My 8 Tag List

I was tagged by Melissa so here goes......

8 Things I'm passionate about:

(1) My husband
(2) My family
(3) My grandkids
(4) My religion
(5) My house
(6) My yard
(7) Summer rain
(8) Our mountains in fall

8 words or phrases that I use often:

(1) I love you
(2) That's orgasmic!
(3) A thousand dollars??? (for Dean when he can't hear me)
(4) Whatever.....
(5) Honey
(6) Bring it on....I'm ready
(7) Damn!!!
(8) Hey bumkins (my grandkids)

8 Things I want to do before I die:

(1) Go on a cruise
(2) Travel to Hawaii and Europe
(3) Spend time with my family
(4) Finish our basement
(5) Master a real talent
(6) Retire
(7) Get all of my scrapbooking done
(8) Go back to Disneyland with all of my grandkids

8 Things I've learned:

(1) I will never be in the same shape I was in when in my 20's & 30's
(2) Wrinkles come...deal with it. Botox makes you look ridiculous!
(3) Prayers aren't usually answered the way you want them to be answered.
(4) Say I love you often to the people I love. They can leave us way too soon.
(5) Be nice to people. Everyone is fighting some sort of battle.
(6) If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for everything.
(7) My hardest challenges have taught me the most important lessons.
(8) Be grateful for life's lessons and experiences.

8 places I would love to go or see:

(1) Scotland
(2) Hawaii
(3) St Thomas (Caribbean Cruise)
(4) Greece (Mediterranean Cruise)
(5) Salmon & Halibut Fishing in Alaska
(6) Disney Cruise
(7) Cabo San Lucas
(8) New England in the fall

8 things I currently need or want:

(1) Time off
(2) Finished basement
(3) New clothes
(4) Exercise program
(5) Quality time with family
(6) A relaxing vacation
(7) Good health for all of my family
(8) Sleep

I would tag 8 people except that none of my friends blog except Melissa and Kristen. I'm trying to get them hooked on it, but not having much luck.

Oh to be little again!

I tended my grandkids and introduced Isabella to the little girl across the street. They hit it off big and immediately took to the dress ups. I remember those day...although it's very vague. To be little and carefree again would be nice.

More Hot Rods

I can't help it.........there are just too many more neat hot rods to show. All for Mike. I'm sure he loved it!

My brother Mike owned D&M Upholstery in Bountiful. His specialty was vintage hot rods and he worked on many of them and was well known at the car shows. He also participated in the car shows and owned his own 1951 Vickie. There was a local show in Utah the weekend that Mike passed away and his passing was announced at that show. Alot of the participants decided that in Mike's honor they would stay in town and bring their cars to his funeral. They also wanted to lead the funeral procession. It was a sight to behold and Mike had to be so touched and honored by the love that was shown to him.
Mike's son, Jason, lead the procession in Mike's 1951 Vickie. Becky, his kids and grandkids rode inside. My mother is in the little gray convertible hotrod behind them. It was so incredible!!!!! It made everyone cry. These are only a very few of the cars that were there. If I put them all on it would take too much space. These cars are a sample of the beautiful ones that were there.

My Hero

My brother, Mike lost his battle with Merkel Cell Carcinoma on July 19, 2008. What a champ he was. He never complained, but always fought so hard with determination and dignity until he couldn't fight anymore.

Just to give you an example of how loved he was, the viewing, which was suppose to go from 6 - 8 pm, went until 10:00 pm and that was because the mortuary had to lock the doors. His funeral was absolutely packed and people came from everywhere to pay their respects to Mike and the family. What a tribute!!!!! I can honestly say that I haven't seen anyone with this many friends except maybe President Hinckley.

I love him so much and I will miss him terribly, but I know he is out of his pain now and smiling down on all of us. God must have needed something upholstered in heaven. Maybe there are hot rods in heaven. I hope so!

Melissa and I took the kids to Wheeler Farm last Friday. Isabella, Jacob, Isaac and Avery don't have many chances to be together so it was a fun day. It was pretty hot there so decided to go to "The Aquarium" store and it was more like a fish museum. The kids loved the all the different fish and the waterfalls there. Afterwards we went to dinner at a mexican restaurant and then we went to my house to let the kids play for a while. All in all it was a fun time until Jacob decided to run barefoot through the sticker weeds on the north side of my house. Pretty traumatic for the little guy. Isabella tried to carry Isaac up the front steps (Isaac is almost as big as Isabella) and the two of them fell down. So the three of them were all crying at the same time. Avery was wondering why she wasn't crying too. What a perfect end to an afternoon with grandma.

