Grow old along with me...

...the best is yet to be.

We celebrated the 32 year anniversary of the Andrew and JoAnna Gale Covenant Commitment and Marriage for Time and All Eternity a few weeks ago. The hubs flew out here to the  frozen East Coast for Valentine's Day and then I flew out to the West Coast for an Anniversary Rendezvous in sunny California for an early celebration of our special day.

Toasting our Anniversary with Water!

According to a helpful website the traditional gift for the 32 year anniversary is "Conveyances" and "Lapis"...

"For instance, if a couple is celebrating 32 years of marriage, one of the traditional gifts to present for this occasion is a lapis -- a semi-precious stone that boasts a deep blue shade. Other traditional gifts for a 32nd anniversary include modes of transportation." 

Then they go on to give gift suggestions for the husband:

"To honor your 32nd wedding anniversary with a gift of conveyance, surprise your wife with a new car. Choose an automobile in her favorite color, and include features that she'd find useful or appealing, such as an interior with the light-colored leather she likes best or a five-disc CD player. Smaller and less-expensive 32nd anniversary treats can include car air fresheners in her favorite scent, floor mats embroidered with her initials or a GPS system."

My thoughtful husband looked this up and explained it all to me in one of our daily phone calls. (This is how we keep our coast to coast relationship going--communication!) He was telling me that the two options were some kind of blue stone and modes of transportation. He said there was a surprise coming in the mail and I assumed it wasn't a car, (though I guess it could be a car air freshener) but then I said "Oh, did you find a blue rock? Are you sending me a rock?" Which actually I would be thrilled with--I'm always keeping my eye out for pretty rocks.

"A rock? Why would I send you a rock?" he laughed.

"Well you said the 32nd Anniversary gift was a blue stone-- it's some type of rock or something and mode of transportation. I assume you aren't sending me a Vespa or a unicycle or a donkey--so that leaves blue rock."

"Just keep your eye out for a surprise in the mail." he said, rolling his eyes (I'm assuming that last part--since we were talking via phone--I can't say for sure).

A few days later, this arrived:

A beautiful lapis stone necklace. 

Better than a rock. 

But that was not the end of my guy's thoughtfulness...

These beautiful roses arrived on my doorstep the actual day of...

...and then,

he held to tradition and gifted me with a mode of transportation.

And it's lapis blue! 

(well, it's Twilight Blue--but close enough)

 Love is what you go through together. James Thurber

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday to the Hubs!

Let's take a little walk down memory lane in celebration...
well at his age, it's a LONG walk :)

This was actually just a random group of pictures hanging out in my blog archive.
His complete picture history is stored on the laptop that melted down.
Shayla assures me she will rescue all the pictures on it when she gets home.
So, in the meantime  enjoy...

Cutie!

Prom Date!
Rocking the quintessential 70's powder-blue Tux...



Handsome Scholarship Recipient!

Missionary!

Missionary on P-day!

Missionary serving as best man at a wedding!





Engaged to the woman of his dreams!
(Right honey?)

BYU Graduate!


MBA Graduate!





Business Man!

Husband, Dad, PopPop...

We love you!

A Heartfelt Anniversary Post

Gentle Reader,

Well, the anniversary came and went in the usual ebb and flow of the beautiful chaos that is our life. We celebrated our 31 years of marriage by going to dinner on a Tuesday. A rather unassuming way to celebrate what has been a heartstopping yet very strengthening year for The Andy and JoAnna Gale Covenant Commitment and Marriage for Time and All Eternity. We seem to be entering that stage of life where youth and indestructibility give way to age and deterioration. We have to face what we have known all along: we aren't going to live forever in the mortal sense. All the more reason to expand our horizons into the Eternity aspect of this union and focus less on the daily ups and downs of the Time aspect.

Andy suffered through months of pain and several wrong guesses at the reason for the pain, before they discovered it was an infection in a disc in his back. The recovery was slow and painful. A few months later, I went in for a routine diagnostic colonoscopy (something to look forward to when you turn 50!) and my blood pressure went sky high and scared the anesthesiologist when IV meds didn't bring it down. That led to an immediate trip to the doctor and an EKG to check for heart issues. When an abnormality showed up--the Doctor said, "It looks like you have had a small heart attack." I just about had a heart attack. (ha) That meant a trip to the cardiologist and some various and sundry poking and prodding and my usual explanations as to why I would have eight children and how I don't look old enough to be a grandmother (small consolation--but duly appreciated nonetheless) and who in their right mind would homeschool and so on and so forth.

