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April 15, 2012 is tax day. On April 15, 1977 I didn't know anything about taxes. The day came and went and my taxes were never mailed. The government still owes me $30... I wonder how much interest I've earned on that.
April 15, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. My great-grandfather helped to build the Titanic in Belfast. My grandmother was six-years-old and was there when it was launched. When I found out that my ancestor had helped to build the Titanic I said, " I hope he didn't work on the part that broke."On April 15, 2012 Michael and I will celebrate our thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. This is one of my favorite wedding pictures; we look so young... that's because we were (only 18 and 19). Thirty-five years later... we are happy, we love each other, we love our children and grandchildren, we are blessed more than I can express... life is good; can you imagine what eternity will be like?
Don't you love it when pictures appear that you've never seen before? Especially if your kids are in them. This picture is a new favorite for me, it just came into my possesion in the last year or so.
This is my only sister; Lilian, and my baby brother; David, with my baby boy; Jeremy. I had three children before any of my siblings even started having kids. Consequently, although they missed out on having cousins very close to their ages, they had the benefit of being the "onlys" for a few years. The only grandchildren and the only nephews... on both sides of family.
My siblings loved my children and they built relationships with them that have endured through adulthood. Lilian and David were my best babysitters when the boys were little. Lilian grew up and started her own family, and teenager David one day proclaimed that he wasn't babysitting again... and he didn't; until Caitlin came along.
Lilian is my only sister and she's the best! I love going to her house and I often invite myself over for movies and her fabulous popcorn, Mike and I have a reserved seat. We can talk on the phone forever... and still have things to say an hour later. She is willing to help out at the deli on a moments notice if needed, and everyone likes it when she comes to work. She's fun! I love my sista Ririan!
David is my baby brother. He has a heart of gold. When he knocks on my door I know it's him because nobody can knock on a door the way he does. We have a telephone ritual that never fails. He can make you laugh 'til it hurts... but can also bring a tear to your eye.
When I see this picture of Jeremy I just want to cuddle him in my arms again. His little Tanner reminds me of him when he was the same age. What a precious baby boy, and he still is... my baby boy!
Love you Jer Bear and Leenz and Wayway!!
Last week was Caitlin's birthday, so it seems appropriate to share a favorite picture taken minutes after her birth.
When I went to my very first OB appointment I told my Doctor that I would like the baby to be born on St. Patrick's Day. My due date was so close to that day, and after all... I was born in Ireland. I was induced early that morning and amazingly it was my longest labor ever. Caitlin Rose (perfect name for a St. Patrick's Day baby girl) made it with just 55 minutes to spare. I came to the conclusion that Caitlin and Ashleigh had spent some time together, and waited as long as possible to say "goodbye".
Caitlin's birth brought a lot of joy and healing to our family. Just look at the smiles on our faces. She was, and continues to be a gift. Happy birthday Rose!!
Last week I posted a picture of Jeffrey Michael on his blessing day... this week I'm posting a favorite picture of Sander Michael on his blessing day (last Sunday), with me and Michael. We have been blessed with nine beautiful grandchildren; seven boys and two girls. Each is unique and we love them so much.
I recently picked up (5-year-old) William from his school bus. As the door to the bus opened I could hear the bus driver say to Will, "there's Grandma" as a smiling William literally leaped from the steps of the bus into my arms. What Grandma wouldn't love that?
I made each of the grandchildren a blanket last Christmas. The day after Christmas we were all at Jeremy and Emily's home for a family party. Little Tanner (soon to be two) had his blanket in his arms and was standing several feet away from me when I said, "do you know why Grandma made that blanket for you? 'cause I love you!" His face broke out in a big smile as he spontaneously ran across the floor to give me a hug. I'll never forget that.
I love it when Jane (19 months old) smiles and reaches for me when she sees me. My ego is really boosted when I say to her, "who loves Grandma?" and she raises her little hand and says, "me."
Mason (4 1/2) is our "true to the blue" BYU fan. When BYU and Utah played last fall and BYU scored a touchdown, I sent off a text to Mason's daddy saying, "yay!!" I've got to cheer for my little BYU guy as much as I do for my little (and big) Utah guys.
