OUR PATRIOTIC DUTY TO PARTY

Once again, it was the "Barber Barbie Q." 2011 was an especially great party. We were only missing 11 of us out of a family of 65. Even Joan and Craig were on their 3 week break from the MTC in Mexico City. We were even joined by the newest member of our family...Libby (12 days old).
The fireworks were epoch this year as Utah has now legalized aerials only increasing the desire to make it the best show ever. The entries were so creative with displays including "Osama Ben Betta," "Robyn's Independence Day," new "TSA Screening," "WWW Death Rink," "Death by Tyler," "Project Runway," "MOMMAR GADDAFI plays Omar Kaddafi," "The Mexican Wave with Joan and Craig sneaking across the border," "Donald Trump for President," "NASA's Last Space Shuttle Flight," "Knight in Shining Amour (deadly to be sure)," "Anthony Weiner," "Nancy Pelosi Raises the Roof" and the grande finale..."Back to the Future."
There was a 15 foot tall inflatable double waterslide. Let us not forget Chet and his "You've gotchyer wee, You've gotchyer not so wee, and you've gotchyer big fricken huge!" Such was the case when the "wees" were kicked off the slide by the "big fricken huges" for a hysterical round of relays. As far as parties, families and fun go...we are never too old or too young to play together. What better way to celebrate life, love, freedom, and the blessing of family!

It

Where's the flood Noah? A couple of weeks ago I walked into the district's admin building where my office is located and my first clue that all was not well was the water on the floor that had leaked out of the building's boiler room. Walking further down the hall, I found the caution tape strung in front of the elevator. Because of the torn tendon in my foot and the heavy cast up to my knee, I almost turned around and went home. But No! I trudged up the 40 stairs to the floor where my office is located only to find out that a major pipe had broken and my floor as well as the floor below us had broken and flooded the building. With all of the construction needing to happen and all of the asbestos that will be exposed during that construction, it became necessary for us to relocate. I am now a refugee and temporarily housed at the Title I portable at Freeport Center. I don't mind. It is only a 6 minute commute compared to the 25 minute commute to Farmington. I love the folks who work there and with people not knowing where to find me it is really quiet. The only drawback is that my administrative assistant is located in Farmington but with technology, we keep in touch. How long will I live there...it is anyone's guess. I have heard anywhere from 4-6 months. Until then...traffic is terrific!

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

Last night was great! I came home from work to find most of my family at home. Kathy was coloring Christy's hair. Scott was making waffles for dinner. Andrew was feeding Easton plums. Katie was feeding Cohen a bottle. Addison was watching Diego on T.V. and toys were scattered over the entire floor. The only two who were MIA were Adam and Serina. Chaos was definitely the master of the house. All the plans I had made on my drive home from work to get my windows washed in preparation for my upcoming surgery and recovery just disintegrated into a puff of great intentions.

As I walked into the house Addison heard me come through the door and ran to me saying, "Nana. Nana. Come watch Diego." She loves me. I walked over to the table and Easton sat and grinned at me with plums covering most of his face. He loves me. I walked over to the overstuffed chair where Katie and Cohen were and Cohen smiled at his Nana. He loves me. Scott had me sit down and he handed me a delicious waffle with peaches on it for dinner. He loves me too. I looked around the toy strewn, make-shift hair salon, noise filled family room at the family that I love and I saw life through a whole new set of windows. The view was wonderful!

More Is Always Better

Whomever said that less is more never had grandchildren. Our family recently grew by one more. Our little grandson Easton was born at the end of February. He made his entry earlier than expected but how sweet it was. He waited until I could fly across the country to make his debut and I never cease to marvel at the miracle of birth.

I spent two of the most wonderful weeks holding, cuddling and loving this little guy. Although there was a lot of running back and forth between his dad's school and the hospital, and the theater, and the doctor appointments, and back in the hospital, and more doctor appointments, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

It was hard to get on a plane and leave him and his parents and fly back across the country, but I know that they will be back home in Utah soon made it just a tiny bit easier. I am looking forward to that first week in May when I am able to cuddle with him again.

In the meantime, we are waiting for another one who will make his way into our family in June. And all I can say is, "Life is great...and the more, the merrier!

THE BLESSINGS OF FAMILY

This has been a great weekend. Busy...but great! I took a couple of days off of work to spend with family last week. Kathy is here from Florida. Thursday Kathy and I watched Addison while Katie and T.J. went to the doctor. They brought home video of their new little one who will be joining their family the end of June. Love, love, love the miracle of life. We will have three grandchildren by July and I can’t wait. We went to lunch for Christy's birthday and ran some errands. Adam and Serina came over for dinner.

Scott took Friday off to spend with us, but he and I spent time together for the first half of the day. It was fun just the two of us. The last half of the day we worked on getting food and home ready for Kathy's baby shower. It was a long but great day.

Saturday it snowed. The first snow is the best. It was the baby shower for Kathy. It was so good to see so many friends and family and they gave them so many beautiful things for their little guy "Peanut," who will join our family in March. We wish his dad could have been here as well. We miss Andrew. Kathy will be here until the 23rd and then will fly back home to Florida.

Sunday morning Scott fixed a breakfast fit for a king. It was T.J.'s birthday breakfast. After church we had our little family over for a faux Thanksgiving dinner with Kathy. It was great. Then we watched "UP." I had never seen it before and it just emphasized what I had already been feeling. Family is everything! And as for me…I love mine!

Blessings Dug Deep

For the past couple of weeks it seems as though I have forgotten to look at my blessings each day and be grateful for them. I am sure that it can be attributed to stress...from worry about family, work and taking care of a lot of people who seem to have lost jobs, homes, and sadly for some everything.

These little worries have kept me from getting great sleep, feeling secure and being basically happy. And the interrupted sleep has made things seem a little worse. I have had to dig deep inside and take inventory of me and who I am and what I can do to make each day its best. I have come to the realization that I can't be all things to all people...nor is that the roll I was given in this life. There is only one person I know who was given that roll. I needed to be reminded of this. I can only worry about the things I know I can control. The rest I have to let go and give it to the brother that promised me He would take care of it. That takes great faith...another re-discovery I have had to make in the past couple weeks of self evaluation.

The basic truth is that my family is everything to me. It is more important than any physical thing I own on this earth. More important than anything I could ever hope to acquire on this earth and it is without a doubt the one treasure that I will take with me to eternity. The bottom line is....no matter how bad things get economically in this world or how bad things get politically in this world, as long as I have my family with me, albeit even if we were forced to live in a cardboard box, I know life would be OK.