Practice, Practice, Practice

I must give credit of the small improvement of my picture taking abilities to none other than Miss Kim. I am MORE than envious of her wicked photography skills and am so grateful that in her busy, busy life she is willing to take the time to share her talent with others. These and the ones on my previous posts are my "homework" if you will. It's been fun to learn more about my camera and just some ways to make my pictures better. Like Aunt Tammy says "You don't want a cuter scrapbook layout than the pictures that are on it." Though the layout is crucial, too.

Full of Curiosity

Today Alyssa got to have an adventure. She got to play in dirt! My grandparents have horse shoe pits in their back yard and that's where Alyssa decided she wanted to explore this afternoon. She very carefully stepped into the pit and was squatting down just running her little fingers through the dirt. After a few minutes she decided she could maybe, just maybe sit all the way down. Oh boy, that opened a whole new window for getting down right messy! First she let it run through her fingers, then she would bury her leg (and quickly clean it off, of course). She tried to stack as much of it as she could on the peg, but gave up quickly when it just slid off the top.

After about 20 minutes of the horse shoe pits, she decided to explore the side of the shed. Oh the pebbles she found! AND the ants! She kept saying "bug? bug?" It was hilarious. "Yes Alyssa, that's a bug." We haven't seen many of those before and bugs are very interesting.

Of course, after playing in the dirt, we simply must play in the water. This didn't last too long. She kept squirting herself in the face with the hose! Pretty soon she came up on the deck saying she was cold and was trying to strip down naked. That was the end of our adventure today.

In this house...

Well, I guess it's official. Our home is up for sale. I've been thinking a lot about the last four and a half years we've spent here. I've loved it, almost every minute of it.

When we walked through the front door of the house for the first time I about died at the mess I saw. I almost wanted to turn around and walk right back out. But I didn't. I closed my eyes and found my happy place. I fell in love with the layout of the place. I love the vaulted ceilings, the tile, and the master bath. Oh the master bathroom! (It quickly became mine) I loved what would soon be our bedroom. The mirrors on the closet doors and the windows. I just fell in love! As we stumbled over the piles of boxes in the basement we discovered that we could easily fit 4 or 5 kids in this house by finishing the downstairs. That was it. I wanted this house. Over the next year, we started stumbling on some road blocks to our happily ever after. It was in this house that we discovered we wouldn't be able to "have" children. And few short months after that we learned that Tim was in the beginning stages of kidney failure and would eventually need a transplant. We lost jobs, we lost family, we endured trials. We learned, we've grown, and through it all, Tim and I only have become closer. It was in this house that we found out Alyssa was quickly on her little way into our hearts. It was here where we prayed for her safe arrival, the strength of her loving birth mother and birth family. This was where my family awaited her arrival just 6 days after we found out she was coming. In that 6 days we cleaned out her bedroom, painted it yellow and purple, bought the crib, dresser, bottles, clothes, diapers, binkies, blankets and everything else a little baby girl needs. We brought her home and became parents, in our home. A few weeks ago, we learned that it's now time for Tim's kidney transplant, right in the midst of losing jobs, losing family and even more trials. Again, all this has made our family stronger, and closer together. But even with that, we could not have endured as we have without our ward family. The love and support we have felt from our ward members is more that amazing. The phone calls that have come in on just the perfect day. The long walks and talks. The kind and compassionate words are forever embedded in our hearts. The children in the ward will forever hold a sacred place in my heart. They have kept me going on more than one occasion. Their sweet smiles, their tender knowledge of the gospel, their loving arms and their contagious laughter. As I think of all the wonderful and memorable times we've had here, it makes me think that we are crazy to leave! But I know it's time. Time to move on and learn something new. Time to make a different house our new home.

Alyssa's First Race

On your mark...

Get set....

GO!!!

GO!!!

GO!!!

Yeah! I won! Fists full of watermelon and all!

Tim's family had their reunion a couple weeks ago. It is the most organized family function I have ever attended and I think it has been going on for like 30 years. Every year they start with a dinner on a Friday night, then on Saturday morning there's a race (I believe it's about 3 miles, I wouldn't know because Timmy and I always seem to sleep through that part....)

Later on Saturday morning the entire family gets together for the talent show. There's the family band that plays while everyone comes in and then anyone who would like to gets to take the stage and perform. Now, you have to know just how musically talented this family is. It really is incredible. The bad part is, when my mother-in-law isn't there to play for everyone, they hand the music to me. Oh the anxiety....

After the talent show everyone heads to the park for lunch and games. Every year they do races for the kids according to their age. Alyssa won the 1-yr old race! Of course she wouldn't put her watermelon down to go run. It was all over her clothes, her face, her arms and legs were a big sticky mess, but she did just fine with her little fists full.

