Story #17

Once upon a time in the year 2005 a nice middle-aged little lady and her nice middle-aged skinny husband lived in a tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle. They were beginning to wonder why they lived in the biggest house they had ever owned as their family one by one was moving away. Just before they moved into the tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle, their first daughter named Emily had married Keoni. They now lived in their very own house in Layton with their very own little boy, Zachary.

A couple years after they moved into the tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle, their second daughter named Shelly married J.P. they now lived in their very own home in Washington, Utah with their very own little dog named Lola. Their third daughter named Betsy lived in the tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle a couple years before she went to college. But now she was a kindergarten teacher at West Clinton Elementary and she lived in her very own house in Syracuse. Their one son named Tom tried marriage for the first time and by the end of the year he also lived in his very own townhouse in Farmington.

The one and only person left living in the tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle with her nice middle aged-mother and father was the very last daughter named Hayley. Even though there were perfectly good empty bedrooms upstairs, Hayley decided to move down into the unfinished basement where she could spread her bedroom mess around even more--not that she was ever home much. Now she was a busy high school student working part time at Dicks' Market in between babysitting jobs and hanging out with her many friends.

But don't worry. The nice middle-aged man and his nice middle-aged wife were too busy to be lonely. The nice middle-aged man had to mow his own lawn now! He also earned his PMP (Project Manager Professional) certification this year. The nice middle-aged little lady still worked part time at the library in between having lunches every other week with her own Mom and sisters. She was also kept busy planning meals and celebrations to get everyone else home for visits!

But best of all--even though the residents of the tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle were decreasing, the size of their family was increasing! The first two daughters both announced they were expecting new baby boys . . . and one new big boy also joined the family! On the beautiful Wednesday morning of May 25 Betsy married Brandt in the Bountiful Temple. And they both lived happily ever after in her cute little home in Syracuse!

Happy 11th Anniversary Betsy and Brandt!
Love,  your nice, formerly middle-aged parents
(also known as Grandma and Grandpa)

Story #16

Once upon a time there was a happy little preschooler named Tommy who was in dirt pile heaven one day when a load of top soil was dumped onto the driveway of his family's lovely home in

North Salt. Also living the lovely home in North Salt Lake there was a cute little first grader named Betsy who loved to serenade her mother in the mornings especially with the "Six Pink Peppermints Till Christmas" song in December . . . there was a cute little 4th grader named Shelly who started taking piano lessons that year . . . and there was a cute little 6th grader named Emily who did a history fair project about the Wright Brothers with her best friend, Jackie.

In addition there was a pretty preschool teacher
(also known as Mommy) who was quite excited when she got to play on a real baby grand piano at Uncle Roger and Aunt Jeannette's wedding reception. And there was a handsome, hardworking banker (also known as Daddy) who was released as the bishop of the ward after four plus years and was a Gospel Doctrine Teacher in Sunday School for a little while before he became the Stake Clerk for a long while! And there was a new family member named Aunt Claudine who moved into the lovely home in North Salt Lake temporarily while she worked in Salt Lake City in the daytime and went to school at night. However, she was not the only new person to come to live in the lovely home in North Salt Lake.

After one long, hot summer where the handsome, hardworking father was forced to buy an air conditioner for their lovely home in North Salt--his very chubby and hot, tired wife had another baby. They had agreed (not) that if the baby was a boy, they would name him Jerry so that they could have a Tom and Jerry after the famous University of Utah basketball players. (Or was it after the funny cat and mouse cartoon characters at the time?) They had also agreed (sort of) that if it was a girl they would name her Harmony because the handsome, hardworking father had always wanted a Harmony. The chubby, hot, tired wife agreed that if they had twin girls one of them would be named Hayley and one would be named Harmony. Lo and behold, only one baby girl was born on the lovely Friday morning of September 16 in 1988. It turned out that Hayley was the very last baby born to this little family, but even without a Harmony, they all lived happily ever after!

