After a very wet and cold weekend, Monday dawned clear and beautiful.  We got an early start and headed up to Strawberry.

There was a lot of boats up there with it being a holiday and the only decent day of the long weekend.  Plus....they are having a fishing tournament!  They've planted three hundred fish with tags on them where you can win prizes or some big money.  The top prize is 25,000 dollars!  That makes it pretty exciting.  KC decided that should be his job for the summer...to catch the fish with the 25,000 dollar tag on it!  HA! 

We headed over to the ladders first cause we had had more luck there than about anywhere.  We pulled up a little ways from a boat where the people were making quite a bit of noise...I've got a fish on...Oh me too!  Oh I got another one!  I've got one on each pole!"  Stuff like that.

We thought we should be able to do the same...and Kelley caught a big one right away.  Then nothing.  We were trying everything and not having any luck at all.  We crept closer to that other boat, hoping to see what they were using for bait.  They were still carrying on...seriously, little kids...probably about 5 years old, catching one fish after another.  It was getting pretty annoying.

After a while we threw all our pride out the window and cruised by their boat..."You guys are doing pretty well...what are you using?"..."Just power bait and a hook"

So we drove  a little way off and gave that a try.  Nope. Nothing.

So we decided to head over to Soldier Creek.  We fished a little on the way in some of the fingers, but didn't have any luck.  We went to some favorite spots over there, and Kelley caught a couple more.  Then the wind picked up so we decided to go back over to the Strawberry side.  We went to that spot where the people had been catching all the fish and KC caught one there.   We tried a few other spots, but Nelson and I ended up skunked.

 

We figured out where our new slip was and left the boat there this time.  It was a fun day.  So beautiful up there. Everything is so green.  I love to listen to the birds and see the wild life all around on the lake... It's so peaceful.

Glad for a day with my guys..(it was questionable if I was going to be allowed on the boat after I suggested they have a yard sale to get rid of some of those extra lures ( they have bags and bags of unopened packages of lures...not exaggerating...when Dan thinks he has found a good lure...he will buy all the store has).  This was apparently very offensive.  Then I realized it would be like me having a yard sale to get rid of my extra floss or fabric that I hoard.  I totally understand now.

We went to visit Pat Sunday at the rehab place.  He seems to be doing pretty good.  They are letting him come home today. While we were there, Chris and Spencer came by to visit too.  It turned into a stroll down memory lane as these guys told stories about their childhood adventures.  Once again...I don't know how Kelley's mom survived. 

We were admiring Pats scar from his operation and got to talking about all the times when Chris and Kelley had to get stitches as they were growing up.  Stories about razor blades in the bath tub and jumping off the roof of the house with a blanket for a parachute and then there was the time when Kelley slugged Chris in the leg and it developed into a huge hematoma that had to be drained with a huge needle.  ( I could see KC was getting a little queasy, just from the smell of the hospital, but all the talk of needles and blood and such was pushing him close to the edge.) 

It was funny ( and probably a little comforting to KC ) to hear about how Chris used to pass out every time he had to get a shot too.

 It's so nice to listen to these guys laugh.  Kelley and Chris have a bond and a history that have kept them very close over the years.  Their relationship was strengthened through the years when Kelley was pretty much his brothers keeper.  His mom was going through a pretty rough time when those boys were little and was not really there for them. I'm not judging...heaven knows after raising 6 boys pretty much single handled ( Kelley's dad worked out most of their growing up years) I would have been in the loony bin. 

Anyway, the other boys were older and not around much to help so Kelley took over as Chris's protector, guardian and care giver.

They still talk on the phone about every day and I can tell when he's talking to Chris.  He usually gets going on some story from their past...(seems like they have endless adventures...funny stories about people they grew up with or about them playing hockey in the bathtub with a bar of soap), then they will laugh and laugh till Kelley has tears. 

While we were talking the other day, Chris was telling some funny story and Spencer was rolling his eyes like 'oh not this one again!"  but it was so neat to watch Chris and Kelley's face's as they recalled these memories.  You can just tell there is a lot of love there.  

Made me wish Chris and his family lived closer.

After, we went over to see Kelley's dad.  Maxine's roses are in their glory right now....and these peonies are amazing! 

