10 Years!

That seems like a long time, and yet no time, all at once.

10 years ago today, was the most important day of our lives. That was the day our family was established. It was the day Arthur and I knelt across from one another at an altar in the Oakland Temple and were sealed to one another for time and all eternity. I'm so glad I said yes!

I was recently on a trip down memory lane, reading some of my old journals. I came across an entry dated March 29, 1998. Here's some of what I wrote: (excuse some of the slang-"phat" is another word for awesome or amazing.)

"I want to be best friends with my husband and do stuff together all the time like skiing, snowboarding, and hiking, and rock climbing and camping and weight lifting and singing and going places and laughing and everything will be so much fun. And nothing will be too hard for us to tackle together. It'll be someone pretty darn awesome that I end up marrying 'cause he's gonna have to be a return missionary, with a phat testimony, funny, thoughtful, able to cope with my mood swings, and a good mind-reader. (just kidding.) . . . My husband is gonna be incredible! And if my husband ever reads this, I hope he knows I think the world of him and love him so much and am excited to be with him for all eternity."

When I read that, I was thinking, "check, check, check," Now, technically, we haven't been rock climbing yet, so we'll have to squeeze that in sometime in the next decade. And I don't really lift weights anymore, (can you believe I took weight training in High School and College?) I guess some dreams become less important over time, because I don't really care about that one anymore. But everything else are things we do together. What do you know? My dreams are all coming true!

Skiing/Snowboarding: check

Hiking/backpacking: check

Going places together: check

Liberty Bell-Philadelphia

The Sacred Grove--Palmyra, New York

Kirtland Temple--Ohio

Tetons-Wyoming/Idaho

Arches-Utah

Laughing Together: check

(it's true, I wasn't actually on his mission with him, but he sent me letters that made me laugh. And this picture, still makes me laugh.)

So there you have it: I married a devilishly handsome return missionary with a great testimony, who is funny, thoughtful, and is patient with my mood swings. Sometimes it even seems like we can read each others' minds. He's my best friend. And as a bonus, he can build stuff and fix anything, and he gives me room to fly.

Happy Anniversary, Arthur!

Thanks for making all my dreams come true!

Aunt Kathy

Kathleen Stone Wood

May 26, 1957- June 20, 2009

It's taken me a long time to post about this because I don't have the right words. Even now, I just sit here, looking at the screen and not finding anything to say. I guess it just feels unnatural when parents have to bury a child, and for children as young as hers are to bury their mother. But I am assured that despite her early departure, she was not taken home prematurely, and that whatever work Father in Heaven had for her to do while here on earth had been finished.

Kathy is my dad's younger sister.

Here are a couple pictures of the two of them.

They were just 14 months apart, so they were pretty good little buddies.

"As I look back on the years and Kathy's life, I can truly say that she was one of the best people I ever knew. If I had one word to describe Kathy, it would be "good". She was good in every sense of the word." ~Ron Stone (my dad)

I love this one. I call it "AAAAAHHHHH!!!"

This past Christmas, I had the privilege of singing a duet with her in the Turlock Stake's production of Handel's Messiah. It was a beautiful experience I will always treasure. In hind-sight, I attribute this experience to be a tender mercy of the Lord that we were all able to participate in that wonderful concert together before she was taken home.

My Dad wrote the following regarding that performance:

"Last December, I had the opportunity to conduct a performance of Handel's Messiah in which Kathy was the mezzo-soprano soloist. One of the highlights of the evening was a duet of "Come unto Him, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest", sung by Kathy and the soprano soloist, (my daughter and Kathy's niece, Sharee Stone Gariety). They sang like angels and uplifted us all. This piece is usually sung just by the soprano soloist, but Kathy arranged the duet as it was performed that night. She was truly inspired and I will forever treasure the spirit which I felt as they sang and which was felt by most if not all present. Kathy has now "come unto Him" and is at rest. I am so grateful to have her as my sister. I miss her now and will always miss her until we meet again "at Jesus' feet"."

We, too, will miss her. I am thankful to have known this remarkable woman, and to have learned from her wonderful example. I know she is safely home, with our Savior now, and from the other side of the veil, will be cheering the rest of us on for the remainder of our mortal adventures. Our thoughts and prayers are constantly in behalf of my Uncle Kent and their 6 children, who will miss her most of all. We love you guys.

Um, Clearly, Daphne Needs a Sister!

I guess she's doing the best she can with what she's got, huh?

And truth be told, Hayden was rather enjoying himself.

School Supplies

Summer is approaching it's end. The kids start school August 20th, and I have started accumulating some of their school supplies. When I brought them home from the store this weekend, Dallin was very excited to see what his 2nd grade supplies were. He helped me organize them into piles: the 2nd grade pile, the 1st grade pile, and the extra stuff for us to keep on hand. Not long after, I found him at the table with these:

It's hard to resist a brand-new box of crayons.

Goodbye, Old Friend

Last month, driving home from Scout Camp, Arthur hit a coyote. As a matter of interest, this is the second coyote that little green car has hit in it's life with us. The first coyote was my fault. We hit him coming through Nevada on our way home for the holidays. That coyote was MUCH bigger but only scratched the paint a bit and took out one of our fog lights.

Well, this much smaller coyote (may he rest in peace) took out the second fog light and the radiator, deployed the airbags which smashed the windshield, and a few minutes later, the engine seized. Thank goodness Arthur was fine--just a little shaken and annoyed at breathing in the toxic airbag fumes.

AAA wanted to charge Arthur $300 to tow him to Albuquerque. So Arthur called me so I could tow him back. In our 4 cylinder van. Feeling a little skeptical and nervous, (all we needed was a banged-up van too . . .) I drove out to Cuba, (80 miles from ABQ) with some rope, some duct tape (just in case?), and some walkie talkies.

Arthur tied the green car to the van with rope, and we each took a walkie-talkie so I could warn him when a stop light was coming, since he couldn't see anything so close behind me. I'm still surprised it worked, actually.

That little "green car" as it was known in our family, was the first car Arthur and I bought together when we were first married. It's taken us a lot of places. But it would have cost us more than it was worth to fix it. So, it was time to say goodbye.

If you can believe it, someone actually bought that car on Craig's List for $350. He's a mechanic and has plans to fix it. As they were loading it on his trailer, his 7-year-old son said, "When we get this car home, we will have 8 cars at our house!"

So now we had to get a new (well, new to us) member of the fleet.

Meet "the white car."

A 2002 Ford Focus with power windows!

(No more crankin' the handle for Arthur.)

We are all pretty excited to have a car that has power windows and power locks. And we can thank Craig's List for this one too. Gotta love Craig's List.

Photo shoot at the Botanical Gardens

Emma flew home last weekend, but the Friday before she left we took her to the Aquarium and the Botanical Gardens for some fun. We LOVED having Emma come stay with us.

She is such fun, and we miss her!

Anyway, here are the pics from our Botanical Garden Photo Shoot. (We need Melanie to help us be more creative with costumes or make-up or something.)

Entering the Children's Enchanted Garden:

We loved these cool twisty vine trunks. We took a bajillion pictures by them.

Japanese Garden

Somebody save her! The damsel is in distress!