Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my parents!!! Today is their 58th of marriage. I'm only at 25 1/2 and can't imagine that many years.

This picture was done almost 10 years ago. My mother is very talented--she's the artist. It shows them as they currently looked (well, you know, 10 yrs ago), and then around the age they were married, and then as young children. She's done a lot of these types of portraits. I wish I had half the talent she has! She even did one of Pres. & Sister Hinckley similar to this and it was given to them several years ago.

My dad's a pretty able man himself. He taught me a lot about small household repairs, but more importantly, he taught me important values in life--both my parents did.

I just wish I lived closer so I could be with them in person on this special day! Below is another picture my mom did--a few years before she did the one above. This one was published under the Deseret Book label. I love this picture and am sad that two of these great men are now gone. Thankfully mom is considering doing a new one!

I love you mom and dad! Thanks for everything!!!

An Era Has Ended...

I knew this day would come, but when my mom called to tell me of his passing, it still hit me hard--it stung, actually. I truly loved this man and all that he stood for, for he truly exemplified the kind of life we all should live. What an example!

I will truly miss his spirit, testimony and strength. I know he loved all of us in this great church. His wit was sharp and his humor amazing.

I know I can't be selfish and wish he could have stayed with us a bit longer because I know he's most definitely happy to be in heaven, once again with his dear sweet Marjorie. Can you imagine that reunion! She's been gone almost 4 years. I can also imagine the meeting he had with past prophets, not to mention our Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ. I can hear Him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

If I were still living in Utah, I know where I'd be on Thursday or Friday--waiting in line to pay my respects. And I know where I'd be on Saturday morning--attending his funeral, not just watching it via satellite as I will be doing here in Ohio.

I pray for his family, who mourn his passing, but put my faith and trust in my Heavenly Father, knowing they will all see their father, grandfather and great-grandfather again one day. I know this knowledge is a comfort to them.

I will miss your presence in our lives, dear President Hinckley and will honor your memory as well as the great legacy you left us as I do my best to follow your counsel.

I finally gave in!

Okay, so here I go! I've had a few friends and family members who have been after me to start my own blog, so here goes... But before I get started (since I'm new to this and can't figure how to get these pics moved down below yet, I'm sure there's a way, but I've not learned that yet! The explanation of the pics is down at the end of the blog entry.

As a quick (or maybe not so quick as nothing in my life seems to be anything short of complicated) synopsis to get you up to speed: Our family moved here to Ohio in the Spring of 2007. Tim came in January to start his new job (so he's been here longer) and then on the last day of April, we left our home that we loved, in Brigham City, UT to move here. QUITE a major change in many ways, much more than I expected. We loved it in Brigham City--the birthplace of my father. However, as many of you already know, that was a rough time for us, especially me, though I'm sure my husband and boys will think they had it pretty rough, but I'm the one who was personally dealing with a shattered leg! The men of my family merely had to deal with housekeeping (which was horribe at first, but hey, the learned!), meals, grocery shopping, waiting on my totally in those early weeks of my recovery. But I digress...

I had SO many plans when we first moved to Utah in Dec. 2005, first of which was to delay going back to work (I thought a few months off were in order and well-deserved) and enjoy the upcoming arrival of our very first grandchild and then the wedding of our second daughter--then I would consider going back to work and save up so I could spoil our new granddaughter, Meredith, as well as the next one who was on the way. Unfortunately those plans all fell apart when I fell at Zion's National Park on April 30, 2006, which was thankfully AFTER Kathryn's wedding in AZ! I'm SO glad I didn't miss that event! However, this injury was a life altering experience and messed up SO MANY of my plans. But looking back over this past 20 months, 2 weeks and one day (but whose counting--LOL), I'm not saying I can laugh about it all, but I can definitely see the hand of God in it all. I know He was there helping me through those rough days at the beginning, heck, He was even there WHEN I fell--telling me what to do, which I believe saved my life, or worse, a life that might have involved paralysis at the very least. He's even led us on our journey here. For some reason we definitely were meant to move East. The added bonus being, of course, that we're closer to at least one of our adult children. Elizabeth lives in Virginia--about 5 1/2 hrs from here. Unfortunately we've not had the opporunity to see her much since moving here, but just knowing she's close is nice. I just wish we could have Kathryn and her little family, as well as her brother, Philip closer to us, but it's just not possible. They're still in Arizona.

Since moving here, I've finally discarded the last vestiges of my fall at Zion's Park--my cane! I went from a wheelchair & walker, to crutches and then a cane. I decided in November that I was using it so little and it was more of a 'crutch' (pun intended), or security blanket, so-to-speak and it was time to finally fly solo! It was very freeing and so exciting for me! I can't tell you how wonderful it was and still is to be able to walk unassisted! There was a time there that I wasn't sure if I ever would be able to do so again. Oh, the things we take for granted--like walking! I'm not yet up to running, not sure if ever, and I'm still nervous on stairs (guess I'll always have a fear of falling) and now with winter here, I'm fearful of slipping and falling, but I'm more aware, so hopefully that will aid me in staying vertical! Besides, I really felt like showing up at job interviews with a cane was hindering any chance of being considered! First impressions make a difference... now if I could just get a job (not that I want to, but it's out of necesssity!). It takes so much time to recover from job loss, which is what we dealt with early on in my recovery--Tim's job ended--not so much a termination, but a 'parting of ways', we like to call it. The company changed directions and it wasn't going to work for us. It took him 6 months to find a job, that search kept enlarging until it landed here in Ohio. Our boys, Richard & Charlie (who are now 16 & 15, respectively) weren't too thrilled with the move--too many times in the past, however they are adjusting. Though they still keep in touch quite a bit with friends in Utah as well as Prescott Valley, AZ. They're doing very well in school too, which makes me happy. They're good boys. Soon as I get some decent pics, I'll be posting them with my new camera!!! It's nothing fancy, but WAY cooler than my old dinosaur of a digital camera (that didn't even have any optical zoom and pitifal pixels compared to my new one).

So, now that I've rambled enough and my synopsis is MUCH longer than intended, I'll leave it at that. I should add that you need to be grateful I didn't start this blog back in the early days of my recovery as was suggested by a dear friend, because I'd probably have posted the lovely pics (I still have) of my leg as it was healing--so many stitches, and bruising, scabs, etc... I have a lovely pictorial of it, as well as all the metal they subsequently had to remove from my leg. I know some of you have seen my pics as well as my leg as it was healing. I still have some NASTY scars--till I die. Sigh NOT a pretty sight!

REGARDING THE PICTURES at the top... If any of you who read this are interested, I'm in the working stages of starting up a new line of 'bling' or jewelry/accessory for blue jeans (or whatever else you can think of--the imagination is limitless). The first pic shows a sampling and the second one is a close up for detail. Along with my two 'stay-at-home' daughters, we're trying to find ways of generating some income (mostly so they can continue to stay home raising their babies), so we're coming up with handcrafted items to sell both privately as well as on www.etsy.com (once I figure how to personalize my page there and get it set up right)--MANY THANKS to my friend Kerrianne Burch for sharing that site on her blog! But I'm all up for selling separate from Etsy--just so you know. Just email me and I'll fill you in on details and can show pics of all of them--I have about 25 made--all unique, made from new, old/recycled jewelry, etc. And they come in either gold or silver in color (not the real stuff--this is all costume). They have the loops on them so they can be hung on your belt loop, or your purse, (maybe a bit long to be cellphone bling) or keys, scripture bag, etc. You decide! My initial 'vision' for these was for dressing up jeans a bit.

If you managed to get all the way to here, congratulations! I know this was LONG! All my posts won't be this long!