My Girls (Minus Cyndie and Natalie)

Good-bye Old Chief :(

When you have a pet for 19 years, it's hard to not have him around anymore. Our fun little cockatiel, Chief, died on Thursday, June 4th, just after I got home from a class. I'm glad I was here to say good-bye to him as he took his last breaths. When I got home he was swaying in the corner of his cage, but he rallied enough to tell me good-bye by climbing up on his perch, whistling for me, ringing his little bell, and then putting his head through his rings and shake them around a little bit. Then he fell off the perch and died. I haven't cried so hard in a long time. I have really missed him. When the family was here for Amy's baby shower that Saturday, Ammon dug a hole and we buried him in the back yard. We all said something that we loved about him and would miss about him and then because things could have gotten pretty heavy, we all chirped or whistled one last time for him. A little while later, Makenna was outside trying to tape some paper on the ground over the grave. Tape doesn't work so well on dirt, so Andrea went out and helped her find some rocks to hold it down. Makenna has always been tender towards Chief, so she thought he needed some kind of a headstone. Cute little girl. It says, "Dear Chief, from Makenna. You will always be by me. I shure love you. You always looked forward to be nice."

Thanks for all the memories, Chief.

How much fun can I have???

It seems like the last week was just one continual round of fun. A great baby shower for Amy, Paige and Makenna and Andrea spending the night, Ammon and Natalie coming the next morning to get them, a visit with Aaron and Cyndie's family, a fun hour and 1/2 in the car with Andrea and Amy while we waited for them to clean up a wreck off the freeway, and then a 2-day road trip with Amy to Mesa, a visit with my brother, Paul's family, seeing Sam, flying home on Wed. evening, then spending a day with Anneke's family before coming home. The week before that I spent in a math class which wasn't too bad because my friends, Chelsie and Sunnie were also there, so they made it fun. I'm so lucky.

Memorial Day 2009

New Rules For School :)

A cute little girl came to school today with a 3x5 card in her hand and said, "My cousin came over last night and we made up some rules for school, so if you want to use them for our class, then you can have them." So she read them to me and I thanked her for her concern and she was really proud of them. Here they are:

1. If you hang out in the hall you will earn hall duty.
2. No running in the halls.
3. No teasing and puching and kicking.
4. No cheawing gum in class.
5. No talking back to your teacher.
6. No saying bad words.
7. Don't go out of class without permision.
8. No screaming and yelling.
(and my personal favorite):
9. Never Ever walk on your desk.


Gosh. There's only 3 weeks of school left. I hope that before they leave me and go on to 4th grade, I will be able to teach them not to walk on their desks.

Thoughts of Hans

17 years ago I lost my very best friend and the love of my life. May 2nd in 1992 was a beautiful, sunny, warm Saturday that changed my life. It has been quite the roller coaster ride. As a family, we've made it through 6 high school graduations, 3 college graduations, 5 weddings, 1 divorce, 3 missions, losing Grandma and Grandpa Bayles, Uncle Don and Uncle Dennis, wearing out several cars, selling the old home and moving into a new one, the birth of 8 beautiful little girls, and many happy and sad times. We all still love and enjoy each other and I'm grateful for that. My children and their spouses are my best friends and the greatest joy and support in my life. They are so good to me and I love them dearly. Yes, Hans, we are doing okay.

Love 'em

This is the main reason I'm okay with spring being here. I'm always a little sad to have winter leave, but tulips and daffodils make it all okay. SOMEDAY I'm going to go to Holland in the spring. It might be Holland, Michigan, but I'm going. I'm tulip crazy.