Playhouse?

Will this.....

And this..... (over 1,000 nuts, bolts and screws....)

Ever be this?

Wayne and Laila got this playground/swing set from Costco on Saturday. It was quite a project just getting the boxes loaded into the truck and then dragged into our garage.

Laila thinks we should just snap our fingers and the swing set should magically appear.....I agree with her.

Wayne and Monson started last night by tackling the picnic table. IT took 2 hours. Well, to be fair just finding the numbered pieces of lumber took an hour.

We are hoping it will actually get put together and she won't just be playing with wood and boxes all summer.

Trent Price we need you!!!!

Happy?

I'm in a happy kind of mood....

What am I Happy about?

1. My son will be serving the Lord and the people in Manchester, England.

2. Sunshine...... especially after the crazy freak snow storms of yesterday.

3. Crisp Spring air to take a walk in

4. a Clean house

5. Slip covered furniture

6. This 1910 Swim suit picture that I'm blowing up to hang in my beach bathroom.

7. Wayne and I were empty nesters last night....all the kids were away at their own apartments, scout campouts and sleepovers.....and on a mish.

Laila informed me that Gay also means Happy.....and she knows about all types of gays....and all types of Happy.

Tru Missionary

This picture was taken by Bre Briggs mother....a worker in the Provo MTC. She meets and checks in the new missionaries and gives them their official name tag:

ELDER WELCH

England, Manchester Mission..

Wow

He is really gone.

His room is clean.

His bed is made.

His belongings boxed up.....hidden so "the Brothers" won't take all of his stuff like he took all of Addison's.

We had a great night at Truman's setting apart. Pres. Brian Taylor and Bishop Steve Barlow came to our home. We had our immediate family and the grandparents join us for this special blessing. We got to go around the family circle and bear our testimony or say something to Truman. It was great to hear and share these feelings.

Grandma Sheri reminded T that his name tag will say Jesus Christ on it....so Tru, as a missionary, will always have Jesus going before him.

Grandma Welch shared ...that Truman and the Lord make a majority....and that's all you need.

We read scriptures and talked about "exactness" and obedience.

Laila said, "I'm very happy my brother is going on a mission and I'm going to be very, very, very happy when he gets back home. He's amazing."

She has shed very little tears. Truman has shed many.

It's great for me to witness this.

He is my jokester. My funny kid.

So it's nice when he stops and feels.

Truman received a beautiful setting apart blessing, and now he is ready to set himself apart from the things of the world and to serve the Lord.

We have had non stop late nights and tear filled goodbyes since Tru's farewell shindig -10 days ago.

Tonight was our turn. There were many "wet" goodbye hugs. A final family prayer led by Grandpa Lyle, and a hands-all-together "forever" cheer.

The saddest goodbye was from cousin Lindsey Welch. (T's bff cousin. ) She hugged and cried and hugged and sobbed. She wrote,"don't leave" on the chalk board door..and cried some more. Lauren Nickl--a bff-- couldn't hug Tru at this point because he was set apart. So she hugged Lindsey,while Lindsey hugged Tru. It was like witnessing a sobbing, wet, train wreck. They couldn't stop.

Laila's night prayer included the following: "Please bless Truman that he will remember that he's on a mission and not a vacation." She totally gets it.

Truman was up til 2:30am packing and cleaning... He turned over his cell phone and signed off on facebook. He is ready.

Wayne gave Tru a father's blessing to calm his nerves; then Truman gave me a blessing to calm mine. It was the sweetest thing to hear what Truman thought I needed in this blessing.....It was surreal to have his hands on my head-- I used to hold his little head in my hands.....

We drove to Provo and only had to stop at 2 stores to pick up forgotten items. Truman looked so sharp in his black missionary suit and special tie he saved for this day. My little boy "looka-like-a-man." Tears.

We ate at Chili's for our final lunch. We ordered queso and chips...Truman scooped in and dumped a glob of greasy cheese sauce on his new tie. He immediately put it in his mouth and sucked on it to remove the stain. I thought., "He might look like a man...but he is still a little boy." Tears. The tie is pretty much ruined.

We took pics by the Missionary Training Sign....said our final choked up goodbyes in the parking lot before we drove Truman to the drop off spot.

My #3 son is gone.

Another Elder Welch is serving the Lord.

Wayne is excited about this....but mostly excited about the thoughts of actually going to bed with lights out and no one wandering the house, by 10:30!!!

We started the sticker calendar this morning....only 729 days left.

Hmmmmmm?

Love this quote............................

"Whatever you do in LIFE

will be insignificant--

what is ImPorTaNt

is ThAt YOU

do it!"

Love this Season!!!..................................................this is my spring tablescape.....

Love this Man.........

Happy 27th Wedding Anniversary to ME and my Wayne--

- It's been 27 fun and fruitful years.

Love this Mannequin......I saw it at an antiques store in Midway

She makes me chuckle.....in my female Santa Claus way, of course.

Thankful Random Thursday

I haven't done Thankful Thursday for quite some time.....I'm feeling badly about that.

So here goes......

