My Boys Friday: Doing something important with it

Years and years ago, when my great grandpa passed away, he left all his grandchildren $1000. Growing up in a family like mine where money isn't the most important thing in the world, I remember my mom sitting on her check for quite some time.

She didn't go out and blow it.

She didn't buy something stupid with it.

She didn't use it to pay off bills.

Instead, after a lot of thought, she decided that the best way to spend the money would be to purchase something that would always remind her of her grandpa, my great grandpa.

A grandfather clock.

The details are a bit blurry now, but my mom, sister, brother and I spent months and months (or maybe weeks and weeks) scouring the valley for THE clock. It couldn't be too fancy, or too new. It needed a story behind it, some character, and it needed to be grand.

The day we walked into the the little clock shop I remember we all knew, when we saw the clock, that it was THE clock. It fit all my mom's specifications and the little old grandpa who sold it to her told us some wonderful stories about it's history. It wasn't new, and had already had quite a life.

And if I remember right, it came in at exactly $1000.

It represented grandpa.

It still does.

That was the point, to have something that would help us remember.

*****
On Monday my dad and his siblings closed on my grandma's house. She passed away last November and as of Monday, her estate is now closed. I guess in a way, Grandma's memory is closed a bit too. I still think about her almost every day, know that she is watching us from heaven, and am pretty sure that before the Squirt was born, she gave him a stern talking to about being a good boy, because she had experienced first hand, every Sunday at dinner, what a stinker his brother could be.

That being said, yesterday my boys and I had the chance to go to lunch with my dad and my brother. I was just in it for the cherry coke and everyones crushed ice. Then my dad reached into his pocket and very nonchalantly handed me a piece of paper.

A check.

For a large sum of money.

From my grandma.

I told my dad to take it back, that I didn't need or want any money.

He said that my grandma would have wanted me to have it.

He's probably right, but I'll tell you internet, it made me nervous to say the least.

If there was ever any money that needed to be used wisely and thoughtfully, it's that money.

Immediately, I thought of the grandfather clock in my mom's family room. And wondered...

What can I do with this money to honor my grandma?

I don't need to use it for bills, or toys. I don't just want it to sit somewhere.

After talking to Ross, he gave me the best idea.

The money is going to my boys.

The great grandsons.

They each will get half into their savings accounts.

It may not be a clock, but it will be a legacy.

To be able to tell my boys when their older that part of their mission or college education will have been paid for by their great grandma.

Who loved them very, very much!

Decisions, Decisions

Photography submissions for the county fair are due this weekend.

Each individual can enter up to three photos in three different categories. My brother-in-law is submitting photos as well, hopefully not in the same categories as me.

I'm entering in the Amateur category, and cannot decide which images to submit.

Here are my options.

Sports:


Botanical or Macro:


Wedding:
Option A


Option B


Child, portrait
Option A


Option B


So, what do you think? I can submit three, which three should I do?

"I yuv da boat, mama"

As a kid, my grandpa always had a boat at the yacht club at Pine View Reservoir up Ogden Canyon.



I LOVED going to the boat in the summer. It was the general highlight of my youth and adolescence. We'd go up twice a week in the summer and on Friday nights have a big party.

Every week.

All.

summer.

long.

It was heaven.



My grandpa still has a boat but it doesn't get much use. My uncle has a boat and last night he invited us up to the club for sweet little Eva's birthday party.

It was wonderful.

A flood of memories.

The Monkey YUVED the boat. He had a smile plastered on his face from ear to ear the entire ride.

The Squirt:: 10 weeks

Today, my little squirt is 10 weeks old and guess what - I cannot believe where the time has gone.

10 weeks.

Time flies.

He is so much fun that I can hardly believe how lucky I am to have such a great little guy in my family.

He is still happy and content. He can lift his head up all the way when he's on his tummy and unlike his brother, doesn't scream at me for making him do it.

We have so much fun talking to each other every single day. This kid's smile at 10 weeks can light up a room - I can only imagine what it will look like when he's older. The smile and the eye lashes. Oh my! How my boys have such diving eye lashes I don't know, but I'm jealous to say the least.



I suppose that there aren't too many milestones for such a little person - just being alive and happy every day counts for a lot. The Squirt drinks 8 oz. bottles, sleeps peacefully through the night. He loves the Beatles, particularly "all my lovin" and I cannot say enough that he is just the sweetest thing around.

Wyatt's birthday is already such a blur for me. I remember crying the night before as I put Elliott to bed because he was no longer going to be my baby. I remember setting my alarm to wake up at 3 am so I could eat something before my 12 hours of empty stomach started. I remember walking into the hospital more calm and content than I thought i should be, watching baby shows on the tv and getting a little sick to my stomach because the hospital was behind schedule and I was starving.



I was much more alert and aware of the whole c-section process with Wyatt - I even watched my reflection in the light for most of the prep and the start of the surgery. Everything was so fast the second time around, or at least it felt that way. The spinal, the numb legs, Ross coming into the room and then voila! a baby with a head of dark hair and an angry little cry. Absolutely wonderful I tell you.

After Ross left with the baby and my doctor was sewing me up, the conversation turned, believe it or not, to porn stars. I was too out of it to know how it got started, and wasn't of course, interested in participating, but did you know that Adam West (the original Batman) was in naughty movies? That's what my anesthesiologist said. Not sure if it's true, but who knows.

That's all I remember. I was wheeled to recovery and was pretty sleepy when Ross came back in and started making phone calls. Totally drugged and wrapped in blankets - a pretty good feeling. I was more coherent than I thought I would be and by the time we got up to my regular room and they brought my sweet baby too me, life was awesome.

Everything from that point is a blur - I suppose as it should be. Lots of visits and babies and family. Yucky hospital food and a desperate need to get home and start taking care of my family again.

And that was 10 weeks ago. It could have been yesterday and a year ago all at the same time though. Isn't it funny how time plays tricks on you like that. One minute, pregnant and grumpy and miserable and a few hours later, a baby and happy, a little drugged, and immediately forgetting all the yuckiness of only a few hours earlier.

Pretty cool how nature works that way....or in my case, medicine.

I'm one lucky girl to be the mom of such good boys.

My boys Friday: not that I'm comparing them or anything

There are very few ways that these boys of mine are alike.

They are both 50% me and 50% their dad.

They are both cute.

They are both boys.

That's about as far as their similarities go, especially when remember what the MOnkey was like as a baby. Oh, the screaming, the screaming, the screaming.

After the Squirts 2 month check-up yesterday (a week late), it seems that these boys have at least one commonality between them.

Their size.