Monday, July 27, 2009

Happy Birthday Weezie!!

A short 31 years ago....a girl came into my life. She was so cute and funny! I named her Amber Renae.

Her parents were just babies themselves, but we had a great time. I can remember laying her on the dash of the pickup while we were at the drive in movie so she could see the movie.

She is the oldest of our three and has always been a very strange child. She didn't like the things the other kids liked.

Amber always liked to do things on her own terms. She would wait until it was HER idea before she would do something that had already been suggested. This is a trait she continues to have today.

Amber was almost two when her brother came to join our family. She loved him. Sometimes a little too much! I remember going in the bedroom to find the bassinet tipped on it's side and her trying to "hold" him. Or hearing him gasping and going to find her "sharing" her bottle of pop with him. (Yes, I gave my children pop when they were little). Start 'em young I say! :-)

With three little ones 3 and under, we were very busy and Amber spent a lot of time with her dad outside while I wrangled the two little ones in the house. She still loves to work with her dad and he is the only one who can talk to her about important things without making her mad it seems. When she was older she worked with him on various jobs. One story I like from her "construction days" is when she was cleaning up a building they were finishing up and some drywallers would not wipe their feet before coming into the building and she had just cleaned the floors. So she told them they had to wipe their feet. They got a big attitude and asked her who she thought she was and that they didn't have to do what she said. She just politely told them they could either do it or take it up with the boss. Her words were something to the effect of, "he's right over there. His name is Blaine, but I call him Daddy." They changed their minds about complaining after that. :-)

We were fortunate to raise our kids in the country. When they were younger, they went to a little two-room country school with a total of six kids. Three of which were ours. It was a great place to raise kids!

Don't you miss the days of big bangs and huge glasses??? LOL!! Amber was always a great student and the "nerd" of the family. She loved learning! It was during all the fashion disasters of the 80's that her name evolved to Weezie. You see, she used to dress much like Dweezle Zappa did in the 80's. (sorry to all you younger set who have no clue who that is) So her dad started calling her "Dweez" and then she started getting pneumonnia almost every winter and wheezing for breath all the time so, we called her "Dweez the wheezer" and, over time, it ended up "Weezie". Strange, I know, but it fits her!

When Amber was 21, she decided to go on a mission. She served in the Texas San Antonio Mission and loved it! We were very proud of her valiant service! We were a bit worried about her since she has always had trouble speaking in public! But she did great. We still tease her that she has yet to learn the mother tongue. Ever since she learned to talk, she has made up her own words for things or gotten them totally wrong. Some of our favorite "Amberisms" are:

Going to "Little World" instead of Little America; playing "hersby" rather than Frisbee; wondering where "unca Dooey" was instead of where Uncle Gary was; and one of them that took a long time to decipher..."when is Lee going to be in Jeeps"....long ago, in Primary, one of the classes was called "Blazers"....I guess a Blazer does resemble a Jeep....but the connection was a hard one to make! Weezie has made her own rule for the rest of us now. If we KNOW what it is she is talking about....we CANNOT correct her! and yes, she still makes up words or uses the wrong one a lot of the time!

Another funny about Weezie is her fear of creepy crawlies. She has always been deathly afraid of spiders in any form. When she was about 10, she had hurt her ankle ice skating and had it in an air cast. She was sitting on the couch putting on her boots to go outside when she noticed a daddy long legs crawling on her leg! Oh my gosh!! She jumped up, promptly fell back down when she put weight on her bad ankle, and was screaming the whole time! It was all I could do not to tell her the spider was still on her, just to see it all again. But I didn't! :-) But don't you think it would have been funny??

Her irrational fear has not subsided at all over the years either. Just a year or so ago, I was riding with her in her car. Going down Baseline at about Crismon when we see a tarantula crossing the road in front of us! Oh my! She lets go of the steering wheel, covers her eyes and starts screaming and freaking out as we straddled it with the car! I saw my life flash before my eyes and grabbed the wheel! Again, the temptation was almost overbearing to tell her that the spider had latched onto her car and was now crawling its way inside. But the desire to get to where we were going in one piece was stronger and I didn't want to walk!

I really want to get a remote control tarantula though to torment her with! I know....I'm an evil mom! But she still loves me!

