Patriots and Charity

I am proud to be an American!

Another July 4th, and I just have a heart full of "grateful" to all our ancestors and current military personnel who have given us this great privilege to live in a free country. Thanks to my Dad, to my brother and my son Roy for serving in our military.

Thanks again to my blue blooded Canadian, on both of his parents sides, Brent's family and his heritage (it must be still in the blood). One among them was John Winthrop. He was a visionary man who in 1628 gathered together, led and established the 1st Puritan New England Colony and their center of government at Boston. He was their first governor and re-elected 12 times. We saw a municipal building name after him when we were there visiting in MA. But really, he was an amazing man, who delivered one of the famous sermons "A Model of Christian Charity" and in so many words was the first to introduce the concept of "manifest destiny". Wow! A man who establishes a new religious forum for freedom. I know he must have been a zealot, but me thinks he was a patriot of the best kind.

We went to the Freedom Festival Patriotic Service last night. It was pretty good. President of UVU mentioned the foresight of John Winthrop in those early patriots. Made us both proud and all we are the recipients of his work those hundreds of years ago.

President Holland talked mostly about Abraham Lincoln and his charity to all men. It's his 200th birth year, what a man and another great man of charity who would bring our broken nation back together. He spoke on his 2nd inaugural address, just a month before the end of the Civil War, he stated "With malice towards none and charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in." He had and lived personal and civic charity. He was a student of Winthrop in deed.

John Winthrop was also mentioned at Ronald Reagan's Memorial as one of his great personal influences on his governing and his philosophy. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conor read an excerpt from his sermon 'A Model of Christian Charity" as part of her tribute to him.

You should read it sometime. It is even for here and now and every day. An amazing man of values and courage. It is long, but thought provoking.

Please, let us, none of us, ever forget who and why our founders led the way. Put your hands over your heart and remember them, all of them, with deep thankfulness and gratitude for the lifes we are afforded to live here today.

I cannot say the pledge anytime and never could that I do not get a bit weepy eyed. Thanks to my Dad for his courage and my Mom for waiting and supporting him all those years they were separated during WWII. Thanks to those families today doing the same.

There are so many things in my life that I am grateful for and I know I have led a very blessed life, but being born here in the Americas of goodly parents and finding Brent, a Canadian with more charity than imaginable, are my most valued.

I am not a Bible verse quoter, but this one is worth quoting and remembering each day. (Shown to me by example by Brent daily.)

1st Corinthians 16:4

Let all your things be done with charity.

Barks and All

Listening to Rocky bark at the lightning and then the thunder.... He sure is brave and is keeping me safe and watched. Glad we have the special little God-sends in our lives, Sweetie who caught a bird yesterday (this with no claws), Spot the cat with the mouse-breath that licks our hair to groom us and our blind old lovable mutt, Rocky. The harder it rains, thunders and lightnings, the more hoarse that cute, not so quiet bark gets! Love all the weather and those other special parts of our lives, barks and all!

Graduation

Our sweet little 5 year old, Makayla, graduated from Preschool! What fun that was to watch her march in and listen to her sing. Balloons and mortars, cookies and little brothers having as much fun as she did. It was such fun to be there, and lucky all the Grandparents could come to this one. We gave her a Dr Seuss book on Graduating that he had actually delivered to a college. We hope that it will mean the same and even more when she gets to graduate in all the rest of those special occasions to come.

Justin and Ashley have such cute little ones, just like I predicted! Grandkids are the best!

Brent wrote his first poem for her on this auspicious day!

Graduating


You are cute and beautiful and sharp as a whip
Keep viewing your life, as though it were a trip.

Keep playing and studying and becoming so smart
Your surely are a rising star.

Grandma and Grandpa love you so
It is great fun to watch you grow.

You graduate and move on to something new
Only you know how many dragons you slew.

Keep up the good job and learn to play and to work
Keeping your goals in site and learn never to shirk.

You will succeed at all that you do
And be able to crow since you have chosen to grow.

You can see the world as though you can fly
And always remember the One on high.

Move along now and take a challenge anew
Never stop learning something new.

You have our love and cheers and goodwill
Now take hold of your life, your dreams to fulfill.

Composed by Grandpa

Gotta love that man of mine!

In Touch and Trees

Early this week I bought a new tree, a Purple Robed Locust. It was a tree from my childhood. It was the same type of one that I had played under when the summers were long and the grass was green, with clover to search through for ones that were 4-leafed. In late spring it gets beautiful light purple drooping clusters of fragrant flowers.

