Dolphins, Pelicans, and Seagulls...Oh My!

A few weeks ago Utah Sisters were in town for a visit.  Because they live far, far, far, far away from the beach, they thought it would be a splendid idea to make a trip to the Pacific Ocean and enjoy the waves and the sand.  It was cold and somewhat foggy when we arrived but we enjoyed watching the seagulls and pelicans fishing for lunch and eventually saw a small pod of dolphins frolicking in the waves. 

Not an actual photograph I took--but wouldn't it be cool if I did? 

 Probably the funniest part of the day was my fear of all the birds flying overhead.  

This is only a SMALL number of the birds we saw!

The following is a reenactment of a conversation between my Utah Sisters, my Mom, and myself:

Good times at the beach!

"There are hundreds of birds here--maybe thousands of birds--and I'm nervous that they may leave a little present in my hair," I said.

"Loralee, there are NOT thousands of birds here," said my Mom.

"OK, maybe not thousands but certainly hundreds and they keep flying overhead."

Karen butted in, "You are worried about a bird pooping in your hair?"

"Yes," I replied, "It's happened before and it's not pleasant."

Barbara who had been down at the seashore dipping her feet in the ocean and was not privy to any of the earlier conversation then joined us.  She sat down in her lawn chair and noticed the hundreds (maybe thousands of birds flying overhead.)

"Boy, all these birds make me nervous!" Barbara exclaimed.  "I'm afraid they're going to poop on my head."

Karen and my mom burst out laughing!  "What is it with my older sisters and their irrational fear of birds?" Karen shouted.

"Hey, it's happened before," Barbara declared.  "Yeah, it's happened to me, also," I cut in.

Grandma replied, "The birds aren't flying over our heads.  This is a no-fly zone." 

"I don't know," I replied.  "They seem to be getting pretty close."

Barbara said, "I've got an umbrella in my car.  Maybe I should get it?"

Aunt Karen jumped in, "Actually, I have an umbrella in this bag.  As I was getting ready for my trip, I thought maybe I should unpack it but then the thought came, nah, you might need it.  Here, you can use it!"

Gratefully, I unfolded the umbrella and held it over our heads.  Ten minutes passed.  Fifteen minutes passed.  Aunt Karen and Grandma continued to mock us for our fear of birds and their not so delightful gifts.  Suddenly, I said:

Karen, Barbara, and I--and the trusty umbrella!

"I heard a plop!" 

Barbara exclaimed, "I heard a plop, also!"  

I lowered the umbrella and the ugliest color green nastiness was on the umbrella!  Barbara and I felt vindicated by the umbrella's protection and Karen was patting herself on the back for listening to the prompting she received to take her umbrella to sunny and hot California where she prevented her older sisters from being traumatized once again!

The end.

Announcing....

I enjoy making announcements--especially if they are of the happy variety.

A few weeks ago, I sent a text to my married darling daughters with the following announcement:

BREAKING NEWS!  I purchased my first watermelon of the summer!

Now, that might not be breaking news for MOST people, but for me with my passion for sweet and juicy watermelon, it was a big deal.  I LOVE watermelon!  It's my favorite fruit and when I purchased my first one sometime the middle of May, it was big news for me. 

Of course, my darling daughters responded with cheers.  They know how much watermelon means to me.  I can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and sometimes afternoon and before bedtime snacks.  Do you get a little sense of WHY buying my first watermelon was such big news? 


About eight years ago, I got up in the front of Relief Society to share some other good news.

I announced that after four daughters and 23 years of marriage I was finally expecting a son!

Of course, there was much exclamations from the women in the room.  Emily was 10 at the time.  That's a pretty big gap between a fourth and fifth child.  However, it was my way of announcing Christie's engagement and that we were finally getting a son-in-law.

So, yesterday I did it again.

I made a big announcement in Young Women because that is where I currently serve. 

I walked to the front of the room and twirled.  (That is what the young women do in this ward--they twirl when they want to share good news.)

With a catch in my voice and a few tears in my eyes, I pulled out an apron that was given to me by darling daughter Heather and her husband Dustin on Mother's Day. 

This is a smile of pure joy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I am going to be a grandmother sometime the end of November or beginning of December. 

I LOVE making happy announcements!

Valentine Nicknames

Last Sunday, I was reading the comics. Snoopy was given many Valentine's greetings but the one that he was hoping for never came.

No one called him "Sugar Lips."

And so, in honor of Snoopy's wish, I decided to bestow the mushy nickname of "Sugar Lips" on Ron this week.

