Beaming Mother

Having a perfect daughter you would think that I would be used to hearing great things about her but I tell you, it never gets old.  Today she went above and beyond, again, and made me the proudest mom in the world.  She serves as the ASB secretary so is privy to all the goings on in the student council.  The officers in charge of naming the Athletes of the Week for pep rallies came to her and informed her that she would be getting the second and final Athlete of the Week for being one of the tennis captains.  The first one was going to the other captain.  Both of the captains are seniors and are very good tennis players but our sophomore #1 singles player is in a whole different league from these girls.  She NEVER loses.  She is probably going to end up a tennis pro and my daughter couldn't imagine her not getting an Athlete of the Week award so she told the ASB officers to give it to her instead of taking it herself.  She was sad about not being recognized in front of the school but knew that if you really look at what the award is then she would have to defer to her teammate who is much more skilled.  I was so proud of her for doing this hard thing.  I would have loved to see her get another T-shirt (she got this award last year) and be recognized in front of her peers but her character is the best thing she could wear.  A junior varsity player who is in our ward asked my daughter if she was getting the award with the younger player and when my daughter explained what she had done the JV player told her that she was her hero.  That is a wayyyy better prize than a T-shirt.  She will always be my hero.  I love her so much I can hardly stand it sometimes.  If this award was for the Human Being of the Century she would win it for sure:)

Michelle!

Today is my second daughter-in-law's birthday and the last of the tributes for my girls for this year.  Michelle is a great wife and mother.  She has dedicated her life to taking care of her husband and children and I couldn't be happier about that since her husband is my son and her children are my beloved grandchildren.  She makes dinners every night for her hardworking husband and spends nearly all of her time teaching and loving her children.  She reads the Book of Mormon everyday and strives to live the gospel.  She makes sure that we see pictures of our grandchildren very regularly and makes time to visit us and facetime with us on a regular basis.  In other words, she is a dream come true for a daughter-in-law.  When raising boys it's always hit or miss with who they are going to bring into the family and I have to hand it to my sons, they have picked the cream of the crop and I couldn't be happier with my daughter-in-laws.  Thank you, Michelle, for making my son and his parents very happy people.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday.  You deserve it!  I love you:)

He Has a Porsche!

My dear sweet husband fulfilled a 40 year dream/wish for himself last month.  He bought a Porsche.  I know.  I had a heart attach too until he explained that it was old (1999) and quite a bit cheaper than the reasonably priced car he had just bought me.  After seeing this man with this toy I can honestly say that he could have paid 3 times as much for it and I wouldn't be upset.  Every day is like Christmas for him.  He will come home and say something like "It was one of those days where everything went wrong at work, I got cut off in traffic, etc. but.... I have a Porsche!" and then he grins from ear to ear.  It's now a family joke.  If anyone is having a bad day they say "but Dad/Pat has a Porsche!".  Even the daughters-in-law have caught on.  I literally laughed out loud when Aubrie texted Pat the other day, "I was having a bad day but then I remembered... YOU HAVE A PORSCHE!".  This wonderful man has sacrificed so much to make my life perfect and to give all he has to our children that I can happily and whole heartedly shout to the world, "HE HAS A PORSCHE!",

Beer Bought a Condo!!!!

My eldest son, Brandon, is the first child in the family to buy a house!  He bought a 2 bd. 2 bath condo about 2 miles away from us.  He's so nervous and I'm so excited for him!  I can't wait to go and decorate it.  I can't believe my little baby is a homeowner.  So exciting!

Praise Technology!

I am sooo thankful that I live in an age when technology is so amazing.  I am also sooo thankful that I actually know how to take advantage of a little bit of it!  I can't imagine how incredibly sad I would be if there was no such thing as texting and facebook and facetime.  I also have to give a shoutout to my daughters-in-law and sons for making very good use of these modern day miracles.  I get pictures of my children and grandchildren almost every day and even though none of them live close I can still be a part of their lives and watch their activities from afar.  I LOVE it!!!  Thank you, my dear family, for including me in your lives and remembering to send those beloved pictures and texts to your old ma:)  I love you all!

More Lasts, More Tears

The "lasts" are starting in earnest.  My baby had her senior picture taken and she looked so beautiful that I cried, right in front of the photographer.  Luckily he has taken all 7 of my kids pictures so he knows me well.  He wasn't even surprised.  Right up until the day it happened I thought I was fine, even relieved to not have to make this appointment again or go down and take care of this but when it actually came it dawned on me that I will never do this again and it made me a little sad.  On the same day I filled out my 91st (and last) emergency card for the school and I cried again but this time they were tears of joy!  Every single year I have had to fill out the same information over and over again even though nothing has changed and I truly will not miss doing that ever again.  O.K.  I did pause for a moment right after doing it and have a little bit of melancholy and nostalgia thinking of the days when I would fill out 5 or 6 at a time but overall that is one chore that I won't miss. It dawned on me that people with only one or two kids might not have as hard a time saying goodbye to this way of life because they never really had time to get into it but after 27 years of doing this stuff every year it really becomes part of who you are and saying goodbye is a little tough.Stay tuned for more "lasts", (and quite a few more tears:) )

