And other things which happened along the way....

Well, you can tell that Jena has been busy for the past 2 weeks and it can keep Gary and I busy just keeping up with her and getting her where she needs to be each day.  Even as I type this, she is busy packing for her next adventure--five days at Camp K.

Ben has been busy, too.  For the past few months, even though he hasn't been feeling great, he has been attending the Singles Ward as much as he can.  This past weekend he spent both Friday and Saturday at a Stake activity called "Especially for Young Single Adults" EFYSA--they called it.  That is a lot of time with people and he managed well and even went out with a group afterwards for ice cream and then to fulfill an assignment to clean the Stake Center on Friday night.  He is working with the DI on some job stuff and they would like him to volunteer at the Bishops Storehouse to see how that goes.  That is his current project. Today he went to choir practice before Church and then sang at their ward "High On A Mountain Top".  I am so grateful for every memory he can make of being with people and doing things that young adults do.

We had a couple of good visits with my dad, both for his birthday (where we went to dinner and then Gary helped him with his new computer) and then again this past week when my sister was in town for a family wedding on Lance's side of the family...and Gary got to help my dad with his computer again.  Life can get so busy that I sometimes even forget that my dad lives so close. 

Tosha, Austen, and Niki are all healthy now and settled into their apartment on base.  This week they will actually get their own furniture which I know is like Christmas in a foreign country.  They are loving Okinawa and the beautiful beaches and the food.  They are now the proud car owners of TWO cars which is the first in their marriage including at GTE (I think that it what it is called) which Austen is very excited about.  Through the magic of FaceTime, I got to see Niki crawling all over their new house and got to hear him making a bunch of new sounds.

Jessica, Elessia, and Liam are adjusting to the new life that babies bring.  We love it when we can see him but they need to move closer........


At three weeks old

Aunt Jena with little Liam when he came to
meet Nana and Grandpa Giberson and Great-Aunt Valerie

We saw Scott, Chantel, and Scarlett on Father's Day but I missed watching her on Wednesday because we had a funeral to attend.  She is walking all over the place and loved this Tonka truck we had.  Scott is trying to find some type of new job within Health care as it has been so slow to move up in management at Red Lobster.

I am still busy with school and UDSF.  And now I am starting some of the beginning stuff for my internship at the Division of Child and Family Services in the fall and that is become more real to me.  I am not sure how I will add 16 hours+ to my week when that starts in the fall.

Our biggest news is that Gary will officially be retired from HP on July 3.  This is part of a general workforce reduction (think layoffs) as HP sold his whole division to another small firm centered in California and in China. We had taken the early retirement track last year as we felt that a layoff was near (and there has been two since then) but this speeded it up by 5 months and actually didn't allow enough time to take all of his vacation days...so immediately he went on vacation last Monday.  That is a big life change and I feel like I have been too busy to help in much with that.  It is about 5 years earlier than we would have liked but we have been very blessed in his career to have had stable employment almost our entire marriage.  Both of us are grateful for that and glad that we don't have to panic.  He will explore options and we will make adjustments and life is good.

And there was also a parade---not because Gary was retiring, but for Syracuse Days--Jena was in the truck for the Rush and loved waving and throwing out candy.

Getting the truck

The Syracuse Community theatre is doing "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" this year
so the car was in the parade

Fun to live in a small enough town that you can celebrate with an early morning breakfast, parade, fair (too hot for us) and fireworks.  Happy Birthday, Syracuse.

Happy Father's Day, Dad and Gary!

 

Happy Father's Day--

Dad!

 My dad celebrates his birthday and Father's Day often in the same week like this year--sometimes even on the same day.  I thought I would add some "Throwback pictures" into the blog today to honor my dad and share a bit about him.  Of course I intend to go back and write my history from the start and along the way, readers would learn a lot about my dad but not sure when that will happen and most of you will not be reading THAT (aren't you glad.)  Back to my dad--

 

You can't tell in the black and white pictures but my dad has red hair.  I loved that my whole life.  The joke was that my parents had 8 kids--trying to have a red head with no luck.  (Fortunately there are grandchildren with red hair.)  And he has big brown eyes (like me!) I loved that, too. 

 

My dad was a chemist having graduated from BYU and then with a Master's from the University of Idaho.  I can remember attending that graduation and maybe it was then that I first set my goal to graduate from college and get a masters degree.  Something about the robes and hoods must have inspired me.....I liked science, too, and I was glad when I took high school chemistry in Texas that I could come home and have my dad explain things to be in a more clear way that my poor teacher who was really more of a biologist.



My dad (Richard Giberson) with me and my brother, Todd.

My dad loves games and he passed that love down to us although we all enjoy games in our own different ways.  Game playing is an important family tradition in the Giberson Family.  I learned much about World War I and II by playing war games late until the night with my dad when I was 12-14.  My parents enjoyed playing games with their friends as well and often had friends over for games and parties.  I love that too. 

