new years memories

when the winter days seem so dark and long and I start to get nastalgic, and start thinking about new years eve and can't help but think of my two favorite Aunts. Aunt Bea and Aunt Dorothy.They were both such sweet loving ladies. I loved spending time with them. It seems that the strongest memories are childhood ones or ones that have a strong emotion attached to it.
I really don't remember staying up on New Years that often as a child but the few times that we did was when we had a get together with our family. I remember Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Kenny and their family coming over one year , we played games , sang songs ,visited ect.. I don't remember the midnight hour though seeing as by 8 pm I had crashed somewhere in the house. I do remember going up to Aunt Bea and Uncle Gordon's for the holiday another year. Songs were again played on the the piano , good food and games to be played with cousins, I believe "the Gublers" were down from Oregon that year. 45 records played .(our cousin Raymond had a collection of 45's , he eventually gave them to us kids when he left on his mission .(my older brother and my younger sister and I would play those records for hours)
One year the Mutual had a new years celebration where we stayed up all night.

Probable the most memorable for me was the year our daughter was born. She wasn't due until Jan. 5, but she arrived on December 29 th instead. She was born by C-section and at that time the hospital kept you longer so a couple of nights later on new years my husband and I stayed up watching movies and saw the new year come in holding our first born child in our arms.
As parents there were only a couple times that we managed to stay up, one time Cathy's family came out (my sister in law) ...
My husband worked rotating shifts for almost 18 years or so, so most of those night I spent waiting for him to come home...which I really didn't mind ,seeing as it gave me the opportunity to watch a good old movie...one of my favorites is a Yankee doodle Dandie which is almost always played on the 4th of July and on New years.
this year we are just hoping for a little bit more relaxed year ,without some of the emotional extremes that we have felt this past year. We hope that everyone has a good new year as well.

2010 wish

My Wish for You in 2010 May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy May the problems you had, forget your home address! In simple words ............ May 2010 be the best year of your life!!!

Merry Christmas

&
a Happy New Year!!

Christmas 2009

Just a couple pictures of our Christmas
decorations this year.
some old and some new, and one little
"family tree" that stays up all year long.

an M&M Christmas

This year we have tried to simplify a little bit... I have a love/hate for the season. Love all the warm and fuzzy things but hate the expectations, some of the silly (needless) traditions.
This year we just didn't have time to make a lot of cookies, or gifts for friends and co workers, but still wanted to do something. we stumbled on a poem about M&M;s with a message that we liked ,so we spent a couple of days making little bags of candy with this message attached.
http://www.theideadoor.com/Holidays/Christmas%20Pages/Christ4a.jpg

I saw this over on the Woodcarving Illustrated forum and just had to share:


A Santa’s Carvers Christmas.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse

I with my knife and the wife with her brush
Are just finishing up the great Christmas rush

We have worked all evening and it’s just after twelve
Sure would be nice to hire Santa’s Elves
All the packages are labeled and in a neat stack
It’s now time for rest and to hit the sack

Wife’s passed out not even a peep
For some reason, I just can’t sleep.
When all of a sudden, I’m up in a pop
An order I forgot, and its out to the shop.

My carving abilities severely diminished
I’m carving like crazy. The order must be finished.

Its Christmas Eve, How am I to deliver.
This order has to go out or I’ll be chopped liver.

When outside the shop I heard such a clatter
I threw open the door to see what’s the matter.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
A UPS sleigh and eight tiny reindeer
With help from the elves, there was few
The order was done, and was out by two.

As he whistled, and shouted and called them by name.
Don’t know who called them but sure glad they came.
Now Woody, Now Slasher, Now Skewzer and Slip
On Slicer, on Blade, on Dusty and Chip

To the front of the shop and around the bandsaw
Now dash away, dash away, dash away, all.

As woodchips that before the wild hurricane fly
When they meet an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the shop-top the coursers they flew,
With a sleigh full of orders and UPS too.

He spoke not a word but went straight to his work
And filled all the orders and turned with a jerk.
And laying a finger along side his nose
And giving a nod, to the sled I suppose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave whistle.
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight
Happy Carving to you, and to all a good night!

©United Polar Services

Fall is definitely here. We went to bed the other night looking at this, and then woke up to this. Sigh.

3-D Pumpkin

After finishing my chores today, I took some time to just have a little fun.
(sometimes you just have to take time for self...which I haven't been doing for quite awhile.)
worked on carving a pumpkin . what do you think of him.

This was shared on a friends page . I had never heard it before.
It touched me deeply. Maybe I needed it today.">">

Turn back Thursday.

