1. Her cooking preparation - Jon often relates mine with hers (although the final product is nowhere near as good), but Jon always says, "You cook like your Grandma Phyllis! Batter flying everywhere, flour on the counter, and bowls and beaters laying out! :) Good thing we clean up after ourselves! (Jenny)
2. Eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs. Need I say more? Somehow, Grandma's eggs are the best I've ever eaten - I don't know how - but they are. (Jenny)
3. When Grandma tried on all of our wedding/egagement rings at the lake and put them on one finger. Her face lit up! She loved all the diamonds! (Jenny)
4. When Grandma said, "Dude!" just to make us laugh! She said it as many times as we wanted her to!
5. Grandma making us put our shoes and socks on in the morning as soon as we woke up! Although annoyinhg for us, she always has our safety in mind first! She loves us so much! (Jenny)
6. Grandma's stocking sutffers - the best part of Christmas! We always get useful cooking items, tupperware and knicknakcs - that are always individually wrapped! I think she does this now b/c it's a tradition and it's so funny to watch all of us yell, "The long one! Everyone find the long one and open it next!" (Jenny)
7. Stitting in the bedroom with us until we fell asleep - Grandma is still young enough to do this with her great- grandkids! When the kids (or us 30 years ago) are up and giggling and talking, Grandma goes into the bedroom and sits with us until we fall asleep. She will resort to many tactics, our favorite is money! She would give us all a dollar if we'd all go to sleep. The funny part is, she'd give us the dollar whether it took us 2 minutes or 2 hours to get to sleep! (Jenny)
8. Granma at ISU basketball games! She used to keep score for every player. There was a score card in every program and she would record the points and make sure she did it for every last player! What a statistician! (Jenny)
9. ISU basketball again - I'll never forget this! It was Iowa against ISU at Hilton and Terry Woods (ISU) was in the backcourt with the ball and Iowa's point guard, Troy Skinner, was pressuring too tight and they should've called a foul. He leaned in too mucha nd Grandma said under her breath, "Smartass." and Kelly and I heard! We told mom and Grandpa right away, who laughed with us! :) (Jenny)
10. Grandma and Grandpa arriving early for everything. If they said they'd be there at 10:00, there were there at 9:00. It was so awesome. Kelly and I always anticipated them coming and it was so exciting! (Jenny)
11. We used to stay with Granma and Grandpa every year for spring break. We got to come for a week and I loved coming and watching the Iowa girls state basketball tournaments on tv. The halftime shows were awesome, but what was more awesome were the malts Grandma made for us and brought to us to drink while watching. (Jenny)
12. Grandma had more Alf shows on tape than the Alf producers! (Jenny)
13. Grandma used to let us drive her golf cart when she went golfing. She didn't want us to go fast, but we still did and she let us! :) (Jenny)
14. Bean walking - NO ONE was ever treated this good while doing work. She brought snacks, hummed to songs he sang, and paid us! It was the best summer job I've ever had! (Jenny)
15. Hands down - the best thing and memory about Grandma is that no one loves their grandkids more. I have NO DOUBT in my mind how much Grandma Phyllis loves us. She'd drop anything for anyone of us and has the biggest heart of anyone I know. She always teaches kindness and is kind right back. She has more love in her heart and shows it daily. I hope she knows how much we love her right back because we'd drop anything for her, too! (Jenny)
16. Getting candy from her at HS football and basketball games when I was a kid (Jeff)
17. Having three TVs to watch sports at Holidays (Jeff)
18. Making me wash my hands when I got bit by a snake at Spirit Lake (Jeff)
19. Her and her Vitamin E (Jeff)
20. Caramel Rolls! (Jeff)
21. Caramel Nips! (Jeff)
22. Her and grandpa beating the school buses to my away football games (Jeff)
23. Sweet christmas stockings that don't fit in stockings (Jeff)
24. Making Peach Floats (Jeff)
25. Cheering for the Braves during the summers as a kid (Jeff)
