HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH

Sarah is the baby of the family. She was our Christmas gift in 1984. Sarah arrived on December 23 and we brought her home on Christmas Eve. We had bought her a little red jogging type of outfit…that was back in the day when you did not know what you were having so we had to choose something that would work for either a boy or a girl. We dressed her in that suit and put a big red bow on her head and put her under the tree. That year I had made all the kids Cabbage Patch dolls and she was not left out. We knew that chances were good that she would arrive before Christmas so I had to be prepared. He doll was bald because we did not know what gender it needed to be and it was bigger than she was. As special as it was to have a new baby at Christmas, it proved a challenge to celebrate it through the coming years. Rule #1 was that December 23 was her birthday and no matter what you had left to do to prepare for Christmas, we all stopped and celebrated her birthday. Rule #2 was that Birthday and Christmas gifts were not combined and Rule #3 was that Birthday gifts were wrapped in Birthday Wrap and not Christmas Wrap. I am not sure if those were all her doing…I might have to take a credit for no Christmas Wrapping Paper. Not only did she have to have her Birthday on it's exact day…she for some reason thought she should also celebrate her birthday on Becky's which is in June.
None the less she has been a joy in our lives. She looked like a cute little Blonde Pixy Doll. Her Grandpa Bagley used to look at her and say ”She is such a pretty baby.” That was a statement I don’t think anyone could argue with…not that they would dare to argue with Grandpa Bagley if they did not agree.
Sarah liked to be invited to the party…She would never go to bed at night because she was afraid that something would happen and she might miss out. She liked to be the star…Where ever we would go she would insist that lots of pictures and videos were taken of her…actually mostly videos. EXAMPLE: We would go to Yellowstone and as we walked around and looked at the sights the camera had to be on recording her while she described each particular sight…and when she had no description left to give…we were treated with a commercial of some kind. An annual event at Moon Lake was her and Donavon and Cameron filming documentaries about the area. She and her friends would spend hours making movies.
Sarah loved to dance. She danced from the time that she was a little girl till she was 17.
She did well in school…if only I could get her to go. From preschool on she would do almost anything to stay home from school. By the time she was in Middle and High School she had it figured out. Frequently I would drop her off at school, go around the block and drive back to the school only to find her leaving. I found out only a couple of years ago that she would also let me think she had gone to school. She would walk out the front door then go around to the front of the house and climb in Christopher's bedroom window and spend the day watching TV until it was time for her to come home…then she would climb out the window and walk through the front door. I worked a night shift so I slept all day and had no idea she was at home.
Sarah was very social…she always had lots of friends…girls and boys…went to tons of school dances and would never wear the same dress even though they were often at different schools.
After she graduated from High School she did not date anyone special…just hung out a lot. She claimed boys did not ask girls out any more. Then one day Trevor called and asked her out on a date…It was all over then…No more hanging out with anyone…just dating Trevor. They were married in December…of course…is there any other month during the year? Then just before their second anniversary…in December of course, they had a darling little girl - Anna Kate.
It is so fun to watch Sarah as she has grown from a little girl, partying and making movies to a beautiful wife and mother. I love that she wants to sew and bake and make cakes and do all the things she has watched me do. We love you Sarah and are so very proud of the woman that you have become. Happy Birthday!!!