I'm not quite sure what this puzzled look is for. I get it from her quite often, and it's usually followed by a smile when she's figured something out. She's such a funny little girl.

After all the racing and playing outside, she was just tuckered right out. She fell asleep and took a nice long nap with her cousin. The perfect ending to a busy little day.

Share Your Stories

For any of my family who may pay a visit to my blog, as you're reading my post about Grandpa, if it brings back any memories I'd like you to send them to me. I want to put them all in a book, which I will be happy to duplicate for everyone who wants one. You can either post them in the comment section here, or email them to me at tim_and_cas@yahoo.com. I'm going to make it so we can always add to it as we learn and remember new things about Grandpa. I love you all!

I love you Grandpa

This is my sweet grandpa. He passed away this last Father's Day. I've been so spoiled to have grown up all my life knowing all 4 of my grandparents and 3 great-grandmas. All my life I have lived within a 25 minute drive from Grandpa Richard and Grandma LaWana. Because of this I have been able to have a very close relationship with them. However it makes it harder to say good-bye.

There are so many good memories that have been coming to mind the last few days. Grandpa was diabetic, so there is always sugar free candy at the house. That didn't stop him from finding the good stuff and sneaking treats, though. My grandpa was funny. He would sass my grandma (she kind of likes to boss people a bit) and I was lucky enough to witness it! One of my favorite times was when I walked into the kitchen, and into a little spat...

Cassie: "I hope you two aren't fighting again."
Grandma: "We're not fighting."
Grandpa: "She's still standin', ain't she?"

I witnessed my cute grandpa sticking his tongue out at grandma when she was trying to give him his medicine; putting up his fists like he was ready for a boxing match when she was trying to boss him a little bit; and putting an empty banana peel on the counter like it still had the banana in it to try to trick her. I tattled on him for the banana, told gram that he hadn't finished his dinner. He called me a traitor! I had to work really hard for the rest of the evening to get back my "favorite grand-daughter" status. I did it though.

Grandpa spent his life working with his hands. I believe he may have even been a mechanic and worked on airplanes during one of the wars, I'll have to double check with Gram on that. He has a wood shop out back where he could build anything. I have a desk that he built me one year for Christmas when I was younger. He loved making these little wishing wells. All my aunts and uncles have one, and he even made a mini one to go on their fire place in the living room. Alyssa loves to play with the bucket and rolls it up and down in the well.

He could fix anything. Even cars, but not if they're foreign. If it's not a Chevy, then you shouldn't even be driving it, according to Grandpa.
As he got older and worked less outside, he came to LOVE word search puzzles. He was always at the kitchen table doing a word search. I, of course, liked to help him find words that he'd had trouble finding, and could usually do it pretty quickly. He would just look up at me like "how did you know that was there?" and say "I've been lookin' for that one."

Grandpa loves Alyssa. Whenever I would take her over, he would brighten right up and say "Come here to Grandpa." Of course Alyssa, not really liking to go to anyone would run off. But before the visit was through Grandpa would have his hug and kiss from her. Just last week, on Thursday, we took him out on the back deck in his wheel chair. Alyssa climbed on up on his lap and got to go for rides around the deck. She loved it so much she cried when it was time to get down and come inside.

Grandpa also loves stuffed animals. The super soft kind. Every time he had to go to the hospital my mom would get him a "hospital" prize. He has so many stuffed animals they don't all fit on his bed anymore. Whenever he would get a new one, he would bring it out to the living room and ask if we had met his new friend that was "keeping him company." The past couple years he's been sleeping with a stuffed puppy that I gave to him. Alyssa loves all of them, of course, and Grandpa was always so willing to share them with her.

My most precious gift from my Grandpa is my piano. I believe it was his mother's. My mom put me in piano lessons when I was 5 years old, and we would go to my grandparents so I could practice. When my parents moved to their house in Kearns Grandpa said we could take it with us so I could have it. It's the same piano that's sitting in my living room today. Grandpa always talked about this music box that used to be attached beneath the keys at the top of the keyboard. Knowing how old the piano was, I couldn't really picture what he was talking about, but sure enough, there are holes under the keyboard to attach something, exactly where he said they were. I am so grateful to have that piece of my Grandpa in my home.

I love my Grandpa. I'm going to miss him so much. I am truly thankful for my knowledge of the gospel. I know I will be able to see him again. I know that he's with our Father in Heaven and has been reunited with his family that has past on before. I know he's been able to spend time with Kadence. I believe that he's taking his time loving on little Karlee before she comes to join us here on earth. And for probably the first time ever, he and my uncle Willis may actually win aunt Donna in an argument. Grandma isn't there after all to even things out or help take the lead.

I love you Grandpa. I miss you so much already and can't wait to see you again.

