Ramblings

Okay, I have been chastised long enough about my paucity of posts. I always think I have to have something really important to say, but I've decided not. So! I was looking through some old pictures and here are my ramblings on them.


This is one of the very first pictures I ever took with my digital camera. We were in Utah and Maddie and Ally were getting ready for church. (8-2004)


This is what a good sport Allyson is. She wore her Maddie-do to church that day!


This is one of my favorite pictures of the little girls (10-2005.) We took a trip to Solvang, Morro Bay, Hearst Castle (one of our favorite jaunts.) We love to stop at this fruit stand along the way. Isn't this a perfect fall picture? I made a great scrapbook layout with it.


This is Amy with the huge blue squash. We asked the cashier how to cook it and she said she made Mexican candy with it!

Amy goes to College

New BYU Coed on her way to New Student Orientation

Yes, Amy is now officially a BYU Coed. She and I went up August 29 and got her things unloaded and into her new apartment at Wyview Park, which is considered on-campus housing. As soon as we got everything packed and put away, Amy looked around and said, "Okay, I'm ready to go home now." I felt the same way...She has two roommates and is approximately a thirty minute walk from BYU. (She does have her car and a bus pass, however.) She is the "Mom" for her ward Family Home Evening group.


Amy and her roommate Kaylee, from Iowa.


Hitting the books together in their well-designed little room.


Aleks, an engineering student from Alaska, has the other bedroom in the apartment.

Leaving Amy at BYU brings back all my own feelings of "aloneness" as I attended BYU. I had a wonderful roommate from home, my mother and brothers drove me to BYU as part of a family vacation, and I had a wonderful ward and lots of friends on my floor in Deseret Towers. I had a full schedule, a part-time job, I was in Mask Club and involved in several regular service opportunities. I went to church, attended every devotional and forum, and loved my teachers. But I honestly never felt more alone and homesick than when I was at BYU (except maybe when I flew to Kansas City to visit my dad just before he died...) I stuck it out and graduated in three and a half years and had some great experiences, including a semester abroad in Spain. But it was a tough and lonely time. SO...it was very hard to leave Amy there. I know she will enjoy it and she has lots of family there...cousins that she loves and enjoys being with, my brother and his wife, Jeff's sister and her husband...I just feel for her during this adjustment period...She loves being with us so much and we love having her around...The first Saturday and Sunday without her this weekend seemed so strange. I keep finding myself looking for her and expecting her to walk in at any moment. I know she has to grow up and make her own life and I'm glad she is so responsible and capable. She really is a lovely young woman with so many opportunities and I'm happy she is on her way. I just wish she could do it all and still stay my "little girl." I love you, Amy.


Amy in front of the gorgeous flowers on the way to her apartment. We tried taking the bus to BYU and it only took 10 minutes to get to the Wilkinson Center, five minutes away from her first class. We got on the wrong bus going home, though. Instead of the seven minutes it should have taken to get back, we were headed for the University Mall fifteen minutes later! Luckily we got off in time and only had to walk about 3/4 of a mile (past these flowers) back to her apartment!

Why I Love Disneyland

Tyler and Maddie inside the monkey cage on the Casey Jr. train.


David is so silly...This is his Disneyland garb...complete with "50 lb." backpack of necessary supplies. The second day he rented a wheelchair...to CARRY HIS BACKPACK FOR HIM!

WHY I LOVE DISNEYLAND...

People think I'm crazy for going to Disneyland so often. After all, it's crowded, expensive, hot, expensive, humid, expensive, crazy, expensive - an icon to the greed of American capitalism. I agree with all those labels...and yet, I still LOVE IT! It's also happy, joyful, magic, a wonderful escape, exciting, breathtaking, exhilarating, fun to share, and did I mention an escape from reality?

That is the key for me. When I go to Disneyland, I am in another world. The mundane cares of my real life are gone. I'm a princess, a Small World doll, a toy monster- blaster, a glider pilot, a pirate captain, a fairy on the way to Neverland. I can take a boat to a world of tiny storybook scenes that make me ask "Can I get out and PLAY??" I can lose my breath in a whoosh down an exciting elevator shaft that leaves my knees shaking so badly I can hardly walk after. I can go from 0-60mph in a few seconds while riding upside down - around Mickey's ear! I can listen to funny, silly-looking plastic birds singing in the Tiki room and later I can hear Tyler quote the birds and sing their song! I can see Ally run up to me shouting, "Gramma Linda, Gramma Linda! I went on Pirates of the Caribbean!" I can sit on a bench and watch people from many countries laughing and experiencing my same joy. I can comment about the gorgeous flowers while I wait in line for the Casey,Jr. train and the next day see an entirely different garden of flowers in the exact same spot - with no evidence that it's been replanted! It's magic! I can have breakfast with princesses! I can see joy on the faces of the people I love best and witness their excitement as they plan the "best way to see all the best things."

