In response to Season's blog

This picture was taken last October in the Cleveland Metroparks. My parents were here for Brynnley's baptism. Who knew that leukemia was waging a war inside my dad's body? He looked so good and seemed so healthy.

In response to my sister's blog (and I must say, all biases aside...she is downright hilarious a good portion of the time. In fact, I basicallymuch laugh my head off when I am reading something she has written.) I  just had to comment.
She paid a very fair tribute to my zamboni loving dad on Father's Day. It was sort of one of those "have-to-know-my-dad-been-there-kind-of-moments," but her post had me laughing and crying at the same time. I have yet to post about my dad's cancer diagnosis...which came by text the day before my 38th birthday back in January. Since then, life's vocabulary seems to have changed to include words like ITP, CLL, platelets, white blood cells (alternately wanting platelets to increase and white blood cells to decrease), IVIG transfusions and a whole lot of other CRAP. It's been a roller-coaster of emotion to say the least.
But, although I need too...I'm not going into the details of all of that now. (I have had my walls taped off and ready to paint for 2 days. Perhaps it is time I actually get around to finishing the job? Of course, now that it is time for Addysen's basketball game and Cannon's baseball game...I probably won't start...again.)
I certainly do love my dad and I surely did love my sisters post though. Check her out at "Coming to Terms with Sloppy Joes."

P.S. Be forewarned that if you watch the zamboni video...you may or may not have a certain song stuck in your head for the entire rest of the day -- if not month. It's one of those songs that Addysen says gives country music a bad name.

More from Nauvoo

Outside Carthage Jail where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed.

They said these statues were life-sized. Greg couldn't believe how big Joseph and Hyrum were.

Taking a ride on a wagon pulled by oxen.

The girls were fascinated by the statues in the Women's Garden.

Just your average 11-yr.-old boy pretending to have a pig nose.

"Rendevous Nauvoo" the play that the senior missionaries put on. The woman on the left is Simone's mom. Her parents started serving their mission in Nauvoo in March -- thus...the Nauvoo wedding setting.

In the blacksmith's shop -- the kids loved their "prairie diamonds" -- also known as rings made from horseshoes.

Nauvoo Brass Band

Playing pioneer games

I think many of the adults (not including myself) were pretty good on the stilts. I felt like I was had a disadvantage in flip-flops..until Jessie shot that theory out the window. If I recall, Aaron was the master stilt walker.

Learning to make rope in the family living center.

A picture of a picture in our hotel. This painting really caught my attention. I've often thought, "what if I found myself in a situation where I couldn't save all of my children?" I can't imagine what this poor women -- the pioneer women in general -- had to go through to get to Zion. Their stories are truly inspirational.

Three hot, sweaty little cousins...waiting in the Welcome Center until the marriage ceremony was over.

Talk about a blessing

We were only about 2 hours into our 10 hour trip to Nauvoo when Greg, ever-so-simply stated, "get out the manual for the car and see what it means when the dash board says _________." I don't remember the exact thing I was supposed to look up but basically the manual said, "Get your car looked at ASAP. Do not delay." Great. There was something wrong with the battery and we were losing power as we drove.
A few minutes later he had me look up another warning. It basically said the same thing, "Your car needs some attention -- sooner, rather than later." Lovely. And then, about that fast...the battery power began to drain -- right along the freeway, somewhere in Indiana. It was then that I started praying, "Please just let us get somewhere that we can get help. I really don't want to be stuck on the side of the road with all these kids and car problems."
We got off at the next toll booth -- only to get stuck between two cars. The car in front was waiting on an attendant because the machine had eaten his card. The car behind us was driven by an Asian man who did not speak English well and couldn't fully grasp the desperateness of our situation. Finally, after spending 20 minutes trying to pay the toll...we were able to continue looking for someplace to get our car fixed. Thank goodness for phones with a GPS.
Incredibly, (and yet, not-so-incredibly if you believe in the power of prayer), we pulled into an Advance Auto Parts store literally as the car died. As you can see in the first picture -- Greg wasn't even able to turn the car into the parking spot. It just died.
Hello, answered prayer.
We busted out our pbj's and sat on the sidewalk for lunch as Greg and the nice man at the auto parts store replaced our alternator, some belts and our battery. Amazingly, we'd purchased the battery (with warranty which was due to expire later this summer) three years ago at Advanced Auto Parts. Thanks to Greg being "the man!" we had a very faded receipt in the car which allowed them to look up the battery and replace it for free. We now have a new battery with another 3 year warranty.
As if that wasn't enough...the man helped Greg replace the belts and the alternator. That was totally not in his job description and Greg said it would have taken hours for him to figure all of that out himself.
And it gets better...what could have been disasterous from a time AND money standpoint only set us back about $150 and less than 2 hours -- just enough time to eat lunch on the sidewalk and go to the bathroom at Drug Mart.
You can bet we used this as a teaching moment for the kids.
We said prayers of gratitude and we were on our way.

