Story #35

Once upon a dark and stormy night a tall
  dark spooky man and his wicked witchy wife . . . wait a minute . . . Once upon an ordinary Halloween night a tall not-spooky man and his sweet not-wicked wife dressed up their little baby girl as a ghost by covering her with a white blanket that had two black eyes and a note that said "Trick or Treat". They placed her on her grandparents' porch, rang the doorbell, and ran and hid. When the grandparents answered the door, they simply picked up the baby ghost and took her inside, with no concern whatsoever about how she got there. It was at the point in time, that the tall not-spooky man and his sweet not-wicked wife knew they weren't any good at Halloween hijinks.

In spite of their Halloween shortcomings,
fall happened to be this couple's favorite season of the year. They loved to take walks in the park and enjoy the colorful leaves on the trees, they loved to make dinner-in-a-pumpkin when the weather cooled off . . . and they loved to go to Mueller Park with the whole family for tinfoil dinners and sometimes S'mores, too. They also loved to take trips "over the river and through the woods" to Idaho or East Canyon for Thanksgiving feasts.

Then the couple's next favorite season began.
They loved Christmas so much, they could (and probably will) write a whole story about that holiday alone. White Christmases were especially fun, but winter could seem long if it involved shoveling the very long driveway more than once.

 
The couple did like snowy stay-home pajama days and drinking lots of cocoa with Einstein bagels, but they were also happy when bits of green started appearing again on the ground and on the trees. One of their favorite spring things to do was walk through Temple Square and wish their own garden would grow so well.

Apparently, however, they weren't so good at Easter celebrations either--at least Easter egg hunts. Contrary to popular belief, the couple tried their very best to be fair "Easter bunnies". Once when their son needed a new bike, they truly felt it was better to give him his early birthday present at Easter, rather than on his birthday when summer was halfway over.

But his sisters will probably insist for the rest of their lives, that all they got that Easter was underwear. Maybe that is why the nice couple started "gift and treat exchange" Easter egg hunts instead.

All too soon summer came and every year it was usually too hot.
But the pretend farmer father did love to plant a garden, water and weed it, and show it off to anyone who would look. His appreciative wife did love to eat his strawberries, tomatoes, corn-on-the-cob and even the squashes. And she loved to decorate with the homegrown pumpkins once fall came back again.

 
Winter, spring, summer, fall . . .
the couple lived happily ever after in every season, one and all!

Happy Halloween soon!
Love,
your nice, not-wicked witchy Grandma

Story #34

Once upon a confusing time there was a nice-middle-aged couple who had gone from the time of a yellow telephone on the wall to the time of small pocket-sized gadgets called cell phones. They had gone from the time of paying for things with this green stuff called cash to charging everything with this pocket-sized object called a credit card. They had gone from living in big houses raising young children to living in a little house and worrying about their aging parents. And in the middle of all that confusion, they still had one confusing teenage daughter living with them.

In the middle of her senior year in high school, that confusing teenager, also known as Hayley, started "hanging out", going to lunch and text messaging a friend who was a boy but not her boyfriend. A short time later she confessed this friend had kissed her, so now he was her boyfriend. At first the boyfriend's name was B.J., but later the same boyfriend wanted to be called Brady instead. However, this confusing young lady still talked of going to college. She had mentioned just two years earlier at the weddings of two of her siblings that her goal was to be the oldest one to marry--at least 24 years old, and possibly after she started medical school. She got a scholarship to Southern Utah University and to Utah State! She got a promotion to Customer Service/front-end manager at Dicks' Market. She graduated from high school on June 1 . . . and exactly one month later she came home with a new announcement:

"Daddy, I'm getting married."

In September she actually did start school at Weber State . . .

got her wisdom teeth pulled four days after she turned 19 years old

. . . and hasn't yet made it back to college . . . because a mere month later on a lovely fall Friday, October 19, 2007 Hayley married Brady in the Salt Lake Temple.

 

Now nine years later Mrs. Pickett is a surprisingly good seamstress for a girl who once hated crafts . . . and her and Brady are living happily ever after in their Bountiful home with their two smart little boys and one big dog. And nine years later her parents are now confused by things like Instagram, Netflix, WiFi, and trying to remember which password goes with what and why as they fumble along happily ever after.

Happy 9th Anniversary Hayley and Brady

Love, your confused parents

Story #33

Once upon a time there was one cute little boy who made frequent visits to the tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle. For four years this cute little boy named Zachary was the only grandson of the middle-aged man and the nice, sweet lady who lived in that house. For four years, this cute little boy was entertained, hugged, kissed, lavished with treats and gifts, photographed, and spoiled as much as possible by not only his adoring first-time grandparents, but also by his adoring first-time aunts and uncle.

