March Mayhem Then

So March of 2009 marked a milestone in my life. I had the first birthday where I really didn't care to let people know how old I was. This "how old I was" put me in a new catagory for surveys, a new catagory with the O.B. if I decided to have another child and then just one day after this said birthday I was closer to 40 then 30. I didn't like it. I DID like the card and headphones I got from my hubby and kids, the gorgeous tulips from my sisters, the cards and checks from family and all the wishes I got on Facebook for the first time. So I guess it wasn't all that bad :)


In the middle of March we had a day off from school and decided to take a road trip with the Smiths and Larsens to the Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To keep kids together during group down time we decided to shelve them but didn't worry about alphabetization.

Camille and Sam shelf life 5 and 7 years.


Jenny, Spencer and Austin, shelf life 7,7 and just short of 1.


They all took a spin in the Earthquake Cafe. They got to choose a button that would serve up an earthquake the same strength of one that had occured earlier in history (i.e. Chile 7.1)
My kids loved building a capsule to encase an egg that was then strapped to the top of a car of their choosing and sent hurdling down a ramp.

Emily was so excited unknowingly celebrating the demise of her little oval friend.

Sam was a little more generous with his layering of bubble wrap, tape, foam, tape, bubble wrap, aluminum foil, tape, tape, and tape and his little eggbert lived to thank him.


We ended a long, fun day at Steak and Shake.





And just a silly random, Sam the Storm Trooper.

February's Blurbs

I loved 100s day as a teacher and I have loved it with my kids. Here is Emily's first 100s day project. She showed her passion for the breakfast of cold cereal that she shares with her Daddy every morning by counting out 100 pieces of cereal and used lots of glue for the milk. Sam's projects (missing pictures) were 100 Lego spaceships the first year and 100 handcrafted aluminum foil action figures he lovingly calls "creation pods" the second.

Feeding Chickadees with the Girl Scouts at one of Cleveland's fabu Metro Parks Nature Centers.

If you put food in your hands and hold really, really still you may find a tiny feathered friend.

And then you can sit back and chat with girlfriends for a little while.

Sam loved Karate and the new suit!!!

Reflecting WOW!!!

Sam's Pirate Ship of WOW!!!


The National PTA Reflections program is awesome. Every year PTA Reflections puts out a new theme and children around the country write, sing, dance, photograph, paint, draw and create projects. The projects become part of a local district show where winners are selected in each category to go on to the state show. In our case that is Columbus. From there the winners move on to Washington D.C.

I was asked to help with the effort at our school this particular year and so of course my kids participated and loved it.

The night of the show, in the lobby of a local medical center, we got to go and see the artwork on exhibit, hang out with friends and enjoy some refreshments.
Emily's Red Bird of Wow.

Sam's a winner and it is going to COLUMBUS!
Emily was excited to see her artwork but was not so excited when she realized Sam's got a blue ribbon and hers did not. Ahhh, such is life and she got over it :)
So Em, how do you REALLY feel about it? LOL
Our friend Isaiah was there.
Justina too!!!


And Micah from Kindergarten. Soooo exciting!!!
ITS GOOD TO REFLECT.

A Boy, His Friends, and Their Light Sabers

January 2, 2009

Looking back at pictures of Sam's first sleepover I remember there being A LOT more boys. I guess there were only 5 and a little sister but it seemed like more.

Sam had decided that he was ready for a party and a chance for his friends to come over and play the wii and his lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones games that Santa had delivered that Christmas.

So we armed ourselves with pizza ingredients, juice, grapes, carrots, cookies, the new Star Wars The Clone Wars DVD and a few working lightsabers that I had picked up at Walmart after Halloween for a whole $1.47. We were prepared!!!

Jeremy even had his suit!!!
Isaiah Waiters
Wesley Hatch
Gage Manning
Clone Wars became a play along movie. How can 7 year old boys sit through that when they have a lightsaber in their hands?


Wii Zombies

Success!!!

Even with a little sister :)

Celebrating a Mess - New Years

My kids love a good mess and we always do a good job of it for the New Year. Nothing like load poppers that spray confetti across the room.
To say goodbye to 2008 we had friends over to eat soup - Chicken Chowder and Tomato Artichoke - play some games of the board and wii kind and drink sparkling apple bubbly when the ball dropped. The Smith and Daouk kids didn't make it much past nine but the Flinders and Huangs stuck it out for the long haul.
The camera didn't make an appearance until after midnights so you will only be seeing the night owls.

