Two graduations in one night!

My baby....my oldest baby, graduated into the toothless club tonight! She's had a loose tooth for months now, but it was hanging on strong. Actually, now both of the bottom ones are really loose. Today I noticed you could see her adult tooth coming through right behind the back edge of her loose tooth. She's quite the scaredy cat, but I convinced her it would be fun to pull it. So we sat down and I tried very unsuccessfuly to grab a hold of that tooth. Baby teeth are incredibly tiny when you think about it. Yeah, yeah, I know, stating the obvious. Anyway, we attempted the old tried and true dental floss method, but I had the hardest time getting the dental floss around her tooth! It just wouldn't stay on. It didn't help that she was a little stressed out and her bottom lip would tighten up and get in the way. I finally grabbed the tweezers to help hold the back side of the floss in place. Bingo! I know she was really nervous, but I honestly think that I was more nervous than she was. I knew that if I failed to pull that tooth out, it would 1) hurt her and 2) increase her paranoia about loosing a tooth. So after I made her a giggle a bit I yanked with all of my might. It actually came out quite easily. She had this look of shock on her face, and then I dangled the tooth in front of her. She was all grins! She started this uncontrollable, excited giggle and started chanting, "it's out! it's out! it's out"...but that excitement slowly morphed into a full blown panic attack.
"It's out! It's out...........oh no...It's out! Aaahhhh, I'm scared, I'm scared (imagine her now running around in circles petrified) I'm scared." I should have video taped it. I probably could have won some money on America's Funniest Home Video because the extreme emotions she bounced to in that 5 seconds was quite funny!

I guess she'd seen the blood on the end of the tooth and was really worried. So of course, I couldn't let her look in the mirror for about 5 minutes because she actually bled quite a bit. I was grateful Megan didn't say anything to her.

So now my baby is toothless and she is loving it. Most of her friends have all lost teeth already so she was feeling left out. Now I just have to remember not to go to bed before doing my part!



The second graduation was my precious Megan! She had her preschool graduation today. They had cute little graduation caps and everything. They called the kids' names and they would walk down the aisle gingerly, most of them acting shy. Then Megan came bounding out when it was her turn and skipped and twirled her way down the aisle! I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture. She was moving so much and so fast that the only two pictures I snapped were way to fuzzy to even post.

My little girls are growing up.

A French Kiss

When my oldest daughter was younger (around 3), she would ask for a "turn kiss", which meant a kiss where your heads turned, like at the end of the fairytale. She also knew that the mouth was slightly open. Man, kids are really observant, even of cartoons! She would try to "turn kiss" us all of the time.

So today, when she asked for a French Kiss, I assumed she had renamed the Turn Kiss and wondered where she had even learned that term in the first place. What is a kindergartner doing learning about French kissing? I began to giver her a speach about how some kisses are for Mommy's and Daddy's and other kisses are for kids when she lamented, "But I just REALLY want to kiss you on both cheeks".

Ahhhh......a French kiss. Ok, I get it. Sure Emilee, French kiss all you want.

Birthday on a Birthday!

So Monday was my birthday! Happy Birthday to me! I had a pretty fun one! Since becoming a mother, Birthdays are pretty much a regular day most years, but this one was fun! My husband took the day off of work and my MIL and GMIL were staying with us and they watched the kids while James and I went out. They baked me a birthday cake, helped the girls wrap presents and then MIL took us out to dinner as a family that night! It was really a great day!

I also got to go to a birth on my birthday! I had a client who was due in the middle of June but had been having a lot of health issues. She decided to have a C-section (her first had been C-section, her second a VBAC homebirth) because of some liver issues and her baby boy was born Monday morning at 37weeks, 1 day weighing 9lbs 9oz!!!!!!!!! That's right! 9 1/2 pounds and 3 weeks early! Wowsers! He was absolutely adorable and my client was happy. It was fun to get to go to a birth on my birthday! What better way to celebrate than that?

My talents lie in other places.

