Braxton's First Visit to Little Hollywood

I have some good things to talk about and some not so good things. First off Kent's Grandpa Kesler passed away Thursday, July 19th. We were surprised because he had just been up to fish lake and we had a great time. We didn't think that he'd be able to make it up there another year, but we didn't expect him to go so soon. There is a spirit gone when you drive through Kanosh, Utah and that spirit will be truly missed.

The good side of things is that with going down for a viewing and a funeral Braxton and I decided to extend our trip to Kanab, Utah to visit Kent's brother and wife and kids. We had a great time. We visited and played at the park and even got in a little tourism. I don't have much to say other than I love visiting others in their homes because you really get to see who they are, and don't worry I grew to love them even more. I am so grateful for such wonderful family members. I do have a few pictures to share with you all from our trip. Enjoy!

Braxton is such a thoughtful child to pick up the fallen petrified wood.

Okay so maybe these pictures aren't in order, but he was having fun.

Braxton had incredible aim at the park in Kanab.


Braxton was whining and when I looked to see what was wrong I saw that he had crawled into his little cousins play center. Silly boy. He didn't even get his legs in. ha ha ha

To Spend the Day with Grandma

Snowballs, water fights, fishing, and flowers were all facets of my Grandma Holdaway’s life. Erna Rogers Holdaway was a woman of many talents who lived life to the fullest. She was a card shark who, cooked, sewed, quilted, and grew wonderful gardens. She is a woman I have always admired and looked to for inspiration.

Some of my earliest memories were late summer and early fall days at Grandma’s house canning. Most everything she canned was out of the enormous garden she and grandpa grew out back. We bottled peaches, pears, green beans, tomatoes, applesauce, apricots, and corn. Growing up I hated all that work especially snipping green beans. Much of the work was difficult for a young child to help with, but even the young child could snip green beans. Summer after summer we bottled food for storage at Grandma’s house and created some of my fondest memories.

Grandma was also an excellent seamstress. When walking into Grandma’s house mom would call out, “yoo hoo!” and oft times we’d be answered with a “yoo hoo” from the sewing room down the hall. If nothing else was planned that’s where you’d normally find Grandma. I don’t know how her house stayed so clean because I swear she was always sewing. In fact my grandma is the one who taught me to sew. At age 12 she helped me sew a quilt for my bed. It was a log cabin design as I recall and I sewed the strips together, then the blocks, then the rows and so on. I still keep have that quilt and love it and the knowledge dearly.

Another love of Grandma’s was music. When she and my grandpa first met he was singing for some kind of competition and the music teacher asked my grandma to play piano. As I recall hearing of their courtship, when grandma first saw grandpa get onto the school bus after she moved to Provo from Arizona she turned to her friend in the seat and said, “Margaret, I am going to marry that man.” Grandma and Grandpa both had wonderful singing voices, and seemed to pass that trait onto their children. One of my favorite times of year was Christmas time because the family would get together and sing Christmas carols and make the most beautiful harmonies. When Grandma was younger, as I have heard, she also played the cello very well. Music was a part of her soul.

There is a snapshot taken of my Grandma wearing her apron and pulling something out of the oven. When looking at that photo everyone agrees that the picture captures Grandma perfectly. My grandma was a wonderful cook as well as a baker. Family parties were always well stocked with good food. One of my favorite things was when she would get a bunch of different juices including apricot juice and pineapple juice and whatever else she could think of and dump it into a big Tupperware bowl to mix for our drink. Somewhere that drink picked up the name kick-a-pooh joy juice. Whenever we went to Grandma’s house we would always look in her pantry to see if she had any banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes we found raisins instead of chocolate chips and that was disappointing back then. The east wall in Grandma's kitchen was covered in plaques with little saying on them. The one that rings out in my mind said, "No matter where I serve my guests, they seem to like my kitchen best." Much time was enjoyed around Grandma's kitchen table and truthfully we did like her kitchen best.

I inherited a love of flowers from my grandma’s house. In the cold storage under the porch grandma had lots of vases. I would ask if I could go pick flowers for Grandma’s kitchen table. On the West side of her house was a whole row of pink rose bushes. On the east along the gravel road was a row of purple iris. In between the back lawn and the garden were purple lilac bushes. She had a bunch of different flowers all around next to the house. There were hen and chick plants, climbing roses, chives, dusty miller, mint, and many others I cannot recall. In her front flower bed in front of the porch she had many autumn joy succulents. I always loved Grandma’s flower gardens.