Reflections

The mind is an amazing thing.  It can hold so much.  I found an old record on iTunes that I hadn't heard since I was in college so I bought it and have been listening to it on my walks the past couple of days.  Just hearing the tunes and the words transported me back to a time long before any of my current life.  It got me thinking about what has happened since that time and where I am now.  Also, this is the first summer without any of my crazy boys.  The only ones left in our home are the quiet, subdued, solitary people.  In looking around my home and yard I have found pockets of loneliness.  I see places that used to be filled with loud, crazy, happy people.  I see things I have collected to accommodate all of these people.  I could never get enough chairs and tables for my yard and now nobody sits on these chairs or at these tables.  I am ready to give them away to my children who have moved away.  They have no value to me anymore.  It's the same with the swing that faces the basketball court where I watched those balls go through that hoop a billion times.  It's so quiet now.  I have been known to collect couches.  Yes, you read that right, couches.  I have tons of them.  There were always multiple groups in my house and they all needed to have places to congregate.  There were the ones who just wanted to talk, the ones who played games and the ones who watched movies or games on T.V.  They all had to have a couch.  Now I have many empty couches waiting to go to children who need them in their little starter homes.  I have gotten used to the quiet and usually relish the peace and tranquility of my home with just my oldest and youngest living there.  I enjoy having the time to talk to each of them and give them my undivided attention.  I can see, sometimes, why people only have 1 or 2 children.  It's kind of fun to be able to fit into one car and to be able to do things spontaneously because you only have a couple of schedules to work around.  It's kind of weird though to see rooms in my house that used to be filled to overflowing with people now being reassigned to being the man cave or the sitting room or having a bathroom that only guests use because everybody else has their own.  I have children who will soon be making their own homes so I find myself looking around at all of the things I have collected and thinking of who would need what most.  I don't mind giving it all to them because I bought it all for them in the first place.  Without them, I don't really need it.  It reminded me of the plan of salvation and the progression between one life and the next.  In the pre existence I'm sure we didn't need "things" at all.  While on this earth we spend our time gathering things and making memories and then when we leave this earth we have no use for things anymore.  All we take with us to the next life are the memories and the knowledge we have gathered.  Even though I have quite a bit of time left on this earth I can feel myself slowly tagging the material items I have gathered into groups for that big garage sale of my life.  I will gradually give most everything I have to my children so that they can start the cycle with their families.  There really is a "circle of life". The End.

Pioneer Day

Having been a Mormon my whole life and not really discussing religion with my friends growing up I have discovered that I am terrible at knowing what my church believes as compared to what other religions teach.  When I was about 12 I just off-handedly mentioned Joseph Smith in a sentence and my best friend said, "Who's Joseph Smith?".  I was floored.  I couldn't believe that someone so central to my religion was unknown to lots of people in the world.  When my son's girlfriend joined our church she informed me of some of the differences in what her family believed and what my family believed but I'm still not clear on all the differences.  So, at Savannah's tennis lesson the other day I informed her coach that she wouldn't be at her next lesson because we were going to Utah for Pioneer Day.  Of course he said, "What's Pioneer Day?"  I wasn't as surprised this time but it got me thinking, again, about how many things are "Mormon" and how many people don't know what these things are.  I was very proud to tell him that Pioneer Day was the day we commemorate the saints pulling into the Salt Lake Valley and realizing that this dry, dusty desert was going to be their new home.  They had fled the east on the heels of religious persecution and came to a place "where none shall come to hurt or make afraid".  I get choked up even thinking about those valiant Latter Day Saints who sacrificed all to maintain their religious freedom, even in a country that was founded on the concept of freedom of religion.  These brave, bold saints are why I enjoy the blessings of worshipping how I want to even though we are still being persecuted today.  I'll take the occasional snide comment or the social snub any day as opposed to the burning of my home and the killing of my loved ones.  I have the utmost respect for the early saints and all they sacrificed for their religion and I am very excited to go back to where it all began, in Salt Lake City, UT to celebrate with my people.

Pretty good summer so far:)

