Thanksgiving

4 generations from 4 to 84 under one roof. Good memories. I was telling a story about when I was a kid and Shelby stopped and said very seriously; "Mimi, you were a kid?"

64th anniversary and so stinkin cute

Tom, Shelby and I picked up mom and dad to go to lunch to celebrate their 64th anniversary. Dad told Shelby you're so cute and she said "so stinkin cute, that's what Ted said!"

I was watching shelby and her dad called and asked if he could come see her. I told shelby your dad is going out of town and wants to stop and see you and she said Ahhhhh. Despite it all she loves her dada. Then she got in the fridge and got two Dove chocolates. She said whoever is the winner gets one. I said what do we have to do. Well it was do a somersault over papa leg. Her favorite thing. Guess she wins.

Nov. 3rd Dana's Wedding.

We couldn't miss Dana's wedding. Kari & Leroy were such a big support when Chelsea got married. Another wonderful week end. I told Marsha & Gary I think we spent more time with them this year than our kids. Gary said We won't tell the kids. We toured Boeing and a winery and waterfalls. Gambled a little at a casino and hit Pikes Market for clam chowder. And spent lots of time with Humke's enjoying the wedding festivities.

more vinyl out the door.....one for wendy at the auto repair shop and one designed and cut for Ron & Carolyns Rental House.

Gav's Orb

Gavin saw on orb on his Dad's video security camera. He told us "Do you think that is Big Papa watching out for me?" Yes I do. Then he told us when you fart you burn 60 calories. We laughed really hard at this and he told us "Look it up! Because I did." And the final thing he did that made me smile this week. We sent Killian, Kinzi and Liam one of his football cards and he signed it love gavin with a heart and a highlight on the heart. I smiled real big and he said "What? That's how you sign your name". Happy to see he's paying attention.

Gavs football team took 3rd place. They improved so much through out the year. Gav was the quarterback and threw 5 touchdown passes the last game. So fun to watch. Uncle gale came for a week end visit. and it's good to have goals....

Shelby doooos

1. I need a papa hug. 2. Mom, can we have one of those little babies at my daycare. I really want one. 3. And on my birthday I asked Shelby if she would take care of me when I was old. SHe said "you're not old, you're new!" and her favorite thing is gymnastics. Summersaults, standing on her head, and flipping over Papa's leg. From Miss B to Mimi: 'I love your smell, your smell is good.' I felt like she was going to continue with a Dr. Seuss Book.

PV with Applegates

Tom and I booked Mexico and it just happened to be during Marsha's 70th birthday. So we told her they better come because we were celebrating her birthday in Mexico and she shouldn't miss out. So they finally did. We booked a one bedroom suite and asked for their room to be connecting and it all worked out. Two bedrooms with a living room and full kitchen in the middle. Plus they had decorated Marsha's bed. Tom cooked breakfast every morning. Here's some of our itinerary: Oct. 6 Sat I told the male stewardess on the airplane it was Marsha's 70th bday so I'd like him to announce Happy Birthday but DO NOT say how old she is. SO what does he do? Happy 70th Birthday to Marsha is seat 22B! Thought she was going to kill me. But everyone did go by and talk to her. We went to FAT Boy's to celebrate and again they sang to her. Then we got home and just getting ready for bed and we hear Pop, Pop, Pop. We're all thinking the same thing. Oh no, gun fire. So of course we look outside and it's beautiful fireworks. Tom told Marsha that was her last birthday surprise and Gary said "What's that going to cost me?" Oct. 7 Sun Tom and I took one for the team and went on the time share presentation so we'd all get 20% off all week plus free massages. Not worth it. Then we went to the grocery store to get supplies. Our taxi guy Enrique told the guys we needed to take a tour in the mountains with him. I did not want to go but they finally convinced me. Oct. 8 Mon Beach day and our free massages at the resort spa. Oct. 9 Tue San Sebastian Tour of a coffee plantation, tequila farm, local restaurant with great food but lots of flies, a wonderful old church & city. Adaultos on the beach for dinner. Oct. 10 Wed Pool day Oct. 11 Thurs Downtown Puerto Vallarta and Oscars for lunch. Oct. 12 Fri $25.00 beach massages and Sandrina's for dinner. A great week!