As I said earlier my grandma lived her life to the fullest. She was a delightful woman with an open door to anyone who came her way. I don’t believe that a guest ever stayed at their house without the offer to play a game of Rook. Grandpa and Grandma loved playing Rook. Whether playing Rook while camping at Strawberry reservoir where they loved to go fishing or at their kitchen table they loved the game. They loved fishing together just as much. Whenever my Grandpa went fishing there was my Grandma right beside him. They were both very good too. One story goes that Grandma always had tuna fish for lunch when fishing because she swore it made the fish bite.

Perhaps Grandma liked fishing because she liked water. My Grandma is the best water fighter I know. Once at a family party at her house the adults were sitting around talking and she came out with a pitcher of water and doused one of my uncles. Then after they got her back she stripped off her clothes to reveal a swimsuit underneath. Another time when my sister Cheryl was having a date at Grandma’s house Cheryl and her friends were playing volleyball in the back yard. They were surprised with water balloons from Grandma’s bedroom window. When water wasn’t available she would use snow. On my first trip to Zion’s National Park we were stopped by slow traffic and Grandma saw some snow on the side of the road. Grandma and my brother Brian jumped out of the van and took a moment to have a snowball fight in April.

While Grandma was fun loving and spirited she also knew when to be serious and she had many serious times in her life. One of the times I witnessed was when she lost a daughter, son-in-law, and four grandsons in a car accident. While some would have asked God why me she looked for the positive side in the tragedy. She saw how her beloved family’s death brought people into the gospel. She saw how it helped that mission area to flourish. She always trusted the Lord. Often times I hear my mother recall how whenever her brothers were on their mission Grandma would comment how Grandpa’s dairy cows would always produce more milk to sell. She had a very close relationship with the Lord and I know that is because she learned how to follow Him and stay close to him.

Anyone who knows me probably knows how special my grandma was to me. I can’t imagine a life without her and it pains my heart that I have siblings who did not know her well. I know that when I graduate from this life I will see her again and I look forward to that day rather than fear it. Grandma Holdaway will always be a special woman to me and if the truth be known I would give anything to sit and snip green beans with her again someday. Heaven must be a big garden in the sky where I can bottle with grandma and have a water fight that produces rain.

My cousin Ray one of the will it blend guys

I think I probably emailed these to most of you, but I just got these links from my cousin whose son is Ray and these video's were just really funny humor. I laughed so hard. I hope that you all enjoy. If you want to find more videos as they come check out Ray's website at http://www.kelsandray.com/ or if you are in Utah watch "B'all over" on KJAZZ Saturday nights at 10:00. Enjoy!

CERDS (Chain Email Related Death Syndrome)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDjTqhk6VBM.

Behind the scenes with "will it blend?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z3M0wNSees

To catch a cart neglector
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8LpyiPj5d8&mode=related&search

The Magic Line: At the point of the Mountain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYiin5thkV8

Standing Tall with my Mother

I thought to come up with the toughest job in the world. I thought that job would have to be thankless, endless, messy, degrading at times, hard work, low pay, etc. Well as I think about my job as a mother I think I’ve got it. Being a mother is thankless sometimes, always endless, very messy, degrading (changing poop and cleaning up throw up), very hard work, and no pay as to dollar values. Well I am just starting as a mom, but there’s a mom I love who’s been there and done it all. That mom is my very mother and in the spirit of honoring parents I would like to pay a tribute to my mother.

The first thing I thought of when thinking of qualities of my mother is that she is always there. I can still remember the one day when I came home from grade school to find my house locked and the car gone. The feelings of being alone and helpless were a little bit overwhelming. As I recall my mom had been out running errands or some such thing and was a little late returning home. It may have been only five or ten minutes I waited for her, but as I recall that experience I realize that the only reason it stands out in my mind is because it was one of the few times she was not there. I was one of those lucky kids who would come home from school to find my mother at home. That was always a comfort to me.

