A BIT MORE LOOKING BACK....(Part 2)

~OUR SWEET FAMILY~

~Jennifer...Shane...Lisa~
"The first little angels that came to fill up my empty heart"

Just one more look back our children when they were little...
Yes, I know I can't go back, most likely wouldn't if I really could,
but I do love remembering them when they were little. They were
all mine back then, what a wonderful time that was for me as a mom!

The time of "BIG" hair for me... I wore it this way for years!
You know what they say...the bigger the hair the closer to God!

I think I almost remember being skinny...seems like a long time ago!

Every year Santa brought Lindsey a doll...

And every year this expression shows exactly what she thought of dolls!!!

I remember the day we had this picture taken...in every picture Darin

would shut his eyes...needless to say, it took lots of time trying to get a
picture of all of us behaving!!!

Tiffany on the other hand LOVED dolls, especially these American dolls.

Tiffany and Mom singing a duet at a Young Women's program...fun!

Now this makes me want to go back...my babies Tiff and Linds.

Tiff and Linds sharing a bunk bed bedroom, cute little monkies!

Four of my sweet daughters...Lisa, Lindsey, Tiffany and Jennifer.

Oh, such serious reading...all about Santa Clause and his elves.



This one below is of a camping trip...Little Tiffany always wanted
to be right where mom and dad were, usually right in the middle!

Lots of love between our Golden, Buck and his best pal Lindsey.

Finally a picture to keep...but notice how the Lindsey is

pulling her dress up as I am holding it down, smiling all the while?!

I would tell my kids stories of how as a kid, I loved climbing trees.
I lived in trees all day, usually with a book and a pillow. One day as
I was telling them about it, they just couldn't imagine mom in a tree!
So, we all went outside and I climbed our big tree...they were so amazed
and so was I as just then my husband drove in the driveway...he must have
thought his wife had gone crazy!!!

We took lots of fun vacations together...
here I am with my daughters on a elephant ride!

One of our trips to Disneyland...sorry it's a bit blurry!

We all snow skied together too, this day though it was just me and my hubby.

Our son Corey and us at a Cub Scout dinner.

I miss the love letters and drawn pictures to mom...

We always had so much fun at Halloween time...

Tiff and Casi and Lindsey...there were constant dress up days
at our place with our kids and the neighbor kids, then they would
all parade around the block showing off in their parade!

Days of 4-wheeling in Wayne county with the whole family.

Another Halloween fun day...one year we even had a spook alley
set up in our garage. Everyone that rang our doorbell for a treat
had to go through our spook alley first...and it was scary too!!!

~My cowboy Ron~

A darling teenager Lisa...so full of it, and still is!
I posted this on her face book page the other day and
all her friends teased her about being a hottie!

Dad and Tiffany rode the tea cups at Disneyland until
dad was SO sick, all in the line of making the girls happy!!!

Lazy days at the beach in California, so different from Utah!
So much fun soaking up the sun, making sand castles and chasing
after the seagulls.

Oh, so many hair styles over the years...One of my
daughters said that this was mom's mid-life crisis...going
totally blond and totally short!

Ron and I at Darin and Laura's garden wedding.

Oh, we make such serious Wild West characters!

Our Lisa...a bride of the snow!

Over the years, we have had a lot of weddings in this
family! This picture was taken at sunset and the guy
who took it had it displayed at his photography shop.
Every bride that came in wanted a picture just like this!

Our son Shane...love the shorts and cowboy boots!

All the family gathered at the airport to send a son off for
a two year mission for our church. Sad good byes but so very
proud of Corey.

~Shane...Jennifer...Lisa~

Our Newfoundland dogs...Casey and Bossk...so kind and gentle.

Shane...my first little one. The sweet relationship of a mom
and her first baby, always remains in a mom's heart.

Shane, all grown up...for awhile he drove tour truck for Chris LeDoux
as he toured the country doing his country western concerts.

Shane's little girl Ronnie...grandma dressed her up one day for a picture
in my boots and vest and her hat...she is 16 now, where does time go?!

Our Tiffany on one of the last days of school when they hike the mountain

to paint the W white. I think she got as much paint as the W did!!!

This picture is of me (Julie) as Ron and I were at Sea World.
I got picked out of the huge audience to be kissed by Shamoo!
It was so thrilling but I was a bit nervous that he might catch
my hair and pull me in with him, but it was a ever so gentle kiss!

This is something I believe in totally.
We have tried to do this with our children, we have
worked and played together, had our Family Home evenings,
read scriptures together, taught...loved...sent them on their way.

But sometimes, I wish their wings would bring them home more.
Yes, it's never enough for this mom, I want them close by more. I
see them off working for a living, raising their little ones and they are
doing a good job of it...but I miss the days when they were small and we
were all together. Can't look back though and I really wouldn't want to,
because if I did, I wouldn't have all the sweet grands that we have, and I
wouldn't trade them for anything! It has been fun looking back though!

LOOKING BACK THROUGH TIME...(Part 1)

This is a picture of our family that our daughter Tiffany drew when she was a little girl.


Maybe it is just that it is a gray January day, but I have been thinking today of how fast
my family grew up and left our home... to make homes of their own.

As I was raising these 8 children, people would say to me, they are going to be all grown
up and gone before you can blink! That was pretty hard for me to believe back then, but
they were telling me a truth. Some days, like today, I wish they were little again.

Three little monkeys...MaKayla, Megan and Cloe.

Baking cookies with Natalie and Stetson.

Those darling babies turn into brides so fast! (Tiffany)

Even the dogs, they get old too fast and pass out of our

lives as quickly as they came in it seems. Buck, looking
over where we now live.

My sister Marty...my crazy wild sis that I love.
(I just threw this one in)

Thanksgiving day, here with my daughter Lindsey.

A beautiful snowy day and our daughter Tiffany as a teen,
she is now a mama to 3 little ones of her own.

We do so love being grandparents though...
Maybe that is where the healing of the heart
begins, as your own children leave home.

Me and our daughter Lisa with her two little girls
who are now getting to be teenagers.

The fun times of camping, here with me & Tiffany and Lisa's two little girls.

Brickelle and Natalie...and they still love cats too!

~Our Lindsey playing with Buck~

Lindsey, so into every sport and so good at them too.

Our little Shanedel-Ronnie, now 16!

The soft baby hair on Caleb...I miss that.

Our daughter Lisa on our horse Apache, I miss him,
he was the best horse, he loved to lick your hand!

Darin and Laura with their first baby, sitting on our front porch.

Little Brickelle in all her Shirley Temple cuteness!

Some of the little grands helping with dinner.
Even they are getting big now!

A Christmas vacation to New York with our two youngest, so fun!

Ron and Julie and a day of riding our horses in the mountains.

All 8 of our children and Ron's mother too.

I miss the days of proms...Our Lindsey is in the red dress.

Lindsey's basketball team..."State Champions."

Grandma Julie with little Natalie and Brickelle
who are getting so grown up now too.

Our daughters...Tiffany putting makeup in
Lindsey for the big prom date.

~Lindsey and Tiffany~

Little Shanedel-Ronnie and grandma's pumpkins.

Tiffany and her prince charming...this is when life
really changes, as they go off and get married.

Lindsey and Tiffany as little girls.
They each have little girls now that look just like them.


Some days it does feel a little sad to see that they have all
grown up and are off living their own lives. I am proud of
them though, for the good lives they are living and how they
are loving their children.

Life feels like it has almost come full circle...
I know there are many more adventures to come but today,
I am thinking of the special places my heart has been to,
places and times that will never leave me!

Some days, like these quiet grey days of January, I miss them
and wish they were all little again!