As I was having my heart examined, I did my own examining of  this old heart.
My diagnosis:
 It is very heartwarming to have a loving husband who is so concerned about my health. He looked after me and drove me here and there for the Dr. appointment and he picked up my prescription and then tucked me in and took care of things so I could rest. My heart is full of gratitude for all of the ways he takes care of me and us. The us includes an amazing family -- our eight children and their spouses and children. My heart swells with love and pride in the way they are living their lives sweetly entwined in the gospel plan.

I can see how life's experiences thus far have helped to soften my heart. As I realize my shortcomings and look at myself honestly and without excuses, I see so many things I need to work on. That makes me realize how reliant I am on the grace and mercy of the Savior and the Atonement means everything to me. That same process has been working on Andy and we have come to a new level of understanding with each other that is supportive rather than critical. Merciful rather than punishing. Peaceful rather than contentious.

 Becoming one heart takes a lot of humility and repentance and forgiveness. It requires us to set aside selfishness and look to the other's needs and wants. We are very blessed to have the same eternal goals and strength of conviction in spiritual matters. That is the key to our marriage lasting through the heart-wrenching earthly lessons that make or break us. That won't happen with hardened hearts, in fact, it requires a broken heart along with a contrite spirit.

So, maybe I have a heart condition, I don't have the final diagnosis on that yet. The bigger question is: What is the condition of my heart?

I just have one last thing to say to wrap up this hearty anniversary post:

Happy New Year!

Things have been a little crazy around here--so what else is new right? I've had a moment to catch my breath so I thought I would do a little catch-up...

Sam's turn to put the Angel on the tree

Christmas came and went. Sam came home from college for the holidays and we enjoyed his company and the brotherly shenanigans that go along with having Sam and Shane together under the same roof. I enjoyed hearing him play the piano--I have missed that! It went too fast and we shipped him back to the BYU a few days after the new year.

Visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads

 It is an "off" year for us--our married children were all here last year so they would be spending Christmas with their in-laws this year. But Siara and Tyler came out from Utah to spend Christmas with us-- a lovely bonus. Also, since Scott and Nicole and the girls live close by, they spent a few days before Christmas with us as well. Good times.

WARNING: Old people medical stuff coming up...

Sadly, Andy had been in and out of the hospital and ER and doctor's offices since November trying to figure out what was causing him  excruciating pain in his back. They were throwing every possible drug at him and nothing was helping. It began to get frightening as the clues were not adding up to anything. Finally, the Friday before Christmas he went in for an MRI. It was an infected disc. The disc he had surgery on in September to resolve sciatica pain. The surgery solved that problem and started another. He was ordered straight to the hospital and told not to eat or drink anything. After hours of waiting, he was finally admitted and he found out he would have to be hospitalized for 4 or 5 days. The plan was to give him antibiotics through an IV drip three times a day and wait for the biopsy to grow enough to identify which bacteria was the culprit. We were looking at having Dad/PopPop in the hospital over Christmas. In the meantime, kids and grandkids were arriving and festivities needed to get started. It was the saddest of sads to visit Dad in the hospital and see him suffering and still wondering if he would get to come home for Christmas.

This is starting to sound like a lame Made for TV Christmas Special.

So let's jump to the ending:
The doctor decided they could give him a PICC line and he could administer the antibiotics himself at home. There was some more suspense as we weren't sure if the special PICC line installers would be available so close to the holidays--but they were! And they threaded that line from his shoulder up into the vein near his heart and he got to come home on Christmas Eve eve.

But that was the day I had planned months in advance to go to the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker with Siara. As per our Christmas tradition. The tickets were purchased, the anticipation building and the plans for a lovely cultural experience were in motion. How could I be at the Lincoln Center taking in the timeless story of dancing rats, heroic nutcrackers and lovely sugarplum fairies whilst my husband was abandoned to find his own way home from the Danbury Hospital? A decidedly less cultural experience (except for that bacterial culture growing in his back...).

 "Go! You are not missing the ballet for this craziness. I'll get home somehow. I'm just not sure if they will let me check out without proof that I have someone to drive me--don't worry! I'll be fine." he insisted.

Luckily, Scott was there to save the day and be the back-up driver
to fetch his father from the hospital if need be. 

But, Andy drove himself home.

 He is the CEO of toughness--

and just a bit crazy.

So we got to spend Christmas together.

God Bless Us, Everyone!