Adam (soon to be a 10-year-old) is our firstborn grandchild. He always has a hug for Grandma and Grandpa every time we see him. He has the nicest manners, and although he's getting older he still loves "Grandma Days" which makes me happy (and we need to schedule one).
I love spending time with Miss Avery (3-year-old). Recently she came over and we played with American Girl dolls.... but as girly as she is, when I asked her who likes the Packers? she replied, "me and Grandpa!!"
Zachary (soon to be an 8-year-old) is a good worker, and when I put him in charge he gets the job done. I'll never forget how hard he worked as a "mover" when we moved 2 1/2 years ago... and he was not quite 5 1/2 at the time.
Little James (just about to be 18 months old) just makes me smile. When he smiles his dimples appear and his whole face lights up. I could just squeeze and cuddle him forever.
Baby Sander (four months) is so sweet. He talks to me and has the most beautiful smiles. He is a precious baby boy and a wonderful addition to our family!!
On Sunday Jeff will be blessing his baby boy, so today I'm sharing a favorite picture of Jeff on the day that he was blessed. It was December 1979 and we were living in Duchesne, in a cute little rental house that had previously been a garage. Our families were there on that special day and after church we had dinner at our home. I love this picture of the brothers. I had already changed Jeff from his blessing outfit into this one piece jammie; the same jammie that Andy wore after church on his blessing day. Time does fly on "wings of lightening".
Michael just came home from work and the second thing he said was, "you didn't do a classics and favorites today." Oops!!! How did I overlook that. I told him that I hadn't even picked a picture yet. He humbly volunteered to let me post a picture of him... he needed some "kudos". Don't we all some days? Well, I knew just the picture of him I wanted to post, but, while searching for it came across this favorite that was taken while standing in line at the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland in 2009. I love little William's smile and his little hand round his Grandpa's neck. I love the look on Michael's face too... "hmmm", you say, "we can't see Mike's face." Well, just look at what you can see, it's plain as day to me... his big smile and the twinkle in his eyes. How can you miss it!?!
This classic is from a long, long time ago. I'm guessing that it's possibly Easter Sunday 1964? Mother I'm sure will clarify in the comment section. There I am; just 5 1/2 years old, Archie is 4, and Timothy is 2 1/2. We were very proud of our baby brother Alan, who I often heard Mother say "was the firstborn in the wilderness", because of course we older three were born in Ireland. This photo was part of Dad and Moms 50th anniversary DVD (an excellent production which was produced by Alan). In the DVD, Alan states how he used to be jealous of the older siblings because we were born in Ireland, but as he grew older he came to the realization... that unlike him, none of the three older children qualify to be President of the United States! Hey, this is an election year!
Side note: I was just in kindergarten in this photo but I can still remember that dress. It was white with pink polka dots and the little jacket was pink.
Second side note: We had only been in America about a year-and-a-half at this time. That was the duplex we lived in upon our arrival. It was torn down several years ago but it was located on 5th south in WB just below the refinery and the second set of railroad tracks. I drive by there quite often when going to work or to Andy's house. There are some interesting buildings currently going up on the site of our first home in America.
Okay, third side note: Do you think those little kids still had Irish accents?
Can you say a favorite!!!! This picture is definitely one of them. Miss Avery was here for a visit one evening, and we were watching our routine-Miss-Avery-movie... "Cinderella"; of course. One minute she was sitting on the couch next to me, and I guess Grandpa looked much more comfortable, because she quietly slipped away and sneaked right under his arm and I caught one of the cutest pictures ever!!
I wish this favorite picture was bigger; but, I'm sure everyone gets the idea. Our family loves music! And when the drums, guitars, keyboards and microphones aren't available... we (they) improvise. This is an impromptu lyp-sinc performance complete with water bottle microphones. You have really missed out it you haven't seen Jeff and Jeremy perform a duet; complete with choreography. So glad this moment was captured on camera; and as you can see we start them out young in the family, there's baby Mason getting in on the act, or... wondering what the heck is going on!
