Family! It's ALL That Matters!

Realizing that this picture is way out of date, I had to put something on here that folks could look at. As Jonathan says, "I only look at the pictures." I must confess that often times the pictures are my favorite part, too. So, I'll only wax a little poetic by saying that after having a scant two of our children come for a brief Thanksgiving visit - it only makes me long for the days of yesteryear even more. Those times when the house hustled and bustled with activity with all the kids running everywhere, were joyous indeed. It's so quiet now. No teasing with the accompanying laughter, no rustling for food or clanking of dishes enjoying leftovers, no yummy smells from shower gels in the bathrooms. What strange things to miss and yet those things mean that there are family members there enjoying each other's company - not doing anything spectacular, just being together, loving each other. It's really quite grand. Must be the reason we chose to go back to Utah for our family vacation whenever we could. There was no other place we wanted to go. No other people we wanted to spend our time with. Family! It's All That's Important! Love, Mom

An Example of Love

Yesterday, I was supposed to be spending all day serving jury duty. Mike decided not to try to call me for fear of having the cell phone ring during court. As it turned out, my service was only required for half of the day and I spent the remainder shopping. The last part of the day needed to be spent at the grocery store. I had ordered a pizza to be cooked while I was checking out - we can do that at our neat store and I was waiting for it to be finished cooking - when I called home to tell Mike where I was and that I'd be home soon. I kept hearing my name called out while I was making the call. I couldn't figure out how that was happening on the cell phone. I recognized Mike's voice and wondered what buttons I had pushed to make it do that. I finished the call and turned around and saw Mike in the check-out line. He was worried about us not having groceries, too, and had gone to the store for us. He asked if I had gotten all the groceries, so he could put his back. I'm sure the pizza man wondered why I had tears in my eyes when he gave me the cooked pizza. And, I'm also sure everyone wondered what we were doing hugging and kissing in the grocery store. I was just so very tired from shopping and I couldn't believe that Mike cared so much as to go out and do the shopping for us after his long day at work so that I wouldn't have to after my long day. Just another example of his love for me. What lucky woman am I!!!

Jonathan's Birthday

Yesterday was a Day of Note! It was our son's 22nd Birthday. He being shy didn't tell a soul about it. I unfortunately spent a good portion of the day doing my civic duty - serving jury duty. (luckily never getting called and probably would have been dismissed because of a bad experience with personal injury lawyers in a previous trial *#%@^%!!!) Back to Jonathan...

Mike and I just wanted to tell everyone what an amazing day it was for us 22 years ago. We finally had our son. Yes, the doctor said he was "probably too ugly to be a girl" (a direct quote with just his head out - we didn't have the precise ultra-sounds that they have now). He looked absolutely gorgeous to us.

An interesting side story... As Mike was bringing the three girls up in the elevator to see Jonathan and I he was wearing a button that said it was a boy and everyone was all excited. A lady was in the elevator with them. Remember he was born in South Carolina, but she said, "Well. I hope you're done now."

Aren't people funny?

Here's a picture of Jonathan, now and then. Happy Birthday, Son. WE LOVE YOU TONS!!!!!

Compare Baby Pictures

Laura just had a new baby girl and I happened to find a baby picture of her that looked SO very much like her daughter that I just had to put it online and let you be the judge. Of course it does show a much younger Mike and I along with cute little girl pictures of Mickelle and Emily. Jonathan isn't on the scene yet. I do believe that our little McKenna looks quite a bit like her mother, but she's changing so much already from the pictures that have been on Dan and Laura's blogspot. Babies grow up very, very quickly. It seems only yesterday that I was holding little Laura in my arms with two big sisters wanting to "help" take care of her. Families TRULY are forever! How grateful I am that we are working to keep ours together for eternity. It's not easy. In fact - it's hard! But we can do hard things. Right!?! It's why we're here!!!

My Beautiful Sister

Such a wonderful Event!

We were lucky enough to live close and were able to attend my sister Michelle's wedding to her Sweetheart, Gill. We're so happy for them. They've been together for a long time and finally tied the knot. Their kids did a fantastic job helping them pull it all together and really made the day a very special happening for them all. Dad cried, I cried, Gill was especially sweet in the words and actions of love that he showed for Michelle, and Michelle looked beautiful (as you can see from the picture above.) Congratulations to them both!

Joining the Blogging World

Because my brilliant children said this would be easy, I thought I'd give it a try. Besides, Mike needs a way to disseminate all his musings to the world. And, this might just be a way for me to share my creations with others who'd be interested in purchasing them. (My children have also said that I should try to sell some of the things that I make instead of giving them all to them. Do I sense a hint there?) At any rate, (by blog-stalking) even over the many miles that separate us, I've found some wonderful news of old friends, seen some great pictures and been able to keep in touch with my kids. Nothing makes a smile come quicker to a grandma's face than a cute picture of her sweet grandchildren!!! And, so, we begin...

I've just been to Utah to spend three weeks with Laura while she was recovering from the birth of her first baby, McKenna. What a sweet little baby girl she is. But as we all know, first births can be hard on the mama who is worried about so many things. So I got be needed for a little while. It sure felt good again to be a mom in that way. While I was out there, I saw some pretty little newborn baby bracelets at Deseret Book and decided that "I could make some of those, too." Here are some pictures of my attempts. It looks like on EBAY they sell for $5.00/each.