My Best Christmas Present Ever..........

Kerry and Kelley spent Christmas Eve with me. After all was quiet and still, I did what I have done for umpteen years. Turn out all the lights except the Christmas lights, lie on the couch, listen to the midnight Mass and The Tabernacle Choir's Christmas programs, and bask in the feeling of CHRISTMAS!!!! and let it's peaceful feeling encompass me. I love all of you so much. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

This statement was taken from Mom's Blog.  It so touched me and brought so many Memories back of all the Christmas spent with her.

Now I want to tell you about the best Christmas present I have ever received .  I have always appreciated all the gifts given to me through the yrs from Mom and Dad,  my Brothers and Sisters, and my children.  This Christmas (2011) I received a very special gift from Mom and Dad, and especially from Mom.  Jenny came and got me just before  Christmas to go to a Christmas Concert that Sam and Josh were in.  The whole concert was beautiful and I enjoyed it very much.  When the last song was sung "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas"  I felt a warm loving feeling come over me.  The love was so strong that I started to cry, it soon turned to sobs that I could hardly contain.  I knew that it was Mom there and she was embracing me with her love, and to wish me a wonderful Christmas.  I will carry that wonderful feeling of love through the remainder of my days here in mortality.   I love you Mom and Dad..........Merry Christmas.

                       Merry Christmas Mom and Dad.  Thank you for the Special gift.

Christmas 2011......

Christmas 2011........

I was so excited about my gifts to my grandchildren again this Christmas.  I get them something from Avon each year.  This year I couldn't find anything really appropriate for the little boys.  So I made the big decision  to get them bubble bath.  I thought they would really like that.

When I went to Utah for my Christmas dinner with my Brothers and Sisters, I took all my Utah grandkids their presents with me to give them.  I wanted to watch them open their presents.  Rachel's boys and Matt's girls and Marshall gathered expectantly in front of the Christmas Tree.  The girls opened theirs first and were so excited about getting the lotions and lip gloss.  Coy and Daxton opened theirs at the same time.  You should have heard the wail that came from those two.  Coy didn't want bubble bath, he wasn't a girl, it was pink and had princesses on it.  Daxton felt the same way.  I felt so bad that I had disappointed them so much.  Next year I will do better.  Needless to say I went to the store later with Rachel and purchased some lego's for Coy and some cars for Daxton.  Tyce was just fine with the bubble bath.

I spent Christmas Eve with Tim and Jenny and their kids, and Danny and Tanya with their kids.  Jenny had just had gall bladder surgery and wasn't up to doing much so Tim cooked our Christmas Eve Dinner.  We had French Dip Sandwiches and Tossed Green Salad.  It was very good.  There was a tray of finger foods and some of the best dip for them.  After dinner we had a short lesson about the Saviors birth and what Christmas is all about.  Then it was present time.  The kids all opened what I had given them first.  Little Ryan opened his and got the biggest smile on his face, he came running toward me saying "look what I got, look what I got".  He had two little Hot Wheels .  He gave me a big hug and said "Thank you Grandma".  Little kids are so spontaneous  with their feelings whether they like or dislike what they got.  I'm glad that I made a change in Trevor's and Ryan's gifts.

Christmas day was very quiet for me.  I called everyone and talked to them and to see what they all got for Christmas.  Everyone seemed happy and content.  Makette was so sure that they wouldn't be able to get their kids any Christmas, but they did and everyone was happy.  I really missed Mom today, I really wanted to talk to her.   

                      This is the disappointing bubble bath.  Just isn't fit for little boys.

                            The lip balm wasn't a hit either.  Tyce ate his.

Appreciation

Crabby old Man

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses? . . What do you see? 
What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man, . ... .. not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . .. . . . . . with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food . . .. . . . . and makes no reply .
When you say in a loud voice .. . . . .. 'I do wish you'd try!' 
Who seems not to notice . ... . the things that you do .
And forever is losing . . . . .. . . . . . A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not . . . . . . .. . . lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding The long day to fill? 
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . you're not looking at me .

