Grandma Honey

Elora and her sisters

2012-01-31T21:59:00.000-08:00

As Elora was trying to talk to me....

It cracked me up the way Violet wanted to be in on it all

Elora was telling me that when her teacher at school needs to visit the restroom,

she puts Elora in charge.

Or sometimes she asks Elora to teach the students a part of their assignment.

I can totally see this happening. Elora's a natural.

Then when we got back to our house she wanted to write all about it in a journal she keeps here.

And look who the girls got to see last weekend!

Erin said Cami was totally captivated by Belle at Disneyland.

A little girl's dream come true.

What's going on in the family

2012-01-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

1. Kylie got a new hair cut! Makes her look older and I would say prettier too, but I don't think she could be any prettier than she is.

2. Chandler did a drawing of Dennis' very favorite Clovis landmark.
He has a talent for capturing detail, as you can see.

3. Mike (Kris' husband) turned 4-0. Yes he did! And all the gang in Logan were present, including the newcomers to the town, Tyler, Karen and Richie.

4. Amy has been busy making wooden letters. No, I have no idea where she finds the time.

5. Dennis' girls had another article printed in Where Woman Cook, so of course we needed to stock up.

And as usual he could not wait til we got home to begin reading....

6. McKay is in San Francisco where he has another interview with the same company he met with in November. McKenna and Grant are in Denver visiting her new little nephew. I wish they were all here with us instead, but we can't have everything.

7. Don't forget to go see Austin as the Anvil Salesman in The Music Man, opening this Thursday. He has the part of the Anvil Salesman! That's where I'll be this weekend.

More later.

What people say when they are dying.

2012-01-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

When my mother was dying nearly 5 years ago,

I became acquainted with several of the hospice nurses who would come to our home

to offer guidance and help with her care.

I was curious about all these hospice workers,

how they work everyday with life and death.

I asked one of the nurses what the religious backgrounds were with most of their employees.

She told me that their backgrounds varied, greatly.

I asked if all their workers believed in God and in an afterlife.

She told me, that yes, they did have some workers who did not believe in God

when they first began working for hospice….

but, she said, after working for hospice, every one of them believes in God and an afterlife.

She said over time working with people who are getting ready to die,

they have seen too much and felt too much to NOT believe in God

You may have seen this article (or below) on CNN news today. Or maybe you didn't.
I think you will find it very interesting. The post I shared right before this one may have seemed harsh, and I believe it was, but I wish that that "mother" could have read this article before she made the decision she did.

Editor's Note: Kerry Egan is a hospice chaplain in Massachusetts and the author of "Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago."
By Kerry Egan, Special to CNN

"As a divinity school student, I had just started working as a student chaplain at a cancer hospital when my professor asked me about my work. I was 26 years old and still learning what a chaplain did.

"I talk to the patients," I told him.

"You talk to patients? And tell me, what do people who are sick and dying talk to the student chaplain about?" he asked.

I had never considered the question before. “Well,” I responded slowly, “Mostly we talk about their families.”

“Do you talk about God?

“Umm, not usually.”

“Or their religion?”

“Not so much.”

“The meaning of their lives?”

“Sometimes.”

“And prayer? Do you lead them in prayer? Or ritual?”

“Well,” I hesitated. “Sometimes. But not usually, not really.”

I felt derision creeping into the professor's voice. “So you just visit people and talk about their families?”

“Well, they talk. I mostly listen.”

“Huh.” He leaned back in his chair.

A week later, in the middle of a lecture in this professor's packed class, he started to tell a story about a student he once met who was a chaplain intern at a hospital.

“And I asked her, 'What exactly do you do as a chaplain?' And she replied, 'Well, I talk to people about their families.'” He paused for effect. “And that was this student's understanding of faith! That was as deep as this person's spiritual life went! Talking about other people's families!”

The students laughed at the shallowness of the silly student. The professor was on a roll.

“And I thought to myself,” he continued, “that if I was ever sick in the hospital, if I was ever dying, that the last person I would ever want to see is some Harvard Divinity School student chaplain wanting to talk to me about my family.”

My body went numb with shame. At the time I thought that maybe, if I was a better chaplain, I would know how to talk to people about big spiritual questions. Maybe if dying people met with a good, experienced chaplain they would talk about God, I thought.

Today, 13 years later, I am a hospice chaplain. I visit people who are dying – in their homes, in hospitals, in nursing homes.   And if you were to ask me the same question - What do people who are sick and dying talk about with the chaplain? – I, without hesitation or uncertainty, would give you the same answer. Mostly, they talk about their families: about their mothers and fathers, their sons and daughters.

They talk about the love they felt, and the love they gave. Often they talk about love they did not receive, or the love they did not know how to offer, the love they withheld, or maybe never felt for the ones they should have loved unconditionally.

They talk about how they learned what love is, and what it is not.    And sometimes, when they are actively dying, fluid gurgling in their throats, they reach their hands out to things I cannot see and they call out to their parents: Mama, Daddy, Mother.

What I did not understand when I was a student then, and what I would explain to that professor now, is that people talk to the chaplain about their families because that is how we talk about God. That is how we talk about the meaning of our lives. That is how we talk about the big spiritual questions of human existence.

We don't live our lives in our heads, in theology and theories. We live our lives in our families: the families we are born into, the families we create, the families we make through the people we choose as friends.
This is where we create our lives, this is where we find meaning, this is where our purpose becomes clear.

Family is where we first experience love and where we first give it. It's probably the first place we've been hurt by someone we love, and hopefully the place we learn that love can overcome even the most painful rejection.

This crucible of love is where we start to ask those big spiritual questions, and ultimately where they end.
I have seen such expressions of love: A husband gently washing his wife's face with a cool washcloth, cupping the back of her bald head in his hand to get to the nape of her neck, because she is too weak to lift it from the pillow. A daughter spooning pudding into the mouth of her mother, a woman who has not recognized her for years.

A wife arranging the pillow under the head of her husband's no-longer-breathing body as she helps the undertaker lift him onto the waiting stretcher.

We don't learn the meaning of our lives by discussing it. It's not to be found in books or lecture halls or even churches or synagogues or mosques. It's discovered through these actions of love.

If God is love, and we believe that to be true, then we learn about God when we learn about love. The first, and usually the last, classroom of love is the family.

Sometimes that love is not only imperfect, it seems to be missing entirely. Monstrous things can happen in families. Too often, more often than I want to believe possible, patients tell me what it feels like when the person you love beats you or rapes you. They tell me what it feels like to know that you are utterly unwanted by your parents. They tell me what it feels like to be the target of someone's rage.   They tell me what it feels like to know that you abandoned your children, or that your drinking destroyed your family, or that you failed to care for those who needed you.

Even in these cases, I am amazed at the strength of the human soul. People who did not know love in their families know that they should have been loved. They somehow know what was missing, and what they deserved as children and adults.

When the love is imperfect, or a family is destructive, something else can be learned: forgiveness. The spiritual work of being human is learning how to love and how to forgive.

We don’t have to use words of theology to talk about God; people who are close to death almost never do.

We should learn from those who are dying that the best way to teach our children about God is by loving each other wholly and forgiving each other fully - just as each of us longs to be loved and forgiven by our mothers and fathers, sons and daughters."

A doctor aborted the wrong twin

2012-01-28T20:43:00.000-08:00

This is just the saddest story, on so many levels. But it's also thought provoking. Makes me realize how shallow some people are. Not to mention heartless. Do some people not get life at all?

A lady in Australia was told one of her twins would be born with a serious heart condition, so she wanted her Dr to abort that twin at 32 weeks. That's just 8 weeks before the due date. And the Dr accidentally killed the "wrong one."

The story.

Richie sends his birthday wishes too!

2012-01-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

This made me so happy I just had to share. I haven't even shown it to Grandpa yet. He's too busy talking to Richie's Dad on the phone right now. He's going to love this!!

Look what baby Grant sent to Grandpa!

2012-01-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

This just shows a little of the picture poster Grant sent...I couldn't get it all in our printer.

But you get the idea. I wish I had taken a video of Grandpa opening it up.

He was SO excited. There is just expression after expression of our little guy.

And if you are not familiar with the dynamics of our family,

you won't know the unlikelyhood that Grant would look like Grandpa Dennis.

As Dennis admired his wonderful gift he said, "This has McKenna written all over it!"

It does indeed!

And no, it's not Dennis' birthday yet. Not quite.

So this was a total surprise.

Grant I'm sure is getting stronger by the day....take a look.

And trust me, I've held those braces in my hands and they are not light.

Mexican Casserole

2012-01-24T22:15:00.000-08:00

Do you want to know something you can quickly fix when you are hungry and looking for something filling?
This is it:

I made this last night....the picture is from a magazine. But I made so many changes that I won't even give you the original recipe. And mine did pretty much look like this picture, minus the tomatoes, since they aren't in season right now.

Here's what I did:

1. 6 tortillas....I used a corn/wheat blend but any kind will do.

2. Brown 1/2 lb gr turkey (or beef) with 1 chopped onion and 1/2 green pepper.
add 1 1/2 T taco seasoning and 3/4 c water and let simmer a few minutes

3. one generous cup of frozen corn.

4. 16 oz can of refried beans mixed with 1/2 cup salsa

So you start with the 2 tortillas flat on the bottom of the casserole dish sprayed with Pam. Then add 1/3 of each mixture till you have everything layered. Then you top with 3/4 c cheese and bake at 350" till bubbly hot.

We loved this but it was a bit too hot for me even though I used mild salsa. Dennis thought it was just right, but next time I will cut the salsa down to 1/4 cup or maybe even leave it out entirely and just put it on the table to use as a topping.

This is a recipe you can play with to get it how you like. We will definitely make it again.

Then today I was gone a lot, so I just made a quick dinner of breakfast,

and asked Den to set the table.

It wasn't till I sat down to eat that I noticed something a bit strange.

Den really had no idea how I ended up with 3 forks.

It was fun laughing while we ate tonight.

I don't know what to title this

2012-01-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

Dennis and I attended a funeral Friday morning which included a complete Catholic Mass. This is far from the first Mass I've attended, but I always find them interesting.

Friday morning was different though. The Catholic Priest (I hope I am identifying his title correctly) actually quoted a Mormon during his talk. He mentioned Steven L Covey's book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." I have never even read this book, but I've heard quotes from it for years. But hearing about it in a Catholic Mass? I admit I was surprised.

