Story #23

Once upon a time it was the best of times and it was the
 worst of times. A handsome, hardworking father had reached his five-year work anniversary at First Security Bank and was now entitled to three weeks of paid vacation each year. That was good news! But one day when he was driving to a business appointment on the freeway in his suit, he got a flat tire. Bad news . . . except a highway patrolman pulled up behind him and changed the tire for him. Not such bad news anymore!

His sweet, but very shy wife was called to be a Relief Society President. Bad news because she mostly worried and cried for the next six months. She was released (good news) just after her Dad (Great-Grandpa Hawkes) died (sad news).


Their first daughter, Emily became their first official
teenage daughter (scary news) and saved enough money to buy her very own black mountain bike (good news except when she used the same bike to go too far away). Their next daughter, Shelly performed 11 memorized piano pieces at her very own piano recital (good news) and was asked by a sixth- grade classmate to go steady (not good news). Their 8-year-old daughter, Betsy had read 100 books by summer and had started taking piano lessons which she was just as passionate about (good news) . . . and she had gone a whole year without stitches, too (very good news).

Their "teenage mutant ninja turtle" loving son, Tommy
 learned how to read and write in first grade (good news) and got to spend one night sleeping out in his favorite ugly green truck before the neighbor who owned it sold it (sad news for Tom). And the 2-year-old baby girl of the family, Hayley was kind of spoiled and very loved (good news) until she infected the whole family with
chicken pox (not such good news).

 
However, during the best of times and the worst of times this family still managed to live happily ever after.

Happy Wednesday!
Love, Grandma

Story #22

Once upon a time there was a happy little family that went on a grand adventure in a brand new green Grand Van. The fine father mapped out the whole adventure that would take his happy little family clear back East to visit his brother's family in Pennsylvania. The nice mother packed road trip treats and surprises to last the long journey to also visit her brother's family in Illinois. One Sunday evening in spring the fine father, the nice mother, and all but one of their excited children headed off on their grand adventure. They had decided one baby sister (also known as Hayley) was too little for a big trip so she stayed behind with Aunt Kelly's family.

The fine father drove almost all night all across the state of Wyoming. The nice mother took turns driving, too. They went all across the state of Nebraska . . . all across the rolling corn fields of Iowa . . . and felt like they had rubber legs by the time they could finally get out of the car and spend a night at Uncle Dennis' home in Urbana, Illinois.

But the driving wasn't done yet! Early the next morning they hit the road again and drove through Indiana and Ohio to finally reach Uncle Wayne's home in York, Pennsylvania. Then the real fun began. Both fine families visited the Hershey Candy Factory, toured Gettysburg, and spent a day in Philadelphia along with some of their former neighbors--the Tomlinsons. One day they also drove through Amish country, which was not the funnest day for one family member who did not like being "weighed" for her meal. But all the rest of the time the three sisters (also known as Emily, Shelly and Betsy) and the one brother (also known as Tom) had lots of fun visiting their cousins (also known as Rebecca, Elizabeth, Joseph, Brittany and Keren).

After time in Pennsylvania, the happy little family drove up to New York and visited the Joseph Smith home, the Sacred Grove, Palmyra, the Hill Cumorah and Niagara Falls. These were the days the sick little family learned to never again bring licorice for a road trip treat. But everyone was feeling better once they reached Urbana, Illinois again and spent a couple days visiting Uncle Dennis' family.

Then it was time to begin the long trip home. Once again the nice little family decided to leave in the evening. The fine father soon tired of driving, so he decided to take a little nap while the nice mother drove a little while. Unfortunately, a little while turned into all night when fog became so thick the nice mother had to just keep driving. Fortunately, the smart little sister Betsy kept the nice mother awake by not only chattering to her all night long, but also by reading all the road signs! After one more whole day of driving and one overnight stay in a Wyoming hotel, the tired little family finally made it back to their home sweet home where they lived happily ever after.

Happy Wednesday!
Love, the all-night driver
(also known as your Grandma)

Story #21

Once upon a time on January something of 1989 there was a handsome, hardworking father hardly working one day at the bank. He was just playing around with numbers when he discovered something amazing by adding up a few important numbers. His youngest baby girl (also known as Hayley) had just been born a few months before so she was 0 years old. His one and only son (also known as Tommy) was a 4-year-old preschooler. His cute, busy little first-grade daughter (also known as Betsy) was 6 years old. His smart little fourth-grade daughter (also known as Shelly) was 10 years old. And his sixth grade daughter who was no longer a "little girl" (also known as Emily) was 11 years old. His lovely wife was a lucky 33 years old and her handsome, usually hardworking husband was 36 years old. This fine family was 100 years old!

That was a cause for celebration.

