First Born

David and Donovan

There is something so special with a first-born child. Every child we are given after the first one is definitely sent from heaven, a blessing beyond belief, and brings sunshine and joy into a family. But watching brand new parents of Donovan David Burgess (they call Nova) to mommy and daddy, Sarah and David, made me smile and took me back to my first-born and the first-born's of all my children.

Every movement, gurgle, squeak, squinch and sound needs immediate documentation with a "ahhh," photo, or blog post. All new parents can agree, this new bundle of joy has you non-stop smiling. You watch them sleep, pray for them night and day, and want to do everything right with and for them. They are yours to love, snuggle, cuddle, and carry around (bundled tightly), where you just can't imagine life without them. You even forget the nine months of pregnancy and difficult labor and delivery.

Thinking back to my first-born with Ben, he went everywhere with me. The most journaling I did took place his first year, along with the most pictures taken. Like I said, you adore every child you are blessed with as they enter this world, love them more than life itself, and hope you do everything right with them, but that first-born seems to slightly edge out the others with more brand new clothing, more microscope attention (where every movement is monumental), and starts the family memories and traditions going. Ben and Cooper's Adelaide ... Angela and Eddie's Madison ... Chris and Lesa's Kelli Jo ... Joshua and Ashleigh's Chamberlain and now David and Sarah's Donovan brings that immediate grown-up personal and couple posturing that moves one from "me" to "we" in the way it's supposed to be, and Heavenly Father wants it to be - an eternal family.

Priceless Moments

What a special, busy time in our lives right now with tons of business traveling, family visiting, and getting ready to move. But jumping on an airplane and heading to Vegas this past week for a few priceless days was important to me. #20 grandchild was born and this grandma needed to be there to give new baby Donovan some good grandma lovin', singin', cookin', baby talkin' and soakin' in a little bit of heaven.

Grandma Lovin'

"

And the Winner Is ...

Oliver, Calvin, Jane, Adelaide and Nolan

I love technology. I can communicate instantly with my thousands of Facebook friends and distributors from coast to coast, send group text message reminders about meetings and calls, and tweet updates. But more importantly, I can keep in touch with my five married children and 19 grandchildren. None of them live here in California, and I miss those "Trunk 'r Treat" events at the church with them. But between Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and smart phones, Skype, Facetime, family blogs, etc. I can still feel a part of their lives.

Angela and baby Jacen

So keep those pictures, posts and tweets coming. I love them. They make me laugh and smile. Halloween pictures last night were priceless. Cooper and Ben's kids costumes - all homemade - were unique and reflected each personality since they decide what they want to be months in advance, Cooper sketches out the pattern and hand sews the costumes. I remember doing that when the kids were young - but I used a pattern. I didn't have the same skill set with creating the patterns.

Jacquelynn, Jacen, Madison, Sutton, Brooklyn

Angela and Eddie's family took on the glamour - monster theme, and I smiled at them all dressed as they favorite monster dolls.

Chamberlain and Siri (where's Harrison?)

Joshua and Ashleigh's kids were decked out in Halloween's best with Josh jumping in with a matching daddy-daughter theme. Gotta love the hunter who saved Red Riding Hood!

Daddy-Daughter :-)

And the winner of the night was Chris and Lesa's family taking on the incredible characters in Despicable Me to include the Minions! My Facebook friends are liking and commenting on these costumes as much as their neighborhood there in North Salt Lake!

Kelli Jo, Beckham, Chris, Lesa, Zoey, Ava and Zachary

So keep those pictures coming. The next post will definitely highlight the birth of grand baby #20 with David and Sarah! 

Special Moments in September

Chris & Lesa, Ben & Cooper, Angela & Eddie, David & Sarah, Ken & I, my mom, Josh & Ashleigh, Salt Lake City Temple

Sarah and David

We have driven the I-15 from Southern California to Salt Lake City, Utah a hundred times over the years, lately stopping first in Las Vegas to see David and Sarah, then in Hurricane, Utah to see Josh, Ashleigh and their three precious children, then to Orem to see Angela, Eddie and their fab five children, then Bountiful to see Chris, Lesa and their fantastic five kids, ending up in Centerville to see my mom. And we've loved every trip, although I may have complained the entire way about the long drive, usually singing the lyrics to "Riding Through the Desert on a Horse with No Name." 

