Story #11

Once upon a time there was a handsome, hardworking father and a busy, mostly nice mother who were both very tired parents. Why could that be? It couldn't be because they lived with three cute busy little girls could it?

Little girl number one hadn't even finished first grade before she was amazing her Daddy by reading him newspaper headlines and she actually read 48 books during one nine-week term of second grade. Little girl number two was finally able to start kindergarten but she claimed it was boring because she already knew everything. And little girl number three . . . well, that could be the answer to the tired question! Betsy became the first family member rushed to the emergency room for stitches when her head hit the fireplace hearth one Sunday. Betsy began climbing onto the counters to get in the cookie jar herself. Betsy unrolled all the toilet paper each and every day for about a week once. And Betsy developed an unnerving habit of running into a room where her tired mother might be and saying "I did nothing!" in a panic before she disappeared. Betsy also still loved to worm her way into the big bed of her tired parents almost every night, but after some very long, exasperating nights that bad habit came to an end.

Betsy especially amazed her nicer now mother
one Sunday when she actually slept all through Sacrament Meeting. It just happened to be the Sacrament Meeting when the handsome,  hardworking father of these three cute little girls was called to be the Bishop of their ward and the shocked, nice mother gave her first extemporaneous speech ever.

Nevertheless, the biggest surprise of 1984 came one summer morning when a brand new baby joined their family. The handsome hardworking father had teased his very pregnant wife at the "Bountiful Handcart Days" parade that if they had a baby born on the 24th of July, they should name him "Brigham". The very pregnant wife just laughed because she knew after three little girls that she was probably going to always have baby girls, and she wasn't going to have a baby the next day anyway. Less than 12 hours later a bouncing baby boy was born. The very tired mother of three little girls thought the doctor and her handsome husband were just teasing her. But sure enough, baby number four was a BOY! Fortunately, they did not name him Brigham. The handsome, hardworking father was so proud to have a son and the surprised, nice mother was so happy to have a good-natured baby who knew how to sleep that the family could now for sure live happily ever after . . . at least until Thomas Chan discovered he only had sisters!


Happy Wednesday!
Love, Thomas Chan's Mom
(also known as your Grandma)

Story #10

Once upon a time there were three little girls: one big sister named Emily, one medium-sized sister named Shelly and one brand new baby sister named Betsy. The three cute little girls lived in a beautiful home in North Salt Lake with their handsome, hardworking father and their busy, mostly nice mother.

Almost every morning the handsome, hardworking father

would head off to work in a big bank in Salt Lake City and the big sister named Emily would head off to school. The medium-sized sister named Shelly helped her busy, mostly nice mother take care of the brand new baby sister named Betsy. This was not very easy because the brand new baby sister grew up to be a cute, chubby, drooly baby sister full of mischief and wiggles and too much energy. She did not understand the meaning of the words "No No" nor did she believe in naps which was why the busy, mostly nice mother was also a very tired mother.

 

However, the chubby, mischievous new baby sister was also super happy. Whenever the handsome, hardworking father had a bad day at work, or another annoying meeting as counselor to a difficult bishop, or a huge painful tumor surgically cut out of his foot, or his wisdom teeth pulled . . . he could count on his baby girl to squeal in delight at seeing him which would then make him feel much better.

What made the whole family happy this year, too, was having a kind carpenter (also known as Grandpa Chambers) finish the basement of their beautiful North Salt Lake home. Now they had a family room, another bathroom, a craft room and best of all--a playhouse just the right size for three little girls. Besides new rooms in the basement, the busy, mostly nice mother got her very first microwave oven for her 7th wedding anniversary gift and the handsome, hardworking father got his very first computer--a $1,200 Commodore 64!

Who could help but live happily ever after with so many blessings?

(Hmmm . . .

maybe the parents of the chubby, mischievous baby girl who was happiest sleeping right in between them in their bed every night!)

 

Happy Spring!

