& Ross

Here is something I've been sitting on for a while.  It wasn't appropriate to share it then, but I wrote about it to myself, cause I just needed to.  Now it is TOTALLY appropriate!

"Today is February 14th, 2014.  Reggie and I have been thinking a lot about Mariah lately because it feels like her life may be coming to a turning point soon.  She has of course been dating a lot in the huge "dating pool" that is a BYU town.  But in December she started telling us that she had just begun an exclusive relationship with a guy named Ross.  In December we were waiting around for her to tell us her flight information for coming home for Christmas, until she told us that she was getting a ride home from Ross and his brother, since they live in the Fresno area.  Okay, no big deal.  Then it was "I'm going to stay in Fresno a couple of days before I come home, just to meet his family."  Again she assured us that this was a new relationship, and so it was no big deal.  When she asked if Ross could come and meet us and stay with us a couple of days before they drove back to Utah, she promised that he was not going to be asking for her hand or anything - it was a new relationship after all.  Well, we really liked Ross.  Only time would tell if this new relationship was going to be long lasting, or even permanent.  By February - as in recently, Reggie and I have apparantly been having the same feeling.  Every night we pray for the safety of our children.  In my personal prayers I have been saying "please bless and keep safe Julia, Lester and Addy,  Hillary, Andrew and Audrey, Mariah and     " and then I stop myself, because Ross is not a part of the family.  There is no "understanding" at this point to make us plan him being part of the family.  But somehow it all of a sudden feels right and natural to say, in my prayers, "bless Mariah and Ross".  Earlier this week Reggie had a business trip to Utah and got to spend time with all of our "Utah" children.  He came home commenting on how good Mariah and Ross seem together.  Well, tonight as he was saying the family prayer, that is exactly how he put it: "bless Mariah and Ross".  It just feels right -  which we are not telling Mariah.   If Ross is the one for her, and if she is ready to settle down and take all the wonderfulness and craziness of marriage, it needs to be something that she thinks of herself, with no influence from anyone else.  So,  I guess we'll see."

And now we know!

ENGAGED!

Mariah and her FIANCE are in town for a few days!  Fiance, as of a few hours ago.  They officially got engaged tonight, at the beach at sunset.  (Ross told us his plans ahead of time, so we were able to spy and take pictures.)

We are very happy for the two of them - and for our family in general.  We are certainly being lucky in the son-in-law-department.  Now it's all about the wedding planning!

We Honor Veterans - Leave them with a smile

          

My Mom just called and told us to look up a video on youtube.  I can't even come up with the words right now of what a gift this is.

It's been a few hours since I posted this and I want to try to put my feelings into words.  The smile on my Dad's face, above, is priceless.  It is a reminder/a lesson/a legacy.  I know how much he hated getting old: things like not not being able to drive anymore, having a hard time holding a spoon or book or type on the computer with his increasingly crippled hands, etc. etc. etc.  But he carried his burdens so well.  He continued to smile and find joy in life anyway.  I know that my Mom can be credited for that; I know that she helped him through all of his frustrations and saw him through all of his worries and struggles the we never saw. She put and kept that smile on his face.  After we watched this video I asked Luke if he was going to smile like that when he was 90 something years old.  He said he's not going to live that long.  But you never know, Luke - you might be here a lot longer than you anticipated, and I hope you follow in Grandpa Chandler's footsteps and keep smiling through.    

The Easter Cake

Back in the 50s my mom came across a recipe in the newspaper that she thought would be fun to try.  It has been an Easter tradition for our family ever since.  Back in the day though, before there were marshmallow "Peeps" she would cut regular marshmallow's into bunny shapes.  That was very time consuming.  She's always been a dedicated mom, grandma and now great-grandma, and we are so happy to get to spend each holiday with her.

 

Luke's spring break

The most interesting part of Luke's spring break has been working on a merit badge for the Boy Scouts.  In fact, I don't even know what the merit badge is called, but I know that in order to get it he is supposed to do 8 hours of beach-clean up.  I was determined that we would do an hour each day; by we I mean he, with me tagging along, occasionally carrying the bucket for him.  I was also determined that we would go to a different beach each day.  By day two we got "stuck" at Rockaway beach.  By stuck I mean that it was just so interesting we ended up going back a few days in a row.

