Friday afternoon at Grandma's

Look both ways!

Playdough chefs

Sam and Em went from sandbox, to tramp, to playdough, to swing, and back to sandbox. By the time Erin and D. took them home, they were both very dirty and very tired, but most of all they were very happy. How fun for the two two year olds to have afternoons together.

Would you like a blue doughnut, or how about a pink french fry? Em and Sam made lots of both with the new playdough I bought. They love sitting at the little table and chairs to eat, color and play.

Feeling loved, tender mercies and inspiring thots...

So, on occasion, I get discouraged, feeling like I haven't made a positive impact on my extended family. I so want to share with them how I feel about the gospel, but I'm just not sure they are interested. In fact, I have been told by several of them they are definitely not interested. It makes me question my ability to influence my seminary kids when I don't feel like I have had a lot of success with my own extended family. The past few days I have had a little bit of a pity party for myself, questioning myself.

Then yesterday, at the end of class, a young girl handed me a letter she had written me. It was a full page telling me how I have influenced her and that this is the first time in a long time that she not only wants to come to seminary, but she is excited to come to EARLY MORNING seminary. For those who live outside UT it isn't a big deal to go to seminary at 6:00, but in UT the kids have a choice and it sometimes makes it a little harder to come early. Anyway, she made my day yesterday.

Then this morning, I opened up my email and had a beautiful letter from Lauren telling me how much she loves me. WOW! Lauren, one of the people who has so positively influenced me in my life, is writing to tell me what I have done for her....

I wish I could find a word, just one word, that no one has ever used before to express how much I love my kids. But the one word isn't there and so I go on and on and on just wanting each of them to know what they mean to me and what they have done to make my life so wonderful. OK, in one word...how about...CHERISH...I know it's been used before, but it is the closest thing I can come up with. To cherish something is to hold near and dear to your heart and put it above all else. Yep...cherish...that sounds pretty good.

Lauren sent me this quote. It fits so many of the women I know, espcially my daughters, my mom and my friend Mary Kay. I love them all..no, that's not enough...I CHERISH them all.

Thanks Lala,

"I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk’s lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden. I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived. "-Sister Hinckley

Luke 'n Grandpa, kite flying buds

Several weeks ago Matthew and I went to Costco. As we walked in the door, the wind was howling across the parking lot. Matthew made the off-hand comment, nice day to fly a kite. About halfway through Costco, Matthew disappeared, (this is typically not a good thing, because if he gets off the food aisles, he finds things to buy that are not on the shopping list) and then he came back with a very LARGE Spiderman kite. "For Lukey", he said sheepishly, grinning. Of course it's for Luke, good thing for Grandpa that Luke is too little to fly a kite by himself. Unfortunately, by the time we walked out of Costco, the wind was so still a gnat could clip his toenails in midflight. So every Friday since then, Matthew has anxiously watched the weather forecast, hoping for a windy Saturday to go on a kite-flying date with Lukey. Well, as you can see from the pictures, last Saturday was the perfect day. Luke had a grand day with his grandpa, which of course means Grandpa had a wonderful day too.

Flying high with the Tyler's

At one point of kite flying, Abbie laid down on the grass next to me. It was one of those beautiful moments that grandma's are blessed to have, when I looked down at my sweet, smiling, sunshiney Abbie and felt joy all around me. She was so content to just lie in the grass and watch the kites bouncing on the wind. At that moment, she was completely and perfectly happy.

Sister Kimball once said that children should have an opportunity to lie on the grass and count the ladybugs. She seemed to know what it has taken me years to understand, not every minute of a child's life has to be planned out and goal driven.

Abbie's days of counting ladybugs on lazy afternoons will end soon enough as she grows and gains responsiblities. But then again, someday she will be a grandma like me and she will sit on the grass with her granddaughter and feel complete joy at watching her granddaughter watch a kite catch the wind and fly high. I hope she will think back on her childhood and remember a moment in the grass when she shared a sunny afternoon with her grandma. I know I will never forget.


Aubrey and Chris have a perfect neighborhood for kids to grow up in. Every house has several children and the moms are great to feed snacks to whom ever is there at lunch time. Their neighborhood is still being developed, so there are fields of rocks, dirt hills and pieces of discarded lumber, perfect material for building a fort. And it is quite a nice little fort they have built, with a hole in the dirt mound, a roof out of boards and corrugated tin and they found an old rug to put at the entry. Yep, summer is going to be fun at the Tyler's.

