10 Wonderful Years ... 10 Wonderful Memories

These 10 Years have gone by so fast, I can still think of our wedding like it was yesterday. However, I must admit I am getting older and worry that the memories will be the first to go, so I am getting them down while they are still semi-fresh!

Here are 10 moments that still bring a smile to my heart or a tear to my eye whenever I look back on them:

1. I got a real taste of some of Bert's hijinks at our wedding reception. When it was time to cut the wedding cake and serve each other a piece I wasn't sure what to expect. Bert was so sweet, he gave me a bite and just as I was starting to chew, before I could even take a breath, he was right there in my face giving me a big old slobbery kiss full of cake and icing! I knew he was too sweet to shove the cake in my face, but he still had to do something and I love that. He still loves to sneak in big old slobbery kisses whenever I am least expecting them.


2. Making up from our first "disagreement" will always be a funny memory for me. We were both pouting about whatever we were pouting about. We had to go somewhere, so we got in the car and while we were driving a certain song came on (it's on my player). When the song got to a very specific line, Bert turned up the music so that I would get the message. All was mended IMMEDIATELY and I still think of that every time I hear that song.
3. Early on in our marriage we sat down to dinner one night. I had prepared a particularly nice meal and was excited to see what Bert thought. He looked over the dinner and then offered to say the blessing. In this prayer he offered thanks, but he also took a second to ask the following, "and please bless Jenny and her abilities to cook." He insisted that it came out wrong and he didn't mean what it might have sounded like. However, 10 years later, whenever I make a particularly good dinner, he comes back at me and says, "Now, aren't you glad I prayed for your cooking." Very funny!



4. I still remember the moment we found out we were going to be parents ... we were pretty sure before the little test, but I remember that moment. So much excitement and anticipation, some nervousness, but we knew we were in this together and that was so comforting.



5. Pregnancy is not really very good to me (or maybe I am not very good to pregnancy) ... anyway, I am usually sick the entire time, lots of throwing up, unending queasiness, sleeplessness, ugh! When we were experiencing this for the first time Bert was very concerned for my health as well as the health of the baby. Because of the nausea, I couldn't stomach prenatal vitamins. This was not acceptable to Bert. One night I was in bed, watching a show or reading or something to distract me and Bert came up with the vitamin. I told him I would try, but I would need a little something to eat. He then brought me a plate of green jello we had in the fridge. I ate the jello and was hoping it would settle. Bert was quite determined to make sure I took the vitamin, so he stayed there watching until I took it. With all that pressure I finally took the vitamin and sure enough it came back up, like a rocket, with all that green jello. For that man to see me like that and still love so much, it's truly amazing. And what's even better, he never bugged me about taking vitamins again!




6. One of my most tender memories of Bert is one I didn't even witness myself. It was when he announced to the world the arrivale of our first baby. I am pretty sure his exact words were, "It's a girl, and she's big!"



7. The next memory that comes to mind was not too much later, when we were given a one night's stay at the Homestead. Thing 1 was just about 8 months old, and we left her for a short overnight excursion. She was in good hands with my mom and we were so happy to have some time together, just the two of us. It had been a long time. There are so many funny things to remember from that trip, but we won't get into all those details (let's just say it was a productive getaway). Mostly, however, it was just great to realize how much I loved Bert and missed having alone time with just him.


8. And I have to recall the moment we saw The Boy for the first time ... he was just a big old baby boy and Bert was so excited. When we realized what we were looking at, the look on his face was priceless. He was so thrilled to have a son, you could tell he was already starting to think of all the car talk and guitar lessons and fishing ... his eyes told it all.
9. About two years ago Bert started talking to me seriously about have one more baby. Knowing how well I am during a pregnancy, I was not overly eager to get things going. So I put him off for a while. Then, one day he just set me down and with love and certainty, he told me that he knew we needed to have one more baby. I just remember the feeling I had at that very moment of putting all my trust in him. I still wasn't personally convinced, but I could see the conviction in him and that was one of the first times I really felt I put ALL of my faith and trust in him. I guess there just hadn't ever been a reason in the past, but now there was and I can see that that was a huge defining moment in our marriage.
10. This last memory happened quite recently. It was last night when Bert asked me to remove some of the more personal items on this list ... he would like to keep his tough guy image a little while longer! Love ya Bert!

