1910

May 27, 1910 was the day my dad was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was the youngest of 4 children (living). My dad was the greatest dad ever. He loved his family and loved being the only guy in our household. He was humble, kind, generous, loving and above all a terrific husband and father. He lived for his girls and was so involved in our lives and made growing up so fun in our house. He was in the Navy, stationed in Hawaii when I was born, and I was 6 months old the first time he saw me. He was very handsome and looked like a movie star in his uniform. I grew up in a small town in southern Idaho. My dad owned a dry cleaners and we lived in the country on 3 acres. We had farm animals and always a cat and dog while I was growing up. Dad loved taking care of our small farm as well as running his business. He was loved by everyone who knew him. My dad was always whistling and the kids on the dry cleaning delivery route, would hear him coming up the sidewalk and they loved for him to come to their house, because he always had Tootsie Rolls to hand out. My Dad passed away on April 16, 1997 in Boise Idaho. I am so proud to be his daughter and love all the wonderful memories I have of him in my heart. So happy 98th birthday dad.. It's your special day. Love you forever..

What a week

Okay – so you will never believe the graduation ceremony. Let me back up – this last week we have had record heat – I think we hit 110 the first of the week and we were so worried that we would be melting during the ceremony, but then on graduation night Thursday we sat in 60 degrees, blowing wind and pouring rain in the football stadium for Morgan’s graduation. Can you believe it. They had considered moving it inside but then that would only allow 2 tickets per student. So they just crossed their fingers, hoping it would blow over and about 15 min into graduation the thunder began and down came the rain. It was crazy. Who would have ever thought on May 22nd in Phoenix, AZ we would be wet and freezing at graduation ????? It was completely crazy and a graduation no one will ever forget. The graduating seniors had a great time even in the rain..

Karleigh is now an official HIGH SCHOOLER and she is scared and excited !!!! But lucky for her Dylan will be a senior. Isn’t that every girls dream, to be a freshman and have a very cute older brother that is a senior!!! They get along so well also that it will be so awesome for them to share the beginning and the end of high school together. He will take very good care of her.

Kelly received his letter in track & field. Pretty awesome, considering he is only a sophomore. He loves to run and really did well this year. both in cross country and in track & field.

So next year all of my grandchildren will be in school :

Marissa: Junior at BYU

Morgan: College freshman

Dylan: H.S. Senior

Kelly: H.S. Junior

Karleigh: H.S. Freshman

Taylor: 8th grade

Grant & Maddy: 7th grade

Coleton: 6th grade

Logan & Zack: 4th grade

Alli: 3rd grade

Tyler: Kindergarten

Wow, I'm getting older by the minute.. well maybe not.. I will try to keep up with all these great kids..

Houston CKU

Just made my airlines reservation to Houston..Ya Hoo as they say down there. I am attending CKU with Kristan June 4th thru 8th. It is so much fun to travel with my daughter and be her assistant in her classes. She teaches for Rusty Pickle at CKU, and the classes are generally 80 to 100 students in each class. Something new this year, she is teaching a night class at the opening night event, "600" people..Oh My Gosh...... The Houston CKU is held at the Westin Galleria, and that is the coolest venue ever, the hotel is right in the Galleria Shopping center.. How neat is that? You just walk out the door and you are in the middle of one of the greatest malls in America. Every store you can imagine is there.. It is so fun to walk and people watch, go to great restaurant's, and watch the ice skaters on the enclosed rink.. A fun time to be had in Houston..

Graduation

Morgan graduates from Shadow Mountain High School this Thursday evening. She has worked very hard these last 4 months to catch up and complete all of her requirements to graduate with her class. I am so proud of her and her accomplishments. She has had a home bound tutor for 4 months, since she was unable to attend school due to the injury to her foot. The Paradise Valley school board provided Morgan with a high school teacher as her tutor and a lap top computer to accomplish her work on. The weather is suppose to be much cooler on Thursday..good thing since the graduation ceremony is held outside in the football stadium. Morgan

Here's to your strength, "Be bold in what you stand for".

