The Girls in My Life

Time flies on wings of lightning.....and I know that times like today will become rarer and more precious as time goes on. It was Saturday, September 27th, Shauna Lynn arranged for the Crockett girls to venture up to the Conference Center for Women's Conference. Of course, Hauni went to Richfield, Becca wanted to be with her mother & sister, and Candice was in "over-whelm" with too little time, so my 3 daughters and I went together. Ryan was so supportive to take little Dayton so Mary Ann could be with us. (Thank You Ryan..... these times are hard to come by.) Traffic was busy as we watched car after car full of women heading to the same place we were going. So busy that Mary Ann was tense driving. As we approached the conference center, parking became a maze of "HOW & WHERE!" We dropped Shauna & Julie Kaye off to get a seat for us, while Mary Ann & I went to park the car. Little did we know that as Mary Ann & I walked into the Conference Center it was like looking for a pin in a hay stack...for the conference center seating was a large sea of sisters & Julie Kaye & Shauna weren't standing. Julie Kaye was watching so carefully....she was sure she would see us. But Mary Ann & I walked up and down the isles searching, to no avail, Mary Ann & I took seats by strangers. Mary Ann was discouraged.....and so was Julie Kaye....but finally everyone relaxed and centered their thoughts & spirits into listening to the talks. What wonderful words of wisdom & counsel. Julie Beck and President Utchdorf were my personal favorites. I couldn't help but think of these 3 beautiful daughters I had with me and how they were truly fulfilling the desires of any righteous mother's heart. After the conference, a simple phone call and we were easily united together again. This is when I'm so grateful for the attitudes of these wonderful daughters. Mary Ann & Julie Kaye exchanged & comforted each other with their common emotional frustrations while Shauna Lynn & I walked arm in arm exchanging pleasantries. We decided to drive down to 10600 South to find somewhere to grab a bite to eat. TGI Fridays was open and free for us to come right in and set down. After the waitress took our order, I took the opportunity to share a "mother's moment" with my beautiful daughters. Their personal respect was so appreciated, as I honored them for being creators and women of forward faith. Their lives were so much in alignment with the teaching of Jesus Christ and the way they choose to decorated their homes and personal hearts brings me so much joy. They are really 3 of the finest examples of charity & womenhood that I know. (And I even made it through the entire expression without crying.....tears in my eyes of course.....but the spirit helped me to honor my girls.) The rest of the evening was filled with laugher, shareing & exchanging past memories and sampling each other's food. My daughters thanked me for sacrificing to have Grandma Price live with us so they could have their "own little nest" of wonderful & fun experiences with her.
"On the spot Julie Kaye", found the number for Mime's and called for a "after-dinner dessert pick up"....fulfilling my need for something sweet. Yummy! It was a HUGH deep chocolate browning alamoed with vanilla ice cream smothered with hot fudge and Carmel toppings. One dessert from Mime's filled us all. It was such a delightful spiritual feast together. As we rode home, we all agreed we would have never had such a delightful memory had we stayed in happy valley. One day, one friend asked another,
'How is it that you are always so happy?
You have so much energy,
and you never seem to get down.'

With her eyes smiling, she said,
'I know the Secret!'
'What secret is that?'
To which she replied,
'I'll tell you all about it,
but you have to promise to
share the Secret with others.'

'The Secret is this:
I have learned there is little I can do
in my life that will make me truly happy.
I must depend on God to make
me happy and to meet my needs.
When a need arises in my life,
I have to trust God to supply
according to HIS riches.
I have learned most of the time
I don't need half of what I think I do.
He has never let me down.
Since I learned that 'Secret', I am happy.'

The questioner's first thought was,
'That's too simple!'
But upon reflecting over her own life
she recalled how she thought a bigger house
would make her happy, but it didn't!
She thought a better paying job
would make her happy, but it hadn't.
When did she realize her greatest happiness?
Sitting on the floor with her grandchildren,
playing games, eating pizza or reading a story,
a simple gift from God.