26. Her letting me win at board games when I was a kid (Jeff)
27. When she spelled "SHIT" in Scrabble (Jeff)
28. Her "snack plates" that were always imitated, but never duplicated (Jeff)
29. Her paying me $20 to play baseball one summer - the only summer I ever played (Jeff)
30. Her cinnamon rolls. They were both Maddox and Joey’s “first real food” they tried! And, Joey would taste it and go “mmmm” every time he took a bite! (Holly)
31. Gma Phyllis would bring $5 or a small toy for every grandchild at family birthday parties (Holly)
32. One time I asked Gma Phyllis if she ever ripped a fart while she was dating Grandpa and she said, “Oh my, heavens no.” (Holly)
33. When Gma Phyllis was playing Taboo with all of the cousins (with the exception of me) and the word was “Precious” and Gma just said, “Oh- this is Holly.” From then on, I have retained the nickname “Precious” in the family, and I carry it on with pride! (Holly)
34.When Gma Phyllis ate a bit supper at our house and she started walking laps around the driveway to work it off! Mainly, I just love watching how Gma can eat anything and not gain a pound! (Holly)
35. When Gpa Cecil told the story about Gma Phyllis killing a possum with a shovel! I couldn’t believe my ears! We laughed so hard! (Holly)
36. How Gma Phyllis gives the girls “Reduced Fat Pringles” at Xmas and gives the boys the regular potato chips! (Holly)
37. Gpa Cecil told me that when Gma Phyllis once worried she was going to die before him, she started putting Velcro in all of his shirts so he could button and unbutton them on his own! (Holly)
38. One time, Gma and Gpa brought over each of us $100 checks out of the blue – I think they sold a farm or something. I thought I was rich! I bought a new pair of jeans with checks on them. I loved those jeans! (Holly)
39.I asked Gma if I could learn how to make her potato salad, macaroni salad and cinnamon rolls….I went over there and she just started dumping everything in a bowl, no measuring or anything, and kept licking her fingers to taste and saying things like “more salt” or “less pepper” or “more tomatoes.” I was taking notes and basically they look like this: throw everything in a bowl and have gma Phyllis taste it for you. (Holly)
40. When Gma Phyllis called Miracle Whip and asked them if they had changed their recipe because their product had too much water in it! And, she thinks they’ve also changed the recipe for cranberries and for heavy cream; and she doesn’t think tomatoes taste as good as they used to! (Holly)
41. When Gma Phyllis paid Heather one summer NOT to strike out in softball. Tee hee hee. Pretty sure Gma kept all of her money that summer! (Holly)
42. When Gma Phyllis gave me the globe from her basement that I wanted really bad and she pointed to the crack and said, “There’s a crack in it but I just pretend like it is an earthquake.” So creative, Grandma! (Holly)
43. Spirit Lake memories – how Gma made the best S’Mores and Scotcharoos; how she got mad at us if we didn’t go to bed early; how she told us we couldn’t swim right away after eating; miniature golfing; Godfather’s Pizza Buffet at Spirit Lake and one time she had a bag of gifts and we all got to pick a gift out of the bag. (Holly)
44.When we played at Gma Phyllis’ house, she would sometimes separate us so Jenny would have to play with me and Heather would have to play with Kelly because otherwise Jenny and Heather were snotty and would leave us out. (Holly)
45. When we walked beans, she would always have lemonade and Soft Batch chocolate chip cookies. To this day, when I see Soft Batch cookies, I think about bean riding with Gma. But, Gma would always spray my weeds so I never wanted to sit by Gma. One time, at a cookie break, I said to Gpa, “I’m not sure why I have to be here- Gma sprays all my weeds anyway!” and he laughed and laughed. And, one time, dad stopped the tractor, backed up and said, “Hey, mom, you missed a BEAN!” Tee hee hee. (Holly)
46. When we would go to Gma Phyllis’ house with dad and dad and I would take a can of “French Fried Onions” out of her pantry and eat them in the pickup truck! (Holly)