 

Happy Wednesday!
Love, Hayley's Mommy
(also known as your Grandma)

Story #15

Once upon a time it was the first year
of a brand new millennium (also known as the year 2000) and a very fine year for the fine family of these 40 stories.

It was the year the youngest member of this fine family
(also known as Hayley) read all four of the Harry Potter books that had been written at that time--not just once, but twice, including the 700-page fourth book! She turned 12 years old in the fall and got her ears pierced, started the 6th grade and still liked to be "talked" into bed at night by her fine father.

It was the year the next member of this fine family
(also known as Tom) turned 16 years old and got a job as a bagger at Dicks' Market just a few days later. Not long after that he got his braces off, got his driver's license and went on his first date to a Sadie Hawkins' Dance all in the same week!

It was the year the member in the middle of this fine family
(also known as Betsy) graduated from high school, went on a three-week European tour and began college at Southern Utah University with a four-year-full tuition scholarship and 40 college credits before she even got there!

It was the year the first daughter of this fine family
(also known as Emily) gave her fine father and happy mother a gift and an announcement one Sunday in September also known as Grandparents' Day!

It was the year the father of this fine family
was released as Young Men's President after he started a three-year Executive Masters of Public Administration program at the BYU-Salt Lake Center. It was also the year he lost a lot of money in the Stock Market, but that wasn't so fine.

And it was the year--in fact the very first day of the year--that the family member known as Shelly became officially engaged to J.P. which meant it was the year that the mother of this fine family had to do a lot of shopping and wedding planning in between her usual planning of all kinds of real and made-up holiday celebrations.

The very best day of this very fine year
was probably the sunny Saturday of May 13 when Shelly married J.P. in the Salt Lake Temple exactly 24 years after her very fine parents got married in the very same place. And believe it or not, they are all living happily ever after!

Happy 16th Anniversary Shelly and J.P.
Love, from your fine 40th Anniversary parents
(also known as Grandpa and Grandma)

Story #14

Once upon a time there was a cute little 7-year-old girl named Shelly who was in the second grade, and a cute little 8-year-old girl named Emily who was in the fourth grade. Five mornings a week, these two cute little girls walked to school up on the hill.  There was one other cute, but sad little 3-year-old girl named Betsy who desperately wanted to go to the school on the hill, too.

One day her very nice thoughtful mother decided to make Betsy her very own backpack and give her a little lunchbox for her birthday. The cute little girl was no longer sad, but very excited to go the big school with her sisters. Oh Oh! The very nice thoughtful mother had to hurry and tell her not yet, but instead they would have "kindergarten" at home! So almost every morning the little girl named Betsy and her little brother named Tommy would listen to stories, color pictures and have a jolly good time in the basement "kindergarten" with Mrs. Mommy. Later the cute little three-year-old girl was even more excited to start going to her Aunt Beth's preschool.

In the meantime, little brother Tommy was busy learning how to open doors and sneak outside, how to trash the couch, how to mow the lawn (with his Fisher Price "bubble" mower) and how to fix his own cereal snacks.



One day the very nice thoughtful mother decided
that maybe she should start a preschool in her home. So one summer she and her four assistants did a "Just for Fun Kids' Club" once a week for the neighborhood kids as a practice test. It was so fun that Mrs. Mommy officially opened her neighborhood preschool that fall. Her number one student (of five) was her very own busy little boy who was now three years old.

That same fall cute little Betsy turned five years old on the very first day of school on the big hill just in the nick of time to start kindergarten! Her big sister, Shelly turned 9 years old shortly after starting third grade and their big sister, Emily turned 10 years old and was in a 5th/6th grade split class that year.

 

As usual the handsome, hardworking father was busy being a banker or a bishop and living happily ever after with his pretty preschool teacher/wife, his favorite preschooler little boy and his three cute little girls in grade school.

Happy Wednesday!
Love, Mrs. Mommy
(also known as your Grandma)