Category Archives: My Life Stories!

Best Mother’s Day!

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I’ve always struggled a little bit on Mother’s Day.

It’s a combination of feeling like I don’t cut it as a mom, and that my children don’t appreciate me. I know, that sounds pathetic. But I do have a desire to be a good mom, and no one likes it when they are constantly taking care of people, and they don’t get a “Thank you” on Mother’s Day.

When my children were young, I always got the token hand print and poem which I loved and still have, but now my children are grown up. I really don’t expect much. I hope for it, but I don’t expect it.

This year one of the biggest things that I was planning on for Mother’s Day was talking to my two children serving LDS missions. I have only talked to them on Christmas and Mother’s Day, and they have both been gone over a year. I miss them, but I know they are doing great things. I was able to talk to both of them on Sunday (Mother’s Day) morning. They both sounded so great and my button’s were bustin’, I am so proud. They will both be home in 2-4 months. So wonderful!!

Next, for the first time in my motherhood, my children here at home and my son’s girlfriend were all competing to see who could write the best Mother’s Day card. How fun! It was so perfect. Riley, wrote a nice note about how he has learned the lesson’s I tried to teach him, he just has to push my button’s. Janet wrote about how I have made her feel loved and she loves me. And Emily wrote a nice card and filled it with coupons, one of which has already happened. It said, “Coupon for 4 amazing kids, 1 amazing husband and one darling grandbaby, and Janny :).” Then she put “paid” all over it. So cute! Then she heart attacked the sliding glass door. Here’s a picture of it.

My favorite part was this note that said,

“If you would like to take credit for a part of this magnificent gift. please sign below…”

What a cute daughter! It was a wonderful day and loved it!

I think the key is to not expect anything, then you will be surprised and amazed when something does happen.

I hope all mother’s and those who mother, had a great Mother’s Day.

I am so grateful for my Mama! She is a women that get’s life, what where here for and how to do it. She is busy, using her time serving others and Heavenly Father. She is smart and understands people. She has taught me so much. Thank you, Mama!

A Fond Memory

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When I was growing up I loved watching the musical

“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”

It is such a cute show!!!

I think the reason I liked it so much is because I grew up with 5 brothers, and no sisters. I could relate to Milly trying to live with a bunch of men. She spent lots of time trying to teach these backwoodsmen how to be gentlemen. Of course it doesn’t work in the beginning, but it is so fun to see her sweet personality working with them.

Growing up with my 5 brothers was sometimes scary. They were so competitive. They used to scare me half to death when they would wrestle with each other. It would start out as a friendly wrestling match and then get serious, each trying to prove they were stronger than the other.

If you ever get the chance watch it! It is a classic!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is one of my all time favorites and a very fond memory.

Family History Friday: Collectables #7 Navajo Treasures!

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This is a rug my darlin bought in Arizona when he was a missionary there. It hangs in our bedroom. Along with these beautiful Wedding Baskets. We have kind of an eclectic decor in our room, Navajo treasures, a quilt on the bed, grandma’s hopechest, etc. But I love it! I am surrounded in my room with things that are precious to me.

The Navajo’s have a tradition with their rugs. They purposely put a mistake or flaw in each of the rugs. They say it is because only God is perfect, and if they make a perfect rug, they will offend God. I have personally used that same reasoning when I make stuff. 😉

The Wedding Baskets are given to the the couple to hang in their home. The opening points downward on purpose, it is to let the evil spirits out of their home. I think it’s a great tradition. I haven’t felt any evil spirits in our home.

The main thing to me is that my sweetie brought them home from his mission and he loves the Navajo people. They are beautiful and remind me of wonderful stories and traditions. All people have stories and traditions. I love hearing them all.

Happy Family History Friday! Love, Joy

 

Time!

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Time is:

Too slow for those who wait,

Too swift for those who fear, 

Too long for those who grieve,

Too short for those who rejoice;

But for those who love, 

Time is Eternal.

-Henry Van Dyke

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Today it has been one year since Kelsey left on her mission. I am so proud of her. I am so proud of me. I used to think I wouldn’t survive without my children close by. But now I know that even though two of them are miles away. They are always in my heart. They are doing amazing things with their time and loving their fellow men.

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“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

John 13:35

Sissy Poo!

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As I’ve said in another post, I grew up in a family with 5 brothers and no sisters. There were six kids and our parents. When I was in junior high,

I came home with a little furry friend.

It was not uncommon for me to do this. I was always rescuing an animal.

I couldn’t help it.