These are just a few of the moments that have left a strong impression on me over the years. There have been good and bad, bumpy and smooth, but all have been filled with love.

Thanks Bert for the good, the bad and the funny!

10 Wonderful Years ... 10 Funny Memories

A huge part of our married life has revolved around laughter. We find ourselves in funny situations that are best handled by a good old laugh often. Some that come to mind are:






1. On a trip to Hawaii, we ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Bert ordered Pho and it was terrible. I understand that it is a very common dish, but for some reason, this did not work for us. So, here we are in Hawaii, setting out to have a fantastic vacation, and we start it off with Bert consuming a bowl of something that smells closer to bodily functions than any food product with which I have even been in contact.



2. We'll just get the food funnies out of the way first ... when we were in Barcelona we were looking for a place to eat dinner. It was a lovely summer evening and we just wanted a nice little outdoor cafe. We had been sight-seeing ALL day and Bert's legs were about to give out on him. I saw a little side street that looked perfect, but we were standing in front of a kind of fancy place. Bert refused to walk one more step, so we ate at the expensive, fancy place. After perusing the menu, we order our food and it comes out after a short wait. I think I laughed my head off when I saw Bert's dinner ... Macaroni and Cheese ... It was just a plate of cheesy noodles ... that dinner cost us about $70 in all ... totally overpriced. As we left the restaurant we ended up walking down the street nearby and, sure enough, there was a cheap (but charming) little cafe right there. However, if we had eaten there, we wouldn't have the $70 Mac and Cheese story to share. Some things are just worth the extra money.



3. While we were in Spain we met up with a friend of mine in Madrid. We ended up staying with her for a few days, she was very kind to share her home with us. Our first night there we were driving into the middle of Madrid to meet up with her husband. It was so funny to watch Bert go crazy with the instructions she was giving. She hardly ever drove and she is slightly (wonderfully) crazy, so she would point to a small street to turn on right when it was time to turn. I thought Bert was going to loose his mind, but, somehow we made it and still had a great evening wandering the streets of Madrid on a warm summer night (a highly recommended activity)!





4. One more story from our trip to Europe. We ended up taking a few days and driving into Southern France. We were directed by a wonderful friend of mine to an incredible place called Rocamadour. The whole "town" is one "street" on a cliff, our hotel was in the middle of that "street". To get onto the street you have to drive through an arch. Bert approached the arch at an angle and ended up getting us almost stuck in the arch. He kept trying to get the car through, backing and going forward and then backing up some more. But it just didn't seem to work. And it didn't help that by now we had a whole big group of French people looking at us and pointing and laughing, I don't know how Bert made it through that one, but he did. And he can say that he has been the laughing stock of an entire village in France! :)



5. We moved into the home we are now in on March 31, 2001. I was the one to go to the house and get the keys and learn where all the emergency shut offs were, since Bert had to work late that night. We spent our first night there and in the morning were very excited to start settling in. Bert got in the shower and all was well. Then I got in the shower and he comes running in yelling, "Where's the water shut off valve? There is water spraying out everywhere? Where's the valve?" I jump out of the shower and frantically try to remember, I am running all over the house trying to recall that important piece of information. I am ready to just go turn the water off in the street (yes, I am clad only in a towel) when Bert helps me to remember what day it is ... April 1, 2001 ... he got me GOOD!



6. One thing I learned early on in our marriage is that Bert has some anxiety when he is at the wheel. He epitomizes an old VW commercial about how the passenger has responsibilities just as much as the driver in any vehicle he operates. I learned this the hard way, however, but now take my passenger responsibilities much more seriously when we are together in the car. One time we were at a drive-thru. We ordered our food and went up to the window to pay. Bert hands over the money and is handed back some change. He LITERALLY throws the change at me so that he can move forward so that he doesn't hold up the line. We pull up and while I am still trying to pick up quarters and dimes and dollars that had just flown my way, all the sudden food is heading for me. I let the money go and decide to do my best to catch the food because he is already starting to drive off again! I had to learn to be prepared and ready to "catch" whatever is coming my way when we do fast food. But, just a little update, after me laughing at him quite a bit, his drive-thru anxiety has decreased significantly.



