Day two.

I am thankful to have a mom and dad (mommer and pop as I like to call them on occasion) who love me.

They always have.

I love them back, because, what’s not to love?

We have always had a tight relationship.  I am thankful for that too.

They have been there for the tough times, for my joys, with me in my hardships.  They always pray for me.  They are always there when I need advice, or to tell me that I am wrong.  They have always been there to put their arms around me, to greet me in love or to boost my spirits.

My mom has always been my best friend, my greatest example.  She is who I look to for the motivation to be a righteous mother in difficult times.  She is also a beaming example of what living a Christ-like life is all about.  She is selfless in her service to all, but I love that she is there for all of us.

(Ashley might love her even more..  she wishes that my mom was her mom.) 

My dad is where I get a lot of my personality traits from.  (Thanks dad!)  I always look forward to the hug and the kiss on my cheek or on my forehead that he always seems to have, just for me.  He has always been there to answer questions, whatever they may be, no matter the time of day (or late at night, or way too early in the morning..  remember when I woke up peeing blood?  Yeah, that was early!)

They are truly a blessing in my life, an example of what I want my marriage to be, what kind of a parent I need to be.

A time capsule of sorts.

Not too long ago, we had a family activity at my parents house.

I consisted of my family, my three brothers and their families, and my parents, tearing out two rather large bushes from the front lawn of my parents house.

I really wasn’t good for much of the hard labor, I was good for carrying loads of branches to the dumpster parked on the street.  Lynn was quite good at it too.

But while we were there to be man (or woman) power to help get the monsters out, we were also there to be together as a family, because we do have fun together, and to also see what we could find in the bushes.

Between those two bushes, we had lost many things throughout our growing-up years.  We were excited to be reunited with all of our “lost” belongings.

Many balls, different kinds and colors were discovered, a bat, garbage of all sorts, even an old “Otter Pop” tube.  It claimed to be “super size”, but was sadly, smaller in size than the ones my kids enjoy today.  But it must have  been super-size to us!

As my two older brothers rolled the last remains of one bush down the driveway to the dumpster, a clump of paper fell out.  I went to retrieve it, and found a note.  It was in bad shape, it had been there for maybe 15 years, so yeah, bad shape indeed.  It was girls handwriting, already slightly torn.  It would have been fun to have been able to read it, see what secret someone shoved into the bush.  It can keep secrets.

We didn’t find our missing G.I. Joes, or the countless matchbox cars we were expecting to come across, but we still had a good time.

The best story to come out of the bush was my dad’s first sprinkler.

He bought it when they bought the house, 35 years ago.  He used it only a couple of times and then it went missing.  He assumed that someone stole it.  (It was a nice little sprinkler.)  He kinda forgot about it, went on with his life as a new homeowner.  Probably found himself a new sprinkler.

So he wasn’t expecting to be reunited with his sprinkler 35 years later as we cut down those bushes, but he was.

He cleaned it up, gave it a new home in the garage, and we all wondered just how it got into that bush.

I just took pictures of it….

Quite the story from those time capsule bushes.

Circa 1983-ish..

From left to right: Bottom- Me on Mike's lap, Sandy & Kevin, Tommy.
Second row- Jackie, Wesley, Gary.
Joe & Ken.

As if I needed an excuse to make those I love blush..
Here's a family pic from 1983, summer, I do believe..
We have lived in Utah our whole lives. My dad grew up in Michigan and Tennessee. His summers were spent in Tennessee with his grandparents on their tobacco farm. He worked his summers, and loved it. He loved them.
He graduated from a Junior college in pre-Engineering, proceeded to the Air Force, where he was the top in his class there, and was told he could go anywhere he chose. He told me he chose California (there was a beach close enough to go enjoy his hobbies that way, but mountains close enough to go camp, hunt, or ski.. it was the winner!) but was stationed at Hill Air Force Base, yup.. right here in good ol' Utah.
Mom had grown up here.. her whole life. Raised LDS. She was working as a car-hop at Warren's.
She spilled a coke on his car.. his 1968 Dodge Cornet RT.
She owed him a date.
She was waiting for a missionary.. but not for long.
Dad told her, as they were driving down the "old highway" (1900 west in Roy as it turns onto 27th street, I think..) "You're gonna have to break it off with your missionary, cause we're gonna get married."
Grandma and Grandpa told mom that he was "taking her to hell in a hand basket." (He really disproved that assumption!)
He eventually joined the church.
His family wasn't too happy about that.
But things got back on track, and we would go back east, in our '83 Mercury Zephyr to visit (Kansas would go on forever!!).
This year (1983) was the first time we went back.
Uncle Kenny tickled me relentlessly.. I remember crying..
Grandma was so excited to have all of her grandchildren in one place, she had to commemorate it with picture at Olan Mills.
The photographer set us all up, I was more than happy to be sitting on Mike's lap ;) I think he took a pic, and when he moved away from the camera, mom busts out her little Kodak camera, the kind with the flash that is stacked 6x6 cubes outside of the camera, and she snaps this pic. My aunts about died!!
But here, we have it.
It's been almost 11 years since I have last seen any of them.. I want my girls to know them all so bad!!
Someday..