 

Kelley's dad seemed happy.  He has been kind of down since Pat has been in the hospital.  Chris, Spencer, Andrew and Mark came over and went to church with him that morning though and I think that really cheered him up.

A few things from this weekend...

Yes that is evaporated milk in my purse ( you never know when you're going to need some)  Also all the rest of the contents of my purse securely wrapped and rubber banded together for safety.

It's a good thing I have a thoughtful husband to take care of me?

 I've been procrastinating this job for about 10 years...that's probably when this wall paper should have come down...come to think about it, it went out of style about 15 years ago!  Ha!  And since it was my idea to have the wall paper, I must be punished  with the job of scraping it off.

So what do I do?  Head straight to pinterest for every one's fabulous advice on removing wall paper.  They all said about the same thing...spray it with hot water, let it soak, then scrape it off. 

So I did, and with a little elbow grease, it came right off!  HA!  That wasn't so bad at all!

 I got most of my pots planted...this was the urn from mum's rock garden...love it!

 Chickens are growing nicely...they look like real chickens now! We've started feeding them scraps from the table now and they are loving it!  They come running when they see me coming with the "chicken bucket"  We found a picture of what we want the coop to look like and the features we want in it so now Kelley just needs about 5 more hours in the day to get it done. 

 Planted  a few new perennials in the rock garden...it was pretty bare after the pond remodeling last summer. 

Lizzy has been a little jealous of the chickens when we go out and feed all the left overs to them. She stands there looking at us all pitiful and sad, like "what about me????"   We have been trying to not give her people food lately cause she has been throwing it up.  But the other day when we were giving the chickens some old rolls, Lizzy was seriously whimpering so I gave one to her.  She ran away with it and the next thing I noticed, she was burying it in the garden.  HA! She had dug a hole there by the peas and was covering it up by pushing dirt over it with her nose.  Then she comes running over to us, just as proud as she could be.  She is just too darn cute.  Even if her nose was all muddy.

Yesterday, Kelley was going in and out of the back yard with the trailer and left the gate open.  The neighbor girl comes to the front door with Lizzy and says she was running down the sidewalk, visiting all the dogs on our street.  She said "Oh and you might want to give her a bath...looks like she's been rolling in some poo!

I thought maybe it was mud, but when I got close to her I could smell it...sure enough poo!

We don't really have a tub right now, so I'm going to have to put her in the shower to bath her!  That should be fun.

 Camille sent me this video of Liv busting a move.  Totally cheered up my day!  Oh yeah, I had to go get that mole surgically removed that was "atypical".  So glad Kelley would go with me...helped me be calm and took my mind off of it.  Dr. Bradley had scheduled me for an hour surgery which seemed like a lot, but it took even longer than that.  Really the bad part is getting deadened.  The nurse that did it had some sympathy for me though cause she had a huge tattoo in the same place.  She said she passed out from the pain when she was getting it....whyyyyyyy?  She used six syringes of deadening stuff, and man that hurt.  She must have poked me a hundred times.  I couldn't help it, I had to cry a little bit.

Dr. Bradley and Kelley chatted away while he took the piece out of my hip.  I'm glad I couldn't see what he was doing...all I could feel was a lot of tugging in that area.  Then he got out his cauterizer to stop the bleeding.  That was not cool.  I could see the smoke and hear it sizzle and smell myself  cooking.  I was glad Kelley was there to talk to him, cause I just wanted to shut my eyes and try to go to my happy place.  Then he started stitching me back together...the tissue underneath, then the skin.  It took quite a while.  Hope he made it purdy.

  Dr. Bradley said I shouldn't lift anything for about two weeks and to take it easy for a while.  Kelley has been pampering me and taking good care of me.  He's a peach.  Came home from Dr. visit to find our lawn and Robin's (next door) all trimmed and mowed.  KC had been camping with his friends, but had come home while we were gone and just done that without being asked.  He also is a peach.

This is what the Memorial day weekend looked like.   Kelley spent the morning helping Spencer and Chris get everything moved out of his place in Provo...then later that afternoon, Kelley, KC and I went out to eat at Famous Daves.  That was the first time I'd been there and it was yummy!

