Church History tour

we just got home from a wonderful tour of the Church history sites. We visited Independence MO, Far West, and Nauvoo, We loved all of them and learned so much. It 's hard to comprehend how hard those pioneers worked to start a new community to have to leave again in the dead of Winter. I have such a love and appreciation for all of them. The Nauvoo temple was beautiful and I discovered that my great great grandfather Stephen Martindale Farnsworth was listed as one of the framers of the temple.
We also stopped in Bloomington, Illinois because that is where State Farm has it's beginnings. We enjoyed the tour given there too. We then drove on to Chicago and left from there .
I'll post some pictures of our church history tour, and then the other pictures are of Memorial Day. We were all together and had a great time at Kristen and Todd's house. The kids didn't seem to mind the cooler weather!

The Best Mother's Day ever

Oh, how wonderful grandchildren are, here is Noah talking to Gramps Picture of Carolee's home they will rent in Pennsylvania
Hey, we miss you Melissa! The Mccook Girls!

Nate getting his haircut, oh by the way, he got a taste of his first sucker here too!

but this weekend was very very special. Candice and Troy came, we love Candice and we LOVE how she can do hair so great! so we were all treated with new do's , even Nate got a haircut.

Saturday was so fun because we just had the adult kids come for a BBQ steak dinner. We could actually talk and visit becasue we weren't chasing 16 little kids around. I think the best thing was Carolee's cream corn recipe

Here is that yummy creamed corn recipe:

This is a double batch that will fit into a 9x13 pan.

2 lb. frozen white corn (two bags)24 oz.

whipping cream

3 T melted butter

3 T Flour

1 tsp salt

4 T Sugar

Pinch of white pepper

one container of the fresh shredded Parmesan cheese.

Combine corn, cream, salt, sugar and white pepper in a pot and bring to a boil.

Simmer 5 minutes. In a separate pot make a roux from butter and flour (melt butter in skillet, add flour and cook until bubbly), add to corn, mix well and remove from heat. Transfer corn mixture to a casserole dish, sprinkle with Parm cheese and brown under broiler.

But my best gift was a wonderful book given to me. They all put together sweet notes and pictures about why they love grandma.. Oh, it made me cry, it's wonderful.

Thanks everyone, my day was great,

The day before Mother's Day

I'm excited about this weekend. Candice and Troy got here from Arizona, they are always fun to have, and on Saturday all the adult children are coming over for a BBQ. They are all bringing a wonderful dish to share. It will be fun to just have the adults ( except for the littliest guys Noah and Nate will be here too).
We wish Melissa and Jess would be here but they are coming later in May.

This has been a nice week, Tuesday I was able to be with Kristen and kids, Noah is growing, growing, I love his blue eyes!, Thursday I was with Carolee, we plan on getting together everyweek to help organize and pack for her move. Boo hoo...

I bought 2 web cams so I can see the kids everyday while they are gone!

Mother's Day is tomorrow. It's a sweet day, but sometimes hard when you have lost a mother like I have so many wonderful memories.

Looking forward to our trip to Nauvoo. I've done a lot of research on my pioneer heritage and I'm thrilled that I can be where they were. I love my ancestors!

April has been a whirlwind!

Well the month started out perfect with the birth of little Noah. How grateful we feel for a healthy little baby boy and a healthy mom! it has been fun to help Kristen during this happy, stressful, tired, crazy time! But when that first smile comes to you ahhh, the rewards.

I finally got all of my plants planted for my garden. It took me 3 weeks to get them in the ground! each day I would say, I'm gonna do it today and then somehow other things took precedence. Now hopefully we'll have some wonderful tomatoes, and squash and bell peppers!

Bill and I just got back from Arizona because the twins got baptized. It's a special time and Melissa did such a nice job on the program. The girls sang a song and it was so sweet! They have such nice voices, I hope that they continue to develop musically!

Bridget and Tessa were so cute. It really was so fun to be with everyone. We stayed at Candice and Troy's house and they are so fun to be with too. I loved helping Candice. Dad's job is to "visit" and my job is to "clean" why do I like to do that for others and not my own house?

Now I"m looking for reasonable airline tickets to go back to Pennsylvania. Yikes it's not cheap!

We want to visit them in October.

I have promised Carolee some time with her to start packing, and clearing out her things! I simply can hardly stand the thought she will be leaving. I did buy two web cams so that I can see the kids daily. Oh how I will miss them!

One of my friends suddenly lost her dear sweet husband two weeks ago. He was only 57 years old. That is our age! I have felt so badly for her, I cannot imagine life without my dear husband. My life revolves around him! He makes me laugh, he supports me and he is my companion. I just hope I'll be blessed that we will live a very long life together. But it really makes me realize we never know when we might be taken from each other so we just better treat each other with love and kindness always!

here are some fun pictures from this month

the one of Bridget is funny, she had been playing outside all day with the kids and found a quiet spot!

Number 16 is here!

Well, as most of you already know, little Noah Robert Thompson has come! Last Wednesday at about 7:00 am, the phone rings, Bill and I are still sleeping and he answers the phone, by the way he usually doesn't grasp things too well woken up from a dead sleep. I hear him say , "okay" and he hangs up, I said, who was that, he says, Kristen said she is in labor and on the way to the hospital. I'm thinking wait here, why didn't you hand me the phone? you know we have many more questions to ask like, did your water break? how far apart are your pains? who has the kids?

so I immediately redial, the house and no one answers, Bill says, oh, she called us on her cell phone. So I called her back and found out all the pertinent info. I told her I was on my way to meet her.

