Peace in the Valley

Our sweet Grandpa Ford passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning. Of course we love and adore all of our grandparents, but we had an extra-special relationship with Grandpa Ford. Larry's dad was his only child so when he passed away nine years ago, all Grandpa Ford had left were his three grandchildren and they meant the world to him.

I'll admit, it hasn't always been easy; how do you tell a parent they need to stop driving, let alone a grandparent who thinks of you as just a kid? And how do arrange much needed care for him when you all are attending school in different states and he is not willing to move? (the answer is my mom who devoted so much of her life these past few year for helping him. We will always be so grateful)

Grandpa Ford missed wife and his son terribly and wanted nothing more than to be with them again. He had poor health which lead to a very poor quality of life and he was ready to go. We all feel so grateful that it worked out to be just the way he wanted it; at home, with all his grandkids at his side and great grandsons playing on the floor. He was very lucid and talked with each of us, he was even cracking jokes, which is why Larry and Scott have big smiles on their faces in this photo. Then he fell alseep and passed away quitely a few hours later.
The days since then have seemed sort of surreal. We're all happy because we know this was best for Grandpa Ford and he is happy, but there's also a mix of tears because we miss him.

Wednesday night I could not settle Creed down to sleep. I spent over an hour laying with him and he kept telling me, "Somebody coming, Mama!" I didn't think much of it and eventually gave up putting him to sleep at Grandpa's and sent him to my mom's. He woke up at about the exact time Granpa Ford passed away. He was bawling and my mom couldn't comfort him so she brought him back to Grandpa's. The first thing he said to me is, "Somebody's here now, Mama. Somebody's here now." Since then he has told me several times that he misses Grandpa. We miss him too.
It's been so strange being so young and planning a burial, submitting an obitutary, and figuring out Grandpd Ford's estate. He didn't want a funeral, just a small graveside ceremony with just the grandkids. He wanted us to say a prayer dedicating the grave and then he wanted the song "Peace in the Valley" (which none of us had heard of even though everyone from Elvis to Faith Hill seems to have their own version). We did our best to honor his wishes.
After the service we stopped at the Provo cemetery to put some of the flowers on Larry's dad's grave, then it was off to Chuckarama in honor of Grandpa Ford, because it would have been just want he would have wanted.There's so much left to do and we've been busy cleaning out Grandpa's house because keeping busy is a good distraction. It's much easier to focus on the task at hand than to think about what is missing.

My secret plan seems to be working.

I just restocked Creed's bookshelf with new titles and wanted to say that so far this bookshelf has been a big success.  Before Creed only wanted to read the same two or three titles over and over again, but since this went up in his room, he regularly picks new titles to read and he even sneaks into his room to look through them by himself.  He definitely is my child. (and yes, I still have not committed to a paint color)

Big Sale!

Sycamore Street Press is moving to Utah!  I can't wait to have Eva and Kirk close enough to hang out with again! And you get to benefit too because they are having a huge sale to lighten the load before they move.  From now until Monday, June 15th at 5:00 p.m. just enter the code GOODBYECOLUMBUS at checkout to get 35% off your entire order.  After that they will be closing up shop until they move and then they'll have lots of new products to sell.

Movin' on Up

Creed started to climb all over his crib and preferred to take naps in our bed so we figured it was time to move him into a real bed.  Everyone has been telling us to go straight to a real bed because toddler beds aren't neccessary, but Creed's room is so small he'd be left with no room to play. So after much debate, we found a good deal on the Pkolino Toddler and went for it.  It converts into a chair so when he grows out of it, maybe it will still be useful.

Creed was thrilled.  He spent an hour and a half just playing in it once we put it together.

That night he jumped into bed and pretended to be sleeping so we knew we could go.  Now I just need to buy him a new pillowcase because Larry says the one I stole from our guest bedding is pretty girly.

playdates

Creed has been missing his best friend Jesse so we've been trying to make some new friends.  Creed and Piper have a love/hate relationship because they always seem to want the same thing at the same time, but it looks like they are slowly growing out of it.  Piper came over to swim a few weeks ago and Creed has been begging to have her over again.  Every time I tell him that we are going somewhere, he asks, "Piper coming?"

they had a lot of fun together playing in the backyard
Doesn't she look like such a fashionista in that bathing suit?
The same week Liz and Ellie invited us along to Red Butte Gardens.  Creed and Ellie had so much fun.
They loved the children;s garden, especially the water fountains and the red sand (seriously, red sand?  Any mom could have told you that was not a good idea even if you do have a hose nearby.)
We were there on a beautiful day and it was fun just to watch Creed and Ellie run around and explore.
I think their favorite part of the day was feeding the fish and ducks
Now every day Creed tells me that he wants our friends to come play.

Fresher Than Fresh Snowcones

I came across these pictures and they are making me wish that I live in Kansas City because I'm in love with this traveling homemade snowcone stand.

The trailer and mascot alone are lovely enough to make me love this place
But the snowcones themselves are beautiful and made with all natural ingredients
Who could resist flavors like lemon prickly pear
and blackberry lavender
It's so inspiring to come across people who make a business out of something they love and create a work of art while they do it.

