July 4, 2011 - Happy Birthday America...from Katy, Texas!

I'm sitting here amidst boxes, boxes, and more boxes in our new Katy bungalow, thinking about how cool it was to be able to see the fireworks from one of the upstairs bedrooms at our home in Edwardsville. Before I mentally readjust to Katy, I need to reminisce just a little about Edwardsville. I've been thinking about all of the things/people/places that have been so dear to me over the past 6 1/2 years. This list is clearly not all-inclusive. We've had so many amazing experiences and our family has grown and changed and changed some more. We won't even go into that yet...except to say that Sarah is currently in Utah spending the rest of her summer with her siblings. Super proud of her for running a 5k today with Lindsay. Super glad that the kids were able to spend some time together on Sunday afternoon. She has missed them tons.

This picture was taken during the part of Youth Conference when we were at the St. Louis zoo! I'll mention more about that later...

One of my very favorite parts of the day was waking up and looking out the window and seeing this tree and listening to the birds sing. I remember growing up under a memosa tree and spending hours stripping off the little leaves and playing with the pink flowers. I have given this tree a LOT of TLC and it is finally turning into something. I will miss it!

My dear sweet friend, Karen Wall, shared several of her beautiful lilies with me a couple of years ago. Last year they were great...this year they have been fantastic. So glad I was there to see this...

...and this...

...and this....How I grew to love Karen and her dear, sweet husband Norman. I miss Norman and am so glad I was able to see him embrace the gospel.

One of the very best parts of living where we did is how close we were to Nauvoo. Love, love, love Nauvoo. There's no where like it! Sarah and I (along with Arena) made one more dash up the road to experience it just one more time. Spent the night in a log cabin, listening to thunder and lightening and remembering how similar it was to the night before Katie was married in Nauvoo. So grateful for the Prophet Joseph. I love this statue of Joseph and his brother, Hyrum.

How lucky I was to come in contact with lots of tennis friends. Wow, Edwardsville has the BEST indoor tennis courts at the YMCA. We were so lucky to be able to play all year. These ladies are amazing - providing equal amounts of competition and socializing and plain fun.

This is another fantastic group of tennis ladies. If I can find even just one group in Katy like I've had the pleasure of playing with in Edwardsville, I'll be one happy girl!!

Yep, I'll be lost without Carmen. Carmen cuts (and colors) my hair and provides lots of humor and a listening ear at no extra charge. The girls all love Carmen and will miss their visits whenever they came to town!

I've been so blessed to have such good friends while living here, and these are just a few of them! It is so very strange to find myself a tad bit older than most of them...how could that be? It seriously seems like just yesterday that I was the young, young mother, desperate for a friend. Girls need friends and after a certain point, age becomes irrelevent!

Debbie Coffey used to live around the corner from me in Huntington Beach, CA. Now she lives in St. Charles, MO, which was not too far from Edwardsville. We didn't get together nearly enough, but did have a chance for lunch a couple of weeks ago. Debbie amazes me in many, many ways! Melody came along also. Ummmmm....I can't even begin to say how much I'll miss Melody. I knew Melody and I would be good friends when we discovered that we had chosen the same china pattern decades ago. We've been through weddings, and fires, and walks, and talks, and serving, and grandbabies together...and that's just the beginning. Although we won't be together as much, I am sure that our paths will cross often - and I will look forward to those times!!

I have lots of little friends, too! I love all of the kids in the ward. Ashlyn and Payson were regulars at my house, as Heather was Sarah's flute teacher and brought them along. Small price to pay to have the teacher come to MY house. Didn't get a picture up of Sarah and Heather together, but I can not NOT write this without mentioning how grateful I am to Heather and her influence on Sarah - not just musically, but as an amazing example of all that is good and all that she has to look forward to. Heather always knew just the right thing to say and just the right way to say it. I will miss our musical afternoons!

And here are some more of my little friends - the Reeds. Their last Sunday was also the same day as mine, but they are headed north. These are some of the best kiddos and I will miss them tons. So glad the world is much smaller with the internet! Like I said, there were tons more...

I have never had a "Stake" calling before until I was called to work with the Stake Young Women, meaning I work with all of the 11 units in our Stake. These two ladies, Deor Jorgensen and Dana Waggoner, are a blast! We have had so much fun serving together and getting to work with the 12 - 18 year old girls. Keeps us young!! We had a blast last year at Girls' Camp and Youth Conference and monthly dances. A couple of weeks ago Deor and I drove out to Dana's farm - yep, a REAL farm - and spent the day seeing how life is on a true farm in Salem, Illinois! Way amazing. They have thousands of acres that they farm, AND she teaches 5th grade, AND her daughter just had twin baby boys, AND her husband is Bishop of the Centralia Ward. The woman is CRAZY busy. Deor has a daughter that lives here in Katy, Texas, SO we took a road trip down here together...way fun. Deor is so easy to talk with and the miles flew by. I will miss my association with them immensely...I learned so much!!

This is just one set of the many, many missionaries that have served in our area, but we really like these guys...Elder Dodge and Elder Jensen. Hoping they'll still be there when we go back in August. They so remind me of Marshall!