Now you know it too!
We can't depend on people to make us happy.
Only GOD in His infinite wisdom can do that.
Trust HIM!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

"Grandma!" Echos through the air, when your grandchildren see you appear at their final soccer game of the season. Oh those days when we had 4 boys on 4 different teams and little girls in dance classes. A mother soon learns that "laying down your life for a child" has absolutely nothing to do with the delivery table. And it has everything to do to setting your personal life aside to make your child's self esteem and life the very most important. As parents, Tim and I are on the other side of those demanding day and into the days of "HOPING TO REMEMBER" that one of our grandchildren is excited for us to be their watching one of their little victories that seems so BIG. Abby was so excited that her coach left her in the game for such a long time, this week, just because she had learned to play her position properly. Abby's smile says it all!
Ben was so disgusted with himself and his playing ability because the other team had scored two goals and he hadn't even had a chance to score one! "I'm a bad player!" he moaned to me. With that, my motherhood stood on end and I said, "You are what you think you are, Ben. If you say your bad. You'll play bad! But if you think to yourself, "You're good!" You'll play good. So what are you Ben?" And with that grandmotherly advice, he turned and smiled, "I'm a good player, Grandma!" And gleefully skipped back into the game. Years from now, he'll never even remember that Grandma was even there. But for today.....I was and he listened!
Like most of life, we sit on the side line and cheer our children and grandchildren through many kinds of wins and loses. And with every word from our lips.....we hope to be instrumental in each one of their developmental changes. But the power that carries the most punch is the power to love. We love each of our children and grandchild. They are all so good and trying so hard to do their best. For Tim & I....it just remembering! When we do remember, love comes pretty easy. That's all they expect from us & it's so fun just to laugh & play and be the hero all the time. We don't carry around all the responsibility of comings and goings or keeping each one of their agenda's in place, with uniforms washed, mouths fed, and carpool pick-up in order.(Besides......there's getting too many of them! I'm good to remember birthdays and even then I slip up!)
We just need a parental reminder (Like they have nothing to do.....teehee teehhee)and we'll be there. As you grow older, you think you're going to have more time! Hah! You just have to make more time to stop what's really not important and focus on what really is. Embracing and loving those moments of being able to give and receive love.

Two Little Boys

Tim & I had 4 boys straight in a row. As each one of them came into our family, time together seemed to bind our first two (only a year apart) into becoming the best of friends and in years to come the same with the last two. They learned to share their mother's attention & time. As they grew & developed, I learned a song called, "Two Little Boys" from Tim's sister Ann. The song talked about the love between two little boys and how the older one always came to the need and rescue of the younger brother's needs. Even as they grew into adults and went off to war, The oldest boy held a "saving" responsibility.
Scott is the oldest of our 4 boys, and he often asked for me to sing, "Two Little Boys," at bedtime. I loved to lay on the bed with the boys, to tell stories and to sing. (They even used to argue over which bed I got to lay in. Busy as I always was...mother's love being needed!)"Two Little Boys" & the "Little Blue Man" were regular night time songs. Other times, I would walk into a room and witness them peacefully playing together, and my heart would instantaneously begin singing the words of the song.
These 4 little boys are not so small any more and to this day, they are still the best of friends. Each different & very individual......but each one recognizing that they have been by each other's side all of their life and are still there.
Working out with nauseated Julie Kaye each morning who is about to have her firstborn in February and Mary Ann just had her first baby boy in August has opened the pages of my early motherhood. Watching Mary Ann enjoy every move, every new development of little Dayton, and seeing every little glimpse of love she has for her newborn son has re-warmed my soul with the magic of Motherhood. There is just something so divine about the miracle of developing a complete body happening within your own. Little tiny fingers with even tinier fingernails. The tiniest of cracks that run down the middle of the tongue. Every part of our miraculous body's are formed within the inner walls of our mother's active,moving, body. And for the majority of the time, she is the only person (besides God) that is totally aware that this miraculous development process in happening. It is such a imaginable miracle and a sacrifice we should never take for granted.
Memories have flooded my mind since little Cooper came into our family. He looks so much like Scottie. And when I see him, I want to take him in my arms and dance. (Dancing was Scottie & my special time together when he was a baby.) Babies uncover the tender corners of my memory bank. A couple of years ago, I took the time to draw a picture of each one of the children in their childhood. Each drawing was a warm embrace full of flooding memories revisited with each child as each stroke of my pencil fell upon the paper. Memories only a mother has in her inner most heart-filled scrapbook. Each child born into a family is independently loved and identified. Through these memories, a mother knows and sees the inner most potential of each child because she has been apart of all the private simple moments throughout the child's development. When Scott & Candice were in their early years of marriage, I remember Candice telling me of one of her tender moments concerning a little boy coming into their family...years before little Cooper was born to her. Hardship having babies and having 3 consecutive daughters might cause one to wonder about having her little boy. Then last February, little Cooper delivered, I asked Candice about that moment so many years before. Immediately she knew exactly what I was referring to.....and her heart filled with revelation made manifest. So it is with each child born....memories attach themselves individually to each child. Magical & alive & extremely tender stored within a sacred & protected vault inside a mother's heart. There is nothing like a family to fill a wall full of memory books. I have 100's that only I can look. They are closed & held sacred with in the walls of my heart's library. My boys are all grown now. Hugs are few and far between. Each of their special wives get all their kisses & embraces and they have children of their own......writing their own books and filling their own shelves with memories. I have to step back and watch them fulfill their roll of companion & father now. My joy in seeing them be responsible creators and providing beautiful homes & a comfortable nest for their wife & children brings me great joy and fulfillment. And yet, no matter how big their bodies get (for they are ALL big tall men now), or how many new folks attach themselves into their busy lives,....within me are those sacred memories of when I was their queen bee. I had the honor of bringing them into this life, being their "nursing mother" throughout their developing years. I was the lady they needed to learn their a-b-c's, fix their breakfast, lunch & dinner, kiss their wounds, wipe their tears, laugh at their funnies, help them with their homework, attend every event of success, write every talk they gave or save them from the monsters of adversity and my memories are very much alive in my scrapbook of time. And when they take time to stop for a moment to look into my eyes, or to read between the lines of my words of appreciate & love or even remember that their hugs were what keep my heart beating when they were young......they sometimes turn around and hug me now. And today, their hugs even feel better and have to last much longer because they're so much harder to come by.