It's been a pretty decent summer so far and it looks like it will finish strong.  In May Tanner and Alana went on a cruise for their 5 year anniversary and I got to play with Ava and Sienna.  Soooo fun!  I love those girls.  We painted nails, colored in coloring books, went birthday shopping for Ava, played in the park with Emmerson and Hudson, swang on the hammocks and ran around the yard.  Loved it.  Right after school got out we took our first trip to Fairzona (Landon's pronunciation of Arizona).  It was hot but very fun.  We ate at lots of restaurants, visited some friends who had recently moved there and went to an outlet mall where Bubs got the courage to ride a mechanical bull.  We played in the blow up pool and took a very short nature walk around the neighborhood (it was 90 something at 8:30 in the morning).   Shortly after returning home Van and I went to Catalina Island for Stake Girls' Camp.  It was a blast!  I had so much fun and I think all of the girls did too.  It was so nice to have my sweet daughter with me.  Next we had visitors from Utah.  My niece, Mekell, and her husband, Zach, came to stay with us for his birthday and the 4th of July.  Lichelle and crew came home for the 4th also and we had a wonderful BBQ and pool party at Michelle's parent's house in Valley Center.  So fun to see everyone.  Zach and Mekell went to the temple with Pat and I and I was so impressed that they wanted to take time out of their vacation to attend the temple.  Aleigh Joy got left alone in her house when the rest of the crew went to Utah so she came over and had some sleepovers with us so she wouldn't be scared.  Love her:) Lots more fun things planned so stay tuned:)

Sweet Rylie Ann

I am sooo happy!  Our sweet baby girl is getting better and better.  She is in a big girl crib now that doesn't have any special heated mattress or anything else that is unusual.  She is wearing clothes for the first time.  They are super tiny and cute.  She is unplugged from the millions of wires and tubes that she has been on since birth.  All she has is a little feeding tube, a heart monitor and two little wires in her nose for oxygen  Aubrie and Kyle can hold her whenever they want and they don't have to have a nurse unhook her from tons of stuff.  She can cry now.  She is moving steadily toward the 3 lb. mark.  She is truly our little miracle or series of miracles.  I am eternally indebted to my Heavenly Father for hearing our many, many prayers and granting us this child's life.  I got to stroke her silky little hair the other day and it was pure heaven.  I can't wait to hold her and kiss her and someday tell her the story of her amazing life.  I love you, Rylie.  Keep fighting!

Happy Anniversary, Aleigh!

I know I'm a little late but I wanted to wish Aleigh Joy a Happy Anniversary on the one year mark of her baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which took place on June 14th.  Because of her decision generations of my family will be affected.  It's hard to believe that a cute little 19 year old could be so important to my family's eternal link to each other.  Because she chose to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ she will be sealed to my son and their children and their children and so on and so on.  She will raise my beloved grandchildren the way that I raised my beloved children and there is nothing in this world that brings me greater joy and happiness.  All of my sons have married girls that were raised in our faith so when Hunter fell in love with Aleigh my heart was very troubled because I knew that Hunter could never be happy raising his children outside of his faith but I also knew that he loved Aleigh very much.  Ours is not an easy religion to embrace.  We are not "one hour on Sunday" Christians.  Our religion is a way of life and not an easy one if you aren't used to it.  She embraced it more fully than most people who have been born into it do.  When she entered the waters of baptism my prayers were answered.  Happy Anniversary, Aleigh Joy.  You may never know how much your decision has affected my life and how much it means to me.  I love you:)

Oh No!

Since today was the last day of my daughter's junior year of high school that makes her technically a senior now.  Nooooooo!!!!!  I can't stand it!  I already started crying today.  Yep.  I get to look forward to a whole year of "lasts".  I know I shouldn't think of it that way but I can't help it.  I am going to die when she leaves for college.  That will be the end of my child raising.  I really can't think about it too much or I will fall apart.  I'm going to bed now and not thinking about it.

May Blahs

I think I'm the only person in the world who gets sad at the end of a school year.  Everyone else is looking forward to no school and summer fun and no schedule.  All I feel is that it's the end.  I think of the seniors all over the world who are so sad to leave their friends and so scared to start a new life.  I think of the fact that we have endless days ahead of no set schedule and nothing much planned to do.  Mostly I think of the end of the most fun time of my life, high school with my teenagers.  6 of them have finished high school and it was some of the saddest times of my life to go to their graduations.  It meant that they would be leaving me and starting their own lives.  This week marks the last time I will have a high schooler in my life past this date.  Next year my sweet Van will graduate and leave me and I will have no wonderful children in my home.  I'm crying as I write.  I always live through it and even enjoy summers but just for these few days each year I have a heavy heart. 

My Life's Mission in Someone Else's Words

While reading BYU Magazine today I came across an article about a woman who has written many books and given many talks on being a homemaker.  When asked what she would say to the women of the church if given a chance she summed everything up in a less than a minute talk.  This is it.

Managing a home involves much more than keeping a house clean, organized, and attractive.  These skills are important, and I've spent much of my life teaching women how to attain them, but these skills are only a means to an end.  The paramount objective is to create a setting where family and friends are comfortable and happy, where there are good dinners and good times, where there is fun and laughter, where children acquire good habits and are taught life skills and how to be self-reliant and responsible, where challenges are faced by coupling temporal endeavors with eternal perspectives, where joy through gospel teaching and living prevails, where kindness and respect reign supreme, where love is strong enough to bind the family forever, and where children are nurtured toward eternal life.

If I didn't already have a family mission statement, this would be it.  If all households in America lived by these words we would probably be translated as a country.  Thank you, Daryl Hoole, for writing the words of my heart.

