We took a little trip to visit Ben's Grandma over conference weekend. She's the best! Grandma is the most loving person and has a magical ability to make you feel like the most important person in the world. The girls immediately felt this and loved being at her home. They also enjoyed playing with their 2nd cousins (is that what a child of your cousin is called?). Ben's cousin was so sweet to host a dinner for us all.
Isn't Grandma lovely? We always learn a little more about Ben's sweet Mom and enjoy every moment spent with her. I imagine his Mom would be the same kind of wonderful grandma.
Whenever we take photos with her I always have as many of her looking at the crew as at the camera. Can't you just tell how much she loves us?
Her house is filled with things that Ben remembers from his childhood.
The girls loved petting her pets.
Look at this sweet quilt with a square for each family member. What a great idea! Ben's mom helped make it. Here are Ben and his Mom's squares.
Her towels are too pretty to use. She told me these are still like new because no one wants to use the fancy towels when they visit. :)
Grandma sends cards to each grandchild, their spouse and the great-grandkids. I think the number is up to 177 a year. Each of us looks forward to her cards and phone call on our birthday. All these markers and pens sum up her boundless love and the time she spends making sure we all feel it.
As an added bonus, we also got spend time with our singapore cousins. Love and miss these sweet kids! And it was so fun catching up and laughing with their parents.
Samara has stickers on her little suitcase of all the countries she's been to. On the way home, she asked if we could get a "St. George"sticker. We had to explain that not only were we not in a different country but we weren't even in a different state. Seriously, how can we be in the same country after traveling for four whole hours? :)
I LOVE Samara's comments about a different country! My kids did the same on our visit to the USA road trips. Oh Ben's Grandma is wonderful! The 177 cards a year is such a touching story. I love that Ben (and you!) are able to connect to his mom in some special ways through Grandma. I hope we can all be like her one day. Look how BIG and CUTE the Smiths look! I'm s o happy you had such a nice trip to that other country called St. George.
ReplyDeleteOh, Cheryl, this brought tears to my eyes. Grandma is such a wonderful grandma (self-evident, I know) - she typifies the very concept! It's so neat to see her looking at your cute little family. When you see her, you feel her love. Thanks for posting this and all those sweet pictures.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post, Cheryl. I'm sure it will be treasured by your family forever - priceless. It got me thinking that I need to document more about my grandparents, who unfortunately are more than a few hours away!
ReplyDeleteI want to find Samara a St George sticker! :)
ReplyDeleteI love the quilt and the photos with Great-grandma! It is inspiring she sends so many cards!