Stumbled on this picture this morning... we were so young. They were such cute kids.!

Glass Blocks

Just finished making a glass block.
I have made a number of these for christmas, showers and weddings.
Easy to make and fun to look at.
Hope you enjoy it.

Friday Sept 11:

Clifford got up early and went to the cemetery. having got permission from the funeral director and the groundskeepers he went and made up a box to lay the Ern in. We got the glass case and set things up for the graveside service. The kids were overwhelmed by the amount of people who came to show them love and support.
They had a very sweet and simple service, The Bishop asked me to give the opening prayer, He said a few words, they played the following songs.">and "> Cliff dedicated the grave. Then they all went to the church for a small dinner.
After everyone had left Clifford wrapped a blanket around Jayden ashes and placed him in the grave. This was his final act of service that he felt he needed and wanted to do. His final way of being able to say goodbye.

We got to the church which was set up beautifully, A wonderful meal, by ladies we had never even met... What sweet ladies they were. They wouldn't" even let us help to clean up afterwards. (bless their hearts.)
..................................................

The week before he passed away the Hospice called an organization called
NILMDTS (Now I lay me down to sleep) . these are photographers that volunteer their time ,at no charge to take pictures of these special babies , so that the families have something to keep. They came and took some pictures for them...they will come out at another time and take some pictures of Alexis as well.
Here are a few of those special pictures.

Just wanted to say how grateful I am for the faith that I have, for knowing that I have a Father in Heaven who knows me and loves me. I know that he has a plan for us and that there is a reason for being here on this earth ,to gain experience and learn to be like him, that we will live after this life. I know that families are forever and that we can and will be together again. I am so grateful for little Jayden. that he could be with us even if it wasn't as long as we would have liked. He touched so many people in his short time here.
so grateful for the friends and family who have been on this journey with us these past few months,you have helped smooth the way for us in countless way.

Sept 4,
I went to work for a couple of hours until my boss got there. then came home for the rest of the day.Called Dales Bishop to let him know what had happened. I tried to sleep ( had been more than two days without sleep) but the phone kept ringing. I sure the kids never got sleep either. They finally called in the afternoon and asked if they could bring Alexis over for the evening. They just needed to be alone to grieve and try to sleep. My other son and his wife came out and took the rest of the grand kids for the evening to let us get some rest. I went to lay down for an hour , but ended up sleeping until 2am ...My daughter and parents let me sleep. Their R.S. president called while I was asleep and asked what they could do. They brought them in food for the next couple of days.When
My husband started driving back from Nebraska.

Sat. Sept 5,
Will (my sweet 7 yr-old grandson) wanted to help with Alexis. He is so tender hearted and wanted to help ...Dale and Lori came and picked her up a little after noon.
Cliff made it home around 6pm that night. Having driven 1700 miles in two days. Needless to say he was tired too. ( he denies this)

Sunday Sept.6,
We went to church this morning. Dana wanted to keep things as normal for the kids as possible. Also this is her home ward and she needed that comfort as well. I was supposed to play the organ this morning but called someone else to play for me. I knew I wouldn't be able to play well.
Later in the afternoon Cliff helped Dale and Lori finish up a painting project they have at her mothers house. Will went with them, which made him feel quite special. He enjoyed playing with the dogs.

Monday Sept 7:
Cliff worked on Dana;s car put new brakes on for her so she could get home safely. She left with the kids and My parents at noon. They drove to S.L. got there about midnight. Will was so sad, cried for a good hour cause he didn;t want to leave.
I cried too, I didn"t want them to leave either but knew they had to go. We had all made the decision to have them come here before Jayden passed rather then after. I am so glad we did. and that they were able to be here.

my husband looked for songs for and found "Baby Mine" sung by Alison Krause
Dale;s favorite movie growing up was Dumbo , he would play it for hours,so this means alot to him. We sent it to him and they decided to play this at the service.
Tues. Sept 8,

Went with the kids to the Mortuary to help them make arrangements .Lori;s Mom was there as well. They decided to have a graveside service. He was to be cremated .( one of the funeral homes offers this as a free service to new parents who lose a child). Lori's grandfather bought a plot for their family ,to lay him to rest in.
The funeral home director is a family friend and gave us the program at cost and the use of a glass box for the earn for no charge. ( don't even want to know how much it would have cost) We came home that evening and called Their Bishop, He would be presiding. I made a call to my RS president and she called theirs and within a matter of two phone calls and a matter of minutes all the arrangements had been made. They reserved the church, made plans for a dinner for the family afterwards, ect... What a humbling experience. I have helped with these things before but it is different when you are on the receiving end of so much service.

