Half Way Thru October (mom)

Dear Family,

I was going to title this "Feeling kind of lonely" but that sounded so pathetic I decided to focus on how fast this month is flying by.

But really I am feeling rather lonely, but you don't have to feel sorry for me. Dad has gone to China, Max has gone with Zach's for a guys night out and Brent and Nancy have gone to St. George. Frankly, I can't remember the last time I felt lonely so this is interesting. It is not that I don't have plenty to do, it is just that I am pretty much missing dad A LOT and I wanted to share my thoughts. He left on Tuesday, Oct.11 and won't be home until Thursday October 27. That's a long time. Funny thing is, he used to do this all the time (travel that is) and I NEVER remember feeling lonely even though I missed him a lot. I am sure it was because I had all of you to take care of. I have this new resolve that when he gets home we are going on weekly dates and nightly walks and doing all kinds of together things. Life is just too short. I think part of what is hard is that I keep thinking about uncle Kent and how hard it must be for him.

So I have gotten a lot done. I helped Janey address her thank you cards yesterday. She came up to do her laundry and we did a trade. She cleaned the wood floor and vacuumed while I addressed all her envelopes. Good trade for me. She is almost done with thank yous.

I have been canning the last couple weeks. I got pears from Marion and did those and then I picked tomatoes in Mike and Karyn's garden and canned those, along with making Janey's delicious tomato soup. (I think we have had soup every night dad has been gone. Poor Max is such a good sport.) I have been to the dentist and didn't have any cavities. I have been on hikes every week with my sisters Karen and Nancy. Many are short, but they all are fun. They are motivted to get in shape for their Peru trip next spring. I just LOVE to hike. I finally found a voice teacher for Max. It is Annie Orgill Woodson who studied voice at the U and lives not too far from here and only charges $10/lesson. He liked his first lesson.

And speaking of Max, he performed with the Allstate Choir last weekend in the Tabernacle under the direction of Mack Wilburg and it was fabulous! I could not believe the energy that choir had. Soo good. Grandma Winder went with dad and I.

Let see, going back, I tended my three darling grandkids for a few days and loved having them. I was not lonely those days at all! They were wonderful and fun to have. (I can read Kristi's mind while she is reading this - she knows how to prevent this lonliness!) I do hope to have them again, and to have Bret and Clay. It's fun to have them with their parents, but it is really fun just to get them alone and see their cute personalities.

So tomorrow is our Primary Sacrament Meeting Program and we are looking forward to that. I have been reading "Daughters in my Kingdom" and enjoying that. Hopefully all the girls (and husbands) are finding time to read that.

I think that does it for now. Sure love all of you. --Mom

4

From my other blog....


Wow. Time flies when you are having fun, eh? Not sure how this little guy went from 0 - 4 in about two seconds, but he did! Having Bentley and Ivy so close together really through me for a loop (I know, you are thinking...really? She's not over it yet? But nope, not over it yet.). I think the hardest thing about it (besides trying to care for a newborn while puking my guts out) was that I felt like I didn't really get to pay enough attention to Bentley while he was just a little guy.

So it has actually been kind of fun this past month as Gwen has been gone at school all day and I just have the younger two at home. I feel like I am getting to see a fun side of Bentley (and Ivy). It's been fun to get to spend more time with him and to make up for some serious lost time while I was in a state of "two baby delirium" for a couple of years (I can hear twin moms laughing hysterically, I know dudes, I'm not as tough as you. I admit it).

Anyway, just thought I would give a little Bentley update for posterity's sake here on Bentley's fourth birthday.

Bentley finally started preschool, which he absolutely loves. He's been dying to go since he first found out about preschool about two and a half years ago. I am so grateful that he is finally old enough to go (misses the school deadline by two weeks, sigh). He goes to a little preschool a few houses down and looks forward to it every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 12:30-3.

Which is when he used to take a nap. And which is when he still does take a nap on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One of my very favorite things about Bentley is that he still takes naps. Willingly, readily and most of the time happily.

He is really in to puzzles right now. It's kind of fun as Gwen never really got in to them so much. He's conquered the 24 piece puzzle and is now loving 48 piecers. And I love Dollar Tree for having such a nice selection of puzzles for $1. When the puzzles get too easy we take two of them and mix all the pieces together for an added element of fun.

He's a master at the bigwheel. That happened over the summer. At the beginning of the summer we had a bike parade and we were kind of the laughing stock of the ward for a while because of how slow we were. But he really picked up on it and I think he is ready to move on to training wheels. Luckily he just got a spiderman scooter ($3 at a garage sale!) and a wiggle car for his birthday. We'll have to get some good time in before the snow starts to fall!