THANKSGIVING 2009

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.
There is so much that we take for granted and this gives us a reason to stop and contimplate what we really have been blessed with.
Number one on my list is my husband and my family, and the health we all enjoy.
The events of this year has made me appreciate that more than ever.
I am so thankful for the testimony that each of my children have, that they are all active in the church and teaching their children to gain that same testimony.
I am thankful that they all live close enough that we can arrange times to be all together. I am thankful that, although we all have trials...and some more than others, that we have all been blessed with the temporal things we need as well as the spiritual necessities of life.
For the first time in several years we had our entire family together. With everyone having another family to share Thanksgiving with it seems that 1 or 2 families were always missing. This year the kids managed to all be on the same schedule. But with everyone together, it did present one complicaton...how would we all fit.
Craig and I have been on a very long and very slow construction project in our basement which will hopefully remedy this "no where it fit everyone" situation.
We have removed the wall between the bedrooms and are making one room that we will all fit into so that on birthdays and holidays we have somewhere that we can all sit down and eat together.
Goal was to have it complete for Thanksgiving dinner.
Jeremy came down from Idaho for a day and he, Jared and Chris all helped Craig frame and get up the walls, but there just wasn't enough time to get the finish work and painting done.
Not only did the room not make it, but because of work going on for that room the family room is full of closet doors, 2x4s and a piles of other multiple items...therefore even if we could, by some chance, fit a table in our living room that would hold everyone...which we can not...there was no place for anyone to go before or after dinner.
So Chris and Megan offered their house for Thanksgiving Dinner.
That is always a little more work because there is so much to haul down to their house and I have not, as of yet, given into paper for Thanksgiving. Now don't get your hope up kids with the "as of yet" remark...I have no plans of going to paper plates.
Chris and Megan's house was great. We had 24 of us for dinner, all our family and Rob's mom, Dena. There was lots of room for the kids to race and run...which they did, and lots of room for TV and visiting...So Thanks Chris and Megan for sharing your home with us!!!
We had our traditional dinner which includes turkey, stuffing, ham, funeral potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cheesy cauliflower, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie and chocolate pie.
I am pretty sure that everyone had plenty to eat.
Anna had her first pickle, as you will see in the pictures below and drooled a bit of her roll, while Straton just chilled and watched us all wondering what this was all about.
Rather than having to mingle between parents, the other 9 grandkids had their own table this year. They are all growing up too fast.
Mindie topped off the day with a gallbladder attack, but is doing better. This did, however, prompt her to finally go in to have this condition, which has been going on for sometime, checked out.
All in all...it was a pretty great day!!!
Thanks kids for sharing it with us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER

Today is Christopher's Birthday.
He was born, I should say finally born, on September 29, 1977 at about 5:00 am in the morning, exactly two weeks to the day later than he was suppose to be. Chris was named after his Grandfather, Christopher Don Wintle. His Grandfather's name was Donald Franklin Bagley. Chris was a Daddy's boy from the beginning. When he was a little over a year old he began getting sick a lot. He would get tonsillitis about once a month and run very high temperatures. A few times his temp was so high that the doctor would put him into the hospital. When he was 22 months old the doctor decided that his tonsils would never get better so they took them out. I remember in the hospital right after he woke up from surgery Craig decided that he needed to go home and take care of a few things. Chris screamed so hard for his dad that I had to call him to come back. He would always call his dad "My Friend Daddy". When he was 3 we did a little play at Grandma and Grandpa Bagley's for Father's Day. Chris's part was about a daddy giraffe. He said: "Daddy Giraffe's as tall as a tree, My Friend Daddy's tall, he's twice as tall as me." I don't think I will ever forget that.
Christopher liked to dump his food on his head. Whenever we would have spaghetti or oatmeal or anything like that, I would turn around and find his bowl on top of his head and his food running down his face.
In the summer I could not get him to take a nap, but I would always find that he had laid down in the middle of the drive way and gone to sleep.
For Famous People Day in Elementary School he was Martin Luther King. We painted his face black as part of his costume for his report. A few years ago I was going through some pictures and found a little black boy and it took a while to realize that it was Chris.
When he was in 6th grade I was incharge of the birthdays at his Elementary School. The school mascot was the Crescent Cub. So once a month he would dress up in a blue cub suit and go with me and pass pencils out to the kids who had had birthday's that month.
Christopher loved sports from the very beginning. I can remember when he had a bottle he would bend over and throw it through his legs to his dad like a football. He loved to hit things…anything. Anything he could pick up and swing he would swing. One day when he was very young, I don't think he was even in kindergarten, Craig was playing baseball with him. He swung at the ball and hit it pretty hard for a little kid. Craig yelled at him to run telling him that he had hit a home run. Chris took off running and ran around the house.
He played soccer and little league base ball as soon as he was old enough to do so. Everyone was always amazed at the talent he had. He played basket ball in Jr. High and in High School he played on Jordan's Baseball team. His sports, whether it was soccer, basket ball or baseball, always caused a little conflict between he and his dad. Craig was so excited about the talent that Chris had that he could not contain himself. Chris would get so upset at him that I wondered what had happened to that feeling of friendship for his dad he had when he was young. I wondered if he would ever get along with him again. But he and Craig officiate basket ball from time to time and that I do believe has brought that friendship back to them.
The thing that I think that I love to watch in Chris most is the love he has for his family. He often calls just to tell us about some of the cute things that his children have done. It is so obvious that he loves them and is thrilled with their actions.
Chris may have given us a few worrisome times during his growing up years, but we are so proud of the man he has become. He is a great father and husband and had grown to be so spiritually strong. We love you Chris. Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED

Today is the Birthday of our first born child…Jared Craig Wintle. Jared was born on September 23, 1973 in the Cottonwood Hospital in Murray Utah. How excited we were to have a child and especially to have a son. I grew up with big sisters, but no big brother, and I always wanted one. So, I was really excited that the rest of my children would have a big brother to watch over and protect them.
Jared was a quiet, rather shy child. He was the kind of child that you could have a dozen or so of and never be bothered. I remember I was excited when he made friends because he was so quiet. Greg Oakeson was his first friend. They were friends from the time they were 2 or 3 years old. One day they wondered off together and Greg's dad found them across the other side of the rail road tracks. A chain link fence was put up around the yard that summer.
He is a great combination of the men around him. He looks so very much like his Grandpa Wintle; much of his personality comes from his Dad (some of which can be a little tormenting, but for the most part it is very very good) and then he got his love for animals from his Grandpa Bagley. Jared has always loved animals. When we would go to my parents house he would head straight up the hill to see Dad's chickens. When he was just young his Grandpa Bagley gave him some chickens. He loved those chickens and I think one of the highlights in his young life was when he entered one in the County Fair. His chicken received a 2nd Place ribbon. Of course it got some disease from the other chickens at the fair and died not long after he brought it back home…but he was still very proud that it had received that 2nd Place Ribbon. He loved dogs. When he was around 12 he begged for a dog. I told him when he could provide a kennel for one he could have one. So he and Greg went to work and built a kennel out of old pallets or some kind of scrap wood. It was awful, but what could I do…I had not specified what kind of kennel, just said a kennel. So Jared got a dog. I must say he has been through several dogs during his life. Still has dogs and yes, chickens too. I can just imagine that his Grandpa Bagley just looks down and smiles at him, proud as ever.
When Jared was in 1st grade he broke his arm. He would try to hide his arm because he did not want anyone to see it. He absolutely would not allow anyone to sign their name on his cast.
In third grade, for Famous People Day he was Louis Pasteur. I can remember him working so hard on that report and memorizing it so that he could tell the class about him. We made him a beard so that he could look like him when he did his report. For some reason that was a really big deal to him.
When Jared was in 5th grade he decided that someone was going to poison him. So he would have to take lunch from home. His lunch box went into his book bag which was pad locked and that is how it stayed until lunch time. Fortunately his teacher, Mrs. Summers, was a very wise person and helped him get over that. I think he will be teased his entire life about locking his lunch in his book bag.
Jared played the baritone in band at Mt. Jordan Jr. High and did very well. His teacher would talk about how he had learned so fast and how great he was doing. His sophomore year he played in the marching band at Jordan. Well, at least he played for a while. After marching at 2 or 3 football games he decided it was not cool, so he transferred out.
Jared continued to be shy. He never asked a girl to a school dance until the last dance of his senior year and then I had to bribe him into asking Megan Simon to a dance and I had to pay for the date as well.
The one thing he did that totally surprised us all was when he and Greg agreed to dance in the Church Dance Festival at the Salt Palace.
After graduation, he met Bridget and all that changed.
He has grown up to become a wonderful husband and provider and the best Dad a child could possibly have. I love to watch him with his children…the way he interacts with them, the patience his displays with then and the great love that radiates for them.
Jared, I cannot express how proud we are of the man you have become. We love you so very much. Happy Birthday!!!

.....................Summer 2009

Summer has come and gone and I have not put one thing on my blog. I am not sure when I will figure out that it takes less time if I do this one event at a time instead of all at once…probably never. Anyway, here is an attemptto catch up on "The Summer of 09". .....Scroll on down and enjoy our summer with us.

The first event of summer is usually Memorial Day and we, like most, go to visit the graves. It is not an organized event, just whoever can come comes. The kids always enjoy the Murray Cemetary where they can climb on the old cannon by Grandma and Grandpa Bagley's grave. We usually end our visits at Cassidy's Grave Site where we can sit and talk for a while. I am amazed at the closeness all the kids seem to have with her, even though they have never known her on this earth.
June 10 was the day for Craig's first surgery. Three years ago Craig tore his meniscus at the Post Office. Finally - three years and 5 months later they agreed to pay for the surgery to correct the tear. Craig will love that I have published pictures of him…especially the ones from the hospital or should I say hospitals…He was really funny coming out of the anesthetic. He was so kind to everyone and just kept telling me how much he appreciated me taking my day to be with him. His knee is doing a lot better…He no longer has a legitimate excuse not to walk with me…however he still tries to come up with them