Good Friday

Meet the newest member of the Gale family:

Miriam JoAnn

8 lbs. 3 oz.

Born in a birthing center with the

gentle attendance of midwives.

When Shanna called to tell me she was in labor, I jumped in my car and started driving.

I drove through eight states and through the night and through some

snarly traffic jams until I got to the birthing center.

Just a few minutes after Miriam made her grand entrance into the world.

Which was just a few minutes after midnight.

Which was Good Friday.

A very good Friday. 

I hurried to wash my hands and held that sweet little granddaughter. 

She was calm and alert and quietly looked around.

After her inspection, she was pronounced perfect and she nursed and fell asleep.

So we all decided to take a little nap. The midwife pulled out a couch bed for me, and 

everyone else settled in for a snooze. That little baby slept for so long we all crashed until the sun came up.

We bundled up that little bundle of joy and took her home to meet her big brother.

Who had spent the night in the care of his Keaton grandparents.

He said "Hi baby sister!"

Miss Miriam showing us some graceful ballerina moves.

(Isn't a baby stretching just the cutest!?)

Getting to know Aunt Siara

On her blessing day, I dressed Miriam in the blessing gown that I made for 

her mama when she was my little baby girl.

Mother and Daughter

Mason wasn't pleased with all the picture taking...

...but he warmed up to it a little later!

Welcome to the family, little one.

Going Back in Time

Today we are going to take a magical journey back in time. We will pretend that all of these posts were completed and rolled out whilst the events were still current. We will also try to accomplish this in spite of the keyboard glitches I discovered after I left my laptop with those two hooligans I call sons during my trip to welcome a new grandbaby. It is an interesting challenge to type with a sticky "h" and a persnickety "backspace" key. Nevertheless, I shall persevere.

An Anniversary of Epic Proportions
Well, that may be a little over-exaggerated, but it was the 30 year mark so that is certainly an
accomplishment worth celebrating. We enjoyed a week-end trip into New York City and took in
a couple of Broadway shows. Andy took Friday off so we had some extra time to spend in Times Square in the ticket line. We got our Wicked tickets in advance but we decided to try our luck for same day tickets to an extra show--just for fun.

We agreed on Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark

The aerial acrobatics were amazing, the music was loud and the costumes and set very

"comic book"--bright, bold and colorful. Entertaining but not my vision of a musical.

But then, I am old so what do I know?

We enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner~thanks to a great recommendation by a 

friend who is a long-time New Yorker. 

The next morning, we enjoyed a lovely brunch at the 

Waldorf Astoria...

It was fancy and delicious.

We walked out into the rain so I had

to take a picture of this:

Because I like irony and juxtaposition and stuff.

We went to the matinee of Wicked.

I think we are just about the last people on earth to see that show.

It pretty much lives up to all the hype. 

I was surprised to find myself tearing up at the end--

--and so did this guy:

We wrapped up our adventure with the tasty fried food at the Carnegie Deli.

And then we headed for home.

Together--

just as we have been doing for

the past 30 years.

Heading home together.

Love this song...

Life Lately

A beautiful storm gave us eight and a half inches of snow:

So of course the boys had to get outside and enjoy it:

Shane's fancy hat:

Scott traveled around Europe and then came here for his Birthday:

(He was in Paris that morning and New York City that afternoon)

Bailey helped me make the cupcakes:

Bailey and I did a lot of crafting whilst she was here:

She wanted a box for her Daddy's birthday present, so we

watched a youtube video and learned to make origami boxes:

Then we (meaning I) made many, many boxes.

Those lovely presents hold cute little notes and drawings as

well as some erasers and rubber bands that Bailey found

in the craft room drawers. Look at that face--I would gladly

fold boxes all day with that little girl.

Bailey playing "copy-cat":

She made her headband out of a rubber band and some curling ribbon.

Love that pose!

One evening, we sent Scott and Nicole on a date and the girls hung out with us.

Bailey decided we were going to have a masquerade ball so she put on

Norah's dress and Norah put on her sparkly shoes and they danced

around the living room. 

Mmmm Thanksgiving Dinner:

We prepare and plan and cook for days and it's all over

in about an hour:

Some post-Thanksgiving story time with Uncle Sam:

Dad's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year so we feted him

with a big feast and then later we sang to him and he blew out

candles on his delicious Ferris Acres Ice Cream Pie.

I think Sam is thinking of a really good wish for his Dad.

After the holiday and hubbub were over and Scott and his family had 

headed for home, I found this little tea party set up in the living room.

Good times.

A