I watched the incredible new fireworks this past year and was amazed at Disneyland's creativity and showmanship. The show they created for the fiftieth birthday celebration is so amazingly beautiful and entertaining. This time as I watched, I happened to glance over at the rapt faces of Loretta, Julie, and Ally next to me. They were lined up in a row of perfect silhouettes, totally engrossed in the beauty and spectacle above them. It brought tears to my eyes and once again made me feel - "Why can't everybody have a family like this?"

I waited excitedly for two years for the new "Finding Nemo" submarine ride to open this summer. Then we waited an hour and forty minutes in line to go on the ride. Did Tyler love it? Not exactly. It was a little scary for him. Did I love it? Not exactly. I had to fight my claustrophobia to go down that little hole into that little space. (It seemed much bigger when I was a kid!!) Was it worth it? Absolutely! It was beautiful and the underwater projections were incredible. So much creativity and talent. Wait...I DID LOVE IT!

So, I'll probably never get tired of Disneyland. As long as I have grandchildren who have never been there, or who have only been there fifteen times, I'll probably keep going. Who am I kidding? I'll keep dragging Jeff there even if there comes a time when no one else wants to go. (Not likely to happen in this family...) As crazy as it may seem to some, I LOVE Disneyland!


Papa and Tyler with Tyler's favorite "tar" from "Tars."

Summer Vacation

Spring Disneyland trip 2007



I spent my 50th birthday at Disneyland last year-at the very end of Disneyland's 50th birthday celebration. I'll be there for my 51st birthday this year!



The three musketeers



Last year's summer Disneyland trip

We're heading out tomorrow for California...Disneyland, of course and the beach. Amy is done with work, junior high starts next week, we take Amy to BYU for orientation next Wednesday, and hopefully work picks up and we get REALLY BUSY. So this is the last hurrah for the summer. David, Loretta, Julie, Ally, Brian, Susan, Tyler, Aubrey, Amy, Maddie, and I are going. We hope Dad joins us at the end of the week. We sure wish Ally, Jimmy, and Sydney were going too. The two grandmas are staying home too.:( We'll put pictures up when we get back!

Long live Harry Potter!

Madison as Professor Trelawny. "See into the beyond!!"

My friend Mary had a fun "book club" activity last night. She invited all her friends, any age, who had read all seven Harry Potter books to a party. Her invitation was so cute. It said: "Calling all Harry Potter readers. Finished the 7th book? Well then, your presence is requested at the (family name) muggle residence, number 632 (street name.) Please bring your books, wands, and other wizarding wheezez you may possess. If you have proper dress robes, please fashion yourself accordingly. It would be wise of you to prepare yourself for book discussion, much like an O.W.L. exam. You are encouraged to bring other wannabe Hogwartians, given they have completed the series. We wouldn't want to spoil it for first years. Games, refreshments, and other merriments provided."
We had a really busy day yesterday-chores, work, school-clothes/-shoes shopping, dinner out with a neighbor, and then the party. We flew in from dinner late, but took time to don our dress robes. Amy wore a cape, wand and lightning bolt, Maddie dressed as Professor Trelawny, and I wore an ugly flowered dress, big brown bow in my hair, and carried a clipboard with "detention list," a scary looking quill, and two kitty cats. Yes, I was the toad-faced Professor Dolores Umbridge. (It was the only costume I figured I could carry off.)
What a good time we had. There were people there from age 10-55 or so and everyone contributed something! We discussed the series with questions the hostess had prepared, drank "butter-beer" (creme soda with butter flavoring,) played Harry Potter trivia, and just enjoyed each other's company and love of reading. I'm so glad I have friends who are so creative and so much fun (Mary and company have a killer Halloween party every year...) I also feel so blessed to be able to live in a place and time where-along with all my many responsibilities-I can also take time for frivolous fun once in a while! Thanks, Mary. Quoting Madison on the way home last night: "That was WAY HECKA FUN!"

Tag! I'm it!

Jobs I've held:
1. Babysitter,Housekeeper, Flower Nursery laborer, Print Shop laborer, Waitress
2. Drug Store cashier
3. 4th Grade Teacher
4. Construction Company President (I can hear you all laughing!!!)