On September 3, 1962, I started school in Belfast at the Robert Bell Primary School. My daddy had already been in America for over two months; and it would be less than two months until I would be in America too. This picture, which was taken at the school, is a definite classic. Each day my mommy would give me money for my lunch, with the instructions "don't give it to anyone but your teacher". Apparently my teacher was a "smacker" (not uncommon in the "olden days"). My teacher smacked me because I broke a yellow crayon. Although I do have some vague memories of my early childhood in Ireland, and even of school... I don't remember being smacked. This is not an unfamiliar picture to those of you who read my blog, it's there on the sidebar every time you pop in. Recently I looked at the picture and saw a resemblance between me and one of my grandchildren. Who do you think I look like? Or should I say... looks like me?
On April 16, 1998, Granpa and Granma arrived home from their mission to England. We had a fun family weekend together, including a trip to the zoo. Only two of my children are in this favorite picture. Caitlin is sitting in the wagon with Derek and Chelsea, and Jeremy is just over Granpa's left shoulder with Tara and AJ in front of him. Jeremy's hair blends nicely with the giraffes. More than once I've heard Granma tell her version of their arrival at the airport and seeing the family for the first time in 18 months. She remembers seeing a strange boy with bright yellow hair and she wondered, "why did they bring a neighbor boy to the airport?", then she realized... it's Jeremy! Welcome home Granma; and... I'm glad Jeremy "grew" out of that bright yellow hair phase.
I have often heard my parents proclaim that Britain has the greatest public transportation system in the world... the bus. Although they rode the bus, I think that this was probably my Mother's most often used transport to get her and her children from point A to point B... the pram. No minivan or SUV for my mom; neither of my parents even had a drivers license until they came to America.
This classic picture reminds me of stories that my parents have told me over the years of our life in Ireland. One in particular is that my parents used to walk to church with all three of their bairns (me, Archie, and Timothy) in the pram. It often rained, and so Archie and Timothy, being younger and smaller, sat together under the hood and I sat at the other end. I wore socks and sandals and by the time we arrived at church my feet had gotten wet (it was okay to wear socks and sandals back then... it was even okay to wear socks to church back then ;) Mother, who is always prepared, removed my socks and dried my feet, she then took a dry pair of socks from her bag and redressed my feet.
I'm not exactly sure when this picture was taken; but guessing the ages of the wee bairns, it was probably shortly before Dad came to America.
Another picture from the beach. What can I say? I love it!! This classic picture of the grandchildren (Granpa and Granma are in there somewhere) was taken in 1999, ten years after the picture of the grandchildren I featured in the first installment of this series. We have so many memories of our vacations at the beach as an extended family. A memory from this particular trip was the huge log that had washed ashore. It became a "playground toy" for the kids all week long... and as you can see, a great "photo op" for the photographers in the family. I love the beach house!!
Here is a photo with a bunch of my favorite guys, with one of my favorite places, the ocean, in the background. At the start of Beach Road is an outdoor basketball court where the guys usually assemble at least once every trip for a game or two. I have a funny basketball story (not sure if it was this particular trip) to share. One Sunday morning at the beach the guys headed down the road to play basketball. When Granma saw them leaving with basketball in hand, she asked where they were going (knowing full well where they were going). When she was told they were going to play basketball, she responded, "on the sabbath?" And without skipping a beat David responded, "church ball." And off they went.
Due to some "camera to computer" difficulties, I haven't been able to load any of my recent pictures. A couple of days ago Jeremy solved my problem for me (thanks Jer), so rather than post my Thanksgiving pictures a month late... I decided to choose one of my favorite pictures to share.
Whenever my grandchildren come to visit, one of the things they love to do is to go for a walk to see the horses on my neighbors farm. Thanksgiving afternoon was no exception to the rule... so on our walk we went. As it turns out it was me, my four kids, and eight of my nine grandchildren (baby Sander was asleep back at the house).
I took this photo and loved it immediately... how could I help but love it? This is my posterity and I love them.
Tomorrow is the (26th annual) family Christmas party, so... of course I had to do one of my favorite Christmas party pictures this week. This picture was taken on December 23, 2000. Jeff had returned from his mission just a couple of days earlier and would have his "homecoming" in Sacrament Meeting the next morning (Christmas Eve). Kristin was the newest member of our family as of March 2000 when she and Andy were married.