I'm sure he's thrilled.

Of course, Emily could not be left out. As we were brainstorming possible Valentine nicknames for her, she came up with "Muffin" or "Pumpkin." They are very lovely but just not quite special enough.

Ron thought a combination would be better. "How about Pumpfin?" he asked.

I burst in with my suggestion a second later, "How about Muffkin?"

And so, Emily is now Muffkin for the week.

I'm sure she's thrilled.

Of course, I could not be without a Valentine nickname. They didn't EVEN ask me what I wanted to be called.

My nickname? Honey Bucket.

And yes, I'm thrilled. :)

Family Reunion--It was Pretty Amazing!

Nearly the entire family. There were eight people who couldn't be there.

Our family reunion ended a couple of weeks ago, but can I say one thing--it was AMAZING! After our lovely weekend activities filled with family dinners, family games, family photographs, and a special family testimony meeting, we began Monday morning participating in The Amazing Race!

Our large family was divided into four groups. Carol was my group's lead driver and Daniel was our "spiritual adviser" who knew where we were supposed to go and handed out the next clue at each location. When I got my hair cut after the reunion, my stylist was extremely interested in this activity. In case you are looking for an idea for your upcoming reunion (or church activity) here are some of the highlights.

We started off the race by running to our cars. Now, I know this will be hard to believe but I hurt my left thigh the first two running steps I took. I don't know what I did, but it hurt. I was very frustrated because I work out at least five days a week and this should not be happening to me. I limped my way to the car and despite my pokiness, our car was the first out of the parking lot. We headed to the local high school where we had to run AGAIN to the 50 yard line of the football field and build a pyramid.

Carol and I refrained from pyramid building because of our bad backs. Once our picture was taken, we were back running (or in my case, limping) to our next location.

We had to pose like statue.

We had to find a particular ceramic mushroom.

We had to drive a long ways up into the foothills and feed carrots to deer.

We had to continue driving a long way to the other side of the hills to find certain artwork at a garden nursery.

We had to drive back over those same curvy mountain roads to a Jelly Belly Outlet and buy and eat the NASTIEST jelly beans you could imagine.

Jalapeno pepper anyone? How about vomit?

One unfortunate teenage niece actually threw up after this challenge. My sister Barbara was so car sick from the mountain roads that she got a pass. Everyone else had to eat at least two nasty beans. Emily claims she ate two honking handfuls to spare the little boys on her team.

Wasn't that thoughtful of her?

We had to race to an A&W restaurant and get two gallon jugs of root beer and take them to the Taco Bell a couple of miles away.

Each team member was required to order one or two burritos or tacos from the dollar menu. We told the poor order taker that "This is for here. We'll pick up our order inside."

As you can imagine, the first car got the strangest looks, but by the time the third and fourth groups came through, they hardly blinked an eyelash.

We then had to drink our root beer and eat our tacos/burritos as QUICKLY as possible before we could get back into our cars and head towards our next destination.

Joie was taking this challenge seriously--very, very seriously!

I only ordered one burrito. I was still the last one to finish. :( I am not good at eating quickly as my family and dear friends know.

We were nearing the end our our race. We completed a couple of challenges at the San Juan Bautista mission before ending up at our ultimate destination--our reunion campground.


Our Amazing Race was a lot of fun! It was a great way to build family unity and have a lot of fun!

OK...That Was Scary!

The day after Emily's graduation, Ron made us a delightful breakfast of homemade whole wheat waffles AND homemade whole wheat pancakes AND reconstituted frozen orange juice.

What, it wasn't fresh squeezed?

Served with these delightful breakfast foods was maple syrup and HOMEMADE strawberry freezer jam that Ron also made. Because he is awesome like that. The Saturday we made it, I came down with a bug and in the interest of not polluting the delicious jam, we decided I should stay out of the strawberries and take a nap instead.

Which I did.

After breakfast, Jennifer spent some quality time with her high school friend Robyn and Robyn's good friend Kip. (They also joined us for breakfast.) Once Jennifer's friends left, we piled into our cars and drove to Santa Cruz to check out the Boardwalk.

Doesn't that sound like fun on a June afternoon?

Did I mention that it was raining? I heard that we received RECORD rain that day. Some areas of the Bay Area received over an inch of rain. Is that crazy, or what?

But, Dustin, our beloved son-in-law and wonderful husband to Heather and hopefully the father-to-be of future grandchildren that we will LOVE and ADORE and SPOIL rotten and then send back to their parents (no pressure Heather and Dustin--REALLY!) wanted to see the Pacific Ocean. He's from Arizona you see and he was returning to Utah the following night.

