Lloyd Thomas Stoker (1929-2008)

When you get married, you inherit a lot of things, like bad posters, cd collections, futons, and stuff like that. When I got married, among those other things, I got grandparents. I had my own grandparents, of course, but for a few reasons - some good, some worse - I never had a close relationship with any of them. I wish I did - one of the greatest regrets that I have is that I didn't know any of them well, and now they're all gone. Cory has grandparents that are involved and interested in the lives of their grandchildren. Grandparents who came to games and concerts, who took them on trips and camping, and who shared long conversations about life and other things. I sometimes wonder if he realizes how lucky he is. I was so honored to be immediately adopted by his grandparents.

Cory's grandfather, Lloyd Stoker passed away Sunday, June 22, 2008 at around 5:00 PM - one day shy of his 60th wedding anniversary. He's been sick for a long time, and very uncomfortable for almost as long. He's been asking Heavenly Father for death for a while now, so his passing has been a bit of a relief for everyone - but separation is never easy. Cory and I had talked of going to see him in Cedar City, where he lived when he died, but circumstances prevented us from going in time. I think Cory was feeling regret and remorse that we didn't go, but here's what I think: Let's not dwell on the things we forgot to do, chose not to do, or wished we had done. Let's remember the ball games, concerts, deer hunting trips, dinners, afternoons playing, and things like that. Cory has an exceptionally close-knit family, and I think that he is so blessed for it. I feel blessed, too, that I was able to share his grandfather (his paternal grandfather died while his father was on his mission) for six years. My own children have been blessed for having known their great grandparents, even if they won't remember it. I think that in our youth-oriented society, we often forget how important, how essential grandparents can be, as examples, confidants, supporters, and friends. Now we just have to live it up with our remaining grandparents, so we don't have to regret later.

So, thanks for being my grandfather, too, Grandpa. We love you, and we'll miss you very much.

Lear quote of the day: "I'm going to miss Gramps. I sure do love him."

Special Edition: RIP SIlversong, Pollen City

This picture is of (from left to right) Lear, Ella, Elena Bunker, and Kyle Bunker, who's peeking around his sister. (YOU try to get four children to smile at the camera at the same time!) I was tending the Bunker children while their mother, my friend Brei, was teaching piano lessons. They played in our little wading pool while I swept the pollen from our lovely tree off our driveway and front porch. I had the children pose by the picture so everyone could see just how much pollen falls every year from the silly tree. The driveway, front steps, front porch, and lawn were covered in the junk, which made it all seem a mustard yellow color. ALL of that yuck was just from the driveway. Don't you wish you had a tree like that? 

AND - we sold one of our cars - the Escort, my first car, which I affectionately named Silversong. OK, so I was 22 and silly when I named the car. As you know, we just bought a new car, and we were getting stressed out about money, because we can't afford two car payments, so we just put all three cars for sale, hoping at least one would sell. The Escort was listed for two hours when someone called and wanted to see it - at 10 PM. We told him up front that it needed the AC fixed and had a little lurching problem, but he still offered us cash for it on the spot. We got more for it than we were anticipating, so we're satisfied. It's enough money that it basically gets us eight or so months of breathing space to decide what we want to do with the Trailblazer. Phew! We were getting worried. I do feel a bit sad, because it was my first car, and I had it for nine years, but it's time to say goodbye. In fact, after "death," it's still helping us financially. RIP, Silversong. We'll miss you. *Sniff*

Lear quote of the day:

Elena: "Let's go to the pool! Come on, husband!"

Lear: "OK, wife!"

Our BBQ and the Zoo

Last weekend we were supposed to go camping, but a series of events prevented us from going - after I bought all the food. We were stuck with a bunch of hot dogs and chips and stuff like that, so we decided to have a barbecue instead, which was a lot of fun. Cory used a gift car to buy a small fire pit, and we invited our friends the Bunkers (Lear's fiancee's family) and some family. We ate all the food we bought for the camping trip, and had S'Mores in the fire pit. Ella was trying to roast her own marshmallows on a stick, but she kept just digging it into the ashes. After we lost about three or four marshmallows, I took the stick away from her and told her I was going to help her - which is when she said "Dang it!" with a very crusty expression on her face. We all had a very good laugh about it.

