Baseball Season is on-It must be Jamey's Birthday!

Last night I dreamed I was at a little league baseball game. We were all screaming and yelling for our team. It was such a fun dream..as I woke up I realized it was Jamey's birthday today. Maybe my dream meant that subconciously I was remembering some of the most fun times of our life! Jamey was born on a very snowy day in Logan, Utah. Our first child...I got a little whacked out when I found out I was pregnant (In a good way) I would be earth mother. Practicing my breathing so there would be no anesthesia, I wanted to know what the whole experience would feel like (looking back, I didn't really need to know exactly what the whole thing felt like) but I was young (19) and very excited. I went to Leleche meetings twice a week and turned into the most judgemental of all people..(Young people who haven't experienced anything, but know all) Anyway I thought all people who didn't have natural childbirth and nurse their babies were wicked and evil. I was ready for my child!!! The very first thing I learned from my soon to be child..is that children come when they are ready....pretty much throughout their whole life. Jim and I went to the hospital about 4 times the night of March 21 and got sent home. Then about midnight, I told Jim this was really it and he didn't believe me! We got into a fight, and finally he took me to the hospital. Several hours later (after Jim almost lost his arm because he had to rub my back, poor man) at 7:00 am on this day 34 years ago our first son was born..As anyone that has ever had a baby knows..it is the most wonderful experience I ever had. Just as Jamey was starting to come out...Jim had to be excused to the balcony to throw up or something (I wasn't paying attention). But I heard the doctor say it was a boy and of course there was Jim crying...he had his son. And to make the whole thing even more perfect, from birth Jamey looked exactly like Jim. We discussed several names, but Jim asked me if he could name his first son after him..and I said yes "if we call him Jamey, instead of Jimmy" he went for it. I think that one of the best parts of having a baby is watching your husband just crumble with the joy of it. Now that I have written the story of our part in bringing Jamey into the world, here are a few things about this wonderful child. He was active very young and anxious to get into everything. He loved balls and when he was two he'd watch golf with his dad and try to imitate the swing of the golfers on TV. I think he got the swing down. I remember the first time he got his soccer uniform. He got the littlest uniform, but he was little and the socks came up to his waist and the shirt went down to his feet! He looked great. He grew up loving all sports, but when he got to start little league I think he found his passion. He loved the game, we spent summers every year at Draper Park and then Alta High School watching Jamey excel in this sport. He played outfield sometimes, but his best spots were Shortstop or Second base. He was a great pressure player..by this I mean that if the team was in trouble and Jamey was up to bat, he usually came thru and got the team going again. When Alta won the state championship, we were behind in the second game of the day and the boys were worn out..Jamey was up to bat and I can't remember exactly where he hit it, but it was kind of a catalyst. The team rallied and Alta High School won the State Championship. He learned alot that year, as the coach and captains of the team made sure they were really a team, they really emphasized that and at the end of each game, whether they won or lost, they dropped to their knees and prayed in the middle of the field. That last game, when we all wanted to swarm them we had to wait while they knelt and thanked Heavenly Father. James is very smart, he did well in school, he was smart enough to find Becky after his mission..to pursue her and get married. He started working at ACS about 9 months after they were married and started his career, which in my opioun has been fantastic! He seems to be able to fix problems..kind of like the baseball days..things go wrong and they send Jamey into fix it. He is a quieter boss than Abby, but I am sure just as affective..They've moved him to Philadelphia and back, then to Mexico, then here for a while, then back to Philadelphia...almost got sent to Spain, but instead he commuted to Spain for two years. He's a hard worker(like his dad) He's kind and thoughtful to his mom. He gave Jim and I the best present we ever got and that was 4 of the most beautiful boys in the world, I am crying right now in gratitude for those fun little boys..to watch Jamey play catch and teach them to golf and play basketball. Nothing of the world can touch that joy! Jamey- I am sure that there have been a few moments of misbehavior on your part in your youth, but I can't remember anything except for the fact that you have been a fun and wonderful son and we couldn't be happier that we got to raise you. I love picturing you in your house in PA riding your 4 wheelers with those boys, playing ball, going bowling and just having fun. I love you and wish you a very happy birthday!!! love, mom......ps to show you how time flies, it was 20 years ago that the ward went on that Nauvoo trip..seems like yesterday!