It was in the front yard of the Luke's home on 560 North in Provo. I spent many hours at their home and learned to love plants and trees because of Mrs. Zelda Luke. She was always outside gardening, while we were playing in her yard. I had to get a pussy-willow, a filbert bush and those autumn fiery red sumacs for my own yard. Oh, the wonders of the apricot tree or the little alcove with grapes and the rusty old springs of a bed to sit in and just talk and live life as a little kid.

We played "blocks and little people", known only to a few close friends and great imaginations, not to mention the patience of Jayne's parents. We played it in their front room and it could last for days. We started with choosing different pieces of wood to build a miniature house floor, room by room, with all the furniture, too. All the wood pieces were in a few orange boxes and we used them over and over, season after season for years. They finally built a family room at the back of the house and it was larger, so we moved into it. We had plastic little figurines (snow white, grass green, and so many more, mostly Disney characters) that we could choose from for the people to live their lives and for us to pretend... oh, the lessons learned and the imaginations that grew. What a blessed bunch of us to have such a happy 50's childhood, all because of the Luke’s. I still can remember the sight of her Dad, Theron, coming home from the Daily Herald and tippy-toeing, oh so carefully through the few empty spaces on his front room carpet.

Zelda fed us the best brown bread, cooked in a Peter Pan Peanut Butter round can. I can still smell it and taste it and it was glorious. She was a very thoughtful Primary teacher and gave me my first New Testament, in a special handmade light saddle brown felt pouch adorned with our own initials in green, cut painstakingly from loving well-used hands. It is still one of my treasures. She taught us to love the outdoors and even as far back as I can remember to take care of our land. From the depression-aged people (her and my folks) we were taught to use what we had and not to waste, water, electricity, clothes or food. A valuable lesson we are still learning to this day in the age of conservancy and recycling.

Back to the significance of the tree: early before he went to work, Brent dug a large hole for me. Later when I came out, I dug some more, and planted this wonderful tree to be, including some vole poison mixed in the planting dirt, around the roots. It was quite a job for me to get the tree into the hole and to mix the dirt and plant it just right. I was tired, so came back to the patio, to grab a soda and rest in my blue Mexican string, sitting hammock. The phone rings, I never would have heard it way back in the back of the yard, and it was Jayne. Not even 5 minutes after I had finished planting that special tree and having thoughts of all the beauty and the fun times we had had as kids under the Luke's tree, and hopes of fun times to be, for us and the grandkids, she called to say her Mom had passed away.

She had just had her 99th birthday and they were all happy and blessed for her to go on to a better place. She wouldn't have liked all the celebrity when she turned 100. She gave her body to the U for research. She didn't want a funeral or any fuss. She was a private and mostly shy person. I loved her and all she added to my life. She was a humanitarian and ‘the’ ultimate recycler, even in her death.

Spring Beauty

I love Spring! All the blossoms, all around, colorful and fragrant, one just after the other, just teasing us about the warm and sunny days and delicious fruit to come. All the seasons are great, but Spring is my favorite. So many happy memories, just like the flowers on the forsythia, creeping phlox, basket of gold, tulips, daffodils, apricot, pottawatomie, peach, pear, cherry, and then apple blossoms. But who can forget the pussy willows or the sand cherries or all the trees that just glorify the days? Our red bud and lilacs are ready to pop as well as the crab apple and hawthorns. Just love all of the color and the many sounds of all the birds. Just can't get enough of the love that is showered upon us from above.

And BTW: A Happy Birthday wish to a great sister!

So a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to LeAnne!

Birthdays - double the fun!

Kaiden and Keagan had their 3rd birthday party last night. Their birthday is actually tomorrow, but they are headed up to the Boise area for a bike race that their dad will be racing. Hope to see their cousins and also Uncle Roy. It sure was fun to see them open and react to all the presents and toys. What exuberance they have for life. Gotta love 3 year old's. If we all could just see life with so much gusto and joy in all the simple things. It is so cool to hear them talk, to see them play and just to experience all the new things that they find every day. Wish I had a picture to show, but my camera had no 'umph', dead battery. Having 2 little boys around reminds us of how our home was years ago. What a fun time and much happiness to see them all grow up to be such fine men, now.

Cactus and Baseball

We sure had a fun time last weekend and checked off one more thing of our bucket list . We saw lots of Cactus and Baseball and Mexican food, hot dogs and peanuts!

We headed down to Phoenix early on Friday and immediately went to see the Dodgers and the Royals play baseball. Great seats, behind the catcher, just 8 rows up and what a view. We were just across the aisle from a bunch of scouts and all of the speed guns. Had a guy behind us talking real baseball with his friends and loved it. Hotter than we were definitely use to, so lots of slathered on sunscreen gel. Pretty slow game, with the exception of Manny Rameriz, he hit 3 of 4 ups and played for 5 innings. Pitching was great on the Royals.
Up in the top box was Tommy La Sorta and wandering through the aisles talking to a million people was the Penguin! Lots to watch there.