I'll tell you who I am . As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, . . . . . . as I eat at your will. 
I'm a small child of Ten ... . . . . . with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters . . . ... . . . . . who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen . . with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . . .. .. . . a lover he'll meet.. 
A groom soon at Twenty . my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows . . . . .. . that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now . . . . . . . . I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . . And a secure happy home. 
A man of Thirty . . . . .. . . . .. My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . . . . . . With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons .. . have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me . . . . . . . to see I don't mourn. 
At Fifty, once more, babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . . . . My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me . . my wife is now dead.
I look at the future ... . .. . . . . . . shudder with dread.. 
For my young are all rearing . . . . . .. young of their own.
And I think of the years . . .. and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man . . . . . .. .. . . and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age . . . . look like a fool. 
The body, it crumbles .. . . . . . . grace and vigor, depart..
There is now a stone . . . .. . . . where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass . . a young guy still dwells,
And now and again . . . .. . . . my battered heart swells. 
I remember the joys . . . . . . . . .. I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . .. . . . . life over again.

I think of the years, all too few . . . . . gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . . . .. that nothing can last. 
So open your eyes, people . . . . . . . . open and see.
Not a crabby old man. Look closer . . . see ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within . . . . we will all, one day, be there, too! 

PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM
The best and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart.

Going to Paris

On Friday we had a fun activity here at Diamond View.  We went on an Airline flight to Paris, France.

 This is my passport and my boarding pass.  They look real don't they .  I am putting the original"s in my journal.

This is my picture that they put on my passport.  I'm not a great beauty, but now I have a picture for my obituary..............:)



The living area was set up like the inside of an airplane. Our Activities directors were dressed as Flight atendants  and they walked us through all the safety rules of being on an airplane.   We were served crackers and pop during our flight and watched a movie about Paris.  It was great fun.  You should have seen how excited some of the older people were to do the activity.  They made us passports and boarding tickets also.  They made it as real as they could and they put a lot of work into it.  I just love our activity director.  She is the best and keeps us really busy.

Kyler is Growing...

 Kyler at two weeks old.  My he is growing.  It doesn't take them long to start changing and getting their own little character.  Coy is holding Kyler.  He is such a good big brother.  He really helps his Mom watch out for his brothers.  They are such a cute family.

Spring Glen Trestle.......

The Spring Glen Trestle was a major part of our lives while growing up in Spring Glen.  It was the gateway into our little town.  There was a little ledge right up to the South corner of the Trestle where we would sit and listen to trains going by.  That was sometimes scary to me because I thought the trestle would break and it would fall down on us, train and all.  We sometimes put pennies on the track for the train to flatten out.  What an adventure to do that.

When I babysat for Pete in Jean I would get really nervous when a train rolled by.  They lived so close to the tracks that you couldn't even hear yourself think.  I always imagined one of those trains leaving the track and coming right into their house, or the trestle collapsing  causing the train to roll down upon the house.  What a wild imagination I had.  It has never happened.

 The Old Wood Trestle right before it was torn down.  The old makes the way for the new.

 A view of the house I grew up in with the old  railroad tie fence that Dad put around the house and garden area.  Seemed fitting to put it on this post along with the Trestle.  I loved that old fence.  It has been taken down now.

 This is Me, Bill and Carol on a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Price.  We were living in Logan , Utah at this time.

This is the six of us in front of our Spring Glen home.  The white siding was still on the front.  This is Me, Bill, Carol, Kelley, Leslie and Steven.

 Here we are sitting in the Living Room in our Spring Glen Home.  Check out my socks.  I sure was a nerd.

 This is Kelley, Steven, Leslie, Carol, Grandma Bates and Dad.  This was taken after I left home and Dad had built on the extra rooms to the back of the house.

This is Bill, Leslie, Carol, and Kelley ready for a parade in Price.  I can't remember which one.

