a United States Marshall with the Union Pacific Railroad.  He is pictured with the men at the driving of the Golden Spike.  He was a veteran of the Black Hawk Indian War.  He was also a member of the posse (although he rode alone) who took off in the snow after Butch Cassidy following the Castle Dale payroll robbery.  Granddaughter Lois remembers a wonderful story about this famous outlaw years later as a nine year old girl living with Grandpa in Salina Canyon.

"We were about to gather for dinner one night at Grandpa's place up Salina Canyon.  He had a stage stop that had been built as part of the old Spanish Trail and there were a number of old Spanish buildings that Grandpa had fixed up as there was a knock at the door.  The man asked if there was any room to stay for the night.  Grandpa told him that the house was full but the stranger was welcome to put his horses in the barn and to come up and share their dinner.  He told him he could bed down in one of the bunk houses.  The man responded that he was too dirty to come into the house but he appreciated being able to get in out of the storm and would be most grateful for a warm meal.

Lois remembers it so well because it was her ninth birthday party that night and after dinner they walked down and gave the stranger a piece of her birthday cake.  When he brought the dishes back up he told her that grandma's vittles were "the best he'd ever tasted."  He also told her that "she sure had a lot of pretty black hair."  He then asked her how she was doing and she said she was sad because her cousins hadn't been able to get through the storm to attend her party.  When he was gone, Grandma looked at Grandpa and said that he had a strange look on his face and she asked what was bothering him.  He asked her if she recognized the stranger.  "That's Butch Cassidy down there," he said, "I'd recognize that crooked eye anywhere."  Of course this was long after he had supposedly died in a gun fight in Bolivia.  The next morning the snow had stopped and they could see the trail where he had headed into the mountains with his two loaded pack horses and his lone riding horse.  There was also a can with a few old coins and a printed note that said, "SOME MONEY FOR THE BIRTHDAY GIRL."

10 days with my Grandparents, Alfred George Wallace and Hester Elizabeth Hagger. Taken from an autobiography of Robert George Beatson Blair Wallace (my husband's mother's brother)

Bakewell was the home village of Alfred George and Hester Elizabeth Wallace, our father's parents, our grandparents never seen before.  Memories of this 10-day visit are dim, but the highlights still very vivid.

Wallace children: Peggy, Campbell, Beatson, Jeanne (Paul's mother)

Alfred George was the jolliest man I had ever met.  He is said to have been about six feet, slender, with a long thin face topped by rusty hair and the bushiest handlebar mustache imaginable.  My sisters would remove his ever-present, curved-stem pipe, grasp both ends of the mustache and lift them to get a kiss.  His wife, Hester, was  a small, quiet woman with dark hair brushed back into a bun.  I remember only that she was a doting mother and a loving wife.  Her kitchen and home were her domain.  Our Uncle Frank, Dad's youngest brother, still lived at home with his parents.  The welcome for these four strange Canadian grandchildren, nieces and nephews could not have been more loving and unrestrained.

Alfred George Wallace (A red head, there's hope, Erica)

Our grandparents lived in a large stone house with kitchen and parlor front windows overlooking a flower and shrub garden inside a stonewall fronting on Monyash Road.  Monyash Road runs northwest of the town square and is the main route from Bakewell to Buxton, some 00miles away.  There was an even larger flower and vegetable garden back of the house and an approximately 30 foot greenhouse which, according to Dad's sister Minnie, made it possible to have fresh vegetables year round.  The house is about 110, or so, yards up a steep hill from the village square.  Along the way you pass the Anglican All Saints' Church where each Sunday Grandmother would be found in the second pew on the left and Granddad would be 000limestone steps up a circular turret stairway in the bell tower with the other 11 regular bell ringers.  Also above Grandmother's head was a tremendous arched, oak ceiling, one of woodworker Granddad's still standing monuments.  Halfway between the house and the church on the opposite side of Monyash Road was grandfather's workshop above a working forge owned and operated by a friend and business partner.

That first evening was a children's delight.  After a late tea--dinner then and now was served at mid-day, we were all gathered in the large kitchen dominated by a cast iron double oven stove fired by slow-burning coal in a side firebox and a small open grate with firewood in the middle.  There, of course, was no such thing as central heating or radiators, or electricity.  When doors to either the house's front hall or cold pantry were opened, the chill air was evident.

