Old Photographs...

Old photographs full of people I can not identify and have never met fascinate me, much like my curious interest in old cemetaries; walking amongst the time and weather-beaten headstones wherin is carved the names of people I can not identify and have never met. Even more intriguing are old pictures of people I do know. While perusing through my late grandfather's lifetime's worth of photographs, searching for those perfect images to publish onto his funeral program, I came across some gems.

This is my grandpa's family. He is on the far right (in stripes!). Its not the picture that fascinates me so much as the expressions. Not one giant, toothy, "say cheese" smile. I know my grandfather knew how to smile and laugh and I imagine that everyone in this picture smiled their share of smiles in their lifetime.

I'm guessing this picture or my grandfather, as a child, was taken sometime around 1930-1932. Its a great picture, not only for the era, but for the story that this picture tells. It looks like he is at school and his attention has been stolen away from the book that he was reading. His expression tells me that he's either annoyed at the disruption or that he wasn't all that enthused with school in general.

Its difficult to disipher, but this is a photograph of my grandfather carrying one of his younger sisters. I love that they're both in their barefeet and you can tell little sister may have been a bit too heavy for her brother to carry around often. Then again, he may have just picked her up for a quick hug. Its an image any mom would want to snap and treasure.

One of my favorites. There's something about couples in love.....in old pictures that encompasses the charm and simplicity of days past. I don't think grandpa ever truly recovered from my grandma's death, 17 years ago. Even though he was the one who worked outside the house and did all the driving (my grandma did not drive), he relied on her. When she died a piece of him died with her. You can see why.

Okay, so this isn't exactly an old picture. Its about three years old and was taken following my nephew's blessing. Brock was about 10 weeks old at the time and Jamin was about 4 weeks old; and since we're on the topic of age, their great grandpapa was 81. "Grandpapa" loved his great grandboys and would always greet them with hugs and tickles. The boys were always wary of grandpapa's hug b/c they'd get a rib tickle in the process.

Little Firemen

On Saturday, Brock and his cousin, Jamin, took a little field trip to the local firestation to see the firetrucks and meet the firemen. Chief Young took us on a tour and let Brock and Jamin climb on the trucks and explained how the trucks work and what happens when they have to go fight a fire. We also got a tour of the firestation, where the firemen hangout watching TV, where they sleep, and each boy received a care package full of goodies, not to mention as many stickers as they could stick on their fireman hats.

Jamin, Captain Young, & Brock

One last shot of my little munchkin!

Goodbye Grandpa

1924-2009

Sometime early Sunday morning, my grandfather passed away in his sleep. I was one of those blessed people to have known and been close to all my grandparents. Unfortunately, I've also seen them all pass on and with grandpa's death comes a new chapter in my life, one without grandparents at all as my grandpa was my last living grandparent.

He was a lovable man (even if he was a democrat). Grandpa adored his family, his brothers and sisters, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I'm so fortunate that my son was able to meet and be adored by at least one his great grandfathers. He called grandpa "grandpapa." Grandpapa liked trains, tractors, CNN, Pringles, hugs, tickles, friends, family, traveling, crooning along to the radio, and flirting with the waitresses at his favorite early morning coffee joint. Grandpapa knew of our struggles to get pregnant and was thrilled to find out that we were finally expecting. He put in his order for a great granddaughter as his grandkids prove to be stellar when it comes to producing great grandsons.

When we were children, grandpa would always let us grandkids play in his blue Datsun pickup and white Chrysler (the boys always got the truck) and I remember spending hours and hours "driving" nowhere in grandpa's driveway. On summer Sunday evenings, grandma and grandpa would head to the park to hear the local orchestra perform free concerts and if we were lucky, we got to go with them and play wildly at the park while they sat and enjoyed the music. Grandma and grandpa always had Coca-Cola in their fridge and chocolate pudding in their cupboards. Their unfinished basement full of a lifetime's worth of treasures provided hours upon hours of enjoyment for the grandkids. When we were little grandpa would tease us as he told us stories and one of our favorite games was putting our ear up to grandpa's to hear his hearing aids squeal. Grandma and grandpa were always very easy to con into buying us kids treats, too. These are the precious memories that I am privelaged to hold in my heart forever. Memories of my grandparents.