Quoting Covey, this Priest talked about how we should "begin with the end in mind." That we should envision our own funeral and think about the words that we wish to be said about ourselves. This can help us visualize what we value the most. To begin with the end simply means to start with our destination in mind. That gives us a sense of where we are in our life.

I love it when religions come together in shared beliefs. I personally think the Catholics and the Mormons, and many other religions, have more common beliefs than we have differences. After all, we both pray to the same God. We are all brothers and sisters.

Why have I not read this book before?

I don't know, but I'm very interested in doing so now.

I know my Mom read it.

I can still picture it sitting there by the couch in her living room.

The funeral was for Bill Pieper. He was/is the brother of Rose Emler, who we lived across the street on Fairmont most of our growing up years. We just knew him as "Uncle Bill"

The picture below shows "Uncle Bill" on his wedding day back in 1961. About in the center of this picture is Rose Emler (Uncle Bill's sister) along with her 4 children surrounding her: Robbie, Terri, and Karen and holding baby Tammy. Anyway this was 51 years ago...the same year we moved across the street from them. And somewhere through those years, they have become like family.

Go here and roll your cursor over the map

to see how religions break down state by state.

Interesting to watch.

Let's just Hide the Mother under a Blanket!

2012-01-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

Back in the day. And I do mean way back in the day...did you know it was popular to photograph small children while sitting on their mother's lap...while the mom was completely covered by a blanket?

Then later the lumpy Mom would be hidden further by a mat before the picture was placed in a frame.

So what did they tell the children?
"Don't worry, Mommy's still here with you but we don't want her in the picture so we're covering her up."

And just why did they not want Mom in the picture?

This one is so well done, you can hardly tell!

Perhaps they had a few hidden Dads back then too?

Oh yes, let's just stick Mom behind the drapes.

Oh my, photography has changed through the years.

My nervous husband

2012-01-18T22:47:00.000-08:00

Dennis was tense the entire drive over to Sweet Tomatoes tonight. He said it was a bad idea to take the twins there, and it would never work.

I think he was reflecting back earlier today when we took the twins to the care center to see a few of our friends there.

They only have it in them to be "good" for so long.

Don't get me wrong, he adores the twins as much as I do. But like he reminds me, they are TWO and there are 2 of them. He thinks it's best to just love on 2 year olds at home, and not bring them out in public until they are civilized.

My argument was
1) At least I would not have to clean up after dinner and
2) It would put us that much closer to bedtime after it was over. (no offense intended, we just get tired)

On the drive there I put my hand on his arm and said, "Just remember, we can't always change the circumstance, but we can change our attitude." Good thing he has a sense of humor.

As we were going towards the door of the restaurant I told the twins, "Just pretend you are FOUR."

That seemed to work because look how well they behaved!

We had very little of this....

And I just freaked out once when I took them both to the bathroom.

It wasn't the cleanest thing I ever saw and I kept saying, "Don't touch anything!"

But we made it and they were so wonderful, we even went to see how my Dad was doing since his surgery yesterday. He amazes me! We're talking recovering from 2 incisions in his chest where they replaced his batteries....and this was just yesterday. He claims to have no pain!

We give the babies back to their parents tomorrow.
Good thing we will still be related because I know we will miss them.
And as soon as we have a good nap, and a good night sleep, we will miss them even more.

Just about every time I cough or sneeze, Téa says to me, "Are you okay?"
And I answer, "Yes, I'm fine. It's just a cough."
Téa: "Ohhhh, is it an owie?"
Me: "No, it doesn't hurt. Just a cough."
This is when Jonas joins in: "A cough? Do you need medicine?"

It plays out like a symphony. Nearly word for word every time. And Jonas always come in at the end.
Dennis laughs and says, "I've never heard anything like this."
I will miss all their sweet sympathy!

This is why I love 2 year olds..

2012-01-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

They are eccentric!
They wake up each morning totally trying to relive the day before.
Téa had barely opened her eyes this morning (but Jonas not quite)
and she wanted her Belle costume back on.

They play like no one could possibly get hurt.

And then they are the first to check out the owies, when they do.

They dance with their entire heart and soul

If they like something, then they REALLY like it.

They are totally gripped by The Lion King.

Have you ever met a 2 year old who wasn't??

(How do you like the way Den duct taped some old bedspreads over the dusty concrete?)

They are so excited about their next adventure

that I could hear them softly giggling on their way up to the door to Joy School this morning.

And I think Jonas would say the best part of his day is

when nap time is over and he gets to be reunited with his Téa again.

So yes, Day 2 with the twins.

We are hoping their parents are enjoying every minute together in Vegas!

I have a sneaky daughter in law

2012-01-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

Amy asked Logan if he would take this week off to take care of the kids so she could have a little getaway with her girlfriend Crystal. So he did.

But instead, she had it all planned out that she would surprise him instead. I played into this whole thing by asking Logan if I could have the twins for a few hours today. This gave Amy an excuse to bring them over, complete with clothes for the next few days.

I haven't heard yet how it went, but at 2:20 she was planning to tell Logan he had 25 minutes to pack. And at 4:40 this afternoon they both flew to Las Vegas together!

So Den and I have the twins until Thursday.
Amy gave me permission to do this all Grandma Honey style.

I'll explain.

First off I had their "hospital lunches" all ready and waiting for them.

They scarfed nearly every bit of these down.

When I served them spaghetti for dinner Jonas took just a few bites and said, "I give plate back." Téa wasn't interested in it either. Before Amy left she said, "If they don't like what we are eating then we don't make them anything else." but then she added this very key phrase, "But you are Grandma, so you can do what you want."

So away the spaghetti went, and I gave them English muffins coated with honey and mandarin oranges instead. No complaints here.

Off to the store we went to have some fun.

Grandpa cautioned them to keep their feet and bodies inside the car.

If I were the Mom, I would have said at this point, "Okay you need to get out. You aren't following the rules."

But no, I didn't say that.

And I definitely would not have bought them these Disneyland looking cups.

I rarely ever bought my kids anything extra, and certainly not in the grocery store.

Nor would I have let them hang out looking like little beggars.

Then home for a bedtime snack of Banana Shakes.

Look at the text we just got from the traveling parents:

and just a little FYI....what Amy meant by "He acted way better than I thought."....is Logan rarely shows much emotion, even when he is really happy, or even when he's sad.

He's a stoic kind of guy.

So I guess this adventure pushed him over the top.

My word for 2012

2012-01-14T22:22:00.000-08:00

I don't have one.
But I'll explain what I do have.

I've noticed many people select a word they will emphasize and work on each year. I think that's great but I've not been prompted with a word, or quite frankly, looked for one. But I have had phrases come to me just as clear as can be...over and over in my head to where it almost feels like someone is shouting it. I better listen up right?

Last January this phrase came to me right after Christmas, "Teach us tolerance and love." I would even wake up hearing this in my dreams. On several different nights. It's actually a line from a hymn. It made me think lots about accepting those who are different from myself. Just because I may not understand someone and what they do, does not mean they are wrong and I am right.

I tried to focus on this phrase through out the year. I even gave my Mother's Day talk in church about tolerance and love.

I am way far from perfect or anywhere close to it. I have lots of work to do on myself. I still mess up a lot. But I do try, and I will continue to try.

2012's phrase came again to me without my trying or looking for it. It just arrived in the mail one day before Christmas. I didn't recognize it at first, even though when I read it, it stuck with me. I pondered about it a lot. It was a line from one of the Christmas letters I received. From a woman I have loved and admired for years.

This line from her letter sounds simple, yet, it's all here. The reason for our existence. The map of our happiness.

I keep hearing in my head, "as we strive to become more like Him." That's what it's all about.

I can get frustrated because sometimes in an attempt to be helpful and more loving, it ends up having sort of the opposite affect. I think that's why I appreciated this video so much. I can relate to this little girl. Perhaps we all feel like this sometimes, I'm not sure. But I do.

But I also have great examples around me. Like my children.

As you may know, we had to stay in a hotel over the holidays because of water damage to our home. So on Christmas Eve we all found a paper by our door asking if we would like maid service on Christmas Day. I thought, "of course, we need it." I had done lots of cooking in our room and was anxious to have all our onion peels, etc taken out, and the sticky kitchen floor mopped. So I marked yes on our paper, and put it outside our door as requested by the hotel.

The next morning I got up early and look what I saw by both of my sons and daughters in law's doors.

Their trash, along with the note....and they both,

by coincidence as far as I know,

signed them the very same way:

Lightening the load of the maids on Christmas Day.
Why didn't I think of that??

I have great teachers in my life.

A few more of my FAVORITE Christmas Gifts

2012-01-12T21:47:00.000-08:00

Family Photos!

Brock, Erin, Elora, Campbell, and Violet

Logan, Amy, Austin, Kylie, Chandler, Laurynn, Macie, Jonas, Téa

McKay, McKenna, and Grant

Karen, Tyler and Richie

What changes in just one year's time!

Laminate advice

2012-01-10T21:34:00.000-08:00

No, I don't have any advice. I'm looking for some.

I do not like making decorating decisions. Den and I really do love the floors we had but we found out they were discontinued last year.

The company we bought it from, Wilsonart, also quit making laminate entirely, just last year also. When we chose that flooring in 2005 (the day after our last son left on his mission), I just asked the company what their top seller was, and went with that. It really worked well for us and went well with everything.

I also liked the shine on our laminate. It looked like I waxed it which of course I didn't. People would say my house looked clean even when it wasn't.

Now the ones I look at either are so glossy they look plastic and outdated, or they look like real wood with no shine at all. I guess most people would like the wood look right?
I'm trying to.
Laminate has really changed in 6 years.

We are in the process of getting quotes on what it would cost to replace our flooring. And what our insurance is willing to pay remains to be seen. We should be seeing those figures in the next day or 2. Of course we are hoping the replacement quotes/Insurance figures will match somewhat.

Here's what I'd like to know. Do you prefer this look in laminate?

I think it's called the beveled look. The samples we've seen truly look like wood, no doubt. The way I understand, this is more modern looking. But one carpet representative told us today, he sees it as a fad

Or do you like the more traditional look? It all just flows together.

You can tell me, I won't be hurt.

Seriously I want to know what you think. I'm not just looking for someone to agree with me. We are definitely still in the looking stage of all this. I'm open to learn.

My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe is drying out...

2012-01-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough couple days for Den's daughter Kris and her husband Mike. Actually for their whole family.

