What are your five greatest accomplishments.
1. Getting married in the temple to a wonderful, righteous, priesthood holder whom I love!!!! Of all my accomplishments in life this is the one that I will always be the most grateful for. It is an eternal accomplishment with eternal rewards! Love you Jared, thank you for taking me to the temple!!!
2. Brandon
3. Grant
I know that I can only share in part of this accomplishment, but I am still very proud of my boys, who they are and all their potential. I often look at them with wonder. How did I get such wonderful beautiful children?
4. Learning to play Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto and Grieg's Concerto in A minor on the piano. I wish I could still play them the way I did when Paula would do the duet with me.
5. My home, it is still a work in progress and always will be, but within the walls of my home are where I feel my greatest sense of accomplishment whether it is with my children, husband or just homemaking.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
15 of 30
Share 10 fond memories from your childhood.Okay - know that is just not a fair number, again, only ten. One of our favorite family games was "Remember When". How do you play? You tell stories from your memories and you begin with, "remember when", that forgoes to show how many wonderful memories we have as children. So instead I will categorize the memories into groups.
1. Saturday's at the office with Dad and Natalie. My dad owns his own business of automatic doors. (like the ones for hospitals and grocery stores) His office was an old home that he converted into his office and behind the office he built a shed for assembling the doors. Every Saturday he would take us to the office to play while he finished up some odds-n-ends. Natalie and I LOVED going with him. We would play secretary at the various desks (and mess up all the paper work in an effort to tidy up), we would draw on the large dry erase board and leave notes for dad's employees to find on Monday, we would hide in the various room of the office. The shed was our favorite place to play, we loved giving and getting rides on the dollies or the wheel barrow, we played hide-n-seek among the large boxes filled with new doors waiting to be installed, we watched in fascination when dad tried to break a large piece of glass in the dumpster with a hammer and was unsuccessful until he used a special tool and a mallet which finally worked (we thought he was magic), we gathers old bricks, rocks and anything else we could find and built a "house" to play in, we filled it with flowers the business from next door was throwing away, we found snakes to play with, we found birds nest hiding in the roof of the shed, we put everything and anything in the vice and tried out all of dad's tools, we "helped" him scrap the aluminium from the doors and then take it to the dump. On the way to the dump we rode in the back of his work van, (pre seat belt laws) rolling around with garbage cans and other construction junk while listening to dad's 60's-70's music, which we loved, the dump was a fascinating place, we especially loved watching the machine that crushed and then spit out cans. After the dump dad would take us to 7-11 (next door to his office) (it is still there, I think dad keeps them in business :)) for lunch, a hot dog, Slurpee and treat of our choice (always from the bottom shelf which held the cheapest treats). We would take lunch back to the office and eat it on the porch of the office while watching the traffic go by. Dad has since made several improvements tot he office, which included tearing down our beloved shed and building a new and "better" shed. I miss the old shed. I would relive this memory over and over again if I could.
2. Sleep overs at Grandpa Osborn's house. Of my parents children Natalie and I were the only ones who got to know Grandpa Osborn before he passed away. I don't know how often, but I would guess nearly once a month, Grandpa invited us over for a sleep over at his duplex (the same duplex my parents lived in when they were first married and where I was born). His duplex was in down town SLC walking distance to Liberty Park. I was terrified of down town. I felt certain someone was going to shoot us. Grandpa had us sleep on the sofa bed in the front room and before we went to bed he would lock several locks and dead bolts all the way up and down the door, then we would try to fall asleep while watching the shadows and light from the busy street outside play across the window. The next morning we would help grandpa make corn bread and then eat it at his round folding table. We always poured warm milk over our buttered corn bread, I still insist on eating corn bread in milk, it is better that way! After breakfast we would play Pac Man, the vintage version (which wasn't vintage at the time. :)), or we would ask him to pull down the stairs so we could play in the attic. The attic was a mysterious place, full of terrifying hiding places. We loved it. We loved grandpa duplex in spite of and because of the fear it held for us little girls. :)
3. Road Trips. We always drove for all of our trips and to this day I am convinced that the best family vacations happen on the road on the way to your destination. Mom would put together fantastic activity bags to keep us entertained, complete with paper games, like tic-tac-toe, pencil box games, draw funny faces, word searches, etc. We had fluorescent cards with phrases to show to other cars like, "have a great day", "your blinker is on", "honk your horn", "smile" or "wave", we loved to see the other drivers and passengers respond to our signs, the big trucks honking their horn's was the best! She would wrap small presents like, gum, crayons, stickers, etc. and then we would have to earn the presents by finding so many red cars, or so many different licence plates. Dad always mixed a tape or later on a cd specifically for the drive, one of our favorite songs was "Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby" the whole song had one word over and over again, guess what word. :) another favorite song was "you put the lime in the coconut". :)
