Top of the morning to you! *

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In our family St. Patrick's Day is kinda a big deal.  My great-great-grandfather John Joseph Hayes came from Ireland.  And my great grandpa, Henry Nephi Hayes, who was a judge in Richfield, was very proud of his Irish heritage, and made sure everyone knew it, especially on St. Patrick's day, when he ordered 200 green carnations to be shipped to Richfield and then proudly carried his genuine Irish Cane made from the Black Thorn of Ireland, decked with green ribbons while he delivered green carnations to every teacher in town, making sure that each of his own 10 children also had a green carnation to wear.  My grandmother, Elese Hayes Monson, made sure that green carnations were delivered to all of her family members each St. Patrick's day, and my mother continues to order green carnations for us all each year.  Since my daughters have been at college, I send green carnations to each of them to be delivered on the 17th, and my aunt and uncles that live in Salt Lake make sure that green carnations are placed on my grandma's grave each St. Patrick's day.  But that is not the end of the traditions...oh no...in our family growing up, we had to be decked out from head to toe in green every March 17th. My mom made SURE of this, even making us new green Sunday dresses if St. Patrick's day ever fell on a Sunday.  On the 17th we listened to Irish music and "decked " out the house with shamrocks and other Irish decor. 

John Joseph, Henry Nephi, Elese, and my mother, Ann were/are all great poets, putting all kinds of things into rhyme

(from notes to the teacher: 

"The reason why Grant is so late
He had to mend the water gate.
And while he worked there-planing grooving
The clock hands all the time were moving.
And ere he had the work begun,
The janitor the school bell run.
He was engaged upon my "biz."
Excuse him..the fault was mine, not his."   

----Henry Nephi Hayes excuse note for his son Grant

to letters to children, to stories of wedding courtships)

-my mom, grandma, great grandpa, and great-great grandpa could (and did) put anything into verse.  So one of our other St. Patrick Day family traditions is to read the poem "St. Patrick and the Snake," written by John Joseph Hayes almost 200 years ago...it explains, in verse, why there are no snakes in Ireland.  (I didn't include it here because it is quite long.)

And when my grandma died, we (the grandkids) sang this song at her funeral, written by my mom's cousin (the daughter of Elese's sister) the first St. Patrick's day after HER mother died.  (She said she especially missed her mother on the first St. Patrick's day following her death, and thus sat down and composed this song...in verse...of course....) I can't include the music here (and it's much nicer with the melody attached), but the words are as follows:

"My Irish Mother"
By Sherry Carr Meeks

"Do they sing Irish songs in heaven on St. Patrick's Day?
Do they celebrate the wearing of the green?
And are the Irish eyes still smiling? Do they dance the Irish jig?
Is that Irish bit of heaven ever seen?

Is there the too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ra?
Is there a bit of blarney too?
And are the shamrocks growing everywhere
And lakes of shining blue?

Yes, they'll sing Irish songs in heaven this St. Patrick's Day.
Sure the angels will be wearing green somehow.
For sure a little bit of Ireland has gone back to heaven now. 
And the angels sing the Irish songs now.
For my mother's** gone to teach the angels how."

(** we used the word "grandma" here instead of "mother" at my grandma's funeral.)

So from a descendent of Irish heritage..."Top of the morning to you!"  or in other words, "Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!"

*  FYI:  Meaning of the phrase, "Top of the morning to you:" 
The phrase is Irish in origin but now very rarely used in Ireland (except as a sterotypical "Irishism"). It simply means "the best of the morning to you" - perhaps from the idea of unhomogenized milk, where the cream rises to the top. An appropriate response might be a simple "thank you" although the traditional response would be "And the rest of the day to yourself."

St. Patrick's Day 1974-It fell on a Sunday-note our green dresses.  My mom even made one for my "baby Chrissy" doll.  Does anyone remember these dolls from the 70's? -They were the size of real kids (note that "Chrissy" is the same size as my little sister, Jill.)  Chrissy was "way cool" cause she had hair that could "grow" via a hole on the top of her head.  Corinne and I both had these dolls and took them EVERYWHERE-even to church-Thus, Chrissy needed a St. Patrick's day dress as well.  Look closely and you'll see my mom's green carnation pinned to her collar.

Hardy kids Circa 1977.  Matching green shirts made by my mom.  David wasn't born yet, but was "on the way," and my mom had a green maternity top to match.  Dad also had a green shirt to match.  (See... Barlow kids, I'm not the ONLY mom who made her kids occasionally dress alike and take pictures ;) 
From top clockwise: Rex 6 1/2,  Bryce 9,  Clark 1 1/2,  Jill 3 1/2,  Kay 10

Things I Love

It's Valentine's Day, and I'm back....for a minute...don't expect frequent future posts....but in honor of this day of "love" here are some things I love:

 (Disclaimer:  This list is not all inclusive and items are not in any particular order.)

