When I Grow Up I Want To Be Nancy Fish

My friend, Nancy Fish, passed away.  

I wonder how many people said that

this week?  She was everyone's friend and

she had no enemies.

It was said at her funeral yesterday "when

you remember Nancy, you will remember Christ".

If I had one word to describe Nancy it

would be simplicity.  She received a great

deal of joy from being a simple woman.

That is not to say that she wasn't strong

or lacked direction.  She just lived an

uncomplicated way amidst all

the complications that came her way.

She would say things  like "it isn't 

worth getting mad over" or "you can

replace things but you can't replace

a child" and "it's not worth it".

I worked with her for eleven
years at the public library. Her example
of integrity and her worth ethic
gave me direction. 

I knew her before I went
to work at the library.  We
worked together in the Stake
Primary.  She always made
me feel like I was of value
and needed. 

She laughed easily and
was always comfortable to be
around.  She had a way of
strengthening and lifting others.

I do mean it when I say that I
want to be Nancy when I grow up.

Skip the Drama Please!!!

Like I said....skip the drama.  I love

to watch before and after shows but

now all the in between.  Who cares?

I finally found a chest of drawers

that would work for our bathroom

vanity.

When we first had this space

remodeled from the laundry room

to a bathroom we had this vanity

installed.  About 2 years ago

I decided it was too small....

height and width. 

So I started looking for a replacement

and I really wanted a wooden chest of

drawers.  I have to say that this

was work.  I varathaned the top 4 times

to help waterproof it.  Cutting out

the opening for the sink was

extremely stressful....make a mistake

and it's over!

The plumbing required my husband's

help.  I really wanted to do it myself

but got confused about the parts.  

Thanks to my plumber in shining

armor it is done.

A friend is cutting the fronts of the

drawers to adapt to the plumbing

and it will be finished.

But it is done enough for

its debut.  Taaa Daaa.

Somebody needs to be the neighborhood Grandma.

This is our little neighbor, Branson.

He has decided this is his house....

he just opens the door and walks in.

We have found evidence of visits

when we weren't even home.

(Subsequently, we lock the doors

now when we leave.)

Whether he knocks or not

he comes in and asks if he

can play with our toys.

Why not?

(We have asked him to

put them away when he

is through and he just

flatly said, "no".)

He came for a Sunday visit today.

Once he got a fresh baked cookie

he headed home.

Not that I am really this nice but it

did occur to me the other day that

somebody needs to be the stay 

at home Grandma.  Children need

that.  So I am volunteering.

Life is the Berries.

 So the other morning I was looking out

our bedroom window and pondering

the stuff of life when I realized some

 stuff was looking back at me.

This is one of our bedroom windows.  Although

you can't tell because this bush keeps it covered.

It is one of those things were I can see out

but you can't see in.  We did that intentionally.

In the summer it is so pretty and green and in

the winter it looks so pretty with snow on the

branches.  But this week there was the added

dimension...... fruit.

This bush is 20 years old and this is the first

year I actually had something to pick.  We 

bought it as a bare root from the 4H Club

in Navajo County.  (We also bought 6 poplar

plants that year and this year we cut them to the

ground....maybe it scared this bush into producing.)

I have called this a Nankene (sp) Cherry tree 

because that is what I remember buying. 

But these berries, cherries, plums??? 

don't look like anything on the internet.  

David thought they might be poisonous.  

If so then I am dying a slow death because 

I ate a few just to try

and figure out what they are.  I decided 

they are some kind of plumb.  Albeit small.  

I read directions on making plum jelly 

and this is what I got.  I gave some to a 

friend and told her about the tree and all 

and she asked me if they were poisonous.  Really?  

Whatever they are they are beautiful....and

now they are jelly.

Temperatures Rising

My daughter, Heidi, sent me this picture text last

week from the valley.  Look close her car is registering

120 degrees!

 This was my car's temperature measurement

yesterday afternoon.  The sad thing is David and

I drove up Green's Peak yesterday and the 

temperature was 57 degrees.  (I didn't have my

camera....I wish I did!)

Fruits of Our Labors

 These are anaheim chiles.  I was about ready to

find a street vendor and just buy some when these

guys just decided to get big.  I roasted them on

David's grill last night and froze most for winter.

I think I might have enough to get two more buckets

full if the season lasts.

The mainstay of our garden.....green beans.

And all of their little cousins.

