Happy 80th Gran!

Birthday celebrations are the best (mostly because I LOVE cake). We braved the road and drove to Baltimore a couple weekends ago to spend time with my mom's mother, who we fondly call "Gran". She turned 80 last week! It was a wonderful trip because we surprised her by showing up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning. I think we walked in at 7:30am!! We'd gotten into town at 5:30am, found ourselves a playground for Grant to stretch his legs (never thought I'd EVER be on a playground before the sun came up!!), and then had an early breakfast before we headed over. She was shocked and it was so worth the hundreds of miles we put on the car that night!

Grandparents are such pillars in their grandchildren's lives. Some of my fondest memories of my childhood stem from the time I spent, and still spend, with them. Here's a few reasons why:

- I know how to make whipped cream the FRESH way, compliments of Gran, the cold bowl is the key!

- every time my car gets ready to turn over another thousand miles I think of Gran after her and I went in circles around her driveway for a good half hour trying to get her awesome station wagon to turn over to 100,000 when I was younger...why didn't we just go on the road, I wonder??

- I feel proud to have my very own Kitchen Aid mixer, because I've had my eye on her's for years :)

- I've enjoyed entertaining/cooking for others more and more when I saw how happy it made her for years and years during our family gatherings. She ALWAYS went out of her way to make everyone happy!!

Oh, I really could go on and on. Bottom line, my Gran is an amazing woman who has given me BIG shoes to fill when I get to be grandmother some day! I know how much our parents love the time they share with Grant and Lilly and it makes me look forward to those years that Tim and I can do the same with their children...not that I want to get that old yet :) Love you Gran!