Split Pea Soup and cornbread muffins

Such a good dinner McKenna made for us a few nights ago.

I've made lots of Split Pea Soups over the years, but this one McKenna made last night was THE best.
So hearty and healthy with red potatoes, onions, and carrots in it. And cheap to make.
We didn't miss the meat, at all.
Look HERE for the recipe.




And if that wasn't enough, she made some very tasty corn muffins.
Find that recipe HERE.


My Dad and Susan seemed to enjoy it, too.


How could I have left my Dad out of the picture above? 

Good I took this shot below with his great granddaughter, Scarlett. 


Her big brother Grant vetoed the soup, but Scarlett loved it so much she ate it for lunch 2 days in a row. 
See how happy she looks? But I don't think it's all because of the soup.
She's pretty much in love with her parents.

McKenna's Thai Chicken Salad

McKenna insisted on planning meals soon after she arrived. I kept telling her, NO, you don't need to do
that! Nevertheless, she took our her phone and pen and paper and started planning.

So last night she made Thai Chicken Salad with help from Scarlett.

Big brother Grant had no interest in making dinner. He was kickin back with Frank Sinatra.
(He loves Fly Me To the Moon just like his Daddy did at this age!)

If you think that looks wonderful, it was!

She baked the chicken breasts, cut those up. Then she mixed romaine and Chinese cabbage and then
cut up topping options of green onion, carrots, red peppers, cucumbers, and peanuts. Put together a
really good dressing and sauce….and there was dinner!



Everyone loved it except Grant and Scarlett. They were however impressed with the chunks of
watermelon and pineapple on the side. A very tasty summer meal.


If you'd like to see this wonderful recipe (that she got off Pinterest) go HERE. 

That was last night.
 Next up, I'll show you what she made for us tonight!




Just another quiet evening with the Heasleys

People sometimes ask us what we do when the family gets together...


The awesomeness of Aunt McKenna from Jill Shelley on Vimeo.

And to think I was worried about their beds!

We were SO excited yesterday to get picture updates as McKay and McKenna 
and Grant and Scarlett flew from Portland to here! 

I was worried about their sleeping arrangements because….
I know this wasn't the best set up for a married couple, and I felt sort of bad about it, 
but our guest room has 2 twins in it now, since most of our visitors these days are cousins…..


 Apparently it was no problem, because…..
 Last night while McKay and McKenna were out having a midnight swim, 
I peeked into their room to make sure they had all they needed for the night and this is what I saw:

But even in spite of them pushing those beds together, 
the next morning they said they both slept in the same twin bed. They like each other. 

And we are LOVING having them here. 

That's it for now.







Save your best for the afternoons

I took just a little bit of this video I happened to see this week on BYU channel, to share with you.
It really struck a cord with me because I remember learning this the hard way, back in the day.

Especially with school starting up again around here next week,
I thought this was such valuable advice…



Guard your afternoons from Jill Shelley on Vimeo.

Would anyone know the answer to this question?

Nearly 3 years ago I put a video on my blog that McKenna and McKay filmed in Portland.
It showed baby Grant getting his casts changed on his tiny little club feet.
I thought it might help others out there in the world going through similar things with their baby's feet.

Well apparently it has, but I'm not sure how so many people are finding it.
It has about 500 views a day for the past several weeks. 38,682 views as I write this.

So this is my question….does anyone know a way to find out where the viewings are
coming from on a YouTube video? I'm thinking this video may be on
an orthopedic website of some kind? I'm just curious.





On another note, the McKs along with almost THREE year old Grant and ONE year old Scarlett will
be here in 2 days! This will be the first time in nearly THREE YEARS that they have come home to
Clovis! In fact, look how little Grant was last time they were here.



I also don't know why one video after another plays after the one above.
Must be something new with Youtube and I'm not sure I like it.

It's been a sad week...

Early yesterday morning a dear friend of mine crossed from this life into the next. 
I know she was welcomed home as a celebrity because Wanda Barnes was, and is, 
one of the most Christ centered people I've ever known.