7. One of my very favorite things he does with the kids has them in stitches every single time. Whenever we have a spray can of whipped cream (not very often mind you), he is able to convince one of the kids to come near him and gets it on their face. They fall for it every single time and he is usually about to get us all and we are all in stitches within minutes of whipped cream coming out of the can. And if you are a guest in our home don't think you will get any special treatment, you are just as much in danger of whipped cream flying your way as any of the rest of us.





8. There is that whole incident about a blouse I own ... that actually made it on the blog as it happened this past summer. It might be considered a disagreement to some, but since we laughed our heads off, I count it as one of our funnier moments.





9.

This one just killed me ... I was playing with Photofunia one day and created this little image ... Bert tattooed on Beckham! (this is Bert in his hippy days ... he still misses those) I seriously was laughing so hard it made me cry!






10 . And this morning I woke up to the sounds of my baby screaming. It's a Saturday and, as usual, Bert gets up with the kids and lets me get a little extra rest. As I was sleeping sounding, I was jarred awake by the sounds of a very unhappy baby. I rushed upstairs to see what could be causing my baby so much pain or anxiety or whatever it might be. And there was Bert, right next to him singing away. Yes, his singing makes our baby cry like he would if his arm was being cut off.

10 Wonderful Years ... Our First 10 Dates

In 10 days Bert and I will celebrate our 10th Anniversary ... I am starting the party now and for the next 10 posts will be sharing some lists about us. The first one is a list of our first 10 dates, I am sure this won't be super interesting to most of you, but if you will follow the timeline, you could at least have a good laugh at our expense. And no worries, it all worked out in the end!

1. May 20, 1992 - Jazz Concert and Dinner ... Bert and I met at a Church activity when I was home during my spring break. My sister told me that he got my number and sure enough he ended up calling. He came up to USU to take me to a concert on campus. It was a good concert and we had a nice time. We went to Arby's for a little dinner, that's when I found out Bert was such a big spender! ;) It was a cute, awkward little first date.


2. August 27, 1992 - The Marathon Date ... Bert and his friends had a whole day's worth of activities planned and it sounded like too much fun to pass up on, so I went (even thought it had been over 3 months since we last went out). We went to Timpanogus Caves in the morning, drove the Alpine Loop over to Provo for a fun day at Seven Peaks water park. Then we headed back to Sundance for a performance of "Lil' Abner". His friend broke my glasses when he steamrolled the entire group as we sat on the mountainside waiting for the show to start, Bert says he paid him to do it! I had to admit I was liking him, but not taking him too seriously yet.


3. October 23, 1992 - Haunted House ... We started out the date with a lovely Italian dinner at Trolley Square. After dinner we drove to the the Haunted Asylum and Bert was more scared than I was, he kept hiding behind me, I think. We topped it off with a huge ice cream sundae and then went home. I have to admit, I was starting to get some fluttery feelings about him.


4. December 2, 1992 - Another Jazz Concert ... Again Bert came up for a Jazz concert. This time he brought a friend of his and asked if I could set him up with someone. I did and we all ate dinner at my apartment then went over to the concert. My old band teacher was actually one of the performers, it was a great concert (and a good omen - I have nothing but respect for my old band teacher). Bert and I were seeming to get more comfortable with one another, SLOWLY but surely!


5. February 5, 1993 - Symphony ... Bert was up in Logan transferring his records to USU and decided to pick me up drive me down to SLC to hear the Utah Symphony perform Dvorjak. We had dinner first and that was really when Bert started to realize that I might just be "The One", as I was not a terribly dainty eater, no salad for me unless it's a starter, I went straight for the Halibut and cleaned my plate. It's good to know that impressed him. We had a great time, enjoyed the music and the good company and talked for a while. Instead of driving back that night, we decided to have me stay at my parents' home that night and drive back up to USU the next day. Bert picked me up that morning and we talked and had a very nice drive back up to Logan. We even stopped at the Bluebird to buy candy for his mom.


