Memories of my Grandpa and Grandma Rose

I have tender feelings when I think about Grandma and Grandpa Rose. I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to spend quite a few of my childhood years living just down the road from them. As a result, I remember spending many hours with grandma helping her with various things, playing with my cousins, working in her yard, eating all of her yummy cooking, watching her busily working around her house and yard, sneaking candy out of her candy dishes, watching movies in her living room, sleeping at her house, watching her rake her carpet (yes, she used an actual rake on her orange shag carpet), pretending for hours with my cousins, listening to grandma hum as she worked (I'm still not sure whether this was due to her tracheotomy or just a habit, but I loved it! My grandma was a hard worker and good at everything she did. She was a fantastic cook, she loved to work in her yard, she loved to quilt, garden, sew, and many more things. Most importantly, she had and still has a powerful testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the reality of eternal families. I always felt of her love and her desire that each one of us do everything possible so we would all be able to return back to our Heavenly Father. I'll always love and appreciate my grandma's example of righteous living. She loved the Gospel and was dedicated to serving the Lord. She was always anxiously engaged in the work and I never remember hearing her complain about her many responsibilities. I know that she played a big part in helping me gain my own testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel because of her positive example. I love you Grandma, and appreciate all that you have taught and will continue to teach me and my children.


It's not very often that children get to grown up in the same town as their grandparents. I was one of the lucky ones. I have many fond memories of times I spent with grandpa while working on the ranch with my dad and siblings. From a very early age, my grandpa taught me the value of hard work and he lived it through work and example. He was passionate in the things he did and I had complete faith in his ability to accomplish anything he had before him. I always knew and felt of grandpa's love for me, in fact, I'm sure I thought I was his favorite. Some of my fondest memories of grandpa involve the times we were together as a large family where he would express his love for each one of us and how he was so proud of all the good things we were accomplishing. He always expressed his deep desire that each one of us hold fast to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and shared his testimony of forever families and his desire that each one of us do everything possible to make this happen. Because of his powerful testimony, my own testimony of these same principles grew and I remember having the distinct feeling that I didn't want to do anything that would cause me to be separated from this wonderful family. To this day, I look forward to visiting with Grandpa and I'll always appreciate his kind words, his council, his compliments, and his sincere expressions of love to me. I love you, Grandpa!

I saw this quote at the nursing home where my Grandma is and I just loved it! 

Jordyn the Gr.......8! at OneTrueMedia.com

This is the video I put together for Jordyn's 8th B-Day. Though I've got a few mistakes and transitional mess-ups, it turned out pretty cute!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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My Beautiful Grandma Rose

This is my Grandma Rose (Dorothy Evans Rose) with my Dad (her oldest son).  She was just recently put in a nursing home due to dementia and is going through some very difficult times.  Though this has been one of the most difficult things our family has had to go through, we know this is what is best for her as well as our Grandpa Rose who was no longer able to physically or emotionally able to care for her.  My heart aches for the two of them and cannot imagine how difficult this has to be for both of them.  I've taken comfort lately in reading both of their life history's, my Grandma's being in her own handwriting (there is something comforting about reading these words in the handwriting of my Grandmother who never missed sending me a birthday card) and I've joked several times that though I always had a difficult time reading her handwriting, it is some of the most beautiful writing I've ever seen:):)  I've learned so much about my Grandma and Grandpa in the past little while and have a strong desire to help my kids to get to know all of their grandparents a lot better than they do and as a result, we've started a new FHE tradition where I will share a story or two from our family history before we have our lesson.  I'm hopeful that my kids will know and feel how blessed they are to have such wonderful examples in their lives.  I always tell my kids how lucky they are to have known several of their great grandparents though I don't really think they understand just how rare this is and how blessed they are.  Anyway, my thoughts are kind of all over the place but I have tender feelings when I think about all the great times I spent with my grandparents.  I was blessed to have grown up in a small ranching community just down the road from my grandma and grandpa Rose and can remember spending hours and hours and grandma's house helping her, playing with my cousins, working in her yard, eating all of her yummy cooking, watching her busily work cleaning her house and yard, sneaking candy out of her candy dishes, watching movies in her living room, sleeping at her house, watching her rake her carpet (yes, she used an actual rake on her orange shag carpet:), pretending for hours with my cousins, listening to grandma hum as she worked (I'm still not sure whether this was due to her  tracheotomy or just a habit, but I loved it!  My grandma was a hard worker and good at everything she did.  She was a fantastic cook, she loved to work in her yard, she loved to quilt, garden, sew, and many more things but most importantly, she had and still has a powerful testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the reality of eternal families.  I always felt of her love and her desire that each one of us do everything possible so we would all be able to return back to our Heavenly Father. I'll always love and appreciate my grandma's example of righteous living.  Thanks to my wonderful grandma and grandpa for your fine examples to me and my children!  We all love you!

