a very merry christmas..

                                               Laie, Hawaii 2012

   
           LaVell Edwards stadium...there's no place like home

               turning Chelsie onto sea glass shelling

                

  

 

                                             and a great new year..

   Professional runners like Sue have their perfected running playlists.  Then there are those whose running  is so pure that they only need the slap of their footprint to keep them going.  Beautiful.

  But me ?  Each time I run I have to find my rhythm  for that day.  Some day it just clicks immediately. Mostly I have to go through many songs to get in my groove.  Ahhhh, but when I do find it..I am in heaven.

 It doesn't come as any surprise that my whole life runs on this practice. Except that the "days it clicks immediately" are Very rare.

 My sweet Dallin asked me to write down my conversion story. That he had  heard bits and pieces all his life , but never really the whole experience. Well - I thought , I have born my testimony enough times to easily crank this out on paper. And heaven knows I retell stories often enough..ha ( had to say that before you thought it !) Should be simple.

  I put on my music - because I always need a playlist going in my head. I put pen to paper and it started to flow. But I couldn't stop it, and I couldn't stop the tears. And it still kept coming, and the music selections were excellent. I told Dallin that it wasn't a pretty story because it had to include everything..but it was nirvana to me. It was cathartic to me.  Thank-you for asking Dallin, you always keep me on the right playlist :)

october 31st

                                   Jane could not have been more darling as Tinkerbell !!

                         Harrison kept the odd Haycock tradition of collecting as MUCH candy as possible. Went out with a huge group of deacons and beehives. Only "snowboarder" in the gang..we aren't in utah anymore !

                         Made our traditional spaghetti and eyeballs for dinner..somehow though, these look "friendly"...kind of like Elmo with blood shot eyes.  Still tasty :)

            Love this picture of peter pan ( NOT robin hood..as some mistakenly thought.)

              Poppy and Cooper dressed alike for daytime activities.   Happy guys these two.

            Kerriann went as kitty purry.  she even posed as a sleeping cat for me. a Good halloween !

Desmond makes our house a home :)

Painting the house "tahoe blue".  Well, I 'm not..we hired someone.  I'm excited.

Harrison is going to have thousands of " I had an old mum " stories.  This is the latest one.  The bear had to get braces..again.  Had them back in first grade, but knew there was going to be a second part.  I ask other (younger) mothers in the ward what orthodontist they go to. Whoa !!  There is an opener if you are ever at a loss at what to say in a conversation.  People Love to talk about their experiences with their childrens orthodontist.  Thats good, let them do the investigating.  I mean really ,What exactly do you ask a dentist during an "interview"....are you good ?   do you use mouthwash before you see a patient ?  are you creepy ?  These are just things you find out in your own good time.   So we went to one that everyone raved about.

"TEAM   ORTHODONTICS"...yeah, the name says it all.  Now I am not questioning the mans knowledge or ability,  he seems more than capable.  And the staff is quite friendly.  But the office personifies the name, and the whole idea of "TEAM" went into hyper drive. The attitude and mood is beyond ( way beyond ) cheerful, positive and spunky.  Saturday Night Live could easily create a sketch  on this place.   Don't get me wrong, braces serve their purpose and I am grateful that this orthodontist can pull off this service for Harrisons little mouth.  But people, dental work is Not cool, hip and happening.  It is not the happiest place on earth.  By the end of an hour long tour and sales pitch, I could no longer contain my snarky side.  I could see the fear in Harrisons eyes..Resist mom please !! The  word "team" had been said  - easily several dozen times during this hour.  

       " Tell me, do you all start the morning off with a team cheer ?!" 

She didn't laugh ( oh, we weren't with the doctor , we were with the team coordinator of course.) I looked around at the other moms who were being lead on their own tours with their own gawky young teen....and I do believe they were buying into this stepford practice.  It is going to be a  long 18 months for both Harrison and I !!

end of summer 2012

Wow...great summer ! 

Unfortunately it was over in the blink of an eye.

Denver took summer school.  Both Boys and Kevin went to scout camp during different weeks.

I was in a "wad" all of june over a medical test that Finally turned out just fine.  So we jammed in summertime in those seemingly few days in between.

Preston did a 180 and decided to LOVE the ocean.

Harrison grew his hair out and partied on.

My sweet garden in Alpine sat empty this year.  Sad to see..but nice to be back for the best time of the year in utah.

Went down to Newport Beach for Devin Ord's wedding. Fulfilled a dream of being one of the Ord girls :)

Preston wanted to celebrate his 5th birthday at Bennihanas.  What five year old wouldn't love that ?! It was yummy.