My three favorite trips with the family were Yellowstone - where we would earn a certain sum of money for each animal we found - $1.00 for a bear or moose, $.50 for bison, elk or eagle $.25 for squirrels, etc. Each time we visited Yellowstone we would see a bear up close and doing something interesting, like sitting on a buried carcass of an elk, chasing ducks down the river, or walking around with cubs. Second favorite was the Great North West trip. A ten day drive through California, Oregon, Washington, Canada and Idaho. Highlights of the trip include, my brother Taylor getting locked in a prepay self cleaning bathroom, having a bison, and zebra put their heads in our car at the wild animal park, meeting a movie star bear named Michelle, watching illegal immigrants quickly pack up their blankets with shirts for sell and run away from police at the Golden Gate Bridge, dad catching pigeon after pigeon at the fine arts museum near the Golden Gate Bridge, watching the lock system, playing in the fountain under the Space Needle in Seattle, riding a ferry, crossing one amazing bridge after another in Washington, and visiting parts of dad's mission in Washington. The third favorite trip was one that only my dad, Natalie and I went on, to Dinosaur Land in Vernal UT. Dad had to do some work there, so he put all his tools in the back of the van, and then covered the tools with a large piece of particle board. Mom then covered the board with blankets and pillows and that is where we rode for the whole three hour drive there. We once again had our great travel bags full of toys, activities and treats to keep us busy there. Those pre-seat belt days were wonderful! One other memorable road trip was when we packed 20+ of the Osborn family into a small motor home and drove to AZ. My Aunt doesn't like chocolate so the only snack we were offered was gummy bears; she must have purchased a ten pound bag before the trip and anytime we wanted something to eat - gummy bears, I can't eat them anymore, YUCK! :)
4. Neighborhood Gatherings. Every Sunday night, even now, all the neighbors gather on my parents driveway to visit, while the children ran around the neighborhood playing night games, princess and robbers, baseball, or having water fights. It was a bring your own chair and treat and visit till the sun sets kind of gathering. We had the best neighborhood. As a child I loved playing the great games and as a pre-teen and teen I loved ease-dropping on the adult conversations. The only neighbors we ever had problems with were the ones who for a short time lived right next door to us. They had a dump truck, limo, and several other trucks and cars parked in their driveway and on the road, which blocked our view. They also had a large storage box on their driveway that as kids we were convinced held dead bodies. They smoked ALL THE TIME and it came through our swamp cooler, and worst of all they kept several pigs in the back yard. We were mean kids and had a great time one day throwing rotten apricot bombs at the pigs, our aim was pretty good and got much better, until mom found us and made us hop the fence and clean up the whole mess. As children in the neighborhood we had a terrible habit of throwing things we shouldn't, like when some different neighbors lived in the same house and through unripened apricots into our open window (Natalie and I took the screen out), we saved the apricots in our nightstands. There was also the tradition of hiding in the trees in the front yard and throwing pine cones at Ruby the Ripoff Ice Cream Man, any time the ice cream man came to our neighborhood we learned not to ask mom for money, because he was a "rip off" so instead we hid in the trees and pelted him with pine cones when he drove by, I am not sure why he kept coming day after day or why he didn't tell our parents. We tried the same stunt with the mail man, he told on us!
5. Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. Natalie and I had cousins in between our age, Jennifer a year older than me and Carolyn in between Natalie and I. We would have sleep overs at Grandma's house and the next day we would play at Great-Grandma Winnie house. She had very large pine tree in her back yard that was big enough for all of us to stand under, we explored the creek out back and the other homes for "treasures" and found a few large tires, tree stumps, large pieces of heavy duty plastic, pieces of carpet and more and created a playhouse under the tree, right next to the tree was an irrigation ditch which occasionally had water running through it. we became modern day boxcar children under that tree. Grandma Winnie also had a large outdoor brick oven, a large swinging bench that would swing right over the creek, a bridge crossing the creek, a large patio of stone next to the creek and rows of hedges separating big spaces of grass, all of this did wonders for our imagination, which we had in spades. The best time to sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house was the night before Independence Day. We would sleep in the back yard and inevitably get in trouble, the following morning at precisely 6:00 am an Ariel bomb would go off, it would wake us up and start the day off right. Then we would walk up the street to the park where the Lions Club served a great pancake breakfast, following the breakfast we would sit on the curb and wait for the parade to start, sometimes we were even in the parade. Grandpa (being in the Lions Club) was almost always in the parade. After the parade we would visit all of the stands at the park, some had wonderful fair food, others had games like the fishing hole, or duck pond, others were just rides. Grandpa was always in charge of the swings that spun around in circles, I was so sad when I grew to big to ride in them, and now they are gone, replaced with bounce houses. I also loved when Grandpa would put one or two of us in the front basket of his bike and take us for rides around the same park. Or when we would collect acorns in the back yard. Even though things have changed, I love visiting their house, it is filled with cherished memories.
