My grandfather passed away last night. Grandpa Brown was my mother's dad. He was an intelligent, artistic, loving and kind man. Of course, there are not enough positive adjectives to show his true character. When I was young he smelled like pipe tobacco and awed me with his crossword puzzle abilities. He was at once imposing and fascinating. He built airplanes and wooden yo-yos and volunteered at the hospital.

I have a lot of memories of my grandfather, some of them were borrowed from my mother, but they are all still mine to keep.

There are four girls and one boy (the youngest) in my mom's family. For quite a while it was just girls. My mom used to tell us how her dad would help get them ready for school by brushing their hair and putting it into pigtails. She always recanted, with much drama, how he would brush their hair so hard their heads would ache and then proceed to pull it into the tightest circle possible, leaving them with mini-facelifts and almond-shaped eyes.

I was lucky enough to spend some summer time with my grandparents when I was young. My grandpa made the best breakfasts. He would fix silver dollar pancakes and sausage links. I had never had pancakes that small before. He sat at the breakfast table with a cup of coffee and the morning paper- then proceed to his chair in the living room with the crossword puzzle.

I always gravitated toward his shop in the garage. It smelled so good. Shavings and saw dust from several different types of wood gave it a great perfume. My grandpa wasn't always building cabinets or making multicolored vases. Sometimes he sat in his shop watching the news or a baseball game on his small black and white TV, and I imagine he was enjoying the smell too.

One summer he flew me home in the plane he had built. I thought he was the coolest man in the world. I still do.

One of my favorite memories is of my grandpa sitting in a chair at my mom's house with my youngest daughter on his lap. I think she was around two-years-old. He was reading her a Christmas book and she looked up at him just like I had at her age- with wonderment and love.

I didn't get to see my grandfather much in the last ten years. He and my grandmother moved to Oklahoma, which always seemed worlds away. Two years ago I drove with my mom and aunt from California to Oklahoma to visit. I was surprised at how much older my grandpa looked, while still looking the same. Does that make sense? He didn't get around as well as he used to, but you could still find him in a favorite chair with a thriller/suspense novel and his quick wit and wonderful sense of humor were never lacking.

Although my kids didn't get to know him as well as I would have liked, they were lucky enough to spend some time with him and through stories from myself and my mother, they were surrounded by him in spirit. His passing makes me very sad, but I am so grateful to have known him. I will not forget him, and I will not let my children forget him either.


**If anyone has any other pictures they would like to share, please email them to me and I will add them to this post.

Although I have had strong feelings about them before, it wasn't until my mother called and stirred up the rage in me that I thought I would post my feelings on the Twilight series books. First of all, let me preface this by saying that I have read the first three books. Curiosity and my inner desire for them to improve drove me to it, but I just couldn't get myself to finish the whole series.

That being said, I want to express my horror that these books have received good reviews from any reviewer who knows anything about good literature. While I admit, the story was at first compelling and entertaining, they are written atrociously, with bad character development, little profluence and negligent editing.

I know the public likes a good underdog story — Stephenie Meyer after all is an LDS mom, just doing what she loves (this is where I stick my finger down my throat and exclaim "gag me"), but these books do not do her any favors. As an LDS woman I truly wanted to root for Meyer, but after I read the books I kind of wish she hadn't advertised her religion. She gives Mormon writers everywhere a bad name.

I have a theory. Meyer's books became popular at first because of LDS women across the nation. They read the books, (by a woman like themselves) and then passed them on to their daughters, who then passed them on to their friends and the cycle began. Shame on you original readers. I hear all the time about how finally there was a PG-13 love story for LDS teens, but mothers, have you truly read the books? The main character, Bella, may not have had sex with her pale and rather uninteresting vampire, but she sure didn't have purity in thought either. Is this really the type of drivel you want your children reading? There are so many amazing books out there and surprise, surprise, you can actually find good teen fiction that isn't written by an LDS author.

The blame for the Twilight phenomenon, or tragedy as I have come to know it, should not entirely be placed on the reader. The world could have been spared from the stilted writing and bad dialogue if the publisher had not been so greedy and the editor of the books had actually given some editorial direction. If I am wrong and in fact, the editor did do their job, then why didn't the books get sent back to Meyer again and again for revision? The only reason to publish books like these before they are fully developed and reworked is to make money. The publisher may have read the story line and with their knowledge of the current market saw a gold mine. The books alone sold like hot cakes, but then there are the movies and posters, action figures and Barbie dolls. It is sad to say that money will triumph over good, solid literature these days.

I will say now that I did not write this post to purposely stir the pot and poke sticks at those who already have their hackles raised over criticism of the books. I simply felt the need to get my opinion on this series out there and just so you know, I am not the only one who feels this way. If you don't believe me just look up the reader reviews on goodreads.com.