Woo hoo!!! I finally found a birth certificate for John's mother. Not for the wonderful woman who raised him - (although I do have that one too) but for his birth mother. I had been looking and looking for her so I can get her temple work done - but to no avail.
A family book that J's aunt gave me showed his mother's name as Lydia Ann. I had never heard her called Lydia - only Ann. I have been to her gravesite - it's right there in the Coolidge cemetary along with all her other family members so I know she died in 1956 but couldn't get anyone to tell me when she was born. No one wants to talk about her at all. The name on her grave is Ann VH - and the date 1956 - nothing more.
One of J's 2nd cousins gave me this link:
http://genealogy.az.gov/
It is great - any birth can be recorded after 75 years and any death after 50. On this web site, I found the birth certificate for my father and all his siblings. The death certificates for 3 of my great-grandparents on the Carter side and many other relatives. It's neat to see these actual documents and so easy to save a copy of them.
But no matter how hard I looked, I hadn't been able to find J's mother. We are planning to do the temple work for his Mom in January so I felt I had to find this information so I could have his Mother's done at the same time. I was beginning to think maybe she had been born before the family moved to AZ. Finally a few days ago, while looking just for last name of VH in all of AZ, I found it - it doesn't have her first name as Lydia - nor does it have it written as Ann (which is why Alexshuman has that middle name). Instead there it is - Annie, born Nov 7, 1920.
So, it's a start but now I have lots more work to do to find the rest of the family.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Monday, October 02, 2006
WALMART -- NOT FOR ME ANYMORE
A couple of weeks ago, I went into Walmart (a task I always dread because it's such a horrid place to spend time on a Saturday afternoon). Seems we always stop there to do our big grocery shopping. When I went up to the check out, I waited in line for 20 minutes and then asked the clerk why they didn't open more registers. She informed me it was because they haven't been able to hire more people to work - she stated, "they are too lazy to work".
The more I learn about Walmart, the more I think maybe people are "too smart to work there". This morning, on the news, they said that Walmart wants a "cheaper" labor force. From everything I understand, they are hardly paying them anything now and are very stingy with benefits - maybe that's why they are lowering their prescription prices - so their employees can afford them.
They want people to work part time, any time of day or night and for peanuts.
Well, as for me, I've made my last visit to Walmart. I can find better places to spend my money.
The more I learn about Walmart, the more I think maybe people are "too smart to work there". This morning, on the news, they said that Walmart wants a "cheaper" labor force. From everything I understand, they are hardly paying them anything now and are very stingy with benefits - maybe that's why they are lowering their prescription prices - so their employees can afford them.
They want people to work part time, any time of day or night and for peanuts.
Well, as for me, I've made my last visit to Walmart. I can find better places to spend my money.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Gratitude and a bad day...
Okay- so yesterday J went off elk hunting with his boss and since I had the whole day to myself, decided I would go into the big city and look at a piano. So I drove into town (well, got as far as the post office then remembered I should take my Jo-Ann's coupon since I needed 7 yards of fabric to back a quilt and at 40% off, it would be a lot cheaper so I turned around and drove the 4 miles back home and headed out again).
I went to Office Max, Home Depot, Big Bear sports, michaels, costco, scheel's, jo-ann's and then to the piano store. Alas, they were closed as they had gone to Vegas for the weekend. So I went to Albertson's got a few groceries that somehow added up to $177 for a few measly bags and absolutely no meat. Then I stopped at Wendy's to grab a hamburger, extra pickles, no fries no soda as I had a bottle of water. Glanced at my watch and saw I could be home by 1:00.
Started driving home and realized that my cell phone was not with me. I had just stuck my debit card in my pocket all day and had just been carrying my phone in my hand.
So what to do. I went back to Albertson's - "No, no one had turned it in." Back to Jo-Ann's - same answer. Back to Scheels, Costco, and Michaels - no one had turned it in. I knew I had it when I came out of Big Bear so thought it was totally gone.
