Bizarre connection to McKay

Ever since I was a very little girl, I have had a fascination with multiple births.

I remember following the Fischer quints back in the 60s. They were America's very first set in 1963. I was in the 3rd grade, but I remember well when they were born.One of the very first blogs I started following abut 2 1/2 years ago, was a family expecting quintuplets. I read about them in the Church News, and went right to their blog, and I was hooked.

I followed her pregnancy and watched her on video trying to obey doctor's orders of eating a pkg of peanut M&Ms and choc malts everyday. I was "there" when she announced the names of her babies.

And I will never forget the day nearly 2 years ago, they were born...breaking the record for the largest total birth weight for quintuplets (about 21 1/2 lbs).

I watched this family on the Today show, or was it Good Morning America, or was it both? I don't know, but it was fun "seeing" this family I felt like I knew.

So last night I was on Facebook which I very rarely visit (my page anyway.) I was looking at my son, McKay's, front page...or is it called his wall? I'm not sure. I like to occasionally go there and see pictures of his friends, and see what he is up to. I talk to him regularly but he is not a detailed person, so he is fine with me looking at his Facebook.

So I skim through his friends there on his front page. I notice a girl named Tiare who mentions helping her sister with her 5 babies.

Huh? There are not many families with 5 babies.

I can tell McKay and Tiare are friends by the back and forth messages. I also remember him mentioning her to me. So I pop open Tiare's page. I go to her photos. I see all these babies and they sure look familiar. Then I realize: Those are the Wilkinson Quints!!
So I go back to the quint blog. Sure enough there is Tiare with the babies. Oh that's right, now I remember Tiare on this blog. She would go to help her sister with the babies each summer. That is where she has been this past month.

Interesting that McKay never even mentioned that his friend Tiare was an aunt to quints...to "my" quints....the ones I have followed since before their birth. I even have their calendar by my computer. I have even posted about them on my blog. Go here for that.

So yes, this is one of those "it's a small world" stories.
Here's a few pictures of McKay and Tiare...

McKay's friend Todd, McKay, Tiare, and her friend Brittany

Todd, Mike, Tiare, McKay

Below is a recent news clip of the Wilkinson Quints. Tiare is the one to the side trying to help out with all those toddlers.


Side by side in Sacramento

We got to attend church in Sacramento today.
The above picture may look like just one of our churches.
But look again.
It's 2 of our churches side by side, sharing the same parking lot. I've never seen that before...not here in California.

So I had a hard time deciding which one to attend. We went to one, then another, and then finally back to the first one. That's where we stayed.

I would have changed back again (I love change) but I can only put my husband through so much.

I really liked this one talk today by a young woman on attitude. I think it was her father, she said, who when he read her stories he would end with:
"And they chose to live happily ever after."

No, we didn't go all the way to Sacramento just to go to church. We went up Friday for the graduation of one of Den's employees from the police academy. It was actually held in Yuba City, but we stayed, thankfully, in Sacramento, at this hotel:Looks good huh?
And it was beautifully decorated.
However, look at breakfast:This was where the yogurt was suppose to be.
Dennis was looking forward to it, but they said they were all out.
They said to come back next week, their shipment would probably be in by then.

So they think we were going to come back next week just to eat their yogurt??

When the kitchen helper told me this I must have looked at her strange because then she said,
"Or you can go to the front desk and buy some yogurt there."

Oh, so they are out of yogurt unless we want to buy it at the front desk?

Yes, they had eggs and sausage. They said they also had some homemade muffins but the "construction men staying here" came in earlier and ate all of those. (btw, breakfast was served 6-10am and it was only about 8am)

They did not even have any oatmeal. I was telling the maintenance man this when he came to fix our squeaky bathroom door a few hours later, and he said he would bring me some oatmeal from his home if we were still there next week. He said he and his wife buy oatmeal by the big boxes at Costco. Kind maintenance man.

Somehow it just did not seem right to us.

So Dennis settled for Fruit Loops.

I guess he chose to live happily ever after.

Nine people on the road?

Don't tell me.
I don't even want to know how Logan and Amy and the 7 kids went on a trip this week to the beach in an 8 passenger car.

I don't want to know how Logan must have ridden his motorcycle while Amy must have driven the van.

So I didn't ask. What we don't know, can't hurt us, right?

But I can very happily show you pictures of their trip.

The exciting thing is they stayed at Natalie's home...Logan's cousin. OH she must have felt invaded, but I'm sure it was a very nice invasion. And I can tell they all LOVE LOVE LOVE her.

Did we think they could not find room to sleep? Well they did.

4 kids on the floor and 1 on the couch.
Logan and Amy slept in the bedroom with the babies.
Natalie slept at a friend's house.
Austin, Chandler, Laurynn, Natalie, Macie, Kylie

Amy was telling me how incredible it is that Natalie has all the kids personalities pegged. She knows how different each one is, and reads them like a book.

The Cousins, Logan and Natalie...born just 2 1/2 months apart.

5 in a row.
Such good kids they are.