The last time I saw her was Monday evening. 
She couldn't talk and her eyes were closed but when her daughter told her I was there 
she opened her eyes just a tiny bit. Her mouth quivered as she tried to talk, but couldn't.
I talked to her and I could tell she heard me.


This was one of my favorite pictures of Wanda. 
She was SO excited to meet Bonnie Parkin, our general Relief Society President from Utah. 
I think this was around 2007 or 2008?


Wanda was one of my counselors when I was Relief Society president a few years back. 
She loved and served and loved every day of her life. We would often discuss different sisters 
and situations in our ward with challenges, and her response was always the same….
"We can do this! no problem! I'll take care of it." She never even paused to think about her
schedule or what she could fit in. She just said yes. 

Her most favorite calling of all in the church was working in the nursery with the children ages 18
months to 3. She could never get enough of them. And they loved her back big time. 

She has also been my visiting teaching partner for the past several years. If there were small
children in the homes we would visit, that is who she would gravitate towards.

Each month Wanda and I were so busy that it was hard to schedule our visiting teaching early in the
month like we preferred. On one such month she wrote this to me in an email:

"... I feel like if we wait till the end of the month, maybe they might think we think they 
are just an obligation to fulfill. Oh, I don't know, I sure hope not. I get crazy like that. I 
guess I just want people to really know that when I do something for the church I just 
don't do it because of obedience,(that is good), but I think I am past that. I just really 
feel each day I am here and any little thing I can do to help in the Lord's church is 
blessing and a privilege to me. I am grateful for it. Besides it just makes me feel good 
inside. My little tune starts singing in my heart…."

When I would pick her up to go with me, this is one of the first things she would almost always say
with this huge smile on her face, "Tell me about the babies. I want to know how they are."
She was referring to my grand babies.

Last January right after Wanda learned of her cancer but before she had her big surgery she was more
concerned about her children and grandchildren than anyone or anything else. Her youngest son and
his wife were expecting their first baby and she said she had to make it so she could hold her newest
grandson, Milo. From one of her emails to me:

"...I was going to NC to his baby blessing the 2 of March. Not happening now. 
Canceled tickets, I hope I get to hold him on this side of the veil. So far that is the only 
thing that can really make go to tears, QUICKLY!... "


Well look what happened! After her surgery in February, she got her wish. 
Milo's parents surprised Wanda by flying him across country just so Grandma could hold him!


We all thought she was recovering. She had a great summer and 
even went camping with her grandchildren last month! 


Always and Forever Wanda!

You loved everybody, everywhere you went.

You have taught us all,
 "There is NO greater power than LOVE."


I'm loving this series


I've been fascinated by this series on the differences in parenting 
around the world.

The way I understand it, these were all written by Americans who 
have lived in these countries long enough to have opinions and 
notice the differences between there and here.

So far they have featured 11, and still coming out with more. Press 
the links to read the lists of surprising ways of parenting in each 
culture. (I wonder what other countries find surprising about us!)


Germany…Instead of teaching kids to share, they are taught to take the toy back or fight. 
Must make for lovely adult relationships later on.

Norway….where all kids go to bed at 7pm

Japan…where kids go school year round with no summer break.

China….Diaper free culture (you read that right, unfortunately)

Congo…if you don't pay the hospital after birth they lockdown and won't let you out

England….this was the most boring one...nothing stood out to me

Abu Dhabi...no car seat laws and babies are believed to be safest in Mom's arms.

India…where it's against the law to find out baby's gender before birth

Northern Ireland…you don't have to leave home for Dr visits

Denmark…Babies take their naps outside, alone.

Australia…Many put their babies into government subsidized "sleep training camps" at 6-7 
months old (really? and why is their government involved in this??)


This series is from the blog Cup of Jo,
but I'm not sure she has a schedule of exactly when she will post the next ones.



