Happy Birthday Gordon

Back in the good old days when mom and dads didn’t know the sex of their child before it was born, we were pretty excited to get a son. We had told ourselves if we had another girl we were defiantly done, so when a boy came and we were elated.

Gordon’s name: We were having a hard time coming up with a boys name just incase we needed it. A girls name might have been Mickie, but we had nothing for a boy. Kim and I had been sitting at the kitchen table and Jodi came in and had heard us talking and she said she wanted him named Gordon. We really liked the sound of Gordon William Hardcastle, it sounded strong and a little old fashioned and neither of us had heard it much. Only after we had made up our minds did we find out that Jodi really liked the bald black Sesame Street character Gordon. So you can decided who Gord is named after. Kim says it’s after Gordon B. Hinckley.

Gordon was due on Mel’s birthday March 14th, so when he was a few days late is was fine but after 7 days I was ready to die and at 10 days I knew I couldn’t take it anymore, so my Dr. let me go into the hosp. and get started.

He was a very long labor even with the meds. and at one point I just said let me go home and we’ll try again tomorrow and our Dr. just laughed and said I don’t think so.

Just like being born, Gord has always had a mind of his own and has done things on his own time frame, usually one that is right now because he hates to wait.

If ever he wants something he will figure out a way to get it i.e.: a Hammock, make one out of an old white sheet and rope, a head lantern, get some sewing elastic, needle and thread and an small flashlight, a car, get a paper rout and save for 3 years, buy it before you even turn 16, then sit in it everyday until you can drive it. Becoming Indiana Jones, find an old felt hat, a old rope, have a big tree right in your own yard, climb to the very top and never be afraid, want everyone you know to do the same, sleep in it if you could, have your side kick always with you, which for him was a big monkey, & want your brothers whole kindergarten class to walk past your house so they too can see how cool the tree really is.

Gordon went through a period where he would only wear cowboy boots, another where he would only wear Levis, even in the dead heat of summer. His clothes had to fit just right, so finally after many many frustrating mornings we learned to lay his clothes out the night before, but not just put them on a table, first the shirt, then the pants, the socks and shoes, he would make them look like a person.

He has always had good friends just not a lot of them, never dated in high school, or went to a dress up dance, but he then met the love of his life and has become very devoted to her and their marriage. One of many cute things he has done for Jessica, (that I know of) is for one of her birthdays she had been stressing about money but wanted her hair done, so he went and paid for the cut and color without her knowing and so when she went to pay they said it had already been taken care of. He is very devoted to her and to their marriage and the Lord. We are very proud of him and wish him a very Happy Birthday.

Mel -Bells Day

Happy Happy Birthday Melanie. This last year and one month have been very eventful for you and I am sure this year will be just as exciting, It won’t cost me as much as it will you, but the things to come will be very exciting.

Melanie was born in Provo Utah, our first child. We were very excited and very nervous. We had taken the Lamaze birthing classes because I was terribly afraid of needles, especially something that wound go in my back. We still had 2 classes to go and 3 1/2 weeks of pregnancy, but for some reason I read ahead in the manual and finished the material after our class. That next morning I had an appointment and the Dr. said I was getting close. Well close I was, because that night my water broke at midnight, so off we went. Mel was born 8 hrs later and without any needles. We were so excited, she was a beautiful baby girl. Healthy and crying and ready to be ours.

We already had a named picked out. Melanie if it was a girl. I grew up and often tended the cutest little girl named Melanie who I just adored and I also loved the name and so did Kim. It wasn’t very common and good thing her adorable face fit the name.

We went home 2 days later. Then our first crisis began. She would not stop crying, and would not eat. I just thought this must be normal, and this is what babies do. We were both exhausted and so was grandma. Then the next day my friend came by in the morning to see us, and looked at you and asked, “why is she so Yellow”? So off we went to the hosp. for a billiruben test. When we got home the phone was ringing and it was the hosp. telling us to come right back that you were sick. Your level was 22 and anything above 15 was critical.

They whisked you away and the next time we saw you, you were covered in IV lines and had blood and other fluids running into your tiny body. One thing about it at 8lbs. 2oz you were the biggest NICU baby there. We just sat around for hours and finally someone said “If she makes it through the night she should be OK” WHAT? We didn’t really even know what was wrong with you yet. But it turned out you had a very serious blood infection; you had “E-Coli Septicemia”. You were sick with bacteria that are normally found in the bowl, how you got it no one knew. My Dr. wondered if maybe when you got your little Vit-K shot your leg may have had stool on it. So we waited, and you did, obviously, make it through the night. Leaving the hosp. without you was a very tearful and emotional day, as were the days that followed, I would come up every 4hrs and dad would come a couple of times a days. After 10 days you finally got to come home.

I can’t go into all the details of you life right now, there are too many to count, but know this, that we love you. You are very talented in everything you try, very smart, both book and common sense, you have made good choice throughout you life and we have always been proud of you. You are stubborn to the core, and have the best memory of any one I know. You are loyal to your friends and vote in the wrong party. You love music, but listen to a strange radio station. You are happily married and you are moving in all the right directions and we wish you the most Happy Birthday.