OH, Dustin had SEEN the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii, (poor thing) but he wanted to see it from the California perspective. I mean which Pacific Ocean would you rather see? The view from California on a rainy, stormy day or the view from Hawaii--a tropical paradise?

Me, too.

But, we wanted to make Dustin's dreams come true so we drove to Santa Cruz on a very rainy afternoon and brought a picnic lunch.

The drive over was somewhat scary. There is a wall that divides the highway. My family knows how I am absolutely terrified of "THE WALL" as I call it. Ron drove next to the wall until we had a scary incident and I convinced him to pull over to the slow lane and follow chugging, slow-moving semi-trucks instead.

When we arrived in Santa Cruz, the rain was more of a drizzle, but the wind was biting cold. We stood around a bench eating our picnic lunch because it was too. cold. to. sit. down. We needed to keep moving to keep our blood going.

We were having a GREAT time!

After putting the remnants of our picnic lunch back in our car, we took a long walk across the sands and watched the angry, churning, grey ocean. We watched the seagulls fighting over a fish. We walked down the Santa Cruz pier and made the acquaintances of a large group of sea lions. They began barking. Jacob, Ron, and Dustin barked back. It was quite a conversation they had and we enjoyed watching them close up--but not so close that they could actually bite.

After 10 to 15 minutes of delightfully conversing and watching the sea lions it was time to return home and so we walked another mile or so back to our cars. Emily decided to return with Heather and Dustin. Jennifer and Jacob joined us in our car.

As we got back on the highway with the scary wall, the rain picked up again. The rain was rather soothing and for a few minutes, I forgot about my dread of THE WALL and dozed off. Suddenly, I could feel our car sliding. I quickly opened my eyes and (Yes, I am admitting this in public) screamed. Ron was braking but we were coming closer and closer to the car in front of us.

THE WALL was to our left. Other cars were whizzing by on our right. I was sure we were going to hit the car in front of us as it got quickly closer and closer. Then, Ron remembered something he had been taught. When your brakes lock up, pump them gently. He did this over and over for what seemed like forever (but was only a few seconds) and we stopped within a quarter inch from the stopped car in front of us. Once it was safe, the car in front of us went into the right lane and then we saw the problem. The driver in front of them had lost control and had gone into a 180 degree spin. The front of the car was facing oncoming traffic and the woman driver was outside her car calling 911.

That didn't seem like such a safe thing to do. If we had hit the car in front of us, their car would have hit the first car and she would have been hit as well.

As safely as possible, we moved over into the right lane and there we remained--away from THE WALL until we got off that treacherous mountain highway.

Over and over I told Ron the remainder of the weekend, "Thank you for being a good driver."

Isn't he amazing? He not ONLY makes homemade whole wheat waffles AND pancakes AND strawberry freezer jam, he saved us from a possibly horrible accident (and possibly saved the life of a stranger) as well. No wonder that I love him.

United We Stand

Grab yourself a cup of hot cocoa. Put in a couple of marshmallows and let it melt just a little and slowly sip as I tell you three stories.

Story One

When I was in high school, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia. We hoped and prayed that my dad would be healed. One particular weekday, our ward held a special fast for my dad. Our family was touched that they loved us enough to do this. As I was at school that day, I remember sitting on the grass during lunch with my good friends. One friend noticed that I wasn't eating my normal peanut butter and honey sandwich, crispy apple, and homemade chocolate chip cookies for lunch. Instead, I sat there quietly talking to them. When she asked why I wasn't eating, I replied it was because I was fasting and praying for my dad. She looked at me quietly and then said something that I've never forgotten:

"I wish you had told me. I would have fasted for your dad, too."

I was touched. She was not a member of my church and I don't even know if she had fasted before. I felt her love that day that she wanted to be united in my cause and do something for my family.

Story Two

About two years ago, my husband was told he was getting laid off. Our family immediately began fasting and praying that he would be able to find employment quickly. We called and e-mailed family and close friends and asked if they would join us in fasting for Ron. Everyone we talked to seemed genuinely interested and willing. We felt great strength as we united our faith. The job offer didn't come that week or even that month, but Ron was only without a paying job a few weeks before a job offer came. We are so grateful for the love and support of our family and friends.

Story Three

A few weeks ago, my sweet daughter asked that we pray for her wonderful husband, Jacob. He needed to pass a few tests to graduate from the Police Academy. Of course, we were willing to do that. When I mentioned this to my Mom, she said, "Jennifer should ask the entire family to pray. There is strength in unity."

