Cream of the Crop

Merry Christmas! Happy New 2010!

2010-01-03T16:54:00.001-08:00

Dad, Mom, Katie and Abigail, Kristy, Brian, Katelyn and Isaac in their new homemade jammies.

Kimberly and Rob, Jeffrey, Bryce and Nathan . . . and baby boy

Ken, Shiann, Spencer and Shawn Boardin, Kyle and Karolyn, and doggy Bo. Kyle is sporting a beard for an opera he will be performing in at the end of January.

The year 2009 has come and is now almost gone. It is amazing how quickly the years go by. This one has been particularly challenging for our family. We have learned so many lessons and have received so many blessings throughout our many struggles. In October 2008, Max became unemployed due to government funding withdrawal. After a full year with no income for either of us, he has had a couple of small projects, but is still applying for positions. Lonna has also applied for various jobs with no success. We had to sell our home which made it possible to pay tuition for Max and Karolyn and Kyle and to catch up on our taxes. We are now renting once again—-and loving it!

We would like to share the joys that being real-life “starving students” again has brought to us:

*You don’t need to own a home to be happy.
*Nothing else is important except God and family.
*Grandchildren bring incredible happiness. (We have two girls and seven boys, plus
one boy to be born at any moment.)
*Education is worth the effort.
*We can live on much less than we realize.
*Children, friends and family love us and look after us continually.
*Every day is precious.
*If you put Heavenly Father first, He will bless you.

Our family continues to be busy. Max will likely graduate with his PhD. in May or August. He has been released as bishop and is working on his dissertation. Lonna spent four months staging our home to sell and taking many trips to Idaho, California, Iowa and Tooele, Utah to help out children. She continues to play in the Bell Choir and to over-practice the organ. Kim and Rob are expecting their fourth beautiful boy the first part of January in California. Ken and Shiann live in Tooele with their two boys and Ken is remodeling basements. Katie and Ben will both graduate from the University of Iowa in May with a master’s and a doctorate and have accepted an Assistant Professorship in Kentucky next fall — Abigail is one year old. Kristy and Brian coach high school and elementary school dance teams and teach private dance. Little Katelyn and Isaac are a great help(?) Karolyn returned from her Siberian Battalion Mission in Russia and Kyle returned from his mission in Chile and both are attending Utah State University. Karolyn is majoring in Family Consumer Human Development and Kyle is a Choral Education Music major and is now singing opera. Our German Shorthair dog, Brittany, and our Siamese mix cat, Gabby,are understandably spoiled and loved.

We've had all but Kimberly's California family and Katie's hubby Ben in Iowa here at our home for a few days for Christmas. It has been fabulous!

Soon I will head to CA to help with the newborn and to corral the three older brothers.

May the Lord bless you all with great understanding of the meaning of Christmas. As we focus on serving others in need, then the stress of the season becomes secondary to the true spirit of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Love to you All!

And so is Kyle!

2009-08-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

We have them both now. Karolyn (our Ruuski, sp?) and Kyle (our Chileno) have returned from their missions and have brought a wonderful spirit to our home.

We are currently camping in the basement apartment of some good friends, but will be moving once again on Saturday. Our two youngest children have made all of this stress and mess seem insignificant as they have returned to us with their love and goodness and even some of their former craziness.

We are having a great time with them here. They begin school tomorrow at USU. Hopefully that will help them adjust to non-missionary life. Here are some pics:

Karolyn is Home!

2009-08-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

We picked her up on Wednesday night at 8:36 p.m. at the SLC Airport. What an amazing experience--to see her descending the escalator to where we all stood waiting. She is so beautiful, so sweet and so huggable! It has been so fun to have her home this week. We are hearing a lot of Russian. She is trying to adjust back into civilian life and has at least adjusted to having her own cellphone again. We are moving in the next two days, first to a friend's basement apartment for 12 days, and then finally to the home we will be renting here in Logan on the 29th.

Kyle will be home from Chile on the 21st. He'll miss all the moving (and we'll miss his strong arms) but we'll have both missionaries home and ready to begin school at USU.

Their joint home

coming report will be on Sunday, August 30th in the Logan River 3rd Ward (corner of 100 East and 200 South ) at 11:30 a.m.

California--there I went!

2009-07-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Photos are of Nathan Cutie, Wizardly Bryce and Jeffrey the Wiz.

I haven't written for four months. I guess I haven't been able to deal with much for most of this time. I let our trials get me down for awhile. Max and I still have no jobs, but we did sell our home. It closes on August 7th. So now we have got to find a place to live. We are looking at two rentals, one which includes a job for me to manage their properties. Hopefully we will know soon where we will be going. Lots of changes: moving, Karolyn and Kyle coming home from their missions in four weeks, Max being released as Bishop of the single's ward so that he can finish his doctorate (seven years running so far), and . . . hopefully we can add in "new job" to that list very soon.