So that's where it all began...

(Please note, Tim asked me to change the last picture of us to this one. I didn't want to. I like that picture. So to make my dear hubby happy, I'm putting it here. However, I feel that the picture should be accompanied by some background, so why not tell you all just how we came to be. Yes, this should be some sort of anniversary post..... oh well.)
Utah State University.

Tim was born and raised to be an Aggie. He followed several siblings to Logan, as well as his parents, though there have been rumors that his dad is a closet BYU fan. (We won't hold that against him.)

I (Cassie) ended up at Utah State because it was far enough away from home that I could have my independence, but close enough that I could come home to do laundry and grocery shop.

We met each other in May of 2001. Both of us had decided to stay up at school for summer semester for whatever reason, and ended up living in the same apartment complex, which we affectionately call Cambridge Courting. (quick side note: Tim and I have different versions of our meeting. Since I am posting this, mine is to be considered the "true and correct" version, regardless of what he adds or comments later... hee, hee) Tim was called to serve as the Activities co-chair person with my roommate. When I saw him, I asked Jen to please have her meetings at our apartment. She ever so kindly obliged. Tim knew darn well that Jen didn't get home from work until noon, but he would come over for their meeting at like 11:00am, an HOUR early. Hmmm... I wonder why?

I'll be honest, I did my fair share of stalking. He lived right by the mailbox. I checked my mail a couple times a day to see if maybe I would see him, or see his car to see if he was home. I was interested, after all.

A while after we met a group of us decided to go to a movie, Shrek, I believe. Tim came over to my apartment after to hang out for a bit. That "bit" turned in to a few hours, I didn't mind. When he left he asked if he could take me out. But not before he made his move. That's right, he kissed me before he even took me out!!! Now I wasn't objecting, by any means. He later said something like "why waste you time dating someone if they are a crappy kisser?" Apparently he was confident in his kissing abilities, and I guess I passed the test.

Within the next two weeks he had met my entire family. By entire I mean parents, sisters, brother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, pets, everyone. I remember around the 4th of July we had a family BBQ and softball game. My aunts and cousins kept telling me how cute he was and funny and what a nice guy. He had their approval from the start.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, I was able to meet his sister Cherie who still lives in Logan, and her family (the Child's). He took me to her work because he had to "do something." I later found out that something was to introduce me to her. I guess I got a big thumbs up and was "a much better match than that other girl." Thanks Cherie! Over the summer we spent quite a bit of time with the Child clan and I absolutely fell in love with them!

At the end of June, beginning of July, I was able to start meeting the rest of Tim's family. Not all at once, just pieces at a time. It was a good thing it happened that way too. So many brothers and sisters and husbands, wives and kids to pair up with them all. WHEW! I'm so horrible with stuff like that and I didn't want to look like a total idiot. I loved them all. Everyone was nice and welcoming, and they all teased Tim! About his driving, his sleep walking/talking habits, this girl he was "dating" (me, we had gone out once or twice) amongst the many other things. It was great.

Then it was time for my next test. Mary Louise, Tim's mom, is a phenomenal pianist and teacher. I knew this, Tim had told me. We were at her house one day, I don't even think we were engaged yet and she asked me to play for her!!! I about pooped my pants! I had been up at school with no piano. I hadn't practiced for months, hadn't even TOUCHED a piano for weeks and she wanted me to play?!?!?! I expressed a little of this to her and she told me "it's just like riding a bike, come on." So I did. I played Jon Schmidt's Waterfall, the only song I had memorized in the last 4 years. I managed to get through it all right. When I was finished she told me my fingers were still in pretty good shape! Yahoo!!! Tim's dad, Linford, said "Looks like she can hold her own on the piano." Yahoo again!!! I had passed.

Here's the time line:
May - Tim and Cassie met
June - Tim and Cassie start dating
July - Everyone has met everyone
August 4th - Tim proposes to Cassie

And what a wonderful job he did on that proposal. He took me to dinner at some cute little Italian restaurant then told me we were going to a park. He drove up to this little park bench that over looks the Logan temple. We sat on the bench and he hands me this little bag of funny things. There was a Shrek book (first "date" remember?), some chap stick and lotion, because I can't live without those things, some tums because I had funky heart burn that summer. All these little things that would remind us of things that had happened that summer. While I was going through it and laughing my head off, he was getting down on one knee, said something like "will you marry me?" I said something like "yes." Then kissy kissy, smooch smooch and we were engaged.

We were married on November 7, 2001. Tim finished his bachelor's degree in May of 2002 and we moved to Salt Lake. After a few jobs and a couple apartments we ended up buying a house and continued waiting for our baby. On November 7, 2005 Alyssa was born. The best anniversary present you could ask for.

And that's how it all began.