Grammy Jo

(This is a picture with me and all my grandparents in high school. From left to right: Papa, Grammy Jo, me, Grandma Bonnie. They were my cheering section when I played sports.)

I have been blessed to have some awesome grandparents! I've blogged about one of my grandma's before but I wanted to share about my Grammy Jo. We call her Grammy Jo because, as the story goes, my grandpa would always yell, "Jo!!!" to get my grandma's attention (her full name is Jolene). So when my brother was little he started to repeat my grandpa and yell, "Jo!!!" So the name Grammy Jo has stuck.

I was so blessed to live by all my grandparents when I was young, so I get to spend a lot of quality time with them growing up. These are some of my favorite memories....

1. sleepover's at Grammy Jo and Papa's house. James (my brother) and I would stay with them at least once a month and we would fight over who would get to sleep on their love seat (small sofa) in their bedroom. We would also get to sleep with Smurf bedsheets. Remember the Smurfs? The blue cartoons? I loved those sheets!!!
2. on sleepover weekends Grammy Jo would send Papa to take us to rent movies!!! Some sleepover nights we didn't get to rent movies and on those nights we got to watch either Matlock or Murder She Wrote. To this day I love watching Matlock. I know there are Matlock haters out there...but it's a good show!
3. picking cherries off the tree in their backyard. Grammy Jo would always make my dad's favorite, a cherry pie, to reward us for our hard work.

4. helping decorate at Christmas. You know those people that are really fanatical about Christmas decorations? Yeah, that's my family. I loved helping Grammy Jo decorate the Christmas tree each year! She'd also make sugar cookies and she'd let James and I use the cookie cutters to cut out the cookies and then decorate them with sprinkles.

5. her saying the phrase, "Oh, Jim..." in reference to my Grandpa. You know "Tim the tool man Taylor" from the TV show Home Improvement? Well, Tim always got hurt working on stuff and so did my grandpa! Papa was always causing trouble and Grammy Jo would just shake her head and say, Oh Jim...She is such a patient lady!

6. getting to go play at Grammy Jo's work! She managed the gift shop at a hospital and it was awesome!!!! Stuffed animals, trolls, games, and everything else a kid could envy. I don't know if we ever left there without Grammy Jo getting something for us. I had a huge troll collection because of her! I loved it.
7. the permed porcupine. One of my favorite stuffed animals growing up was "Porky" the porcupine. Porky was great because he had long soft hair that I could play with. When I got chicken pox my mom washed all my stuffed animals and Porky came out of the dryer with a perm!!!! I was crushed! But Grammy Jo to the rescue...she got me a new Porky that was perm-less.

8. dumplings. My Grammy Jo could make the best chicken and dumplings...oh man, my mouth is watering thinking about it.

9. her being at my wedding. She was so beautiful that day.

10. just the little moments of spending time with her. She is a wonderful woman that is gentle, patient, loving, and kind. I feel very blessed to have her in my life.

Here are some pics going from being a little kid-o to being in high school.