Spencer & Simone's Wedding

I'm not sure how I managed to miss actually posting this. Most likely, I had great intentions of writing a long diatribe about our super-fun weekend to Nauvoo, IL for Spencer and Simone's wedding. Somehow, now that it is a month later, I'm feeling like I better just get it posted.
BUT...we did have a super-fun weekend! The weather was perfect (although the actual wedding day was extremely hot and humid -- as evidenced by our red and sweaty faces.) We loved touring the sites and being able to do sealings in the temple for 24 (? I think) of Greg's deceased family members. It was a particular honor for me to act as proxy for his Grandma Elaine -- our kids great-grandmother. I'm just going to have to skip editing the pictures...and just get them posted.

Never Grow A Wishbone Where Your Backbone Ought toBe

I copied this from a link on Facebook.... 

Definitely something I want for my daughters.

 

For My Daughter

By Sarah McMane
“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.” – Clementine Paddleford

Never play the princess when you can
be the queen:
rule the kingdom, swing a scepter,
wear a crown of gold.
Don’t dance in glass slippers,
crystal carving up your toes --
be a barefoot Amazon instead,
for those shoes will surely shatter on your feet.
Never wear only pink
when you can strut in crimson red,
sweat in heather grey, and
shimmer in sky blue,
claim the golden sun upon your hair.
Colors are for everyone,
boys and girls, men and women --
be a verdant garden, the landscape of Versailles,
not a pale primrose blindly pushed aside.

Chase green dragons and one-eyed zombies,
fierce and fiery toothy monsters,
not merely lazy butterflies,
sweet and slow on summer days.
For you can tame the most brutish beasts
with your wily wits and charm,
and lizard scales feel just as smooth
as gossamer insect wings.
Tramp muddy through the house in
a purple tutu and cowboy boots.
Have a tea party in your overalls.
Build a fort of birch branches,
a zoo of Legos, a rocketship of
Queen Anne chairs and coverlets,
first stop on the moon.

Dream of dinosaurs and baby dolls,
bold brontosaurus and bookish Belle,
not Barbie on the runway or
Disney damsels in distress --
you are much too strong to play
the simpering waif.
Don a baseball cap, dance with Daddy,
paint your toenails, climb a cottonwood.
Learn to speak with both your mind and heart.
For the ground beneath will hold you, dear --
know that you are free.
And never grow a wishbone, daughter,
where your backbone ought to be.

Junior National Honor Society

 

On Tuesday, Addysen, along with several of her friends, was inducted into the Jr. National Honor Society. She was selected based on written teacher recommendations, scholarship, service, community involvement and leadership. On Wednesday, they held the 7th grade academic awards ceremony.
She also performed in her final two Show Choir concerts this week. After watching 5 performances in the month of May, Brynnley, Kenzie and Cambrie all feel they could perform the songs as well. Addysen says she is NOT sad to be done with Show Choir.
We are proud of her efforts and the beautiful girl that she is -- both inside and out.