Remembering

Last week, my beautiful wife and I flew up to Utah for the blessing of our newest granddaughter. I watched my two grandsons and granddaughter with great interest. It took awhile, but Cora who is now two months old, smiled several times for me. What a beautiful child. I listened as Eli told his Mom how nice she looked in a green sweater. Another day, he cleaned up all the toys upstairs by himself without being told to do so. He was so pleased that he could surprise his parents. One night, Sam got up about 3:30 am and was running around the front room crying and screaming. Melissa was unable to understand him as he was so upset. Matt called from the bedroom that Sam wanted the toy turtle which was taken from him just before going to bed. Melissa found the turtle and he immediately quieted down and went back to bed holding it close to his chest. What a terrible dream he must have had. More about dreams later on in the blog. For Family Home Evening, we went to the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum on the Brigham Young University campus. We saw all kinds of stuffed animals and birds. The boys loved it. Towards the end of our visit, Sam and I sat on a step bench where presentations are given. La Ree wanted to take a picture of the two of us. Sam was behind me and was picking his nose. He was told to stop and smile so a picture could be taken. He stopped, placed his now dirty finger on top of my hair and rubbed it in. Loving a grandchild will allow you to take all kinds of torment from them. The picture attached to this entry is just right after he stuck his finger on my head. As we were leaving, we saw a gift shop. Entering it was a mistake as the boys wanted us to purchase something for them. Eli asked me if you had to be rich in order to buy something. I said it helps to be rich. "Grandpa, are you rich?" "Can you buy me something if you are rich?" Sadly, Grandpa was not rich enough on that night to buy him something. However, I did offer to buy a 79 cent red lady bug ring for Melissa. She turned me down. We then went to the Creamery on Ninth for some ice cream. The scoops were large even for child size. Eli was soon full but Sam kept eating. He enjoyed his Cookies & Cream. He worked and worked on his ice cream. Since he is just under three years of age, I doubt he will ever remember the evening and his joy eating all that ice cream. On Tuesday the 12th, we went to Lake Point to visit with La Ree's parents. Melissa and her children came too. My brother Reed drove to Lake Point from Centerville so we could spend a couple of hours together before we returned to Phoenix. While there, Reed and I were sitting at the kitchen table. Sam called for Grandpa and then came over to the table. He saw both of us sitting there. He said "Grandpa" and I answered. He looked confused as he eyeballed us. Then, he grabbed my brother Reed's index finger and pulled him down the hallway calling him Grandpa. I need to visit more. After returning to Phoenix, Jenny and Dallin came over on Friday night for a visit. Dallin and I were watching a Suns game on TV while waiting for dinner. He was standing on the couch and behind me as I sat there. He looked at my head and commented that I had hair but not much on top. He then asked, "The rest of your body doesn't want hair on the top of your head?". I guess that is the reason I am somewhat bald on top. The rest of my body doesn't like hair on my head. Later, Scott came over for a short visit. Dallin decided to change eating places. His dad asked him if he wanted the Sesame Street placemat. Scott was then informed that he was not old enough to have a placemat. He being Scott. I think Dallin meant Scott was too old to have that kind of placemat. Now to dreams.

As I go back into my memory banks, it hard to remember anything before the age of four. At age four, our family moved from Ogden to B0untiful. It was a difficult move for me. I had nightmares every night for six months. My parents were really worried. And, my sister Linda wasn't all too happy since I slept in her bedroom. I can still remember two of my dreams. One dream took place in the bathroom. I dreamed I needed to go to the bathroom. When I got to the toilet, I found that it was huge and much, much taller than me. It dwarfed me and I was unable to use the bathroom. I was very unhappy. The dream still bothers me. The other dream took place in the front room. We had many people in the front room. Someone was passing around pieces of Bazooka Bubblegum. The platter had large pieces on it--each piece about the size of a dinner plate. I was so anxious to get mine. When the platter got to me, there was only one little tiny piece (about the size of a quarter) for me. I was mad and unhappy that everyone was so mean to me. That dream still bothers me. And yes, I still love Bazooka Bubble Gum. Memories. Remembering. All of these things are for our good, right? Sometime I will need to share the dream about the Soviet Union bombing Bountiful and the United States with balsa wood airplanes. By the way, it was in color.