Are You As Confident As a Fifth Grader?

Have you ever heard of the computer game Minecraft?

Jake has.

Have you and your best friend ever written your very own song about your favorite computer game?

Jake has.

Have you and your best friend ever choreographed your own moves, designed your own costumes, and surprised your mother by dedicating that song to her?

Jake has.

Have you ever performed with complete ease in front of 500+ people?

Jake has...and I loved every minute.

Enjoy.

One Final Letter

Dear Grandpa Green,

After 30+ years of weekly letters, I thought writing you a letter might be a fitting way to say good bye.

You have started a new chapter and I truly can't imagine how wonderful that has been for you. I am quite certain the last few hours have been filled with so many happy homecomings and reunions. I like to imagine that you sat down in your chair last night thinking you would take a little nap and suddenly there was a surprise party and you were the guest of honor! I like to imagine that there was tapioca pudding waiting for you and maybe a big, juicy Wendy's hamburger. And maybe your trip to heaven was behind the wheel of a big shiny WWII airplane...that makes my heart happy.

I hope you know how deeply and terribly I will miss you. Today when I got off the phone with my mom, I knelt down in my living room and said one of the most heart felt prayers I have ever offered. I expressed my profound gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the blessing of being your granddaughter. I am so grateful to be a member of your posterity and a recipient of your enormous legacy. I am grateful for the relationship we shared...I have so many happy, wonderful memories with you. I love your incredible sense of humor and the ease with which you would smile and laugh. You have SUCH a happy spirit. I love your soul which was always anxious to serve and bless the lives of others. How many suitcases have you lugged around for me and how many trips to the airport have you made? I bet I would be overwhelmed if I knew. How many Wendy's hamburgers and trips to Rexburg have you provided me? How about the time I bought a new car without selling the old car and had 2 weeks to sell the old car before I had to give back the new car and the old car wasn't worth what I was asking and you called and claimed it would be a tremendous blessing for you if I would allow you to buy the old car? And I let you! You are such a generous, compassionate, caring man!

You and I share a birthday. That has always been incredibly special to me. It made me feel like we had a special connection. I loved that we had the opportunity to celebrate so many birthdays together. I probably never told you how much I loved that. You were one of my very best gifts ever!

I am grateful for the years at Sun Valley and the sacrifices you and Grandma made to make that happen. Those memories are very dear to me. I loved sitting at the fancy table in the lodge with the silver canister of hot chocolate and whipped cream and then having you escort me out to the dance floor for a dance. You have lots of wonderful granddaughters and yet you always had the ability to make me (and each of them) feel like your personal favorite!

I loved that every time I would call you on the phone or walk into the house you would get a big smile on your face, throw your arms open wide and say, "Aimers!" Thinking of that made me sob over a sink of dirty dishes today. I'm going to miss that.

Family dinners just won't be the same. Having you and Grandma there was so important and we were always so flattered that you would take the time and make the long trip to come be with us. That empty chair is going to be hard to look at for awhile.

I love your "Grandpa" sayings...please be neat and don't pee on the seat...colder than a dead Eskimo's nose...busier than a one armed paper hanger...old age ain't for sissies. I loved your stories of the women in the cafeteria and their sacred Diet Cokes. I loved your "Grandma Bea" stories. I loved your stories of serving in the air force and have admired your passion for flying and planes. I love how you always made people feel so welcome and loved and accepted. I always laughed so hard around you.

I loved your perfect hair that in all the years I can remember you never changed. I love that for 20 years I always told people you were 65 years old because in my mind you were. You never changed. Your good humor, your compassion, your thrill and pride in your family...it never changed. I loved that you came to every baby blessing, baptism, birthday, wedding and special event and that you always had your camera ready to go. I loved having you take a picture and then say, "I'll have the 8x10 glossy sent to your door"...and  you always did. I loved that you weren't afraid to learn computers and new things. You have a fearless spirit.

I have always admired who you were and the good choices you consistently made throughout your life. You made the decision to be an active member of the church and to leave that legacy and example to your family. You chose to not be afraid of hard work and accomplished so much professionally. You have served faithfully in every calling and every responsibility. You served several missions and served so faithfully in the temple. You have touched countless lives. I was always amazed at the people who knew you and the wonderful  things they always had to say about the kind of man you were. I love that throughout your life you constantly chose the good...family, the gospel, faithfulness, prayer, service, happiness.

