Some Old School Photos

At my parent's home this past weekend the thought crossed my mind: What if this house burned down and I lost all these childhood photos?

So I pulled a few off the wall. I would have done more, but the scanning process took too long. So, here are some film photos I scanned. Welcome to Joe McGregor's life.


Jennifer. This ended up at my house after my parents used it in a piece at our reception.


Baby photo.


9 Months.


First Haircut.


4 yrs Old. We lived in a trailer house and ate rabbit.


1st Grade.


3rd Grade.


Mission. Pasadena, CA. December, 1998.


December 2004.

For you, DAD!

Hey Dad, lions are my favorite animals, better than anything else I like. I like it the best. I like the boy lions the best, but this girl lion was the only one we could see at the zoo yesterday and it was hiding. When I see lions it makes me very happy to see them.

I love you,

Logan

Dad, this is my favorite animal. I love zebras. I love giraffes too.

Love,

Madison

We are looking at giraffes here, but actually it looks like we are looking at you! HI!!!

This is at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Pepe le Pew likes to sit on Madi's tummy. Grant likes to chase Pepe.

Dad, I LOVE to ride my bike without training wheels. I didn't even fall one time! Do you think I look like a good bike rider?

(Logan again)

P.S. It was hard to reenact Grant's bathroom fun. This is the best we could get today. I took out the part where he stuck his hand in the toilet. Oops, I thought I took it out. Oh well. I washed his hands, don't worry!

P.P.S. Grant is usually happy when he walks, but today he was mad because he just wanted us to go play in the park and we were taking too long. He also gets mad if we leave before he is ready. People usually laugh and say how cute it is that he is throwing a tantrum, but I am a little worried because he's only 15 months! Can you imagine the tantrums he will throw when he is 2? Good thing you'll be around then!

The Hardest Father's Day Ever

I drove back home to Salado TX for Father's Day. I figured at least one father in the family deserved to have a son present.

But my family attends a Spanish branch in the same building and at the same time an English ward meets. I grew up in that English ward, and its been a very, very long time since I've attended. So I sat in the back pew.

Naturally, the ward has changed. I recognize very few people. By the same token, very few people recognized me. At the conclusion of the Sacrament service, the deacons passed out the customary Father's Day gift. The deacon passing out the gifts to my row certainly didn't recognize me, and apparently didn't recognize me as a father. So the brother I shared a pew with got a gift. The brother right in front of me got a gift. I got nothing.

I've debated over the past 3 weeks whether it's harder to be a father without a family, or a family without a father. I'm sure most days it's the latter. But yesterday was tough. I miss my family.

Funny:

Seeing Grant pull the toilet paper off, wipe his bottom (ok, usually his side or leg), then throw it in the toilet. Flush.

Wasteful, yes. Messy, sometimes. Funny, always.

I watched him do it over and over for about 3 minutes before pulling him away. He screamed.

Why I Love Tejas

I sure miss my family, and these past few weeks have been wringing.

But if there's one thing to cushion the despair, it's this:


What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a Texas-style smoker. In this finely-hand-crafted work of art is composed melodious aromas of live oak-, mesquite-, and pecan-smoked BBQ brisket. REAL bbq!

Shortly after getting to town, a good friend of mine welcomed me back home by holding a small bbq for me. Brisket, potato salad, Mrs. Baird's bread. I can still taste it.

And that's what's beautiful about Texas. This pit lives in his backyard, and is carted to and fro behind his pickup truck.

A beautiful life. Can't wait for my family to come and partake of heaven.

Cleaning Out The Camera Phone

I'm here in a public library in Ft Worth, TX, and I needed to transfer some pics on my phone to my computer to create memory space. I found these two, and can't think of any clever and supporting themes, so here they are:



Here, Madison will NOT be distracted by others when there's a picture to be taken. Jenny will have to help me out with sorting the girls, but I believe we have Halle Pearson, Kaelyn Mathews, and Mishayla Waite.



There's not much to be seen while driving across northern Arizona (my apologies to the Gilmore's). So when Bryan (my business partner) and I passed through Holbrook, we made sure to detour and catch this famous Route 66 establishment. Bet you wish you could have been there.

As of today

"Mom, is it true? (Friend at school) was shaking his head really fast and my teacher told him he better stop or his head would fall off and dance around the room and he would be dizzy. Do you think that is true?"

--Logan

****************************************

Words Grant can say:

• bye bye
• hi
• ball
• mom
• dad
• thank you
• ha ha ha ha ha (copying my evil, deep-voice laugh)
• uh oh

****************************************

Yesterday I was getting ready to show our house and just happened to look under Madison's bed. I wish I had a picture to show you the

100's of candy wrappers hidden there. 

Really. I couldn't pick them all up in one trip. I asked her about it later and she admitted it saying, "I knew you would get mad at me, so I hid them there." All parade candy from a few weeks ago. I gave the rest away yesterday.

*****************************************

Grant took 20 steps today. 

I'm glad. I'm tired of people asking me if he's almost 1, then having to explain he's almost 15 months. He just doesn't walk yet.

Soon.

As an afterthought, I'm really just tired of being self-conscious that my baby doesn't walk yet. It's totally me. Usually the people who ask tell me their kids didn't walk until later, too. I don't even have to explain. They can see it for themselves. ***sigh

**Pockets**

Do you remember how Tom Sawyer always carried his treasures in his pocket? My end-of-day treasure:

2 receipts, mine

7 beads from two different bracelets, Madison's

1 lady bug barrette, Madison's

1 broken something toy, Logan's

1 tissue, Grant's

1 candy wrapper, Madison's

2 pony holders, Madi's or mine

2 bobby pins, 1 mine, 1 Madi's

1 pencil, mine

1 Easter egg window cling, ?????

Dear Dad

Hi Dad! Are you having a good day?