Three weeks ago, Kimberly asked me to come early to California to help her get ready for Bryce's baptism. I went by bus. Greyhound bus. Don't do it--ever! The first leg of our trip (8.5 hrs.) was in a bus with no air conditioning. Vegas was 112 degrees, 95 at night. I had no leg room in my seat. My knees had to go up a little to rest on the seat in front of me. And as we were trying to sleep in the dark, a young man was loudly talking on his cellphone for over two hours. The next busdriver stepped on to the bus and angrily proclaimed, "If anyone on this bus is going to go crazy, just get off now because I won't take care of you, I'll drop you off in the desert and leave you there." (We didn't know why we were going to go crazy, but it later came to us.) As we tried to sleep, he drove so fast that if he turned a curve one way, we smashed into our seat partner, or if he turned the other, we fell off the seat!! Seriously! He honked at any car in front of him and scared us all to death. (But no one dared say one word to him.) Then at the LA station, I missed my next connection because they cut it off in front of me. I waited another hour and they then told me that it didn't go to Long Beach. (But it did.) I waited another hour, and someone stole my ticket. When I asked what to do, they just told me to buy another one. (The third driver sneaked me on. :)

At Kim's I painted two rooms and a hallway, refinished her kitchen table from mahoghany to traditional cherry color (to match her chairs), cleaned all the tile grout, windows and blinds and spring-cleaned her home. Happy Birthday Kim!! We had everything ready for the baptism. It was a wonderful experience for Bryce. For part of the program, Kim played the piano, Jeffrey played the violin, and Bryce and Nathan sang "I like to look at rainbows whenever there is rain . . . " Jeffrey did so well on the violin and Nathan stole the show at the end of each verse. That is where he knew the words, so he ate the microphone while he said them. (Bryce kept poking him when he did it and the congregation laughed each time--at both of them.) Many of Kim's friends and neighbors came to the service and to the dinner at her home afterwards. We had enough food to feed 60, but we got about 30. Kim has some wonderful friends. I really enjoyed meeting them. This next pic is of Tami and Kevin giving Bryce an exciting gift.

Max drove in by himself on Friday and Rob's parents came from Provo as well. We all left California on Monday morning, July 12th to drive through the desert to Utah. Much better than the bus! I'll take Max for a driver any day. We stopped in Las Vegas to visited one of my bestest friends, Terri. She treated us to a buffet and we talked for a few hours. I hope her boss didn't get upset because we kept her for such a long lunch hour. It was so-so-so good to see her again.Now we are home and getting ready to move and find a place to go.Busy summer. The pic below has three fun boys with wizard wands.

Check out my last post if you want another way to paint countertops that is easier, less scary and looks great!

Generosity

2009-03-14T02:57:00.000-07:00

Barbara Bush once said, "Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others."

Many loved ones have opened their minds and hearts and more to help us make it through our current lack of employment. We have recently been overwhelmed by the generosity of our family and friends.

Jean Jacques Rousseau stated that "when a man dies he clutches in his hands only that which he has given away during his lifetime."

We thank you all--May you kind and beautiful people be eternally blessed for your thoughtfulness and goodness of heart!

The Laundry's done!!!!

2009-03-05T10:17:00.001-08:00

This job took less time than the stairs (one and one-half weeks) but was so much more difficult. Things I learned to do:

1) hang sheetrock on the ceiling--and the walls around and above my washer

2) cut and put up white beadboard (you would have to enlarge the picture to see the lines of the beadboard) around pipes and electrical outlets and on those pale pink walls (Max had to put in the cement anchors and screws in the one concrete wall--I don't have the hand strength.)
3) cut and install moldings using a miter saw
4) paint a concrete floor
5) add two shelves (with a slanted heating duct running
through the unit

6) paint my almond dryer white. (I learned how online.) However, our kitty checked it out during the night and we now have non-shiny areas on the top in the shape of little paw prints.

Ta da!

I Learned a big lesson

2009-02-23T09:14:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a first for me. I gave a talk in Stake Conference which was held in the Logan Tabernacle. I was asked to speak for 15 minutes about how the scriptures have influenced my children. Stake President Nelson had interviewed three of our children for missions and had wondered if their love of the scriptures could be credited to their parents, . . . or to the children themselves. (Answer: The children themselves!) Hence, my topic.

I certainly learned a huge lesson from the research for this address. I began by making a list of anything to do with the scriptures and my children at the same time. Then, as I looked at the list, I realized that although we as parents got the ball rolling for reading the scriptures in their lives, they are really the ones who taught us! I selected ten lessons we learned from our children:

1) Exposure to the Scriptures: We began, like all new parents, trying to teach them the scriptures through regular scripture study, Family Home Evenings, Flannelboard stories and Scripture Scouts Audio Tapes. What we learned was that little children love the stories. Their love of scripture stories brought back memories of my dear Daddy sitting in his rocking chair when I was tiny, and reading stories to me from the large Family Bible Stories book.

2) Believing the Scriptures: When Kimberly was three years old, we had enjoyed a Family Home Evening about the creation and Adam and Eve. We had used a flannelboard story to show them and the tree and the fruit on it. The following morning, at breakfast, Kim looked at the big, yellow grapefruit on the table. She asked, "Mama, what dat?" I answered that it was called a grapefruit. She put her little hands on her hips, looked at her Daddy as he was eating a grapefruit and said, "Jesus say not posed ta eat da fwoot!!!" We should all believe as a little child.

3) Example of reading the Scriptures: My husband always has a book of scripture open on the kitchen table. (There's one there right now.) Any extra moment or time to eat a snack is spent reading the scriptures. I prefer to have my personal study sitting in my corner rocking chair. Now, we thought we were being good examples to them, but in reality, because they would comment on us reading, we would have to keep reading, . . . because they were watching! So they taught us to be good examples.

4) Learning about the Scriptures: When our children were old enough to attend Seminary and Institute classes, they learned from excellent teachers about how the scriptures affect us practically in our lives. Our children would come home excited and tell us what they had learned and how deeply they felt the Spirit of the Lord.

