Odds and Ends of The Past Week

Last Wednesday, I decided to use the gift card I had gotten from the UDSF for my service on the board and as President and Gary picked up dinner from Outback.  We have rarely branched out much with our take-out even with Covid, so it was a fun change of pace for us.  Jena, of course, had chicken strips and fries.

I ordered this puzzle for Gary for Christmas and he completed it this past week.  It was a funny puzzle with the letters A-F on the back of the pieces (imagine the puzzle divided in sixths.)  We thought it was odd at first, but actually came in handy putting the puzzle together.  The pieces were quite thin (and cheap) and many of the pieces were very similar.  And, in the end, there was one piece missing and three extra pieces that didn't fit any where.  Now, if that doesn't sum up 2020!!!

It was a fun way to remember 2020, although 2021 hasn't changed much yet.

Friday morning, I took a walk on a trail in Centerville while Jena served at the Distribution Center.  It had been raining but it was just crisp and enjoyable while I walked except for about 3 minutes of rain.

Along one piece of the trail were painted rocks with a variety of designs...also with a sign to leave the rocks where they were at.

Also seen along the trail was this display---the saying "one person's trash is another's treasure" comes to mind.

However, in the middle of it, there were a few things that made me smile---

And maybe that was the only reason for the display--to encourage the walkers, joggers, and runners that travel along this trail!

Saturday, after the usual P-day stuff--I began the project of sorting, throwing away, scanning, and everything else that goes with this type of project to begin organize all of the paperwork, photos, and stuff that represents the Gibersons, the Halls, and OUR Halls history.  I have some boxes and totes of stuff to put in some type of order so that future generations can learn about us and our experiences (and to throw things away so that my kids will not have to do it for me after I am gone.)

Stuff that these things are--they still hold lots of memories and feelings---or sometimes point out the lack of memory--like who is this or why did I save that?

Some examples:

I might have posted about this before--last time I started this project when I decided to keep this.  Now I realized that my kids and others will never have the same understanding or attachment to this.  So, I took a picture, I remembered, and now it is gone.

My sweet friend, Jill Eyring, made this for me when we moved from West Jordan to Hong Kong.  It is a collection of letters and cards from the sisters in the Relief Society where I had served as president for the two years before then.

This is a letter from Julie Pugmire. They happened to be in the same foster/adopt classes that we took and they adopted a son whose name was also Scott a month before our Scott arrived home to us.  We shared those first months together which was such a great thing for us.  Actually, she is the one who mentioned to Jayne, another sister in the ward, that we were looking to adopt and she was the one who heard about Scott and put us in touch with the Allens---that is another story.

This is Jill and her sweet family of four girls.  Their third daughter Heidi was Jessica's first best friend.

A letter from Lynnette Judd--one of the kindest and best people I know.

It was amazing to review these letters.  Some of them talk about things that I no longer remember--interactions we had, or things that I said in talks or lessons.  However, I do remember the sisters and my love for them.

I went through other stuff and found this picture of my "oldest" friend--Kathy Nelson.  She always points out that she is only a few months older than me so she really isn't my "oldest" friend, but she is the one who I have my earliest memory of when we were about 3 years old.  She is currently serving a mission with her husband in Africa.

Another picture of my BYU roomates--this is from our second year. Not sure why we posed with this bull.  Judy Hutch (in front of me) thinks it was Jody's who is under it.

Then I moved to the chest in my room.  It was my mom's and my grandparents before that.  It contains my mom's journals and other scrapbook and poetry books.  As I sorted through things, my goal was to keep things that reminded us of our parents and our childhood.  I want to bring this chest to family reunions in the future and have the things inside that make us smile and remember the great things our parents taught us.

I filled our sibling thread with lots of pictures of stuff as I tried to decide what to keep and what to throw away.

The newspaper article about my Mom after her heart transplant-  A keeper!  (Notice the cute photo of Jessica and Scott on the piano.)

The Giberson Book of Trivia--I think there is five of them.  They are scrapbooks of random stuff generated when you have eight kids involved in lots of stuff!

For example, I am sure that my brother, Rick, did not expect that this little note which he put into the egg carton in place of egg(s) he used for a school "egg drop" contest would be immortalized in Giberson lore--but here it is-----

There were a few t-shirts connected with different children.  This one clearly belonged to Scott, my youngest brother and UT graduate.

And Dad, sorry to say that after taking this picture--I threw away all of the yearbooks that have been in this chest since Mom went to Linfield College.

There were these newspapers which probably can be found in the local history museums in Richland and Amarillo, because they highlights such big events.  My brother Scott wants these.

And family photos----

I scanned about 280 photos last night during the BYU Men Volleyball match (we won) but this is what is left that I need to sort and decide how to keep or what to throw away.  My goal is that everything related to the Giberson/Owen history will fit into the chest.

There is still lots to do---and then I have the Hall/Quigley stuff and then Our Hall stuff---slow but steady is my plan!

And that was my week!  How was yours?