Early the next morning we were heading to Tucson for our next baseball game, but first I took Brent to the Sonora Desert Museum. (Sure, we had to first get lost using the Micro-suck Streets and Trip planner.) It was worth the time and so fun. Sure we had already seen lots of Saguaro cacti, teddy bear cholla, prickley pear and barrel, but not so up close and personal. So many were in blossom, the aviary was pretty cool, but I liked the humming birds. Last time I was there they were outside under a ramada with lots of feeders, so cool.

Then off to see the Rockies and the Cubs at the Hi Corbett field in Tucson. Pretty neat, parked in a mall parking lot and they bussed you over to the field, no hiking. Nicest fans there and so fun to see the passion of the Cubbie fans! This was a REAL game and boy or boy was it fun.

We saw everything, home runs, hot-box outs, hits to all bases, runs comming in and even though we were up in almost heaven, the last row 1/2 way between home and 3rd, it was terrific! The Cubs were ahead all the way until the 8th inning, then the Rockies came through and blew them away! The Cubbie pitcher was so funny, he would act like he was washing his hands when he had the ball in his glove, too weird, but fun to watch.

The weather was perfect, so not needing any lunch, one foot long huge hotdog and one foot long hugher brat for Brent and who's hungry? We headed down to see Tombstone and the OK Corral. Sure we are tourists, but that is the fun.

Along the way, Brent saw a sign for Fort Huachuca and so we headed towards the Mexican border. We passed border patrol, cactus and drove right past the little fort. We went to a gas station for gas, (Was checked out by a girl named Cally and she checked Brent's license said her Dad had the same name as he does, Callis. That is the only other person we know of, not in the family. Pretty neat.)

But, where was the Fort? Just back a mile or two... so we did get to see it, the outside of an old building that was closed. It was actually a building for the widows of the buffalo and other soilders. So then we headed back to the crossroads to get to Tombstone. We got there just at dusk, almost dark so we missed all the shooting, but got to walk in the town with all the old buildings and on their boardwalk. We ate a terrible dinner in the Crystal Saloon with real cowboys and wrangles and vests and hats and mustaches and cold gravy left over from the shoot-out, but still fun to eat in an almost pitch-blackbfood saloon. So I do not know if the whiskey is good, the water was toerable, but they lied about the best food. Just got to say the old bar was great was saying nothing, it was the real one and pretty picturesque with all the old cowboys belling up to it.

So we had to go back to Tucson for our room and so we did. By the way construction and closing exits is for the birds and the locals, not for tourists! But a good sleep and off we go! Taking the day to go back up to Phoenix on back roads. Checked out the ruins at Casa Grande, it was amazing and hard to believe it was over 500 years old and still standing. The Ho Ho Kum people were so smart and advanced. The picture doesn't do it justice, over 3 stories high, unbelievable that they did this without any tools other than thier hands and rough hammers.

Later we meandered into Phoenix via Mesa and took in the temple. It made our Sunday. Then a good Mexican dinner, best chimi in a long time, and to bed to head out to the airport early Monday to fly back home and end this exploration.

Sure is fun to travel with my best partner for 40 years! Hope we never stop exlporing! So many places, so little time and so much work!

Best Shots of My Life

I even asked for them! Yep, I am getting the best shots of my life! I am in for the long-run of allergy shots and hope they do the job. I go a few times a week to get them. They are a "NO-PAIN", actually "no feel" type shot and I only wish that getting poked for blood draws or at the Dentist were so nice. I can't wait to not be roughed up by nature any more.

I had the 42 scratch tests and I found out I am really allergic to sagebrush, Russian olive trees, pig weed, Russian thistles and dogs and to a bunch more. Now, none of that resides in my back yard or in the 100+ wild acres over the ravine behind our house or even Rocky who lives in my house!

Lucky to find out cats (like Sweetie who is the one who is walking over my keyboard, meowing, nudging my hand and lightly pawing my face to get attention right now) and dust doesn’t phase me…as you can tell by writing your name or a book on some furniture pieces in our home.

But the best part of all the itchy tests is that I am not allergic to Brent, the kids or grandkids! I think I am counting my blessings and grateful for modern medicine.

Spring Fever

Man, Oh man, do I have Spring fever, beautiful day, sunny and can even see the brownish, yellow, green grass! I think all of the snow has finally melted in our yard. But so of course that makes me want to go exploring! So I booked us a weekend trip down to Phoenix and Tucson to see some Cactus League Spring Baseball! Whoopee for us, it should be fun. Maybe we can even get a few links covered there as well.

