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the event of the season....


....was our family's:

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It was pretty much the cutest thing....ever.

There was a runway.

There was music.

There were cameras flashing and people clapping and 3 sweet little models "workin' it" and showing off some of their new school clothes:


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I served cake afterward and everyone chowed down while I went "backstage" and cleaned up the heaps of brand new clothes strewn all over the place.
I wonder if real fashion shows are the same tornado backstage?

Mallory told me it was the "best night of her life".

If nothing else, it was 30 minutes of fun and smiles and it sure did get them excited to start school the next day. :)

Right now...

I'm feeling sad for some friends who are going through hard times.

It's hard for me during times like these, because I never ever know what to say. But I always remember one time when I called the mom of a friend of mine who was going through something, and I told her I'd wanted to call my friend for a long time but had no idea what to say and didn't want to end up making things worse.

And she told me that no one does know what to say and that the call itself would be appreciated. So I bit my nails & fretted for 5 minutes and finally called..... and I felt much better and my friend didn't seem to mind that I wasn't quoting from a "how to say the right thing" book.

So now I try not to let myself get hung up on what the right/perfect response is, and just go, just call and the rest will fall into place.



I get chills every time I listen to this song, and when I've felt really sad & helpless for my friends, listening to it and has made me feel better:


(scroll to the very bottom of the page and turn off the music first so you can hear the loveliness of it)


Isn't it beautiful?
It's always been a favorite song of mine, but hearing it sung in that voice (as opposed to, say....mine) gives it a whole new dimension. I love it and I highly recommend listening to it during hard or sad times. :o)



After chores were done on Saturday morning, I wanted to get out of the house.



But we had the HARDEST time deciding where to go.



Jesse suggested Old Town & the Mormon Battalion.



To me, it sounded like kind of a snoozer of a way to spend a Saturday but since none of us had any better ideas, we headed down to Old Town.







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And to my surprise, the Mormon Battalion museum was really really awesome. The presentation, the facilities, and the information was really way more than I expected and we totally enjoyed ourselves.





After the museum tour & presentation, the girls panned for gold:






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They pumped some water the old-fashioned way:





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And got a taste of what life was like before the invention of the washing machine:



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(Later when Mariah was telling Nana all about our adventure, she told her about the washing board and said that they had "washed a board with old clothes", and we laughed and explained that they were using the board to wash the clothes, not the other way around. Lol!)





M&M took turns lifting the bucket out of the well:




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They got comfy in a covered wagon:


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And became honorary members of the battalion & got their pictures taken:



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It was really a lot of fun & very impressive!





From there we walked around Old Town, and imagine my surprise, shock & delight when we ran into these:





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Super gigantic hyndrangea bushes. Really they're more like hydrangea trees. The flowers weren't that photo-worthy, but that's how they have to be to get so many blooms year after year. I couldn't get over how huge they were.




Then Arissa & I toured the Whaley House.




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I was disappointed because I didn't see or feel much of anything exciting. Arissa says she did. It's a creepy place for sure, but I think that's just because it smells ancient in there and it just looks creepy with all the old dusty stuff. I did like the unfinished needle-point sitting on the couch and the knitting needles & yarn in a basket by one of the chairs......I think Mrs. Whaley and I would have gotten along. :o)



It was interesting though, Ghosts aside, just because of the history and all the wonderfully old things inside. Arissa pointed out a sign on one of the tables in the parlor that said August 14th (the day we were there) was the Whaley's wedding anniversary. She thought that was pretty awesome.








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After a full day of history and old stuff, we happily got in our air-conditioned car, went to Souplantation for lots of food we didn't have to grow ourselves, came home and listened to our ipods and watched some good old-fashioned tv. And I did some laundry and was thankful every minute of it that I wasn't born in the time of washboards and covered wagons. I know for sure I would have been a very very bad/cranky pioneer.

But it was fun being "honorary" ones:



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summer rain

After a miserable, hot, sticky, swealtering, all-around yucky day, nothing could be better than:





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...a summer rain storm!




