Field Trip

Check out the cutest baby in town:

My Little #22

Happy 43rd Anniversary!

September 9, 1969

"Love at first sight is understandable.

Staying in love is the miracle."

September 9, 1969

"Tell me who you love and I'll tell you who you are."

June 1971

"A great discovery in marriage is that you can grow separately

without growing apart."

June 1983

"The most important things in life aren't things."

October 2008

"Love isn't just gazing at each other,

it's looking out in the same direction."

November 2011

Me: I think you're starting to rub off on me.

Dee: That's good. I've been trying to lose some weight.

I would rather do nothing with this guy

than something with anybody else!

Life Lessons

Like I say, a little gray hair is a small price to pay for all this wisdom:

On Being a Kid:

1. You grow out of being the smallest.
2. Fractions are more important than you thought.
   
3. Never "joke" that you saw a neighborhood kid floating in the canal.
4. Assume that your brother will find your diary and show it to his friends.
   
5. Hope you get that many interested readers later when you have a blog.
6. Your mom will find out when you change your report card.
7. A tight curly perm won't make you look like Annette Funicello.
8. Don't ever swear at your mom.
9. Someday the mean 4th grade boys will be your sons.
10. Grandparents are nicer than parents.
    

On Being a Teenager:

1. Even the popular kids don't think they're popular.
2. Peer pressure prepares you for parenthood.
3. It's the longest six years of your life.
4. The music you love will always be the music you love.
5. It really wasn't the best time of my life.

On Being Married:

1. It really is the best time of my life.
   
2. Marry somebody you like being with for hours, doing nothing much.
3. Reminisce often so you'll remember why you fell in love in the first place.
4. Notice reasons to fall in love over and over again.
5. Laugh as often as possible.
6. Expect troubles. They come whether you're married or not.
   
7. Perfect people are very annoying. Be glad you didn't marry one.
8. Go on trips,
   
9. Or plan trips you want to go on,
   
10. Or at least watch TV together.

On Being a Mom:

1. It's harder than you think.
2. It's way more fun than you think.
3. There are lots of days you wonder why you had kids at all.
4. You can't imagine your life without your kids.
5. Kids totally take over your life
6. But you'd give up anything for your kids, so it works.
   
7. You hope your kids will someday realize all the stuff you did for them;
8. You wonder if you really did anything important for them.
   
9. Kids put you in a time warp—
10. Twenty minutes til bedtime can seem like six hours
11. Looking back, twenty years can seem like six hours.
    
12. You'll feel older when they're 8, 6 and 4 than you do when they're 28, 36, and 40.
13. They won't remember that you picked them up faithfully every day after school.
14. They'll remember the one day you got there fifteen minutes late.
15. Their most memorable present will be the one they didn't get.
16. Kids teach you more than you teach them.
17. You could be a really good mom if it weren't for all the kids.
18. Parenting books are written by people with nannies.
19. Most of us think we became functioning adults all on our own.
20. All mothers are working mothers
21. Motherhood is a multi-faceted career.
    
    

On Getting an Education:

1. School teaches you how to learn.
2. Most education takes place after you finish school.
3. Life stages are like advanced degrees.
   
4. It's possible to get several master's degrees at once:
   
5. I studied childhood psychology for 20 years,
   
6. Family relations for 43 years,
   
7. Adolescent behavior for 20 years.
8. I minored in Homemaking, History,
   
9. Creative writing, Computer science.
   
10. Continual learning keeps you from noticing senility.
    

On Life in General:

1. I am wiser than when I started.
2. Getting old is just as challenging and interesting as being young.
3. Fear is the opposite of faith.
4. Worrying doesn't do anything except make you feel like you're doing something.
5. Collecting people to love is a worthwhile hobby.
6. In spite of everything, life is fun.
7. God is good.
   

I'm glad I made it to sixty-three!

Happy Birthday to me!

Picture Perfect Swiss Souvenirs

These things caught my eye:

Cupboard carvings.

Lacy linens.

Rustic restaurants.

Breakfast buns.

Funky fountains.

Cozy corners.

Decorative doors.

Gorgeous gastronomy.