5) Power of hope in the Scriptures: When Karolyn was 10 years old, our family was in deep turmoil. An older child had become inactive and was deeply into drugs and trouble. We were also out of work at the time and struggling financially. One night after a church fireside, we came home and Karolyn started to immediately place chairs in a circle in the living room. Then she put all of our scriptures on the chairs and called us in. She said, "Our family needs more scriptures-we need more hope."

Romans 15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were
written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of
the scriptures might have hope. “

6) Diligence in reading the Scriptures: We had nothing to do with this! Katie read the Book of Mormon 13 times BEFORE her mission to Panama, including one time in Spanish, plus she listened through it by tape once in Spanish before she left.

7) Enjoyment in reading the Scriptures: When we bought our current home directly across the street from the Logan Temple, Karolyn and Kyle began walking over to the Temple Grounds on Sunday afternoons to read their scriptures. Sometimes they went together, sometimes alone, and sometimes with a date to find a secluded bench where they could read. They would always come home with a glow and a happiness that was palpable. Their emails from the mission field radiate such joy that permeates our home.
8) The Results and Influences of the Scriptures: For my talk, I called (and emailed) each of our six children and asked them how they were influenced by the scriptures in their lives. These are their answers:
Kimberly and Rob-- “When we read the scriptures every night in our home, the children don’t fight as much, there is much less contention in our home. (Actually, sometimes their is contention while reading the scriptures, but generally, it really helps.) It opens the minds of our children. They have 'Aha' moments about the gospel and about reading and other things. They are better readers, more articulate, have more understanding in general of secular matters, they understand more complex ideas and use bigger words.”
Ken--I decided to ask him the same question even though he doesn't attend church and does not read the scriptures.-- "The scriptures haven't taught me how to be a good person, I learned that from my mom and dad .“ (His parents know it was the results of training him up as a child-from the scriptures.) We'll get him back in the fold someday, there is a promise about that in the scriptures. One time Ken did make a comment about the scriptures. Kyle had been living with Ken and Shiann while working at a job to prepare for his mission. Everyday he studied his scriptures and Preach My Gospel in their living room. One day Ken told Kyle that he was really impressed that Kyle read the scriptures every day and that his commitment and dedication was impressive.
Katie--" You don’t have to read the scriptures every day, just every day you eat! Reading the scriptures is like a muscle in your body. When you exercise it regularly, it becomes stronger. If not, it begins to atrophy. Even the best scripture reader will become weak and incompetent if they stop reading everyday. If this happens to you, you lose."
Kristy--"The scriptures are always there for you—you can depend on them. I’ve learned that I can go to the scriptures for answers. Between the standard works and the discourses of the prophets and apostles, I can find verification for every truth.”
Karolyn--(on a mission in Novosibirsk, Russia--Siberia) "I love to read the scriptures. I just love the scriptures. It’s great when our investigators get excited and read way beyond what we assigned them. The scriptures are the basis of my life, not only in the mission field but at home as well.”
Kyle--(on a mission in Concepcion, Chile)--"The great peace that comes as I read fills my soul with joy and the joy is even greater when a simple scripture touches the heart of an investigator. Through the scriptures I come to know the will of the Lord and receive answers to my many questions. I´ve found my life’s liahona." (Wow, wish I had said that. --Lonna speaking)

9) Dedication and Commitment to reading the Scriptures: Kimberly had a memory of one night that she was visiting us in Logan. Karolyn and Kyle had stayed up really late playing games each night, way after midnight. But then she would always watch them get up and do their chores--dishes. And before going to bed each of them went to their room and read their scriptures. They taught their older sister something about dedication at that time.

10) Knowing our Savior through the Scriptures: Our children have been examples to us as they have often talked about knowing the Savior better because of the scriptures. We have experienced this as well. There is a scripture in D&C 18:33-36 that states:

"And I, Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it. These words are not of men nor of man, but of me; wherefore, you shall testify they are of me and not of man; For it is my voice which speaketh them unto you; for they are given by my Spirit unto you, and by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power you could not have them; Wherefore, you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words. "

My very favorite scripture that has always touched me, clear since high school, is in 2 Nephi 25:26:

" And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. “

I know that the scriptures are the voice of my Savior and that they are definitely the source to which we may all go to look for guidance in our lives and in finding the way to return to the presence of God. They are truly our "life's liahona".

Demolition time . . . takes more time!

2009-02-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

So far Max's job hunt is only turning up possibilities outside of our area--way out. We have decided to do small things to fix up only the real eyesores in our house in case we have to sell it quickly. This first project was only going to take one week. I carefully planned out all the needed steps to remove the carpet from my back stairs and redo them with vinyl tile. I figured out all the time necessary for each task. LOL

I don't know who would put white carpet on a stairway that is a back entrance to the house and also an entrance at the bottom from the garage! Anyway it was turning black and impossible to clean.
Week #1
I grabbed my handy pliers and pulled at the carpet, but it took a crowbar to get it all up. Then, surprise, there had been another rust-colored carpet sometime in the past, and under that was old-fashioned linoleum that was yellow and curling. So it had to be pried up as well. Underneath that were several layers of cardboard backing that had to be soaked off and then there were thick black globs of petrified glue. I tried solvent, but ended up doing better with just applying soaked towels and scraping forever. So that one day job took a full week.
Week #2
Another week was spent pulling out the 3/4 inch long staples that had thrice been applied to the wooden staircase (two carpets and one linoleum). I mostly used a pair of pliers. Max calls them dikes (dykes?) If that wouldn't do it, I used a hammer and screwdriver to get them up high enough for the funny looking pliers to pull them. (Correction: Max says that dikes are really wire cutters. Well--they worked really well as pliers.) Regretfully, I have both carpal tunnel and arthritis in my hands. (Not to mention all the little rips and tears they just suffered due to sharp staples.) This job wiped out another week and thoroughly damaged my hands. I had to take a day off every other day because they froze up (no movement) and throbbed so much. But the stairs were finally clean and free of pokey thingys.