Last night, the sister missionaries came over to bring the completed family name cards back to me.  Sister Abarka has a new companion.  She is a beautiful girl from an island that I don't know how to spell, but it is by Fiji. Sister Abarka wanted her to see our back yard, so we ate  cookies, looked at the fish and the chickens and hung out back there for a while.

Then the sisters said they wanted to sing me a song, so we went in the living room and I played and they sang hymns. Then after some coaxing, sister Baina did some dances they do on her island. She reminded me of the beautiful Tahitian women daddy had pictures of from his mission.  Sister Abarka said sister Baina's hair was really long.  She had it up in a bun, but it didn't look like that much hair. Sister Abarka said, You really have to see this...so sister Baina took the clips out and her hair fell clear down to her calves.  Really beautiful!

Then sister Baina wanted me to teach her how to lead music, so we worked on that for a while.  She has a beautiful voice and spoke English quite well for only being here for five months.

Sister Abarka said she had found out that the bunch of guys that had lived next door to us had moved out and that a single lady lived there now..."do you know her?"  I told them that I had talked to her several times and thought she was a real nice lady.  They asked me if she was a member of the church...I said no...( I just assumed when she offered Kelley a beer for helping her move in)  they asked if  I had told her about the church.  I said no.  I had thought about it but hadn't really had an opportunity...still just getting to be friends with her. I told them a little bit about her past and the situation she was in and they also thought the gospel would make her life happier.  So we decided to go over and talk to her.  I was kind of nervous...not knowing what she thought about "Mormons" or wanting to jeopardize our friendship, but then I thought....I have something wonderful and I would always regret it if I never tried to give her an opportunity to have it too!  

Sister Baina said a sweet prayer and we walked over there.

  It took her a long time to answer the door and we could hear the dogs in there barking their heads off.  She finally opened the door just a little bit and poked her head out. 

I talked to her for a minute, then introduced the sister missionaries. 

The dogs were going crazy behind her, so she said "let me go put the dogs in the other room."  She was gone for quite a long time, then came back to the door and said "I'll come outside...the dogs won't behave."

So she came outside and stood on the porch and listened to the missionaries.  They gave her great introduction to our church and both of them bore their testimonies.  I thought they did a wonderful job...I don't think anyone could have been more sincere.  Then they asked her a few questions about her beliefs.  She said she did believe in God, but has never been interested in religion.

They told her a little bit about the Book of Mormon and asked her if she would take one and read it.  She thought for a minute, then said , "I'm sorry, but I have to say no."  Sister Abarka asked if she would take a pamplet about the plan of salvation.    She said very kindly..."I thank you for coming over, but I'm really not interested". 

She was very gracious and didn't seem annoyed. I think we are still friends.

When we were leaving, Robin told the missionaries that she would let me know if she wanted to have them come back.  So pretty much don't call me...I'll call you.  I hope she will think about the things they said though...there is so much hope in their message...I don't think she has a lot of that in her life right now.

I  

Keep Smiling!

Just got home from a funeral of my cousin...I guess he would be my second cousin, through marriage, on my moms side, twice removed... Delmont or Dowayne Jessop.  I was trying to explain to KC how we are related, but  then realized he isn't the one we are related to, it's his wife Valaine.  They always just seemed like a package deal..Valaine and Delmont. Valaine has been gone for a while now.  In fact, as we looked around at the people at the funeral, it was mostly their children and grand children.  Most all of the old relatives we grew up with from that side of the family are gone now.
They were such nice people...always had a smile and a kind word.  I remember them mostly from the Yost family reunions... they were really the ones that made them happen. They'd send out invitations to all the families and reserve a big place at the park.   Everyone would bring their own picnic, and something potluck to share with the others.  Then after we ate, they would have tons of genealogy there for the older folks to mull over and exchange notes on, family history trivia games, raffle drawings and games for the little ones.  They really went all out to make them special.   Then as they got older, their kids took over the organizing.  A few years ago, they had a real doozer of a family reunion down at Zollinger park.  They really pulled out all the stops.  I guess they wanted to go out with a bang, cause that was the last one that was had.