Kerriann's little friend Brooke got engaged ( and married this coming friday.) Weren't they just teeny,tiny girls ..always laughing ?  They seem ever so happy!!

Carolin and Cecilia Falkenberg came out from Germany to visit . It was fun to show them around. Can you believe this crowd actually did what I asked for, posing in this handcart picture ?! This was after the days of 47 parade.

Kerriann got new cowboy boots and they are darling on her.

We got in a lovely kayak  run up in the Tetons....ahhh.

Everyone Loved having Carolin back in town.  Caity was fetching a gorgeous tan !

Ok , we HAD to show the frauleins Hawaii.  Everybody was really good about fitting it into their schedules.  Mahalo. Must say that we did not feel complete without Porter, Bo and Brianna ( all who could not get work off on such short notice.)

Little Cooper was a Natural at surfing :)

When all else fails and the heat is just too much we ( or at least "some") of us eat cold watermelon in the buff !! 

Roadtrip 2012 was two roundtrips to utah,add on to Jackson Hole, the jaunt over to Orange County ( which oddly did not seem to make it onto my map) and including the nautical miles to and from and around Oahu.....a whooping total of 9,995 miles. Surely there was an additional 5 extra miles somewhere !!  No wonder I am pooped :)

running bear loves little white dove

        
                                                             Welcome  Desmond !!

                                            He took the exact same perch Mindy did..sweet.
                             Then in our bedroom iI have been putting my stash of favorite blue fabrics ( and I apparently have gone way overboard in the "someday I will do something with this yard" !!)  Well that someday has come, and I have been wrapping them around canvas.  It is definitely a work in progress. But I enjoy it.

                                              And these two cuties are coming down to visit this week.   Yea!!

                                              I put my collection of stickers on a spot on the kitchen wall because the car bumper isn't big enough and besides  I like to see them all the time.  Kevin is so patient with all my little things.  That is another fun thing about the arizona house, it isn't the "show-pony" that the alpine house is and I can do these - well, I dare not call them decorations - signatures where I want.  Porter just shakes his head :)

my growing keki

                We   LOVE our  Denver !!!  Ok, that is a mini skateboard..but still, you catch the vision.

                                Big sister Devin is Not crouching down at all.  We all look up to him :)

little utah visit

A week in utah is never enough.

We took Harrison and his little arizona buddy Isaac out to soccer camp at BYU.  Whoa, is he really old enough for that ?  It still seems like I should be driving Kelly and Lindsey down there instead !

Mostly I was cleaning/packing/purging the alpine house.  The move that will not end !  But we DID get to see the new City Creek - wowsers,  have a couple of dinners and fires up in the canyon, meet Ben and Olivias new son in the hospital  (darling), a  belatedly welcome  to Lindsay home from her mission in Paris and hang out with Dallin and Brianna. Oh, and the Salt Lake farmers market - which is always a great thing to do :)

Yes, family was definitely first and foremost.  And that is how it should be.  But I do feel badly that I didn't get to see and catch up with old friends. If we hadn't gone to church - and that was an awesome day there- i wouldn't have seen any alpiners. 

Going back up in july, so I will just have to find more time.  My mantra.."find more time".  Too bad my motto seems to be "relax and enjoy the moment."  The two don't jive together very well !!

It was fun to be back.  Nothing like summer in utah.

the era of Greg Williams

Does a day go by that you don't think of Greg ?

The era of Greg and Sue is synonymous with our child rearing years.  He passed away before Harrison was even a year old - hopefully we had learned enough by then - but we have really had to wing it with that kid.

He was such a GOOD guy.  The best.  Crap..why did he have to die.  I miss him so much.

Would Kevin think this was a inappropriate/odd thing for me to write about ?  No, because he feels the exact same way..probably even more so.  And Sue ?  Who knows how she handles this massive loss.  Sounds like this just happened last week instead of 13 years ago.

He was THAT wonderful a person.

Not that he was perfect, not that he didn't have flaws, not that he didn't wear nerdy clothes sometimes but it was the whole package - including these things- that was just him.  And that was certainly good enough.  It was so easy to overlook any "off" item. He somehow made them endearing.

