vacation????

sorry this is so long, but i am writing this more for my history than anything.

ryker enjoying his 1st birthday with dutch oven hot fudge cake.

this past week, we attempted to be on vacation down on the mountain with ALL of our kids and grand kids coming at sometime during the week. the 20th was ryker's first birthday and the 27th was siona's third birthday. adam and julie olson and their 3 kids came down with chet and tiff for the first 2 nights. we celebrated ryker's 1st birthday on sunday. we had alot of fun things planned.

siona, jane, kendyl, and ike with the visors they made.

but our plans changed real fast on monday. craig (godwin) came down monday afternoon. on his way down, he got a message from melanie to have don call home a.s.a.p. (not an emergency, but very urgent). we were just getting ready to take the kids on a four wheeler ride, but don left in a hurry and went up on the mountain to the 'phone booth'. he came back in just a few minutes and told me that we had to go home, now! his mom was not doing well and grandpa was asking for don. sooo... we loaded up a few things and siona. (we had taken her with us and george and mel were going to come down later in the week). she was NOT a happy camper! when i put her toothbrush and pillow into her bag, she took them out, saying "gramma, just leave them here and we can come back!"
we got to grandpa and grandma's house about 9:00 p.m., grandma had not eaten much since friday and had been in alot of pain, she hadn't been out of bed since then, either. the hospice doctor had taken her off all of her medications except for her pain pills and ativan. grandpa and some of the boys had given her a blessing by the time we got there. we went into her bedside where she was resting peacefully. don leaned over and told her that she needed to go if she was ready, that she didn't need to worry about grandpa anymore, we would make sure he was taken good care of. we stuck around until about 1:00 a.m. then we came home. tuesday morning, we headed back down to see how grandma was doing. she was resting peacefully, with no change. we stuck around until late afternoon, and still no change. we were told that she could go within hours, weeks or months. don decided that we needed to go back down to fairview and we would call and check in every few hours. valerie (don's sister) had come from idaho and was in talking to grandma. she got a little response, but not much. when we went in to tell her goodbye, siona gave her a kiss on the cheek and said "goodbye grandma, i love you!" grandma instantly opened her eyes, grabbed siona's hand and puckered up her lips so that siona could kiss her. she had done the same with kamryn earlier. our grand kids all had a special place in grandma's heart. anyway, we headed back to fairview. we got to camp about 7:00 p.m. the next morning, we got up and once again, don went out to the 'phone booth' to see how mom was doing. still... no change. so we went over to 'potter's pond' (which is about 1 1/2 hours from our trailer) to take the kids fishing. we had a great time. the weather was great and the scenery was beautiful. don and chet didn't get to fish, because every time they would cast kendyl and siona's poles, they would get a bite and they couldn't keep the girls poles baited and fish too. ryker wasn't feeling to great, but "papa" let him reel in the fish that he finally was able to catch with his pole. (we had to let them all go, because they all were just little planter fish). on our way back to camp (about 6:30p.m.), as we were going over the summit on the skyline, don's voice mail rang. it was melanie telling him to call home a.s.a.p. he called and she told us that grandma had passed away about 3:45 p.m. so once again, we drove back up the mountain to get our things packed to come home. again... siona was NOT happy! she cried when we told her we had to go home again. after grandma passed away, jeff, haley, kamryn and hunter decided to go ahead with their plans to go to fairview. we passed them on our way home. we got to grandpa's about 11:15 p.m. they had taken grandma's body to the mortuary by the time we got there. we made plans to meet the next morning (thursday) at the mortuary. so... thursday morning, we got up and met with the family to go make funeral plans. george, mel and siona left to go back down to fairview. friday morning, we went and picked out flowers and tried to get a few things ready for the funeral, which was to be held the following monday (which was today). then don and i headed back down to fairview for the night.

siona enjoying her birthday 'cupcake'.

we celebrated siona's birthday and had a campfire with the godwin's. then again on saturday morning, i came home with george, mel and siona, so that we could go to the mortuary and dress mom for the viewing. sunday night was the viewing at the mortuary and today we had the funeral at the stake center. everything went well and tonight, but now we are all totally exhausted.

we hope to have a better vacation next year!

playing a little "remember when..."

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

if i had only knew then....

things that are important

• be kind instead of right
• wear sunscreen 'everyday'
• don't be in such a rush all the time
• don't ever try to turn mr. right into mr. perfect!
• if it isn't in your wallet, don't spend it (NO, that doesn't mean checks)
• love yourself first
• forget about being a "super mom"
• enjoy the moment! we always seem to think that... when the kids get older, we'll have more time for - - -, but reality IS ... it 'DOESN'T' happen! so cherish those special moments!
• most of all... you can't be everything to everybody!

just a few little things that i have been thinking about lately.

oh... to be young again!

does anyone remember the days of being young and being able to entertain 'yourself' for hours playing hopscotch? well kamryn had a little bit different idea about the traditional hopscotch pattern and how to play.

we ( i ) had to draw flowers on the sidewalk at a distance that she could do her little ballet jumps from one to another.

we ( i ) drew circles for another one, and here, papa is trying to help her. (if you wanted to see a sight, you should have seen papa trying to 'show' her how it was suppose to be done!)

then we traced bodies and wrote names. did i say ~ entertain 'yourself' ?

it wore me completely out! but definitely worth it!

flashback friday

friday... it's here again, and today i thought i would do my flashback about the trek. i know, i know, it was only three weeks ago, but i might forget if i don't write it down.