Miss Arena!! LOVE this girl. Arena has been such a sweet friend to Sarah. She is a year behind Sarah in school, but looks forward to catching up with her at BYU-I. She came into our Sacrament Meeting to see Sarah receive her Young Women Medallion - meant a lot to Sarah. Arena is representative of the amazing youth that I had the chance to spend my last weekend in Illinois with...

Here is the group after we finished our scavenger hunt at the St. Louis Zoo. I can't even begin to express how GOOD these kids are. Our Mutual theme this year is the 13th Article of Faith, which was printed on their t-shirts. Our conference theme was "We believe, we hope, we will endure" and they will! They gain strength from coming together and truly represent what is "virtuous, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy" to me!!

Ah, 102 Friar's Lane...I will miss you! I have loved driving (and running and biking) through our beautiful neighborhood. I have loved mowing the grass and caring for the flowers, in spite of the poison ivy, bugs, bee stings, and weeds. In the end it really is just a house...what matters most are the sweet memories that took place within those walls. Three high school graduates, two wedding receptions, one missionary farewell, music lessons, the Hawks living with us, Beth living with us, lots of other short-term occupants, luncheons, showers, birthday parties, parties after school musicals, Christmases, grandbabies visiting, ice storms, snow storms, power outages, bike trails, wonderful neighbors, Oreo, visits from extended family, spontaneous times around the piano...I'm sure I'm forgetting a thing or two...

I am so grateful that I got to know the family that is moving in! Especially made me happy that Julie likes the red front door and has no plans to change it...

May 16th - Sweet Remembrances of my Mother!

May 16th is my mother's birthday and it seems as though I just always like to do something that day that reminds me of her...I had a perfectly wonderful day yesterday. I especially enjoyed cutting some peonies and placing them in the "shoe" that reminds me of her.

And then I spent a good majority of the rest of the day sewing, because that definitely reminds me of her! I would show what it was I was working on, but it is a surprise for this beautiful girl for her graduation...just a little something - she probably knows, but I know she'll pretend it is a surprise. This is Sarah on her Prom day...so cute!!

"I Miss My Siblings"

Amazing...the blog thing is working correctly today!

So, our lives are changing once again as we relocate to Houston..."we" as in Rich and I. Which seems so strange to me. Our first move sans children! How did that happen? Sarah will be attending BYU-I in the fall, Marshall will return from his mission and head to BYU-Provo, etc. etc. So Katie calls me the other day and rather subtly made the suggestion that instead of going to Houston with us in July that Sarah should just come out to Provo and spend the remainder of her summer there "with her sisters". I think my heart skipped at least 2 beats! Where did she get such an idea? I didn't mention it to Sarah...

...until our Home Teacher was visiting the other night and somehow it came up. And Sarah, bless her heart, said, "What? Of course I want to go out there as soon as I can! I miss my siblings!!" I'm sure she did not appreciate the look that I gave her...as in "NO WAY JOSE!!" The reality is, though, that as I've pondered on that comment over the last couple of days my heart has soared. I'm SO glad she misses her siblings and the deepest desire of her heart is to be with them. Sarah is experiencing so many different emotions right now and feels very torn between wanting to "get on with life", but realizing that she will be leaving a lot of very good and supportive friends behind here in Edwardsville in the process. "Let's just stay home for Spring Break this year so I can be with my friends." Which I totally understand. But in the end, I think she understands that "family" is where it is at. And so do I.
July 2009

Lovin' Me Some Strawberries!! February 2011

I had the most wonderful few days with some dear friends in Southern California about a month ago, although it seems like "forever"! The weather was most amazing and provided the very-much-needed thaw I was looking forward to. We had pulled off the freeway to make a visit somewhere and what do you know - a strawberry stand! Very much to my liking! Yes, we had crepes the next night.

Jennifer and I did a fair amount of walking and visiting and meeting up with a lot of friends. One night we even headed over to Huntington Beach - my goodness that place looks way different than when we lived there...so different. However, sometimes you meet up with friends you haven't seen in forever and it's like you never left.
Chryssa Holdaway, Janet Edwards, and Lisa
We ventured down to San Diego for a fun getaway, and got Jonelle to come along with us. The weather couldn't have been more gorgeous! Had a dream walk along the beach Saturday morning and then had lunch at the Hotel Del Coronado and sat in the SUN!!
Sunday night another dear friend from long ago, Susan Dunn, came down from Northridge for a visit. Susan is the best!! She amazes me.
And then there's Betty! You wouldn't believe this woman!! Betty taught Lindsay and Katie baton twirling - they loved her. OK, so our lunch went over by a little and she said she had to hurry off...to TEACH BATON...at 70!! Couldn't believe it. She has filled her life with so much that is good and praiseworthy. I admire her more than I could ever express.

Let's just say, I had a blast! So much fun. Just what I needed to get me through the next several crazy months ahead! Thank you dear friends!!