Week of Pics..

Well, the end of the week, at least..
The week was filled, mostly, of dealing with sick kids; i.e. a lot of Tylenol and nose-wiping... Lysol-ing, Clorox wipes, and hand washing, then sanitizing.. banish this cold!!
A "pooping in the tub" incident that led to a kitchen sink bath, so I could get her clean, and then, scrub the tub...
We are in soooo much trouble... Peyton discovered the power button on the TV. She has learned to respect the "no-no", but gives us her "no-no" finger (that's her little finger waving "no-no" at us..) in response. We are missing our very short-lived Sony that had the power button ON TOP of the TV.. what a novel idea!
Saturday we went to see the hotel. Many things are taking place down there.. they have the jacuzzi tubs all tiled (that will be my room.. either one ;), they both work for me!), the doors are mostly hung, the fireplace is almost all rocked, the doors are mostly hung... and here's where the girls are: in the pool area. They got the cement all poured (no more gravel!) and stamped. The girls call the hot tub "the hot pool"..
And today... LET THE WEEK OF BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS BEGIN!!
We went to Mom & Dad's for a delicious "Birthday Dinner" followed by this cake, expertly decorated by my sweet girls..
My silly mom..
I was telling her about my new wool pea coat, a self-purchased birthday gift :).. I was very proud of the deal I got.
"Where'd you get it from?"
"Victoria's Secret.. they had them on clearance for $49.99 and I got a $10.00 off coupon for my birthday.."
Thinking it was really a Martin Luther King Jr. sale.. she says, "Oh, so are they throwing a parade for your birthday too? Ha Ha Ha..." she laughs.
"No, seriously, I got a coupon for my birthday."
"You mean it wasn't a sale?"
"No.. do you think that I think the world revolves around me? That I think this whole Tuesday's events are really in honor of my birthday? That they are inagurating a new president just because it's my birthday?.. and, oh, that they will be having a ball because of my birthday too?"
We were both laughing pretty hard at this point.. we always kid like that..
Love my mom!
Will enjoy a breakfast with just some of my favorite family members tomorrow.. hope to enjoy a birthday dinner with my sweet hubby on my birthday.. that is if he isn't totally burned-out from un-loading and trying to find a home for 3 semis full of furniture for the hotel.. it's also crunch time for ordering all of the other goods..
I want to have an evening out with all of my buddies (who can or want to come) for my birthday.. I am thinking Friday.. so kiddos won't have school the next day.. any suggestions?

A good day...

Had a good day today.
Such a blessing to have time spent with friends, remembering, talking, learning from each other, gaining understanding.
A few of us got together to work on a scrapbook of Scout Camp to give to the family. It was so fun to see what these guys got to experience together. What a neat kid! Good idea Christie!
We discussed the Plan of Salvation a lot, and so much peace comes with that. It led me to even more questions, which I talked about with mom and dad. I am so thankful to have parents that have the wisdom I need.
Grandma is continuing to do poorly. Her doc cut her dose of painkiller in half, hoping that that might give her more clarity, so she won't be so sleepy and loopy. Not so. She can't think straight, still. She couldn't remember what her leg was called. Trying to get out the word took her a while. She finally got out the word "defibrillator"... how do you get that and leg crossed, I don't know. Grandpa is getting more confused too. Maybe it's just the stress. He called mom and she answered her phone. He kept yelling, "Hello! Hello!" When mom got him to say more than "hello", she asked him what he needed, he said, "What do I need? You're the one who called me!"
I got to see them today. Mom watched the girls while I had my six week check-up, which went well... So I was there when they came to dinner. Grandma looks really... I don't know how to say it... old, lifeless, skinny, there's not much left. Grandpa tries to help her along. It's sweet to see how good he is to her when he can barely get around himself. They love seeing any of their great-grandkids... They are both happy to see them, but I think Grandpa especially. Ash is his buddy but he loves Peyton so much. He just holds her hand and talks to her. I want her to know him. But time goes on...
While this is hard, I am so thankful that at least we know it's coming, we have time. I am thankful for the time.