6. Girl Scouts. Yes I was a girls scout and I am proud of it, I hope that when or if I have girls there will be a good girl scout program in my area. My best friends mom was our troop leader and she was awesome! We had sleep overs at the old children's museum, went on many field trips, spent hour upon hour at her house learning a bit of everything, but the highlight of my girl shout experience was selling cookies. It was a challenge because our neighborhood block had 5-8 girls trying to sell cookies. I remember racing home after school trying desperately to beat the other girls home so that I could sell cookies before them. In the end we all managed to sell enough cookies to go to Trefoil Ranch Girl Scout Camp. I LOVED it there, we rode horse all week long as well as other lesser, but fun activities. I really enjoyed my time away from home and the opportunity to be with horses, brushing them, feeding them, riding them, saddling them, learning all about them, even cleaning their stalls was fun, because I got to be with horses. I also really grew to love the girls in my troop. They were my best friends.
7. Canyon View Choir. I was a choir nerd from second grade until I graduated high school and into college. I attribute my love for singing to the great grade school choir I was able to participate in. We would practice every Tues. and Thurs. morning before school started. If you were in the choir you got to have a special shirt which you wore with pride. If you were in the choir you got to go on LOTS of field trips to perform at places like malls, the capitol building, office buildings, other schools, and most memorable at the first attempt Salt Lake made for the bid of the Olympics. I loved riding the buses with so many friends and often times my mom. I really loved the songs like "It's Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Bein a Dog" and "Hot Cup of Coco". Choir was wonderful, all of my siblings sang in it for some or all of their grade school experience and always under the same great director, Mrs. Freestone. Yeah for Choir. :)
8. Swimming in the Kitchen. When I was 11 years old or so I began babysitting for my mom. I was for the most part a really good and responsible babysitter and I enjoyed it. One day I was baby sitting for my parents and had the brilliant idea to swim with my siblings, trouble was it was winter and we had no pool. So I improvised. I covered all the vents in the kitchen with several towels, and I made a boarder around the kitchen where there were no walls more towels. I am sure I used all the towels in the house saving just enough for us to drive off with afterwards. Now that the pool area was set, my siblings and I pour pots and pans full of water onto the floor and began swimming in our wadding pool. We probably get the water 4-6 inches deep and we had a great time splashing and playing in the water. Before my parents got home we cleaned up the water, put the wet towels in the laundry room basket, changed our clothes and I put everyone to sleep. My parents never suspected a thing, although my mom did wonder why all her towels were wet. Years latter I told her and she was able to put two and two together. Swimming in the kitchen was great, however if one of my babysitters did that while taking care of my children I would not be impressed or thrilled. :)
9. Family Play Time. You know the church's slogan "Family, Isn't it About Time". I feel like my family had play time in spades and I think that is why despite differences we all still get along really well. We would have water fights - in the house (when mom wasn't there), we would play hide-n-seek, (dad was the best at this game, hiding just outside our window, or putting Lindsey on top of the cupboard above the fridge. :)) we would have Family Home Evening on the roof, just for fun. We would ride our bikes all around town, even through the drive through. Mom always had fun things for us to do outside and participated with us, things like chalk, kite flying, sprinklers, bubbles, croquette, etc. At dinner time we played games like, 20 questions, I spy, follow the leader with dad leading us in various rhythmic pounding at the table. We often went on hikes as a family, one of our favorite places to hike was the gully, just under the mouth of Parley's canyon.
10. Dad Playing the Guitar. My dad has a beautiful singing voice and when he was young he taught himself to play the guitar. He would often pull out the guitar before bed time and play and sing while Natalie and I danced in the living room or in the guitar case. Then we were off to bed with him still playing and serenading us to sleep. I love listening to him play and wish so much that we had a good recording of him playing, but he is very modest and doesn't think he is good enough to be recorded. I would love to play a cd of him for my boys when they go to sleep. As I got older dad was so good to encourage me to learn and play songs that interested him, then we would play and sing together. I think this really helped me to improve my talents.
I didn't grow up with riches, my own room, a tv in my room, my own car, rooms full of toys, or other things that at the time I thought I needed or even deserved. But I feel like I had a rich childhood, if only every child could have such cherished memories. Thank you mom and dad for giving me everything that mattered!