Here's the email Kris sent out to their customers:

 Dear Customers,

Mike and I received a call at 6 AM this morning with news that a pipe had burst in our building. Unfortunately, a lot of water damage has taken place on our main floor and basement. Fortunately, a majority of our inventory is OK and the disaster crews are here now soaking up more than 800 gallons of water. Needless to say, we are in a mess, but I am confident that the experts will be able to take care of this in a timely and professional manner. I also have the very best employees in the world helping me right now. I love them all. 

Thank you for your understanding. We are hopeful that business will be back up and running first thing tomorrow morning!

All My Best,

Kris

And then again, this morning:

Dear Friends,

Our shop will be closed again today due to flood damage.  With the industrial strength fans going on the floors, fixtures out of place, and meeting with insurance adjusters, another day is needed. This has been one of those shop owner nightmares, but it will pass and I know we'll get through it. Thank you friends for all your encouragement. It has meant more than you know. I will keep you posted on the progress and update you on when we will be back up and running. 

All My Best,

Kris

On a happier note, especially for me, look what Kim and Kris gave us for Christmas:

Isn't it beautiful?

I have been keeping it hidden in our bedroom for now to protect it from the aftermath of our own flood.

If you'd like to see the video of My Girlfriend's Quilt Shoppe, before the damages of course, go here.

Snow has hit Utah...finally

2012-01-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

Of course from California, we just look at the pictures in awe.

Emily, Robbie, and Matt

Must be nice to have a park so close to their home. I wonder if they call them Snow Parks?

Amazing to think Karen, Tyler, and baby Rich are now living in Logan also.
Our kids are practically neighbors.

How cool is that!

Meanwhile, back in Provo.
Baby cousin Grant prefers to keep his legs like this:

McKenna says she will push his legs back down,
and he just puts them right back up there again.
By the time this is over, he's going to have stellar abs!

Coughing, House Hunters, and Hailey

2012-01-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

My Mom use to say, "If you want it to rain, don't bring an umbrella." A Murphy Law sort of thing.

On another note, when I would say to my Mom something like, "Oh that never happens to me." she would say with a sweet little smirk on her face, "Never say never." And guess what? She was usually right.

So one would think I would learn.

I thought of my Mom last night. Would you believe it was just hours after I wrote on my blog that Pulsatilla always works on my cough~~~that I suddenly had a cough nothing would touch. Finally after a few doses of Pulsatilla, Vicks on the soles of my feet, the vaporizer on, and a spoonful of Robitussin, I was able to quiet down and fall asleep about 2am.

The cough was much better today, practically non existent, but a fever took over where the cough left off.

I really thought I would escape the virus that ran through our house (and hotel) over the holidays. McKenna~McKay~Grant~Tyler~Richie~even Dennis came down with it.

Karen and I were the lucky ones, or so I thought. Thankfully she's still fine!

It's been such a long time since I've experienced a fever. I had forgotten how much it takes out of a person. I actually watched three episodes of House Hunters. I had no idea it costs over $450,000. for a 500 sq foot apartment in Manhattan. There wasn't even a bedroom in that apartment. Just a Murphy Bed to pull down from a wall at night. And if that isn't crazy enough, it was on the 22 floor!

I also found a new APP for Dennis in next month's issue of Good Housekeeping that arrived today. He can check his heart rate by just placing his finger over the camera on his iPhone. Azumio's Instant Heart Rate.

If I learn anything else tomorrow, I'll let you know.

Meanwhile,

Look what Hailey has been up to.
Seeing this was a bright spot in my day.

What a little sweetheart. We miss her!

Are you coughing?

2012-01-05T19:20:00.000-08:00

I tend to have this cough at night when the air pollution is bad around here. After coughing most of one night about a week ago, I suddenly remembered a remedy I had tried before and it worked. So I looked it up again the next morning.

I found this 4 years ago, not sure where, but I printed it and kept it should I need it someday:

It takes affect almost immediately and lasts for hours. At least for me it does. It may not work for your cough, but so far it's always taken mine right away. A little vial of it costs me just $7.99 at the health food store. I just put 5 little pellets under my tongue. I keep it by my bed and take it when the coughing starts, about 2 am. Nips it right in the bud, as they say.

At least so far it has. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by writing about it.

McK Memories

2012-01-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

McKay and McKenna and baby Grant flew back home to Provo Monday afternoon.

It wasn't exactly the vacay we wanted for them,

but we are still SO HAPPY they were here.

Since it had been 13 whole months since they were last here,

and who knows how long it will be again....so I want to record memories.

First a small video that makes me smile every time.

Look what Grant learned to do while at our house....grab his Dad's cereal bowl!

When it all came crashing to the floor (while we still had floor) Grant's parents were SO PROUD.

Seriously. So excited and happy about his new skill.

McKenna looks so much like her Mom here.

Grant with Great Grandpa

Some say Grant looks like Grandpa Dennis....but...

Grandpa Dennis says Grant looks more like Dallin H Oaks

Does anyone else think so too?

He's crazy about his Mom

But he thinks his Dad is pretty darn cool, too.

And Grant's parents are crazy about each other.

One of my favorite memories this past week is of coming into the McKs room

(don't worry, I knocked first)...

It was mid morning and they were getting ready to go see Jake and Katie....

but when I opened the door they were both on the floor playing the board game Sorry,

while Grant was all snuggly asleep in their bed.

I wish every child in this world could have parents who like one another so much.

We came back from our hotel to have 2 hours of Christmas morning.

Also, on Grant's very first Christmas, Grant was blessed at church!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Grant.

While he looked at our tree, I sang to him and he fell asleep.

Goodbye for now.

We really hope you come back in May for McKay's 10th high school reunion.

10 years?? Are you kidding me???

As hard as it was to say Goodbye to the McKs, and to Karen and Tyler (3 days earlier)...

I have to admit that it's easier now that they are married.

because I know they take excellent care of each other, and their sons.

Book Club 2012

2012-01-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

Just got our Book Club list for the year. I regret I didn't submit the ones I was interested in. For example, I want to read The Happiness Project...which I will on my own, but it would have been fun to discuss it with our group.

I've been reading January's for a while now.
I'm looking forward to March since I loved Mere Christianity.
I'm totally onboard for April.
May I'm not sure about and June, would give me nightmares for the rest of my life
(I remember the story in the news.)
I'm not a big fan of Mark Twain so I may skip July.
August looks semi interesting.
Not sure about Sept-Oct-Nov.
I think I will give Dec's a try.

So here's the list.
Have you read any of these?

BOOK CLUB BOOKS FOR 2012

JANUARY

Daughter in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society

FEBRUARY

North and South
Elizabeth Gaskell

MARCH

The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis

APRIL

The Millionaire Next Door
Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

MAY

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
Laura Hillenbrand

JUNE

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Aron Ralston

JULY

Innocents Abroad

Mark Twain

AUGUST

Glass Castle

Jeanette Walls

SEPTEMBER

Okay for Now
Gary D. Schmidt

OCTOBER

Being George Washington

Glenn Beck

NOVEMBER

On Wings of Faith
Frederick W. Babbel

DECEMBER

The Christmas Train

David Baldacci

This is the part I don't like

2011-12-30T21:40:00.000-08:00

...saying Goodbye.
Who knows how long it will be till we get to see them again, but Karen, Tyler and baby Rich left this afternoon to go back to Logan, Utah.

Here's a few memories of the past 8 days with them.

This little guy may be just 4 months old but he is so aware of everything.

Back at the hotel, Rich watches his parents say goodbye,

leaving his grandparents in charge.

This picture cracks me up.

"What? I'm staying with you?"

Our little guy was rather lost looking in our big hotel bed.

Some more Karen/Tyler/Rich favorites:

Christmas morning I think McKay and Tyler realized they already had their presents!

Grandma Honey lovin on her baby Rich.

And finally, Last night...making the most of each hour.

Knowing the next day Karen and Tyler would start their new life in Logan,

while the McKs will return to Provo on Monday.

(Lovely floor, huh?)

We went to bed at 12:30 and they were still playing strong!

Since both couples won't both be living in Provo anymore,

they have made plans to visit back and forth each month.

Tyler thinks Rich looks like Téa in this picture.

What will Richie look like next time we get to see him again?

He'll probably be crawling but hopefully not walking.

I mean, I hope we don't have to wait that long.

The past 8 days didn't turn out like we had hoped,

but we enjoyed them just the same.

I try to tell myself not to be sad they left, but instead happy they came.

Home is the best place to be

2011-12-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

We all checked out of our hotel rooms yesterday (Hooray !!) ....
but is it any wonder we went out to dinner again last night?

Not back to normal around here yet,

but the last of the machines left last night.

It'll be several weeks before we get the floors in,

but that's okay.

The day was sunny and bright around here

so we had "the boys" outside for awhile.

It's so good to be home!

Rich and Grant

Best Buds

Richie has a thing for Aunt Amy.

Daddy Love

Look at our waitress last night!

Karen, Tyler and baby Richie fly home tomorrow. :(((((

Okay, so we have a question. Both babies have colds right now. Probably simple colds, although it doesn't seem simple because they are not sleeping well at night because of the congestion. When I was raising my babies we were told to just give them a little Triaminc ....that cleared up their congestion enough so they could sleep. But of course now, all baby cold meds have been taken off the market. So what do Moms do now when their babies are congested and can't sleep? Just stay up all night with them? Vicks on the bottom of feet works really good for coughing....but can we use that on little babies' feet? Anyone out there have some advice?

9 reasons I love being a Rozier

2011-12-27T07:16:00.001-08:00

Something about holidays brings certain things to light.

Like our annual Rozier Christmas party.
Looking around I noticed just a few of the reasons I love being a part of my extended family:

1. Always doting aunts ready to view and be excited about the new members of our family...like baby Grant

Aunt Karen loving on Richie

2. We have our unique qualities....like Calvary's hair. She was born with a one pony tail on the side of her head. I've never seen anything like it. What a nice little bonus.

My sister Peggy with her Calvary (her youngest grandchild)

3. Even when members of our family arrive 30 minutes late for dinner because they accidentally go to the wrong party down the street, no one is upset....only happy to see them.

4. At any given Rozier party, during any given year, there are always little ones to love
and give great meaning to life.

Love Téa's apple that I found on one of the tables.

5. We have the best food at our family gatherings!

6. There is always catching up to do. Concern and interest all around the room.

7.We share history together and are so happy to see once again family that travel many hours to be with us.

8. We accept all princesses

9. My Dad is the quiet patriarch of this family, with Susan always by his side.
They, along with my mother, are our foundation.

