Henry Ford Museum

Today we went to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Neal was in heaven as every possible machine on wheels was there. We also saw artifacts from goneby eras. Some we grew up through, so it was really fun. The kids were great and we ended our trip with a stop at a Krispie Kreme Store. We love their donuts! Our only regret is that our other children were not here to enjoy this experience. But, we are lucky to have them all over the place so we experience different things with them. Later, Laura :-)

Neal's Birthday

We had fun going to Red Robin. Now Neal is going swimming.

Maxwell at 3 months old!!!

At every angle he is the cutest little boy around!!! We are having so much fun. Today is Neal's birthday and we have been out in the snow and are going to Red Robin tonight to celebrate. We miss all of our other children and grandchildren but are having a great time!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
We had a great time here in Ohio for Christmas. Hattie got an
American Doll wooden trunk from Santa to hold all of her dresses.
Marin got princess play clothes and Maxwell got a fun toy.
The adults got their favorite childhood cereal. I got Cocoa Krispies,
Neal got Captain Crunch, Melissa got Trix, and Morgan got Corn Puffs.
Santa came through on all wishes. We had a fun time and we are all on a sugar high.

Night at the Toledo Zoo...

Gingerbread Houses...

Melissa bought a gingerbread kit for the girls. We found out that it was one of those projects that only a child CAN do. We laughed, squirted frosting all over, ate more candy than we placed on the houses, and then held our houses so that they wouldn't fall apart. They didn't look like the picture but we had fun. Hattie called her house a "Tornado House" and my church had a sun roof after all. We may decide to make a bigger house next year!

We are in Ohio!

Waiting for Grandma and Grandpa...

There was tree hunting, a dance recital, and school play. But, of course, the most important preparation was going to see Santa!

Thanksgiving....

I love this time of year. I am very, very thankful for all of my blessings. We always look forward to having our grandchildren to visit and their parents, of course. This year Jeffrey and his daughter, Kaylee, were here. Derrick, Jen, and their children, Rachael, Megan, and Ethan were here as well. This year we also had Neal's brother, Bronner, his wife Jessica, and their son, Blake with us. Bronner and Jessica are preparing to move here and it is really exciting. We all did lots of visiting, playing cards, watching movies, and playing the Wii, it was great fun. I was able to have great talks with my grandaughters and watch my grandson tease his dad, my son. Neal cooked a great deal of our dinner this year. He has become really interested in cooking shows this past year and trying new things. I have cooked for over 30 years and am down right ecstatic to have someone else take over the kitchen. We were able to have a cam conversation with Melissa, Morgan, Manhattan, Marin, and Maxwell. We got to see Maxwell wiggling in his parents arms for the first time. We tried calling Michael and his family but they were off having dinner with Esther's parents. We talked to them later. There was a Thanksgiving a few years ago where we had 17 adults and 5 dogs in attendance. It was the craziest Thanksgiving ever.

Food was spilt, a plant was dug into by acouple of 2 year olds with dirt all over, several dog accidents happened around the house, the turkey was not quite done, Neal was in bed sick, I was the cook, and at one point Melissa called from Ohio and I was actually sitting in my walk in closet, crying. It is a long and somewhat funny story now, but needless to say, every year since we rate our holiday against the one where I was in the closet. This year I was out of the closet and having a wonderful time. Life is good, I am very thankful for my family, here and faraway, as well as my friends. May we all spend this next year enjoying our life and not sitting in a closet. Love to you all, Laura :-)

Halloween Is Coming...

Oh, hurray! You can hear every teacher sigh. "So, we HAVE to work?" states a 4th grader in my classroom. I love being a teacher. But, the thing is that it is much harder than you would think to get kids to learn when they are dreaming of an up and coming holiday. This time of year becomes a race to see what we can teach them and what they will or can write about. It is full of writing about spooky things, even fairly graphic and scary things. I always tell the kids there is to be no blood and guts in the stories they write for me. After all, I have to read them and I need to sleep well at night to be able to be a bright and cheerful teacher in the morning. However, they continue to tell me stories of very scary movies they have seen, even some I KNOW they should not be watching at their ages. Then, as the day approaches it gets harder and harder for the kids to concentrate. I am always really excited to learn that Halloween in on a Saturday, like this year. What a break! They will have their afternoon fun time on Friday at school, Trick or Treat on Saturday, and come crashing down from the sugar highs on Sunday. By the time they get to me on Monday they will actually be quite docile. So, if anyone is reading this or cares, I vote we set Halloween on the last Saturday of October. I am sure if your are a teacher you would whole heartedly agree. Have a Happy Halloween.