The kids are crouched over the heat vents on our floor adding streamers and confetti that would blow back up in their faces.


Sam Flinders

Allison and Elise Flinders

Matthew Huang

Sam was just mostly interested in the wii. Hence the zombie face.

The Year of Vista - When My Computer Got Snooty

A YEAR IN REVIEW - This may be a long process and you are welcome to quit reading at anytime. I just thought I would get back at my conceited computer with its stuck up and temperamental processor that REFUSED to acknowledge my Christmas present from last year. Who knew it would be prejudice toward a simple cyber-shot point and shoot?
Here goes . . .

P.S. I don't blog well without pictures.

Everybody's "Budd"

I took a last minute trip to Utah/Wyoming last weekend. It was an amazing experience and I am glad I went. I got the chance to celebrate the life of an AMAZING man. If you ever really met him you understand.

You probably came to understand over a thick slice of homemade bread smothered in butter and raspberry freezer jam that came from the berry patch in the backyard. You probably felt like you had known the man for years or at least that he knew you, with the familiar friendship that was instantly offered along with some joke or memorized poem from the past.It makes me smile to think about.
What was his, was yours.

My niece took this picture of Grandpa Budd on Saturday November 28th at the annual Pead Family Thanksgiving Dinner. He went to bed Tuesday, Dec. 1 and passed away peacefully in his sleep.

My cousin Kammy posted this picture of HIS flag at half mast the day he died. It made us all laugh and cry at the same time. His flagpole is as crooked as his finger:) "luv u ole budd crooked finger!" - Hayley Woodard

Grandpa lost both of his parents in his teenage years and raised his younger siblings so the state wouldn't separate them and take them away. Him and Grandma also raised 9 kids of their own, plus three foster girls during the school year.

His little Brother Ballard was killed in the last days of WWII and my Gramps flew his flag almost every day to honor him. Our family, especially Grandpa, are extremely proud and grateful for Ballard's sacrifice. (In the last couple of months 4 different strangers randomly met grandpa and other family members. They shared stories of Ballard and his last days that answered some unknown questions of his war experience and death. God is kind.)

Over time the house and its surroundings aged with Grandma and Grandpa. It is strange to compare the house now with the images I have from my childhood. Where did the hedge go or the sprawling tree with the purplish leaves that shaded the front yard? What about the tall junipers, with their little fragrant sage-colored berries, that grew tall and doubled as a ladder to the brave cousins who would sneak on the roof? My Dad and his brothers laid the brick for the front flowerbed where the pansies grew.

I will miss the greatest backyard in the world. That place where I spent so many Sundays with cousins, eating salted watermelon and ice cream served with the same knife. I loved the colored cones imprinted with a new name like Lucy, Sally or Hank.

My biggest regret is that I didn't make it back to the house to see it one more time before it is forever changed. What about the giant glass grapes and the little porcelain grandma mouse rocking her grand baby mice?

My cousin Mandy wrote:
Best Darn Grandpa

grinning, dancing a jig for you,
with a smiling new babe
and a tootsie pop or two.

Hawaiian shirted, Basset-lover,
his wobbly walk,
calling a sister a brother.

crooked finger pointing directions,
teeth popping out
from all directions.

ice cream served up with a knife
bad jokes galore,
baseball-ed nights.

watermelon with salt,
slick back the hair,
a Star Valley Braves coat no matter what you wear.

the bright blue pickup, that ran just on fumes,
a kick "to the slats,"
the front pansies' blooms.

funny faces, cheeks with candy filled,
no use crying
over milk that had spilled.

loaves and loaves of homemade bread,
wonderful cards and letters that read:
"I love you, be good as Grandma would."
He wrote those just as long as he could.

fabled old stories or old cowboy poems
a warmth that always transformed
your house to a home.

the twinkling eyes, the sly old smile,
the cold feet and blankets...
more wood from the pile.

honor, integrity,
proud to be "Pead."
a "Star Valley Man,"
(the BEST kind of breed!)

husband, partner to Erma so dear,
one-of-a-kind Dad
year after year.