10. We worry and pray for those who are struggling, and share in their pain. Before our Christmas Eve dinner we all knelt in prayer on behalf of our brother Richard who is in Utah struggling with health challenges.

at Natalie's wedding in Oct

Last Tuesday, the same night we learned he was in ICU, was also the same day we discovered our leaking house. Suddenly I didn't care if our house fell down. I just want my brother to be well again.

Did I always so appreciate my extended family? I don't think so. Not as much as I should have. In years past, sometimes I saw our gatherings as just another thing I had to do, another place we had to be. I'm thankful for those who went to such efforts, and continue to do so...to keep our family traditions going strong.

Update on house: It is still not dry. Day 5 at the Hilton...

another unexpected event....and poor Laurynn !

2011-12-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

So while Christmas Story was running in the hotel lobby yesterday...

and we were having our breakfast, look who's carried in...baby Santa!

A Christmas breakfast to remember.

On the way out to the parking lot McKenna excitedly found this:

Even with many empty rooms at this hotel,

apparently I'm not the only Grandma Honey here!

We broke the rules for 2 hours,

and turned off all the blaring fans in our house so we could have Christmas morning there.

Not what we were suppose to do,

and I usually follow rules to the letter,

but it was Christmas morning and all our presents and tree were at the house....

and try as we did,

we could not figure out a way to transport our tree to the hotel.

Plan B, or maybe C

2011-12-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

So yesterday my Dad called and suggested we ask the insurance to put us all up in hotels. At first I thought it would be more trouble moving, than staying here in this mess. Besides who wants to leave home on Christmas, especially since we have flown our married kids out here to be with us??

Besides, I had already asked the insurance, and they said no.

Then one of the 4 workers taking out our flooring said to me, "Ma'am, you need to make other plans for Christmas. We will be putting 5 industrial fans in here that will be so loud you won't be able to hear yourself talk."

That did it. Several phone calls later (to the insurance) and here we all are at the Hilton Homewood Suites. This is a new, very lovely hotel. We have 3 rooms, all next together. Each complete with a kitchen and living room area.

I keep thinking....and this is all because of one little drip drip drip under our dishwasher! But then I started thinking how often lives are turned upside down because of one little accident (and I don't mean to imply this is one of those times...this isn't a tragedy, of course). I also realize that any problem that can be solved, is really not a problem. Not in the whole scheme of things.

And so we may as well enjoy our stay here, right?

Karen and Tyler's room became party central

with cousins Jake/Katie and Colt/Sami joining in.

The hotel maids are going crazy over Richie.

Grant is enjoying the hotel decor.

It's been tricky making Christmas dinner in a hotel room, but it's working....sort of.

With some help from the front desk...letting me use their bigger bowls.

So with no car (we are sharing 2 cars between 3 couples of course)
I have time to cook and blog, simultaneously.
While listening to Adele... being I have no Christmas music on my IPOD.
Multi tasking at its finest.

Dennis knows I am feeling stressed, and I even got up at 2am to make lists

of all we need to do to have a hotel Christmas.

We woke up this morning and he said to me, "I will do anything to help you. Anything."

I have hardly seen him since then with all the errands,

and crisis control at our wet house,

and last minute shopping and delivering gifts I sent him on.

I don't usually talk like this but I looked him in the eyes and said,

"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow."

I am so thankful He gave me my husband. And my entire family.

A Christmas to Remember!

2011-12-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

The insurance claims department called and said they needed to take our flooring up now.

So it's going to be an interesting Christmas.

But we are so very thankful to be together.

More pictures later but for now....

Rich Boy, as they call him.

Isn't he totally adorable?!!

And sweet little Grant got his new braces today!

So far, he seems to not mind them so much.

More later.

Merry Christmas!

Hailey got baptized today

2011-12-22T19:55:00.000-08:00

We wish we could have been both here, and also there in Sacramento today.
But with the McKs here along with baby Grant...
and Karen and Tyler flying in today (more on that later), it was not meant to be.
However, THANK YOU so much Susan for taking these pictures for us!

Great Grandpa Rozier with Hailey

Hailey and her Dad

with Uncle Jordan

Great Grandpa, Aunt Whitney, Great Aunt Robin,

Brooke, McKenzie, and Hailey

I'm certain Hailey's Mom was there in spirit.

No doubt about that.

I heard they read a letter from Hailey's mom at her baptism.
I would sure love to read that.

Our prayers continue to be with Hailey's Papa and Chickie in Alpine, Utah.

It's squishy around here.

2011-12-22T06:54:00.001-08:00

For those who have asked....

You know how we thought our fridge was leaking? Well it wasn't the fridge.

We had had a repairman out last Saturday to install a new motor into our dishwasher. 3 days later is when we noticed water coming up from our laminate flooring. That is when we also noticed a continual leak under our DISHWASHER.

So we called Sears back...they sent someone out that day....who claimed the part that was leaking had NOTHING to do with the work that was done last Saturday. They claim it is pure COINCIDENTAL that our dishwasher began leaking right after that job was completed. And that went on for 3 DAYS before we realized it. All the while destroying our floors. And possible our bottom kitchen cabinets...we're not sure about that yet.

So we have water under our kitchen tile floor, and under our laminate flooring in our dining room and family room. We can hear squish squish squish whenever we walk. All that flooring will need to come out.

For now, we just want to enjoy our kids and grandbabies and the floors will just have to wait until after they leave. I just can't see us taking a jack hammer to our tile before Christmas.
If Sears will not take responsibility, our home owners will. Or they better.

The pioneers would laugh at us that I've been complaining about having no working dishwasher. But at least we have water again, unlike Tuesday evening...which means we also have flushing toilets again.

Tyler and Karen and baby Richie arrive today!
Good thing Grant and Rich are too little too crawl yet. They might get soaked down there.

I love saying "Grant and Rich"
Maybe some day they will run a bank together.

The McKs are here !! and so is the leaking water....

2011-12-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

Have you ever gotten emotional talking to Sears refrigerator repair?

Well this is how it all started....

I was having a nice little lunch with the McKs and baby Grant who arrived yesterday
from Provo, USA (as Den calls it)

We are Soooo excited to have them here with us.

When suddenly there was a knock at the door. So McKay got up in the middle of this picture to answer it.

I think baby Grant was a bit offended by his Daddy's sudden departure, as you can see.

It was Aunt Amy and Uncle Logan who dropped in to see Grant for the first time!

Amy suddenly exclaimed, "Dad, he looks like you !"

Now that she mentioned it, he does have a Shelley look about him.

Grant and Aunt Amy hit it right off.

Isn't he such a cute little bundle?

So while all this great conversation was going on.......

I was out in the garage trying to set up at appointment with the Sears refrigerator repair man.

I was explaining to him that suddenly we noticed

every time we use water or ice from the fridge door,

we see water coming up from our wood floors!

"Oh yes Ma'am, we can get someone over there hopefully on Thursday."

"Thursday? Oh no, we need someone to come out today! Water is coming up from under our wood flooring. We have a house full of Christmas company. We have to be able to use our refrigerator!"

"I'm sorry Ma'am. It's Christmas time and we are booked until AT LEAST Thursday."

"Oh please can you somehow work us in today?"

"No sorry Ma'am. I can't. then there was a pause and he said very excitedly in over the top animation, "Hold on Ma'am. Hold on! Something just came up... An appointment TODAY came up that YOU can have. YES!! December 19th TODAY we can be there. Oh Ma'am...we will be there for you!"

"Oh yes, thank you very much!"

"Your repair man will be there TODAY Ma'am. TODAY !"

"Merry Christmas Sir. and BLESS YOU for helping us."

"Merry Christmas to you too! And please... have a ve-rrry Blessed Christmas."

That's when I started to tear up...there in the garage (since it was too noisy in our kitchen.) I hung up the phone and then told myself, "Okay, calm down. This is all about a refrigerator."

But really it's not, you know.
It's about a kind man...who was so happy to help me.
And it's Christmas time.
It can really bring out the best in us all.

PS We are so animatedly excited for Karen and Tyler to get off the plane on THURSDAY. We will finally get to meet baby RICHIE !!!!!
They would have come on the same flight as the McKs if it weren't for one minor detail: They moved to Logan today !

Christmas 1957

2011-12-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

All the little girls in this video are me. The boys are my older brother Richard, and my younger one, John ...when my parents just had 3 kids.
We were just a simple little family back in 1957.

Little did they know they would have FIVE more children.

Years ago my Dad had our reel to reels put on a VHS. Apparently he let the company choose the music.

There are some Christmas Eve sleeping shots, and then Christmas morning waking up. Sorry, it's not in order, and it may be 2-3 Christmases because I can't imagine we had that many different outfits.

Christmas in the 1950s

2011-12-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

No one has time to read much this week, so I will show you some pictures.
Not my pictures, but I can relate to them all too well.

(from Reminisce Magazine)

1957

This is a little girl in Union City, Indiana in 1957.

The best gift I ever got as a little girl was a dollhouse similar to this one when I was 5 years old.

I've never recovered from the excitement when my brother and I got up in the middle of the night

to see what Santa brought us.

There it was in the dark.

I could feel it but not see it and I was SO crazy excited.

Then we both went back to bed and waited...

1951

These 2 girls lived in West Branch, Iowa.

I remember having those same chairs and that same high chair for my doll.

this looks like the 1960s

But I had to include this charming family from Washington, DC

because I had forgotten all about those headbands until I saw this picture.

This is how we wore our hair...with the headband over our ears!

My sister Robin was especially into this...
she had this one white headband she wore over her ears daily for years.

or maybe it was weeks.

Tomorrow I will show a video of our Christmas back in 1957.

A Joyschool Christmas!

2011-12-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

So glad we got to see our grandbaby twins perform. Along with their Joyschool classmates, Caden and Tage.

Téa refused to put on her Mary costume, unlike her brother who was proudly Joseph. (A very nice change from Woody, I might add.)

The twins 5 older siblings helped out by being shepherds. However, 2 of them did not want to be on camera....so I had to do lots of maneuvering around the room, plus editing. But I DO understand. I don't like to have a camera on me either.

I think everyone was trying to figure out the doll's eyes. They looked way too real.
Macie was not sure what to think.

Amy's mom was wondering about it too.

Kylie couldn't figure it out either.

Finally Kylie gave up, and decided to accept the doll for who he is.

Aren't these two little guys adorable? Caden and Tage....Jonas and Téa's Joyschool buddies.

What a way to advertize.

2011-12-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me these.
I'm not sure where she got them,
and the links don't work anymore,
....and I don't know why they make me laugh, but they do.