It's not polite to stare

Have you ever been so horrified at the site of something you just didn’t know what to do? I have been along this same path almost daily for, well, what seems like forever. I’m talking literally about something that is so shocking it takes your breath away. Something I had to take a picture of to convince myself it was real. My kids always teas me that I make a terrible gasping sound when something startles me or I remember something. Gordon says you would have thought I’d run over a small child the sound is so dramatic. That is the sound I made when I discovered this strange sighting.

Now let me stage the setting. The sun was shinning very very brightly through the window and usually I just have a light one. Most of the time my glasses are off, but this particular day I had them on, and I don’t why. I wasn’t in any hurry so I was concentrating on what I was doing. Then it happened.

As I curled my hair I thought I say some light color, maybe the sunshine, maybe a reflection off the mirror and light. I got closer to the mirror, and it was real. I HAVE MORE GRAY HAIR THAN I HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE. I just kept looking at it like it just couldn’t be real. This wasn’t my hair. I touched it and separated strands to see if it was just a top layer, or maybe the shine from the gel I’d used. No it was GRAY. And lots of it. I went to another mirror, still in disbelief. Just like a puppy it followed me and again appeared in the front room mirror.

I honestly kept wondering when did this happen, how come someone didn’t tell me. I expect my kids or husband to tell me if I have a hair on my chin or check that I haven’t noticed yet, and then it is quickly pulled out, and you hope no one else noticed. I let friends and family know they have lipstick on their teeth or things on their nose. I’ve been know to pull a long strangler hair from Kim’s eyebrow. (Something he doesn’t appreciate) I’ve been told and also told others they left a new tag on their clothes. So why hasn’t anyone told me. I now have more gray hair then my mom, who is 74.

So now I am left wondering what to do. Do I start to color, go back to highlighting, something I did years ago. Obviously I have plenty of High Lights. Do I just keep pretending I don’t know or that is doesn’t bother me. I do know one thing. I will only curl my hair in a half dark bathroom, and try to avoid direct sunlight at all costs. You would think looking at a scale would cause this much distress, but at least with that I know what’s coming.

Now that I’ve posted this you might all be temped to take a peek the next time we’re together, but remember your mother always told you “it isn’t nice to stare”?
I guess I’m thankful I still have my hair no matter what color it is.

Money Money Money

It’s been awhile since my last post and I have actually done a few things but I just haven’t been in the blogging mood. Kim and I went to St. George for a get-a-way/anniversary /to find warmer weather trip last week. We have gone to the Parade of Homes there before and it’s a fun activity. We get to see how some of the “unknown other half”, live. The homes were fantastic with all the newest of everything, and decorated for kings and such, but seriously Who are these “other people” that need that much space, that many family rooms, bathrooms, private balconies, hidden and secret passages, bowling lanes, 3 TV’s, on one wall, and that was actually in a few homes, showers that you and a few of your closest 20 friends and family could share, at once! Many of you have probably seen the e-mail going around about the home Keith Barton, the lawyer, lost and had to have auctioned off. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=152928 I am sure it has been hard on his family to have to sell their home, and maybe I have a very tiny amount of jealousy but I am unable to understand the need to build something like these homes. I know if you have the money you should spend it and put in back into the economy, but the words moderation, modesty and gluttony come to mind and I would hope that I would want to give back and help others if my income was that great.

I heard an interview with Richard Paul Evans once and he said that he and his wife were truly worried about the sudden money and fame they were coming into after the hit books he had written. They had some serious conversations about what that money could do for them both good and bad, and they didn’t want it to change them or their values, so they started the Christmas Box house and have also started other charity type things so that they would be more grounded and stay focused on other people and others needs.

Our communities need the rich, don’t get me wrong. And I would love a new and updated kitchen, along with a few other newer home changes, but Kim and I both said more than once after seeing some of the homes in St. George, that we might be a little embarrassed to have one of them. But not to worry we didn’t even qualify for the one that the builder was willing to pay the entire 1st yr.s monthly payment of $10,000 (per month) and that include a New Hummer.

I pray that no matter what my financial situation ever becomes that I will find ways to help those who need help and be smart about what the Lord has given us.

29 years and still counting. It’s our anniversary, our 29th year of marriage. Kim and I have been married 29 years. 29 is one year shy of 30. 29 is a long long time. We have been together longer than we were ever single.

Kim and I meet at the old Mckay Dee Hosp. He was an OR transporter and I was an LPN in the float-pool. He had been home from his mission a few months and was actually dating one of my sorority sisters. I had seen him around a lot coming and going with pt.s. I had also dated the other 2 transporters in the recovery room, but not Kim. Then my friend, the girl he was dating, was to leave for her mission and my room-mate and I went to her farewell and Kim sat by us. I remember he had a very nice singing voice. I was attracted to him right away. He was tall with dark hair was a return missionary who was going to college, that is really all I knew about him. It was great if I got to see him when I was working. I remember he sat by a friend and I in the cafeteria one day for lunch and another day we talked while looking at the babies through the viewing window.

