LOVE- DAY 2

I LOVE these people!

Of course I do!

We have a great family.

(December 29, 2011-Salt Lake Temple-Nick's marriage to Jasmyne)

Our Family Is Forever

I remember being a younger Mom (I was never really a young mom since I had my first baby when I was 29) and being fascinated by the experience of mothering, and also being frustrated.

There came a time when Nick and Sam were old enough to start pestering one another and *gasp* fighting with each other.

I could not believe that my beloved children would actually fight with each other. That just wasn't acceptable to my mind.

But what to do??

One day, after many days of pondering and thinking about this-because I knew I had to do something so that this didn't continue-Nick and Sam got into a fight about something.

As I went to them, Heavenly Father taught me what to do and what to say.

This is what I was directed in my mind to do, and what I did:

I sat on the floor and put each boy on one leg and I put my arms around them and I spoke to them very softly. I asked Nick, "What did you do?" and he immediately started telling me what Sam did. I stopped him and again asked. "What did you do?" That went on another time or two until Nick understood and answered appropriately.

Then I turned to Sam and asked, "What did you do?" and Sam also tried to tell me what Nick did to him and I stopped him and asked again, "What did you do?" And he told me.

And then I talked to them about being brothers and what a great thing that is and that they should always take care of each other and always love each other. I told them that they are best friends. And then I said, "Friends will come and go, but our family is forever."

And we talked about that a little bit, about how they will have lots of friends through their lives and some of those friends will be their friends for a long, long time. And some of those friends will move on.

But they will always be brothers. Always. Even if they might not want to be brothers, they always will be.

And so they need to always take care of each other.
And always be there for each other.
And then I had them give each other a hug.
And then we all hugged a group hug.

And as each child has joined our family, and as each child has grown and entered that fighting stage of childhood, I've sat down on the floor and put each fighting child on one leg and had this conversation with them.

Once I had three boys on my lap, and they were kind of big. And it made us all laugh! And they kind of just said the mantra together without my "talk" (probably so they could just be done with it all!):

"Friends will come and go but our family is forever."

And we had a group hug.
And it was all okay.
I didn't know, all those many years ago when the Spirit taught me what to say and what to do, how important those words would be for our family. But I did know that I wanted my children to be one another's best friends. I wanted them to be there for each other through the easy times and the hard times.


And they are.

Just So You Know...

I have really wonderful children.

Not too many left at home.

But they are really wonderful.

I Have A Family Here On Earth...

Abbie-Mom-me
I love one-arm photos!

A week ago, as I was leaving my town to go to Sam's town to take care of him before-during-after his surgery, I told Abbie to bring a dress and I put our tickets into my wallet, just in case.

The case came to be. We were still at Gramma's on Sunday and so we three went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication together. It was a wonderful thing for me to be sitting with my mother on my right and my daughter on my left as we watched and listened to the dedicatory service.

Before the service began we were able to see photos of the new temple, inside and out. One of the photos was in a sealing room with the mirrors that face each other across the room. When we get sealed (married for eternity, not "til death do you part") in the temple, for all time and all eternity, we are given the opportunity-as new husband and wife- to look into those mirrors that reflect on and on, seemingly into eternity. This picture was of the mirrors going on and on and on as if down a tunnel. My Mom leaned over to me and said, "If you look closely you'll see Stan [my Dad] at the end waiting for us."

That is what this is all about. Families. And loving one another. And becoming better people day by day. And helping each other through the rough spots. And a Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can know and who wants, more than anything, for all of us to come back to Him. WE are His family.

Families can be together forever. I like that.

Basket of Blessings

When I married into Doug's family, almost 25 years ago, I lucked out.

We all get along together, including the brothers and sisters-in-law,

and we have a lot of fun together.

Maggie and Rob were in Utah from Alaska a few weeks ago because their son, Kyle, was going into the MTC for his mission to Russia.

Any time the Olsens are in town we gather.