47. Arriving at Gma and Gpa’s house for any occasion! Gpa ALWAYS answered the door! And, Gma ALWAYS was cooking in the kitchen! She’d have ten things going at one time and they would all be done at the exact same time –something my mom still says is the best thing about Gma Phyllis’ food. It’s all the exact right temperature at the exact same time! And, I loved her plates of candy at Xmas time- homemade candy of every kind! Amazing! (Holly)
48. Coming right up to the bleachers to sit by Gma and Gpa after the high school basketball games. They always gave us concession stand money. Gma would tell me my stats for the game and Gpa would just smile the whole time. (Holly)
49. When Jeff and I would go over to Gma and Gpa’s house in high school just to hang out, and as soon as we got there, Gma would make us malts and then we’d go in the kitchen and eat anything homemade we could find! And, then we’d go watch sports with them in the living room! (holly)
50. Always having to put our socks and shoes on in the morning. (Heather)
51. Grandma's scrambled eggs - the best! (Heather)
52. Grandma on the bean bar was always the best - she shot that stuff everywhere. (Heather)
53. Always having "tater skins" and "soft batch cookies" for the bean bar. (Heather)
54. Grandma came down twice this summer and watched the girls for me while I was working. She had them read books to her and took them on walks and gave them McDonald's and ice cream. (grace and maya )
55. Getting paid to go to sleep at the lake. (Heather)
56. When we moved into this house, Grandma cleaned all my windows. It made me so happy. (Heather)
57. Pea salad! I love pea salad! (Heather)
58. The Iowa State Fair! We've gone with grandma (and grandpa) for about five years! Always fun because grandma wants to try everything! (Heather)
59. Cinamon Rolls - (grace and maya and guthrey)
60. When Grandma gave us money to go shopping on our girls weekend!! (Heather)
61. The time she prayed with the girls and Maya told God to watch over Grandma Cecil (Heather)
62. The whole time Grandpa was sick - watching her take care of him. (Heather)
63. The time her and I were sitting on the dock and talking about someone who was getting divorced and Grandma said "well I love your grandpa more today than the day I married him!" (Heather)
64. Scotcharoos at the lake! (Heather)
65. Having "sandwiches" for lunch at grandma's means three different kinds of meat, four cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes, seven different condiments, three salads, two kinds of chips, jello, and four choices of pies and cheesecake. (Kelly)
66. When we were kids grandma made us put our shoes on before we could have breakfast. And that was a good reason to put shoes on, nobody makes eggs like grandma. (Kelly)
67. Grandma's Christmas punch. 'Nuff said. (Kelly)
68. I used to hate watching golf when I was a kid at grandma's, but now every time I see golf on TV it makes me happy, because I feel like I'm at grandma's. (Kelly)
69. Going to Ben Franklin with grandma - you know if you walk in there with grandma, you're not walking out without a toy. (Kelly)
70. ISU Basketball season - no matter how many games there were, or how close together they were, each game grandma and grandpa were so happy to see us that it seemed as if they hadn't seen us in a year. (Kelly)
71. Christmas pictures at grandma's - there's always one with reindeer ears, one where everyone's looking at each other trying to decide what to do, and one where someone's kid is crying. (Kelly)
72. Heather telling grandma that Grace had had enough jello, and as soon as Heather turned around, grandma giving Grace more jello. (Kelly)
73. Sleeping in the office at grandma's at just the right angle so I could see the reflection of the TV in the mirror. I couldn't hear it, I had no idea what show it was, and it was backwards, but somehow it felt like I was still up watching TV. (Kelly)
74. Talia seeing a woman in the parking lot at the grocery store with glasses and hair like grandma, who was the same height as grandma, and Talia yelling at the top of her lungs across the parking lot, "Grandma Phyllis!!!" (Kelly)
75. Getting to drive the cart when grandma would take us golfing with her. We were terrible drivers, and I just know she was afraid we were going to do some serious damage. (Kelly)
76. Asking grandma who she wants to win when Iowa State plays Iowa, and grandma saying, "Oh, I just wish they could both win." (Kelly)
