Sunshine Sentiments

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

I kidnapped my niece and nephew to take to the zoo with my grandson! We had a zoo-pendous time! I loved spending time with them! It was a perfect day!

Licorice, Cantaloupe and Red Skittle

Big Bad John loved the ape.

All of them were fascinated by the crocodile.

Look at my hatchling....

This egg held two cuties.

Don't feed these gophers: Cantaloupe, Skittle and Licorice

White leopard

Love these wild animals!

Look at the lion - up close!

Even the squirrel was fun to watch.

Big Bad John

Cantaloupe

Licorice

Hilarious!

The "real" tiger roared a LOT! It was exciting!

We took this photo for Grandpa Mac.

After the zoo we went to the park. We ate McDonalds and fed french-fries to the birds.

Most of the birds were geese... But this one loved the french-fries too.

Fishing - without bait or poles.

Licorice teaching Red Skittle the ropes of being a boy.

Enjoying the lake.

Cantaloupe and Red Skittle

Just a monkey in the tree.

And a giraffe pondering the deep questions.

It was a zoo-rific day! I'm blessed!

Monday, April 22, 2024

MY FAVORITE: BIG BAD JOHN aka. RED SKITTLE aka MY GRANDSON

I just had a FABULOUS week with my favorite Red Head! My daughter let me "steal" him for an entire week! We had a BLAST!!!!! Here is the first post about our week together. We had so much fun!

It began with introducing my boy to the song "Big Bad John" and my grandson fell in love with the story and the hero. All week long, he decided to pretend he was Big Bad John. He worked in the mines. He did hard and courageous things. And the name inspired him to be brave. (Incidentally, I was dubbed John Henry while Scott was Paul Bunyun.) We really did enjoy all the folk songs and stories. I had to tell the stories over and over and over again!

Big Bad John with John Henry

Here are a few other things that took up our time:

Big Bad John created a chalk maze for me... complete with a "START".

And sidewalk chalk has to be used to spell your name....

He especially liked writing addition problems.

Chick-Fil-A for the win!

He bravely went down the slide and decided it was super fun!

While at Chick-Fil-A, he made a new friend with another little girl.

They were so cute together.

No week with grandma and grandpa is complete without art!

Red Skittle colored this masterpiece!

My art!

Scott's showpiece!

He's almost outgrown his rocking dragon!

Grandpa was so patient, as he taught Red Skittle how to make a yellow Lego car.

Such talent and focus!

Mowing the lawn is super fun, if bubbles are involved.

He mowed everyday.

We went to the park next to our home everyday.

And picked lots of grandma's favorite flowers.

Grandma walked around the park in circles while Big Bad John played hard.

He's the cutest!

Isn't this HUGE?!

Our ward had a fund raiser/spaghetti dinner.

Big Bad John LOVES spaghetti.

I love this boy more than I can express!

Monday, April 15, 2024

DANDELION MOMENTS

I've been enjoying all the dandelions this time of year. Why? Because I LOVE dandelions! Not only do they bring me smiles from the spots of bright yellow color covering the ground, but they also have so many . uses. Number one: Dandelion Jelly! I've had so much fun making dandelion jelly for all of my friends and family. I've also branched out a bit and made dandelion salve for arthritis, brown spots, and dry/cracked skin. It has been a lot of fun learning about this wonderful, happy "weed!" Dad even got me this book to celebrate one of my favorite flowers!

This sight was one of joy and beauty because of the dandelions AND the mushrooms.

Aren't the mushrooms fascinating?!

I made over 60 jars of liquid gold: dandelion jelly!

Making jelly and jam is one of my favorite things to do.

Scott and I even added some kiwi to one batch of the dandelion jelly.

That was extra delicious!

My new book! Thanks, dad!

So I've decided to start looking for dandelion moments - or gifts from Heavenly Father.

One dandelion moment happened a week ago: Katia and Skylar found out the gender of their future baby. I'm soooooo excited to announce that I am going to be adding a baby GIRL to my grandchildren. For those of you keeping score: I currently have one ADORABLE, red-headed boy! And I can't wait to meet my BEAUTIFUL, toe-headed girl! (I'm sure she'll be a toe-head, because both her parents were also toe-heads when they were kids!)

Katia always said she was going to name her first girl Eunice, and call her Burnzy. (If you want to know why, watch What's Up Doc with Barbara Streisand.) She did it to tease me. So... I've embraced the name - I'm excited to meet my little Burnzy! (Although they aren't going to name her Eunice.)

Cute baby bump....

First Brown family photo with Burnzy!

An adorable family!

Another dandelion moment: Katia won the Gordon B. Hinckley Communication Award. She was nominated by her instructors. It was a GREAT honor! And she really worked hard - I'm so grateful others see her accomplishments and potential!

She's glowing!

I'm so proud!

All of the award winners!

Speaking of Katia, Skylar and dandelion moments: Last week they both graduated from BYUI! I am so proud of them! We got to go to the ceremony AND help them move from Rexburg to Twin Falls all within two days! I am sooooo proud of them!

They did it!

Skylar!

Katia!

The Browns!

(Cody left before pictures.)

The DeGooyers

The Browns

Out to dinner afterwards...

And Bael celebrated by putting straw paper on her brother and father's heads.

These two cuties, Red Skittle and Lobster, captured Pokemon.

"They are very pretty people!"

I also got to mow the lawn! We have a house now... so I got to mow! Not only did we have some dandelions in our back yard, but we also have this gorgeous tree! Thanks for the dandelion moment, Heavenly Father!