Westen Wilson turns 13

 Yesterday was Westen's birthday and it was fun to go see he and his little brothers and take him a present. I didn't stay long but long enough to find out that he has a girl friend and girls just like him in general and his first girlfriend was named Audrey. Talk about coming full-circle. Melanee talked to him about how good it made him feel when two of his friends called and wished him Happy Birthday and that as deacon's quorum president he should remember that and make a point to call all the other deacon's on their birthdays. I got him a Ford GT Lego kit for ages 18+ and Audrey sent him a ton of books which he was thrilled about. I LOVE open adoption!

 Our family started the New Year 2025 finding out my son-in-law Courtney has stage 4 melanoma cancer throughout his body. His doctors say it's treatable and we are praying for a miracle. Please pray with us.

Connie started a blog of his daily journey and it made me think, "Didn't I used to have a blog?" I looked it up and enjoyed everything I put on this site so much I am going to start it up again highlighting other things going on in my life right now.

I am very proud the the great work my 6th graders did in honoring Martin Luther King Jr. They really did a great job through art representing what they would see if they opened a door and had a dream as big as Reverend King. Happy MLK Day to everyone this year. He gave his life for what he believed in and that should all give us pause to reflect and try harder to stand up for what is right.

I also got to spend some quality time with these two crazy cousins, Val and RyLee. We went out to eat and to the movie Moana 2 and had a great time all around. Grandkids are the BEST! 

Labor Day Weekend

Here are three videos I took of the boys while I was in Idaho.

Happy New Year

Wishing everyone health and wealth this year.
My New Year's Resolution: Share the Wealth.

1) Acquire wealth 2) Share

6277 W. 135 N. #34

Here's my new digs in Hurricane, Utah. Surprisingly, it has snowed quite a bit this winter. There are four units in this townhouse.

Christmas Memories

Here are most of the grandkids at Christmastime at Mom's retirement center in Las Cruces, NM.

Bejing Acrobats

Last Friday night Audrey and I went to see the Bejing Acrobats.  The act in this video was performed so close to the front of the stage that if there had been a strong wind those chairs would have fallen into the audience.  We almost had a heart attack watching him get higher and higher.

Fall Break in the backwoods of Tennessee

WOW! I had no idea Tennessee was so beautiful and the people so obligin'. Julie, Nana and I went to the Appalachian historic something. Julie is standing in front of Davy Crockett's actual cabin they transported from the back woods of Tennessee and put on the property. They have dozens of this kind of cabin from Tennessee legends. My favorite moment was the banjo pickin' band and Mom kickin' up her heels. ENJOY!

The Principal recognized me at our last staff meeting because he loved the witches we made for Halloween. What he liked the most I think is how we made it an educational experience by including homophones as part of the display...Which Witch is Which?  Do I have some artistic kids or what?

I need to include this picture on my blog.  This was taken at the Capener reunion in Riverside, UT in September.  What is so unusual about this photo is from L-R are Ralph Able, Me, Ralph's wife, Ralph's sister. Ralph used to contact me and come visit me in Las Cruces every time he had business in El Paso. They lived in Missouri at that time but now live back east and it was a fluke that they were in Utah visiting his parents and our paths crossed again.  I was thrilled to see him! They are from the Joseph Aaron Rigby Capener line and we are from the Arthur Rigby Capener line.

This is an example of what I've been up to.  As I read "Little House In The Woods" to the class they completed a small project to put in their lapbooks.  They looked awesome when we were done.  We also ate beef jerky, made butter, tried molasses and put smoke sauce in our smokehouse so it would always smell good.  The kids favorite part was the origami pig bladder that is in Laura's pocket on the second page.
It was a fun project. The book featured on the back wall, "Earth to Clunk" is a Beehive nominee this year and is about alien pen pals.  We recently wrote to our pen pals at my old Charter School. As you can tell...too busy to keep the blog up...gotta go grade some more papers.

More graduation pix of Audrey

Graduation Girl 2012

For those of you who did not get a formal High School Graduation announcement from Audrey, here is the collage she included in her announcement.  Graduation is May 23 at 2pm in the Cox Auditorium on Dixie State Campus.

BYU Graduation 2012

Allen's graduation was inspirational and awesome. It always feels good when a plan comes together.
For those of you who don't know yet, Allen got a job with Raytheon in Aurora, Colorado and
starts work May 21st.  Ron, Ren, RyLee, Anna, Kate, Audrey and I attended. This first picture shows Allen with Matt Romney (Milton's son from Cruces) and two other classmates. Allen graduated in Facilities Management with a Business Minor.