Men and why I love them

The Saturday night before last, was scary to me. Dennis was in Utah for the weekend. That was fine,
but I knew I would not sleep well with Den gone so I took 1/2 a benedryl….which is equivalent to a
child's dose but it's enough for me. I was looking forward to getting up at 7am the next morning and
getting ready for church.

Just as I got into bed at 11:45, I could hear my heart take off. It was pounding hard and fast. I had this 2
months ago and ended up in an ambulance and on to the hospital. Sure I could call my own ambulance
but I didn't want to. But I didn't want to be alone either. There is just something frightening about being
alone while my heart is racing.

I went outside to see if my favorite neighbors were still awake. Nope, the lights were all out at their
house. So now what I am going to do? I have friends I could call but I didn't want to wake anyone up
for this.

I did remember to pray.

Then I had this idea of emailing both Brock and Logan who live in town. I just typed, "Call me if you
are still awake." Guess they were both either asleep or at least not on the computer, because I
heard nothing. Then at 1am the phone rang. It was Logan! He said he had just finished watching a
movie with Amy asleep beside him when he decided to check his phone one last time, and saw my
message.

He came right over and helped me get my heart back to normal which took until about 2:30am. It was
wonderful seeing his RN skills in action. Something I've never seen since he works in a prison. I
marveled that he was once my little boy and now he was taking care of me. He even spent the night
here, all with Amy's blessing.

He also told me Benedryl causes fast heart rates in some people. I had no idea.

Next morning about 8:30 Brock called me. He just then got my message and wanted to make sure I
was okay. I felt very loved and taken care of by both my in town sons. I know my out of town sons
would have done the same for me.

I think Dr Laura says it better than I could:


Men from Jill Shelley on Vimeo.

Fun to hear my famous Dad mentioned at church today

Today at church a rather new member to our ward spoke on 
making the most of our short time on earth. It was a great talk 
with several good stories, but of course this one was my 
favorite:

The speaker said he knew a man in the ward he grew up in 
named Richard Rozier who was a well known runner. He said how 
one day he was talking to my brother about a marathon he ran with 
our Dad. On that particular marathon, since my Dad was running 
with one of his sons, he was going a bit slower than his usual. 

About 17 miles into the race they were actually walking, and my 
Dad says to my brother, "Do you notice anything odd about the 
lady in front of us?"

My brother responded, "Like what Dad? I can see she has a 
prosthetic leg? That she's probably about 50 lbs over weight? 
And that she's probably got 20 years on you?" 

And my Dad said, "Well I was hoping the odd thing you noticed 
is that she's ahead of us!" 

So they quit walking, and ran the rest of the 26.2 miles.

The speaker was making the point that we need to remain 
faithful and endure to the end, and not give up. My Dad is 
definitely an example of that to every one who knows him…then, 
and now.


Here's one thing that has not changed in over 60 years.


Cousins Steve, Nonie, and Kathy with my brother Richard in dark overalls. 1953

This picture proves some things never change: Popsicles!  And this 
was 61 years ago! They still look exactly the same. And just like 
now, there's always one kid in the group who holds his upside 
down, which is obvious by the look on baby Richard's face.

Thank you Ron and Yolanda for this picture. Priceless. 



My cousin Steve

Sadly, we attended my cousin Steve's funeral yesterday. 

I'd been to St Anthony's Catholic church many times through the years but I had never seen it so full of 
people. It was full and overflowing. Steve had SO many people who loved him. 


I remember growing up we would often go to Aunt Leonie and Uncle Jim's house (Steve's parents) on
Sunday evenings to watch Walt Disney Wonderful World of Color, 
because they had a color TV and we didn't.

My Mom had mentioned to me often through the years that she learned 
much of her early mothering by watching my Dad's sisters mother their children.

Steve's first birthday with his Mom (my Dad's sister) in the background. 1949

Brothers: Steve, Mike, Ron 1952  (before younger brother Bobby was born)
(Thank you for the pictures, Ron and Yolanda!)

Fast forward 62 years and here is Ron, Mike 
and also my cousin Kathy yesterday outside Steve's service.



