I Love My Family!!

What began as week in Mexico turned into a family trip to SLC for the funeral of Leigh's brother Lloyd. It was totally unexpected and caught us all off guard. Bryce had work commitments that he was not able to get out of so he couldn't come, BUT we did leave space for him under the hat in the family picture we took at the cemetery.
We have done quite a bit of reflecting on the importance our immediate family holds in our hearts and also our place in the extended family. We know that our desire to be united eternally is not a guarantee that those ties will be in effect. We each have the responsibility to do what we know to be right to our best ability.
Leigh and I thank our family for their support of us and each other in those events that take place in our lives. We love them, we have been blessed by them, we hope they will be ours forever.

Hurrah!!

My comment thingy is back!!!

Happy Mother's Day AND 40th Anniversary!!!

A beautiful Sabbath Day. Temperatures here in the mid to high 70's. That is about perfect, if you ask me. We had a Celebration Brunch with the Montoya Family. I even used real plates!! Anyone who eats here often, knows that typically paper and I are buddies. I decided that 40 years called for a little class so we did it up right, plus our table fit everyone, which usually is NOT the case. I mean, with 32 family members our 8-place table doesn't work too often.

Joslin took a picture of the 40th Anniversary SMACK. We are headed down to Rocky Point next weekend for a weeks' stay down there. We are very much looking forward to the trip.

I often reflect on our 40 years together. I had no idea of what a blessing my children, grandchildren, in-laws and husband would be to me all those years ago. I walked into marriage with a great leap of faith; I did. I felt the Lord would direct me on a daily basis as we navigated our way through the years. I give the Lord credit for those successes I have experienced in my life.

End of sermon!!

I am not sure how, but there doesn't seem to be a way to leave a comment on my last blog. . .which is funny, as I was hoping for some color direction with our front door. Just email me any thoughts you have.

Tonight at 9:06 (according to Eric) Caroline delivered Jared Cox. We were at the hospital when he was born. Not in the room but in Eric's office (that was an interesting turn of events, Hmmmm). Everything went splendidly and even miraculously, based on some difficult deliveries she has gone through in the past. Baby is 7# 8 Oz. and 20" long. Very healthy. Everyone is doing great.

Survey Time!!

My husband has been so busy, the past two weeks. He has been caulking, scraping and painting the exterior of the house. I got recruited to do some of the trim and Sammy was a great help to me. I want to paint the front door. . (here shown in the primer white it came with a bazillion years ago). Red, seems to pop into my head whenever I consider colors. I WANT YOUR OPINIONS. . . . . Give me some ideas. One or two colors?. . . .I just need some help.

. . . .I've been trying to post a few other pictures from our BBQ we enjoyed last weekend. . . Just know that Thomas made a very handsome chef AND Sariah totally loved the potato salad.

Who wants to be my BFF?

Katie, Kimberly and I had a whirlwind trip to Chicago this past weekend. I had a blast. One of the things we did to make us laugh was look at every stranger we met as our new BFF. We journaled our happenstance meeting with them. Cracked me up.

I think we wound up with 20 new BFFs. It made it a little easier talking to people, knowing that we could then add them to our book.

Above you see Penny, who I believe is from Valparaiso, IN. She is a single mother of two teenagers, a boy and a girl. They are her niece and nephew that she adopted when they were 5 and 7 (or something like that!!). What a dedicated mother she is. We had a great visit while riding on the South Shore Line which travels in to Chicago from Indiana. (We actually had a motel in Indiana. . .40 minutes south east of Chicago . . .a great bargain of a room). We had nearly 40 minutes to visit and I REALLY liked her; I think if I lived near her, we truly could have been BFF!! ((Penny, if you read this, I mean it!! Pinky Promise.))

Here we are sitting atop the Grey Line Double Decker Bus. . .We took an abbreviated tour which should have lasted 2 hours but wound up being about 1/2 hour. . . We stopped to ride up to the top of the Sears Tower and when we got back down . . the Tour Bus was gone with no others scheduled to come to that location!!! The girls tried chasing one down with me huffing and puffing, but to no avail. In spite of this, we totally loved our experience on foot in downtown Chicago.

Tomorrow we leave for Kimberly's BYU Graduation!! Now, THAT makes me feel . . . . .proud, happy and a little old.

Fifty What!!

This is my husband in action. We played a few little games following lunch today and I caught him going to some length to "get-that-ball". I showed it to Eric and suggested we make a poster out of it for hisPT office. Then when Leigh goes in for an adjustment, Eric could use it as a visual of things to avoid, if you don't want your knees and back to hurt. Actually, Leigh loves seeing the yard being used by the children and grand children and he loves to help them improve their skills. He couldn't be happier than when out in the yard with the kids.

I know, it just doesn't seem right that time marches on, but it does. It was a crazy week so we got together this afternoon for a birthday dinner/cake/icecream. I had lots of help blowing the candles out, which proved to be pretty funny because they were the non-extinguishable kind and they kept flaring up again. I got more than a little "raspberry" splatter from those cute little boys. We did not actually have the candles on the cake (but sliced bread), which was a good thing, as there was too much spit flying trying to keep them blown out. The cake, which Joslin baked was hot from the oven and we didn't want to risk the candles melting all over it.

We enjoyed a nice Stake Conference this morning and enjoyed the speakers very much. We received a challenge to involve ourselves in service to the community more often, with no expectations. I see that as good advice.