I spackled over the holes they left because we decided that the wooden stairs were so old (1920's) that they were warped and had many divets and holes, not just from the staples either. So it had to be patched. This was time-intensive as well. So my sweet hubby did the final sanding for me.Week #3

This week I also overcame my fear of heights and painted the walls a nice dark cornflower blue (darker than the picture shows). I had to go to the top of a 10 foot ladder to reach the ceilings, which I left white. Then came the second coat and lots of touch up around the two electrical boxes and all the exterior electrical cables and pipes and such. The second color was a warm chocolate brown, painted on the risers, or vertical parts of the stairs, the lip of the stairs and eight-inch sides on each side of the staircase. That also needed another coat and touchup. Yay, almost done. :) Time for the finishing touches. This shouldn't take long, right?

None of the steps was the exact same size of any other step, so each vinyl tile had to be measured and cut and placed three to a step. The cutting part was pretty easy on my hands. It went fairly fast and it looked so good. In fact, it was lovely. Just what I pictured. But then we quickly figured out that water and snow from the back door would likely cause these self-stick (cheap closeout) tiles to get unstuck. First I bought some of that pewter-colored metal-step-edge-covering-stuff. I cut it by myself with a jigsaw and hammered 60 little nailscrews down on the 13 edges. I had some ceramic tile sealer left over from putting in the front entry tile, so we going to try that out. (But I'm not up to it yet.)

THERE WERE TWELVE STEPS

and TWO LANDINGS

Final Note: Not bad considering I put in three weeks time for a one week job! But I can keep it clean now. :)

On to the laundry . . .

25 random things

2009-02-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Judy tagged me and now I must reveal 25 random things. I'm not a very random-type person, so this could induce some thought provoking moments. Here goes:

1) I was born on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1953. The doctor told my mother that my birthday would land on Easter every seven years. Well, I'm closing in on 56 years and it has never, ever been on Easter--not even once.

2) Max was born on Conference Sunday, October 5, 1952. I came along exactly six months later, also on an LDS Conference Sunday. Our birthdays are pretty much always on one of the days of conference.

3) I was a girl scout for 10 years, from Brownies to Seniors and earned 56 merit badges. A boy scout teased me about this, saying that their merit badges are tougher. So I took him my book and we compared requirements. Guess what? The girl scout badges are harder. I credit my creative abilities to my girl scout years where I learned that I can do anything if I just put forth the effort to learn how.

4) One night in high school, I was sneaking out of the house to go toilet-papering with my friend Terri. My mom caught me and it took awhile to convince her that I would be fine and to let me go. About three a.m. we were going down a street when a car turned at the corner. We hit the ground to hide. Suddenly we heard my mom's voice yelling "Lonnie!" So she ended up driving us to all of our toilet-papering destinations. Funny thing was that we never went out doing that ever again. Not fun anymore.

5) I love being in the mountains. I have a secret dream that Max and I will build a log cabin high in the Uintas, surrounded by lakes and pines and wildlife. We'll enjoy campfires and moonlit walks and live on fish and homemade bread. Max nixed that idea because he doesn't like log cabins
Spoil sport.

6) I'm a cookie dough freak, especially if it is chocolate chip or peanut butter. When I was pregnant I used to make a batch of cookie dough and never end up making any cookies because I'd eat the dough. (Ooh . . . so sick) I have a hard time passing the Macey's bakery, not because of all the doughnuts and cookies and cakes, but because they sell fresh cookie dough in perfect little eating containers. (I only gave in once!) Anytime one of my daughters makes cookies, they bring in a spoonful of the dough to me . . . and then they hide the rest of the dough while they are making the cookies.

7) I had a two-timer boyfriend in college, who led me to believe he was only dating me. However, he was also dating a blond that lived right across the quad in my same housing complex. She also thought she was his only girl. One day I met her and we became good friends. We decided I would have a party with a lot of people and we invited James. When he walked in the door, he saw the two of us sitting side-by-side and his facial expression was priceless. Needless to say, he never dated either of us again. That's OK because later in life, he ended up serving a prison sentence. Good save.

8) My father passed away of a heart attack when I was six years old. It was the day after Christmas. From then on I was writing poems about fathers and crying about being fatherless. Finally when I was thirteen, my mom remarried. She said that my father came to her one night and told her that my sister and I needed a father. My stepfather was a great man. I called him Daddy, which wasn't easy to start at age thirteen.

9) My husband asked me for a date first. But I couldn't go that night. He never asked me out again. Finally, in desperation (after three months), I followed him until I came up with the nerve to tap him on the shoulder and say, "I just have a question for you. Why is it that when a guy asks a girl out and she legitimately cannot go, he doesn't believe her and he never asks her out again? " It worked . . . I got the date and I got the guy!

10) When we bought our new station wagon, I had been used to a standard transmission in a truck that had huge pedals, spread far apart. The first time I drove the wagon, I couldn't find the brake. Turns out that I had the clutch. I was later accused of trying to put a drivethru in the Post Office wall.

11) I've had eleven pregnancies with six live births. That means five miscarriages and one twin (Karolyn's) that died in utero.

