Tuesday, June 30, 2009

All about us

Here's 30 questions about you and your spouse.
1. What are your middle names? E. & Leigh
2. How long have you been together? married 37 years
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating? few days
4. Who asked who out? I asked him for a date on Saturday but then he asked me to go bowling before that Saturday.
5. How old were each of you when you started dating? He was 20, I was 19
6. Whose siblings do/did you see the most? his
7. Do you have children together? yes, 2 boys, 5 girls
8. What about pets? a pretend dog, plus Otis is here for a while
9. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? not enough fundage
10. Did you go to the same school? no
11. Are you from the same home town? no
12. Who is the smartest? He is, but don't tell him
13. Who is the most sensitive? depends on whether it involves engines
14. Where do you eat out most as a couple? either Chinese or Mexican
15. Who has the worst temper? me
16. Who does the cooking? he does17. Who is more social? II am
18. Who is the neat freak? neither of us, really
19. Who is more stubborn? I call it determination
20. Who hogs the bed? Me
21. Who wakes up earlier? He does
22. Where was your first date? Bowling Alley
23. Who has the bigger family? He does
24. Do you get flowers often? Not often, but always appreciated
25. How do you spend Christmas? We have 2 or 3 Christmases. We start off in Nevada. Then go to Utah and Indiana, Last year we threw in Tennessee
26. How long did it take to get serious? I fell in "Love at first sight." We dated 7 months and then got engaged for 4 months before we eloped.
27. Who eats more? me
28. Who does/did the laundry? I do mine, he does his plus the towels
29. Who's better with the computer? He is
30. Who drives when you are together? He does
If you want to do the survey consider yourself tagged.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Blessed,Honored Pioneers

Okay, so I don't have any pioneer ancestors. I feel like I have adopted into the Pioneer Heritage because I am a member of the church. We celebrate Pioneer Day every year, even in Indiana we celebrated it. This year our youth are going on a Trek. They are dressing like pioneers and using handcarts to go the distance. They left this week. Some of our leaders have gone to act as Parents. Each Family willl have 10 Children. The leader asked if our Ward Activity could be geared toward the pioneer theme. We accepted the challenge.

We had our Pioneer Activity last saturday. We had collected pie tins to use as plates. We had a long rope that was used for tug-o-war and then for jump rope. We played upset the fruit basket, missionary tag, Red Rover, freeze tag, Stick Pull, 3-legged race, and had a Blanket Ride where men held the blanket and the ride would get a ride up and down. We even had a couple of baby quilts to tie. I thought maybe the youth would play separate from the adults but I was pleasantly surprised when Everyone played all together. The adults were running all over the gym right with the children. One sister even got a blanket ride.

Those who wanted to, dressed like pioneers. Several of us went bare foot. We had quilts on the wall and a few pioneer pictures. We ate pulled pork sandwiches, corn, mashed tatties, baked beans, and Rhubarb Cobbler, yum. We even had mixed peanut butter, apple butter, and bread for those who did not want Pork. Some little children ate those and a few adults that love peanut butter had to try it several times.

Everywhere I looked I saw smiles. So I say that it was a huge success. We got our youth and adults in the mood for their trek and we got the pioneer spirit a month early.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Louise's Funeral

Where to begin....the behind the scenes is a story of its own, but maybe this is not the place for that.

I will start with the viewing. Louise had on a colorful outfit that Brenda and David ran out to get, because she wantd a colorful funeral. Stephen made posters of pictures to display and the kids placed photos in frames around. The music in the back ground was of Louise's old funny 45's. You know, I never harmed an onion, or Mr. Custer, and some nice ones like Walking down to Washington. Kareen's Brian was up late getting that all put together.
Anyway, Louise is in the casket up front and there are plants lining both sides. There are chairs for people to sit, and some did, but most folks stood in the foyer to talk.

Those that came: Aunto Kiyoko, her son Tommy and his wife, her sons Jimmy (which we called Little Jimmy to differentiate from Big Jimmy which was my brother) her son Danny, and her daughter Kathy.
My cousin Marj, which we all call Marji Kay(Aunt Muriel and Uncle Lum)
My cousin Muriel , which we called Little Muriel to differentiate from Aunt Muriel, and her brother Brian (Aunt Nonnie and Uncle Roy)
Those are the ones from my generation. Then there's the next Generation.
Louise's husband Fred. Louise's kids : Debora was brought by some care-givers. Brenda and her husband David, their children and grandchildren. Kareen and her husband Brian, and their children. Alice was there, her husband could not make it. Stephen and his wife Judy, and their children. Mysti and her husband Adam, and their children. Velvet and her fiance' (whose name just suddenly went out of my mind) and their baby girl.
My sister Betty and her husband Pete's children : Betsy, Eileen, (Peter couldn't make it)
Margaret, (Kevin -deceased) Colleen, Cathy, Erin, Larry, (Theresa ould not cume, she was in Ann Arbor, Michigan for surgery and our thoughts and love were sent to her). Some of the spouses
were there and some of the children and grandchildren.
My brother Jim and his wife Kae.(that is where I stayed for this trip and we had a good time together)
Then there was extended families. David's folks and his sister came. Brian's folks came. Fred's brother came.
An old friend of the family came, who is also related by Colleen being their daughter-in-law.
With all those people milling in the lobby, if anyone else came I did not find it out or I do not remember it at this time.

