Forever is Composed of Nows

Welcome to the World Little One!

Earlier this month, I flew to Texas and with fortuitous timing, this little guy made his debut about a day later. 

Meet our 8th grandchild:

 Porter Scott Gale

8 lbs. 6 oz. 20.5" tall.

Son of Scott and Nicole and little brother to Bailey, Norah and June.

He was born on his Aunt Shanna's Birthday on General Conference weekend.

The Conference blessings just keep piling up!

The big sisters meeting baby brother.

And Nana crying happy tears and bursting with joy.

June likes to check on her little brother. 

My son with his son.

Nicole and her sweet baby boy. 

Beautiful--inside and out.

It's Birthday Time for Shane

This cutie is celebrating a Birthday today!

The baby of the family is turning 17!

SEVENTEEN!

We had cake and ice cream Sunday while Dad was here and the missionaries were over to join in--we need some extras around here now that we are down to the last of the Mohicans.

Here are some places to look at cute pictures and to read about  our Shane.

When he was a little preschooler, we had a lot of time together when the older seven were all in school. That was our warm up for this phase of life.

Here is Baby Shane with Big Brother Scott:

 Back then, we played a game called "I Love You More Than..."

I would say, "I love you more than all of the stars in the sky." and he would try to beat that with

"I love you more than all the sand on the beach."

We would go back and forth until he declared himself the winner and ran off to play. One morning when we were snuggled up together he came up with "I love you more than all of the pyramids in ancient Egypt!" It was hard to top that one for creativity.

The toughest thing about being Shane right now is being the last one at home. The other siblings think it would have been fun to try out being an "only child" for awhile, but Shane claims it's not all it's cracked up to be. 

Here's a little gem from the back of my journal:

"Shane was having a melt-down because I wouldn't let him have something that belonged to one of the older kids. As he kicked and yelled on the floor, I said

 'Shane, you don't always get everything you want.'

 He wailed back, 'YES... I.... DO!!!!"

Well Shane, I guess you know by now that you don't get everything you want--otherwise you would have a few more siblings so you wouldn't have to be the baby.

I'm sorry that didn't work out the way you wanted.

But hey! We can play a fun round of "I Love You More Than"!

Bonus Pictures:

His scrapbook page from a Father's Day gift we made for Dad many years ago.

Sleeping in a Russian Dance pose in his beloved car bed.

Happy Birthday Shane!

I love you more than all of the pyramids in ancient Egypt!

(I know, I totally copied you. I just can't top that!)

Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday Seth!

Today we celebrate our "Middle Child". 

 Actually, I purposely had an even number of children so no one could claim to be the middle child.

 But Seth happens to be the middle boy.

 Born smack dab in the middle of the five brothers Gale. 

There was hardly a dull moment from the moment he was born.

Born with a head of thick dark hair (you can see his birth story here) and a bright, cheerful, adventurous spirit!

(cute  pictures here...)

So much energy packed into one little boy!

He was relentless when he got an idea and wanted to create/build something. 

Our yard was his flight experiment lab and the neighbors were patient

with the many rockets and various balloons that flew out of our air space. He  learned to fly and eventually flew way out of our air space!

His love of the outdoors began at an early age with many nights camping under the stars in our back yard. He dreamed up fun adventures with his siblings and built forts and a tepee out there to feed their imagination. He went on to many Scouting adventures and hiked over fifty miles (fifty-FOUR miles to be exact!) along the Olympic Peninsula. And became an Eagle Scout. 

Reading wasn't his favorite but he was always up for listening to a good story and built an astonishing vocabulary with his good memory. We spent many pleasant evenings reading and discussing the scriptures as a family and delved into the deeper questions of life with Spencer and Seth often leading the discussions. I learned to check his pants pockets before washing and often found bits and pieces of his projects along with the odd rocket engine or firecracker. But one time I found his carefully written notes on string theory. He has a great mind for memorization and amazed us all with his 

command of Shakespeare passages. He was amazed to find out that his Shakespeare skills were actually needed one time in the grocery store for someone's video project. 

"To be or not to be, that is the question..."