My dad loved sports.  When we were little we would watch him play softball with the ward.  He taught us ping pong and badminton and other games like that.  He loved the SF Giants and he took Todd, Mike and I to a game at least once at Candlestick Park.  That was so amazing.  I learned all about football by watching games on TV with him (although I admit that I sometimes pretended to know less than I did on dates to BYU football games in college). I learned to love sports, too, and often my dad would come to watch me play for Church or at school.

My Mom and Dad in our Giberson Reunion shirts in 1994
 

My parents loved the theatre and some of my earliest memories centered around Roadshows and practices.  I was in Stake Plays (back in the old days when the Stakes did them often) and roadshows with my Dad.  I can remember the first non-Church live theatre performance that my parents took me to .  It was "Man of La Manche" and my math teacher played Sancho Panza.  It was performed by a local community theatre group.  I was captivated by the whole experience and to this day prefer life theatre over movies or most other types of entertainment.  (And I have to admit that I never quite looked at my teacher in the same way after that! My friends couldn't believe it when I told them he could sing and act and be silly--so different than his "math teacher" image.)

Karla, Dad, Jena, me, and Gary
at our St. George trip together in 2013

I guess I returned the favor by taking Dad and his wife, Karla, to Tuachan in St. George to watch a couple of plays with us.  I love the theatre.

Another thing about my dad is that he is a convert to the Church.  He joined while as a student at BYU.  He loved the Church and he served in all of his callings with his whole heart and soul.  He was a good leader and faithful in his assignments.  I love the Church too and I am so grateful for his and my mom's examples of faithful service, their testimonies, and their love for everyone.

I also like peas--just like my dad.

So you can see that my dad has had a profound affect on me and who I am and what I like.  I share many of his hobbies and joys in life.  I am so glad he is my dad and so grateful for everything he has done for me.  Happy Birthday and Happy Father's Day.  I love you, Dad.

Happy Father's Day,

Gary!

This picture really didn't turn out like I wanted it, but
these are the cute people who made us parents--
and have had (and continue to have) some of the most profound effects on me
as a person and as a daughter of God.

 

Gary and I have an understanding that just because when we bear our testimony we don't share how much we love each other or how much we appreciate each other, it doesn't mean we don't.  We just choose to share that with each other at home.  It is the same way in the blog to a certain extent. but this is for history and I do want to record how grateful I am that I am sharing parenting with Gary.

 

Someone once said that the most important thing a father can do for his children is love their mother.  Gary loves me and always has my "back" no matter what type of hole I have dug for myself.  He has carried more chairs, set up more tables, run more errands, and eat macaroni and cheese more than most husbands I know.  He is my biggest cheerleader and believes that I can do anything I want to do.  If I have some crazy idea, he is there 100%.  He has taken me to the ends of the earth to places I had only dreamed about.  During the years we waited for children, he was always confident and sure--children would come at the right time in the right place.  His hope nurtured me when I was feeling hopeless.  And days when mothering was hard and discouraging, he was there, telling me I could do it.  Words can never express how glad I am to have him in my life as my companion. Hopefully my actions will do that from now to forever.....

 

He works hard to provide a life for our family and I am glad for all of the memories we have together with our kids--vacations, water fights, trips to the zoo, Scouting, and games.  Jessica was a natural at games and she and Gary would play games for hours.  Scott and Ben were lucky to have Gary to teach them a bit about fixing things (loved that Home Repair merit badge!). He was the one that could help with those English poem portfolios.  I can remember Tosha and Gary staying up late a couple of nights writing poems and laughing as they tried silly rhythms and topics. He has worked at home most of the time since Jena was a baby.  I didn't realize that impact of that until I was reading her "Cat in the Hat" one day when she was 4 or so.  When I read the line "That the mother was out for the day..", Jena asked, "Where is the daddy?".  She didn't know that dads usually went to work away from home.  In her life, I was the one running around and Gary was the one at home.  What a blessing that has been for her and for me to have him around. 

 

We love you, Gary.  Happy Father's Day.

 

And to the new fathers in our family--

Happy Father's Day to Scott and Austen

 

I have loved watching you love your own children.  As you know, we are pretty attached to these little people you are raising and we love how you adore them too.  They deserve your very best efforts and I see you are doing that.  I love it when I get texts from either of you telling me something Scarlett or Niki have done or how much you love them and your wives.  That is what they need.  Thanks to you and Happy Father's Day to you both--

 

Scott and Scarlett

Austen and Niki

 

 



The "Summer of Fun"

This is a phrase which was coined a number of years ago to describe the summers of ward members who have sons and/or daughters in the Young Men and Young Women's programs plus kids in the year around school.  That meant that all of the camps and youth conferences were squashed into July as much as possible so that everyone would be able to attend.  (It calmed down after a while when people figured out that only the items which 12 year olds attended were really impacted by year around schools.  But the term stuck and you can often hear parents and leaders ask each other if they are ready for the summer of fun.)  Well, as this is Jena's last year in Young Women's this is also our last year of "Summer of Fun" as parents.  We no longer have to arrange our vacations and day activities around YW camps, Youth Conferences, and the rest---and it is somewhat sad as Jena does these things for the last time as a youth.