This is a picture of our kids with Grandma and Grandpa Rose in Park Valley the last time we saw them.  I'm not sure Grandma knew who we were but she still gave us that loving and warm smile and hug that I'll always remember getting as a child.  Grandpa went in the house for a minute and came out with a gigantic bag of swedish fish for the kids and insisted that we take it for our long trip home.  We were on our way home from Nevada and came through Park Valley and I'll be forever grateful that we caught them home because their life has changed durastically in the past 2 months and I'll probably never see my grandparents sitting together on their front porch together again. 

DJ having a visit with Grandpa while Grandma enjoys watching her great grandchildren have some fun on Aunt Janet's fun new purchase, a golf cart!!!

Hmmm....

Porter asked DJ and I this morning at breakfast if Jesus has a button that he pushes so the snow will come down.  Sometimes his "3" year old mind blows me away! 

Morg's in the spotlight!

Morgan and her friend, Grace, were in the newspaper last week for the Lego Robotics program they are involved in at school.  Right now they are working on constructing  models out of legos that they will later program.  I think they have a competition sometime in November in Pocatello which she will be a part of.  Morgan has been interested in joining the club and was excited that as a 4th grader she might just get the chance.  The club meets every Tuesday and Thursday right after school until 4:00 so she is a super busy girl now with soccer, piano, activity days and now robotics.  But, she's always enjoyed building a creating so this is right up her alley. 

Two of my most favorite people!

                                                                    My Sis's (Lori and Julie)

We don't get to be together very often but when we are together there is lots of laughter and fun!  I don't know what I would do without them!  My sister Julie (on the left) told me the funniest saying she found the other day which describes our relationsip just perfect: 

You and I are sisters, always remember that if you fall I will pick you up....after I finish laughing. 

  

Jordy's Baptism Day

Saturday was Jordyn's special Baptism Day.  She had so many family members and friends there to support her and the whole day was just perfect.  I had so many people comment on how much they love how our Stake conducts the baptisms.  We have a wonderful Stake Primary presidency that organizes everything and of course, our Stake Priesthood leaders are so sweet and on the ball.  We listened to 2 youth speakers who gave talks on Baptism and the Holy Ghost.  Then our High Council leader who is over the Stake Baptisms spoke for a minute and then turned the time to each Bishop to introduce each Baptismal candidate.  DJ had the opportunity of introducing Jordyn and she was just beaming the whole time.  The baptism and confirmation were both special and the spirit was so strong.  While she was waiting for DJ to get dressed after the baptism, she went around gave each person in the room a big hug.  This is a day she's been waiting for and talking about with so much excitement for so long!  I hope she will always remember this day and honor the covenants that she's entered in to and that she'll always listen to the whisperings of the spirit.  Anyway, it's just crazy to me that she is our 3rd daughter to be baptized.  The years are just passing me by! After the baptism we all came back for a yummy dinner at the our house and just enjoyed visiting and eating while we watched Jordy's baptism video.  It was so much fun watching the kids play together so well and I seriously enjoyed spending time visiting with being around so many of our family members and I didn't even feel stress about the day.  We're so blessed to be surrounded by such supportive families, I just hope my kids realize how blessed they are!

DJ and Jordyn before the baptism

Our 4 special girls!

The Grandparents plus my wonderful Grandma Johnson!

Beautiful Jordyn! 

My sweet mother-in-law, and two of my sisters-in-law, Ann and Trinny!

