Summer 2015

Here we are in July - oh my!  It's been an interesting few months and busy!  Marianne and Lance sold their home in April (1st day on the market) and moved in with Honey!  With Olivia, Tyson and baby Ava 'on route', the house was once again filled with action, noise and love!  I've heard that you get used to the 'solitude' and that's what seems to have happened to Honey!  Sooooo, the 'new noise' was both welcome and surprising!  As always, our revolving door at base camp is welcome to any who pass by and it's been wonderful to have Marianne and Lance here  - with all that accompanies the confusion!
Two weeks ago Marianne gave birth to her third child and second daughter, Ava Scarlett!  She's a beauty and seems like a sweet baby.  Marianne had a bout with an infection and was back in the hospital for IV antibiotics for a couple of days but is doing well now.  She and Lance are fast trying to locate a new home before Oliva starts kindergarten the end of August!  Hard to believe!
Coby and Tif are expecting their first 'daughter' (after four boys) within the week.  Yeah and Halleluiah!!!!!  Coby is particularly excited since he's always known he'd have a girl!  Tif is just ready to be 'done' with having children!  They are both the same age that Jim and I were (after our four boys) when Marianne was born!  This is a little miracle from HEAVEN and JIM!
Ben continues to be busy with his four children.  They've recently found out that Mason is on the 'Autism' grid!  A handsome, bright boy that will truly benefit from great parents and family.  This has been a real challenge and test of their patience but luckily the other children are all doing well and are supportive!  I think our grandchildren are exemplary! 
Pat and Anna are in 'holding' pattern with their two pretty daughters, Amelia and Daphne and doing well.  At this writing they are hosting the Osmond family (Anna's) at Bear Lake.  I'm so grateful for this place to go and to share!
Bob and Sara came from Boise with Duncan and Charlie for the 4th.  They just announced that they'll be having a DAUGHTER in November!  This is the year of our GIRLS!

As for me: 
In January I began working in the Draper Temple baptistery!  It was thrilling to see so many young people come in, having completed finding large numbers of family names and so dedicated to getting them baptized.  It has been a bit of a 'time' commitment on Saturdays, but fortunately they let me just be a substitute this summer so I can spend time at the lake!  Jim always wanted us to be temple workers and this helps me feel like I'm doing what he'd want.
Speaking of that, several years ago Jim and I discussed adding another building on the lot at the lake for...posterity.  So, this project is now underway and we'll be breaking ground, hopefully, this fall.
It will give us more bedrooms so that when the grands are a few years older, they can take over sleeping (and playing) at the cabin and the adults (and I) will have a place to 'retreat' at night!
I've been working with Anna-Lisa's cousin Thom Lane on plans that are almost complete and I think Jim would be pleased that I've taken this on - before I get to old and crazy!

Then, sometime in February I decided to push the send button on the computer and have my first try at 'online' dating!  What an EXPERIENCE!  WEIRD to have 'strange' men trying to connect!  I feel badly that I've deleted so many of them, but having had a man like Jim, it's pretty hard to compare!  I did have several dates and a nice man who wanted to get 'friendlier' but hand holding was just plain 'paralyzing'!  So, I've taken a little time off to re-evaluate if this is when and 'how' I want to meet someone who might begin to fill the big VOID! 
I don't know how I can be lonesome with so many darling grandchildren, family and friends around... but a spouse fills a place (at least half of you) that no one else can.  I still miss Jim terribly and often refer to my 'hot tub' as my 'tub of tears'!  It's a great place to go and just ... let it all go!  I'm beginning to realize that I truly would like to find a man who I'd be comfortable with; someone to share those things that you don't bother your children or others with.  I miss a strong arm, one around me and one to help with all that I feel so responsible for!  So, I am going to do what the scriptures recommend...to go into that dark (or new) place and put my hand in the Lords!  This is supposed to be a much better idea that going around blindly in the 'light' and I'm going to trust that it is!  As the song goes...."Wishin' and Hopin' and Thinkin' and (mostly) Prayin'! 

This summer I volunteered to help out at stake girls camp and was put in charge of the music!  What a great time I had with wonderful, dedicated women and darling 'young' women.  I am always amazed at the great sense of service there is in this church and the commitment to callings.  I would do this again in a heartbeat.  Love the mountains, love the girls!

Coming up.....get the new building done at Bear Lake - maybe a trip or two!   I've been thinking about a Canadian cruise in the fall and have plans to do a FFLess British Isles trip next spring and another cruise down the Mississippi on the American River Queen in the fall of 2016.  It will be here before you know it!  I discovering that travel is a healing way to find a new path and I've become more adventurous with age. Now I know why Mom took off on her 'broom' so much after Dad died.  You just have to keep going and discovering and LIVING!  Hoping to do just that!

Olivia with baby Ava Scarlett Welch, born June 24, 2015

 BEAR LAKE SUMMER 2015

My HAPPY PLACE!

To be related to Jim and Joanne you have to love to 'dress it up' to party and to love dogs!

Pat and Anna's 'Millie'! 