1. Saturday's at the office with Dad and Natalie. My dad owns his own business of automatic doors. (like the ones for hospitals and grocery stores) His office was an old home that he converted into his office and behind the office he built a shed for assembling the doors. Every Saturday he would take us to the office to play while he finished up some odds-n-ends. Natalie and I LOVED going with him. We would play secretary at the various desks (and mess up all the paper work in an effort to tidy up), we would draw on the large dry erase board and leave notes for dad's employees to find on Monday, we would hide in the various room of the office. The shed was our favorite place to play, we loved giving and getting rides on the dollies or the wheel barrow, we played hide-n-seek among the large boxes filled with new doors waiting to be installed, we watched in fascination when dad tried to break a large piece of glass in the dumpster with a hammer and was unsuccessful until he used a special tool and a mallet which finally worked (we thought he was magic), we gathers old bricks, rocks and anything else we could find and built a "house" to play in, we filled it with flowers the business from next door was throwing away, we found snakes to play with, we found birds nest hiding in the roof of the shed, we put everything and anything in the vice and tried out all of dad's tools, we "helped" him scrap the aluminium from the doors and then take it to the dump. On the way to the dump we rode in the back of his work van, (pre seat belt laws) rolling around with garbage cans and other construction junk while listening to dad's 60's-70's music, which we loved, the dump was a fascinating place, we especially loved watching the machine that crushed and then spit out cans. After the dump dad would take us to 7-11 (next door to his office) (it is still there, I think dad keeps them in business :)) for lunch, a hot dog, Slurpee and treat of our choice (always from the bottom shelf which held the cheapest treats). We would take lunch back to the office and eat it on the porch of the office while watching the traffic go by. Dad has since made several improvements tot he office, which included tearing down our beloved shed and building a new and "better" shed. I miss the old shed. I would relive this memory over and over again if I could.
2. Sleep overs at Grandpa Osborn's house. Of my parents children Natalie and I were the only ones who got to know Grandpa Osborn before he passed away. I don't know how often, but I would guess nearly once a month, Grandpa invited us over for a sleep over at his duplex (the same duplex my parents lived in when they were first married and where I was born). His duplex was in down town SLC walking distance to Liberty Park. I was terrified of down town. I felt certain someone was going to shoot us. Grandpa had us sleep on the sofa bed in the front room and before we went to bed he would lock several locks and dead bolts all the way up and down the door, then we would try to fall asleep while watching the shadows and light from the busy street outside play across the window. The next morning we would help grandpa make corn bread and then eat it at his round folding table. We always poured warm milk over our buttered corn bread, I still insist on eating corn bread in milk, it is better that way! After breakfast we would play Pac Man, the vintage version (which wasn't vintage at the time. :)), or we would ask him to pull down the stairs so we could play in the attic. The attic was a mysterious place, full of terrifying hiding places. We loved it. We loved grandpa duplex in spite of and because of the fear it held for us little girls. :)
3. Road Trips. We always drove for all of our trips and to this day I am convinced that the best family vacations happen on the road on the way to your destination. Mom would put together fantastic activity bags to keep us entertained, complete with paper games, like tic-tac-toe, pencil box games, draw funny faces, word searches, etc. We had fluorescent cards with phrases to show to other cars like, "have a great day", "your blinker is on", "honk your horn", "smile" or "wave", we loved to see the other drivers and passengers respond to our signs, the big trucks honking their horn's was the best! She would wrap small presents like, gum, crayons, stickers, etc. and then we would have to earn the presents by finding so many red cars, or so many different licence plates. Dad always mixed a tape or later on a cd specifically for the drive, one of our favorite songs was "Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby" the whole song had one word over and over again, guess what word. :) another favorite song was "you put the lime in the coconut". :)
My three favorite trips with the family were Yellowstone - where we would earn a certain sum of money for each animal we found - $1.00 for a bear or moose, $.50 for bison, elk or eagle $.25 for squirrels, etc. Each time we visited Yellowstone we would see a bear up close and doing something interesting, like sitting on a buried carcass of an elk, chasing ducks down the river, or walking around with cubs. Second favorite was the Great North West trip. A ten day drive through California, Oregon, Washington, Canada and Idaho. Highlights of the trip include, my brother Taylor getting locked in a prepay self cleaning bathroom, having a bison, and zebra put their heads in our car at the wild animal park, meeting a movie star bear named Michelle, watching illegal immigrants quickly pack up their blankets with shirts for sell and run away from police at the Golden Gate Bridge, dad catching pigeon after pigeon at the fine arts museum near the Golden Gate Bridge, watching the lock system, playing in the fountain under the Space Needle in Seattle, riding a ferry, crossing one amazing bridge after another in Washington, and visiting parts of dad's mission in Washington. The third favorite trip was one that only my dad, Natalie and I went on, to Dinosaur Land in Vernal UT. Dad had to do some work there, so he put all his tools in the back of the van, and then covered the tools with a large piece of particle board. Mom then covered the board with blankets and pillows and that is where we rode for the whole three hour drive there. We once again had our great travel bags full of toys, activities and treats to keep us busy there. Those pre-seat belt days were wonderful! One other memorable road trip was when we packed 20+ of the Osborn family into a small motor home and drove to AZ. My Aunt doesn't like chocolate so the only snack we were offered was gummy bears; she must have purchased a ten pound bag before the trip and anytime we wanted something to eat - gummy bears, I can't eat them anymore, YUCK! :)
