The White Mountains~Medicine to my soul.

David and I drove up the mountains on Saturday.  Not much

to say about it except we really enjoyed the drive.

Snow still on Sunrise

Water Fall from Reservations Lake

Runoff from Reservation Lake (Makes the falls)

Boat on Big Lake.  Scary!  The lake was really rough. Very windy day.

Big Lake Store.  No...we didn't buy ice cream.

The dam.  White caps.

Water going over Big Lake spillway.

Road to Big Lake paved.  And what is left of the snow.

My favorite cabin.

Yard Sales

 I bought Scout a new comforter at a yard sale.

It is a Waverly and is new.  This guy (the husband)

sold it to me for $10 when his wife walked in their house.

She loves the print.

She watched from her carefully crafted window spot.  (She actually broke

off these slats for easy access when the blind is down.)

She loves it.

I love these.  $1.50 for all three.

What would it have been like?

It was once said that cousins don't need any warm up time.They just walk through the door and run to the first available cousin and its off to the rest from there.  That is what I see when they gather.  These three are holding lip gloss (and smiling with shiny lips!).

At Jill's house this past weekend.  They make me laugh.

My brother and I were like the "second family" that you hear about.
By the time we came along all the good cousin stuff was already done.
Watching these kidos play makes me envious....in a good way.
I am happy they have each other.  It helps them define themselves.

Lee

My daughter, Lee, is expecting.  She says she has a "pregnant brain".  Maybe, what do you think?

.....Recently, one of my other daughters, Jill, sent us all an email regarding Genetically Modified Foods {GMO's}.  So Lee reads the email and calls Jill and says the article was interesting and then asks her what Ga-moes (GMOs) are. I laughed all day when Jill told me this.

That isn't all....we were at Tim and Connie's for Ben's baby blessing and my third daughter, Heidi, got on line and went to the KTAR home page.  Lee is watching the monitor and then asks Heidi what is KaTar?  We are not going to let her forget these things!!

Now, she claims this is because she is pregnant (and maybe a little crazy).  But

I have heard things like this before. 

When she was in the 5th or 6th grade we were

reading a book outloud together and she was reading and the characters

were going to play a game....mono-poly....monopoly.  Heidi was in her room

listening and just started laughing.

And there was another time (I am thinking high school)  when

she saw a phone booth and asked Heidi what a pa...hone booth was.

It just makes me laugh.

I hope you always make me laugh.

Gila Valley Temple Trip

We took our Young Men and Young Women to the Gila Valley Temple

open house on Friday evening.  We met at our Stake Center and

when we were ready to load up one of the Young Men offered a prayer. I

felt the Spirit so strong during his sweet prayer and it never left us

the entire trip. 

The Temple was beautiful.  And we all had a great time.  I feel

really happy that the Gila Valley has a Temple.  I feel that for those

who currently live there and for the ones who are my husband's ancestors.

It just seems they are part of this too.

Here is the whole bunch that went.  We had such a good turn out from

the Young Men and Young Women.  We had most of the leaders there and

 a couple of families.  I was with the best of people. And some of those

"best" our the Beehives (bottom). 

 

Rich Crockett (checking the bisquits) was raised in the

Gila Valley and he set this whole thing up.  He is also a

nephew of the new Temple President.  He made arrangements

with him to come and speak to us. We owe him

a great thank you for the whole event.

Bishop Merrill talking briefly to the YM-YW.

(He wonders sometimes if he says anything worth

saying....he does.)

This is Bro. Hancock and President Crockett.  Old friends from

the Gila Valley.  Bro. Hancock has turned his yard into a park.  He doesn't charge

folks to use and he and his wife come out and are part of

everything.  Such good people. The kids just played and played. 

President Crockett was so fun to listen to.  He told one story

that made us all laugh.  Years ago,his father owned land and started to clear

off a hill to put a barn and corral up there.  His wife met a sister at the

Post Office who said, "they have started to clear 'that hill' for

a Temple.  To which his mom said, "no, that is just my

husband clearing so he can build a barn and corral up there".  Then

this sister says, "why the hell are they building a barn and corral

on Temple Hill?"

Merry Go Round

                                                        These are the best YM.YW.

That smell reminds me of....

Memories have a lot of qualities. The one dimensional memories are the ones that you can say you did. Those same memories can be three dimensional when you let your mind travel back. Smell and music are an aid to that contemplation. I was thinking about smells that bring memories back to me.

Irish Spring soap: David used this soap before he left on his mission. He always smelled clean and like that soap. I kept a green plaid flannel shirt of his when he left. I took it back to NAU and put it in my closet. When I would open the sliding doors to the closet in the morning I would smell him. Then one day it was gone.

Pinon trees: My dad always brought home a Pinon tree for our Christmas tree. He worked and hunted in the woods and probably had our tree picked out long in advance. It was always a surprise when he would come home with a tree in the back of his truck. He would find a piece of square plywood and just nail the bottom of the tree to it and set it upright. It would stay fresh forever. Although I don’t think we put it up as early as we do now.

