Clark turned 1

Some pics from the only party we had.

Grandma Pieper--96 Wonderful Years

Mary Olsen Pieper
Katherine, Sadie, William and Tyler discover the Toy Drawer

Fun times with Grandma

Dear Grandma,

I love you and will miss you. I loved coming to your house. Some of my memories:

• Your raspberry jam on homemade bread. Raspberries will always remind me of you.
• Spending the night--wearing long, crocheted stockings with jingle bells on them. (I can still remember how they felt on my feet).
• Reading scriptures after dinner. Sometimes several chapters--that seemed like an ETERNITY. We would each read a chapter or two. When I was young I almost could not handle this.
• Playing rummy, doing puzzles.
• The pink bathroom and using powder when we got out of the shower.
• Thanksgiving Dinner--my favorite was your stuffing. We had long tables set up all over the house. We would even use the old ping-pong tables and then after dinner we would play ping-pong.
• Playing at the school and park. We loved the cannon at the Rigby City Park.
• Walking "to town"--Ben Franklin's to buy a fun treat. Grandma would give us a little bit of change.
• The flour and sugar drawers. I loved these. Also, the fun assortment of little silverware.
• Eating on the placemats--they were scenic photos from the area where Grandma and Grandpa served their mission. Bullhead City--Dolan Springs, AZ. We went to visit them--a wonderful family trip. Aunt Brenda and Uncle Gabe came with us. I remember hunting for lizards and feeding burros on the streets.
• Getting out the old filmstrips and watching "the original" Johnny Lingo. I believe they had a whole set of filmstrips that were from their mission. We used to love to set up the film projector, tape player and watch these. Some great "vintage" memories.
• "Yo Triumphi" Not even sure how to spell that--an old cheer from Grandma's days at Box Elder. I'm sure that any of the Taylor girls could do this for us!
• Grandma teaching me how to crochet. I think I'll make something and have a good cry!
• Your dedication to the gospel--working in the temple, doing genealogy work, and serving others.
• I loved going downstairs--it was almost a scary thrill. Especially the root cellar and the "coffin" It was fun to look through the old books and records.
• Playing with cousins in the "Jungle Room"--we could lock each other in there by closing the door and pulling out the built-in clothes hamper. This probably resulted in quite a few tears over the years.
• Watching hours and hours of cable TV--this was when our family had NO TV for a while and then VERY limited reception, so this was a HUGE treat.
• The family museum--it was always fun to go in there and snoop around at all the cool treasures.
• The toy drawer in the kitchen--old roller skates, the blue fabric donkey that was missing a limb or two, plastic pig, cows, the set of "jailer" keys.
• The smell of the compost bucket under the kitchen sink--I actually like that smell.
• Using the TV trays and feeling REALLY cool.
• Lots of unconditional love and a wonderful example of faith and endurance.
• The "chicken" filled with sweet treats and goodies.

I am grateful for your life. I wished that we lived closer and could be with everyone this week. I am sad that things are going to change. I do not like that. I wish that every time I stopped in Rigby, you would be there with your arms open and a treat in the cookie jar. It is sad for me, but I am so happy for you. What a reunion in heaven. I'll see you soon.

Love, Marilyn

KK keeps on bringing me flowers from the yard and little notes, because I keep crying.

Oops

It seems like this blog is becoming a chronicle of our "accidents". This actually happened last summer just before our summer trip. Michael was playing in the pool and whacked his tooth on the side of the pool--sending the other half to the depths. It took a while to get an appointment for Michael so this was his grin for a few days. They did file the sharp edges and got him in a few days later. We had a good time teasing him about fitting right in here in TN. It has been fine and I actually forgot about it until we read about cousin Kate's little mishap earlier this week. We decided to put Michael's crooked smile up, so that they could compare their great smiles. Grateful for good dentists and insurance!

Little Sweets

She fell asleep that next day at the computer playing Starfall.

We've had fun watching Little Rascals, too.

Katherine, KK, Little Sweets has had a ROUGH week. Sunday we had some friends over for dinner and were just relaxing and visiting. The kids were playing and have fun. Katherine had her hands up on two chairs and was swinging her legs back and forth--as she was propelling herself forward, her hands slipped and with full force she face-planted and came up howling. We offered our initial consolations--it was Eliza who finally noticed that she was a bit "off-center" and she could not close her jaw. David and Parker took her to the ER--thankfully, they got right in. It was snowing a bit and I think that took care of the "ER regulars". I stayed home to get everyone else bedded down and stayed up waiting for phone up-dates. Parker said that it "was a good experience" (for him to go) and that he loved Katherine's humor and the funny things she said and did when she was on morphine. An initial x-ray showed nothing--indicating that we over-reacted and should just take her home, but after further examination and a CAT scan they determined that she had dislocated her jaw and that it was broken. At this point they considered surgery in Knoxville--but they ended up giving heavy pain meds and putting the jaw back in place with a follow-up appointment with a specialist in Bristol. The specialist basically said that she should be fine. That surgery really wasn't a good idea for someone that young and that she should heal quickly and not have any lasting side affects from the accident.

Thank Goodness!!

She really has been doing well. After the first 24 hours of being heavily drugged, drooling, and no communication, we just gave her Tylenol and she has done great. Everyday, there are noticeable improvements and she can do more. She still can't eat a lot, but she has enjoyed her own chocolate nutritional shakes and yogurt. What a little trooper. Her friends--the Toussaint girls (that were her at the time) brought her a get-well card and a fun painting craft. That was just what she needed. Glad that you are OK, KK!

Little Getaway

Things around here are pretty good. I had a great trip to visit my family. In my Dad turned 70 and all of my siblings were going to be in Idaho for the weekend, so I decided to join them. It was rejuvinating. I took Clark, he was a fun travel buddy. I also had a quick visit with Julia--she is such an up-lifting person to be with. Thanks for all of the memories. I did not have a camera with me--but here is a link to my Mom's blog about all of our adventures. It was theraputic to be able to visit with my parents and siblings. I also go tot visit my Grandma Pieper.

http://snakerivercannons.blogspot.com/

Thanks and sorry to Eliza--I used her Sky Miles for the trip. We'll have to make it up to her sometime soon.

January 2012

Birthday Tulips

I love the start of a new year. The world has just basked in the spirit that is poured out for the Christmas season and there is a feeling to improve and do better. There is a hope and a renewed dedication to focus on what "really matters"--of course, that is different for everyone. I am a goals person and like to write things down and make a plan. (I've always got great ideas--but I'm not so good on the follow through part). We've made some plans as a family and we will slowly and surely improve ourselves and do better. I love to look back on a year and realize that even though living day to day it seems like we don't do much--it really does add up over a year and we are learning and growing.

Each day brings new challenges and blessings. This morning the "challenges" started early. At 7am--I had three children crying and two others asking for something. That is just too early for it to start! It didn't last too long though and now they are content for the time being.

This is from President Monson:
Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/01/living-the-abundant-life?lang=eng

Happy Birthday Marilyn!

Happy Birthday, beautiful!

We love you!

David, Eliza, Parker, Michael, Grace, Peter, Katherine, William, Clark