Flashback Friday: Grandpa Shiney & Grandma Wone

Lately I have been thinking alot about my Great-Grandpa Shiney and my Great-Grandma Wone. I don't know if it's because of Memorial Day, and I feel bad that we didn't make it down to Delta to see their graves; or if it's because Rylan has mentioned Grandma Wone a couple times in the last little while. The funny thing about it, is that she died before he was born, but every once in a while he will see a little old lady and ask if it is Grandma Wone, or he'll tell me that "she looks like Grandma Wone". We were at Hogi Yogi on Wednesday and this cute little lady came in and he said "I don't remember Grandma Wone, but I sure do miss her". I know that he didn't know her here on earth, but I do not doubt that he spent some quality time with her in heaven before he came here. I have always thought that either her or Grandpa were there watching over us and taking care of us when he was born, with the way he talks about her, I know that they played an important part in his birth.

Not everyone has a chance to know their Great-Grandparents, but I was lucky enough to have them play a very active and important role in my life. I was so grateful that Hayden was able to know them. Grandma was so happy when I had Hayden, because he was the first great-granchild born in wedlock-I guess I actually did something right for once.

I loved going to Grandma's house and having her offer you a rootbeer float or a lemonade every two minutes. I loved that she said she couldn't see very well, but she could sure tell you that she didn't like your new hair color or that you seemed to be putting on a little weight :) I loved Grandpa's trilobites, geodes, singing and fun sense of humor.

I am so grateful to have known them and to have been a part of their family. I love and miss them so very much.

Missing: One very beloved bike

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. I sat outside and watched Rylan ride his bike. He got this bike for Christmas when he turned 1. It is a little trike (kind of like a big wheel), the seat opens up and he has it stuffed full of toys. He likes this bike because it is the only one that his poor little short legs can reach the pedals on. He was so excited to show me that he was doing so good pedaling. We went in for dinner and came out about 45 minutes later and his bike was GONE! I mean nowhere to be seen. I asked both of my next door neighbors if they had seen anything and they hadn't. Hayden had even been out front playing and didn't notice anything. We walked around our neighborhood just looking to see if we could find it, we had no luck.

I just feel so bad for Rylan, it just sucks. It's not like we can just go out and buy him a new one. My neighbor and Dee both said, "well that will teach him to leave his stuff out". Oh my heck, he's 3! Plus I should have brought it in. But we live in little tiny Santaquin, in a little tiny neighborhood, you shouldn't have to worry about things being taken. I just hope that some little neighbor kid was playing on it and they will return it (no, I didn't even have our name written on it). But if some jerk of a kid took it just to take it, then it really makes me mad! I hope that my kids know better than to take something that doesn't belong to them, because they know how sad it has made Ry. So if you see a little red trike that says Kawasaki on the side and the seat is full of animals and trains, please return it to my sad little boy.

Thanks

Memorial Day

Memorial Day Weekend has now been replaced with Jordyn's Birthday Weekend. No she does not just get one day to celebrate her birthday, she gets an entire weekend! We went camping in Oak City Canyon for the weekend. We had a really great time despite the torrential downpour that kept us in mud most of the time.
Normally the Smiths and the Ashbys camp with us, but they were all a bunch of wimps and decided that they couldn't camp in the crummy weather. However, Dean & Janet brought Brandon & Cally's kids up to play on Saturday, the Ashbys came also (they came back Sunday too).
We took the kids spelunking in Stanley's Cave. It was a lot smaller than I remember it being. We had to go in through this little hole (which I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to get my hips through). This picture is the entrance to the cave.We couldn't go very far into the cave with the little kids though, it was too slick and you have to climb ropes and rocks and all that good stuff. We did come out very dirty! Chad told us that his butt wasn't dirty because he didn't have a big butt like me and Melissa (well he didn't actually say it like that, but that's how it came out).
The boys rode their motorcycles pretty much non-stop, with a few games of baseball in between. Rylan, Jordyn & Brynn drove Jordyn's new barbie jeep until the battery died everyday, then we'd have to charge it for the next day.
Chad brought his new Razor up, it was really fun to drive. All of the guys now think that they need one (all you have to do to get one is burn down your shed and your 4-wheeler, then collect insurance-sounds easy enough!)
We hiked to Indian Look-Out. (We always hiked there when I was little, so it was fun to take my kids there). The kids got to eat wild onions-wow, they had some strong breath after that-you could smell them from 5 feet away! Brook & Melissa got engaged at Indian Look-Out ten years ago last week, so we had a little photo re-enactment of their engagement. We ate non-stop! We made 2 birthday cakes, played games, sat around the fire, the dads taught the kids how to blue dart (won't that be a great thing to share at school today!-yeah I was so proud), my dad taught the boys to play with matches (can't wait til they try that at home-thanks dad!) Also, my mom had a new game and the kids lost a set of bollo balls that goes to it, so she spent all weekend asking anyone if they had seen the blue balls-so if you happen to find a pair of blue balls, let my mom know :)
Dee & Chad-or as Ann calls them, Dumb & Dumber

We had a really great time. And now it's back to work for me today-I miss vacation!