I anticipate and look forward to the party each year and this year is no exception. I can't wait to see everyone Saturday night. I'm challenging each family member that reads this post to leave a comment about the party and on Saturday night I'll pick a winner for a prize. Non-family members can leave comments too of course... you won't be in the drawing, but, you can consider it a pleasure being nominated ;)
This classic picture was taken on our first trip to the beach house in 1984. I have some other beach house pictures lined up for this series, but I had to share this one first. I have been going to San Clemente beach since I was 10 years old (including my honeymoon), but this was the year that the beach house tradition started for Mike and I and our little family. Some memories of this trip would include: being a contestant on "The Price is Right"; walking from our motel in Las Vegas to Circus Circus, because... "it's just down the street" (it turned out to be 3 miles); and triple odds on craps... and I'm not talking about gambling here folks. I.LOVE.THIS.PLACE!!!
This picture was taken shortly before my Dad left Ireland for America in June of 1962, it is the classic of classics. Timothy would celebrate his 1st birthday and I would celebrate my 4th (both without Dad) shortly after this picture was taken, Archie was 2 1/2. We wouldn't be together again as a family for 4 long months.
While in America, Dad worked hard to earn the money to bring the rest of us here. Mom worked hard in Ireland taking care of three children, selling and giving away her belongings (she came with only a couple of suitcases), and making arrangements to come to America. In October Mom traveled alone with three young children, not only by plane to New York, but across the country by train; the California Zephyr. The next time you see the replica of the California Zephyr in California Adventure... think of my Mom traveling across the country with her three small children; all alone. In 1962 there was no e-mail or cell phones for texting, and long distance was very expensive (no phone company packages with free long distance back then). Mom and Dads only communication was through the postal service, they had lots of details to work out and it all had to be done through "snail mail". The first time they heard each others voices during that four month period, was a few days before Mom and the children arrived in Salt Lake.
I hope my Dad doesn't mind me sharing a line from his personal history that I always apply to this particular picture... a taxi came to take me to the airport. The pain of leaving my little family cut deep into my heart. I hugged them and kissed them, got into the taxi and as I looked back I saw my Trixie with Timothy in her arms and my little Lesley and Archie and I can never describe the heaviness of my heart at this time. All of a sudden their faces vanished as we turned the corner and now it was just me and the taxi driver.
Several years ago I had copies of this picture made for me, Archie and Tim. Although we are too young to remember all of the details that our parents have shared with us over the years, I hope we, nor our posterity's (or our siblings and their posterity's), will ever forget the circumstances under which we were brought here, nor the sacrifices made on our behalves so that we could grow up in America.
Love you mom and Dad... you are the best!!
This favorite picture was taken in between Sunday General Conference sessions in October 1998. My parents, and a friend (Margaret Ainge) who was visiting from their mission, attended the morning session of conference, and me, Jeff and Jeremy attended the afternoon. We had one little problem... Caitlin; she was not yet old enough to attend conference. After they were finished with the morning session, we met Granpa and Granma on the north side of the Tabernacle and we left Caitlin with them for the rest of the afternoon while we attended. Granma captured this picture of Granpa and Caitlin as they walked back to the car in the rain. I love it!!
Some interesting notes: Mike was out of town on his traditional Yellowstone trip with his dad and brother, and Andy was on his mission in Quebec. Jeff had just had his wisdom teeth removed about two days before but was determined to attend conference. As the three of us sat in the Tabernacle waiting for conference to start, some of the brethren walked up and down the aisles shaking hands and greeting the people. Elder Oaks stopped and shook Jeff's hand and referred to him as "Elder" as if he knew that Jeff was soon to be leaving on his mission. I remember wondering, how does he know that Jeff's an Elder? Maybe he was an investigator that we were bringing to conference... I guess he just knew.
This is one of my very favorite classics (it will be in the 50th anniversary DVD for sure). At the time this picture was taken Andy and Jeffrey were the only grandchildren on both sides of the family and were "doted" on by several aunts and uncles. One of my brothers (please remind me who, Archie or Alan?) took this photo in my parents backyard. I can still remember these two little guys (sorry Andy, you're two for two with goofy faces in this photo series) wearing those shiny jackets. Jeff is singing along with the 80's version of the "ipod", the Sony Walkman. Seriously... aren't they the cutest!!!!!
April 15, 2012 is tax day. On April 15, 1977 I didn't know anything about taxes. The day came and went and my taxes were never mailed. The government still owes me $30... I wonder how much interest I've earned on that.
