WE ARE FAMILY . . .

I just wanted to take a moment to THANK YOU . . . just for being my family . . .


I was thinking today about our family . . . perhaps because S and her children arrived last night, and probably in part because K and her children also came in and visited and ate dinner (can scrambled eggs and toast and homemade cookies be counted as dinner?) and we had a noisey, chaotic, absolutely delightful visit . . .


I love being a part of our family . . . a part of our big EXTENDED family . . .


When I start to really think about what that means, so many cherished memories flood my mind . . .


Mostly, I think of the times we have spent together laughing . . . We have laughed a LOT over the years . . . and I am grateful for that . . . Laughter is a tremendous bond between people, and I love that along with the squabbles and tears and fights, that there has been SOOOO much laughter within the walls of our home and in the times we have spent together . . . wherever we might be . . .


I treasure the memories I have . . .


Like hiking in the mountains, especially to View Rock . . . even the time we misjudged our time and had to hike down the mountain in the dark without flashlights . . . that was certainly an adventure . . .


Like the time we inadvertently picked the four or five HOTTEST weekends to paint our house . . . We fell off ladders . . . we grumbled . . . we scraped paint off sidewalks . . . we sweated and moaned and groaned . . . and at the end of it all, stepped back to admire all our hard work and simultaneously thought "who the HECK picked this AWFUL color?!?!?" (and yeah . . . it was ME . . . sigh) . . . and yet, somehow, that backbreaking, excruciating, exhausting 'adventure' has become a part of our family's history, and if anybody brings it up, we all laugh about what an ordeal it was . . .


Like the years of Family Home Evenings (the only family fights that we opened and closed with prayer and served refreshments for) where we sang songs (badly off key -- do you remember shutting the windows so none of the neighbors would hear us?) . . . discussed gospel principals . . . planned outings . . . and simply enjoyed one another's company . . . and strengthened our sense of identity as a family . . .


Like working on science projects . . . cub scouts . . . reading together as a family . . . the time spent right before being tucked in for the night, saying prayers and being asked "what was the WORST thing that happened to you today?" . . . quickly followed by the related question, "what was the BEST thing that happened to you today?" . . . a chance to review life's inevitable little humiliations and triumphs from the perspective of being in a place where you KNEW you were loved and appreciated and cherished . . . a place that was SAFE . . .


Like going to church as a family, week after week . . . sharing our faith, learning about reverence and responsibility . . . Priesthood blessings for illness or worries or travels or the beginning of each new school year . . .


Like family vacations to the Grand Canyon . . . Carlsbad Caverns . . . Yosemite . . . Calico Ghost Town . . . Disneyland . . . Knotts Berry Farm . . . Sea World and the Wild Animal Center . . . the beach . . . the mountains . . . trips to Texas and Utah to spend time with beloved cousins and uncles and aunts . . . trips to take S to BYU and M1 and M2 to the MTC . . .


Like opening our home to welcome friends . . . extended family . . . new loves . . . new babies . . . We wanted everybody to feel the warmth of our family's love and friendship . . . and we were always willing to include new people in our circle . . .


Like the sadness or saying good-bye to Grampa H . . . and Gramma C . . . and most heartbreaking of all, little baby Maddox, that we were all SO eagerly looking forward to getting to know and to love and to cuddle . . .



Through ALL life's ups and downs and triumphs and heartaches . . . we have pulled together and strengthened one another . . . supported one another . . . loved one another . . . and tried our best to be there for one another in any way that we could . . . perhaps imperfectly, but certainly whole heartedly . . .


I LOVE that about our family . . . and I am honored and delighted and truly humbled to be a part of such an amazing, versatile, talented, awesome group of people . . .


I love you ALL . . . with all my heart . . .