Here comes the Sun

The last few days have been the best days..I find it very interesting that I take 10 pills a day to get me well and on Saturday and Monday I sat out in the sunshine for about an hour each day and felt wonderful!!!! I just sit there and look at the sky and look at the areas of my garden that will need to be worked on and I plan that maybe if I just do a little 15 minute a day cleaning out of these areas I might be able to do it. I had "The Shellseekers" with me...It is like taking an old friend with me to enjoy my yard. I know Penelope would have all kinds of ideas, but I think she has more energy than me.. I still read a little about her life while I am sitting there enjoying mine. Abby once told me that one of my greatest accomplishments was showing my children the art of laying out. It isn't all that easy, she said. There are things to do in preparation and then you always have to be "One with the sun" which means that as the sun moves sometimes if your eyes are closed you don't need it, and then you have to quickly shift your lounge chair so you are in a direct line of the sun. I have planted a few of my favorite flowers on my front porch...rinoculous and pansies at this time of year are gorgeous and even if it snows again, they'll be ok. Then in the middle of May I take those out for the summer planting..I've allready decided that upper garden (with its black furniture) will have all red and white flowers, so when I go up there it will kind of be surprising. When all this is ready, we bloggers will have a lunch out there. It is something to look forward to...

Jim, Nick and I were sitting home last night..just relaxing after a full week. Tyler called and said he was coming over, which was fun to have him for a visit.. Then Abby and Mike called and said they were coming over to give us a little gift they had gotten when they went to Mexico... So we were just visiting and the phone rang. It was Jamey...He said "put me on speaker phone, Taylor has something he wants to tell you" so Taylor got on the phone and said" Guess What!!!There is going to be a new addition to the family....only this time it is Abby who is going to get fat! I think a few babies in this family have been conceived in Mexico...maybe it's the water! Anyway we are thrilled and they are thrilled..I've never seen Mike that animated and of course Jim cried...because he always does..How fun to have a daughter having a baby! I broke all my rules about tending for working mothers and told Abby anytime she needed the help I would be able to tend. (it is the euphoria I'm sure) Anyway, Mike thinks it's a girl and that would be fun to have a girl amidst the noisey, but fun boys. Another note about grandchildren from a proud grama...I was talking to Taylor the other day...He says he loves history..especially people like Leonardo DeVinci, Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein..He loves to read about them and try and figure out how they got so smart and invented things... I am sure Taylor will be a physicist????(hopefully a better speller than grama) or something else equally as wonderful.. He is 10 and sounds old now...not like a little kid.. Can't wait to see them..

Things I can't figure out

There are so many things that I can't figure??? So I guess they'll just go unfigured. I tried so hard to raise our children to be responsible good human beings, Jim and I disciplined and worried and watched over, trying to make sure they were in the right places ...doing school work, etc taking them to church was a big part of their upbringing. I feel very proud of all my children, they are all very smart talented, enlighted human beings...but I think the church thing took a wrong turn when my kids invented the game "the movie of life" This is where they would try and cast a speaker in church or in the neighborhood as a movie star that best fit their looks and personality. Jim and I would sit very properly listening to the speaker while the children were casting different folks as Meryl Streep or Tom Hanks. Jim has been cast as a smaller Tom Selleck and I always wanted to be Sally Field (even though I really never got involved in their silly game). I am sure they heard every word spoken from the pulpit and learned much from all the talks. I hope I play the part of Sally Field as well as Sally was in the movie Forrest Gump, because she gave such great advice Like that one when she said "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get"! and was so calm and kind. I think what I figured out as I wrote this is that my kids like to go to movies more than church!

Best Neighbors in the World

I have always been grateful that I live where I do. I will travel to different places and then think "Wow this would be so cool to live here or where ever it is I go.. but I come home to my house under the mountain and I know that this is the place for me. I am taking some of this from journals written in the last few years. But I wanted you all to know what it is like to live in a Heavenly place. Journal entry begins here- I am sick in bed, where I am most of the time now days...I have spent the last few years battling illness..I would like the illness to go away so I can live a normal productive life..without the word doctor in it and just enjoying small things that give me joy. (Back to the future: A day when I'm not stuffy is GREAT, so my expectations are getting smaller) I live in a very wonderful, beautiful , normal, yet peculiar neighborhood. We are protected by a huge mountain almost on top of our heads, which is beautiful in whatever season we happen to be in....I was just interrupted from my writing by a neighbor who brought me soup, because I am sick. The thing that makes this so incredible is that my friend that made the soup has cancer. But of course, here in our neighborhood a little thing like cancer doesn't stop you from making soup for your friend.

