Hey Ray, you made the blog!

Though Arizona isn't quite the South, we realized a while back that my niece married a man "from the country".  We all think he's great.  I think I blogged back in May about how he took Reggie, Luke, Andrew & Andrew's Dad into the hills of Arizona to go shooting (at targets, not hunting -  yet).  I enjoyed talking Country Music with him, and although we only got through half an episode, I promised to watch some Duck Dynasty when I got home.  He has a big old monster truck that I call the "yeah right" truck because the first time he picked us up and I realized I needed to climb up into that thing I thought "yeah right".   During this visit we followed a family tradition from the cousins' childhood - that of having an "un-birthday party".  We drew names of who would get who a present, with a budget of under $5.  Luke got Ray, and the picture below shows how much Ray appreciated his present.  I appreciated that he participated in our traditional un-birthday party game - the "Soul Train", though he had never heard of it before.

 I must say, as mine and my sibling's kids continue to grow and get married, we are so happy about the people they are choosing.  The family just gets bigger and bigger and more and more fun.

the flight home

I am so grateful for family.  I have been enjoying seeing my kids spending time with their cousins, raising their kids together, etc.  Watching Hillary and Natalie living together has been fun - their girls walk around the house copying each other - especially when it comes to screaming.  Then at times some boys infiltrate the group - meaning cousin Melissa's kids, who live a couple of hours away, and the fun just gets bigger and bigger.

Dividing up baby clothes from cousin Rocio

It occurred to me how much the family has been criss crossing this summer.  While we were with that part of the family, cousin Becky was with Julia & Samantha, helping Julia take care of her kids as she just got out of the hospital for pneumonia.  The family seems to be criss/crossing a lot this summer which I love.  (Hopefully we will get some time with David's kids too!) It has also been a blessing to always live near Reggie's side of the family.  Cousin Jordan was great at helping us wean baby Hannah.

And of course family is for rescuing you when you are stranded.  Luke and I were scheduled to fly out of Phoenix at 1pm yesterday, arriving in Oakland at 2:45.  When we got to the airport we found that our flight was delayed 3 hours, which would put us in Oakland right at commute time.  I hated the thought of Reggie's sister having to cross the Bay Bridge twice during commute time - that would take hours! So we opted to switch our flight to San Jose.  My sister in law there picked us up and fed us dinner.  It worked out perfectly, as Becky needed to go home to San Jose that day.  So Becky and Julia met us there. I am very grateful for family!

p.s.  We found out later that our original flight had been delayed another 4 hours!  And, when we switched to the San Jose flight they gave us a $200 voucher for our trouble.  Score!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HILLARY!

For the last 2 & 1/2 weeks I've had the pleasure of holding little baby Hannah quite a bit.  She is so tiny and smiley and cuddly and sweet.  I couldn't help but feel like it was 1989 all over again and I was holding by sweet little baby Hillary.  Life truly does go by in a flash.  I'm so happy to have had these 2 + weeks to spend with Mommy Hillary and her little ones.

As a way of celebrating Hillary's birthday her cousins Natalie and Melissa planned a family surprise party for her in Arizona.  Luke and I have been there the last 5 days and it was a blast.  Hillary wanted fruit pizza for her cake - ya know, sugar cookie with a cream cheese "sauce"/frosting and fresh fruit toppings - yum yum!  Natalie also planned some "Minute to Win It" games.  Everyone was a good sport and played along.

marshmallow/straw race


So happy birthday Hillary - you are loved!

#4

She loves that over the shoulder view of the world.  She is so smiley and so sweet.

That dress

Recently Addy was a flower girl in a family wedding.  The bride made the dress for her.  Addy was a champ, walking down the isle, and stood still for the whole ceremony - as long as the Maid of Honor kept giving her fruit snacks.  It was adorable.

Miss you, Grandpa

Reggie only got to be here for half of Hillary and kid's visit, so he was sure to make the most of it.  We are happy to say that Audrey seems to remember us/ to know us, and isn't shy anymore.  

reasons to celebrate!

Well, if we have any energy left, we plan on celebrating several things on Friday:

1. Samantha just finished her first year of college!  The math class that almost killed us both ended in success!  She had to pass with a 3.0, which I believe in letter grades is a B, in order to get credit for it - she passed with a B+.  She is very grateful to all her brothers-in-law for their tutoring help.

2.  Julia comes home from the hospital - she has been there for 2 days - which is forever in Mommy time - recovering from pneumonia.  We're so glad she is doing better.

3.  Hannah is almost completely a bottle baby.  Hillary has been here for 2 weeks for 2 main reasons: to have a bunch of doctor's appointments, and for us to help her wean 4 month old Hannah.  The doctor's appointments were successful and she has a bunch of strategies and medicines to try to get her vertigo/menere's disease under control.  But she can't take the medicine while nursing.  It's been a struggle to get Hannah to accept the bottle, but she's finally doing it.  And though Hillary would rather nurse her for the whole first year, it will be best for her kids to have a healthy Mom.