The Gift of Music

As a young child I can remember waking up to the sound of FM 100's soft morning melodies. I knew mother was up & busy in the kitchen fixing our families morning breakfast. Now I'm almost 60 years old, and my favorite thing to do each morning is to turn up the volume and hear the sounds of soft familiar melodies echo through the house as I do my morning chores. Music is like a healing relaxing Tylenol to my soul.
Saturday, the 20th of September, Bob & Katie Beecher invited to go to Salt Lake City with them to attend the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music presentation, "An American Songbook." Knowing that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would be apart of this presentation......and just wanting to be with our good friends, Bob & Katie....we jumped at the opportunity. (We were suppose to go up to "The Pantry" at the Lion House for dinner prior....but B.Y.U. vs Wyoming traffic curtailed that quickly!) So Bob & Katie stopped at our house on their way home from Richfield and we grabbed some fresh produce from the garden, grilled a piece of chicken, and ate at home. (Much cheaper & guaranteed in-take!) Then we battled the traffic over the point of the mountain and into Salt Lake.
The spirit of the conference center is a treat in & of itself. It's so beautiful! Everything about this evening reeked of quality & excellence. With the large screens off to each side of center stake that would zoom in on the personal expressions of the performers.....it felt so intimate. The Utah Symphony completely filled the front portion of the stage along with flowers behind them & to the side. Their back drop were the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the ladies were dressed in teal blue formals & the men in their tucks. And they had invited Denyce Graves and Brian Stokes Mitchell as guest performers.


Are there words to express the memories of that evening. Never! From the National Anthem to memorable love songs. The richness of harmony as voices blended, strings vibrated through your soul and the spirit whispered, "This is pleasing to heaven & to earth." My heart melted as the rich bass voice of Brian S. Mitchell sang the "Impossible Dream" from Man of LaMancha. He could have sung it over and over again and I could have enjoyed every word and every note again and again and again. President Thomas S. Monson was always the first to his feet with resounding applause after each song. And his great example would lift the entire auditorium to regular standing ovations of excellence.
What a wonderful treat for Tim & I. Thank you, Bob & Katie for this heart felt gift.

I've Waited All My Life to Be a Grandma!!!