Progress happens.  The old wood trestle just became to old to go on.  It was torn down and a steel one was put in it's place.  Somehow the removal of the wood trestle changed the whole face of Spring Glen.  It's just not as exciting driving under the steel one.  As for sitting on that little ledge, well I'm to old to do that now, but my imagination  tells me that sitting under the steel one would be a lot different.  It wouldn't rattle and creak like the wood one did.  Somehow the wood has a voice and the steel does not.  I love my memories and experiences with the old Wood Trestle.

Ice Man

Grandpa Bentley was the Ice Man in Price for many years. What fun it would have been riding around with him to deliver the blocks of ice that people would put in their ice boxes (refrigerators) to keep their food cold. Mom used to tell us about the ice wagon all the time.

Especially about taking it one day and rolling it down an embankment into the Price River. She had to get her brothers to go and get it out of the river. I wonder if grandpa ever found out. I can't remember if she told us about weather he did or not.

My Home........Spring Glen, Utah

Misty. She was truly my very own. From the time of her birth until I sold her when I got married. There is much to tell about her. I was the only one in my family that ever rode her.

She let one other person ride her, my boyfriend at the time. He made her mean. I felt really bad.
Apache and I. I joined a riding club that was taught by Cherrill Marx. I joined it when I was 11 and was a member until I turned 15 years old. I think she just got kind of tired of it and quit having it. I took part in some rodeo's and parades when I was a member of the club.
This is the house I grew up in. My father built it. I lived in it three of it's stages. Dad built the back part of the house after I left home. When Dad bought it it was just a basement. I have many memories of living in the basement. My Dad was a trapper . He trapped a lot of Beaver and Muskrats and guess where he would stretch their hides. You got it. Right in the basement where we lived. I remember the hides hung from the ceiling on their stretchers, many of the muskrat hides were stretched then leaned against the walls to dry out. I don't know how my mother put up with it. All I can say is that she must have loved him a lot.

It was while living in the basement that I got in my first serious accident. I was just learning to walk and I happened to pick up a glass bottle and started carrying it across the room. I lost my balance and fell. I cut my left wrist on a piece of the bottle. It cut clear to the bone. My Dad scooped me up and ran me to Price to get a Doctor to fix me up. He kept his thumb across my cut so He could keep the flow of blood down. When we got to Price the Dr. wouldn't see me because he was on a break between patients. My Aunt Alma Rae worked for him and she got really mad at him and told him to get out there and take care of me, that I was bleeding to death. When my Dad took his thumb off my cut blood spattered all over him. He must have been really mad because he had to come and take care of me, my tiny wrist took 27 stitches to close it. He didn't do a very good job and it left a scar that I have carried all my life. I can't spread my thumb very far and if I bump my wrist just right it sends sharp pains up my arm.

I did survive the incident though to my parents relief.

The second phase of the house was to go from a basement to a framed in house. My father was very creative. He obtained some railroad ties from the railroad and framed the whole house in railroad ties. That sure did make the house strong. He put a plywood door on the front that didn't lock, but we really didn't need a lock in those days. Dad got all the rooms in. It was a two bedroom home at that time with a large living room, Kitchen, and a dining room. After Bill was born the house was put on hold. Dad decided to go to College and get a degree so that he could work for the Fish and Game Department. We packed up and moved to Logan, Utah. Grandma and Grandpa Bates moved into the basement. They lived there for 5 yrs and grew the most wonderful raspberry patch in 10 counties.

We lived in Logan for 5 years while Dad went to school. Carol and Kelley joined the family while we lived here. After Dad graduated and got hired by the Fish and Game Department, we moved to Parowan, Utah. Grandpa Bates died while we were moving. Grandma went to work in the National Parks after Grandpa died so the house in Spring Glen stood empty for 4 years.

