How Many Birthdays can You Pack into One Week?

Last week was a busy one at our house. Somehow I managed over the years to give birth to three children during the same week. Yikes. So, on Monday we celebrated one daughter's birthday and then celebrated a son's (and step-daughter's) birthday on Friday and then on Sunday celebrated their youngest sister's birthday.
We actually spent three days celebrating her birthday. We had to have a party on Friday with all of her friends and then some of her girlfriends spent the night. All told there were about 20 kids in attendance, so we had a full house.
She decided to use a murder mystery theme for her party each person's invitation was on a "WANTED" poster. Making the invitations was a lot of fun, since each person's invitation was customer made and included a picture and description of them, along with a detailed explanation of why they were wanted. She turned our home into a giant CLUE game board and each room became one of the rooms in the game. My bedroom became the Conservatory, the kitchen remained the Kitchen, the upstairs living room became the Library, etc. Her friends helped put together all the clues and then they divided up into teams and all went on their merry way to begin solving the Whodunit game. There were some clueless kids on ocassion, because some of the clues hadn't been put together or weren't really clear, but overall the game was a hit and they all had a good time.
After most of the guests went home, the girls stayed up and talked until all hours of the morning. However, the guest of honor made her way to my bedroom and proceeded to curl up on the bed and sleep because it was too noisy with her friends.
The next morning we had a mother/daughter date planned for the day. Our date took us to an art exhibit at Brigham Young University. They have an exhibit of the works of Carl Heinrich Bloch, a master painter from Denmark. His works included several altar pieces of the life of Christ and many other smaller pieces. The art was truly breathtaking and so beautiful. She and I both were impressed by the works of this man. His gift truly was magnificent. The museum also had another exhibit by the French painter James Tissot. Several of his watercolors of the Life of Christ were on display and I was so impressed by the detail and effort he imparted to each picture. Both exhibits are well worth seeing and are free, but you would have to hurry to see the latter one as it will be gone after January 9th and you have to make reservations for the Bloch exhibit. We had a great time going through the museum and then we bought tickets to see Legend of the Guardians: The Owl of Ga'hoole. We got to see it in 3D. I am amazed every time I see a 3D movie. The details are so cool. Each owl was very lifelike and you could almost feel the wind as they were in flight. It was a fun flick. We went window shopping and ate lunch before the movie started, and took photos in a booth at the mall. Of course, I didn't figure out where to look at the camera until it had taken all three picture. DUH! Oh well, they turned out nicely anyway. We did some shopping for the holidays and then headed home.
All told, it was a great day and it was wonderful to spend some time with my daughter and make memories. I realized that I should be doing more of this with the rest of her siblings too.
On Sunday, it was her actual birthday and I had promised her older sister that I would make her a birthday cake and we would celebrate her birthday on Sunday too, so we made two birthday cakes and both girls blew out candles and we gave the youngest the rest of her gifts and took the traditional in front of the door pictures of the birthday person with their parents.
While we didn't get to have cake with our son, I did call him and wished him a "Happy Birthday". He's in the middle of moving from one state to another and will be here soon to visit.
Having children is a blessing and spending time with them is one of the greatest gifts a mom can give. I look forward to doing this again with the rest of my children. I may have just started another tradition.

Thank the Moms Day!

Today has been a wonderful day. We are so blessed and I am grateful. While I wish I could share all of my blessings, I am afraid this blog would be too long and you would tire before I was through. For me Thanksgiving is a year round thing, but somehow around this time of year we always seem to take more time to notice our blessings. Today, my sister and I had a meeting after our regular Sunday meetings. We left our children at home and when we got back, they had a surprise for us. We could not go in the house and 'see' what they were up to, so they escorted us to the back room to wait. They finished their preparations and told us we could come up to the kitchen. They had prepared dinner, which included a relish tray, fresh tossed green salad, Quesa dillas (and I know that is not spelled right), scrambled eggs and a fruit shake. They had popped corn and had made no-bake cookies for dessert. They decided it was "Thank the Moms Day". They are such good kids and I am so grateful to be their mom and a mom to my sister's children too. It truly made my day. Then we got a surprise visit from our special friend, Jeremy. It is always such a pleasure to have him visit. We have adopted him as one of our own kids and we have truly been blessed from knowing him as he has touched our life and the lives of many others. And so I begin my blessing counting and the list continues to grow and grow. And to all of you who may at sometime read this, Thanks. Thanks for being a friend, for being there and for sharing your life with me.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning and Autumn Tea