Little Dayton Ryan Ahlstrom joined our family on August 7, 2008. He took his mother through a LONG labor & then tried to hang himself by his umbilical cord. Scared everyone to death! Davy put his name into an easy-remember theme: "It took him a day to get here and he weighed a ton....thus....Dayton!" But he's a bright eyed, spiky hair, good sleeping little guy now. Mary Ann is a "true mother" with already hundreds of photographs and excitingly memorizing every move little Dayton makes with the joy only a true mother comprehends. Ryan makes him smell everything his Dad puts in his mouth so when he grows up he'll have an instant passion for good food. Not to mention that Ryan practices boxes with Dayton on a regular bases. This proud Daddy loves to show his new son off at every and any function......yea even down at BYU to his accounting buddies. In November Becca & Davy will add another Crockett member to our family and Travis & Julie Kaye are preparing a little spirit to come in February. With Cooper (Scott & Candice's handsome son)and these 3 new ones, the Crockett Clan will have 4 in one year again! Yahoo! These choice little spirits with their dynamic parents......I'm in Heaven right here on Earth. Just 3 years ago, Allie, Samantha,Elle, and Max Crockett all arrived in a one year span. Now our second set of 4 will have their cousins to play with. And the magic of "Traditions!" Well, we'll have to enlarge the counter space and boil more eggs for the annual Easter Egg Coloring with Grandma. Good thing I bought extra Easter Buckets.....because the Easter Egg & Basket Hunt are going to put me in the poor house. Good thing Easter and Halloween are so many months apart! Between Easter Baskets & the annual Halloween Pinata Grandma can save up to buy the filling!Grandma is so wicked.....she highlights and celebrates the two biggest pagan holiday on the face of this Earth! Oh well, Love doesn't have a boundary & fun doesn't come too easy for Grandma....so whatever excuse I need......I've got to jump on it. Memories with these little people holds a very high priority for me. If they know I love them, they'll listen to me when they need a friend & hopefully they'll allow me to teach them & be their friend. Besides.....they'll know Grandma's not wicked even if she always wears a witches costume on Halloween.
One thing I love to create for my grandchildren are picture coloring books. Every child loves to color and why not color yourself, your cousin, your parents. It's so much more exciting & holds the child's interest longer. (Not to mention....emphasising the rule "Neatness HAS to Matter" is easier) This is Samantha at her brother Ben & her sister Abby's soccer game. Samantha's such a delight. Her natural curly hair and her broad smile is like a magnet for love. Right now she reigns as the youngest of Davy & Becca's children. (Jacob comes in October & she'll gain rank!) But right now she has herself wrapped tightly around Davy's little finger and gets pretty much everything she begs for. Taking a photograph into a Coloring Book page is usually programed on your camera's download disk. Go to Edit, select fun effects, and Coloring Book is right there. It's good to zoom in and enlarge the child's face so the spaces are large enough for a crayon.

Chase Crockett is Baptized

Sam was our first grandchild to be baptized by his Dad Alan & confirmed by Uncle Scott two years ago in Littleton Colorado. Then came Princess Abigail was baptized by her Dad, David on her birthday last January. August 30th carried the Crockett Clan to Colorado again to witness Chase's baptism. Chase's favorite Nintendo partner was asked to comfirm him.....that was Uncle Aaron. It's always a treat to have a reason to gather your family together and Karen & Alan have been willing to open their home to this chaos 3 times now. They both put a lot of effort to make plans and get ready for the "Crickett's" to decend upon them. And by the time everyone leaves.....Karen is praying for Seagulls. But all 3 gatherings have been wonderful: Once for Sam's baptism, another May gathering just to be together last year, and then this year for Chase's celebration. The treat this year was to have his Grandma & Grandpa Hunter join us! (Seeings that they have served 3 consecutive temple missions in Sweden over the past few years.) Ann is always a welcome support to Karen, but Aarl has to go through a lot of harrasment dealing with the Redwoods in the Crockett Clan!
Baptism takes but a few minutes. The comfirmation about the same. And yet these two ordinances if used and applied can alter and change the course of a man's life. It an ordinance of committing to live good, be clean, and cleanse & change to become better. Aunt Shauna gave a talk relating to Chase how his baptism was like a ball game and how to hit a home run to get back into the presence of Heavenly Father again after this life. Aunt Julie Kaye talked about how recieving the Holy Ghost can become a literal part of you if you use Him and when you don't you feel His influence disconnect from you......but it take contiual practice....just like playing soccer.....the more you play, the better you become.