12) I'm a world champion yo-yo dieter. I figure that in the last 35 years, I have lost a total of 420 pounds and have gained 440!

13) I'm obsessed with the organ. I can play for hours and not tire. I try to go to the church to play it seven days per week. I play until my carpal tunnel or my back injuries make me stop.

14) I am allergic to bees. Just hornets. Honeybees and wasps can sting me and I'll live.

15) Once I was in an assembly line where I put the lettuce on 800 chicken salad sandwiches for Hill Cumorah cast members.

16) I always loved the color orange--my wedding colors included orange. Then I changed to peach and from peach to rust to burgundy. Now my favorite colors are greens and purples. Does that mean I'm inconsistent?.

17) I hiked the Grand Canyon from rim to rim. A highlight in my life.

18) I'll take a meatloaf sandwich over pizza any day.

19) I LOVE sweet pickles.

20) I attend Presbyterian services once a month when our Bell Choir performs in their church.

21) I have the most adorable eight grandchildren in the world--6 boys and two girls.

22) My daughter Kimberly let me deliver my first grandchild, Jeffrey, while the doctor sat next to me.

23) I've lived through toxic shock syndrome.

24) I'm real handy with a saw, hammer, screwdriver and pliers. I'm at my best when I can start demolition on a project in order to redo it. Creative juices flow.

25) I've been pulled over by the police for speeding 15 times and have never received a speeding ticket. Many years ago, one cop ticketed me for not having on my seatbelt, but not for going 60 in a 30 mile per hour zone. (Down a hill--the car just got ahead of me.)

After our Christmas train trip.

2009-01-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

It has been two weeks or more since I last posted. I had a forced vacation just after my Iowa vacation . . . a severe sinus infection. I finally went to the doctor today and am on antibiotics, so hopefully I will begin to get up and around by tomorrow! And to think it all began by kissing and cuddling sick little grandchildren. (Who would've known?)

We arrived by train at midnight, the 26th of December. My sister Lori picked us up and kept us for the night. "The weather outside was frightening", to coin a phrase. At noon on Saturday we attended the big Cropper Christmas party in Lehi. Good food, good company and such cute little angels!

Santa (Curtis) and Mrs. Claus (Christine) even made a visit!

Then we drove through the "white and drifted snow" in Sardine Canyon to get back to Logan. Kimberly and Ken and Kristy's families arrived about the same time that we did. Since we have a family living in our basement currently, we put three airbeds side by side in our living room to accomodate the parents and babies. The four little boys camped under the dining room table and loved it. On Sunday, after church, we held our regular candlelight Christmas dinner, Nativity theater and opened presents, then settled them down for the night once again. We really missed Katie and Ben, Karolyn and Kyle being with us. Next Christmas, we'll have them all.

In the morning, we got Rob to the airport for work in California, and took Kim at the same time so that she could fly to Iowa and visit Katie and Ben and little Abigail. Then she went on to Illinois to see cousin Shelly and her twins. In the meantime, we got to keep the three boys for five days. I was pretty sick, so most of our fun came while I lay on the couch, but we had a great time. The boys were incredibly good and helpful.

Jeffrey, Bryce and Nathan enjoyed ice skating and tubing while in Logan.

Saturday was Spencer's (Ken's son) baptism in Provo. It was so exciting to see him make this decision. His other grandfather flew in from his job in Japan in order to baptize him. Afterwards, we all had lunch at Kirsten's home.

(left) Spencer and Bryce (right) Spencer and Kimberly

Then I got sicker and sicker and this week has been lived from the couch. 'nuff said.

P.S. We just can't close without a couple of updated photos of our sweet Abigail who is now 4 weeks old!

Shelly's beautiful babies

2008-12-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

I can't get the pictures to move around in my blog today. So you get them all in the beginning.

Having been in Iowa for two weeks now, we decided to make a quick side trip to Champaign, Illinois to visit with our niece Shelly and Jeff and Max's sister Linda and Kurt. It was a four-hour drive to Champaign and was a little bit scary. In one area, the snow was blowing forcibly across the highway and we saw at least 25 cars off the road, many of them upside down.

We arrived at Shelly's home just in time for some of Kurt's wonderful cooking. It was so good to be with them all. The twins are adorable. I don't know how they can do it with two. Love and faith--I'm pretty sure. Linda has been a major strength to the household. But the day will come when she goes back to Dublin. Brooklyn is an exact double of Emma. Bradford looks a bit different than the three girls, but he is so-o-o-o cute! Nicole is an excellent little pianist and both she and Emma are very energetic girls. Lots of squeals and laughter.

We spent the evening watching Linda's photographs of Ireland and Abigail's photos taken by Max. They have a huge home entertainment screen in their movie viewing room. The architecture in Ireland is amazing. We slept in that room and in the morning after a Kurt-gourmet breakfast, we drove back to Iowa.

It is now Christmas Eve day and tomorrow afternoon we will return to Utah by train. I don't think I can leave without little Abby. I'm just going to have to take her with me. But then I would have to take the Mommy as well. Hmmm . . . this could cause a problem in my relationship with Ben!

On the way to Katie's home from Illinois, we went through an area where there had been an ice storm. We have posted a picture which in no way does it justice. Every blade of grass, every weed, every wire on a fence, every tree twig is coated with ice. It appears as though vertical shards of glass are everywhere. It was a magical fairyland of ice. We took close to a zillion pictures, but they just don't portray the magic.

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas!

Proud grandparents--She's one week old!

2008-12-18T15:51:00.001-08:00

This little Abby girl is the sweetest, prettiest and most precious that we have ever seen since our baby girls and little Katelyn. Such an easy and happy baby.

