This & That

Graduation Day

It was a beautiful day for graduating.  Here are my kidlets.....DS#1, newly graduated summa cum laude, his wonderful wife and the rest of my in-country kidlets.  We are only missing DS#3 who is in Ukraine for another 13 months (but who's counting???)

It's moments like this when I come to realize that soon my family will be scattered everywhere.  The new grads are pulling up stakes in the next couple of weeks, heading to where they will spend their first year of graduate school.  It makes me realize that the times we are all together as a family are that much more precious....because they are few and far between. 

I'm So Totally NOT Old!!

But there are moments when I start feeling that way a little.  Tomorrow my eldest child is graduating from college.  I am so not old enough to have a child graduating from college!  Wasn't it just yesterday that he was starting school?  Going to Cub Scouts?  Learning to drive?  And now, here he is married, graduating and starting graduate school in the fall.  It just doesn't seem like that much time has passed.  I feel like it happened in the blink of an eye.....like I just barely turned around and here it is.....

It's Boomin'

This time of year, during a good water year (which we are having for the first time in many years), we are treated to this site.  This is Shoshone Falls (and make sure you pronounce it properly.....here in my neck of the woods, it's not Show-show-nee, but Show-shown).  We don't get this much water often, living in the high desert that we do, but when things are nice and wet and the water's boomin' over the falls, it's known as the "Niagara of the West".  It's 212 feet high and 900 feet wide.  The flow of the water is controlled from upstream and is greatly decreased in the summer when farms use the water for irrigation.  Just a few little factoids about one of our claims to fame.....

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

And I think this kidlet was beautiful then and is now.......all those holes in her head (4 teeth missing!) and I'm thinking she's just the cutest thing.....

Feeling Content

This about says it all:

Victoria

This is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  It's the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia.  Last week, DH and I took a very quick togetherness trip there.  It's the only place we've ever visited multiple times just for fun.  It's the most wonderful, relaxing place.  We end up walking the area quite a bit and there's a really awesome museum near the hotel.  We also have a favorite seafood restaurant.  Then of course, the gardens are amazing.  This time it was raining which didn't detract from the beauty at all.  We wandered around wishing our yard lookd as nice, but I guess if we had 35 gardeners, it would. 

Family Time

"One of the main problems in society today is that we spend less and less time together. Some, even when they are together, spend an extraordinary amount of time in front of the television, which robs them of personal time for reinforcing feelings of self-worth. Family home evenings give individuals and families important time to talk and listen as parents and children, brothers and sisters, spouses, and friends. Time together is precious--time needed to encourage and to show how to do things. Less time together can result in loneliness, which may produce feelings of being unsupported, untreasured, and inadequate."---James E. Faust

Easter Parade

Nope, no parade in our neck of the woods.  And the annual family egg hunt and egg bash had to be held indoors because this -----------> is what our world looked like today.  Since you know how I feel about rainy days, I really wasn't having a problem with the showers that started coming down, but snow is a bit much for my Easter celebrating. 

I finally finished out the busy week.  The choir sang last night at the stake temple celebration and then this morning for Easter services.  Big milestone out of the way for me.  And just when I think I'm going to get a breather, I have the little girls' youth group on Tuesday and the starting of summer Girl's Church Camp music planning.   I'm thinking it's better to be busy...keeps me out of trouble in any case.

And will you explain to me why DH feels like he has to go to the midwest to hunt......TURKEYS of all things???  Ugly things....

A Special Day

Today was wonderful day.  Today was the day we held the ground-breaking for a new temple right in the city where I live.   In fact I should be able to see it from my back patio.   A  long-awaited day.  A day we wondered if we'd ever see.   But here it is!   The church choir I direct was asked to sing at the service. 

Temples are very sacred places to those of my faith.  In them we make promises to serve the Lord and those around us.  We also believe that family units can exist beyond death and that this is possible through the promises we make and the lives we live.  Construction will begin soon and should be completed in 18-24 months.     And this is what it will look like:

Another Celebration

I think I told you that I have lots of birthdays this time of year at my house.  Another one today.  14 years ago today, in the wee hours of the morning I was rushed to the hospital in labor, six weeks early.   My fifth son was in fetal distress, was lying transverse and I underwent an emergency C-Section.  He weighed only 3 pounds, 16 ounces...very underweight for his gestational age and the doctor's fingers left bruises on his chest.  Blood test revealed that he was lacking a clotting factor, so he was flown that night to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.  While there a feeding tube was inserted and irritated the lining of his stomach.  He began to bleed uncontrollably.  It took 6 people to manage his care for the next several hours and he now holds the record for tranfusions in the PCMC NICU.  After three weeks of watching the monitor numbers and lab values bounce up and down, he made an abrupt about face and we were able to bring him home. 

It wasn't easy.  He was a REALLY ornery kid.  I had to feed him every two hours so he'd gain weight.  We worried about him as he grew.  We weren't sure whether the bleeding would effect his learning and development.  It has to a minor extent.  His biggest problems have been visual.   For the most part he is totally normal.  We are so blessed to have been able to bring him home to our family.  He has outgrown the ornery stage and we can't imagine our home without him. 

He's 14  today.  That funny, teenage stage.  Happy birthday, Buddy!