Bentley LOVES to sing. And he loves to sing loudly. It's really made me reconsider the music I listen too. I never thought it was bad, but nothing makes you realize how bad the music you listen to is like your 3 (well now 4) year old belting out songs at Costco. His very favorites are "Tonight Tonight," anything by Owl City, and basically any song you hear on the radio more than five times a day. Yeah, I think I am going to invest in some educational songs and start playing those because that kid can memorize lyrics so quickly! He'll hear a song once and then start singing it.

He is so sweet. Seriously. Gwen is so tough and stubborn that I have kind of learned that I have to be stern with her. But Bentley as soon as he can sense you are upset with him quickly apologizes. Most often he will burst in to tears as well. He just wants to please everyone so much. It is such a relief to have a kid that actually...I don't know... like feels remorse. The other day I was rushing to get the kids in the car so we could pick up Gwen in time. I had told Bentley to grab his shoes and get in the car. I then took out the garbage. When I came in I hollored "Bentley, get up here!". No response, then "BEN!", then forgetting how tender he is "BENTLEY, GET UP HERE RIGHT NOW!". Then I heard some crying. I went downstairs to find him, but he wasn't there. I finally found him in the van, in the garage, with his seatbelt bucked, sobbing. He heard me yelling for him and he couldn't get out of his seatbelt to come find me. And the whole time he was exactly where I had asked him to be, he was so quick that he got out there in the two seconds I was outside taking out the trash. What a sweet, obedient boy.

On the Fourth of July he was tossing a pillow around and somehow fell backwards and hit the back of his head on our coffee table. The corner of the coffee table. I could hear it. I knew it was going to be bad. He cried but I didn't see any blood. It was kind of weird. Then I moved my hand and my hand had blood on it. Then I almost passed out when I saw his small puncture wound on his head. We took him to the instacare where he got two staples put in. This is the first instance of stitches/staples in the Blaine Bassett family history. And I learned that I don't think I can ever. EVER. Be a nurse. I almost tossed my cookies like ten times throughout the whole experience.

He LOVES church. He talks about his primary teachers nearly every day. One day he came home and said, "Mom and Dad we have a big problem". The big problem was that Sister McCorriston (his teacher) wasn't there that week. A few weeks later he excitedly came out of primary to tell us he had figured out why Sister McCorriston had been missing for a couple of weeks - she had had a baby. So cute. He really listens to his primary teachers too and can tell us every week what he learns.

Whenever we ask him to do something, particularly something not fun like going potty, his shoulders immediately slump he looks down and says in a droll voice, "this is gonna take forevvvvvver". I don't know why, but he always says it, and I always think it is hilarious.

For our family reunion this summer we did a family marathon. For two hours we all ran as much as we could and tried to see how many marathons we could collectively run. I thought Bentley would stay in the stroller the whole time but oh no! That kid ran. A lot. In flip flops. When all was said and done I think he logged in about three miles by himself! We really need to get him some running shoes!

He loves to give kisses, and he has some seriously huge lips. No one but me really likes receiving the kisses though, and ironically he doesn't like to receive kisses either, just give them. To his sisters. Blaine and I pray often that he isn't going to be that kid in elementary. You know, the one that runs around kissing people.

The other day when I gave him a haircut I guess I had cut it too short and he said, "this haircut makes me look too much like Grandpa Genessy". Grandpa Genessy is bald. Ha ha.

Bentley is a pure delight to have in our family. He seriously makes me so happy. I love being with him, and everyone he meets just loves him. I feel so lucky to be his mom and so sad to see how quickly he is growing up. I tell him all the time that I want him to stay little but he says he eats too many vegetables so he is going to keep growing. Darn it all.

Christmas in July

http://nickandstef.blogspot.com/2011/07/christmas-in-july.html

okay, so I posted this on my own blog mistakenly, no wonder I got no response ;)

Check it out and let me know what you think! So fun to see you all this past weekend!

Quick Wedding Analysis (Janey)

Family!

I'm back! Warner and I enjoyed a short but sweet honeymoon in the beautiful St. George Yorgason Home. The weather was HOT, but with an air conditioned home, it was great! We got back on the 4th of July and enjoyed almost 2 hours with of fireworks with Warners family (complete with Airials which are now legal in Utah). Since then, I have neglected my email and have focused on getting our little apt. livable. I think I have most of it done, the big thing left is to get the rest of Warners stuff....but he doesn't seemed too stressed about it, so why should?

It's amazing how life just moves forward. Since January, I feel like my life has revolved around the wedding, it's all my little brain could think about! Although there were some stressful moments (ok, and sometimes I just wanted to have it all over with and just be married to Warner), I loved planning the wedding, and I felt like everything went just how I had planned! IT WAS A PERFECT DAY from my point of view! My family and Warner's family were able to be there and pitch in to make it such a wonderful day! I woke up and saw some storm clouds in the distance, but knew it was Grandma Bassett's job to take care of the that one, right? And of course she pulled through!!!!! It turned into a beautiful day!