Now, it was 1:30 - I decided I would drive home and call Alltel to report it missing. An hour and a half of my life wasted and I was really down in the dumps. I had had a bit of a nagging feeling that I should call my cell phone to see if anyone answered but figured clerks in the stores would be too busy and I had set the ringer to meeting anyway so it just rings really low and vibrates. Since I had driven to town through Red Lodge, I decided to go ahead and stay on the interstate and go home the other way.a Get's boring driving back and forth.
I got to Columbus about 2:15 and as I went by my Alltel store, I saw they were open. I went in and asked the girl if she could call my cell phone while I went out to my truck thinking maybe it's in here in these packages somewhere and I just haven't found it. Nope - I couldn't hear it ringing.
I went back into the store and told her I needed a replacement phone and showed her which one. She told me I would have to pay full price for it which was way too much but I wanted the same phone. I told her I don't use it very often and she said that if I found my other phone and the new one had less than 20 minutes, she would buy it back from me for full price. Okay - so she wrote down my old ESN and got the new phone up and running and set up my voice messaging.
She handed me the phone and went off to ring up the bill. Immeditely it popped up saying I had a message. It was from my mom - "call me - some guy said he has your phone". So, I called her and she gave me the phone number and I called back. A guy named Kevin had found my phone in the parking lot outside Jo-Ann's and had been calling a few people to see if he could find the owner. I called and his wife answered. She said they would meet me at the Holiday Station in Billings. I handed the phone back to the clerk who rang up a debit on my card and turned back on my old phone. Then I jumped in the truck and headed the 45 miles back to town.
When I got to the station, and saw all of the vehicles, I realized I should have asked what Kevin would be driving. But as I turned in, a young man in pretty old clothes, driving an old beater pickup, jumped out waving my phone. I asked him what I owed him and he said, "Nothing. It's what I would want someone to do if this happened to me." I thank him profusely and insisted he take the small amount of cash that I had in my pocket. It wasn't a lot but at least something for his trouble. I thanked him again and then headed back home, this time driving through Red Lodge and finally got home about 5.
I unloaded the vehicle and came down and sat for a few minutes thinking about how grateful I was to have my phone (Mainly I didn't want to lose the two little video clips of Jules I have on it) and how Heavenly Father continues to shower me with blessings even though I am not always doing what I should be doing. And I thought of the honesty of that young man and the efforts he put forth to return it.
Sometimes, I get a little put out because I've done something for someone and they don't even bother to say thanks. That is not my sole reason for doing things. I enjoy doing things for people - hearing thank you from them is a bonus to the good feeling I have for being able to do a particular thing. It shouldn't be my ulterior motive and I shouldn't stop doing things for people just because "The last time I did such and such for that person, they didn't even bother to say "THANK YOU". Then I think of all the things my Heavenly Father and my Savior have done for me and I am ashamed that I don't spend more time on my knees pouring out gratitude for those blessings. If they quit doing things for me because I failed to express gratitude, I am not sure where I would be today.
I went to Office Max, Home Depot, Big Bear sports, michaels, costco, scheel's, jo-ann's and then to the piano store. Alas, they were closed as they had gone to Vegas for the weekend. So I went to Albertson's got a few groceries that somehow added up to $177 for a few measly bags and absolutely no meat. Then I stopped at Wendy's to grab a hamburger, extra pickles, no fries no soda as I had a bottle of water. Glanced at my watch and saw I could be home by 1:00.
Started driving home and realized that my cell phone was not with me. I had just stuck my debit card in my pocket all day and had just been carrying my phone in my hand.
So what to do. I went back to Albertson's - "No, no one had turned it in." Back to Jo-Ann's - same answer. Back to Scheels, Costco, and Michaels - no one had turned it in. I knew I had it when I came out of Big Bear so thought it was totally gone.
Now, it was 1:30 - I decided I would drive home and call Alltel to report it missing. An hour and a half of my life wasted and I was really down in the dumps. I had had a bit of a nagging feeling that I should call my cell phone to see if anyone answered but figured clerks in the stores would be too busy and I had set the ringer to meeting anyway so it just rings really low and vibrates. Since I had driven to town through Red Lodge, I decided to go ahead and stay on the interstate and go home the other way.a Get's boring driving back and forth.