Today started out as a normal humdrum day, except that it is the day I made plans to get up early and go vote before work (mission accomplished). But then, I approached my car and tucked neatly into the window on the driver's side was a little note. Thankfully the wind was not blowing and I managed to retrieve the note and much to my surprise it was from my "Sammy". Just a little note to tell me that "I Rock!!" and then when I came to work, someone who must know my yen for Blueberry muffins left one of them on my desk. It may be Monday, but it is an awesome Monday, Monday, So Good to Me (Thank you, Mama Cass). What a wonderful way to start my day. Thank you, I am forever blessed.
This past weekend we held our Semi-annual Hammer Moms Tea Party. This one was quite well attended and was a great success. We opted for Root Beer Floats or Apple Juice instead of tea, as most of the children don't care for tea, and our local Walmart no longer carries our favorite flavor.
What's up with that anyway. I have never figured out why they remove my favorite flavor and replace it with an impostor that never measures up. Oh well, c'est la vie.
Back to the tea party. We always make way too many goodies and so we had plenty for everyone. I always do some research before our teas to see if I can find something out of the ordinary to make for treats. This time I found two recipes: High Tea Lemon Cookies and Chocolate Dipped Ritz Treats.
The Lemon Cookies were reminiscent of Scottish Shortbread with lemon Frosting. They were melt in your mouth good and while Faye and I really enjoyed them, our little ones decided they preferred Valentine Cut-up Cookies with a less lemony flavor.
The Ritz treats were made by taking Peanut Butter flavored butter-cream frosting and spreading in on a Ritz cracker and placing another Ritz on top to form a sandwich. This was in turn dipped in melted Chocolate Bark to which we added Peanut butter chips. Once they had been dipped and placed on waxed paper, they were decorated with sprinkles and reminded us of Twix Candy Bars sans caramel. I am sure they will make a repeat performance again at future parties, especially since my youngest liked them so much.
We also experimented with making Grilled Cheese sandwiches by dressing them up and adding some spice to them. We used Pumpernickel bread or Whole wheat and and used a combination of Pepper Jack and Provolone cheese or Provolone and Colby Jack cheese. Under normal conditions, I tend to be the only one who likes Pumpernickel Bread, but as a grilled cheese with the two types of cheese it was a great hit.
With all of the company headed home and the grown kids playing and visiting with each other, I headed to my room and put on an old movie to watch with the grand kids. I even got little Miss Jordan to snuggle with me and we had a great time watching an old movie. She then wanted to watch "Thomas the Tank" and was quite engaged until Mom and Dad were ready to head home.
Now to start planning for our Spring Tea. Let the sleuthing begin.

Of Doughnuts and Cider...

It's the time of year again when my mouth begins to water for those things that remind me of hearth and home. I have no idea why autumn should invoke this desire for doughnuts and hot apple cider, but invariably every fall my inner child wakes and remembers. Maybe it is the sweet smell of freshly cut pine burning on the cool evening breeze. Perhaps is it the feeling in the air of change in all its whimsical glory.
I love this time of year the best of all the seasons. It is more colorful than spring and somehow more vibrant as Mother Nature give a last "Hurrah" before the first snows of winter appear. I love the deep reds, the bright oranges and pale yellows as she paints the hills where I live.
I remember the day of my marriage in late September thirty-five years ago, and as my husband and I began our new journey together we headed up Fairview Canyon on our way back home. It was a beautiful sight and everywhere you looked there was color, a rainbow cornucopia of the most gorgeous hues imaginable. I remember telling my husband that it looked like a huge bowl of Trix and to this day I wait and watch for this display and it never looses its thrall.
Maybe Autumn holds so much meaning because it is a time of harvest and a time to give thanks for the beauties and the blessings we have received. The garden has been harvested, bottled and placed in storage and there are no more lawns to mow or weeds to pull for a little while.
For me, autumn is magical and dances across the pages of my mind pulling down cherished memories of being warm, snug and loved. These memories manifest themselves in doughnuts and hot cider and beg to be let free while I curl up in my bed with my favorite book and read until all hours of the night.

