Super Mercado Vallarta

At least fifteen years ago, maybe more, Stuart was on an exceptional soccer team. They were the little team that just kept winning. This team ended up going to Tri-sectional play-offs and took 4th place. To put that in perspective... 4th placeout of over 1000 AYSO teams from So CA, Nevada and Arizona. Yup, it was a fun year.

After that last game we needed to have a wonderful *end of season party*. Most other years this meant we went to one of the local pizzerias. But this year, since the team was predominately Hispanic, it meant a wonderful Mexican fiesta COMPLETE WITH CARNE ASADA! I don't think any of us had ever had real Mexican food and we were hooked (except I can't like the roast jalapeños) Our friend, Josephina Aquinaga (I love how that name rolls off my tongue!) kindly showed me how to make my own carne asada. Bless her! (But I can't turn it with my bare fingers... I use tongs!)

It became a tradition to have carne asada for 4th of July and other fun bbq holidays, or just when we needed a yummy treat. I always shopped at Super Mercado Vallarta. At the time there was only one market in the Antelope Valley on Palmdale Blvd. A quick internet search revealed that it is SMV #4. Now there are several in Palmdale and Lancaster. One thing that I've really missed since moving to Utah is a good carnicería so when I go back to the Antelope Valley I always stock up on carne asada seasoning from Super Mercado Vallarta.

Thursday evening I got a text from Rebekah-

"Hey. I've got a crazy request...
Could you bring me carne seasoning from Vallarta market?
Caden is addicted and we need more. Pretty please?"

Grammie did Caden one better! I got the whole carne asada dinner makings: seasoned carne asada meat, avocados, tortilla chips, fresh, hot tortillas (yum), and the ingredients for *pico de gallo de gringa* (extremely mild pico for babies like me).

Walking around Super Mercado Vallarta is akin to a trip to Disneyland for me. And look what I found!

I think it is some kind of sausage, but I wasn't brave enough to get any!

We had a wonderful feast. Caden was the cook. Rebekah commented that he kept putting meat on the plate for her to cut up but each time she went back the pile of cut meat was the same as before. Hey, someone has to eat the *BAD* pieces... it might make everyone else sick!

YLP Sunset

What a lovely bank of clouds spied on our evening walk to the hardware store. It been so nice to be here with Bekah and her men.

First Grammie Bath

Perhaps it is because I grew up with only a bathtub (as opposed to a shower) but I love a bath... a nice hot bath!  I know how a tepid bath feels.

A-W-F-U-L

My theory is why would a little baby, who's been warm for the last 9 months want to be in a cold bath? I've always given my children and grandchildren very warm baths with wonderful results.

Miss Baby-Belle agrees with her Grammie. Whereas she was hollering before she got her naked little body in the water, once there she was perfectly content to soak in the warmth.

How precious is this?

This little girl has a look- she just gazes into my eyes and it goes right to my heart. I have the feeling she'd like to tell me so many things if only she could.

And the hair...

THE HAIR

I LOVE THE FUZZY HAIR!

And here we are- Grammie and Annabelle. I hope this is the first of many happy baths to come.

Little Sister

As I was looking through photos I noticed that I'd missed a bunch of Riley meeting his little sister last weekend. I guess that's what happens when you take photos by the gross!

Riley's waited a long time for this little sibling. He was pretty excited to meet her.

Something tells me that his first impression could have been better timed! I love his expression!

A friend from church got Riley a cute little book about him and his sister. Deborah helped him fill in the vital information. He was so cute wanting to get it all right.

Riley and Daddy had a good ol' Billy Bacon ride (see Riley coaxing Billy with a trisket?) These two have long enjoyed this tradition.

Grammie and Riley went shopping then took a little walk-a-bout on Saturday. When I squatted down to take a selfie I pulled him over by me and we both toppled over. "Why did you do THAT, Grammie?"

Just before it was time for him to go back to his Mom's house he wanted to hold little sister one more time. He needed to inspect her tiny legs and feet.Can you believe you used to be that small?

Riley is such a precious boy. He won't even believe how much his little *Baby-Belle* has grown up in just one week.

Carseat Canopy

My sister, Grannie Annie (how cute is that?), reminded me that I hadn't posted any pixs of the finished project that alluded to 10 days ago.


I made Fiona a darling little polkie-dottie carseat cover (and do I have a photo of it? No! Not me!!) It has been so useful that I knew I needed to make one for Annabelle too.

I mentioned that Deb's favorite baby-girl color is this coraly-pink. Since Annabelle's Under the Sea quilt is in mostly ocean-blues I wanted this to make the statement, "This is a darling little girl here, chum!" When I ferreted in my pink fabric tote these fabrics just called out to me!

