HUGS

I LIKE HUGS

It's wonderous what a hug can do,

A hug can cheer you when you're blue,

A hug can say "I love you so"

Or, "I hate to see you go"

A hug can soothe a small child's pain,

And bring a rainbow after rain.

A hug delights and warms and charms

It must be why God gave us arms.

Hugs are great for fathers and mothers,

Sweet for sisters, even for brothers.

A hug can break the language barrier,

And make the dullest day seem merrier.

No need to fret about the store of 'em,

the more you give

The more there are of 'em.

So stretch those arms without delay,

And give someone a hug today.

I am not the poet in this instance, just sharing.

Seven Things You May Not Know About Me

Probably the reason you don't know them is I hardly know myself. There are other things that WHY WOULD I TELL ANYONE? But after much thought and pondering and soul searching here are somethings you may not have known about me.

1. I am NOT in favor of this bailout.

2. I left school at 14 but in my last two years of school I studied French and Latin

3. I was asked to be a Polygamist wife.

Seriously, I was to be the FIRST wife.

4. I was asked and did sing a duet with Alan back in Belfast. We sang, "I stand all Amazed", then AGAIN we were asked to sing a duet, this time with the "Relief Society Singing Mothers" when they did a concert in the Bountiful North Stake MANY years ago. We sang,

"Do You Love Me?" from "Fiddler on the Roof" WAIT, there is MORE,

I was asked to sing a song once when I was conducting an office Christmas party on the 26th floor of the Church Office Building. the person requesting tried to pull rank, but I told them that I didn't have to live with them and I did have to go home with Alan.

You can all breathe a sigh of relief. I only sing for my pleasure and my

family's entertainment. :o)

5. As I get older and I have a new set of aches and pains everyday I ENVY The Queen.

She has to have a doctor at her beck and call every minute to ask questions and it doesn't cost her a co-pay.

6. I once got in a car with a stranger. This was back in Belfast and

I was 16 and it was late at night. It wasn't long until he realized he had picked up the wrong person and let me out of the car still a long way from home. The "last" bus was gone and I had to walk. When I was almost home I met my Dad walking down the road to find me all he said was, "Hello Sweetheart" later I found out he was ready to strangle me himself for the anxiety I had caused him.

7. I once dated a guy who ended up in jail. (not for dating me!). While he was

there he met a fellow from the Belfast Branch who was also incarcerated.

Being Belfast, their religion was posted above the cell and he said he had dated a Mormon. Uncle Roy called me a "Gangster's Moll"

. All of these excitements and I met Alan before I was 17!!!!!!!

I guess the Brethren know what they are talking about when they say,

"no dating before you are 16.

LES MISERABLES

Well I finally saw "Les Miz". The cutest "beggar girl" was a little more dishevelled than what is protrayed here, but she did a fantastic job. The voices were great, the scenery was very good, the death scenes were realistic and when the people were told to leave the barricades we checked to make sure our favorite "beggar girl" had gone to safety. She had. Please note the blue apron. It was a proven way to make sure we were watching the right person. Just a hint for those who are planning to attend the program.

What a great job the Musical Theater dept. does at Bountiful High School. It was here that I saw my first production of "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Coat" and rose to my feet with all in attendance when "Pharoah" appeared. I was so proud of "Our Andy" and wanted to tell everyone "He belongs to us" :o)

Good job Caitlin, you are a natural :o)

We look forward to more productions at BHS.

VACATION AND ITS AFTERMATH

If you read Lesley's blog you will know where we have spent a few days

recently. One picture she did not post because she didn't have it is this one. A Bald Eagle. I love to see bald eagles at Yellowstone it is probably sacrilege to say, almost like seeing a bear, but don't tell Michael I said so. :o).

Then a few days of saying goodbyes and getting Derek and Dorothy off home. It was good to have them and it is always interesting to Dot and I just how much these brothers are alike. One starts a sentence and the other finishes. They feed each other jokes. They love their family.

Since they left I have been canning peaches.

And today Alan took our bedroom apart to paint and replace the carpet. A big job but he has done bigger jobs.

David and his family are in Disneyland so I have been given the privelege of feeding the pets!!!!!! what a worry!!!!! hurry home.

It is fun to be on vacation but it is nice to get back into a schedule and besides there is always another trip on the horizon :o)

A Scoop

An interesting wedding is to take place on Oct. 2nd and we have received exclusive photos of the Bride's custom made gown.

The photo on the left has been released by the Bride .....


But we show these exclusive photos.

And also the following photo of the Bride
and her "made of Honor" and other "attendants"

Seriously we had a fun time at a Bridal Shower for Jessica who is soon to join our family. She was a good sport and allowed the younger guests to dress her as a bride. The theme of the shower was "Time of Day" and a lot of ingenuity was shown in choice of gifts. Jessica's Mother and sister were in attendance and hopefully were "reassured" as to the family their daughter/sister is marrying into. As for our Family, we are excited to have her join us. Love you Jessica :o)

I only have one sister....