Unfortunately, funerals seem to be our family reunions.

See how happy my Dad was to see his nieces and nephews yesterday!


Dad and David


Dad and Kristine.


Dad with Mike. His family means very much to him.

Ron and Yolanda's son, Chris, and his girlfriend. Dad is asking them when they are getting married.




I will remember Steve as being always so welcoming and friendly.
So sweet the way he made such an effort to come see my Dad last February.

Dad's nephews: Ron, David, Steve
I know Steve must not have felt well at the time, but he never mentioned that.
That visit, I know, meant a lot to Dad.

This was included in Steve's program and read at his service.


A two in one adventure!


So here is another report of an adventure….this time Brock and 
Erin and girls, drove to Washington to share it with McKay and 
McKenna and their 2 children.

11 year old Elora wrote this all out herself. 
She writes just like she talks!


 Portland Trip 2014
Day 1: July 10th: We are packing up the final things for our trip, 
food, entertainment, and lastly the children. (the most precious 
cargo) We get on the road, planning to meet my Grandma and 
Grandpa (Lynn and Dale), to pick up Violet’s glasses. But, of 
course  it would not be a family trip without SOMETHING going 
wrong. As we pull up to our meeting place, I fly up straight into 
the air. A car has hit us in the bumper. Being in the back of the 
van, I get the hardest hit. (although it was super fun to fly) My 
mom starts muttering “no, no , no, no come on!” My dad goes out 
to see the damage. The bumper is peeling off. The lady was very 
sorry, and we traded information. Daddy sets out to get some duct 
tape, while mommy contacts my grandparents. The good news is 
nobody was hurt and with my dad duct taping the car everything 
was alright, and we could get back on the road." 


DAY 2: JULY 11TH: After a night in the hotel, we get back on the 
road for the last 4 hours. We are not super excited to get back in 
the dreaded car, but we do it anyway. After listening to Frozen 
music all day that day before we endure princess music yet once 
again. Listening to Violet sing “Let It Go” was so worth it. During 
this car ride my mommy teaches me a game. The license plate 
game. If you are in California you get to punch the person next to 
you if you see a out of state license. But if you are in Oregon you 
can punch on the California license. We played this for a while, 
when we are finally only 30 minutes away! We are so pumped to 
finally get there. But then all of the sudden we will get there in… 
40 minutes? Ugh.  Ok breathe. And let all the air out when you 
find you are in traffic. Next thing we know we are stuck in 2 
HOUR TRAFFIC! Great. We are all driving each other insane with 
driving tips from daddy to mommy, Music tips from Violet , 
crying from Cami, stuffing a pillow over my head, and Mommy 
trying to make it all better. Not helping. But finally, the heavens 
parted and the angles sang because we got there!!!

DAY3:JULY12th: We wake up and ready to go BERRY 
PICKING!!! We are all not only excite for us but for Cami! If you 
know Cami you know Cami LOVES berries. It’s probably her 
favorite thing ever. We get out super excited to pick out own 
blueberries ,strawberries, raspberries and peaches! First we do 
blueberries. I think the only person that was even close to having 
as much fun as Cami was Scarlett! Scarlett would take the berries 
we picked and shove them in her mouth one by one. It was then 
that Cami said heaven for the first time! Cami would not bother 
with the ones we picked, she would take them right off the bush! 
We ended up picking blueberries, red raspberries, golden 
raspberries(my favorite), peaches, and probably something else I 
cant remember. We get up to pay, when mommy asks me if I got 
bug bites. No.. nobody did. So we get up to pay and mommy is 
itching. The lady at the register says that mommy is allgeric to 
some of berry leaves. The golden ones. She says to get home and 
shower right away. One problem. We are 45 minutes away from 
Mckay and Mckenna’s. so we hop in the car and mommy is 
swelling. We get there and mommy is the first to take a shower. 
All of the sudden she is yelling for me to get some ice. Her eyes 
are swelling shut. In the end she was fine, and that night we played 
games. 



