Kate's One Year Old Birthday

William, Tanner and I were able to drive to Cincin "Addie" for Kate's birthday. She was so precious and adorable. She couldn't quite figure out all the attention she was getting from us.

Laura Lee made white cupcakes with white frosting, and a chocolate cake called "Too much chocolate cake" for Kate's birthday. Her parents gave her "a choice" between the two, and Kate went for the white cupcake first, which made Marc happy.

Kate was a grinning girl most of the day.

Highlight of the day included:

#1. Kate especially loved me holding on to her hands while she walked around her home.

#2. I rocked Kate to sleep at church and held her in my arms. That was precious too.

#3. Laura Lee made an awesome chicken stir fry dinner over brown rice which we all devoured.

It was wonderful to sit around the table and have a meal together.

#4. I so enjoyed playing with Addie (with Kate's new toys), reading stories to Addie, and talking to her. She amazes me with her memory.

Harder moments of the day included:

#1. I rammed into the curb, when parking at Laura Lee's home, and busted the wall of a tire. It went totally flat before we left for church. William had to change the tire in his Sunday clothes.

#2. Being quite tired on the drive home.

I'm in LOVE!

Some of the most tender feelings I've ever had are when I've fallen in love with a new baby. Babies are so fresh from heaven, perfect, and pure. In fact, in the close up picture of Jack (below), he reminds me of an angel.

On the night of Jack's birth, my evening prayer consisted of pure gratitude for the birth of this little boy.

I feel overwhelmed with God's love, with His plan, and with His trust. I rejoice at the opportunity to be the grandmother of this little boy, and consider myself blessed beyond anything I deserve.

Congratulations Ryan and Sarah. You will be wonderful parents. As I thumbed through Ryan's baby pictures, and baby things, I found some wonderful things. I found baby photos of him, which look a lot like Jack. I found a hospital bill totaling $366.05 for the birth of Ryan and $14.00 for Ryan's stay in the hospital nursery. (Mind you, I purposefully made it as cheap as I could because we were so poor.) The doctor's whole medical bill for pregnancy check-ups and delivery was $495.00. A lot of things have changed in less than 30 years!

I also found the birth announcement we sent for Ryan. I will enclose it, along with photos of Ryan as a baby, in my next blog.

For now, enjoy the photos of Jack. He is so precious!

Jack William Davis

born: 8/9/10

weight: 8 lbs.

height: 22 inches

born in: Bryan, Texas

Golf Lessons

I signed up for golf classes in June. I've always wanted to take golf lessons, and this was my opportunity - even though they began right before my dance recital.

They were offered through our local YMCA where I teach classes. The cost was cheap, and the lesson offered were group lessons. I had fun, but didn't know WHAT I WAS DOING! I was the only beginner, and the game is so much more complicated than I had imagined.

I followed up my group lessons with 4 semi-private lessons. They were even BETTER. Our teacher was excellent, and he really helped me improve. The cost was decent, and he was patient and helpful.

Last night I received a private lesson, because my co-partner couldn't make our last class. It helped me improve my game quite a bit.

Here's the problem. I haven't played a game of golf yet. Is all I do is go practice my swing at the driving range, go practice putts, and practice my short game.

Now that I'm more comfortable, I think I'll now go PLAY a game of golf. I have someone who's offered to go with me. I now know why so many people get addicted to it. In order to get really good at golf, you have to practice ALL THE TIME. I've decided I'm not at that stage of life yet...

so for now I'll just putter around.

Arrowhead Golf Course - where I practice, and soon will play a round of golf!

I bought my ticket

Today I bought my ticket to fly to Texas to help Ryan and Sarah with their baby and our future grandson. Sarah's due date is tomorrow. It's HARD to be patient. I'm so anxious and excited!

I'll keep you posted (no pun intended)!

Girls camp/ July 2010/ Hiram, Ohio

I attended our church girls camp last week as a stake leader. The weather put us through periods of thunderstorms, pouring rain, and steamy hot and humid air. We were told to drink scads of water, to avoid the chance of heat stroke, or dehydration.

It took me about two days to pack for camp. The camp item list was long, and I overpacked. It was embarrassing how much I took, but it was all on the list. I discovered it's hard to stay organized in a tent!