....... Jean. She is older than me by 13 years, today is the anniversary of her birth. So going on the premise if I remember her and tell others about her she will always live. :o)

She was beautiful and happy, she would go dancing with our brother Jack and had a lovely alto singing voice. She always seemed to have a lot of boyfriends. I remember meeting one of them by accident in downtown Belfast and he took me to lunch. An unforgetable experience for this 10 year old. When she would go out on a date if she received a box of chocolates she always saved a few for me. Well maybe I had to give Brian one but..............

During the war she worked in England and came home on a visit, or maybe she came home to stay, either way, we shared a bed and one night June was there and Jean told us about all the fun she had in London and what she had eaten and we were punching her while she was talking about strawberries and cream and knickerbocker glories. Desserts that to this wartime child were only words. And the three of us lay and giggled and had a good laugh.

I finally had a Knickerbocker Glory when I visited Belfast for her funeral.

She was 26 years old when she got married and I was a bridesmaid. Brian and I used to love and go visit her in her first apartment. Her kitchen was a closet (about the size of Lilian's main floor bathroom) but what delicious food came out of that "closet".

This picture of her with our Mother was taken about 6 months before our Mother passed away in March 1953, just 10 days before Jean's first baby was born.

After I got married she would come all the way across Belfast to visit, it was about an hour's journey and involved several buses. Billy worked in a banana warehouse and she always brought bananas, when Alan got home from work and saw the bananas he always knew Jean was here. :o)

Until we came to the States I never had to buy bananas and when I got here it was a difficult purchase for me. :o).

She came to Utah to visit us several times, and it was fun to have her. I returned to Belfast a few times to see her.

This is one of the last pictures I have of the two of us together.

She passed away in April 1995. I miss her. I have not been to Belfast since.

Then and now

On this date in history Sunday Sept. 7th 1958 Alan and I and our 2 month old baby Lesley Ann traveled overnight on the Heysham boat to .... Heysham England, where we transferred to the train and 6 hours later we arrived at Euston Station in London. Thence by London Underground District line to Dagenham where we were met by Uncle Harry and proceeded to his home where we stayed overnight. The purpose of our trip was to attend the dedicatory services for the newly built London Temple and to also receive our Endowments, and be sealed together as a family for eternity. We had met in June of 1954 and got engaged at Christmas of that year. Being young my Father would not give permission for us to marry unless it was in the Temple. Only problem was there was no Temple in Britain. There was a Temple in Bern, Switzerland and one under construction in Newchapel Surrey, South of London. In April of 1956 we had a District Conference at which President Clifton Kerr from Tremonton Utah presided and when we (Alan, me, my Dad) approached him he suggested we should get married. I love that man. :o)

We were married in July 1956, and now here we were at the first opportunity coming to the Temple to be sealed.

We travelled from Dagenham to the Temple on Tuesday morning Sept. 9th a beautiful autumn day, the sun was shining and we watched the dragonflies, bees and butterflies flit from flower to flower as we waited, just us, in the grounds of the Manor House. The Temple was magnificient in the sunshine and in a short while we could hear the "Spirit of God" emanating from there as the closing hymn was sung. In that beautiful setting, peace, sunshine, flowers dragonflies etc. it made us feel like the angels in Heaven were singing, as indeed they were.

The Irish Saints were scheduled to attend the afternoon dedicatory session and when we entered the room we were thrilled to see President McKay and many other General Authorities sitting in front. As the proceedings were announced we were surprised to hear my Dad's name spoken to give the benediction. What an honour. He was as surprised as we were as he was not forewarned.

After the services we went with the other Irish Saints to stay overnight at the YMCA Camp in Chigwell Essex. We went by bus. Lesley slept all night, the first time in her 9 week old life.
At 5am next morning Wednesday Sept. 10th we set off again on the bus, back to the Temple for the first Endowment session. Lesley went to the nursery as Alan and I received our eternal ordinances. Later in the sealing room Alan was a witness as my Dad was sealed to his deceased Lilian, then I and my deceased brother Samuel were sealed to our parents, then it was our turn. As my Dad witnessed, Alan on one side of the altar me on the other, we were sealed for Time and All Eternity, then Lesley Ann was brought in dressed in white and sealed to us. WE WERE NOW AN ETERNAL FAMILY.

And here we are 50 years later. STILL AN ETERNAL FAMILY only

BIGGER. 6 children, 6 in-law children 23 grandchildren, 5 in-law grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren with 1 more on the way. Every one precious to us and to the Lord. We love the Lord and praise Him. We thank Him every day for each one of these precious souls and for each other.