Love, a busy mostly nice person

also known as your Grandma

Story #9

Once upon a time, believe it or not, the cute nice wife and mother in these 40 stories was once a child like you! Once upon another time long, long ago there was another handsome young man named Mertin and a pretty, nice girl named Irene who had their very first baby girl on the lucky day of March 17.

When this baby girl was little like Lilly she had blue eyes,
little blond curls and loved to such her thumb. When she was 3years old like Parker she stopped sucking her thumb when she realized no one else in her primary class sucked their thumbs. When she was 4 years old like Nash she loved to twirl in her ruffly dresses and whenever she heard the Meadow Gold Girl commercial on TV, she would come running to watch it! By the time she was Lindsay's age, she had a little brother and a little sister with a brand new baby sister born just two days before her 6th birthday!

She was very excited to go to first grade in a brand new
elementary school just two blocks away from her house when she was the same age as Luke and Wade. And she loved to draw almost as much as Ryan. Her teacher, who was also an artist, loved the little girl's drawings so much, she would sometimes take them to art shows! When the little girl turned 8 years old like Eddy, she was baptized and got her first pair of glasses--pretty pink ones!

When the little girl was 10 years old like Brody and Jack, she liked to read--especially stories in "The Children's Friend" magazine. She loved to learn the stories by heart, draw illustrations for them, and then tell them at family home evening. Shortly after this she started taking piano lessons, which she also loved. Soon this girl was a big sister to another brother and another sister and liked to pretend being their "mother". By the time she was 14 years old like Zach she was an experienced babysitter earning as much as 50 cents an hour!

More about her will be in future stories,
but eventually she grew up to become a grandma to all 11 children mentioned in this story plus another grandson born two days after her birthday in 2007--also known as Coltin . . .

. . . and one more grandson born the day after her birthday in 2011--also known as Owen.

Happy March birthdays!
Love, your local leprechaun

P.S. Look to the right under "Labels" and click "Coltin" to see more pictures of this third grader who became a big brother just last summer and had two casts on his legs for awhile this year.

Then click "Owen" to see more pictures of this creative preschooler who likes to draw and make things out of paper and empty boxes as well as legos. . . and can also read already!
 

Story #8

Once upon a time there were two little girls with a handsome, hardworking father who they were most delighted to greet every evening upon his return home. He was a very busy father with church work besides bank work. In the spring of that year a new stake and ward were created and the busy father was called to be a counselor to the new bishop.

However, the two little girls had a wonderful, nice mother,
too, but she seemed a little boring after spending the whole day after day with her. Their nice mother became a little more fun once a neighborhood preschool started and she took turns being their teacher once a month.

The two little girls also had great fun jumping on their floor "beds" until later in the year when they finally got real bunkbeds and new quilts their nice mother sewed for them. They loved to turn their toy box into a "desk" where "Jessica" (also known as Shelly) and "Charlene" (also known as Emily) did their "office work", until that became boring, too and then they just dumped everything out and climbed inside. One of their favorite games to play was hide 'n seek with their parents. Usually they would hide in the very same spots as their handsome fun Daddy and their wonderful, nice mother except once! Their fun Daddy and nice Mommy almost panicked one day when they could not find them. They even went outside to look only to discover them laying as quiet as could be in the bathtub.

 

The little family still went on adventures to visit Grandpa and Grandma in the summer, but had also started a new tradition of taking a mini vacation to Snowbird each year. They two little girls especially loved diving into the swimming pool convinced that they knew how to swim. And they also loved the shower!

Now that this little family had become so good at living happily ever after, they decided it was time for another addition. On the very last day of August in 1982 (which also happened to be 5-year-old Emily's first real day of kindergarten) another cute, healthy little baby girl was born. The proud, handsome father and wonderful, nice mother named her Betsy!


Four-year-old Shelly was especially excited to be a big sister and second "mother" to the new baby now that her favorite sidekick had started school without her. Little did this family know that soon they would be living another (more exhausting) kind of happily ever after.
 

Happy Wednesday!
Love, Betsy's Mom
(also known as your Grandma)