MM56

I love to watch sports...definitely more than Allyn does, and more than any of my brothers (almost.) I blame my mom for this. Mom was a sports fanatic and I can remember many Saturdays, after the cleaning was done, settling in the family room watching sports with her and enjoying hearing her squeel with delight when her favorite team won. Going to the Rebel games with my parents at the "Convention Center" is a priceless memory.

Mom would always have to walk out in the hall when the score was too close! Those were the days...
I especially love March Madness and NCAA Basketball. Go Jimmer & BYU!! Watching the cheerleaders get all excited at some great basketball games this week-end brought back some memories. Great memories.

Cutest Kids

Caleb and Olivia got to spend a couple of nights with us last week-end...
We love them so, and it was really wonderful to have them here. They are such sweet kids.

Kate and Livie are best friends & cousins, and are so cute together.

Lisa and I took all the kids to Justin Bieber's new movie on Saturday...(the older kids won't admit that they liked it, but I know they did.) Kate and Olivia don't deny liking it at all, and had a major case of Bieber Fever!!! Kate wants to be "the lonely girl" so that Justin will "give me flowers and sing to me on stage!"

You'd have thought it was Christmas or something, when we brought Kate and Livie home Justin Bieber shirts from the store. They were definitely some happy Bieber fans!

Blog Book

It was a happy day when my 2009 blog book came a few weeks ago. (I know that I am a year behind...I'm still working on 2010)... I love my book! All of my blog posts and pictures for the whole year are in one book. I find the kids looking through it all the time. I am terrible at writing in a journal, but since I love pictures so much, blogging is a lot easier for me. I did the book through Blurb, and the quality is fantastic. The pictures came out amazing.

A few suggestions if you are interested in making your blog into a book:

* Download your pictures onto your blog in the highest quality...then when it's time to make your book, they are all ready to go.
* Slide shows don't work, because they can't be put into a book.
* After you follow the instructions to get started on Blurb, choose to put your entries in yourself, rather then having Blurb automatically do it. I had it automatically done for my 2008 book and ended up changing almost every page. It's a lot easier to drag and click and arrange your pages the way you want them as you go.
* Have fun! It's a perfect way to enjoy all your family happenings for years to come.

"A life recorded is twice precious, first the experience itself and then
the memory of it full and sweet when we read it again later." {Unknown}

MM55

I have so many emotions right now typing this, that I'm not sure where to begin. Last night after Sunday dinner, we were going to go over some old pictures that we found while cleaning out Mom and Dad's old house...(getting it ready for a sweet family to rent.) Ric came over and said that he found something really cool in the attic of the old house on Saturday, and needed some help to bring it in. Soon he, James, Allyn and Chad brought in this really old, falling apart, chest. Ric had not opened it yet, and so we all took the lid off together. It was Mom's old "hope chest". It was just amazing. Because it was a cedar chest, it was crazy how well the things in it had been preserved. There was some embroidery that Mom must have started before she and dad were married, and there were a few scrap books with some very old pictures... Mom sure had a lot of boys after her! She was so beautiful... There was some pictures of a soldier who had sent Mom pictures and love letters and had kept a picture of her in the cock pit of his plane. He was a WWII fighter pilot. His name was Elbert Slade and he was reported missing in action in 1943. (It's pretty interesting that his last name was Slade...) Mom had kept the telegram with the news that he was missing in her scrapbook. There were lots of wonderful love letters and cards from Dad too. Oh my goodness, there are so many priceless things in this old chest...that none of us ever knew was even there. We were so amazed by the pictures and things that we didn't even notice that Mom's wedding dress, (Dad's mother, Grandma June, made for her) was in the chest!! It was in perfect condition. It was so tiny...simple and so pretty!! We had never seen it in real life before...any of us.
It was a surreal experience to pull these precious things out of our mother's hope chest.
It's hard to put it into words.