4. Neighborhood Gatherings. Every Sunday night, even now, all the neighbors gather on my parents driveway to visit, while the children ran around the neighborhood playing night games, princess and robbers, baseball, or having water fights. It was a bring your own chair and treat and visit till the sun sets kind of gathering. We had the best neighborhood. As a child I loved playing the great games and as a pre-teen and teen I loved ease-dropping on the adult conversations. The only neighbors we ever had problems with were the ones who for a short time lived right next door to us. They had a dump truck, limo, and several other trucks and cars parked in their driveway and on the road, which blocked our view. They also had a large storage box on their driveway that as kids we were convinced held dead bodies. They smoked ALL THE TIME and it came through our swamp cooler, and worst of all they kept several pigs in the back yard. We were mean kids and had a great time one day throwing rotten apricot bombs at the pigs, our aim was pretty good and got much better, until mom found us and made us hop the fence and clean up the whole mess. As children in the neighborhood we had a terrible habit of throwing things we shouldn't, like when some different neighbors lived in the same house and through unripened apricots into our open window (Natalie and I took the screen out), we saved the apricots in our nightstands. There was also the tradition of hiding in the trees in the front yard and throwing pine cones at Ruby the Ripoff Ice Cream Man, any time the ice cream man came to our neighborhood we learned not to ask mom for money, because he was a "rip off" so instead we hid in the trees and pelted him with pine cones when he drove by, I am not sure why he kept coming day after day or why he didn't tell our parents. We tried the same stunt with the mail man, he told on us!
5. Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. Natalie and I had cousins in between our age, Jennifer a year older than me and Carolyn in between Natalie and I. We would have sleep overs at Grandma's house and the next day we would play at Great-Grandma Winnie house. She had very large pine tree in her back yard that was big enough for all of us to stand under, we explored the creek out back and the other homes for "treasures" and found a few large tires, tree stumps, large pieces of heavy duty plastic, pieces of carpet and more and created a playhouse under the tree, right next to the tree was an irrigation ditch which occasionally had water running through it. we became modern day boxcar children under that tree. Grandma Winnie also had a large outdoor brick oven, a large swinging bench that would swing right over the creek, a bridge crossing the creek, a large patio of stone next to the creek and rows of hedges separating big spaces of grass, all of this did wonders for our imagination, which we had in spades. The best time to sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house was the night before Independence Day. We would sleep in the back yard and inevitably get in trouble, the following morning at precisely 6:00 am an Ariel bomb would go off, it would wake us up and start the day off right. Then we would walk up the street to the park where the Lions Club served a great pancake breakfast, following the breakfast we would sit on the curb and wait for the parade to start, sometimes we were even in the parade. Grandpa (being in the Lions Club) was almost always in the parade. After the parade we would visit all of the stands at the park, some had wonderful fair food, others had games like the fishing hole, or duck pond, others were just rides. Grandpa was always in charge of the swings that spun around in circles, I was so sad when I grew to big to ride in them, and now they are gone, replaced with bounce houses. I also loved when Grandpa would put one or two of us in the front basket of his bike and take us for rides around the same park. Or when we would collect acorns in the back yard. Even though things have changed, I love visiting their house, it is filled with cherished memories.
6. Girl Scouts. Yes I was a girls scout and I am proud of it, I hope that when or if I have girls there will be a good girl scout program in my area. My best friends mom was our troop leader and she was awesome! We had sleep overs at the old children's museum, went on many field trips, spent hour upon hour at her house learning a bit of everything, but the highlight of my girl shout experience was selling cookies. It was a challenge because our neighborhood block had 5-8 girls trying to sell cookies. I remember racing home after school trying desperately to beat the other girls home so that I could sell cookies before them. In the end we all managed to sell enough cookies to go to Trefoil Ranch Girl Scout Camp. I LOVED it there, we rode horse all week long as well as other lesser, but fun activities. I really enjoyed my time away from home and the opportunity to be with horses, brushing them, feeding them, riding them, saddling them, learning all about them, even cleaning their stalls was fun, because I got to be with horses. I also really grew to love the girls in my troop. They were my best friends.
