Another Chapter Finished

Exciting Day!

I'm so proud!

Our son in whom we are well pleased

Done at last and with a commemorative medallion

Well another chapter in our book of life is finished. McKay graduated from WSU. It was awesome.

My days of Christmas

That makes all of our eligible children finished with school. I told dad that I wanted to sing 12 days of Christmas but put in our own blessings. The first day I could put in so many single blessings. One darling daughter, One special needs son and Yes, Brian is my sweetheart and one eternal love, but for the song I'll go with one perfectly darling daughter. On the 2nd day of Christmas blessings are to me, only two parents. In this day and age where so many people change marriage partners so often. I was lucky enough to just have two parents, who were sweethearts. On the 3rd day of Christmas my blessings are to me... yup three wonderful sons, or I could put 3 temple married children or 3 college graduates children, but if I start with one darling daughter then it must be 3 wonderful sons. One the 4th day of Christmas my blessings are to me... four endowed children. On the 5th day of Christmas my blessings are to me. Currently five grandchildren. That will change in April when Paige delivers Emy. The 6th day of Christmas my blessings are to me... the fun of having 6 in our family. Having a family of six was so fun. Things come packaged in 6s or a dozen so I liked that, when taking care of the kids. Lets see 7 humm. I grew up in a family of seven. Mom, Dad, Janet, Marie, Wayne, me and Wendy. (We did have an older brother but he died at birth and I didn't grow up with him) I guess I'm blessed to only have lived at eight addresses in my life. Two weeks at Verdeland Park in Layton, (when I was two weeks old they moved to our new home on Gentile street. I lived a very brief time in Ogden when I was going to school. I lived on the east end of 36th. Then when I got married we moved to an apartment on Fort Lane until a new apartment got built on Fairfield. Then when Reese was 9 months old we moved into our new home on 4th west in Kaysville, then back to Gentile street in the house next to Mothers (my first real home), then over to Flint street in 2002. Wow this is getting hard now to come up with numbered blessings. after 6 things deteriorate fast. One the 9th day of Christmas my blessings are to me nine cell phone numbers of our immediate family. One the 10th day of Christmas my blessings are to me.

Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary

August 16th was our 35th wedding anniversary. We thought we'd be celebrating it in Hawaii, but as things turned out we didn't. So that morning we were wondering, just how are we going to celebrate. That's when Paige and the kids called and invited us to celebrate with them at the Davis County Fair. We couldn't think of a better way. So they picked us up and took us to the fair. It was fun to see the exhibits and was especially fun to see Aunt Cynthia's picture that got the Judges award. At the end we bought the kids cotton candy as our thanks for the anniversary gift they gave to us. We had a blast shooting the pictures of the eating process.

Dream or Vision?

A couple of times in my life I've had what I consider a glimpse into the future. Well, I had a dream the other night that was so vivid. I was holding a new little baby girl with lots of brown hair. Her name was Karry after my Grandmother Karen Andrea Reese. (I felt like my Grandma was there) I was so touched and teary. It was so tender. After I woke up, I just couldn't get this image out of my head. It's been over a week now and I can still see this image. So kids, only you can let me know if this is a dream or a vision!

Epiphany

I was thinking today... (I'd just finished "Breaking Dawn" ) and I thought... Stephanie Meyers wrote this after having a dream. J K Rowling's hit series "Harry Potter" was very similar in a that the idea came quickly. I believe that inspiration generally comes from God. It made me ponder...why would God inspire people to write about fantasy fictional characters that we love so much. Good versus evil. As I was thinking, I was hit with an epiphany that was very forceful. It is to make the mind pliable. We need to have a mind that is malleable enough that when the real fantastic things - things that will happen at the Second Coming - people will stop and think.... this may not be normal but I believe it is possible. I mentioned this to Brian and he said he thought I was right. He said, look at our whole Mormon history. Fourteen year old boy goes into a grove and prays, sees God the Father, His son, has the experience with the Holy Ghost and Satan, and we wonder why people look at us peculiarly. If I didn't know that it was true. I would seriously wonder what was up. I think that if my mind were open. I would be willing to find out for myself if it were true. I think that this will happen again. When it is time for the Savior to come again. I think that we need to be open to the fantastic things we will see come to pass.

The Burren and Galway Bay

Brian on the Burren glacial fields...

We went to Burren which is a glacial field. The rocks are covered with wild flowers. It was so incredibly cool. I loved taking pictures of the flowers. The climate down here is warmer than other areas. So it is good for grazing animals.
After leaving Galway Bay we headed back to Dublin. Our last day we went to Cork, then to Cobh - it is an interesting city. It is very cultural and into the arts. It is also the last port of call for the Lusitania and the Titanic. We also went to the Blarney Castle. In the time we were in England and Ireland it really didn't rain until we went to the Blarney Castle. It poured and poured. Luckily we had our ponchos. We looked a little bit like newspapers wrapped in orange plastic, but we were sure glad we had them. We climbed up to the top and tipped upside down over the 80 foot drop and yes, we kissed the Blarney Stone. It was fun! We loved seeing the castles. This one was so different than the Bunratty because it hadn't been restored and was in pretty poor condition. It was great to let the imagination run wild in how I would restore it.
the Blarney Castle.

Sally kissing the Blarney Stone
Brian kissing the Blarney Stone

Now we've been blessed with the gift of Blarney (Is that a good thing? :))

Ireland

After leaving our friends in England we flew RyanAir to Dublin. Whoaa what an experience RyanAir colors are shocking yellow and blue, and the selling they do on board would put QVC to shame. It was to laugh - but we arrived in Dublin safe and sound and met up with our nephew Kyle. Again we were so blessed to have such great host. We stayed at Kyle's place and he slept on the floor while we took over his room. He never complained and treated us so great. While we were there we took some train tours in Ireland. We went to Bunratty castle. It is a restored castle it was built around 1462 and I really loved it. I really felt like I could understand a little bit what it would have been like. I really didn't get the concept before now that these castles were for the protection of the rich. Everything about the design was around the safety of the household. I loved the murder hole where they poured down hot oil, and I found the circular stairways to be so much fun. They way the rooms were all spread out you couldn't help but wish you were a kid living here. As an adult it wouldn't be as much fun. (less running and hiding you know)

After leaving Bunratty we traveled over to the cliffs of Moher.