KAYLA IS ENGAGED!!!

Kayla went away to college and found the most perfect guy. On March 13th he asked her to marry him. We are so thankful and so happy! They were engaged at the Men's Choir dress rehearsal. The choir sang a beautiful song that Brian had composed for Kayla. Brian conducted them and then at the end of the song he sure surprised her when he proposed. She agreed and now she is so happy and so much in love! They are an amazing couple. It will be fun to see what life has in store for them.

Thanks to Brian for sharing these great pictures with me!

Their faces say it all!

Fun weekend in Rexburg

We went to Rexburg last Friday to spend the weekend. Tyrel got to be with Suzi and they found them a place to live. For more information, check out their blog.

Lisa and I got to spend the WHOLE weekend with Kayla and Brian. It was so fun for us. It was unusual for these two to have a weekend without homework. We feel very blessed to have had the time with them that we did. We went to the Men's and Women's Choir concert and then to Craigos afterward on Friday. The concert was wonderful - as always.

On Saturday we went shopping at a mall in Idaho Falls. We needed to get Kayla and Brian something to wear for Ty and Suzi's reception. We had a great time and found out that Brian is really fun to shop with! Later that night Brian showed us his pictures from Brazil and we really enjoyed that. On Sunday Lisa and I went to Kayla's church. I love to attend church in student wards!! We then ate Sunday dinner at Kayla's apartment before we headed home. This will definitely go down in history as one of my favorite weekends ever!

Another Baby!!!

We are getting a new baby in the fall thanks to Lisa and Ryan. We can hardly wait!!!

R.E.A.D. Book Group

I love these people!! Sixteen years ago my boss at the library asked me to organize a book group for the older people in the community. That is how I came to organize R.E.A.D. (Reading Entertainment and Discussion). Every month I have 20 to 25 people come and many of them have been with me for the entire 16 years. When we started everyone decided that they didn't want to read the books and discuss them. Instead they wanted a more traditional experience where I would review books for them each month. I would do about six months a year and then I would have some dear friends help me out with the other months. (I didn't want them to get sick of me.) As the years have gone by, some of the book group members themselves have been willing to review books for me. I have especially loved that.

This is Howard, one of my dearest friends. I tell people he's pretty much perfect but he's not too thrilled about having to live up to that standard. He is a kind and gentle man. He worked over all the grounds at BYU for years and he has a great knowledge of plants, trees, flowers and everything in nature. A few years ago I asked him if he would consider reviewing a book each year. He was unsure at first but he did it. The first book he reviewed was A River Runs Through It and I have never heard a more beautiful review! Since then he has reviewed Tasha Tudor books, Tuesdays With Morrie, A Train to Potevka, and many more. I have told people about him and he has branched out and reviewed in other places. He also gives great horticulture presentations.

This is Howard with his sweetheart, Dixie. They have quite a love story. They are so cute together. They come every month and hold hands. I just love them so much.

Howard reviewed The Longest Walk for us this month. He did a beautiful job. He's now giving some thought to what he will review for me next year. You will notice in the top picture that Howard has a handkerchief at his feet. That is because he gives very thoughtful and emotion filled reviews. It is common for him to shed tears. So touching.

This is Jane. How I love Jane! I have known her my whole life. She is a great example and sometimes mentor for me. She does everything beautifully. She owns the Bungalow here in Pleasant Grove and is quite a business woman. I am amazed that she finds time every year to come to this book group. She was my first guest reviewer and she reviewed Women Who Run With the Wolves. Sometimes she enjoys dressing up like a fairy and having tea parties with her granddaughters. She travels to France and then comes home and tells me about it. She has been one of my greatest supporters, not just with the book group but with other endeavors. She has always complimented me on my mothering and my writing. I appreciate her so much.

This is Walden and Gwen. They are two of the best people I have ever met. I am so glad to know them and count them among my dearest friends. They have been married for over 60 years. They raised their eight children on a farm in Idaho Falls and then they moved here to Pleasant Grove. They have traveled to the Holy Land and many other interesting places in recent years. Walden keeps us laughing with his quips and antidotes. For example - "The only two books that have ever done me any good is my mother's cookbook and my dad's checkbook."

I look so forward to seeing these two. I'm glad they come in the library often. Their oldest daughter is Parker's kindergarten teacher.

