The beginning of the photos i'm going to be posting

His empty room.

Monday January 24, 2011.

Kalyn, Pam, Dave and I finished moving the last of the things from Dad/Grandpa's "condo." As we did so, with tears in our eyes, I was moved by just how completely empty these rooms were, but how completely overflowing my heart was. He was gone from this place, and yet he will never be gone from our hearts. Never. We had an angel father/grandfather, and though we had many hard decisions to make in his last years, and saw him struggle with life's simplest tasks, this thought came to my mind over and over: WE DID WELL. There is no manual on how to make choices when you're faced with the needs of an elderly parent, but WE DID WELL. There are no written instructions on how to daily clothe, daily feed, daily bathe and daily love them, but WE DID WELL. There are no clear paths on how to behave or how to relate to a parent that sometimes says things that make sense and sometimes doesn't, but WE DID WELL. There is no course in caring for an ailing elderly father when all you truly want in your heart is to rewind to a time when you could dance on top of his feet, push Windsong up a hill with him or curl his hair, but WE DID WELL. We all did what we could. And WE ALL DID WELL.

As I stared at the clipboard hanging on his wall and saw the many many notations of those who had loved and cared for him I silently said in my head over and over: WE DID WELL. It's true, there will be no more entries on that chart. There will be no more records of his bathing. Or notations on his eating. There will be no more scribblings that simply say: he is sleeping. Because he is no longer sleeping. He is dancing with mom, laughing with Ruth Ann and Howard and hugging all the others he loves who went before.

I'm proud of each of you. I love each of you. We all had to do lots of hard things. And I hope in the coming days that you will have a heart and mind that is comforted by this truth: WE DID WELL.

Shrimp Salad for Dad

You can see the recipe for shrimp salad with step-by-step photos on my blog, if you want the full version.  But I thought it would be nice to post it here and encourage you all to make it in memory of dad.  (Sorry to those who are allergic to shrimp.  Make a version with cubes of ham and cheese instead, or look at the end of the recipe for more idea for ingredients.)

To all of Grandpa's grandchildren:

I hope by now you all know of our request for you to sing together ("True to the Faith," hymn #254, verses 1 and 4 only) for the funeral. You will be able to carry a hymn book with you as you go up to sing. I want to share why this song was selected because it was a remarkable experience for me. We took turns bringing up song after song as "options" to sing and some would join in singing one or the other. After a while Kalyn mentioned this as one of her favorites and I started singing it. I was quickly joined by everyone of my brothers and sisters, except Vida.(we missed you Vida) We proceeded to sing (or rather "belt out") the entire first verse of this song together. It was then (immediately) unanimous that this was the song we wanted the grandkids to sing for Grandpa. I felt the spirit strong as we sang this song together and felt so much love and unity with my siblings as we did it. I felt like it was the song Grandpa wanted the kids to sing. I hope you will all consider joining in singing this song, even if you feel like you don't know it or may not have chosen it. Maybe take the time to pick up a hymnbook and read the words to it. And if you do join in singing it consider "belting it out" for grandpa.
We will try to have as many of you as possible gather at the mortuary after the family viewing to sing it through a couple of times together so please check with me about this during the viewing. This will be about 5PM on Thursday. You will be singing verses 1 and 4 only. Don't stress if you can't make it on Thursday, as we will try to gather at the church for a practice again on Friday.

Thanks for "listening", I love you all.
Aunt Val or Mom

My Grandpa

Being the oldest of 39 grandchildren has afforded me opportunities - I think - unique from others in our family. Opportunities, for which, I will always be grateful. I probably didn't realize how much Grandpa has meant to me throughout my life until last night, when I cut his obituary out of the newspaper.





Grandpa has always been a shining example to me, for good, and never failed in showing me the higher road I hope I'm equally able to show my children. But more than anything, I remember the great times we had together.

I remember:

• Fishing with Grandpa, on numerous occasions: Blackfoot, American Falls, the Portneuf, and Newton, Grandpa loved to fish. I'm proud to say he taught me how to do it right (with spark plugs).
  
• Carl's Fine Cars, sodas at Bountiful Drug, digging for worms at Bountiful Jr. High, and quite a few meetings the beautiful old Tabernacle.
  
• Riding in Ol' Blue, Ol' Brown Blue, and Ol' Blue 2. Some of life's most important lessons can be learned on the road.
  
• Helping President Denny to organize missionary affairs. Funny how those few days in Albuquerque have had such a lasting effect on me and my outlook on life.
  
• Hours and hours of popcorn-filled nights, I don't remember Grandpa ever beating me at Backgammon. Strange, since he's the one that taught me how to play.
  
• Grandpa's stories of the times he spent with his Grandpa. It sure sounded fun to teach a man to drive, when instincts were to holler "Woah!" in order to get the car (horse) to stop.
  
• Learning that upholding strong morals make for a happy life. I'm eternally indebted to Grandpa and Grandma for teaching me firmly that families can be forever.
  
• Christmas, Thanksgiving, and birthdays, with tables stretching across three full rooms. Happiness in those days was finally being invited to eat at the Grown-up Table.
  