Anyway, Delmont lived to be 93 wonderful years of age, so I didn't think it would be real sad occasion.  We walked in and saw everyone wearing happy face buttons and that was confirmed.  (He always said "Keep Smiling"  so they used happy faces everywhere!  Thats not something you see at a lot of funerals!) It was instead a celebration of a life well lived. 
He loved scouting so they had all the talks based around the scout motto, theme,  and the virtues of scouting.  Oh wow, when they told about all the things he did, all the civic and church organizations he was involved in,( was the longest running boy scout...ever) the missionary work, temple work, geneology work the service he gave to family and neighbors and complete strangers, plus all the things he accomplished, it was pretty impressive!
It always makes me re evaluate my life when I hear an eulogy like that.  What would people remember me for?    Don't think they'd have too much to say about me...I better do some stuff!
 

Lost a friend to pancreatic cancer this week.  Went to his viewing and also the viewing of the sister of our good friend Mark ( who was also taken by cancer). 
It seems like cancer effects most every one's families  in some way these days.  It scares me.
It was so sad to see Nathans sweet family standing there, his wife looking kind of dazed and the kids trying to hold it together....kind of eerie to see how the sons had grown up to look just like their dad.  KC was in a little preschool over at Staceys' with their son Thomas.  He's a grown up guy now but looks just like he did when he was 4, except taller.  Such cute boys. And their daughter had just had their first grandchild shortly before he passed.  My heart was breaking for them.
Nathan worked for Kelley laying brick years ago, and they were pretty tight.  They had a lot of fun at work...maybe too much fun!  If they got rained out at work,  they would come over here and play basketball.  He'd bring his kids over and they'd play in the backyard with KC.  He was a good dad.
They were just going along with their lives with the future looking bright...Son just heading off to play college football, new grandchild on the way...then he gets this.  Pretty much of a death sentence. He fought it valiantly  though till there was no more fight left in him.
 It's a stark reminder of how quickly things can change and how precious and wonderful life is.
Made me want to hold Kelley so tight that nothing bad could ever happen to him.  I don't know what I would ever do without him. My whole world revolves around him and our kids. He brings the joy and laughter into this house.  He goes to great lengths to make me happy! (the latest examples...patiently getting all the stuff  home from mum and daddy's place and helping me get through this rough time, lettting me have chickens and building a coop for them (because he knows they remind me of home), remodeling our bedroom and trying to make it just how I want it...these are huge things  to me!)  He has always been this way with me though...how did I get so lucky to find a guy that would treat me so good?...I've been so blessed to have a wonderful, happy life with him.   He is truly such a part of me, that without him, I couldn't be whole again.
Just sayin...don't die.  Thanx

I've been avoiding actually writing these words because then it will become all too real.  But it happened, so I guess I need to accept it and move on.  After about 6 months of negotiating, mum and daddy's house is sold.  The papers have been signed and delivered.  Done, Finito...the end.

Kelley and I went up there on Friday to get the last of the things.  KC was at the wedding of a good friend all day, so he couldn't go.  Driving through the canyon was such a sight!  Everything was so green!  This is such a beautiful time of the year.  I'm going to miss my trips to Cache Valley.  It was sure tugging at my heart that day.

 When we pulled in the drive way, Kelley could see I was feeling pretty sad. So he said  "Well at least you won't have to worry about irrigating anymore."   That pushed me over the edge and I had to go have a good cry.

I wandered around the yard taking a few pictures...everything is trying to grow, even with no one to give it any attention.  They have the best dark rich soil there...everything just thrives.  I remember how daddy use to cuss the dirt cause it had so many rocks, but I think after all the years of tilling and picking them out, they ended up with real good earth.  I hope Boyd appreciates that.  I think he will.

Kelley got the dryer out and I helped him carry it out to the front door.  Then it was just better if I got out of the way.  He had to lift it up pretty high to get it out the front door cause it wouldn't fit past the "B" decoration on the glass door.

I tried to help with the couch and chair, but he was just humoring me.  I wasn't doing anything! 

Then he went to get the stove out of the old house.  That was heavy.  I seriously don't know how he got it out of there.  He is strong.  Like Hercules strong.