Granddad sat in his big chair by the fireside while we in turn sat on a knee or cross-legged on the floor circling him.  For the longest time he played one musical instrument after another; his silver hand bells, his bugle (he was a Territorial soldier in the "Notts and Derby Regiment"), his violin, his mouth organ, his Jewish harp, his large and small wooden flutes.  Some times the music was interspersed with folk songs and ditties.

Meanwhile, Grandmother was taking the metal shelves out of the ovens, neatly wrapping them in newspapers, and then sliding on cloth covers.  What are they for, we wondered?  We got our answer when told it was time for bed.  We were led upstairs behind a candle bearer to the bedrooms where the wrapped hot shelves from the ovens were inserted between the cold sheets and would stay warm long enough until we fell asleep.  We were told to bring the shelves back to the kitchen in the morning.

In the ensuing days we visited the workshop across the road, climbed the bell tower at the church, and trekked to Burton Closes, an estate where Dad worked as a boy and teen-ager.

The workshop was a Rube Goldberg delight with big, metal wheels hung from the ceiling, belted pulleys, different size lathes and foot pedal boards to provide the power in the absence of electricity.  The floor was strewn with shavings, various ropes and hooks attached to the ceiling held pieces of work in progress from chair and table rungs to other furniture parts.  Behind the work benches were row after row of bracketed boards with small and large holes through which dangled every size and shape of wood chisel.  We were allowed to try our hand at "turning spindles" with Granddad providing the foot power,  It later was said that most of the hardwood used was salvaged scrap from commercial jobs, such as the church ceiling, the Banqueting Hall ceiling at Haddon Hall restored by Granddad for the Duke of Rutland, and the Cricket Pavilion on the Village Green.  These were mostly small furniture pieces such as end tables to be sold or given as gifts to family and friends.  The real exhibit of Granddad's woodworking was the parlor in their home.  Every inch, even th3e ceiling, was covered with wood.  This room, which ran the full depth of the house, rarely was open except on Sundays when relatives and friends visited.

Candlesticks made by Alfred George Wallace

After a few days we realized that Granddad disappeared at precisely the same time every day after tea, about 6 p.m. as I recall, and returned promptly sometime before 7 p.m.  The villagers said they could set their watches as they saw Granddad walk by.  It turns out he was on his way to the Wheatstaff Pub down by the River Wye, presumably for his pint with the neighbors.  He returned home with a small bottle of Guinness Stout for his wife's bedtime sip.

Another day we were allowed to climb round and round the stone steps to the church belfry where the twelve, very thick pull ropes were hanging in a circle through holes in a flatboard ceiling.  Another few feet hanging in a circle through holes in a flatboard ceiling. Another few feet up a ladder and we were shown the various sized cast brass bells dangling from huge beams.  Thursday was practice night, so I'm guessing that's the night we went up.

Another day we all trekked to a nearby estate named Burton Closes.  This was the country home of two bachelor brothers who owned and operated a marine shipping business out of Manchester.  One was named Alexander Campbell Blair, for whom my young brother is named, and the other, George Beatson Blair, after whom I was named.  Various members of the Wallace family, including Dad's sister Minnie as a young girl and later as a widow, had been employed by the Blair brothers.  My father as a boy did odd house and garden chores for them and after World War * he worked as a chauffeur and we lived at the Blair's home, Whalley House, Whalley Range in Manchester.  That is where my two sisters Margaret and Jeanne were born.

After these ten fun-fulled days, Dad and Mother came back from London to collect us for a new home, a New Year and a new school.  Before leaving, Dad asked his Mother is he could have electricity which he had learned was newly available in the village installed for them.  Her answer, it is said, was:  "I don't want that strange stuff running around my house."  She was quite content with the kerosene lamps and candles she had always used.

This was the one and only time that I would be with my grandparents.  She died May 17th, 1939.  He died, in Dad's words, "Three lonely years later," on February 27th, 1942.  Both are buried on a hill in Bakewell Cemetery not far from their home and church of nearly 50 years.

Ila Ruby Casto

Ila Ruby Casto, my father's mother, was born Nov. 19, 1902 in the white stone house her parents had bought in Salina, UT.  Ila was the 7th child of Abel Nephi Casto and Eliza Jane Manning.  Her next oldest brother, Ferdinand, was 8 years old.  He was happy to not be the baby anymore.  She had lots of black hair and soon became the darling of the family.