ACL's, Valentines and President's Day

Haven't written for awhile and lots has happened, sort of.... Tommy killed his knee on a run when he entered the Masters Snowboard Challenge at Snowbird. Lucky to have great surgeons and he is on the mend now. I helped where I could, but really didn't do much. Jared was there to help with any real needs, I am grateful for him. I was touched by how tender Jamie is with Tommy. They are a good match.

Valentines has come and gone and it was fun. The day before we made and decorated cherry-chip cup cakes with Justin's little ones, that was real fun. I was going to give some to the other kids, but, almost all gone when we were done. They gave me a most beautiful and real book that Ashley had made scrap-booking with pictures of all the grandkids. So sweet with wonderful poems and pictures and so personalized, even with why they like Grandma. It was my birthday present and that they had just barely got it back in the mail, they had to wait because of Chinese New Years...It was truly worth the wait. Probably the very best part was all the kids climbing on the island counter so we can all see together and each of them saying "That's me!" in the picture.


I made a Valentine for Tommy to give to Jamie, took over the hearty crystal vase and some flowers for him to give to her (as he couldn't leave his recliner for the last week). That was fun too. Shane and Ashley brought over little Emmalee and a wonderful glass box with pictures of Emmalee all over it. She is so cute and growing so fast! I gave them a Valentine I had made and we visited for a little bit. Then off to the movies with my Valentine.


On Sunday morning we headed up to Lava to sit and soak in the hot springs. Really was a beautiful sunny day, cold but that is good when you are shriveling up like a prune! We were going to stay over, but decided our bed was better than theirs! And we were right. That even gave us a President's day to have still off together. My best friend is my best company!

Connections...

Having fun finding old friends with facebook, classmates and reunion.com. Problem is, lots of my generation are not using these formats. But I have found a few and now doing some catch-up. Love this newfangled world!

Birthdays

Love them, or else where would you be? But I did have the best one I can remember in a very long time this year. Lots of friends called and even sent presents and then topped it off with a wonderful dinner with the family! Heaven on earth for me.
I adopted my friends idea of celebrating for the whole month, but I did it a bit bigger, I celebrate as long as I want to! Lunched with my sis and friends for the last couple of weeks and still have a few more in the works. Now all I have to do is get back into the habit of cooking again!

Fun on the Town

Well, yes we headed out on the 4 day weekend to do some business for Brent...and I got to go along and have some fun. Las Vegas is a money pit, but I don't gamble too much, it's just that we like to see the shows! We stayed at the Golden Nugget, we love it there, not too busy and great rooms. Found this place one December when we went to the National Finals Rodeo with LeAnne and Norman a few years ago.

They have great small theater that we have seen a few shows in. Very intimate and you really can see the performer. This time we saw "Defending the Caveman!" Yep Brent dragged me there by the hair, caveman style! Really funny and also enlightening for both of us, mostly the caveman...or maybe me too!

We swam with the sharks in their shark tank and have to admit, it was a wee bit cold so loved their big hot tub. It is really cool to see a shark up close and personal and see all his rows of teeth, big and spikey, from underneath him. Glad we had heavy duty glass between us. Too bad the pic don't show the sharks! They have a glass water slide that runs right down through the shark tank, pretty fun!


The best of the fun was seeing the play Mamma Mia ! It was so good. It was the reason we went to Vegas, what a treat for me! What a fun show. Love Abba and the play is better than the movie, but loved that too!


After we left Vegas we checked out some sites for work in St George, then over to Kanab. Boy that is an interesting and beautiful town. We had Chicken Fried's at the famous diner there where all the cowboy movie stars ate. Good and fast service. Then to see a sunset glowing on the red bluffs, and turning all the cliffs on fire. So beautiful! We went to their movie house to see a 30's western, but the little old lady, and I do mean old, decided to show Pajama Game instead. Half of the 10 patrons left. I would rather have seen Tex Ritter in the show "the Utah Trail", but instead we got Doris Day. It just wasn't worth getting our $2.00 back and then go and watch TV. We decided Kanab was an interesting and kind of weird town.


Then we headed home and made a stop at the Coral Pink Sand dunes, we had tried to go there years ago, but it was getting late and we hardly had any gas, so decided to be safe and skipped the extra ride. But we were prepared this time, early in the day and lots of gas! In fact we were so prepared that we made a stop after we left and scooped up some of the pink sand to put into our little turtle sand box for the grandkids to enjoy! Lovely sight to see.