It use to really bug Sue when people would comment about how Greg was enduring his continuous health  problems like Spencer W Kimball or Job. As if she would have chosen that particular path for Greg. He did bare it remarkably well.  But it was never easy or pleasant. I think of him going biking in the middle of the night to try and cool down or outrun the terrible itching that consumed his body due to the liver/bilirubin(sp?) malfunctions.  You wanted to take the pain from him..you sleep, let me ride the bike tonight.  You keep your dinner in your stomach..let me throw up by the side of the road for you tonight.  You rest..let me struggle for breath for you.  Don't glorify illness. Greg did the very best he could - and obviously to all of us around him it was Much better than any of us would have done, but still it was never pretty and definitely not easy. To me the worst part of those comparison comments is that it lets the sickness define Greg.  And he was so much more than an illness and how well he bore that infliction.  That being said, he was such a saint, and probably like the survivors of the Willie  handcart company would chose to do it all over again if asked to.

 I can hear his laugh in my mind and it makes me smile.

    I love my birthday.  Always have.

    No lilac blooms this year...but the butterfly bush did her thing.

    It was 106*...I don't think that it has ever been that hot on my birthday before.

    The Gilbert Temple received it's Moroni Topper.  Now I will always know that trivia answer !

    These items weren't on my radar last May.  But it was the 14th day of this glorious month and it was
     business as usual.  My darling little family and good friends rallied round.   And that is what matters.
    The props may change - like the lilacs - but life rolls on in the same fashion.

    We went to a lovely wedding reception friday night. Didn't know the bride too well as she has been off    
    at college, but we know her parents well and have been in their house many times.  Last year at this time I didn't even know these people existed.

    Our ward has this really nice mothers day tradition where all the graduating  seniors give a little talk/tribute to their mums during sacrament meeting. It is an excellent tradition. All of the kids did great.  I realized that I knew them,and their mothers and their backgrounds...and as they talked I nodded my head in agreement.  Came close to tears on two of the tributes.  These people were not recognizable in my world last spring..and yet, here they are now..a vibrant part of my life.

   It is a huge blessing is what it is.  That this move has gone so smoothly ( barring the tragedy of Cindy and Mindy.)  That our life has been a series of meeting great people, new experiences and growth. The scenery changes but everything remains the same.  I like that.  I like that as much as I like birthdays : )

guatever

My mom was very worried about Kevin and I going to Guatemala.  But never in her wildest, freaking craziest dreams could she have imagined exactly where we ended up.   It was an eleven hour bus ride that went further and further out, and then further and further up.  Beyond the cloud line..but then still we went on.  There was a million little hills that made up hundreds of mountains, disected by valleys, shrouded by smoke of dozens of villagers slash and burn fires.  The fire seemed so out of place as the heat was already so heavy,so insistent, such an intergrel part of every breath we took.  The beauty was overwhelming.  And the hills are dotted with families, corrugated roof huts, the occasional pig.  We stayed in a village that I still don't know what its name was.  It couldn't possibly be on any map.

We had gone on this adventure with 40 something other people Kevin works with and a service group that pulls these things together.  It was an opportunity to see how other people live, interact, learn from and see what I- if anything - could do to help.  The guatemalans were easier to understand than the A-type   mortgage bankers...ha.  It was an incredibly interesting week of people watching.

We put up a tent city on their "soccer" field.  Remember the shower set-up on M*A*S*H ?  How I would have appreciated such luxury.  Our shower was an open pipe that ran from their cistern to plastic draped around the abundant corrugated metal of the area.  A few pieces of wood had been placed on the ground so that one wasn't standing in mud.  It goes without saying that it wasn't heated water.  Not that I would have turned on hot water if there had been.

ohhh, good place to segway into sweating.  Never, Ever in my entire life have I sweated as much as I did this past week.  I belivive  that I put out more liquid than I have accumulatively throughout my 52 years. It just NEVER STOPPED.  The aforementioned cold shower was a sweet -albeit - brief relief.  By the time I got back to the tent I was sweating again. Kevin would take a shower and then lay down on his bed and sleep in his wet swimsuit.  Blessedly I did bring a swimsuit to shower in as I was walked in on more than once by those aforementioned A-type bankers.  Could have otherwise made for some good jokes around the old water cooler once back home !

