Endings & Beginnings

With the beginning of the fall comes beautiful colors and woodpiles.  Unfortunately a lot of cleaning up type of work comes with all of that.  The garden is cleaned out and most of the leaves are raked up.  Those yet to fall are obviously not raked and hauled away.

 With the end of fall comes winter and I just couldn't bring myself to post a picture of the white stuff just yet.

 With the late fall and winter comes the beginning of the basketball season.  Both for those playing and those officiating.  The end of my officiating season was last week.  The beginning of basketball means the end of the soccer season.  It was a good season to be outside and watch.  Many years the wind and cold are nearly unbearable.  This year was beautiful!

Today is October 29th which means it's an anniversary in our family.  It's the day my mom passed from this life to the next.  I wasn't initially thinking about that with the title of my post, but thought it would work and I wouldn't have to create two posts. 

This is my mom on the day she was baptized.  With her are Elders Marvin Olsen and Sam Rex.  I've kept in touch with Sam over the years.  Marvin is a different story.  I did speak to him a couple of years ago when I was doing some research for a talk that I never gave.  He gave me such sacred information about my mom's conversion, that I couldn't share it with the ward.

 One of my mom's best friends was Ruth Darnell.  I haven't seen Ruth recently, but she's such a sweet woman.  It's funny now that I'm getting close to the age my mom was when she passed, I think about my friends and I know that I have the same types of relationships with them as my mom had with her friends.  I just wish their mortal friendships could've lasted for more years.  I could totally see my parents working together in the temple.

Bonny's wedding day was the beginning of her life as a married woman and the closing chapter for my parents' marrying off their children.  This was 10 months before my mom died.  So many people say I have mannerisms like her or I say things that she would've said.  I supposed that's true, since I've said some things over the years only to realize that my mom's voice was coming out of my own mouth!

 This was Alison's first Christmas and my last one as a single woman.  Times were much more simple then.  I wouldn't want to go back though.  Now little Alison has five beautiful children of her own.  How I loved that little girl!  I couldn't imagine loving any other child the way I loved her.  Funny how the more you love, the more love you have to give.  It's also interesting how a mother's love is different than any other kind I've ever experienced.

 Eighteen years have passed and although I don't cry like I used to, I still miss my mother tremendously.  She was such a great example of obedience even when you didn't feel like being obedient; of frugality, of a scriptorian, of how to serve completely in a calling and just how to love your husband.  I know she wasn't perfect and she had many difficulities that I don't have to deal with, still, I had a great example.  When my dad would come home from work, she would drop whatever she was doing and go embrace him and kiss him.  If she was in the garden, he would go find her.  Iin my eyes they lived a true love story.  I'm sure they had their problems but I never saw them.
With the end of her mortal life began the beginning of her immortal life.  Sometimes I wonder what was so important to take her away from us while she was so young.  Fifty-five is way too young.  But I take comfort in the fact that she is still my mother and she still loves and cares about us and that one day we'll all be reunited.
I hope that one day when I grow up, I can be like her.  I miss you Mom!

October 18th

 Today is Andrew's 16th birthday!  How did that happen?  He was born a very tiny 5 pounds, 1/2 ounce.  Granted our cat, Sylvester was about 12 pounds, Andrew still is tiny next to our cat.

 He liked keys a lot as a toddler, but what kid doesn't love keys.  This was taken Christmas time in Nauvoo when he was 2 years old.

 I don't remember if he was three or four when I took this photo.  I've always loved it.

 He was 4 1/2 when we went to Nauvoo for the first time to be in the pageant. 

We were back in Nauvoo in August and guess who wanted his picture taken with the carkeys as well as the car?

It's still amazing that this tall, thin drink of water started life in such a tiny body.

Happy 16th Andrew!

Wyoming and Yellowstone

 I've been through Wyoming a bunch of times and never saw anything really beautiful until we went through this time.  Some of this scenery was really gorgeous.  Photos can never capture the true beauty.

 The leaves were beginning to change color.  Amid all the pine trees, there were spots of yellow leaves. 

 I liked this "arch" in the rock.

 I believe this is Lake Yellowstone.  The sun was shining so brightly that I had a hard time getting the water very clearly as it was glistening so brightly.

 I can't remember without looking at the map.  But this was some geyser place along the lake.  We missed Old Faithful by only a few minutes.  Actually we did see it above the tree tops.

 This was one of two elk cows just walking along the side of the road.  They were so close I could almost reach out and touch them.  Not that they would've let me.

 Here's the reason we missed Old Faithful.  See the Speed Limit sign?  Well, we were sitting still.  Once the bison were shooed off the road by the park ranger, the cars started moving.  All except for the doofus in front of us.  He had to stop and take photos until they came back on the roadway again. 

 While we waited I watched these two "bucking" for position.  As soon as I turned the camera to video, they stopped.  Of course.

There were so many bison just hanging around minding their own business.  It really was kind of funny, as I've never been in a position like this before.  Pat and I decided that Yellowstone is a destination and not a place to just drive through.  At least we learned that.  We also decided that it is a total tourist trap.  You better have a LOT of cash if you're going to be spending money there.  When we were in the U.P. this summer, I bought a pair of earrings at a mine in Houghton.  They were $15.  In Yellowstone the same pair of earrings was $25!  I thought $15 was a lot.