On the day of the funeral, they had asked a minister to do the service. He was not familiar with the family or Louise, because she did not go to his church. But he did a real nice job and would say things like,"I have been told that .." or " They tell me.." He was the only one who spoke and he chose nice scriptures and said nice things. He was great.

Then theyput the cd back on with funny songs. Brenda had just thought to herself that the most fitting song would be Please MR Custer, I don't wanna go. And wouldn't you know it... that is where the cd picked up from the night before.

The Pall bearers were: my brother Jim, Brenda's husband David, their 2 boys, Kareen's husband Brian, And they had 2 more, which I can't remember either right now. Stephen said he just could not do it. He was broken up through most of the viewing and funeral.

The minister gave a prayer at the cemetary. Then everyone put a carnation on the casket and stood a liitle off as her children gathered around her as they lowered the casket in to the grave.
Then we left for lunch.

We all went for a meal together at the VFW lodge where Betsy works. Brenda and David
provided a lot of the food and the Murphy kids did a lot too. We visited and swapped stories, laughed and cried. It was a nice send off.

Her kids were trying to get a reunion together before she passed away, I told my brother that Louise didn't miss it, we just had it early. It was good to see old family members. Aunt Kiyoko cried when she saw my cousin Brian, and she said, "You have Uncle Wally's hair." Which was true. He looked like Aunt Nonnie and her brother Uncle Wally put together. It was good to see one another and renew old memories. Like they say, good to see you but sorry for the reason.

All things considered, a lot of issues were layed to rest with the funeral of Louise and now her children can move forward and we will try to think kind thoughts.

You Go Girl

Back in the war day, Uncle Wally came home with a Japanese bride and Uncle Bill came home with a Russian bride. Grandma was none too happy about this. After playing Musical houses for a while Grandma settled down to live with Uncle Wally and Aunt Kiyoko. She made daily life a little hard and so Aunt Kiyoko spent her days in the basement sewing wedding gowns and bride maids dresses for people (her home business) while Grandam took care of the children. This went on for many years. I guess I did not realize how tough Grandma was on the kids until we went to a reunion and heard the kids' stories. I never heard Aunt Kiyoko say anything negative about Grandma. Even at my older sisters funeral we came upon my mother's and Grandmother's gravestones. Aunt Kiyoko is the one who found them. I put a carnation on my mother's and Aunt Kiyoko put one on Grandma's. So there is the back ground and the set up.

At the funeral of another one of my sisters we had a luncheon afterward. We were sitting with Aunt Kiyoko and she was telling the story of how Tommy had joined the Jewish faith and got married to a Jewess. Tommy was raised in a house that did not promote church going because his mother was a Shinto and his dad a Christian and they told the kids that they could decide for themselves when they were grown. I guess it never occured to Uncle Wally that it would be Judaism. So it was very hard for him to swallow.

He did not even want to go the Tommy's wedding. Aunt Kiyoko bought him a tuxedo but he kept saying he was not going. Well the day of the wedding came and Aunt Kiyoko takes the tux to Uncle Wally and tells him to get ready. (now this in itself was a big deal to us who were sitting at the table listening, because Aunt Kiyoko is so mild mannered and soft spoken) She tells Uncle Wally that he is going. He says he is not. She tells him he is because he OWES her for Grandma.

In her words, "You don't do for them, you do for me. You OWE me for Grandma, You do for me."
Uncle Wally got dressed and went to the wedding. We at the table were now howling with laughter at this point. Then Aunt Kiyoko finally said, living with Grandma was not easy. We had all known this because of the things the kids had already told us, so we all nodded a knowing nod. And then we all told her how proud of her we all were. She did not want to make her daughter-in-law feel the way she felt all those years.

They have a tight-knit bond and often all her children get together. Uncle Wally has been gone a few years now. But he had needed that gentle reminder He would have done the same thing his mother did to his new bride, if it weren't for Aunt Kiyoko and her wisdom, and her strength.