6. February 26, 1993 - Hockey Game ... Now don't freak out, I know this is two dates in one month, but we were really starting to like each other. I actually called Bert and asked him on this date. A bunch of my RA friends had tickets to a hockey game in SLC, so I thought I would join in on the fun. I picked him up and got to meet his family. We had a good time at the game, my friends didn't scare him off too badly. Afterward we went to dinner at Hire's and drove around SLC looking for (but not finding) certain landmarks. We finally made it to his home, talked a little longer and then I was on my way.


7. March 5, 1993 - Jazz Concert at BYU ... I was home for the weekend and Bert picked me up to take me down to Provo. We also had his friend with him who was being set up with a girl down in Provo. We picked her up and then went to the wonderful concert. It was actually kind of an awkward evening, there was lots going on and lots of people coming and going at different time and I'll be honest, I was pretty sure Bert was just not that into me. So, I was totally gearing up to just get over him. Then we drove home and Bert walked me up to the door and KISSED ME!!! Yes, that was our first kiss!!! Awwwww! He was so awkward all night because he knew it was time and he wasn't really sure about when or how or what, but he did and we were both very happy!


8. April 2, 1993 - Whatever kind of date ... We didn't really have anything planned, we just decided to go find something to do. We went to dinner and then went back to his home and watched "Into the Woods". It was nice, but a little awkward, again. Oh dear!


9. April 16, 1993 - Party at his friend's house ... This was a very last minute deal, Bert invited me to his friend's house for a little get together. We listened to good music, watched some very fun animation and just kind of "chilled". But when we got home Bert didn't even get out to walk me to the door ... Hmmmmmmmmm!


10. April 17, 1993 - Ballroom Dancing ... Now this was one of my favorite memories with Bert. We got dressed up, ate some dinner at his home and went into SLC for Ballroom Dancing at the Murray Arts Center. It was fantastic, we were BY FAR the youngest couple there. We were taught the Samba, and for a girl that has practically NO RHYTHM, it was a tough one. We still had a good time and the older couples (who could actually dance) had fun watching us. Bert was much better than I was, but it was still fun to spend the night dancing, there's something about being in a man's arms all evening ... sigh! He walked me to the door this time and gave me a little peck of a kiss. It was a great date, but I wasn't sure where we really stood with each other!

And there you have it, our first 10 dates, in just under one year's time! I know, I know, you all are so envious of the passion and magnetism you just read about. We try not to flaunt it out in front of everyone, but it is our 10 year anniversary and I thought now would be a good time to share our story with the world.

Now I am just going to sit back and wait for someone in Hollywood to contact me, I am sure they will be fighting for the rights to this story. It's definitely not your average love story! HA!

Oh, and if you are wondering where it goes from there, we went out at about the same pace for a while longer, I went on a mission, he was still available when I got home, I ended up dating his good friend's brother for a while, then ... miracle of miracles ... we got together, this time for good! We were married 7 years after we first met. Yes, a little on the slow side, but we all know the story of the tortoise and the hare!

Thanks for the fun times hon!

70 Years Ago Today ...

... in a farmhouse in Northern Utah,

a wonderful person was born!

He lived on a farm when he was young, with his mom, dad and two older brothers.

He's my Dad!

One of his favorite accomplishments of his youth was when his Church Basketball team won the state title.

He grew up, went to the university and became an Electrical Engineer.




He loved his cars, especially his little Triumph.


He loved his wife (even when she wrecked his Triumph).


He loved his kids! He was famous for his whisker burns, antics with Charlie the cat, goulash (called Cowboy's Delight) and singing 16 Tons, just to name a few!

It's hard to believe that he would be 70 today!

Happy Birthday Dad!

What I Love Wednesday - My Heritage

Mary Ann McDonald

David Fisher IV

This is my great-great grandma and grandpa. I have these pictures hanging in my home where I can see them all the time. I am so glad I know about these people and the great things they did in their lives. I never met them (obviously), but have been influenced by them, nonetheless.

Yesterday I did a google search on Mary Ann's grandparents, James McDonald and Sarah Ferguson. I came across someone's blog who did a brief, but lovely accounting of their story (it's always fun to find distant cousins).