Lots of Visiting with Cousins - Jan/Feb 2011

I'm having quite a difficult time with this blog stuff tonight...pictures are just not cooperating, so I'm just going to have to go with it. I was able to go back out to Utah in January for what turned out to be a couple of weeks. Love being around the kiddos - the little ones AND the big ones. Lindsay was gone part of the time to her CHA conference in southern California. We were all quite jealous of her time on Venice Beach. Sarah came out on a Friday afternoon...Saturday morning she had her audition at BYU-Provo, which went relatively well. Saturday afternoon we did a little prom dress shopping and found "the perfect" dress for Sarah...yahoo! Saturday night was spent at Becky's house - we were up rather late making Valentine Day banners. I think we all are like our mom in that we never just make ONE of anything...it is always multiples. We had fun crafting and talking to early in the morning. Sarah and I left Sunday afternoon to go and visit with Chris and Holly for a bit, and then we headed over to visit with Jenny and David Hawks...our dear missionary friends. Had dinner and then hit the road to head up to Rexburg. We got to spend the night with Lindsay, Heather Porter's sister! We kept thinking we were hearing Heather! So fun. We also got to visit with Miranda Goree Conkle and her good husband for a few minutes. Monday morning we headed over to campus for Sarah's audition with the flute professor and it went amazingly well. Sarah's decision to attend BYU-I was pretty much made before we left town! We made our way back down to Provo Monday evening, only to find out that we wouldn't be leaving town on Tuesday as planned because of the bad, bad weather back in St. Louis. In fact, we didn't make it home until late Thursday.

So Wednesday, since we didn't leave, we were able to get together with Becky's family...way fun for the kids to be with their cousins. I LOVE the first picture above...2nd cousins! Baby Caleb Brewer and baby Matthew Ridge. (Katie and Nathan are cousins.) Caleb is about 2 1/2 months older than Matthew, but keep in mind that Matthew's parents are both 6 ft. tall, plus some! The second picture above is of Sterling and Nathan - Nathan is holding baby Matthew.
Katie, Jayne, Sarah, Ta, and Mandy...
Orson and Bryant in the back, Brooke, Poppy, Claire, and Isaac in the front...Claire loves kids!! Love, love, love being with family!!

Christmas 2010 - Our Last One in Edwardsville, IL

We had a super fun Christmas last December - our last one in Edwardsville. Lots of great memories had by all. So fun to have everyone be able to come - and we had a great conversation with Marshall on Christmas Day. The joy in his voice was felt by all. These pictures are all way out of order, so I'll just label as we go along...

This first one is of Katie and Lindsay after they got to go have their hair done...Katie had hers chopped off and Lindsay came back much darker with bangs. They love visiting Carmen...fun way to start the new year... One of Joseph's presents was a stadium tour of Cardinal's Stadium...we went a couple of days after Christmas...here they are in the dug out!
Our beautiful home on Christmas Day! Also, this was Rich's first ever white Christmas. Made it just a little extra special. Claire loving the snow in quite the get-up!

One of Rich's favorite toys as a young child was Lincoln Logs. Guess what I found for him for Christmas...to share, of course, with his grandchildren!

A surprise visit from Santa on Christmas Eve. This was SO fun. Our dear home teacher, Dan McNeill, spends a good part of his Christmas Eve making visits to families with children, and he knew we'd have some extra company this Christmas Eve...made it super special for us. Everyone loved his visit, but Claire...

...but Claire did LOVE working in the play kitchen, next to her own Christmas tree!

We tried super hard to get a decent picture of Rich and I with the kiddos...and this is about as good as it got.

My creativity on Christmas Day...loved the snow!

Lindsay, Katie, and Holly all got the same Nike jackets...extra long arms with thumb holes.

Chris and Holly with Santa!!

Love this little guy!!

Grammy and Caleb!!

Grandpa and Caleb!!

Auntie Sarah with Claire! All in all - a very special holiday indeed!!

Thanksgiving 2010 - 30th Anniversary - in Chicago!

Catching up here! How to back up and cover the last 5 months...
So last Thanksgiving we decided we didn't want to stay home (surprise, surprise). It was our 30th anniversary, too, so the 3 of us decided to head up to Chicago via the train for Thanksgiving. Way fun, bitter cold! These pictures are not particularly in order...
We went to the Museum of Science and Industry on Friday, the 26th. Sarah and I had done a little after-Thanksgiving shopping (no great bargains in Chicago!) and then we took the bus and headed to the museum. Way fun! Saw lots of fun exhibits and behind-the-scenes stuff. Happy 30th Anniversary to Rich and Lisa!!

There's a building on Michigan Avenue, can't remember the name (maybe the Post Office), that has pieces of buildings from all over the world. This piece is from the Great Pyramids in Eqypt. Way cool. Our hotel was right close by Michigan Avenue.

This picture is for Marshall, my Lego-man.

Sarah and I doing a little shopping along the Magnificent Mile...how fun!!

Oh yeah...can't go to Chicago and not experience pizza - Chicago style!! I think we were each able to barely eat 1 piece each, but it was sure good! All in all - a great and memorable weekend!!