I love to do my girls' hair up in cute little hair styles. I'm pretty good at it too. Now, don't mistake that to mean that I actually DO it very often, because really, who has time to get three little girls all spiffy every morning? And even if I did have the time, who would want the fight? I don't feel like listening to the shrieks of horror every morning. I get enough of that just brushing their hair. Especially when it will be all messed up by the time lunch rolls around. But when we buckle down and do it, it's cute! However, there is one aspect of hair care that I just can not get the hang of.

Parting.

I can not part my children's hair for the life of me. I try, I really do. But it's not uncommon for me to have to redo a part 4 or 5 times before I get it to where it is even enough to call it good. Not great, just good enough that people won't be able to notice how bad it is from a distance of more than 20 ft. Perhaps that's why I don't do their hair more often.

Megan wanted her hair is "two braids, mom, two braids" the other day. I eyed her head, looked from the front, from the back, from every angle I thought would be helpful. I parted a little, rechecked, parted some more. I had done a pretty good job for my first part of the day. I felt good about my part. It was even! I had mastered it, finally! I hate to say it, but I was......proud! That is, until I got both sides braided and took a step back.
*sigh*

Childhood memories

So sorry for the terribly dim picture, but it was super sunny outside, they were sitting in the shade and well, I'm not a photographer! And I realize only one has a "normal" smile, but if you've ever tried to take a picture of 3 children, you probably know this is the best out of 30.

Here they are, enjoying a favorite memory of mine from childhood! Dipping fresh strawberries in powdered sugar! No summer in childhood is complete without it!

So what are your favorite childhood summer memories?

On another note, day 12 and still struggling with a voice. The good news, is that while horrible sounding, there IS noise coming out now. So I can talk and be understood which is truly a blessing. So, improvement at least!

6 days and still counting....

So, small update....voice went away again. Didn't make it to the Dr.'s today because I had some issues scheduling issues. So I'll go tomorrow. My good friend around the corner offered to come and sit with my kids during naptime (the only time I could get an appointment).


And no, Stacy, I wouldn't call. Although you can; It might give you a good laugh. I can't promise you'll be able to hear me though. :)


Oh, and just because saying it once in my last entry isn't enough, Do you know how hard it is to parent without a voice?!?!?!?!?!

Let's just say there are 4 garbage bags full of toys, shoes, DVD's, etc out by my back door right now because the kid's must not have thought I was serious when I told them to pick them up or they'd get thrown away. Since I am NOT going to say it twice on a day when each word takes great effort, they now are going to be missing a lot of things. I'm trying to contemplate if I'm going to be mean enough to make Emilee go to school with just socks on because her shoes are gone. With how cranky I'm feeling right now, I just might....although I'm sure I'll get a good night's rest and feel sorry for her in the morning.

6 days....

That is how long I've been without a voice. I started getting sick last Friday night. I woke up on Saturday, started loosing my voice and got a horrible flu!!!! Man, I was really sick. Sunday was a little better, but the cold had really moved to my chest/thoat area, my voice became worse and I started a really bad cough. That night I was short of breath and my poor husband was really started to worry. Each day, I would wake up feeling better, but my voice would be worse. Yesterday I really couldn't speak much. This morning, I couldn't speak at all. As in, just air came out. I was literally louder if I whispered.

It was quite frustrating, at that point, trying to call my husband and communicate to him that I needed him to call the Dr's and set up an appointment. I literally shouted into the phone, with my mouth right at the reciever. I shouted one word at a time....often 2 or 3 times until he could understand. It was really pathetic.

So now I have an appointment at 3pm. Guess what just happened?

Yeah, you guessed it....I just got part of my voice back. it's certianly still "gone"....but at least noise comes out now.

So, does that mean I'm getting better? It will be just my luck that by the time I go to the Dr. it will be all better and I'll look like an idiot. But maybe it won't. It went in and out a lot yesterday. I guess only time will tell.

One thing I can say, It SUCKS to try to parent three small children when you can't talk!

Don't bother me unless the house is burning down....

You all remember comments like that from your parents, right? Well, they don't work with young children. It sure didn't work when I used it in the desperate attempt at 10 minutes alone in the shower this morning. 10 minutes is all I wanted. 10 minutes with no one else touching me, snotting on me or talking to me. My kids didn't listen.

However, that was actually a good thing. But, next time I make that statement, it will need to have some amendments made to it.


