You know, all my songs are relatives, brothers, sisters, cousins. David Coverdale

Earlier this year a couple of my cousins decided

we needed to have a First Cousins reunion.  So

a couple Saturdays ago the plans came together

and it was great.

We haven't had any kind of reunion for years

on the Brewer side of things or any side of things

for that matter!  So it was so good to see

these cousins.

I felt like a little girl a bit.  Only because

I was much younger than most of my cousins.

So even though I looked eye to eye

with them I felt like I was looking up

at them.  Because that is how I remember

them.  

We sat around and talked about our

grandparents for quite a while.  

This is Larry and LaDawn.  Larry is my Uncle

Lee's oldest son.  (We named our youngest

daughter Lee in part for Uncle Lee).

He remembered our Grandpa Brewer 

had a hat.  It was old and had holes in

it and Uncle Lee would try and get him

to get a new one and he would say, "this

one is good enough".  Uncle Lee bought

him a new hat but he wouldn't wear it.

Once as both men stood by a fireplace

Uncle Lee grabbed the old hat off

Grandpa's head and threw it in the fire.

(We all gasped!)  But Grandpa just looked

at the burning hat and said, "I guess

I'll just have to wear that hat you bought me."

This is my brother, Jeff.  He took charge

of the whole event.  I had so many people

tell me that he reminded them of my dad.

I have been saying that for years!  

He made us laugh and he seemed

so pleased that we were all together.

This is my sister, Lynne, and her husband, Robert.

(Robert worked at the Snowflake pulp mill and

got his pink slip like 350 other men a couple 

weeks ago.)  Isn't Lynne a beautiful women?

No....she didn't tell any stories.  She was like

me....a listener.

Jeff and our cousin, Maxine.  Maxine told me

that she liked to drive up to Show Low from

Snowflake and ask my mom if she could take

me around with her to see her Show Low friends.

She thought I was the cutest toddler.  That was

actually a very soothing thing to learn.  Maxine

is my Uncle Max's oldest daughter.  He raised

four girls on his own after his wife left him.

When they split up she took all the children.

At some point she left them in the care

of a friend.  When Uncle Max learned about

that he drove from Snowflake to the valley

and took them back.  The baby, Susie, was

18 months old and living on a bottle filled

with watered down Ovaltine.  She was

one sick little girl.  

Maxine loved our grandparents and their

home in Pinedale.  She loved to hide

up in an Apple tree when it was time

to go.  Her family would holler for her

to come and she stayed there until they

left.....because she wanted to stay

with her grandparents.

The older grandchildren

would go to Pinedale every Sunday

afternoon.  Maxine loved Sundays.

These cousins belong to my Aunt Lottie.  This

is Sharon and Annette.  I met Sharon for the

first time at this reunion.  But I meet Annette

about 15 years ago in Provo, Utah!  We were

in Provo at a RV park on vacation.  I did some

laundry in the facility laundry room and there

was one other woman in there and we

just began to talk and she asked me where

I lived and I told her Pinetop, AZ.  She told me

she had an Uncle in Pinetop.  "Oh, really,

what's his name?"  I asked.  "Gib Brewer",

she said.  I just looked at her and told

her that that was my dad.  As as cousins

go there was no warming up period needed.

We just bonded.  It was good to see her.

This is Linda, Doug, and Deanna.

They are Larry's sisters and brother.

Doug is Jeff's age.  About 4 years ago

his wife died.  And just recently he also

got his pink slip from the pulp mill.

His sisters rally around him and worry

about him.

Linda and Deanna were cheerleaders

at Snowflake High School.  I remember

studying the yearbooks with their

pictures in them.  They were so cute.

This is Tammy, my friend and sister-in-law and

my cousin, Dixie.  Dixie lived down the hill from

me when I grew up.  She told this story about

Granny:  Granny had a cat and it went

missing for several weeks and then just

showed up one day.  Granny picked up the

cat and looked him in the face and

said, "Where the hell have you been?"

Granny was this tiny little lady so

for cuss words to come out of her

little mouth was so funny.

See....doesn't he make you laugh?