We went out back to try to take the swing set apart. The bolts just wouldn't move.  I think they must be rusted together.  Kelley said he would have to use a saws all to get it apart.  So I'm not sure what's going to happen with that.  I would love to have it here at the house for Sam and Liv.  There are so many wonderful memories  on that old swing set.  But I know it will really be hard to get it here.

Kelley got everything secured while I took one more walk through the house.

It felt different this time as I looked around.  Like the warm comfortable feeling that I had always had there before was gone. Now it just felt empty. 

Took one last look in the mirror there over the kitchen sink, and said goodbye to my home.

I've known this day would come for a long time, but that didn't make it any easier.

 I hope Boyd will restore this place and make it beautiful again.  I hope their family will love and care for it.  I know no one could ever do it like mum and daddy did, but I believe from what he has told us, that that is what he plans to do.  I want to go back after a while to see what he has done.  

No matter how long I am here...that will always be home.

A few thoughts from the past few days...

A few weeks ago, Stacey asked me If I would teach the Relief Society lesson for Gina ( she kind of had a lot going on ...Chris just got home from his mission and was speaking that day)

First thought ( after just hearing Jill Egbert's amazing lesson) was: I can't do it!  I would never be able to get up there and talk like that!  I haven't taught Relief Society for about 20 years.  I seriously have been in Young Women forever.  These ladies are lovely and all very kind, but I feel very intimidated by them.

But I said OK.

Then it was kind of weird cause the next week, Gina approaches me and asks me if I would teach the lesson for her.  I was like "oh yeah, Stacey already asked me"  and Gina says, that's strange, because I told her I would get my own sub and we had never talked about asking you.  So apparently, neither one of them knew the other was asking me...so I guess I was supposed to teach this lesson (either that or my friends are ganging up on me!)

Anyway, I went home and looked at the talks I was supposed to take the lesson from. They were from this last conference.  I remembered the first one right off...titled, "What thinks Christ of Me?"  by Neil L. Anderson.  It was one that really struck me when I heard it.  He told about a family that was right in the middle of the big earthquake in Haiti.  The parents were away from home, but their three children were there in the collapsed building.  Everyone assumed they must be dead, because the building was completely destroyed, so no one looked for them...except the parents.  They walked around and around the building, praying and pleading with Heavenly Father to let one of their children be alive.  Then they hear a small voice from under the rubble.  It was their five year old son singing I am a child of God.  They started digging and heard another voice...it was their daughter.  They ended up finding all three of their children alive.  The little boy said he knew his dad would hear him if he sang his favorite song. 

I thought about the stories Kelley had told me about the people he met there in Haiti...about their faith and hope and perseverance through this terrible time. 

I decided I would try to never complain about problems I have... they are really nothing.

The other talk was on seeing ourselves as the Savior sees us.  Seeing the vision of what we can do to be disciples of Christ, then acting on that vision.  Both were pretty deep subjects, way over my head, so that's probably why I was asked to study them and learn how to use them in my own life.

Anyway, the lesson went pretty good.  The ladies were all nice to make comments and help me out. 

We went over to hear Sam speak in our old ward after church.  He gave a good talk and their ward choir sang a neat arrangement of I believe in Christ ( directed by Nancy)  Then while the organ played quietly, Nancy played a recording of Bruce R. McConkie bearing his last testimony.  It was pretty special.  It was really great to get to see the people from the other part of our old ward too.  Gosh I miss them!

We had our first practice for the choir for Stake conference Sunday night.  Two of my absolute favorite songs...Lord I would follow thee, and  This is the Christ.  So grateful to have these opportunities to sing!

Sunday night, sister Abarka called and said : first of all, that she didn't get transferred!  She has been here for a long time...about 7 months I think!  She thought she would surely be transferred this last week, but instead, they took her companion, sister Lupe!....and second...she said her and the other sisters wanted to do the endowments for some of those family names she had seen I had a stack of.  Yeah!  Several of them needed to have the initiatory work done first though, so Tuesday morning I went to the temple to get them done.

When I got there, the parking lot was full!  I don't know what was up, but when I got in there, the dressing room was full too!  The benches there in front of the initiatory room were all full and there were ladies standing waiting to go in.  I took my names in and lady there said "are you sure you want to wait?  It will be a while."  I had told sister Abarka that I would bring the names over to her as soon as I got them done because they were going to the temple that afternoon.  So I said , Sure I will wait!