"Don't bother me unless the house is burning down, the 4 year old is about to pee her pants if she doesn't get into the bathroom right now, the toddler has found the paints and is attempting to decorate the couch, or the neighbor boy has walked into our house."


I'm sure I'll have to add more next time.

The wait is over...

James didn't get the job. They found someone with experience underwriting government loans (which is what we were HOPING this job would help him put on his resume).

I was so looking forward to the extra income this job would give us. We certainly wouldn't be rich, but we would have been able to make ends meet...something that is difficult to do some months.

Tomorrow will be another day and we'll begin the search once more!

But for tonight...I think I'll go cry.

I knew it!!!

I've always suspected that my children were from another planet. Today my suspicions were confirmed.

Megan wanted some of the vitamins Daddy was taking. Daddy told her they were not for children.

"Oh", she replied. "So they're only for Humans?"

Oh the waiting.....

I hate waiting. I am an extremely impatient person. Actually, I'm a control freak, really. Which means I hate waiting becuase I'm not in control at the moment. We're waiting to hear if James got a job he interviewed for or not. It's a scary move, but one that we've been getting more and more excited about as we've thought and prayed about it. Now we just have to wait and see if they'll want him!!!

The longer it takes, the more nervous I'm getting. Last week she told him she wanted his answer (he actually wasn't sure at the interview if it was the right fit, and she spend a good part of the interview actually trying to convince him it would be!). Well, now we've given our answer and she says she'll let us know next week.

NEXT WEEK? I can't wait that long. Just tell us and get it over with. If the answer is no, fine. We'll get over it and move on with looking for other jobs. But I hate just waiting...not knowing and letting someone else have our future in their hands for the next week.

Someone distract me!

Lesson Learned!

The other day, Emilee was asking for MORE ice cream. She'd already had two bowls, for pete's sake. But she wanted more. We talked about the importance of eating healthy and making our bodies strong. Her reply? "I'll eat healthy tomorrow!" Hmmm, she must have subconsciously picked up the same justifications I use every day. I told her that "Tomorrow never comes." but she just gave me a weird look and went on trying to convince me she'd wouldn't eat any junk food for a few days.

Yesterday Emilee and I were spending time together while the other two children were napping. We played UNO and snacked on Pop, chips and chocolate (those Cadbury MiniEggs just kill me every Easter). When I remarked about how we were eating such horrible snacks the strangest look came over her face. All of a sudden her jaw dropped to the floor and she remarked, "Mom, you're right! Tomorrow never DOES come!"

Do you think learning this lesson at age six will keep her from procrastinating like I do?

A new resolve...

I've had a thought formulating for a few months now, and it has become louder and louder in my head. I'm at the point now, that I want to take notice and do something about it.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm too negative. Not necessarily in a "bad" way. I think I'm relatively "normal" and I don't believe that my friends consider me a really negative person, but maybe I'm just in denial. But I have been thinking about the people that I admire the most in my life and the one characteristic that I've noticed they all possess is the ability to be so positive and upbeat all the time. And I'm not talking a bouncy, giggly, cheerleader type happy... just a content, glass-half-full, I'm-on-the-green-side type happy.

A greeting with a friend might go such as this....

Me: Hi! How are you?
Friend: Great, and you?
Me: Oh, ok. Tired.
Friend: Oh, that's too bad, why?
Me: Oh, my kids were up a lot last night...I had a ton to do, blah blah blah blah.

Not that I think it's a bad thing to be able to vent and share my frustrations and trials in life. Not at all. I'm just beginning to think that I do it too often. I find that I talk about my frustrations in life a LOT, whereas the women I admire most do it very little. I don't hear of them discussing all the things they need to do, frustrating run ins with people, etc. Sometimes they do, but it's rare. I think that it's quite common with me. I don't want to be a negative person. I don't want to even be a mediocre person. I'm not trying to compare myself with these women, but I do want to try to emulate some of the qualities I find important. I want to be a person that people feel good to be around. I want to be someone that people feel comfortable with, uplifted when they're around me and happy.