We are having so much fun here at Katie and Ben's home. It is so peaceful. I don't think I've ever had such a calm Christmas month. I'm always stressed and running here and there getting ready for the holidays, cooking and sewing and cleaning. But this year, it was all done weeks ago. The presents have been made and are wrapped and under the tree in Logan, which lights up nightly via a nifty timer. The food for the Family Christmas candelight dinner (which will be December 28th) is bought and ready to fix. I made sure I left the house well-cleaned, even the fridge. It's a good thing too because three families will be arriving at our home at the same time that we will first arrive in Logan. I have always tried to have my house really clean before I leave for a vacation. The reason is that when I return and have all that unpacking to do, I am less stressed and depressed if the house is already done.

So here in Iowa, we have been able to sleep in, hold the baby, cook a little, paint a little and talk a lot to Katie and Ben. No worries, no stress and no rushing around. This is the first real restful vacation that I can remember. Too bad we can't stay a little longer. We're getting way too comfortable.

Grandbaby #8

2008-12-11T07:32:00.000-08:00

We have a new little granddaughter, Abigail Elisabeth Knoll, born at 8:51 p.m. After 31 hours of labor) on December 9th, 2008. She weighed in at 7 pounds and measured 20 inches in length. She was taken to NICU because she had a pneumothorax, a small air leak in her lung. She couldn't get enough pressure to keep her lung open. It was a little unsettling to watch them bagging her with this tiny little oxygen mask and bag. But now the hole is healing and she is breathing on her own. Mom and Dad (Katie and Ben) have been able to hold her. We, however, have not yet been allowed to do more than stroke her little legs and arms. She is beautiful. She'll be in the hospital a few more days in her private room in NICU, then Katie can bring her home. This hospital is incredible. All NICU babies have private rooms, and Katie's room has a double bed for her and Ben and a jacuzzi!

I love the reasons for which they chose her name:
"We named her “Abigail” after Abigail Adams, wife of the second U.S. President. We hope that she’ll emulate Mrs. Adams’s strong faith, values, and work ethic, her intellectual aptitude, her dedication to her husband and family, and her unassailable sense of civic duty to her country.We gave her the middle name of “Elisabeth” in honor of Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice. In doing so, we hope that she will emulate Elizabeth’s egalitarian character in always being genuine and sincere with others while maintaining a healthy repugnance of pecuniary elitism and social pretense."

We are staying in their home in Iowa City, Iowa. We made the 30 (turned out to be 32 hour) trip from Logan, Utah by train. I love traveling by train. We had a few delays. Another train broke down in "our" tunnel and we had to wait one hour for their repair. Later an ice storm took out the train track lights. The freight trains were behind schedule because of this event and we had to sit and wait while several of them went by before we could proceed with our trip.

Brittany, our sweet German Shorthair dog, is staying for the holidays with our son Ken in Tooele. Gabby, our cat, is still in our home, being cared for by Ilda and her children. They live in our basement apartment. We will be staying in Iowa until Christmas day. After getting our long-awaited phone calls from our two missionaries, Karolyn in Russia, and Kyle in Chile, we will board the train for home

Merry Christmas everyone!

Music of the bells

2008-12-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Friday night was our Bell/Chime concert in the Logan Tabernacle. Except for the choir seats, the Tabernacle was filled with people. We have practiced so hard and long for this. It was the second concert of nine for this month. Our official name is the Westminster Bell Choir. We practice in the basement of the Presbyterian Church. Half of us are Presbyterian and half of us are LDS (Mormon).

I play the lower C and D notes. They are big, heavy bells. My carpal tunnel gets really agitated, but I love doing it so much that it is worth it. The musical arrangements for four octaves of bells are always intricate and fairly difficult. Yet when we finally get a piece learned, it becomes magical. I could get really dramatic here and use words such as beautiful, wonderful, delightful, and powerful--and I'd be right on target.

I just get a thrill from playing bells and chimes! It is now my second-favorite hobby, next to the organ.

These are the bells.

I am holding one of the chimes here.

On being grandparents . . .

2008-11-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we cared for two of our little grandchildren, Isaac (age one) and Katelyn (age 3) for eight days while their parents, Kristy and Brian, were in Provo for a Dancesport competition at BYU. This deal also included a tiny white miniature schnauzer puppy that was not completely potty-trained.This decision was made in a quick moment. We had an interesting week and learned something: we are getting old! We had forgotten some very important things about the care of small children. (The following list is a collaboration between the two of us):

1) it is impossible to keep the house straight
2) it takes twice as long to go anywhere
3) small messes can become major messes if you don't stay right on top of it
4) this is a 24-hour a day task
5) training a dog means training yourself
6) quick-change artists come in size three, and
7) babies have incredibly strong lungs.

Moms, does this sound familiar? Kimberly is loving it! She says she feels validated.

Yet, there were some wonderful memories that came back to us:

1) there is never a dull moment
2) we don't have to go out to be entertained
3) "kids say the darndest things" and the cutest, most hilarious
4) they love us even when we say "no" -- at least they love us later
5) babies are so angelic when they are sleeping
6) it is fun to take them out and have people say how adorable they are, and
7) about the time we become exhausted, we can give them back to their parents.

Actually we really did have a fun week and had some lovely moments. My favorite (Lonna) one was one evening when I sat in my rocking chair in the corner of the living room with two sleeping children on my lap. Two little heads were tucked up under my chin. So cuddly and cozy! I couldn't move to put either one to bed without waking the other, so I sat and rocked for about 45 minutes until Max came home to help me. I remember thinking, "This is heaven!"