I took pictures of pictures

of earlier reunions.   They were interesting.

This is me....preggers with Lee and that is

my dad.  See how he stands?  David says

I look like that when I crawl out of bed

in the mornings.  See the bald guy sitting

in the middle of things?  That is my cousin,

Chris.  He put this reunion together and

planned the date.  3 weeks before we

were to meet he got a kidney transplant.

He has lived with dialisis for years

and had given up on ever receiving a

transplant.  He got the call and went to the

valley for the transplant.  He is still there.

 He is doing very well.     

My sister Coleen, me and David.  

A few pounds lighter.

This is a came our kids played.  It was sawdust

and they hunted for quarters.  That is Pete

standing on the left and Jill is the blonde

girl in the middle of the page.

I copied this picture because Randy is

in it.  So many of the older cousins

told me how much fun they had with Randy.

He was one of the older cousins.  

Ray, who married Linda, told me that he

and Randy were partners during marble

season.  They had can after can of marbles.

Ray said Randy always won more than he

did.  Each day they would decide on a

number of marbles to take to school and

every day they came home with more only

Randy came home with more than Ray.

I finish the pictures with these two.  My cousin, Vickie

is the girl on the left.  She was about 3 inches taller

than me and very pretty.....like her sisters the

cheerleaders.  She is the same age as me and

we were good friends.  

This is her now.  We were talking about things

we did.  We went to Stake girls camp together

only one year (it became ward camp after that)

and we snuck into all the girls tents at night and stole

their bras and hung them on a rope in the middle

of camp to greet everyone in the morning.  :)

At that same camp the director had a moth.

It was really big.  She wanted to make a

point by letting it fly away one evening

at our campfire.  When she let it go

it fluttered right into the fire and burned up.

Needless to say the point wasn't made.

Vickie and I laughed and laughed

and tried to not laugh.  We laughed

again at the thought of that poor

moth.

OTHER STORIES.

My grandparents owned land in

Standard.  That was a small community

south of Pinedale.  One cousin had

recently been reading some records

of the railroad that ran through there.

There was an entry that said

that they needed an easement through

Wid and Louie Brewer's property and

it was obtained  for the price of

two horses and a cow.  Loved this.

When Max had those girls Granny

would help him out.  Two of the girls

got lice and Granny cured them

with Kerosene.  

Granny watched wrestling on TV.

She would call them Dirty Devils.

"You dirty devil.  Watch it...he's

coming up behind you!"

My brother, Jeff, told a story about

Granny.  Jeff was on the all star little

league team that went to Kingman

when he was in the 6th grade.  He was

the smallest player on the team and

he hit a home run.  He said when he

got back to Show Low Granny

greeted him at the door and gave

him a kiss.  She had listened to the

game on the radio.

This reunion was great.  It was so good to

connect with my cousins.  Most of us

stayed until late in the afternoon.  Nobody

was in a hurry to go.  We didn't make

plans to do it again so I don't know when

I will see them again as a group.  It is

sad to say but we usually see each other

at funerals.  I like meeting this way better!

A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

David and I watched Tim and Connie's boys

for a couple days last week.  (Here's a secret

I learned a little while back and had it confirmed

again when Mike and Ben stayed with us: You have to

get rid of the parents if you are going to get

close to the grandchildren.  There is something

about them coming to me for help or eating

or playing, etc. that creates a bond.)  I like it.

This is Mike.  He loves this book.  It is a Pop-up

book of  Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor's garden.

He asks for it every time he comes up here.

Ben and Mike thought they were pretty funny

with those beards.   

I wish I had taken more pictures of

this scene that played out over and

over again  Wherever Mike went

Ben went.  Mike leads the way

and Ben wants to follow.

See.....

Thanks for coming boys.

Letters From Home

I was thinking about being a good grandma

a while back so I looked up ideas on line

and the one that really popped out to me

was  write letters to my grandchildren.

So two weeks ago I wrote a letter to

my grandchildren in Arkansas.  

I asked a couple questions and

wrote jokes and drew pictures, 

addressed an envelope and

mailed it!

I was surprised when a letter

from them in reply came so

quickly.  I think it was only three

days after I sent mine!  Wow!

