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! 

Road Trip

After the Christmas holiday was over, I had a hankerin to see our southern kin. So I jumped in the car and drove south for eleven hours. I actually enjoy driving the Eastern highways and byways. The trick is to go in the "off-season" (dead of winter). You just have to pick a window of opportunity between the storms. The main reason Eastern road travel is so civilized is because of lovely rest stops...

...like this one in Virginia:

Click on the picture to take in the loveliness.

You always get a little history as you stretch your legs.

Here I enjoyed some insights on Mt. Vernon and 

The Father of our Country.

They were even handing out these somewhat creepy

 masks of George Washington.

Modeling credits: Mason

Shanna's hubby was in Vegas at the annual Shot Show and she needed someone to

keep her company. I was in need of some girl time--so win/win.

I had  a good time with my favorite train engineer.

Who also happens to be a race car diver!

Don't worry, it was a pretend injury.

Shanna and I had a great time with Mason and Miriam at a local Children's Museum.

A perfect place for a busy toddler and active preschooler

to get out some energy.

Sweet Miriam thought she found a cute little friend...

"Kisses!"

"Hey! Let's play!"

"Look! Matching outfits!"

Awww good times.

 I had to beat the weather back across the eight states between 

here and there. I got home just as the snow started falling.

A Conversation Via Text

Shanna: Can I get Great-Grandmother's fudge recipe? I'm feeling brave today.

Me: We be school today. Sorry I just saw this.


Me: I just noticed I said "we be school today" yes, I'm a homeschooling hillbilly.

Shanna: Hahaha I got the gist of your message.
             I speak yo language.

Me: I'm out running errands I'll email you the recipe when I get home.
        If you are still feeling brave :)
       

Shanna: I got Shayla some earmuffs at Target. Should I get a pair for her
             companion too? I don't want anyone feeling left out of having
              ear muffs.
             Miffed over muffs, if you will.


I needed a good laugh and that just hit the spot.

Long Over-due Update

Gentle Reader,
Hello, it's been awhile. Life has been on fast forward here and the blog has been at the bottom of the "To Do" list. But things have settled for the moment so let me catch up a bit.

First, my camera went on a mission. Shayla has always liked my camera--mostly because it's red and we both love things that come in red. (I just realized that I regularly dressed her in red when she was a little girl--perhaps my color preference spilled over to her through her wardrobe. Hmmmm)

Case in point....

Anyway--she also likes its many features which are sorely underutilized by her mom.  So, I sent it with her to record her adventures on the mission. I haven't replaced it yet and in the meantime I have been using my phone to record the daily Gale Adventures. But, being technically challenged as I am, I haven't transferred the pictures from phone to laptop yet. So, reason number one for the lapse. 

Here are some pictures taken with that pretty red camera before it went off on a mission--

so I can do some catching up with those for now...

We said good-bye to Sam and sent him off to college.

(That event will get its own post--it's one of those half-finished ones hanging out in my archives) 

Mason!

Shanna came to visit and we went apple picking.

Mason was a dedicated apple picker

He worked hard to fill that bag

Sweet Miriam was her usual adorable self--she gets that from her Mama.

It was fun to hang out with Shayla before she left 

So there's a partial catch-up--

to be continued...

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.

Birthday Boy

Brand-new Baby Mason

One Year Ago

(I just noticed that one of my FAVORITE pictures is right behind me~)

I was holding my grandson just a few minutes after I saw him born.

Shanna had him with midwives in attendance in a hundred-year-old home that is

now a birthing center.

The lights were dimmed, soft music was playing. There was a sacred feeling

of reverence in the room. It wasn't an easy birth--and if she had been in a

hospital she very likely would have had a c-section. (My daughter has a "tipped uterus" just like me and it made it difficult to dilate and slowed her progress for several hours)  But because of the inspiration and skill of the amazing women watching over her, it was a beautiful and natural birth.

I still remember the lovely smell of the essential oils they used to get the cervix to dilate the last bit--Mason came out smelling like lavender and rose. I am sharing more than I intended to here, but I can't celebrate Mason's one-year-milestone without remembering his special delivery.

Mason at Burgerville with his Daddy

So a whole year has flown by and Mr. Mason is walking and talking and keeping his parents on their toes--as any good one-year-old should.

Happy Birthday!