I especially like the photos of Kate enduring graduation for two days...Happy...Confused...Miffed...and Zonked Out when it all took too long. Way to go, Allen, you handsome devil you--#6 to be a BYU graduate in the family: Mom, Ben, Connie, Karen, Brian and YOU.

Don't Worry...Be Happy :)

"Except ye become as a little child..."
How can you not laugh along when you hear pure joy from a small child?  I love it!

The Good Humor Man

Most of the books at our school library are donated paperbacks.  When this one came across my desk the other day I experienced a rush of happy memories so strong I wanted to grab the book up, place it in a protective case and hang it in my personal museum of cherished life experiences. Vera is probably the only one who shares these memories with me. We both attended Robert Goddard Jr. High in Lanham, Maryland growing up.  When you entered our cafeteria the stage was to the right, the serving lines were straight ahead and to the left, under the windows is where they pushed the big silver cart full of "Good Humor Ice Cream Bars" everyday of school as lunch was winding up. They didn't do this in elementary school and so this was something to get excited about.  The first day, since I was a 7th grader and knew nothing about this marvelous tradition I had no money to buy ice cream. Ice cream bars were 10 cents each.  Since my Dad loved chocolate, and every birthday every year for us four girls was chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream, I chose the Good Humor chocolate covered chocolate bar on a stick.  Heaven!  Not only did I make sure I had 10 cents almost every school day, the Good Humor man drove past our house in the afternoons along with two other ice cream trucks.  I always waited for the Good Humor truck and bought another 10 cent chocolate covered chocolate bar. Would miracles never cease?  All these years later I find a book about "The Good Humor Man" and I can feel the sense of anticipation each lunch period, see myself in the first seat directly across from where I know they will park the cart and preparing for my 3 foot dash to beat all the other students to an ice cream bar. It only lasted a year but has had a lifelong impact on me as I look back on these memories and realize how  ice cream  makes life seem just a little better. So on days you can "double-dip," life seems sublime.

Visiting Allen

So I went up to Orem two weeks ago and here are the highlights:
* Grandma and RyLee polished off a pint of raspberries while Mom wasn't looking--and YES RyLee ate most of them.
*Allen came to Ron's house and made RyLee laugh again. It's funny to watch her look at Allen and then look at Ron and then back to Allen and try to decide which one is her Daddy.
* We all went to see "Uncle Hal" give a presentation at the Orem City Library with the author of Candy Bomber. Here we are getting authographed books! (Can you hardly wait 'till Christmas?)  Colonel Halvorsen is 92 years old and still going strong-AMAZING!
*There is also a glamor shot of me with Linda Bethers the author of Christmas Oranges. She wanted an autographed copy of Candy Bomber from the Bomber himself. It was a librarians dream come true--Surrounded by famous authors!
* Here are a few shots of Allen at his apartment this year.I bought a couple of picture frames and added 6 family photos so Allen could have SOMETHING on the walls to look at besides paint.
*Stopped by to see Grandma Merrell also but those pix were on my phone and I erased them. Oops!

Make a Run for the Border

After hiking in Zion's, Karen and I went to the Shakespeare festival to see the final performance of Richard III. Enough of the killing already! On the way home we stopped in to see Audrey at Taco Bell.  Who doesn't have fond memories of their first minimum wage job.  Midnight at Taco Bell is a happenin' place! 

P.S. Thank Karen for getting me back into my blog so I could post again. 

ZION at last!

Karen drove up from Phoenix for the Labor Day weekend and took me to Zion's National Park.  I have lived in St. George 3 1/2 years and have never been in the park yet.  We went up Kolob Canyon.  It was a 5 mile round trip hike and we didn't make it to the end before we decided Audrey would be late for work at 5pm if we didn't turn around.  It had absolutely nothing to do with my red, red face and rapid gasps for breath of refreshing mountain air. It was so wonderful to be outside in the mountains with Calvin, Karen and Audrey. Calvin was very patient with the three of us and usually took up the rear. I had Karen pose in this last picture because this rock looks like something straight out of a Syfy book.... "Little did she know that as she sat down to rest, the seemingly solid rock beneath her was preparing to absorb her amino acids to sustain its life force."

Randy Merrell Celebration

A box of pictures fell out of my closet and so I took the time to go through them.  Here are a few I'd like to share with all those who knew and loved Randy as much as us...in honor of his 3rd year anniversary. One of the pictures for my movie doesn't show all the kids so I am including it separately.  It is priceless because Karen is doing the "I can't believe I still have to hold this lamb" groan, which everyone took a turn doing sometime during the line-up with Dad.  Good Times...in retrospect.