I shared that with Jennifer. A week or so later, Jennifer sent out an e-mail to Jacob's and her extended family. Parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins were asked to join in a special fast for Jacob that he would be able to do well on his upcoming tests. There were many heartfelt prayers in the following days. Last Thursday night, Jennifer text-ed Emily and let her know his tests would be the next day.

Early Friday morning, Jennifer sent out another mass e-mail asking for family members to remember Jacob in their prayers that day. He was taking his tests that evening. I spent part of the day working in the temple and many of those minutes were spent in prayer that Jacob would do well.

Friday evening, we received another phone call from Jennifer. Jacob passed all three tests easily. We rejoiced with them and are so grateful that prayers were answered.

There is great strength in unity. There is strength in uniting our faith and our prayers. Sometimes, the answer isn't what we want it to be. My dad did not recover from leukemia. But, even though the outcome wasn't what we hoped for, we felt loved and buoyed up and filled with hope for better days.

Jennifer recently posted on her blog, "I really, really love my family."

I echo that. I really, really love my family.

April Sixth

Last weekend at General Conference, Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy talked about the importance of families establishing Celestial Traditions.

I like that phrase...celestial traditions. I know he was referring to such traditions as attending church together, having family home evenings, family prayer, and family scripture study, but it made me think about what OTHER kind of traditions could be considered celestial traditions.

I think many Christmas traditions can be considered Celestial traditions. I love our Bethlehem Dinners, baking cookies for friends and family, and reading the Christmas story from the scriptures.

I think our Joseph Smith Birthday celebration could be considered a celestial tradition because we are remembering the birthday of a latter-day prophet who restored the Church of Jesus Christ in these last days.

Many Easter traditions can be celestial traditions as we focus on the true meaning of the holiday.

Today, I thought of a NEW tradition to implement in our family.

April Sixth.

What's so significant about April 6th you ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Modern day prophets, including Harold B. Lee and Spencer W. Kimball have told us that April 6th was the actual day that Jesus Christ was born in that tiny town in Bethlehem. (See Ensign, July 1973, p. 2; May 1980, p. 54.)

Mary and the Christ Child.

April 6th was also the day the church was organized in a little log cabin in Fayette, New York.

Artist's rendition of organization of Church in Peter Whitmer's home.

Tonight, I will be fixing a special April 6th dinner. This year it is going to be Chicken Pot Pie. I don't know if they ATE chicken pot pie in the 1830's, but it's homey and somewhat old fashioned.

Then, I'm going to serve a yummy homemade cake. We are going to sing "Happy Birthday" two different times--one to Jesus Christ and one to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yes, that will be a mouthful to sing.

After blowing out the candles (I'll put on a few for symbolism's sake) we'll read D&C 21 which talks about the organization of the church.

I love celebrating special times with my family. Hopefully, this will become one celestial tradition that our family will carry on for years to come.

Lost and Found

In February I checked out a book from the library called A Year of Fog. I read about three chapters before I needed to return it unfinished. I had started my last BYU class and simply didn't have time to read like I wanted to.

The opening chapters have haunted me. Someday I will have to finish this book. It's about a woman who loses her soon to be step-daughter on a beach in San Fransisco. She looked away for just a few seconds and in the blink of an eye, this little girl disappeared in the thick fog. This reminded me of something that happened within my own family:

When Christie was three years old, I was pregnant with my second daughter, Heather. My mom, Ron, Christie, and I drove over to Santa Cruz where we enjoyed a lovely day at the beach. The Santa Cruz boardwalk with all their thrilling rides was nearby. After enjoying a picnic lunch, Ron and Christie went down near the water to build sandcastles. My mom and I sat on blankets and towels and visited with each other. The beach was very crowded that day. It was one of those perfect days where there wasn't any fog and the temperature was very warm.

After Ron and Christie had been playing happily for 10 or so minutes, Ron walked up to where we were sitting.

"Where's Christie?" he asked.

"She's with you," I replied.

"No, she isn't. She said she wanted to get a couple more toys from you and then build more sand castles."

Panic set in immediately. With all the people at the beach, she somehow had not seen my Mom and I. We immediately began searching for her. I know that each one of us had a prayer in our hearts that we would find her soon.

I approached a life guard sitting on his tower and explained what had happened. I described what Christie was wearing and he radioed the other life guards to let them know to be on the lookout. I began walking down the beach, heading in the direction of the boardwalk. Where could she be? Was she in the water? Was she attracted to the rides on the boardwalk? Had someone taken her?