I'm also blessed with the knowledge of the gospel and the peace of knowing that death is most definitely not "the end." I know I'll see my grandparents again and it will be a very happy reunion. In the meantime, I will definitely weep waterfalls (ridiculous pregnancy hormones) and do everything to keep my mascara from running this week, but I know Heavenly Father will be there to comfort me and my family as we look forward. Grandpa was a sweet and lovable man and I know that he is in a very happy place right now, at my grandma's side.

Oi

Like father like son....

We have to be careful about what we say because Brock is always listening.

You'll never believe what Brock claims daddy says when daddy is driving.

Don't ask him.

And once in a while Brock will parrot something mommy says when she thinks Brock is not listening. Its never as cute coming from Brock's mouth.

It appears that what we do is just as important as what we say now.

Daddy...care to comment on these pictures?????

Busted!

You always drive a bit slower and are far more conscious of how you're driving when a cop begins following your car. Today I drove normally, which is to say, perfectly, when a cop pulled out behind my car and began following me throughout town. Now you have to understand, I had just come from shopping with a toddler, who proceeded to throw one of those momentous three year old fits in the middle of the store when denied a treat, and as a result of the fit, promptly broke out in hives all over his face. Consequently, I was headed home to Bendadrylize my child when this cop with no where else to drive today began folllowing me. I wasn't nervous. We live quite close to the police station and he could have been heading back to the office. It was when we passed the police station and he flipped on his lights that I knew I was busted.....................for something quite ridiculous as I had been following all the traffic laws to a "T". Unlike the first time I was pulled over, I was not nervous this time. No shaking. No tears. No thinking my life would end at that very moment. I confidently asked the cop if there was a problem and he told me my registration had expired. I'm quite sure I rolled my eyes at him as I told him that HE had made a mistake and pulled out my registration..................................which had miraculously and quite suddenly expired! Oops. I promise it was current yesterday. "Its an honest mistake," I tried to argue, but the cop was having NONE of it and made absolutely no hesitation in writing a citation. Me!!! A citation????? What is this world coming to??? This cop obviously had no compassion for the frazzled pregnant lady hurrying home (at a legal speed!) to drug up her hive-infested toddler. To make matters infinitely more humiliating, people from my ward, including my aunt, drove by and saw me pulled over on the side of the road with those red and blue flashing lights right behind me as if to shout out to the drive-bys "Slow down and take a good look at the criminal in the Camry." So you see, there is NO point in trying to hide my little indiscresion. Its already out there. Now everyone knows how I got my first ticket. Way to go, me.

On a brighter note, Brock's hives, all three of them (hehehehe), are gone. Thank you, Benadryl!

The Sunbeam!

Do you know what is so great about primary? Watching the sunbeams. They are a never-ending source of curiousity and energy--wandering about the room, removing their shoes and socks, making funny faces, poking each other, talking even louder in their efforts to whisper, and always, always, always asking questions.

Sunday January 4th marked Brock's graduation from nursery into sunbeams. With a December birthday, Brock is undoubtedly the youngest sunbeam in his class and his energy and exuberance also nominate him as the wildest sunbeam. His speciality: running. On his second Sunday as a sunbeam, I understand that he took off running from the primary room (after we had left) and led his teachers on a marathon sprint throughout the church, laughing loudly and happily as he ran. While this behavior is certainly not foreign to us, his parents, especially at church, I believe that this spontaneous freedom run through the church surprised his teachers. It probably explains why they asked us to sit with Brock in sharing time from now on. If anyone is going to chase Brock now, its going to be mom or dad (and we thought we were off the hook).

We're Pregnant!

I can't imagine who we have NOT told at this point. After a long two+ year journey, we are expecting baby #2--due to bloom in July 2009. We won't find out the gender until March, so its all speculation until then. Clarke says we'll be welcoming our second boy this summer and I have to passionately disagree with him and put all my hopes in a baby girl. Brock is the swing vote. Some days he'll side with daddy and tell us we're having a boy and other days he'll declare that we're having a "grill" baby. Regardless of gender, we're just thrilled to be welcoming another precious baby to our family and ask only that he or she is healthy.