To California for Preston's Baptism

It is always so thrilling as grandparents to see your grand children making wise choices.  Preston, who is John and Alison's son, chose to be baptized, so George and I headed for California to be part of his special day.

 As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), we have been instructed by the Prophets that all worthy young people should be baptized at the age of eight years of age and then be confirmed to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

To watch a short video about the importance of this sacred covenant, click on the link below.

The Importance of Baptism and Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost 

Preston is such a grown-up young man who always works his hardest at everything he does!  Plus--he's a lot of fun to be around!

He is adored by his three oldest brothers.

Plus, he is certainly loved by his Grandpa and Grandma Copeland who came from Florida to be part of the special day and . . .

and his Grandpa and Grandma Wilde who came from Utah.

Preston, also, had some of his Wilde cousins, and of course, his brothers Parker and Tyson.

John and Alison with three of the four sons:  Parker, Preston, and Tyson.  The oldest son, Bracken, is on a Mormon mission to Australia Sydney North mission speaking Chinese.  He surely did want to be here for this, but sent a beautiful letter to his little brother.

In his letter, Bracken told the story of a fox who had fleas on his back from wallowing around in the dirt.  He went to the river and only dipped in the water up to his knees, but the fleas just climbed to his tail.  So the next time, he went all the way under the water, and this time he got all the fleas off.  This is the same way with our sins.  We must be immersed all the way under the water to remove our sins.  Such a great example of baptism by immersion and his cousin had drawn all the pictures which were just fantastic!  While Parker was telling the story at the baptism, Alison held up the picture that went with the story.  We all loved it! 

Grandpa and Grandma Wilde

After the baptism, Preston hurried to change his clothes and many of us went to the gymnasium where he had a basketball game. 

His team really runs hard and plays great defense.  You can tell how hard they played.  Preston's face is really red!  Their team won!

Preston is a year younger than the other kids on the team, but he certainly can play with them.  We felt so bad to miss the great opportunity this little team had of playing an exhibition game at the Warriors Stadium a day after we had to go home.  This was like a dream come true for Preston who absolutely lives and breathes Warriors!

Preston with his two grandpas.

You can see that Preston really had a big group of fans watching him play!

After the game, we went back to John and Alison's home where John did his specialty of fixing yummy hamburgers, hotdogs, and salmon patties.  Delicious!

While they were waiting for the food, the kids had an absolute ball swimming.  The water wasn't the warmest, but they didn't care!

We then went inside for desserts and presents time.

This was sort of a belated birthday, plus baptism day celebration.

But the present that Preston was the most proud of was his scriptures which had his name engraved on them. . .

Plus the really cool case he got to keep them in.  Yes, I would say that Preston had a day to remember!

Another day we were in California, we got to watch Tyson play a Lacrosse game.  That is one mean sport!  Grandpa and I are still trying to figure it out, but we love to watch our grand kids in all their activities, and slowly but surely, we are catching on to this sport by watching some of our grand kids play it.  It's lots of action and very exciting!

On Sunday, we went to church and there hanging on the wall, was Bracken's missionary plaque with his favorite scripture.  We are so proud of how hard he is working in Australia!

This is Preston's Primary Class at church, along with his teachers.

And here is Preston with his Bishop.

Another day we watched another of Preston's games.  It was a heart-breaker because a kid on the opposing team threw in the winning basket with two seconds left!

We loved just hanging out with the kids at their beautiful home. 

And for some reason, wherever George would go, Rosco followed!  He has such a way with dogs!  Hah!

When we were here in November, the beautiful fall foliage was out.  But now that it was spring, we just ooohed and awed over the fantastic budding trees and flowering bushes everywhere!

John and Alison's yard was all decked out with so many beautiful spring colors!

On our final day in California, Alison, George, and I went to the Oakland Temple to do temple work there.  It is such a beautiful setting, and we love it there!

After doing the temple work, we always like to eat in their cafeteria.  The food is made fresh and of course, George loves to get the ice cream there!

Yes, we had such a wonderful time in California with the Wilde's and all we were able to do there.  I will miss the wake-up call from all the turkeys that come down the hill in the early morning--you can hear the gobble gobble and quickly run to the window to see the spectacle!  I think I counted 36 of them!

They just took over the street and yards! 

They seemed to love the Wilde's yard the best!  They just ate $50 worth of flowers! 
And after eating all they could find and depositing all sorts of little residue on the yard and sidewalks . . .

they all headed back up the hill awaiting a new day to make their return!  So funny and enjoyable to us, but not to those who live here!  They are the ones who have to clean up after those turkeys and pay for all the damage they do!

Thanks, John and Alison, Parker, Tyson, and Preston!  As usual, we loved our stay with you and appreciate all your many kindnesses!  An again, we are so proud of you, Preston, on your baptism!  Just keep making great goals!

Haven't Disappeared Off the Edge of the Earth Yet!

No, I haven't disappeared off the edge of the earth yet, but I feel like I have disappeared from society.  Some days I don't even get out of the house until George gets home.  Why?  I have been going through boxes of pictures, papers, and memorabilia in preparation for our move to Washington--State, that is!  Yes, I think we have finally made our decision of where we will go after George retires on March 13th! 

This is the type of items I have been going through.  I truly have so many memories, and I just can't part with any of it!  So, I've been trying to organize everything in files and boxes to return many items to the kids so their children can enjoy them.