1. I'm Thankful that Truman only has 6 days left before he is outta here! MTC watch out! I loved the tribute he paid to each of his siblings in his farewell (shindig) talk. He spoke about what each of them taught him. Addison is the "goofiest guy" he knows and taught him to Love Life. Landon has gone through trials and struggles and has come out the other end with a testimony of God....he's taught Tru to Love the Lord...no matter what. Monson taught him to be true to himself and Love himself. Laila taught him to Love unconditionally. I am thankful for all of these comments.

2. I'm Thankful for non picky children.........(and I'm thankful for picky ones too.)

Laila is freaking out about her shoelaces. She just got cute new skeecher's with sparkly laces and if they are not tied exactly" even" and "right" she loses it.

Melts down.

The laces have to lay, once tied, directly across the shoe. No crooked, pushed up, jumbled, screwy laces for her.

I have witnessed the melt down 3 times now.

We have had conversations about...."they are just shoe laces"...."nobody cares what your shoe laces look like"....."Do you judge other kids by their shoe laces?"...all to no avail.

Oh, it's been an amazing shoe lace journey this past week.

She is only really happy when she wears her one pair of bell-bottom jeans thar can cover up her pesky laces.

I had no idea that one small child could feel so strongly about shoe laces.

3. I'm thankful for my laugh. I have a hearty laugh. I laugh loudly.

I like my laugh and I'm not afraid to use it.

I have been known to be the ONLY one in a full movie theatre to laugh at something that I found funny.

At times, this embarrasses my children.....and service club.

I don't care.

It's my job.

We were out to eat with the boys at Tucano's restaurant. Something happened that I thought was funny. I let out a laugh....and the waiter commented, "Wow....now that's quite a laugh. You sound like a feminine Santa Claus."

Not kidding.

That's what he said.

A female-Santa.

4. I'm thankful I can cuddle with my daughter. She loves this as part of her bed time ritual. I like it too.....but what I like more are her reasons for wanting to cuddle with me.

"Mom, can you cuddle with me, cuz pretty soon I'll be married and then you can't"

"Mom, can you cuddle with me, cuz I'm going to miss touching you when your dead."

She is so thoughtful.

After I cuddled with her, I was walking out of the room and Laila shouted..."Remember, I want a hot pink coffin!"

5. I'm thankful for Wayne's Uncle Earl....and all of the Israelsens for that matter. Uncle Earl passed away on Sunday. He was 82. He was diagnosed 2 weeks ago with Pulmonary Fibrosis. He has been on oxygen and in the hospital ever since. He had a great final two weeks on this earth. He gave blessings, told jokes, spoke to each of his children and grandchildren. Visited with siblings and friends. He discussed how excited he was to go on to Heaven and see his parents and brother. He got his temple recommend renewed two days before he died. He woke up on Sunday morning, got all shaved and spiffed up so he would look good for his sweetheart, Marilyn. They were really excited about his leaving this world, and going on to the next. While taking the sacrament on Sunday, he passed away. How great is that? Talk about being totally ready to meet your maker.

6. I'm thankful Laila loves dance. She just finished being in the Chinese dance for the Swan Lake Ballet that Creative Arts Academy put on. It was wonderful. I was impressed with the whole show. One of the things I love about Ballet, is the classical music that is danced to. It's soul inspiring.

7. I'm thankful.

Happy St. Pat's

The wearin' o the green happened at our home this morning.

Laila was determined to wear as much green as possible on this St. Patrick's day.

1.Green Hair Ribbon

2. Green Hair elastic

3. Green Hair clip

4. Green clip on earrings ( thanks to Great Grandma Butters)

5. Green Shamrock homemade necklace

6. Green Shirt

7. Green dress

8. Green leggings

9. Green socks

10. Green marker colored sandals

11. Green star nail polish

There's no pinching allowed!!!!

(Laila won her classroom contest for wearing the most green for the 2nd year in a row.)

Tru's Shindig!

Tru's Shindig..... a.k.a.... farewell Sunday..... was a smashing success!!! (said in a British accent)

Tru spoke about Diligence to a "packed house".....and did beautifully.

He used scriptures and Joseph Smith stories and even said one of the quotes that I posted on the chalkboard door a while back. (I knew I was getting to him.)

He praised his Pro ring given to him by Stake Pres. Brian Taylor.

He paid a beautiful tribute to his "dizzy" diligent dad.

He gave a shout out to ward members, friends, and family that really contributed to getting him to this point.

He bore a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the atonement.

I cried.

Tru cried.

We all cried.

After he spoke, I had it confirmed to me that Truman is going to be a great missionary.

It was great to feel and see such love and support for my Tru.

We had a lunch after at our home.

At one point Wayne and I looked around at the wall to wall people standing in our space and said, "thank goodness for the remodel." Our home never would have worked otherwise. We have always had summer parties-- in our backyard, because of our chopped up space, but with the walls down, we had room.

We had people on top of people, but it worked.

During the prayer, my uncle counted 78 people in the Dining/family room area alone.

We are thinking we fed about 200+ relatives/friends and strangers......( I didn't know them, I'm hoping Truman did)

Lunch was truly a loaves and fishes --testimony building experience for me.