Quaint Kitsch.

Ancient architecture.

My main man.

Photo Tour of Switzerland

Arrive Zurich, Switzerland

8:05 AM.

"Oh my gosh, you guys!

Are you here, too??"

Zurich Hauptbahnhof.

Hannah freaks.

Mack fades.

"You won't believe this train ride."

Two hours of alpine villages ...

Swiss meadows and lakes before we arrive in Luzern.

Right across from the train station is the Chapel Bridge, built in the 1300s. Paintings representing Christ line the ceiling. The oldest part of town is on the other side.

"Come on!"

The architecture is my favorite part.

How old do you think that roof is?

We can't give in to jet lag—

Keep walking!

The whole city of Luzern is an art museum.

"Are we there yet?"

Süsse Träume!

Kidspeak

While we were gone, baby Seth joined our family.

Marta is Seth's mom, and Dan is Seth's dad.

Benji is Seth's big brother, and he came for a sleepover last night. Dee graciously let Benji share the master bedroom with me, and I made him a comfy bed on the floor with a feather tick, quilts and several fluffy pillows.

"Who's sleeping there, Oma?" he asked.

"You," I replied.

"Well," he said, "I could sleep in the bed."

"I thought I'd sleep in the bed," I said.

"Well, it's big enough for two," he said.

"Really?" I said.

He's learning to share his mom and his dad.

It might be too much to expect him to share his bed!

(The floor wasn't that comfy, by the way.)

Welcome to Seth Wells Dansie

Cousins Club Member #22

Read Marta's beautiful new-baby post here.

Message from München

We're on the trip of a lifetime, showing our favorite places to one of our favorite families. Our son Josh, his wife Christie and their three kids McKay (14) Chase (almost 13) and Hannah (10) met us in Switzerland. (I put a bunch of photos of Lucerne on Instagram, and wrote on Facebook about our stay in Salzburg, Austria.)

Now we're in Germany, and the WIFI in our hotel is $25 a day! Luckily there's a computer in the lobby so I can keep this trip journal going. On a daytrip from Munich Stie, Hannah and I toured the original Sleeping Beauty castle (Neuschwanstein) and Linderhof, another of Mad King Louis' fairytale castles.The weather was perfect and the crowds were non-existant! We stopped and shopped in Oberammergau, a tiny town famous for its painted buildings, wood carvings and Passion Play.

The guys spent three hours looking at historic BMW motorcycles and watching BMW cars being made. Chase and McKay are now planning to build themselves a car. They searched online all evening for ideas. The only thing that could pull them away from car websites was a huge selection of Bavarian pastries. The food so far has been a major attraction! Tomorrow we fly to England where the restaurants aren't so tempting.

It's amazing how well this family gets along. No arguing, complaining, pouting, tension. Even when it's hot and there's a wait, or a long-ish tour with a strange-ish tour guide, nobody whines. There is constant laughter and good-natured teasing. I'm not exaggerating. We're into our second week together and I haven't heard a cross word.

Travel, especially foreign travel is stressful--close quarters, constant togetherness, no privacy, unfamiliar conditions and different kinds of people. These guys are all great sports, patient, looking for fun, ignoring irritations. Every night a different kid shares our room and it's a party. We split a coke and a cookie from the minibar, and try to be the last one awake.

We're Off!

TravelinOpa

Switzerland, Austria, Germany and England,

here we come!

I'm going to Instagram my way through Europe.

Since I don't know how to do it yet, I can't tell you how to follow me.

But somewhere in the vast webosphere there will be awesome pictures!

See you later!

Pioneer Day

Photo by Holgen Leue

Great-great Grandpa John Bagley was only eighteen when he left his family in eastern Canada. He joined with the Mormon pioneers to prepare for a trek across the plains from Illinois to Utah.

John was extremely trusted and took the responsibility of caring for a widow and her children in the wagon train. He drove the lead team of nine yoke of oxen into the valley in 1856 when he was just twenty years old. Later, Brigham Young requested that John accompany him in many dangerous situations as a body guard. At the age of 58 he wrote his life story in his own hand, recalling his adventures with Indians, wild animals, cholera, and starvation.