Heart Ache

Heart ache is such a literal term.  My grandchildren are leaving me and my heart literally hurts.  It's a very real physical pain.  I cry day and night and can't imagine them not being in my home and in my arms almost every day.  I know it can be done because I have gotten used to my other granddaughters being gone and I don't pine for them on a daily basis but I am so not looking forward to it.  On Wednesday Logan and Michelle and Landon and Chloe are moving to Arizona and will then be five hours away instead of five minutes.  I can't wait until enough time passes that it doesn't hurt to think about them.  I'm actually going to buy a new car that gets really good gas mileage so I can make frequent trips to Oakland and Arizona and Utah.  If Kyle and Aubrie take Rylie to Louisiana I'm really out of luck because that kind of trip will be really hard.  Not only do I love my kids to death but I love THEIR kids to death as well.  This is really hard:(

#3 Daughter-In-Law

Today is Tracy's birthday.  She brings up the tail end of the May birthdays.  She and Jensen fell for each other about as fast as Tanner and Alana.  The funny part is that they knew each other growing up and never really saw each other in that way until Jensen got off his mission.  On his first Sunday back from his mission he bore his testimony in church and so did Tracy.  We are in the same ward so they saw each other and sparks flew immediately.  They started dating that night as he and Kyle took her to a fireside and they were married 4 months later.  They are at BYU now finishing up his education there.  Tracy had both Brandon and Pat as her seminary teachers and they both liked her a lot.  I have known her family and sisters for years but since she's the baby I didn't know her as well.  When she came into our family I was a little worried about her because she doesn't have any brothers and we have quite a few boys.  She didn't even blink.  She fit right in to our noisy, boy-filled family.  She is a quiet but smart and creative girl who loves my son with all of her heart.  She is beautiful in so many ways and loves and lives the gospel.  I'm so glad she is in our family and I can't wait until they move closer to us so we can see them all the time.  Happy Birthday, Tracy.  I love you tons:)

My #1 Job

Mother's Day is my favorite day of the year.  I hear so many women say that they don't like Mother's Day because it reminds them of all the things they didn't do and all the things they should have done in raising their children.  I don't know why but I never think of those things.  All I think about is how much pure joy I've had for the last 31 years raising my wonderful children.  They are absolutely the light of my life.  I love them like no others and can't even begin to explain that love to someone who doesn't have children.  It's the deepest, most intense feeling in the world.  I have loved all of the things I have taught them and all of the things they have taught me.  I have loved all of the highs and lows because they have brought us closer to each other.  I really love the people my children have become.  I love spending time with them and watching them with their children.  I am beyond proud of all of them.  They are everything I hoped they would be when they grew up.  Mother's Day is my favorite day because motherhood is my life.  I don't expect presents from my kids  (and being boys I rarely get them:)).  It's just a day for me to reflect on the happiness that being a mother has brought into my life. 

Happy Mother's Day to me:)

An Eternal Family

It's Official!

Logan and Kyle passed both their national and state tests for physical therapy so they are both officially DOCTORS!!!!!  I couldn't be more proud:)

My Silent Soldier

Today is my 5th son's birthday and I just wanted to tell the world (or both of you who read this blog) how much I adore this child.  He was born with pneumonia so I didn't get to bring him home for 10 days.  I was worried about not being able to bond with him.  The four monkeys I had before him were finally old enough to take care of themselves, somewhat, so I was really craving a baby to snuggle.  I wanted him to be a baby forever.  He, of course, had other ideas.  He was my earliest child to do everything.  Roll over, crawl, walk, ride a bike, you name it.  He was a baby for about a minute and a half. Sigh.  Luckily, he turned out to be my baby in other ways.  He has always been so amazingly sweet to me and so respectful to me.  He asks my advice for everything and actually listens to it once in awhile.  He is a devoted, responsible and caring husband.  He is a steady, way above average student.  He is a quiet, strong, righteous, obedient, humble and loving son and I am so glad that he will always be my silent soldier.  Happy Birthday, Fronies.  I love you forever Moore.

Amazing

Many of you know my son, Kyle, and the rough and windy path he has been handed in this life.  He wanted to get married the day after he got home from his mission and start having children the day after that.  He didn't meet his wife-to-be until he was 26 and didn't get to marry her until he was 28.  Once his wife got pregnant it was a nightmare of the ugliest degree.  His wife was sick in bed 24/7 for the entire pregnancy except for about 4 days when they thought it was all over and they would finally get to start living again.  At the end of 4 days she went into labor and she was only 20 weeks along.  After a miracle and an operation they were able to keep the baby in for another 4 weeks and then she was born at 1 lb. 6 oz. with a 50 percent chance to live.  All of this happened to the most faithful, obedient, kind and loving boy you could ever meet.  During this whole trial of trying to live his dreams he has continued rock solid in his faith and confidence in the Lord and His plan.  His testimony has never waivered and he has never complained, maybe wondered a little, but never really complained.  He and his beautiful wife are completely calm in the face of this extremely stressful time.  They both know that there is a plan for their lives and that it is going to unfold exactly as it is supposed to.  They have faith that they will be able to handle whatever comes and they are calm and serene.  It makes it so much easier for those around them to feel hopeful and calm also.  They are an amazing couple and I love them more than I can ever say.