TREK....

so... we went with our ward on a family trek. we went to six water crossing, martin's cove, and rocky ridge, in the "big wonderful wyoming". it was a great experience. first, because we were able to see ward members as their truest self's. second, because of the experience itself.

NO! we did not push the handcarts or sleep in a tent ~ i like to think of it as ~ we were a few of the lucky ones that got to travel in covered wagons.

we made two trips over to martin's cove. the spirit in that place is so strong! we had to go back the second time, because there was so much to see and we didn't have enough time the first day. so anyway 17 out of the 31 people in our company went back with us the second day. we hiked up to the cove (after the shuttle took us up to the monument) we hiked about 3/4 of a mile up and 3/4 of a mile back down to the shuttle. when we got up in the cove, we asked the missionaries (you have to ask, or they can't tell you) to tell us some stories about some of the people and things that had happened there. we were waiting for everyone in our company to get up there before they started with the stories, and as i looked down the trail, here came brother glancy carrying his two young daughters. it was quite a touching site. they both in their cute little pioneer dresses and bonnets. i could just picture the pioneers doing the same, but i'm sure they carried them more than just a couple of miles.

i didn't have any ancestores in the martin or willie handcart companies, but i did find the name of my great grandfather - ocscar winters - on the

wall of the second group of rescuers. it was an exciting feeling to think that i had ancestors who were actually there.

maybe i'm just getting old, but i definitely loved learning about the histories of these amazing people. they had such strong testimonies, that they did everything ~ including giving up all of their earthly possession to follow the council of the prophet. and... they had the faith to do what the prophet asked. i think that i can say that my testimony is that strong. i'm sure that NOW, they are thinking that it was all worth it, and have received their just reward in heaven!

i'd like to think that they had even just 1/4 of the fun we had, but i dare to think NOT!

indepedence day

the fourth of july...

we spent the whole weekend down in fairview...the culhane family has nothing over on the hunter and godwin families, when it comes to hangin' out! NOTHIN' ~ but total relaxation! i even finished reading the book i was reading ~ the ice castle, and got some reading in about my "winters" ancestors. i can't help but be grateful to them for the hardships they endured so that i can enjoy some of the freedoms that i have today. we are sooo blessed!

maybe... my love for fairview is inherited from my ancestors who were some of the first settlers of mt. pleasant and fairview. hiram winters and his son, william were both, two of the first physicians in mt. pleasant. hiram was a brother to my great grandfather, oscar winters. a sister, rebecca winters, married amasa tucker. in 1872, orson hyde appointed amasa the second mayor of fairview. he also served as bishop over the fairview ward for 23 years and rebecca served in the relief society presidency, acting as either president or counselor for 36 consecutive years, from 1874 to 1908. (i think i would have shot myself, first, NO! i know i would have!). they lived in a house at 190 s. state street in fairview. they are both buried in the fairview cemetery.

okay, back to the mountain... chet, tiff and the kids were already down there when we got there. it's always more fun when at least some of the grand kids are there to spoil!

we watched and played with all kinds of critters. :) "harny toads" (per kendyl), fuzzy caterpillars, chipmunks stealing cereal from godwin's deck (kendyl was sure it was 'alvin'), we watched starlings attacking the chipmunks, all kinds of crawly and fliey thingies. mosquitos - and i have the bites to prove it, but the funnest was that we put a hummingbird feeder in the tree, right out the window of the trailer and once they found it, the hummingbirds frequented it quite often.

chet and tiff had some of their friends from their ward come down. the hayes. they have 3 girls and a little boy. with all of us, and all of the godwin clan, we had quite a fun little wienie roast for the fourth. after dinner the kids jumped on the wheelers and went out on the side hill to watch the fireworks. in one place, they watched the fireworks in 3 different towns. manti, mt. pleasant, and fairview. i got to stay back at the trailer, ryker was asleep and i really didn't care whether i got to see the fireworks or not. when the kids got back, we sat around the fire pit, made s'mores. and looked at the sky. it was filled with stars and boy was it beautiful!

we did go on a few 4-wheeler rides and i think don even played nine wii holes of golf with the godwin guys.

this is carson playing in the rocks.

and this is tatun swingin' on my swing.

(just picture me, sitting on it?!)

it's always the pitts to have to come home to reality. but life is as life does............................