Ila was her mother's constant companion.  There weren't any small children around to play with.  She learned many things from nature.  Her mother taught her about which colors go well together by observing all the plants in the world around her.   Ila spent summers at the Gooseberry Ranch with her family. She amused herself by using the caps off of the acorns for cups and saucers.  The pine gum off of the Pinion Pine trees was her chewing gum. In the winter, her mother took the children back to the stone house in town so they could attend school.

She helped her parents with errands at the ranch.  One of her first jobs was that of going down to the spring to get her father a cool glass of water when he came in from working in the fields.  This involved getting a quart sized cup of water from the spring that was 75 feet down hill from the ranch house and bringing it back up the steep slope without spilling it.

As Ila grew older she was in charge of herding the family milk cows along the ditch banks and wherever there was extra grass.  She needed to keep them out of the garden and wheat fields.  It was a never ending job that always had to be done.

One of the fun things about living on the ranch was getting to ride horses.  The family had one black mare who was exceptionally patient and faithful.  They called her Blackie.  She was the one on which every child in the family learned to ride.  Ila became a good rider.  If her work was finished, her parents allowed her to ride her horse to a friend's place for a while.

One year, in early summer, she took the laundry, on horseback, into Salina.  Here she could wash it where they had a well and running water. She would often ride to town on Saturday; do the wash; pick up the mail; stay over night; go to church on Sunday; and then ride back to the ranch with the clean clothes for the family.  She was told not to cross the creek if she could not see a certain rock. However, one day she thought she could see the rock and started to cross.  But the water was so deep the horse had to swim, and Ila had to put her feet on top of the saddle to keep them dry.

During World War I, Ila had a brother, Edwin Casto, and a cousin, George Eveans, who were sent overseas.  The young women were encouraged to help the Red Cross in creating bandages and packaging them.  They were also encouraged to knit wool stockings for the service men.  Ila joined in this project.

  When Andrew Carnegie came through Utah offering to build a library building for every town who would be willing to donate a certain number of books that he would match, Salina was one of the towns that participated.  Ila was one of the teenage girls called upon to go door to door asking people for their book donations.  She was happy to help get a library in their town.  Ila's father had quite a collection of books.  He had bought them from a School Teacher who left the area and didn't want to take all his books with him.  Ila loved to read and read every book they had more than once.

In Ila's junior year at high school, she contracted the dreaded 1918 flu and was out of school for the rest of the year.  The effects of the illness held on for a long time, but Ila worked very hard her senior year and graduated with her class.

There was still time to have some fun in the summer.  Able raised race horses on Gooseberry.  Ila would have liked to have been the one to ride them, but her father knew that a jockey who was smaller would give him a better chance of winning.  Ila was a good rider, but tall.  Her parents took the stock to the fair a day early.  Ila was able to take the train separately to visit a cousin, Pearl Chidester, in Venice.  Pearl was acquainted with the Miller Boys, Janus and Carlyle, who were interested in a date, and they met at the fair.  It was decided that Carlyle would take Ila and Janus would go with Pearl.  Janus was going on a mission soon and didn't care to meet any new girls.  The foursome had a good time at the fair, and Ila went back to Salina with her folks that night.

She decided to go to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.  Part of that time she stayed with her sister, Clara, who was a nurse.  Other times she stayed at a boarding house.  At one particular boarding house her folks could send produce from the farm: hams they had cured; butter and eggs.  These commodities helped pay for Ila's board and room.

An activity she especially enjoyed while at college was taking the trolley out to Salt Air on the Great Salt Lake where they had a dance hall that hired the best bands.  She also started corresponding with Janus Miller.  She had only met him once, but she saw something special in him.

Ila graduated in two years with a Utah Teachers Certificate.  She was given a job in her home town of Salina teaching 4th grade the following fall.  Her niece, Allie Casto, and nephew, Boyd Curtis, were in her class.  They dearly loved their Aunt Ila and had a difficult time remembering to call her "Miss Casto."  She was a kind a loving teacher.  All the girls in the class used to love to come to her house on their way home from school.

While Janus was on his mission in Hawaii he had a dream that showed him the girl he was to marry.  That girl was Ila Ruby Casto.  That is when he started corresponding with her.  By the time he got home from his mission he was thinking strongly of asking her to marry him,  but he had no money and had to borrow enough to buy a set of work clothes.  He got his team of horses who he had left with his brother and started training them.

