So last night Braden & I took my parents out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse in Sierra Vista. We have a tradition of going out to dinner this time every year to celebrate my birthday on the 14th and their anniversary on the 15th.
We had a delicious dinner and a good time visiting, and on the way back home, just outside of Sierra Vista, we were talking about how blessed our family has been that out of all of us children and grandchildren (33 in all), nobody is sick or in the hospital... and just then, we ran into a cow that was on the highway. Braden was driving my parents' new car.
It smashed up the right front fender and tore the right rear-view mirror off of the car, and threw the cow to the side of the road. (The cow didn't quite die, so later the sheriff deputy who came out had to shoot it in the head. Yuk.)
Nobody was hurt, except the cow, and the insurance will pay for the damage to the car, so all's well that ends well, but WOW... what a ride....
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Road Trip with THE GIRLS!!
So my friend Donna just turned 45, and is engaged for the first time! My other friends from High School are so excited for her, we just had to go out to Utah and attend her bridal shower and spend some time celebrating with her before she moves out to Oklahoma to get married.
It was a lot of fun -- good food, and a lot of nice people showed up, including our old Seminary teacher, Brother Richens!! It was so good to see him and his wife again after 30 years! He broke his back 11 years ago so is in a wheelchair, but other than that he's still the same guy. Donna seemed to really enjoy the shower, and ended up with over $1,000 in cash gifts!
We had the BEST time... we hadn't been together in about 27 years, but those years just melted away and it was like we were teenagers again. Except, as Arlene said, now I understand most of what they're all talking about. :)
Linda (who lives in NM), Stacey (who lives here in St. David), and Jenny (who also lives here) met at my house Thursday night and we drove as far as Gilbert, to pick up Arlene (my cousin, another of the "old gang") and stay the night there. 
Next morning, we left at about 8 and drove to Flagstaff, where we stopped for lunch and visited with Jenny's daughter and sweet grandbaby Nathan.
Then we were back on the road, and got to Donna's place in Murray, Utah at about 10pm. She was so happy to see us, and we were all a little sleep-deprived so that evening was a riot. We laughed and laughed. A lot. About stuff that wasn't even very funny. You know how it is.
On Saturday we went shopping at Gardner's Village, and then went back to help Donna get set up for the shower.
It was a lot of fun -- good food, and a lot of nice people showed up, including our old Seminary teacher, Brother Richens!! It was so good to see him and his wife again after 30 years! He broke his back 11 years ago so is in a wheelchair, but other than that he's still the same guy. Donna seemed to really enjoy the shower, and ended up with over $1,000 in cash gifts! That evening we drove south to Richfield, and stayed with Bro. & Sis. Moss. (Brother Moss was the missionary who baptized Donna's family years ago.) They are such delightful people and they were so kind to let us stay in their beautiful home that night. We had a lot of fun visiting with them and getting to know them.
The next morning, Sunday, we left for home, and Donna went to Stake Conference with the Mosses. We drove all day, got to Gilbert at around 7, ate some yummy steaks that Arlene's 
husband Kris had grilled, and even got Cheryl (another of our high school friends who lives in that area) to come over and see us! We also called Shella on speakerphone (yeah, another one, who lives in St. David and wasn't able to come on the trip with us), and told her we missed her and also congratulated her on her new calling as Relief Society President!
husband Kris had grilled, and even got Cheryl (another of our high school friends who lives in that area) to come over and see us! We also called Shella on speakerphone (yeah, another one, who lives in St. David and wasn't able to come on the trip with us), and told her we missed her and also congratulated her on her new calling as Relief Society President!After visiting there with Arlene's family for a couple of hours, the remaining four of us headed out again for St. David and got home around midnight.
It felt funny to be back home, after spending 3 fun-filled days with my best friends... it was nice to be home, but I was really sad that it was over.
More pics of our trip can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/btcml53872/UtahTrip##
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
More Random Stuff
Okay so our Brittany is one of those COLLEGE kids... spending all our money and living it up....
No seriously, she's doing very well. She is a freshman at EAC and is really having a great time. She is in a nice apartment with three other girls and some awesome neighbors and she has her own car which she uses to drive everyone else around... so far she isn't failing any of her classes (that I know of), and absolutely LOVES her music classes... especially Marching Band. It's her first experience with this and she's really having fun with it. She's also taking private flute lessons and getting better and better on her piccolo.