I would like to share a little about their son, John McDonald, who was Mary Ann's father. John moved here from Ireland with the family. They were pioneers who came across the plains to Utah. His father, James, died in June after crossing a tributary of the Platte River in Nebraska. He had been infected with cholera after caring for his friend who died of cholera just before him. His family buried him near the river, but kept on moving, and such was the story of many pioneers. John and his family finally made it to Utah and by September had settled in Springville Utah.

There were many groups of pioneers to come to Utah, from all sorts of backgrounds. Despite their language barriers and cultural differences, they were bound to look out for one another. They cared about their neighbors and friends and sacrificed greatly to help out another. There was one particular trek of two Handcart Companies that has a very sad story. These groups were called the Willie and Martin Companies. They started their journey too late in the season and were met with intense adverse conditions that many could not overcome. Once word was received that they were in desparate need of help, many who were already settled dropped everything, loaded up their wagons with supplies, and went out in search of these companies. John McDonald was one who served in the rescue.

I am so appreciative of the example of faith and strength he is to me. I am excited to pass this on to my children, so that they can learn of those who came before them and love them.

Although I have many wonderful stories from my ancestors, I share this because I'm leaning toward the Irish side of things right now. I'm sure more stories will come from other ancestors from other lands, but last night was all about our Irish Heritage! And we celebrated with corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. Yum!

And, of course, an attempt to capture the smiling Irish Eyes I see in my kids.

10 Years Ago ...

... a very happy boy and a very giddy girl

set out to take a photo for their wedding announcment.

They wanted something simple, casual and natural,

as that reflected who they were.

The perfect backdrop would seem to be the grove of trees

right near the spot where the engagement took place.

Lovely, eh?

The photographer (my sister Deb), was not too happy with the lighting,

but we were quite deteremined!

In the end, it appears that the lighting was not the only problem with the photos

(can ya keep those eyes open folks???).

So, we tried a few other ideas,

it seems we were not just happy and giddy,

but downright silly.

We weren't giving Debbie much to work with.

But we were still determined that we would come up with something ...

truthfully, we HAD TO come up with something!

Then it started happening,

we were getting closer (nice smiles, no goofy faces, eyes open, for once) ...

It took a total of 3 outings to several locations,
a very patient sister,
about 10 rolls of film,
a few wardrobe changes,
but here is the winning shot that accompanied our invitations:




Happy 10 years Bert - wanna go take some pictures?

A Memorable Vacation

Last week I was kind of busy doing LOTS of sewing ... (yay!)

(this is my new favorite apron to sew)

and this week I have been a little busy getting my tail kicked by Tony Horton ... (yowch!)

(he's not as nice as he looks)

and my little bloggy has been left all alone for awhile!

Before my break however, I had some great topics suggested and I have been waiting for a nice little breather so I could go back in time and relive a very memorable vacation I took as a child!(Thanks for pulling this one out of your journal jar, Tink.) We went on some fun vacations to some great places, but the one that wins all of the awards in my book is our trip to Canada when I was nine (ten?) years old.

At that time, my dad's kidneys had failed and he was on dialysis. It was a kind of dialysis that he could do from home (or a car), so we packed up for a two week adventure north. It seemed that immediately forces were turned against us, as not more that an hour into our journey, our car broke down. I don't remember all the specifics, but we were stuck for a while and it took several hours for us to get back on the road again.

That was bad in itself, but my sister was abandoned at Bear Lake waiting for us. She had been at Girl's Camp and we were going to pick her up on our way and drop off our cousin who was with her, back to her home in Evanston, Wyoming. Instead, my uncle and grandma met us and we picked the girls up together, much later than we had originally planned.

Our first stop was supposed to be Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Because of the car problems we didn't roll into town until late that night. We drove around looking for a hotel and kept seeing "No Vacancy" signs everywhere. Then we saw a vacancy, but it looked a little seedy and we kept driving. All that driving around got to my poor sister who had been out in the heat waiting for us for hours that day ... and around this time she lost her lunch in the back of the station wagon. Not very pleasant! But, we had to keep driving, and after we had covered every square inch of town with no luck, we returned to the one vacancy we had seen, and of course, it was taken.