One of my earliest memories is being snuggled up in the orange recliner and reading the books, “Cinderella,” and “There’s a Monster at the End of this Book.” I remember those two books were my favorite books. I don’t ever recall my mom being too busy to sit down and read with me. Sometimes I wonder what made me dislike reading as a teenager since my mom had done such a great job when I was little, but maybe I just wanted to read about princesses and monsters instead of the books that teenagers were supposed to read. Maybe it didn’t get me to love reading, but at least I knew from that quality reading time that my mom loved me.

In grade school we had room mothers. These were the moms that would help the teacher with class parties, field trips, etc. I don’t recall which years and how many years my mom was a room mother. I do remember my little heart bursting with pride when my mom walked in the classroom and all my classmates proclaimed, “Wow, she’s tall!” There was only one other student, Austin Edwards, who had a mom nearly as tall and we used to joke about having such tall moms. I was so proud to have her as my mom, and I look back and I am grateful for her example of service. She could have been doing many other things, but she took the time to come to my school and help my class. That time meant a lot to me and I am grateful for her sacrifice.

From the first grade on I had a best friend who lived in the house directly behind me. Her name was Jessica or “Jessie” Brown. Most of the time Jessie and I got a long pretty well, but as most young friendships go sometimes we had our fights. I don’t recall all the circumstances surrounding this one particular fight, but I do recall the lesson. Jessie had become friends with Adina Cluff and sometimes the three of us would play. Dina seemed to like me for my Nintendo and my baby brother. One day after the three of us got in a fight and Jessie and Dina left my house I wrote Jessie a mean note telling her how she was using me for my Nintendo and my baby brother. When the doorbell rang that afternoon I didn’t expect Jessie to be standing there showing the note to my mother. After Jessie had left and my mom had read the note she called me into her bedroom. She talked to me about what a good friend Jessie was and how I should value those friends in my life. She then handed me a chocolate bar and said why don’t you take this over to share with Jessie and tell her you are sorry for those mean things you wrote. I learned a great lesson about the value of a good friend and repentance.

That was not the only time my mom taught me about repentance. She was the greatest teacher and example to me. There were many times that my mom would become frustrated with me and she would allow her frustration to get out of control, but never did she allow me to think that it was entirely my fault. She would always come into my room and tell me how sorry she was that she had allowed herself to get out of control. Through her forgiving me and asking my repentance I learned about forgiveness and repentance myself.

There is one phrase that I learned well growing up and sometimes I think I learned it a little too well, but I am grateful I learned it none the less. That phrase is, “If you are going to do it, do it right!” As an adult sometimes I have taken it to the extreme that if I don’t have time to do it right I just won’t do it, but I am glad to know that I have learned to do the job well. More than once I have walked into a home with filth all over walls and floors and I am more than thankful for the lesson. My house may not always be neat and tidy, but when it gets cleaned I know that I have cleaned well and it always feels better to do the job right the first time.

One of the qualities my mom learned from my grandma was to play well. Growing up our house had the best water fights, the best slap fights, and the best flour fights. My mom was a great water fighter. I recall one time filling up a whole garbage can full of water to dip in cups to throw on unsuspecting victims. I don’t remember being a part of the slap fights, but my brothers and my mom were always slap fighting and seemed to have a good time doing so. In fact it was quite a funny sight. The best was when Cheryl and Erik had a flour fight in the kitchen when they were first dating and instead of being mad about the mess they were making my mom just stood back and laughed. I don’t know many mom’s who would have been ok with that, but my mom was because she had learned that the clean up was worth it if the play was fun.

Finally my mom was and is one of the best listeners I know. As a teenager I used to sit at the foot of my parents bed while they were trying to go to sleep and I would talk with them a long while. My dad often would be falling asleep and I’m sure my mom would have liked to, but she would listen and enjoy what I had to say. There was never anything I couldn’t ask her because I knew that whatever I had to say she would listen. I am grateful for those long talks and sometimes I really miss those days.

Not only was she a good listener to me, but throughout my life I know that she has been a good listener when she is listening to the Lord. My mom taught me how to pray and through her example I try to be a good listener also. I know that my mom loves the Lord and she taught me to love Him also, and for that I am truly thankful. While she doesn’t always get the credit she deserves my mom is the best mom that I ever could have asked for. I am grateful to her for all she has done for me and my family. Her Heavenly and earthly parents would both be proud of the woman she has become and I am proud of her too. I love you mom!!! Thanks!!!