Story #28

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was "cute as a button" and a bundle of trouble when she was little, but soon became one smart cookie. After waiting for what seemed to her to be forever, she finally started school. She went to Orchard Elementary for the first few years with her big sisters, Emily and Shelly . . .

and for the last few years with her little brother, Tom.

When she was just barely 12 years old she started attending South Davis Jr. High with one of her big sisters who was a ninth-grader. Her oldest sister was in her first year of high school and her youngest sister had finally started kindergarten.

When Betsy was a ninth-grader, her brother Tom was a seventh-grader at South Davis Jr. High with her. Her sister Hayley was all alone at Orchard Elementary in the second grade . . . her other sister, Shelly, was a Junior at Woods Cross High School . . . and her oldest sister Emily was attending her first year at Snow College!

That was the same year Betsy turned 14 years old and received a "Top Ten Things about Betsy" list for her birthday which said:

 
10) She's the middle child of the family . . . not too old . . . not too young . . . just right!?
9) She is smart, bubbly, and cute as a button!
8) she has survived older sister persecution for 14 years without resorting to murder
7) She loves her little brother and sister and has made a goal to never be as mean to those younger than her
6) She loves her Dad especially for not murdering her after a slide destroying incident
5) She loves her mother especially for always asking questions to
4) She loves books and has read many!
3) She loves noise, and has made a lot.
That is . . . she loves music, and practices a lot and
2) She loves talking and practices a lot
1) She was born on August 31--and not one day later!


After Betsy graduated from Woods Cross High School in the year 2000, she went to college at Southern Utah University in Cedar City. She loved school and learning so much that she decided to major in Elementary Education. She finished college in less than four years and got her first job teaching kindergarten before she had even officially graduated!

Now Miss Betsy is a piano teacher . . . a preschool teacher extraordinaire . . . and a happy mother living happily ever after with her own smart little cookies.

 

Happy Birthday Miss Betsy!
Love, your Mom
(and Eddy's, Lindsay's and Parker's Grandma)

Story #27

Once upon a time there was an impatient older man
and his quiet, kind wife who were the grandparents of eight little boys. There was a boy named Zachary and his little brother named Brody and their littler brother named Luke. There was another boy named Jack and his little brother named Ryan. There was another boy named Coltin . . . and another boy named Eddy . . . and one last little boy named Wade.

The impatient older man, also known as Grandpa, loved his grandsons so much he would take them on wagon rides, or walks to get the mail, or let them pick pumpkins out of his garden. More often he would get agitated when they came to visit because of the toys they scattered all over, the noise they made and, horror of horrors--their sticky fingers!

On the other hand, the quiet, kind little grandma liked creating and giving all kinds of projects and treats to her grandsons. In the year 2010 she gave ingredients to make a recipe each month to her nine-year-old grandson Zach. She gave alpha-books to her four-year-old grandsons Brody and Jack . . . and actually started "Grandma's Alpha-Blog" that year too, which was full of all kinds of alphabet adventures. Her three-year-old grandson Coltin was a member of the "counting club". After Eddy turned three years old at the end of the year, he got a "number notebook", too. Her two-year-old grandson Ryan was in the "color-of-the-month club" and one-year-olds Luke and Wade were receiving new board books each month.

One day as the creative little grandma was counting her one little, two little, three little grandsons . . . four little, five little, six littler grandson . . . seven little and eight little grandsons, she wondered if "nine little" would be a boy, too. Lo and behold, one sunny summer day on the 16th day of August a little baby girl was born!

Lucky big brother Eddy had a sister who was named Lindsay Lu. Lucky Betsy (also known as LuLu's mommy) was so excited, she made Lindsay a blessing dress out of her old wedding dress! Lukcy Brandt (also known as LuLu's daddy) was a little scared to have a daughter. Lucky Grandpa was so excited he gave Betsy a $1,000 bonus for the very first granddaughter. (Actually, he gave all of his children $1,000 for their birthdays that year.) And lucky Grandma was so excited she organized a "pink party" to celebrate LuLu's birth, gave her an outfit each month the first year of her life . . . and along with everyone else . . . lived happily ever after!

 

Happy Birthday Miss Lindsay Lu!
Love, Grandma

P.S.    Look under "Labels" and click "Lindsay Lu" to see more pictures of this six-year-old little lady who loves coloring, princesses, popcorn and piñatas and is especially excited to start first grade tomorrow with her brand new "My Little Pony" backpack and matching lunchbox!