For so many years you sent a weekly letter to every member of the family...and even some "adopted" members of the family. Those letters kept us connected to you and to our extended family in a way that nothing else could have. In a day and age where the art of letter writing is almost extinct, I looked forward to Mondays because in my mailbox every single week, whether I was in Denmark or you were in the Phillipines, there was a letter. You were "blogging" before anyone else knew what blogging was!!! Thank you for the gift of your written word and the weekly expressions of your love. I knew wherever I was I would be found by you through the gift of that letter.

In my daughter's room, above her bed, is the picture you drew when you were in second grade. It has always been my favorite. It is a picture of the little pig carrying straw to build his house. I know your teacher told you it wasn't any good but I think it is brilliant. HB and I look at it frequently and she always says, "Grandpa Green was a really good artist. I bet that is where I get it." Yes my sweet daughter...there is so much of him in all of us. And I desperately want to have my own surprise party someday and find Grandpa Green as one of the guests. You will throw your arms open wide and with a big smile say, "Aimers!" And I hope there will be tapioca pudding.

I am so grateful that I got you all to myself last week for a few precious moments. I'm so glad you laughed and told stories and I got to sit on that ottoman at your side and feel so grateful for you. I'm so glad we read the kid's letters and laughed at their pictures and that when I left, you hugged me really tight and told me how much you loved me. I promise that I will take those small moments more seriously because you never know how priceless they are.

I miss you so much Grandpa. My life has been so blessed because of you. And I am grateful for my absolute testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that I will see you again one day and that we will enjoy the same relationship then that we have enjoyed here. I can't wait.

Hope all is well in your ten acres. SLY.

All my love,
Amy

Funny Jake Moment

Me to my 10 year old son: Hey Jake, do you want to go running with me tonight? Just a little jog around the block?

10 year old son to Mom: No. Can't we just stay home and work on our FINE motor skills?

Ha, ha. My kind of kid!

The Road Less Travelled

There are 2 aspects of my genetic code that you can count on...I will ALWAYS choose a spontaneous adventure over even the best laid plans and I will ALWAYS choose the road less travelled. (Literally...not figuratively...) A couple of years ago I heard about a place in Salt Lake City called Saltair that used to sit out on the edge of the Great Salt Lake. I started to do a little research and was completely spell bound by this little piece of history that I found. I became a little obsessed.

Here is what the Salt Flats at the edge of the Great Salt Lake look like today:

But if you had walked out this path a hundred years ago, here is what you would have seen:

It was Salt Lake City's western version of the famed "Coney Island" in New York. I quickly ordered myself a book about the resort on Amazon and have longed to go on an adventure to see the old site all summer. Finally, on Labor Day, all my Saltair dreams came true! It was fascinating and intriguing and an absolutel marvel to me. I love history. I love historical sites and stories. I love standing in the actual spot and reading accounts and looking at pictures of what was once there. You can still feel the spirit of a place or time period even if nothing tangible is standing there. It is such an interesting story and such a forgotten piece of Utah history. I'm not going to do it justice...but I'm going to call on help from a blogger that shares my passion and has done a fantastic job recalling and recording Saltair memories. Please take a minute and click on over ...

Bonneville Mariner (scroll down the page for lots of pictures and history!)

The following excerpts are from the excellent historical account of Saltair found in the book "Saltair" written by Nancy D. McCormick and John S. McCormick, 1995 (University of Utah Press)

The Mormon church established Saltair in an effort to provide a wholesome place of recreation under church control for Mormons, particularly families and young people. For the previous ten years or so church officials had been concerned about "pleasure resorts" and their harmful influence on members of the Mormon church, especially young men and women (20). Construction on Saltair began in January 1893. It was built on a platform over the water held up by twenty-five-hundred ten-foot pilings of native pine. (23)

Saltair opened to the public on Memorial Day 1893 and was officially dedicated on June 8 (32).

Saltair was extremely popular from the first. People flocked there, making Saltair their summer outing place. Sometimes they made a day of it. They rode the train out early in the morning, bringing picnic lunches and dinners, changes of clothing and swimming paraphernalia; then, weary but exhilarated after a day of swimming, dancing picnicking, and rides, they climbed aboard the midnight train back to Salt Lake (35).