John's Journal

But there is one particular feat John is remembered for.

John had worked in a lumber mill with his father from the time he was a little boy. Four days after his arrival in Salt Lake Valley he started work on what would become six lumber mills in Big Cottonwood Canyon. He helped build roads, haul logs and build silver mines in Alta, and became known quickly for his ability and agility.

Photo: Lake Mary, Brighton, UT Project 365:185/366 Flickr

On July 23, 1857, nine months after John's arrival, 2,600 people (with 500 vehicles and 1,500 animals) gathered at the bottom of Big Cottonwood Canyon for a giant anniversary party. The first pioneers had settled the valley ten years before, and there was a celebration planned ten miles up the canyon in Brighton. The group followed Brigham Young and a long line of dignitaries in carriages and wagons. A marching company of 50 kids between 10 and 12 years old led the way up the canyon, along with a brass band that furnished music for the celebration.

At sunset a bugle summoned the campers to a central elevated spot where Brigham Young addressed them. On the morning of July 24, the flag was unfurled from a giant pine tree, standing on a peak. Prayer was offered, then singing, and afterward cannons roared. The Big Cottonwood Lumber Company, for which John worked, had constructed the road as far as Lake Alice, near Silver Lake, expressly for this occasion. Today there is a small chapel at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon, in Brighton, close to where the celebration took place.

Photo by Blozan's Tree Climb

This is how John recalled the day of Celebration:

Brigham Young's tent was near a towering pine tree 100 feet high. That tree was selected as a flag pole for the unfurling of the Stars and Stripes. I had been reared in the timber lands of eastern New Brunswick, America, and was experienced in handling timber and logging, so I was selected by President Young to trim the tree for a flagpole.


Carrying my axe, I climbed to the top of the tree, trimmed the branches and cut the tip so there was a smooth top. I unfurled the flag, and much to the amazement of those below, I stood on my head on the top of the tree!

As I descended, I trimmed the other branches, and when I was among the trees that were not so lofty, I seized the branch of another tree and ape-like, swung from the flag pole and disappeared. The people below thought I had perished and were quite concerned until I finally appeared having made my way through the branches.

John Bagley

He sounds like a great, great-great grandfather to me!

A Grand Kid Day

Lucy, Jessi and Chloë make their Grand Entrance

Nothing is more fun than a day with grandkids! (I've had quite a few lately, and I know my stuff.) I took this trio to the Grand America in downtown Salt Lake City for the Grand Tour.

We started with brunch.

Pancakes with strawberries and cream cheese,

crepes with bananas and nutella ...

Hot chocolate with fluffy mounds of whipped cream ... "Can we go to La Bonne Vie after this?" they asked. The French bakery outside the Garden Cafe was filled with pastel macaroons and chocolate truffles and had caught their imaginations on the way in. "You don't have dessert after breakfast," I explained.

"But this is brunch!"

"Prepare for the bathroom of your life," Chloë told the others.

"We get our own little rooms, with chandeliers."

(It's a grand thing when toilets make such a splash.)

"Look at these old fashioned phones!" Jess exclaimed.

"Are they from the '90s?"

Cords, buttons, and even a dial—

"Where's the caller ID?"

The Grand Finale was a visit to Jou Jou,

a toy boutique in the hotel for grand kids.

"This is the ultimate doll house," Lucy said. It was standing next to a giant robot that told knock-knock jokes in a monotone robot voice, after it greeted us with:

"I-can't-give-a-high-five-but-I-can-say-hi-five-times ...

hi-hi-hi-hi-hi."

A grand piano was on the floor in front of organ pipes filled with brightly colored bubble gums. When the girls stepped on the keys the music started and so did the dance moves.

Making memories in grand proportions

There's nobody quite like grandkids. They love completely with no expectation except receiving love back. It's a forgiving, tolerant, accepting kind of love. They aren't trying to improve us, or change us. We're good enough. Who else loves us that way? They aren't embarrassed by us, and actually expect us to be a little eccentric, which gives us confidence to just be ourselves. All in all, it's just grand!

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,

and the heart of the children to their fathers . . ."

—Malachi 4:6