Let me just say a bit more...

.....about competition. My first experience with that "pit of the stomach" feeling you get in a contested race was back in 3rd grade when we had hopscotch tournaments. Yeh.....tournaments. Why couldn't we just play the game for fun....well, the VFW Women's Auxiliary back then sponsored hopscotch for the girls and marbles for the boys and we would have winners from our town and they would take us up north to compete in the state finals.

Hopscotch of today doesn't even resemble the one I remember and we played with a taw. Notice the girl 2nd from the left. I think she has a taw in her hand. I've drawn the hopscotch I remember and also found the "taws" we used to use. Sometimes we would use the heels from out dad's shoes. Sounds weird, but we did. Anyway, this is the group I traveled to Magna with to compete. Left to right: Cathy Cannon, Marsha Milne, Vivian Lundberg and Me. I remember to this day waiting for the 2 VFW ladies to pick me up at 6:00 in the morning and drive me all the way to Magna to stay in a motel over night, maybe 2 nights, I can't remember but I do remember being scared to death. My first time away from home and LOOK WHAT I'M WEARING......sleeveless shirt and shorts!!!!! I'm sure that was way more traumatic than being away from home the first time. I don't remember caring whether I won "state" or not but I do remember well getting to this point. We would go on a Saturday morning over to the VFW Building there across from Elk's field and we would play until we were eliminated. I just kept winning.....not only would we have to throw the taw accurately but I think we played "kick out" and not "pick up" and it took major skill. I remember repeating "I think I can, I think I can," the whole time and had a pretty good feeling when I won. Did this competitive experience make an impact on my life?.....not really. I just know I don't like that feeling of "I gotta win"....but when you do win, it feels good and I've known all along that I'm a competitive person and I like to win. Competition is good in that it helps us achieve. Would hopscotch have been fun without the competition? I enjoyed playing it but the competition just put a new dimension to it.....is Scrabble fun to play by oneself? Not really. I guess competition gets bad when it totally engulfs us and turns us into "win at all cost" kind of people. I have to admit I used to like to watch soccer games when the kids were little because I knew there was a chance that the game could end in a tie and all the little kids could go away winners and I also remember that I didn't like the feeling back in pee wee baseball when the cocky teams would win but....one of the best feelings in the whole world was when we beat the Gulls....(now there was a cocky team). I have to admit that last night when BYU and Utah were playing, I didn't really care who won and I enjoyed watching the game a lot more than if I would have cared. Not sure where this blog is going but I've just been thinking a lot about "competition" lately and what it does for us in our lives either good or bad. I just think I like cooperation more than competition and I definitely like to see good sportsmanship.


These are the trophies I got for winning.....one for my 4th grade year and one for the 6th grade year. At least I gave other girls a chance. I do remember feeling bad for the girls I beat out....Charlene Gregerson one year and Laurel Steed the other year. Can't even remember who beat me, probably those two but it was a good experience and I hope I was a good sport. When it's all said and done Marvin J. Ashton said it best...."Victories in life come in our ability to work around and over obstacles that cross our path. We grow stronger as we climb our own mountains." I've always felt that "doing your best" is more important than "being the best"....and I will admit that I have prayed in competitive sports.....but never for the win....only that each player will do his best. I have to admit as I look back on life, I enjoyed those competitive years and we had some pretty fun times winning. Hopefully we all learned some life lessons along the way. It's always haunted me that those "pit of the stomach" feelings I would get in those silly little childhood games were the same ones I would get when Scott was so sick and trying to survive.....we win some and lose some along the way. It's the trying that matters.

It's Derby time....

.....and not a lot has changed in the 57 years since the idea of a Pinewood Derby was first introduced. The track is now hooked up to a computer to eliminate the margin of error, unless a little girl reaches onto the track and stops one of the cars. We could have used the ropes tonight to keep the kids away from the track but after one of George's runs was sabotaged, they did agree to re-run it and you guessed it.....he won it. But.....we must ask ourselves.....is winning what is important here? Heck yeh it is. Anytime you put something out there as a COMPETITION for heaven's sake.....it's all about the win....and about building character....and all that other crap and I actually really hate the Pinewood Derby for that reason....someone has to lose and I always hate it when someone has to lose and I especially hated the atmosphere around our house when we were on the losing end whether it be baseball, drill team, reflections and even Pinewood Derby (character building opportunities)

....but we were on the winning end tonight and believe it or not.....to my shock and dismay.....there are websites out there now to give you the edge....can you believe it? DerbyDad4hire.com just FYI.....so don't go into any Pinewood Derby competition without being fully armed.....or you could just rent out Kyle's, I mean George's car. This Dad for Hire thing isn't really a new concept. Back in the day, Scott would call Gilbert into consultation because of his engineering prowess for help building the most aerodynamic cars....did we win back then? Oh yeh...some of the time. Did we build character back then? Uh huh.....some of the time. It makes for a night of fun and family togetherness....so if it takes a little competition to get the action going, I'm in......but I think I'll just sit back and hold the baby and pretend I don't really care who wins. Way to go George, I mean Kyle.

