Season of Gratitude

Our family just celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, complete with family, friends, and delicious food. We are indeed grateful for the abundance with which we have been blessed. We're also grateful that we've enjoyed such a peaceful weekend compared to this time last year.

We thank Grandma Tsukamoto and the Wallis family, who joined us for our turkey dinner this year. We ate and ate and ate some more. Then we visited, played, and were enlightened by Mr. Bean's Holiday. Vive la France!

We thank the children for giving us all the joys (and challenges) that come from being parents.

We're thankful for hair! It appears it's time for all the girls to donate to Locks of Love. Meanwhile, Dallin is trying hard to grow some of his own. (Sorry Amelia, but we HAD to include this photo for your sake...)

We thank Prasad and Gaya for a delicious Sri Lankan dinner they brought over to our house Saturday night. And they let us keep all the leftovers! (Ian was the photographer for this photo, and Dallin was napping.)

And we thank our independent, energetic, and strong-willed cat girl for not cutting any more of her own hair and for not having any more accidents requiring stitches.

Epilogue: What happens when Dad puts children to bed

Autumn Park Days & Sewing Projects

First off, I would like to vent my frustrations working with Windows Movie Maker. AAAARGH!!! Thank you Jay, for offering a suggestion that actually worked (found in the first 1.5 minutes of his video). If not, then this post would have been delayed even longer. I think I've been trying to make the movie for about 3 days now.

Now, for your viewing enjoyment, we present Park Playtime:

Did anyone notice Dallin's fuzzy new fleece? It was made especially for him by moi, who luckily has fewer frustrations with my "new" sewing machine than with Windows Movie Maker. We have a sewing machine story too. My 25+year-old Singer machine died right after making Halloween costumes. We took it apart and cleaned and oiled it after which the hand wheel still refused to turn smoothly. We looked at sewing machines around town and on the internet and found an awesome deal on eBay for a used older model Pfaff that cost only a little bit more than the repair quote we got for my old machine. Plus the Pfaff has a few features my old one lacked. Kevin got it as an early Christmas present for me. I feel so spoiled!

End result: New fleece romper and hat for Dallin for the cold Logan weather!

It's a bit big, but he's growing fast.

New Booties!
(and more in the making--I found a use for leftover fleece scraps)

Here is one of the new features on my sewing machine: the overlock stitch!

It stitches and finishes the hem all at the same time. I love it!

As with everything else I try to do with a newborn, sewing projects now take 4 times as long to complete. Stay tuned for photos of the children's pajama pants which will be finished one of these days...

Dallin's Blessing Day

We were finally able to get extended family together for Dallin's baby blessing. In our Church, a baby blessing is typically given by the baby's father. Other Priesthood holders can also be invited to join in the ordinance. After our meetings, we met at the house for dinner and socializing.

Three Generations:
Kevin V. Young, Dallin T. Young, Randall K. Young

Dallin was a happy boy all day long!
Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Young, for the darling outfit.

Dallin with his favorite Aunt Andrea and Uncle Tyler
(well...they are the only aunt and uncle he's met so far...
all the others live far, far away)

Dallin posing with Great Aunt Nancy, Grandma Tsukamoto, and Pseudo Auntie Chris

Thank you to all who made the long drive here to share this day with us.

What Happens When Dad is Out of Town

Evening of Day 1:

Megan is practicing the piano. Ian is trying to write email messages to his friends and asking how to spell every other word. Erin is playing in the bathtub. Dallin is in his bouncer chair, but not too happy about it, during which time Mom is trying to make some dinner.

Mom enters bathroom to wash Erin and get her out so the family can eat dinner. She observes a naked 4-year-old streaking back to the tub and quickly climbing in with an extremely guilty look upon her face. "What are you doing?" Mom asks.

Silence...

A glance around the room reveals locks of wet curly hair--some lying on the floor, some in the garbage can, and some on the toilet--and the haircutting scissors lying on the counter. (Mom had given Dad a haircut before he left for his conference and the box of haircutting supplies hadn't been returned to the cabinet yet. Oops.)

Mom overreacts, takes away Erin's computer game and movie privileges for the week, and gives her a stern lecture about 4-year-olds not cutting their own hair (keep in mind it has been a LONG, HARD day as a single parent, and Mom could have used a 4-hour nap 2 hours ago). Erin ends up in tears and Mom feels like the world's worst parent. Meanwhile Megan is now holding a fussing Dallin and Ian is asking what all the commotion is about.