Meanwhile, my mom came across a group of young adults from our church. She had overheard them talking about church related topics and so she asked if they would also join in the hunt. Ron, my mom, fifteen or so strangers, and I along with the lifeguards were now searching for our lost girl.

As I prayed, I felt prompted to head toward the boardwalk. I didn't even want to think about if Christie was in the water. She could not swim. I'm sure I was crying as I continued my search wondering if I would ever see her again.

After searching for what seemed like forever, a lifeguard approached me and asked if I was the mother of the lost girl? I told him yes.

"We found her," he said. "She's in the first aid station eating a sugar free lollipop."

He directed me where to go and I was so relieved to see her again. Christie had been trying to find us in the mass of people. She wasn't wearing her sandals and the sand became so hot to her tender feet that she began crying. When a family saw her, they asked what was wrong.

"My feet hurt and my Mommy and Daddy are lost, " she told them. They allowed her to stand on their towel to cool off her feet and then immediately sprung into action and took her to a safe place.

When I picked her up, the person at the first aid station told me what a smart girl she was. "She knows her name, address, and phone number." All the practicing had paid off! I was so glad she remembered this important information. I was so happy that we were reunited and that she was safe.

As I remember what happened all those years ago, I am so grateful that we had a happy ending. I'm not sure if the plot in A Year of Fog does.

Someday, I'll have to find out.

Remember the Good Old Days?

This evening we enjoyed a lovely Valentine's Dinner. Ron BBQ-ed tri-tip that I had lovingly marinated earlier in the day. We had re-stuffed baked potatoes. A delightful salad. Red Jell-O served in pretty goblets. Martinelli's. Garlic Bread. (For nothing says Valentine's Day BETTER than garlic bread AND garlic breath.) And for dessert. Chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Rich dark chocolate. Sweet milk chocolate. Decadent white chocolate. It wouldn't be Valentine's Day without chocolate.

As we were eating our tasty tri-tip I asked Ron, "Do you remember the good old days when you used to cut up our meat for us?"

When our four darling daughters were young, he would cut up their meat so it would be easier for them to eat. Many times, he would cut mine up as well. Because it is so. much. work. cutting. up. meat.

He said, "I remember." And he continued to eat his meat.

Emily and I looked at each other. Clearly, he had not taken the hint.

We continued to eat our delicious dinner but our meat sat untouched.

A few minutes later I said, "Emily, do you remember the good old days when Dad used to cut up our meat?"

"Yes," she replied. "Those were GOOD times!"

"Uh, is this a hint?" he asked.

He then proceeded to cut up Emily's meat. Then mine.

Of course Emily and I COULD have cut up our meat. For clearly, we are women! But Ron had the ONLY steak knife (somehow in our move several things have disappeared including the ice cube trays and steak knifes.) But that my friends, is what Valentine's Day is all about--showing someone you love them with simple acts of kindness--whether it is making a special dinner for those you love or cutting up their meat. And the bonus? We relived the good old days for just a few minutes.

"Home" Sick

I'm feeling a little "home" sick which should be ridiculous because I'm sitting in my home right now working on my computer.

But, I am.

Last week, my sisters were all in town. Two flew in from Utah. One drove down from the Sacramento area. We and our brothers and assorted brother and sister-in-laws and my Mom and her husband and my husband and daughter and assorted nieces and nephews enjoyed spending time together. We laughed. We cried. We shared memories. We bonded.

For instance did you know that my brother David is a muffin king? He makes GREAT blueberry muffins with just a touch of lemon zest. He sent some muffins home with Barbara, Karen, and me and we feasted on the deliciousness of his muffins for breakfast the next morning.

David and I also share the following traits:

1. We have the same parents.
2. Neither one of us has arm hair.
3. And the new thing we learned--we don't like others sitting too closely to us at church. It gives us claustrophobia.

See, what I mean by bonding?

My family also learned something new about me. Did you know that when I'm speaking a word like their or there or they're that I see it spelled in my mind? I think it helps me not get my words mixed up or something.

My family thinks I'm odd.

This all came about on Friday while my mother and sisters and I were enjoying yummy ice cream cones. My sister Barbara mentioned the delicious home-made Split Pea Soup I made and she had enjoyed for lunch a little earlier in the week. She mentioned that my sister Karen chose not to partake of said soup because she doesn't like the smell.

I said in all innocence, "So you don't like pea smell?"