At least, she is having a great time doing it.  June 17-20 she along with 80 others from our ward went to a cabin up in Island Park in Idaho for Youth Conference.  She came back tan and smiling.  Her favorite part was "Kayaking with Sis. Nemelka" and the testimony meeting.  We got reports that she was busy helping everyone and making them laugh---and she apparently quite the dancer as well.  They had a dance with a local ward in Island Park and she danced the night away including leading the whole group in a line dance.  I wish we could have seen that!

We have gotten her clothes unpacked and cleaned--now we will be packing them up again for her week long camp at Camp K up Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake which is next week.

Jena got home and had a couple of days when she slept in--trying to catch up from Youth Conference, but she didn't have much time off as her volunteer job at Centerpoint Theatre started on Monday the 22nd.  Right now she is an usher for all Monday performances (except for when we are out of town).

Jena with the program for
The King and I"

Then she got to spend Wednesday through Saturday at the theatre as well as they had two days of dress rehearsals and two performances for Friend to Friend "Beauty and the Beast".  That is a fun week for Jena.  I think she enjoys the practices almost as much as the performances.  She loved seeing so many friends every day and laughing and having fun with them.

Waiting for practice to begin

Kaitlyn, Jena, Brooke, Emily

Being silly

Dress rehearsal

 Jena played a "silly girl" who followed Gaston around and also a "cookie" in the castle for "Be Our Guest".

"A Silly Girl"

A cute cookie!

This is Holly who played Belle.  She did awesome and required no cueing for her songs and most of her lines.  Everyone in F2F has some type of disability.  On stage you can see that there are coaches who will help them with their lines if needed and general movement on stage.  It wasn't perfect but it was magical in its own way and we loved it all. 

Prior to the "Beauty and the Beast" production, they have a pre-show done by the younger class.  They sang three songs from "Annie".

Watching these young girls mostly in wheelchairs singing "The Sun will come out tomorrow...." is very touching and I know I wasn't the only one with tears in my eyes.  That is one of the great truths about life--the sun does come up tomorrow.  Things change, we can change, and we get that new start each day, each week, and each year.

I was sitting a bit far to get a good picture.

It was party time after their Saturday performance and theatre is done for the summer.  Jena will miss it and her friends she performs with.

Summer of Fun continues with Camp K next week and a couple of weeks later--her last Girls Camp.

Saturday Flag Day in Syracuse

Because Flag Day this year falls on a Sunday, the Scouts hung the flags on Saturday.  I had forgotten that and opened the garage last night to take out some recycling and found myself "trapped" in by about 95  flags.

 

 The look from the outside:

We have them lay the flags like that so they can dry along the bottom.  The pipes where they are stuck in the ground often get filled with water and I am told it can be very stinky.

Happy Flag day!

The Hall Extended Family Reunion

For the third big activity in about 8 days, we hosted the Hall Extended family reunion today at the Stoker Park as well.

Cody Nakae and Emily McKinney  (our side of the family)

Potluck Again--the best!

 We did a Pinewood Derby race which the kids loved.

Eric McKinney getting his car ready with Nikki Kerr and Brianne watching

Indy Hamblin, part of the Wynn Hall family
(Ray and LaFond Hall)

Waiting for the cars to race

Kylie and Indy Hamblin
She is the daughter of Gary's cousin Wynn and she is married to
Austen's uncle Gerald Hamblin
(small world!)

Jena, Vonette, and Holly Hall

This is the family of Gary's dad, Wayne Hall.  He was the 6th of seven children.

The "founding" generation
Holly Hall (married to Wayne Hall), Aunt LaFond (married to Ray Hall), Cal and Rada (Rada is the twin to Ray)
Rada and Ruth (who wasn't there) are the only children still alive.
These are and were all great people who learned to work hard and
love each other in the fields of Idaho and Utah.  I am proud to be part of them.



Hayden Nakae
holding our Hall "H" which worked
for Hayden as well.

Again, nice weather, yard games for adults and kids, and time to be together as a family. 

I unloaded the car at home and then took a very ...very long afternoon nap in the cool and the dark of our basement. 

And no more party planning until the end of July--the Giberson Family Reunion in New Mexico. More fun times ahead.

Summer Storms

 

 

Well, it wasn't Texas sized hail, but impressive nonetheless--a quick summer storm!

view from our porch across the street
The sun was shining to the west and it was reflecting off her roof
It was beautiful.

Barely pea sized hail

Too much rain for the rain chain to handle at once

Now there are three...............

For the first time ever, I can post pictures from the week of THREE grandchildren!


Liam---

Jessica with Liam
This is at Primary's during his 2 day stay for his fever



Waking up today with a smile!

 Niki  (in Okinawa)--

during his hospital stay last weekend

Trying out the sand on the beach

Austen and Niki wading in the ocean

And Scarlett--

We went to Great grandma Halls on Thursday and Jena took these pictures of Scarlett and I and the maple tree.

 

 Scarlett pulled a leaf off the tree and decided that I should eat it!  I didn't think so.

Sitting on the trampoline back at our house.

I am so lucky to have these little people in my life.  I can't wait for the day when they are all together in one place.  That will be a touch of heaven for sure!