When I die bury me in a garden so I can come back as one hot tomato.

I am so pleased to have tomatoes!  It has been years

since I grew enough tomatoes to actually dream of

ways to can them.

 RED!!

 This guy just fell off the vine and I found him.

He is just cute.

Quotes for the Day....well, today anyway.

"The importance of having a sense of the sacred

is simply this—if one does not appreciate 

holy things, he will lose them. Absent a feeling of reverence,

he will grow increasingly casual in attitude and lax in conduct.

He will drift from the moorings that

his covenants with God could provide. 

His feeling of accountability to God

will diminish and then be forgotten. 

Thereafter, he will care only about his own comfort 

and satisfying his uncontrolled appetites. 

Finally, he will come to despise sacred things,

even God, and then he will despise himself."

D. Todd Christofferson

“We should never be discouraged in those 

daily tasks which God has ordained 

to the common lot of man. Each day’s

labor should be undertaken in a joyous spirit 

and with the thought and conviction that our happiness

and eternal welfare depend upon doing well 

that which we ought to do, that which 

God has made it our duty to do.”

^{Joseph F. Smith}

 

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than 

unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius 

is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is 

full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination 

alone are omnipotent.

Calvin Coolidge

David and I started watching Expedition Impossible

when it first started and then life got in the way.

We were home this past Thursday night

and watched the end of an episode.

I think this week they will crown  a winner.

What I really think is cool is how these

people look.  (keep in mind I have not

watched for weeks so no telling what

has happened or been said) They are

all strong and confident....even suntanned!

The first couple of times people

were crying and blaming others, etc.

I just love how persistence and determination

make all the difference.  I love determined

and persistent people. 

Maybe you

should watch and see who wins.  (One team

even has a blind man)  You might

be impressed.

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest."

My very middle child, Tim, turns 30 in a couple days.

That is still young for him, but it ages me. I don't mind~

these kind of days remind me that I need to try harder to

be good.

Because I believe in a preexistence, I believe 

that our journey here is a choice each of us made.

So as Tim celebrates his 30th birthday I say

it is a day to remember why he is here.  He

chose to follow the plan of happiness.  He chose

to follow Christ.   Being born into this mortal

existence is evidence of those very things.

So happy birthday and happy choice!

May God  to bless you, Tim. 

 I cleaned out "David's" shed a couple of weeks

ago and found this knife.  It was a knife that

we bought when Tim was around 9-10 years old.

This one replaced on called the Tinkerer if

I remember right.  That one was bought in

Wyoming....maybe even Yellowstone Park.

As things go he lost that one.  So eventually,

we replaced it with this one.  I was

surprised to see it but glad at the same time.

Tim isn't one to keep momentos but I think

he will want this one.

Tim 2011

 Not only is Tim turning 30 this

month he is also transferring jobs

with DPS.  He will be the Trainer for Impaired driving.

He has really worked hard to

get this transfer.  It has been a long

time coming but very much deserved.

Tim 2004

I don't think he has lost a hair

from his head! 

Quotes

"God must have loved the ordinary 

man because he made so many of them."

Abraham Lincoln

More On The Family Dinner Table

A while back I posted a blog about a women in my 

Stake Conference who spoke about the “dinner table”. 

I have heard several new things about the 

family dinner table and I want to share them.  

I am sure the reason I believe in this principled activity is this: 

  David and I liked having the family eat together.

 I don’t know if we thought, in the beginning, 

that this one family activity would make a

difference in the character of our future children.  But I believe it has. 

Raising children is a hands on operation.  

 A learn as you go process.   

But dinner is simple…..make a meal, gather the family, and eat. 

If it happens consistently it creates 

a sense of security and tradition.   

That doesn’t need to be tweeked as the family gets older or grows…

..make a meal, gather the family, and eat.  We did that.

 We had breakfast every morning…pancakes (white or wheat),

eggs (fried, scrambled, poached and sometimes boiled)

with bacon or ham and or toast.  Bisquits and gravy 

(hamburger, sausage or boiled egg gravy).  Cold cereal was rare

(I am suspicious of cold cereal) but hot cereal was there 

(oatmeal,  cracked wheat or cream of wheat).   

In the summer I would boil corn for breakfast…

I grew up with that~David didn’t so 

I didn’t much support for that.  And when I had made white

bread we would have toast and cocoa. 

We sat down together for dinner. 