Is this not a great picture! Only too bad Logan was not in it.

The worried looking travelers below.
Jonas and Téa...or as Natalie refers to them, "Logan and Loganette"



"No Téa, not like that. Watch me. Punch like this!"
Practicing karate

Jonas still has that charming Lollipop Kid look
I wish I had pulled some pictures off of Amy's camera showing Natalie's apt. I meant to but gave back her camera before I did. Her home is so cute! I love what I saw.


Thank you Natalie for calling me yesterday with all the details.
I wish I could have been there just to watch it all!

Natalie said Amy and Logan are raising wonderful children who will in turn raise wonderful children. Then she added, "What a legacy."

Kylie sums up her feelings by writing in the sand.

I found my Daytimer!!!!!


We put up flyers at the dentist office where I was sure I had dropped it. If you missed that post, go here.

Then one night,
It was about 11 pm. I was in the closet in our bedroom rubbing castor oil on the bottoms of my feet to make them softer. We have a chair in our closet by the way.

Den and I had both looked through our closet NUMEROUS times. We went shelf by shelf, all around the floor, everywhere we could think of in there. We were both completely and totally convinced it was no where in the closet, and no where in our house.

Well I should say, I was convinced. He still thought it would show up in our house.

Anyway, so there I am rubbing my feet, when I noticed our wire bin for 'clothes ready to be ironed' was pushed a few inches out of place.So I pushed it back into place. And there, look, it was right there on that shelf!!!
Right above our dirty clothes bin!

I kept looking at it...was I seeing things??
But we had looked everywhere in that closet so many times. And how in the world would it get there??

Then I remembered.
Whenever I go to the dentist I always wear black socks. So right after making my dental appt that morning, I went into the closet to change my socks to black ones, putting my Daytimer right on that shelf. I had intended to then put the Daytimer into my purse, but in my rush, I left that step out of my plan.

So when I found my Daytimer, I picked it up and just kept looking at it. I thought of all those nights I was worried that it was in the hands of someone else...when it was just yards from our bed!

Now I have all the 30+ years of information back that I thought was gone forever.

Plus now I know all the other private info is not in anybody's hands but mine.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. I just love having it back home with me.
Where it was all along...

A tour of Dennis' new office

Actually he moved into his new office about 6 week ago...
Being we were in the middle of wedding/babies/surgery/graduation...I am just took these pictures today.

First, you have to pass the judgment of his secretary Nikki in the little foyer.
Then she will press the button to unlock the door, and let you in.


This picture does not really do her justice. Nikki is actually very pretty.

Olivia, his other secretary, was not there today.Then down the hall to the investigators, and then Den's office at the very back.
This sort of reminds me of the set on the Mary Tyler Moore show. That would be Lou Grant's office at the end there. If you are under 40, you probably don't know what I am talking about.


Office cubicles on both sides
This office is for the Attorney General who only comes about once a month.
So it's usually empty.

At least Den has a room with a view, unlike the other investigators.

The break and lunch room.
I was going to ask Dennis to move those Kleenexes off that desk before I took a picture of the file room. When he said they were disposable gloves, I said never mind, don't touch those.

Here's Dr. Knapp who does their medical consulting.
I had fun today throwing out different doctors names of the past, and he knew them all.
He still does not have his George Washington picture on the wall, or the 8 framed pictures of our children. Next time I visit, I'll bring a hammer and nails.

Oh...
So you think his office is boring looking?
Well, that's why he counts on me to entertain him once he gets home...

Where did my father come from?

First some pictures

My Dad's sisters in 1959: Ann, Leonie, June
Aren't they pretty?
And his brothers, 1953, in San Francisco:
Gene, Irving, and my Dad
His siblings have all passed on. Just my Dad, the baby of his family, is left.

Shortly after my Dad's sister June passed away in 1997, my mother wrote the letter below to June's sons (my cousins), David and Donny.

It shows just what a climb my Dad made to survive in this world. Just what made him who he is. If his life had been easier, would he be the same man he is today?

This letter also shows the love and loyalty of his family.

You will need to click the letters to make them big enough to read.

There's lots of history in this letter.
Part 2 of the letter below
My dad joined our church in 1955, gave up cigarettes over night, and also immediately changed his life. I will be eternally grateful to him for the inner strength he found to do that.

Looking even further back...

I just love this picture below.

My dad is the youngest one in the picture below, with his 2 brothers. Irving is holding him and Gene is standing near by. Must be 1930.
Happy Father's Day Dad.
You had no idea what was in store for you all those years ago.
I'm sure you had no idea you would marry our angel mother and be the father of 8 children, many more grandchildren and great grandchildren.
What a posterity!

Read the words my Dad lives by here.

On Being a Father

The above is a picture of my sons Logan and Brock in 1980, with their Dad.

I wrote the following for a small publication in 1988, for their Father's Day issue:
(I broke it down in 2 parts, hopefully making it easier to read. If you can't see it well, just click it to make it larger.)MY BOYS, 1986
Brock, Tyler, McKay, and Logan

Look what happened last night

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