But then as I opened and read

the letter I realized that this letter

from Quinn and Parker must

have crossed mine in the mail.

Two summers ago Quinn and Parker

went to their grandma Coleen's

cousin camp.  She puts on this fabulous

camp for her grandchildren and that

summer it was all about knights, etc.

Well they all were endowed with armor

and swords and shields.  They were left

here at my house when they went back to AR.

I guess they never forgot.

I talked to Jill and told her about

my letter and her children's letter.  She knew

they had written a letter (As you can tell

by the envelope that she doctored

so it would arrive here safely.  See below.) But

she didn't know what it said.

We laughed.

She said she would have them

reply to my letter and send it to me.

Now I'm excited!....Until...

I guess they really want that

armor back!

In reality I just enjoyed hearing

from them and still smile

when I think of these guys trying

to get they dang grandma Trish

to send them back what rightfully

belongs to them anyway!

And then there was this note from Abbey.

It is kinda hard to read but it says,

"Der gamu I am comeovr to your hse!"

Now this one I loved because she handed

it to me when she walked through the door.

Sure enough....she was coming over to my house!

Bode and Laine stayed here a couple days

in July and they thought up a car wash.

It was the cutest thing.  They lined up

all the trikes and washed them.  

When they had washed all of those they

made this sign and ran it over to Deedo's house.

Deedo was great.  She brought

over a thing or two for them

to wash and even paid them!

It is so enjoyable to see them all use

the written language to express themselves.

And as usual:  they make me laugh!

All I really need to know... I learned in kindergarten. Robert Fulghum

Well, the school buses started picking up children

this week.  It is such a familiar sound.

It has been years since my

children caught the school bus in

front of our house but I still get a 

certain feeling when I hear the sound

of the bus coming.

I decided to gather up some pictures

of school starting at the

Merrill home.  Sorry to say I

wasn't that good about taking

pictures at significant times.

But I did find some of each

one of our children sometime

during their Kindergarten year.

LEE

I know this was Lee's Kindergarten

year.  She is at Esther Hopkin's house.

Looks like she might have spent

the night because she and Esther

both have lunches and are

ready to go.  Love the shoes, Lee.

 PETE

Not only was he  little guy but

he is holding the top of a Spruce

tree that is now 25-30 feet tall.

 TIM

Second from the left back row. 

I wish the picture wasn't so fuzzy.

He has the funniest smile on his face. 

 JILL

This is actually Thanksgiving Day

when Jill was in Kindergarten.

 EVERYONE

This might have been Pete's

senior year.

 This is after Pete was on his mission

for a year and a couple months.

Look how much everyone grew!

HEIDI

This was Heidi's first try at

Kindergarten.  Or her mother's

first try and sending her.

I checked her out of school in

February and had her start

again the next fall.  

All of our children are older

in their grades.  Some had to

back up and start over:  Pete

repeated 6th grade.  He was

 a good academic student but

he is a June baby and about

the end of 2nd grade I

wished I had held him out of

Kindergarten for another year.

The first time I thought I could

do something about it and

also that last time it would

have been possible was

the 6th grade.  The principal

told me it was my decision

and Pete was all for it so

he stayed back.  We never

regretted it.

Jill was a January baby.

She was where she was

supposed to be.

Tim was born Aug 22nd.

He would have been the

youngest in his class.  I

had already seen the

pecking order when Pete

was the youngest so there

was no discussion.  Tim

spent an extra year home.

I really enjoyed that year.

We did a Joy School and I

loved taking my turn.

Heidi is a July baby and

they say that girls mature

faster than boys but I could

tell sometime in the early winter

that she wasn't mature enough

to be in school.  I was pregnant

when it was time for her to

go to school and I don't think

I saw how immature she was.

As I said, I brought her home

in February and she started

again the next fall and, again,

I never doubted that decision.

Lee was born the 3rd of 

October so there was no

discussion once again.  She

spent an extra year at home.

I would do this again.  I wish

I had not been so anxious to

start Pete but he was the oldest

so I was just marking milestones

without any experience.

I recommend sending children

to school older than younger.