And we've been going through boxes to try to get the least amount of "stuff" to take clear across the United States!

 George has helped on Saturdays because he's still working and that puts me as the major box packer.

 And in our backyard, I don't know what is louder--the hammers and sawing of all the workers putting in over 30 houses in our sub-division or the squawking of the geese who are so bothered about what is happening to their fields to run free in.  This was THEIR home, they thought!

 Yes, everything is changing around here!

For Valentine's Day, I actually had a Valentine's Week.  First George took me to dinner and then to the "Piano Guys" concert.  Absolutely one of the best concerts I have ever been to!  If they ever come to your town, DEFINITELY go!!!  It was so entertaining, we both hated it to end.  There was such a happy feeling as everyone left the auditorium--such good, clean fun!!!

 Then, George called Elda and asked her to meet him at their parents' grave site.  Their father was born in January and their mother was born in March, so it was a great time in February to celebrate both of their birthdays. 

 We then showed Elda where their Grandpa George and Grandma Linnie's graves were.  She never knew or had seen their graves before, so it was great for her to go there.

 She and Malcolm surprised us with giving us symphony tickets for the Valentine's concert of love songs such as the ones from "Les Miserables'," "Phantom," "Romeo and Juliet," "West Side Story," etc.  Absolutely the best!  These were our seats--right in the middle and down so close.  We loved the entire concert!  There was a guest conductor who made everything so fun, plus a male singer who had played both the lead parts in Les Mis and Phantom on Broadway.  Plus, the female singer was an opera singer from Dallas who was able to handle the Broadway songs very easily and beautifully.  They made a wonderful couple to sing these beautiful songs.  So you can see, I had a great break from all the boxes and papers!

 Now, as our days our winding down before we leave Florida, we are both getting very nostalgic.  I will be the first to admit I came kicking and screaming when I left Utah.  I really had no desire to move to Florida.  Now, over 21 years later, I'm really having a hard time leaving.  We took our Diet Cokes and Wendy's Frosties over to our favorite little Spring Park to just enjoy the evening there one more time.

 And George is having a real hard time leaving the District.  He has so enjoyed his 19 years there as Asst. Superintendent for Business Affairs.   

 At his last Board Meeting which was in February, the Superintendent gave him a wonderful tribute and presented him with a special gift.  If you would like to watch this, click on the link below:

Clay County Schools February School Board Meeting

 (Move the bar to 40:19 to where the presentation is made.)

It really made George feel so happy.  He was given a standing ovation and so many kind words.  Yes, he's going to miss his days at the District, but hopefully this next chapter of our lives will be full of doing good for others through serving, enjoying our kids and grand kids, and seeing more of the world.

Next post:  George's Retirement Party 

To Washington--State, that is!

I always love to tend the grand kids when asked because it gives me the opportunity to spend more time with them since they all live so far away from us.  Kent and Natalie planned a trip to Hawaii for six days, so I flew to Washington to stay with Ethan and Ella.  George came up three days later.  I didn't take a lot of pictures, but wanted to record some of the special memories I'll have there:

I love staying in Cannon's room.  Although he never was able to sleep in here because his little bed was always beside his parents, this bedroom has everything that reminds us of Cannon.

 Natalie has done such a great job of placing the many items that touch your heart with memories of Cannon.  I especially love the tiny hand print in the little brown square above the "I love you to the moon and back" sign.  Cannon always had the softest little skin and we all loved to cuddle with him.

 So many special remembrances have been given from wonderful, loving family members and friends.

For two entire days, George and I were able to watch Ethan in the Martin Luther King Tournament held in Yakima.  We were in heaven.  It reminded us of the many hours we watched our five boys at their athletic events.  We loved it!

George was in his heyday as Ethan would always come up to George after a game and ask, "Now, what do I need to work on Grandpa?"  George coached our sons for so many years, and if truth be known, I know he would love to get back into coaching truly motivated kids like this again!

One of the games was on Sunday, but we were so proud of Ethan.  He chose to attend church instead, but fortunately his team won, so we continued to be undefeated when day three was played which was the semi-finals and finals on Monday.

And after three hard-fought days, Ethan's team, "The Rebels," came away with FIRST PLACE!!!

I don't think I've seen a group of young players play more as a team than this team did.   They are such good sports and work to get it off to the one in the best situation to score at that time.  No one tries to "showboat," because they work so well together!  That makes winners!

Yes, Grandpa and I were pretty proud of our Ethan boy!

And Ella was such a great "helper" girl.  I really appreciated all she did to help me out at home.

 And I definitely saw this a lot as I dropped Ella off to her dance lessons which she takes three or four nights a week.  Wish I could have taken pictures of the dance class, but parents (and grandparents) can only sit on chairs in the lobby and watch on a tiny little TV.  When she would come home, we would work on skills that she needed a little extra help with such as cartwheels and back bends.  Although I can't do them myself, we worked on them from tutorials on the internet.  Thank goodness for those!  One night, Ethan decided to show Ella how easy cartwheels were.  Ella and I had a pretty good laugh about his attempts.  Yes, he may be able to hit three-pointers from anywhere, but he definitely needs more work on his cartwheels!  Hah!

As you can see, we had a great time in Washington with Kent and Natalie's kids.  We were able to spend about a day and a half with Kent and Natalie after they got back, then we headed for the airport nine days later, getting up at 4:00 a.m. to make the 6:00 a.m. flight home.