Rylie Ann Moore

Just when I thought I couldn't fit another May birthday tribute in, our little angel, Rylie Ann was born at 12:37 a.m. this morning.  Which puts her right on Aleigh's birthday, which puts her in May.  Oh well, what's one more?  The weird part about this is that Rylie wasn't due to be born until August 19th.  She's a tad early.  She weighed 1 lb. 6 oz.  She has a 50 percent chance of surviving at this age but she is now about 16 hours old and hanging in there very nicely.  We already love her to pieces.  She is our little miracle baby and I would like her to retain that title by living a very long and healthy life.  Happy Birthday, Rylie.  You will never comprehend how much we love you.

#5 Daughter-In-Law (almost)

Today is Aleigh Joy Mellinger's birthday.  In about a year or maybe a little less she will be my daughter-in-law.  Even though we have traveled a rather rocky road to get to where we are today, I can honestly say that I love this girl like she was my own daughter.  She and Hunter fell in love waayyy too young and she was not a member of our faith so we faced many challenges in the early years.  Luckily, we were all singing from the same page in our goal to get Hunter on a mission so they were very obedient to our guidelines for their relationship.  Also, very luckily, she developed a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and had a strong desire to join our church.  During the early years I kept my distance from her because we were trying not to treat her any different from Hunter's other female friends.  The day he left for his mission it was like the floodgates opened and my feelings for her could finally come out into the open.  We had achieved our goal of getting our boy, worthily, out on his mission and I was finally free to love Aleigh.  That turned out to be exceptionally easy to do.  A few months after Hunter left she was able to be baptized into our faith and I discovered that she is the most like me of all my daughters-in-law.  I get along with her so well and she is like a sister to Savannah.  Everyone in our family loves her to pieces and can't wait until she becomes "Forever Moore".  She is very talented in baking and crafting and shopping.  She is very friendly and kind and sweet.  Her testimony is stronger than many life-long members and she is eager to learn what makes a marriage celestial.  She can't wait to give me grandbabies (yayyy!) and I know she will love my son with all of her heart forever.  Since my family has shrunk down to nearly nothing I really treasure our Sunday nights when she comes over for dinner and Family Night and she

loves making the treat every time:)  She is a wonderful girl and I'm so glad she is going to be in our family.  Happy Birthday, Aleigh Joy.  I love you!!!

#1 Daughter-In-Law

Today is Alana Marie Salisbury Moore's birthday.  She is the first person to make me a mother-in-law.  She is the first person to make one of my sons the happiest guy alive.  She is the first person to make me a grandma.  She is also the first person to make me completely forget about all the horror stories of being a mother-in-law.  I LOVE this girl.  We are different in so many ways but we are alike in all the ways that are important to me.  She loves my son with all of her heart.  She loves the gospel of Jesus Christ the same way and wants to live its principles and teachings with exactness.  She is willing to bring children into this world despite her husband being in medical school and despite the fact that they have chosen to have her not work outside the home.  She is committed to loving her husband and raising her children the best way that she knows how.  She is fun, creative, beautiful in so many ways, funny, humble, teachable, sweet yet fierce when she needs to be, kind, happy and the love of my son's life.  What's not to love?  Happy Birthday, Flan.  I love you.

Let the Tributes Begin!

From now until May 12th there are multitudes of birthdays in my family so I will be spotlighting each person as their birthday comes.  Today my chubby bunny, Sienna Marie, is one year old.  This little girl has a smile that lights up her face and she smiles a lot.  She also cries a lot.  She is one of our more emotional and energetic grandchildren. She and Landon must have been great buddies in the pre-existence.  She is the opposite of her big sister, Ava, who is very quiet and calm and independent.  Ava and Sienna remind me of me and my sister, Cathy.  I was the Ava and Cathy was the Sienna.  It's nice to have a balance.  Too much of either one would be either boring or manic.  I'm very sad that my sweet birthday girl is so far away from me but I love the times I get to see her and watch her face light up with that beautiful smile.  She still has no hair but we expected that.  She was walking at 9 months where her sister calmly waited until her first birthday to take her first steps.  I think Sienna has

a personality that will be on full throttle most of the time.  Hang on, Grandma Moores, this is going to be a wild ride.  I love you Sienna!  Happy Birthday:)

A Little Unnerving

As I was delivering my Meals on Wheels today I had to go into 2 different senior centers or, as I've called them all my life, "old folks' homes".  The thought occurred to me that I can now legally live in those centers.  What???  Who is this person and what has she done with my youthful life?  I still have a high schooler at home.  My mom is still alive and healthy and living on her own in her own home.  How the heck can I legally live in one of these babies?  I can't possibly be old enough for this.  Sadly, it's true.  So, even though I still have all my teeth, can walk unaided and feel like I'm about 25, if Pat ever decides to dump me, I know where I can go:(

Stand Up, Walk Away!

