My Senior

I have been wanting to write this blog for some time but I just keep putting it off. Mainly because it just brings to the bubbling surface all the feelings I want to keep hidden. I wrote a blog last year at this time about my kids moving up towards graduation and the feelings I had. I did not know that I would feel it more so this year with my oldest graduating from High school. The feelings are magnified even more so.

I have always been the type of mother (or so I thought) that celebrated each new thing my children were going to face. I never cried at them starting Kindergarten, or graduating 6th grade. It was a little weird to see them starting Jr. High and then High school but I was ok with that. It's just that in seeing Tessa graduating reminds me of how I felt graduating from High School. I remember it vividly even though it was so long ago. She will be moving on and even though she is going to be living at home, going to a junior college for the first year, I am not sure that I can tell her to turn out the light and go to bed. There is a different feel to the Mother/Daughter relationship. We have always been friends but I was a mom to her too. But now, I feel as if that title has come to mean something else. I will always worry and want to help but now is the time for me to be silent until the advice is to be asked for. Even the world no longer sees me as her guardian. She signs all the paperwork for herself now, she can check herself in and out of an Urgent Care, and my role is now a limited role.

But even if my role as her mother has diminished some, I can still be proud and look at her with admiration for being the student that she has been and woman that she is. She is caring and considerate of others, she thinks first and then acts. She is compassionate and loving. She is great with kids and loves them. She is organized and punctual. Hardly ever does she procrastinate. She has a very contagious laugh and loves to have fun. She is a loyal friend. I am grateful to have been chosen to be her mother. She has made my calling as mother an easy one.




She can be intent and fierce when she needs to be.




She is funny too. :)

I love you Tessa. I pray you will do well on your new adventures! And that you will work hard as you always have to attain those goals you have set for yourself. Remember who you are, and act accordingly! :)

Prickly Blue Eyes

Spring Break is a time for relaxation and laziness in the hygiene department that is. Alan decided to let it grow. I had never seen his face so scraggly so I mentioned that. I guess he took that to mean he was to grow it out! He let it go for almost two weeks. It was getting harder and harder for me to get close because he was so prickly! Here is a picture of him prickly. Check out those whitish/gray hairs. He must be getting old!



After a couple of weeks, he decided it was time to take it off. But then he came out of the bathroom looking like this. But never the less he still was too prickly to kiss even though it was getting softer to touch. I begged him to let me take pictures of him. These are only a few of the few I got. (He doesn't like me taking pictures of him.)



It is all shaved off and back to normal. Yeah! So, needless to say, I think you all should be jealous because I get to gaze into these baby blues whenever I want! :)

Photos

I love photos! But I love photos that I have taken and I don't really like my photo being taken. I guess we don't want to see what the rest of the world can see of us.




But.... the other day, my good friend Janet at http://justmejanet.com came over to my house and took pictures of me and my dear friend Ann for our hubbies for Valentines day. Just some nice pictures so he has one on his desk kind. I think they turned out well. Not to mention that between the three of us we laughed and laughed. That is something that we do a lot each and every time we do get together.





I love these two friends and I love being with them. Thanks Janet for the laughs, the friendship and these dear photos for my honey and for me. :) Two thumbs up!

And by the way... Happy Valentines to a wonderful man. I am grateful to have you as my friend, my spouse and my sweetheart. I am glad we have each other forever! After meeting nearly 22 years ago (February 17), I have only come to love you more and more. I am glad we have the eternities to love each other completely. I love you to the moon and back... K8e :)

The Farm

My heart is broken today as I remember my childhood home and the many wonderful memories made there. I won't go into much detail other than this property was recently swindled away from my father who is in his 86th year. I wish I had more pictures to show how wonderful the place was in it's prime but alas, most of the ones taken were film and I didn't care to go through all the pictures I have taken to scan a few. This is a picture taken of an old Pioneer home on the front part of the property. The "farm" once was 4 and a half acres but now is 3 and a half. I will miss it being in the family. My heart is so broken.



