Endings and Beginnings

I started writing this post back in February and I did not post it, cause frankly it was pretty depressing and I knew at the time that I just needed to write it all out and let the feelings pour out of me.  But I also was smart enough not to publish it because well, it was just a little melodramatic!

I am a pretty big boob when it comes to my kids, and with this being my baby and my only daughter, let's just say I am glad I waited so I could hit the back space button and erase 50% of what I had written. So here is the revised version, exposing my underbelly and the big wimp that I am:)

Time for a little magic

The water show, World of Color was spectacular!

My family loves anything Disney, probably because we have made so many memories there.  So it wasn't a strange request from my daughter to go to Disney on her 20th birthday.

I had told her that we would go on her b'day in January, well, it just didn't work out, I had just started a new job in October and we were in major planning stages of our upcoming shows, plus my husband had been assigned a new project at his job and was feeling that it was not going to work out.

So I promised during her spring break we would sneak away no matter what!

Well, spring break was fast approaching  and it was probably an even worse time to leave our jobs. I was really struggling as to what I should do, should I  just tell her we couldn't do it right now?Thank goodness, the clarity came! There is never going to be a good time to leave work...

My baby girl wanted to go on spring break with her best friend Cami, and her mom and dad...  to Disney!  What the heck was I thinking, these moment's don't last forever, projects come and go at work, but taking time to be with my family, that's what matters most.

First purchase in the park... Churros of course!

Love this man!

We were up at the crack of dawn, we ate churros for breakfast, big fat dill pickles for lunch (the best one's are only sold at Disney), hit every ride, took a thousand pictures, took some time to shop for grand kids in Downtown Disney, and walked and walked till we couldn't walk anymore.   We laughed and joked and forgot the world for 3 days and it was blissful.

Dinner at Tortilla Joe's in Downtown Disney

Disney is even better at night

I am sure when we go back to work tomorrow the projects will still be there, hair will be on fire as usual, and that's all good too.  I will be ready to work.
But sometimes we just need to get away experience a little magic!

“People who go to Disney who have magic in themselves experience magic there... The principle is simple: fun, joy, and happiness, are something we bring to life, not something life, circumstance, or situation bring to us. There are truly no magic kingdoms, only magic people.
Fun, joy and happiness are choices, orientations, approaches, attitudes, a way of living in the world, not the world itself...” 
― David W. Jones, Moses and Mickey Mouse: How to Find Holy Ground in the Magic Kingdom and Other Unusual Places

It's been a while...

My goodness, I'm a lame blogger!  Since my last blog, I have a new job, a new grand daughter, Christmas has come and gone, I turned a year older, '48 not so bad', I officially do not have any teenage children (very weird) and dealt with the loss of one of our sweet schnauzers.

Time to get caught up and do a better job and keeping up...

I'm now working at RLegacy Entertainment.  We are 8 weeks away from launching our first 'Inspire My Life' event. You can check us out at inspiremylife.com

I work with a team of great folks, and we have had a great time getting to know each other and working out all the fun exciting details of this program.

It is a far cry from the tech world I was in before and is a much better fit for my personality.

The latest addition to our family a beautiful new grand daughter.

Babies are a link between angels and men.

To say that I love my grand children would be a huge understatement!  I remember when my first grand baby arrived, I was worried that I would not love him as much as I love my own kids.  Well, I am here to tell you... you don't need to worry about that!  Your ability to love just increases and is magnified in these sweet grand babies that arrive.  I'm so excited to see what the future holds for these little angels that have joined our family!  I can't wait!!

I'm not exactly sure how it could possibly be 20 years since my baby was born.  I'm also not exactly sure when the tradition started of singing the 'Birthday Song' as loud and as badly as we do... but none the less this is how the O'Gwin's do it.

Last but not least my 11 year old Miniature Schnauzer passed away this Friday.  She was a sweet little girl and has left a hole in our hearts.

Our sweet little Zoe.
“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” 
― Mark Twain

Needless to say I am ready for Spring to arrive and ready to start digging in my garden, but for now I will just have to be content with the seed magazines that are arriving everyday.

"Keep your faith in beautiful things; 
in the sun when it is hidden, 
in the Spring when it is gone." 
-  Roy R. Gibson 

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!