Sometimes things happen to you when you hear a certain song.  You are transported back in time and everything seems so real.  In my new calling as stake primary music specialist I need to teach a song and dance to the 10 and 11 year old girls in our stake.  I thought of the Janice Kapp Perry song "Stand Up, Walk Away" written when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  I have a wonderful history with this song and while walking today I decided I'd better brush up on the moves before I taught them to the girls.  When I played it in my ear things (I know, Aleigh, I have no idea what they are called) I started crying and laughing and dancing down the street remembering when I first taught this song and dance.  It was 18 years ago at my first stake girl's camp where I was the camp director.  I was already petrified of being in charge of over a hundred girls for 4 days and I wanted them to like camp and like me and I was so scared.  In trying to come up with fun things for them to do I thought about what I love to do most, which is dance, and wondered if I would have the guts to get up in front of teenagers who might think this is the dumbest idea ever and teach them this song.  I remember it started out a little slow.  I got up on the table in the lunch room and showed them the dance and played the song.  I was so nervous.  A couple of the more adventurous ones started joining in by the third time the chorus played and they had figured out some of the moves.  We practiced every meal after that and by the next day girls were jumping up on the table with me and dancing their hearts out.  By the time we performed it for our bishops on the last night I was euphoric!  They loved it and I loved them! That camp was one of the crowning glories of my life.  I have never had something I was so afraid of doing turn out so well.  Now my camp girls are wives and moms and some even have girls going to camp this year (which I am in charge of, again.).  One of my girls is even the ward camp director in my ward and taught the girls of our ward this same dance last year at ward camp.  I'm too scared to resurrect it for this camp so I will content myself in teaching the younger girls in a couple of weeks.  I was just amazed at the very real memories and feelings that washed over me when I heard this song this morning.  18 years ago I was pregnant with my only girl, I had my best friend in the world up at camp with me and life was amazingly good (especially on the last day when I realized that our camp had been a resounding success:) Whew!) My life is still amazingly good but it was wonderful to walk down memory lane.

One More Miracle

I had a slightly less exciting miracle this week also.  I contracted shingles on my face probably because of the stress of my head infection and I was a little nervous because shingles are supposed to be extremely painful and can last a really long time.  Well, being true to my weirdness concerning most diseases, mine didn't hurt at all and they are now scabbed over and almost gone after a week and a half..  The doctors couldn't explain it because I had all the symptoms, the chicken pox like blisters and scabs and it looked yucky on my eye and forehead but it never hurt.  It felt like really mild poison oak.  A little itchy and uncomfortable.  So weird and so blessed.  If I was suffering physical pain as well as the mental pain I ended up with I would have just jumped off a bridge.  The Lord takes care of me and I am so grateful. 

Miracle

We were able to witness a modern day miracle this weekend.  On Thursday afternoon my son, Kyle, called to tell me that his wife, Aubrie, was in the hospital trying not to have their baby, Rylie Ann, at 21 1/2 weeks.  I had a minor breakdown.  He told me that she had an incompetent cervix and that it wasn't staying shut to hold Rylie in.  To further complicate things, the membrane holding the baby in had started to slip out of her cervix so the doctors couldn't just sew her shut like they wanted to.  So, they waited overnight to see if the membrane would go back in by itself after tilting her back all night.  On Friday morning the news was wayyy worse.  Now not only was the membrane not back in but Rylie had turned around and was trying to come out.  Her head was pressed right up against the cervix and Aubrie was dilated to a 4.  Major breakdown.  Very little chance of saving this baby.  I fasted all day and prayed and cried myself sick.  I begged my little granddaughter all day to go back up inside her mommy.  Friday night Kyle and Logan graduated from physical therapy school and despite my anxiety and sorrow over Rylie I was bursting with pride for my two new doctors.  We spent Friday night worrying and praying and crying.  On Saturday morning we got the first part of our miracle.  Rylie had decided to listen to her grandmother and, I'm sure, her heavenly father and she had snuggled back up where she belonged.  The doctor decided to take a chance on trying to get the membrane back in without breaking it and sew Aubrie shut and aftering standing her practically on her head and using his little "tricks" he was successful!  Miracle complete!  Now we are continuing to pray that there is no infection and that her contractions will stop completely but for now, mommy and baby are resting and growing together.  After 5 months on her back Aubrie got about a week of normal life before she is now back down for the rest of her pregnancy which will hopefully be quite awhile longer.  I have the utmost respect for this little waif of a daughter-in-law.  She's probably barely 100 lbs. now but I've never seen a tougher girl.  I thank my heavenly father with all my heart for hearing our prayers and sparing our baby girl.  Now that the doctors know about Aubrie's cervix they can sew her up much earlier in her pregnancies and we shouldn't have anymore of these scares.  Thank the Lord!!

