Yesterday I picked up Crafty right after school so we could go to the dentist. Now first I want you to remember that she is 14 1/2 years old, and she HATES going to the dentist! I had to listen to her complain from the moment she got into the car until the hygienist took her back for her cleaning. Yeah, it was just a cleaning!
I got this:
"Mom, I don't have to get my teeth cleaned because I clean them myself."
When that didn't fly, it was this:
"They always use too much water and it makes me gag."
And this:
I'm not doing this!
"Why do I have to get my teeth cleaned?"
Or this:
"I remember when I was little I used to always throw up at the dentist.:" (At least that one is true!)
I started making my own suggestions.
"Tell me about school."
"Let's sing a song."
"Do you want to read your scriptures on my phone?"
The only one that worked was:
"Let's take a selfie!"
And you know how I feel about selfies...
...about the same way Crafty feels about the dentist.
Last Thursday, my sweet friend lost her good husband suddenly to a stroke. His spirit was gone within seconds, his body lingered for several hours. They were married for 60 years and constant companions for the last little while. She handled it all so well with her incredible faith and positive attitude. I know families are forever, but separation is hard, even if it's just for a short time.
When Teach left to serve her mission, I knew we would see her again, but 18 months seemed like an eternity then. Now it is all like a beautiful dream that passed quickly and is just a pleasant memory. The pain of separation is long diminished by the reality of the now.
Teach - just prior to leaving for her mission
I spent the day at the church, arriving at 9:30 when the viewing began and staying close by in case I could help with anything. Princess asked me to get her released from school so she could join me at 11:00 in the chapel for the funeral service. Then we drove to Camp Williams together for the burial.
He was a proud veteran of the Korean war with many service medals. The bugler played taps and then two other servicemen slowly and gently folded the flag from the coffin. It brought tears to my eyes as one young men knelt before her and softly thanked her for her sweetheart's service to his country. Then he placed the flag carefully in her trembling hands.
Oh my dear friends!
Give someone a hug today.
Tell someone you love and appreciate them.
Life is so short!
I can't believe I didn't take a single picture of our Super Bowl party yesterday! We had so much fun. We have a morning church schedule this year, so we were all home just after 12:00. That made it easy to push the kids through some homework before I started working on the food. The kids tell me a Super Bowl party is all about the food. :)
Bossy's family was in charge of treats, so we did bean dip, rice salad, and chicken chimis. They brought brownies and wings from Applebee's. Did I tell you Gamer has started working there again a few nights a week? He bought the wings when he got off Saturday night. He is an awesome server! He made nearly $200 in tips in one evening.
But I digress...
Beauty and The Beast joined us just after halftime, so for a few beautiful moments, I had all my children here. I just love that.
We worked on Valentines and some of the kids played games during the football game, but it's not really about football, it's about being together, although the game turned out to be amazing even though none of us are really Patriots fans or Seahawks fans.
And kudos to the NFL for a fun halftime show! Sometimes I can't let my little ones even watch it, but Katy Perry did a great job and her last number when she was doing Firework was awesome! If you missed it, check it out on YouTube.
So I'm sharing with you a couple more pics from my nephew's dance showcase on Saturday. Hope you have a good and happy week!
Yesterday was a pretty crazy day! Most of us slept in for part of the morning, but then we were up and working hard to help Mom and Dad clean and organize their bedroom. My job was to go through our insanely large game collection and toss out the games missing too many pieces or that we just never play. We went from about 200 board and card games down to about half that. (Told you it was insane!)
After lunch, some of us went back to work and the little kids all ran about to their Jr. Jazz games. I got sent to run an errand while Princess cooked up dinner and the family went to clean the church, then we all packed into the van to scurry down to our cousin’s Senior Ballroom Dance Showcase.
It was awesome! Twinkle-Toes (Mom’s not the only one who gets to come up with Blog names, right?) and his lovely partner did a fantastic job. They planned the whole night and did a great job. Baby Doll was on my lap most of the time and she was totally fascinated – it’s a completely different style of dance than she usually sees, after all. It was a great experience.
On the ride down, Mom and Baby Doll had been singing some of her songs from pre-school when I piped up that she should sing “Sweet Violets.” It was a song that Mom’s Mom taught her and that I’ve never heard anywhere else. Since we have smart phones now, we of course had to look it up, and found out that it was originally sung by Dinah Shore. I love listening to Mom’s version, but I couldn’t get her to sing it for my camera, so here’s the original.
The only thing it's missing are the words that we sing that actually rhyme. Like in back of the barn he gave her a kiss, not a lecture...
The best part of days like today is that it’s a simple day that will inevitably linger in our good memories – it had all the things that are most important to our family: service, supporting each other, sports, and sharing memories. It was a good day. How has your weekend been?