I'd drive out to see you, 

but Mom says I'm not old enough.

I miss you so much I'd even walk all the way there, 

but Mom says that would take a long time.

So I'll make you a present instead. 

This is the turtle from the movie The Reef.

We checked it (the movie) out from the library.

We really miss you. We do get to eat a lot of yummy foods like mac and cheese and hot dogs, though. Thank you for taking care of us. 

Love,

Hugs and Kisses,

Your Family,

Logan the Bogan

Madi the Badi

Grantee

and

Mom (I miss you the most)

A Voice from the Dust

Dust, as in dusty Caliente, NV.

On May 26, 2009, I took off for the Den of Sin (Las Vegas) to attend two legal conferences. The first night I stopped in the surprisingly lovely Omaha, NE. I stayed with our friends from Wymount, the Boyle's. While there, I saw Warren Buffett's home and office (from outside, of course). It's amazing that a man that is periodically the world's richest human still lives in his first home (without a security fence), and drives a used Cadillac.




From there I headed for Denver, with a brief pit stop at Cabelas' home office. In Denver I stayed with Robby and Shannon Packard. I failed to snap a pic of the town, but I was thoroughly impressed. And for those that know Robby, I should mention that the man has not aged a day from his time at Ricks College.

Then I headed to Las Vegas. This leg of the trip started rough. Stop-and-go morning traffic, climbing a few thousand feet in elevation on I-70, and winding mountain roads made for some unfortunate car sickness. I got better as the day progressed, but the lack of cell phone service through southern Utah had Jenny in a panic, as she thought I passed out and drove off the road somewhere before Richfield.

I finally made it to Las Vegas where I am still being hosted by yet another Wymount BYU 1st Ward alum family: the John Bragonje's. Rather than introduce me to the debaucheries of Las Vegas, they drove me up to Caliente, NV, a dusty Nevada town whose apparent hey-day expired roughly a century ago. Here's a pic of the rail station, constructed in 1901, and which is still the largest building in town (edging out the LDS church down the road).



We also navigated 28 miles of dirt roads to Nevada's remote Beaver Dam State Park to do some hiking. I tried to get John to carry me in his pack, but it sported the sign "Kids only," a reference, John insists, to physical, not behavioral, maturity.



Finally, we strolled the streets of Pioche, NV, a dwindling mining camp where the first 72 deaths of the community where by the gun, rather than by natural causes.

I miss my family dearly. Thanks to those back home trying to keep Jenny distracted.

today

Grant is whining, pulling at my pants, while I finish washing pans. I look over and see a toy screwdriver on the counter, and wonder why it's there. I must've taken it away from the other kids. "Here Grant! Do you want a screwdriver?" He takes it, looks at it, throws it on the ground, whines louder, and gives me the "I'm not stupid, that's not what I want and you can't trick me" look.

I can't stop laughing.

Little Reminders

I'm a mom. I watch kids, chauffeur them around, break up fights, cook for them, feed them, bathe them, clean up after them, read to them, teach them, love them, yell at them, soothe them. Repeat. I've had this job for 5 1/2 years, so I've kind of forgotten about the other roles I used to play. Today I had a little reminder, and it was thrilling and inspiring.

My Bachelor's degree is in English Education. It's been a while, and I know I've forgotten some grammar rules, and I am not in the habit of pumping out 10-page papers every day, so don't judge me on my writing here. But I was a pretty good student--I earned a scholarship from BYU-Idaho for my grades (I know many of you who read this were in my classes or worked with me and also got scholarships, so I feel silly bragging, but it's fun to remember and feel smart). I even had some papers published. I was busy--usually taking 21 credits with 3 or 4 English classes at a time and working 20 hours a week. 

I took my last English class over 6 years ago. Now I have a brother and sister who are attending BYU-Idaho. Today my brother, Dennis, called and asked if I ever had teacher so-and-so and did I take a certain class from him. At first I was like, "I don't think so. It's been a long time." He said the teacher's name again and started describing what he looked like and the class he taught. "OK, yeah, I think I know who you are talking about, why?" Dennis then explained that they have an assignment in their class and today his professor handed out an example to the students. Dennis looked at it and saw the name on it was "Jennifer McGregor." Apparently we had to give credentials and contact information because on the back of the the assignment there was information about me, including the fact that I had taught children in China for two semesters! It also listed my college email address. It was definitely mine!! (I got 100%) Dennis talked to his teacher after class and informed him that I was his sister. The teacher was surprised and asked how long ago I had taken his class. I think it's been 7 years! So for 7 years, 3 semesters per year, my paper has been handed around as an example for at least 21 different classes (who knows how many classes he has each semester?)! 

Lesson? We never know how we will affect others. I hope my example has been helpful to those who have used it as their guide. I wonder how many other papers of mine are floating around BYU-Idaho? I feel flattered and reprimanded at the same time. I'm busy and have new priorities, but there's no excuse for letting my talents rot. I once felt like I could take on the world, talk to anyone,  and accomplish anything. I have forgotten the exhilaration of analyzing a piece of literature and writing pages of carefully selected words in a matter of hours. Most of the writing I do is on this blog! Maybe I don't have the time or desire to analyze stories, but I could write anecdotes about my family for my children. Why do I let motherhood and housewifery be an excuse to stop growing as an individual? I am taking some classes to keep my teaching certificate current, so I have been forced to write better and more often.  Anyway, this little story has made my day and inspired me to get writing. Thanks, Dennis!