Well, we gather even when the Olsens aren't in town, just because we like to do that.

I took this picture of Doug and his brothers and sisters in Janet's back yard.

They were hamming it up a lot and I took a lot of pictures

but this is the only one with everyone looking decent enough.

I've known these people for a lot of years.

We were all young parents together

having our babies and learning how to do life.

We've been with each other through the good times

and the hard times in our lives.

We've laughed together and cried together.

We've camped and hiked and traveled and shopped together.

We've had countless family gatherings.

It is really something to think about,

the lives that become interwoven with your own,

just because you marry someone.

Doug's family is one of my blessings.

Do You Zoo?

Last Saturday we had a fun day with extended family. Part of that day was spent at the zoo. 

May I pause here to say that I don't much enjoy going to the zoo.

I enjoyed taking my children when they were small.

But I think I have too many memories of being really hot and sweaty.

And the animals stinking.

And my small children getting tired and whiney.

This was before the days of hydration packs and bottled water. Or maybe not. Maybe we just couldn't afford those kinds of things and so we had to use the public water fountains that always had metallic tasting water.

And speaking of pubic water fountains: When I worked in the health department in my previous life I learned from one of the guys in Environmental Health that you should always let the water in a drinking fountain run for 30-45 seconds before you drink from it (if someone hasn't just used it before you) so that all the old water that has just been sitting there can get flushed out, so to speak.

You're welcome.

But back to the zoo. 

We started with a little (really) ride on the train. All 20 of us.

It was kind of disappointing. Being on the train was fun. But other than a few animals you mostly see sheds and the parking lot.

I think the train ride needs to be re-thought.

The (pregnant) elephant show was a little interesting, but mostly sad.

This is my problem with zoos. I think the animals are bored out of their minds and I feel badly for them. So I have a little bit of a hard time looking at the animals who don't really do anything because they are just so dang bored.

However, I was pretty fascinated with the giraffes. 

I could have spent a long time in the giraffe house watching these curious animals.

But they didn't do a whole lot either. They ate.

But this one kind of disturbed me. She just stood at the door looking out for the longest time. The other one fed her boredom. But I think the watching one was depressed. She just stood there. Looking. At nothing.

It made me sad.

But watching my daughter did not make me sad. She was enjoying the day.

And Jake and Kyle were having a great time together.

And Kyle and Kari were goofy enough.

And this was the best sight of all. Six of the cousins enjoying their treats. It was a mini Cousins Camp reunion. These kids had fun together.

So. There you have it. Our Day At The Zoo. 

And I'm good for another 5 years. At least.

This Here's What We Folks Do...

(cousin Kari from Alaska, Jake, Nick, & Jazmyne)

...out here in the boonies

after ridin' horses

and eatin' burgers and beans.

We hang spoons from our noses.

Some of us more easily

than others.

And attempt after attempt

will eventually lead to...

...sweet success.

Yep.

That's what we do.

It's a class act.

Really.

Wish I had...Glad I Did

Thinking back on things

I wish I had done more of this...

...and not worried so much about the mess or the chaos

(Making cookies with the boys in Dec. 1996)

And

I'm glad that I did this...

...living in the moment with my four boys and the blue sky

(Fall, 1996)

...and all eight legs and feet
small to big.

(Fall, 1996)

Blink.

12+ years have passed.

Lesson learned.

The View I Do Not Have

Every now and then I read a blog from a woman who was terribly burned in a plane crash last summer. Her sister is a really good friend of one of my friends here, and that is how I first learned of Stephanie Nielsen. My friend, Jen, would tell funny stories about Stephanie's life and about her blog. Then when the crash happened I paid a little more attention to this woman and her life.

Today I read something she posted yesterday. You can read it here.

When Stephanie wrote about feeling sorry for herself and the hard road she has to walk (and make no mistake--her road IS hard) and how she sat by her dad with tears in her eyes and without having to say anything to him he said to her:

  "Everything is under control, don't you worry, it is all under control"

I cried.