Movies I can watch again and again:
1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Ever After, Shall We Dance, Pride & Prejudice (A&E version, with Mr. Yummy-Colin Firth!), Sarah-Plain and Tall, Return to Me
3. And...believe it or not, I never seem to tire of "Airforce One," edited version...

Guilty Pleasures
1. Mega Peanut M&Ms
2. TV Shows-24 and Alias
3. Reading fluff once in a while

Places I've lived:
1. AL, WA, FL, NM, CA, UT, NV
2. Madrid, Spain

Shows I enjoy:
1. The Today Show-I get at least ten minutes of it every day I have to iron a shirt!
2. Ellen (Twice a month or so while I fold clothes...Should that go under guilty
pleasures???)
3. Without a Trace (haven't seen it since it moved from Thursday night...)
4. Law and Order reruns

What were likely the first things you thought when you saw your significant other (or best friend) for the first time?
1. Significant other--He has pretty eyes and a cute smile.
2. Best friend--That woman is tall and quiet. A little later-That woman is my favorite teacher in Relief Society.

Places I've been on vacation:
1. Disneyland and Pine Valley
2. Virgin Islands
3. Durango, CO
4. Valley Forge, PN

Favorite foods:
1. Anything Mexican
2. PeiWei's Mongolian Beef
3. Grilled, marinated chicken and roasted potatoes

Websites I visit daily:
1. Yahoo.com news
2. Blogs of my family and friends

Body parts I have injured:
1. Broke my jaw in a bicycle accident.
2. Stepped off a curb on a morning walk and blew out my knee.

Nicknames I've had:
1. Lindy Lou when I was little.
2. Lin by high school boyfriend.
3. Hon-Jeff.
4. Grampa Linda-Little Ally.
5. Gramma Linda.

Who tagged me:
1. Lori H.

Finally! I'm done!

Although I stood in line at the Walmart in Ephraim, Utah at midnight July 21 to buy my (second) copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," I just finally finished it two minutes ago! I was determined to watch the four videos, then see the fifth movie at the theatre, then reread the sixth book (which I had only read once last year) and THEN start the seventh book. I had preordered a copy from Amazon with a giftcard I'd earned on my credit card, but as we were driving to Mt. Pleasant for five days the evening of July 20th, we all decided we must time our arrival in Ephraim for midnight so we could buy books...It was actually quite fun, as their Walmart generally closes at midnight, but was staying open for a special event just to sell Harry Potter. When the Duncans came to Fairview to ride ATV's the next day, we had FOUR copies of the book in the motorhome. Grandma Sargeant, Amy, Stephen, and Jacob were reading on and off all day. Since I was only on page 40 0f Book 6 by this time (and still had not seen the fifth movie) I would not allow anyone to speak a word about Book 7 in my presence!!! Jeff, Amy, Ally, and I went to see the movie when we got home and I finally started the last book last week. Because I've been so busy, I've only had time to read a few pages at a time and it has been very frustrating! I started the last exciting section last night and was looking forward to Maddie's orthodontist appointment this morning for half an hour of uninterrupted reading! (I did have to leave the office and sit in the car for a bit while I recovered from my sobbing at one point.) When we got home I had to do my agenda for a presidency meeting, have the meeting, then meet with the missionaries, take Maddie to ballet, and take the girls home...Finally...I sat down and ignored everything else-including fixing dinner for my hard-working husband-and finished the book! Now I can do nothing but think about the series and the incredible ride it has been.
Not even just the story itself, full of adventure, symbolism, hope, and triumph, but the whole Harry Potter experience. My brother-in-law says there is something to be said about not reading the books till the series is done. Now he can read them quickly, one after another, with no waiting to see what's going to happen. Most often, I would agree with him. But for this series I can only quote what Amy wrote on her blog when she finished the book.
"I wouldn't have given up these years for anything! I loved the experiences of growing up with the characters, waiting in line anxiously for the next book, seeing Harry Potter books in the hands of the most unlikely people, buying all things Potter-related, and enjoying the magic created by J.K. Rowling for my generation and all the generations to come. Thanks J.K. Rowling for your creation, thanks to all you fellow Potter fans young and old, and to Harry, Ron, Hermione and all the fabulous and very believable characters of the books, thanks for a wonderful ride. Expecto Patronum!"
It's kind of pathetic when a fifty-year-old woman gets teary-eyed and a lump in her throat over a post about a fictional children's book series, but I totally agree with Amy. I can't believe it's over...but I'm sure glad I was along for the whole experience. Thanks, J.K.. from me too!