A trip to Wheeler Farm

We're here in Arizona to visit Mace and Melissa. Mace graduated with his Masters in Public Administration from ASU on Thursday. We have had a lot to celebrate this week. Way to go Mace! You did it!

Yesterday mom had surgery on her broken ankle. They had to open it up and put 3 screws in to hold it in place. She can't put any weight on it for 6-8 weeks so it has been quite the ordeal to get her anywhere, even in the house. Because of the risk of blood clots and the fact that she would need assistance with absolutely everything, she has had to cancel her cruise. Many tears have been spilt over that and I feel more than sad for her right now. She is staying with me for the next several days until Mike and Becky return from their trip. This is not going to be any easy go for her and she will need lots of help in the upcoming weeks.

I really like this blog thing, but my goal was to have more happy news to put on it. My last post was a bit of a downer and now I get to share more bad news with my family.

My mom was starting to get on top of things after fracturing her pelvis when she fell in January. We were all feeling encouraged and thought she was going to get back to normal when she fell in the grocery store yesterday and broke her ankle. Apparently there was a spill (oil or something) at the entrance of the store and mom got to be the first to bring it to someone's attention. She fell flat on her back and cracked her head hard on the floor. The amazing thing is that the store clerk helped her up and helped her out to her car instead of calling an ambulance. Are people just stupid or what? She drove home and called my brother Mike. He took her to the emergency room where they did an x-ray on her foot and determined the outside of her ankle was sprained and the inside was broken. They didn't check her head too closely though, and I'm a little concerned about that.

I'm feeling so badly for her right now because these things are really taking a toll on her overall health. She's 81 and not healing as fast as she used to. She is going to an orthopedic doctor today to see whether or not they will pin it, cast it or boot it. If it is still too swollen they won't do anything until the swelling goes down. The good news is come hell or high water she is still going to go on her cruise. It might mean a wheelchair, but that could be a good thing. She will be first in line for everything!

Life's not so uneventful afterall!

Just when I thought that I didn't have anything to talk about on my blog, my mother has a fire in her house. When she got hurt in January, I spent several Saturdays helping her clean her house. When I got to her laundry room, I told her that she really needed to let me help her get rid of things. She said, "someday we'll do that, but not today." Knowing that she didn't feel up to it, I let it rest.

She called me on Monday and said, "you were right! I have way too much junk that I'm hanging on to and I'm going to get rid of it. I had a fire in my laundry room." Wow! Is that a prompting we ignored or what? Luckily, she smelled the smoke before it took her house down and she knew right where her fire extinguisher was. My mom is still a strong and smart lady and didn't fall apart when she saw the flames rising. I'm proud of her.

The fire department came and told her the fire was caused by spontaneous combustion. She had a dust rag that had oils in it in her cleaning caddy and a plastic bag had fallen on top of it. It generated enough heat that it started on fire. I guess that's a big lesson for all of us. Use the swiffer cloths and throw them out when we finish dusting.

We are grateful that it didn't happen when she was sleeping or when she was away from her home.

Back to Work

My trip to Arizona wasn't all rest and relaxation, like a cruise would have been, but it was so great to see my family and help in whatever way I could. It was so hard to leave them and, as always, I cried lots of tears when it was time to go. Jacob and Isaac were so much sweet and adorable and kept me laughing the whole time I was there. We're lucky to have our other children and their little families close by and I love the time that I have with them. I love to be with family, and with summer on the way I am planning to have a lot of BBQ's with everyone.

Clay, Jane, Isabella, Avery and my mom came over for dinner on Easter. We had an easter egg hunt and Isabella was so excited! She's at such a fun age and says the funniest things. She is 5 going on 16 and has quite the attitude. It's adorable.

I am trying to figure out how to post a slide show of my pictures and will get them on the blog in the next few days, with extensive help from Melissa. This blog thing is fun and when I get the hang of it I will be hooked.

My first attempt at blogging.

I'm here in Arizona visiting my son and his family and my new grand daughter. My daughter in law, Melissa, is so crafty and has the cutest blog ever so I am making her coach me at creating my own blog. Wish me luck. I'll start with some pictures of my adorable grandkids.