4.  It's Pioneer Day! I look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our Mormon pioneers who helped settle Utah and Idaho, and who passed down their faith in God to their descendants.  Like I said, if we have any energy left, we will hopefully bake some yummy food, play some games and do some fireworks.

So it's definitely been a heck of a week.  But the hard times make the good times even sweeter.  We will be thinking of Reggie, Mariah, Ross and Andrew as we celebrate, as they are all away from us.  I am so glad that we had last week with all of us together.

(and if I can find the camera, I will add pictures of our celebrations)

"Last" day of summer school

Summer school ended on Friday and I am so ready for a few weeks off.  But I am extremely grateful for the people who volunteered in our class this summer.  Samantha and Luke took a few days, one of the girls from our youth group came a few days, and my son-in-law Ross came one day during he and Mariah's visit.  We already know that Ross is good with kids - he and Mariah, true to form, were wonderful with all their nieces, and I know Hillary and Andrew, Julia and Lester are grateful.  But Ross is also planning on being a teacher and has been spending some time getting to see what teaching in Special Education is like.  He has worked with high school students, and then in my class got to experience working with little ones - 1st through 5th grade.  He is a natural.  I got the cutest picture of him working with the kids, and I wish I could post it here (but, of course, there are rules about putting kids pictures on social media without the parent's consent).  So instead I am putting up a picture of the art projects the kids worked on all summer.

So anyway, I think Ross will make a great teacher, whether it is with Special needs kids or mainstream, high school students.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISLA AND LESTER!

How very special for father and daughter to have the same birthday.  Julia threw them a party at a really pretty, wooded park in the area.  

Isla portrayed her entire personality in the way she ate her cake - at first a little timid and shy, then nice and quietly, when people backed off, she got a little braver and eventually dove in.  She is a very happy baby.  We are so lucky to have had her live out her first year of life, and counting, in this very special house.

enjoying nature

Today Audrey was squealing with delight, saying "There's another one!" watching hang-gliders flying over the ocean.  The pictures below show her same expression, though obviously not at the ocean but at Muir Woods in Marin.  Life is good.

Christmas in July

We thought we were going to have to wait until after Christmas to get all of our family together again, but circumstances worked out that we were all together this last weekend for a family wedding.  I've got a lot to blog about the fun week we've been having - but for now I'll just leave these here.

My opinion

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see myself as being a very opinionated person; I know that there are always 2 ways of looking at each issue.  But I have very strong opinions about one particular story thats been in the news lately: the debate over the Confederate flag being flown on government property in South Carolina.  I just read on Yahoo news that a law has been signed that will forever remove the confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina statehouse.
I want to blog about this - my opinions about this historical decision (everything that is taken directly from the article I have put in italics and quotation marks).   

The article states that  "South Carolina's leaders first flew a Confederate battle flag over the Statehouse dome in 1961 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Civil War. It remained there to represent official opposition to the civil rights movement." (This floored me - they were not marking the 100th anniversary of the ending of the Civil War, but marking the beginning.  Does this mean they were celebrating the beginning of the civil war? Celebrating South Carolina's efforts to secede from the Union? And then, something that represents official opposition to the civil rights movement is still being flown at a government building? - unbelievable.)

Many people have opposed the flying of this flag in the past.  But the massacre 22 days ago of state Sen. Clementa Pinckney and eight others inside Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church brought the debate back to the forefront, with much more national attention.
Right before the killings the gunman had posed with pictures of the confederate flag.

The governor said "the way the victims welcomed the gunman into their Bible study — and the forgiveness their survivors expressed to the suspect when he was arraigned in court days two days later — have inspired change nationwide."

Emotions High During SC Confederate Flag DebatePlay video

"Nine people took in someone who did not look like them or act like them. And with true love and true faith and acceptance, they sat and prayed with him for an hour. That love and faith was so strong that it brought grace to them and the families," Haley said.

"We saw the families show the world what true grace and forgiveness look like," she added. "That set off an action of compassion by people in South Carolina and all over this country. 

Now, again, I know that there are 2 sides to every debate.  Not all those who want the flag to remain see or feel it's symbolism of racism and hate.  They have a perhaps different, familial connection with it.  To some the phrase "The South will rise again"  is not referring to slavery or racism, but referring to building up their homeland after it was so devastated and defeated by war.  

 "Rep. Mike Pitts said the flag reminds him of dirt-poor Southern farmers who fought Yankees, not because they hated blacks, but because their land was being invaded."  So I understand that.  But if they put themselves in other's shoes, and see just for a moment what the confederate flag reminds them of - what it meant to people's African-American's ancestors, I can't imagine for a moment that they would really want it to remain flying for everyone.

"Rep. Joe Neal traces his ancestry to four brothers, brought to America in chains and bought by a slave owner named Neal who pulled them apart from their families."

