NIK NAK PATTY WAK.............

Today is Nik's Birthday......Here are some of my favorite pictures of her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI !!!!

Nik was 4 months old when this was taken.

Nik was about 30 months old when this was taken at a Ferrrin Family Reunion

on my mom's back lawn. I have always loved this picture. I made her dress.

This is a fun one as well. Holly is the cheerleader and Nik is the little Hula girl for Halloween. It must have been cold, note the bikini top over the pink sweatshirt.

A photo spread would not be complete without a "reflection" picture.

I made this dress as well, I think it was a Christmas dress.

Isn't she adorable????

This is one of my favorite pic's I had taken when her and Mac were little.

Love the braids.

I love this one because it shows what "Goof Balls" my kids are.

Nik and Carly

A few years ago Nik and I hiked the Grand Canyon with friends.

We went in from the North, hiked to Phantom ranch, turned around the next morning about 3AM and hiked back out. This picture was taken at the end of the hike.

Nik had been listening to me whine for the last hour. She was a good sport.

I love this picture of Nikki and Christian. She is such a good mom.

Here are some things about Nikki to celebrate her day:

She was named after a very special person in my life...a friend I always wanted to remember.

Her real name is really Nikki and not Nicole, or Nicelle.

From 3 to 4 months her head grew twice it's size. I took the three little girls on a trip by myself and when I got back Doug said "What happened to her head" [She grew into it]

We used to call her "Picky Nikki" cause all she would eat was sugar cereal. She still likes a good bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.

She was an "angel baby" that grew into a very busy toddler. I wish I had her photo album so I could show you the picture of the lipstick caper.

At an early age she had a natural ability for sports. She was good at most everything she tried. She tried out and played on a State of Utah AYSO Soccer team when she was about 10 that went to a National Tournament in California.

Later she played soccer 4 years at Weber High and went on to play at Utah State.

She still plays indoor and out door soccer. Let's just say, it's harder than it used to be by her own confession. The many years watching her play soccer has brought me much joy. Thanks Nik.

Nikki is a lot more humble about her sports than I am. Nikki won the "John Watson Gold Watch" award for Outstanding Athlete at Weber High in 1995. She played Soccer, Basketball and did the High Jump in track at Weber.

Nikki has and has always had a lot of friends. She is very giving and empathetic. Her Valley friends have stayed close and get together often with their kids. They are all very spiritual, loving and good friends. They help each other thru the tough times.

Nikki has a tender heart, and I wish I had the picture of her and my mom. My mom nearing the end of her life and was asleep on her bed and Nikki snuggled up next to her and fell asleep. She was about 11. She was especially loving with my mother and felt sad when mom passed away.

Nikki is married to Aaron and has three children. They are the light of her life. She is a very good mom and wife. I knew when I met Aaron that Nikki would marry him. There was just that certain something.

Nikki graduated from Weber State with a Bachelor's degree in Education, her major was Spanish and did her student teaching at SnowCrest with Mrs. O Hara. Later Aaron would teach at SnowCrest and be the "new" Spanish teacher when Mrs. O'Hara retired.

Nikki and Aaron secretly do something special for a needy family at Christmas time. They even go to scary neighborhoods to deliver. Don't tell me about that part Nik...I will worry.

Nikki has many talents. She sews bags, aprons, stuffed animals, puts up fruit, jam, salsa, etc. [she did not get that from me]

Nikki has put together many movies for me. I love the one about the "Eden Kids" made from an old super 8 movie and put to music. I also love the ones about Halloween at the Wilsons, or a year in the life of the Wolthuis kids. She made me a movie for my RS lesson....all about Emma Smith......love it. Her most recent one was for a friends bridal shower. She just keeps getting better and better.

I guess my most favorite thing about Nikki is how she really tries to pattern her life after the Savior. She and Aaron really try to teach their kids about Jesus. They do not watch TV very much and will opt for a good family activity time outside, or creating or drawing rather than vegetating in front of the Tube.

There is something really special about Nikki and I just enjoy watching her be Nikki, and seeing what she will come up with next.

Happy Birthday NIK!!!!

Thanks for being born.

I love you!!

PS: Happy Birthday Scott Carlson....born the same day as Nik.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSALIE !!!!!!

Today is Rosalie's Birthday....

I won't tell you how old she is,

but she is older than me, Hee Hee!!

Here is a neighborhood picture.

Must have been a party, probably mine....

I was the baby and got anything I wanted....

[That's what my sister's keep telling me!!!]

I am on the left, Rosalie is in the middle.

If I am 4 then Rosalie is 9.

Here is another picture. This one is 1968....

The year I graduated.

Rosalie is holding Allison, I think,

and I am holding Carolyn's daughter Melissa.

It looks like I am smoking a cigarette,

but it is a scratch in the picture....honest.

If I was 18.....then Rosalie was 23. Isn't she pretty?