Janus and Ila continued their courtship through the summer.  She often went with him in the evenings when he spoke at sacrament meeting in the neighboring towns.  He would borrow his father's Model T Ford to come to get her.  After the meeting he would bring her home.  They liked to sit and talk a while before he went home.  Ila's mother would get a little anxious after she heard the car drive up.  She would wait a little while and then call to Janus and ask him if he would like a nice piece of Mince meat pie.  Janus dearly loved pie.  He and Ila would come in and have some pie and a glass of milk.  It was a tight squeeze for him to get the milking done in time to clean up, drive 15 miles to get Ila, and get to his speaking engagement on time.  He often skipped supper to make it.

One time Janus and Ila wanted to go to a dance, but Janus didn't know how to do the latest dance called the "Quick Step."  Aunt Sarah (Janus' step-mother) willingly taught him how.  All went well at the dance.

That same summer, Janus wanted to spend more time with Ila without having to drive the 15 miles to Salina all the time.  Aunt Sarah suggested that she and her 6 young children could go along with them to Fish Lake for a week long camping trip.  They were also joined by Janus' nephew, Ellis Hanson, who had walked from Monroe to Venice so he could be part of the fun.   It was a two day trip by team and wagon.  Everyone had a wonderful time camping out under the stars. Ila felt this vacation eased the relationship with her in-laws to the point there were never any problems.

Ila and Janus' wedding date was September 12, 1923.  They were married in the Manti Temple in the morning.  Ila's parents prepared a wedding  feast for  75 guests.  They could serve 25 at a time, so they had 3 separate settings.  The menu was roast lamb, roast chicken, baked sweet potatoes, celery sticks, cabbage salad, home made rolls and lemon cream pie.  Able butchered his choicest lamb for the occasion.  Most of the vegetables came from their garden.  The rolls and pie were baked in their kitchen.  Ila made her own wedding cake which was a three layered dark fruit cake.

Ila's sisters, Janie, Grace and Clara were there to help as were the older nieces.  The meal was served family style.  Grace was in charge in the kitchen so her mother and father could greet the guests.  The nieces were responsible for bringing the food to the tables.  Her sisters loaned their china, silverware, and glasses plus cloth napkins as well as some borrowed from the neighbors so that they wouldn't have to wash dishes in between groups of guests.

Janus' younger sisters sang duets to provide some entertainment.  The guests were relatives of the bride and groom with the exception of a few special friends.  Janus and Ila sat with the first group and ate with them and the second group also.  When the third group came in, they were too full to eat any more but they sat and visited with them.

After the guests left, Janus and Ila shared her room that night.  The morning after their wedding, Janus and Ila took their turn at the dishes.  Ila washed and Janus dried for two hours, and then someone relieved them.

This was the beginning of a union that lasted for 66 years in this life and an eternity to come.

"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies."

On Wednesday I got to see a little tiny glimpse into the military world.  I was invited to an event, a double header.  First, my son and his group (there's a name for it of course...squadron? company?-help me Daniel) jumped out of an airplane, then he was pinned on Major.  Two very exciting occurrences.

The plan was for my daughter-in-law, Erica, and her kids and I to meet the Colonel's wife, Erica,  Royal's wife, Lauren, and Ferguson (Ferg) the soldier assigned to transport the Commander, at the gas station at an appointed time so he could lead us to the drop zone.  We were ready for execution and then the rain began...hard, with lightning.  Ferg called, "There's been a delay.  They'll probably cancel."  Erica and I were still at home with the kids so we relaxed a little.  Then Ferg called again, "It's on and they're back to the original time."  Ferg of course was at the gas station in nothing flat while we had intention of getting there in nothing flat.  Let's say we were there in "gather 2 kids/find their shoes/find the keys/ grab the snacks/did we get the umbrella/ nothing flat."  Ferg was in his truck and started driving off when he saw us.  We were all, "Wait for the other girls!  Lauren needs to get in the other car.  Are we all together?  Okay, let's go."  Ferg had pulled off the road until we caught up.  Then we were on our way.  Notwithstanding the torrential rain, Ferg moved ahead determinedly passing cars with no fear.  The girls all thought we were most likely going to die today with the low visibility and unsure tracking on the wet roads.  We got to the location.  I don't know what I expected; bleachers, a covered gazebo, snow cone shack?  Basically there was a road and a field.  No problem.  The other two ladies and two kids and I would make ourselves comfortable while we waited for the show to start.

