"WATCH THIS!" yelled Will and Matt.

Will and Matt came down to Phoenix to pick up Rachel and take her back to Show Low.
(Jana came too)
While they were here, the boys and I played in the pool for 2 hours!

"Watch THIS!" yelled Will.
Grandmas always do.
With a smile.

Will is so funny. He announced to me before he could even think about swimming....
"Grandma, I HAVE to have goggles or I cannot go into the water."
Oh goodie - goodie - I found some.
You and I know both know that every Grandma always has to have a bag of tricks.
Glad goggles were in that bag.

Here is my "Matt boy". I call him Matt Boy because he's the only boy that calls me almost everyday. (We're really "tight".)
Rrrrring.
"Hey. What are you doing?"
"Shopping, Matt Boy."
"Okay - BYE!"

You see - he isn't really much on conversation as he is just wanting to know where I am certain times of the day. So...I tell him. I like that he likes to "check up" on me! Sometimes he calls me even four times in one day. That would make you smile too.
I always laugh when I hang up.
I wonder what he does.

Listen to me.

Absolutely no comment about Matt Boy being in a pink tube. It was the only one that fits him but you watch... next time - we'll have plenty of blue ones.

So please... just look at his smile and move on.

Matt could have played this "rescue game" forever with the hose. He felt so STRONG pulling himself up by using it. He must have told me a hundred times....
"Watch this, Grandma."
Grandmas always do.
With a smile.


We put up this fun umbrella. Matt is actually hiding under it.
In the meantime....Will yells, "Watch this!"
Grandmas always do.
Still smiling.



Here are the boys playing. They were actually so nice to each other.
Brothers equal fun.
Grandma's pool equals even more fun!
BUT letting them see that you are really watching them equals even more and more fun!


"Take a picture like this." yelled Matt.
Grandmas like it when grandkids want their picture taken.

I have a very full apple tree this year. Wow. We pick a million everyday - and more just keep appearing. We cannot possibly eat enough apples each day. Come and get some - okay?
Apples make a perfect snack for hungry, swimming boys. I think Will had at least 20 this day.
They made him happy.
They made me even happier.
(the phytochemical thing, you know)

We have a rule - no eating in the pool.
So Will would jump in for a minute and then climb back out to eat a couple of more bites.
Matt - nope.
He wanted to eat every single bite before he jumped back in.

Love that shade. Love those apples!
LOVE THOSE BOYS!!

When we got out of the pool, they wanted to play on the trampoline with the sprinklers on and then eat popsicles and cookies.
"Watch this!" yelled Will.
"WOW - YOU GO HIGH". I answered. I know I yelled the right thing
...because he laughed.


"Watch this!" yelled Matt Boy.
"WOW - YOU GO REALLY HIGH TOO!" I yelled back.
He laughed too!
(I'm on a roll)

"WATCH THIS!"
Those are the words I'm really gonna miss.
It was a really fun day even for this grandma.
In the meantime...while they are gone....
I'll just have to wait for the call with the little voice at the end that asks...
" Hey. What are you doing?"
I'll reply, "Smil'in, Matt Boy!"
Grandmas alway do.

She got her cantaloupe!

Jana is here with the boys. I wanted to make sure she got HER cantaloupe before she left. So we picked the only one that looked "kinda" ripe.

Here is proof positive that she got it.
Life is good.

It could have been a little more juicier, a little more flavorful, a little more sweeter but the fact that it came fresh from the garden made up all the difference. Thanks for being a good sport Jana and Rachel!

Cantaloupe anyone?

We have a great garden! Rachel just picked this cantaloupe - come along and see some more!

Inside the pool area - we have the best cantaloupe growing.

If you came over to see us...you might get one of your own!

Well - I take that last statement back. Once I told people I had cantaloupe - I ended up giving them all away. We picked 5 more since I took this picture. We only got to eat three of them.
We are grateful for this garden. I am grateful for this granddaughter! Rachel is the best!

TWINS for a DAY!

When Rachel and I watched Gina's kids for a couple of days and nights this week - we realized that they are really twins. You'll see what I mean. If one wants to eat....the other wants to eat.....

If one is thirsty...they both are thirsty...

If one poops....sure enough...the other pooped too!
(but I hid the evidence on this one)


When Judy wanted to sit at the little table....Aaron tried to get up too. They actually jabbered and sat at this table for quite a while.


I was getting ready to take them home and gathered up their car seats. Yep - you are right. When Aaron climbed into his seat....Judy climbed into hers.

Like connected twins....as I drove away to Mesa...they fell asleep at the exact moment.

Rachel and I agree.....they are DEFINITELY twins!

HOUSES in BRIGHT COLORS???