The happenings around here

2011-12-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

1. My Christmas baking, and most of my cooking have come to a halt
since our dishwasher died and I am too spoiled to wash everything by hand.

However, I have discovered this little gadget that probably everyone knows about but me.

I don't have to put half my arm in the dish water with this thing.

2. I ran into grandchild #18 at Kohls last week.

Violet!

I love this little girl!

3. We are having bed problems.

I got rid of the twin bed in our playroom so we could invest in a full size one

since all 8 of our children are married now.

We bought a Costco memory Nova Foam since it had very good ratings.

So it arrived and it's way too firm.

SO then we bought a memory topper and that helped some but not enough.

THEN I bought a padded plush mattress pad to go over THAT.

Now the bed sits high....I'm not sure if I want such a tall bed in the play room.

Has anyone tried the Nova Foam bed? Did you like it?

Elora slept in it Saturday night and LOVED it.

She came out once and said she couldn't sleep with Cami making so much noise talking

...so I said she could sleep on the couch.

Instead, she turned right around and went back to this bed.

I don't think she wanted to give up that great comfy-ness.

4. It is way too hard to grocery shop with the twins these days

so Amy brought by Téa to hang out with me today.

Jonas is really good at shopping but Téa likes to eat the candy bars out of the bins,

and do whatever else she feels like.

She fits in better at Grandma Honey's house.

5. Thank you Kim for sending this picture of you and Emily!!

She is looking more and more like a full fledged teenager with every new picture.

6. Grant does not like his feet braces. This has not been a fun or smooth adjustment, at all.

7. We picked up Dad and Susan to take them to Sweet Tomatoes tonight.

Some man who later we learn is named Fred, comes up and excitedly says,

"Oh lookie here, it's Dick Rozier!"

My Dad is such a legend in the running world.
This is far not the first time people have recognized him.

Fred suddenly gets a call from Lillian needing a hair cut.

He turns to us and says, "Believe it or not, I'm a barber."

He was trying to work her hair cut around Gun Smoke
which he says comes on everyday at 1pm

on channel 43.6.

When we took Dad and Susan home we got to look around their Christmassy apartment.

When I saw these wreaths on the back of their chairs

I remembered that I meant to do this

to our chairs this year!!...but forgot all about them.

Aren't they beautiful?!

8. Wait there's more. On the way home tonight we needed to stop at Whole Foods

and happened to walk by this display of Pumpkin cake mixes.

Do you see anything wrong with this?

Just add pumpkin?!?

A very sweet graveside service

2011-12-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

Dennis and I just got back from Bakersfield

where we attended the graveside service of our neighbor's 89 year old father, WT Garvin.

The Garvins are like family to us.

We have lived right next door to them for 21 years.

Our children grew up together.

Our neighbor Terry, and his son Brett, conducted and carried out the service today, making it all the more special. Once again I am reminded that all we take with us when we leave this life is what we have given away. We heard story after story about this great man. And what made him so great? He was continually doing acts of service with nothing expected or wanted in return. All throughout his life. His own father died when he was only 16 and he got a job to support his mother. And as he grew in years, he reached out to those around him because like he use to say, he knew what it felt like to be hungry.

Terry concluded the service looking at his father's casket and saying this is not the end, but a beginning instead.

I am reminded of a quote by Gordon B. Hinckley: "Death, although bitter to observe,, is not the end, but is, rather, only another graduation from which we go on to a better life."

"Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see." Helen Keller

I should have listened to Brock

2011-12-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

Do you remember LPs? And am I the only one old enough to remember 45s and 78s?? Then somewhere cassettes came out. I had so many of those! Loved them.

When CDs appeared I remember asking a musical friend of mine if they really made a difference in quality of sound. She knew I was low on funds at the time, so she paused, and then sort of whispered apologetic like, "Yes, CDs do have a much better quality to them."

But I didn't get my very first CD until 1996, right after my first husband died. I even had trouble figuring out how to open up the case. Music immensely helped us all get through that first traumatic year. I bought cheap CD players and put one in the kitchen, bedrooms, and even my bathroom.

So I got remarried in 1999. Dennis didn't like music playing during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But that was okay, we had him and he was more interesting anyway (than the music I mean). But a few years later, about 2005.... my son Brock told Dennis that CDs were on their way out. Den thought Brock had it wrong. I agreed with Dennis. Why would anyone stop buying CDs?

Well guess what? Brock saw that music train coming.
Check out this link and you'll see what I mean.
You'll see in 30 seconds how the delivery of music has changed over the past nearly 30 years.

Then check out this music video. Something doesn't seem quite right about a 10 year old singing Rolling in the Deep, but what a voice she has! And I like that her brothers are playing the drums, piano, and guitar in the background. Little Angie Vazquez may all be old news to you, but not to me.

Why would I be showing you my Great Grandfather's Will?

2011-12-07T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'll explain.

I don't mean to be judgmental.

I realize back in 1922 it was a different era.

And I hold to my belief, that most people are

just doing the best they know how.

My maternal Grandma, was nearly obsessed with fairness.

If she gave one grandchild something,

then she was sure to give us all something of equal value.

Well I understand now where she was coming from after reading her father's Will !

Grandma did not talk much about her childhood,

but she did say she wanted better for her children,

so I knew there were issues.

However, one time she actually told me

her Mom would introduce her to people as her "homely daughter"

and her sister as "the beautiful daughter."

How sad is that.

Looking at the picture below you can see it wasn't even true.

My Grandma on the left with her sister Gladys.

So my Grandma was determined to parent differently. She said she watched other families, and also read much about parenting. I would love to know what parenting books she read in 1920!

A few months back I found my Great Grandfather's Will on my distant cousin Travis's blog. It sure gave me a glimpse of favoring one child in the family.Was that common back then? I don't know.

And please know, I am not trying to hurt my Great Grandparents name here. My Mom use to say that they probably just parented the way they were parented.

Instead, what I am meaning to do, is honor my Grandmother
for having the courage to change generations.
She succeeded. Just one determined woman made life better for all of us who were yet to be born.
Afterall, she raised my mother, the greatest woman I've ever known. (My Mom would be 82 tomorrow !!)

Go here to see my Great Grandpa's will.
It's old and hard to see so look for the translation directly underneath it.

I just googled parenting in 1920 and found this shocking (to me) quote from a most popular parenting book back then.

Wedding Open House

2011-12-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

Instead of the typical sign in wedding book,

look what this couple came up with

We just all wrote whatever we wanted to the couple, and dropped in this case.

Isn't it so vintagely cute?

Yes, I do believe they really are this happy.
Ashley and Philip
SO DARLING.

And I can't help but love this long little sign on the side of the fridge!

Have to include this picture too, even though it didn't come out very clear.

It would make a lovely gift....since I have always loved it and since I know Dennis reads my blog.

"Kissing the Face of God"

And of course, as we usually do, just as we were leaving this reception, in walks the Mendoza family.

I heard Jenny laughing behind us. It's just so odd about our timing.
We leave and they enter....
I think this is about the 4th time we have been in sync like this!

Go here to see how a family turned their entertainment center into a play kitchen for their daughter Clara.

Do you ever feel like you just can't get it right?

2011-12-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

...Then your heart will go out to this little girl.
This video really did something to me.

I watched this a few weeks ago and it's been on my mind since then. I keep thinking that perhaps our Heavenly Father will feel this way towards us and hopefully say, "Well you didn't get it quite right, but it's okay because you sure did try hard."

Are you being affected by the California winds?

2011-12-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

Before going to bed last night the "top news story" was the severe winds. Den looked out the window and said, "What are they talking about? There isn't even a breeze." I opened the back door and noticed the wind chimes weren't even moving!

But look what we woke up to this morning in our front yard:

I realize we didn't have a tornado or hurricane, but for us, this is about as windy as it ever gets here. Den and I spent this afternoon Christmas shopping, but also sight seeing around our neighborhood. Here's a sampling of what we saw....

I told Den we needed to go check the Fairmont house

(AKA the house I grew up in),

to see if it was still standing. It was. It is.

The cute little house down the road from it,

however, lost half its fence.

Didn't someone once say: It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark?

We should have paid closer attention to the news last night.

On second thought, our fence would have still fallen down.

The winds have left here,
and last I heard they are headed to southern Cal
and on to San Diego.

Den says it's going to be a nice Christmas
for California fence contractors.

Tooth brush story part 2

2011-11-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

If you've had enough of the toothbrush-bribe with cell phone-buy another cell phone for twin brother....then you might not want to watch this video.

But if you are interested, here's how it all turned out. A glitch along the way, but Alls Well That Ends Well, as my Mom use to say to me.

This was taken Monday and Tuesday evening.

Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookie Dough Balls

2011-11-29T23:00:00.000-08:00

Picture from the original post by Mama Pea

I've read about these cookies for a long time now, and finally yesterday I made them! Dennis even likes them.

I like cookies that have substance to them
...not just sugar fluff.
These are oh so good, and filling, too.

I really think you will like these,
unless you don't like peanut butter...or chocolate.
Check out the recipe here.

Téa's obsession

2011-11-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

It all started 5 days ago.

Our 2 year old granddaughter was visiting and spotted a "Belle" toothbrush

in our bathroom that she just HAD to have.

I gave it to her not knowing it would become her constant buddy going everywhere with her.

To say Téa was attached to that toothbrush just doesn't describe.

She would sob and sob if she momentarily lost it...

like when she accidentally left it at Panda Express and Amy had to drive back to retrieve it.

I wonder how it went when she took toothbrush to church yesterday.

Keep in mind these are not posed pictures. This is her every day life.

I worried that she would fall and choke on it, not to mention the germs she was continually ingesting.

(Yes, her brother is still wearing his Halloween costume.)

Finally I thought of a plan.

We would buy her a "Belle" replacement, wrap it as a gift, and present it as a trade.

Dennis said no to the first gift idea...

"You'd be saving Téa from her toothbrush only to have her choke on Belle's top!"

Then I saw this and thought, PERFECT.

Den disagreed, "It'll never work. She'll never give up that toothbrush."

I told him, "Have confidence in me, I know how to work 2 year olds."

So I wrapped up the Belle phone and brought it over last night.

I presented my plan. She thought for a few seconds and then she AGREED.

She tore into her gift.

It was love at first sight.

Could she really live without her Belle toothbrush??

(that was never really hers, by the way....I don't know who it originally belonged to!)

Den and I are both wondering how it went last night after we left.

btw, If you are missing a Belle toothbrush let me know and I will buy you a new one.