I got to Columbus about 2:15 and as I went by my Alltel store, I saw they were open. I went in and asked the girl if she could call my cell phone while I went out to my truck thinking maybe it's in here in these packages somewhere and I just haven't found it. Nope - I couldn't hear it ringing.
I went back into the store and told her I needed a replacement phone and showed her which one. She told me I would have to pay full price for it which was way too much but I wanted the same phone. I told her I don't use it very often and she said that if I found my other phone and the new one had less than 20 minutes, she would buy it back from me for full price. Okay - so she wrote down my old ESN and got the new phone up and running and set up my voice messaging.
She handed me the phone and went off to ring up the bill. Immeditely it popped up saying I had a message. It was from my mom - "call me - some guy said he has your phone". So, I called her and she gave me the phone number and I called back. A guy named Kevin had found my phone in the parking lot outside Jo-Ann's and had been calling a few people to see if he could find the owner. I called and his wife answered. She said they would meet me at the Holiday Station in Billings. I handed the phone back to the clerk who rang up a debit on my card and turned back on my old phone. Then I jumped in the truck and headed the 45 miles back to town.
When I got to the station, and saw all of the vehicles, I realized I should have asked what Kevin would be driving. But as I turned in, a young man in pretty old clothes, driving an old beater pickup, jumped out waving my phone. I asked him what I owed him and he said, "Nothing. It's what I would want someone to do if this happened to me." I thank him profusely and insisted he take the small amount of cash that I had in my pocket. It wasn't a lot but at least something for his trouble. I thanked him again and then headed back home, this time driving through Red Lodge and finally got home about 5.
I unloaded the vehicle and came down and sat for a few minutes thinking about how grateful I was to have my phone (Mainly I didn't want to lose the two little video clips of Jules I have on it) and how Heavenly Father continues to shower me with blessings even though I am not always doing what I should be doing. And I thought of the honesty of that young man and the efforts he put forth to return it.
Sometimes, I get a little put out because I've done something for someone and they don't even bother to say thanks. That is not my sole reason for doing things. I enjoy doing things for people - hearing thank you from them is a bonus to the good feeling I have for being able to do a particular thing. It shouldn't be my ulterior motive and I shouldn't stop doing things for people just because "The last time I did such and such for that person, they didn't even bother to say "THANK YOU". Then I think of all the things my Heavenly Father and my Savior have done for me and I am ashamed that I don't spend more time on my knees pouring out gratitude for those blessings. If they quit doing things for me because I failed to express gratitude, I am not sure where I would be today.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Officially Fall
Well, I guess it is official that fall is upon us - the first of many empty cattle trucks just rattled down the road on it's way to fill up. Time to wean the calves and get them off to market. Good thing its cooled down enough that we will have the windows open and won't hear the mama cows bawling for their babies the first couple of days.
We've gotten quite a bit of rain - 2 inches last weekend and probably another 2 this week. The mountains are starting to turn white again. We are hoping for a good wet winter to quench this dry land. It is pretty sad when the ground is so dry it is cracking everywhere. Even if you dig down 2 feet, it is still dry. The crab apple tree is bowing low with apples so the deer come in everynight to feast. A couple of days ago, 3 little racoons came by and spent the day in the tree - they would eat a while then relax in or on the big magpie nest in the tree. I thought they had gone, but I see they decided to leave a little evidence of their visit last night on the front porch - yuck!
Two weeks from today (and I'm for sure not ready) we'll be heading east to do our antelope hunting. My absolutely favorite time of the year, I think - at least as far as hunting goes. We tried the camping out thing last year and it was pretty miserable so J asked me the other night if I'd made reservations - I had presumed he was planning on camping again so I hadn't. As soon as he mentioned it though, I whipped out my wallet and grabbed the business card I have been carrying around for the past 2 years and made reservations for sure. It does make hunting nicer when you know at the end of the day you can get to a somewhat comfortable bed and even more importantly a shower.
hmm - course, we will be listening to those cattle trucks all night since it's fall - time to move the cattle and every cattle truck seems to go right through Broadus.