Tonight I have my monthly "All About Me" club at Connie's & we have 2 new gals joining us tonight and that makes 8.. It is always such a fun evening. I arrive early to have dinner with Connie and Barry and sometimes their daughter Lindsey. Once the girls arrive, and the class begins, it is constant talking, laughing and sharing. I look so forward to this evening each month. I was looking for ideas for next month and decided on these 3 titles: "You couldn't pay me enough", "This much I know is true", & "What surprises you most about your adult life?".. I think these three titles will cause us to reflect on our lives and share some important facts about each of us.

Whoa Mama

Can you say HOT.... it is going to be 110 today in Phoenix.. We went from the 80's to scorching in just a few days.. Not fair, if you ask me..We wanted to slide into summer slowly. I have all my blinds closed and the drapes on my arcadia door pulled shut so it stays very nice in my condo, but once you step outside WOW. I am working 3 days this week at W.S. and have my "All About Me" club on Weds. evening. I have Morgan's graduation on Thurs. evening.. (outside) yikes. Should be a great week.. Will talk later.. on my way to work.

A weekend with Mo

I get to have Morgan with me this weekend. She is on some new meds. and Kristan wanted to make sure all went well with them. I picked her up yesterday around 4:00pm and we decided to go to Desert Ridge Market Place to dinner and a movie. We had Chicken walnut sandwiches and fire roasted tomato soup, at Paradise Bakery and then went to see "Made of Honor". cute movie and that Patrick Dempsey is Wa Hoo..cute.. I fixed her yummy pancakes and bananas for breakfast and then after showers, we headed back to DRM for some shopping. Then to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch and now back home for some R&R, Morgan is going out this evening with her cousin and her aunt to a movie and dinner.
My grandson Grant has his 12th birthday today. He is in the 6th grade and very involved in soccer at this time. He is the middle child in his family with an older brother and a younger sister. His favorite pastime is bugging his little sister.. All in all he is a fantastic young man.

Watch out American Idol

Last night my grandaughter Karleigh invited me to attend her Spring Choir Concert. I always enjoy going to the events of my grandchildren and the choir concerts are always fun to attend. She is in the 8th grade and in advanced choir. I really didn't realize what a terrific singer she was. She performed a solo to "Joyful, Joyful", by Ludwig Von Beethoven. I was blown away at her voice.. Wow she was awesome.. She was poised and sang like a pro. Once the concert was over, everyone came up to her to congratulate her on her performance. Her music teacher said the way she selects the solo is having each of the students that want to try out record a song and she plays it over and over to see if it has the qualities she is looking for. She said Karleigh's audition tape was by far the best of the ones submitted, and she knew that she was the one to perform.

Today I have my 3rd card class at Mad Scrappers this month. I now have 3 classes each month at the store and am loving it. All three classes create the same cards each month. I have been working on my card samples for the June classes and only have 2 left to create. I really do love this task, (when I am feeling creative).

I have Morgan as my house guest this weekend, Kristan is on her way to Creating Keepsakes Convention in New Hampshire. Morgan is still on a lot of meds and working on her final term paper, so Kristan thought it would be easier for her to concentrate here. We have such fun together and I look forward to her visits.

I have been working at W.S. 7am to 11 am to work on the visual roll out for the last week. This Monday I got to do both of the front windows.. Loved it.

Have a great week and I'll write again soon.

Happy Birthday Taylor

My grandaughter Taylor turned 13 today.. another teenager in the family. She is such a great example to her sister and brothers and to all those around her. Taylor is an 7th grader, who is an excellent student and all around great young woman. Happy Birthday Tay..

I love being a Mom

I am such a lucky mom. I have the most wonderful kids (well they are all grown now), but to me they are still kids. My family is not only these 3 above, but now I have each of their spouses that I call my kids and 13 grandchildren added into the mix.

