Familial Research and Development

My oh my has this been a busy, busy weekend. Big sis brought a U-haul truck up with their stuff from a storage unit in Cedar City to put into a storage unit in American Fork. They did get approved and accepted for the 4-bedroom basement apartment to rent in American Fork. Little sis was busy after she got off work taking her trailer over to pick up newlywed’s new mattress and haul it to their new apartment. Somewhere in her journey’s the trailer got a flat tire. This despite the fact she had taken her trailer over to car repair shop and had all 3 tires repaired (valve stem, valves, whatever else they needed) on Wednesday (to pick up on Thursday). Thursday I came down with a very nasty cold-probably the same virus that bro&sis in law have because his developed into bronchitis (I haven’t gotten that bad for the past 20 years and thank you very much I don’t want to) and her’s developed into pneumonia (I have never had that and don’t want to go there thank you very, very much). But a t...

I've had a couple of kids (well, okay-one kid and his spouse) ask for this story so here it is. It was time. Not what we really wanted, because parting is so hard and it was another admission that the glory days of raising teens had peaked and was no on the downhill side. This was the second time for her. This would be her last year at Rick's. She was moving back to finish her Associates Degree. This would be our last easy chance to go see Yellowstone. We already had to drive all the way to Rexburg, what was a few more miles among friends, right? So we left a day or two early so we could drive around and look at the sights and make some awesome memories. Who came? Dove, me, Camel, Potentially Dangerous, Jammin' and one of her roommates. Just Altogether stayed home for HS Theater commitments and Reverently Sweet stayed to take care of the children's businesses (3 newspaper routes). We rented a van and because it was cheaper (from that vendor, at that time) to just have ...

I guess dad fancied himself to be a rancher or a farmer at one point. He had worked on a farm when he was a kid-bucking hay. He was big and very strong for his age. It was good for him and good for the farmer. He had no money to buy land, he had no inheritance to gain land, he had just this side of no hope to be able to realize that dream. But dreams are free and he kept it alive in the back of his mind and every once in a while the dream would just fall right out of his mouth and we kids would hear about it. So, since he didn't have a farm or a ranch but was a home owner with a little bit of a back yard, he planted a garden, raised chickens (until the neighbors complained too bitterly and with no animal rights they had to go) and planted whatever tree he could. One tree he eventually planted was a dwarf fig tree. He ordered it from one of those seed mail order catalogs. He dug the hole just right, nourished it just right and watered it just right. It grew. In its fourth year it wa...

So there's all this talk about entitlement-the entitlement generation, etc. I was just reading a Gallop Poll e-mail. This is what it said:"--Recent indications that President Barack Obama is focused on overhauling the nation's healthcare system beg the question: Do Americans think it is, or is not, the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage? Nearly half of panelists (47%) say yes, it is the government's responsibility to provide coverage, while 40% of respondents disagree. About 1 in 10 panelists say they're not sure." So what does that have to do with entitlement? Simple. When Beverly was a young mother (she is in her 70's to date) they didn't have healthcare insurance. There was no 'healthcare' plan. If you were sick and couldn't treat it, you want to the doctor or recovered 'magically' or just died-which (albeit not considered acceptable in some circles) was and still is an ok...

When did they start making stuff like that? My oh my, the things you learn at a bridal shower!!! I spent 2 hurried hours after work on Friday cleaning the house and then another 2 hours with Equally Awesome Elegantly Calm and Jammin' Awesomely Courageous Woman preparing the food and layout for the bridal shower-then the mad dash to the mall (half an hour away) to drop off the car for papa to pick up when he got off the bus and measured/fitted for his tux he'll be needing in two short weeks! I think it was a fun evening and that the attendees had fun because they seemed comfortable to stay and visit after the festivities were over. It was a good day!