Cutest

Last night while I was eating at Petra's authentic Mexican I got a phone call from Erin. She was panicked. You know the kind where someone's about had their arm cut off and it's hanging, bleeding, by one last little shred? That kind. "WHAT," I more or less shouted into the phone over the noise hearing Erin say, I'm kind of freaking out!

It turns out someone hasn't died and Landon wasn't choking and she's not in premature labor. Nope. Just this.

Abbie wanted her hair cut. Short. Erin caved in and let the stylist do her thing.



Took a head of hair like this,



and this,



to this. Only the cutest little girl on this side of the Mississippi, uh huh!



Erin hyperventilated after, and called me - she says today it was because they went to Target right after the haircut and Abbie's hair air-dried and looked uneven and way, way short. Both Jen and I gave her encouraging words (take a deep breath) last night and today she sent these and is breathing easier.

I love it. Erin loves it. Bet you do. Abbie, you're the cutest! This cut makes you look very grown up, perfect for starting Kindergarten.

Katy

Any idea how hard it is to photograph a moving dog? Me and Katy again this morning
at first light. Likely, by the way, this dog's name is not spelled like Katy McGee's, though clearly it's the cutest spelling. Or is, who knows? They are both so darn cute and I love them both.



Gotcha



This is a hoppin' place. This morning Karen's working the laundry again and getting ready to leave in a while with Ben for Six Flags, the thing that inspired him to eat left over home cooked rice and chicken for dinner last night. He said to his mom, chewing, he was "happily thinking about going to Six Flags tomorrow." I can attest. A seriously sad moment for him initially since we (K, J and I) were standing over him holding car keys and headed for dinner with Amber Shelton at Petra's in McKinney.

Authentic Mexican. After dinner we ended up at Marble Slab. Our drive over to get cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory for a dollar fifty a slice was foiled by a wicked crowd in its parking lot and news that we had to dine in to get it for that price. Marble Slab in Allen was not crowded, the clerks are friendly, my ice cream was delicious and we stood under a double rainbow hugging and kissing Amber goodbye. And gentle rain. Amber's due with a little boy on the 7th and says she's going Monday to be induced. She's cheerful and was so happy to see us.

I've got a link on my blog for the Sheltons, and she said she'll post pictures of the baby next week. Yeah this is a hoppin place.

A little philosophising: I'm pretty struck again this trip with giving up control. For sure in places where I have no stewardship and it would be me butting in. I give Jenny an A+ for being patient with me, and me probably an A- for appropriateness as her mother and being patient with her. I'm a great mom and friend and am only saying I need improvement in not bossing. She's doing fabulous, and while it's grand she's got our help here, at times what comes from me she doesn't need. Being with Kent in a loving marriage and having growing children is showing me gallons about bossiness. So who loves it?

Right.

I love another kind of giving up control - in the moment. Making no immediate demands when plans crash, watching for what's next. I've been in kind of an experiement with grace. Not getting cheesecake last night was sad and getting ice cream was fantastic, plus the rainbow. A little example. Jen giving up her furniture in Utah and watching amazing items "come" for the apartment in Dallas instead of her complaining and worrying. She's elated and grateful. How, if something falls out of your grasp, your control, does such good things and even the perfect thing show up right when you need it? Faith I think, and gratitude and grace. Christ's, who loves us and is himself elated to grant us what we need in the moment and as we ask for it. And as we are thankful. Those are the operators of this kind of relationship with Him. I'm always amazed.

I hope I'm going with the flow better this year than I have before. Watching for particular blessings and being grateful for what comes. I like trying to improve and am clumsy at getting things right, so forgive me when I'm bossy. Jen's already done that a hundred times this trip.

In the spotlight

Jen drove me to her apartment complex in Frisco. We wandered through the model, given the people in her apartment are not out yet, and I snapped some pics; outside near the picnic area I turned the camera on this window thank you as Jenny pointed and grinned. For Kent's sake, a drum roll please and spotlight (small photo edit):



Double click if you're in the mood. Hey hey hey.

