Treasures from 1600 West

2.3.14- 

  

A few months ago I had the opportunity of looking through my Grandma Hall's home for what I would like to keep as a memory.  My Grandma is 95 & still going strong but is no longer able to stay in her home on her own.  At first the thought of this broke my heart but then I quickly reflected over the past 17 years that she was able to live on her own since my Grandpa passed away.  She lives in an assisted living center up in my hometown so she is close to family & friends, which makes me very happy.  She is still able to travel, go to family parties & basketball games.  I love that we can visit her when we go up to my parents.  

What a privilege it is to be her granddaughter 

{the 1st one I might add, there were 8 Grandsons before I came along, happy day for the Hall family I'm sure!} 

I love vintage, old, sentimental things so getting to go through her home was a real treat for me.  Believe me I could have grabbed a lot more to bring home but thought I would just stick with things that reminded me of my Grandparents & the home that I spent so much time in growing up. 

{My Grandparents only lived a mile & a 1/2 away from me.} 

 It wasn't unusual for our family to stop by more than once a day to say hi & get a hug, grab a cookie or just visit Grandma & Grandpa.  One of the greatest blessings in my life is that I can honestly say that I saw them almost everyday of the first 18 years of my life. I was one lucky little girl growing up! 

-The big brown book was my Grandpa's he loved to read it & highlight his favorite quotes. I borrowed it as a prop when I played Mother Abbess in our HS production of The Sound of Music in 1991. {Yep,I got to sing, Climb Every Mountain at the top of my lungs!}I used the book to pretend to write down names, of the new nuns, in the front cover. I used an old fountain pen & you can still see my scribblings inside.  Treasure!- 

Here's a peek at the stash I brought home with me.  

{Round 1, I went back, I'll show that later}

Something for the bookshelves, kitchen, holiday decor, craft room & puzzle drawer.  When I look at this pile it reminds me of all the things my Grandma loved {& my Grandpa too}  Glad she saved all these wonderful things.  She always had a puzzle in progress on the kitchen desk or in the back room.  I grabbed the tiny Happy Birthday puzzle & thought I could put it together with my girls on her birthday {August 11th} each year.  

 She also loved to bake & cook.  It was always a treat to stop by on Sunday to get a hot roll right out of the oven or come in from doing chores at the farm to grab a cookie from the cookie jar.  That Better Homes & Garden cookbook was her very first cook book, the green bowl she served salads in, cool old canning jars & pitcher, table clothes & magnets from her fridge. 

{She had the 3 little owls on there for as long as I could remember!}  

The purple metallic glass is one of my FAVORITE things!  She had a whole rainbow of colors of them in the cupboard. I loved filling it up with ice & getting a drink at her house. 

{I guess they were old cottage cheese containers of some sort}  all I know is it keeps the drink really cold & I love it!  

A few old chocolate candy boxes that I thought would be fun to decorate for Valentines & Christmas. Why she kept them, who knows but I'm glad she did. 

-Funny how a pile of random this & that's can mean so much to me!- 

The black book with the gold A on it is one of her college yearbooks, she graduated with honors from Utah State University.  My Grandma was the first women in her family to go to college.  She is one smart cookie!  Was then & still is now. 

{She still does crossword puzzles each & every day!} 

What makes this yearbook even more special is that Tyler's {my hubby} Grandma & Grandpa Quigley are also in the book.  3 family members, what a treasure! Glad we discovered this years ago, I  told my Grandma that I wanted that & she was happy to know that I got it. Old receipt books, notebooks & folders because she was always active in keeping the books of the family gas & grocery store that she built with my Grandpa.  I 'm a sucker for any old office supplies. I just think they are so cool plus, these have meaning to me.

-A sweet picture of my grandparents in a simple paper frame-

I've always loved my Grandma's handwriting.  Glad I got some of her recipes to keep.  I grabbed some of her everyday spoons from the kitchen drawer {Project coming soon!} the green handled scissors were just begging to come home with me, as well as a scrabble game I found in the game closet.  The folder they are sitting on is a folder that had my name on it full of old letters, cards & other things I had sent my Grandparents over the years. So grateful she kept them all for me to see all these years later.
Thanks, Grandma! 

-I was trying to decide between 2 bowls, sent a pic to my husband & he told me to get the green one because it looked like a beehive.  SWeeT! Totally does so I grabbed it & then ended up getting the other bowl later too-

*funny side note- My Grandma watched my segment on Studio 5 last week, saw one of the pictures that popped up during it & commented to my Aunt who was there watching with her- 
"I think I just saw one of my old bowls" Nothing gets by her!  Yep, she was right her green bowl was on TV. 

This next picture might just be the start of my craftiness & things to come in my future.  One year I decided to make my Grandma a little painted popsicle stick bookmark each month. She loves to read, so I thought it would be a simple, easy gift.  My husband & I were in college, didn't have much money & it was a treat for me to go to the local craft store, look at all the wood pieces, think of what to make & buy the little piece of wood {usually under .50 or so}  come home paint it &  glue it together.  My Grandma looked forward to each new month & wondered what I would give her.  It was so fun!  For Christmas that year Tyler made her this holder out of wood to keep them all in & be able to display them.  Can't believe she held onto these simple little bookmarks all these years later.  Lots of memories attached to these. 

Thanks for walking down memory lane a with me as I shared my childhood & family memories.  The best part about all of this was the opportunity to go sit down with my Grandma, show her what I got & have her talk about all this "stuff".  I loved seeing her smile as she told me what they were used for, where they came from & the memories attached to them. What a blessing to be able to do that!  I continue to think to myself how lucky I am to come from such a fantastic family who I am so close to. I love, admire & appreciate each & everyone of them.  So grateful for the opportunity to get to go through my Grandma's home & pick out things that meant something.  Thankful for wonderful Aunts & Uncles who let all the grandkids {there's 23 of us & 60 great grandkids} have the chance to look through my Grandparents things & grab a treasure or two. Really, so extremely grateful for their thoughtfulness! 

Most of things I got probably would have been cast of as junk, taken to the DI or thrown in the trash {I did rescue the plastic Santa from the garbage can} but that's what I love.  All the little things that I'm glad I can appreciate & hold onto. 

{M}