Excitement- Two Fold

For several months now Olivia has been wiggling her top two front teeth. She has so lamented not losing one during her entire Kindergarten year. She thought for sure when she turned 6 they would magically start falling from her mouth amid applause and sugar filled gumdrops- but the day came and went and STILL she did not lose a single tooth!! Now, with the promise that these wiggles have made, the excited has slowly been building- but then she started to become very timid about the whole "yanking them out" thing.

Olivia resides, shall we say, on the dramatic side of life. Nothing ever just happens- "STUFF HAPPENS!!" when she is involved. So, while thinking this next step in her life would just breeze by was completely crazy, think it I did-- and then I was corrected.

I say this because after all the fuss of her TOP two teeth being wiggly, two nights ago we noticed that her BOTTOM two teeth were already half way in BEHIND her baby teeth! How this happened without her knowledge, or ours, is beyond my scope of understanding. So Olivia and Paul set to work with the wiggling, jiggling, and pushing on those LOWER front two teeth.

Enter- the DRAMATICS!!! The thought of going to the dentist and having him pull them out brought wave after wave of her famous crocodile tears. However, the idea of actually "ripping them out of her skin" brought shear terror to her body and soul. Clearly they were a part of her! How could we even fathom removing something that was a part of her!! She never really wanted to lose them!! Oh, and the PAIN the HORRIBLE AWFUL EXCRUCIATING PAIN of it all!!

Little did she know, that a Paul on a mission of tooth removal is a Paul on a mission of tooth removal- there was NO way he was going to pay the dentist to do something we could do ourselves!

Enter this morning- I am upstairs, I hear a scream that rattled the shutters and threatens to blow the roof off. The next thing I know these beaming eyes of pride and elation greet me with this in hand:

Then I really don't know what happened next, what words of persuasion were given, what promises were made, but not an hour later I am greeted with an even bigger grin and twice the number of teeth in hand:

Of course all of this was only made better by the fact that we were going to Grandma's for a family lunch party and the entire Griffiths clan was there to give her high fives and congratulations!

The excitement- oh the excitement!!

Pioneer Stock Part II

You might remember last July when I made this post about my pioneer heritage. It involved my paternal line. I always get nostalgic this time of year. I like to ponder what my ancestors went through for me, how they endured, survived, thrived and enjoyed life. Today, on the eve of another Days of 47 Celebration, I would like to share a continuation of that story.

Two weeks ago we traveled north, to Cache County- Clarkston UT to be exact. It is a VERY small community on the northern boarder of Utah . We were attending the Lydia Adline Godfrey/ Andrew Heggie Griffiths family Reunion (my Great Grandparents). I have attended several of these gatherings while growing up, but not for at least 15 years. This year my Grandpa (Weldon Griffiths) was in charge of the celebration and in his planning decided he would take all the posterity on a tour of the farm land and old homestead that his father build back in 1915. My Great Aunt still lives there and opened her doors to us all and it was full of history and treasures.

Great Grandpa G. is 89 years old and the second in line of his 10 siblings- the stories he has to tell!!

We drove, a lot further out of town than I expected, out to the wheat fields.

I was surprised to learn that they had 160 acres of land in which they dry farmed for decades, right through the depression and WWII. (This picture is only made better by the fact that we all have our eyes closed!)

He shared stories of how it was done, how his days as a boy were spent laboring in these fields to the north and to the west. How it was everything to them and how being dependent on the weather helped to carve out his intense testimony and faith in the law of Tithing.

Next we traveled back into town and were able to see the old homestead, still standing after almost 100 years!! While most of it remains the same and untouched it has been updated and given modern technology like electricity and a new electric stove replacing the old wood burning one:It has all the original floors cabinets and tile work
The house now has a plumbed bathroom, but 50 paces out the back door and they still have the old outhouse:My Grandfather still thinks this is the way it should be- "smelly stuff belongs outside" he says!!

She still has the original farm table
and wash boards that they spent many hours scrubbing on
The old chicken coop still stands
Grain Shed and silo
and it even still has an old tractor hanging out!

The funnest part? These metal swings with vintage tractor seats!

I wonder if Andrew ever thought about what this home would be in 100 years. Did he wonder as he swung that hammer to drive in the nails if his Great Granddaughter would stand on the porch some day to listen about his life and share it with his Great Great Granddaughters? I hope so, and I hope this day made him smile in the same manner it made me!

Happy Pioneer Day!!

Equestrian Dreams

I have an Aunt. Her name is Wanda, she is my mother's sister. Wanda lives in Payson Utah with her family. They have horses- sweet, gentle, loving, beautiful horses. My mother has been going down to the boarding stables with Wanda several times a week this summer to work the horses, train them and then take them up in the Payson hills for long therapeutic summer rides. My mother is LOVING these horses and her time spent with them. So when she mentioned that the grandchildren should come and experience this quiet beautiful place we all jumped at the chance!

I wondered if the girls would be timid, but they took to these sweet creatures in seconds!

They started off in the small corral on "Pippin", a small Welsh pony. They learned how to hold the reins, direct the horses, get them to start by clicking their tongues and how to bring them to a stop.

Next they graduated to the bigger quarter horses "The Kid"- Honey colored, and "Burayous"(I have no idea if I spelled that correctly!)- Dark Brown.

After Abby could control Kid quite well we let her loose in the more open corral and she proved to be a natural in the saddle!
Olivia lamented that I wouldn't let her ride alone in the more open area on Kid (her very favorite!) but she was finally content to ride with me.
Eva found pure joy on the back of this very patient steed!
After all the riding we went back to Wanda's house where she had brand new baby goats for the children to pet and hold, not to mention the cats, chinchilla's, big daddy goat and a HUGE dog that my girls wouldn't go near!!

It was perfect day- it brought back many memories from when I was small riding on horseback in the Northern Mountains of California, on the Oregon border, while visiting my Grandma Harris during our summers. Those horses belonged to both my Aunt Wanda as well as my Aunt Marsha, but Wanda believes the saddle she put on Pippin today was the very one from my childhood! Now that little piece of the past made the experience all the more wonderful! We will most definitely have to do this again soon!!

In the Land of the Free

I LOVE this holiday.

I LOVE a good party.
I LOVE my family. I LOVE our Country.
I LOVE fireworks and sparklers.
I LOVE pictures.
ENJOY!!