Random pictures of March 2009

Danielle asked me to take some pics of Sam for her 2nd birthday, which was in Jan.!!! Yes, it has taken us several months to get the timing right. We set up times to take the pictures and Sam would fall asleep, or the weather was bad, or I had something come up, there just seemed to always be a scheduling issue. Finally, on Friday of last week, we worked it out and we got a few pictures of Sam. The problem is getting Sam to cooperate. She is SOOOO active, always bouncing, skipping or jumping and we just can't get her to sit still for long. We got a few good pictures Friday, but my favorites were the random ones of D. trying to get Sam to pose. I have several more that I will eventually get posted. I think it's good to get studio pictures occasionally, but I truly love the casual shots the best and I'm feeling better about how some of them are turning out. I'm planning on taking a photography class this summer and then I will work on editing the pictures more. (I know I keep saying as soon as seminary ends I am going to do all kinds of things, I'm sure that excuse is getting old with the fam, but I really can't spend a lot of free time doing anything but studying) Spring break is coming!!! YEAH!!!!!!

Random pictures of March 2009

Random pictures of March 2009

My sweet sister-in-law Debbie and my nephew Seth came from Kansas for a visit last week. We had an awesome time. I know they came to see grandma, but the rest of us were thrilled to see them too. They played games with grandma, made several dozen fresh eggrolls (thanks Deb for feeding us for weeks to come) and just made all of us feel good by taking time to visit. My nephew made the the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corp in Denver. We are so proud of him. He will spend 2 months this summer traveling across the US in a bus to perform at numerous venues. This is a REALLY BIG DEAL to make the band. They are coming to UT in July and we will be front and center to show our love and support. GO SETH!!!!

I know this is really prideful to not only take a picture, but to post a picture of my score on the Wii. I bowled my highest score ever. I bowled 6, or maybe it was 7 strikes at the very end of the game. The best part about it was that I had a lot of witnesses. Hey, Caleb, check out my score. Ha! Let's see you top that one!!!!

Matthew spoke in Mike and Erin's ward Sunday. He did a wonderful job, but Emry was very sad grandpa wasn't sitting with her. Em loves to visit us and when grandpa shows up, she doesn't even know anyone else is around. She is definitely a grandpa's girl and grandpa couldn't be happier. I love this picture of her playing with the dollhouse. She has an amazing smile. She looks just like her beautiful mom. We love you Em.

Random pictures of March 2009

Spring has brought out the kid in all of us. Matthew and I spent Saturday flying kites with the grandkids. I so appreciate Jake's enthusiasm. He got one of the kites as high as it would go, tied on another string and sent that it even higher, then handed me the end to roll it in. Thanks, Jake!!!! I will find a way to get even.

Drunk driving...not everyone dies

For one of Lauren's senior class projects, she was required to make a digital video. Lauren, along with 3 other classmates, created this video. It's 3 minutes that every teenager should watch.

http://sites.google.com/site/itsallabouthealthnow/Home/digital-story-telling

This is another post from Matthew. Today was the first real day of Spring. The neighborhood was alive with children. Aubrey and her four children came down for the day. Mid-afternoon, seven children in our back yard wanted to start a fire in the fire pit. They worked to clean it out and collect dead sticks from around the yard. Preston finally came and asked for some flint and steel. He had learned how to start a fire at cub country day camp last summer. I consented and gave him the tools. I was sure he would not get a fire started and that they were being safe. Abbie came in after a few minutes and asked for some gasoline. I said no.


I was in the house when I heard a big cheer from the back yard. I looked out the back window and Preston had a fire going, with just flint and steel and newspaper. I ran outside and immediately began to supervise.

Abbie asked for marshmellows, crackers and chocolate (she must have been the designated runner for the day, (PLEEEEEEASE Grampa, we need things). We made smores. Everyone had a long stick and we had a grand time.

Luke cooked his marmellow until it was charred black. He then asked for some chocolate and graham crackers. He then put the two together and started eating, as he handed me his stick with the charred marshmellow and said, "throw this over the fence, I just want to eat the chocolate and crackers."

Madison and Abbie had so much fun. Preston was so good to put marhsmellows on the sticks and keep everyone safe. We did not get a lot of yard work done, but we had our first roast of the spring. I also took the four kids to the Farmington Bay wildlife preserve about five miles from home. We saw four bald eagles and about 24 nesting canadian geese. It was a good day.

Vitamin D supercharge

I think we have all been needing some sunshine and today was the day to get the Vitamin D flowing. Enjoy the pictures!

More of Amelia

Amelia is a gorgeous baby and I am having so much fun taking her picture. Here is the latest batch.

Oooh, What Do You Do In The Summertime...?

Spring fever has hit the Coil household. Matthew raked the leaves that had blown into the garden over the winter and underneath were 4" tulip leaves. Kids came to seminary class last week with flip-flops and shorts on, rather than pants and snowboots. The forsythia is leafing out and the sound of kids playing in the yard came through our open windows today. It sounded like a good opportunity to get out the camera. Here are a few shots of our Saturday.

So what do you like to do in the summertime? I know Lauren is looking forward to her favorite holiday, the fourth of July. I love having the windows open and letting the fresh air blow from one end of the house to the other. We survived another winter, summer is almost here. Hello to fresh lemonade and home-grown, garden tomatoes.

Amelia Jovani's Blessing Day

Make a Smilebox slideshow