In order to do this, I'm not going to be able to just tell myself to stop feeling that way. That would kill me! I'd be suffering in silence. I'd feel lonely and unsupported and unvalidated. That's certainly not going to help me be an uplifting person to be around. In order to do this, I'm going to need to make a concentrated effort to look on the bright side a little more often. I think I'll stop to smell the roses and make sure that I remark on their beauty out loud to my friends, so that I get in the habit of sharing THOSE happenings in my life as well. I want to spend less time thinking about what I have to get done, and more time thinking about the blessings I have in my life. I'll spend less time thinking about the monsters that I call my children, and more time thinking about the beautiful spirits the Lord allows me to call my children. I'll spend less time complaining about how men operate, and more time thinking and remarking on the man who supports me, regardless of how emotionally unstable, cranky or demanding I am.

Yes, I'll start there. And I'm going to force myself to say those things out loud. I think that I think verbally (did you follow that?). I think better when I talk things out (or write things out). I can sit in a room and be quiet and mull over the same topic forever and not get anywhere. But the minute I begin to talk it out, the thoughts come together, they evolve and progress. I think that will actually be the key to changing my thought process. I need to change what I TALK about first, which will require me to take notice of those things so that I can talk about them, and I truly believe that my thought process will naturally follow. See....even as I wrote this my ideas of how to do this have evolved.

That's my theory anyway, I'll let you know if it works!

What a day....

I had a friend's children over today. She's having a baby this coming week and I thought it would be nice for her to have a nice conference Sabbath to rest, relax and listen to the prophet and apostles. Her oldest two spent the night last night, and her 2 year old twins came over for the day. Her oldest daughter is my daughter's age, her second daughter is my second daughter's age (they're actually about 12 hours apart in age!) and her twins are just a little over 2 months older than my youngest. All girls (hers and mine). 7 girls, ages 6 and under in my house today. It was a blast, albeit quite chaotic!
Here's a picture of one of the meal times, probably
the only "controlled" time of the day.


It was a nice day outside, so they got to play outside for a while. It's really nice having older kids to play with my kids. It actually makes life easier since they occupy each other and spend less time following me around saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom". Having extra toddlers, on the other hand, is quite the workout. Take one toddler, who gets into everything, spends her days moving articles from one room to the other, turning on water faucets and trying to smash crumbs into every possible corner and then triple that. I got a workout! It really was fun though. Of course, maybe that had to do with the fact that I knew that at the end of the day it would be over! Things are always easier to do one day at a time.

Hmmm, guess I really picked the right name for my blog after all!

A confession...

I am a selfish blogger. Yes, that's right. For the last month I have written a few blogs and read about the same. Thank you so much for those who come and read and post your comments. It means a lot to me.

I have been so busy this last month that I haven't had the time to read all of yours. And I really want to! I hear everyone comment about how wonderful they are and I'm jealous. Jealous that I've missed out....jealous that I can't write like that! I've been so busy my life has felt chaotic and stressed and even when took time to breathe I couldn't get my mind to focus. I have been concentrating on all the things I need to get done, and very little on anything (or anyone else). I've been selfish and self-absorbed.

BUT, I have been slowing my business down. My family needs me more. I have 4 more classes to teach and I then I'm pretty much done (with the exception of one birth in June and one in September!). I can just be me! I can concentrate on my kids and my church calling and just enjoy life. I'm looking forward to it. I've joined a group of women that go walking 3 times a week, which gives me time to clear my head and calm my thoughts down a bit. It also means that when I take time out for myself (ie. naptime!), I will be heading straight here! And reading....reading....reading.....I can't wait to catch up with all of you and see what's been going on outside of my own little world that I have been so wrapped up in.

A Thank You note

My Kindergartner wrote her first Thank You note today....all by herself. She was really worried to send it becuase she knows that not everything is spelled perfectly, but I told her it would be more special if they knew she did it by herself.

I just have to brag a little, because it's pretty darn cute!


Thakc Q for what youv dun.
I love your presis
To: Kafaleen (btw, Kafaleen is what her younger sister calls Kathleen, lol)



Oh, and Megan doesn't spell yet, but her funny for the day was yelling up the stairs,
"Mooooooooooooommmmmmmm, Emilee says I'm a tattle tell!" lol

What's that called again?