Lucky I got there about one hour later ( 35 mins traffic time) because Todd has left her there alone since the kids were home alone and he needed to get them ready for school and the little one to a babysitter.

I was so glad I was with her. Her pains were coming about 2 mins apart and she was hurting. They hadn't given her anything for pain and since she was already at a 5 they were calling the Dr. to give her an epidural. about one hour later they were there to give her an epidural . Finally after all gets calmed down and the shot takes effect Todd comes , Joy comes and Kristen is feeling really happy!

At about 10:45 am, we are all just visting and Kristen is totally pain free, I noticed that the baby's heart rate went down to 70 we decided to have her move to the other side, but the heart rate was still low, so I went to the nurses station and asked for someone to please come in and check. A nurse came in gave her an exam and said, Oh, the baby is ready ! we were in shock, and honestly the next thing ( about 10 mins later) the baby is born! we are kind of in shock because it happened so fast! Kristen hadn't even felt pressure. If the nurse hadn't come in and check would he of just popped out on his own? ( the reason Kristen was so numb was because they gave her two epidurals because the first one only deaden one side of her.

Well, it was a very joyous occasion, it's such a miracle, it' s so fun to meet a new member of the family.

We think he is very cute. Kristen just did the best job. She said she was in a lot of pain but she sure didn't act like it. I was impressed. She should have about 4 more kids!

I've been doing the grandma duty of keeping the house clean, laundry done, food fixed, and kids taken care of so Kristen only has to worry about the baby. I remember how much I appreciated help when I had kids, and I'm sure some day Kristen will do the same for her children when they have babies. ( trust me here, it happens sooner than you think!)

Can't wait to see him tomorrow!

Grandma Jayne

Garden Time

Yes, it's that time again, to think about fresh tomatoes, crook neck squash, bell peppers and zuccini! I love a garden unfortunately it usually doesn't like me!

I seem to grow veggies for snails and bugs, but this time I'm going to really try hard and be successful! ( I'll keep you updated)

I can't wait for Kristen to give birth to my newest grand baby boy. She hasn't decided on a name but I just can't wait. It's so exciting to have a new little one join a family. Kristen's babies are so cute, well actually ALL of my grandbabies are so cute.

Well, not much else to report on, for those who read this blog sorry it's not more exciting but hey since you don't know who reads them you sort of have to be generic if you know what I mean.

I love the month of April!

It's Candice's Birthday Today

Here is my most recent picture of my beautiful Candice! It's hard to believe that my baby is 22 years old. I just love this picture because it shows how much she loves her Dad! She just thinks her Dad is the best ever. ( funny how wise he has become )

Well, let me think back 22 years ago today. Boy was I glad my C section was over with! it was a tough one, I started feeling them cutting me open ( not a good thing) so they put me right to sleep, but when I woke up I saw the cutest little red head looking up at me. She had red hair from the get go, and I loved it. She was so pretty. These were the days when you didn't know what you were having , but I knew, I was having another little girl. She had such a strong little personality from the beginning she let me know from the start!
Candice was a little pistol ! she was so active, she was head strong, she was going to lead her own path, I remember seeing her stand up at her crib at 6 months! I couldn't believe it she was already getting grown up.
Candice was fun, she was a little tom boy, she loved to climb trees, ride bikes and she loved all animals, ( she loved her pet Rat, Zena) and she never was afraid of strangers or anyone! She also didn't like to take naps, so to get her tired I would take her to the park and she would just run to get her tired.

Candice was just a character. All adults thought she was so funny because she would carry on a conservation with them just as if they were her peers. She was also very brave. When she was only about 9 years old she had tubes put in her ears, after the year was over and the tubes were ready to come out she told the Dr. she would sit very still for him to pull them out, and she did just that!

In 5th grade she had a tough school teacher and she hated it when she would punish the whole class because of the actions of one or two misbehaving children. She decided to go the principle on her own with a letter she had written about how the teacher should be more fair and nicer! Not only did she hand deliver the letter to the principle she had gotten the other kids in the class to sign her petition! She said the principle did talk to the teacher but she was only nice for about two days!

Candice loved dressing up for Halloween, one of her favorite years when she was the girl from the Titanic movie, we got her prom dress from Carolee, and Joy did her makeup, hair and jewelry, she thought she looked beautiful, ( and she did)
I think the next year she was a witch, and she had fun with that, she had drucula teeth to go along with the costume.

About the time she turned 14, Candice realized she had a good thing going with having a big brother, because that meant he had older friends that came to the house. Ryan was good to let Candice hang out and she had a lot of fun years with Ryan and his friends. We had some fun times at our house.

She surely missed Ryan when he went on his mission to Russia, but we have wonderful memories of going to pick him up. Candice had just had serious back surgery one month before the trip, and she was really a trooper with the long plane flight and walking. Ryan still laughs at the thought of Candice trying to turn on the light knob on the plane compartment.. She burned her finger and Ryan heard it "sizzle" he still laughs about it.

For those of you who don't know it, Candice is quite a comedian. She can mimick anyone very well, she has made all of us laugh to see what we are really like, she picks up on our characteristics.

When Candice was growing up I never imagined what talent would lye in her style with hair. She graduated from cosmotology school and we think she is the very best! We all beg for her to spend some time on us when we get to see her.

Candice is so much fun to be with. She is sensitive and caring, and she already knows that when I'm old and cranky she is the one who'll put up with me. I've very proud of her and love to be with her and Troy. They treat each other so sweet, it's a pleasure to "hang out" with them.

In 22 years she had brought a lot of joy, but like she said these past 3 years have been the best!
I love you Candice, Happy Birthday
mom