In Loving Memory!

We got the news today of the passing of my Aunt Doris. It will be hard on my cousins to lose their Mom. She was a very special lady and much loved by all who knew her!

After my Mom died Doris sent me this email. I think my Mom would have written the exact same thing about her if the roles had been reversed. As it is, I witnessed the scene of the last good by between these two sisters a few years ago, It was heart wrenching, and I can't help thinking about the joyous reunion they must be having now!

"INEZ WAS MY SISTER AND BEST FRIEND. THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP.
SHE WAS ALMOST THREE YEARS OLDER, SO SHE WAS MY ROLE MODEL. SO BLAME HER IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT I DO AND SAY.
DURING OUR TEEN YEARS WE OFTEN DRESSED ALIKE OR SIMILAR AND PEOPLE OFTEN ASKED IF WE WERE TWINS. I LOVED THAT, BECAUSE INEZ WAS THE PRETTY SISTER.
I’LL MISS MY MORNING E-MAILS FROM HER. HOW WILL I KNOW THE WEATHER IN TUALATIN NOW?
I’LL MISS HER MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY. I LOVED HER VERY MUCH. SHE WAS A GREAT SISTER, WONDERFUL DAUGHTER AND A TREMENDOUS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER."

I love this picture of Doris and my Mom with their parents. She was a happy, thoughtful person. She was very witty and always had me laughing. What fun she was to be around! And I loved how she always remembered my birthday. So many great memories of this wonderful lady!

Life Is Grand!

I hope my grandchildren think that is true! But I know for sure that having grandchildren makes my life grand!! Last night Dan and I babysat Hannah and Joshua while MaryAnn and Brian went out for dinner. I don't think they have been out of the house alone together since January due to MaryAnn's illness. But Dan and I had a "grand" time since Hannah did and said so many funny things as a three-year-old will do. Here are some highlights:

**While we were eating dinner I asked Hannah if she would like some of the pineapple, and she said Yes, she wanted it in the white bowl. So I went to the cupboard and got out a small white bowl. She said: No, it's the bigger one. So there was a little larger bowl and I asked if this was the one? No, it's the bigger one. I found another bowl that was a little bigger--it wasn't white--but still in the soup-bowl size range. No, she said, it's the big white bowl. So of course, I wanted to be a good grandma and do what she asked. There on the counter was a big white mixing bowl. Is this the bowl you want for your pineapple? Yes, she said. And so Hannah ate her little pieces of pineapple out of a huge bowl and I could tell she felt very proud of herself!

**Hannah needed to go potty before she went to bed. She quickly got on the big toilet. I asked her why she didn't use her little potty which she usually does. Her reply: There's a grapefruit in it. And sure enough, there was a grapefruit in the little potty!

**Hannah has a little bedtime routine to get her calmed down and the last thing you do is sing one verse of "I Am A Child of God." The lights are out and you quietly close the door and say Good Night, I love you! Hannah had been so quiet for all of this that I thought she might even be asleep already, but just as I finished she said: "Now you can go do computer!"

MaryAnn warned me that she might call out after we put her down and she was right. So I went back into the room to tuck her in again. She asked me: Can I come back up for one more minute? I asked her: Does your Mom let you come back up? Her reply: No, but Grandma does. (She got to come back up!)

**I was commenting to Dan about a woman in our ward who won't put her foot down with her kids. I said: She's too nice! I turned to Hannah and asked her if her Mom was too nice? Here was her reply: My Mom is VERY nice, but she's not TOO nice!

Now that was a grand evening!

A Good Read....So Far!

It isn't often that I recommend a book that I haven't even finished reading yet! I've already added it to my "Favorite Books on American History" list on the sidebar of my blog. I am only 100 pages into this 750+ page book and so far I am loving every minute! The subtitle of the book is "The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." Sounds a bit like it might be along the lines of a textbook. But it is anything but a dry account of history.

As described on the front by James McPherson: "An elegant, incisive study...Goodwin has brilliantly described how Lincoln forged a team that preserved a nation and freed America from the curse of slavery." An on the back it says: "This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln's mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history." It's won a bunch of awards including a Pulitzer prize if that impresses you. For me it has all the elements of a really good book: Non-fiction; about American history; focuses on Abraham Lincoln; a biography X 4; well-documented; well written. By the way, the"team" consists of New York senator William H. Seward, Ohio governor Salmon P.Chase, Missouri's distinguished elder statesman Edward Bates and of course Abraham Lincoln who were all rivals for the 1860 Republican nomination. Well, I could go on and on about all I am learning from reading this book, but then I couldn't actually be reading the book! Catch you later!

I've Been Pasteurized!

Is this me?

Five years ago I was teaching a Marriage and Family Relations class during the Sunday School hour. The class went about 8 weeks, and then the bishopric would have me wait for a few weeks before starting another round of classes with a new group. I had that calling for 3 years.

Near the end of the three years I had finished teaching a session and the bishopric told me to hold off before starting another one. I waited weeks and then months. I checked with them periodically, but they said to keep waiting. One Sunday after Church I told Dan that I felt like I had been "put out to pasture. " I had a church calling but they didn't seem to want me to do it. I was feeling low. Dan started laughing. He said: The bishop has a new calling for you and he just asked me if it would be all right to extend the call to you as it is a big calling. AHHHH! I was worried. Maybe being put out to pasture wasn't so bad. The next Sunday I was called to be the Young Women's President!

After a couple of years of being busy almost every minute with that calling, I served in two callings in the Relief Society.