But, this last road trip to Salt Lake City, Utah was very, very special; one that we will always cherish and remember. With a special temple sealing of David and Sarah in the Salt Lake City temple, to our 39th wedding anniversary dinner and David Copperfield show in Las Vegas, incredible memories were made and spiritual experiences were recorded in my personal journal. It's times like these that make everything insignificant and, at the time seems a bit challenging in this life, worthwhile and meaningful. All six of my children were there with me in the temple (and five wonderful spouses), along with my mom and other thoughtful family members. It was pure joy. My heart is still full today as I write and reflect, and it's impossible to describe in words. I am again reminded of how blessed I am with this eternal family the Lord has given me, and I will never take them for granted.

David in front of Salt Lake City LDS Temple

Lesa and Chris on temple grounds

39th Anniversary Dinner at the SW Steak House (patio)

Rooting for the Home Team

Lesa and Chris with 3 of Their Young Kids

Ken graduated from Brigham Young University in business management, and I attended the rival school on the hill in Salt Lake City in music education and vocal performance; the University of Utah. When we were married 39 years ago this September, the rivalry was a bit obnoxious with seeing Ken wearing a BYU golf shirt to a University of Utah function with me. Of course, he did that on purpose, more to irritate me than bother any of my U of U friends. And although I love singing the U of U fight song, "I am a Utah man sir and I live across the green," my loyalties pretty much depend on where my kids (and in the future, my grandkids) are playing basketball (or soccer), or performing.

I've noticed that the rivalry between Utah and BYU is almost as strong as it is with Duke and North Carolina, in my mind anyways. I saw that vicious, at times, rivalry when I attended the Duke / Carolina basketball games. Between the rude t-shirts worn by the Duke "Crazies" at games, the expressed anger with the attending fans during the games, and my true Carolina blue friends, I was amazed at how heated the rivalry was, and still is in Utah.

That leads me to seeing recent pictures with my kids on Instagram, first Chris' family decked in Utah clothing, then Josh's family posting the next day in BYU clothing. I smiled at the competitive spirit brewing. A couple of years ago I saw 1/2 of Ben and Cooper's kids wearing BYU t-shirts and the other 1/2 sporting U of U t-shirts. Ben, you see, graduated from the U of U in marketing and Cooper graduated from BYU in art. In fact, my conversations with Calvin on our morning walks a couple of weeks ago had him talking about uncle Chris and basketball, but then siding with BYU saying, "grandma, I know uncle Chris is coaching there but I think I'm going to BYU."

Chris, Lesa and Family

Chris and Lesa both attended and graduated from the U of U, Chris playing basketball (now assistant coaching there), and Lesa playing soccer. So they are obviously decked from head-to-toe in red as often as possible. Angela, who doesn't seem to have an allegiance either way, graduated from and played basketball at BYU, but rooted for Chris when he was playing at the U against BYU. (No pictures or t-shirts?) But Joshua, Ashleigh and their entire family are Cougs through and through with both Ashleigh and Joshua graduated and played basketball at BYU. "Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!"

Once when their son, Chamberlain, was being put to bed by grandma (me) he said, "I know you are a Ute fan grandma, but I'm going to play for the Cougs (BYU)! Are you going to come to my basketball games?" "Of course!" was my immediate answer. Like I said, I am 50/50 on this entire thing. Wherever my kids and grandkids play or perform ... I'm rooting, and their biggest fan. But all of this rivalry is fun to watch, especially on game days when BYU plays Utah. So, who do I root for? It depends. 

Cousins Kelli Jo and Madison

Utah Fans Like Dad?

Or BYU Fans Like Mom?

California Dreamin'

Shopping

Living in California is very exciting, for sure. But we tend to get so busy working and keeping to our daily and weekly schedules that we rarely take the time to really see what is here. However, when we are blessed to have our family come to visit (or we steal them away as we did this past week with Adelaide), we stop and make it a point to see all that California offers ... or we try. We jammed so much into the week Adelaide was here that it has taken a few days for us to recover. But...we loved every minute with her. We even took in sights we'd never seen; like standing in the middle of the street to catch a picture of the Hollywood sign on the hill, or work our way through the huge crowds of crazies in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. From Hollywood to San Diego, we literally saw it all. Addie never stopped smiling, and neither did we. When asked what was her favorite thing she did, besides the rides at the Disneyland parks - it was seeing the San Diego and LA Mormon temples and buying those cute white skinny jeans at Nordstrom's at the Spectrum!


