Spencer, Braeburn and the Cherry Pie Filling

Elder Braeburn is doing marvelously in England.  He sent a letter to Mr. Bechtel several weeks ago that included this hilarious vignette from his past life, aka, "pre-mission".  

I include it here for posterity.

(the characters: Spencer and Braeburn)

"Now for a long anecdote:

Once Spencer and I were marauding in the middle of the night and we found ourselves beneath a highway bridge.  There, seemingly randomly we discovered a neatly stacked pyramid of canned cherry pie filling.  We were exceedingly astonished until we deduced that this must be the cache of some homeless guy who was off doing some marauding himself.  Ever since then, we have regarded cherry pie filling as the food of last-ditch desperation.  

When we were out hitchhiking Spencer produced a can with flourish and announced that we were now prepared for the worst.  When the bottom fell out of our lives, we would have the appropriate comfort food.  Fortunately, of course, we never found ourselves in a position that desperate, so the can remained unopened.

Today I learned that Spencer brought this very can along on his mission.  Ha ha.  He hasn't opened it yet, which is a good sign.  In fact, he says that he hopes he never has to open it, but that the can will just stand as a reminder that "things can always get worse".  Classic Spencer.  This is the same guy who packed bread, peanut butter, jam and a butter knife for his food on The Great American Adventure.  I can easily imagine him lugging around canned food with him from transfer to transfer.

I feel like a pretty lucky guy.  I've had a great life so far.  Thanks for making it that way :) ".

Since Mr. Bechtel and I love Spencer like one of our own kids, I was thrilled to hear this story.  I especially love it that Braeburn was "exceedingly astonished".  Good Book of Mormon phrase!   But as the mom, I am pleased they are now putting all this adventuring spirit to some good work on their missions. 

Love you boys!

Truly Educated

This is one of my favorite pictures of Golden Delicious.  

I took it one quiet afternoon while she was washing her tea set after serving her dolls tea.

Several years later, Braeburn saw this picture (he was 11 or so then). 

 He looked at it for a long time and then said, "I would like to have a day like this day today."

I also love the feeling of this picture.

I think Braeburn meant that he would like to have the feeling of being with someone pleasant, doing something quiet and enjoyable in the warm sunlight.

That is the feeling Golden Delicious gives all of us:  peace, light, and serenity.

Now she is down at BYU and we miss her.

  I find myself wishing that as a mom I could smooth all the rough spots for her and let all her days be filled with sweet happiness always.  The education we give our children in our homes is so much more important than anything they get anywhere else. 

 I happened to read an essay in, A Different Kind of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto on some things a real education should include.  I happen to agree with all of them:

The Educated Person

1.  An educated person writes his own script through life.  He is not a character in anyone else's play, nor does he mouth the words of any intellectual's fantasy.  He is self-determined.

2.  Time does not hang heavily on an educated person's hands.  He can be alone.  He is never at a loss for what to do with time.

3.  And educated person knows his rights and knows how to defend them.

4.  An educated person knows the ways of the human heart; he is hard to cheat or fool.

5.  And educated person possesses useful knowledge;  how to build a house, a boat, how to grow food, etc.

6.  An educated person possesses a blueprint of personal value, a philosophy.  This philosophy tends toward the absolute; it is not plastic or relative, altering to suit circumstances.  Because of this an educated person knows at all times who he is, what he will tolerate, where to find peace.  But at the same time an educated person is aware of and respects community values and strange values.

7.  An educated person can form healthy attachments wherever he is because he understands the dynamics of relationships.

8.  An educated person accepts and understands his own mortality and its seasons.  He understands that without death and aging nothing would have any meaning.  An educated person learns from all his ages, even from the last minutes of his life.

9.  An educated person can discover the truth for himself.  He has intense awareness of the profound significance of being, and the profound significance of being here.

10.  An educated person can figure out how to be useful to others, and in trading time, insight, and service to meet the needs of others, he can earn the material things he needs to sustain a wholesome life.

11.  An educated person has the capacity to create new things, new experiences, new ideas.

Hang in there Golden Delicious!

Like Grandpa always says, "Don't let school interfere with your education!"

Flat Tops

The Fonbuenas put on a small fashion show with the kids' hats.  

They looked super!

Lindsey:

Ben:

 

The Lone Ranger, oops, I mean Spencer

Leslie

The 3 L's, also the Beautiful Buckaroos.

On the River

Ahh...  I plan to look at these pictures this winter and remember how perfect an evening it was!

Labor Day 2013

We had a wonderful time up in Island Park with the Fonbuenas over Labor Day.  We missed Braeburn and Lauren, who are both on missions.  We spent as much time on the river as possible.

Here are the players:  The Young 'uns.  (they are now 11 - horrors!)

The Newlyweds:  Jay and Leslie

The Girls

The Twins!

and The Moms.