When that presidency was released, so was I. I wondered what my next calling might be? I waited for over 4 months before I received a new calling. Again, I felt like I had been "put out to pasture." Then the bishop came by and called me to a "made up" calling. He showed me this church pamphlet:

He said he felt the members of our ward needed to know what was in the pamphlet and that they needed to start doing what it said. It was now my calling to make that happen. He said he would call me the Welfare Specialist and that I would be a part of the ward Welfare Committee. I got a copy of the pamphlet and that was all my instruction for my new calling. I had that calling for just about exactly one year and I was released last Sunday. During that year I tried not to act like I had been "put out to pasture." I held classes during the Sunday School hour instructing the members of our ward, organzied my own committee and had meetings with them, supervised weekly tips in Relief Society, published a newsletter for a few months, and got dry pack canning started in the ward and facilitated some group orders from some companies.

When I was released the member of the bishopric said to me: Thanks for all you did in that calling. You were great! We feel like you are a plug! Huh?




We can plug you into any calling and you will do it! I guess that was a compliment. Well, I'll just keep grazing out in the pasture until I get my next calling. Oh wait, I got a new calling, but I can't reveal it yet. It's another "made up" calling, but real or made up, it is always a blessing to serve in a church calling.

I love this quote from President Uchtdorf's conference address: "Lift Where You Stand"

"Every calling provides an opportunity to serve and to grow. The Lord organized the Church in a way that offers each member an opportunity for service, which, in turn, leads to personal spiritual growth. Whatever your calling, I urge you to see it as an opportunity not only to strengthen and bless others but also to become what Heavenly Father wants you to become."

I titled this post "I've Been Pasteurized" because instead of thinking I'm always being put out to pasture, I'm actually being pasteurzied which means "to improve a food product, especially milk, by improving its keeping qualities by heating it in order to destroy harmful bacteria." Sounds kind of like the refiner's fire! Keep on serving!

Emma's Baptism!

Saturday, April 11th was a very special day in our family: Emma was baptized! We are so proud of her! We were so glad we were able to be there along with her other grandparents and even a great grandmother. She was radiant!

The baptism included prayers by Julia and Vovo, talks by myself and Grandma Roth and the baptism and confirmation performed by her dad, Josh, with the grandfathers as witnesses and particpants in the confirmation. During the changing interlude, the Primary presidency asked each person there to write a short note to Emma expressing their feelings about the day. These were put together in a little booklet for her. Later Josh and Andrea hosted about 30 of us to a wonderful meal and enjoyable afternoon.

Congratulations!

Ogden, Utah: Treehouse Museum and Farr Better Ice Cream!

As part of our trip to Utah we went to Odgen, a place where we lived for 7 months in 1973 and full of many fond memories including the birth of Heidi. There is a new children's museum there called the Treehouse Museum and we spent a fun afternoon there one day:

This is the treehouse in the center of the museum through which you can travel to the various floors. The kids were disappointed that the slide in the treehouse was closed.

Katie was my buddy for the first little while and she had fun playing with a doll house in the doll room,

putting on a puppet show,

and playing instruments in the music room:

Meanwhile the rest of the family was having fun in the Africa area. That's Matthew riding a giraffe riding a zebra!

We also enjoyed the Art Garden and a place called Mapping Utah, but I think everyone including Josh and Grandpa had the most fun playing with these wooden blocks! They built towers and knocked them down.

Matthew was proud that he built the tallest one:

Instead of building a tower like everyone else, Julia layed out a floorplan for a house:

One evening we drove back to Ogden to get an ice cream cone at Farr's, a fun memory for Dan and I. It looks exactly the same as it did 36 years ago. It is right across from the temple and a great place to stop when you are done with a session. As I recall, we went to the temple quite often before Heidi was born!

Easter 2009!

We started our Easter weekend driving over Donner and this was the view out our window!

But we had no more snow the rest of the trip and enjoyed spending Easter with Josh and Andrea and their family. We got to observe the egg dying:

We enjoyed attending Church with them on Sunday:

and watching the fun of the Easter Egg hunt and the goodies:

We played a new game they received for Easter: Cuckoo Zoo and got a preview of the upcoming dance recital:

And of course some bunnies and a duck were added to the webkinz collections!

A Fun Idea!

I get invited to a lot of baby showers! I can't bring myself to spend the money to buy a whole separate card just telling who the gift is from. But I also like things to match and look cute. In the past I have used some of the wrapping paper and my sticker machine and some cardstock to make cute cards that match the wrapped gift. Today I had a bag and was trying to figure out how to make a cute card to match. Light bulb! I scanned the bag, printed the image onto cardstock and voila! I had a matching card for my bag!

Easter Memories!

Easter is a fun time for dressing up and getting your picture taken. Here are some random photos to share. Most were taken on Easter Sunday before church, but some are just other pictures that looked like they might have been near Easter. It's fun to reminisce!

1956:

Not sure--maybe 1960?

1986:

No date on this photo but my Mom wrote on the back: "Janny and Becky: My two sweety pies!"

1962:

1984: I wonder what is so funny?

Salt Lake 1952:

1981:

Oakland 1962:

Courtney Easter 2003:

Heidi's first Easter: 1974

Not sure when this was taken but it's precious! My Mom and Aunt Nancy:

Lost and Found!

This past February I posted a memory Dan wrote about a Daddy-Daughter Date he had with Heidi. I KNEW I had a picture from that event; I could see it in my mind, but I surely couldn't find it for the post. But what was lost has been found and here is the picture! I LOVE it!!

I sure wish I could get my photos organized better--some are in boxes, some are in scrapbooks, and some are on my computer in several different locations. Any suggestions so I don't have to do any more Lost and Found blogs?