But on this day the desire to bring home this animal was worse than ever. This little puppy was so tiny and cute. She was a mutt. They are actually my favorite kind of dog. They always have fun characteristics that don’t really match any other dog. This little pooper was part Chihuahua and part Terrier.

So. Cute.

When I got home, I honestly don’t remember my mom saying whether I could keep her or not. But when dad got home, he took that little ball of fur in his arms and said, “If we’re gonna keep her, we better name her Sissy Poo, cause she’s the only little sister you’re ever gonna have!”

And so is was, my little Sissy Poo became my little sister.

I was so attached. She slept with me every night.

She followed me around all day. She was the first to greet me when I arrived home.

I remember when I left on my mission, I was so afraid she would die, and there were a few times while I was gone that my family thought she was going to die too. I just couldn’t stand the thought of her not being there when I got home. Remember, I got her in 7th grade. I was now 21-22 years old.

She was almost ten years old when I got home. I was so excited to see her! And after a minute or two, she was so excited to see me, I had been gone for a year and a half. A year after I got home from my mission, she was still hanging in there. And another year later I had my first child, Riley. She was still there.

Then when Riley was six months old she fell asleep at the top of the stairs

and never woke up.

Personally, I believe she waited until I had other people to love, my darlin, and my son, so that I wouldn’t be so lonesome when she was gone.

We buried her in the back yard and had a nice little funeral. We all cried and cried. She is still so important to me and that was 25 years ago. She was such a big part of my life. She was my sweet little Sissy. I am so glad I brought her home. I love you Sissy Poo.

Collecting Pins!

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Years ago our family had an awesome opportunity.

We were able to go to, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D. C.

We had so much fun! It really was a once in a lifetime trip.

My in-laws were serving an LDS mission in Boston, so we were able to stay with them and we were able to stay with other relatives along the way. We packed as light as we could, and we were on a budget. So when we talked to the children about souvenirs, we told them we would have to be very careful in buying souvenirs.

#1 We had limited space to bring them home, and

#2 We had limited money to buy them.

One thing we did for the kids before the trip was, we bought each of them a baseball cap to wear while we traveled to protect them from the sun and to help us spot them easily.

I had a great idea come to me. We could buy pins at all of the places we visit and the kids could put them on their hats. Pins were never more then $4 at any of the places we went and that meant we could get all of our kids something at each of the places we visited. They came home with a hat full of souvenirs! I think this worked out well. It was fun to see the children’s hats have more and more pins as we traveled. The kids seemed to be really happy with their pins. We were able to travel to some amazing places, and historical places. The kids learned a lot about the is history of our great country. They had fun seeing things that they had only heard about before. Now, when they look at their pins, all of these memories will come back to them.

T.V. Anyone?

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No, Thank you!

I don’t know how long ago, but our Stake President (an area leader in the LDS church) started to give us challenges that always took place in April. One challenge was to take a break from watching T.V. for a week. Literally turn it off for a week. This challenge of not watching T.V. for a week, happened every April for years. The first time we did this, it was so hard. We all had withdrawals within the first day or so. We thought a week was going to kill us. Then one time he even challenged us to go a month without T. V. That was even harder.

We learned so much doing it though. We spent time reading, playing board games as a family, doing projects around the house. We spent time outside and doing activities with our family, like going for walks and playing at the park.

Well, all of this turned out to be good practice for our family. Last May, I was unexpectedly let go from my job. It was very bad timing. I was so worried about how we would pay for our bills. We also have our two darling missionaries serving, and that costs money, too. My first instinct was to cut whatever bills we really didn’t need to have. One of the first things we cut was our cable. We had enjoyed having a limited service from our cable company. We only had a few channels. Our T.V.’s are old and not compatible with digital service, so in order to have any T.V., we needed cable. We decided even though this meant we wouldn’t even have local weather and news, to cancel the service. That was eight months ago. We still don’t have T.V.

We do watch movies. But we only have the T.V. on for a few hours a day, if even that. Most of the time, the T.V. is off. I never watched it that much in the first place, but I did have a few favorite shows, like Masterpiece Theater on PBS and nature shows. I occationally miss those, if I think about it. But if we want to hear news or weather we can check the internet. What I am most pleased with, is that we don’t have a never ending stream of “who know’s what” coming into our home. We read more. We play more.

 Our home is quiet and peaceful. (Unless I have a half a dozen daycare kids here.) Even the daycare kids only watch one movie when they are here. Instead they play.

I don’t really ever want to have T.V. again. I am so glad our Stake President had us practice for all those years.