Today I am off to solve a new problem (another one that I created).

What was I thinking?....doesn't every Grandma know you can't bring a present to one child

and not bring something for her twin brother?

So today I will be on the hunt for a Woody cell phone.

I hope one exists.

Sunday

A few Thanksgiving Memories of 2011

2011-11-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

Look what Grandma Lynn made for our granddaughters Elora, Cami, and Violet,

and their friends, Hailey, Anna, and Ian !

(Cami was sick on Thanksgiving and camped out in the other room. We missed her!)

She got the pattern off Den's daughter's website YOUCANMAKETHIS

What a forever memory this makes!

I was lucky to get a picture before Ian took his hat off.

But the girls kept them on all afternoon and probably beyond.

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving was over hearing Elora talk to her friend Hailey.

None of us got the whole conversation but a few heard Elora say at one point,

"Don't worry. The store employees kill the turkeys."

(Apparently she was trying to explain Thanksgiving to Hailey)

This reminds me of the time I was trying on clothes with Elora in a Target dressing room.

We suddenly heard a loud noise and by reflex I asked,

"What was that?"

Without skipping a beat Elora responded,

"Oh that's just Target making more clothes." !! :)

And a few states over, here are some of our Utah grandchildren

getting ready for the next day of Black Friday at their Moms' quilt shoppe.

Did they spend the night there, is what Grandpa wants to know?

On another note,

Go here and watch what one mother is very thankful for!

Sweet, doesn't even begin to describe this.

I can't get her off my mind...

2011-11-22T09:15:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I taught the 14-15 year old girls. The lesson was on "Preparing for Change." All about how the one thing we can count on in life is change. It's going to happen whether we like it or not. Even the hard changes can have blessings, and we can grow sometimes tremendously from them.

The lesson included this true story about a woman who suddenly loses her husband to death after 20 years of marriage. Since my own story was so similar I decided just to tell my story instead.

Afterwards, I asked the girls if they had anything they would like to share about difficult change. One beautiful girl with a very cute name (that I won't say here), who was just visiting and I had never met before... raised her hand. She was so serene and quiet, and had listened intently to my lesson, only talking when I had earlier asked her name. She was sitting so straight and tall, with her dark long hair pulled back into a pony.

She had a very soft spoken voice, and began her story like this:
"My parents got a divorce before I was even born." Then she calmly put her arm out in a stopping motion and said, "That isn't the hard part." Then she continued, "I was the baby of the family. My Daddy's little girl. Then he remarried, and he and his new wife had twin baby girls. It was very hard because I didn't feel as important to my father any longer. He was busy with the babies and his new wife and I felt left out..."

I could tell by her sweet little quivering voice that she was trying her best not to cry. She continued, "Then I thought of the movie Pollyanna and how it was about a girl who tried to see the good in everything. I wanted to be like her. So I realized that I love my 2 little sisters so much and I'm so thankful for them. Even though my life has been hard, I'm glad my Dad remarried or otherwise I would never have my 2 baby sisters."

My heart hurt for her and I felt like taking her home with me. She explained to me later that her sisters are 5 now, so the journey has taken her awhile. But I also keep thinking how this girl is going to be okay, because she "gets it." She understands one of the greatest secrets of life: gratitude. Being thankful for what she DOES have, rather being stuck in the thinking of what she wants but can't have.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
And I hope your turkey is already thawing in your fridge.

If you bought flour for your pies be sure to keep it locked up from your toddlers.
Look what happened to one Mom who found out the hard way.

I've done this before!

2011-11-20T21:10:00.000-08:00

I really thought I was the only parent who had tried this!
And I was even pregnant at the time.

I have to also say that the crying part in this video is hard for me to watch.
I know babies cry, but I still don't like it.

Did your Grandpa ever show up at school?

2011-11-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

For some reason, whenever Dennis is out of town I sleep on his side of the bed.
Really, I don't understand why, but that's what I do.
Maybe it helps me to miss him a little less since I am taking his place?
Whatever.
I'm glad he is home after spending 5 days in Houston visiting his 2 sons and their families.

I love how excited he was to surprise

his grand daughter Kaylee at school.

He showed up just as she was going into the cafeteria for lunch.

When she saw him, her face lit up

and she threw her arms around him.

He got emotional just telling me about it.

She loved it so much, that he surprised her again today!

We are going to frame these pictures and send them to Kaylee.

He still had the school required name tag on his shirt
when he stepped off the plane tonight!

And knowing Den, he will probably keep the tag forever.
Yes, his real name is George, which I prefer, but he doesn't.

Kaylee has changed much since this picture...
one of my all time favorites.

Thank goodness for younger people

2011-11-15T21:28:00.000-08:00

It seems about 50% of friends my age have problematic shoulders...including Dennis and I.
No one ever told me this would/could happen as we got older.
But I have heard from my Dad, "Aging is not for sissies."

So sometimes we need help from our grandchildren.
Not only has Austin been helping us on most Saturdays.....

But yesterday Elora helped me shop.

She lifted every single one of these items

and pushed that cart all over Costco

Did I mention she is only 9?

She organized it all herself.

How do you like where she put the paper towels?

Once Elora makes a decision, that's just the way it is.

But don't feel sorry for her, she is one happy girl!

I whispered to her as she was loading everything onto the counter,

"Let's just see if that man can get these things back in the cart as well as you did!"
(answer: NO, he couldn't)

Red Robin seemed like an appropriate reward.

I never mentioned a word about her homework, but she brought it from her backpack into the restaurant.

Math was complete, then she brought out the vocab.

She was suppose to find a word that has 'phono' in it.

The example given: phonograph.

Huh?? Phonograph is the only word I know with phono in it,

so how dare they use that one as the example!

Elora did not hesitate to consult not one, but 2 waitresses.....

The 2nd waitress came up with "phonogram".

Elora was very pleased but I was not sure if that was even a word...but we had nothing else.

So she wrote it down and gave the waitress credit.

Well what do you know! It is a word:

"pho·no·gram

a unit symbol of a phonetic writing system, standing for a speech sound, syllable, or other sequence of speech sounds without reference to meaning."

Seriously, if anyone can think of a word with 'phono' in it,
besides phonograph and phonogram, please do tell.

My hard working granddaughter needed to go home
and get ready for bed before I had time to show her this:

A stick figure who comes to life.

Grab a child and go check it out yourself.

My own personal survey

2011-11-14T22:43:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or do you feel this way also?
There are 2 things lately that bother me when I go shopping, and they both mainly happen in grocery stores.

1. I do not like it when the clerk looks down at my receipt and then looks up and says, "Thank you Ms Shelley." This happens in one grocery store in particular (VONS). I rarely go there but when I do they always call me by name right at the end, just as I am leaving. Do they really think this is going to make a customer feel good? I do shop at stores where they really do know my name, and then I love it when they use it...but not in the fake way I just described. I don't know why it bothers me so much but it does.

2. I do not like it when I am asked, at the very end of my purchase, if I would like to donate a dollar to charity. If I want to donate to a charity I will do it on my own, not because they have just asked me in front of everyone else who is in line with me. I always say no. Especially when I heard the store gets a kick back of some kind by doing this. That's just not right. Or, the other popular thing many stores have begun doing is asking, "Would you like to round that purchase off to the next dollar to donate to breast cancer research (or whatever charity they are sponsoring) ?"

I know there are worth while charities to donate to. I just don't like the way they are going about it.

Am I the only one this bothers?

Or is this just a California thing?

The day we met baby Grant!

2011-11-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

I should begin this with an apology to the McKs, but I will save that for the end.

What a moment watching them walk towards us!

(We had already taken Grant from them.)

They flew into San Francisco from Provo.
Then took the BART to Pleasanton where we all shared a hotel room.

Grant's in love with his Mommy

I think Grant realized right away that I love him too.

He would look at me at any angle that worked.

This is the first and last I will see of him with his casts on.

Next week he gets his special shoes and braces.

There is just something so satisfying

about watching your kids become parents.

In love as much as ever

Hard decision what to order.

Cheesecake Factory had way too many choices

But look what we all ended up with

McKay ~ herb crusted salmon

I guess this design was for Turkey month?

McKenna~ Pork chop

Dennis~ Swiss steak

Grandma Honey~ Grilled salmon

Okay, I'm getting a little carried away here...back to the story....

And see that little mound below....that's Grant!

McKenna and I were both a bit nervous about the baby

being so close to the aisle and sort of out in the open.

McKay said that if anyone even got close to him he would "take them down"

I've never heard McKay talk like this...but then he's never been a father before.

I think he's looking for his Grandma Honey again

Great Grandma Susan gave him this cute little blanket.

How's this for a family picture?

Guess he just can't get enough of me. (I like to think :)

McKay still studies with that pen in his mouth.

If McKenna isn't talking to Grant, McKay is.
I love it!

It felt like old times watching McKay and Dennis together!

The next morning after the McKs were up,
I peeked into their bedroom

and look what I saw!

Grant already knows where he likes to sleep.

I sure have fond memories of McKay sleeping
between me and his Dad.

And I won't even say how long that went on.

Our time ended way too soon.

We had to get them to the BART at 8am, for take off.

I was determined not to cry.

I did really good...

until this elevator shut.

I thought I would feel better once I met Grant and saw the McKs again.

And I guess in some ways I do, but it also makes me miss them all the more.

And it also makes me ache all the more to meet baby Rich!!

So happy they will all be with us next month for Christmas.

If you will ignore my hair, you can watch this video.

Dear McKenna and McKay,
We are so so sorry for the very long long travel day you went through to get here, but especially going home.
I don't even know the details of yesterday yet but you were in transit for over 12 hours! ....and mostly in 2 different airports doing lots of waiting due to delayed flights, and the fact that you didn't even get to go on the same flight together!, except at the very end from Denver to Provo. McKenna, we should have gotten you a stroller for Grant...it must have been so hard carrying him in strange airports for hours and hours without McKay, especially with his little legs being in casts. I was hoping all day that a kind soul helped you in some way. It also makes me want to be aware next time I am in an airport to look around and notice who I can help.

Plus we kept you up way too late talking with you, and got you up too early. Not to mention that sweet little Grant woke up to eat at 4am.

And we are so sorry the heater did not work in our hotel room!

I also regret we didn't take you directly to the SF airport. We really thought it would be QUICKER for you to take the BART rather than take you by car....since the BART takes you UNDER the water. It wasn't until McKay forgot his laptop and Dennis drove to SF airport to get it to him, that we realized it was half the distance by car!