The temple was perfect: It was so fun to be treated like royalty and get to finally experience being the bride, after so many years of seeing the brides on temple square! The sealing was beautiful with a very special and strong spirit in the room. One of my Grandpa Winder's good friends performed the sealing. Although I would have loved to have had either one of my grandpa's perform the sealing, I know that they were there in spirit, and that the words spoken were from the Lord! The temple is amazing. I feel so blessed to have grandparents on both sides show their love for the temple by serving in the temple and attending often. Anyway, the most important part of the day was so special.

The luncheon was a blast! I was a little worried about this because Warner was in charge and let's just say he's not really a plan ahead kind of guy. But, he pulled off an amazing event at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building! The food was great (I actually ate it and enjoyed it!), and the program was a fun combination. I LOVED IT!

Then I rushed off to get ready for the reception. It's amazing how quickly the time flies. You get done with one thing and it's time for the next. The reception flew by and we had lots of people come! We wrapped up the night with a little daddy daughter dance, and then a couple dance. And then Warner's family took it away with some crazy fun dancing! Warner and I changed and were off to the Grand America after running through sparkler fireworks! It was so fun and I loved it!

Thank you everyone for coming and making the day so amazing! I loved it, and it was many thanks to you. I'll try to get some pictures out soon!
Love you all.
Janey Bassett Nielsen :)

No Regrets (mom)

Dear Family,

I tried to write yesterday to reach my goal of writing every Monday, but we had so many viruses on this computer I had to wait for dad to come to the rescue. Thank goodness for such a great dad!!

Week three of June was hard and great. I got a call Tuesday to learn that Max had been in an accident in the van. He was actually doing service, turning left onto 4100 South from Deno Drive to pick up Uncle Ted and take him to the airport. He thought the eastbound car was turning, not changing lanes and he pulled out and hit it. Janey came upon the accident on her way home from work and that was comforting. Aunt Karen joined them, too. Thankfully no one was hurt, everyone was seatbelted, and the other woman was very nice to Max, who was rather shaken. The car is now in the shop being fixed.

On a happier note, I got to go to Hale Theater with grandma, Nancy and Karen and see Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels. That was fun as we saw Royce and Mardette, Rich and Barbara and a bunch of other people we knew. And it is fun to sit by Aunt Karen at a play because she just laughs and laughs!

Friday and Saturday was the Ragnar Wasatch Back. Yorgs were nice to let us use their surburban. Blaine, Nick, Rosey, Max, Marg and I all headed up together. Our team name was "Running for Presidents" and Andrea had made everyone yellow t-shirts with a photo of our chosen president on the back. I think some of my favorite moments of the whole trip were listening to Blaine read about the bad "A" presidents on the drive up. Very interesting. We got to the little town of Freedom in plenty of time to start my leg 7. The other van had started at 7 am with Ryan and Andrea Lindsey, Tom Larsen, Ned Nordgren, Bryan and Chandi Hurd. The weather was so perfect and the scenery thru all those little towns is beautiful. The hard part comes on the second round, running thru the night. Ug. That is when you start to wonder who on earth would ever pay $85 to be a part of this 191 mile race. The older I get, the worse I do getting no sleep. Thankfully others were willing to drive. Finally at 5 am we could get a little sleep until it was time to run again. Like last Ragnar, I am totally in awe of my kids. Who would have thought they could all do so well? Yes, we can do hard things! And it is amazing what a few days perspective can give you. I think had I written this when I got home on Saturday I would have just moaned and moaned. I'm not ready to do another one, but I certainly don't have regrets that we did this. So many fun memories.

And while we were running, dad was helping Curt pack up his belongings all day. The condo is sold (it should be final tomorrow). What a great brother dad is.

It was fun being together on Father's Day. We missed Kristi and kids and hope to get to hear about your trip. I loved my phone message from Gwen about the joy of picking and eating strawberries. We enjoyed our steak dinner and being together with everyone else. We missed Warner, too. Dad appreciates all the thoughtful gifts. I loved doing puzzles with little Bret - smart boy he is.

Time is up. Love to all,

Mom

June so Far (Mom)

Hi Family,

I have set the timer for 15 minutes and decided that I would try and write each Monday morning to catch everyone up on the week at home.

In this case it will be a week and a half. June 2 Janey and I went with Nancy, Marg, Karen Yorg, Gwen, the twins and Aimee and Tami to St. George. Janey posted the pictures and we had a fun and relaxing time. Karen brought crafts, we gave facials, we watched movies, we ate both in and out and the most intense activity was probably tanning! We loved that Stef came. We missed Rosey and Kristi, A LOT! We hope maybe someday we can do it again with everyone.