Monday morning, July 28:

A morning walk in Castle Rock, Colorado, Lori and Sam Brescia's neighborhood. Of course I took pictures of flowers - so sunny, so pretty . . . ah, I love Denver. Loved being with Lori and Sam and the kids overnight. Favorite memory: Family Home Evening lesson about Priesthood blessings, held on the cutest FHE blanket Lori made in R.S a while ago. An Enrichment activity. Samuel T. (T for Timothy), 7, conducted the whole thing, with announcements. I led the opening and closing songs with a wooden spoon like in the old days with my own kids. Good lesson, since Monday after we left Sam was going to give Samuel and Sydney priesthood blessings for starting school Wednesday today. 2nd grade and pre-school. (Right, Lori?)

Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas were long and drab. East and south into Wichita got prettier and better except for the humidity. Spent the second night in Park City above Wichita and scooted out of there mid-morning yesterday for the longish drive through Oklahoma into Texas. Got here late in the day. Jenny's blog (when she posts) 'll have details about it. Stay tuned.

Rainy this morning at Chris and Karen's - Spencer and Andrew did go to their mowing jobs. The boys are 16 and 14, Spence drives and they work at lawn care. They almost didn't go out with it wet; no sun. They're handsome, cheerful boys. Ben is 7, big-eyed and busy, busy, also handsome and cheerful and very spry. Asked his mom last night at dinner if she'd take him to, uh, Six Flags today. Uh, no. He feeds Katy the dog every morning. I know this. I was up at 6:00 eye-to-eye and nose-to-nose with her where she slept with an eye on me in her kennel (me on a memory foam pad in the living room right under the fan) and let her out when she rustled and stretched, then wrastled, absolutely rassled her with her doggie toy well before anyone in this house got up. Wore me out. She looked her food and water bowls over at one point and eyed me. "Not my job," I said. Right?

Ben fed Katy while we had breakfast. Karen's puttering around doing laundry while I write and while Jen puts final touches on make up and hair behind a closed-tight bathroom door. Katy'll nose into our purses and suitcases in the bedroom and bathroom, which she did last night and got a pill bottle of Tylenol out of my purse and open and munched on before bedtime (mostly the plastic bottle and cap), so we got that away from her and doors have to remain closed and we have to really pay attention to that. Katy didn't overdose. She probably hated the taste of the medicine - chewed only one.

We're SO glad to be rested and not have to get in the car and go far this morning. Maybe to Penney's later and Jen's taking us to see her apartment and the school. Yay! My hair'll probably frizz in the rain. Love this place.

Patch of light

A day on the job at Jen’s house
I’m sure
she’s been overwhelmed
this year teaching school
When does it end
and for months making
lists and calls and trips
to Dallas
When does it start
picking through for weeks now
the odds and ends of her life
here

in this place

boxing it for shipping
so overwhelming has it been
stripping the room bare
today
she turns and there
is nothing but a patch of light

On holiday - not

There'll be fireworks tonight. It's a holiday here - the 24th of July celebrates the coming of the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints into the Salt Lake valley in 1847. Laura came with me to Amy's pretty early this morning and we three walked pushing Joseph in the stroller for about 45 minutes. Then on to Jen's and the three of us worked til after 2:00 sorting and packing Jen's apartment still. Amy helped yesterday afternoon several hours and this whole effort by committee is slowly emptying Jen's digs. Karen Bradford in Dallas will surely have received boxes by now, boxes Jen and I packed and she shipped last week. Ten. Today she shipped six more. It's hard work mainly because it's hot - 100 degrees today I heard on the news - which'll kill your energy. Thank you air conditioning! We plugged away, which really means tomorrow may not be as heavy-duty a day and Saturday could be just for tidying. Right? I'm proud of Jen; she's dejunked and organized pretty well and let me leverage (boss) her into action and out of her house. (Just like she hired me to do. Though I'm her mom. Probably because I'm the mom.) One day last week after work and tension and some noise she said, sorry I got mad and I said sorry I was annoying. Hugs and kisses. Scott standing by barked with laughter.

I took Kent to the airport so darn early this morning it feels like yesterday. It's time for bed and I've been home alone tonight frankly liking relaxing and listening to t.v. I caught two hours of the Food Network Star then drew the line at "So You Think You Can Dance." Too, too edgy and naked and almost boring. Is it the results show tonight? Scrapped for a short time, and feel comfortable with silence and my own thoughts. I love you Kent.

And you, Joseph Daniel.