When we go out in the woods and I see a Pinon I snap off a branch and just take in the smell of the broken end. I am instantly a child again and it is Christmas.

Cinnamon: I make cinnamon rolls enough that memories can be a blurr. But this one memory is clear. As a family, one Christmas, we made cinnamon rolls to give away. I stayed in the kitchen making them and David drove the kids around to give them away. Some we just walked over to the neighbors. Everyone was having a great time. I particularly remember Tim he was about a second grader and he was enjoying the whole experience. Then he picked up the plastic wrap and went to tear a piece off and the teeth on the box cut his finger. It hurt. It just took the wind out of his sails.
I couldn't get him happy to finish the day.

Cigarette smoke: My dad, my oldest brother and my two older sisters smoked when I was growing up. I don’t like cigarette smoke but on the other hand it is nostalgic to me.

My sister, Coleen, rocked. That is, she sat on a couch and rocked back and forth. She
would do it for hours and listen to western music. She would also give me 25 cents and make me go to the drug store and buy her a pack of cigarettes. The Foreacres, who owned the drug store and handed over the cigarettes never questioned me, a little girl, about my purchase. I realized later it was because they didn’t care who smoked and their daughter, who also smoked, was Coleen’s friend.

I remember my dad always had a pack of cigarettes in his pocket on his shirt. He had a friend who had a portion of his lower face destroyed by cancer. It was because of cigarettes. Dad went and visited him in the hospital. After the visit he walked out the front door of the hospital stood on the step pulled the cigarettes out of his pocket and threw them away and never smoked again.

Aspen smoke: We have just come out of a long winter so it pains me to say that I love the smell of Aspen smoke. You smell it when the air gets cold and people start burning fires. It signals that colder weather is coming and I start gathering for winter. I love football season and the autumn leaves and the cooler weather and smoke from the fireplace signals it is here.

Turpentine: Turpentine reminds me of my mom. She painted in oils for most of my life. She switched to acrylics after I married. Turpentine thins oil paint and she would use it for techniques and then to just wipe the whole thing off a canvas. Of course, when she switched to acrylics there was no need for turpentine.

Home made bread cooking: Who doesn’t have a memory of that? My mom made excellent bread. She would make beans and bread to die for. I got a lot of security out of that one particular meal. I tried to duplicate that feeling in my home. The aroma maybe…..the taste not so much. Beans and bread is still one of my favorite meals even if it is a poor imitation of my mom’s.

Popcorn: We popped popcorn on Sunday evenings and watched Disney Family Movies until that went off the air and soon after was replaced with America’s Funniest Home Videos. I loved Sundays with my family and popcorn always finished off the evening.

Baby Ben's Day.

I have been excited all week because of today.  The littlest among us was given a

name and a blessing today.  It was baby Ben's biggest day since his birthday.

All of the Mechizedek Priesthood holders in our family gathered in a circle

and held little Benjamin while his father, Tim gave him a blessing.

All those men were there to help and support Tim and Benjamin!  Days

like this put life into its proper perspective.  It is all about family

and the blessings that come through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was also so pleasing to see two church pews nearly filled

with our family.

I am amazed and thankful for my greatest blessings.  I wonder at times

how I got to be where I am or as Quinn asked me today,

"Grandma, how did you get to be the grandma?".

I am seeing some changes in my grandchildren.  For a long time now our

grandparenting business has been to bond with these little people.

The older ones are totally sure of who we are to them so the bonding

work is done!  They are comfortable and secure around David and I.

What I am seeing is alot of personality as they mature.  The babies

just do funny stuff that makes us laugh.

This is a big picnic.

(extra cousins sharing the space)

Melanie is in the middle in pink.  This was the

only time I caught her in sight.  She had

a busy day with cousins.

Oh! My!  When this one starts walking

his mom won't be able to take her eyes of him.  (Jett)

Look at Megan loving on Benjamin.  She is starting to like

big girl stuff and will hang around with the grown ups.  (This will

break Bode and Quinn's hearts.)  Look at Connie, I have

her baby and she has a doll.  funny!

What do you want, Grandma?......

......I want a picture with you silly girls showing your personalities.  I

asked them, after I took this, if they liked themselves and they

said, "yes".  Doesn't it just show those developing personalities.

Mikey's favorite place.

Paisley had a good day!!

Best of friends...Quinn and Bode

Drama queen, Laine.

I was happy that these two (Aaron and Jeremiah) didn't have to work today

and were able to come and be with us.  They

were kind enough to let me get a picture.

Wonder what these two son-in-laws are talking about?

We can't decide who he looks like.  He is the first

blue eyed baby for Tim and Connie.  He hasn't lost

any of his hair but we can't tell if the new is going to

be blonde. 

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL.