A Great Man

I know it's after midnight, so it's really not still February 15, but I've been thinking about the fact that the 15th is the birthday of my father-in-law. I've written a little about him before, but it's been a long time. He was born in 1917, and he would be nearly 97 if he were alive today. It was rumored that he was actually born on Valentine's Day, but whoever delivered him believed that might be a difficult birthday for a boy so the date was manipulated to read the 15th. Not that it really matters now, it's just interesting. That could never happen in today's hospitals.

His father died when he was about 2 in the flu epidemic, and his mother never remarried. She was expecting her 4th child and vowed to name the baby after her deceased husband. That is how my sweetie ended up with an aunt named Clyde.

My FIL served in WWII. He saw some terrible things! The story is that his hair turned white overnight while he was in his 20s. He met and married his first wife about that time. They had two children, but by the late 50s the marriage was over. He divorced and married my MIL, and he worked as a plumber and a heating contractor. He raised six more kids in his second family, one of them being my sweetie.

He was well-respected in his community and known to help others regardless of their ability to pay. He was wonderfully supportive of our relationship even while my parents thought I was crazy for wanting to get married. I cherish the hours I spent with him, hearing about his life and talking about all of our futures.

He was always willing to take my sweetie along on jobs when we were first married and then share the money with him as well as give us a bag of groceries before we headed back to our own home. In his shirt he had what he called a "magic pocket." There was always money in it for my MIL or to buy a gallon of milk or two.

He passed away on Columbus Day, 1989. I was at a Tupperware party and when I came home my sweetie was curled up in a ball with our 3 little ones snuggled close by on our bed. It was totally unexpected, a massive heart attack. We had just spent the weekend with him, helping put in a new furnace for my MIL.

Life is so fragile; we never know how long we have to love and enjoy each other. I wish my children would have had the opportunity to know him. He truly was a great man.

Valentine's Day

Awww Valentine's Day. More commonly known as "Single's Awareness Day" around here...

This year was totally different for us.

Some things were the same. The elementary-aged kids made their valentines for their friends at school and they put together shoe boxes with hearts and stuff to carry them in. Prima Donna even helped Curly make his look like Sebastian in honor of the Operetta coming up in a couple of weeks. We filled some cute Tupperware water bottles with hearts and kisses for their teachers and a couple of them took a regular-sized Hershey bar for their most favorite friend of the opposite sex. (Sebastian just happens to fancy himself in love with Ariel!)

The older girls prepared candy bars for each of their teachers and a special friend or two. Princess and Crafty made this deal to just give a Hershey bar to some random boy they didn't even know and wish him a Happy Valentine's Day. Princess picked a boy sitting alone at lunch, handed him the bar with a smile and a wish and walked away. I'm sure getting that sweet treat from a beautiful girl totally made his day!

The Dog Walker made his first trip to the temple! That was a wonderful amazing experience. He truly looks so good all dressed in white! Eternity seemed much closer as we all hugged in the Celestial Room. My sweetie commented on the day when we would have all 12 of them (and hopefully spouses!) there with us. That would be the best. day. ever!

My sweetie surprised me with a new electric blanket. He worries so much about me staying warm and mine was only half working. He also got up early and made me a batch of toffee, my favorite, but usually only a treat for Christmas time. Another reason (if you are counting) that I've kept this man around for 31+ years.

He also took me dancing and then out to dinner at Red Robin. The kids stayed here and had fun together except for Crafty who went to a movie with some friends. Prima Donna made these amazing heart-shaped potatoes and little smokies. The Dog Walker made sparkling red jello, and Bossy took the little ones to her house to make and decorate sugar cookies. Princess even got invited to Prom!

It was a beautiful, happy day. Hope yours was just as sweet!

Guest Blog: 10969 Days by Sweetie

A consecutive streak came to an end today.

What started on November 1, 1984 and has continued day after day since then to now? That's 10,696 days if your wondering. So what has gone on that long but is now at an end? Could it be the love I have for my wife... no, I loved her longer than that and that will never end. Could it be consecutive days of inversion? No, it just seems like it in the Salt Lake valley sometimes. 

I'll give you a hint. In that time we have used approximately 101,000 of them. Does that help? 