I didn't have very much of any one fabric (except the pink floral stripe, shown here, fourth block in the top row, and on the back) since this collection had already made two projects. I started by sewing all of the little scraps together. I'd saved anything that was over an inch wide just for such an occasion.  I've marked some of the *piece-a-dee-peacertons* with arrows; some of the pieces weren't cut straight but I didn't let that get in my way. I squared up the blocks to 7 1/2".  It just adds to the character of the quilt! I just kept creating blocks until I was down to the last nine- they are the aforementioned block in the top row.

The finished top was 42" square. I quilted that square, then cut out the canopy shape and bound all the edges. Holy cow did that ever eat up a bunch of binding! (Which came from the trimmed off backing fabric from the Moda King quilt. Use it up!) The pattern is from fleecefun.com and is found HERE.

Since the finished quilt always shrinks and crinkles when washed, just what I like, I would make it larger next time. (Fiona's fleece canopy fits perfectly)

And while I was writing this post look what I caught!! But just barely since I had to yoink the SD card out of my computer to put back in my camera! Such a big 6-day old girl!

Baby Annabelle

Today I got to do one of my favoritest things! Have a photo-shoot with one of my grand babies.

Somehow all of the love gets focused and captured in a concentrated form. The love is so tangible! It frequently moves me to tears; just as this photo did today. (I love the twin noses here!)

Annabelle was a willing little subject. She is just so mellow.

Annabelle's Auntie Bekah (as opposed to Auntie Becca) sent a couple of wonderful little outfits one of which just begged to be worn for photos.

"Ho-hum... I'm used to this by now, even though I am only 5-days old!"

I always love to do the *baby parts* photos. Tiny baby toes...

A precious little head...

With a wonderful amount of hair...

Yes, just as this serendipitous photo shows- Annabelle is a gift straight from heaven!

Cat Curiosity

Spencer and Deborah have two kitties: Checkers and Amadala. They are tabbicos. I love the way the tabby stripes run through their colored spots.

Earlier today I was holding little Annabelle and when I got up I laid her down in my warm spot (yup, it's an old Grammie trick). When I got back after one minute this is what I found...

Amadala was going to check out this new little person in her domain.

She finally sneaked up close enough to get a sniff...

but she gave Annabelle a kitty-tickle-whisker-kiss.

And that frightened Miss Amadala away.

Getting to Know Annabelle

One of the sweetest things about grand babies is getting to know their precious little selves! Annabelle and I had just such a time tonight. She lay in my arms and looked around, then she would just gaze into my soul. What a precious gift to know that families are eternal. 

Big Brother (of the Riley-kind)

Riley got to come to meet his new little sister tonight. What a wonderful occasion... you don't get a little sister every day, you know!

I feel so happy when I see the love that they have one for another. You can never have too many people who love you.

We are so funny... we take turns soaking up the baby-Annabelle love. I'd been holding her for about an hour when I asked Deb if she wanted her baby back. Spencer asked so sweetly, "Can I have a turn first?"

And speaking of love-

I've never been big on using the term *step*-mom/child; it's just always meant more people to love. I'm grateful for that great capacity to love.

And since we are on the subject of love... it makes me happy to see these two funny-feline-sisters. I can hardly tell where one ends and the other begins!

Annabelle Goes Home

Already! It seems soon but I was always anxious to get home too.

I got to have a few minutes to change Annabelle's diaper and get her dressed for her trip home. I just love that they have so many darling clothes for newborns!

Here is the new family... they've waited a long time for this precious little baby-girl.

Deborah is already such a good Mommy! She is thrilled to have her very own baby.

I couldn't be more thrilled that Annabelle arrived on her Daddy's 30th birthday. What a wonderful memory for both of them. There are so many similarities between the arrival of these two much anticipated and waited for babies. I think that Spencer and Annabelle are even more loved and appreciated because of the loss of an older sibling[s].

The. Best. Birthday. Present. EVER!!

Just what Spencer said about his little baby Annabelle.

Annabelle was born today at 2:10 PM. She weighs 8 lbs. 1 oz. and just 20 and three-quarter inches long.

It has been such a long day... even longer for mommy, daddy and baby than it was for Grammie! For this night this is all Grammie has to post. 

I will be back tomorrow with many happy memories of this very special double birthday.

Day 20- Twenty Dottie Digits

In previous years I've numbered my posts but really hadn't thought about it this year...

until today when the coincidence caught me.

But I'm still not tricky enough to figure out how to take a photo of all 20 digits at once!

Oops!

I've had TMJ for years and have had a variety of mouthguards to try to alleviate the problem at night. Most recently my dental hygienist told me about her mouthguard that only covers the front six teeth on the bottom and worked really well. So I asked her make me one. 

When I saw it and how small it really is I thought *oh my stinking heck* this teeny-tiny! How will I ever keep from losing it? So I had her make me a second/extra one. This was over a year ago.