 When it opened Saltair's main attractions were swimming and dancing. Swimming at Saltair was an event--people loved bobbing around like a cork and having their pictures taken with their feet out of the water. On ordinary days hundreds of people, and on weekends and special occasions thousands, swam at Saltair (41).

People also loved to dance. Saltair's dance floor was advertised as the largest in the world, and it may have been though Coney Island's Dreamland also advertised it ballroom as the world's largest. On special occasions two bands played, one at each end of the floor, one picking up when the other stopped so that dancing was continuous (42).

Picnic and luncheon areas, a restaurant, snack bars, and restrooms were on the first floor of the pavilion. The grand staircases rose to a "large and magnificent dancing hall, dressing rooms, clubrooms, and ladies and gents parlors" on the second level.

Early in the spring of 1925 Saltair caught on fire. It took 26 hours for firemen to put out every ember. Whe nit was all over, only the bathing pier, beach office, merry-go-round, pilings, and giant racer rollercoaster were still standing. Everything else was destroyed. (54)

On May 29, 1926 a newly reconstructed and rebuilt Saltair was opened. While it maintained its popularity throughout the next decade, by the end of the 1930's the resort was experiencing major difficulties because of the Great Depression, the harsh climate out on the Great Salt Lake, fluctuating water levels, the emergence of the silver screen as a major source of entertainment, and the opening of Lagoon, a new amusement park located several miles from Saltair. It continued operation for several more years but finally closed its doors for good on January 9, 1959. Saltair spanned an era of sixty-four years.

Saltair sat empty and abandoned for many years until a fire in November 1970 completely destroyed what was left of the grand, old amusement park.

 On the left, you can see Saltair in its prime...on the right is what remains of it today.

In the mid 80's, a team of 4 Utah businessmen tried to recapture the spirit of Saltair by building what they called "Saltair III" located 2 miles from the original site. It never took off and today the building is old, decrepit, and downright scary.

We started the day at the current Saltair III site where you can also see the 4th largest something tall in the world. It is late at night and I can't remember what it is...I'll think about that one.

Despite the dead seagulls and enormous amounts of sand flies, we waded out to the water.

 I have a strict policy about not walking into "natural" bodies of water where I can't see the bottom and don't have a clear idea about what lives there. I have had this policy since I was a little girl. So the rest of the family waded on in and I stood on the side as official "photographer".

It takes .2 seconds for my kid's shoes to come off when they see open water. They didn't get that impulse from me...or my sister Abby...or my mom.

This is the creepy Saltair III that stands today. It looks  like a factory building with onions on top. I'm not a very clever business person but I could have told you this idea wasn't very good from the beginning. And it was weird and creepy inside.

In the gift shop you could buy really, really old stale pieces of salt water taffy, some magnets, and look at a model of the original Saltair.

But my favorite was driving out to the original Saltair site and following the pilings down to the water where the resort once stood. It was a long, long walk but completely fascinating to me as I looked at pictures in my book and contemplated the current landscape. It is unbelievable to me what once stood there. It is so barren and empty today.

The water levels are actually quite high right now so we weren't able to see some of what is normally there.

"Significant remains still lie along the overgrown trestle that leads to the pavilion site. I followed it, stopping periodically to examine the original salt-crusted pilings that supported the boardwalk. Pilings marking the Giant Racer’s route also remain along with half-buried strips of metal that the bulldozers missed. The site of the old Ship Café is littered with ceramic fragments of plates, cups, and saucers. Anything completely intact was scavenged long ago.
As I traced the outline of the pavilion, I pondered the strange dichotomy this site presents. Here, two mindsets have always coexisted at odds with each other: the easy-going beach groove that Saltair attempted to harness, and the harsh desert environment that eventually did it in." (copied from Bonnevillemariner.com).

It was such an interesting experience! Another Utah treasure that I will cherish having had the chance to explore. I loved it!

My camera battery died as we were visiting the site so I didn't capture the events of the rest of the fun day. We visited the Gilgal Sculpture garden, a very unique garden of sculptures done by one artist in the backyard of his Salt Lake home. You would never, ever know it was there unless you knew where to look. It was bizarre and completely fascinating. I'll take you there next time you come to visit...

