Remembering a great man....

Today is the birthday of a really great man,
our father Dennis.

He started off as the youngest child in a family of ten children.
He and his sister Mardene were always great friends.

He grew up handsome and athletic. He loved sports and was good at them, especially wrestling.

He married his high school sweetheart, Mildred, and then left for war
(World War Two).
He served in Washington state at Fort Lewis and thankfully, the war ended
before he had to go abroad.

He was a great father who loved his family (who also adored him)!
He ran a dairy farm which provided us with a good living,
but
unfortunately, he never had any sons to help on the farm.
(We helped a bit, but I'm sure it was frustrating working with silly girls and we were spoiled as far as helping with heavy duty farm work. He finally hired some local boys to help him.)

(Diane, Linda, Dennis, and JoAnn)
Our sister Julie was to come later and our mother was probably taking the picture.

He was always kind and generous. It was not unusual to see him take a big box of meat to someone needy, or a load of hay to a struggling neighbor. He offered people his car, his time, his money, and whatever they might be needing during a crisis in their lives.
His heart was as big as Texas.

He also knew how to have a great time!
He loved spending the day up in the canyon with friends and family, or traveling to Yellowstone with a caravan of neighbors. He often pulled a train of sledders behind his tractor around the country miles. Everyone loved him!

He served faithfully in the church and had a strong testimony of the gospel.

He loved his wife.
(Remembering a Great Lady)
(Click here)

Interestingly, he passed away one month before our mother.
Within a three month period they both got sick with cancer (different kinds)
and passed away quickly.

They were much too young!

We miss them!

***************************

Guess who gets to share his birthday?
Great-granddaughter Julia was born today
to Kelli and Jared.

How cool is that?

So you don't do windows?

Meet my new cleaning lady (girl?).

Maddie is learning to dust.

Now if she will just learn to pick up the toys!

It was another fun weekend!
(Yes, I took a few pictures off Liz's blog, but I was there when she took them
and I couldn't resist.)

On top of the world... (Does the 10th floor count?)

On Saturday I went to this beautiful building, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building,
in downtown Salt Lake City.

I admired this gorgeous flower arrangement in the lobby.

Rode the elevator up to the 10th floor.

Had lunch with my sweet mother-in-law
and

two of my sisters-in-law (Carolyn and Connie).

Took in the beauty of thousands of spring plants!

Counted my blessings ...

for living in such a beautiful world....

and for the mothers in our lives!
Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you to my own children and husband
who provided me with a delicious dinner and much appreciated (and needed)
gifts on Sunday. You all worked hard.
I loved it!

Happy Mother's Day!

Do you like my new purses?
My daughters Michelle and Katie decided to join my students in making cards for Mother's Day.
I hope everyone has a great day!

We love our Moms!

Pillows, pillows, and more pillows

Not too long ago I bought these cloth napkins, thinking I would make some bed pillows out of the material. (One of my when-school-ends-and-I-have-more-time-projects!)

Now I just have to decide what I want them to look like when they are finished.

(Pottery Barn catalog)


(Pottery Barn catalog)
(Pottery Ba rn catalog)

The following pillows are from local Parade of Homes house tours.

Any suggestions?

The easier the better!

It was a great day!

They say if you can't come to the party, the party will come to you.
Our friend Danny has Lou Gehrig's Disease
and he doesn't get around quite as much as he used to.
We decided to pay him a visit and catch up on all the news.
Since we all live in different places now
we planned an unusual sort of reunion-one where we could visit as we traveled.
We planned to meet at different "pit stops" along the way, picking up people as we went, ending up in Pocatello at Danny's house.

We have all been friends since we were born, (living in the best place on the earth).
We grew up on farms- outside a small town with one movie theater, two drive-in restaurants, one small bowling ally, and a lot of cows, so we learned early on how to have a good time with friends.

Barbara, Michael, JoAnn, Alex, and Danny (in front)

We had fun chatting about what is going on in our lives as we passed the beautiful scenery of Southern Idaho.
(Yes, those of us who boarded early got to hear things repeated a few times.)

We met Danny's really nice family and enjoyed our visit with him!

We looked for a tasty place to eat before we started our journey back home.
We planned on a seafood dinner at Red Lobster-but the wait time was too long.
We all agreed that Applebees would work- but found they were closed for remodeling due to a fire.
Ruby Tuesday also had too many people ahead of us in line.

Oh well,
when you are with good company it doesn't really matter where you eat.


We started our journey back home.

The sunset was beautiful!

My husband Ken was our official chaperon!

Alex even made it back to Brigham City in time for the tail end of a reception.

When can we do it again?

A little reunion.....(not the big one)

Guess what?

Tomorrow
I get to "hang out" with some old friends from here.

See some great scenic sights like this.

Enjoy the beauty of southern Idaho...
And laugh and laugh as we remember some crazy, fun times spent here
(and at a lot of other spots around the valley).

Are you jealous?????

(You should be!)