We've gotten quite a bit of rain - 2 inches last weekend and probably another 2 this week. The mountains are starting to turn white again. We are hoping for a good wet winter to quench this dry land. It is pretty sad when the ground is so dry it is cracking everywhere. Even if you dig down 2 feet, it is still dry. The crab apple tree is bowing low with apples so the deer come in everynight to feast. A couple of days ago, 3 little racoons came by and spent the day in the tree - they would eat a while then relax in or on the big magpie nest in the tree. I thought they had gone, but I see they decided to leave a little evidence of their visit last night on the front porch - yuck!
Two weeks from today (and I'm for sure not ready) we'll be heading east to do our antelope hunting. My absolutely favorite time of the year, I think - at least as far as hunting goes. We tried the camping out thing last year and it was pretty miserable so J asked me the other night if I'd made reservations - I had presumed he was planning on camping again so I hadn't. As soon as he mentioned it though, I whipped out my wallet and grabbed the business card I have been carrying around for the past 2 years and made reservations for sure. It does make hunting nicer when you know at the end of the day you can get to a somewhat comfortable bed and even more importantly a shower.
hmm - course, we will be listening to those cattle trucks all night since it's fall - time to move the cattle and every cattle truck seems to go right through Broadus.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Was it real?
Wow - I cannot believe that it was last Monday I drove home from Portland or did I really even go there (good thing I have pictures cause it seems like a dream). About 900 miles, 13 1/2 hours to get home - in that time, I made 2 10 minute stops to fill up the tank and grab some more junk food. All I've done since I got home is sleep and work.
Really enjoyed visiting Alexshuman. The bathroom is still in progress but is a major improvement over the blue and purple. The house is coming along and I love the dark colors in the living room, dining room and entry way.
We spent the first day in Vancouver and went to see Wicked. It was fantastic - if any of you have an opportunity to go, I highly recommend that. Just be sure to get there a little early so you have time to get settled - we got there without too much time to spare so the lights went out before we got G'ma to her seat and it was a royal pain convincing her she could make it down the stairs. That evening, V took us to Jerusalem Cafe for dinner - the food was absolutely delicious. The lemon garlic chicken was so flavorful and tender - yummy.
When we got back to V's, I took Alex for a walk to the Dairy Queen for a small cone. After purchasing the cone, I led her around to the side where "she wouldn't make a mess when the constarted dripping". At least that's what my mind was thinking but what actually happened is in the first bite, she had all of the ice cream off down to the cone, second bit was halfway down the cone (only because I hadn't taken off the paper and wouldn't let her put as much in her mouth as she wanted to.)
On Friday, we went to IHOP for breakfast - the caramel banana french toast is delicious. Then headed south and east - stopped at Timberline Lodge - that is a really neat building. I didn't realize you could get so close to the top of Mount Hood.
Here's a picture of V & G'ma in front of one of the fireplaces in the lodge.
That evening, we spent the night at Hood River and went on the Hood River RR train ride. The sad thing was, you couldn't see a lot out of the train windows and it got dark fairly quickly (the train was probably moving about 10 miles an hour at the most. On the return trip, they did have a Mystery Theater and it had a few funny moments - part of the time I wasn't sure if the people were in character or had checked out of their roles to get other things (such as matches). It was hard to tell what was part of the play and what was a mistake - such as when the bounty hunter exclaimed, "I think I shot him in the wrong car".
The next morning, we drove back through Vancouver and on out west to the ocean. We stopped at Cannon beach and made G'ma hike down the path to the view point. The pointy rock in the background is Haystack Rock.
From there, we stopped at Seaside so I could get some taffy - I ate the last few pieces of the taffy Carter had gotten for Suzy when he went up there so felt I needed to buy some to send down to her. It took me quite a while to pick out what I wanted from the 170 flavors they have - I knew jalapeno was not going to be on my list. I think black widow is probably my favorite as it combines licorice with a cinnamon center.
After eating lunch we headed on north to Astoria to spend the night. Poor G'ma had been eating so much more than she was used to so she stayed at the hotel while we went to dinner. V ordered some steamer clams and they were good, the crab cakes were good also.
Our room was at the Cannery Pier right on the bay so we had a great view. Too bad we were all so tired to really enjoy it.
