Story #20

Once upon a time not too long ago
the handsome, hardworking man of these 40 stories realized he had become a not-always-happy old man. He now worked very hard in a dusty, hot warehouse instead of a fancy, air-conditioned office. His cute, nice wife still worked at the nice new library in Farmington, but she, too realized she had become a little old lady. When the almost-grumpy old man wasn't working hard, he liked counting: how many more days until retirement? . . . how much money to save? . . . for how many more vacations to take? The little old lady like counting, too. She mostly counted her blessings and how many more days until the next holiday to celebrate.

Their many blessings included a lovely daughter, Emily, who was still living in Layton with Keoni, Coco and their three growing boys. Lovely daughter Shelly was still living in Washington with J.P., Lola and their three ball-loving boys. Lovely daughter Betsy was still living in Syracuse with Brandt, Sadie and their two rambunctious boys and one sassy little girl. And lovely daughter Hayley was living in Centerville with Brady and their two clever little boys.

Fine son Tom was still living in Farmington with his weekend son when someone new joined them. Tom had become reacquainted with a girl he once knew from his working days at Dicks' Market . . . a girl Tom's son also liked . . . a girl by the name of Jenny. On the lovely Thursday morning of June 19, 2014 Tom married Jenny in the Salt Lake Temple. They were just adjusting to being a happy little family when even more happiness happened.
 

Their very first little daughter (Coltin's  very first little sister) . . . and the old man's and the little old lady's second granddaughter . . . was born on the third day of July in 2015 making happily ever after even more possible for all!

Happy Days!
Love, Tom's Mom
(also known as Jenny's mother-in-law)
(also known as Lilly Jayne's Grandma)

Story #19

Once upon time, believe it or not, the handsome hardworking husband and father in these 40 stories was once a child like you! Once upon another time long, long ago there was another handsome young man named Harold and a petite, nice girl named Eva who had a baby boy on the summer day of June 20.

This little boy joined a family of two big brothers. When he was as young as Lilly he liked to sleep with his legs straight in the air leaning against the rails of his crib. Before he was even as old as Parker, he was doing jigsaw puzzles and had a new brother. The little boy got another new brother and claims he stood on a stool to wash the dishes when he was the same age as Nash. When he was a little guy like Owen, he liked his Mom to comb his hair into a wave in the front and he got the nickname "Davy Wavy".

By the time this little boy was seven years old like Ryan, he was on a Little League baseball team (and he got another brother!) He had as much desire as the Dewitt boys to be a great ball player, but alas, no natural talent or good coaches. So instead, he learned to enjoy baseball in other ways like playing Stratomatic ball games, collecting baseball cards and doing the "play by play"/coaching of his younger brother Wayne when they played games.

When he went to kindergarten like Lindsay,

he only had to walk two blocks straight down the street to Stoker Elementary. When he was eight years old like Eddy his family went on a vacation to the Grand Canyon! When he was about the age of Coltin, he got to climb Mt. Timpanogas and slide down the glacier. When he was in the fourth grade like Brody and Jack, he had Mrs. Barnett and memorized lots of poems--some of which he still remembers. And when he was 11 years old, he took piano and clarinet lessons . . . got his first paying job as a water boy at Burningham Plant Land . . . and got his first sister!

This young man was almost as old as Zach when his youngest brother was born. His teenage years were filled with lots of camping, canoeing and fishing adventures with his Dad and brothers until he became too busy working at Dicks' Market, buying cars, and drag racing on State Street on Friday nights.

Before you know it, he was all grown up and became a Grandpa to all 11 children mentioned in this story, plus one other grandson born one day before his birthday in 2009--also known as Luke . . . and one more grandson born exactly one week after Luke (June 26)--also known as Wade.

Happy Birthday Boys!

Love, Grandma

 P.S. . . Look to the right under labels and click "Luke" to see more pictures of a boy who just finished first grade and is happy to have a whole summer of "days off" to read, color, play outside with his brothers, do jobs around the house and get paid in treats, and swim (no thank you to swimming lessons, though).

Then under the labels section, click "Wade" to see more pictures of another boy who just finished first grade and also loves to read, color, ride his bike, play with his little brother and his new puppy (sometimes), hike with his family, swim, and tell you names and capitals of all the states in the U.S.A. 

Story #18

Once upon a time about six years ago, there was a large group of people who took a big family vacation to Cannon Beach in Oregon. There was a handsome, hardworking father and his lovely, nice wife who made all the arrangements. There was their lovely daughter, Emily, who came with her handsome husband and their three cute little boys. There was another lovely daughter, Shelly, who came with her handsome husband and their two cute little boys. There was another lovely daughter, Betsy, who came with her baby belly, her husky husband and their cute little boy. There was a fine son, Tom, who came with his not-too-happy little boy, and there was one more lovely daughter, Hayley, who came with her husband, her husband's brother and her cute little boy.

This big family enjoyed walking on the beach, digging in the sand, playing in the cold ocean and eating seafood, but it was not everyone's first trip to Cannon Beach. Quite a few of these same people had been to Cannon Beach just 11 years earlier.
But even that trip was not the first . . .  

Once upon a time, over 20 years ago, there was a much smaller family who made their first family trip to Cannon Beach in their brand new red Plymouth Voyager minivan. The handsome, hardworking father did most of the driving. His lovely, nice wife did not most of the packing. And their three little girls, Emily, Shelly and Betsy had most of the fun--even Betsy when she was rolled by an ocean wave!

Then a couple years after that, they made another trip
to Cannon Beach in the same minivan, with the same people plus one extra little boy--Tommy! This trip included even more driving and vacationing up to Seattle! Still later (1995) the growing family took another trip to Cannon Beach--this time with a new green minivan, an additional family member--Hayley, and a 10-day itinerary which included driving up into Canada!


(P.S. . . this family vacation photo is the same summer, but not Cannon Beach!)

Maybe . . . just maybe . . . all these people and their additional cute little boys and girls will go to Cannon Beach again . . . and dig in the sand, walk on the beach, play in the ocean, and eat seafood happily someday after!

Until then . . . Happy Wednesday!
Love, Grandma