Chase is a perfect name for him. He's been fast and on the run since he was born and everyone in this family has chased after him. It’s no wonder he falls down, get hurt or break bones.......there is just too much life out there and Chase wants to experience all of it. I love to watch him play sports because he's so determined, focused and gives his absolute all. His broad smile and forgiving heart are as contagious as Uncle Davy’s. He's so willing, smart, and face adversity with such courage. And like Uncle Scottie & his Dad, he's been a great younger brother to Sam and an exemplary older brother to Conner & Elle. “Sometimes it’s takes more strength to be the follower,” was a song Aunt Candice wrote about Alan & it certainly applies to Chase. Chase is very sensative and tender. When he hurts, he hurts deep and it's usually at those times, he's the easiest to teach. His place in your family is perfect. Chase, even though he's two years younger than Sam....he plays hard and plays UP to be equal to his older brother. As a Grandmother, I hope Chase never questions who he is or why he's been sent into this the dispensation. He has a very sacred mission and he's an elect Son of God.
The family had ward & soccer friends over after the baptism to mingle and socialize. After about an hour, Chase came up to his mother and said, "Mom, I think I'm finished with my friends now. I want to do my book!" Needless to say, we were all touched by his reverence to have "HIS" special testimony meeting. "The Book" was created for Sam's baptism. It has pictures of each one/couples of the Crockett family along with each of their personal testimonies about baptism. We sit in a big circle and the book passes from one to the next, each reading their testimony to Chase. Chase wanted to feel our love and he wanted us to cry. Each time one of us did, he cried right along with us. (David repremanded this Grandma because I always cry too much and so I had Julie read mine......David said "From now on, you have to read your own!" Guess they figure that will force me to keep my testimony short!) But this experience is a spiritual high for me. It's not often you get to hear all of your children bear their personal witness.
Sunday, after Sacrament Meeting, everyone packed up and went down to Sedalia (30 minutes south) to Uncle Mike's & Aunt Kathy Price's house. Their quiet tranquil mansion suddenly went from peace and quiet into piano playing, children running, and laughter and play among the grown ups. Their beautiful home accommodated everything perfectly. Aunt Kathy filled her arms with new little Dayton and Uncle Mike took off on the 4 wheeler with Sam to have some one on one together. Mike & Kathy are both such gracious hosts to such a mob and we had a wonderful time with them.

Mother of Too Many Words

When I told my daughter, Julie Kaye that I was starting a Blog, she told me, "Mom, your only allowed pictures with captions because you write too much and too long!" That was very encouraging but then my Granddaughter, Abby asked her mother is she had seen my volumes of journals. She thought them wonderful and this will be a good way for me to keep them going.

Since my missionaries have all gotten home, I find it very difficult to "give myself permission to take the time" to write about myself and my life. Having seven missionaries.......they all loved to have a letter in their mail box, that were filled with love and up-dates them on every movement of the family. For them (with the exception of Alan) they loved getting 2-4 page letters. Now, they tease me royally for writing WAY too much. Other friends have admonished me to write a book! (Guess they figured that would be a great way to get all my words out!) But then Abby would just tell them to go to my wall of journals. My excuse for my journaling has always been: "The family will have a good fire for marshmallow roasting when I depart this world!"

So here comes Mindless Madness for after Midnight from the computer of Syd Crockett! Hang on! Read what you want! Skip what you want, and sign out anytime you're ready. Please.......never take offense and for sure have fun with my misuse of word, poorly constructed sentences and everything else dealing with the English language that has never attached itself to my brain! (My family torments me constantly......so I'm pretty much used to it!) I just write what I'm thinking when I'm thinking or feeling it. Mary Ann & Ryan's little guy & I agree that having fun with word is mesmerizing!
In my life time, I have come to realize that everyone born to this life is writing their own book. A library of volumes that fills the entire earth. No two are the same.......ever! Much like driving up and down streets in a city: 100's of houses on both sides of the street. Many of them obviously different in kind, color & style. Others are built in sets of threes or fours, repeating the same floor plan yet painted different colors on the outside to create a sense of difference. Now step inside each home and the owners personality takes on it's own identity & is significantly different. There may be common rooms but decorations, motif, furniture, manner of cleanliness, and mood are completely different. We are divinely created to be individually different. If we want to know someone.....take time to read their personal book. That takes persoanl time & investment. Their pages of "their" time & events make them uniquely different. As a child, I learned a great deal from the saying, "Never judge an Indian until you have walked in his moccasins." Yet it has taken me a life time to truly understand it.

With that explanation: I welcome you to meet & come to know "Syd Crockett!"