 If I had my way we would have had something 

with pinto beans and bread every day.  

 Some people would say we did!  I won’t go into the dinner menu. 

Not every meal got 5 stars but nobody left the table.

They ate what was there and 

I did try to please them on some days. 

We didn’t always have wonderful conversations 

at the dinner table.  I wish we had. 

It is the perfect opportunity to share more than a meal. 

We ate together day in and day out. 

I can honestly say that this one thing was done with

consistency until all of our children were gone. 

It is nice to be able to say that.

I love my children.  They are hard working people. 

They are good citizens. 

They work at improving and preserving their marriages 

and they take care of their children.  

 I can’t guarantee it came from the dinner table 

but I believe it is a factor. 

I wish I had heard the sister in Stake Conference

when I was just starting out.  

 I would have followed her dinner table example. 
That post was 13 Nov 2010.

ONE

A grandchild remembers staying at her grandmother’s home. 

She remembers that her grandmother always 

set the table for breakfast the night before.   

Once the table was set she would turn the chairs out

from the table.  In the morning she arose and prepared

breakfast and then called to all to come and eat.  They

knew that the chairs were turned out for morning prayers. 

They would kneel down at each chair and someone 

offered a prayer and blessed the food and they

stood up and put the chairs right and ate breakfast. 

(This idea consistently done showed this granddaughter

how important prayer was in her grandmother’s home.

And it was strengthened by the family gathering to eat.)

TWO

(This is an interpretation as I understood it.)

With both parents working the family 

dinner table as evolved.  Meals 

that took several hours of preparation now

take 20-30 minutes (and were not talking Rachel Ray). 

  And many meals are take out.

Something is lost in the lack of preparation. 

The busy kitchen and the aroma of 

food being prepared are gone. 

  These are part of the dinner experience.  

 Seeing a mother preparing food for the family

instills a sense of being cared for by a child. 

There is also a good thing in everyone at the table

eating the same family prepared food. 

It helps bond the family.  (An occasional dinner

out with a menu is a treat~at home the 

family shares the same meal)

Bringing children into the kitchen 

to help in preparation also creates 

a sense of worth in the child.    

Heidi was my babysitter

When I was a girl I hated babysitting.

I only did it a couple of times and

thought it was overrated.

That attitude rubbed off on my oldest

daughter, Jill, and my youngest daughter,

Lee.  Just today Lee helped out a sister

in her ward by watching her four children.

She volunteered and then had to 

talk herself into doing it.

I have a friend who has a term for

children other than her own.

OPC (other people's children)

She doesn't like to watch OPC's.

Then there is Heidi.  She loved babysitting.

I was reminded of this when I grabbed this

tub to put some jars in.

When she was in Primary her

leaders helped the girls make these

babysitting kits.  Heidi loved hers and

filled it with good things.

She was the favorite babysitter

for Tiffany Brown.  Tiffany was so pleased

to have Heidi has their permanent

babysitter.  She would spend weekends

there sometimes.

She took this box on all of

her babysitting jobs.  

Way to go, Heidi!

The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. ~George Bernard Shaw

Just recording the 2011 summer garden.

Pictures in random order.

This is a close up of my scarlet bean plants.  I tried to get a

pretty shot of the flower.  They are so cute. 

 These hubbard squash plants would take over my garden.

I snipped off leaves on Tuesday just to have a walk way

to the other side of the garden.  I love how the vine has

covered the chair I sit (sat) on.

 Baby hubbard.  I have big hopes for a good crop of these.

I love winter squash.  I use it for breads, soups, cookies, and

just by itself as a side dish.  It tastes much better than

pumpkin.

 Good August plants.

I might like the taste of squash better than pumpkins but

I LOVE PUMPKINS!  

This is my big one.  It is already turning orange.

It is a Connecticut pumpkin.  These are the ones

that you can buy at Safeway or Wal Mart.

 Another baby on the way!

This is the whole bunch of Scarlet beans.

Plants are amazing.  Do they have intelligence

or instinct?  These plants and the hubbard have

these vines that find the fence and wrap themselves

around it.  And all by themselves they make

our yard look so green and pretty.

Well, at least I think so.

No Dog Left Behind

Who doesn't love Boo?

Did I Say I Loved David?

I have been wondering where I would be if I had not

married David.  Scary.....

Decorating Cents

After all our children and grandchildren left I

started putting my home back together.  I went into

the two extra bedrooms and looked around.  These

two rooms were in need of a facelift.  