Meantime the boys all went to the Jordan North Stake Fathers and Sons in Fountain Green. Dad, Max, Blaine, Ben, Nick, Bret and Clay reportedly had a wonderful time. They brought home lots of popcorn!

Dad started his new job that the LDS Church office building on Monday, June 6 in the media dept. So far, so good! He really likes it. He is currently sharing an office with his boss, Tim Taggart, and he likes that. That office is right next door to Stef's dad (who played a huge part in dad getting the job. We are forever grateful!) The dept is moving to a building across North Temple in a couple weeks and he will get his own office. Dad is in awe how wonderful it is to sit in a meeting with others, face and face, and discuss things. He worked at home/long distance waaaay too long. He wears a suit and white shirt and tie everyday to work and the minute I finish this letter I must get downstairs to my ironing! Or go buy him new shirts (ironing is cheaper!)

Wed. June 8 thru Sat. June 11 Max went on a Venture Scout campout. Our ward combines with the 4th ward so there were 8 kids from both wards. He was the oldest there. Leaders included Doug Moeller and James Yorgason. They took bikes and did lots of biking. They went to Goblin Valley and Fountain Green on the way home.

My best friend, Michele Gray Hart's mother passed away a week ago and the funeral was Saturday. I was able to take a meal in and visit with her several times this week, along with attending the funeral. I sat next to my own mom at the funeral and felt so grateful she is still around. It was great to be with Michele, too.

Janey, Rosey and I donated blood on Thursday. Rosey was fastest at 5:08. Not that it matters.

Dad and I went out to eat with all of the Stake Presidency on Saturday. It was basically our Christmas party that has taken 6 months to find a date for! We went to Olive Garden - yum.

We had lots to dinner yesterday. We missed Kristi, and Nick's gang. We ate pork roast and potatoes and gravy and Janey's delicious rolls. And carmel popcorn for dessert. Dad and I were able to have a nice visit with Blaine about all their upcoming decisions. Dad also gave him a Father's blessing. Janey and Warner stuck around to play a few rounds of Bananagrams to end the evening. It was a good Sabbath.

So that catches up a bit of our week. Janey and Warner are down to 16 days! It was fun watching Father of the Bride with them on Saturday!

We love you all.

Mom

8x10's posted

Here are the photos we posted on our wall. Enjoy! (B&K send us yours as soon as you can)

Another day in paradise

Hi Gang,

Yesterday was another busy day.  Stake Presidency at 7:00 (got to sleep in an hour), Church Meetings from 9:00-12:00.  Finish writing talk.  Go to do interviews at 4:00.  Seminary Graduation at 7:00 where I spoke.  Stuffing envelopes for Janey's wedding invitations.  Pudding and ice cream at Yorgs.  And then watching a 1 hr show about Jimmer at 10:30.

It was a great day.  Max pulled out home videos, so between meetings, I got to see Max sing "Digging in Dinoland", Blaine introduced me to chocolate sunflower seeds, Nick joined the hunter water polo team, Rosey was forcing herself to sit at the piano for her 30 minute practice, Janey was in her clean room studying.  And mom was cleaning the old blue van before we sold it so that is was cleaner then when we got it.

All in all it was just another day in paradise.  And as Wally Francom said in his sacrament talk today, then it's on to Marvelous Monday, followed by Tremendous Tuesday and Wonderful Wednesday.  After that we hit Terrific Thursday and Fabulous Friday.  Little Michael Winder then named the weekend, Stupendous Saturday, and Sacred Sunday.

For those interested, here's a link to my seminary graduation talk.  I got lots of nice comments on it.  http://bbbmetaphors.blogspot.com/2011/05/seminary-acceptance-talk-may-2011.html

Loves to all!

Dad

Happy Birthday Stef!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEF!

Well I feel like physically ill because I forgot to wish you a happy birthday today, and it would be one thing if I just didn't call at all, but nope...I called, I talked to you, I tried to convince you to buy my old kids chairs off of me, but I did not wish you a happy birthday. Ugh.

I hope it was a great day, you deserve it! I love being a part of your family and think you are such a fun person.

I can't wait till we live next door to eachother and open up a zumba studio! Counting down the days (er....years).

Love ya Stef!

Carl Bloch Exhibit - great day/ Dad

We had a great trip to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU's museum of art on Saturday.  His paintings were all so familiar, as the church has used them for manuals, and artwork for classes etc, ever since I can remember.

It was particularly fun to use an iPad for the first time.  The school had created a program that ran on the ipad which had talk exerpts from the apostles on the event depicted, commentary by lutheran pastors who were involved in sharing the artwork with us, and commentary by byu professors about the importance of the work.  There were also visual panoramas of the church's where the artwork came from (inside and outside the church). It was all very inspiring and interesting.