Story #26

Once upon a time there was a handsome hardworking man and his cute, nice wife who celebrated their 200th (month) wedding anniversary! It was 1993--the same year the Salt Lake Temple was celebrating its Centennial and just a couple years before the Bountiful Temple was completed and dedicated.

But not everything was cause for celebration during those years. One day it snowed all day long which was very fun for those who got to miss school. It may have been fun for the fine father to miss work, too, except that he had to take turns with his young son shoveling snow every single hour! The hardworking father also felt like an under-appreciated employee of the bank, but he was truly loved by his nice wife when he completely painted the whole upstairs of their home sweet home.

 

One teenage daughter, Emily was excited to get her first real job before she even turned 16 years old--at Atlantis Burgers . . . but she still had to argue with her kind and loving parents that she was "not dating" Jeremy  also before she even turned 16 years old. Later she got a better job at Lynn's Flavor Magic and started attracting the attention of many more boys. Wait a minute--is that better?

While all that was going on, another teenage daughter, Shelly was getting rich from babysitting. Her highlight of 1993 was wearing a bright purple cast for six weeks as the fractured growth plate in her left hand healed after a little flag football accident in gym class. Later she also got a better job at Leatherby's Ice Cream Parlor and she got her driver's license!

What followed was not a time for celebration for the hardworking getting-older-by-the-minute father and his worried wife. For the first few years of teenage drivers in the family, one fender bender after another kept happening including one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day when both sisters were in a car accident that totaled the family's red van. Fortunately, both girls and their friends in the car were not hurt as much. One sister got a gash on her face requiring stitches, but it healed and also helped pay for college . . . and the other sister had no visible injuries but a mortal fear of mini vans for a very long time.


Meanwhile another sister Betsy got 11 stitches on her 11th birthday after an unsuccessful trick dive into the East Canyon swimming pool! She also recovered and became a straight-A student who played the violin in sixth grade and then switched to the flute in Jr. High. However, she also felt her goodness was unappreciated and became extremely vocal about how unfair her life was as a middle child.

Her younger brother, Tom had no worries
and was perfectly happy collecting basketball cards, building with legos, reading comic books, watching games--even shoveling snow (especially off the basketball court). Unfortunately, he wasn't quite as happy about getting stitches in the emergency room after a collision with the piano one Christmas Eve.

And the little sister of the family, Hayley got tired of begging her Mom for piano lessons and taught herself how to play five Christmas songs. Plus after only 3 1/2 years of preschool with the same ole boring teacher (Mom again), she finally got to start kindergarten!

But . . . whether it was good days . . . bad days . . . snowy days . . . or ordinary days . . .  this fine little family just kept living happily ever after!

Happy Wednesday!
Love, Grandma

Story #25

Once upon a time after a little girl named Hayley
and all her sisters and brother had recovered from chicken pox, it was time for another adventure. Not a grand adventure . . . a little "good deed adventure". The whole little family loaded up in their grand van (which was now a red one) and headed to Idaho where they met more aunts, uncles and cousins and repainted Great-Grandma Hawkes' yellow house in just one day!

Yet before long, bad days were back again. By the end of the year there were two teenagers in the family--two teenage girls who liked to sass, have hair brush wars and do tiny tortures to each other. There was one other daughter who bravely endured plastic surgery to have a lump removed from the side of her face and one son who had to get nine stitches in his chin after falling off his bicycle. And there was a little daughter who did not stop stealing the neighbor kids' bikes until she got her very own Fisher Price tricycles on her third birthday.

 

Nevertheless, the wonderful, patient parents of these trouble makers loved them enough to go on a spring break adventure the following year to Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Shortly after that the handsome, hard-working father of the family turned 40 years old. His smarty pants kids celebrated by forking their front lawn with forty 40's and making a banner that said "over the hill".


One of the smarty pants was a daughter who turned 15 years old and started high school in September . . . another one was a daughter who got braces and later turned 14 years old . . . another one was a daughter who turned 10 years old and started fifth grade . . . another one was a son who turned 8 years old and started third grade . . . and the youngest one was a daughter who turned 4 years old and was her lovely mother's star preschool student. Their family grew by one more that school year, too when--not a cute, cuddly baby joined the family--but another teenage girl named Christina who was an Indian Placement Student.


There were many more good and bad days
in the year to come, but this fine family learned that living happily ever after happens one day at a time!

Happy Wednesday!
Love, Grandma