So I stood for a while, then when one of the ladies waiting got called in, I got her seat!  It was pretty interesting, just watching everything going on around me. 

Several ladies came in to do initiatory work in wheel chairs...and a few with walkers too.  They were taken to the dressing room, then, after about 20 minutes, they came out dressed to do the work.  I watched them struggle to slowly maneuver into the initiatory room  and I thought  Wow!  These women are amazing!  If it was this hard for me to get around, would I even try to come here?  

One older lady came in that had a real difficult time walking...it looked like she had had a stroke and one side didn't work. She would take a step, then drag her other foot along. Even with the help of one of the workers, it was really hard for her.  She just had one name to do, so they helped her go right in.   When she came out a while later, she was smiling from ear to ear and just beaming and waving her pink card.    That was cool.

While I was waiting, I looked at the information on my cards.  The ones that had dates were from the 1860's and  70's. I thought ; If they have been waiting for 145 years, I  probably won't complain about waiting for an hour.   That was a good day at the temple.

(plus the flowers were all blooming and it smelled like heaven!)

  

 KC helped me plant the beans and carrots the other day. We used some of the poles we got from mum and daddy's place.  They worked out real good!

KC and Jared have been lifting weights  about every morning for the past while and it's starting to show...look at those muscles! (not cute little muscles anymore!)

Have I mentioned lately how lucky I feel to have a son like KC.  He is always willing to help do what ever needs to be done and will help with any crazy project we are working on.  He is always positive and happy and funny! Gosh I just love him to pieces.  I love all of my kids to pieces!  They are all so special in their own unique way!  How did I ever get so lucky? 

Oh and just a cute picture Camille sent me of the kids..ooh just want to squeeze them!

So, that happened...

So last week, I was outside pulling some weeds and looked over at Robin's ( my new neighbor) yard.  The grass had grown so tall it had turned to seed and there were weeds all over the place.  There is no way that Robin could do any yard work.  She has a hard time just getting herself around.  So that night I mentioned it to KC and he said he'd  be glad to mow her lawn. 
He went over the next morning and went to work.  Robin has 3 large dogs, so step one was to pick up the poo. There was a lot of poo.
I went over and started pulling a few weeds and cleaning up the corner of her lot where a bunch of junk had blown.  I think Tami has mowed her front lawn a few times, but the back yard hadn't been touched in months.   The dogs were barking furiously at us through the kitchen window....One of them sounded like the beast on sand lot. 
KC trimmed the front and the back, but he probably should have used the weed wacker to just go over the whole lawn in the back it was so tall.  Then he started mowing.  He got about 10 steps and the bag was full.  I raked up all the dead leaves and pulled the weeds around the house and the patio. 
When we got all done, it looked pretty good!  KC was pushing the mower out and I gathered up the stuff I was using and we headed out.  Then KC called back to me to check the back gate to make sure it was closed ( the one out to the canal road)  It was open, so I went and shut it.  Then I came out the little gate that goes to her back yard and pulled it shut too.  KC was standing there waiting for me and said
 "ok cool!" and we walked home sweaty and tired, but it felt good to be able to help.
So later that night, probably about 8:30, Robin comes to the door and Kelley invites her in.  One look at her and I could see she had been crying...a lot.  She started crying again as she told us how she had come home from work and then let her dogs out into the back yard.  After a while, she went to call them in and one of them was gone.  Happy was gone! ( he is the cutest dog...looks like a little Lassie)  She went out in the yard and the gate was open! 
She said she had gone all over the neighborhood and down 5400 looking for him.  Then she got a little histerical and said things like " I've lost everything...I can't lose my dog too!" and "why did it have to be Happy?  He was my favorite one!"  KC and I looked at each other like  OH NOOOOOOOOO!
We tried to reassure her that we would find Happy and got her to settle down a little bit.  Then we hopped in the car and went out looking for the dog.  KC went in a different direction in his car too.
We went all over the place, but there was no sign of the dog.
When we got home, Robin was standing out on the driveway holding the dogs food dish.  Oh dear, I wanted to cry.  She said she had called the police and they told her to call the pound in the morning.   We talked to her for a little while, then went in to spend a sleepless night, tossing and turning, praying and having horrible guilt and nightmares.
KC and I went over it a hundred times, analyzing and rethinking what could have happened as I went out the gate.  " It wasn't your fault mom!  I saw you close the gate!"   He said when he went in the gate, there was a click as it opened.  And I remember it clicking shut too when I pulled it closed.  anyway, I guess it didn't do any good to try to figure out what had happened....Happy was still gone. 
Robin called the pound, but they didn't answer all day.  I was telling Candice about it and she said she would call them too.  She had the same thing happen where there was no answer. 
Robin got a hold of them later, but they didn't have Happy.
The next day, as I drove out of the neighborhood, I noticed that Robin had put posters of the dog all over with her contact information.  The problem was that the dog had tags on it, but they were the tags from florida, with her florida phone number on them.
Another day went by with no response.  I can't begin to explain the agony of watching her out in her front yard, with the bowl of food sitting out there by her, waiting for him to come back home. Kelley would text me "any sign of happy?"  "no happy"  I felt so responsible for this!
Then thursday, on the way home from bunko, I get a text from KC.  He says "I saw Robin...Happy got hit by a car..."  I have my phone set on giant letters so I can read them, so I can only see about two words at a time. So I thought that was all of the message.  I just started to cry, then I scrolled down to read "JK!  Happy is home and is fine!"  Not cool KC...not cool.
I was sooooooooo happy!  Come to find out, a lady up 5400 had seen him running out into the road and had picked him up, but didn't know what to do with him so she put an ad in KSL classifieds that she had found this dog!  Robin saw the ad and the rest is history.
The next day, Robin brought over a bottle of jam and the nicest card, thanking us for our kindness and help.  She said she had just realized that KC had mowed the lawn and was so grateful...she was so distraught before, she didn't even notice. 
Thankful today for God's tender mercies and His love for a sweet lady who has lost literally everything, and came here with her dogs from Florida to try to start a new life.  So Thankful  that good people found her dog and looked after him.
So Thankful that I could laugh instead of cry when the bishopric came up to me in church yesterday and sang "Who let the dogs out...who...who...who"