Afterwords we went to dinner at Los Hermanos.  My favorite part of the evening was when Ben was standing by me, he reached up and rubbed his hand along my shirt pocket, and said, 'Grandpa, is that your iphone?'  And I said, ' Yes'.  I thought he was going to pull it out to check it out.  But instead his hands started touching my buttons on the front of my shirt, and he pushed against my belly.  'Grandpa, what's this?'  And I said, 'It's my tummy.'  He continued pressing against my hard (full) belly, and then he grabbed my shirt and started pulling up on it.  I asked 'Ben, what're you doing now?'  And he kept trying to pull my shirttails out, and finally he said, 'I'm trying to see what's really in there.'

Ben said another fun thing that evening when grandma was admiring his new shirt, which had a guitar on the front.  She asked 'So Ben, where'd you get that fun shirt?'  And Ben said, 'Oh, I got it from my drawer.'

Maybe you had to be there.  But it sure is fun getting to spend time with these sweet grandkids.

Thanks Blaine and Kristi for sharing them with us!

Loves
Dad

General Conference Weekend (mom)

Hello dear family. One of my favorite weekends of the year is coming up - General Conference.

So here is what I know. Nick and Stef are coming up on Friday evening. Their boys will already be here because Stef's mom is in St. George and bringing them up on Tuesday. Nick's family will all stay with us Friday night and watch conference Saturday morning with us. Then they will spend the afternoon session at Morris's and spend the night there and stay there for Sunday morning session. They will come back to our house for the Sunday afternoon session and dinner.

As for Priesthood, I'm sure dad would love to go with his boys to our stake center. And I'm just pretty sure that would have to include a visit to Chinese Gourmet.

Yorgasons are hosting Winder Family Meeting on Sunday evening at 6 pm (with Brian and Chandi doing the lesson and refreshments) so we want to attend that.

I would love to invite all of you to dinner on Sunday at 5 after the last session. Also at that time, Janey would like to talk to the boys about piano songs at her wedding.

I will plan on Sunday dinner for 15 unless you tell me otherwise.

My life

Hey all! I am sitting at my little desk in my bedroom this beautiful rainy Sunday morning just kind of missing all of you. I thought I could take away my woes by writing a quick update about my life to the BAWB. So here goes:

Life is been great and busy for me. I am loving school, although I have found it to be very difficult, with difficulty comes great satisfaction. I am currently working on completely a research project that has proved to be one of the hardest things I have ever done in school. I am slowly learning and understanding and I am grateful for that. I love all of my classes! I am taking a wide variety of classes including classes about the different kinds of therapy, social work in a school setting, social work and law, and even have a class where I have been assigned a real live client. It is so fun to be in school when every class is interesting and applicable to my life's goals.

I was recently assigned my two internships for the remainder of my time in the Social Work program. This summer I will work at a place called ARCH (addiction recovery counseling ...something that starts with an h, can't remember). ARCH is located in South Jordan, and so I have decided to move home for the summer! I am excited to have free rent, and to have the greatest room mates in the world. I am also excited to start my internship, I know I will learn SO much. I am hoping to be able to work specifically with adolescents as well as court ordered patients at this facility, most of my clients will have addictions including substances and pornography. Oh this world is such a mess, but I am excited to contribute to making some small change in it!

The internship I was assigned to do this upcoming fall/winter semester (where I will do 20 hours a week work and full time school) is at a place called Scenic View. There I will work with adults with learning disabilities (particularly with Autism and Aspbergers) to help them become functional in society. This will be a blast! I am very much looking forward to it. I am still unsure where I will live during the fall which always seems to be the most stressful decision to make this time of year!

Besides school, I continue to work on grounds. Some of you have heard about my friend Jesse who I work with. He has BRIGHT red hair and we just get along dandy. I am unsure about whether I want to pursue a "romantic" relationship with him, but greatly enjoy his friendship. I love working on grounds because it allows me to just release my stress and enjoy the great outdoors! In addition to grounds I am working on a research project with a professor in my department, this job is a bit more stressful! I also am going to coach track at Ambers elementary school starting this week. Her principal was in need and knew that I ran (I volunteered there last year)...I am SO excited! Call me coach...ha!

I also continue to play intramurals. I am on a girls basketball team with some friends (including our cousin Jill Gurney, who is so fun!) and am also playing on a co-ed soccer team. I love my intramurals and do not know what I am going to do this summer when I don't have them! Life is going great. I hope all of you are doing well. I love you all!

Love, Rosey

Getting Engaged (Janey)

This is the same thing I posted in the BARK...but just for the record. :)

I wanted to share my exciting news for those who weren’t in town when I made my announcement…I’m engaged!