So the handsome, hardworking father made a banner, hung some streamers and surprised his family with the great news. They not only celebrated that day . . . but all through the year with all kinds of new things. The handsome,  hardworking father with the help of some friends installed a sprinkler system in their yard. His handy, dandy Dad (also known as Great Grandpa Chambers) built a big fancy redwood deck in their backyard. His lovely preschool teacher wife used some of her earnings to buy a big jungle gym swing set for the backyard. And best of all, they started a new tradition of "dates". Once a month each child got to go on a date with either their handsome, hardworking father or their kind, sweet mother.

The 100-year-old birthday celebration only came

 once upon a time, long, long ago . . . but the fine little family is still living happily ever after even after the handsome father went truly nuts one day at work about a year later and figured out the fine little family was one million hours old!

Happy Wednesday!
Love, Grandma

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

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)

Story #13

Once upon a time there was a brand new baby boy (the baby boy from Story #11, not Story #12) who may have wondered if he had four mothers. Three of the four "mommies" were always giving him treats or toys or entertaining him while his real "mommy" was fixing dinner or doing laundry or whatever else it is real mommies do. Two "mommies" thought because he was a boy he must be tough and they enjoyed doing crazy tricks that involved a blanket, him and lots of dragging. But most of the time these two "mommies" (also known as his big sisters, Emily and Shelly) were usually gone to school.

 

One "mommy" tried to hold him all the time even though she wasn't much bigger than him. Eventually this "mommy" (also known as his sister, Betsy) gave up trying to carry him everywhere although she must have started teaching him the art of mischief-making, instead. Soon the brand new little boy (also known as Tommy) was busy crawling, climbing and crashing into everything. His head always had at least one bump. And just like Betsy, he too had to get stitches before he was even two years old.

The real mother of this busy little boy had her hands full.
For one thing, she was surprised to learn that a boy raised with three sisters knew how to be a boy--not only the continual climbing, crawling and crashing but all the weird sound effects that she had never heard from her cute little girls. His language was more car and animal sounds than words. And sometimes the real mother of this noisy little boy would be quite embarrassed in church when he would drive his little toy cars down the bench and "beep beep" into anyone sitting in his way.

 

The handsome, hardworking father of this busy little family may have never noticed because he was always sitting on the stand. He was very busy either at work at a new bank . . . or off on church business or in meetings . . . or even once overnight in the hospital after his appendix was removed. Yet in spite of stitches, hospital visits and general family chaos, the brand new little boy, his favorite father and his four "mommies" all managed to live quite happily ever after.

Happy Wednesday!
Love, the real Mommy
(also known as your real Grandma)

Story #12

Once upon a time in a tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle there lived a handsome hardworking father who now worked in a very tall building in Salt Lake City that was not a bank! Not only that, but he was also working on obtaining an MPA degree from BYU. A 12-year-old young lady named Hayley also lived in the tall gray house. She was voted "classroom sweetheart" in 6th grade only to become an unpredictable teenager shortly thereafter. Just after receiving 13 presents wrapped in purple for her birthday, she informed her family she hated the color purple. Also in the tall gray house on Eastpointe Circle lived a young man named Tom who was a senior in high school and who worked at Dicks' Market to earn enough money to buy a PlayStation 1. But where were the three cute little girls from the previous stories?

Daughter number one (also known as Emily)
was all grown up, married and living in her very own home with her husband, Keoni. Daughter number two (also known as Shelly) had just graduated from Southern Utah University with a degree in Computer Information Systems. She found a job in St. George and moved there with her husband, J.P.

 
And daughter number three
(formerly known as the mischievous little trouble-maker, Betsy) was now a genius majoring in Elementary Education at SUU in Cedar City who had saved enough money to buy her very first car!


The very nice mother of all these amazing children suddenly realized how expensive their family had become so she decided to go get a paying job. In July she started working at the Davis County Library in Farmington, Utah as a process clerk. But before that she and her handsome hardworking husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on the same day that daughter number two celebrated her first wedding anniversary and on the same day that daughter number one celebrated her very first Mother's Day!

Because before all that Emily and Keoni became parents for the very first time on a lovely spring Sunday afternoon when Zachary Matthew was born! On April 8, 2001 the handsome, hardworking father could hardly believe he was now a Grandpa. His very nice wife could hardly believe that the world's cutest baby had just been born, because she thought the world's cutest baby had been born almost 24 years earlier. And all the other people in this story could not believe they were going to live happily ever after spoiling this brand new baby!

Happy Birthday Zach!
Love, Grandma

P.S. If you would like to see more pictures of this good-looking 15-year-old goofy guy, you can either click "Zachary" under the "Labels" section to the right,  or you can look at the not one, but two,  mini scrapbooks a crazy first-time Grandma once made about him!