Thoughts and stories, by Pal

Well, I've made it!  This morning at 7 a.m. I was officially 81 years old!   We have been so blessed!  Yes, we have had problems, but the blessings have so outweighed them!   This is the first family picture with all 9 of our children in it.  It was taken in 1975, just before our oldest son, Wayne, went on his mission. Fast forward many years, to just before we went on our mission to Sweden, in 1994. Now, our children, taken a year ago September, at my 80th birthday party! In order, they are from left to right, Wayne M., Delsy, Anita, Allen, Wayne, me (Pal), McKay, Angela, Tacy, Pam, and Jeremy.  One of our very special times was when we went together on a couple mission to Sweden, 1994 to 1996.   You can read about it on blog #51, posted on Dec. 27, 2013, in less than 2 months after I started this blog.  We were really excited to sustain Elder Renlund as an Apostle.  His parents were both from Sweden, and came to the Unite...

July 4th, a special anniversary for us, besides celebrating our INDEPENDENCE! ! The first part is from blog # 180, written a year ago 59 years from when Wayne came home from the army.  Today is 60 years!   Our first real date was going to see "South Pacific" on July 6th, 1955, on an outdoor stage at the University of Utah.  Today, July 4th, 2015, we are going to "South Pacific" again, on stage in Cedar City, Utah, with free tickets provided to veterans!  What a coincidence that the same musical was offered to veterans exactly 60 years to the day he came home! Pal (me) and Wayne in Sept. 1955, on our honeymoon in Zion's Canyon. ------- This is the entry as it was a year ago today, with years changed, then 59, now 60!. FOR MY HUSBAND, WAYNE, THE 4TH OF JULY IS QUITE A DAY!  HE WENT ON A MISSION TO SWEDEN IN DEC. 1950, TOGETHER WITH HIS TWIN BROTHER, BLAINE.  THEY  ARRIVED HOME ON JULY 4TH, 1953!    WAYNE AND I MET ON ...

    We all wrote memories of our home life, which we gave to Mother on her 80th birthday.  I couldn't find mine, so my entry below was written in 1911, when we wrote the book of their lives.  This time, I won't underline certain parts -- It takes quite a bit of time which I don't have today.               MEMORIES OF MOTHER ON HER 80TH BIRTHDAY, BY MAVIS      I have many fond memories of you Mother, from my childhood years.  Some of these are concepts I had about you.  For example, I remember feeling overwhelmed about how hard you worked.  I remember the long days, the Saturdays, filled with cleaning, ironing, baking, and I remember feeling that you worked so very, very hard – which you did.  I was always so proud of you and the fact you were such a good woman.  You sewed so many lovely dresses for each of us.  I always felt lucky that I could usually have a new dress when I wan...

Mavis is born:       During this winter Pratt’s service connected disability check was increased from $12 to $35 a month.  We wanted more family and we decided we’d rather live on that amount than put off having another child.  So by the time school was out Mavis was on her way.  How thankful we’ve always been we did not procrastinate for we may have been eternally deprived of the wonderful blessing she has been to us.  During that winter Pratt was able to take care of the babies part time.  At other times we had a 16 year old girl.  I guess she did okay for her age, but my what a contrast from Grandma Aldridge.      By mid summer the doctor told me I was going to have twins.  (They didn’t X Ray then much.)  So I prepared and was happy with the thought of twins.  I even went up to Emily Foremaster’s to spend a few hours to see how she managed with her twins plus the 2 older ones.       We we...