Thursday,Sept 10:
Cliff went with Lori to pick up Jayden. They didn't want to go alone .

How do I express all that has happened in the past two weeks. It feels as though we have been on a long arduous journey filled with many ups and downs. But in reality it has only been a few short days.

The last I posted my husband had just left on the trip on a trip with his aging Aunt and Uncle. They have been wanting to go back to Ohio to visit their son , they are concerned about their health and the lack of time they may have left ( She has recently found out that her cancer has returned ) so they wanted to go on this trip while they still can. A few weeks earlier they went to the coast on a trial run . well they decided that they didn't feel comfortable going alone. They really wanted us to go along with them. We have felt really torn. wanting to go but also not wanting to leave here with the situation with the babies. So we decided that he would go, towing our little truck behind the motor home and I would stay home . Cliff left here (Wa.) on Friday August 28.
Our dog has been crying for two days. She has gotten so used to us both being home in the evening that she won't eat dinner until we are both here. (Silly girl).

Sunday: August 30 ,
Church starts here at 9am, I didn't get up in time to go. I am glad I was home, because about an hour later Dale (my son) called and said that they couldn't get Jayden to eat. He had had a seizure on Friday ( they were warned that those may occur) and they couldn't get him to eat much since then. I asked if they wanted me to come over and they said yes. We ended up spending the next few hours in the hospital as they checked him out. The kids did have them give him an IV so he had some fluids, but that was all they would do for them. the hospital considers this a natural progression of his condition. So they sent him home. The kids were having a really hard time with this...they just felt like they needed to be doing something. I discussed with them about their calling the Hospice nurse back in to put the feeding tube back in .( at least they felt like they were doing all they could reasonably do . ) Left them to discuss it together. Dale asked a couple times throughout the day when Dana his sister was going to be here. (not until the 17Th)
Cliff and I talked that night, both our hearts were breaking, wanting to be both places together.

Monday: Aug 31,
Called Dana our daughter in Albuquerque . Told her what was happening and we discussed the options of waiting to fly up on the 17Th as planned or coming now... we both felt she shouldn't wait. I went to work and left her my card #, and said do whatever needs to be done. Her sweet husband told her to go and all would be fine. She pulled the kids out of school, took the kids and started the drive up here on Tuesday. ( Her husband rented a car the rest of the week for himself).
...The hospice nurse came out at 2pm . the kids asked both the grandmothers to be there while she talked with them. This time it was a better experience for them. She put a feeding tube in and showed them what to do. She told them not to be surprised if there isn't much change.

Tuesday: Sept. 1, Dana arrived in Salt Lake.She Stayed with my parents for the night. We had both talked with them earlier and told them to pack a bag if they would like and come up with her.Being spontaneous people they took her up on the offer. Gave her someone to talk to on the way and other hand to help her with her three kids.

Wed. Sept 2,
I worked until Dana came into town around 4pm. She stopped by the store to let me know they were here. My boss let me leave then. Dana went on home with Dad and the kids , I went with Mom and my granddaughter to get Pizza. We were almost to the house when Dale called , I handed to phone to my Mom and she talked to Dale , He got emotional cause he didn;t know they were coming. Asked what was for dinner , and said they would be right out.
Dale and Lori came out with the babies and we were able to visit with them for the rest of the evening. What a special night. Very relaxed . just nice to be together and not have to hurry to be somewhere. Mom and Dad were able to visit as long as they wanted with their great grand babies.

Thursday: Sept 3,
The kids called us in the afternoon and said that Jayden wasn't doing well. If anyone wanted to see him and hold him or see them to meet with them at I-hop banquet room. ( i know that sounds odd, but our other son works there and his boss has offered the room for other occasions. it gave them a place for people to come and go as they please .very sweet of them)
so family and friends were able to hold him and say their goodbyes . A long emotional evening. Afterwards Dale asked if Dana , and I would come over to be with them. ( they didn't want to be alone). We got the kids to bed, left them in my parents capable hands and went over for the rest of the night.

Jayden William Jones went to be with his Heavenly Father at 3:50 am on Friday Sept.4.

I'm not the only one...

Evidence that I am not the only one who spoils our dog. (Contrary to popular opinion )
My husband and Sadie were taking a nap together the other day.
He also gives me a bad time about our morning and evening treat routine, well now he has been bringing home special homemade treats for her. (a co-worker makes them up and sells them).
We had a scare a few weeks ago where we thought that we had "lost" her. It was on a Sunday so the vet.office was closed. By the time we got her in on Monday night she was doing a little bit better. They think that she might have had small stroke. They sent us home with Med.s to last a couple of weeks and said that it may take a while but she should come back around.
It has been about three weeks now and she seems to be doing much better. sleeps more soundly, and drags one foot a bit.She seemed really confused for awhile but that better now as well.
Sadie is 13 years old and is one of the most enjoyable dogs we have had. so we are going to enjoy everyday that we have with her and make it the best while she is still here.

