Last weekend my husband Scott took our daughter Mindy on a trip to Louisiana to visit our son David and his family.  I'm really glad they were able to go. While they were there, David and a friend from work launched a balloon into the upper reaches of the atmosphere.  This was a special balloon that they ordered online which was about 5' in diameter when it was inflated with helium.  They attached a foam cooler with an old camera inside along with a GPS to help them track the balloon.  The theory was that the helium would freeze at a certain point in the atmosphere and then the balloon would pop, the payload would gently descend to earth with its parachute.  I have to admit, when I first heard about this, I was highly skeptical that it would work. But it did!  On Friday morning they drove 2.5 hours to the east, nearly to the Texas border, to launch the balloon so that it would land close to where David lives.  There were all kinds of things that didn't go exactly

I have always known a lot about my mother's grandparents.  Their lives are well-documented in books that I own and I am grateful to have them. Sadly, I have known almost nothing about my father's grandparents. But this year, I have been working on a personal history of my grandmother and I have learned more about my paternal great-grandparents.  What little I have learned tells me they were amazing. Here is a picture of my great-grandmother, Valera Hawkins Hansen, far upper right, with her birth family.  Her parents were William and Drusilla Fillmore Hawkins, seated in front. The picture was taken when Valera was nearly 30.  What you can't tell from the picture is that Drusilla gave birth to 11 children but only 6 survived to adulthood.  Something else you can't tell from the picture unless you look at her hands is that Drusilla had severe rheumatoid arthritis and was crippled for much of her adult life. Now here's an amazing story as told by my grandfather

Thanksgiving was at our house this year.  We had a really big group of 44 people.  That's what happens when you come from a really big family and most of them live around here.  7 of my 10 siblings came with their children. I gave out food assignments and everybody helped.  I roasted two turkeys and made stuffing and gravy and a couple of pies, my mom made lots of rolls, my sister made salads and Southern cornbread stuffing. There were also mashed potatoes, fruit salads, olives, drinks, vegetables, and more pies. It was tricky to figure out where to put everyone even with our large room.  But it worked out and I'm glad I have the space to make it work.  One thing I did which I will do again is I made place cards for all the kids under 18 so the adults could sit together more. I forgot to take pictures until after the meal was over so this is the post-eating socializing. Scott was the champion dishes doer. Mindy loves it when her aunt does her hair.

With six boys in our family, Scouting has been a pretty significant part of our lives.  My five older boys got their Eagles starting in 2010.  Talmage was our last boy and with all his merit badges completed, we started working on his Eagle project this summer. He chose a project to benefit Kids on the Move--an organization that helps kids with delays and disabilities.  We ourselves have had two children involved with KOTM.  The project was making scooter boards for their movement classes.  The scooter boards didn't take long to make--the part that was hard was raising the money to pay for them.  The casters on the bottom were $5 each--we spent $225 just on the wheels . We were the Little Red Hens making the bread:  grinding the wheat, etc. For the fundraiser, Talmage passed out fliers taking orders for homemade whole wheat bread to be delivered on two Saturdays in September.  It actually went really well.  We ended up making more than 50 loaves of bread and selling th

Susanna turned 16 a few weeks ago.  This year she picked steak for dinner plus Too Much Chocolate Cake--but I'll always remember the year she turned 5 and picked split-pea soup. Susanna is doing lots of good things.  She does well in school; she's in orchestra and cross-country.  On her birthday she found out that she made All-State Orchestra which will happen in January.  That will be a great experience for her.  She recently soloed with the school orchestra.  She works hard training for cross-country and has been on the Varsity girls team this fall.  She will be on the track team in the spring. She is excited to get her driver's license as soon as she gets one more hour of night driving in.  And she asked someone to Sadie's last night.  She rides her bike the two miles to school most days and does her jobs without complaining.  Plus she mows lawns in the neighborhood to earn money.  She is a hard worker and we're glad to have her in our family! She LOVED g

Camille turned 9 a few days ago.  She counted down to this day for the whole month.  Hopefully it wasn't a disappointment for her!  I invited over her cousin to play with her for the afternoon and eat dinner with us.  Camille loved playing with her.  I took them to the new Orem park by the library which just opened the week before.  It's a pretty fun park and has equipment for kids of all abilities, including kids in wheelchairs.  The little girl who inspired the park was there zipping around in her wheelchair. Camille is generally happy most of the time, especially if she is playing with a friend.  Her friends are Sarah, Hudson, and her cousin Mika.  She loves chocolate and ice cream and most desserts.  She also likes burnt toast, soups, and pasta like spaghetti.  She still has her feeding tube because she's not as motivated as her mother is to get rid of it.  She needs to drink more on her own. Camille got  a dragon pet, pajamas, a new outfit, and

It's fall and I am enjoying this weather we have been having.  It's not too cold so I can still go running early in the morning with my husband or friends.  There are pretty colors on the trees but no raking yet.  The kids are in school so I have a little more time for things I want to do.  The garden is winding down.  My only regret is we should make more time to be outside but there are still obligations and responsibilities so we do what we can.  Overall, it's just a really nice time of year.  Here are some things we've been doing: Susanna has been doing cross country for the last few months and last week was the last race of the regular season.  The varsity girls' team didn't qualify for state but Susanna felt good about her personal improvement.  She is definitely a social runner and and enjoys the friends she has made. Here is one of my favorite spots to enjoy in the fall--the corner of my backyard.  The yellow sunflowers in

The other day I read an article by a young man in his 20's who donated a kidney to a relative when he was 18.  Eight years later he wishes he had been a little better informed about lack of research on the subject and he feels a little paranoid about every twinge of pain he feels. I can appreciate his feelings.  I can be kind of paranoid about my one remaining kidney.  And I agree he was probably too young to be allowed to make that decision (I was told you had to be 21 to donate).  His family tried to talk him out of it, but he would not be dissuaded.  But, although the relative he donated to is still in good health, he now regrets being a kidney donor. So what are my feelings about being a kidney donor?  I donated five years ago to a man I still don't know, who lived in New Jersey at the time.  I was actually really donating in behalf of my daughter who had kidney failure due to her extreme prematurity.  Despite my paranoia, the bottom line is, I don't regret the deci