• The color pink
• Chocolate Chip cookies
• Chocolate Chip cookie dough
• Roses
• The smell of roses
• Naps
• The lake or poolside in the summer
• Fresh peach pie
• Chocolate
• Cuddly babies
• A clean house
• Finishing a long run
• Reading
• A meaningful conversation
• A sincere compliment (giving or receiving)
• Comfy and cute PJs
• Being warm on a cold night (Yep, the seat-warmer in the Lexus is AWESOME!)
• Watching my children do "stuff"  (Who knew that I would enjoy watching a livestock show; but when Dallin was showing animals, suddenly watching pigs parade around an arena became  a not-to-be-missed event at the fair......and.....I haven't watched a CC Fair livestock show since.)
• Kent's twinkly blue eyes and mischievous grin
• Visiting/Reminiscing with my siblings
• Looking through photo albums
• Reading old journals/histories
• Hot chocolate with whipped cream
• The smell of rain

And...well...I'm out of time....Going on a Valentine's Day Date! 

Drowning

Webster's definition of DROWN:  to die by being underwater too long and unable to breathe.

I haven't posted in a while.  And although I have a LOT of things I want to post, I don't see a post coming in the foreseeable future.  Figuratively speaking I am drowning.  So until I get a moment to come up for air, this blog will be the the victim of my inability to breathe.

Peter Pan and Growing Up

Not the best quality pic, but a screen shot of
of Disney's Peter Pan, taken of the TV while Luke
and I watched.

My 11-year-old, Luke, had to read Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie for his 6th grade English class.  I was really only semi-aware of this fact.  (Thankfully, Luke is a kid who just "takes care of business" as far as school work.)  Then one unusual weekend night, when only he and I were home.  He came into my bedroom where I was sitting in the recliner watching some mindless show on TV and messing with my phone and said he wanted to watch a movie.  "OK," I mumbled. 

Then he asked, "Where's Peter Pan?"  We own all the Disney movies, but seldom do my kids watch them on a regular basis anymore.  He then announced that he wanted to watch Peter Pan and compare it to the book.  He wisely stated, "The Disney version is a lot different from the book."  I found him the movie and went back to wasting time. 

He then asked, "Mom, can I watch it in your room?" 

I thought that was strange.  I said, "I think you'd enjoy it more downstairs on the big screen with the surround sound." (This was one of the FEW times when he would have no competition for the best TV in the house.) 

 

He then said, "Well, do you want to watch it WITH me?"  I still didn't take the hint.  But after he got it all "set up" (complete with pillows, blankets, and snacks) and again invited me, I realized that my big, tough, 11-year-old football-playing boy wanted to watch a movie (An animated Disney movie no-less) with his mother, so there I sat with him, while he shared his hot Cheetos and hot tamales (quite generous for someone who loves them as much as he does) and gave me a "play by play" on the differences between the book and the movie.  After the treats ran out, he snuggled up to me and began to play with my hair.  (When he was a baby he would play with my hair while he sucked his thumb.  The thumb-sucking is gone, but occasionally, he still fingers my hair.)  And I relished every minute of it.  Coincidentally,  (or maybe not) Peter Pan's whole goal is to "never grow up."  So there I sat next to my "baby," who is no longer a "baby", listening to Peter Pan say "I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!” And wishing that my "baby" might never grow up  (or at least grow up MUCH slower than he is.)  But for those few moments (77 minutes to be exact) I got to enjoy the fantasy of Neverland where my baby will always be my baby....

and.....if you remember.....all Peter Pan really wanted after all was a mother.

 

I really hate that this is the SECOND time I am posting this unattractive picture of me on this blog, but it shows exactly how Luke loved to finger my hair while sucking his thumb.  (*And, disclaimer-I really DID read my kids good-quality literature-I actually HATE books like the one I'm reading here.  You know those books based on kids pop-culture.  But unfortunately we own some and the kids liked them, and of course that's what I happened to be reading when this pic was snapped.)

The College Coed Shuffle and other odds and ends

For some reason, BYU student approved housing has different move-in/move-out dates, which often leave apartment-moving students "homeless" for a few days between the dates they have to be out of their current locations and the dates when they can move into their new locations.  (When Analise was a Freshman, we went to Provo and moved all her stuff into our Suburban and lived with her and our family in a hotel for a few days until she could get into her new apartment.)  We've put things in storage, stacked bins in our home, and moved LOTS of stuff.  This last week, we moved Analise and Kaylee out of their current apartment.  Kaylee was able to get into her fall apartment, but Analise had another week before she was able to move into hers.  So we moved BOTH of them into Kaylee's apartment where Analise then stayed during the week (since she had work) and Kaylee came home to Logandale. (Thus Analise was living in Kaylee's apartment for a week.)  For a family that never "moves" (We've been in our current home for almost 20 years) we sure do a lot of moving.

Kaylee moving in with Analise for Spring/Summer 2013 (Kaylee's is the blue bed-Analise's the pink.) 