77. Searching for "hidden treasure" at grandma's house, and actually finding what looked like a treasure chest with a necklace in it. (Kelly)
78. I always thought it was the weirdest thing that when we would go to McDonald's or somewhere like that, grandma would call a hamburger a "sandwich." (Kelly)
79. Davenport. Sitting on the couch at grandma's, it was called the "davenport." And it had saw mills or something crazy like that on it. Years later I found out that Davenport is also a city, and laughed whenever someone told me they were from there. (Kelly)
80. When I was being mouthy and grandma told me if I didn't stop she would "box my ears" (Jon)
81. She makes the best fried chicken I've ever had (beats the Colonel's special recipe any day) (Jon)
82. Coming in to eat a quick lunch after working all morning and finding a 4 course feast. Made working in the afternoon stink. (Jon)
83. When grandma pulled a leach off her toe at Spirit Lake and put it in a jar so we could all see it. (Jon)
84. When I was a baby and was staying with grandma and grandpa when my mom was have her cancer treatments, grandma used to write letters to my mom as if it were me writing them. One of the letters she said I was smarter than Holly because I spoke more words. Precious maybe, but Jeff and I got the smarts. (Jon)
85. Stopping at grandmas to say hi and we always leave with cinnamon rolls. I'm pretty sure the deep freezer is full of rolls and ice cream. (Jon)
86. When I was in elementary school and I was sick, grandma would always let me come to her house so mom and dad could work. (Jon)
87. When grandma would have stuff cooking in all 4 ovens for Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Jon)
88. When grandma let me use her basement ovens to make my high school graduation cakes. Made 4 cakes at once and still used less flour than Jenny did attempting to make 1 batch of rolls. (Jon)
89. Seeing grandma go for her afternoon walk wearing more blaze orange than a dozen pheasant hunters. (Jon)
90. Sitting in grandma and grandpas car at softball games. The games were ridiculously boring, but the snacks were endless. (Jon)
91. Seeing grandma and grandpa at every sporting event I ever competed in... and always being the first ones there. (Jon)
92. Sitting with grandma and grandpa in "their seats" in the top row and football games. (Jon)
93. Sitting a mile high at Hilton once a year when I went to an ISU bball game. (Jon)
94. Getting a hair cut from grandma and end up looking like Mark and Jeff do now, but not by choice. (Jon)
95. Memories of their house….the “orange bedroom” that had a picture of Little Boy Blue above the bed that freaked me out and even when she made it a pink room, we still called it the “orange room”; playing ping pong in the basement; carving our names and words in the wall in the basement; the ship in the basement bathroom; treasure-hunting in the basement and finding secrets; the red, white and blue mattress in the office that we could sleep on; doing sommersaults and jumping on the beds downstairs; gm and gpa’s craftmatic beds that could go up and down – onetime I made both the feet and the head come up and gma caught me and got mad; big family dinners in the dining room; xmas in the basement. I love that house!!! (Holly)
96. Grandma & Grandpa always being the first people at our basketball games. And they were always sitting in the top row at Southern Cal’s football games. (Heather, Holly, Jeff)
97. Grandma listening to the Hawkeye game on the radio WHILE watching it on tv and then cheering before anyone else because she heard it first. (Guthrey)
98. The time the football phone came. You’d think this was a grandpa memory, with the way he laughed. But Grandma pulled it out of the box, plugged it in and called Grace and told her to call back because we got a new football phone. (Heather)
99. The downstairs bathroom, which Jenny and I were convinced had a secret passageway where we would find Grandma’s treasure (we were sure she had treasure).
100. The recent check we got =) perfect timing and an awesome thing to get out of the blue (Heather, Holly, Jeff, Jon, Jenny, Kelly)
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