Visiting Carlisle Ranch

We drove over to Star Valley to spend the morning with Carlisles at their ranch.  We have missed them since they moved to Logan and it was great to see them again.

Granny Smith was especially delighted to play with little Jack.  They raced off and spent the morning paddling in the boat and jumping into the pond.

Our favorite part of the ranch is the sheep camp.

The inside of the camps are so cool and the Spy Twins love imagining camping out in them for the summer.

This is the outdoor cooking and eating area.

And the front of the main cabin.  I wish we could figure out a way to live over there.  It would be a dream come true!  But!  That is probably not going to happen, so we'll just enjoy visiting.

The Future Bunkhouse!

We have decided to change the chicken coop into a bunk house.  This summer skunks and hawks have demolished our flock of 30 down to 2.  These last two birds refuse to enter the coop and roost on the jeep and suburban at night instead.  

I was getting tired of having chicken you know what all over my sidewalks, and chickens taking dust baths in all my flower beds, so this seemed a good time to change things.  

The boys have poured a cement floor and will put in insulation, walls and ceiling soon.  I have the terribly hard job of sewing curtains and choosing paint.  :)   I couldn't resist choosing this fabric with the roosters on it: paying homage to previous owners!  The little bunkhouse should be quite cozy when we get it finished.  

More Family Reunion

I tried to capture a few candid photos.  Grandma W played a trivia game with everyone.  During the questions about the early years, only the older kids knew the answers.  Aunt April said to me, "I wasn't even alive when any of this happened!"

Sarah, Joshua, and James

John answering a question.

Everyone again.. back, left to right:  Josh, James, Robert, John, Joseph

Laura, Sarah, Grandma and Grandpa W, Debbie, April.

Amy and baby Emma Kate with Golden Delicious

Laura and Sarah

Debbie and baby with Robert and Laura

James and his wife Nichelle.  Nichelle is an awesome singer and guitar player!

The Big Family Reunion

Mr. Bechtel's family had a reunion several Saturdays ago.  We ended up stopping at Smith and Edwards on the way down.  They had so many great hats!  We ended up buying 4!

But we didn't get this one on Prairie.

The sombrero was also very popular with Granny Smith.  Golden got this hat and then had the guy behind the counter shape it for her.  Then we bought a concho to go on it too.

It was fun to get together with Mr. Bechtel's family.  All the siblings were there except Christine and Nancy.

Grandpa W. talked for a minute to everyone.  He spoke about one of the missing siblings and his career with the USDA.  He also bore a very nice testimony.

Here are the siblings (from R to L, which is oldest to youngest)

Joseph, John, Debbie, Robert, Laura, April, James, Sarah, Joshua

Ranch Fever

I look at lots of ranches.  This one is still my favorite.  I wrote earlier about how it just sold, and it's true.  Someone bought it, and it was not me.  But just so I remember all the lovely parts of the Corral Creek Ranch, here are my favorite parts:

The pond.  It needs a canoe and little children paddling around.  Also the bunkhouse in the background.  You've got to have a bunkhouse.

All the living area in one big room.  I could totally curl up on that couch and read a book while the fireplace crackled merrily and life hummed along happily.

One of the bedrooms.  It looks so cozy!

The other bedroom.  What a great little stove!

And the kitchen.  I love the way the sunlight slants in.  I could have my big red dutch oven simmering on the stove top, and some bread raising on the counter.  So fun!

Inside the bunkhouse.  I love the rows of books and the loft overhead.

Someday.  Someday.

Swimming Lessons

After waaaay too many years, we again did swimming lessons at Green Canyon.  The kids and I all have such good memories of going up there, and Granny was so little last time, it was time to go again.

Granny had a marvelous time and was a little shark all week long.  

We got up early in the morning, filled our water bottles, packed a snack, blankets and pillows, and drove up.  His class started at 8.

On Wednesday Golden Delicious and the Spy Twins came up too.  After lessons we built a fire and cooked hot dogs for our lunch and then everyone went swimming for the afternoon.

It seems like there is always road construction on that road.  While we were stopped this time waiting, we remembered years ago being stopped also, and the person in front of us falling asleep and not going when it was time.  G.D. said, "mom, we're always listening to NPR too while we're driving up here.  Remember once when we were driving up here and they did this whole segment on wild goats eating all the forage on an island?"  Amazingly, we all remembered!

This time the big adventure was that in all the road construction, I missed the road I should have been driving on, and instead rumbled off onto the "under construction" side.  I was buzzing along and the boys said, "Uh, Mom!  That guy over on the road is yelling at you."  I stopped and rolled down my window and heard him saying, "Ma'am!  Ma'am!  You're going to have to turn around!  There's heavy equipment on that road!"

So, I turned around.  We decided, though, that we totally could have made it!

Looking good Granny Smith!