They looked at me in shock!

"What?" I replied. "P.E.A. I saw it in my head while I said the word."

They thought I see all words in my head when I talk but I reassured them it's only the words that can be spelled in different ways. I also shared that I used to "type" on my binder when I rode the school bus during my high school years. I would type the billboards I saw to practice becoming a better typist.

They thought that was odd, too.

I want to reassure my family I don't practice typing on binders any longer. But, I still practice the piano on my lap before I have to play at church. That seems perfectly normal.

Our family also bonded over Hot Fudge Nutty Nutties in honor of my Aunt Alice. We bought a large tub of vanilla ice cream, several jars of Mrs. Richardson's Hot Fudge sauce after our homemade hot fudge was a dud, two cans of whipped cream, and a large container of peanuts and we enjoyed Hot Fudge Nutty Nutties on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday. It was almost as delicious as Farrell's version. All that was missing were the two metal containers holding the hot fudge.

I miss my family. I miss my aunt. I feel like I have a hole in my heart today. I know I'll see my mother and brothers soon. I know I'll see my sisters in April. I know I will see my Aunt Alice someday as well. But, I am feeling a little "home" sick this afternoon even though I am sitting at home working on my computer.

Aunt Alice

When I was fifteen, my father passed away. My mother was now responsible for raising six children. I was the oldest. My youngest sister was only four.

My aunt Alice was living and working in Texas at the time. She KNEW my mother would need help. She arranged to transfer to San Fransisco so she could be a bigger part of our lives. I don't think my siblings and I knew what a magical, important part of our lives she would become.

Aunt Alice

Aunt Alice specialized in adding magic and sparkle to the holidays. She bought large chocolate turkeys for Thanksgiving meals--one for each place setting. I remember biting off the head of my turkey on many occasions and filling up the hollow body with M&M's from my nut cup. She bought large chocolate bunnies for Easter, also. I remember saving my rabbit for months in an effort to savor my chocolate stash for as long as possible.

She would show up on Christmas Eve and join in our celebrations and program. Once we were all safely tucked into bed, she went to work. Santa and Aunt Alice were partners. She was probably Santa's "chief elf" and when we woke up early Christmas morning, we KNEW we couldn't sneak into the living room to take a quick peek. She would spend the night on the living room couch, guarding the Christmas surprises. We were always delighted by the wonderful treasures that were left under our Christmas tree.

Aunt Alice frequently took us to Farrells ice cream shop. We celebrated birthdays, the end of the school year, and good report cards. Hot Fudge Nutty Nutties and my aunt are intertwined in my memories.

It would not be the Fourth of July without Aunt Alice's yummy brownies and other delicious food. Sometimes we "pic-niced" on her living room floor. Other times we braved the cool San Fransisco July afternoons at a park with members of her ward.

It was not unusual for my Aunt to drive the hour or so from her apartment to our home to drop off some treat. She would stay for a half hour or so and then make the drive back. She was constantly thinking about us and wanting to make our life a little more special.

My aunt made an even longer drive as she traveled to Utah with my Mom while I was attending BYU because they were concerned about me marrying the wrong man. My aunt was there with me in the temple when I married the right man.

When she and my Aunt Ann served a mission to England, my aunt kept her San Fransisco apartment and told us to come and use it. Ron and I took her up on the offer on a couple of occasions. We enjoyed mini-vacations from the base of her home.

My aunt was there at baby blessings, baptisms, and other important family occasions. She rejoiced with us during the good times and prayed for us during the difficult times. As she grew older, she wasn't able to attend all the family celebrations that she wished but she still was a large part of our lives.


Over two years ago, she moved in with my mother and her husband, Jack. Life was hard for her because she couldn't do all that she wished. But her gentle spirit and wise counsel continued to bless and inspire our lives. Truly, she was a second mother to our family.

Sunday evening, my little family went to dinner at my Mom's. I could tell that my aunt was not feeling well. Monday morning, I received a phone call from my Mom. My aunt was in the E.R. Monday afternoon, I traveled to the hospital. I found my aunt lying very still in her hospital bed. She was so still that I knew this would probably be her final illness.

Early Tuesday February 1, my aunt passed away. She was not afraid to die. She looked forward to being reunited with her parents and other loved ones. As I sat with her in the hospital room Monday evening, there was a sacred feeling in her room. I could almost sense the spirits of family waiting to welcome her "home."

Aunt Alice--I will miss you. You truly were one of the noble and great ones. Thank you so much for your example and your love. I hope that I can be more like you.