North to Alaska...

This past month we have had the pleasure of going to Alaska to visit our son, Michael, and his family. Neal and I saw another beautiful area of our country. There was a 600,000 acre fire there while we visited. It was just amazing. Each day we were able to see sky, only if the wind was blowing the right way. Otherwise it looked like a fog was laying low. We did fly into Anchorage and we saw many beautiful sights. We saw the LDS temple in Anchorage and it was beautiful. We also saw Earthquake park. The park is located right up against the ocean but an earthquake in 1985 raised the park 125 feet up above the sea level. It was really a sight to see. We saw the ocean off of Anchorage. We saw lakes and rivers with seaplanes used for travel. We drove to Nenana, it took 6 hours. We stopped and had a beautiful look at Mt. Mckinley. It was amazing. Really a beautiful sight. The kids live a few miles away from the town of Nenana. There are 500 people there. (25 at church on Sunday and 16 were Esther's relatives). The town has a small grocery store, a post office, a Chamber of Commerce, a few small churches, bars, acouple of cafes, a couple of shops, and a train station. They also have a K-12 school, a library, and a boarding school for kids living in the rural areas. The town is located about an hour from Fairbanks. Our kids live in a really nice 2400 sq. ft. log cabin. It is really nice and spacious for everyone. The days light lasts until about midnight and then is early to appear again. In June the whole day is light. It gets like dusk but never darker. So, people stay up later and sleep in. Dad and I actually stayed up until midnight a few times and slept until 8-9. We NEVER do this at home. The kids were our wake up call in the morning. They were great! Happy, full of energy, active, and very sweet. We miss them. Esther taught me how to make a rag rug. Michael and Neal fell trees on the property and cut wood for their winter fires. We also picked Blueberries out on the Alaskan tundra and made blueberry jam. We picked Fireweed and clover. We made Fireweek Honey. We picked Lingonberries and raspberries for jam, as well. It was all very good. We went to Denali Park and saw wildlife and beautiful scenery. Wildlife being many birds, a road kill squirrel and a live squirrel, no moose, no bear! We visited a town called the North Pole. We saw Santa's reindeer. Our grandchildren entered the building with a loud, "Where is He???" A sweet older lady smiled sheepishly and stated that Santa had the day OFF! What??? So, needless to say we were all alittle disappointed. The children were really good sports about it, but, come on, Santa should be there everyday he opens his home. Don' you agree? We went with the children to a horse ranch where they rode horses. We learned how they make wood bowls out of logs, leaving the grain in them. We visited car museums, transportation museums, native Alaskan museums, the Fairbanks fair, and of course, Walmart. WE also panned for gold. Neal and I panned $42.50. I can see why people got hooked. It is really quite amazing when you see that streak of gold in your pan. Michael and Esther went home with $46.00 worth. Michael and Neal were able to pan the most out of the bag of dirt that they give you. It was really exciting. We were there 16 days and had a wonderful time. But, we never saw a moose or a bear. We are not sure Alaska really has these critters though everyone and everything around there screams that they do. Esther did cook us some Road Kill Moose Roast the night before we left. She cooked it and Michael had gone out with her brothers in the winter and skinned and gutted it. The moose had been hit by a train. This, however, had not tenderized it enough for my taste. But, I guess in truth we did see a moose, or at least part of one. We had a fantastic time and we especially enjoyed seeing Michael, Esther, Chantelle, Lauren, and Alexander in their new home. Michael continues to fight with Crohn's disease, but he is on a monthly program with a doctor at the hospital in Fairbanks (45 minutes from their home) and this is helping him a lot. Neal and I left knowing we would miss our kids but also with a great sense of relief. They are doing well and are very happy. I guess as a parent, you can't ask more than that. We look forward to going next year and we have the distant dream that we may see a real alive MOOSE this next time! :-)

Into the Jaws of ....