Taryn is a cheerleader! Only for the P.E. credit, but she is doing well and seems to be enjoying it. Taryn is amazing... she gets herself up (sometimes) early for Show Choir at 7, then goes all day until after cheer practice which ends at 5. She's also Freshman Class Secretary. She loves Seminary and seems to be doing well in her classes and is a very bright, responsible, sweet young lady.
On a completely different note... last week my cousin Debbie passed away... she had a brain tumor. She was 64. Too young to die. She will be missed.
I was able to go to her funeral in Goodyear AZ, and took some pictures of some of our family that was there. I really love my family... these are awesome people who have been a major part of my life, especially in my childhood, but I never see them except at funerals! I think that is wrong. So I'm on a quest to find them all and get back in touch. Cousins I used to play with but haven't seen in 40 years, for instance. Once I get a contact list compiled, I hope that we can get a reunion organized, maybe for next summer. Anyway, here's a slide show of the pics I took of some of the family that was there. They're not very good because I took them with my cell phone, but here they are. (Is this better, Kimberly???) :)
No seriously, she's doing very well. She is a freshman at EAC and is really having a great time. She is in a nice apartment with three other girls and some awesome neighbors and she has her own car which she uses to drive everyone else around... so far she isn't failing any of her classes (that I know of), and absolutely LOVES her music classes... especially Marching Band. It's her first experience with this and she's really having fun with it. She's also taking private flute lessons and getting better and better on her piccolo.
Taryn is a cheerleader! Only for the P.E. credit, but she is doing well and seems to be enjoying it. Taryn is amazing... she gets herself up (sometimes) early for Show Choir at 7, then goes all day until after cheer practice which ends at 5. She's also Freshman Class Secretary. She loves Seminary and seems to be doing well in her classes and is a very bright, responsible, sweet young lady.
On a completely different note... last week my cousin Debbie passed away... she had a brain tumor. She was 64. Too young to die. She will be missed.I was able to go to her funeral in Goodyear AZ, and took some pictures of some of our family that was there. I really love my family... these are awesome people who have been a major part of my life, especially in my childhood, but I never see them except at funerals! I think that is wrong. So I'm on a quest to find them all and get back in touch. Cousins I used to play with but haven't seen in 40 years, for instance. Once I get a contact list compiled, I hope that we can get a reunion organized, maybe for next summer. Anyway, here's a slide show of the pics I took of some of the family that was there. They're not very good because I took them with my cell phone, but here they are. (Is this better, Kimberly???) :)
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Stuff happens....
So last time I mentioned a breakdown on the freeway a couple of weeks ago... I've already told this story to almost everyone I know, but I'll put it here too for posterity. :) I am constantly amazed at the Lord's "tender mercies" to me and my family. He answers prayers and He watches over us. This does not mean that we are free from trials -- they're gonna happen. But He makes them easier sometimes, as you'll see from this account. Sorry it's long -- I tried to shorten it but there's really no way to do that....
Brittany, Taryn, Taryn's friend Summer, and I, drove in Brittany's "new" car (okay, it's a 1999 Kia Sportage which has 112,000 miles on it, but it's new to her!) to Phoenix because they were going with my sisters Kim and Valerie to see John Mayer in concert that night. They wanted to drive the Kia to the concert, so after we got there I drove Kim's pickup to Gilbert (about 15 min. away) to visit my cousin Arlene. After the concert, we needed to switch cars again, so I drove the pickup to Chandler and brought the Kia back to Arlene's. (I wanted to spend the night there in a soft bed, the girls wanted to sleep on Kim's floor. Oh to be young again...)
The following morning, I left Gilbert at about 10:30 to pick up the girls. I was driving the Kia, westward on the 202-Loop, and suddenly heard a terrible thumping screeching banging noise, and the car died. I managed to get it onto the shoulder, and it stopped right under an overpass.
Blessing #1: Shade. I got out to see what was up, and the right front tire had blown a long strip of tread off, which had flapped around and torn up the wheel well guard thing and ripped out a bunch of wires from under the hood.
Blessing #2: My brother Dave lives nearby, and was home and not out working that day. He got me a tow truck and we ended up at his house, where he spent a few hours in the hot Phoenix sun repairing and replacing the broken wires, poor guy! While he was working on it, his wife Cindy went and got the girls in Chandler who were starving by this time (Kim had gone to work), and we ordered pizza and had lunch in their nice air conditioned house, and watched TV and played with baby Aydn (Blessing #4).