But you did this all for us,
and we appreciate it more than words can say.

Guess who we get to see today?

2011-11-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

McKay and McKenna and baby Grant have flown out to San Francisco for a job interview, and now we are driving up to see them. Grant is 2 months old and we get to meet him for the very first time. It's been a whole year since I have even seen the McKs. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

To be continued... :))

The 3 sisters

2011-11-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Great Grandma Heasley has not seen these little girls in months
so I'm hoping she will enjoy this.

Straws and eulogies

2011-11-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

We go through lots of straws at our house.

And since I have limited kitchen drawer space

I kept thinking of the straw dispensers on the counter at Newberrys

where my Grandma would take me to get rootbeer floats back in the 60s.

Sort of like this...

So I checked on Amazon and sure enough I found one.

I've had it a few weeks now, and I love it.

So nice to have easy access to a straw, and I like the old fashioned look.

My grandchildren especially love it.

They just lift the lid and the straws fan out into a circle, so they can choose one.

It makes me think of my Grandma even more often than I already do.

On another note... Do you like to read eulogies? I do.

And this one by Steve Jobs' sister is especially interesting, and touching.

It's worth reading, especially the ending...but don't skip ahead. Read it here.

My Pismo trip....last post I promise

2011-11-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

Perhaps no one cares about this but me, but I want to share it anyway.

Normally Dennis and I wake up about the same time and go to breakfast together.

But the morning after the wedding I was up at 5am.

I didn't want to disturb Den's sleep so I got dressed by flashlight,

and then went into the lobby to see what was going on.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

No one was even behind the desk. All 103 hotel customers on all 4 floors were still sleeping, apparently.

I loved it.

So quiet.

I had the TV to myself

Not exactly on my favorite station, but the Pismo weather ahead was looking mighty fine.

Too bad we had to check out later that day.

Finally it was 5:55am and breakfast was served. To me.

I ate and ate. Not one, but TWO plates of eggs and sausage, toast, Cheerios, and Raisin Bran, and OJ.
Well okay, so they weren't full plates of eggs or full bowls of cereal. But still.
Normally this kind of food doesn't even appeal to me.
There was just something about being all alone in that brand new hotel with food all around me.
I was having my own little party, while occasionally chatting with the food staff.

For some reason it reminded me of those very early mornings to myself all those years ago,

when I was up nursing a baby.

It's such a peaceful, and even sacred time of day.

Then about 6:25am the UCSB soccer team woke up,

and I crawled back into bed with Dennis.

He never even knew I had left!

On our way home later that day after church in Atascadero,
we stopped by 2 landmarks.

First, James Dean's memory spot....it was where he died in a traffic accident in 1955.

Some said, mainly my mother, that my first husband looked a little like James Dean.

My sons probably have never even heard of him.I barely have myself.

But the 2nd landmark meant a lot more to me.

Dennis was able to locate out in the middle of nowhere it seemed....

the house Bill and I lived in for the first 6 months of our marriage....way back in 1975.

In Laton, Ca. I remembered the address so he GPS'd it and there it was.

Looking more like a shell of my memory of it.

So old. It was built in 1902 so it was an "old house" when we lived there,

but now it almost looks creepy old.

Just so sad and all out there by itself.

We had cows, and pigs, and wild cats. Green pastures. A barn, which is also gone now.

I have many great memories living there as newlyweds.

Memories like staying up til midnight baking 6 loaves of bread

because I hadn't yet adjusted from a family of 10, to a family of 2.

The house belonged to Bill's parents and while they traveled we lived there.

Then we would come back and spend summers there for a few years.

On that very property many sunny days ago,
Grandpa Heasley use to pull Brock around in that little old wagon

Grandma Heasley with Logan and Brock....the summer of 1980

Had I known way back then that I would be doing a blog post about it today,

I would have taken more pictures 37 years ago.

Baby Grant and Primary Children's Hospital

2011-11-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Grant got his Achilles tendons clipped recently, and while it was a very hard few days, he is doing well now.
I want to document the day with pictures sent to me by his sweet mother, McKenna.

First, his casts were removed.

He looks like he is use to this procedure.
He's been having it done every week.

McKenna is always near by to comfort him.

Look how good his feet look now! (above)

Then some numbing gel was put on his cute little legs.

They were told to just walk around the hospital for 45 minutes

so the numbing would have time to take effect.

Daddy McKay has come to all his appts, too.

A stop by the pharmacy to get some pain meds for after the "surgery"

(I hate to say 'tendon clipping' because that sounds so horrible.)

Grant's Daddy even had time for an apple fritter

The witch is about the same size as Grant!

And this is where the pictures stop.
Grant had the procedure while his parents waited outside the room this time. I guess it went well but he had some expected pain for a few days after.

His complete legs and feet were recast and then he will go back 3 weeks later to have the casts removed for good. As I understand it, Grant will be in a leg/foot brace round the clock for 3 months. And then he will just wear them at night for 3 years.

The Dr warned them that having him in braces will not be as easy as it sounds and some parents slack off. McKenna told me, "I let them clip my baby's tendons! (in other words they will definitely not be slacker parents !)

I thought these were very interesting statistics about Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah:

"Among the 1924 diagnoses: tumors, 2; harelip, 2; club feet, 2; heart, 1.

In 1996: 1,444 neoplasms (tumors); 306 cleft lip and palate; 111 cases club feet.

Approximately 1,500 children are diagnosed with heart conditions each year, and about 150 children are newly diagnosed with cancer at Primary Children's.

The 1924 diagnosis list included cases of tubercular bone, infantile paralysis and rickets, conditions rarely seen today.

In 1924, patients came from six states and Canada. In 1996, children from 43 states and seven foreign countries were treated.

In the 1930s, the average length of stay was 158 days. In 1996, the average was 5.58 days."

Can you imagine the average stay in the 1930s was 158 days?? What a horror it must have been to have a child admitted to the hospital. And I don't think they let the parents come visit but maybe once a week, if at all. That's what I've always heard anyway.

The entire article about it here .

I grew up giving my "birthday pennies" to Primary Children's,
and often praying for the children there when I was a little girl. Little did I know my baby grandson would be blessed
by this facility all these years later.

And this is the very first I have seen of it:

The Talent Code

2011-11-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I read on one of my favorite blogs about this book, The Talent Code. Natalie (the writer of the blog...not the book) has FIVE sons, the oldest being in kindergarten. Yes you read that right. I figured if she had time to read it and rave about it, then it must be good. Plus I had read on Amazon those who enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers would most likely like The Talent Code. So I bought it.

Problem is I left it on the kitchen table after having read just 5 pages. I was already hooked on it but guess what? My dear husband found it, picked it up, and started reading. He said he "just wanted to see what it was about." Instead, he was totally captivated and hardly put it down. He would repeatedly say, "Just let me know when you want it back and I'll give it to you." Right, like I'm going to take it out of his hands.

So a day or so later I was at Target

and happened to find a book I thought he might like....

only because he loved The Christmas Sweater

by this same author.

I thought I would just buy it for him and use distraction.

You know, 'here's a good book for you, now give mine back.'

What I really wanted was to read my book in our hotel room in Pismo last weekend.

So I packed Snow Angel in our suitcase hoping to make the switch with him.

Instead, he did this most of the time we were alone.

Notice how his mouth is slightly open?

That's how he reads when he's really into it.

So I didn't have the heart to take it from him.

So last night he came into the kitchen where I was, and actually said, "I want to thank you for loaning your book to me. I finished it!"

I laughed. "Loaned my book to you?"

He totally ignored what I just said. I could tell he was still in deep thought over the book.
Instead he said, "How I wish I had a book like that to read when I was raising my kids."

I know he's wanting to discuss it all with me but the one rule I made with him was not to talk about it till I have read it, too. So I will start back on page 5 today.

Meanwhile... Dennis has a new book to read.

I do wonder why the author's name is bigger than the title of his book...

I'll let you know how he likes it, but here's one review:

Part 2 Halloween...Utah version

2011-11-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

Mad Scientist Jacob

Zombies aka Matt and Robbie

Gypsy Rachel

And by phone here we have:

Grant McKay
love the double chin!

Tyler as Rick Astley
Baby Richie as Professor Plum

Did Karen and McKenna make this? Not sure.

I think I want one of these next year!

And of course the Jack-O-Lantern contest between McKay and Tyler

And Tyler's Doctor Who Dalek Pumpkin (whatever that means....I'm sure you know and I don't)

McKay's shark and fisherman

McKay could never outdo the one he made in 2009

How could I have had any doubts they would get married.

And so concludes Halloween 2011

See all you monsters next year!

Next up, regular life.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

I thought these 2 were the cutest ones to come to our door last night.

And the competition was stiff!

Our Goblin Grandchildren....In order of arrival:

The Princess and Woody

(or is that Cinderella? I didn't raise girls so I really don't know)

The cheerleader and Frosted Flake

The WHO ARE YOUs

The cutest little Bumblebee

And guess what?

As a side note our little Violet aka Bumblebee learned to crawl last night....

yes, right on Halloween night!

Our sweet little green fairy
Or was she a princess?
I really need to up my education in little girls' dress up.
She melted my heart, I do know that.

This must be a good witch!

And yes, that really is Brock underneath there.

The Dads going through the candy.
Just like old times.

And what did we eat?

Our family tradition of Chinese Sundaes. ,of course.

But wait, there's more.

Just as soon as we get few more pictures of our Utah Darlings.

So to be continued.....

Natalie's Pismo Beach Wedding

2011-10-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

How would you feel if you decorated all these pumpkins...

set them all out in front of this old school house (where you were planning to get married)

...and the night before the wedding the pumpkins all disappeared?

What would you have done?

I will tell you what my niece Natalie, the bride, did.

She went looking for them !!
....and found them on display in front of a near by house! I'm serious.

Not sure about the whole story....but something about yelling at the people who took them,

and taking her pumpkins back.

Yep, that's our Natalie.

Natalie and Brian...looking all recovered from the pumpkins

and happily married.

All yesterday in very scenic Pismo Beach, California

So happy Dennis and I got to be there!

Before I show you some of who attended.

Here's a little sampling of the decor.

Love this one of my Dad and Natalie!

The happy parents, my brother Richard with his wife Wendy aka Chickie
Don't you love the color coordination?...perfect!

I didn't even get to talk to Nat's sister Lindsay, or take any pictures of them, except for this one.

Gard says they are still enjoying Chicago...I did ask him that much.

The ever happy Whitney and Bret

I asked Hailey's little flower girl friend if she was related to Brian.