I was especially worried about getting my sleep at camp. I was right to be concerned. I only slept well one night of the five days at camp.

The Stake leaders left a day early, and we stayed in an inn in Hiram so we could be there bright and early. I grew to love those I work with in the Young Women's Stake Presidency, as well as other leaders and young women in our stake. We had oodles of fun together, and actually had time to talk and enjoy each other's company.

The camp was right behind the Church Historical site, the John Johnson farm in Hiram, Ohio (about 30 minutes from Kirtland). The ground is sacred to me. Many sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were revealed there including section 76. The landscape is simply beautiful, and I gained a greater respect and reverence for all of God's marvelous creations.

Highlights of the camp were: 1) Contra Line dancing (it's old fashioned English dancing, and we had a blast), 2) A 7 mile canoe trip, 3) a 5.5 mile strenuous hike to a waterfall, 4) passing out "warm and gentle fuzzies" to the girls when they did a good deed, 5) singing camp songs that I sang as a girl, 6) learning girls and leaders names, and getting to know them better, 7) enjoying the natural earth in all her splendor, 8) feeling safe and secure in a tent with rain drenching everything surrounding me, 9) taking two showers a day in HOT water - it was awesome!, plus having FLUSHING toilets - what a luxury! 10) going to exercise classes in the morning, and being able to run, so I could stay on my exercise plan! 10) Testimony meeting - I gave a short talk to the girls about testimonies when we wrote our testimonies in Books of Mormon. The girls testimonies were spiritual, and deep, and wonderful. (Some I couldn't hear well, but I was very impressed with them and they increased my faith).

Frustrations of the camp were: 1) not sleeping well, 2) the migraine headache I came down with - luckily it never became serious (my prayers were answered), 3) the day of the hike was on the hottest day of the summer [94 degrees with 70% humidity] , and the girls were so tired and thirsty that some of them didn't finish the hike, 4) I had to turn down s'mores, lava hot fudge cake, and all sorts of goodies because I'm working on losing weight.

There was a leader whose whole duty was to take photos at camp, and make a slide show while at camp to show the girls. She sent me these photos, so I could post them. Thank you Sister Jastal.

Canoeing with the Young Women Stake Leaders

Cuyahoga River, Ohio / July 21, 2010

Girls and Leaders at Toledo, Ohio Stake

Girls camp/July 2010

The flags in the background correspond to the colors of the Young Women values and flew all week as reminders of those virtues and values.

Young Women and Priesthood leaders performing a skit where we built a model of the Stale Lake Temple. The theme of the Young Women's camp was "Young Women Under Construction." I'm at the top, standing on the bench. The photo was taken when we didn't have a "plan" and we just put all the pieces on anywhere. Once we followed our plan - we were able to construct the Temple.
Young Women Stake presidency

Girls Camp/ July 2010

We are wearing our girls camp T-shirts, and our sweatshirt which reads "Got values?" on the back. We also have our "warm and gentle fuzzies" around our necks which we made.

A few days after our camp, our Young Women Stake President (leader in the middle) had a mild heart attack. She's in the hospital, and I'm so glad she's okay.

Overall, I am so thankful I was able to attend girls camp (it was a sacrifice for me) and come away with such unique and fun-filled memories, and a stronger testimony too!

How wonderful that the Lord cares so much about his daughters that he affords them this special opportunity while in their youth.

Michael Buble

William and I were able to go to a Michael Buble concert in Columbus this past week. He is such a great artist. I was quite inspired by him. He appeals to all ages. His songs are uplifting, moving, and romantic. I'm a FAN!

When Marc and Laura Lee were in Canada, Marc's sister took some beautiful photos of Kate and Addie. I just had to share them. These are just the thumbnail photos.

They are here visiting us for the July 4th holiday weekend and I'm loving it.

With Addie, I've been busy reading stories, putting puzzles together, singing songs, and playing "golf." I bought a bubble machine that I'm excited to try out tonight today. I've been singing to Kate and she's at such a fun stage crawling, standing up, and sticking her tongue out at me when I do it first. We're headed to the "Toy Story 3" movie soon.

It's one of the greatest joys in my life to be a grandma!