At 3pm the sun made it unbareable to be outside, and by 4pm, the skies were clouded over, rain was falling. And then thunder and lightning soon followed.




So instead of huddling inside with the air conditioning on, we went outside and enjoyed every drop and cool breeze while it lasted.


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(Mallory absolutely refused to lay on the grass and let me take her picture. But she had no problem laying on top of Mariah...)


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As we noticed the summer rain was watering our potted plants, we noticed that the plant Mallory had grown from a little seed (in her school classroom) had finally sprouted a wee flower:





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M&M could not believe their eyes and they were so excited:



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The summer rain storm made my whole day; I loved it. It totally made up for the disgusting weather of the rest of that day!

(But that weather only lasted for 3 days out of the whole summer season, thus far, so I'm thanking my lucky stars for that!)


2000


This year it really hit me what a huge year 2000 was for me (& my family).

Each event was more impactful this year than the nine years before, just because it's the "10th anniversary" of everything. I don't remember feeling overwhelemed at the time by all those life-changing events, and I wonder now how that could be. But looking back now, I also see that year for what it was and am glad at least that the bad was outweighed by the good.



In 2000:


May 4 ~ My Grandpa passed away.

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June 4 ~ I got married.


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June 17 ~ I became a mother.


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August 6 ~ My mom passed away.

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That's a bunch of "big" stuff packed in to a small amount of time!


Obviously when those dates come around each year, we celebrate in some way.

Some small ways (anniversary), some big ways (Arissa's birthday).

And I spend some time remembering my mom & Grandpa on their significant dates too. But just like when our anniversary came around this year, I figured that the 10 year mark deserved some extra recognition.


So on August 6 2010, we wrote little notes to my mom and "sent" them to her:



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We attached the notes to balloons:


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And let 'em go:


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Mallory took it really hard:



I'd like to say that she was crying those big heavy tears because she was overcome by the sadness for my mom & the injustice that she'll grow up without having known her....


But the truth is those heart-wrenching tears were for the balloons themselves. She really wanted to keep them. Plus she knew that wherever Heaven is, those balloons were going to pop well before they got there, and to her that was just a waste of some good balloons. :o)


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It was really super sweet. Especially those notes that Jesse & the girls wrote. They are so loving, even towards someone they've only ever seen pictures of.

It was a nice thing to do together.

I only had to promise Mallory I'd buy her another balloon. :o)


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(me and my mama...circa 1981?)

All the babies my friends & family have been expecting keep coming and coming!

I'm working hard on another mobile for a friend at work who's babyshower is rapidly approaching.

I'd thought she was having a girl, so I knitted a pink blanket. Then I found out the baby-to-be is a boy, so I picked up my crochet hook and started another mobile. It's not exactly boyish, but it's as gender-neutral as I could get at the moment.

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But I got sidetracked cause me & Mariah had a staring contest.
She won.

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Then we had a staring contest with the cat.
She lost.


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3 days till the baby shower, and I've got and 1.5 raindrops left to crochet, plus I have to put it all together and wrap it pretty. Gotta get to work!

life is good

We love celebrating birthdays! It's always so much fun to find ways to make the birthday boy/girl feel extra special.

So we were super excited to bring a little cake, some candles, cards & a gift over to Grandma's on Wednesday to celebrate her birthday!

At first when we got there, she wasn't home and I was cursing myself for not confirming plans before coming. The girls were all hyped up and ready to burst into their "happy birthday" song. And Jesse was real disappointed that we were going to leave the cake in her fridge and not get to sample any. :o) But just as we were pulling away, Grandma came home so we got to celebrate after all and have a nice visit.



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The girls each made her a sweet little card, and I used the rest of the pictures from our recent trip to the park to make a little scrapbook for her:

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Inside was a picture of Jesse with each of the girls, Grandma with each of them, a few of me with the girls, and then the little ones themselves:

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We were so glad for the opportunity to visit with Grandma and celebrate! It was a lovely night.

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