Christmas 1974

What got us started

Ryan and I were on a walk with the family the other day. In case you haven't been keeping up on our blog, we are two days in and plan to keep that up :) Paxton has been riding his bike while we walk. He is still in training wheels and Ryan and I both yelled at him "are you ready to take the training wheels off" He yelled back with a quick "NO" as he zoomed by.

Then we talked about how Gauge could start riding his bike if we had Paxton's training wheels to put on them (because we won't buy another pair!)

At that point Paxton jumped off his bike and leaned over for awhile. I whispered to Ryan that I thought he was filling his bike with gas.

It was at that moment that

Ryan started to tell me a story. He told it like it was occurring to him as he was saying it. Thinking back, small smile on his face while he remembered how it went. Then he told me, "ya know, I used to have a little trike. Mom told me that for a long time she was finding broken down spots in the driveway and she didn't know where they were coming from. After some investigation and being unable to figure out what was happening, she figured it out. Sheila told Ryan that she found him in the driveway one day, filling his trike with gasoline."

He would lean over next to it. Find the pretend gas tank and REALLY pour gas "into the tank" which resulted in holes...in the driveway. He told me that when she relayed the story to him she just laughed. She didn't get mad at him, she thought it was funny. He said that she thought it was a bit of a mind bend because that's when she realized how much her little boy was watching her. Ryan had been watching her put gas into the tractors and the lawn mower.

My mind wandered to Sheila's laugh... I am sure you can all hear it. I love her laugh.

I have not spent a lot of alone time with Sheila but I had one experience with her that I will never forget and I proceeded to tell it to Ryan.

Having never been alone with my mother in law that long I was a little nervous when I was the one to take her in my car on a trip we were on. Sheila jumped into the car and I thought "What do I say? What do we talk about?" I am not really good with small talk!!

So, I did what all nervous daughters in law would do, I turned on the radio. Then I realized that I had my Garth Brooks CD in and Ryan had told me that she loved Garth Brooks.

When I turned it on she just looked at me and smiled. She said, "Do you know the songs?" Yes I know the songs! So I turned it up and the two of us sang and harmonized at the top of our lungs to Garth Brooks all the way home.

When it was happening I thought...I will never forget this.

So when I relayed the story to Ryan that thought occurred to me again. How do I never forget this...and then the blog was born.

-Whitney

When You Came to California.......THREE TIMES!

Sheila you have been out to California to visit us three times! 5 years ago you came to see our first born Calvin right after his birth! It was a great visit. You stayed for about 1 week.

Christi loved having you around to share in the experience of being a new mother. You got to meet our dog Ammon for the first time.

You came to California again to be part of Ilene's wedding in 2008.

Morgan and Ilene were sealed in the Sacramento,

California Temple on October 10th, 2008.

The last time you came out was at the end of September when we had our third, our first girl Cosette! You were here for two weeks and we all had tons of fun.

You got to visit with Christi and Ilene. You went to see Ilene's work place and Morgan and Ilene's apartment.

You were there the day Cosette was born.

You played alot with Calvin and Oliver (pictured). They loved playing pirates with you in the back yard.

To Our Family

Hey Everyone

This blog is dedicated to Sheila. After hearing story after story about your lives I started to think that it would be a really great idea to document this history. Then it occurred to me that it might be an even better idea, to document it for Mom.

If any of you have seen 50 First dates, you remember that the main character only remembered each individual day. She had no short term memory. At the end of the show, to win her over Adam Sandler created a video for Drew Barrymore to see which basically updated her on where she was in life.

As Sheila loses her memories it is going to be harder for her to remember who she is and how many people are out there who love her.

My idea was that we could teach her about herself whenever she forgets.

I have also put links of her family's blogs on the side so that she can frequent them and see her children and her Grandchildren.

WHENEVER

you remember a fond memory of Mom, or you feel like posting a note to her or a picture, please do it here. Post pictures of your families or from your baby books.

I am hoping that one day we will be able to print it out for us, and we will all have a history of our Mother and Grandmother Sheila.

I hope you all find this to be a good idea. I absolutely love this family and I absolutely love Sheila.

-Whitney