Regan and Yoli (Dang, I'm sure I slaughtered that spelling)

My beautiful sis, Lor and her awesome husband Brad!

My sweet sister-in-law, Christine and my good friend Billy!

My gorgeous and sweet sis, Julie and I!

My wonderful and supportive parents with me!  Oh how I love these two people!

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Jordyn's big Birthday week!

Wow!  I don't even know where to start with this post.  Jordyn turned 8 years old last Monday and she literally got to celebrate all week long.  Actually, the fun started the weekend before when she was lucky enough to get to attend General Conference in Salt Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Rose!  My parents have taken each of the kids when they turn 8 years old for a fun weekend get away.  No only do they get to experience listening to Conference in the new Conference Center but they also get to stay 2 nights in a nice hotel, they eat out, they shop, ride trax, and hang out with my parents.  They have all loved their special weekends and I'm so appreciative to my parents for giving the kids this special opportunity that they may not otherwise get.  Jordyn's weekend was described to me as being "the best weekend she's ever had."  She called me 2 different times throughout the weekend to update me on all the fun she was having and she'd talk my ear off for probably 10 minutes giving me every last detail.  Though we had been through the Conference Center before as a family, she was still in awe at the size of it.  She is particularly scared of heights so when there seats were in the upper part of the center, she said she was not too excited and totally freaked out but Grandma said she calmed down after a few minutes. She loved listening to President Monson, especially when he stood up and said, "HI" to everyone.  She just got the biggest kick out of that.  She spent time during the talks filling out the conference packet that Grandma had prepared for which she loved and then she spent one whole session sketching a picture of the Conference Center interior.  If you know Jordyn, she has a passion for drawing and has had since she was really tiny. She particularly loves drawing fashionable girls:), but she also loves drawing buildings with lots of different rooms and tons of detail (even down to the design on the toilet paper:) 

We just sent this in to the Friend magazine and she's hoping and praying that they will choose her picture!

*****

As a side note, our sweet Primary President called me Sunday evening to tell me the cutest "Jordyn" story that happened in primary.  I guess the presidency was talking about our upcoming primary program and talking about how the children should conduct themselves when up on the stage, etc.  Susie, (our primary president) asked Jordyn, since she had been to Conference, to tell the kids about the primary children that participated in the Children's Chorus at General Conference.  I'm sure Susie was looking for an answer like, "they were reverent, they were dressed nice, they didn't talk or wiggle," instead Jordyn went on for about 3 minutes describing what each group of children were wearing, the different colors of hair, the way the boys were dressed, the different nationalities (skin coloring is something Jordyn really pays attention to when she's drawing), what length of hair the girls had, and finally ended with, "and they were really reverent")  She said she just couldn't stop grinning and just had to let her keep going because she was just getting the biggest kick out of her.  Awww, yes, that is our Jordyn!  I love her to pieces and I mentioned it in a previous post, but it was interesting putting her baptism video together as I looked through hundreds of pictures from when she was tiny and she was very particular about her clothes, particular about her hair, she loved to lug around 5 different purses, she loved to draw, and she loves lots of color!  She is one of a kind!! 

Anyway, back to our regular scheduled program.  As I talked to her on the phone, I got the biggest kick out of two things she said that she was SOOOO excited about, "mom, guess what, I actually got to hold the DVD player in G&G's car all by myself, I didn't even have to share it!!" and, "mom, guess what, I got a whole queen bed ALL to myself so I could move around as much as I wanted!"  Some other things she loved were the huge continental breakfasts at the hotel, the room that was on the 6th floor, getting to go out to eat several times, shopping all by herself with Grandma, riding trax and talking to people about the gospel, hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa at the hotel watching t.v. and having her own snacks, laying out she and Grandma's clothes for the next day, jewelry and all, snuggling with Grandpa, talking with no interruptions:)  Yep, I guess she should have been an only child but since that didn't happen, weekends like this are just what she needs and loves!  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for a very fun and special weekend.