So, in my opinion, I think it is absolutely the right thing that the confederate flag come down.  I think that people's history and southern pride can absolutely be celebrated without lingering symbols of the confederacy - just like people of German descent can celebrate their heritage without flying the swastika.  In fact, it would seem ridiculous and unbelievable if someone wanted to display a swastika and then be surprised that it was seen as a racist symbol. To say that they were only celebrating their ancestors, and that it in no way should offend Jewish people, is unimaginable.

So, for what it's worth, that is my opinion.  Maybe it's silly that I have such strong opinions about this, and would take the time to blog about it - especially because my ancestors do not come from the South.  Maybe this story is so on my mind because I, like the rest of our country, am so sad about what happened in that church 22 days ago; I am so in awe of the grace and Christlike behavior of the people in the Bible study group and of their families after the killings.  It is time to heal and time to learn from this, and time to put ourselves in other people's shoes.  

Walt Disney Family Museum

We went to this place on Friday :

Perfect thing to go along with our Disney movie theme this year.  It was great - a bit over-priced in my opinion, but worth doing once.  The thing that struck me the most is how much Walt and his brother Roy worked together, from the beginning.  It really was a collaborative effort and they seemed to work well together through it all.

I also really liked seeing and learning about their first project - way before Mickey or Snow White: the Alice comedies, where they combined "live action", as in the cutest little girl, with cartoons.

What I like about you - #1

I've heard that it is possible to love someone but not really like them.  I believe my kids know that I love them.  I hope they know that I like them too - it's tempting to feel that "that goes without saying".  But sometimes it should just be said.  So I'm going to use the blog for that purpose today, starting with Julia.

What I like about Julia:

She has a zest for life.  She brings energy and excitement and happiness into the room.  One of my favorite memories of her is when she would be home from college and walk in the room and say "who wants to fight me!"  It was usually a challenge for Luke and his buddy Andrew which they were happy to take her up on.  She has a zest for life.

She is a wonderful cook, which is sometimes a challenge for my ego and my independence.  A challenge for my ego because she makes a lot of things better than I do, or knows how to make things that I don't.  This then stops becoming a challenge for my ego but a challenge for my independence when I realize "hey, Julia makes this better than me, so she should just do it all the time!" For example, black bottom cupcakes - mine never turn out and hers always turn out, so they are now Julia's job.

Her confidence.  She is leading the life she wants to lead and does not second-guess herself for it.  She is a "young mother", especially around here, but does not feel embarrassed or out of place when hanging out with her friends and cousins who are not mothers yet.  Julia just takes her kids along for the fun, knowing that her friends and cousins enjoy her girls as well.

And speaking of motherhood, Julia is a great Mom. She has a lot of patience.  She enjoys doing learning activities and just plain fun activities with her kids.  And then she has her serious voice where she tells Addy to "be obedient" and "don't be bossy" or warns her when a time out is coming.  I think she has a nice handle on being a fun Mom but also a Mom that will be respected by her children.

Her willingness to admit when she was wrong.  Julia doesn't take this lightly - she won't do this if she doesn't mean it/just to end a conversation.  But she will admit it when she has realized things about herself.  I guess the term is self awareness or self assessment - she is willing to do that and I appreciate it.

And lastly for today, (I could name a log more, but I should wrap things up) she makes me feel good about me.  Ha! Ha! I don't mean to slip a compliment in here about myself.   It's just that when I see that she has made some of the same choices in her life that I made in my life, like carrying on family traditions, etc., it almost validates things for me.  I watch her and realize that I am lucky because I got to do a lot of the things that I see her doing now.  I watch her and think "wow thats a lot to handle" and then realize that I did it at her age too.  She makes me feel good about myself and I thank her for that.  And I think/hope she knows that we support her in the choices she makes that are different than how we did things.

So, not only do I love this first born of mine - I like her very much and I am so happy that she is here.  Life is good.

for the 4th

I just read something on an old friend's Facebook that I think is worth sharing in consideration of this 4th of July weekend.  He said that back in the day he and his brothers would often fall asleep on the couches, with the t.v. on.  He would wake to see his dad doing something very interesting.  See, back in those days t.v. stations would "sign off"/as in not run programming for a few hours (do you remember that?  I do.)  They would sign off by playing a patriotic song with a picture of the flag.  This friend would wake to see his Dad facing the t.v. with his hand on his heart during the song.  He would then get up and copy his Dad.  He said his Dad loved his native country of Samoa but also his adopted country, The United States of America.  This friend is, to this day, is still trying to follow his father's example of showing love and respect for this country and the American Flag.

these boys

Interesting how you can go from always having someone around to hoping and praying that you can  at least see them once a year, and that they will remember you.  That's where I am with these sweet grand-nephews of mine.  I hope they are growing up knowing how much family they have that love them - I hope they are growing up knowing that we love them.  I don't know if I hope that for their sake or for my sake, but there you have it.  And since their sister is too young to travel away from Mom right now we'll have to hope Skype will continue to convey these feelings (Skype and the cookie mix/ gift we are sending her).  I am extremely grateful for the few hours we got to spend with these boys today.