Flash Back Friday 5/23/08

Hi my name is Jimi, and I was a cheerleader. Yes I will admit it, and actually I will admit it quite proudly. I LOVED cheer! I dreamed my whole life of being a cheerleader. As long as I can remember my whole goal in life was to be a cheerleader. I idolized the cheerleaders (i.e. Dorie Peterson, Kathy Dekker, Ginny Lake and many others).

Yes I was a cheerleader for the 'MIGHTY RABBITS' and love every minute of it! I was able to be with my best friends all the time, I was able to get out of school to go to away games, I was also able to become great friends with all of the athletes on the teams. It looked kind of funny when I would walk down the hall in between Crista Pollock and Angie Fowles (I'm 5'1" and they are like 5'10").

My junior year sucked and was a blast all that the same time. Our advisor pretty much stunk! Sorry Vicki, but you were not cut out to be a cheerleading advisor-she kind of ruined it for us. But I had the best friends ever...Wanda, Spot and Stock (Cally, Melisa & Jen). We had so much fun, even the time we were goofing off so much at a football game that Mrs. T. came down and yelled at us (I think she even swore at us). Most of that year, Cally was dating my much beloved cousin Brandon a/k/a Smitty and she even stayed with him after he threw up down the side of her mom's mini-van (now that's what I call love)

We stuck through "Jarm" (the volleyball coach) telling us that cheerleaders were worthless and all we could do was color and make posters-yeah I didn't care for her too much.

Spot was one of the greatest people/friends that I knew (I sometimes can't even remember what her real name is). Cally & I wore our cheer uniforms to her wedding as stand in bridesmaids.

Jennifer and I were inseperable, kind of like Batman and Robin. If I was ever by myself people would ask me what was wrong, where she was, or if she was sick. She was my best friend ever!

They were such great friends even when one of us made out with someone else's boyfriend at State Volleyball in Park City, they stood by and stuck up for us. (BTW if you ever read this, I am really sorry about that MDN) :)

Cheer has become a completely different sport now. They even have classes to teach all the skills that you will need. Trust me, if I ever had a daughter she would be in those classes from birth (she however, would probably want to play something like softball UGH!)

GO DELTA!


Jimi, Cally, Jen & Melisa

Thou shalt keep the Sabbath Day holy

It's much easier said than done. Especially when the parents don't have similar ideas about the Sabbath. It's a hard thing to teach my kids that we should go to church on Sunday, that we should not watch TV on Sunday, and that we should not go to Walker's to get treats on Sunday; but that it's okay for Dad to do those things. We have had many discussions on agency, which thankfully so far my kids still WANT to go to church and try to keep the Sabbath holy (Walker's is a big tempation though). (I am by no means implying that I am always good, nor do I always do what I am supposed to)

I do have to be a little relaxed about it though, just to keep harmony in our home. Try as I might, the kids usually end up watching at least one movie, and once in a while they will get to go to Walker's.

I am usually happy if we just spend the day together AS A FAMILY, regardless of what we are doing. Yesterday actually turned out to be a pretty good day. After church we hurried and made a picnic and rode up Santaquin Canyon (Dee hates Sunday drives), we went on a very small, little hike (Santaquin Canyon is not very big at all).

And then later that evening, we even got to go on a walk around our neighborhood (DEE HATES GOING ON WALKS!), albeit it was a short walk, but still we got to get out of the house-Dee was a very good sport. I made him hold my hand, I told him we had to look like a regular happy family, where the parents actually liked each other and got along :)

I was so elated that my husband would actually go on a walk with us that I let my kids stay up until 8:00 pm (can you believe it!)

Dee doesn't ever look at our blog, so I guess I will have to tell him personally what a great day I had yesterday, and I really appreciated him for making yesterday such a nice day for our family.

Flashback Friday

So, I am going to copy other blogs that I have seen. I am happy to introduce "Flashback Friday". So here goes.....

