Collin and Uncle JP

My nephew Collin supposedly loves his Uncle JP. He asks about him at home and requested a picture of him to be put on the "cousins" picture board.
However when ever Collin visits or we have some Casey function, Collin clings to his Mom and Dad and wide eyed with fear avoids JP at all costs. He said our dinner prayer tonight and the whole time stared JP down to make sure he was not going to make any sudden moves (yes, I peeked). It cracks me up!!

When Everitt was little we had this hand puppet of a T-Rex. It had a button to push and the T-Rex would growl. Every time JP came home from work or Uncle Fej showed up he would go and find this thing. He would hand it over then run to the couch and sit wide eyed with fear. JP and Fej would approach him growling and he would cry and laugh at the same time. BOYS !!

A Summer Read

I have made an effort to make reading a part of every day summer life this season. It has become a favorite thing to do now that the hammock is up.

Cherries

I canned cherries this year! They are so beautiful! To bad there are grubs in them every where! First canning lesson learned. Pick the fruit, can the fruit.
Don't wait a week in between.

JP's Wisdom.....Teeth

JP is sacked out on the couch right now. I would take a picture of him if I didn't think he would be totally disgusted with me for disturbing his drug induced peace. He had two wisdom teeth removed today. I know that is normally a pre-mission sort of thing, but JP has very slow developing teeth. (Every thing else developed on him just fine!) So since there was really no need to pull his wisdom teeth pre-mission...we did it today. Why today? Because one of them broke a while ago and was starting to hurt. Because we refinanced the house and had finally saved enough money to consider going to California this summer and thus blew it on his teeth instead. Not that I would put his teeth in front of the family vacation. It has taken many years to get to this point and I am glad it is finally done.

Thanksgiving Point

Spent Memorial Day with Heather, Sissy and the girls at Thanksgiving Point.

Spring time!

When I was younger I loved the fall! It was my favorite season, then came winter!! Spring and summer where no big deal. Now however after what now seems like the long months of winter I am so ready for spring! I am ready to be warm! I am ready to have late night conversations with my friends on the front porch. I am ready to fix my front yard (which has been a seven year project). Maybe it has something to do with owning my own home and doing all those spring things. I do plant pumpkins in the front to prepare for fall. I still love fall, but I am so glad for Spring.

Loyal To Thee Cyprus High School

I heard from my friend Doug Thomas today. We went to high school together. This e-mail came from Shantel Matagi, to Cade Meier to Doug to me, we all went Cyprus High in Magna, Utah. It was about another pair of classmates Julie Johnson and Brandon Stout who are now married and the parents of four children. Julie is in the last stages of cancer. I knew she was sick. I had seen her in church while visiting my sister in laws ward for a baby blessing. She was wearing a wig that was a very dark color and I leaned over to JP (who, if you didn't know, also went to Cyprus) because I could not figure out who she was. She gave the most beautiful testimony that day. You could tell she was struggling with the words (she has a brain tumor) but what she said was simple a concise....

"I love my husband Brandon and my children" and she named each of them. My heart broke then. It is just all so close to the experience with Aubrey and Chris my cousin. A young mother in her prime, smart beyond normal capabilities, dying of cancer.

So this e-mail was a request for help. I volunteered and then asked what else was being done. Was someone giving her a party to celebrate her life, was their any type of silent auction or dinner planned? No...at least not until now.

I have a show the same weekend as all of these events. But when I talked to JP I told him I could not just say no and walk away. It was to familiar, to heart breaking, and I had to be involved. If it was us I would want my friends to stand up and help. So I am now in the throws of planning a spaghetti dinner and desert auction for Friday May 1st.

I am not writing about this to talk about what I am doing. It is really to brag about my class and my school. When Aubrey was sick her class rallied around her performing service (oh yea she was a Cyprus chickie too) and throwing parties. We in turn are rallying around our classmates in their time of need. Some of us have not talked for years, and we live all over, but together we stand. I am happy to be associated with these people and glad they are my friends.