It takes little to make a baby smile and that trait is something that we should carry with us as adults.  I find myself smiling constantly when I'm with all the babies, toddlers, and my nieces and nephews. 

While babysitting my grandniece, Eli last Friday at my house, she had eyes for my dad and it brought big smiles to his face and a tear or two in his eyes.  I snapped this photo when dad came downstairs to see what Eli and I were up to and this is the reaction he got.

 She's got so much love in her little body, it amazes me.  I took Eli with me to meet my friends for a late lunch and they loved her (again) and we had a lot of fun.  She didn't fuss at all and just took in all the new faces and sounds around her.  My friends got a laugh over the vibrating corncob toy (see last Monday's post "Gee Whiz... It Vibrates!", if you missed it!) ... you know I had to show them.  Me thinks I need to buy one for each of us now!  *snicker*

My grandnephew, Caleb is a cutie too.  He's the son of my nephew Tyler and his wife Sara (we have two Saras in our family).  Here is a video they made (it is set to music) of his first car.  He's 9 months old and weighs 24 lbs so he's a big guy and it's all muscle.

It's a great feeling seeing my nephews and nieces raising their own children. I'm so proud of all of them. Who in your life makes you smile?

I had a Gee Whiz moment Friday while watching my grandniece, Eli.  She grew tired of the set of toys she played with all day and I went to through the diaper bag to find another toy to entertain her.  I saw this cute little corn cob toy and I took it by the handle and proceeded across the room to give it to my young charge.  I grabbed the corn cob end to give it to Eli and as soon as I squeezed a bit, the corn cob vibrated!  Gee whiz - a corn cob that vibrates!  It's the John Deere Massaging Corn Teether.

It didn't occur to me how funny this was until I was telling Vickie about it Friday night.  We laughed and laughed over the fact that I had my Auntie Karen and Photographer hat on and didn't realize how funny it really was. 

Dang... I need to get me one of these!!  No, not for that...  It's a great little massager for stress relief... oh crap... never mind...  LOL

Gee whiz, it vibrates!Miss Eli and I had a great day together.  We played with toys, she ate lunch of sweet potatoes, we went for a walk around the apartment complex where there is lovely streams and ponds.  The ducks waddled and swam while we enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.  Her daddy told me that taking her for a walk was a great way to get her to sleep, however, she did not fall asleep.  Rats.  She did take a short nap but she wanted to play more than anything.

It's amazing how much she changes in a week or two.  She is sitting up better and she is a lot more active; she really keeps me on my toes. 

While I tend Eli, I also get the pleasure of spoiling Bella, the Wonder Cat, and two dogs.  I'm allergic to dogs so I can't spoil them as much as I'd like but sometimes they don't care.  If Bella gets attention, they get attention!  Bella is usually a calm kitty but Friday, she was on crack!  Actually, she finally showed me her true personality and she is a hoot!  

Just My Size!She kept jumping up the wall to attack something that wasn't there, sliding and skitting around on the bathroom and kitchen floors, and sneaking up to the dogs and batting them on the heads a few times then running away.  She doesn't have claws so it was more irritating to them than anything and it made me laugh.  She tried to wear my Crocs on her paws and her head (I didn't get a shot of her head in the Croc - darn it!) and then flipping them around the floor.  She really got my attention when she kept trying to climb up my body (tough to do without claws!) until I finally sat down so she could share my lap with Eli. 

Eli was on my left and Bella was on my right and the two of them played a bit, Bella kissed Eli and she tugged on Bella's fur.  Bella buried her face between Eli's arm and body and nuzzled her a bit then she decided to climb my chest, which forced me to lay back in the chair.  She climbed over Eli and nuzzled my neck, then the next thing I knew, she flipped out my first earring hoop and had my second earring (a half carrot diamond!) in her mouth! 

I managed to get the diamond out of her mouth before she swallowed it and I thought she swallowed the other earring until I found it on the floor while looking for the back of the diamond earring.  I have no idea why she did it or how she could see my earrings because my hair covered them. Needless to say, I was a bit freaked but while Eli napped, she cuddled with me and kissed me all over my face so she's forgiven.  What a cat...