I don't know what Ferg was actually thinking, but he was very polite to us.  He showed us an area he suggested we wait in.  "Away from the rangers.  Their language might be vulgar."  I thought about his life.  He'd probably been shot at, jumped out of airplanes, ran with the vulgar rangers, marched through the night going into enemy territory, and most likely knew some other words than the ones he used when speaking to ladies.

Then I looked at the other people I was with, the beautiful wives of the soldiers,  their pretty faces and soft hands,  the sweet little innocent children.  I tried to fit the worlds together in my mind.  It was hard until I realized, this world of wives and children is what the soldiers fight for.

Alma 46:12  "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children"
Sometimes my heart feels heavy when I think of my son in Afghanistan with a gun and a mission to destroy the enemy, but then it gives way to gratitude.  Our country and our freedom and our families need to be protected.  Thank you, Daniel and friends, for being  the protectors.

Well, on with the day. I had heard there's a lot of hurry up and wait in the military so it went according to protocol.  There had been more lightning since the last report, and the men were instagramming pictures of themselves waiting in the airplane.  We girls had time to drive back to a gas station and use the rest room, sit in the cars and talk, and basically have a nice time.

Then the moment came.  Ferg informed us that because of weather, the planes would be coming from the opposite direction.  That put the airplane door on our side of the field, so that was a plus.  Then Ferg said, "Royal, first pass, 3rd jump.  Colonel Traxler and Daniel, second pass, 4th and 5th jump."  I got that explained to me and readied my camera.

We heard the rumble of the airplane before we saw it.  The soldiers and parachutes jumping one by one into the sky was an impressive sight.  And it's possible that I was a little proud that one of the soldiers was my son.  All went well.  They landed without incident, gathered their gear and started hiking back to the road.

After a short wait it was time for the pinning on.  Daniel pulled roses out of his back pack for his wife.  (There are always roses but not usually jumped in.)

  Next from the back pack came the flag for a backdrop for the oath of office.  Two soldiers held the flag and the Colonel gave Daniel the oath.  Since we were just a handful of people standing around a field in Georgia I was surprised at the emotion I felt when my son said something like this, "I Daniel Paul Stoker, having been appointed an officer in the Air Force of the United States, in the grade of Major do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."

My son is supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, serving in true faith and allegiance.  And now I know, good soldiers serve because they love not because they hate.

I'm still at Grandma's.

So I'm still at Grandma's.  I'm learning some things about Grandma.  She likes to kiss me and hug me and she seems like an overall trustworthy person so I keep her in my sight, but she's not very exciting.  She reads books and takes me on walks, but her jokes aren't very funny and she isn't good at playing cars at all.  But she's taking pretty good care of me.  Well there was that one time when she let my hair get almost dry before she combed it.  That would have been ridiculous.  It was sticking up all over.  Good thing she finally remembered.

On Friday her friends, the Sultans, came over to see me.  They were fun.  They carried me around the house and looked at me and laughed and talked about how cute I am.  There were a lot of people so I found Grandma to make sure she didn't get lost in the shuffle.  When I decided she wasn't going to get lost I started crawling around with all the fun people again.

Today was more exciting than yesterday.  Andrew didn't go to work and Rebecca came home from her activity.  Rebecca took me for a loooong walk.  I liked that.  Andrew and I went for an adventure in the yard.  I crawled around in the grass and on the driveway.  I showed him how brave I am.  He let me drive the car.  Well, it didn't go anywhere, but I stood up on the front seat and moved the steering wheel back and forth.

I've been helping Grandma out.  She has a lot to learn about electronics, so I'm her man.  When she's on the keyboard I type too so she can go faster.  I try to help her with the mouse, but she moves it away.  No worries, I just go find the other mouse.  Sometimes I show her how to send messages on her phone. For some reason Grandma  left a cd in the cd player.  I took it out for her...twice.  I could do more if she'd let me.  I guess she's just stubborn like that.

I've also been teaching her some things about meal time.  After my nap she  put me in my chair and gave me some cheese.  Luckily, my mom is teaching me some signs, so I just told Grandma "more" as in "more variety" as in "I want something more than these pieces of cheese."  That worked well. Next I had to work on the dinner traditions.  Grandma puts me in my high chair and everyone else sits around the table.  I ask you, is that right?  I think not.  So I just explained that I was "all done" and added a little whine of dissatisfaction so she let me sit on her lap and use her spoon.  It's so much better when we're all around the table together.  And I almost got some food into the spoon.  One of these days, if I just keep tapping it, I know I'll see the food sitting in the spoon.