Ben and Whitney's 'Lulu'

Coby and Tiffany's 'Jaden'

4th of July picnic - some of the clan!

Bob and Sara's 'Charlie' and 'Duncan' with 'Rosie'

ALL ABOARD!

My Christmas gift to our family this year was a Disney Cruise.  Yes, it was a admittedly a BIGGIE that won't happen all that often and some of our family (ie. Bob and Sara's family and baby Daphne) weren't able to 'make the trip', but it was an adventure to remember.  Coby created a video of it and if I can figure out how to add it to this report, i will.  As it turns out, Coby is our family's 'chief fun planner and advisor' and it doesn't take much encouragement for him to put FUN together!  This was no exception. The story unfolds.!

In planning, we all thought a red-eye flight through the night would be best suited to my pocketbook, give the kids a chance to sleep through the night and save us a sleep-over in Miani...HA!  It was a good thought, anyway.  The flight from SLC to Orlando was without a flaw and then the 'adventure' began!  Ben had charted a shuttle for all nineteen of us from Orlando to Miani, a four hour drive, where our boat would disembark.  Suitcases were loaded in a little trailer behind the 'unmarked' van that Julio drove and we were off...for a few minutes.  Suddenly we were being pulled over for what we thought was a routine stop.  Come to find out - our driver Julio was not licensed correctly to drive a 'bus' nor was the van licensed properly.  After about a half hour we pulled into a parking lot while the Julio and our policeman tried to connect us with someone who could get us to the ship in time.  To his credit, el stupido as he was, he tried!  Two hours later we were on the road, two separate vans hurling at record speed down the freeway and I didn't care...just GET US THERE BEFORE THE BOAT LEAVES!

About an hour before the ship was to leave, we all flew from the van and into the registration area for the Disney Wonder.  All was going smoothly until Ben discovered that he and Whitney were 'without' all their documents, ie. their birth certificates; a must to get on the boat!  Luckily, Ben was organized at home, had his brother-in-law leave work, take a phone photo of the certificates on Ben's desk, text them to the agents at the dock and ....blessings abound...they accepted them.  By now I was in my stateroom with Ben's kids, wondering if their parents would be able to get on the boat.  About one half hour before the whistle blew to leave port, Ben and Whit walked on.  I have to admit, with little sleep the night before, a rough 6 hour drive to Miami and the 'ID' incident , I shut myself up for a few minutes in the room and had a good cry! Our trip was just a five day, five night cruise to the Grand Cayman and Disney's private Island.  It took two of those days to make it to the Grand Cayman.  On the way down we had some rough seas and on and off rain, but with Disney characters running about, the kids club, entertainment extraordinaire and a lot of.....food, we were happily entertained.  Our day on the Grand Cayman was delightful.  With a warm beautiful sun, bright blue sky, a chartered boat that took us to swim with stingrays, snorkeling, and playtime with starfish, we had a fabulous day.  One day more to get to Disney's private island, Castaway Cay and the excitement had mounted.  The morning arrived to disembark and lo....the ocean was breaking heavily on the shore and we were not allowed on the island.  Some of us who had been their before and had really built it up in the minds of everyone else, so it was a pretty big disappointment.  Still, we were on the DISNEY BOAT, and it was hard to feel be too sad -  as we moved out away from the shore and just enjoyed a day at sea again.

Our trip back was uneventful and that was a plus!  Arriving home safely is also a plus with the great responsibility it is to take all your loved ones on a trip together.  I feel Jim was truly watching over us and know, if he had the chance to take some time off, he was there with us all the way.

February 2015 has been busy.  I've been doing a lot of writing, particularly Jim and my 'Love Story, that was printed in Meridian Magazine on the 12th - for Valentines.  Maurine Proctor asked if I would write it and, although reluctant, I'm happy I did.  It always makes me happy to write about Jim  and makes me feel closer when I talk about him! I think our 'love story' is exemplary and special.  I seem to feel an urgency to do more writing, especially my 'Grandma' stories, lately  I have also started a shift at the Draper Temple in the Baptistry.  It is five hours out of my Saturdays right now and I am going to have to change that by summer, if I continue to do it, being gone so many weekends.  I am confused about whether or not to go 'on line' and meet some new 'friends', so I've been 'tinkering' around just to get a feel for what kind of 'friends' are out there.  It's 'scary'!  I even made a profile but have not paid to be receiving any mail yet.  It's a pretty big step to entertain the idea...so I wait!

The kids are doing well.  The big news is that Coby and Tiffany are expecting a GIRL, their fifth and final child after the four boys.  Marianne is also expecting a GIRL so we're even-iny our boy-girl grandchildren numbers.  I am truly thrilled to be a grandmother.  I love these children and they have such great personalities and spirits.  I hope I can be influential in their lives, someone that they can look to as an example and for....fun!  I'm sure Jim has sent these girls from heaven...Daphne and now two more, since he passed away.  He knows how special girls are, especially to their daddy's!  I live to think about the wonderful life we had together and dream of more to come!

DECEMBER DELIGHTS!