A few days before Grandma’s passing Warner told me to save Saturday and Sunday (Jan 29-30) because he was going to take me down to St. George so we could stay with Nick and Stef (so he could propose.) He wanted to make the proposal special; he knows I LOVE St. George so he was going to propose down there. However, after Grandma passed away we knew we wouldn’t be going out of town because of the funeral and burial. I was a little bummed because I was anxious to get engaged. I debated all week long whether or not I wanted Warner to propose over the weekend. I thought it might be kind of weird to get engaged right after you had a funeral and I wanted the focus to stay on Grandma. I also thought it would be fun to go out of town to get engaged….but that would have meant waiting another week. However, I thought how much fun it would be to get engaged while so much family was still in town. I was torn! I finally decided to tell Warner that he could propose whenever he wanted as long as he did it after all the funeral stuff was over.

So here’s how he did it:

My family got home from Idaho on Saturday around 7:30. I figured he was going to do it that night because he asked me to go down to his house in Lehi. He answered the door with a dozen red roses in his hand. I went in to his house and waited by his door while put his shoes on. When we were ready to go his mom suggested she take a picture before we headed out the door (yeah, he was totally going to propose tonight….we never take pictures before we go on our dates). He took me to Outback Steakhouse and we enjoyed a yummy dinner and ended it with taking a picture. During the dinner he kept texting his brother, so I thought that maybe his brother was setting something special up somewhere. But by the end of the meal he hadn’t suggested we go anywhere, so I asked if we should just go back to his house and watch a movie. I was surprised when he agreed to this…maybe we weren’t getting engaged. As we drove to his house I figured that maybe his mom had set something special up at their house. But I was wrong again…everything was normal. The only kind of weird thing was that when we walked in, his mom hurried and turned off the TV and ran back into her bedroom. Normally she would sit and chit-chat with us. Now it was just the two of us in his family room. I sat down on the couch and got all snuggled-up under the blanket. Warner put in the movie we had decided on and then sat down next to me. Normally he’ll move close and cuddle with me under the blanket, but he seemed so stiff and when I asked him to move closer because I was freezing, he only slightly moved. Then, he looked at the screen and started saying things like, “What’s this? What in the heck?” And at that point I could see he had made a movie. He made a short little slide show of pictures of us/me and ten reasons why he loved me. I suddenly understood why he was so adamant about taking pictures that night. Most of the pictures he had of us were pretty lame and not very good. But, it was a sweet little slide show and at the end he got down on one knee and proposed.

So there you have it! It was short and sweet. I am so grateful that he proposed that weekend. This way I will always feel like Grandma Bassett was a part of it. I decided that Grandma’s marriage advice to me was what Sid shared in his talk about ‘taking care of your marriage, and the Lord will take care of the rest.’ I loved that I was able to tell so many of you in person at Jill and Kyle’s. I wished I would have had a camera when you all shouted with excitement. I felt so special and could feel your love. Thanks for being such an amazing family!

I will send a Picasa link of pictures soon!

Oh, and the date is Thursday, June 30^th.

Loves.

Janey

Max's Bark letter About Grandma....CARRY ON, CARRY ON!!!

Hey family!
This week has been a hard week, but a happy week with all of the family being here. The funeral was amazing and I could just feel the spirit of the Lord overwhelmingly. I could feel Grandma and Grandpa Bassett there in that chapel as we sang our songs and throughout the entire meeting, I knew they were watching over us, as I still know today. What a great family we have! I'm so happy to have the blessing of such a wonderful family that can still love eachother and be united, even with a hard loss like this.
When Grandma passed away, I was able to be in the hospital that night to say my goodbyes. I felt the spirit and felt at peace that grandma was in a better place. She is happy now! When I got home from the hospital, even though it was about 1 in the morning and I had school the next day, I pulled out my journal and began writting my thoughts and feelings about Grandma and about what I had felt that night. I want to share with you guys some of the things I wrote down.