That is the end of that particular entry..the story goes on and from time to time I will write this story to those of you who are interested..But as a forward I will write one more entry. "Before I introduce these people who are such a part of my life, I have to say that without them there would be no story, for we have lived, laughed and cried through everyday stuff....tragedies and even a little mystery and intrigue which we solved, not by gossiping over the fence, but by doing real honest to goodness detective work....over the fence. This is a much higher form of information-gathering than gossip, if it is in the form of solving a mystery....like...Who chopped the Popplers bonsai tree down? (My children were out of the state and therefore not a part of this fiasco, although had they been here they would have been front and center) But, you know, sometimes mean neighbors deserve to get their bonsai's whacked, and that's what happened. It took our fledgling detective agency a while, but we did figure out who did it. We had to be properly sorry, but we were glad when those neighors moved away. They didn't fit - they yelled at the kids and didn't welcome our friendliness, and so off they went. Several years later a lovely family moved into that home. They love our kids and we love theirs...they plant normal bushes and have become a part of our neighborhood as though they have always lived here...
When the neighborhood was young there were babies born, kids played football and baseball or whatever sport was in season. They took dancing and piano. They played kick the can in the summer nights. It was fun to sit out on my porch on those warm summer evenings and hear someone yell "over the can on..." then hear screaming and laughing, The kids were involved in scouts and campouts. One winter scout camp my son had to take his small screen TV to watch the jazz. He spent $50.00 on batteries, but it was the only way we could get him to go. The kids also played little league, and other school sports, they three wheeled around all the open spaces that were more common back then...(all the fields have been filled up by homes), They had fun growing up, with only an occasional outburst that was quickly forgotten...I will introduce more people into this drama of life, because each has a story of their own, and while creating their own story they have touched and been a part of mine. Who knows...you may even pop up occasionally in the story......more from the days of our lives later.

Abby's Birthday

Thirty years ago this morning, it was snowing just like it is right now.. Jim had parked his truck at the top of our hill of a driveway, because we kind of knew we'd be going to the hospital. At 7:00 am, we packed Jamey and Tyler into the truck, dropped them off at Grama Bagley's and went on to St Mark's Hospital. I think around 11:48 that same morning we got our first girl. I remember the doctor saying it was a girl and Jim started to cry and I cried and said over and over "I've got my little girl" !!!! We were so excited. I was into sewing back then and had sewn all of her little sleeper nightgowns. How fun to have a girl to add to the two boys. I had always loved the name Abigail...I think from reading the book "Those Who Love" about Abigail and John Adams..in the book Abigail was very strong and had a great many opinions that she made sure she was heard. Abby comes from "A Lantern in her Hand" Another book I had read that Grama Lundgren gave me. That Abby also reminded me of another strong woman, who met things head on and never gave up...but was kind and loved her family more than anything in the world. Well...our Abby has lived up to both of those admirable women. She is very smart, she has always known what she wanted. She always gets what she wants. She has grown into the most amazing woman. At 19 she started working for ACS. She worked in Philadelphia and was the boss of about 20 people. They were a hard crowd. I know Abby was stressed about the job, but she learned quickly and she didn't let anyone run over her. She bossed people around in San Antonio after that, then ACS decided they needed someone bossy in SLC, so they brought her home. Not too long after that she decided it was time for Mike Latimer to get married. It took a little bossing, again, something Abby is very good at, but off they went to Hawaii and have been married 6 years. She has turned her house into a beautiful home, where you feel welcome as soon as you walk in the door..She got the bug about quilting a few years ago and of course, she is now a master quilter. She wanted a bigger room for her quilting machine and fabric and sewing machine, so they just finished their basement...She, of course, has the dreamroom for any quilter. Abby reminds me a lot of many people...my dad..you know that old way of seeing something and then going after it! The two Abigail's, their loyalty, love of family, generosity, & strength. She looks like her Aunt Kathy, who also has a lot of these qualities, and I know that both Grama Bagley and Grama DeSpain and all the great grama's that quilted before her would be amazed and thrilled. I sometimes picture all of those women sitting around a big quilt. Quilting the old fashioned way (by hand) enjoying one another's company. It is a pretty picture. So, Abby, Happy Birthday!!! Keep laughing and yelling and doing all the things you love to do. I am amazed by you and so very greatful that 30 years ago this morning you came into my life. Love, MOM

Looking Back

This last year I have spent lots of time thinking about all the people in my life that I love.. I have several journals full of thoughts about these people and I will use these journal entries from time to time in my blog. I found a letter or comment by mom about our dad, that I thought you all would like. It is just another reminder of how blessed we all are to have had them in our lives. This is what mom wrote: " To write about the most important time in a man's life is a difficult assignment, expecially if the man has the gift of making every event of every day the most important-was it the time the bear chased him and his friends from East Millcreek Canyon? -the day he married his wife for time and all eternity...or was it, after many long years of struggle that he graduated, with honors from the school of his choice? Or perhaps it was the day - or days that he became a father to wonderful children? The legislative experiences he has had cannot be discounted. He debated on the floor of the senate and the bill was passed! But wait- the all Church basketball season is about to start. We can hardly wait. The coach has such big plans for his boys. How proud he is when they make all church- this must be it, the biggest moment of his life- but no- we have forgotten - lets hear the story." That is the end of what mom wrote, so I don't know how she meant it to end. But I thought that maybe we are part of the end of the story or part of the continuation of the story. Mom and Dad would have loved to read all your blogs.