Our fun children

The darling 'grands'

The Richest Christmas pageant

JANUARY JOTTINGS

I've recently been reminded to return to 'blogging' and do some catch up.  I've lost my camera (again - Jim is not surprised) and have just not taken alot of pictures (too many pros in the family doing that for me).  But I will attempt to do a synopsis of the past 3 months.

November and December were beautiful months in the Salt Lake valley and I've enjoyed my daily puppy walks with Rosie.  While the air was good, we enjoyed 'smelling the roses' (and everything else along the way).  I like to walk alone as it's my time to ponder and reflect and sometimes memorize songs and lines for our programs (we performed our Christmas show 6 times in December.  My group Songkeepers has been together since 1990 and performing the Christmas program since 2008 and each year I love it more.  Singing, especially at Christmas, always brings such joy and has been a wonderful and healing outlet for me.  Thank goodness the 'troupe' still wants to perform.  We even sung our new song 'The Gift of Love' in church a couple of times, which extends the season and adds to the feel good effect music has on me.

Thanksgiving at the Rich house was pure 'bedlam' this year.  We were 24 in full number, most of them being under the age of 9.  There was wonderful food, thankful thoughts and plenty of pandemonium, but, as expected, lots of love.  It's great having Bob, Sara, Duncan and Charlie in Boise now so that they can make the 5 hour trip to be with everyone a little more often.  I love the 'company' at home; the morning breakfast conversation with the 'boys', the game room play with cars, trucks and trains, the bedtime tuck-ins with family stories and the after hours fireside chats with Bob and Sara.  

I'm so proud of all of our children.  Bob has wanted to do Prosthetic s and Orthotic's ever since he entered Jr. high and has taken 4 years on top of his B.S. to complete that dream.  Coby is enjoying work for Property Solutions as their director of marketing and has somehow combined his ability to 'act' with his work, producing some pretty amazing (and hysterical, so thinks Mom) video productions for company summits.  Ben has worked hard at making the business of selling medicare supplements something he is finally enjoying and reaping the rewards from.  Besides that he has done some amazing remodeling of their home, something he and Whitney love to do together.  With most of our friends approaching '65' (yikes), he'll should have some good business prospects coming up.  Pat has found a niche doing his videography for IHC and can pretty much make any effort remarkable.  This is something he did growing up and so has been 'perfecting the product' for years.  I'm sure he is well respected.  Marianne's husband Lance is climbing the ladder at Progressive Insurance and is steady and patient in his progression.  He will no doubt find much success as he proceeds.  He is also my 'favorite' son-in-law' (if not the 'only' one)!  
 With the news of Marianne and Tiffany's pregnancy's, our 'grand' posterity will climb to 16 by summer and I think, before the years end, will be added upon.  In a way, it's a great comfort to know that these amazing spirits that are coming to our family have been able to know Jim in the spirit world and will bring his abundant love into our family.  

Christmas came and went faster than ever remembered, even though I had the house decorated and played Christmas music all thru December to prolong the season.  This year, having been a harder year without Jim than the last, seemed to intensity the 'after holiday' blues.  It still feels  un-real that Jim is not with us, physically.  I feel his spirit often and know he is aware of all that is going on in our lives, even helping 'direct' them; mine particularly.  But the emptiness seems so much more 'empty' as the months go by.  I ache for him to smother me against his chest and wrap me in his arms while I cry.  To have him hold my hand in church, like so many of our friends who I now try not to envy.   To have him walk into a room and talk about work, our children and grandchildren, the 'people' in his life whose interests he always had at heart.  To make plans and have him be the one 'in charge', to drive the car and open the door for me, to tell me what to do about the tires on the car, the edition to the cabin at Bear Lake, house repairs, bills, to ask if I should stay in our home, should I work at the temple, how to 'fix everything', take this trip or not and on and on.  But most especially to lay beside me in bed and tell me that he couldn't imagine life without me.   He did this often, expressing his love and devotion, while I never ever imagined I would have to live without him.  Life is never what you expect, I expect!

So, it's 2015 and I am 'expecting' the unexpected.  I'm going to look for happiness and to live joyfully (or as Marg does so well) just LIVE, LIVE, LIVE! My prayers are more specific and I'm learning how to turn my life over to the Lord and be 'guided' instead of trying to 'steer'!  It seems He has blessed me (us) abundantly, and although their are teapots of tears there are also boat-loads of blessings.   I want to me more 'grateful' more thoughtful of others; to forget me and to lift them.  I want to enjoy more sharing time with the 'grands' and to be a positive presence in their lives.  I want to learn more, to experience new people and places.  Mostly, I am hoping to find peace in just being ME!  I don't like being 'alone', never have, but until I have another choice, if ever, I need to find peace and happiness within myself.  Deep and Profound, yes?

So, along with a few pictures above, that's it for now.  I look forward to our family (Christmas in January) trip on the Disney cruise ship next week.  So sad Bob and family can't join us, but we will not stop playing together.  This is something Jim and I planned to do with our senior lives and so I'll continue to make it happen!  Mostly, I just want to....look forward!