BOISE TRIP

A quick trip to Boise for Global Entry Interviews @ Customs for Tom and I. Boise could get us in immediately and Salt Lake was schedule out to Feb. 2019. We arrived in time to see Clay playing Boomer the Hawk at the Kids jogathon and walk the last lap with Kinzi. We also celebrated early with Clay for his 39th Birthday. We went to dinner Fri night, the zoo Sat and at night we babysat so Clay & Tara could go on a date. For dinner we got Panda Express and the kids loved it. Liam ate so many shrimp and the last bite had a cashew in it. Well he evidently didn't like it because he started gagging and throwing up. In between throw ups he looked at Tom and said "You are the worst babysitters ever!!!!" Then we got to laughing and he was really mad. Before bed he told me "you're not supposed to throw up when you have a babysitter". OK. We're sorry. He did finally tell us we were good babysitters before we left. Good thing for his parents as they may need us to babysit again. :) On the way home we stopped at Dave & Alta's miniature Hereford ranch and visited for a couple hours. Nice to see them and where they live.

Marshas surprise bday party and our 1st taco bar.

Lana had a taco bar at the family reunion and it looked pretty easy so I wanted to try it. It was a HUGE Success. Lots of pre planning but once the party started it was all done, fed lots of people, and everyone loved it. So I don't forget here's what we had: because the hardest part was remembering all this. Hard & Soft Tacos, seasoned hamburger, beans, nacho & shredded cheese, Spanish rice, Gav's guacamole, limes, Tom's hot & mild salsa, hot peppers, onions, tomatoes, sour cream, shredded lettuce & cilantro. Mom brought bean dip, and Marta 7 layer. Lots of desserts. A fun day playing in the sun.

This is the smile of a kid who just threw the game winning touchdown! Plus this was their first win this year and they beat the 1st place team.

Miss Bs 4th Birthday.

Chels & Shane took Shelby, Gavin & Carson to a trampoline park for her birthday. The next morning Shelby was asking who's birthday is next? I told her Marshas. She said I want to go see Marsha on her birthday and I told her Marsha is coming here because we're having a party for her. Shelby stopped eating breakfast, looked at me and said WHAT???~You didn't give me a party. Oh dear. (Tom told me She shouldn't have kept telling us we're not invited to her birthday party when she was mad at us.)

It was a football week end. Shelby performed at half time during stansbury high school game, Gav played sat morning against Marsha & Gary's grandsons team and the Broncos started Sunday. Those were the good parts.

Cow A Bingo

I made Boo make a bucket list at the beginning of summer: It included Cow a Bunga Water Slide. Since we're in Aug we thought we better get there so we took him and Shelby one Friday on a spur of the moment. Well Shelby called it Cow a Bingo or Bingo Bingo. She must've went down the little kid slide 75 times. They had a blast. What a good Mimi and Papa they have. Ha I talked to Liam on Kinzi's birthday and he told me he wasn't sure if he was non-invited or invited to her birthday party. I think he got to go. And while dropping off Shelby to school she told Tom "it smells like rain". We're not sure how she knows that, but happy she does. She also saw a picture of the cemetery in KS where we visited my grandparents graves and said "That's where Big Papa Lives". Also we were in the car and Neil Youngs After the Gold Rush came on. Shelby said "Is this a lullabye?" I said kind of. She said "Because this is what Big Papa was listening to when he fell asleep". Wow.

Aug. 14- 17, 2018. Mccall, ID

Silence is golden......just saying.

How do you plan a funeral, plan for a houseful of company, and be in the middle of a torn up backyard all at once? Super Hero Powers Kick In.