What I felt more than anything, was a deep sense of gratitude and love for my parents... for their hopes and their dreams, their hard work and devotion, their endless love for each other and for us.


The picture in the scrapbook on the right corner, is of two soldiers somewhere in the South Pacific holding a picture of our Mom. The picture on the bottom of the page is of Dad. Check out that car!


Dad was looking at his dog tags and reminiscing...
He laughed and cried as we pulled things out of the old chest.


Ensign Elbert Slade... Lisa is pointing to the newspaper article that reported he was missing in 1943.


This was a Valentine that Mom sent to Dad... and how about the lettering on the letter Dad sent to Mom (it's dated 1944) ! Isn't it amazing that all that was needed was her name and "Panaca, Nev." and it got to her just fine.

Look closely, and you can see where Mom cut out Dad's head in the shape of a heart for her locket. There are a few other boyfriends on this page...but Dad is the only one with his head cut out! On the top right is a picture of Burns Roper, one of Mom's boyfriends. He was Student Body President and captain of the football team. Dad was Senior Class President. Mom and Dad went "steady" all through high school, but when Dad left for the Navy he told her she was free to date...and boy did she ever date!

Mom was engaged to Burns Roper when Dad got home from the Navy... soon Dad talked her out of that engagement and went with her to take the ring back to Burn's mother. (He was away fighting in the war at the time.) Mrs. Roper was not very happy about that at all.

Mom and Dad were married 6 months later.

Mom's beautiful, simple, lovingly hand made wedding dress... Isn't she beautiful?

Krazy Buffet

Papa Jack LOVES the Krazy Buffet. Last week he wanted to take as many of us as could go, so we could all celebrate Amy's big award. We had so much fun and the food is actually really good... Dad eats there at least three times a week and the people there are his friends. They know all about our family and Dad has even made them bookmarks...and given them cd's of poetry. Jenny, one of the owners, said "Thank you to your dad. I listen to his recording so I learn English better." I just had to smile thinking of this sweet Chinese lady listening to my dad's poetry as she drives in her car.

Lisa and James, Noah and EJ have been in town for the week end. (We LOVE having them here and are trying to talk them into staying! ) Of course Dad had to take us to "The Krazy" as he calls it.
Dad even took the sister missionaries there last week... He is so funny.

MM54

It's hard to believe that seven years have passed since Amy played volleyball at Durango High School. Those were some great memories. She had an amazing high school career and last Friday she was honored in a special ceremony inducting her into the Durango High School Hall of Fame. There are only 5 athletes and 5 coaches in the DHS Hall of Fame and Amy is one of them. The nominations and voting are done by the public, coaches, and media. It was such a great honor.
Amy missed her flight on Friday because there was a terrible accident that stopped traffic on the freeway. She called from the airport upset and not sure what she was going to do as the next flight home was completely booked, in fact overbooked. She really thought that she wasn't going to be able to get here in time for the ceremony, and that she was going to miss the whole thing. Allyn called Southwest and talked to an agent and explained how important it was to get Amy home. The lady was very kind and tried to find any solution. She said she was very sorry, but the plane was completely booked. The she said, "Wait a minute, a seat just opened up right this minute. I am confirming Amy on that flight as we speak." Miracle.for.sure. She made it just in time and it was such an amazing night. Amy felt so honored and we were all so proud of her and grateful that she received that recognition.



Eddy Canonico (NFL Football Player), Amy, and Coach Gomez

Bob Kelly and Kelly O'Quinn were Amy's coaches. They are the best...and will always be our dear friends.

Jennie has always teased Amy that she is the reason Amy even started playing volleyball.
She took Amy to the very first DHS volleyball camp when Amy was about seven.
Both Jennie and Amy have plaques outside the DHS gym for being Athletes of the Year.



I know the picture is blurry...my good camera ran out of batteries right when the evening began, darn it! Amy's banner is the second from the right...it will forever more be hanging from the rafters of her high school gym.
Now, that's pretty cool.