As a post script: Saturday Feb 5th I received email from siblings that said the man that had swindled the property from my father felt that it would be in his best interest to revoke the deed. So the property is back into the hands of my father. Big sigh of relief!

Provo Tabernacle

I guess you could say I am in mourning. This morning my sister texted me to tell me that the Provo LDS Tabernacle was on fire. The Tabernacle isn't like our regular church buildings and they aren't like our Temples. In our churches we worship weekly on Sunday. In our Temples we have weddings and other ordinances for eternity. In our Tabernacles we also worship, meeting there every six months with a larger geographical area than just our regular church members. We also hold cultural events there as well as funerals for dignitaries. I guess you could say it is a building used for larger groups. There aren't Tabernacles in every City. Usually it is a '"Pioneer City", where the Pioneers started the city long ago. There is a Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, one in St. George, and Brigham City, Utah. There are more than that but I am not going to list them all. You would recognize it if you saw it because it looks old and large and beautiful.

But Provo LDS Tabernacle was special to me. I grew up attending meetings every 6 months in its majesty. I remember sitting and staring at the beautiful stained glass windows those old pioneers had made by hand as the speakers would edify us with spoken word. When the meeting became too warm, a man would go around with a long hook and slide the windows open for any kind of breeze that would stir the air. I remember the choirs filling our souls with liquid warmth, clear down to your toes. I sat in the choir loft, on soft seats, sharing my voice with others to fill the space with melody and harmony. I graduated Seminary there, I listened and participated in the Hallelujah Chorus there, I took tours through that magnificent building, and attended the funeral of a dear friend. It seems so much of me was intertwined with the smooth varnished wood and the spiral stairs to the balcony. To the hand carved ornateness of the woodwork to the funny cramped women's bathroom. I feel as if I have lost a part of me today as I looked at the pictures and video of its destruction. I know how much I loved that building and I am sure there are many others that feel similarly as I. I shall always look back on it with fondness for the memories had in that building. But today, I will mourn with the many in Utah County that are also mourning.

Re-enactment of the Pioneer Trek

During fall break from school this year, Tessa, Josh, and Megan participated in a Pioneer Trek in Forest Lakes, Az. It was 23 miles in three days with several hard climbs and long stretches of bumpy, rocky areas. Josh was ill for a little of the time but over all they all enjoyed the opportunity. I went along as one of 6 Trek Photographers. It was hard to take the pictures sometimes as I wanted to lend a helping hand as they struggled. I was grateful for the opportunity to help be a part of preserving the memory of the moment. A DVD is being put together and wards will receive a lot of the pictures that were taken. Hopefully my kids will remember this experience and use it later in life to help them through some rough times.


Here is Megan putting her "shoulder to the wheel".


Here is Josh pulling the handcart up the hill on the Men's pull.


Tessa on a pretty steep incline.


Here the four of us are.

My kids prooved that "You can do hard things!" Because they did it on this Trek. I am so proud of them doing it.

Cycling Race

Alan has been training for several months for the LOTOJA cycling competition. LOgan TO JAckson Hole 206 miles, 3 states, in One day. September 11, 2010. Each of the participants have to have "support" or someone to make sure they have enough water and nutrition during the long grueling day. This "support" was me. I would drive ahead to specific feed zones and wait until Alan got there and we would trade out water bottles and whatever else he wanted from my bag. He then would take off and I would go to the next feed zone and wait.

Here he is with some riding buddies at the start 6:31 am in Logan, Utah



Here are a few shots of him in the last 40 miles of the race. It was the only time I could pull over and get a picture of him.





Here he is coming into the finish line in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He is looking strong.



The finish line. The guy in the helmet on the left of your picture is Mike Austin. Alan rode some with him in Utah this year and started the race with him.



Here Alan is with his AZ friends. They are the ones he started the race with. He wasn't in town when they decided to wear red so he had to wear his blue jersey. I am kind of glad because he was the only one wearing that jersey and I knew it was him.



1100 riders signed up to compete. 971 finished the race. Alan came in 186th. In the division he was in 58 competed. He was 22nd. He did amazingly well. I am proud of him.