So now we are resting comfortably during the night, in the early mornings, during meals, and during regular children's bathtimes. We have forgotten dirty diapers, sticky fingers and screaming tantrums. So why do we miss them so much?

Max's Blessings

2008-11-24T19:43:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful that we can be across the street from the Logan Temple. That makes it very easy to go to the temple regularly, where I can ponder and pray and feel the Holy Spirit. I'm grateful for the opportunity to go to school and to learn more about the teaching and learning process. I recently received approval to use a research study I conducted a year ago as my dissertation study. I'm also grateful for the opportunity to give workshops on best practice instructional strategies and methods.

I'm grateful for our wonderful children and grandchildren who bless us and are a blessing to us. I'm grateful for our two missionaries, Karolyn and Kyle, and for the positive, uplifting emails that they send us each week. I'm grateful for Lonna, my wonderful wife, who has brought so many blessings to me.

Thanksgiving ramblings . . .

2008-11-24T12:05:00.001-08:00

2008-11-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

Our niece Emily in Provo has been posting a daily “Thanks list”. It has inspired me to stop and think about what I am really grateful for. Of course, I am most grateful for my life, for my Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ and for the Plan of Salvation and all the innumerable blessings of the gospel in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am also most grateful for my family: 1) for a loving and thoughtful husband who shares the same ideals, beliefs and goals, 2) for six kind and loveable children who bring us great joy, 3) for eight grandchildren, six boys and 2 girls, (counting Princess Knoll who is soon to arrive) who delight and surprise and entertain us daily with their progress and cute conversations, 4) for my sweet sisters and their families, 5) for all of the members of my husband’s family and their kindness to me, 6) and for my parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, and ancestors who lived their lives striving to make my world a little better.

There are other things for which I am grateful—lemon meringue pie, campfires, the color skyblue pink, starry skies, music of almost all kinds, especially the hymns, classical music-particularly baroque, and country western, piano, organ, bells and chimes and the guitar. Also hot baths, early morning walks in the fall, pine trees, education—learning anything, books, mountains, streams, rivers and the ocean. I am thankful for mentors, listening ears, teaching moments (to teach or to learn), good friends and exemplary leaders. I feel gratitude for my scriptures, for opportunities to help others, any opportunity to lead a choir and for a desire to love and serve God. I am certainly well-blessed. And for those who may read this blog, thank you for being in my life!

Tag 6

2008-11-18T22:26:00.001-08:00

OK, I'm not sure exactly what I am supposed to do when I am tagged, but sweet Emily tagged me. She said "sixth picture on the sixth folder"--I think.

It came up with the back of my pinewood derby

car that I made for our single's ward

pinewood derby. So I suppose I should post the front of the car as well. Pretty, but not practical. (I came in last!)

I tag Kim, Katie, and Christine.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was very different for us. We bought the candy to give out, but if we don't count Max's counselor and his wife and baby and don't count the people that live downstairs, we made only three trips to the door for trick-or-treaters. Too much candy leftover!

But the 31st also happened to be the birthday of the little girl downstairs. Her name is Danna. Her mother is Ilda and her four-year-old brother is Alejandro (Alex). Danna turned eight-years-old and will soon be baptized. They are an hispanic family from Mexico. They stayed in their apartment in Houston during the hurricane even though they were ordered to evacuate. They endured a month without electricity or water and the neighborhood pooled their food so that all could eat. Ilda is also expecting a baby.

Victor, the father, sent them to Utah where they knew many people, including our family. He will be coming in a couple of months when his job can transfer him. So for now, they are living with us. Not as renters, just as friends.
Ilda had never before made a cake. So on Thursday I taught her to bake a chocolate cake and decorate it as a jack-o-lantern. She learns quickly and did all the fancy decorating herself. We surprised Danna and had both cake and ice cream. Later, one of Ilda's missionaries that had served in Texas came by with a piñata. We strung it up on our tree with our dog's tie-out. We laughed and laughed as either Danna or Alex tried to hit it with the bat and the other one pulled the cord up and down. Finally Danna hit it and the candy went flying. It was good to see them all laugh. They have had much hardship and have suffered a great deal.

Our children and grandchildren were all far away on this holiday evening, but we enjoyed the children that are here, and thought fondly of those that were not.

My First Deer Hunt

2008-10-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by stating that I am not a hunter. I am a Bambi lover and will cry "Run, Bambi, Run!" if I think I can save those beautiful big eyes from an early demise. Guys in college wouldn't let me go rabbit hunting with them after the first time because I couldn't deal with the cry of little Thumper.

Yet I just spent two days with my son Ken, his wife Shiann, their two children, Spencer and Shawn and Ken's friend, Bryan. They were down at Shiann's family's property near Price, Utah. The picture above is of Ken's 4-point buck. Poor little thing!

Little Shawn Boardin is learning to talk. He has a deep voice just like Kenny did as a child.

How I loved the mountains! I loved the stars at night and the huge campfires. I really loved playing with Spencer and Shawn. I slept in a camper bed that was not quite the width of a single bed. I also shared it with Spencer and Brittany (our German Shorthair dog). In the early mornings and the twilight of the evenings, we would drive all over the mountain logger roads and look for deer so that Shiann could get hers. We only saw one buck, and he got away. (He heard my silent, "Run, Bambi, Run!)

The temperature at night was about 16 degrees. It never got much past 40 degrees during the day. Bryan lent me his insulated coveralls so that I could stay warm. They are amazing!