Grandma is a nice person, but I'm a little worried about her housekeeping.  Since I've been here there seems to be an awful lot of toys on the floor, and in my opinion, her kitchen doesn't look too great either. Things look a little more put together when I wake up in the morning, but homegirl needs to work on her skills.  She hasn't even vacuumed since I've been here.  I'm not sure if I believe her excuse that the vacuum will wake me up.  Why doesn't she vacuum when I'm awake? Then I could help her, bless her heart.

Well tomorrow is church.  I'm sure it will be fantastic, all that sitting and listening and being quiet.  I'm looking forward to it.  I hope she doesn't forget the Cheerios.

The day Grandma took me home with her. As told by Landon Stoker (Or as he would have told it if he could talk and type and upload pictures....)

So yesterday I woke up from my nap and my Grandma and Aunt Rebecca knocked on the door.  I hadn't seen them for a while, but they seemed okay.  They came outside with me while I played with water and put me in my new swing for the first time.  It was exciting to go forward and back almost 4 feet!  But not quite as exciting as when Grandma couldn't find how to release the safety straps.  She talked softly, but I saw the panic in her eyes.  Then she  loosened them and worked me out of the swing.  I like how Grandma doesn't do any work.  She just sits around and watches me and talks.  Mom's been busy stacking piles of clothes and saying words like, "Disney World, Magic Kingdom, Hotel."  (Boring)  Today Grandma and Rebecca were still here, but acted like they were going somewhere.  Well, I wanted to be part of the fun so I stuck close to them.  Besides that, my high chair, car seat, toys, bottle and pacifier were all in her car.  This was going to be awesome!  Maybe we could go to Target or even Toys R Us!  My mom put me in the car seat.  For some reason she kissed me a lot of times and had tears in her eyes.  Probably because she had to stay home and stack piles of clothes.  Too bad.  Stinks to be her.

It was great because Rebecca sat by me and played with me.  Then Grandma said, "Give him his bottle and pacifier and maybe he'll go to sleep."  Silly Grandma,  Mom told her I never sleep in the car.  I kept my eyes wide open.  BAM!  Unfortunately, Grandma must not know the way to Target because we drove a long boring time and we never got there.  Once we stopped at a gas station and Grandma went inside.  I'll bet she was asking for directions.  After about 3 1/2 hours of driving, I figured we should give up on going to the store and see what was going on at home.  Weird thing is, we didn't pull up to my house.  We pulled up to...Wait a minute...Isn't this the house we came to at Christmas time?  This was Grandma's!  What was going on?  I don't know if this is okay.  I asked Rebecca to take me outside.  Everyone was bringing all my stuff in to the house.  Hmmm.

Grandma put me in my highchair and gave me some food.  She took a picture of me to show Mom and Dad I was safe, but there was a bug flying around the blinds that didn't look very safe.  She killed the bug and took a picture of it to show that I was, in fact, safe after all.  Grandpa started putting up my bed and hanging black curtains to keep the light out.  I went down for a nap, finally, and it felt awesome.  Grandma turned on the fan in the bathroom so I didn't even hear Uncle Andrew come in and call out, "I'm home."

When I woke up I decided to explore since it looked like I was going to be stuck here for awhile.  Grandma's house is a little different.  All the good toys are kept up high.

 My uncles were super fun however.  Andrew showed me the cars and I showed him how I already know how to push them on the track.

 Uncle Gabe showed me how to play the piano and the bells.

  And best of all, the pounding and music making didn't stop.  It just got better and better, even at dinner!  I laughed and laughed at my uncles pounding the table and I pounded my tray, and we were awesome.

Grandma had my food cooling in the freezer and expected
me to be satisfied with my cheese, but Uncle Andrew had my back.
I was thankful and showed him by patting his arm with my
slimy hand.

After dinner I went outside a little bit.  I showed Grandma how I climb down the porch steps head first.  She was impressed, but it would have been cooler if she hadn't held on to me.  I could have gone so much faster.    Then it was time for my bath.  Grandma left a little water trickling for me to play in.  That was boring until I found out how to turn on the shower.  That surprised all of us.  Sometimes Grandma can be kind of a killjoy.  After the water started raining down, she took me out of the bath.

She dressed me, rocked me, sang me a song and put me to bed.  I hope tomorrow is as fun as today.  Too bad Mom and Dad and Caleb are missing all the fun.