DAY 4: JULY13TH:Just church and fun with Scarlett, Grant and 
Mckay and Mckenna.

DAY5:JULY14: Trip to the Coast! We get in the car, (this time we 
steal Mckenna in the car and daddy goes with Mckay. We get to 
this very simple and awesome hotel! They give free cookies. I 
don’t think a hotel gets better than that. But. It. Did. They also 
give free taffy, free movies for rent, board games, and they 
HANDWRTITE a letter saying how much they apprectiate our 
stay. And if that is not awesome enough, there is a patio that is just 
outside the Oregon beach! Grant loves the beach more than 
anything, so that is the first thing we do. Violet wants to build an 
Ariel sand castle. Aunt Mckenna and I get to work. We even have 
a tow bridge, and a carriage for Ariel. Attetion to detail. The 
Ocean is freezing but that does not stop Grant, he body slams the 
water ready to take a swim.



DAY6:JULY15: Crabbing! The day we get to go crabbing! We 
grab the net and drive out to a bridge to do some amateur 
crabbing! The law in Oregon is that we cant bring home female 
crabs, and they have to be a certain size. We drop the net and bring 
it up 5 minutes later. A crab a crab!!!! We bring up and take some 
pictures only to realize it is too small. We don’t care. We drop it 
back and try again. We catch too small crabs for a while, when we 
finally catch the right crab! Yeah!!! We put it in the ice chest. 
Then daddy comes over and says that it is too small. We groan and 
throw it back. It is still partially frozen, so when we throw it back 
it does not thaw. It just floats like its drowning! Then, a pelican 
swoops down and tries to get the crab! No! Crabby!!!! Thankfully 
it was ok.  In the end we caught two crabs and Uncle Mckay and 
daddy loved it when we cooked it. ( we killed them in billing 
water, trust me it was better than the other way) 







DAY7:JULY16: Boys go on a camping trip, while everybody else 
stays home and has an awesome time. The only thing was , the 
boys took every single set of keys available. We had no way of 
using the car to go to the store! So what we ended up doing was 
putting everybody in a stroller and pushing them to the store. Up. 
A . hill. Awesome. 

DAY8:JULY17: Downtown Portland and relaxing and play the 
Wii U.




DAY9:JULY18: Kayaking day! Aunt Karen, Aunt Mckenna 
,mommy ,and I get to go kayaking! Aunt Mckenna and I were in a 
boat together, and Karen and mommy in another. I was steering 
the boat in the back and Mckenna was in the front setting the pace. 
True we bumped into many many things, but in the end we were 
the last ones to finish. But for a good reason. Toward the end there 
were waves which made it very hard to steer. If you have never 
Kayaked before I highly suggest it. It was an awesome experience 
and I would gladly do it again (hint hint).



DAY10:JULY19: Day at Uncle Tyler and Aunt Karen’s new 
house. Since Leo and Scarlett have such close birthdays, that we 
were not able to stay for, we decided to have an early birthday 
party. Scarlett turning one, and Leo…. I forgot. Anyway they have 
an awesome  backyard, with an awesome playground, and I got to 
meet Rich! Rich is very friendly and loves to play pirates. He did 
not know what pirates were until I told him apperantly. Oops. So 
anyway we played and ate blueberries played and ate blueberries, 
until finally our parents came home from ziplining. We had an 
awesome backyard barbque, and played volleyball with a Justice 
Leaguge ball of Rich’s.

DAY11:JULY20: Church again! Celebrating Pioneer day in 
Oregon. Best place to be to do that!

THE LAST DAY: The last day was by far the saddest. We had to 
pack up and leave! We did not want to AT ALL! Mckay and 
Mckenna were so so nice to us for letting us crash. We had so 
much fun on our adventure, and so thankful to Great Grandpa 
Rozier and Susan for giving us the money to do this!


Thanks for enduring my 1,453 word adventure! I have a Family 
Camp review as well coming soon! Thanks, and sorry for all the 
misspelled words!

Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...