Beneath the Wraps

  Mom had picked out four girl names long before she married.  She wanted to name her four girls Karen Kay, Kelly Jane, Kimberly Elizabeth and Kathy Lynn.  She did end up having four children – but only two girls.  I received the first name.  My mom and dad both have names that start with G and their eldest two have names that start with K. Third born was an S and I thought we should keep the pattern going – two G ’ s, two K ’ s and so my baby sister would have to have a name that started with S.  Instead of Kelly Jane we named her Shelly Jane.  She said she was happy of that as she doesn ’ t care for the name Kelly. There were a few reasons that I decided to use alias names in my blog rather than actual names.   You can read about it in my very first post found here . After I started my blog I changed my sister ’ s name from Shelly to Kayla because I remembered she hadn ’ t liked the name Kelly.   Mostly I used a middle name, one that rh...

          Jenna loved the snow.  When she'd been spotlighted in her kindergarten class, I mentioned that winter was her favorite season.  It was at the time, but I don't know if it still is. Like me, she also likes the fall. She does love the snow, but she also became sick of it one year as there were tons of it dumped down on us;  it was so high and so long that we were glad when it finally came to an end.            Each time it snows in Oregon (which is NOT often in the area where we live) she has gotten more excited - which is kind of funny, because I think with each snowfall we've received, the amount that sticks has been more pathetic than the last (which is fine by me;  enough so it's pretty, but not so much that I have to drive in it)           When we lived in Salt Lake, Roland would point out whateve...

                 I love hearing Jenna sing.   Often I am surprised to hear her sing along with songs that I have never even heard before.   One of those is the catchy “Cool Kids” by Echosmith.   Here is just one video with lyrics.             As we were walking to school yesterday, she was not only singing the song, but made comments as well – how she and her friend Paul wish they were “cool kids”.   She was spending her recess with Paul and another boy who recently ditched them for his sports and Paul actually has safety patrol duty and so Jenna often feels alone.   She does have friends at Vantanna.   I KNOW she has friends.             It’s not like her first school when she really was among the more popular kids at her school – in fact still is popula...

Roland often tells this joke about Satan entering a congregation of worshipers.   Frightened with his presence, the parishioners begin to flee the church except for one man.   Satan sits next to him on the pew and after trying a few more scare tactics finally says to the man, “Why is it that you are not frightened of me.” The man just looks at him and shakes his head and says, “Nothing you can do will frighten me.   After all, I’ve been married to your sister for the last twenty years” Roland’s marriage to his last wife did not make it to twenty years however.   But I think that is who he thinks about when he tells the joke.                         When I saw the advertisements for Disney’s Maleficent, I thought to myself:   “How quaint.   A movie about Roland’s ex-wife”       ...

  In this post I mentioned the ability that Jenna has to create book projects to share about what books she has read.  One of her reports was a letter to the author of Junie B. Jones.  This is a letter which Jenna created for a grade.  We wanted to share it with the author who passed away in November.  We didn't realize that she had passed until we started searching for an address to send the letter to.  This is what Jenna wrote: Dear Barbara,   i’m a girl in 4 th grade at [Vantana] Elementary in [Tannersville], Utah.   My name is [Jenna].   I absolutely love your books Junie b. Jones.   I’m going to tell you why. First, Junie is like me: lonely but enthusiastic.   Secondly, I’ve almost read the entire series of Junie b. Jones just not BOO . . . and I mean it and The Thanksgiving Light. Now I’m reading Cheater Pants Thirdly, is Junie B from your childhood? Lastly, Thanks for reading From Jenna...

I recall a former bishop who has six children – each given a name or names after people that this bishop and his wife had crossed paths with.   I had actually met the two men whom their youngest had been named after.   I was just a youth when one of the men passed, but I’m actually good friends with the man who is living.   What an honor the bishop’s youngest should feel to share a name with such a marvelous man, as I’m certain each individual involved with the lives of their family. My mom had been given one of those feminized masculine names (e.g. Josephine, Roberta, Patricia, Geraldine, Georgette . . .), which she didn’t particularly care for. It was three syllables long and as she learned to write was too long of a name to fit on the top line of any school paper. It wasn’t until high school when she decided to go by her unisex nickname (e.g. Joey for Josephine, Bobby for Roberta, Pat for Patricia, etc.) but still did not care for the name.   ...

I attended Ricks College for one year.  Rexburg was over 200 miles away from my home and so I lived in the dorms near the campus. Believe it or not, I really did have three roommates with the same or similar names – though each spelled differently.  Christy Ann Howardson, Christie Lee Hill and Kristaleigh Phelps.  The girls who lived in the same dorm as we did would see me coming and would say, “Hi Christi-“ in which I would respond, “No, I’m the other one” thus earning my new nickname, “the other one” We couldn’t refer to the Christie(y)s with just the last initial because they both started with the same letter.  And although Christie was willing to go by Christie Lee it was just too confusing for Kristaleigh.  And Christy refused to go by Christy Ann.  So sometimes I called her Howard – or Howardine – just to get a rile out of her. It was actually kind of fun. As roommates go, we all had our peculiarities, our strengths and our weaknesses, et...

Wesley walks from yard to yard collecting rocks and sticks and stores them in the garage of his parents’ house.  Wesley is their only child. Wesley takes medication for his ADHD. It takes away any appetite that is necessary for growth.  Wesley is thin like the twigs he finds.  I think a heavy wind could blow him away. He and Jenna have collected morning glories and have thrown them into the pool.  But no worries – they don’t plan to leave them there.  They just want to see how cool they look floating upon the water When it is time for Wesley to go home, Jenna invites herself to go with him                                ...