He met his match, the talented and amazing, Taylor Marie, while we were living in California and here you see them at the San Diego temple on their wedding day: 

It makes my Mother Heart happy to see the love they have for each other and the precious family they are building with their sweet baby Mabel.

Here he is with their bright, cheerful adventurer with her

own head of thick dark hair:

Happy Birthday, Son! Now the adventure really begins!

Celebrating Our Siara

Some fun girl time in North Carolina!

Today is Siara's birthday! I am so blessed to be the mother to some really amazing people. Each came with their own unique personalities and talents and qualities. I have loved every stage of their lives but I feel like the real reward for motherhood is moving into the friendship stage with them when they become adults. 

So here are some Birthday thoughts (and awesome childhood pictures!) of my daughter who is also my dear friend...

Some birthday posts for Siara's past birthdays:

click on this and this and go here.

If you are still interested, here is the story of the day of her birth.

And, the frosting on the cake--a  funny story about our spunky gal.

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

Mission Birthday

One of our missionaries celebrates a birthday today:

Elder Gale turns 19!

Here he is with his current companion and a young man they recently

prepared for baptism:

And here they are at the Los Angeles Temple last week: 

These two remind me of Elder Kessler and Elder Green 

from Saturday's Warrior...

In his email this week, he told us about a new exhibit at the visitor's center

there at the LA Temple. It is all about missionary work and they

have all the name tags of the missionaries currently serving in the area.

Here is an experience he shared this week as well:

"We got  a phone call from Julio saying that he was taking us out to eat, and that he was there! We got ready super fast and went out to Pollo Inka with him, a Peruvian restaurant. It was such a cool dinner. Julio was telling us about how he heard stories of missionaries who would go to poor members' homes in Guatemala (where he's from) and give everything they had to the missionaries and not eat themselves. He said that he always wanted to give his all like that, and that even though he always gave us the same stuff to eat whenever we came over to his house, that today was a special day because we were eating good food in a restaurant and that he was finally sharing his best with the missionaries. I seriously just looked at him and his wife across the able and cried. I am so blessed to know as good a man as Julio. He is such an example to me of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. As we were walking out of the restaurant, the sun was starting to set and it was raining, and there was a beautiful rainbow across the whole sky, and we all looked up at it in amazement, it was seriously incredible...

We got home and grabbed our bikes and went to visit the Reyes' family since we couldn't last week. We watched "The Restoration" with Juan and at the end he looked at us and said "now I finally understand who Joseph Smith was, he was just an honest man looking for truth from God" and it was awesome. He said he was learning slowly, but that little by little he's beginning to understand our message. We answered a lot of his questions and he's coming along! He also said to me "What part of Argentina are you from? You're from Argentina, right?" Always an awesome compliment to get when you're trying to learn someone else's language! "

It makes my Mother Heart happy to know that my son is serving among such amazing, loving people there--and that he is learning and growing in that service. 

I still can't believe how fast time flies--I'm pretty sure our little Sammy was 

picnicking in the park with his sister just yesterday:

A Semi-Annual Update

Well, how have you been? I've been caught up in the day-to-day of life. Moving, then not moving. Packing like a mad woman and then not packing like a mad woman. Enjoying new grandchildren--joy and rejoicing and all of the good stuff. Serving in my calling, feeling the love and partaking of the wisdom of amazing Relief Society women. Allowing for the mourning process of leaving this place I have come to love. I think I am an East Coaster somewhere deep down, even though I am born and bred of Pocatello, Idaho and parts thereabout. I have sent some sobbing prayers to heaven asking why I had to come to love the people and the history and beauty here and now I have to leave. But you know I also sent sobbing prayers to heaven when I had to leave Washington and then again California so I'm starting to get the idea that I am supposed to be learning something here. Perhaps that there are amazing people yet to meet and love and vistas ahead to appreciate and more history to be learned.

Luckily, I am an (annoying) optimist so I am looking on the bright side.

Which is a little easier with the bone-chilling arctic weather we have been 

enduring here as of late. 

California sunshine, here I come.

Eventually.