Saturday, we went to the zoo. Lear and Ella both loved it. Ella kept pointing to animals and delineating their families. For example, "Mommy eh-fant! Daddy eh-fant! Baby eh-fant!" Regardless of the size of the animals in questions - the elephants were all adult females, but Ella didn't care. When there were only two of an animal, like the zebras, she'd say "Mommy zeba! Daddy zeba! Where baby?" Or she'd ask where the daddy or mommy was. Can you tell that family is her whole world right now? It's very sweet, actually. Lear of course had a great time, too. He loves the zebras and penguins the best. The zoo has added a carousel, which we didn't let the kids ride because it cost extra money. Lear was ok with it because he wanted to see more animals, but Ella refused to budge, and stood in the middle of the courtyard in front if it. We walked away, pretending to leave her behind, and she held her ground! That little girl is stubborn. She was just standing there with this determined expression on her face, all by herself. Cory wanted to get out of sight, to see if she'd freak out, but I couldn't do it. It would've just been too easy for someone to just pick her up and run off with her. Mommy instincts kicked in, I suppose. 

So, apparently, I look pregnant, because I've had four different people in two states ask me if I'm pregnant. Even my friend Brei asked me! Et tu, Brei? I seem to have gotten used to it, or at least numb, because I'm not particularly offended by it anymore. So, to quell all the rumors out there, no, I'm not pregnant! Spend a couple of hours with my kids, and you'll know why! 

Last thing - if anyone wants a Trailblazer, buy ours! We'll give you a good price. We really need to get rid of it, so tell your friends.

Lear quote of the week: "Mommy, your tummy gets bigger and bigger every day." Ouch!

Ella quote of the week: (said while playing hide and seek) "A-two, a-fee, a-two, a-fee, I come!"

The last two weeks

OK, so I know it's been a while, but in my defense, I was on vacation for most of it. We went to Oregon to see my parents for Memorial Day weekend, which was a lot of fun. Grandma and Grandpa Janes got a special toy for their grandchildren - a Ford F-150! Power Wheel, that is. The kids had a great time going on walks in the truck, and just driving around the neighborhood. Lear actually got pretty good at driving - as long as he didn't get distracted by things going by on the sidewalk. Usually he'd steer off the sidewalk about then. 

We also took a day to go up to Tacoma, WA to see Cory's cousins, Callie and Ezra. We had a fun time there, too. They have two kids who are each about a year older than our kids - Phoenix and Halcyon. (Students of Greek mythology will note an unintentional similarity between the two names.) The have a sandbox in their backyard, and they got a couple plastic gutters and some bins and set up a little water course to keep the kids busy - Lear was so  busy with it that his pants got wet and we had to take them off him to dry in the sun. If you look closely, you'll be able to see that he isn't wearing any pants in the picture. 

We also got a new car! It is a CNG car, which means that it runs on compressed natural gas - which is only $.63 a gallon here in Utah! We got a GMC Yukon, which is a bonus in itself, since it has third row seating, which will be nice. The one complaint I have about it, however, is that because the CNG stations here can't keep up with demand, there isn't enough pressure to fill up the tank completely, so the car has a range of about 50 miles before it switches to gasoline. Cory flew to Phoenix, AZ to get the car (CNG cars are WAY expensive in Utah because of the demand) the day after we got back from Oregon, and drove it back the same day. He was expecting to get home around 1:00 AM, which worried me, because we'd just driven 14 hours to get home from Oregon, and he had to turn around and drive another 10 hours to get the car home - and through the boonies of northern AZ and southern UT. It turns out, however, that he didn't have quite the marathon we expeted - he blew a tire between Page, AZ and Kanab, UT and ended up spending the night in Page. Call us sometime for the complete story, which is full more more peril than I just described. This post is getting long, so I'll cut this short: one hotel stay, a tow to Page, and four new tires later, we have a nice, big car that costs about $2.80 to fill. Fun stuff, huh?

Lear quote of the week: (in a whisper) "Ella, if you want to throw up, you have to put your finger in your throat." (Lear's advice to Ella while driving to Tacoma on how to more effectively get Mommy's undivided attention.)

Ella quote of the week: "Dang it!" Said after Mommy insisted on helping her roast marshmallows. (More on the marshmallow roasting soon...)