On the Day You Were Born

Shanna Marie 

Jan. 1987~3 months old

When I was five months along with Shanna, we moved from our tiny trailer house to our first "real" house. We settled in and Dad began the remodel that would go on for over a decade. Moving walls, tearing up carpet and sheetrock, adding on, jackhammering concrete. He started with the front yard. He decided it needed a waterfall and fountain that covered the whole front yard. So that is what he was doing on the Saturday morning when labor started.  Shanna surprised us by coming into the world two days before her due date. It was General Conference weekend and it was in the days before you could get it on TV in our area. We were going to go to the stake center to watch it, but my labor changed our plans.  Because of a mix-up in Siara's due date we thought she was three and a half weeks overdue--but it turned out she was about a week early. I didn't put it all together until several children later.  But in the meantime we just assumed that Shanna would go way past the due date and we didn't really have things ready. Like getting my sister there from Utah to watch Scott and Siara for us. Or getting a crib. So when labor started, we called Rebecca and made flight arrangements for her to come that day. Then we went to Toys R Us and bought a crib. We brought the crib home and Andy put it together while I washed the bedding.

Shanna Oct. 4, 1986
The Hospital Pic

I should mention here that we didn't have an ultra sound so we didn't know what gender we were having. I decided it was a boy because I felt the same way I had with Scott and she was less hyper-active in utero than Siara had been. (I really did eventually learn to stop using my ridiculous logic to make leaps in assumption.) But we had only picked out a boys name: Christopher Joseph. If Shanna had been a boy, it would have changed the course of history in our family because the "S" thing would have stopped with her.

I should also mention here that about three weeks earlier, we had suffered through the ordeal of a head lice outbreak. It was running rampant through the schools and thus through our ward. Scott was not quite three years old  and Siara was 19 months Since I was a newbie in the lice detection arena, I didn't catch it until several generations had established themselves in our hair. Yes, OUR hair. My lovely pregnancy-thickened hair was also infested. We were a snuggly family and I spent a lot of time with them on my lap or laying next to them reading so of course I got them too.  Our doctor gave us the poisonous concoction Quell (now banned by the EPA--yikes!) and told me to use gloves while applying. There is nothing like a lice crisis during the last exhausting month of pregnancy. 

Siara, Scott and baby Shanna with Aunt Rebecca

But back to our story. We picked my sister up from the airport at noon. By then the contractions were coming faster but still not hard at all. I showed Rebecca around the house and did several loads of laundry. Andy went out and did yard work. He told me to come get him when I was ready to go the hospital. Around 4:00 I decided it was getting close so I called Andy in and we took off. Vancouver Memorial had just added a new birthing wing and I was hoping to get one of the two much touted birthing rooms. The nurse put me in a labor room to check me and told me I was dialated to 5. I thought "Oh darn! This is going to take forever!" But there was a birthing room free so she had me wrap up in the sheet and walk down the hall to it. It didn't even really seem like I was in labor. (I am quoting from my journal here) Once I got into the birthing room things sped up. I heard the nurse talking to the doctor on the phone and she was trying to talk him into coming. I guess he thought I would be awhile. At 5:15 (I was watching the clock) I got all weepy and told Andy "This is taking so long!" Next thing I knew, I was in transition and pushing. The nurse kept saying "Don't push! Blow it away!" Trying to buy time for Dr. Williams. Finally we heard him in the hall. The nurse ran out and said "Get your buns in here! She's delivering!" I pushed as soon as the nurse turned her back and the doctor barely made it in time to catch her. She was born at 5:32. Seventeen minutes after I said it was taking too long.  Andy said "A girl!" as soon as she was born. Dr. Williams laid her up on me and she was crying and kicking. She calmed down quickly and started sucking on her tongue. She looked around the room and up at me.  Andy got to cut the cord, then everyone started guessing her weight. The doctor said "She's small, I'd say 7 lb 5 oz or so." The nurse agreed. Andy said "No, 8 lbs 2 oz." He went with them to see her weighed and measured and when the nurse came back she said "Your husband had it almost right on the nose--she's 8 lbs 4 oz.!" 

Shanna's beautiful curls: Age 18 months

Once we were settled into a room, Andy's parents brought my sister and Scott and Siara in to see the new baby. They each held her and Scott had a million questions: "Mom, your tummy went away--did she come out of there? Are you going to put her back in when you come home? Her name is Joseph huh!" 

Shanna Age 2

I stayed in the hospital until Monday morning. The nurses oohed and awwwed over Shanna's beautiful curls and she charmed everyone by sleeping through the night the first night--I kept her in the room with me which was almost unheard of back then. They kept asking me if they could take her for me so I could rest. But I wanted her to myself while I had the chance. She was calm from the start and kept that disposition clear up until high school drama kicked in. She also kept those beautiful curls--though she cursed them as often as I pointed out how lucky she was to have them. 

Now that sweet baby with the bouncy curls is a mama herself. 

And her calm disposition is getting her through the sleepless nights.

 Happy Birthday Nunny!