Vacat'n

Kent and I drove mom and dad to the airport yesterday and now have the house to ourselves. We did laundry but no real housework, we shopped and had lunch and dinner out and relaxed all day. Kent finished a John Grisham novel and I scrapped. As soon as Kent got to this house last Wednesday night he exclaimed I'm vacating, only he says it vacat'n. Boy does he seem glad to be off work, and I wasn't about to propose major cleanup anywhere! He's clean anyway, even on vacation. Downright organized. And won't I have enough of cleaning at Jen's Saturday before we leave?

Yesterday we picked up church books and CDs at Deseret Book - it's funny, Kent's propped on a pillow on the bed behind a giant copy of Doctrines of Salvation and I'm head over heels for the Jesus Christ CDs by Truman Madsen which I lent to Scott already for his long drives in the car delivering drugs; how 's that, eh. He's the guy anyway that got us listening to books on CD. Well, or Kent. See Kent doesn't do more than one thing at a time, a total man thing, and says so very often and has said as long as I've known him he can't concentrate on driving and be listening to a book. He tried it after Christmas though with The Presidents of the Church Scott gave him, the 18 minutes it takes to get to work in the morning and again home at night and in, oh, a few weeks he was changed. Most every day he told me something cool he learned about one of the prophets; he listened to country and oldies less; he was chipper and even cheerful instead of drained by the day; he's agreed maybe we can listen to audio books on car trips - though that didn't so much materialize in May. Riding shotgun with nothing to do is SO boring, so I long for the trip when the man can do these two things - drive and concentrate on a book on CD - at once. Anyway, we got Madsen's talks on Joseph Smith when we were in Nauvoo at Scott's recommendation, the second eight, and picked up the first eight yesterday and Madsen's CDs on the Savior to help me with New Testament in Seminary.

I also got an Alex Boye CD - have you heard the man sing?!!! Wow - he's the male vocal with Jenny Frogley for the "Lion King" duet on Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Showtunes CD. I was blown away when I heard him on Music and the Spoken Word one Sunday, a while ago, step out of the choir as soloist for a beautiful spiritual. Hope his CD Spirit evokes the same awe.

I'm the tiniest bit restless for home - I miss it, but not enough to keep me from happily "vacating" here. I said in yesterday's post the days are melting away, almost into each other I see since it's morning and the sun's peering now over the hill and through the kitchen window as I write. It could have been several hours or just a few minutes already, so absorbed do I become in journaling and feeling thankful and thoughtful, and (sadly) time is moving too fast and I will be home in Georgia any minute and this will be a memory. You know. Mom's house has such a bird's eye view of things on this hill that it could be that that's giving me pause. Cars have lined the freeways from NSL to Ogden hours now, one stream of yellow light southbound and red northbound in the darkness I've watched. Today is routine for most of their drivers, and may or may not mark a thing.

One thing to another

I'm almost too busy each day to blog, and some days I've been without the Internet. Days are melting away like butter on hot corn. This is a long post, sorry. I kept at it though to journal these days for myself - you may want to skim.

A week late here . . . On the drive home from Twin Falls Sunday Andrew slept a little, then woke and didn't want to be in his car seat. Two solid hours of high-pitched yelling from the back seat, screaming like a weiner pig, dad calls it. Mean, huh. The shrieking was bloodcurdling, so Amy gave him a chocolate chunk cookie which stalled it exactly five minutes - time enough I guess for my hair to quit standing on end, my ears to stop ringing, and us to get through the construction in Ogden. Dan received this chunker at the end of the trip from a tired and wired mommy and nana.



Monday: Walked early with Amy and the boys in the stroller to the grocery store to shop; later I got with Scott and his roommate, Brandon, who I met for the first time and Jen and Dan for Irish food at MacCool's in SL - mmm, curry chicken salad; hung around Scott's apartment talking with him and Jen and listening to him play acoustical guitar and sing; messed around on the computer while the guys ordered pizza and cleaned their digs in yellow rubber gloves, yeah; slept over - to bed at midnight. In the boys' dungeon of a basement in Scott's deep bed with covers and the fan all night. Yay!