7. Canyon View Choir. I was a choir nerd from second grade until I graduated high school and into college. I attribute my love for singing to the great grade school choir I was able to participate in. We would practice every Tues. and Thurs. morning before school started. If you were in the choir you got to have a special shirt which you wore with pride. If you were in the choir you got to go on LOTS of field trips to perform at places like malls, the capitol building, office buildings, other schools, and most memorable at the first attempt Salt Lake made for the bid of the Olympics. I loved riding the buses with so many friends and often times my mom. I really loved the songs like "It's Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Bein a Dog" and "Hot Cup of Coco". Choir was wonderful, all of my siblings sang in it for some or all of their grade school experience and always under the same great director, Mrs. Freestone. Yeah for Choir. :)
8. Swimming in the Kitchen. When I was 11 years old or so I began babysitting for my mom. I was for the most part a really good and responsible babysitter and I enjoyed it. One day I was baby sitting for my parents and had the brilliant idea to swim with my siblings, trouble was it was winter and we had no pool. So I improvised. I covered all the vents in the kitchen with several towels, and I made a boarder around the kitchen where there were no walls more towels. I am sure I used all the towels in the house saving just enough for us to drive off with afterwards. Now that the pool area was set, my siblings and I pour pots and pans full of water onto the floor and began swimming in our wadding pool. We probably get the water 4-6 inches deep and we had a great time splashing and playing in the water. Before my parents got home we cleaned up the water, put the wet towels in the laundry room basket, changed our clothes and I put everyone to sleep. My parents never suspected a thing, although my mom did wonder why all her towels were wet. Years latter I told her and she was able to put two and two together. Swimming in the kitchen was great, however if one of my babysitters did that while taking care of my children I would not be impressed or thrilled. :)
9. Family Play Time. You know the church's slogan "Family, Isn't it About Time". I feel like my family had play time in spades and I think that is why despite differences we all still get along really well. We would have water fights - in the house (when mom wasn't there), we would play hide-n-seek, (dad was the best at this game, hiding just outside our window, or putting Lindsey on top of the cupboard above the fridge. :)) we would have Family Home Evening on the roof, just for fun. We would ride our bikes all around town, even through the drive through. Mom always had fun things for us to do outside and participated with us, things like chalk, kite flying, sprinklers, bubbles, croquette, etc. At dinner time we played games like, 20 questions, I spy, follow the leader with dad leading us in various rhythmic pounding at the table. We often went on hikes as a family, one of our favorite places to hike was the gully, just under the mouth of Parley's canyon.
10. Dad Playing the Guitar. My dad has a beautiful singing voice and when he was young he taught himself to play the guitar. He would often pull out the guitar before bed time and play and sing while Natalie and I danced in the living room or in the guitar case. Then we were off to bed with him still playing and serenading us to sleep. I love listening to him play and wish so much that we had a good recording of him playing, but he is very modest and doesn't think he is good enough to be recorded. I would love to play a cd of him for my boys when they go to sleep. As I got older dad was so good to encourage me to learn and play songs that interested him, then we would play and sing together. I think this really helped me to improve my talents.
I didn't grow up with riches, my own room, a tv in my room, my own car, rooms full of toys, or other things that at the time I thought I needed or even deserved. But I feel like I had a rich childhood, if only every child could have such cherished memories. Thank you mom and dad for giving me everything that mattered!
Happy Anniversary!
This past Friday was our 11th anniversary. We had a family birthday party on Thursday night to celebrate the day we became a family. 
On Friday my mom took the boys for us and we escaped to the Grand America. I felt like royalty. When we walked into our suite there was this plate, the piano was made of chocolate really yummy chocolate with more fancy chocolates inside. 
The suite was stunning! My favorite part was how immaculately clean and bright it was.
That night we went to dinner at The Roof in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I had never eaten there, I loved it. We had a GREAT view of the temple and the sunset. The piano player was AMAZING, she had a great selection of music that was ALL memorized. I wish so very much that I could memorize like that. 
I Love to See the Temple! It was so fun to have a view of the temple and reflect on our wedding there, and to reflect on the past eleven years.
I greatly enjoyed sitting in pj's with one of their cozy robes on looking through the complimentary design magazine. Jared and I just sat in the hotel amazed at how quickly our stress was gone. It was so fun to be so pampered.
Breakfast via room service, YUM
The following day we toured the grounds. They were beautifully maintained.
Guest bathroom near one of the many ballrooms. I know, who takes pictures of bathrooms? When they are this amazing, I do!