Day 1 - Spa Day and School Shopping
Day 2 - Sea World and Swimming with the Dolphins
Day 3 - Hollywood
Day 4 - Church
Day 5 - Disneyland
Day 6 - Beach and Spectrum

Nothing better than Disneyland in the Morning!

Tinkerbells Castle

Mator in Cars Land

California Adventure

Lonesome Addie on Cups Ride

Cars Best Ride Ever

Addie Loving Disneyland

Cute Toontown!

Choosing the Ears to Buy

Newport Beach on 15th Street

More Ear Choices

Traditional Ears Decided Upon

1 hour wait to get on the Cars ride?

Grandpa teaching Boogie Board skill

Spa Day

School Shopping

Dolphin Interaction

Learning to Train the Dolphins

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

(Sun in Eyes) Hollywood Hill Sign

Theatre Star Handprints

Love My Addie Visit! 

Lego Love

Lego's, like Barbie dolls, constantly update their inventory with the latest characters, cartoons, movies, and trends with new sets hitting the toy store shelves. My grandsons love lego's and every birthday, Christmas or "grandma visits", the gift requests always include Legos. The only thing I recall about this Legos frenzy is that when walking barefoot in a home that is Legos crazy, I step on one that causes me a little pain. But, I still smile, pick it up, and try to find the rightful owner.

Nolan's 12th Bday Lego's

Before I switched from my Droid phone to my iPhone, I took a lengthy video of Nolan telling me
all about his Legos collection. He started sharing his complex collection with me on one of my earlier visits last year and I was so fascinated with all that he knew, how everything worked within the set, and the psychology behind the various sets, that I said, "hold it ... let me record you." However, that video would not upload from my Droid phone to youtube - it was just to large of a file. So, the memories about that hour of explanation from Nolan is lost, but the excitement about his collections still makes me smile. So, this 12th birthday of Nolan I asked for the hyperlinks to the two sets he wanted, clicked and purchased them. He, obviously was thrilled!

Chamberlain

My last visit with Josh's family saw me heading to the Hurricane Walmart to have cute Chamberlain pick out his set. And of course, Calvin loves them as well, although Calvin tends to like the Super Hero characters sets. On our morning walks he would tell me all the ins and outs of various Super Heroes. I said, "wow, you know lots about Super Hero's. Calvin's confident answer to me was, "I'm a Super Hero genius!"

Calvin's Batman Collection

Peanut Butter and Grape Sandwiches

Mom June 2013 at the Cabin Door

My Favorite Place on Earth

I've traveled the world and have seen some gorgeous places - Paris, Rome, London, Australia, Prague, Istanbul, Korea, to name just a few - but my favorite place on earth is our family cabin in Utah at Pines Ranch. It takes about an hour to get there from Salt Lake City, has no internet service, and if you walk far enough down the road from the cabin, you may get one (1) bar on your Verizon phone to text a quick message, but I love it. This last time spent there was with my mom, my sister (one of the days), and three of my grand daughters. And both mom and I made sure to pass on the traditions of "cabin life," from riding on the front of the car from the gate to the cabin, wading in the ice cold river water until your feet and legs go numb, skimming rocks (and collecting), hiking to the front gate with a bag of carrots to feed the horses, picking the wildflowers for a table centerpiece, playing Chinese Checkers, eating pancakes cooked on the old black griddle, and best of all...eating peanut butter and grape open-faced sandwiches.

Brooklyn and Jacquelyn Love the Wildflowers

Peanut Butter and Grape Sandwiches

Grandma Sharing the History of the Cabin

Feeding the Horses

River Playing

The Walkover Steps to the Meadow

I loved this last visit listening to my mom share the history of the cabin with Madison, Jacquelynn and Brooklyn. It was important. She shared memories of my dad coming there to relax and fish. She shared that after he died she would come up and sit outside looking out to the meadow, and could still see dad walking towards her, smiling and holding up his freshly caught fish. It made her feel close to him for those moments. So, although we have outgrown the cabin as a family, we haven't outgrown the memories that still draw us there.

Food Tastes Better at the Cabin

Riding from the Gate to the Cabin