Well - we were taking Jacob to Mutual. Rachel couldn't believe the bright colored houses.
This is what we saw....
A red house,

A green house,

A yellow house,

A nice blue house?...

But this one took the cake.
Just around the corner....there is a nice purple house.

HUH? Rachel couldn't believe it was so bright. The whole thing.
I couldn't believe it either.

HATS OFF to SAVERS

Okay -We are NOT at the beach. We are actually at another HOT BASEBALL GAME.
Can you tell we are trying to stay cool?
It's only 111 degrees outside. (6 pm)

Well, we really dropped Jacob off and went back to watch the last hour of the game.
We had to find a really sure way of getting cool. We knew it would be at Savers!
So...here's... Hats off to Savers!


We just got the idea to try on any hat that just looked fun.
We actually found a lot of them!

Rachel is really "getting" into this posing stuff!

And we really did find the craziest hats - along with the craziest purses!

Anyone for tea?

Anyone for a march?

or how about an unexplainable hat with its matching purse....

Flashing back to Jacob's game. He hit the ball WAY OUT TO THE FENCE - almost touching the fence and brought in 2 runners. (they call it "a double") Then he actually bunted the next ball and again... brought in 2 more runs.

This is Jacob after he came in and collected the bats. Since my "real" camera is "down" I couldn't get any real -live -moving pictures.


So of course, I saved the best for last. After looking at this hat - I wondered why we didn't buy her a million baseball caps! I think she looks like a million bucks!

We'll just have to go back and get some!

Like Mother....Like Daughter....

I know - I know. This is a blurry picture. It's not Rachel's fault. She HAD to point the camera where she did - and the back windows made it too bright. Okay - now that we know that - well - can you just enjoy the shot? Judy didn't care what I was doing. That was the whole point of this picture! Can you even tell what I am doing? Look closer.

Okay - now that you can see what we were doing....
now Judy gets a chance to see what we were doing!

"Mirror, mirror on the wall...I am my mother....afterall". This keeps echoing in my head. Remember when Gina use to wear curlers!
Judy is saying...."is this me or my mother?"

"Oh yeah - it's just ME!"
She thought she was pretty cute!

Okay. I know - I know. I took the time to curl it but I pulled it back anyway.
I know. She knows...we all know...but afterall....we were just having fun!


Plus the fact that she knew it was just for the photo shoot afterall!

This is one fun girl!

THE HINTON Grandkids are HERE!

GUESS who's here at Grandma Cookies house???

You're right....THE HINTONS!!
This is Judy after 2 days of traveling from Utah. She must have really slept great in the truck with Caleb because she was not tired one bit.. but she did act so happy to have "landed".

Rachel is having a ball playing with these kids. We get to keep them overnight while Gina and Caleb continue to unpack and get their house in order.

Judy and Aaron slept in the same room last night. Amazing - they never cried or complained.
They went right to sleep and never made a peep all night! Jana - this was a cinch. I suggest that you use your huge closet as their bedroom. Put two cribs in there and you'll be good to go!

Aaron never complained at all either. This is too good to be true.
When Grandpa and I went to bed last night we asked ourselves...."Can you believe we are grandparents and babysitting tonight? No crying at all. What's up with that?"

Here is Judy when she got up from her nap today. We had to play beauty parlor you know!
Well, what else was there to do - Rachel was at the public pool with Ashlie! Judy let me brush and curl and play as long as I wanted. Grandpa came in and sat on the bed and watched. He couldn't believe it either.

Then Judy climbed right up onto the bed to ask Grandpa if he liked her hair!
The picture I took of him replying to her was too blurry to show. I'll catch him again with Judy!
But he said all the right things.....just like her Daddy says.
"Oh, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL - I LOVE YOUR HAIR!"
She responded like a perfect little lady - she smiled!


Joey just came home from work and Judy is talking to him through the "bars".
"Hi Joey!"It's 6:00 pm and the phone rang...... "Hi Mom! Yep - it's dinner time."

Gina is talking a mile a minute to Judy. (I have her on speaker) Judy doesn't make a move while her mom is chatting. I am sure that Judy didn't want to miss one word of what her mom was saying - remember she hasn't seen her since yesterday.

While I am sitting on the floor taking pictures of Judy - Aaron is hammering on the counter so I don't forget about him. He is chowing down on green beans and mashed potatoes. What a guy!

and...I can't believe he ate the WHOLE thing!Well - Gina and I chatted about the day and I guess they got A LOT done! Caleb was really excited about how much they got done without the kids. In the meantime....we played and really had a wonderful day!
Good News!
I just talked Gina into letting them stay another night.
Oh... the JOYS OF BEING A GRANDMA!
"SWEET!"