Tommy is digging trenches and laying sod and coming in the house every so often to cool down and tell me I'm doing a great job and thank you honey. The landscaper we hired to lay the sod called in sick. Bobby & Shawn helped a lot. At one point Tom looked up at the sky and said "Your timing was good Dad if you had to die. Thanks for sending my brothers to help me". I went through pictures, made a video, called Carolyn for help in writing the obituary because she did ask if I needed help with anything I was totally stressed about it. Tried to decide what to do for the service. Asked all the boys and they didn't want to talk. And finally Bobby said he would and read me what he had wrote down and it was great: It is Impossible to put a mans life on a piece of paper but I will try. This is a man some called Big Mac, some called Big Papa and some called Big Tom. Father is a title earned by his actions. Today we say goodbye to a man, a father who raised four onery boys. But he taught us to be strong and treat people with the same respect and honesty he had. Our Dad had a lot of wonderful grandchildren & great grand children and I'm sure they heard lots of stories about his life and the way his boys were raised! Dad loved painting, his chickens, sitting on his front porch on the mountain, Friday night fights, boxing, and yes...my leg still hurts ~he had a punch! Dad loved the women in his life. He loved you all through a surprise squeeze that you were not expecting. Dad was a boss to all of us boys at one time or another. He was a great boss and taught us a lot. Jamey, Steven and Trevor, this is why I'm always early and never miss work! You know the story! I'm going to miss the phone calls after the Broncos win or lose. I would also love to give thanks to Peggy for being by Dad's side for the latter part of his life. Giving him the love he wanted and the friendship he needed. Your six years with him couldn't have been easy. But the Love you've shown was very visible to all of us boys. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Dad had a good Life. I believe he got to do most everything he wanted. I'll miss him and his stories. Dad...hope you find peace on your journey. Mom, Dewayne and Rosie are waiting. Alex agreed to play his guitar and sing In Color and Chels said she would sing and talk. So we have a program and This is how Chels opened the service: Thank you for coming to Grandpa's celebration of Life. We're going to have a short service, the burial in Tooele and a military send off. Then everyone is invited to the Stansbury Clubhouse to tell Papa Tom stories. My Grandpa had one brother, five sons, six grandsons and ME. Now he has lots of girls in the step and blended and extended families and he loved you all and I know you all loved him. When I was little I always sang and Coat of many Colors was his favorite song he always requested. So Grandpa, here's your song, one last time..... Then Dakota talked and Trevor and Dave Bennett and Mike Stock and Bob Nielsen. And on the spur of the moment I went up. Shelby & Kinzi were sitting by me and immediately jumped up and held my hand and went up with me. I just said "When I met Big Tom I was around 16 and I thought he was the best looking OLD MAN I had ever seen. I calculated it this week and he was in his early forties. Almost the age of the older grandsons. Thank You for raising such good boys who turned into amazing husbands. I will miss him." If I really knew I was going to talk I'm sure I could've come up with something better but it was total spur of the moment. The military honors were so great. A 21 gun salute. And all the grandkids as pallbearers. It was a perfect sunny day. The kids had the time of their lives playing in the water after at the clubhouse. A perfect celebration of a Life Well Lived.

Sunday July 15th, 2017. I told Tom; "We have two weeks with nothing on the calendar" but that was about to change.....

Saturday July 14th. Bobby, Shawn, Michelle, Tom and I are all at Tabby Mtn today visiting. Had a great day. Lots of laughter. Monday July 16th. Bobby called Tom and said he was going home and Big Tom was sick with a fever and to sick to talk. Tuesday July 17th. Big Tom was brought to the VA Hospital in SLC. Tom and I met him and Peggy there. His diagnosis is pneumonia and heart failure. Wednesday July 18th We spent the day at the hospital. Took Peggy lunch. Big Tom didn't say much. Chels went up at night and he seemed much better. Thursday July 19th Clay & Kinzi came back to UT to see Grandpa Tom. He was pretty out of it but he winked at Clay so he knew he was there. After telling the nurses he was ready to go, he begged Peggy to take him home. So Tommy loaded him up in the pick up and off he and peggy went. Friday July 20th. Big Tom died this morning, at home, with Peggy. Like he wanted. We drove up and waited for the morticians to come from Tooele.

Liam and his Nipples/I mean Dimples

Chelsea asked Liam do you have one dimple? and he lifted his shirt and showed her his nipples and said NO I have two!!! and Clay said you know you watch to much news when your kids say: "Let's go outside and play breaking news....." and I was kissing Shelby on the face and she told me "Mimi, you tickled my feelings". I guess that's better than when she told Boo He broke her feelings.

MIss Sassypants

MIss B was very tired tonight.after telling us she is sick of us guys, and we were not invited to her birthday party and then she told me You are not the mom, you are just the Mimi! Ok? BEdtime. GOodnight Miss B. Sleep tight,