That alone had made for a very long first day, and I am pretty sure my mom was stressed to the limit because I remember her getting out of the car and starting to walk home! (This was a pretty big change from all the times we were threatened that if we didn't calm down we would have to get out and walk home.) We can laugh about it now, but it was pretty tense at the time. She was stressed because there was no where to take my dad to be comfortable for his dialysis and she had a lot on her plate, so as she walked along side the car, I kept praying that things would calm down ... and, they did.

We ended up driving up to Yellowstone that night and just sleeping in our car in the parking lot. We were able to hook up my dad's dialysis and he did that right there in the parking lot of Old Faithful. We received more funny looks than I care to remember from people walking by - it's not every day you see a big one or two liter bag of fluid hanging in the window of a car (just like an IV bag - it had to be higher up for it to work right).

With that great start, we did actually have a very fun vacation. We spent some time in Yellowstone and Glacier, then off to Canada with stops in Cardston, Banff, Vancouver and Victoria.

I remember the flowers in Victoria still - what a beautiful day we had there. I also remember swimming in the hotel pool - my dad kept trying to get me to jump in the pool, but I wouldn't - I don't do well with water! And as the ferry took us back to the US, I think it got the better of my mom, she didn't fare so well with the churning of the ocean. I do remember seeing some dolphins and whales along the way, however, and that was pretty cool.

Getting out of Canada was a little scary, with all the dialysis bags in the back of the car. We weren't sure what the border guards would think of it all. We feared they would start to search and try to cut the boxes open with box cutters, in turn, cutting open the bags of dialysis fluid. That had us all stressed out, but thank heavens, we were allowed through the border with all of our medical necessities intact, but it took some serious sweet talking from our mom, and she probably mentioned the name of the lawyer she worked for.

When the ferry landed in Port Angeles, we were again met with the problem of no motels. UGH! We drove around until we found another seedy little motel, it was called the Aggie Inn. For whatever reason, again my age didn't really pay attention to those details, we had to get two rooms. My mom and I were in one room, right by the arcade that was open all night. And can I just say that Asteroids might have been a great game, it's not that fun to listen to ALL night! And my sister and dad had to take a room on the opposite side of the hotel right by the kitchen. And since there was room service, the kitchen was going all night, too. Needless to say, we didn't get much rest.

Then we were off to Seattle, Tacoma, then San Francisco and Sacramento with a final stop at Lake Tahoe. That was when I first fell in love with Seattle and San Francisco - to this day they are still some of my favorite places to go!

Unfortunately, we were still having some eventful things happen. My sister's eye was bothering her, so after a few days of irritation we took her to the ER in Tacoma. She fainted when they put the eye machine up to her eyes, they found that she had scratched her cornea. So, they gave her some medicine and an eye patch to wear for the next few days. I am really hoping to find those pictures (wink wink).

I left my stuffed animal at our hotel in Sacramento and I was a pretty unhappy little gal for the rest of the trip. To clarify a little, I was VERY ATTACHED to this animal and was an emotional wreck without it. But, a letter to the hotel produced the lion and it was returned to me in perfect condition after we arrived home.

Anyhow, despite all the oddities, it was a fun trip, I remember posing for silly photos with my sister, doing lots of dialysis with Dad, seeing some beautiful places, playing lots of card games in hotels and spending some great time with my mom and dad and sister.

Bert - This 'Fro Moment is for YOU!

In honor of my husband, a very loyal Steelers fan from a very young age, I searched through the photoboxes this week looking for some snarky little photo of him in his Steelers jacket or jersey or something. Unfortunately, there were no such photos of him ...


But I found these:

Great Easter get-up - Huge Bow Tie, Ruffled Shirt, a bit of a snarl on his face and a GUN - sounds like he's definitely ready for church.

I had to put this one in because he was such a cute kid and see that shirt? - he still wears Captain America shirts today.

Just an all-around nice shot! (hee hee)

This one had me embarrassed for him - now don't be fooled by how sweet it is that he is feeding a deer and all

LOOK AT THOSE SHORTS

if they were any shorter, well, I don't even want to think about it (I don't even need to say anything about the shirt and the hat do I?)