By the Way..... A GREAT BIG THANKS TO ALL YOU VETS AND THE SERVICE YOU HAVE GIVEN FOR US... Especially to my Dad, my brother and our son. Your sacrifices are appreciated now and for all our future generations.

Twilighter

Yep, I read the first one last week, and will read the rest. It's a fun light escape and so much better than any Anne Rice wrote. Been told by Carol to read them and I always obey my big sister! So take the quiz and see who you are!


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Halloween Bugs

Cutest bugs in the world were our grandkids.... 2 spiders and one beautiful butterfly! Aren't they the cutest? Sure makes a holiday fun! Who's the scariest, Brent or the twins.

Emmalee Marie

Such a little sweet sugar cookie! Shane and Ashley had our little darling on September 25th. 6 pounds 12 ounces and truly a bundle of joy! So lucky to have the special opportunity to have them living with us during this time. It has been great! Both are wonderful parents and so cute with her. It is such a gratifying feeling seeing their love as a family.

Trippin' Again!

Myrtle Beach

Yep, we've been on a trip to South Carolina and boy was it fun. We first hit Charleston and took in the sights and history. Loved riding in the horse drawn carriage and being transported back in time and seeing all the beautiful homes and haunts, markets and the pigs statues in front of the home of the Piggly Wiggly store owners. Saw Fort Sumpter from a distance and love the ocean.

We ate in the most quaint, busy, side-of-the road restaurant. I had an orange Nehi drink and seafood. Lots of fun, had to park down the lane and walk a block, there were so many people there to get into this little spot.

In our 7th floor condo on the beach, at Myrtle Beach, the sights went on forever. Boy, oh boy do I love the ocean and the sunrises. We only had to go down the elevator, pass the pool and walk on the 15 foot boardwalk to get our toes in the sand. Just perfect place to stay.

We saw the group Alabama and a few other shows while we were there, but the best is the golfing.... 200+ courses in the area. Brent went 4 times and I went once. It was a fun time. The Witch Golf Course had swamps you drove through between holes and critters making all kinds of noise, and they preface your round with "Don't try and retrieve any balls in the water or woods."... And we could see why. But I didn't see any alligators in the ponds. Brent saw one on another course.

We saw the most beautiful gardens with statues and glorious art just hanging out at Brookgreen gardens. We had a river ride to see the old rice fields and then to the zoo on the plantation. Most huge spiders ever! Got to see a super long alligator, birds and foxes and so many more.

I even saw my first cardinal! Been on that quest since I was a little girl, so check that one off the list of lifetime "must see's"!

Everything there is cooked Calabash style, lightly floured and then fried. Some was good and some wasn't. We took a trip up to the border of North Carolina and had more Calabash at the original Calabash, NC! I loved that one, but Brent didn't, but that is because he only like buffets!
But we were both Calabashed out by the last day (The Giant Crab buffet did it for me!). So we hit Jimmy Buiffet's Margaritaville just hours before the real hurricane landed. Lucky we were out and had flown away on our way home by then. It hit just a few miles from our condo. So that was fun, too!

Labor Day was a fun time to go.
LOVE TO GO TRIPPIN!

Best of Times

Boy, oh boy, what a fun and relaxing evening up at the Red Butte Gardens last night. We got to see the Rhubarb Tour, sponsored by Ketchup! We love Garrison Keillor's ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ radio show and even the movie. He has such a great way of looking at life's happenings. I really loved his ode to Dad. Touching and of course got me all misty. Several years ago for Brent’s birthday we went to see him in concert with the Utah Symphony and really enjoyed that. The music, the stories, the sound affects, the venue, the weather, the night sky and especially my companion were all perfect. Couldn’t ask for a nicer time!

No One to Blame But Me!

I just hate haircuts!

Just mine, of course. It always takes weeks to get over one, no actually months, this time! I loved to cut hair, but always wanted it to be just what the customer wanted and usually got it right. Problem with me is those spur of the moment ideas and choices and knowing it will grow, eventually. Got daring and had an A-line, but whew, way to short, guess I will like it by December! But the one good thing is that my neck is way-cool!

Another funny thing happened to me earlier this summer, I wanted to go strawberry blonde and ended up with the color of a copper penny, just had to add some drabber and wait for it to all wash out in a week. Pretty funny, but you have to get your jollies where you can! I have always said it is better to wear funny socks and color your hair, because it would be really dumb to change husbands!

Blessings

I am grateful for my sis and good doctors and hospitals. It has been 3 weeks and finally Carol is out of the hospital and at home. Pretty tough and extremely lucky to be getting over an aneurism on your aorta. Glad this is behind us now and she can start to live her life again. Blessings and Thanks!