Retirement

My Dad was released as Stake President in Show Low today.  Even though we knew this day was coming, I was surprised how emotional I was about the whole thing.  I'm mostly sad for my Dad and all his new free time.  There hasn't been a time in my life that he wasn't serving in the church.  It is all that I have known.  He has been such a good example to me.  His testimony is unwavering and his love for his "people" is great.  These words feel generic but it is how I feel today.  I am thankful for the opportunity my Dad had to serve.

I love my Mom.  She talks loud when she is nervous and cracks jokes that she won't remember later - we get to remind her what she said at the pulpit.  "I said that?  Oh, Mikey really?"  Her testimony is strong and like Elder Lesuer of the seventies said today she "still has some buck in her", for which I am grateful.  I pray she is around for a lot longer to show me the way.

Elder Lesuer also talked today about the blessings that would come to the new stake president and his family.  Angels will protect them and guide them.  Some of these angels are members of the stake.  He asked the congregation to protect them as they would a valueable treasure.  It was then that I realized how blessed my family has been these past 9 years.  Macy was just a baby when my Mom called to tell us we'd better get up the mountain - there has been a call.  We have felt the physical protection of angels.  We have felt the love and the guidance of the Lord.  We have been blessed with 3 more amazing children in our home.  Healthy children. And the Lord has seen fit to bless us financially.  I told my Dad today that I hope this retirement is short and temporary.  Heaven knows Jace and I need all the angels and blessings we can get.

Note: Mikael was asleep in the car.  She was an angel today.

Before I forget - Hawaii 2011

It really was worth every penny.  I'd take all my kids again in a heartbeat.  I loved, loved having all my sisters and parents there.  Can we go again next year?  Maybe Kauai?  Tahiti?  Jess, you in?

Apparently no one told the older ones we were posing in this shot.

Jace paid way too much money for the legit whale bone carving necklace I'm wearing.  He wasn't even mad at me when I dropped it on the tile floor and it broke - the same day he bought it.  

Apparently it looks like I only packed one swimsuit for my trip or apparently the majority of our pictures were taken on the same day.  Just be glad it fit- - that is my motto.

BFF's

Sunset Beach:

I have said it before....but Jace is a ball to have on vacation

Polynesian Cultural Center:

Pearl Harbor:

The big ship in the back ground picked up Osama Bin Laden and then dumped him into the sea.  It pulled into port the day we were there.  And that's pretty much as close as they would let us get to it.

Memorable trip highlights included:

*Swimming with the sharks (Jace had to yell at me to put my head under the water a couple times....I think I would have just doggy paddled around on top of the water in the cage.  It was claustrophobic and intense.)

*Getting caught in a flash flood in our rental mini van (FYI:  just because the locals don't think floods are a big deal does not mean you should drive your family thru one in the pitch dark.  Jace and I almost peed our pants....and our prayers were answered...miraculously we were not washed out to sea)

*Just Dance 2 (we all know who the real winner was, Beet)

*Para sailing (the water was purple and turquoise)

*Ted's bakery (butter rolls-enough said)

*Pearl Harbor (probably the best thing I did.....we missed the USS Arizona tour so we did the USS Missouri battleship tour....so glad we did.  I hope my kids remember it always.  I want to go back.)

*Seeing the navy ship that dumped Bin Laden into the sea 

*Meeting a sailor that was on that ship

*That sailor giving Noah his Navy hat and letting him sleep on his shoulder the whole plane ride home

*The jelly fish that almost took my Noah's life (he screamed like a girl - so I started screaming like a girl - it did not help but Ezra peeing on his brother's leg might of helped)

*Coconut syrup on my pancakes

*Jace's surfing lessons (and his surfing instructors - they were memorable.  wowsza)

*And the unfortunate purse snatching incident (dang locals)

Tuesday Afternoons

Grandma Gaye on the right.

Most Tuesday afternoons, my 2 youngest children and I can be found at an assisted living facility in Show Low.  My Grandma Gaye's new residence.  She is always so happy to see me us.  One time I tried going in without my babies  and she asked why I even bothered coming at all.  She loves the babies.  As does most of the other residents there.  We wave and smile and throw candy to the old people in the halls as we pass by.  They ew and ah over that Mikael.  Grandma Gaye wants to hear all the family gossip and if you share she will in turn share her popsicles and cookies with us.

My crew with Grams on her 83rd (?) birthday last month.

It is about the only time during the week that my kids and I exit our little world and get to serve someone else.  Getting old is not for sissies.  I can only imagine how lonely most of her days have been since my Grandpa died 15 years ago.  I'm sure in her mind's eye, it wasn't very long ago, her body and life looked just like the 1st photo.

Grandpa Don furthest to the right.

It appears to me from these photos that I inheirted my curly hair from my Grandpa and not his long legs.  Dang.  The funniest thing about this photo is is that he looked so much like this up until the day he died.  He did not age or change much.  He believed that there was only 1 way to do most things - his way.  The right way.  He didn't believe in cutting corners.  He was a rule follower.  I'm pretty sure a cuss word never left his lips or his hands ever littered.

On his Navy ship.  Mount Vesuvious in the back ground.

He would wave his American flag on every holiday, including my birthday.  The man had a serious soft spot for his country. He ate his fiber and vegetables regularly.  He lived to make my Grandma happy and did it in such a way that you had no idea he was doing it.  Ding, ding, ding!!.....a lesson I should try learning - make Jace happy *quietly*.  I should also quit cussing while I'm at it, wave the flag more often, and teach my kids that littering is a nasty habit and people will think less of them and their upbringing if they see them polluting the earth.  We can't have that.  Grandpa Don wouldn't approve.

You never know how your life story will play out.  Will I be sitting lonely for years without my Jace?  Waiting to see him and hear his funny stories again?  Or will Jace know life without me for a time?  Either way all we can hope for is that somebody loves us enough to brings us ice cream and babies every week.