Snow

30 years ago, March 29th was warm and beautiful. The next morning I awoke to snow. So I shouldn't be surprised to see the snow today. Made transplanting tomatoes in the Bean House cold! Oh well, a good excuse to drink some mint hot chocolate when I got home.

Sheep and Goats

One day Brockton came over and we decided to go take him to see the sheep. They had been close to the fence when I drove past them a little earlier. However, when we got there, they had moved away from the fence and couldn't be coaxed closer.

Is is just me or is trespassing spelled wrong? I could see it if it was a handwritten sign, but a sign company spelling it wrong?

Brocky sat to watch the sheep. I snapped this picture 'cause I thought he looked so sweet just sitting there.


Another day, we decided to take Brockton to see the goats. They were much more friendly. They came running as soon as they saw us. Brockton loved them!

Brockton's Reading!

I taught my three youngest kids to read when they were about 3 1/2. Since Brockton knows all his letter sounds, I decided to try him out on the same book I taught my children from and my mom taught me: The Little Red Story Book. He does pretty well, though the attention span is not quite there. This picture was taken on March 8, 2010.

Hallie's Bear

Remember the picture I took a little while ago of Hallie's bear lost in the snow. Well, on February 28, the snow melted enough that Hallie found her bear.

To be Honest...

Okay, I see people blogging all the time about how life REALLY is. So, can I do that for a minute? I am so TIRED of being yelled at. Okay, so it's not really YELLING, it's more like obnoxious talking. I am tired of being told how wrong I am and how my kids can't do anything right and how I'm such a bad mother because I say, "Don't yell at my kids, " or "What's more important, this little incident or your relationship with this child?" I am tired of it. I have to tell myself I am of worth. I don't deserve to be treated like this and neither do my kids. I read all the other blogs about how everyone has the best husband in the world and how they are more in love now than they were the day they were married and I ask myself "What is wrong with me?" Am I the only one getting "yelled" at? Okay, a minute's up. I'll go back to pretending my life is perfect.

My Cousin Richard

One month ago today:

As we drove into the Disneyland parking lot on day one, my mom called with the news that my cousin Richard had died. "No...." was all I could say. Richard is one of my favorite cousins. I really didn't know him until after I was grown. You see, my mom's brother Wilson was a fighter pilot in World War II. He flew many missions, and came home with a plane full of bullet holes. He married his sweetheart soon after he got home and shortly after discovered they were going to be parents. Wilson went up to Henry's Lake, Idaho to go fishing with a friend around the 4th of July. They went out on the lake in a little boat. A storm rose quickly and capsized the boat. It looked like Wilson's friend got conked on the head with the propellor and Wilson tried to rescue him and swim with him to shore. They think Wilson finally gave up, too exhausted to save his friend, swam to shore and collapsed from exhaustion. They say he was washed back out. They looked for 3 days, but couldn't find his body. My grandma set out for Henry's Lake. I think she had a dream of where they could find his body. It had washed up on the shore again in a different spot. I don't know how they figured out what had happened, but the autopsy showed that he did not die from drowning.

Anyway, Richard was born a few months later, never knowing his father. His mom remarried. Years later, I met Richard at a family party. The rest of the family knew him, maybe I was just too young before to remember him. He was a chiropractor and adjusted everyone's back. When he got to me he said my back was perfect and didn't need any adjusting. I was a little disappointed as I wanted to see what it felt like. A little while later, I threw my neck and back out at my work and lived with it for 2 years until I couldn't take the pain any more. Eventually I went to Richard. He would adjust me for free, after billing my insurance. When my insurance wouldn't cover chiropractors, he still adjusted me for free, trading for flowers. What a sweet guy! He did it because we were family, though I hadn't really known him. We became great friends and always parted with a hug.

A year ago last December, I really needed to go get adjusted, when I called he said he was just too sick. He never did get better, just got worse and worse. He never really told me what was wrong. His mom said he got really bad arthritis in his hands just like her dad. His wife said his kidneys were failing for the past year and a half. They finally failed on February 23, 2010, one month ago today. He got out of bed and had a massive heart attack and died. How I will miss him. I will miss hearing him call me "kiddo." I will miss his smile and laughter. I will miss his hugs. I will miss all the knowledge he shared with me. He loved learning. He went back to school and got his M.D. then he started studying law. I still can't believe he's gone.

I love you Richard! Have fun getting to know your dad.