  

The fun continued the actual day of her B-Day, October 3rd.  We had a B-Day breakfast and she left for school.  I made some sugar cookies and delivered them to her class which really is the highlight of a child's life I've decided!  Later that evening, Grandma Rose and Grandma Johnson joined us for her family B-Day party where we enjoyed dinner together and then present opening, lots of pictures and then cake and ice cream. Jordyn was thrilled with everything she recieved and was spoiled as usual!  She got lots of arts and crafty type stuff and then a new scripture case and her own new set of scriptures.  Grandma and Grandpa Teichert sent a card and a check in the mail which she was pretty excited about it. The kids don't get to go shopping very often so to have a chunk of money to spend on whatever they would like is a dream come true.  Of all of my kids, she's my little shopper so I was a little afraid of how she might spend her money but I was pleasantly surprised at how careful she was with every dollar.  She ended up buying herself a watch, a wooden letter "J" for her shelf, shirt, headband, pair of stretch pants, and some gum.  She cracked me up because she accounted for each dollar she spent and was really careful not over spend.  Phew.....maybe there is hope:) 

Morgan loves to make these notebooks for B-Day's.  It's just a composition notebook covered with scrapbok paper (thank you modpodge), she sometimes decorates them more with their name and a big flower but she left this one blank.   Regan made a clipboard for Jordyn with basically the same idea.  Jordyn was so excited about both gifts!

Grandma Rose with Jordyn!  Jordy pretty much adores her, but then again, I do too!  Love you mom!

This is my sweet and amazing Grandma Johnson who has faithfully attended most of my kids activities throughout the years.  She is a remarkable woman and has faced a lot of health challenges this past year that set her back quite a bit but she is back to doing awesome again.  She is working on selling her condo on Three Fountains Drive and recently moved in to BonAventure Assisted Living Facility.  She seems to be really happy there but I always tell her that she could be happy anywhere because she's always so positive and faces her challenges with complete Faith.  My mom has many of these same qualities and I love being with both women. 

DJ and Jordyn--Jordyn loves to go on visits to our ward members with DJ on Sunday.  She's a little talky but DJ has always said that she will make a wonderful missionary because she can talk to anyone young or old and never seems a bit nervous. 

Aaaaahh.....the cake.  Jordyn has chosen to make a Polly Pocket cake for a few years now.  She LOVES playing with Polly Pockets and has since she was very tiny.  She decorated the cake on her own though I think Morgan might have pitched in just a bit to help with the candy (okay, eat the candy:) 

Some things that are special about Jordyn is that she's very organized.  She's up by 6:00 each morning and gets dressed, makes her bed, makes her lunch (she despises school lunch so she makes up her own lunch ideas), she often does her own hair, she always has her backpack out of the closet, packed and ready to go each morning.  She loves to read!  She has 55+ points already this year in the AR program which means she's read a ton of chapter books. She's very self motivated, she plays the piano, loves clogging, loves to sing, loves to draw and color, loves to doll herself up, she is an awesome student, she's a fast runner, she loves fashion, scarfs, purses, headbands, boots, etc.  She has a strong testimony and isn't afraid to share it with others.  She's determined and headstrong which can be a little challenging but I'm confident that she'll use it to her benefit someday when she grows up a bit)  We love you, Jordyn and hope that you had a wonderful year being "8"!

I have to be honest, I'm not a big fan of doing "friend" b-day parties. Maybe I'm just lazy but I really try to avoid doing them, but I have let the kids when they turn 8 and 12 have a few of their closest friends over for a small party.  We usually play a few games, decorate cookies or cupcakes, open presents and then the kids just hang out and play.  I keep it really simple and low key and the kids have to help me with the preparations. They love it and I love it so it just works for us.  Jordyn had the cutest little friends over, Chelsee, Emily, and Alyssa, and they had the best time.  They loved the games but I think their favorite was the caramel apple eating contest that was not even my idea.  I decided at the last minute to make caramel apples for the party as a little party favor but one of the girls had the idea for the contest.  Anyway, and while making them realized I was out of sweetened condensed milk so I just made my own with water, powdered milk, and sugar and it worked out pretty great.  Actually, the caramel tasted really good but the caramel apples weren't the prettiest ever but they worked!  It's fun to do things like that spur of the moment then I don't spend anytime stressing.  Anyway, the girls were so cute and Jordyn was thrilled to have her own party!