But one fine fall Tuesday, October 11, 2005
that all changed when the first brother of Zachary . . . the second son of Emily and Keoni . . . and the second grandson of the new grandparents was born! His name was Brody!

Now the grandparents had twice as many grandchildren to try to spoil. Not only that, but more and more kept joining the family. Every single year, for a while at least, one more grandchild was born. By the time the year 2011 ended, they had 11 grandchildren! Their very first grandson (Zach) was 10 years old . . . their second and third grandsons (Brody and Jack) had started kindergarten . . . their fourth grandson (Coltin) had learned all the letters of the alphabet and how to write his name although he didn't start kindergarten until the next year . . . their fifth grandson (Eddy) loved to play "Legos Star Wars" and "Angry Birds" . . . their sixth grandson (Ryan) loved to be different superheroes with several costume changes throughout the day . . . their seventh grandson (Luke) was two years old and full of mischief . . . their eighth grandson (Wade) who was also two years old suddenly started talking and knew his full name, all his colors and a little counting . . . their ninth grandchild and only grand-daughter (Lindsay Lu) learned how to walk and was an especially cute waddling duck for Halloween that year . . . their tenth grandchild (Owen) was a cute baby who had just been born earlier in the year in March . . . and their tenth grandson and eleventh grandchild was born on 10-11-11. His name was Nash and he was born on a fine fall Tuesday exactly six years after his cousin Brody!

The Grandpa and Grandma weren't nearly as good at spoiling 11 grandchildren as they were at just one. But believe it or not, they love all of them as much as the first one even when they say things like "did you wipe off your hands?" . . . or "thanks for coming!" . . . and they truly hope they all grow up to live happily ever after!

Happy Birthday #2 and #11 !
(also known as Brody and Nash)
Love, Grandma
 

Grandson #2 is now a fifth-grader who loves to read, do art and science projects, but does not like seeing so much of his mother at school. After school he likes riding his bike, playing with Coco, and torturing Luke. He loves biscuits 'n gravy and any kind of pasta. He also likes doing "research" on Amazon around his birthday and Christmas to write epic wish lists. To see more pictures of Brody, click his name under "Labels".
 

Grandson #11 is a preschooler
who loves his Dad and baseball most of all. He also likes his Mom especially at bedtime. Right now he is rather picky about what he wears and what he eats, but he does like "Fruit Loops"! To see more pictures of Nash, click his name under "Labels".

Story #32

Once upon a time after the North Salt Lake home of 20 years, but before the little "empty nest home" in Centerville, there was a tall, gray house on Eastpointe Circle with way too many steps. There were steps to get into the front door . . . steps to go upstairs . . . steps to go downstairs . . . and more steps to go out the back door.

But in-between all those steps was the favorite part of the house--
a grand open space. There was a spacious kitchen where many cookies, brownies, casseroles and even a few turkeys were baked. There was the dining room table where many Christmas breakfast casseroles were served, several Halloween pumpkins were carved, and even a few scrapbook pages were created. And there was the big family room where many episodes of "Gilmore girls" were watched, quite a few computer games of Solitaire were played, and lots of family gatherings were held.

And in that house there was a middle-aged father who was perhaps going through a mid-life crisis. Just shortly after buying this brand new house, he bought a brand new car--a red Isuzu Rodeo. Then he gave up a 26-year career in banking to try a new job as a project manager in the Church Office Building. This was the house he lived in when he served as a Young Men's President and asked the boys to call him "Captain" . . . and when he graduated from BYU School of Management with an MPA.

Also in that house there was a middle-aged mother who was not having a mid-life crisis. She was having fun learning how to be a grandmother for the very first time in between raising teenagers and planning three more weddings.

This was the house where a daughter by the name of Hayley learned to play the French Horn when she was in Jr. High. This was the house where a son by the name of Tom almost went on a mission to Cleveland, Ohio. This was the house where a daughter by the name of Betsy got her very first kindergarten teaching job.

This was the house they all lived in when the 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City. This was the house they lived in when they celebrated the family's 200th birthday on July 3, 2003. (The father was 51, the mother was 48, Emily was 25, Shelly was 24, Betsy was 20, Tom was 18 and Hayley was 14). This was the house they lived in when the crazy father and son decided to destroy an old computer and TV set by throwing them off the very tall roof onto the driveway below (and almost onto Shelly's new car). And this was the house where the middle-aged father and mother celebrated their 333rd month anniversary on February 13, 2004. And they all lived happily ever after . . . just not in the very tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle.

Happy Wednesday!
Love, the middle-aged wife
(also known as Grandma)