In the meantime, we have two offers on the house and we are just waiting for the paperwork and etc. to work their way through the various bureaucracies. We'll see which one comes out on top.

While we are waiting, I offer a pictorial timeline for your viewing pleasure:

I started taking pictures of the places I love around here so I can hold them

in my heart and see them in my picture file too.

This is the unique, historical building that is home to our

local paper: The Newtown Bee.

The bee on the roof and the bee on the door...just... too awesome.

Christmas came and went....Shane and I felt the need to have a

real tree this year. Christmas Spirit was in short supply with 

everyone spread out across the country.

 We brought home a beautiful, fresh tree and

the amazing pine smell was magical.

We spent actual Christmas in the Golden State. Here you see our

Christmas Eve dinner. Andy saved the day by finding a beautiful spot on the 

beach right next to this awesome diner. So we enjoyed our yummy

food as we watched the sun go down over the ocean.

A perfect California Christmas...

...was made even better with some family time talking with

our missionaries. Sister Gale serving in the Illinois, Chicago West Mission

and

Elder Gale serving in the California, Los Angeles Mission. We were able to get

everyone on our Google Hangout and I loved listening to the family banter and the

grandchildren chiming in. Sam gave us a sampling of his Spanish and they both

shared experiences and testimonies. 

A few days after Christmas, we got to see family and friends in our

old ward in Ramona, California. We were there for the very special

occasion of the Blessing of our precious Mabel.

Look how adorable she is in the dress her Mama wore.

We enjoyed our time there and the Horton family hosted us

for dinner and entertainment. 

They are always fun to hang out with.

A few weeks after Christmas,

I zipped down to North Carolina for some daughter/grandbaby time. 

I love that we get to be friends now. 

One of the many rewards of mothering awesome kids.

Cuteness Alert! 

Bouncing Baby Boy

Announcing the newest Gale Grandchild:

Remington Colt Gale

Born October 27th

7 lbs. 15 oz.

He made his grand entrance 3 weeks early--with that weight it was 

a tender mercy for Mama Adrianna that he didn't go to his full term size!

Her water broke early in the morning and when they got to the hospital 

they saw that he was breach (feet first!) and did a c-section.

So he was out into the big wide world pretty quickly and caught

us all by surprise. 

Baby Remi with his Papa--so sweet!

And with his Mama on the day he went home.

Adorable Baby Yawn!

He seems pretty happy with life so far...

Welcome to the world little one!

I am patiently waiting for my time with him--

I can't wait to smoosh those chubby cheeks!

P.S. If you want to see a cute picture of baby Spencer for comparison purposes, go here.

Fresh From Heaven

We welcomed a new little grandbaby to the Gale Family:

Mabel Sienna was born to Seth and Taylor

last Saturday morning.

She weighed 6 lb. 4 oz.

Mama Taylor had a short labor and delivery and the 

proud parents were holding their sweet daughter seven hours

after Taylor's water broke in the wee hours of Saturday morn--

So Precious! And look at that hair!

Mother and daughter

Aunt Siara stopped by to visit.

Here's a blurry, pixelated picture of Seth as a newborn--

just to make note of the hair similarity...

...it was cropped from this awesome picture of Seth being

welcomed by his older siblings. 

I have to wait a couple of weeks to welcome this newest little one in person--her early arrival caught us all a little off guard. I am dying to get her in my arms and start the Nana spoiling!

Reflecting on a Jar of Costco Pickles

Gentle Reader,
To say that life has been hectic would be an understatement. So much to blog about, so little time. Add to that the complete meltdown of my old faithful laptop. The one I held onto even when I got a new one for Christmas. I liked blogging on it because I knew exactly how to do everything on it. I'm an old dog who is slow to learn new tricks. It had a major overheating problem but I had learned to work around it. Until one Sunday morning when I printed off something for church and left it open and running without propping it up for air to circulate under it. I came home from church to find it cold and unresponsive. Since my in-house IT Support is on a mission, I was left to stare at it in shock and disbelief. How could I have been so careless?