When Sara got home, I asked her if Bella was hitting the Nip.  She laughed and said it was normal for her to be hyper.  Bella never gets the Nip because she clearly does not need it!  ;-) 

I was outside for a bit over the weekend and took some photos of the latest blooms in my yard.  There are three daffodil blooms and about ten Forget-Me-Nots out so far.  The blue of the Forget-Me-Nots is so vibrant and I've waited a long time to get a good, clean shot of these.  Thanks to my lovely macro lens, I finally did it! 

Photos are copyrighted and can only be used with the expressed written permission by KJR.  

I wasn't able to attend the Wasatch Camera Club meeting tonight due to me feeling like poo.  My blood sugar dropped to 32 just before lunch today and despite me eating lunch AND a donut, it only got up to 80.  I felt rotten so I went home early to rest and do some work from home.  On the way home, I stopped and got a burrito, thinking the protein would help, which it did - a little.  My blood sugar went up a whole 10 points.  I am reactive hypoglycaemic and I've done well with controlling it by eating small meals five times a day but I don't know what happened yesterday but it hit me hard. 

After spending the evening feeling sorry for myself (LOL), I got a call from my friend, Darlene, who told me that she was bringing home a ribbon for me!  My photo of Eli, named "Sleeping Beauty" won 3rd place!  W00T!!  I'm so happy and excited - and of course, honored!  Darlene is bringing my ribbon to the pool this morning and I'm excited to show it off!  Darlene deserves part of the ribbon for helping me and encouraging me!  Thank you, Darlene!  You ROCK!  

I want to congratulate Darlene on placing 2nd with her photo!  WOOHOO!  We're both winners!   

Here is the photo of the Sleeping Beauty, Eli.  

 

Eli's mommy, Sara, sent me a photo of Eli eating her first veggie, sweet potatoes and to announce her first tooth finally broke through.  How cute is she?! 

I just love this little bug to pieces and it makes me feel good to have an active role in her life.  I love her daddy, Travis, as I would a son and her mommy like a daughter.  They love me for who I am and support me in whatever I do. 

Travis does me proud when plays practical jokes.  Speaking of jokes, I haven't heard how the letter did yet but I imagine Kent will get the letter today *evil grin*

Spring fills my soul with renewed passions ... I love spring!  These are photos of the tiny new flowers blooming in my garden. 

 

 

 

The promise of new beginnings ... the first tulip bloom of the year. 

© KJR Photos may not be used without my express written consent.  Thank you :-) 

 

Yesterday, we woke up to a foot of snow! While my mom, brother, nephew, and I were out clearing off the driveway, sidewalks, etc., another four inches fell in about an hour. We had fun and a lot of laughs, thanks to Adam throwing snow off my carport and onto his dad.






Mom is 5'4" and the snowbank is almost as tall as she is.


A little bit of my brother's truck from the other side of the snowbank.
This was before we cleared the front sidewalk... lots of snow!


We got a foot of snow over night and another four inches in the hour we were out there... and it snowed all day and some of the night with more snow coming today and every-other day this week. I know spring will come eventually! I'm still not complaining about the snow... I'm still loving it but my body thinks otherwise ;-)

Thank you all for the birthday wishes - I had a really nice birthday weekend!

We're finally reaching temps over 20F here in Utah (it's been below zero or near it at night and highs in the teens during the day)! Saturday it reached 35F and it was wonderful; I wondered outside and took photos of the ice cycles hanging off the drain pipes! The sky was such a gorgeous blue, as you can see in the photo below.

Yesterday reached a high of 42F the warm front brought a storm with it, in which they're expecting up to a foot in the valleys and 3 feet in the mountains. Yee haw. I'm not looking forward to the commute but am happy to have warmer temps, it's been so cold and my joints haven't been happy.

I even caught a cold but managed to nip it before it got too bad. The weekend was pretty good; yesterday was Mom's birthday and I cooked dinner and made four pies. My siblings (except Kathy) came over and some of their kids. I have new pics of my cute little grand niece, Eli (who is growing so big!) but they're still on my camera... and may stay there until the weekend because I have a lot of work to catch up on at work and I'm tired just thinking about it all. ;-)

Last week was good but so busy at work due to the Interviewing Skills workshop I'm involved in teaching. I ran the mock interviews and that was so fun; I had a great group of guys and although they learned a lot, we had a lot of laughs too. I was thanked by my coworkers for organizing it so well and the students mentioned how great the mock interviews were on their critiques, which made me feel good.

I'm rambling, aren't I?

OK... have a great day!