Happy Children

After Chloe's blessing Landon and Emmerson

 got a little restless while their parents were playing games, sooo... they made up their own:)

I Will Save You, Cwoee!

What girl wouldn't want Superman for her big brother?  Bubs loves his Cwo,Cwo.  He always wants to hold her and speaks so sweetly to her.  He's going to make a great big brother:)

Single Digits!!

My sweet missionary comes home in 9 months!! If I'm a really good girl this year then maybe I will get a really great Christmas present and he will be home in a little over 8 months:)  I can't believe it's down to single digits in months.  So excited!

Do I Know My Headaches or What?

The last three weeks have been a health nightmare for me.  I got a bad cold and laryngitis and then got a really bad headache that I knew was sphenoid sinusitis because I've had it before.  Unfortunately, it's very rare and most doctors don't think of it or believe me when I say that I have it.  It got so bad after my vacation that I went to urgent care and told the doctor that I was pretty sure I knew what it was.  He didn't hear a word I said and diagnosed it as a "cough" headache.  He gave me some really good cough medicine and when I say "gave" I really mean charged me $50.00 for it.  Worth it though because it worked like a charm.  I didn't cough again after taking it for a couple of days.  However,  long after the cough was gone, the headache was still there and growing stronger.  Pain had even moved down into my back and my face and head broke out in bubbly blisters that itch and sting a little.  So, today I finally broke down, since I was rotting from the inside out, and went to the emergency room at the hospital.  The new one is really nice, by the way.  I got there at about 11:30 and was the only one in the waiting room.  What??? In the emergency room??? They got me in in five minutes and I spent the day racking up a huge bill, I'm sure, by getting blood tests, a CT scan and an MRI just so that they could tell me that I have....wait for it....SPHENOID SINUSITIS!!!  I already knew that!!  The head and face stuff has all the symptons of shingles but without the pain so they don't really know what that is.  I think they kind of left it at shingles because they didn't know what else it could be so maybe I will have this horrible disease without the horrible pain.  I sure hope so.  And I sure hope it goes away fast because it looks kind of like leoprosy and isn't very comfortable.  Hopefully if I ever get the headache again I can convince the doctors that I know what I'm talking about since it's happened twice now.  Nah, what am I thinking?

They Did It!!

Kyle and Logan passed their final practical and have now graduated from the St. Augustine school of physical therapy!!  They will have the official ceremony next week but this morning they both passed their last test and I couldn't be prouder.  They have to take their state board exam but I have full confidence that they will pass with flying colors.  They are probably moving to Arizona or even North Carolina and though I am sad about that, it doesn't dampen the pride I have in their accomplishments.  Dr. Moore and Dr. Moore, you have one very proud mama:)  Pictures of their graduation will be forthcoming.

Happy Birthday to Me

I had a birthday a few days ago and I got a really cool present.  My daughter-in-law, Michelle, made a video for me of pictures and taped messages from all of my daughter-in-laws telling me what they appreciate about me and thanking me for raising their husbands.  I LOVE IT!  I cry every time I watch it.  She has pictures on there that I haven't even seen before and has music in the background that fits the pictures perfectly.  She even has a segment with my daughter-in-law to be, Aleigh.  Since she will be in our family around this time next year it made the whole thing complete.  Very creative and very appreciated.  Thanks, Shell, Flan, Stacy, Bree and Leg.  I love you all so much:)

Spring Break Finale

We continued our trip with a visit to Linn's Cafe in Cambria where we were introduced to Olallieberry pie.  Sooo yummy.  Cute little cafe with great food.  We then headed to Solvang where we ate wayyyy too many great pastries from the bakeries that were located between every other shop in the city.  We visited the miniature horse farm and the Santa Ynes Mission, ate some more pastries and some German food at a little restaurant and then headed to the Santa Monica Pier.  We walked up the pier and had dinner at the Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier and then came home, much fatter, but very happy.  Great trip.  I love my family!

Spring Break Part 2

While we were in San Luis Obispo we went to San Simeon to see Hearst Castle.  Pat and I have been there before and loved it but it was even more fun to see our kids' heads explode from the sight of all that opulence.  They were very impressed, to say the least.  We took two tours so Pat and I got to see the things we hadn't seen before and Beer and Van got to see stuff that they will never forget.  It was a wonderful day:)

Spring Break Part 1

For Spring Break this year me, Pat, Brandon and Savannah went to San Luis Obispo and Solvang.  Sooo fun.  We stayed at the Madonna Inn in SLO and it was so over the top that it was amazing.  We stayed in the Italy Room.  It was pretty cool but the main dining hall and restaurant and bathrooms were so amazing that we were walking around with our eyes bugging out of our heads and our jaws on the floor.  Everything is decorated to the max and is so tacky that it looks cool.  The ladies bathroom was so beautiful that we couldn't imagine what the men's bathroom would look like so we had Beer stand lookout and we went in and took pictures.  It was even cooler than the ladies'! I have spent most of my adult life taking vacations only to where my family was so it was really fun to just do something totally out of the ordinary and explore someplace new.  We had a great time. 