"Today has been a sad, but happy day. Tears have been shed, prayers have been said and hugs and kisses have gone around from person to person. Grandma Bassett passed away at 10:45 p.m. today on sunday, January 23 2011. Janey and I drove to the hospital at about 2:00 where we saw her. She seemed like she was doing great but I could tell that she was going through many pains. Lots of people were there to say their hello's and possibly their goodbyes, no one was quite sure what was going to happen. Robbie & Christina and their family were there with Richie & Carolyn along with Jill. Mom and Dad were there. Blaine and Kristi came with their kids. Gwen had drawn a cute nativity picture for Grandma. Janey and Warner were there. Rosey was there. Bruce, Jeanie, Bob, Ashley and Brooke were all there. Aunt Stephanie was there with Remington. Uncle Curt was there and Elise came a little later with Kyle. After a while, people had left because of restless kids, etc. Later on, Tanner was there. Liz & Kent came with Chelsea and Ashley. It was so amazing to be with all of the family that was there in the hospital. I could just feel the spirit so strongly. It never left! Grandma brought the family "all together again." I love Grandma Bassett so much! She taught me things that I will never forget. She taught me how to Carry On, she taught me to smile because smiling will always brighten up someone's day. She taught me to pray whenever I need help because Heavenly Father is ALWAYS there for us. She taught me the importance of family. She taught me how to cook caramel popcorn. She taught me how to lead the music. She taught me how to "move it, move it." She helped me to pursue my singing and piano talents and the great importance of sharing our talents with everyone. She taught me that the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is unimaginable! We can't even comprehend how much they love us, and how much they want us to reutrn to live with them again. Grandma Bassett taught me all this plus so much more! It's impossible to count! She was one of the very best influences in my life. I have a bunch of fun memories with Grandma. Everytime I saw her sweet, smiling face I would give her a hug and just that simple hug brightened up my entire day. I'll never forget Camp Grandma's when we would march around every morning. I'll never forget Family Reunions and always looking forward to what Grandma, the Senior with Class, wanted us to do each day. I'll never forget dancing around singing "I like to move it move it." I'll never forget playing Bumble Boogie for her over and over again just trying to impress her more and more each time and promising her that I would never forget that song and that I would share it with all who wanted to hear. I'll never forget being Grandma's Homecoming date at Bassett Academy where she taught me how to waltz. I'll never forget when I was able to exscort Grandma down the aisle at Joe and Tannith's wedding. Most of all, I'll never forget the sweet person she was with her strong testimony and her good example. Grandma Bassett has taught me how to be happy in life and how to gain a true testimony. I know she's with her family on the other side, happy as can be!! I know we will all see her again someday, but we've got to live how she would want us all to; to live righteously. I love Grandma Bassett with all of my heart. I know we will see her again, and until then..........CARRY ON, CARRY ON!!"

All that can change in a weekend (Blaine)

First of all I want to say that I don't mean to push Mom's great post down so (relatively) soon after she posted it. The BAWB has had nothing on it for weeks, months even, and as soon as someone writes something she gets booted from the top straightaway. Sorry, Mom, but you inspired me.

Next I would mention how crazy it is how much things have changed in the few short days since Mom wrote her post on Friday. There are no longer any question marks with Grandma's health, with Dad's potential job, or with whether Mom will be running outside for the rest of the season or if more snow is to come. All of these things have played out and here we are on the other side, trying to make sense of it all. To take things in the opposite order of how I listed above, here are some of my thoughts:

It snowed today. Right when we thought (hoped!) that maybe we just might be lucky enough to start deserving some warmer days. At one point I was slated to go night skiing this evening with Clay and some of the Winder cousins but cancelled that when I didn't have time to arrange skis and when I realized that I would be taking Friday off and it wouldn't be a good week to have other short days.

On Dad's job. He told me Friday night that he had found out that the job wasn't going to happen. I was on my way home from meeting with the Dean of BYU's law school who had informed me that I was accepted into their school but hadn't mentioned any scholarships. I can only imagine how ungrateful and spoiled it must make me sound, but I have to confess. I realized as I ended that meeting how much I had gotten my hopes up that he was meeting with me for something more significant than just acceptance. I am ashamed to admit it but I had a hard time not feeling really disappointed that there wasn't a scholarship of some kind built in. Not that I really deserve it, but I had had enough good news that I had begun to feel pretty confident. Anyway, as I felt like I was "crashing down" from my lofty hopes to a harsher reality, I talked to Dad on the phone and found out that he had not "been accepted". We talked about some of what may have gone wrong, what regrets he had or what he may have done differently if he could do it over. It was an interesting conversation to have at that moment for me. I felt like I had been humbled and brought down to earth but talking to Dad suddenly put me in my place. The man has worked more hours in the last few years than any of us besides maybe Mom even realizes. And so much of it isn't work work, but service work. He gives nearly all his time to others, always with such strength and optimism. Then he lost his mom the same weekend that he got shut out from his reach for the lifeline that this new opportunity may have presented. And here I was, riding home, feeling disappointed that the opportunity afforded me at one of the ten schools I applied to was only good, not great. Anyway, I just want to say that our thoughts, our prayers, our hopes, and our support in any way we can give it is here for you, Dad. This has to be a hard time for you but you never show it. Because that's not your way. You are an amazing example of manhood, of fatherhood, of service, and of faith. Thank you for that and may the Lord bless you in these trials.