The picture I have chosen to start with, is one of my very favorite pictures of all times. It is from either late 1980 or early 1981 (because my necklace is a "3"). The absolutely darling kids in this picture are my brother Brook (4), Me (3), my cousin Brandon (5) and my cousin Dusty (3).

I have always adored Brandon's "Dorothy Hamill haircut", Brook's shaggy dog haircut is not so bad either. (Now keep in mind that we had young hip parents, so I guess their hair was supposed to look that way). To be honest, the shirts aren't so bad, I can see our kids wearing them.

Our parents had our pics taken together, because we were the only cousins at the time and we did EVERYTHING together. Brook & Brandon got sick of Dusty & I following them everywhere. I remember one time Brandon had some grape bubble gum, he and Brook locked themselves in my Grandma's bathroom with it so they wouldn't have to give us anymore because we kept swallowing it.

Another time, Brandon told us that if you peeled all the skin off of grapes and ate them you would get drunk. We ate an awful lot of grapes that day. I think all we got was a stomach ache though.

I remember Dusty had a cookie monster cake (I think for his 2nd birthday) and I swear he had a cookie monster coat or something-I thought he was so lucky. He was always changing his mind-one week you would make him a sandwich and he would want mustard, then the next week you would make him a sandwich and put mustard on it and he would cry because he didn't like mustard-he was kind of a weirdo. Also, Dusty was the biggest chatterbox of ALL TIME -he hasn't changed very much in that department :) Dusty and I were always very close we were only 2 months and 2 days apart.

I have way too many stories about Brook to even know where to begin. Oh, how about the one when we were camping and our parents went on a 4-wheeler ride and left us kids alone at the camp (they weren't very responsible parents). While they were gone, Brook and Brandon wanted to be cool, so they filled a pop can with gas and were starting a fire. When our parents got back they saw a fire and Brook & Brandon running with a can of gas and a trail of fire running behind them! Yep, they almost burned down Oak City Canyon. Dusty and I had nothing to do with it, but we probably got in trouble too.

When they lived at the "Warner House" the parents would watch movies (probably rated R-because they were so naughty) so us kids had to go in the bedrooms and play. Since Brook and Brandon were the oldest they would sneak out and peek at the TV, but they would never let us because we were too little.

I could go on for days, I have at least 30 years of stories. I loved growing up with these boys, it was the best childhood ever!

American Idol

Congrats to our cousin Carly for making her national television debut last night on American Idol. Yes, it was brief, but I spotted her. She works at 101.5 the Eagle and she was on a little clip when David Archuleta came to see them. Carly you looked so cute in your "I Voted for David Archuleta Shirt" with your super cute baby bump!

MY FAVORITE BROTHER IN LAW

My brother in law Dave is the coolest, smartest, funniest person I know and he pretty much rocks. I love him so much and I owe him two dollars.....

Look at this picture of him............
enough said.....

Hayden & Rylan

I know that Mother's Day is over, but I thought this was funny. I have a feeling this could be my boys in the future! :)

Girls just wanna have fun!

So my mom, Mallorie, Melissa and I went for our first annual girls weekend away (which technically wasn't a weekend-just Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon). Poor Jordyn was devastated when she found out that we were leaving her with her dad. She is the only other girl in the family, but I don't think her mom will let her come with us until she's at least 15 (she has such a mean mom!)

We stayed in Salt Lake. We went to the Gateway, my mom had never been there before so we had to show her around. We ate at CPK and then went to the movie Made of Honor-I thought it was great! Of course we couldn't go to bed until we had made a stop at Haagen Das-my suggestion of course!

Melissa was a great chauffeur, I think she looked kinda hot driving the grandma car!

Saturday morning we went and had pedicures, which as always was awesome.

Then we ate at the Cheesecake Factory, I had never been, so I was very excited (of all the places to go eat, we ran into my Grandma Fin and a couple of my aunts-how random is that!) The menu was huge-how do you make a decision out of 500 options?! The portions are ginormous, I could have fed my entire family just off of my dish alone. Then how on earth do you decide on which piece of cheesecake to order? ! So I didn't decide on just one piece, I ordered 3, yes 3. We all got our cheesecake to go, but we (mostly me) ended up eating one of my pieces so in reality I only took 2 pieces home.

The day was over too soon, I was not ready to go home. We decided that next year we will go for at least the entire two day weekend (if not more). I have only left my husband with my kids over night one other time, and I think I need to do it a little bit more often. It was so nice to get away, and to be able to relax.

Jordyn was so excited to see us when we got home!

I had to throw this one in, I loved the color difference in our legs!:)

I had such a great time. I love spending time with you girls, and I love that you are my family. Thank you Mom for everything!