This is a picture of Rosalie as my Bridesmaid.

She is the second one from the left

on the back row with every hair in place.

Carolyn is next to her on the right.

Pretty in Pink Dotted Swiss.

If I was 21, then Rosalie was 26.

The next picture was taken in 1980.

I was 9 months pregnant with Carly.

Rosalie was skinny and hip.

[Check out the "do". You got to love the "80's"]

If I was 30, Rosalie was 35.....and skinny...

and through having kids.

This next picture is of Rosalie and Richard

at the Temple after one of my kids weddings.

Let's say.....1998 [cause I really don't know].

If I was 48, she was 53........

and still pretty.....and skinny....

Here are some things about Rosalie...

that I can still remember.

[Note: I may need to make corrections to the following as some of these are better remembered by Rosalie than me]

• Rosalie was named after my Grandmother Rosetta Mayhew who had an apartment in our basement in Pleasant View.
• Grandma loved her best.....she taught her to crochet and quilt, and all of that stuff. They were very close. [I don't know if she really was grandma's favorite, but it makes Rosalie feel good to think that, so we all go along with it...just kidding]
• Rosalie was about 4 when she took up tap, ballet and toe dance lessons and also a little piano .
• She always had long beautiful finger nails and well, I have told you that story before.
• When I was older than young, but younger than old she let me hang out with her and her friends.......once.
• Her friends that I can still remember their names were Cheri Barker, Nayla Jones, Elaine Wayment, & Connie Johnson, I know I have forgotten someone, but what do you expect.....I am old.
• She used to work as a car hop and J & K's. Drive in. It was kind of where the Mini Mart is near 4th street and Washington Blvd.
• Rosalie was a Warriorette at Weber....complete with white marching boots.
• She used to date a guy named Mondell and was broken hearted when they broke up. I think she liked him cause he was kind of a "bad-boy". [I really don't know that, I made that part up]
• She was rescued and fell madly in love with Richard Jolley. He lived in California and they fell in love over the telephone, I know that because I could never use the telephone, because they were always talking long distant on that phone. [Neither could the neighbors,...we had party lines]
• Rosalie had the tiniest waist I have ever seen.. 18 inches...and that is the truth.
• I was always envious of her Lips and teeth. She has Movie star lips and teeth. Later I found out you could "buy" Hollywood teeth and lips ["no thanks on the lips"]...I just couldn't afford them.
• Rosalie and my voice sound just alike on the phone. It is kind of weird....even our own kids can't tell the difference.... Sometimes when I call I can even sense Richard thinking..."now where is Rosalie......oh ya, up stairs".
• Rosalie is hard of hearing [family curse]. I can talk real soft about her behind her back and she can't hear me...............but I don't.................... but shamefully, I did do that with my mother.
• Rosalie was my source of inspiration for all of the running I have done over the years. I went to visit her in California, and her and Richard were jogging every day. [They were in their late 20-early 30's at the time] I said to myself "If Rosalie can do that, I can do that". I have been doing it ever since.
• Rosalie has raised 5 of the most wonderful children. 4 beautiful girls and 1 handsome son. Two children live in California and the rest in Utah.

• She loves and adores her grandchildren......I think she has 15 with one on the way. .....[Hope that wasn't a secret]
• Nikki and Aaron lived in Rosalie and Richard's basement apartment when they first got married, [the same apartment my grandmother lived in]. Later, R & R turned it into an office....thanks R & R for your kindness to Nik.
• Oh ya, I forgot to tell you that Rosalie and Richard bought the family home after mom moved out and completely redid it. It is beautiful and fun to go visit...mom and dad would be so proud.
• A few years ago Rosalie and I took dance lessons together [Tap] at the old "Pat and Ray"s Dance Studio" on 13th street. [I took lessons there as a little girl]. We were in a dance review together. She practiced every day and was really good. I just got by...] I was 55 and well, you get the picture....
• The next year she still wanted to take lessons and so she took from someone in Pleasant View [sorry, can't advertise cause this feeble mind has forgotten who she took from] Carolyn and I went to her dance review at the Egyptian Theater and was really proud of her. They dressed as mimes [sp]. Can you imagine how hard it would be to dance if you couldn't hear the music!! She is amazing. I wish I had a picture of her in her dance costume. Maybe I can Kype one from her.
• She is famous now in the town of Pleasant View as they asked her to perform her dance at a Ward Relief Society Talent Show....she is that good and remember .....was over 60 when she did this.
• Rosalie is still an inspiration to me as she goes to the gym with Richard, and her daughter Tamara everyday. She does aerobic exercises [ugh] and body pump, and body sculpting. I am proud of her. ......but it is just too much to live up to.
• Rosalie and Richard have a wonderful marriage full of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lead wonderful lives of service to others. She has been the compassionate service leader in her ward and has planned over 100 funerals....and that my Friends ... is the truth......
• I want to grow up to be just like her.......thanks for being born Rosalie........... [but I really wish you would have handed me down your "Muffy Doll" collection]

I know........I just can't let go......