Amber got home from her mission just in time to celebrate the weddings of her brother and sister. It was a very busy year for us! So far she hasn't found her own prince charming, but I know he's out there somewhere! While she 'waits for Mr. Right' she works as a supervisor for a group home for developmentally delayed adults. It doesn't pay much, but she will definately reap the rewards later! It takes a very special person to do that kind of work.

So there you have our "Weezie" in a nutshell. She is smart, funny, a great cook, very tender hearted and a blast to be around!

We love you, Weezie!! Happy Birthday!!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Fishing with the Grands

"You get a line and I'll get a pole, honey.
You get a line and I'll get a pole, babe.
You get a line and I'll get a pole,
we'll go fishin' in the crawdad hole, honey, baby mine.”

This should be the last of the Wyoming camping trip blogs!
(I can hear you secretly cheering!)

All the grands wanted to go fishing and, of course, Papa does whatever the grands want to do!
We loaded up our little crew and headed for the creek.

Ready to drown some worms!

Papa's supervising the fishing trio!

Daddy is teaching Kallie the finer art of fishing...

Abbie caught the first fish!

Look, Grandma! I got a fish!

Baylee and Abbie fishing along the creek (so cute!)

Waiting for the fish to bite....

Baylee caught her fish!

(Grandma wasn't close enough to get good shots of hers!)

She knows how to pull them out quick!

Kallie was still waiting to catch a fish....

Taylor was so patient using Papa's fishing pole

When she finally caught her fish and was very happy with herself!


Kallie was a little more "upset" when she realized what

was on the end of her hook! (for the complete drama, see the full story below)

Poor Kolby, was getting skunked by the girls...Where is his fish??


Waiting for the "big one"...

Finally! Kolby caught his fish and brought

it to the truck to show it off!

Abbie didn't want to touch it.

Kolby even tried to explain to her that

"it's clean....it's been in the water it's whole life!"

LOL! But, she still didn't want to touch his gross fish.

So, being his father's son...he just chased her with it! Fun times...

I love the innocense of children!

Being with them camping in the mountains, no t.v., no internet, no electricity....such a great time.

I can hear Andy and Opie whistling as they walk to the fishing hole; and, if I close my eyes, I can hear Andy strumming the guitar as Barney and Opie sing along on the front porch of their house in Mayberry....

Sometimes, I wish we could live in a simpler time.....

Thursday, July 9, 2009

We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging...

Okay, you've seen the random family pics from camp, now here are some of my faves of our little crew!

Tama and Karlo...aww aren't they so cute

Kallie hanging out with Papa

Our Kolby man

Baylee doing a good job on Abbie's bike

Our handsome son

Taylor and Kallie are 2 months apart and best friends

Blaine having a visit with his dad

Kallie and Taylor looking absolutely gorgeous

Kissin' cousins!

I love Baylee's dimples

Trying to blow up her balloon. Oh, I have a funny Baylee story to tell.

Our niece, McKenna asked me "so, what's up with Baylee's hair?" I asked why? and she said, "well, why is it so WHITE". LOL....I told her she came that way.

Adorable Abbie

No blog would be complete without a funny Abbie story. Pardon me if I've told this one already...A few weeks ago, Abbie and Kallie were painting and their mom told them in five more minutes they had to put the paint up and get ready for bed. Abbie replied, "FIVE minutes! I've been in time out that long....it's a LONG time!" happy that they had so long to paint! LOL!

Our beautiful Kallie Grace

It just doesn't get any more beautiful than these four angels!

Taylor is truly a gorgeous child

She gets it from her pretty mommy

Blaine helping his mom walk around the camp to visit everyone

Two pretty girls. Kallie with a silly smile!

And last but certainly not least....this picture shows

just how stunning Baylee May is. What a cutie!

Beautiful Wyoming Scenery

This is where we went camping and the area that surrounds it.
Nothing to say....(until the last couple of pictures)
Wyoming is a beautiful place! Enjoy the view!








Yes, that is snow along the road. Yes, that is the road to the other lake the boys went to (Christina Lake) and, yes, the wheel fell off of Scott's bronco on the way back!
"You picked a fine time to leave me, Loose Wheel!!" LOL!