My little sweeties...

I started this monkey when Camille's family was here for Easter.  (Olivia, five minutes after I started it ...:  " Is it done yet grama?"  "Ohhhhhhh not quite dear, it might take me a little while cause its gonna be big!"  'Olivia: "OK, well you let me know when you're finished cause I'm really excited about it!")
It did end up taking me quite a while! ( I had a few other projects that needed immediate attention so he had to be set aside)  I sent it to her with Camille's Mother's day package!
She called me when she got it and said she really loves it!  This is a big step for her because for some reason, she has always been afraid of monkeys.  ( It was pretty hilarious!...when she would come to our house, she would look around and see if there was any monkeys...I know it sounds weird, we had a few stuffed monkeys that the kids had and a little monkey that went with some of KC's old toys down in the play room...anyway, she would take anything monkey related and put it in a drawer or in the closet and shut the door.  Then she would be all relieved.  Anyway, when we were looking through the patterns, I thought that would be the last one she would choose so when she did,  I was like " are you sure you want a monkey?"  "Yes grama, I'm not scared anymore!" ( I sewed some flowers on it to make it seem a little friendlier...just in case)

Olivia called me the other day..."Grama! my tooth came out!"  " Oh! good!  did the tooth fairy come?"  "Yes!  and I got two whole dollars!"  

Olivia at her graduation from pre school!  Wow her teacher goes all out!  Camille said she has really loved this teacher and Liv has too.  A special lady named Heidi. 

Kate has been spending some weekends with Camille's family...so glad they are close enough to be able to do this.  Sisters are the best!

And then there is Sam.  I just want to eat him.

Yesterday at church, I was talking to Diane.   She asked me about the grand kids and I told her how they were growing so fast and how I was missing them.   She got teary eyed and said " My grand kids have grown up now...one is 18 and another 16....and they have lived far away from us all of that time.  It breaks my heart now to think what I missed out on.  I love them and they love me, but we don't really know each other."  Then I started to cry too.

Please don't be far away forever.