So I am forced to stop living in the past and get on board with the new technology--which of course will be obsolete in a few months. I may even update my iPhone. Sam will be so proud. It's just that I like things the way they are. I am resistant to change. Which is probably why I keep getting forced opportunities to experience change and deal with it.

Life goes on as they say and I am adjusting to relocating (again) at the same time I am adjusting to the shift in my family dynamics. For so long I have enjoyed the happy chaos of a full house. For years it has been my daily routine to do three loads of laundry (minimum) and cook large quantities of food. I did not know the meaning of peace and quiet and couldn't imagine "alone time". I rarely had the luxury of thinking an uninterrupted thought and anytime I needed to talk on the phone, it turned into a game of hide and seek while I tried to find a quiet place as my children followed me from room to room and closet to closet with their loud insistence that I was desperately needed. I was up early with seminary goers and up late for heart-to-heart discussions and then on call through the night for nursings, bad dreams, sniffles, tummy aches or sometimes just that unnerving stare from a child standing by my bed that would startle me out of slumber.

It was my life and I wholly embraced it. It was my work and my glory to bring to pass the mortality and daily sustenance of those souls I had been entrusted with and I  was determined to give it my all.  I knew that one day these amazing people would grow up and go out on their own. Some days it didn't seem to be happening fast enough...but then Scott went off to BYU and suddenly it was like someone hit the fast forward and  he was on a mission and Siara was at BYU then Shanna followed her. And on it went one after the other until we were down to Sam and Shane, collectively known as the "little boys". Not so little any more.

So that brings us to now.  Our refrigerator/freezer got zapped by a power surge during a lightening storm while we happened to be out of town. We came home to the stench of rotting food and had to throw it all out and start over. I headed to Costco to replenish our food supply and began the familiar trek up and down the aisles. I came to the pickles and  looked at the gigantic jar of delicious kosher dills. I started to reach for it and then stopped as I was flooded with the realization that since Andy is working in California and Sam would be leaving in a few days for his mission, it would just be me and Shane. My life flashed before my eyes as I thought of all the giant jars of pickles we had consumed. Including many jars of pickles we canned from the cucumbers we grew in our garden. I thought of our food storage in Camas with its shelves and shelves of food staples including a shelf of pickles. I was blinking back tears and trying to remain composed as I drew back my hand. I would need to buy a small jar of pickles at the Big Y on my way home. Although the shrinking of our household happened gradually, suddenly my realization of it came in a cosmic shift. Standing in front of the pickles in my local Costco.

 I pondered this as I drove home--I was alone in the car and free to think uninterrupted thoughts! The truth is although the household is shrinking, our family--like the universe,is expanding. It has grown with the addition of spouses and grandchildren. I can accept the changes that keep coming because I know one thing that does not change: our family is eternal. And some of them  don't even like pickles.

A Little Valentine Encore

For all you romantics out there who have been married a few years...

A funny parody of a Phantom of the Opera song:

Happy Valentine's Day!

We Need a Little Christmas

I've been working on a project or two around these parts which has led me

into the Gale Family Archives. 

I get lost in the funny, cute, sweet, precious memories of

those amazing kids we were blessed with. 

I thought my projects would lead to Christmas

gifts but it looks they will be maybe for Birthdays.

Luckily the birthdays are spread out over the year so

I may just pull it off.

In the meantime....

Enjoy these blasts from Christmas Past:

Matching Jammies!

Siara showing our gingerbread (ok graham cracker) house tradition.

Christmas Eve Classic--Jammies for everyone except

Scott who preferred sweats and his awesome Blazer ensemble.

Joy School Christmas Pageant!

It was Seth's group but Spencer wanted to join in the fun....

so he threw on a pillow case and became a shepherd.

Bethany, Heather and Morgan-some familiar friends from the old Camas Ward.

California Christmas--the boys in their jamjams

This picture just cracks me up. 

Our Awesome Family Picture--perfect for our Christmas Card...

...except for Scott's lovely flower hat. 

The traditional Gale Family Nativity on Christmas Eve

got livened up when Seth decided to be Caesar Augustus.

Baby Shanna--

Not lovin' the Camas Ward Santa

A fun Cabin Christmas from a few years ago.