So Happy I Could Crow

We spent the weekend in Provo visiting Grandpa Ford in the hospital.  Since Creed can't spend all day in a hospital, we took some time off to do one of our favorite things, explore and try a brand new restaurant.  I really wanted to go to Dew for Vietnamese sandwiches, but they close for the summer when most of the college students are out of town.  Luckily, the owners of Dew were opening a new restaurant that very day so we tried it out.

Rooster is a dumpling and noodle bar in Downtown Provo right next to the Pennyroyal Cafe.  Right now it's a little hard to spot but the signage should be up soon (pardon the poor phone photos)

It's a small restaurant with shared tables.
I immediately fell in love due to the Nikki McClure illustrations on the wall (you might recognize her work from the picture book All In a Day by Cynthia Rylant)
Since we were there on their opening day, the menu was still being developed and I overheard the owners telling the staff about noodle dishes they will be adding in the next week.  The menu is split into Dumplings (served gyoza style), Noodles, and snacks with a separate boba drink menu (Dew was known for their extensive Boba menu and it's the only item you'll see from Dew's menu). We ordered one item from each section and loved it all (Creed especially liked the strawberry boba smoothie, although we ordered it minus the black tapioca pearls for him).  After chatting with the owner, I'm going to try the french toast next time because she highly recommends it and it's served with a condensed milk topping, which I'm curious to try.
Afterward we stumbled into this old school photobooth two doors down at Muse.  I didn't think they had any old photobooths in Provo and it made me so happy.  The best part was that it's only $1.00.  
The employees had to turn it on for us and then we went to town.  My favorite is Creed's kissy face!  So cute!

A few more things I want to remember about Creed at two

The way he eats his toast, picking out the middle one pinch at a time until he hollows it out (I thought he was trying to avoid the crust, but afterwards he eats that too)

The way he sneaks into his room and closes the door for a little secret time with his binky (binkies are only for bedtime now and they are kept in his bed.)  Now he likes to stay in his crib when he wakes up and asks you to sit in the rocking chair and read to him while he lays in his crib for a little more binky time then too.

The way he's constantly asking, "Dis is called?"
The way he calls bad-guys "mad-guys" (he heard some boys playing in the park pretending to chase bad-guys and misunderstood what they said and now he's sure it's mad-guys, not bad-guys)
The way he LOVES his new scooter.  Our neighbors have scooters and he has been so envious of them so we surprised him with a scooter of his own.  He is so proud of himself when he rides it around.  He recently watched Bolt and loved that Penny rode a scooter and now when he rides his scooter he tells me, "I Penny, Mamma!  I Super Fast! I Penny!"

The way he adds "A" before most words.  "Ahtrains" "Ahfood" etc.
I seriously can't get enough of this sweet little guy.

One of these things is not like the others.

Remember this post about the lion and bear print that I love (It's printed so beautifully on a Gocco printer and such a charming design.  I think we all need to own it)?  Well, say you were going to add two animals to the series, what animals would you add? (and I know my additions are not as awesome as the originals)

I just can't decide.  I think the elephant matches the look of the other animals better, but the monkey sound fits a little better with the others.  Thoughts?

This summer I want to

• scour antique shops hunting for letters from old signs to spell abra cadabra like this in Creed's room (so far I have two A's a B and a C)
  
• spend the night in a treehouse
  
• go garage saling with my mom at Lake Tahoe
  
• meet Marissa's new baby
  
• finish Creed's quilt
  
• spend Saturday mornings at the Farmer's market
  
• swim in the Great Salt Lake and picnic on Antelope Island
  
• camp at Payson Lake
  
• go to at least one play at the Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City
• draw a family portrait for my own family
  
• hunt for fossils with my dad
  
• hold an outdoor movie screening with Lisa
  
• enjoy J-Dawgs while most students are away and the lines are shorter
  
• eat lots of snowcones with Creed
  
• review constellations and attend a star party
  
• learn to use our first bbq (just gifted to us by our neighbors who moved) -does anyone have and tips or recipes to share?
  
• design my own line of cards for Sycamore Street Press
  
• go to a drive-in movie

What are your plans for the summer?

Brown paper packages

I love buying gifts for people, but I HATE going to the post office.  I finally got around to sending out several packages to friends this week (but not as many as I meant to . . .).  Ever since I saw this Audi commercial, I've been wanting to draw people inside on the inside of boxes that I'm shipping out.

The first one is a complete copy from the commercial

They only take about 60 seconds to draw.

My friends probably thought that I was crazy, but it would make me so happy to open up a package to see this.

Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog!

Since Larry was working, we had no Memorial Day plans, but he got home early enough for us to head up the canyon with Tyler and Lisa to roast some hot dogs and make smores.  Creed took his hot dog roasting very seriously.  I wish I would have had a real camera instead of Larry's phone so you could see how beautiful and green the canyon was.

Don't worry, Creed is not on fire in this photo, he's a couple feet away.
I can't believe that we've almost lived here for a year and that was our first time going to Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It made us realize that we need to explore outside of Salt Lake City a lot more, and Larry and I kept saying that we need to get some of our friends out here to visit because we think they will fall in love with the canyon too.

Thanks Tyler and Lisa!