The expedition also included a doctor and a dentist.  Kevin and I helped in their "office".  It was a wooden shack with a couple of wooden benches.  The dentist dragged down 4 of those crappy plastic chairs from K-Mart as his dental chairs.  Both of these men were Awesome !!  What they did for these villagers with So little on hand..the patinence..the compassion...they will forever be my heroes !!  And the way they handled us incompetent volunteers was even more amazing:)  We got the rythmn of the doctor down as best we could and then just went as fast/best we could. The first day we saw something like 170 people.  They don't speak spanish ( they speak qui che ) so the language barrier was a struggle.  A few of the local people spoke some spanish and then worked as interpreter.  The next couple of days they invited other nearby villagers to come if they needed help.  People were walking miles/hours to come.  Then they very patiently waited for their turn...sort of camped out on the hill in front of the "office".  The dentist part always had a crowd gathered in the doorway watching this "live" show.  The dentist showed his volunteers how to pull teeth and once he showed them how and would administer a little novaciane would have them pull away. There were too many people to do any "work"..just pull rotted or abscess teeth out.  One lady had to have 14 teeth pulled out and her mouth was so infected that pus was ooozing out of her eyes ( that one is for you Sue.)  Kevin pulled some teeth, but I stayed in the doctors side.  I dispensed medicine.  Everyone who came in the door got a wormer (huge problem) and then whatever the doctor thought they needed.  He had brought bottles and bottles of penicillin, benadryl, ointments etc. I rather enjoyed this part of the experience.  One older woman was dying of cancer and he had me give her an envelope of 30 tylenol to ease what pain it would.  she wasn't going to be lasting many more days than that. She had never been seen by a doctor, but it was clear to all of us in there that she was dying. The doctor handled it so humanely...I know the rest of us just stared at the scene in shock.  Another teeny,tiny little girl didn't look like she last the day..but he treated her with antibiotics and was more hopeful than I.  Kevin was amazingly kind with the people...they loved him. It was so easy to picture him as the missionary I wrote to down in Ecuador.

We hauled down those big water coolers ( misnamed here, as the water was anything but cool) to the office to help with the pills I was giving out. Then I started asking if they would like more - hand gestures/charade like.  They liked it, I was actually Doing something for someone !  The OCD melded with the mothering instinct and I went crazy giving the stuff away.  NO INDIVIDUAL WENT THIRSTY.   Mother Earth grasped the need/desire/life sustaining quality of water.

The people weren't starving, although I know their diet was lacking. Oh, I was giving out vitamins too. Extra ones to nursing or expectant mamas, but really everyone needed them. Our meals were in an open kitchen with a tin roof. They were simple but good. Not just the children, but everyone in the village gathered round and watched us eat. The first meal was unsettling indeed..but incredibly we got use to it. I take it that they weren't exactly hungry as much as curious. The service company hired some of the people to help in the "kitchen", and paid the children recycling money on all our cans and empty water bottles.  So I was gathering armfuls when meals were over and giving them to the kids.  On our last night there we had a huge dinner for everyone combined. It was catered...funny. Who on earth took That job way up in the mountains !!  The catering truck looked SO out of place..but they brought up coolers full of ice cold cokes - HEAVENLY!!  We ate out in a field because the kitchen couldn't hold everyone.  The insects and creepy crawlers went CRAZY,  but our XXXL Deet spray did the trick.

The guys digging ditches and hauling rocks saw plenty of scorpions and some snakes.  There was a scorpion in the shower..but I wasn't the one to find it : ) Big spiders were everywhere..the villagers could care less about them - didn't even try to flick them away.  There were dogs roaming around, their ribs sticking out.  No one treated them well.  People were always kicking them and the children threw rocks at them.  This was very hard on me.  It is better to be a dead dog than a dog in these villages.  One day one of  our bankers kicked a puppy right in front of me.  Inexcuseable !!  He is forever on my JERK list !!

 
 The children lined up in two lines and took us weary travelers up to our new homes for the week.  They were very sweet. The tents kept all the flying/creeping crawlies away. The blow up mattresses were the best item we brought along. Never needed the sleeping bag though.

 The laundry room.

 The sunsets were amazing...and SO appreciated !!  The end of another furiously hot day.

 I loved the way the women dressed, so colorful. Baby is in a sling on the fencepost.

 A pig that was wondering around someones home. Oh, they gave him some tortillas to eat.

 People waiting outside the doctors office. I took the picture from a little hill where Many others were waiting.  Very patiently I might add. Although I also noticed that they never "gave up" their seat for an elderly person or nursing mom.

 This is my hero in the blue shirt !! The woman in the orange is the village midwife..and a very bright capable person.  She sat patiently by until the doctor needed her for female problems. Very  gracious. The community has one mobile generator that they moved around where it was needed, so when we worked past dark they would bring it down to light up that one light bulb.

 These two darling girls showed us their house. Their mama was cooking tortillas over an open fire.  These homes had to be well over *100. One house where they were roasting coffee beans ( which they grow there) was like walking into the hottest sauna I have ever been in. The upside was that it smelled really, really good.

Was it worth it ? Yes.  Would I do it again ? absolutely.  Is it the best way to help out these disadvantaged people ?   I am still giving That a lot of thought.