My oldest daugther (I know, I know....about 1/2 my posts start this way....what can I say, she's a hoot!) has been learning about money. She knows her quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. She understands how money works. Which just made tonights discussion that much more entertaining.


Emilee: Mom, what's that dollar called....the one that has a 5 on it instead of a one...the dollar that is worth 5 dollars?

Me: Um, a five-dollar bill?

Emilee: (slaps her forhead) Ugh....that's right. I can NEVER remember that. They should make them six-dollar bills. Those would be easier to remember.

A Victorious Birth

I got a call on Friday evening from a first time mom, "M". She thought that her water might have broken. She called her Midwife "A" and indeed her water had broken but her cervix was still long and closed. "M" tried to get some sleep that night, although contractions had started a bit. By the am, "M" was about 3cm dilated. We headed into the birth center at around 10am. By now she was 4cm. At noon she was 5cm and her contractions were still pretty short and soft. "A" gave her some homeopathic to help her contract and dilate a bit more. Things really picked up then and by a little after 1pm (yes, just one hour) she was almost complete! She just had this rim of cervix left.
For about an hour she sort of pushed, but not really. lol. Her body didn't really feel much like pushing so we just sort of waited for that cervical lip to go away. Baby was REALLY low. Well, the lip just wasn't budging. Midwife "A" tried to help it out a bit, but that really hurt M so we waited it out a bit more. Around 2:30 "M" had really started to push in ernest. That lip was still there though. It would slide partway around baby's head when mom pushed but flip right back over when mom stopped. Midwife A tried holding it back through several pushes to get baby past. Baby finally got through. M worked really hard. SHe was pushing so well but baby just wasn't moving much. It became apparant that baby did not have it's head tucked. Babies normall tuck their chins in, so that the crown of the head (the smallest part) comes through. Instead this baby was trying to come out with it's head straight up...so that the widest part of the head (from back to front) was trying to fit through that pelvis. Needless to say this was NOT an easy task.

I learned a LOT of new pushing positions that day! She was: in the tub, on her side, on her back, on the toilet, hanging between me and her husband's legs (on leg on each of our knees with her butt to the floor....think supported squat), on her tummy with a swimming ring under her belly. This last position seemed to do the trick. Each contractions she'd rear back up on hands (like a child's pose in yoga) and baby would really move. Baby still hard a hard time fitting the back of it's head past her pelvic bone though. I got to feel though! At one point Midwife A said to me, "Get a glove on and come feel this!" It was really cool! I could feel baby come through the pelvis and then slide back during pushes.

Mom, meanwhile, was doing awesome! She had a few moments where she would cry and ask what she was doing wrong. But if we talked to her, her intense eyes would just stare at us and she'd just focus on us talking. I told her husband to make her look at him if she was loosing control and to just talk to her. He did and she would stare at him, just so depending on his love and support, and he cried and told her how beautiful she was and that he was there for her. It was the most special moment. I had to look away because I felt like I was intruding on a very intimate moment.

Around 4:15, Midwife A was able to actually reach her fingers in and grab baby by the back of the skull and tuck its head (since baby was being so darn stubborn!). Once that happened, baby finally slid out to a crowning position. There was a little corkscrew of curly hair coming out of the top of its head. I got a really good picture of that!

Baby Girl "E" was born at 4:30, weighing 8lbs 7oz! She had a head full of hair and was one of the mellowist babies I've ever seen. She screamed a bit at first, but after a minute or two calmed down and I didn't hear another cry from her the entire time I was there (for another two hours). She just looked around and stared and Daddy and Mommy. Daddy and Mommy cried....actually sobbed uncontrollably for about 10 minutes. They were so overjoyed. We let in a room full of family that had been waiting outside the room eagerly.

The Midwife later said that she knows without a doubt that had "M" been at a hospital she would have had a C-section. Hospitals don't really seem very keen on all the position changes. (I've had several Dr's tell me there's no difference between laying on the bed in stirrups and any other position!). Midwife A described this birth as a "Victorious" birth....and she's right! It wasn't easy....it wasn't even "normal", but it was beautiful and mom worked so hard. It was an amazing birth to witness.

I can't wait to go and see that family for our follow up visit!