Loved all the beautiful flowers.
The dragon was made out of cardboard layered on top of each other and then cut. Amazing!
After touring the rest of the hotel we went to City Creek. I loved it! I love water features so City Creek is my kind of place, who cares about the shopping. :) We did walk into a few stores, but I really did not care about them or enjoy them nearly as much as the creek flowing through the whole shopping center. Tiffany's was cool, I loved the art work of New York on the walls.
After spending time in City Creek we crossed the street to walk the grounds of Temple Square. It was so fun to be at Temple Square in spring again. The last time we were there at the time was when we were getting married. I LOVE Temple Square in the spring so much more that when the lights are up in the winter, it is beautiful, comfortable and peaceful.
Jared tolerated me asking people a few times to take our pictures, I am glad he did. :)
So happy that Jared proposed marriage and that I accepted. So happy that we were married for time and all eternity in the temple. So especially grateful for the past eleven years and the many lessons learned, memories made and love grown. Looking forward to the next eleven years and the many years to follow!
After lunch at the Lion House we met up with Justin and Allison to see the Avengers and go out to dinner at the Olive Garden. We had a great time! The movie was lots of fun, more than just a shoot-m-up movie, and dinner was great. We LOVE getting together with them, and wish it happened much more often. I am so grateful for my parents, and Natalie and Kevin as well as Scott and Lindsey for taking care of the boys for us so we could enjoy our get away. I am also grateful for the Brosnahans for taking care of Pete and Annabelle. I wish Jared and I could have a get away (maybe not as fancy) every month. It was a GREAT weekend!!!! Happy Anniversary Jared, LOVE YOU!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Circus Party at the Dentist
I love our family dentist/neighbor/friend. Dr. Ogilvie has a children's day every quarter, and they are so fun. This quarter's party was a circus theme. When the boys arrived they got to spin a wheel for a prize, in addition to the goodie bags filled with tattoos, bubbles, stamps, a clown nose, a tie and a pair of glasses, they also received a great hat.
Brandon was a good sport (surprise) and put on the whole costume. He looks pretty cute if you ask me. :)
When we got home we put the tattoos on our feet, the boys thought that was pretty cool.
Oh, and the actual dentist appointment went well too. Brandon was great to cooperate and get his teeth cleaned. Grant on the other hand was less cooperative, but it was just his first visit, his happy visit. So instead of working on teeth, Grant got to ride up and down on the chair, squirt the water, and play with a few of the other toys, just to see how much fun the dentist can be. I wish the dentist had been this fun when I was a child. :)
Brandon was a good sport (surprise) and put on the whole costume. He looks pretty cute if you ask me. :)
Grant agreed to the nose and occasionally other parts of the costume, bet never at the same time and never long enough for me to get a picture, but I don't care, look at how cute he is. :)
Three Cute Boys and Dairy Keen
We love Dairy Keen! The food is great (for fast food), but what we really love is all the trains. Trains to play with, build with, watch as they run around the track overhead, play on, etc. For these three boys the trains are the greatest things ever. It was so much fun when Chandler and Natalie came up for a visit, we love playing with our cousin and sister. :) Happy Day!.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
14 of 30
Describe 5 strengths you have.
1. Conviction of Faith and my testimony. I know beyond doubt that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I am grateful for my testimony and the way it guides my life. I recognize that testimonies are fragile and can waver so easily so I work at mine each day so that it can remain strong.
2. Organization. I am certainly not perfect at this, and as I look around my house at the piles of messes I wonder if this really is a strength. But I often have people compliment me on how organized my children's rooms are and how organized my home is and how on top of my responsibilities I am, that to some extent it must be true.
3. Entertaining children. When I started working at a daycare during high school I knew that I had a gift, at 16 years old I could have 20 children sitting in a room hanging on my every word. But it wasn't until I started teaching at Challenger three years latter that I realized just how much I enjoy teaching young children and really enjoy entertaining them. It is a natural high for me.
4. Getting things (projects - that I like) done. I am pretty good at finishing projects that matter to me. For example - I already have Brandon and most of Grants baby scrapbooks done through two years old, I start and finish wall decorations for Brandon and our bedroom, I stained the fence all around our yard and I assembled our computer desk. Generally speaking I don't start a project unless I can finish it.
5. Gratitude. I am not always terrific in telling others I am grateful. But I do feel like I have a very grateful hear. I recognize beauty all around me, I recognize the good deeds of others, I recognize the MANY things I am blessed with everyday, and I always feel very grateful when I recognize all the good that is around me.
1. Conviction of Faith and my testimony. I know beyond doubt that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I am grateful for my testimony and the way it guides my life. I recognize that testimonies are fragile and can waver so easily so I work at mine each day so that it can remain strong.