Ghosts of my Past

The other day I happened to read a blog of a friend of mine. She was reminiscing about her grandmother. It was such a beautiful tribute to a wonderful woman and I felt as if I had known her or that she might have been a kindred spirit.
Of course, that also got me thinking about my own grandmothers and my relationships with them. My mother's mother lived in the state of Washington in Tacoma. My father's mother lived in Utah in a small farming town named Wellington. I lived in Utah too and so I came to know my paternal grandmother the best, but this story is not about them, but rather about their siblings and the siblings of my grandfathers.
On my maternal grandfather's side, I am not sure I met any of his siblings, save one, and that is a very distant memory. He died when I was young of cancer and my mother wrote a poem upon his death.
My father's parents had many siblings. My grandfather's house was across the street from his youngest brother's farm and I remember playing in the hay there and having a crush on one of their boys. They'd had a daughter and then one day as Uncle Phil was working in the fields, He was struck by lightning and they could not have any more children and so they adopted two young Native Americans. Uncle Phil had a raw milk dairy and he kept a very tidy farm, just like my grandfather.
Grandpa's oldest sister lived in Salt Lake City, not very far from our house and we would visit with her occassionally and eat supper over there. Aunt Ida was a very petite woman and her husband was a very jolly individual. I just loved Unlce Garrett. He was so much fun to be around. Their home was always imaculate, but always felt warm and inviting.
Lehi was where another one of Grandpa's brothers setttled. Homer and Sylmer lived just off the freeway there in Lehi. I can still picture their home and visiting with them and their son who lived next door whenever we would decide to go hike Mt. Timp. I also remember how touched I was when they came to my wedding. It meant so much to me to have them there. Their son still lives in the same house and his son now lives where Uncle Homer lived. It is so awesome to see that some things remain in the family.
Grandpa's brother June lived back east in D.C. and I don't know if I ever did meet him, he passed aways when I was very young, but I never heard anything but good ever spoken of him. Aunt Irene and Aunt Alta I would see at reunions, but I did not know them as well as I did the ones I have mentioned already, but I do remember that they were always interested in me and they always had a kind word to say. I remember them as being very upright and steadfast and firm in their beliefs and convictions.
Now for my father's mother's siblings. They were quite a crew. There were 13 of them, including grandma, and some of her siblings had children who were the same age as she was. I remember Aunt Emma, Aunt Gail, Aunt Arbor, Uncle Bob, and Aunt Rae.
Aunt Emma always scared me. Maybe because she was old enough to have been my grandmother's mother, but she seemed ancient and scary when I was 10 years old. I remember she came to visit us and corrected how I was folding clothes. I needed correctly, I will admit, but I was not going to let some old lady tell me how to do things. Of course, when she brought my mother into it, I was very obedient and to this day I remember her correction and I acknowledge that she was right and I was being a little brat.
Aunt Gail seemed rather frail to me and I had a hard time telling Aunt Emma and Aunt Gail apart. Chalk it up to being ten and all old people look the same.
Uncle Bob was funny. He was always full of jokes and stories and made us laugh whenever he would come around. The same held true for Aunt Rae. She was always on show or so it seemed. One time she came to visit grandma while we were there and she brought her beau. He was a tall distinguished looking man with a very deep voice and we were informed that he had been the voice of God in the movie "The Ten Commandments" starring Charlton Heston. He even looked the part, with snowy white wavy hair.
Four of Grandma's sibling died before I was aware of their existense and of the others I barely knew them and probably met them a total of two or three times. It is such a sad commentary on family life when we know so little about those who are part of the frame of the picture we are in.
Now for my mother's mother's siblings. I almost remember them the best. There was Aunt Pearl, Uncle Vaughn, Aunt Lou, Aunt Edna and Uncle Ellis. Uncle Vaughn and Uncle Ellis I only saw about once a year duing family reunions. Our reunions were held at the Tucher Rest area in the canyon on the way to Price. One of mom's cousins would always make sourdough pancakes for everyone and all of the kids would play in the stream and get soaking wet and we would all dry off in the summer sun.
Aunt Pearl lived in Washington, not far from my Grandmother and we would get to visit with her when we would head up to visit our Grandparents and mom's brother and sister who lived there also.
Aunt Lou would come and visit us or we would go visit her. She lived in Castle Dale and was a widow. She was such a sweet person and I liked her a lot.
But of all of the siblings, it is Aunt Edna I remember best. She lived in Salt Lake also and was married to Uncle Bill. Mom was really close to them as I recall. Uncle Bill and my Grandpa Barney had worked in construction together most of their lives and that involved a lot of moving. I may have my facts mixed up, but I know that they were together quite a bit while my mom grew up and she loved to visit them and so did I.
Uncle Bill always fasinated me. He had tatoos on his arms and I was repulsed and attracked to them at the same time. I always wondered about them and why he would do that, but I never did ask. Uncle Bill was a Mason and Aunt Edna was LDS, but they loved each other a lot.
Aunt Edna had her home filled with all kinds of things she had crocheted. One item in particular held my attention each time we would visit. It was a small crocheted slipper, made of very fine crochet thread and it seemed so etherial to me. It always amazed me how it held its shape and stayed upright. I later learned that it had been placed on a form and dipped in a sugar solution and left to dry. Once the form was removed it would forever hold its shape, unless you got it wet, of course.
Every time we would go to visit Aunt Edna and Uncle Bill we knew we were in for a treat. She always had ice cream for us or some other goodie. Once time, she had made mincemeat pie. She served us each some and we tried it. I had never had mincemeat and did not know what it was, but was very unprepared for the taste. To this day I have never had it again. It is the only thing I ever had there that I did not consider a 'goodie'.
After Uncle Bill passed away, their son, "Little Bill" bought the home and built an addition on the back for Aunt Edna to live in. They put a pool table in the garage and that is where I played my first game of pool.
We always knew that Aunt Edna was making something for us for Christmas too. Sometime in October or November our mother would measure our feet or take other measurements. If she measured our feet, it meant that Aunt Edna was knitting us some slippers. We loved those slippers and wore them until there were holes in the bottoms. One year, duing the late 60's, she made each of the girls in my family a crocheted vest. They were very popular and I was so excited to get mine. It was beautiful and was a beige color, so that it would match almost anything I wore. I don't know if I ever thanked her for all that she did for us, but I know she is near and I hope she knows my heart is grateful for her gifts and the time and effort she put forth for us.
I miss her and Aunt Lou and Uncle Homer and Uncle Phil and all the rest of them. They were a generation of people that knew the value of hard work. Theirs was the generation that fought in World War II or stayed on the homefront and kept the fires burning. They were a connection to our forefathers who crossed the plains and settled where we now call home.
I am glad for the connections my children have had to those like my dear friend Maureen, who recently passed beyond this veil. To them and to their generation I dedicate this blog and hope that someday these ghosts of my past will be seen again and that we may renew those ties that bind us together.