10 reasons why I am the luckiest Mom.
1. We are a very close family.
2. Each of my children and their families live within 5 to 10 minutes of me.
3. They are all such NICE people.
4. I can call on each of them and they are right here to help me.
5. They include me in their family activities.
6. Through them I have met many other people I call my kids too.
7. They are so generous with there time for me.
8. We all get together at least once a month for a family activity.
9. My 13 grandchildren are the joy of my life.
10. They will call me for ideas or advice (still).

The best gifts are the people in our lives and the moments we share.

It's About Time

This months "All About Me" class is coming up in a couple weeks and I have been writing my journaling today for the three pages: the titles for this months class all have to do with TIME.

"Favorite Time of Day", Favorite Time of Year", and "A Time Ago". I was searching thru my photos for pictures of me in Jr. High. This is the time ago I decided to write about and I needed some pictures to put on this page. I love remembering this fun time in my life. I lived in a small town in Idaho and attended one of the two Jr. Highs in our town. I was talking to Judy a few minutes ago and sharing some of the fun times I remembered..like; walking into my first class that first day of Jr. High and not knowing anyone and making a new friend Johnny Mike Hayes, that I still consider a friend; sitting on the lawn during lunch hour listening to the world series games, going to the lunch room in the basement of our school. P.E. and the locker room in the basement of the gym, and as Judy reminded me the "awful" all white gym short and shirts we had to wear and make sure we took home each "WEEK" to come back clean on Monday. The dances and football games and all the fun activities of that time in my life. I served on student council and was a freshman cheerleader. In fact that is how I met Kent, he was a cheerleader for the "other" Jr. High in town.. So much fun reminiscing about those days, I keep in touch with a few of those friends still from Jr. High.

Here's to your LEGACY

You must behave as if

your everyday act, even

the smallest, impacts

a thousand people for

a hundred generations

because it does.

h. muller

Home "SOLD"

These are pages for my All About Me class that I taught in the past. I have now Officially SOLD my house... I made my final visit on Sunday evening, walking through each room and remembering all the fun times we had in the house. I really loved the backyard for my grandchildren to run and play, have great bar-b-cues, and parties out there. I had written a letter to the new owner telling her about the house and put that and all the service agreements and warranties and manuals in a manila envelope. Then I took my keys off my key chain and put them into the envelope. As I walked out the door and it locked behind me, I thought " I can never go into this house again". Mixed feelings, sad, relieved, all the wonderful memories the HOME had for me. But now I know that someone will be there to take care of it, and I don't have to worry every day that something might happen while I'm away. No more double utilities, or insurance or taxes..YA-HOO... One door closed and another one opened for me.

An exciting vision.

The future is not someplace we are

going to, but a place we are creating.

The paths to it are not found they are made.

jane garvey

Concerts, Trackmeets, Award Programs etc. . .

It's the time of year when it seems each of my grandchildren have special activities going on. I try to make each one to support these terrific kids. This week I have attended a elementary strings concert for Maddy( Oh My), an award program for Morgan, and tonight is a high school track meet for Kelly. Saturday there will be a baseball game for Logan and then on Sunday a special strings event at ASU for my grandaughter Maddy.

Oh and one other thing this week I have been working on all the final details of selling my house..YEAH... there have been walk thorough's by inspectors, contractors, service people and me going to sign the tons of papers involved with selling your house. But no complaints here, I'm just really glad to sell my house in today's market. I have to be out completely by Monday morning.. no problem, I only have a couple things in the garage to clear out.. So if you need a fantastic realtor just give me a call, I've got a ringer.. He has won many awards as one of the leading Realtors in Arizona. I'll be so happy when this is all over and my stomach can get back to normal, without butterflies churning in it 24-7. Both happy and sad to leave the house we loved and lived in for 20 years..But I know it is what is best for me and for my house..

We do not remember days, we remember moments

Cesare Pavese

I have many wonderful memories of the past 20 years in my home.. Each one is cherished and will be remembered always..