  Luke couldn't just look for garbage on the easy pathways.  To the right of the beach is an estuary/wetlands/marsh.  Luke had the best time trudging through it looking for garbage.  I am sad to say that he found a lot.  There was also a fun run-off area going from the estuary to the ocean.  It was like a creek and he had a great time wading through that, even though the weather was cloudy and cool all week.

Do you see Luke?  He's in there!

  He found lots of garbage in the rocks to the right of the beach and in the caves to the left of the beach.

 Climbing, exploring, getting dirty, etc. is the kind of stuff that I think childhood is all about. Addy and Julia tagged along with us today.  Addy seems to love the exploring and getting dirty as much as the rest of us.

Addy kept plopping herself down to make sand angels.

 We found one part of the beach where the tan colored rocks were turning into clay from the steady and gentle beating of the ocean waves during high tide.  I thought that was fascinating.

 So it was a good week. 

Samantha's spring break

Unfortunately Samantha's spring break did not coincide with my spring break this year.  But she kept busy.  Lester, Julia and Addy started it off in a great way by taking her prom dress shopping; a real shop till you drop day.  Lester was the hero in pulling a dress off the rack that he thought Samantha should try on.  She didn't think she would like it, but once she had it on she was sold.  They brought the dress home and she is in Heaven.  She spent the rest of the week helping out my Mom, which she loves to do, hanging out with friends and sleeping in.

Nancy's spring break

Having a week off from school is always such a blessing.  Of course there are a million things to catch up on, and I always try to find that balance of getting things done and spending time with my kids.  Today is the last day of spring break and I do feel that I found that balance.  But, I also knew that I would feel very regretful come Monday morning if I did not take some time for scrapbooking.  I absolutely feel panicky if I've gone too long without getting pictures developed and in an album.  So today I had some time.  Not the whole day like I wanted, but a few hours.  It was wonderful.  Life is good.

dance recital

Samantha has been in a dance class at school this year and has been enjoying it a lot more than she thought she would.  Tonight they put on a recital to show off all they have learned.  It was so much fun to watch.

family visit

The last couple of days have been especially fun because we've had a visit from my cousin Doug, and a couple of his kids.  Doug and family used to live near us, years ago.  Then they moved here, there, and all over the place.  It's been great to enjoy each other's company again; personalities in our families seem to match as much as ever.

(They made Samantha especially happy by going to her dance recital tonight.)

The best thing about April, for us

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIAH!  So happy you came to our family 22 years ago.  We just wouldn't be the same/complete/fulfilled without you.

A very special thing about April

Every April, for the past few years, I have done a blog post in honor of Autism Awareness month - in honor of the adorable children I get to work with and their wonderful, patient parents.  There are many wonderful programs out there like "Light it up Blue" and "Autism Speaks" to raise awareness of the disorder and to raise money for services, research, etc.  But what does this mean?  What should we be aware of when it comes to autism - especially if it doesn't affect our lives directly - if we don't have a loved one affected by it?  Well, in my opinion, what these organizations want and what the families of autistic children want most is understanding and services.  The other day a boy in our class came to school with a shirt on that said "autistic today, genius tomorrow".  It was a cute way the parents were showing love for their child.  But most of the time kids are not wearing autism awareness t-shirts, and so if a child is in a store or some other public place and  having a melt down, or plugging his ears and humming because it's too loud, or pulling his shirt off because the tag is all of a sudden really bothering him, or is going to town on the "chewie" in his mouth, or is loudly repeating the same phrase over and over again, hopefully the other shoppers will be understanding.  Hopefully we are refraining from giving the "why don't they make that child behave" or "why are they letting their child do that?" looks and comments.  We might not know why a child is behaving a certain way but we can be understanding nonetheless and cut the parents some slack.  As far as services, the more there is Autism Awareness the more there is research being done to know how to help; the more health care insurance companies are providing for autistic children - things like Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy.  The more awareness there is the more funding schools have for things like ipads for non-verbal children to use to communicate.

So Happy April to us all, especially the families that live with and love an autistic child or adult, day in and day out, year after year.  I am impressed with the joy and happiness and dedication I see in their lives; I am honored to learn from them every school day.