Dad got transfered to the Price office after Steven was born, so back to Spring Glen we went to a house that was just a frame. We had to live in the basement for awhile. I hated taking showers in the old cement shower that was there. I hated the whole basement thing. Phase 3 of the house was mobilized. Dad hurried and got the two bedrooms done and the bathroom. We still had a plywood door on the front. I was so glad that the bathroom got put in first. We moved upstairs and all 6 of us were put in one bedroom where we stayed for about a year and a half. Mom and Dad took the other one. We still had to do our cooking downstairs. Mom had me doing dishes when I was 10 years old. I can remember standing at the sink and being scared while I did them because everyone else went upstairs after our meals. Dad worked dilegintly to get the rest of the house done, it was quite a process. He got the living room and the dining room done then went on to the Kitchen. He got all the cabinets in , the sink and the snack bar. While he was putting the cabinets in he decided to put the doors on them but he didn't attach them. He wanted to see how they would look. He left to do something and I guess he forgot about those doors not being attached. Mom came into the kitchen and was so excited about seeing those doors on the cabinets. She reached up to open one of them and the whole door came down on her hitting her head. She was so mad and ran into her bedroom and cried for a long time. My Dad didn't forget about that one for awhile. Finally the house was done and then Dad started on the Attic bedrooms so that we didn't have to share just one bedroom. It didn't take him long to get them done then all us girls went upstairs. I had the smaller room to myself and my sisters shared the large room. It was so good to have some space.

There is so much more to tell about growing up in that house which I will do later. I h ave to tell you that the most exciting thing about moving back to Spring Glen was getting my first horse I could call my own. She was a Brown and White paint, half Arabian, and her name was Apache. Oh how excited I was to get her. Three years after I got her Dad had her breed to an Arabian Stallion that was in Emery County. Misty was born in April of my 13th year. How I loved her, she was so wild and Apache was so protective of her that it was hard to do anything with her. As she grew, I just patiently worked with her and took her through the steps of breaking her. When she was two years old I finally got the nerve to get on her. She didn't do anything. She was so good. It wasn't long until I had gotten her used to a saddle and soon I was riding her. There are many stories to tell about these two horses which I shall go into later in my blogging.

My last thought on this house is that it was always home to me, from my birth until Mom and Dad sold it and moved to Price. And in my mind I always think of that house as "There is no place like Home.

My Days in pictures Dec, 2011-Jan 2012

Tyce Still wants to be the baby........He is only 2 after all.
Kyler Noah Wagner, born Jan 6, 2012 to Cody and Rachel. He weighed 8# 12 oz and was 20 inches long. He is adorable.
Carolyn's baptism day. It was a very spiritual and emotional ordinance. So thankful I could be there for her special day Jan 7, 2012 Meridian, Idaho.
Dec 23,2011. Danny adopts Beverlie and Carolyn. What a wonderful Christmas present for all of them. So glad I got to witness this special event.

Pause button on my music playlist.....

You can pause my music by hitting the pause button on the top of the playlist frame so that you can hear the Video.

A Much Needed Video

I needed something tonight to get my thoughts away from owning material things in this life. I have gone almost all my life without great material things. I should keep that in mind because in my Patriaricle blessing it says I shall never want for the NECCESITIES in life. I have always had a roof over my head, food to eat, and clothes to wear. I am grateful.

Two wonderful things happened to me tonight that made me realize that material things are not important. It is the Treasure In Heaven that we create that is of far greater importance. Tonight Carolyn was baptized. It was so beautiful and the Spirit of the Lord was surely there. I believe that even Tanya was quite affected by the whole ordinance. It is sharing in that wonderful spirit and knowing a member of my family has made covenants with the Lord that means so much. A Treasure in Heaven. As I was reading through Facebook tonight I came upon this short video about one brother who was healed and received his health back because of his Faith in the Lord. He converted to the Gospel and spent the rest of his mortal days building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. He gave everything he had to doing that. Even his great wealth. I would like to think if I was in that same position I could do that too.

I do not have much materially but it seems like over the past few months that things are happening to me that are helping me in building my Treasure in Heaven. It is the spiritual gifts I have been receiving that are helping me more everyday in my life. I am grateful, and my understanding is being filled fully.

Tresures In Heaven part 2

Tresures In Heaven

Barbara Richardson Fields......This is neat.