Grandpa to hundreds, to greats even more.
he's got a great start,
on the "sands of the shore."

overcame trials, heartache and cold.
left us a legacy,
more precious than gold.

hard work, love, faith in God,
lighting the way
on the path we should trod.

example, love, spiritual power,
each day lived
was this man's finest hour.

two endowments a week,
the life you lived,
your legacy--the last gift you would give.

Oh! the many things I will miss!
last, but not least,
your scratchy, old kiss.

dear Grandpa, I love you!
losing you's a shock,
'cause you're the BEST DARN GRANDPA ON THE WHOLE BLOCK!

Mandy Pead Green
Dec. 2, 2009
(She was lucky that the truck was painted such a bright blue. Her and Katie were able to patch it with toll paint when they wrecked it. It was a nice try:)



Obituary
GEORGE PEAD
George Budd Pead 1914 ~ 2009 George Budd Pead, 95, died Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at his home in Orem, Utah. He was born November 4, 1914, in Fairview, Wyoming, to Frederick and Henrietta Harmon Pead. He married Erma Erickson December 17, 1936, in the Logan Utah Temple. Erma passed away May 2, 2005. He was the first student with "4" letters in sports at Star Valley High School, Afton, Wyoming. He loved reading, learning and reciting poetry. He was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and Erma served a church mission in the Los Angeles Temple, in California. He is survived by Jeanette (Wayne) Denney, Salt Lake City; Jeanice (Monty) Harrison, Severance, CO; Jeraldine (Sherrill) Shorter, Orem; Ballard (Leah Mary) Pead, Orem; Brian (Corlie Ann) Pead, Layton; Orson (Donna) Pead, Orem; Debra (Michael) Woodard, St. George; Patricia Pead, Laverkin, all of Utah and Sylvia Pead, daughter-in-law. Also survived by 54 grandchildren, 155 great-grandchildren and 47 great-great-grandchildren; brothers Raymond Pead, Orem, Utah; Robert Pead, St. George, Utah and sister Marie Call, Afton, Wyoming. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Erma; son Fred; daughter-in-law Eileen; one brother, three sisters; one granddaughter and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 5, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. at the LDS Church located at 400 North 400 East, Orem, Utah. Family and friends may call Friday, December 4, 2009, from 6-8 p.m. at the Walker Sanderson Funeral Home, 646 East 800 North, Orem and from 1:45-2:45 p.m. Saturday prior to the services at the church. In Wyoming, additional services will be held at the Fairview, Osmond, Smoot Ward Chapel in Osmond on Sunday, December 6th from 6-8 p.m. and Monday, December 7th from 10-11:45 a.m. prior to the funeral service which will be held at 12 noon. Interment will be at the Fairview, Wyoming Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at: www.walkerfamilymortuary.com

From cousin Arlen's Facebook:
I lost my grandpa on my mom's side today. He was a great example. Countless loaves of bread to go with Grandma's hundreds of baby blankets - What a fanastic duo - now reunited. We'll miss him.

"Everybody's Budd"

It didn’t take me long
To know that I belonged
To a family formed above
Centered on a God of love

Every child was so blessed
To feel such happiness
To know they were divine
And helped our grandpa shine

His love and faith portrayed
His life in simple ways
That family - matters most
You felt that when he prayed

The perfect combination
Of a man who lived his life
For the pleasure of others
His children and his wife

Just another great example
Of how this life can be
When times get a little tough
He’d be your friend indeed

Always fun to talk to
His stories made you laugh
How did he stay so positive?
When others would have cracked…

For those who never knew him
I feel sorry for your loss
The gift he gave his children
Was peace - we were never lost

Our hearts will ache for certain
We’ve lost one-of-a-kind
A man so strong but gentle
Is truly hard to find

I know that as he waits for us
He’ll find ways to be near
He’ll reach through the heavens
Just like he were here

There is a note of joy here
I hate to think where I’d be
If I weren’t granted in this life
That I was blessed a Pead

I’ll close with a prayer of thanks
And thank my God above
He let me know and love
Everybody’s Budd.

Arlen Denney
02 December 2009

luv u ole budd crooked finger!