Blessing #5: Dave is a genius, and was able to fix the wires, replace the ignition fuse which had blown, get the car started, and we made it to Discount Tire two minutes before they closed.
Blessing #6: Arlene called right about then and asked if we were still in town and if we wanted to go have dinner with them. We gratefully accepted (all of us) and had a yummy dinner and a fun family visit there. Although we had planned to drive home that evening, I didn't want to push our luck any further, so we just stayed the night there and drove home the next morning, getting here just an hour before Madison's birthday party was to start.
There were so many others of those "tender mercies" that I didn't even mention... like the tire incident didn't happen to the girls on the way to or from the concert in Phoenix... it didn't happen to me at 1:00 am when I was driving it alone back to Arlene's the night before... now it's fixed and it won't happen to Brittany sometime when she's driving by herself... and probably a lot of other things I didn't even think or know about.
Challenges will come. But I believe we always get help when we ask for it, and things always work out. I'm so grateful for prayer -- it works.
Thanks for reading.
Brittany, Taryn, Taryn's friend Summer, and I, drove in Brittany's "new" car (okay, it's a 1999 Kia Sportage which has 112,000 miles on it, but it's new to her!) to Phoenix because they were going with my sisters Kim and Valerie to see John Mayer in concert that night. They wanted to drive the Kia to the concert, so after we got there I drove Kim's pickup to Gilbert (about 15 min. away) to visit my cousin Arlene. After the concert, we needed to switch cars again, so I drove the pickup to Chandler and brought the Kia back to Arlene's. (I wanted to spend the night there in a soft bed, the girls wanted to sleep on Kim's floor. Oh to be young again...)
The following morning, I left Gilbert at about 10:30 to pick up the girls. I was driving the Kia, westward on the 202-Loop, and suddenly heard a terrible thumping screeching banging noise, and the car died. I managed to get it onto the shoulder, and it stopped right under an overpass.
Blessing #1: Shade. I got out to see what was up, and the right front tire had blown a long strip of tread off, which had flapped around and torn up the wheel well guard thing and ripped out a bunch of wires from under the hood.Blessing #2: My brother Dave lives nearby, and was home and not out working that day. He got me a tow truck and we ended up at his house, where he spent a few hours in the hot Phoenix sun repairing and replacing the broken wires, poor guy! While he was working on it, his wife Cindy went and got the girls in Chandler who were starving by this time (Kim had gone to work), and we ordered pizza and had lunch in their nice air conditioned house, and watched TV and played with baby Aydn (Blessing #4).
Blessing #5: Dave is a genius, and was able to fix the wires, replace the ignition fuse which had blown, get the car started, and we made it to Discount Tire two minutes before they closed.
Blessing #6: Arlene called right about then and asked if we were still in town and if we wanted to go have dinner with them. We gratefully accepted (all of us) and had a yummy dinner and a fun family visit there. Although we had planned to drive home that evening, I didn't want to push our luck any further, so we just stayed the night there and drove home the next morning, getting here just an hour before Madison's birthday party was to start.
There were so many others of those "tender mercies" that I didn't even mention... like the tire incident didn't happen to the girls on the way to or from the concert in Phoenix... it didn't happen to me at 1:00 am when I was driving it alone back to Arlene's the night before... now it's fixed and it won't happen to Brittany sometime when she's driving by herself... and probably a lot of other things I didn't even think or know about.
Challenges will come. But I believe we always get help when we ask for it, and things always work out. I'm so grateful for prayer -- it works.
Thanks for reading.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Baby Girl Growing Up
Madison turned 8 on Tuesday (July 29) and was baptized yesterday! It went very well and the Spirit was very strong -- a very good experience for all involved, in spite of the fact that the few days leading up to it were extremely hectic, involving an overnight trip to Phoenix, a car breakdown on the freeway (in Phx), college tuition fees coming due, and planning the baptism and a birthday party -- but we managed it all and were able to relax and enjoy the baptism.