Pergola

For years we have wanted some kind of an awning in the front, but haven't felt that we could afford to do have it built. I wanted a pergola, C. didn't know what he wanted, he just didn't want to build it, and wanted something that we didn't have to maintain.
Our front door can get so hot in the summer time that the door handle can actually burn your hand.
we have been cutting pictures out of magazines, getting prices for kits, and talking to various companies all summer. Well we finally just decided to go for it.
This last week they came out to install it, and we absolutely LOVE IT!.
What a difference it has made. Not nearly so hot in the house,. we can open the door, and now we have a patio that we actually enjoy spending time on.

I wanted to give an update on the babies. Wednesday the 12th both babies were released from the hospital. Each day is a miracle. In the past two weeks they are discovering their distinct personalities. They each have their own unique way of eating and sleeping. Dale has been home the first couple of weeks which has been a real help to Lori. I worry when he starts going back to work on a regular basis.

The MRI results and have been sent to Seattle. and they have said that they are going to get in contact with the Carter Institute in Texas ,who might be able to give them some additional insight in Jadens' condition.

they are enjoying being a little family together. small house, three dogs, two children ,looking for a permanent job, and a bigger house, ( their landlord has them on the top of his list for a bigger place.). But they couldn't be more happy.

Welcome to Holland

On reading about parents with special care children One father described it in the following way. I just wanted to share what many of us are feeling. very good way to describe it.:

Welcome To Holland
By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a
disability-to try to help people who have not shared that unique
experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.

It's like this...
When You're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous
vacation trip- to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make wonderful
plans. The coliseum, Michelangelo�s David. The gondolas of Venice. You may
learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After a few months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives.
You pack your bags and off you go.
Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says

"Welcome to Holland."
"HOLLAND?!?" You say. " What do you mean, Holland ? I signed up for Italy!
I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
"But there's been a change of plans," says the stewardess.
"They've landed in Holland and there you must stay."
The important thing is you haven't landed in a horrible, disgusting,
filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a
different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole
new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would
have never met.
It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy
than Italy. But after you've been there a while and you catch your breath,
you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills,
Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and
they're all bragging about the wonderful time they had there.
And for the rest of your life you will say,
"Yes, that's where I was supposed to go.
That's what I had planned."

And that pain will never, ever go away because the loss of that
dream was a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to
Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special and lovely
things about Holland.

New Parents

my youngest son and his sweetheart called us over on tuesday wanting us to take some family pictures before she popped. Two days later on Thursday morning at 7:53 and 7:54 am the twins were born.
Jayden William (7 lb,4 oz), and Alexis Ann-Marie (5 lbs 0.5 oz) .

they were born at 34 weeks. Alexis is doing well, and Jayden is really doing quite good for his condition. they were told at about 20 weeks that there was a problem with Jaden . His head had alot of fluid in it and they didn't expect him to live to term, if he did live to not expect him to live for more than a few days.

he was given an ultrasound the first day, which just confirmed what they already were seeing . Hydrosepholus (water on the brain) which is serious enough. Friday they did an MRI to get a better image and found it was more serious. He has a condition called Holoprosensephaly (Alobar type) which is the most severe. this is when the brain doesn;t develope and divide into two seperate lobes. This is considered fatal and so they are given care and comfort. can live for a The kids made the decision to have a No resussatation order. One of the hardest things for a young parents to have to do.needless to say they are emotionally exhausted . these children may live a week, a month, many live for 4 months and some even up to a year. They are already learning to appreciate and cherish every moment.

As of Sunday night both babies are doing well enough to go into the nursery. Mom will be released on Monday and can then stay with them for their remainder of their stay in the hospital.

Nativity update

I have been able to get all the orders for carvings done, so I was able to take some time and get back to the nativity sets that I started a couple of months ago. Finished painting these, then posted them on facebook so my daughter could see them. Was contacted by an old friend from High school who wanted to buy set # 2. She seemed pleased with it ,so I may make up a couple more sets . I am still debating about doing a bazaar this fall or maybe try Etsie for a few months... We'll see.

grandkids

Had all my grandchildren here this past week. It was a really nice week. At one point I walked outside and they were all sitting on the swing together, so I had to get the camera. Getting them to all look at me and smile wasn't too easy, but it was nice that they were all getting along so well.