Truman wanted Funeral potatoes, meatballs and frooty tootsie rolls. I added salads, rolls and desserts to round out the lunch.

I looked at the masses of people in my home and knew we did not have/would not have enough food for everyone.

We made 980 bbq meatballs. Family and friends kicked in with potatoes, rolls , salads and desserts. I told Wayne we needed to send someone to the store for more food....he just said , "ON a Sunday?...Have faith."

I scrounged up another bag of meatballs and we started to serve.

The people kept coming...and the food worked out.

The kids and cousins LOVED the bowls of Frooty's---- they ate 2,100 of them. Some of the kids stuffed their pockets with them. We even had Oaks Morley conquer an "Eat 100 frootie's in under 10 minutes" bet. So funny.

When everyone was gone....and the dishes cleaned up ( thanks to Laura and Diane),

all that we had as leftovers was the one bag of scrounged up meatballs that I threw together at the end.

Figures.

Faith :)

I am so blessed to live by so many wonderful people--it's great to have family so close, and so willing to help.

I didn't get teary today thinking about Truman leaving me....I got teary just thinking about all of the great people that I love and who love my family.

I still have 10 days left with Tru.

10 days for him to "drive me crazy"...and for me to "teach" him something that he needs for England.

10 days to be with my teenage son.

10 days before 2 years go by and he returns as a 21 year old man.

Farewell.

More Moustache March!!!

or ....Which of these people should be in a Pink Panther movie?

Quote wars

Truman and I are having chalk-board-door wars.

I keep putting quotes up that I think will inspire him and help him with his missionary future...

"The secret to missionary work is work."

"Never put off til tomorrow what you can do today."

"Attitude is everything......and prayer."

I want him to make lists and think and plan, right now, how he will be a great missionary. I want every day to be filled with thoughts of missionary work/ temple work/ scriptures and studying.

Tru just rolls his eyes.

He wants to fill his days and very late nights, saying goodbye to friends and having farewell sushi, farewell hip hop, and farewell facebook posts. What's important to him is Goodbye girl friends and Goodbye Geo-cacheing.

Mamma say no. Mamma want a plan.

I just know my door quotes will help him.

Tru keeps erasing my inspiring sayings and putting up his own, in an effort to get me to lighten up.

He wrote ........

I didn't say anything. I just quietly re-arranged his quote to get my point across....ONE MORE TIME.

He didn't say anything.

Today I came home and the above is erased and in it's place is.....

"Harry Potter is a Wizard."

I don't know if he's giving up or giving in...or just trying to confuse me.

I love my T.

Giant Redwood Trees-Muir Woods

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.  ~Robert Louis Stevenson

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The next best time is now.  ~Chinese Proverb

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.  Everything is simply happy.  Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.  Look at the flowers - for no reason.  It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.  ~Osho

(There is a face in this tree.......)

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
~Joyce Kilmer, "Trees," 1914

Climb a tree - it gets you closer to heaven.  ~Author Unknown

Alice

We took the kids to see the new Alice in Wonderland.

It's Tim Burton, so I knew it would be dark and maybe disturbing........which also  meant  Laila would love it.
She likes all of the dark movies like Willy Wonka and Nightmare before Christmas that Tim Burton did.
I was pleasantly surprised.
It was creative and interesting.
It made me laugh out loud at times.
It was eye-poking-out gross too.  (But the least creepy.)
LAILA LOVED IT.  She particularly liked the talking animals.  Laila loved when the Queen of Hearts called for a pig to warm her feet on.
I liked it far more than the Disney animanted version.  The fam all gave it a thumbs up.
There was even a point to this Alice and everything:  Alice has choice and she is in charge of her own life.

There were some really good  lines.
"Corsets are a cod fish."
"I love my fat boys."

"You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."


 One of my favorite lines...one that I can't stop thinking about is.....
"You 've lost your muchness.  You were much more muchier but now you lack muchness."

Sometimes I feel like I've lost my muchness.....  Like I used to be a much better Melinda... and I need to find me again.

I hope I can find me by not falling through a looking glass.....or having Tim Burton turn me into a crazy headed queen.

Now...where did I put my muchness?

Mustache March

March is here...and y'all  know what that means.....?....drum roll please.....

TIME FOR MUSTACHES!

I didn't used to associate March with Mustaches, but thanks to my Truman....I do now.

He made a big deal out of this last year as a SBO at BHS...and really went all out with Mustache March Mania.

This year we found a little .25 cent machine to buy fake mustaches.  We have had a blast with these.  We have worn them as an audience at a choir concert, while watching one of Monson's basketball games, eating dinner......around town.....you get the gist.  

 My joy now is sharing the Mustache March Madness  with unsuspecting family and friends.

"Hi.  It's March Mustache Month.  Please put this mustache on and I'll take your picture."

It's amazing how many people will do this.

All Good Sports.   (WHo is on the phone?)

The Gold Mustache is the worst.   It looks like Peanut Butter lip.  I'm glad I have silly friends.

Watch out!! I may be knocking on your door next with a camera, a mustache and a request!!!