And then because we were concerned that we hadn't tortured our children enough, we stopped at Red Butte Gardens, one of our favorite garden places in Utah! They have an amazing children's garden and herb garden. And to top it all off, it was free admission on Labor Day. Doesn't get better than that!

As we were walking the gardens, JC was looking a little tired. When I asked him if he was ready for a nap he said, "Yes! Can't you see the sacks of eggs under my eyes?" I was a little perplexed. It took me a minute to realize he was talking about the "bags" you get under your eyes. Sacks of eggs....

We ended the day with hot dogs and corn off the cob at Jane & Thomas' house! Thank you cousins for hosting dinner!

Are you still reading? Good grief. Go to bed. But thanks for sticking around so long!

Score!

MC loves to play soccer. And I love to watch him play soccer. He is playing for his first "competitive" league and it has already been such a fun experience. This team of boys works hard! I am worn out just watching them play a game. The longer the game, the bigger the field starts to look. MC is a defender...and their star kicker! That boy can kick a shot like nobody's business. I am so proud of his dedication, incredible effort, eagerness to learn, and jealous of his natural athleticism. He is a wonder to watch...and I'm a more passionate soccer mom than I would have ever believed! It is going to be a wild ride! GO BLITZ!

Back To School

Today was the first day of a new school year...and this is how my children decided to ring in the new year...it was quite a show over breakfast.

 My "baby" started first grade today. It was so much harder to send her off to first grade than to kindergarten last year. Kindergarten was a no-brainer...I had a couple hours each day to run errands, get stuff done, etc. and all her dreams came true because she was off to school with the "big kids". But we also got to hang out lots in the morning and I loved that. She packed her own lunch in her Hello Kitty lunchbox and jumped out of the car when we got to school and never looked back. It is exactly how it is supposed to be...now I just need to convince my heart of that.

 My middle son in in 3rd grade...time doesn't slow down. If anything, it races faster and faster forward. How did this little boy grow up so fast? He is handsome and smart and kind and I still want to kiss his adorable cheeks every time I see him.

 Could not possibly be more proud of this backpack!! Go Cougars!

 And my oldest is in 5th grade. I don't know what to say...we are racing toward middle school and it makes my heart flutter. He is tall...so, so tall...and also incredibly smart, handsome, and lots of fun. He has always loved school and I am grateful.

And may I once again bear my little testimony of school uniforms. Love, love, LOVE them! Makes school shopping cheap and easy, eliminates any possible arguments in the morning over the great chasm between what mom sees as appropriate and what kids see as suitable, sends them off with a message about respect for where they are and the "job" they are there to do, and who can resist a first grader in plaid with ruffle socks??

After school, I picked them up and we headed to our favorite bakery for cinnamon rolls and mint brownies. We sat and talked about their day and somewhere inside of me I felt a big sigh that they were home again and mine. Nothing like sending them back to school to make me miss them and realize how little time in this life they will really, truly be just "mine"!

The morning started with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and ended with this...fancy "back to school" table settings from the dollar store. As we ate dinner, we talked about their first day and all the things they are excited about and looking forward to this year.

I am grateful beyond measure for 3 children who love school and cherish learning. I am grateful for their many talents and gifts. I am grateful for the many ways that my life has been blessed because of who they are and what they are helping me to become.

 All 3 of my children attend an amazing school and have been blessed with exceptional teachers. I know these women and am humbled by their abilities in the classroom. They are dedicated to their craft, passionate about their students, knowledgable, and possess so many strengths and talents that will bless my children in so many diverse ways. I hope as you approach this school year, that you will stop and take a moment to appreciate what educators across this country sacrifice in time, monetary gain, and effort to stand in front of your child's classroom and provide an opportunity for your children to become all that they can be and live the "american" dream...go on...hug a teacher!

My goal this year is to see my children "challenge their smart selves". I want to see them work a little harder, reach a little higher, and take greater pride in their learning and efforts. And a day doesn't go by that we don't say, "Be Good and Do Good"! It is a family motto.

Happy back to school! May it be filled with spontaneous song and dance over breakfast, cute kids, new backpacks, and lots of enthusiasm.