This is sweet Marie. She moved to Pleasant Grove from San Fransisco a few years ago. She has been coming to the book group ever since. She also comes to my BookEnders book group at the library where everyone reads the book and participates in the discussions. Every time she decides to buy a book for anyone she comes to the library and asks for my suggestions. I just enjoy her so much. I learn alot from her in our book discussions.

This is Sandra (Sondie). She has lived in Pleasant Grove all of her life and has never married. I love her too. She volunteers at the rest homes in the area and she gives so much of herself to the people who live there. She will sometimes surprise me after book group and go buy lunch for everyone who is working at the library that day. She is a very talented poet and she is so funny. She has me laughing all the time. I'm so glad to count her among my friends.

Virginia, in the middle, is totally deaf but she still comes to the book reviews. She likes our company. She wants to do something worthwhile with her time. She is such a cute lady. She comes and reads the lips of the reviewer.

This is Afton. She started coming to book group many years ago but then her husband got sick and she had to stay home and care for him. When he passed away she started to join us again. I love her sweet spirit and I really miss her when she is not there.

This is Ivy, in the middle. This month she brought her mother and her husband. Her mother often joins us but this was the first time for her husband. I think he will be back. Ivy has also been with me for the entire 16 years. She is so kind. I just love visiting with her.

R.E.A.D. Book Group has been a highlight in my life. I have met some of the best people I know in this group. I'm am constantly uplifted by their examples and through their friendship. The hardest part has been when some of them have passed away. I miss them so much. I would like to mention three of those.

Bea - my stake partriarch's wife and my grandpa's cousin. She died this last Christmas and I have missed her terribly. She was one of the cutest ladies I have ever met. I knew her my whole life. Every time I gave a review or a presentation she would make her famous homemade fudge and bring me some. I miss that too. No one makes fudge like Bea.

Aunt Afton - I met Afton when I was in elementary school. My parents were divorced and I was a little lost. She was the school librarian and she invited me to come into the library and help her put away books and whatever else she needed. Many people thought she was a ornery old lady but not me. I loved her. When my mom remarried she married Afton's nephew so she became family. It was so fun to have her come to my book reviews every month for years until she died of heart disease. I miss her too.

Edith - My words will not do justice to how I feel about Edith. She would come to book group every month dressed in the cutest sweat suits because she was coming from aerobics class. She was in her eighties. She also lovingly cared for her invalid husband for years in her home even though many told her she should admit him to a facility and make it easier on herself. She was one of the most amazing people I have every met. One of her daughters had tragically died of asthma years before I met her. She said that I reminded her of that daughter. We became very close. I asked her to review for me and she did it willingly and beautifully. Sometimes she would stop by my house and bring me a loaf of bread right out of the oven. She made a quilt for Parker when he was a baby. When she was preparing her last book review on a book called Jim the Boy she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. During that time I worked with her on the review and we had high hopes of her being able to do it. She died just a couple of weeks before she was to give it and I thought my heart would break. I gave it for her and found it very difficult to get through it. Oh, how I miss Edith.

When Edith realized that she was going to die she wrote this beautiful letter to her loved ones. I was so blessed to be one of those who received it.

Dear loved ones:

I hope by now that some of the initial shock of my departure has begun to wear away... and that the kind carpet of pleasant memories has started to unroll.

I only ask one thing: No sad tears for me please. Every wonderful, delightful thrill, experiences and emotion life has to offer has been mine. So, no sad tears for me, please.

Rather, recall me with a fond smile as the wife, mother, grandmother, and friend who shared your laughter, tears and dreams through the years....

I lived a goodly span of years -- and enjoyed them all. I've laughed a lot, cried a little - I've seen a thousand sunsets and a few fresh dawns, walked in April rain, and watched an ocean roll.

I loved a man and was loved in return. . . I've cradled daughters in my arms. . . and walked with the hand of a son in my own. . . and my grandchildren gladden my heart.

Life was good - I saw robins in the spring - watched a shooting star and the snows of winter, walked under a harvest moon, and stood on top of a high hill and watched the flickering lights of a town.

Think of the happy times: The Christmas mornings. . . the grandchildren. . . the weddings. . . most of all, remember the hundreds of times we were together as a family.

On Christmas Eve, if there is a small star in the sky, look to it with love and let it come into your heart. . . and remember me. For no one dies as long as one person remembers.

You might be standing on a mountain top, looking across the sweep of a great plain. . . and if there is a sudden, gentle stirring among the trees. . . feel I am sharing the moment with you.