Finally, a few thoughts about Grandma. It actually surprised me how emotional I was on Monday, the day after. Grandma's was the first death I have experienced where I had held her hand, talked to her, and actually gotten sensible responses back on the same day that she passed. Grandma was Grandma, as far as I ever saw her, until I squeezed her hand and said goodbye. I told her thank you for all that she had given us. She said "Now you just have to stay true to it." Sunday night we got the text from Dad that she was going to her home. The night was fuzzy. The next day was sad. My thoughts kept returning to grandma. Not the grandma in the hospital but, for some reason I can only guess, to the grandma who stayed with us when I was 8 and Mom and Dad went on a cruise. She and her mother (Grandma Remington) stayed and watched us for a week. It was the first time I really got to know either of them, since they had previously just been, respectively, Texas grandma and Idaho Grandma. I remember they helped me practice the piano and learn the songs. I couldn't have been in lessons for more than a few months but I remember them listening to my little tunes as I played them out of the green Schaum Primer and singing along with the corny lyrics to help me. I remember there was a new note, the C above middle C, that I had never seen before. They helped me count up to it and find the right note. Things were different with both of them after that week. They still lived in Texas and Idaho but now they were real people to me. So I sat there yesterday, wondering why that memory was what kept coming into my mind yesterday, out of all the memories that I have of Grandma. All I can figure is that that memory stands out because it was so different from all the others. It is one of the few one-on-one moments I can recall with grandma. Sitting there on that piano bench together. Some people nurture one-on-one relationships. Grandma Bassett, for all her strengths, however, was not a one-on-one grandma. Grandma didn't need to be alone with you to make you feel special. She could do it with a look and a snarky remark from across the room. Grandma was much more comfortable one-on-one-hundred. She knew how to be the center of attention; she knew how to blend in and enjoy being one of the crowd. But crowds were her thing. Big, loud groups of people were where Grandma felt at home. I think it was fitting that her hospital room was not a quiet or solemn place during her final hours. It was not a one-on-one bedside situation. It was a party, a crowd, a shouting match, practically, all the way until the end.

Thanks again, Grandma, for everything you've given us and taught us. Thanks for starting the party, we'll be sure to keep it going until we see you again.

It's Never Too Late (mom)

Dear Family,

I could start by telling you how sad I feel that we haven't been keeping up on this family blog lately, or I could just tell you how I know everyone is really busy and that I think we all have lots of love for each other and good intentions and that I hope we can do better in the future. It's never too late to change and do better. I hope everyone will feel the need to write and share in 2011!

I'm tempted to tell you what Janey and Max are up to, since they live at home, but I shall overcome that temptation and write only about dad and I.

Dad's is as swamped as ever at work. There are days when I go downstairs to visit with him and I can tell that "OVERWHELMED" is the word of the day. He is such a great example to me because he just hangs in there thru the pain. I don't tell him often enough how much I love and appreciate him for that. I think most of you know that he has interviewed with the Church media department (where Stef's dad works.) Dad had a lengthy phone interview 2 weeks ago and this past Tuesday was invited downtown to interview with three people. The rest of the day he kept telling me interesting things from the interview. I think what stood out to him most was how formal the culture of the COB (Church Office Bldg) is and how he has never worked in an environment where everyone dresses up. They were in the process of interviewing so he has no idea whether or not he will get the job, but it certainly was an interesting experience. We keep praying that if it is right, something good will happen. We have no idea on salary at this point, in case that passed your mind.

Dad is also in the middle of Ward Conferences. He started last Sunday with our 2nd ward. He gave a great talk. Our stake has a theme each year (temple, family history, missionary work, etc.) This year our theme is on finding joy and happiness. I'm sure he will share his talk.

We have both spent plenty of time at IMC hospital visiting grandma Bassett, including several sleepovers. Just yesterday grandma was moved from the IMC Heart and Lung Center where she has been for 10 days, to a transitional facility where she can spend up to 20 days (that is what insurance will cover) She has a private room and can have visitors 24/7. Aunt Jill is still in town but I think that is coming to an end very soon. Jill has been with grandma almost constantly so it is going to be hard when Jill goes home. We are not sure what the future will bring. Grandma is trying to have a good attitude, though she would rather be in her home. She is on oxygen and we worry about fluids building up again, which seems to be a big part of her problem. In case you want to visit she is at: Aspen Ridge (sounds like a ski vacation huh?)5323 South Murray Road (that is 7th West on the northeast corner of 53rd and 7th west behind the Conoco gas station) in room 215. It is a very nice facility.

Other things in my life include my daily runs (I have been running outside again which I prefer to the treadmill), my regular Thursday cleaning, being 2nd coun in Primary (I love that calling), donating blood (Janey and I went yesterday and we are really proud of ourselves) and helping the sister missionaries. I not only feed them sometimes but they call me often to go on teaching appts with them. That is been really interesting. I don't miss driving carpool every morning now that C&K have a car. I do miss visiting with the kids though.

So that is life and I better quit or this will be too long to read. I would love to hear ANYTHING that anyone wants to share.

Love, Mom