I usually take my mouthguard out first thing in the morning, rinse it and put it in a tiny little case in my nightstand drawer. But yesterday morning I put it in my drinking cup to soak for a few minutes (can you see where this is headed?)

Last night I got ready for bed as usual and took my whole handful of pills and supplements but I was feeling a little bit distracted because were waiting for baby Annabelle any day now. By the time I finished the rest of my bedtime routine, adding notes to my list for things I don't want to forget to take to California, reading my scriptures and saying my prayers I looked in my nightstand drawer for my night guard. But it wasn't there...

I looked in vain on the counter, on the floor, behind the toilet, in the drawers; I even got out my high-powered LED flashlight and finally came to one very sad conclusion...

I guess I'm going to have to have my dental hygienist make me an extra one again. 

It's not easy being me!

Use It Up

Many years ago I heard a little poem-

Use it up,

Wear it out,

Make it do,

Or do without!

I think it stuck with me because it spoke to my heart- especially my fabric-loving heart. I have small totes of little, seemingly useless, strips of fabric. I've even giving some away for others to use. It pains me to get rid of what might be useable fabric.

I think this beautiful Moda fabric purchased in 2006 demonstrates the reason why I keep saving fabric. 

This is all that's left of one-honkin'-bunch of fabric.

I bought the first cuts of this delicious fabric at some little quilt shoppe up in the Salt Lake Valley. I don't even remember the name now. I also bought a pattern but when I got home I realized that I wanted the fabric to shine. So I got a pattern from Tawna Witney that was just perfect. She'd made a shower curtain with her fabric.

I ended up enlarging the blocks to 200% and made my wonderful Moda super-king quilt. I needed to add more fabric and went down to Corn Wagon (only 2.2 miles from my front door!.) It is so big that I had to put it on my *then* design wall in 4 pieces! (Go big or go home!) I think that I completed this quilt in early 2007 when this photo was taken.

I had some fabric left. So, several years later, when Miss Sophie was going to join our family, I pulled out my delicious fabric and made her this soft and pretty quilt. March 2010

Yes, there was STILL fabric left. I put all of it into a clear plastic bag to await a future project. That project, which will remain nameless *THIS DAY* was completed this evening and is ready to go live with little baby-Annabelle (whose Mama loves this coral-pink color).

I'll be back in a few days with the photo... but for now y'all have to wait patiently with Deborah!

Happy Adoption Day, Harley (**well, kind of)

I've waited all month for this happy day!**

I can hardly believe that it was 6 years ago that we adopted Harley! Time has flown with this funny little *fur-covered-sack-of-trouble*!

Since we *deal in used dogs* we can never be certain how old they really are; but for the sake of assigning an age we think he is 8. He has the most soulful, wonderful, puppy-dog  eyes. (And very soft ear-sies!)

• Harley isn't the smartest dog we've ever owned- that goes to Amber.
• He's not the softest or most loving- that award goes to Buddi. 
• Without a doubt Harley is the dog with  more personality than ANY DOG we've ever known. He is a dog that understands a joke. He's a wonderful companion.

One of my favorite Harley stories is the time he and Stuart were rough-housing. Gordon said, "Stuart, don't get Harley all wound up!"

To which Stuart replied, "He started it!" (and he did!)

**(It's not easy being me! I can never remember the exact day we adopted Harley, but I always remember how many years we've had him. It's easy! It was the same month that we went to Texas to be with Brandon when he was ordained a deacon. Earlier this month I pulled out one of my blog books to check the date and SAW the 17th. I even thought at the time, "Boy that was later in the month than I remembered." I just pulled out a different blog book and saw that, in fact, we got him on the 12 January 2008! Then I check the other books- still the 12th! Oh well, he's just a dog, he doesn't care. Hey, he got 2 treats out of this photo op! Like I said, it's not easy being me!)

Grammie's Little Friend

One of the fortunate thing about living close to grandchildren is that I get to spend one-on-one time with them. Fiona and I get to have a Grammie-afternoon a couple of times a week. Lucky Grammie!

(Apparently Grammie was too busy singing, playing and peek-a-booing to get her camera a little less crooked. I was going for a little edgy!)

I so grateful for these wonderful days.

Star of the East

Tonight is the Wolf Moon, according to Fritz (aka Kevin Eubanks KSL weather- but every weatherman is Fritz since living in So Cal!)

I wanted to capture the moon in all of his beauty; but you know what? I never can. All I get is lens reflection and blurry, over or under exposed photos. I can see that I will need to study up on how the *big boys* get those awesome photos with all of the craters etc.

So, for tonight, you get to see the beautiful Star of the East. I've always loved that term. It evokes visions of wise men seeking the young child Jesus, come from afar.

(A quick internet search indicates that this star might actually be Jupiter.)

OK... and because I am basically a sunset-addict I had to share this one from earlier this evening.

Truly our Heavenly Father has created a beautiful world for us.