A mom never really dies while there are those on earth who love her. . . A mom is never gone as long as there are those who remember her with fondness and as long as her memory evokes a wistful smile.

Goodbyes are never easy

Every week Tyrel or Suzi drives four hours to be with the other. The time always goes by too fast and goodbyes are difficult. This month we were lucky because Suzi was able to take some time away from school and we had her in our house for eight out of eleven days. Tyrel was loving it. Just 1 month and 2 days ....then they won't have to be apart ever again.

Twins?

I refer to these two as our first set of twins. Actually Parker is mine and Kaitlyn is Lisa's. We went through our pregnancies together and then had them three weeks apart. I have some pretty good stories about that time in our lives. It has been so fun to watch these two grow up together. When they were little, Lisa and I would go to lunch and people always thought they were twins. They just assumed I was the grandma :)

AMY

My blog was feeling a little empty without a picture of Amy on here. Somehow I never feel complete unless all of my children are involved. So, this is Amy, my oldest daughter, and her family. I miss her so much but I'm so thrilled for her and the life she has in Hailey, Idaho. I love how generous she is (and how patient Ryan is) with us when we visit her. The last time we stayed with her was on President's Day weekend. All 23 of us stayed at her house and we loved every minute of it!!

I must also give a special thanks to Amy for helping with this blog. She has wanted me to do it forever -- thanks for getting me start Aim.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR........

What a great time of life it is for Tyrel and Kayla! They have both found such special people to share their lives with. It is so fun to spend time with these two young couples. Their enthusiasm for life and for love is contagious!!

I wanted to share these pictures and some of my favorite quotes along with them. Enjoy!

To love would be an awfully big adventure!
- J M Barrie (Peter Pan)


Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
-Robert A Heinlein



Where there is great love, there are always miracles.
-Willa Cather

THE CHOIR

There is a choir in me

That unpredictably
Breaks into hymns
Of praise for your being.

Graciously
I keep the sound on low
So everyone else can go
About their business
And not know
What they're missing.

-Carol Lynn Pearson

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. -Dr Seuss



A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her.
-Max Lucado



Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl.
-Sir Winston Churchill


You know you are in love when you see the world in her eyes, and her eyes everywhere in the world. -David Levisque

Love is a journey, not a destination.


To laugh often and love much . . . to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to give one's self. . . this is to have succeeded. -Ralph Waldo Emerson



Do I love you because you are beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you?
-Rogers & Hammerstein (Cinderella)



Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot. Wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in your sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks your just as pretty without makeup on, who is content to just be in the same room as you. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have you... The one who turns to everyone he knows and says, "that's her."
-Anonymous



I have found the paradox that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. -Mother Teresa





The women in our lives are creatures endowed with particular qualities, divine qualities, which cause them to reach out in kindness and with love to those about them....How thankful I am, how thankful we all must be, for the women in our lives.
-President Gordon B Hinckley





Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, alway trusts, always hopes, always perserveres. Love never fails. -1 Corinthians 13




Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. -Plato

EMBRACE

I think

I have melted

All over you -

Melted like a crayon

On a windowsill

On a warm, warm day.

You may have to

Peel me off.

Or let me stay.

-Carol Lynn Pearson

Holiday sledding in Holladay!

Clint and Abby invited everyone to come sledding with them during the holidays. We missed having Amy and Ryan and their family there. Everyone had such a fun time.

Ryan and Lisa take to the hill with their kids.

Ty and Suzi go next.

Parker had such a good time. Sledding is one of his very favorite things. We have a hill by our house and he goes nearly every day when there is snow.

My sweet Kayla. Oh how I miss having her home every day. It's such a treat when we get to spend time with her.

Lisa and Caroline

Suzi, Tyrel, Abby and Abby's sister Ann Marie.

Kaitlyn, Rachel and Parker take a break in the snow.

Caroline enjoying a trip down the hill with her daddy

My two beautiful dark-eyed daughters - Kayla and Lisa.

Henry is ready to give it a go! Not scared at all.

My oldest son Clint helping his youngest son Henry.

I know there is a bit of a competition but I must say that I really think that Rachel IS the favorite aunt.

Isn't this the cutest couple ever!! So much in love!!

Such cute sisters! Kayla and Rachel love each other so much. We are so thankful for the example that Kayla sets for Rachel everyday.