Once Upon A Time...

The reason for the party... our pretty Kara (and that cute round belly)

My cute daughter in law Kara... sitting in her new rocking chair, and ready to use it!

The girls of the family decided it was about time to have a baby shower, the cute little addition to our family would be here in just about 6 weeks, and we wanted to make sure she had plenty of cute things to wear! 

We had all been doing lots of 'pinning of baby showers' on Pinterest, ever since the day we found out Kara was expecting.  My niece Kyra  found the perfect theme and so the planning began.  With about a gallon of gold glitter, and gold spray paint and throw in some creativity we managed to do our version of ...

 Once Upon A Time....

A shower that would represent just about every 'princess' we could think of....

We bought an old Cinderella story book ripped out the pages and stained them with tea bags, then burnt the edges, we then traced out the individual letters and sprayed gold glitter on the pages and hung them from the curtains, above the table.

We had so many yummy treats including sugar cookies that represented the glass slipper...

rose in a vase for Beauty and the Beast

Snow White's evil queen's Mirror Mirror

My Beautiful girls, Sagan, Brooke, Caitie, Kara, Erica, Shelby, and Kyra.
We missed having Jennifer with us, but she is busy in Georgia with Chase getting through graduate school!

It took me a while to get this blog written, now it is only 20 days till this little lady arrives (maybe less) and we are all so excited there might be some arm wrestling going on in my house to see who gets to hold this baby the most, hmmm I think I win... cause I'm the Grandma!

Wordless Wednesday

My friend put this up on her facebook page,  and I had to share it.  

Those of you in Utah will understand the humor:)

I thought he walked on water...

My Dad and Uncle Bob 1963

Great Uncle Bob and me 

A few weeks ago I was driving home from Salt Lake and an old song by Randy Travis came on the radio, instantly my Uncle Bob's sweet face popped in my mind. He passed away about a year ago, and for that short 40 minute drive home I felt like I had an unseen passenger:)

He was my great uncle and just as he appears in the picture above is how he looked when I was a little girl.  He was raised in Kentucky, grew up very poor, I never remember him having any teeth.

He rolled his own cigarettes and let me lick the paper and give it a little twist, he never learned how to read or write; he signed his name with an X. He never married, he told me because he didn't think he would ever be able to provide well enough.

He always had a watch on a chain that he kept in his overalls that he told me I cut my teeth on.  I remember pulling it out and putting it up to my ear to hear it tick.

He always smelled like Old Spice, and was always clean shaven.

He worked as a hired hand for my Uncle Frank on the farm.  I have wonderful memories of listening to all of my uncles, and Papa sitting around Grandma Jewell's dinner table, drinking coffee hot enough to burn your taste buds and playing Rook, laughing and tellin jokes. 

In his later years my mom moved my Uncle Bob out to Tennessee so she could take care of him.  I got to see him once a year until he passed away.  He was a good man, he always told me he would have liked to come see the mountains of Utah. Well, I think he did... with me... a few weeks ago, in my car.

Uncle Bob and my son Zane

Randy Travis - He walked on water -

Time to Make a Difference

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein

Some changes since my last post, I got a new job.  I am working at the Jr High that my kids attended so many years ago.  I am the 'mean' ISS lady (In School Suspension) I get to meet all the kids that are tardy and sluff and disrupt class.  Instead of being sent to the office they are sent to the 'dreaded room 5' believe me they all know what room 5 is:)

I broke up my first fight in the halls today between a couple boys... don't worry they were smaller then me (I'm a big chicken)

You would think it would be a crummy job, but I like it.  Not because I enjoy being mean cause I'm not mean.  I enjoy talking to these kids, none of them are bad, mostly just lost.  It's really the parents that need to have detention!  Most of the time these kids  just need an advocate.

I see how easily these kids could fall through the cracks, happy to say the school I am working for has one of the best Principal's I've seen in a long time, and he really tries to keep this from happening.

One of my sons came to me through a different mom, he could have just as easily been one of these kids, that at the ripe old age of 13/14 have lost all hope for anything better:(

Maybe this makes me a little softer on these kids, maybe it makes me a little tougher on them too.
My son just needed to know there was someone out there who gave a damn, and cared about his day and his school work and if he had lunch money, and some friends to talk to.

 I know I can't adopt them all but I sure can try and make the time they spend at school a better place, let them know I 'see' them, I 'hear' them, and I believe in them.

My son, that had been counted out, graduated from high school, attended college, excels at his job, just bought his first home with his beautiful wife, and is having his first baby this fall.  He is a great example of what can happen if someone shows they care.

So onward and upward!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Busy Bee's

It has been about 6 weeks since we last inspected the hives, so Saturday morning we opened them up.  They are all doing great. I was brave and got the closest I have ever been and was able to get some pretty good pictures and a couple videos.  