Going from dating, to marriage, to starting a family is often referred to as "jumping out of the fry pan into the fire." But, these past two weeks I have had the pleasure of spending time with our grandchildren. Our home was full to the brim. Their stuff was all over the place, every counter was sticky with peanut butter, tubs of toys were all over the place, I can hum the Star Wars WII game music, even though I never played it, the volume in our home increased to the point of insanity, and we had diapers in the trash cans. I was in Heaven. So was Neal. Raising a family was the biggest challenge and hardest thing we ever did. But, it was what we both wanted, even at the young age of 19 we knew we wanted to have a family with lots of kids. There were hard times and good times. But, we hope we left our kids with the idea that family was the most important thing in the world. All of our vacations were taken in exotic places like scout camp, girls camp, or California, to visit our family, their grandparents, aunts, and uncles. We don't regret a minute of this, because those relationships were so important to us. We can barely remember the difficult times but the good times come flooding back, especially when we experience some of them again through the eyes of our grandchildren. Going to the acquarium this past week, for example, and seeing a two year old squeal in delight at the sight of a seal swimming around. Having your four year old grandson run you down a path to look at a polar bear. Trying to take pictures where everyone is smiling at the same time. What a feat! Going out to eat together knowing someone might be unhappy about your choice of food. All of this adds to the experience. The best part is promising ice cream or candy for of good behavior. I may not have been eager to do this with my kids, but, I get to spoil my grandchildren. We had so much fun! Our oldest granddaughter is 10 and the youngest is 2. Megan, our second and 8 year old granddaughter, was just baptized on Saturday. She was all dressed in white and just beautiful. It is hard to believe, it seems we just had her blessed after her birth, we blinked our eyes and now she is 8. I can't believe how time has just flown by. I remember when I was young, some well meaning mom telling me to "enjoy my children when they were little because the time would past, oh, so quickly." I had four kids with two in diapers and not a minute to myself. I thought she was nuts. I was knee deep in diapers (cloth!), laundry, sleepless nights, and I couldn't finish a sentence without being interupted by some crisis. But, now every difficult time we had raising our kids is wiped from our memories when we see them with their children. It is a miracle, it is a pleasure, the greatest of blessings, and it is what makes life worth living, don't you think?

What do you mean I look like you??

I was 17 when my Grandma Signe came to live at our house. She was Swedish, short, had brown hair, blue eyes, and was 75 years old. She was looking at my senior picture and said, "I showed your picture to one of my friends in Florida, she said you look just like me." She had the biggest smile, so I kept my mouth shut. All I could think of was, what do you mean I look like you?? Well, years later, I am taking a walk with my Granddaughter, Rachael. Someone had been in my home, seen her picture and my picture (at the same age of 8 years old). They were amazed at how much she looked like me. I was in the middle of sharing this with her and she had the sweetest look on her face of horror. I quickly explained about the age of my picture. Later I showed her the picture and she had to admit that we sure looked alike. Time changes but not our perceptions. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. My dad had given me this young picture of my Grandma Signe. What do you think?

Time gone by...

This is me in 1969 when I was friends with an older lady (of 35)who said to me, "I am just a young spirit trapped in an older body." My Grandma Signe once said to me, " Youth is wasted on the young." I didn't understand these women then but now I totally live what they felt.
My daughter, son, daughter-in-law, and son-in-law have blogs they send to me. I have had the pleasure of sharing their lives from a distance as I read their stories. I have been proud, worried, cried, and laughed out loud. I didn't think I would have much to say in a blog, but then one day I was telling a story to my grandchildren about their dad when he was a little boy. He accused me of stretching the truth, even lying! I decided that I do have something to say. So, I am beginning this blog. It is the truth, totally, as I see it. I have never lied on purpose in my life, so, I will not lie here in print, either. Enjoy!

Smores

Smores in our backyard.

My favorite son in law!

This is the greatest son in law we have. Probably in the world!

Astoria

Having fun with the grandkids here in Astoria