Love YOU....Hope your day was happy!!!!!!!!

DISCLAIMER: Some of this seems vaguely familiar and so if I have already said all these wonderful things about Rosalie in a previous post, then please just "thank" me for not making you go back and find it....and don't embarras me by telling me.... "You already said that."

LOOK WHO IS FOUR !!!!!!!!!!!

Today is this special little girls 4th Birthday.

Here she is wearing her Birthday/Easter dress.

I love this little munchkin.

This is one of my favorite pics when she was little.

Sorry about the scratch on the picture.

I think this is my all time favorite.

It was in the Church News one year for the Conference addition.

It still hangs on my refridgerator

Lili and her Daddy.

Happy Birthday Lili! !!!!!

All about Lili:

Lili has beautiful big blue eyes.

Lili is named after my mother [her Great-Grandmother]

Lilly White

and

Priscila's mom

Liliana

[Hope I spelled that right]

Lili is a Princess......she dresses like one almost everyday.

Snow White being her favorite.

My favorite look of Lili is with her hair in her eyes. Like this:

Lili has two little brothers.

Lili understands and speaks both Spanish and English.

[And something else I can't quite decipher]

Lili loves to sing her song, "I am a child of God".

Lili is a lot of fun and loves to play with her cousins.

Lili is 50/50. Argentine/American.

[OK so there is some English/German/yada/yada/yada mixed in.]

Lili is a citizen of two countries.

When Lili is silly she sticks out her tongue.

When she is happy she smiles.

I miss Lili....

Easter Gift........

Mac and Priscila put this on their blog.

How cute is this????

Easter Gift from the Wilsons...far far away..Wahh!!

A Quiet Easter.........

WELL ALMOST ALL OF THE MUNCHKINS....

MISSING THE ONES WHO COULDN'T HOLD STILL....

WERE NOT INTERESTED IN BEING IN THE PICTURE....

AND WERE TOO FAR AWAY TO PLAY......

With Mac and family away at school.....

Holly and Lex and family"wheeling it".......

Robin and Nate and Campbell at the "Healy" celebration....

Nikki and Aaron and family at the "Wolthuis" celebration.....

Carly and Farrah on an Easter adventure.....

and even LouJean with a Easter invite to Jolene's....

Doug and I will be alone.........................

But don't weep for us......we had an egg bouncing good time Last Sunday.

Check it out.........

EASTER DECORATIONS

WONDERFUL BRUNCH BETWEEN CONFERENCE

LINDSEY WAS THE WINNER WITH THE MOST EGGS

EMMA AND ANALYN PUT THEIR HEADS TOGETHER FOR THIS ONE

LUKE HAS A NATURAL SUGAR FIND....IT IS HEREDITY

CHRISTIAN WAS MORE INTERESTED IN THE TRACTOR AND MOTORCYCLES

CAMPBELL WAS INTO BOUNCING THE EGGS NOT GATHERING

AND FOR THE FAMILY PHOTO, THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS. CAMPBELL CHOSE TO BE IN THE BACKGROUND.....CUTEST BACKGROUND EVER!!!!!

AND WHERE WAS MASON YOU ASK? TOO BIG FOR EGG GATHERING HE WENT FOR THE KILL....THE EASTER BASKET GRANDPA HID...THIS IS WHERE IT WAS THIS YEAR............................

AS YOU CAN IMAGINE THERE ARE ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR HIDING PLACES AT THE WILSON'S YARD AND GARDEN. [RIGHT]

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A "HOPPY" EASTER.....

I have become my mother.....

Need I say more?

My mother used to "itch" all the time. They never did know why, but she bathed in "Sarna" lotion....literally ......

For those of you that do not know, "Sarna" is a medicated lotion that has a certain unique "smell".

Sort of a cross between Mentholatum and Jergens.

Bless her heart, her feet used to itch so bad that she would have to get up in the middle of the night and soak her feet in Epsom salt and then lather on the "Sarna" lotion. She used to scratch so hard that her wafer thin skin would bleed.

Well, my skin isn't "wafer thin" yet, but I have had a rash on the back of my neck and arms and the front of my legs for about 3 weeks now. Nothing worked to ease the "itch". So Doug rescued me and picked up this "Sarna" lotion.

Now, if I close my eyes, I can "smell" my mom and feel empathy for her years and years of suffering with the "itches". Mom, I wish you were here and I would rub that lotion on your battered skin with a tenderness that I never knew back then. There is something about "Sarna" that takes me back and makes me miss you mom.

Miss you, Love you, hope they have "Sarna" in Heaven.

Well, I bet Heaven is a "Sarna Free World" where no one has to "itch"!!!