What a nice day

The funeral was wonderful. Originally, I wasn't going to take my kids, but in the end thought that perhaps it might actually be helpful. My oldest daughter has some SERIOUS concerns with death. Where she got them, I'll never know as we haven't had to deal with death before. But for the last 2 years or so we've had hours and hours of conversations about it. I've used every analogy, every way of explaining it that is possible and it still comes up quite often. So at first, taking her to a funeral was out of the question. Then we began to think that perhaps this would give her what she needed. You see, she's a very concrete thinker. She can't visualize things and that bothers her. So when we talk about death in the abstract, she just doesn't understand. We thought that perhaps SEEING it, would be helpful. Of course, we were still worried that we would tramatize her for life. In the end she came, along with her younger sister. I prepared them as best as I could and they wanted to go into the Relief Society room where there was an open casket.

I personally had no desire to see my grandfather's body, but that is where grandmother was and I wanted to see her. We went in and the kids did spectacular. I had a minor meltdown in preparation to enter the room, but being in there was not what I expected. It's so obvious that grandpa was not there....that his body was not "him". There was a certain detachment from it because I knew where my grandfather really was. I think my girls could see the same thing and something must have "clicked" with Emilee, because she had only 1 or 2 questions and that was it! (Normally, we talk about death for 2 hours at a time and she can't stop worrying and discussing it). This time, it was "So can he breathe?"

"No, his body doesn't need to breathe. He is in heaven so he doesn't need his body anymore"

"Oh, ok." And she hasn't brought it up since.


Every single grandchild showed up to his funeral. Every. Single. One. I don't know how many there are, but I believe it is around 17 or something. All in all, there were 50 family members there for the family prayer beforehand. I'm not sure how many people were at the funeral total, but there were many people there, in fact, the entire chapel was filled. It was difficult to watch my grandmother kiss him goodbye and tenderly lay an afgan over him. Megan watched and said, "Oh, that's cute."

We all wore pilot's wings. At the very beginning, all of the great-grandchildren got up and sang I am a Child of God. What a perfect tribute to the patriarch of our family! His daughters spoke first. Linda, his oldest, got up and told everyone that were were here to celebrate Grandpa's graduation! My Aunt Jan had become ill that day and was not able to make it. My mother talked read her part, including a beautiful poem my grandfather had written about my grandmother just a couple of years before and mom also spoke about some fond memories she had. I was asked to read the memories I'd written down (my last blog entry). When I finished with "Here lies the shell, the nut is gone" I saw most of my cousins smiling and nodding as I know they had all made the same promise to grandpa.
My cousin Ruth read a poem called High Flight that he has had on his wall for years.

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence.
Hov'ring there,I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
His favorite song, Ava Maria, was played. Then my cousin Matt spoke and talked of the eternal nature that we are and of being a reflector for Heavenly Father, (he put it MUCH more elegantly than I ever could...it was really an amazing talk). It was the perfect ending to his memorial.

We finished up with food...party food at that. Chili Dogs, cookies and Ice cream....etc. We had brightly colored napkins and plates to represent how Grandpa would have wanted us to have a party and be upbeat. Each table had a bowl of M&M's on it....something Grandpa loved. By the end, all of the children (probably close to 20 great grandchildren had been there) were running around the gym playing and having a good time, just as Grandpa would have wanted.

It was not nearly as emotionally exhausting as I thought it would be. I cried, of course, and several times. But at the end of the day, the sun was shining and I thought to myself, "This was a good day."

In Memory Of William Hamilton Hall

When I think back to my childhood memories of my Grandpa Bill, I think of the jokester. Grandpa loved to joke with all of us grandkids. A trip to see him wasn't complete unless he had teased or tricked us in some way. He would call our home, and when I would answer, he would say, "Who's this?"

"It's me, Heather."

"No it's not, this is Grandpa!!!" he would joke.

I thought I would get the best of him and trick him up, so the next time he called and asked "Who is this?" I would reply, "It's Grandpa!" thinking that I was so smart. In schocked disbelief he would gasp, "You're grandpa too? So am I!!!"

