90 Years with MaryLou

I love this beautiful woman. She is such a good example to me and my kids. She wanted her 90th birthday to pass by without a glance, but we couldn't let that happen. So, I suggested a family dinner. It turned into a bit of a bigger family dinner than we originally thought, but it was so good to see her and to see so much family.

Tay making grandma's 90 things we love about you poster!

We had been there a whole fifteen minutes when Syd busted open her chin. Ouch.

Great Grandkids! --How lucky are these kids??

Grandkids!

Grand daughter-in-laws!

My kids really do adore this lady. They talk about her all the time. They ask to see her on a regular basis. Sydney wrote her a letter just a couple of weeks ago. Grandma was so touched and she is so thoughtful, she called to thank Syd for the note and picture. Grandma also never misses a birthday! We always get cards with sweet personal notes.

Grandma Bruce

While in Evanston we stopped by Grandma Bruce's house. It makes her so happy when we go see her and my kids love it too. Grandma was thrilled to see Syd and had all kinds of loves for her.

Picking up our boys

The little boys didn't come home with us after we met Jeff and Tim back up in Evanston. They stayed and helped Grandma at the store. So Monday evening we met them in Little America to bring them home.

But first ice cream and the park!

Sydney was so mad when she couldn't climb up the slide. So, sweet Tim climbed up and pushed her up the rest of the way.

I love these two.

Just makes me happy!

Dorothy

On Easter my mom in law asked me to help Grandma Bruce. Her friend Dorothy passed away several years ago and Grandma was feeling like her temple work needed to get done. Kathy knows that I've been doing family history, so she asked me to help.
I knew we'd need permission, but Dorothy's husband and only child died years before her. I asked Grandma about sibling and she knew Dorothy had brothers, but she couldn't remember much more.

Technology is so amazing! So, right then and there I looked up Dorothy's obituary on my phone and read that she was survived by five brothers. I tried looking them up, but didn't have a lot of luck. Then I remembered three of them lived in Evanston. So we busted out the ol' phonebook. I found her brother Clarence. I called him right then.
I had to yell for him to hear him. I made sure he was Dorothy's brother. I told him about Grandma Bruce and asked about doing her temple work. He said, "Well, I don't know anything about that." I told him he didn't have to do anything, but we needed permission from him so we could do her work. He laughed and said, "I don't care."
That's permission. :)
I was super excited! I didn't know how to find her on family search since she isn't my relative, all I had to do was look her up, but then it didn't tell me what work needed done. I called the 800 number and talked to this nice little man for about 25 minutes.
He helped me pull up Dorothy's information and we found that all of her work has already been done.
haha.
But it was still a good experience. I learned a lot and I got up the courage to call a perfect stranger.
Since then, I've called my cousin several times about doing my Aunt Virginia's work. She hasn't returned my calls, but I know my experience with Dorothy is what gave me the courage to try. And I'll keep trying.

Easter Best

Somehow I coerced Sydney into letting me curl her hair for Easter. She wasn't thrilled. But in the end she liked her curls... not enough to want me to ever do it again.

I am having a hard time with how huge this kids are getting. They are so adorable and again, way too big.

These two pictures are semi out of place here--except sweet grandma looked so pretty in her Easter best too.