It  has been 3+ years since my last child left home.

When my children first started leaving home we

made plans for each emptying bedroom.  But 

I never had that feeling after the baby left.  So

the two bedrooms got dusted and vacuumed

but not much else.  

It really felt good to do something.  I have to

think that I am over the sad part of our 

empty nest.  In fact, I know I am.  And I

am glad.  

Anyway, there are no before and after

shots and I didn't go to any expense on

fixing these rooms up.  I bought a little

fabric and begged some frames and prints

from my yard sale buddy, Carol.

 This is Lee's old room.  She painted one wall green

her junior year in high school.  Instead of painting

over it I decided to make pillows that might coordinate

with the wall. 

 Just the other corner of the room.

 This crib is the crib that all of my babies

slept in.  David is quite sentimental about it.

It is at the foot of the bed in the green room.

I love this picture of Jesus and sheep.

I thought it looked perfect over the crib.

The chair's cushion is another attempt

to bring the green's together.

 

 Heidi's old room.  The picture above her

bed was in my front room for years.  It

looks so good over the bed.  More pillows

on the bed.  I love pillows.  (David does not!)

 Just a better arrangement of stuff

on the wall.

 Most of these pillows have lived other lives.  I bought

these little 8x12 pieces of old lace last year at a yard

sale.  I just stitched them to some pillows I had

in the closet.  I made the yo-yo piece the last time

David and I drove to Utah.  I looked around and

found a pillow that just fit it.  So I stitched it on.

The white one was bought at a yard sale on Friday

and I made the red one out of another one in the

closet.

It just feels good that I felt like doing this.

 Life is Good.

Munchkins

This little munchkin came with her mom to visit

with us this past week. 

Daisy is a short fry.  She is sitting in a high chair

and this is as far as her little self can see over the table.

To Finish The Story....

This was left over from my month of Grandchildren.

I've settled back into my life with just David and me.

I thought it was worth mentioning the things I learned

this summer.  I am the same kind of Grandmother that

I was Mother.  I want to be the Kool Aid Grandma

but then I wanted to be the Kool Aid Mom.  I wasn't

that Mom and I'm not that Grandma.  

But this is what I learned:  I don't have to be.

That was very liberating to discover.  I don't

have to organize games and activities.  I just

need to be there.  These grandchildren have

plans of their own.  And so do their moms! 

And the second thing I learned is all the moms

like to talk about their mom stuff.  I enjoy listening

but don't have to join in.  I get to talk enough but

sometimes my words are not relevant.  Just as
long as I get to be part of whatever is going
on I am a happy camper.

Where did they go?

They left, Boo.

Sorry.

No more friends.

No more hugs.

No more crumbs.

Not until next time.

Arkansas to Arizona

I flew to Arkansas so I

could ride out to Arizona with Jill

and her children.  It was a good trip.

We laughed a lot and the time passed quickly.

This was the only time I took pictures.

This place was the inspiration for

the tire shop in Cars.  It was in Texas.

Oh Say Can You See......

Why are holidays so much more special

when family is around?  Or is it that family

is more special when holidays are around?

Either way ~ I love it.  

Here was our 4th of July ~ in no particular order.

Queen for a Day.  Queen Grandma.

Parker and Abbey....waiting for the good stuff.

Quinn: reading a book to his cousins.  Love it!

Heading to the park.....Quinn ~ going back for something.

It always amazes me that dads go for walks too.

Boo and Laine

Boo and the Papa kids

Standing for the Flag.

Parks

Quinn

Mike. He hung back for a bit but

started to catch on and got a Halloween

bag full of candy before it was over.

Ben.  Wishing he was a bit bigger.

Bode. 

L-R:  Laine, Quinn, Mike, Paisley, Bode, Abbey, Parker

Paisley

Mike

Anticipation

Two things:  Laine pulled her chair out.  No need to

stand if you don't have to.  And, second, Jeremiah,

always the Policeman.  He watched over the nieces

and nephews to keep them from getting run over. 

Loved it.

Just makes me laugh.

Love the pose.
 

David and I decided to drive to Tucson

and get Megan, Melanie, and Jett.

By late in the evening we had

all TWELVE grandkids.
I can laugh at the antics of children no matter
who they are.  But I not only laugh at my grand children
I am strengthened and filled by their spirits.
I wonder..... is that is the definition of joy.