Analise moving into her new fall 2013 place

Suburban "storage unit. "
Analise's "stuff" between Winter 2011 and Spring 2011 terms

Setting up Kaylee's bed in new Fall 2013 Apartment.  (Soooo glad I don't live in apartments anymore)
This brick-riser set up looks a bit sketchy.  Hopefully, Kaylee doesn't crash down in the night :)

In other news:  Made a trip to our Kolob cabin which we have owned since 2003.  It's only the 2nd time I've ever been there, and I've never spent the night-trips are mostly to "work on things" although Kent did take the scouts there for an overnighter...once.  So I don't know why I was a bit nostalgic about this trip in which we were meeting with a realtor about selling it.  I know the investment would be better spent on our kids' college tuitions, but it's such a cute little place, and smelled sooo nice-all piney.

Kolob Cabin August 2013

School starts tomorrow.  I'm starting 1st grade again.  (I feel like I've already done it 7x-once myself and once with each kids-but this time I'm starting as the teacher.)

Kay Age 6 First day of First grade (my first time :) Fall 1973. 
I'm really rocking the beaded purse and the short skirt.  (Both were actually "very cool" back in the day.  Because I know my kids will look at this and say WHAT. WERE. YOU. WEARING?! ) I don't know if my selected outfit for my first day of teaching first grade can rival this.
 Also note the gift in my hand-each year as a summer came to an end, Corinne and I would get together and make back-to-school gifts for our new teachers-I think this one might have been a "puffed" picture-made by cutting out an image from wrapping paper, pasting it onto  nice background, and then raising or "puffing" up selected parts of the picture by cutting out duplicates of those parts and pasting them on top of small kernals unpopped popcorn or dried beans which were glued  on top of those selected parts on the original picture.  I'm sure Mrs. Howard treasured it. 

Football is underway-scrimmages in Cedar City and Vegas yesterday for Trent and Luke.

Luke and Trent after last year's 8th grade championship game
Trent's team won.  Kent was the coach and Luke served as waterboy.
November 2012

We went to the St. George Temple and did sealings.  I love being in the temple, and loved being there with Kent uniting families for eternity. 

St. George Temple
May 27, 1989 Our Wedding Day
Yep this is pre-photo-shop days.  This was done with a film camera, and Kent really did jump that high. 
The photographer wanted him to throw his arms in the air, but he wouldn't. Trying to even get him to jump took a lot of persuasion.  (This photo was taken where the visitor's center now stands.)

The Little Things

A framed embroidered sampler hangs in my bedroom stating, "Enjoy the little things in life...for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things."  It seems like there have been a lot of "big things" in my life lately:  lots of "big" needs within the ward (where I serve as RS pres.), lots of "big" needs within my family (the kids at home needing time and attention preparing for school and sports, the kids who have "left the nest" needing support in work, school, and "stepping into adulthood" decisions), and lots of "big" needs professionally (as I prepare to start teaching 1st grade-something I've never done before.) At times it seems overwhelming trying to meet all these needs, and I feel like I'm just barely "holding it together," doing only a mediocre job at best in any one of these areas. 

So last week, as I drove Luke to football, just me and him, and I listened to him rattle on about tackling drills, cleats, and football plays, I was grateful for the realization that for that one small moment,  my life was "perfect."  It was a "little thing," a little moment of perfect bliss, a small oasis in a life of big, complicated things.  For a few minutes, I was not worried about finances, work, and the myriad of needs of those in my family and in my ward.  Instead I relished in listening to this 11-year-old boy in grass stained practice pants explain the intricacies of 6th-grade football plays.

I remember when driving my kids to sports practices seemed like a huge "chore," but when compared to trying to help my young adult off-spring deal with really "big" things (broken cars, rent, housing, majors, careers, jobs, college class schedules, relationships, friends, etc.) and most of the time (OK ALL of the time) feeling totally and completely inadequate and second-guessing all my endeavors in this area, driving my youngest to practice was a refreshing task that I could do "perfectly."  Yep, I may not know how to advise my kids on choosing a major (and even if I should-after all it's their lives), but I DO know how to drive a car, and I CAN successfully deliver my offspring to practice. So maybe by the time my youngest is in college I will be able to "perfectly" handle all of his needs as a young adult, but my older kids will have to "muddle through" with me as I try to do my best.  After all, motherhood is on-the-job training. 

Luke gets instruction from the coach before heading into the game.  Football season 2012

A Musical Addendum

On the same Sunday that Tony and Caleb Morganti spoke in Logandale 5th ward, Kent and Lynae also performed a special musical number, a piano/organ duet of "If You Could Hie to Kolob."  It was beautiful!  (And no, this was NOT recorded on Sunday-Kent doesn't wear a hat and polo to church :) And yes, the only way I could get it to upload was through youtube, so after viewing, you'll get a lot of youtube viewing "options" sorry :(