Aunt Teri gave a most excellent talk on Baptism, and Uncle Brett gave an equally impressive talk on the Holy Ghost. Braden baptized her, and confirmed her with Grandpa, Uncles Tracy, Brett, Steve, and "Uncle" Darek joining in. We missed our other family members who weren't able to make it: Papa Coach, Gramma Sherry, Aunt Brandi's family, Aunt Julia, Asher, and Regan who were at other reunions, Troy & Karen's family in Utah, and Dave, Cindy, Kim, and Val who had work obligations. We were happy that Darek and his family (minus "Aunt" Angela and Savanna who were in Tucson) could be there with us.
That afternoon, Madi and Mom got to go on a "Just you and me" date to Tucson Mall! Madison got her ears pierced and used a gift certificate at Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Seen any good movies lately?
Okay, I gotta get that sad post off the top of this page. By the way, the 14-yr-old girl from Nevada is apparently still hanging in there... the report we got that she had died was apparently incorrect. So as far as I know at this point she is still alive, though possibly still unconscious, I don't know what her condition is. Anyway, enough about that.
So Braden and I used those two free movie tickets from Safeway yesterday, at Century Park Place in Tucson. We got in free to see "Get Smart," then screen-hopped to "Kung-Fu Panda." Both very good movies. "Get Smart" was mildly disappointing for me, but only because I used to love the TV show years ago, and although Steve Carell is a VERY funny guy, he just wasn't quite the arrogant numbskull that Don Adams was on TV. However, it's a very funny movie and I even liked Anne Hathaway (not normally one of my favorites) in this one -- she was a better "99" than TV's Barbara Feldon, IMO.
Kung-Fu Panda is cute. Jack Black is his usual goofy self playing "Po," the "big fat panda," but I loved Dustin Hoffman as the little master guy. All the kids loved that movie too -- I took them all to see it last Monday.
We still have yet to see the fourth Indiana Jones movie, and we're looking forward to catching a matinee for that one sometime soon. We've recently watched all three of the previous "Indy" movies so we're all caught up except for the last one.
Thanks for reading.
So Braden and I used those two free movie tickets from Safeway yesterday, at Century Park Place in Tucson. We got in free to see "Get Smart," then screen-hopped to "Kung-Fu Panda." Both very good movies. "Get Smart" was mildly disappointing for me, but only because I used to love the TV show years ago, and although Steve Carell is a VERY funny guy, he just wasn't quite the arrogant numbskull that Don Adams was on TV. However, it's a very funny movie and I even liked Anne Hathaway (not normally one of my favorites) in this one -- she was a better "99" than TV's Barbara Feldon, IMO.
Kung-Fu Panda is cute. Jack Black is his usual goofy self playing "Po," the "big fat panda," but I loved Dustin Hoffman as the little master guy. All the kids loved that movie too -- I took them all to see it last Monday.
We still have yet to see the fourth Indiana Jones movie, and we're looking forward to catching a matinee for that one sometime soon. We've recently watched all three of the previous "Indy" movies so we're all caught up except for the last one.
Thanks for reading.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Count your blessings.
On Tuesday of this week, a 15-yr-old girl named Carina, from St. David, was killed in a car accident. She was with an 18-yr-old boy (driving) from Mescal and a 14-yr-old girl from Nevada. It happened on the freeway at about 3:00am. Alcohol was allegedly involved. None of them were wearing seatbelts. Both girls were thrown from the truck as it rolled repeatedly, and Carina died at the scene. The other girl was in an induced coma until she passed away today or yesterday. The driver sustained a leg injury but will be fine... physically.
Carina isn't someone we knew well, but we did know her and our whole family is shocked and saddened by this tragedy. But I feel the saddest for that poor boy -- his entire world was turned upside down in just a few seconds, right along with the pickup he was driving. He is facing criminal charges, not to mention the knowledge that he killed two young girls. Maybe he was driving under the influence, maybe he was speeding, maybe his judgment was impaired... but even so, nobody deserves to go through what he must be experiencing. My heart hurts for him and for his family... as well as the families of the girls.
I don't mean to bring anybody down--I mention this only because things have been put into perspective for me. I know I get distracted and forget my blessings -- I sometimes can't see past the messy house and the bickering -- but my children are here, and they're whole, and they're healthy, and they're smart, and they make (mostly) good choices. I am SO blessed. And so are you. Love your children and/or grandchildren, your friends, your parents, your brothers and sisters, your cousins, all your loved ones. Enjoy every minute... and lighten up on the small things. You never know how much time you have.
Thanks for reading.
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