I'm Gonna Be O.K:)

I think I've turned a corner.  With the Lord's help I'm pretty sure I'm going to be allright.  It's been a few weeks now that I haven't woken up with a depressed feeling.  I've moved on to my new role in life and it doesn't feel bad at all.  A couple more of my sons are moving in the next few weeks and I'm not suicidal about it.  I will miss my grandchildren terribly but I will live.  I realize that this is just what I did as a young mother was move away from my family and we all lived through it just fine.  I'm so relieved to feel this way after many many prayers.  I love my Heavenly Father and I know that He loves me.  I'm throwing myself into my callings, appreciating my beautiful daughter and wonderful husband and life is good:) 

Potty Trained!!

I can't believe it but my little Bubs is potty trained!  Already!  He's only 2 1/2!  None of my kids did it this young.  I'm so amazed and so happy for his parents.  It was super easy and I have no idea why.  Maybe it's because he's a brilliant, wonderful, adorable child who loves his "Money" and she loves him.  Yeah, that's it:)

Chubby Bunny

I love my little ball of delight otherwise known as Sienna.  She is a non-stop eater!  She loves food.  While we were visiting them a few days ago she managed to get 4 breakfasts.  I fed her first, then Pat got some breakfast and she helped him eat it, then Tanner came downstairs and tried to eat his while she was begging for more and finally, Flan came down and ended up sharing her breakfast too.  So funny.  Love her:)

Been Busy This Month

I've had a pretty good month so far.  Pat and I went to Solvang, which, for those of you who don't know, is a little Dutch town in California that has a bakery about every 50 feet and all the shops and houses look like little swiss chalets.  Soooo cute.  We ate ourselves sick and stayed in a darling little cottage looking room.  Then we went up to Oakland to see Talana and the girls.  Tanner was getting his "white coat" symbolizing the start of the "hands on" part of his schooling to be a podiatrist.  I was so proud and might have even teared up a little.  A few times.  We also got to go to our temple in Oakland.  That's where Pat and I got married.  Tanner had a basketball game in the gym right on the temple grounds.  It brought me waaayyy back to the days when I would watch Pat play basketball on our ward team.  I can't believe Tanner has children to watch him play.  Then, we talked Talana into coming back home with us for spring break (his, not ours).  They stayed all week and we had a great time with them.  My niece, Sarah, and her husband came to stay with us also.  SARAH IS PREGNANT!!!!  I'm so happy.  So we will have babies in August (Aubrie), September (Sarah) and October (Flan).  We had a full house for the first time in awhile and that's just the way I like it:)

What a Morning!!

My morning could have been a comedy show script.  Every other Monday I deliver Meals on Wheels.  Today was my day.  I have acute laryngitis, as in, I can't make a sound above a whisper.  I've been delivering Meals on Wheels for a little over 11 years and I don't think I've ever had laryngitis during my route.  I didn't think it would be any big deal since I just deliver the meals and don't really have to chat with the clients much.  Right when I got my binder telling me who I would be delivering to I saw a note that said to call the office.  Great.  They aren't going to hear me when I call them.  I called and whispered as loud as I could and my supervisor informed me that all of my San Marcos clients needed to know that the mayor of San Marcos would be delivering their meal on Wednesday and wanted to know if they would consent to a photo op.  If they consented, they would need to sign a waiver form.  About half of my clients are deaf and one of them is blind.  How in the world was I going to tell them about this without a voice and have the blind one sign the form?  Luckily, I go right by my house on my route so I stopped there and wrote a note that the deaf ones could read.  Also luckily, the blind lady is married to a deaf guy (and a mute is delivering their meals to them today) so I had him read the paper and sign it for them.  One more kink happened when I went to a retirement home that has been open every time I have gone there to deliver except today when I had to call the client to open the door and she is deaf.  I had a moment of panic but just as I dialed and tried to whisper/yell "Meals on Wheels" another resident came up and yelled it for me so she could hear.  I had no idea how valuable a voice is and how helpless you can feel without one.  Some of the instructions on my deliveries say to knock on the door, announce Meals on Wheels and then go in.  How do you whisper through a door?  After each panicky moment I would think, Jay Leno would have a heyday with my morning.  I really hope my voice comes back soon.  Maybe I'll sell my experience to Hollywood and make some dough:)

Long Lost Relatives

On Friday my niece, Macela, and her family came by our house on their way home from Disneyland.  It was so wonderful to see them.  Landon had a blast with their daughters, Kennedy and Madison.  Macela hasn't been over here since she was a little girl and her family has never been here.  She got to meet Michelle and Landon and Chloe and Aleigh.  I hope they come more often.  They live up near Sacramento but luckily they love Disneyland.  That's the beauty of living so close to Disneyland.  We are only an hour away from anyone who goes there:)