A Much Needed Vacation!

After talking about wanting and NEEDING to go to Disneyland for the last 3 years, Tracy finally said, "We're going." I wanted to go the same time Jace is going for school, but it looked like that wouldn't be until Disneyland is packed. So, Tracy and I decided to go for our 15th wedding anniversary.



All was well, we left about an hour after we planned, returned home once to get our pillows, went to my mom and dad's to get the key to their house in St. George in case we wanted to stay on the way back. Went to get on the freeway and got stuck here. (Above picture.) Lovely. Can't go forward, can't go back. Stuck. For about 10 minutes. So I took a picture with my phone.


Well, after riding in the car for awhile, I decided that my head was going to fall off! I had a major, splitting headache!!! And we were hours away from Anaheim!!! I wondered if Disneyland was worth it! When we were almost there, I told Tracy I wish I had some Ben-Gay or something. He reached under the seat, found some and said, "Your wish is my command." I said, "You couldn't have given me this hours ago?" His reply? "You didn't say you wanted it."

Ahhh... Palm trees at last!

Bart (my brother who has a season pass to Disneyland he loves it so much) told us to go to Toy Story first or the lines would be too long. I have longed to be on my favorite ride, Splash Mountain, but it would have to wait. This is after we rushed to that ride. Someone was kind enough to take our picture. Tracy and I had taken a couple of pictures of each other, when I looked at the ones he took at me I was mortified. I was in such a hurry to get to Disneyland, I forgot to put any make-up on! Luckily we had checked out of our hotel and so my make-up was in the car. Didn't go back to the car until lunch though. McKeown was kind enough to give us points for a Holiday Inn room which was quite nice, but there were only enough points for one night, so we booked some rooms at Anaheim Park Hotel for the rest of the nights, since it was closer, a little cheaper, and had a shuttle to Disneyland.


After Toy Story we headed to my second favorite ride, Tower of Terror!

Okay, so I had to have a little fun with the lightning bolt, trying to make it look like it was going into Tracy's ear. He's such a sport.

Disneyland at last! Splash Mountain, here I come!!!

We spent half the day looking for Mater, the toy car to buy Brockton. Our travels took us to Toon Town, where we had to play with the fountain. It's our favorite part of Toon Town.

Well, we didn't find the toy Mater, but we finally did find Mater himself by Soaring over California. Brockton this next one is for you. Grandma with Mater and "Light Queen."

I changed my mind this trip. Splash Mountain is no longer my favorite ride. It moved to second place. I now love Tower of Terror the best. We would ride it 3 or 4 times in a row, and each time I would end up exclaiming, "I love it! I love it!"

For our anniversary, Tracy and I decided to kiss at the top with a heart shape in front of our faces. It was funny to hear all the exclamations as our fellow riders looked at our picture. "How in the heck did they kiss on this ride?" Too funny! We tried it a few times, trying to get just the right picture. Happy 15th Anniversary honey!



I had seen this bushes from our hotel window and thought they were rose bushes. When we got to our car, Tracy pointed them out and said, "Can you believe how big they get here? I couldn't believe they were geraniums, not rose bushes! Look what my mother's day gift from the ward could look like if they didn't die over the winter!

After 3 days at Disney, we headed for the beach.

This pigeon knows how to get fresh water.

These kids were so cute. They loved the big bubbles.

Ahhh....I love California. Why don't I just move here? Oh yes. This is why.....

Traffic. Stuck in traffic for at least an hour, trying to head out to go home.

Stopped near Vegas for the night. So much better on my neck.

Final picture. Well, we didn't find Mater at Disneyland, but one of the workers told us to check the local Target and there he was! Along with the two little green guys for $10. We bought one set for our house and one to go home with Brockton.

Brockton was thrilled with Mater and "Light Queen."

Firetruck Mater, I'm afraid you've been replaced!

Brockton on a Sunday Afternoon

I love this look. I can't remember what happened just then.

Sunday, February 21st.

Watching Over Brockton

Okay, I know I'm way behind. Took a vacation. From life and from my blog. Even missed a couple of days on my Project 365. Oh well. If I have to be perfect at it, I might as well give up right now.

This picture was taken Saturday, February 20th. Brockton was asleep when Stephanie brought him over so she laid him on the couch. When I went to check on him, this is what I found. After all the times Brockton has pestered Molly, she still loves his company and wants to be near him.