Happy Mother's Day!!!

Here I am thinking of all the moms in my life. First of all, my own mom, who passed two years ago: she made us all feel her love, she was always glad to see us. Her house was a warm, welcome home. She was proud of our accomplishments, no matter how little. She loved the grandkids and great grandkids, and they loved her back.

Amy, the mom of Sophie, Carson, and Cameron: patient, patient, patient! With 3 pretty high maintenance kids, she still keeps her cool. And she is cool,...she always looks great! Cute, stylish, and skinny. She shows her kids she loves them, with lots of hugs and kisses.

Wendy, the mom of Coleman, and little what's her name: such a great mom! I love to see her with Coleman, they make jokes, read stories, and pretend. My favorite line: Coleman says, "I need..." and Wendy says, "You need kisses!" and smothers him with kisses.

Emily, the mom of Sally Rose and Alice Marie: she'll never grow up, and that's great! Her kids benefit from that. Everything becomes a game, a story, an adventure. Sally loves to make up stories...hmmm, where did that come from?

I'm so thankful for these wonderful moms, for their diligence in taking care of their kids, for their laughter, for their joy. I love all of you!

Amy, Rich, and Kids

Amy said that she realized recently that they never have pictures with all of them together. So, while they were playing around, we got one!

We Love Our Spanish Speaking Friends!

We are having a great time with our part-time mission in the Hispanic Initiative. David is wonderful with the people, and does a great job trying to speak Spanish. He is getting better, and people love him. The Ledesmas were married and baptized a day apart in October, and have been stalwarts ever since. Luis said he has been dreaming every night about his grandpa, so last night we were able to take them to the Draper Temple, and they were baptized for grandma and grandpa. When he was done, he said that his grandpa would be so happy, and maybe he could get a good night sleep now!

Look at the Quilt I Made!!!

I am not a crafty person at all, but once in a while I forget. A few years ago a friend of mine showed me this quilt that she made with old jeans. I thought it was so cute, and that I could do that. I bought material about 3 years ago, and saved old jeans. I finally decided that I should get this done. It was not hard, but it was a little hard for me. Anyway, here it is, I think it turned out great, and I'm kind of pleased with myself for doing something like this. And now I have something to sit on when I'm watching the grandkids' soccer games!

Grandma Days

Thank heavens 3 of the grandkids live close! We get together once a week for Grandma Day, and I love it! We had one nice day last week, so we played outside.


This week, it was too cold again to be outside, so Cameron entertained us with his moves.

Remembering My Mom

My sisters Peggy and Ginny, with Ginny's oldest, Bryan on her lap, Terry, Mom, and me with my new Barbie and Ken dolls.

This week will be my mom's birthday, she would have been 85. I've been doing some scanning of her old pictures, so I guess because of that, she's been on my mind.

I loved going on rides with mom and dad, getting peppermint milkshakes at Fernwoods, mom making me everything I owned, and they would always look just like the example on the front. I went to the bowling alley while mom was in a league, I thought she was cool for bowling. I have many memories of boating...loved it! One time dad brought home a great big sack of broken mint sandwiches from Fernwoods. Mom and I ate all of them before he had the chance to get any!

All of my kids loved to go to Grandma Barnes' house, there was always something to do: play croquet, paint, or playing "Mother, May I" on the front stairs. Her house was a warm, welcoming place. She would get down on the floor and play with them, they loved that.

For many years, Tuesday was my day to spend with mom. We would always go to lunch, and in the spring, summer and fall, we would be out on the golf course. We really didn't care much about the score, it was just great to be enjoying the outside.

I'm thankful to my mom for the lessons she taught me: to work, to be prudent, to enjoy the beauty of the world, to enjoy life.

We're Going To England!!!

We did it! We bought tickets so that we can pick up DJ from his mission! I'm so excited, I've never been to England. We plan to go a week before he is released, and then spend a week with him, doing whatever he would like to do. I am excited for the site seeing, but just as happy to see DJ in action. This is something that we only have one chance to do, so we are doing it. We've got tickets on the same plane as him, and we will be home on June 18th. Woo hoo!