She said she didn't know.

I did find out her name is Ayden...so then I asked her who her Mom was.

She said, "My mom's name is Sarah Palin."

Uh...what is your mom's name??

"Sarah Palin."

Obviously I was not hearing right.

My Dad and Susan

Erin and Brock

Logan and Amy listening to Jason (Hailey's Dad) and my brother Scott

I had one of the best talks with Raven (here between Blaine and Jan Thomas)

that I hope to continue someday soon, somehow.

I met Susan Park, again...
I had not seen her since she gave Robin her baby shower, for Hailey, back in 2003.

I have thought back on that shower day many times because it was such a happy moment in time.

No one knew on that very blissful and exciting day, the challenges that were coming.

Alex, McKenzie, Hailey working together.

Natalie being her joyful beautiful self with Jill and Mark Thompson

Just right around the corner from the wedding is the gorgeous Pismo Beach.

Even though I've lived in California all my life,

I really feel like I'm in California when I at the beach.

So happy for you Natalie and Brian!! We loved being with you this weekend.

PS I have more to say about our hotel experience (you know I always have one),

and what we saw on the way home....so more, another day.

This looks so right to me

2011-10-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ever since my 2 youngest sons were very little, they were inseparable.
If I was looking for one in the house or outside,
I could about bet my life the other would be right there with him.

For years every Christmas I would give them matching gifts.
If I didn't they would want what the other one had, so it was just easier that way.
As long as they both had the same thing, they were as happy as clams.

So when McKenna sent me these pictures earlier this week, I thought, yes, of course.

They each have a beautiful wife and a baby son!

And red fruit drinks.

Go here to see my niece Whitney teaching kindergarten.

A lady came in and filmed her doing their "morning meeting" in Kindergarten

but Whitney thought she was just taking pictures

so she was very surprised when this video surfaced on the webpage

Halloween 26 years ago

2011-10-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

Life sure has changed since that evening back in 1985.
Simpler times back then, although it didn't seem like it at the time.

I thought my sons might like to hear their Dad's voice again.

2 recipes

2011-10-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

Black Bean and Bacon Soup

We had this for dinner last night with rolls and fresh pears and it was really quite good.

It's from Chef John on Foodwishes.blogspot.com.

I didn't make the topping, but instead just topped it off with some Trader Joes Verde Salsa.

I love how Chef John not only gives a list of ingredients, but he makes videos of each recipe.
So you get to actually watch him make it.

GO here for recipe.

Tomorrow night I'm making this from his same website.and sharing it with my YW.
Chicken Parm Bake

Watch his video on this one...it looks very tempting!

The Halloween memory I don't like

2011-10-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

Joy School!!

2011-10-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and I got to watch two of our grandbabies in their first performance yesterday.
Watch Jonas and Téa with their fellow two Joy School students, Tage and Caden.
Two sets of twins!

I'm sure Téa will show joy in time. :) And despite how she acts here, she really does like us.

"The central belief of Joy School is simply that children, while in their most impressionable years, should be taught life's most important thing, various capacities for joy. A related belief is that children suffer not from being started in academic learning too late, but in starting too soon, before they have a basis of social and emotional self-esteem." from Joyschools.com

Does anyone know the year Joy Schools began? I tried looking it up on Google, even Wikipedia, but couldn't find it.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

2011-10-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

About every other day I make one of these:

Originally I got the recipe from Mama Pea's great blog.

Since I like a little less spice (although you might like hers better)

this is what I put in mine:

1/2 can pumpkin (frozen in ice cube trays, so that's about 6-8 ice cubes)

1 c milk (I use rice milk but you can use any kind)

3 ice cubes

1/2 t cinnamon

1/8 t pumpkin pie spice

1/4 t salt

1/2 t vanilla

whatever sweetener you like (stevia is my choice)

Whirl it up in a really good blender.

Dennis asks me why I don't put greens in this. He puts greens in all his smoothies.

I tell him there is a time for greens, and there's a time for pumpkin.

I still have my green smoothie everyday but this one to me is like an extra little treat.

Love it! And it's loaded with Vitamin A to help keep us well this winter.

Make sure your pumpkin is frozen.

It makes all the difference.

Oh and on another note,

have you seen this list of the 20 most popular passwords?

You better check this out and make sure yours is not on there.

Wedding reception ideas

2011-10-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

I was impressed with 2 wedding receptions we attended this past weekend.

Reception #1

Stefani and Roberto

First, look what they did to our church cultural hall.

I've never seen anyone cover the accordion doors before.

Plus they were able to cover the panel pieces all around the room.

What a lot of work, but so pretty

These pictures do not do the room justice at all, keep that in mind.

The cake matched the walls and also.....

Everything matched the table cloths.

Usually I'm not into matchy-matchy, but this was done in such an elegant and classy way.

I never would have thought to dress up the front door.

The bride rushed into a classroom to get ready for the big honeymoon escape.

Love how we can catch up with people at receptions.
Like Lindy Kirk (can't remember her married name) is expecting Jacob in January.
She is holding Jenny Pauline-Mendoza's baby Pheather.

And Jenny and Pheather Grace

Reception #2

Jessica and Travis

This reception was outside and very picturesque.

Like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

I regret I didn't take many pictures

but I did capture this on our way out.

Little jars of honey for the guests to take home.

These 2 were coming to the reception just as we were leaving.

They have a December 17th date set.

Bethany and Brandon

I use to be Bethany's activity day leader when she was 8 and 9.
She told me at this reception that she still remembers how I taught
her how to set a table! And from that she says she has taught Brandon.
I know it's a little thing, but it meant a lot to me that she remembered...and told me.

Two Primary Program Ideas

2011-10-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

Today we had our annual Primary Program during our Sacrament meeting, which is our main meeting each Sunday. This is where all the children ages 3-12 sing and give talks surrounding what they have learned the past year. It's my favorite Sunday every year. I mean, really, how can anyone top what small children teach us?

Today I saw 2 different ideas I'd never seen before:

#1. This little insert was in each of our programs:

#2. Each program had a different picture on it's cover--- all designed by the children!
Here's what was on our two programs. I would have loved to have seen them all.
(I did go around snooping after the program was over hoping to find stray programs lying around on benches, with little success.)

And if it wasn't enough to hear those sweet little children

who have such huge spirits inside those tiny bodies,

the closing hymn was How Firm a Foundation!

That hymn gets me every time.

It always will.

Karen, Tyler and baby Richie take a little trip

2011-10-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

...to Logan, Utah to visit Dennis' kids.

Uncle Ryan (Kim's husband) with Richie!

And look at Richie with Matthew
I love Matthew's teeth. Den and I were just staring at them tonight.
He looks so grown up with his adult teeth!

And just about 2 weeks before their trip to Logan,
Kris and Mike and the kids were in Spanish Fork for a baby blessing so they stopped in to see them!
This family knows how to immediately go into a pose!

Kris, Mike, Jessica, Katelyn, Jacob, and Rachel!

And then about 2 weeks before that, Kim and Kris were in Provo for a quilting convention,
so they stopped in to see Karen and Tyler.
and also McKay and McKenna (baby Grant in the picture)

It's probably hard to keep all these visits straight.
What I'm really trying to say is,
I am so grateful that Den's kids and my kids, like each other!

Since our phones are turned off on Sundays,

these pictures were on Den's phone for HOURS before we even knew.

What a fun surprise to find them!
They were all taken in Karen and Tyler's apt 2 weeks ago.

Katie was made to have babies in her arms.
I think she will have several of her own someday.

Jessica was just TWO when Den and I were dating. And now she is holding my grandson!

Jacob will be a great Dad someday...can you tell?
He also really knows how to clean a kitchen floor. Did I ever thank you for that Jacob?

I won't say I'm jealous that Kris and Kim have seen Richie THREE times,

because I am feeling more grateful than anything.

Was giving birth really like this??

2011-10-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

Back in 1969 there was a TV program called Marcus Welby, MD.

I use to watch it each week with my Mom.

It was a series that lasted until 1976. Recently I found a DVD of the first year of this show.

I thought it would just be fun to see the difference between medicine then, and medicine now.

(The show was produced in cooperation of the American Academy of Family Practice.)

Ohmygoodness times have changed.

No one has time to watch this whole video,

so just go to 26:27 and you will see how TV portrayed birth back in 1969...

Watch, too, right after she gives birth

and what they do to the mother when they think the baby may have problems.

They would never get away with this now!

And if there is anyone reading this who had a baby back in the late 1960s....
was it really like this?
Just go to 26:27, and and end at 29:25. Let me know what you think.

Lemonade stands and wedding registries

2011-10-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Dennis and I made a rule when we got married
that we would always stop and try to buy whatever little kids were selling.
Especially we stop for lemonade stands.
Then as soon as we drive out of their sight,
we stop the car and pour the lemonade out in the street.

Unless we are related to the sellers. Like yesterday.

The girls did all the art work (including older sister Kylie who is not in the picture). Impressive huh?

I think my rule of buying from little people may have something to do with this:

Logan and Brock in 1983

What goes around comes around, right?

I just used that saucepan today to boil eggs.
If people registered for wedding gifts back in the day (which we didn't),
I never would have registered for that pan.
I had no idea I would be using it at least weekly for 37 years!
I even remember who gave it to me: my sister-in-law Wendy's parents.

Watch Grant get his casts on

2011-10-09T22:18:00.001-07:00

Our newest grandson, Grant McKay, will get his 4th set of casts on tomorrow for his little adorable club feet.
This video was taken about 2 weeks ago when he was getting casts #2 on.
He is a MONTH OLD today! Last I heard he weighs 8lbs, 8oz.

Oh, and the music you hear is what his parents play for him often....Andante by Mozart.
Taken at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Steve Jobs in 2005

2011-10-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this video, I think you'll find this interesting.
Steve Jobs, as you probably know, passed away earlier this week. Here he is giving the commencement address at Stanford in 2005.
His views on death. What his birth mother wanted for him.
Thought provoking for sure.

1977 !!

2011-10-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

A dear long time friend of mine,
Sonja Kland, surprised me in the mail today
with this newspaper advertizement of our family back in 1977.

She saved this for 34 years! How fun to see it again.

They spelled my oldest son Brock's name wrong,

but there he is with his cousin Robin sitting in that little basket.

I remember that day like it was last week.

Those are 6 of my 7 siblings...only my sister Robin is missing from this picture.

I think she may have been in Provo at the time attending BYU.
I was only 23. Oh my. My sons are all older now than I was in that picture!