Well, Bossy was born on November 1, 1984, and from then until today, we have had one or more of our precious little ones in diapers... 29 years 3 months and 13 days of changing diapers. 90% or more of those have been lovingly taken care of by my sweet wife... 

Thank you will never cover it, but thank you.

It's kind of funny, I remember thinking I couldn't wait until they were out of diapers... the expense, the messy ones... but I find it's both exciting and sort of sad. I'm so excited for Baby Doll who practically trained herself. My wife is getting good at waiting until they do... fewer tears all the way around.. And sort of sad. 

I miss the cry of a newborn, the beauty of kissing their little heads. You can practically taste heaven by putting your own newborn gently to your lips. I never realized how much I would miss that... and no diapers means soon it will be no preschoolers, then no one in elementary. It will just keep coming and I'll keep missing something. 

One thing I won't miss is the expense of buying diapers..... I know I'll never see a sudden windfall from not buying diapers. I'm pretty sure the dance tights and costume expenses outweigh diaper expenses any day. So there it is, I've paid for about 101,000 diapers...If that isn't scary, think about this one.. We have had a baby or a toddler in the nursery at church for 29 years... which is almost as scary as having survived over 108 months (that's 9 years) of living with a pregnant wife.... 

The old days were hard, but good .. the new days are looking easy.. Three teenage girls... an autistic college student, three in elementary and one newly potty-trained big girl preschooler. What could be hard about that?

Guest Blog: Rootstech 2014 by Prima Donna

 Crafty, Fajita and I got an awesome opportunity last Saturday!  We got to go to Rootstech!  It was a super cool family history convention put on by the LDS church and ancestry.com  Fajita's stake was invited and she thought Crafty and I might like to go, once I heard what was on the schedule I was on board right away. 

We got there and the first thing we got to do was attend an awesome devotional by John Bytheway!  Then we went into the section with all the booths there was a really cool byutv booth where Crafty got her super awesome glasses.  As we were walking past, the man running the booth said, "Don't miss the Studio C show at 3!  They are out in the lobby right now signing autographs."  I didn't have to think twice, we ran out to the lobby!  The line was huge!  It twisted around like 5 times and then went up two flights of stairs... but who cares we got in line right away. 

I could barely control my excitement I think I almost started crying multiple times.  Every time I'd see a glimpse of one of them I'd be like "Crafty, did you see...!"  and then she'd have to calm me down.  I was fan-girling....bad.  At one point Jason saw me in line during one of my freakout moments and he looked at me like "Is she ok?"  That's when I noticed I should probably try to contain myself.  We were getting closer to the line and in a heart beat, I was standing right in front of Whitney Call! (or Meek, but whatever)  She said, "How are you?"  and that's when I noticed I wasn't breathing and couldn't talk because I was smiling like an idiot so all that came out was, "H-h-happy, this is the best day of my life!" 

Then Crafty got some cute pictures and we went down the line.  I love them on TV but I love them even more in real life. Thy are just so loving and happy.  Then James Perry with more swagger than I thought anyone was capable of having said, "Hey, how ya doin?"  Yeah, no sound came out that time.  Before I knew it I had "talked" to all of them, and we were out of the line. We picked up our autographed posters at the end and Crafty walked away with a couple of pics which I was mostly oblivious to, hence why I'm not in them.

Anyway, after the best moment of my life, we had to go to a family history class we arrived like 20 minutes late because the line took so long.  The class talked about how we can share our family history on Facebook and that we should put some of the inhumane amounts of pictures we're taking on our profiles on family history sites so that our future generations can find them.  It was a really cool idea! 

Waiting in line...

After that, it was finally 3 o'clock, time for Studio C!  They interviewed the cast and I learned some pretty hilarious facts and then they showed us some super top secret sketches for next season!!  After that we cooled down a little bit as we got to hear from Elder Neil L. Andersen, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. He taught us how family history work has blessed his family. He stressed finding our cousins and going beyond our immediate line or helping out a friend with their family history. 

After such a wonderful day it was time to go home, not empty handed of course (I'm pretty sure it's impossible to leave a convention empty handed.)  It was a wonderful day and I can't wait for Studio C season 4!


You can find the rootstech devotionals online at lds.org and season 4 starts on April 7th, but for now you can watch Studio C sketches online at byutv.org or look them up on youtube.