36 Years Ago

All he said was "Will You" and I cut him off and said YES! We took this picture just minutes after. We wanted to capture this moment. Our beginning.

It was 1974.

I was so completely in love with Richard....he was a dream...and he still is 36 years later.

It was a time of Bell Bottom pants, Denim shirts, Frye boots, Kaftans, Mini skirts and Platform shoes. How funny that all that stuff is in style right now.

We were married in my backyard and I had wild flowers in my hair.

I wanted to be married barefoot but my mom had a fit. Rich took me to J.C. Penney's 2 hours before our wedding and bought me some white sandals to wear....no wonder my mom loved him so much!

It was a perfect day. We couldn't wait to leave on our Honeymoon. We went to Zion for 2 nights and Grand Canyon for 2 nights. We had a deluxe cabin right on the North rim. Then we came home and loaded up an old army tent and went camping for a week at Yankee Meadow up Parowan Canyon. It was our Dream Honeymoon!

We washed up every morning in the creek.

Rich pitching our tent. It took hours to get it all set up.

I loved cooking dinner on our brand new Coleman stove we got for a wedding gift.

We went hiking every day. Can you believe this is a future College President?

Our first little home on Louise Ave in Salt Lake City. We had a huge garden in the backyard. Our dads both had big gardens. I remember being so excited to show off our first garden. My dad was so proud of us he kinda choked up seeing it.

How lucky I am to be your wife. We said we wanted to grow old together and now we are.

I love you Babe!

Payback

This is about friends ~ I love my friends. They are like family...like sisters I never had. I care about them, laugh with them, worry about them, and try to take care of them.

My daughters have friends too. Lots of friends! They make their lives so much more fun.

If you are lucky, like I am, then your friends will be there when you really need them...without ever even having to ask for their help.

Today, this post is about a friend my daughter Erin has. Her name is Shari. She lives by Erin in San Diego and she has 6 kids. Busy, cute mom of SIX kids.

When my daughter Erin was at the hospital fighting for her life, Shari was here in minutes.

She hugged me, cried with me, sat with me and tended Kole while I ran to buy formula.

Later that day, she brought me a Diet Coke. How did she know?

New coloring books and crayons were left on the porch for Ellie and Addie to find.

She picked up a Boppy at Target, in Erin's favorite color green, for her to use to nurse Kole in the hospital. I had mentioned Erin was having a hard time nursing him with all of her stitches.

When I went home and back to my life, she would text me and tell me how Erin was doing. She would reassure me that she was checking on Erin. She made dinner for the family and would stop by often to visit and spend time with Erin.

Today was, in some small way, payback.

I took Erin and Shari to lunch. We went to their favorite place to eat called Sammys.

I hope Shari reads this post and knows that I can never really repay her for all of her help during a most difficult time. I hope she knows how much I appreciate all she did.

Friends ~ how could we do it without them?

Pure Joy

There are times in our lives when you can't believe the Joy one moment can bring. This picture represents one of those moments. My first grandson Kole is in one arm and my best friends sweet baby Janie is in the other. Both babies were a special gift from heaven. Janie's mom, Kathy, had to wait and wait and wait 9 long years before she was able to become a mom. Lots of prayers and tears finally got Janie here for all of us to love. Sweet Kole almost lost his mom when he was just 10 days old. I can't even talk about how much panic I still feel about that whole event. Lots of prayers and tears to save my Erin's life also saved us from a lifetime of heartache.

And now look! Here are these two new mommy's holding each others babies! We will have to have Kole and Janie go on a date someday and we will all take lots of pictures!

Austin is giving Janie a Toast! We all wanted to just hold her and love her....but there is even more Joy!

This day of celebration was actually for my newest little grandson. His name is Drew R. and he is my baby's baby! Oh sweet baby Drew on his blessing day! He gave us all a reason to invite family and friends to celebrate having him in our family.....But even this wasn't all.


My daughter Carly was born right before Christmas and I have always called her my Christmas angel. She announced to our family that she and Shawn are going to be having their own Christmas angel. Their baby is due on Christmas Eve 2010. Having another baby to love on Christmas Eve...now that is Pure Joy!

Wish we could have crashed after the party like Addison did but someone had to clean up the kitchen!

How I picked my header

My sweet granddaughter Addison was at the park yesterday. She picked a dandelion, blew on it, and made a wish. When her mom asked her what she wished for Addison said," That my Grandma and Grandpa Van lived by us in San Diego." Now I will never look at dandelions the same way!