Milestones

In every life there are milestones. You know the kind; like when you get married, have a baby, the baby takes its first step, etc. Well, in my case, I got married and then had 11 babies and they all took their first step and said their first word and then time flew by. Today is one of those days when I get to reflect on milestones. It happens to also be my son's 16th birthday and therefore it is another one of those huge milestones.
For him it means a driver's license, for me it means getting behind the wheel with a newbie and hoping he knows how to steer, use the gas pedal and the brake pedal and does not have a lead foot. This is the 9th time I've been through this and I still hold my breath and hope for the best when they get behind the wheel.
Thankfully, I only have two more kids to go through this with and then I am home free, except...
Then they graduate from high school, get married and then there are grandkids and somehow, in all of this, mother never stops worrying about them all. Even if there is nothing I can possibly do to help them, I still worry. Not that worrying helps. It never does. I think it is a Mommy thing.
At one point in the last 4 or 5 years I had three of my sons and a step son in the military and three of them were in Iraq and one in the UAE. Now that was a time for intense worry and every report that came over the airwaves made me wonder if my boys were involved. To my great relief they all came home safe and sound. Now two of them are out of the service, one just got back to the states from a second tour and is with his family, and another son will be heading somewhere overseas soon.
So today as we celebrate the birth and life of one of my children, I must say that I am grateful for this time when I can stop and reflect, even if only for a brief moment, on the blessings I have been given. We've had a high school graduation this year and a marriage in our family, the youngest earned his Webelos rank in Cub Scouts, and the list goes on and on. These are all milestones, events in our everyday lives that make us stop and think and once again give thanks that we are here and life is precious.
Now, where is the seat belt and the car keys and the duct tape to put on my mouth, so I don't scream...

To Blog or Not to Blog, now there's the question...

It seems, that blogging has become a way of life for many of us and as this is my first attempt at it, it only seems fitting to reason out the wherefores and the whys of doing so.
As I am not an avid follower of many blogs, but have read a few and enjoyed a few chuckles here and there, it seems that blogging is a great way to exercise the freedom of the pen and give expression to the inner being.
It would seem that writing down my thoughts ought to be easy and generally is, but trying to write something that seems worthwhile is not always as easy as it seems. I tend to read and reread much that I write and am my own worst critique.
So hopefully what I write herein will be of value to you, the reader, and you can take most of what I place on the page with a grain or two of salt. Which puts me in mind of the recent movie Julie & Julia. A movie I truly enjoyed. I really empathized with Julie and her goal, her desire to accomplish just one thing in her life, to finish it and to write honestly about it. That one year in her life was like an encapsulation of what life is about: the struggles, the joys, the ups and downs and ins and outs. Not everything went according to plan, and there was the day when she was ready to give up, yet somehow that inner strength came forward and she persevered.
In the end she was victorious and had achieved something that many said she could not and would not be able to do. It was something as simple as keeping a blog that kept her going. A daily report of her life and her attempts to succeed and in the end that is all that matters.
For it is in the journey that we discover self and learn about who we are and what we may become. So here's to all the Julies out there who dare to blog and to those who blog back.