  

  

Part 3 (Baptism Day will be following very soon!)  What an awesome day this was and she had "perma-grin" the entire day! 

Soccer and Cross Country season's coming to a close

Soccer isn't quite over yet but Morgan has had another awesome season. I think their team is undefeated (I know, it's ridiculous that I'm not sure on that) but, whatever!  I know I say this after every season but she genuinely loves soccer and she just improves so much every time she plays.  She's scored a couple of goals this season but even better than that, her passing is improving so much. She's putting so much thought in to who and where she is passing and it's especially fun to watch her footwork.  She looks forward to practices and games although she's been a little sad this season because DJ hasn't been able to make it to any of her games because of his classes being held on Thursday evenings. So, I've been recording some minutes of each game and always manage to successfully miss her goals and some of her best moves.  Oh well, its the thought that counts, right?   There team is so much fun to watch because every girl out there is there to win.  Most of them have played together for several years now and we've had the same coach (my neighbor and friend) who does a great job coaching these girls!  Needless to say, we all have a great time visiting and watching the girls play some awesome soccer!  Anyway, on to Cross Country, Regan finished her season last Wednesday and had another awesome season.  She placed in the top 10 at every meet!  I was able to make it to all of her meets this year and have thoroughly enjoyed cheering she and her teammates on every meet. It's such a fun sport even though some of the meets are definetly easier to cheer at than others.  The binoculars have come in handy more often then not this season although I still was able to run around to different places at several of the courses to cheer her on. She is a talented runner and their whole team had another great season.  I think Regan is a bit nervous for next year as she'll be on the High School team where they run 3 miles instead of just the mile and a half courses but I think she'll do just fine. 

Yes, this is the only still picture I have from soccer this season.  Sad, I know, but I have taken TONS of video which makes up for the lack of still pictures.  So, hopefully I get those uploaded soon for the Grandma's and Grandpa's to enjoy!  She's so much fun to watch or maybe it's just because I'm her mother!

Regan with some of her xc buddies at Tiger Grizz (She placed 5th at this meet)  I think there were 13 or so teams and 150 + runners!  She was one excited girl!

This is Regan with Shawna (our nephew Adam's wife) They live in American Falls where Regan's last meet was last Wednesday so she and her cute little boy Austin came to cheer Regan on even though the weather was just down right YUCK! Regan was extra happy because she took first place at this meet!

Regan at Tiger Grizz in Idaho Falls

BYU-Idaho Temple to Temple Relay

The week after our ward trek to the temple, DJ and I got to participate in the Temple to Temple relay put together by BYU-I.  DJ has participated for a couple of years now with some his buddies at work.  I was so excited when they decided to have their wives join in the fun!  The race involved around 65 teams ranging from 2 to 8 man and consisted of mainly BYU-I students but their were several alumni teams and a few faculty teams like ours.  The relay was a total of 26 miles so we were especially glad that ours was an 8 man team:)  DJ ran a 7 mile leg and I ran a 4 1/2 mile leg and we both felt pretty darn good, in fact, I think we clocked our best times ever!  Our team ended up taking 9th out of 65 teams!!  It was so much fun spending the morning with DJ's co-workers and their wives.  They are such neat people and it was especially fun to drive to the exchange zones and cheer everyone on as they headed off for their leg of the race.  I was extremely happy when one of our team members and his wife pulled up along side of me while I was running and offered me a bottle of water.  I took them up on it and proceeded to dump the whole thing on my head.  Did I mention that it was stinking hot by the time it was my turn to run.  Oh, I also forgot to mention that DJ handed off to me at our church building and my leg of the race went right by the our street so the kids came up to cheer me on and then hopped in with DJ to come and cheer me on.  They were all yelling, "c'mon mom, you can pass him."  Guess what, I didn't ever pass the guy they wanted me to pass but their cheering me on kept me going!  I loved every minute of this day, probably because I was with my hubby doing something together that we both love to do!  OH, and seeing the college students having such a ball together made me smile as well. Before we know it, that will be Regan!  Anyway, another great activity to teach the importance of working your hardest to make it to the temple.  It isn't always easy but it is obtainable!