Spencer liked to swordfight with the marshmallow sticks and to play ball with Brittany and "Knock, Knock" with me.

Both Spencer and Shawn Boardin love the doggies. (Brittany and Baby)

Shiann is such a wonderful mom and wife. We are happy to have her in our family. This was a really great little vacation for me. I have felt somewhat overstressed lately and have happily benefited from a couple of days in the wild, enjoying bright starry skies, the smell of pines, the hypnotic flames of a campfire and the love of my family.

Blessings Understood

2008-10-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

I am actually posting a second time. (Lonna speaking) So I guess this blog's for real now. I haven't been sure exactly what kinds of things to post--whether I should post only what others want to read or what really moves me inside. So I've decided today to blog about something that touched me deeply.

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to a RE-baptism. A friend of ours committed a serious crime, lost her membership in the Church and has spent the past seven years in prison. She has been diligently working towards being baptized again into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and her day finally arrived.

I have been to many, many baptisms, beginning with my own when I joined the Church. I thrilled at the baptisms I witnessed in the mission field in Argentina. I have enjoyed the baptisms of little children in Primary when they have turned eight years old. And I have been touched by convert baptisms of adults who have searched and found the truth.

Yet, never have I felt the meaning and significance of this ordinance as I did when our friend was baptized for the second time. We talk about taking things for granted. I guess I have. I think about my baptism and my great blessings when I take the Sacrament on Sundays. I ponder the Atonement and the meaning of repentance and forgiveness as well. The covenants I made with the Lord at baptism are very important to me.

This special meeting for our friend brought these teachings and this sacred ordinance into a perspective that sank deep within my soul. I have always (since my baptism) enjoyed the Priesthood blessings in my life. I have always been able to partake of the Sacrament. Our friend has been denied these blessings for seven years. She knows what it is like to be without them, especially after having had them all her life. She knows a kind of repentance that I have not experienced. She has endured years of the absence of the Holy Ghost in her daily life. She has experienced a true "contrite heart" and diligence in working towards the reinstatement of these blessings.

As she went down into the waters of baptism for the second time in her life, and her son helped her into the baptismal font, she broke into tears and actually sobbed with happiness. I, too, began to cry, as did most of the audience of close to 100 people. The Kleenex box was quickly passed through the room. The depth of her joy and gratitude was apparent and touched each of us. The Spirit of the Lord witnessed to me that she was clean and that the Atonement is real.

It quickly dawned on me (something that, of course, I already knew!) that if the Lord would forgive her for such a grievous error, then the Atonement can be real in my life and I really can be forgiven for my sins. God really does love us, He really loves me. My baptism so many years ago became supremely significant to me at that moment. My testimony has been cemented in a new manner and my baptismal covenants have taken on more depth of meaning in my life.

I now have more understanding and gratitude for my blessings.

2008-10-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new blog! This is very new for us. We have been reading blogs all summer to get pictures of the Cropper family for our Reunion DVD. It has been delightful to view all of the creativity and just so much fun to keep up on all the "happenings". However, I have learned that if I begin to look at blogs, I had better plan to be at the computer for a very long time. Everyone's blogs have links to other blogs that grab my interest. I am becoming a blog junkie.

Our big project for 2008 has been the Cropper Family 2008 Reunion. The picture is a composite of eight different photographs. The family members arrived and departed at various times during the five days of our reunion. (Our family is wearing the dark green t-shirts.)It took 30 hours to combine all the photos on Photoshop. Even then, it is not perfect. But it is a great attendance record! :)

When we began planning it almost two years ago, we decided to focus the Reunion on Max's parents, Kenneth and Leora Cropper. At this point, there are 133 descendents and six more are expected between now and February. Many, many hours were spent putting together fun activities and games that would highlight Grandpa and Grandma Cropper. We also tried to emphasize the needs of the children that would be attending and tried to make sure that every activity would include all ages. The reunion was held in August. We rented a cabin close to Grace, Idaho. For the most part, it was a success. We had 82 people attend and shared many fun moments together.

A big thank-you to all family members who helped out in so many, many ways, both before and during the reunion, to make it all work.

One of the activities was an informal talent night. Our family chose to sing a crazy song called, "I'm My Own Grandpa!" I will post a clip of it on here if I can figure out how.

We tried to upload the video of our family singing this song, along with the progressive pedigree chart that makes sense out of it. However, this blog will only support a video of 100 MB and our video contains 425 MB. This is likely because there are five verses with a chorus before, after and in between each one. So . . . this is such a fun song that I am going to post the words of the poem. You can also see the photo of our chart.

I'm My Own Grandpa

Many, many years ago when I was twenty three
I was married to a widow who was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her and soon the two were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law and changed my very life,
For my daughter was my mother 'cause she was my father's wife.
To complicate the matter even though it brought me joy,
I soon became the father of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became a brother-in-law to Dad,
And so became my uncle, though it made me very sad.
For if he was my uncle then that also made him brother
Of the widow's grown-up daughter who, of course, was my stepmother.

Father's wife then had a son who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandchild for he was my daughter's son.
My wife is now my mother's mother and it makes me blue
Because although she is my wife, she's my grandmother too.

Now if my wife is my grandmother, then I'm her grandchild.
And everytime I think of it, it nearly drives me wild.
For now I have become the strangest case you ever saw:
As husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa!

I'm my own grandpa! I'm my own grandpa!
It sounds funny I know, but it really is so.
Oh, I'm My Own Grandpa!