Our First Home

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Brian, Brad, Joy, and Keith

When I was born, my parents lived in a cute little starter home. We lived in a cul de sac with 5 other families. We had the best yard in the neighborhood. You know, the one that all the neighborhood kids like to hang out at. On any given day all of the kids in the neighborhood were at our house. The reason why our yard was so amazing, is that our dad was so creative. Our yard had:

1-A teeter totter made by putting two wagon wheels together, on an axel. And on the axel, was the teeter totter. It could be rolled anywhere in the yard.

2-We had an old nozzle from a bomb, that my dad turned into a dog house. He just cut out a door way for the dog and turned it over. It kind of looked like an igloo. The funnest thing was to turn it over and sit inside it. We would take turns spinning each other around.

3-My dad built a castle out of cinder blocks. I don’t know for sure how big it was, I was only five. But I could walk in it. It even had turrets.

4-We had a sand box. I remember my big brother Keith eating sand, and my mom trying to get it our of his mouth. He’s only a year and a half older than me.

5-An amazing rock garden, that you could climb on, like a little mountain.

6-In the very back of the yard there was a fire pit. I remember roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

7-A wishing well. So cute.

8-My dad made a little play house for me. It was very simple and creative. He took plywood and made four walls with a door and windows, and painted it real cute. Hinges were on the corners so it could stand up and I vaguely remember a doorbell of some type.

9-We had an awesome garden. I remember eating pear tomatoes straight from the vine. Yummy!

We didn’t live there very long. My dad wanted to build a bigger home, and I think my mom was OK with moving from the house where all the neighbor kids played. She must have felt like a tender.

It was such a great yard.

When we lived in this home, I had my own room upstairs, across the hall from mom and dad’s. I remember feeling like the room was huge. Years later when I had the opportunity to visit my first home, a class mate had moved into my old home. It was amazing to me how small the house was, and especially my old room. Either that, or I got bigger. Hmm. I think I know which one happened.

We had a great first home. Thanks to mom and dad for making it such a wonderful place!

What Every Parent Loves To Hear!

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When we spoke with our son at Christmas, he told us about a senior couple serving in the same mission he is serving in. The senior couple have a blog. So of course I went to see if they had any pictures of Elder Flexy on their blog. Yep, they did. It was so fun to see pictures and hear about their experiences on their mission. I left a comment on their blog, and this is the email I got back today. (I dropped the names, and locations.)
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 Sister,
     We are enjoying your fine son here in the R. area.  He has a difficult area and
is working hard.  N. is a small township about 20k from R. They have a
small struggling branch that the elders do everything for.  They track heavily and are a
visible presence in the community.  Elder [Flexy] is a good example and is repected and
we think highly of him.  Know that he is about his Fathers business and working so you have reason to be proud of him.
     Sister N. and I live near you, we are not on our mission.  We will look forward to meeting you when Elder [Flexy] reports his mission.  I believe we will be going home about the same time if I remember correctly.  We are glad that you visited our blog.  The best to you and thank you for sharing this great young man.
Regards,
Elder & Sister N.
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I was thrilled to get an email from them. What a neat couple. I’m sure they have made sacrifices to leave their home and serve Heavenly Father in another land. And I know they are loving my son. It just feels so great. Someday, I hope my darlin and I will serve a mission and be what this couple is to our son, to someone else’s son.

Nifty, Nifty, Look Who’s 50!!

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It was my 50th birthday, and I was feeling old, and unappreciated. Mostly by my hubby who hadn’t said much about the day. I think my birthday might be my favorite day of the year, next to Christmas and Halloween, and basically all the holidays. So I was wondering if my sweetie might do something special with it being a fairly significant one, but when not much was said I was thinking, “Oh well, maybe being with my most favorite person is enough.”

We went to dinner at Bella’s it was wonderful, then went home. Really nice, but not super special. The house was quiet most days, with two of the kids on missions. When we got home the house was quite dark and I could tell no one was home.  I thought we might watch a movie and just finish the evening quietly together. When we got in the house and walked past the kitchen I noticed a cup sitting on the hutch and said, “Hmmm, that’s weird.” and continued walking. As I past the living room all of a sudden…

Suprise!!!!

My darlin arranged for lots of family and friends to be at our home to surpise me when we came home from dinner! That stinker! He really got me! They all got me! What a neat surprise!

I loved it! It was so nice of all of them to come, and celebrate my birthday with me.

I love you all!!
Here are all my cards and gifts! I think this has been my best b-day so far!

What a great 50th Birthday!