Look at all the glistening honey they are making us!

My first time with the bee hat.. haha I look so funny!  Let me tell you I was so hot while we were doing this.  

Sean getting geared up.  He  forgot to put rubber bands around his pant legs and got stung on his calf.  I would have quit, then and there if that would have been me:)

All of our hives our looking healthy this year.  

Here you can actually see a small pollen ball.

If you look closely at the next few pictures you can see some bee's being born, you can see their little heads popping out.

I realize this is kind of blurry, the sun was shining so bright I couldn't really tell if I was even in the right spot.  But if you look to the bottom you can see a bee being born.  I will try and do better at my video taking in the future. 

 If you want a giggle listen to this video till the end, I kinda lost my 'cool'.  One lone bee decided to chase me as soon as I took my hood off.  But I escaped without a sting:)

"Eat honey, my child, for it is good."

Proverbs 24:13

Can't Wait!

Patiently waiting to feel that kick!
My cute daughter in law who is expecting her first baby in November and my daughter who can't wait to be an Aunt again!

Not quite Wordless Wednesday

My youngest son holding his little niece Miss Pippa

Summer time

It's been a couple weeks since I posted, pretty quiet since the 4th of July.  We had a great day with family and friends.  We were a little late for the balloon launch, but we got there in time to see them fly.

We loved The Amazing Spider-Man

Sitting around gabbing 

The girls and I just made ourselves comfy while the boys had 
a good time setting off 'tons' of fireworks!  

My niece and daughter in law

We have lived in our home for over 20 years, my neighbors are not
only our friends but have become an extension of our family.

Our garden is starting to produce some yummy veggies, our first tomato and banana peppers arrived.  We are waiting for a couple more tomato's so we can enjoy a big fat BLT:

Utah is now in the dog days of summer, the heat has been so crazy over 100 degrees for multiple days.  The air doesn't seem to move.  
In our area of the woods this also means plenty of fires in the mountains, at one point we had fires on 3 of our mountain ranges, we actually had ash falling on us in our back yard.  Since then we have had a couple good  rain storms and I think all the fires are out now.

It looked like a volcano was going off, luckily no houses were lost in this fire.

Now that the grand kids have gone back to Georgia and the 4th is over I have been trying to decide what project I want to get started on in the house, the dreaded basement closet (still full of my boys 'stuff'), the garage (ugh to hot),  old family video's organized and digitally redone, the list goes on...

I also must admit I  have really enjoyed these last few months on my own schedule, with no job, but I am starting to look around and throw my resume out to a few places.  I miss the extra spending money and before we know it the holidays will be here, and by then I will have 3 cute grand babies to buy for:) http://www.xmasclock.com/  

Heat, Ma'am!  it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones.  ~ Sydney Smith, Lady Holland's Memoir


The summer night is like a perfection of thought. ~ Wallace Stevens

Balloons, Parades, Friends, Family, and Fireworks!

I love the 4th of July! My family would agree it is as big as Christmas around our home.  
For 20 plus years we have been up at 5:30 am on the 4th we head to Fox Field so that we can walk around as they inflate a field full of hot air balloons.  


There is something quite magical in the air as the first balloon launches with the American flag high in the air against the back drop of our mountains and the sun rising... not to mention the Star Spangled Banner being played over the loud speakers.  It just starts the day off perfectly.  

We then enjoy a pancake breakfast provided by the local veterans.  

 If truth were told I am probably the one that enjoys the parade the most.  I love cheering as the local high school bands go by, I love the jets flying over, the boom of the cannons as the parade starts.  The kids running around diving for candy, the veterans that go marching by and how the crowd rises to our feet with hands on hearts, the floats, the noise, ahh, I love it all!

Our little nephew loving the firetruck and all it's bells and whistles

Neighbors, Friends and Family, does it get any better!

From here we usually pile back in the car and head to the local theater to see the summer block buster, this year it will be Spiderman.  The coolness of the theatre is perfect after sitting in the sun for 3 hours.


Then it's time to go home and put some hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill eat our selves sick and then head outside for the parachute fireworks.

These are the fireworks that should be let off during the day, they have army men attached to parachutes that we launch and then the neighborhood kids run and around trying to catch them.

We then all crash in the family room to watch Independence Day with Will Smith and nap during the heat of the day.  We need to prepare for the long night of fireworks ahead.


This has varied over the years, some years we head to Stadium of Fire and some years we are the 'Neighborhood of Fire', setting off our own mass amount of fireworks.  


I am so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy, for this wonderful country we live in, for the men and women who have gone before and those who are serving us today.  


I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!

You have to love a nation that celebrates its Independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

~Erma Bombeck

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty"

~John F. Kennedy