Mackrory's Visit

We had such a wonderful two week visit with Kristen and the kids who came from Wisconsin. I picked them up in Vegas on Monday and Tuesday we headed for SLC where Kristen met up with her mission companion visiting from Japan. They attended the temple together with a couple from their mission- The Booths.

It was such a nice reunion where eternal bonds were reestablished.

We enjoyed the grandkids and got to know Jacob.

We played in the park,

Basked in the St. George sun

Played in the sprinklers,

and decorated Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We played with Whirligigs,

and bubbles

and airplanes.

We enjoyed a picnic at the park and splashpads

Each of the kids had "firsts" while they were here. Jacob tried Creamies for the first time:

And learned to sit up by himself!

Nathan learned to button his shirt. Ta Da!

Brielle did monkey bars all the way across and

Learned to snap! We dyed Easter eggs

And went on an Easter picnic

Nathan caught a caterpillar which he cleverly named "Caterpillar"

and Grandpa caught a lizard with a fishing pole.

The two weeks went by too quickly. Thank you, Mackrorys for coming so far and spending so much wonderful time with us!

Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers

Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody My rating: 4 of 5 stars Looking for a great book to read aloud to your family (especially if you have boys) that will instill moral and family values? This is it. It is the historical autobiography of Ralph (nicknamed Little Britches) whose family moves from New England to a ranch in Colorado because their father's health is so poor. It is the story of how they build a ranch from nothing and eek out a living. But mostly it is the story of a young boy who more than anything wants to please his father, who, in turn, more than anything, wants to raise his son to be a fine, upstanding man. This is the first in the series and is the only one I have read . . . so far. I am anxious to continue the series. Here are some of the quotes I marked from book. All are Father teaching son, helping him to become a man: "Always remember, Son, the best boss is the one who bosses the least. Whether it's cattle, or horses, or men; the least government is the best government." "A man always makes his troubles less by going to meet them instead of waiting for them to catch up with him, or trying to run away from them." And my favorite: "Any man who says the world owes him a living is dishonest. The same God that made you and me made this earth. And He planned it so that it would yield every single thing that the people on it need. But He was careful to plan it so that it would only yield up its wealth in exchange for the labor of man. Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest." On the cover of the book, it says "should be read aloud in every family circle in America." I agree. It should. View all my reviews

My Favorite Things- Zyliss Peelers

I've been married for nearly 34 years, and only this year got a peeler that really works! When we visited Kristen in Wisconsin a couple of summers ago, we went in a kitchen store at the OshKosh mall. She pointed out these peelers, and told me she loved hers, so I bought a set of two. I came home and threw them in my drawer on the card they came on and continued using my old peelers. Then, just a couple of months ago, I got one of these out and absolutely couldn't believe the difference. I had a potato peeled in nothing flat. Wow oh wow! It didn't take even one minute for these to become one of my favorite things!

Two Poems

Kristen and I have been cleaning out shelves and drawers and dejunking (It is SO wonderful to have the help!) Today, we found these two poems I wrote back when Kristen was two-year-old Krissy. As I remember, I wrote them to be entered in a Stake Relief Society contest where we were supposed to express our feelings about womanhood and motherhood. They didn't win then, and I'm sure they wouldn't win now. But they express tender feelings, so I timidly share them with you:

My Silent Poem

My heart screams with the yearning

To express these feelings

Of motherhood, love, and family.

They are there deep within

But the rest lacks talent.

Pearson or Poe I am not

but the feelings are no less intense.

As the sea is within the shell

They roar within my heart

And unless you are very close

You cannot hear.

Priorities

(As I remember, I wrote this one when I was longing to replace our old, worn couch.)

"Krissy, come quick!

Look at this gorgeous sky!"

"Gorgeous!" she exclaims as she

stands on the much-worn couch,

peering out at the brilliant sunset.

Why spoil moments such as these

with a new couch

that must not be soiled

by little feet?

New Neighbor

Ken and I have a new neighbor:

She is a Mourning Dove and her name is Phyllis. She is nesting on our front porch post. She actually is a return neighbor as she nested there last year, too. In fact, she even came in to visit once last year. I teach voice lessons, so two afternoons a week, there's lots of in and out activity through our front door. One day as Abbey was coming to her lesson, Mrs. Mourning got spooked and came right in with her. It was quite the adventure as Abbey and I tried to figure out how to get her back out. She was scared to death and so were we! We opened the back and the front door and finally herded her out the back.

My sister, Joan visited us last weekend. It was so fun to have her here. But it was very revealing to learn how scared Joan was of Mama Mourning. The bird just sits there stoically with all the comings and goings( I think she learned last year that she's safe and no one is going to hurt her,) but Joan was just SURE she was going to dive bomb her and get in her hair and stuff. Every time Joan went in or out the door, she had to muster all her courage. I felt I needed to psychoanalyze her to get to the root of her problem. She revealed the hatching of her fear: When we were growing up, we made frequent trips with our parents to the Malheur Bird Refuge in Oregon. A frequent stop was a bridge that had hundreds of swallow nests under it. When we'd stop, those birds would leave their nest, and just like in the movie, swoop and make bird sounds. It was deafening. Our brother, John saw a great opportunity to scare the bejeebies out of us. He would muss our hair and make bird sounds and make us think the birds were attacking us. Poor Joan is still suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. Are you thrilled I've outed you, Joan? I hope this innocent little bird won't keep you from visiting in spring again? Her predecessor was a Say's Phoebe. She was far more skittish and would dive bomb my students after her eggs hatched and she had babies to protect. So, it could be worse. I'll bet you don't have such interesting new neighbors at your house!

Delightful Evening

Our daughter, Kristen served a mission in Fukuoka, Japan about ten years ago. One of her companions from Japan, Sister Yuko Arisawa is here from Japan. She has been visiting her mission president and MTC President here in town and wanted to meet us. We were delighted to have her for dinner and a nice evening on Monday. She brought a book she had made of memories from her mission, including many pictures of Kristen. She loved looking at Kristen's wedding album and our Japan photo album from our trip to Japan at the end of Kristen's mission.

Looking at her memory book:

She wanted a picture taken with Sister Hinton. This was the best we could do! She presented us with this collage she had made of mission memories with Kristen. She also brought us other gifts and whole cloth bag full of gifts for Kristen and her family.

At the end of the evening, we delivered her back to President MacArthur's home. She hugged us and with tears streaming down her face, expressed profound gratitude for our daughter and how she helped her through a very difficult time in her life. She said her gratitude was eternal (she said all of this in Japanese, but Ken, who also served his mission in Japan, translated for me.) She had us all crying on that doorstep. I was impressed that her sole purpose for coming to America was to reconnect with people that she learned to love. Ken asked her if she was going to the Grand Canyon. "No." Zion? "No." Las Vegas? "No." Just General Conference and visiting friends. She has learned and taught me what is really important in this life.

When we reported the evening (which was arranged through Kristen) to Kristen, she felt the prompting that she needed to come and see Sister Arisawa while she is here. So, since then, she has been madly making arrangements for she and her three children to fly here next week and meet up with her in SLC. So, as you can see, Sister Arisawa's visit has blessed and will bless us in many ways!