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Another big win in the last few days has been my ability as a grandmother to keep these two sweet little ones alive for 4 days while their mom and dad left town on business. I love the kids but the responsibility weighs heavy on me and I never remember worrying like this as a mother but it's a pleasure to help out where I can and get to know each of my grand children as the little individuals that they are. Scotty and Jakey, you were awesome and it was my pleasure to have you in my home for a few days. I'm glad your mom and dad trusted me. Jake had the opportunity to get acquainted with Heylee, Kyle and JoEllen's newest addition to the family. Welcome Heylee.......

I love this bar....

....and it has been the gathering place in our home for almost 29 years from the early years of cookie making, 4-H clubs, birthday parties, pumpkin carving and cereal eating to now when the grand kids come they too have a place to gather.....I can't imagine my kitchen without it.

......and why I'm blogging about it.....I know not other than as I sat the kids up to it yesterday, I couldn't help but imagine all that has gone down at this bar....and I've been really appreciating my house lately and all parts of it from a big basement where the kids can play freely to a large bar where they can eat while they watch cartoons...so I'll continue tending my grand kids and my bar. Does that make me a "bar tender"? I would like to think so.

If all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops...

....oh, what a world it would be....(are you singing along yet?)....I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide going a...a.a..a...a.a..a..a.a.a... and I'd be out there doing it if there were a kid around but I do love the rain (in moderate doses, mind you) and it is raining right now. About once a year, I wish I had rain gutters. Seems when the sun shines, we never think of repairing the roof but it's pouring down on my front bushes today. It's lovely......
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A little cold today to be out in it but we love our rainy days, whether it be January or July. No place I'd rather be on a rainy day than in St. George, Utah. Pine Valley's good too, in the summertime.

She will be missed....

.....and I don't profess to be a dog lover but I gained a greater appreciation for them because some of my very favorite people are dog lovers and I just read the book "The Art of Racing in the Rain"....that said, I too, will miss Okie. She's been a good companion to Kyle and his family for a lot of years. They got her when they lived in Salt Lake and had purchased their first home and she has traveled from there to Tucson and back then to Albuquerque, to St. George.....and her final destination, Pine Valley. Okie loved Pine Valley. And so.....we bid a fond farewell, until she returns as a person....(read the book.) We will miss you Okie. Good dog......

First things first....

....Happy Birthday, Russ. I'm here in the great state of Kentucky and Spencer and Shana just got their broken computer back so I can blog about Russ and I'm sure he's thrilled but....as he has learned....there a just few things one has to tolerate when joining the family and this birthday blog just happens to be one that's not going away any time soon so.....here's to a really a very talented member of our family that just came off a Christmas Holiday of fun at our house where he cleared up a number of things on my long time list of "things to get done" before this house falls completely apart and I need him to know how much I appreciate his help. Thanks Russ for always being willing to do the little fix-ups on my house. I'll have more for you next time. Happy Birthday.....

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And now, greetings from Kentucky. Second day here and I've taken in a 5th grade ballgame and watching Laynee do her cheer thing and I've watched the kids swim at the YMCA....(I know you are now breaking into song and doing your actions.....I can hear it now). We've had a good time so far and the weather is cooperating.

....already for the game.

....the boys kickin' it on the Wii Backyard Football..

.....it's fun to be at the Y....M...C...A.........

I'm declaring this "find a friend" year.....

.......and I was inspired by my Mary Engelbreit desk calendar and the quote of the day:

...and I really believe it. This past year has given me the opportunity to connect with some long lost friends from my past and it has given me a lot of satisfaction in finding them. Everyone I have met along the way has brought something into my life and it breaks my heart to lose touch with any of them so when I can find one.....it's a treasure. My year at Utah State was one of the best....

I don't remember school at all.....I just remember hangin' out with my friends every day and every night. One giant sleepover. Me, Carol Ann and Phyllis were hooked up with a couple of girls from Idaho and I'm not sure where Janet was from but recently, through some amazingly coincidental connections, I found Becky. She's the one on the far right and it's been a blast to find her again and find out where she is and what she is doing. Now I just need to find Janet (and apologize to her. I was mean, but I'm sure it was just because I was jealous. She was perfect, no really....I mean perfect. I was there to take her down and I regret it.) I also need to find Carla.

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Through the years, my kids have had some really great friends. Never a dull moment.......

....seems the girls and their friends could always find something crazy to fill those hot summer days....

...so join me in celebrating friendships, old and new. "Life is what we make it and partly what it is made by the friends we choose." And to close let me remind you that "Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget".....so my challenge to us all in Twenty Ten is to get out there and find that "truly great friend" that you haven't contacted in a while. Peace out....I'll be back in a few.....

If you can drive to work in green pajamas....