Then I needed a hernia surgery. I had asked the surgeon if I could have the surgery under a local anesthetic because I didn’t want to be put to sleep. But the real reason was I had dated 2 of the OR transportor as I memtioned and there was no way I was going to be naked anywhere near them. The Dr. agreed and I had the surgery. Kim was the one who took me to surgery. Before I went down I had actually pointed him out to my mom and said isn’t he cute?

Well everything went well and after 2 weeks I returned to work and was on the Peds. unit. There was Kim. He started following me around after lunch as I did some kids vital signs. I had a cute little boy who asked me to please not take his temperature in his bottom so I got the oral probe and made him promise to hold his lips closed, after I took the temp. he leaned up said thanks and kissed my cheek. Kim was sitting in a chair in the room and said something like “I want one of those” so I leaned down and kissed him, half lip, half face. I am not sure what I was thinking or what made me do it. I had never done anything like that before. I couldn’t believe how brave and crazy I was. He followed me for a few more rooms and I was really feeling stupid for the Kiss thing, and then he finally asked me out. To a wedding reception of a friend. I told him I couldn’t go because my singles ward was going to our Bishops cabin and having a retreat on Fri. night. He just said OK. I then had a brave moment again and invited him to come along.

Who does that? Takes a first date on an overnighter, someone she doesn’t even know yet? To spend 12 hrs or more with, wake up with, morning breath and morning hair on a first date! I must have been nuts. So we went to the reception and then to my activity. When I went to introduce him to my Bishop I didn’t even know his last name. I actually was introducing him and said “what’s you last name”? I am sure my bishop thought I was crazy.

Well we seemed to enjoy each others company very much and he was a good kisser, but never did like PDA (public display of affection). I learned very quickly that he had a strong testimony and loved the Lord, he had plans for his future and was a hard worker. We were together everyday after that, and after a few short weeks, yes, a few short weeks he asked me to marry him. I said yes.

Most people, including Mom were very surprised and a little upset and many never thought it would last due to the short courtship. I remember feeling so disappointed after telling mom, on the phone, that I was engaged, because she didn’t get as excited as I was. I didn’t take into account at the time that she had never meet Kim, knew nothing about him, I was no where near home and what could I be thinking? That very next Sunday I took him home to meet the family and the home ward and I believe everyone liked him right away and I know they love him now.

We married 5 months later in the Salt Lake Temple.

We have had some rocky times and struggled with most of the normal trials of life, but we have, so far, stuck together and have grown closer together. We have 4 great kids, 2 with good spouses. We love each other and would do anything for the other person. I am so blessed to have such a great man as my husband and often as he teaches on Sunday I look at him and know I am truly blessed to be his wife, of 29 years.

Good old Norman

Norman the Super Bowl Snowman update. He was built strong and tall last Sunday by his maker, Justin. He was the protector and friendly greeter to all who passed by. He gave a cheerful wave to everyone who looked his way. He was able to withstand wind and snow the first few days, but then the dreaded Goble Warming came our way.
At first we just thought he was on a diet and trying to slim down for any female snow-women who might look his way. But it just kept getting worse. He first lost his friendly, bright smile, and then his wave wasn’t as positive. He started getting tied and he was leaning to the back looking for support, none was found, and we knew then he wasn’t his happy self. Suddenly he became skin and wood. His arm was literally a skeleton form and he had no use for his hands anymore. He lost interest in his good looks and let his buttons fall off. Then the dreaded lost of sight took place sometime in the night along with his nose and eyebrows. He had some vision left but I knew it was only the matter of time before the elements would even take that. He now longer feared the cold and gave his hat way, hopefully to someone who needed it worse. Then Sunday arrived and he was truly in despair. He was looking to the sky for snow and support, after looking that direction for 24 hrs. or so, he finally gave up and lost his head. So as dust to dust or snow to snow he lives to be rebuilt by another great and dedicated snow builder on another day.

I stand all amazed

Well really I was sitting and very comfortably I might add. As we walked into Sunday school class, Jodi, Kim and I we were ready to be taught. Kim had said last night that it was nice that this Sunday we were both just spectators and not teachers. Well all that changed after about 10 min. of no teacher. Kim and two other members share the gospel doctrine class and one other teacher was there and they both talked and she and Kim both knew it wasn’t either one of their turns. They went out into the hall and rather they played rock, paper, scissors or what Kim came in and was to teach. Later, Sis. Cook said she turned it over to the priesthood.

So for the amazing part. Kim did a great job. I don’t know if it’s the old missionary training, the fact that he is a great teacher, or the fact that he always has something to say. I do know it’s in part because he has a love and great knowledge of the scriptures and he studies them often. He has a strong testimony and he does know and understand the Book of Mormon. But the fact that he always has something to say does help.

I am grateful for Kim and I am happy he is my husband and that he is a very loving a caring man who honors his priesthood and loves his family and the Lord.
He was also set apart Sunday as the 1st assist to the High Priest group leader.