Mom apologizes to Erin and asks her how much hair she wanted to cut off. Erin replies, "This much," and indicates about 1/2-inch space between her fingers. Mom takes the scissors and cuts off 2 inches of the remaining hair to try to even things out, thinking how adorable Erin looked just yesterday with two braids and lamenting the fact she didn't take a photo. Megan says, "I guess I shouldn't laugh, but I think this is pretty funny."

Later, when Dad calls to say "good night," Erin tells him that he needs to come home and see her short hair. He hears the story and laughs too.

Four more days to go...Mom needs help gaining a sense of humor.

Silly Erin showing off her new haircut

A Tale of Many Mice and a Dog and a Hamster

What is going on???
After 2 months, I thought I was in charge!

Well, here's the story: This morning, Dad came running in from the back yard shouting that Yuki had gotten into the mice. Uh oh! Everyone abandoned me and went outside to survey the damage. It was pretty bad. I can't tell you about it because I didn't see it, but Megan was in tears and Yuki was in BIG TROUBLE.

Then Dad decided that he needed to get some more mice from a pet store to replenish our breeding population. So tonight he went to a store near Ogden with my sisters while I went with Ian and Mom to Karate class. They returned with a big cage FULL OF MICE!!!

Dad says that we'll sell half of them now to our anxious customers and use the others for breeding. Whatever...I don't even know why we have mice--I wasn't alive yet when all this started. Oh, and we also somehow ended up with a new hamster. She's almost as CUTE as I am. Her name is Ginger.

Next time I'd better go with Dad to the pet store to keep him under control...

Another Family History Moment

HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA BROWN!

Mary Ethel Carlston entered this world on 1 November 1908 in Fairview, Utah, the first of six children born to James Albert and Etta May Hamilton Carlston. This is the earliest photo we have of her.

When she was four years old, her family moved to Murray, which was a rural setting at the time, and her father owned and operated a fish hatchery for many years. She loved to tell stories about carefree days picking flowers in the meadow, cooking over a coal stove, riding the school horse-drawn stage, and farming with her father and Rex the horse. One of the most exciting parts of her childhood was getting indoor plumbing and not having to use chamber pots and the cold outhouse!

Here she is with her sisters and her mother by their home in Murray, Utah, around 1915.
(Aren't the dresses and giant bows great?)

Ethel attended Woodstock Elementary School and Granite High School, both of which are still operational. After graduating from high school she studied at the Salt Lake Business College.

Here is a photo when she was around 20 years old and entering the workforce, and another photo at her first secretarial job, with the staff of Home Building & Loan.

Ethel lost a younger sister (to diabetes) and her brother (in a car accident) within seven months of each other. As a result, however, she met her future husband, Dr. Archie Lee Brown who was 25 years older. They were married 25 September 1938 in the Salt Lake Temple and made their home in downtown Salt Lake City where his office was located.

She resigned from her ZCMI job, where she had been employed for several years, and worked for Arch as his office assistant and nurse. She welcomed a daughter, Maryetta, in 1940 and a son, David, in 1944.

Arch passed away 19 September 1953 from colon cancer. Ethel then started working for I.Sander, Inc. and continued working there until 2002 (yes, 49 years at the same job! And yes, she was 93 years old and still working 2 days a week!). She married Ora D. Brown (Arch's brother, who was a widower) on 26 January 1955. He later passed away 20 August 1968, due to complications following a stroke.

Ethel also enjoyed traveling throughout the world. Every few years she would take a tour to some exotic location, including Russia, Australia, New Guinea, India, China, Morocco, throughout Europe, and many other places.

Here she is riding a camel in the Gobi Desert in 1974.

Maryetta moved in with her in 1970 and Ethel helped raise two grandchildren, Timothy and April. She was a wonderful grandmother, taking on many roles and teaching her grandchildren many valuable lessons.

Ethel was an active member of the LDS Church and served in various callings
throughout her life. She also helped support several missionaries.

Family and friends joined Ethel for a luncheon to celebrate
her 90th birthday in Salt Lake City in 1998.




Although she visited many foreign countries, her favorite vacation spot was
Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons National Park. Here is a 4-generation photo taken
in 1999 on a trip with her great-granddaughter, Megan.

Ethel suffered a stroke on 12 March 2002 which resulted in paralysis of her left side. Although she underwent physical therapy, she could never walk again and required 24-hour care. She passed away 24 March 2003 at the ripe old age of 94, leaving behind a legacy of selfless service, optimism, strength, dedication, and hard work.

We love you and miss you, Grandma!