Tuesday: Scott got up at 7:15 and walked with me around Sugar House park - man what a great time with my son! Errands and shopping with Jen later in the morning; I bought a blouse and skirt, really good for Seminary, and caddied for Jen while she shopped; washed and detailed her car and I power-washed my finger, ripping it up, blood and everything. Who knew water forced out of the nozzle at high speed cuts like a knife? Supposed to be dejunking this morning at her apartment but after lunch we took a nap, and then I got a headache and called Amy to say I couldn't go to the temple with her. Camped at Jen's tonight in my jammies while she went to the Idol concert - then got leveraged out of her bed at midnight to the couch and slept like a rock.

Wednesday: All day at Jen's working on the apartment. Two and a half days in the same clothes - hee hee. SO much done. Synthia Smoot was with us and we three divided Jen's DVDs, CDs and VHS videos into piles: Keep boxes we labeled and shipped to Dallas Media Mail; sell; and give away. Scott came for me about 3:30 and we went on a run (on the clock) delivering pharmaceuticals to Lehi and Sandy, his day job. Hung out with Dan about 5:30. Ah, fresh clothes and a Jamba Juice - til he took me to Mom and Dad's close to 7:00. Good times - a day to see so many of my kids and my parents, too. My brain is buzzing. A good day for another reason - Amy got her job back! At 10 minutes to 2:00 this afternoon I looked at my watch and asked Jen and Synthia if we could kneel, just stop what we were doing and pray for Amy at her interview at IHC. Words of gratitude for the power to intercede for someone, to operate with faith in God and his mercies to us. A request for blessings over the things Amy would say and present there, and over the hearts of her supervisors and systems in the hospital. Who ever knows what good we can effect for others when we stop and plead for them in prayer - we did it, then went to work. By about 3:00 Dan called me to say she'd been offered her job in Maternity, a position she's held almost two years now and which she came from to Labor and Delivery a few months ago. July 16th she's back on board and went to work this very night.

Thursday: Kent arrived at midnight last night - I was zonkers at mom's and dad's when he came in, and he was beyond tired. This morning we got up early and he had to go back to bed after breakfast for a nap. Mom and I went to Bountiful to Shopko while he slept, nearly til noon; looking for clothes not too seriously and, very seriously, raspberry fritters. Went to three grocery stores (me driving the Fit - fab!) and found only apple. Pluh. Mom remembered buying them from some store when she lived here - hm, where? I said Dan's on Foothill Drive and she lit up like a Christmas tree. Called the bakery and they had three on the shelf still so I asked them to hold them. Scott picked them up on his way to Dan's and Amy's for dinner tonight, oh my, stuffed peppers and salad and french bread and strawberries and ice cream. (Sorry, I always describe the food, duh.) We had a great meal and interesting stories from dad; it was a wonderful and sometimes emotional family get together. The boys were in bed already so it was adults, a not-too-often grown up mealtime for Dan and Amy.

Friday: Idaho to Kent's parents' house. Kent (one foot up) in the yard, farm behind him. Pa's land is rented to a friend who planted barley this spring.



Pa watering his corn.



Potato bugs.



Feeding the bugs their last supper One foot up.



Pooped.



Neil's house next door and kittens.



Out to eat Friday night with Nana and Pa, Marcia, my sister, and Brent, her husband. A few minutes before we were to be at the Twin Falls LDS temple open house they took us to Shoshone Falls.



Up close.



Marcia and Brent, near 8:00 p.m.



Kent's mom.



After the temple tour, after 9:00.



Friday night home to Burley from Twin Falls SO late. A gorgeous full moon, pumpkin orange, on the horizon by 10:00. Early Saturday morning walking alone in the field behind the house.



Hot in Idaho - too hot to walk on the canal bank or go out in the car for long. Stayed indoors and visited with mom and dad. I scrapbooked and helped mom with dishes and meals and flirted with Kent. Showed them all the pictures. We drove to mom and dad Bradford's after supper.

Sunday morning to church in Lehi for the blessing for Tyson and Sarah (McKasson) Brown's newborn, Allison. Carol and Steve McKasson (Sarah's mom and dad) and their son Mark and his family came from Idaho, too - it's been over a year since I've seen them. Steve and Carol moved to Twin Falls a year and a half ago so we had lots to catch up on. After church.

Steve, Kent and Tyson Brown.