2. Organization. I am certainly not perfect at this, and as I look around my house at the piles of messes I wonder if this really is a strength. But I often have people compliment me on how organized my children's rooms are and how organized my home is and how on top of my responsibilities I am, that to some extent it must be true.
3. Entertaining children. When I started working at a daycare during high school I knew that I had a gift, at 16 years old I could have 20 children sitting in a room hanging on my every word. But it wasn't until I started teaching at Challenger three years latter that I realized just how much I enjoy teaching young children and really enjoy entertaining them. It is a natural high for me.
4. Getting things (projects - that I like) done. I am pretty good at finishing projects that matter to me. For example - I already have Brandon and most of Grants baby scrapbooks done through two years old, I start and finish wall decorations for Brandon and our bedroom, I stained the fence all around our yard and I assembled our computer desk. Generally speaking I don't start a project unless I can finish it.
5. Gratitude. I am not always terrific in telling others I am grateful. But I do feel like I have a very grateful hear. I recognize beauty all around me, I recognize the good deeds of others, I recognize the MANY things I am blessed with everyday, and I always feel very grateful when I recognize all the good that is around me.
13 of 30
Describe 5 weakness you have.
1. Unsympathetic. I struggle showing my sympathy when someone is struggling, or when heartache comes. I remember while working at Kindercare in Oregon, my director came in to tell us the bad news that one of my students mother had lost her twin fetus'. Her twins were nearly 7 months along when they passed. My director was so emotional and upset, as she should have been, but I was not and I wondered what was wrong with me? That is not to say that I never feel sad or upset when I here bad news, I am not completely without sympathy, but it hard for me so show it and to be compassionate with others. Often times crying and hugging feel uncomfortable and unnatural for me.
2. Judgemental/Critical. I have been working on this a lot, but it is still so easy for me to find fault in others and think less of them because of it. Even though I know I have NO room to judge and I know that my judgements are always inaccurate. I am just as hard on myself and I am often sure that others are judging me harshly as well. I really hate this about myself.
3. Self-Centered. I am always looking to my needs first, the needs of my children close behind, the needs of our house, the needs of Jared, and the needs of others last. I struggle to look around me and see what others need and then follow through, because doing so would take time away from the needs I have around home. Jared unfortunately gets my attention last after, myself, the children, home, neighbors, callings and so on. I know this is an area I need to work.
4. Addicted to food. When unhealthy food that I know I should not eat is anywhere near me I really struggle to ignore it. I will even go out of my way to find unhealthy food. I really feel week in this area, however I have had moments, days and even weeks when I have been strong, so I know that I can turn this into a strength, with practice, effort, and lots of prayer.
5. Prideful. To some extent we all are, but I feel like I really am. This goes hand in hand with the judging. It is a weakness to put yourself above another because you think you do something better than them.
This was NOT a fun post, but good just the same to reflect on some areas of needed improvement.
1. Unsympathetic. I struggle showing my sympathy when someone is struggling, or when heartache comes. I remember while working at Kindercare in Oregon, my director came in to tell us the bad news that one of my students mother had lost her twin fetus'. Her twins were nearly 7 months along when they passed. My director was so emotional and upset, as she should have been, but I was not and I wondered what was wrong with me? That is not to say that I never feel sad or upset when I here bad news, I am not completely without sympathy, but it hard for me so show it and to be compassionate with others. Often times crying and hugging feel uncomfortable and unnatural for me.
2. Judgemental/Critical. I have been working on this a lot, but it is still so easy for me to find fault in others and think less of them because of it. Even though I know I have NO room to judge and I know that my judgements are always inaccurate. I am just as hard on myself and I am often sure that others are judging me harshly as well. I really hate this about myself.
3. Self-Centered. I am always looking to my needs first, the needs of my children close behind, the needs of our house, the needs of Jared, and the needs of others last. I struggle to look around me and see what others need and then follow through, because doing so would take time away from the needs I have around home. Jared unfortunately gets my attention last after, myself, the children, home, neighbors, callings and so on. I know this is an area I need to work.
4. Addicted to food. When unhealthy food that I know I should not eat is anywhere near me I really struggle to ignore it. I will even go out of my way to find unhealthy food. I really feel week in this area, however I have had moments, days and even weeks when I have been strong, so I know that I can turn this into a strength, with practice, effort, and lots of prayer.
5. Prideful. To some extent we all are, but I feel like I really am. This goes hand in hand with the judging. It is a weakness to put yourself above another because you think you do something better than them.
This was NOT a fun post, but good just the same to reflect on some areas of needed improvement.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