• Spanish discussions at the dinner table. "Marcos, pasa por favor la sal," convinced me that speaking Spanish was a skill that all successful people had better acquire.
  
• Quizzing Grandpa on the piles and piles of books that he always seemed to work though. So much reading, reading, reading, and finding few of the classics he hadn't yet read.
  
• Watching Grandpa talk with strangers everywhere. He always seemed to worry more about others' comfort before he considered his own. Why else would he allow cats to take over his house?
  
• Watching Grandpa come to grips with Parkinson's as he struggled to fix Ol' Blue in the early 90's. What a humbling, debilitating, straight-out-of-hell disease. I hated watching Grandpa suffer through those long and final years and I'm finally relieved that Grandpa's finally relieved.
  

After looking back and listing some of the things I remember about Grandpa, I'm not so sure I was alone in my experiences. Then again, he always was good at making you feel like you were the only one in the world that mattered.

Please Remember Lisa in Your Prayers

Many of you know this, but for the Dennys who are far away I wanted to let you know Lisa is very sick and ask you to remember her in your prayers.  She has been in the hospital for three days now and is receiving IV antibiotics, fluids, and oxygen to combat a serious infection that started as a urinary tract infection but has now spread to her blood.  (And it is no secret that I'm not the best one in the family at saying prayers, but I have been praying hard for her for two days now!)

Hope Mark doesn't mind me doing this instead of him, but I know he has a lot on his mind and I figured asking people to pray can't ever be a bad thing! Thanks and love you all.

How did we get so lucky?

Over the past couple of days (the last year really) I have been completely overwhelmed with gratitude. We were blessed with a beautiful, spiritual, intuitive, sensitive, soulful, wise, witty, compassionate, artistic, talented and generous father and grandfather. And at this time I'm also feeling so deeply grateful for our dear sweet mom. I just keep saying over and over again in my head, "Boy did I win the parent lottery." We will forever love you dad and grandpa.

This Family Rocks!

Thank you to Sara Ostler, Kate, and Val for the awesome nieces and nephews rock magnets to go on my new magnet boards!  Here's a photo of all the magnets stuck to a cookie sheet!  That's a lot of nieces and nehphews wouldn't you say?   (Let us know if we're missing anyone!)

Late Christmas Picture

This is one of my favorite pictures of Krew and Jess

Draper's visit to Rangely (Posted by Clayton)

A couple of dears at Ryan and Becca's

Eat your heart out Shane.


A couple of deers near Ryan and Becca's.

December 2010...What a MONTH!!!

"Daphne" showing us her teeth. Do you think Bri could fix that class 3 bite?

December was a special month for Kelcie. She lost a tooth. Very exciting when you are 5!

Tay got new shoes and a K-State soft blanket for his b-day.

Happy Birthday to Tay he is 13!! Can't believe it. Thanks to everyone for the cards, gifts and phone calls. It has been a pleasure being his mother. Can't believe how time flies...
my little tator tot.

Seven in one blow...oh wait that's 13!!!

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Lex with her usual pose for pictures and gingerbread house fun.
We had some friends with us for an exciting gingerbread day.




PIANO RECITAL

Kelcie with "Nina" or maybe it would be better to name her El NINA. She destoyed Taylor's carpet in his bedroom by digging it up to the sub-floor, tore off the weather seal on the bottom on Brian's garage and tore up the insulation in his garage....all while howling nonstop for 10 days. Obviously she is not ours, we were watching her for a friend and it was a nightmare!

WORN out!! This is about 5:30 pm Christmas Day. Kelcie had so much fun!!

Although Tay doesn't love hunting, he has some fun Pheasant Forever decor for his room.

"Coal" for the GOOD boy...he doesn't deserve real coal, he's a good kid.:)

Jessie was ecstatic that she doesn't have to use her hard-sided Jazz lunch box any more. I happen to think the old school metal lunch box kind of rocks!

Ear Muffs are three times as cute when all the sisters have pair!!

Some sweats for Tay.

Slippers for Kelcie, I don't think she has taken them off since Christmas.

Jessie really WANTED these slippers. Her Daddio surprised her with the exact ones she wanted.

Funny how much the girls enjoy Polly Pockets. I love that they are not Barbies :)

Kelcie was MORE than excited...her exact quote "see Dad, I told you he would bring me one"

Never know when you will need a hat with a light on it, now Tay can read EVERYWHERE!

A little future brain washing going on...maybe they can go to school in Utah or Kansas. A little encouragement for the church school :)

A very excited Jessie.

Exactly what he wanted...Need For Speed Hot Pursuit...we hid it untill all the other presents were opened. He was quite excited!

Take a closer look and you'll notice the beautiful color of Kelcie's lips as she's modeling her new lipstick that got broken off shortly after Christmas!

Jessie is working her artistic magic with her new pottery wheel. She did express a little frustration at the difficulty of the project but still created a lovely pot!

That pretty much sums it up. Santa made it to our house and we had a wonderful year. We are grateful for many blessings one of which is the great honor and joy we feel in being a part of our forever family. Love to you all. We pray for health and happiness for everyone!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm especially ready for it to be a new year!  Thanks to everyone for all the love and support in 2010.  Wishing all of you a wonderful year in 2011!