The McKassons and Kent and me; brother- and sister-in-law when I was married to Marc, and their children and spouses. Love 'em all!



My honey.



Us girls - Sarah Brown, Carol McKasson, me, Jenny - an unexpected visit!



End of the day listened to Jen sing in a duet at a fireside. We've been from one fine thing to another all week.

Mom and I sat in the kitchen this afternoon chatting about family. I like moments like this with mom, chatting almost idly about things then hearing something from her that is poignant or memorable. We were talking about my blog a little and some about Dad's blog - he's a poet and a writer and doesn't much brag about it, and his blog would be a perfect place to share his talents with us, right? She remembered a story dad submitted to the church magazine The Friend somewhere between 1975 and 1977, years during which the family (without me; I was already married) lived in Santiago, Chile, where dad served as Mission President. A story about my little brother and the little son of a member family who moved to Santiago. Chris, my brother, and this little boy played together she said, and were one day digging in a pile of dirt under a walnut tree at the back of the mission home yard. The rest is the story she pointed me to (we looked it up online) written by Dad, his observation of the children at play.

Don't miss this

Got this from Aggie's (link) blog.

The Best Gift Ever

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer’s showroom and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car.

Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man’s name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, “With all your money you give me a Bible?” And stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.

He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt 7:11, “And if ye, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly father which is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?”

As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words… PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God’s blessing because they are not packaged as we expected? I trust you enjoyed this. Pass it on to others. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for…
----

(Nat) Hi all, just had to post this cool story. Halfway through I think I got it and was already sad for the boy grown to a man without this awesome gift from his dad - not the car, right? What'd'ya think?

----
Family. My bea.u.ti.ful sis.ter

double click for a fun close-up

Great to be here

For sure one of the things I loved most about visiting the Twin Falls, Idaho, LDS Temple open house Saturday - these beauties on the temple grounds!



The temple in June 2007, one of the daily web cam shots during construction.



From another angle, now finished and hosting an open house for the general public until mid-August. Idaho is all sky - a brilliant, beautiful (if hot) day.



We loved going through the open house together as family, 60 of us. Marcia, my sister, guided our group of 30 through a little ahead of the 30 her husband guided. It was amazing to listen to her explain the sections of the temple and the purpose of each. She has a gift for being in front of people, for gracing us with her good knowledge and firm testimony of Christ. Incidentally, the other reason to be in Twin Falls this weekend is to celebrate the return of Marcia and Brent's son, Eric, from his 2-year mission to St. Petersburg, Russia.

After it all we went to their house for a barbecue.



Amy and I and the boys called Kent's mother Nana June when we stayed with her and Pa in Burley last night after the long day driving and touring and eating. She's Nana and I'm Nana, so we had to. She gave them banana bread for breakfast this morning, and I couldn't resist the beautiful light in the kitchen!



Did I take pictures of anyone else this weekend? Sure.

Laura, my sister.



Marcia. (Pardon the shade.)



Gaby Kingery, my cousin, and her son, Liam.



Shana and Justin Runyan - Shana is Laura's oldest.



Dad.



Jen.



Shayla, Laura's youngest daughter.



In the days since I left Warner Robins I've already visited dozens of relatives; helped Jenny sort and pack her apartment as she gets ready to move, her request; taken a road trip to Idaho with my two grandsons trapped strapped in car seats in varying degrees of consternation; visited my parents and Kent's and my two sisters and their families, and three of my kids and of course daughter-in-law; had a new grand baby, Garrett Thomas, in Arkansas, which makes 5 grandsons; slept on a pull-out couch bed three nights and fixin' to crawl in in a few minutes; watched an incredible video, "The Great Debaters," directed by and starring Denzel Washington; checked out a Jane Austen-esque book series from the library and started it, and read four chapters in the Book of Mormon; missed Kent a million times over; taken pictures, made a scrapbook layout and blogged; and enjoyed some of the best eats in town. It happens.

Well, and not any of it in this order. Happy days! 27 to go, and two more car trips and more friends and relatives in at least three cities to see. My daily rhythm is to wake early for a little quiet time - work/play hard during the day and drink water and, well, don't overeat or overspend - have fun with whomever - pray at day's end and look forward to the couch bed. I'm blessed. It's great to be here.