We all have, at one time or another, a hard road to walk. For me, the goal is to keep moving. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, even if I go real slow.

My road just got hard and I wanted so much to talk to my Dad about things. Today I read Stephanie's Dad's words to his daughter: Everything is under control, don't you worry, it is all under control. It was almost like hearing my Dad talk to me.

And more than anything I need to remember that Heavenly Father is watching over me and my family and He knows what's going on and...

Everything is under control.

I don't need to worry.

It is all under control.

Live Lucky

So, in addition to yesterday being St. Patty's Day, it was also my birthday. I have always loved having my birthday on St. Patrick's Day. I love that my Mom was creative and clever and gave me an Irish name. I love that I have about one fingernail's worth of Irish blood in me. It is enough. I claim Irish.  When the bodhran are beating and the pipes are playing my Irish blood responds and I'm all about my pagan roots.

In the morning Doug gave me my new green shirt for this year, and I choose to Live Lucky. I don't necessarily believe in "luck" as we generally use the term. I usually use the term "blessed" (as in "you are so blessed" instead of "you are so lucky"). So that's how I see it.

(The shirts are made by the golf pro here. He has started a line of golf stuff with "Live Lucky" somewhere on the clothes. There is also a black clover. It is kind of cool. I guess Luck is a big part of golfing.)

So, that started the "theme" if you will, of my birthday, which included lunch with the staff at the Clubhouse...

The golf course is now officially open for the season. Just in case you wondered.

Usually we have quite a few traditions that happen on St. Patrick's Day/my birthday, but life is a little out-of-the-ordinary this year, so some things didn't happen as usual, but it wasn't bothersome at all. 

We had our corned beef and cabbage dinner on Sunday (which we usually have ON my birthday but didn't this year because of some conflicts in planning), so to keep things REALLY simple for my birthday we had Pizza Hut! I had the "You Are Special" plate on the gold charger with veggie pizza...

...and everyone else had paper plates! But at least I had the green tablecloth out. But check it out: a Valentine's decoration is still dangling from the lights! THAT, my friends, is how crazy life has been. I still have Valentines stuff up. I think that is pretty funny.

Sam came home on Monday to see the last night of the play, and he was a great big brother to Abbie and Jake and did fun stuff with them. He also took them out for ice cream cones and then they bought balloons and flowers for me!

What is it about balloons that create such happiness? The whole purpose of a balloon is to give happiness. 

Gotta hang on to that kind of happiness.

So what did I get? I'll tell you what. More than I expected. I thought my gift was the photography workshop Doug and I are going to this weekend in The City.  But I also got a Joni Mitchell CD ( Joni has been seeing me through life since the summer of 1975). I also received a Hem CD. If you don't know Hem then listen to this.

Then getting back to the golf theme, I now have a new set of golf clubs. Because, you know, I golf a lot. It really is sort of criminal that we live on a golf course and don't really golf. We keep meaning to. We just haven't.

Perhaps now we will. I have a new set of clubs. What's my excuse? I don't really know how to do this, that's what! It isn't what I do but I'm thinking that's all about to change. It could be humorous.

To add to the not-typical-birthday-this-year I actually made my own birthday cake! And you know what I made? Well a Texas Sheet Cake, of course. I was born in Texas, after all. An Irish girl born in Texas. You should have heard my accent back then...

Sam wanted to get back to his life in The Other City, so he gave us hugs and kisses before he went down the mountain.

It meant a lot to me for him to take the time to come out for the play and my birthday, and to spend time with his brothers and sister. And to be the one to go buy balloons and flowers! Doug didn't even tell him to do that! What a guy.

It was a lovely day. I missed my Freddy and wish he had been able to come out, too. That was the one sad spot of everything. I love having my family together, they are all such great people and I am very blessed to have them. Lucky, too.