All of our children did the

school work just fine.  But

it was the social stuff that really

bothered me.  We had some

struggles and would have no

matter what but I think being

older was an advantage for them.

All of our children played sports.

They all did really well.  I know

people keep their children back for

that specific reason.  For me it was

a by product.  I was first and

foremost trying to give them an

edge in decision making.

We steered our kids into sports

because it kept them busy

and contributing and occupied

and part of something.  Being older

did help them make the teams

and do well with their peers.

I also felt that keeping a 

child under my wing for an

extra year was better than 

sending them into a busy classroom

where teachers could only

offer so much attention and

affection.

No matter what they are

grown and gone now.  

And the circle goes round again.

Family is what grounds you.

 I was just telling David that we

didn't see much of Tim and Connie's

children this summer and Tim

calls and asks if they could

come and visit.

Well, of course.

I was most impressed with Mike in

this picture.  He is usually a non

smiler.  Cute family.

  

On the slide.

 That's Mike pushing Ben.

Mike doesn't like to swing but

Ben would let you push him all

day long.

Mike swinging!

Connie and I talked about all the

problems of the world.  Not really.

But we yacked and yacked.

She said something that was

sweet.  She thought Jill had

said it.  When you think you are

a "bad" mother when compared

to all the "cool" moms you compare

yourself to just remember your children

want YOU as their mother....they

don't want one of the other moms.

I liked that.

Gardens are a form of autobiography. ~Sydney Eddison

I finished off my garden last year

and thought I might take a

vacation from gardening this

year.  But February is a boring

month and the seed catalogs

start coming and I just can't 

help myself.  It is a challenge

to start seeds indoors and

nurture them to leave

home and grow in the garden.

 I did hoe my rows

further apart so there aren't

quite as many.  And I

only planted what we

really use.  No experiments.

I planted my scarlet beans on the fence

of the garden.  They make us look

like we have green thumbs.

This might be the last year I grow pumpkins.

Our water bill is huge and it makes

these sweet girls very costly.

I can buy them at Safeway for $5.

Last year my green beans

were so disappointing. 

They have been my signature

garden vegetable.

I, as a rule, grow bush beans.

but this year I am growing

pole beans.  They are on my

front  yard fence and I have

high hopes for a bumper crop.

They make a beautiful vine

on the fence no matter what.

If You Blink You Might Miss It!

My husband does not like to paint.

I got up my courage and asked him

if he would help me paint our family room.

"Just the ceiling....ok...?"  He said, "YES"!!

And then he also painted a couple

walls.  It felt so good to have

his help.  I could do it all but

only in girl time.  Man time is

so fast.  He had the ceiling done

in 45 minutes.....my time two hours

for sure.

This is a rare photo

and a much appreciated one.

Rainy Day People

As mentioned somewhere in my blog, 

I make chocolate chip

cookies when it rains. 

 It is a bit sad to make them now

when it rains and have to eat 

every last one myself!

Sheeeshhhh!

One thing that has changed

with the drought.  Storms are

short lived.  Years back I could

make a batch and bake them

and we could go out on the 

porch eat a cookie and

watch it rain.  Now I

really have to scramble

if I want to make them

and run out on the porch

to watch the rain.

I love how the rain makes

everything look clean.  It is amazing

how green things become immediately

after a rain.  And it really makes

us look like we know how to

grow things.

 I was trying to remember when

 this tradition started.

Yes, it was when my children

 were small and

rain meant a major rain storm 

with a lot of thunder and lightening

and I made them thinking it would help them

feel safe.  But somewhere in there I just

started watching the sky because I 

wanted cookies.  I am sure they did too.

So who knows if we were celebrating

the rain or the excuse to get

some cookies.

I remember being pregnant 

with Timothy

and being in the kitchen with Peter

making cookies and I had raging hives (which

I suffered with throughout all my

pregnancies).  I was miserable and

crying my eyes out but, by darn, 

we needed our cookies.

Rain and cookies aren't

that big of a deal but I 

I just feel like I need to make

at least one batch to celebrate

the blessing of rain.

And honor this simple

tradition started by us

years ago.