.....it's a pretty cool job. Speaking of pajamas, I looked up a few anesthesiologist jokes (most of them I couldn't post) ......the definition of an anesthesiologist: "the half-asleep looking after the half-awake"......and I know you put in long hours and I know today is your birthday and I don't know if you have the day off....but if you don't, you deserve to but I just wanted to send a little shout out to you on this special day and tell you that I think you turned out to be a pretty good-lookin' guy after all those months of having to be convinced that you were a cute baby. It was the hair.....and I know you have always had "interesting" hair but you've made the most of it with your hairdos through the years. I wish I had the money I paid out to John, Jason and Bret to get your hair to lay down.....they tried anything from vavle oil to vasoline.....nothin' worked back then but now....think of it....you go to work in your jammies and put on a hat. What could be better.

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Just a few of Spencer's "interesting" hair days.

....and if it's a really bad hair day.....just wear braids!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Spence.....keep on keepin' on......

S.I.M.P.L.I.F.Y.....

......just one of my so-called New Year's Suggestions and don't I wish I could. I've been thinking about Lauri's wedding today as it is right around the corner and remembering when Traci and Annie decided Doggy (sorry, can't remember the dogs name) and Kitty (that's the cats real name) should get married. They called a few friends, I took a picture and we called it good..... It was a good day.

From the halls of Dixie High....

......to enjoying Kyle's Pad Thai. You've come a long way baby. Have a Happy Birthday and take it easy today. You deserve a celebration, 'cause we're glad you're here to celebrate.

Things are hot at Samari 21.....Our cook was hilarious. Looking at Mandy he says, "I serve you firs lady 'cause you hot". Happy Birthday, Mandy.

Almost more than knitting.....

.....I love a good book that I can't wait to get home to (I said "almost"). I don't consider myself an "avid" reader but I like the lure of a really good book, not so much for entertainment but I like to read something from which I can learn so I guess I'm a bit of a "picky" reader. Just lately I read "Half Broke Horses" by Jeanette Walls (she also wrote "The Glass Castle" being about her childhood and "Half Broke Horses" is about her grandmother. Click HERE to learn more about it.). I loved them both. In the words of Jeanette Walls, "I love biographies. I love to learn what motivates people". I'm looking for other books to introduce to my book club if there's anyone out there in blogland with some suggestions. Also, I hope you'll heed the advice of Mary Engelbreit and, "Have! More! Fun!.....As I re-capped my 2009 for my Christmas card I can't even imagine that I can possibly fit more fun stuff into another year but by golly, I'm going to try and I hope you will too.....Have a great Twenty Ten and if you are not getting off to the best of starts, just take it a day at a time and make tomorrow better, and then, if all your tomorrows are better than the one before, you'll end up having a pretty great year when it's all said and done....if you're sick, get better....if you are well, stay that way....and I leared in church yesterday from a returned missionary that the only way to true happiness is to 1. go to church, 2. read your scriptures, 3. pray......So, I'm going to try that. Sounds simple enough. (I think I need to slip a little exercise in there as well).

My dad would have been 82 years old today....

.....and I always like to start the new year off by remembering him and knowing that we would always celebrate this day with him in the simplest of ways as he was a simple man......

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.....didn't need much.....didn't really want much.....just happiness for his family, a warm meal when he got home from a day at the farm......and someone to appreciate his jokes, which some of us did more than others....but I, for one did, and I really miss them.

He was first and foremost a family man....and he was a hardworking rancher so had little time for extravagant family vacations but would always find time for a breakfast or a picnic at Zion National Park or Navajo Lake.....and there was always time for at least an overnighter during the deer hunt. Our yearly trips to California to see Aunt Beulah and Uncle Emeron were always good memories for me. Now mom and dad might have a different take on it but the long trip to Reseda in our '57 Chevy with 4 kids asking, "When are we gonna get to California" starting as we entered Mesquite were probably not to his liking and there might have been a swear word or two along the way but once we got to the "whoopies" we knew we were almost there.

I don't have many pictures of me and my dad but this one was when they came to visit us in Pullman and we took a trip to the World's Fair in Spokane. My dad was an easy guy to have around....always made everyone comfortable....well, most of the time. There was this one time when he took us to the Frostop and the order didn't come fast enough and he drove off with all of us kids ducking so our friends wouldn't see us. But, for the most part, he was a pretty easy-going guy....as long as his order came out fast and to his liking.

My dad loved my kids. I can guarantee you if he were with us today, he'd stop by Kyle and JoEllen's house every day on his way to the farm and give Matty a big hug and fling her around a bit. There wasn't a day he didn't "woody woodpecker" into the house to see the little ones and he loved to have us visit him at the farm.

He was a good good man that loved his wife, his kids and his grand-kids and I know he would really have loved this next generation of little ones even if their parents probably would not have let them have dumper rides. Life is better for all of us that knew him and when we're feelin' down, we have our "grandpa-isms" to cheer us up and the memories of a good man to buoy us up. So, as Grandpa would say..."Remember who you are.....and don't let it get you down"....or when your tire goes flat, remember that it's only flat on the bottom.....or if you're in pain, remember..."It will feel better when it quits hurtin'." Happy Birthday, Dad. I really miss you.