Gram's Special Vegetable Beef Soup

It's been 25 years since I lost one of my best friends, my precious mother-in-law, known to all as "Gram". I can remember stopping in on weekends at her house and walking in to the smell of the most delicious smell, her famous vegetable beef soup. She created the recipe and one day when she was preparing it, I took notes and am so glad I did. It has become a tradition in our home to cook a pot every now and then. The special ingredient is the "Bay Leaf". I actually put several of them in. Steph started a family tradition that if you get the bay leaf in your bowl, it brings good luck. I had the pleasure of teaching my daughter how to make this special soup recently and when her hubby tasted it, he said he loved it so much, he wanted to marry it.....Now, that's a compliment!
I passed the recipe on to my sister in Louisiana and it was a big hit with her family. Today while I was cooking the soup, my hubby kept saying how it smelled so good. I can feel Gram's presence when I cook her soup and the smell brings me back to her kitchen. I even use her spoon that she used, which was passed down to me.
Something very strange happened when I tried to snap several pictures of the recipe to post with this picture. The picture would not capture the words of the recipe. It kept turning white, like nothing was there. I don't know the meaning behind that, but, I left it alone.
Thanks Gram for remaining near and dear to my heart. The tradition will go on.