The next morning, we got up and went to this place called Pig and Pancake for breakfast. They had a whole bunch of different kinds of pancakes. We ate and then drove by a pier to see the sea lions sunning themselves. The piers were filled with them.
Then, we headed back into Portland to take G'ma to the Portland Rose Test Garden (excellent choice V). I couldn't believe the variety of roses.
We went from there back to V's so she could get some rest as she had to work that night. We decided to go eat an early dinner so us 3 girls and Dan went to a place to have sushi - well 2 of us ate sushi and the other 2 opted for cooked food. Yummy - dragon roll and caterpillar.
V went to work and the rest of us went to bed so we could get up dark and early the next morning to get G'ma to the airport. I know we wore her out but hopefully she had a good time too.
Really enjoyed visiting Alexshuman. The bathroom is still in progress but is a major improvement over the blue and purple. The house is coming along and I love the dark colors in the living room, dining room and entry way.
We spent the first day in Vancouver and went to see Wicked. It was fantastic - if any of you have an opportunity to go, I highly recommend that. Just be sure to get there a little early so you have time to get settled - we got there without too much time to spare so the lights went out before we got G'ma to her seat and it was a royal pain convincing her she could make it down the stairs. That evening, V took us to Jerusalem Cafe for dinner - the food was absolutely delicious. The lemon garlic chicken was so flavorful and tender - yummy.
When we got back to V's, I took Alex for a walk to the Dairy Queen for a small cone. After purchasing the cone, I led her around to the side where "she wouldn't make a mess when the constarted dripping". At least that's what my mind was thinking but what actually happened is in the first bite, she had all of the ice cream off down to the cone, second bit was halfway down the cone (only because I hadn't taken off the paper and wouldn't let her put as much in her mouth as she wanted to.)
On Friday, we went to IHOP for breakfast - the caramel banana french toast is delicious. Then headed south and east - stopped at Timberline Lodge - that is a really neat building. I didn't realize you could get so close to the top of Mount Hood.
Here's a picture of V & G'ma in front of one of the fireplaces in the lodge.
That evening, we spent the night at Hood River and went on the Hood River RR train ride. The sad thing was, you couldn't see a lot out of the train windows and it got dark fairly quickly (the train was probably moving about 10 miles an hour at the most. On the return trip, they did have a Mystery Theater and it had a few funny moments - part of the time I wasn't sure if the people were in character or had checked out of their roles to get other things (such as matches). It was hard to tell what was part of the play and what was a mistake - such as when the bounty hunter exclaimed, "I think I shot him in the wrong car".
The next morning, we drove back through Vancouver and on out west to the ocean. We stopped at Cannon beach and made G'ma hike down the path to the view point. The pointy rock in the background is Haystack Rock.
From there, we stopped at Seaside so I could get some taffy - I ate the last few pieces of the taffy Carter had gotten for Suzy when he went up there so felt I needed to buy some to send down to her. It took me quite a while to pick out what I wanted from the 170 flavors they have - I knew jalapeno was not going to be on my list. I think black widow is probably my favorite as it combines licorice with a cinnamon center.
After eating lunch we headed on north to Astoria to spend the night. Poor G'ma had been eating so much more than she was used to so she stayed at the hotel while we went to dinner. V ordered some steamer clams and they were good, the crab cakes were good also.
Our room was at the Cannery Pier right on the bay so we had a great view. Too bad we were all so tired to really enjoy it.
The next morning, we got up and went to this place called Pig and Pancake for breakfast. They had a whole bunch of different kinds of pancakes. We ate and then drove by a pier to see the sea lions sunning themselves. The piers were filled with them.
Then, we headed back into Portland to take G'ma to the Portland Rose Test Garden (excellent choice V). I couldn't believe the variety of roses.
We went from there back to V's so she could get some rest as she had to work that night. We decided to go eat an early dinner so us 3 girls and Dan went to a place to have sushi - well 2 of us ate sushi and the other 2 opted for cooked food. Yummy - dragon roll and caterpillar.
V went to work and the rest of us went to bed so we could get up dark and early the next morning to get G'ma to the airport. I know we wore her out but hopefully she had a good time too.
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