Did I mention he likes to make goofy faces in photos - what I like about this one is that his sister is trying to make a goofy face but still looks darling.

So glad I didn't have to go on family vacations with them - do you like Bert's hat (he's there on the left) they still had 2 more kids before their family was complete.

Look what a good example Bert and his older sister were to the rest of the family - they are trying to get a nice photo and what does Bert do??? And his older sister there on the right - I think she'd rather be somewhere else.

And did I mention that Bert is the token white guy in his family ... this proves it! I like the order they were in for the photo - I am wondering if they did that on purpose!

And now, just for Bert's sake ...

GO STEELERS!!!

There are more 'Fro moments today at:

We are THAT Family

Our Inheritance

Friday was Julie's birthday - she is my dear mother-in-law. We had a little get together for her at her parents' home. They have both passed on, Thelma in January 2007 and Chet in December 2007, and Julie is still working out all of the estate details. It has been a long, painful process, but things will eventually all be taken care of. In the meantime, there are things we can do, like going through all the stuff. Oddly enough, that is what we did for her birthday. (Admit it - your family does funny things like that, too.)

This is what she really wanted for her birthday - her adoring grandchildren to come and give her hugs and kisses. That happened! We ate dinner, then we set out to see what Chet and Thelma left behind.



First, let me just say that I adore Chet and Thelma, it has been so sad to say goodbye to them, but we are so happy they are together. That is how it always was, Chet and Thelma, and that is how it always will be.

Look how beautiful they are - great teeth, beautiful eyes!

Talk about always being together, this is a note Chet left for Thelma a few years ago, isn't it so sweet and so indicative of their desire to be together? They had been married just a few months shy of 70 years when Thelma passed away. Chet couldn't stand to be without her, it was a difficult year for him.
Now they are both passed from this world and it is our turn to look through their lives and see what they were made of. It was actually a very fun evening, reminiscing over items we knew about, as well as finding a few surprises. We were asked to put sticky notes on anything of interest to us (decisions to be made at a later date). Here are the things that caught my eye (or heart):

First, there were some old favorites:

A Commemorative Postmaster Convention Plate - still not sure why they had this.


A bright red telephone - I would love to talk on this!


The classic item for any good yard sale - glass grapes.


The mushroom chair from the 70's.


The light hanging over the kitchen table.


The light hanging over the stairs.


Beautiful old quilts and clothing - Thelma was a wonderful seamstress.


An old mug that Chet just hated:


A mug much better suited for Chet:


A lovely cherry wood baby grand piano.


A Mattel Courtney doll from the 80's - like gag me with a spoon.


Ah, the rooster -


Then there were a few surprises.

Did you notice all the small children present that evening - look what I found in the middle of the floor - YIKES!


This darling bag was Thelma's, what was surprising was that we realized there was no one with a "T" name to take it. We all kept saying how cute, but in the end, it just sat there, no stickies.


This funny old circus mirror had 3 stickies - crazy - and yes, Bert IS one of them.


Yikes - these were just scary.


Love these pants


This is what I think we will be getting for sure:


Oh la la!


Double Oh La La - Bert CANNOT have this one!


The way these two were together, it's amazing they only had 6 kids!


And then there were the things that are just too close to my heart to ever forget.

I've never heard of this book, but it is such a sweet reminder of their love.


This is Thelma's favorite picture, this is how I always imagined their home during the holidays!


A picture of their 6 kids was blown up and hangs on the wall. I love it. (And, Julie is the one on the top left - isn't she cute?)


Here is a grandkid picture that was also blown up, Bert is the second one from the left holding a picture of their brother they were in the process of adopting.


And here is the Chet and Thelma family - very beautiful.


After going through everything, I quickly realized what I really hoped to inherit from Chet and Thelma. And this is something that all of us can inherit from them . . . a passionate and endearing love for my spouse that will last well into my nineties, and for eterenity. A love for my family that will keep us together no matter what. Chet and Thelma left an example that will be with me always. I sincerely hope that when we are old, my children and grandchildren will be able to say the same of Bert and I. That is what I really want.

I am so glad I was able to know and love them.
Thank you for everything Chet and Thelma, we miss you.