My little child's mind would get so flustered when he would call because I knew I couldn't win. He loved to tease. He would tell us that the reason he had a little bit of jiggle under his chin was because his hair had fallen out and down into a sack under his chin. For years I believed that the scar on his head was from a bullet in WWII. He also claimed to have invented anything we were interested in at the moment...cars, dolls, sandwiches, the earth, etc. I can remember him taking walks with me when I would stay at my grandparents and he would take me to Lion's Park and point out the snake holes (at least, I think they were, he might have been pulling my leg then as well!)


Some special things about my grandpa:
1. He baptised me
2. He came to my wedding even though it was difficult for him to make the drive
3. He loved M&M's, particularly the big 2lb bag!
4. He loved B-17 bombers
5. He was an excellent baseball player- he pitched!
6. He grew a gotee last year! He was the best looking grandpa around!

I am blessed to have a bit of his life and story written down for me. He wrote them several years ago and gave them to everyone in the family. I'd like to share some of what he wrote...I'm sharing the parts that make me smile.

"I was told later in life that at birth I was so ugly and wrinkled they nicknamed me "Grandpa". I was transported from floor to floor and room to room to show the patients so they could see this little tiny ugly old man! So for a week the hospital patients were kept laughing and in good spirits by this old ugly baby. This is my only claim to fame.

...One final episode with Matches- Some how one of the matches I had in my pocket jumped out and set the house on fire underneath the back porch. Excitement, Excitement! No need to give details. Let your imagination dictate what happened in the next few days.

High school was next. Even though we were in a deep depression and had little of material things I enjoyed my high school years. I sang in the school Acapella choir, participated in three school operettas, namely: The Deseret Song, Chocolate Soldier and South Od Sonora in which I had a speaking part. In addition I took part in football, basketball and baseball. Baseball was my best sport and I pitched for a semi-pro team in the "Three State League". This was at the age of 16. I was offered a contract with the Chicago white sox farm team for the following year. However, I blew that by pitching too hard and too long in a game which I struck out 18 and one the game 2 to nothing. However showing off to the grandstand at that game ruined my arm and my pitching days were over.

During High school I did go to dances, etc, but never went steady with one girl. At my 50th class reunion one girl I took to a high school dance reminded me of the time I took her to the dance in a hearse. My father was a mortician and the hearse was the only car available.

I always chewed gum like a mad man. One night I was dancing with a young girl I knew and we went swirling pass the front doors which happened to be open to let some fresh air in. It was windy outside and I was talking up a storm and a gust of wind blew a big mass of the girls hair into my mouth and with my chewing and talking I magaged to get a big piece of sticky gum well intagled in her hair. This really made me a nerd.

It was in that dancehall I met my current bride. I did not know how to pick up a girl or ask to take her home. I fumbled around with some nerdy lines, but she rescued me by suggesting I walk her home. (They were married Dec 1st , 1940.....65 years of marriage!!!!)

War clouds were gathering and on Dec 7th, 1941 Japan attacked our naval forces in Pearl Harbor and the war was on. I enlisted in the air force soon after Christmas of 1941 and spent the next 4 years in uniform as an airplane driver. I currently hold a civilan commercial pilots license.

In 1956, our favorite youngest daughter was born (this was my mother. My grandpa had a way of calling everyone his "favorite"....favorite youngest daughter, favorite oldest daugher, favorite granddaughter named Heather...). Since she was supposed to have been a boy we hamed her Billie Ruth.

In conclusion, if I were asked for some advice I would say the following:
1. Be Yourself
2. Don't take yourself too seriously
3. Give more than you take- and I don't mean punches
4. Honor completely your father and mother
5. Be humble about your talents- they were god-given
6. Be honest in your dealing with your fellow man
7. Look to your father in Heaven in all things."



I'm a little nervous to go to the funeral as I've never been to one before but my mother tells me that grandpa has instructed everyone to imagine him standing at the end of his coffin, with his fingers stuck in his ears saying, "nana nana na na!" Good ole' Grandpa!

Grandpa,
I love you so much. I miss you. But I am so happy that you are free and young again and with Heavenly Father and those family members I know you have missed so much over the years. Each time I've seen you over the last several years, you've made me promise to say something when you died. I'm keeping that promise.

There lies the shell, the NUT is gone!

Grandpa Bill 1919-2006