A special day

Amy has a beautiful ring on her finger. More importantly she has a wonderful fiance! These two characters are quite the match. They met in one of Amy's classes last January where Todd Smith was a TA. They became friends but couldn't date because he was grading students' work. So they waited until class was over in April. Or almost. They quickly became inseparable and on Nov. 11 he asked if he could come and talk to Riley. I loved hearing him say he had "fallen" in love with Amy and wanted to marry her. The fun part was, she didn't know he was talking to Riley and led her to believe, for a few days, that he still needed to do that so a proposal wasn't imminent.

They had picked out a ring together but she didn't think he had picked it up. He hadn't. Because he was so busy he had his mom in Bountiful pick it up from Salt Lake for him and drive it down for a hand off in American Fork. On Monday, Nov. 15, amidst all the craziness of classes, projects and work, he led her on a scavenger hunt for "dinner" because she had done that for him in the summer. She was oblivious there was more to the evening than just dinner because he surprised her with a song and a down-on-one knee proposal. She texted me, "YOU ARE SO SNEAKY!"

She might be walking on clouds but this mom is too. Prayers have been answered for sweet Amy. And we couldn't have picked a better man for her to marry. He's the real deal.

10 years

My dad died 10 years ago today at 9:10 a.m. I was with him when he died. So was my mom. She sang, "there is sunshine in your soul today," changing the words a bit here and there. It was a peaceful, spiritual moment to see him pass. He had suffered for 19 months, paralyzed from a snowmobile accident April 12, 2009. He didn't like life much during those 19 months but in the last day or two of his life, he told me he had to just be ok with what he could do and not be so upset about what he couldn't. I believe once he showed he had learned that he was then allowed to leave his earthly existence.

I love my dad. He was a great man. He taught me many wonderful things like how to work - weed the garden, mow the lawn, fix things using any kind of tool and problem solve. He taught me how to play - snowmobile, waterski, play HORSE (basketball), put together jigsaw puzzles, play nertz. He knew a lot and was an authority on many things. He was an avid reader. He created beautiful wood-carved treasures. He got tickled at himself when he surprised someone with something he'd made and saw their reaction.

While things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to with my dad (I moved here from Texas thinking we'd build things, snowmobile, etc. but he got hurt before we got here), I had some treasured moments with him in his last 19 months. We had conversations we would never have had because we were thrown together, me caring for him. There were no work or play distractions, just talking.

I'm thankful for my dad. I'm thankful I was with him when he died. I'm thankful for everything he taught me. I miss you dad.

Happy Birthday Aileen

Today is a lovely woman's birthday - Aileen Larsen Nelson, my mother-in-law. She's been gone for 24 years and I only knew her for about seven years but I will be eternally grateful she and Winston brought my wonderful husband Riley into the world. He, like I, is the baby of his family - Randy, Rick and Riley - the three boys. He had a wonderful childhood. So did I. He treasures the gospel. So do I. He has a crazy streak. I am very quiet and shy. Heh heh. We have the same work ethic, sense of adventure and love of life. A match made in Logan. Or Brigham City.

My first memory of Aileen came several weeks after Riley and I started dating. It was the first weekend of October 1979. Riley and I were living in Logan, he in the downstairs apartment of a duplex, me upstairs. We met the first day I drove into the complex on Darwin Avenue in my red CJ5 Jeep with white pinstripes, two gas tanks and an 8-track player (I loved that jeep). We soon started hanging out a lot and he invited me to go stay at his house in Brigham City for the weekend. The weekend's activities would include going to his mission reunion and dinner Friday night, duck hunting Saturday (oh, joy) and going to general conference Sunday where he would translate conference talks into Tahitian. We pulled up in front of the Nelson house at 211 North 300 West in Brigham City that Friday afternoon. We went in and I met his mom: tiny woman, big smile, gray hair piled in a bun on her head and big ball hangy earrings. We chatted a bit, then Riley's dad got home and we met. He was probably dressed in a jumpsuit (his standard outfit), had gray hair and '50s style men's glasses - you know, the ones with the heavy black frames. They were both happy to meet me and I them.

Riley took off to talk tools or ducks or whatever with his dad. I was left with Aileen. I'm not sure how long we were downstairs before she said something like, "come upstairs and I'll show you some things ..." Those "things" were kept in a hope chest (her hope, I think) and were baby booties she'd made for Riley's future children and a temple apron for Riley's future wife. While I was a little shocked she was showing me these things the first time I met her, the wheels were already turning in my head that he just might be the one. Anyway, I ended up with them about ten months later. The bigger prize, of course, was Riley, but I got a pretty good deal in the end, apron, booties, mother- and father-in-law, the Nelson name, and now, at this point, 30 years of fun and happiness.

Thanks Aileen and Happy Birthday. I love you. I'm glad you didn't scare me off.