My Beloved Grandma Wheeler

My Grandma Sherry Wheeler passed away on January 12, 2016.  I love her so much!  She was an inspiration to me in many ways, but mostly in the way that she loved people unconditionally.  She could figure out how to love even the most difficult person.  She loved everyone.   Her optimism and humor were contagious and necessary.  That's how she got through life, and she had a wonderful life. I certainly miss her, but the many wonderful memories I have of her make me feel like she is close by.  In commemorating her life at her funeral, there were many tears, but many more smiles.  I think she would have it that way.

I made this Springville Devils mascot cake for her 80th birthday, where a small group of the high school marching band came to play happy birthday for her.

One of the many costumes she donned to perform her skits for the Wheeler Family reunions.

One of the last pictures I took with her in the nursing home before she passed away.  Even while on oxygen, barely able to eat or move or carry on conversation, the most common words out of her mouth to anyone that would come to visit were: I love you!

All of the Paul Wheeler family came into town for the funeral, and when we are together, there is fun to be had.  The Watson kids, Jesse and Grandpa joined us at the South Davis Rec Center for an hour of the new family favorite: pickle ball. I was still in a shoulder sling so I was happy to play with Chase and Chloe.

D.J. and his trickery.

James is too speedy for a still picture.

Chloe and I chased the ball more than hit it.

Here is the more intense game. Jesse is in the green shirt, Grandpa in the grey, Devin in the red and I think Spencer is the other player.

We moved from pickle ball to the climbing wall.

James and Chase.

After the viewing, in honor of Great Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler, we dined at Chuck-a-Rama (Sam, Chase, Spencer, DJ, Devin) . . . 

. . . where you can slurp jello through a straw (Miles) . . 

 . . eat whatever concoction of desserts you want (Mason) . . . 

. . maybe have an adult discussion in between buffet runs (Ryan, Jesse, Mark, Loni) . . 

. . have your own girl table (Tessa, Jara, Chloe) . . 

. . sleep if you don't feel well (Elise). . 

. . drink three slurpees at the same time (Chase).  Needless to say, the waitress deserved and received a great tip.  I don't think Great Grandpa and Grandma would have it any other way. . pure, unadulterated crazy!

Great Grandma always set up a fish pond at every family reunion that I can remember.  In honor of her, we had one last fish pond where we received things like whoopee cushions, green bowler hats, pig chip clips that oink, beads and a number of other wacky items.  The Paul Wheeler family cousins all together!

The Paul Wheeler family all together!

The Paul Wheeler family in their true form.  Complements of DNA from Sherry Wheeler.  How proud she would be!  Seriously.

Klondike 2016; The Year of the Snow Cave

Klondike Scout Camp is what I would consider crazy.  I spend the night praying for them.  But, it is a requirement for the scouts to have some sort of winter camp.  The Scout committee is smart by organizing a regional camp, so each troop doesn't have to get the gumption up to do it all by themselves.  This year, Spencer opted out by deciding that five Klondike camps is too much for one boy. So, Mark, D.J. and James headed out on a chilly Friday night in January.

Whether marshmallows are frozen are not, they are still a part of every campout.  James is on the right, as a legal aged 11-year-old-scout.

D.J. was absolutely determined to build and sleep in a snow cave.  He worked in the dark to build a cave secure enough to sleep in.  He started with a mound of snow that was the result of a snow plow.

Thought it was secure, it wasn't quite long enough, so he had to cover his legs with a tarp to keep the heat in.

After emerging from a good night's sleep (really, he said he slept well), he took stock of his general health and determined that only his feet were cold, which were the body parts under the tarp.  The body parts under the snow were warm!

Happy!

Triumphant!

Smashingly satisfied!  He had to jump on the cave a number of times to make it collapse.

Proud of this kid for his determination and endurance!

James is partaking of some famous Hinzte hash, which consists of a mixture of eggs, hash browns, bacon and apparently a liberal amount of ketchup.

Thank goodness for mouth holes in ski masks at breakfast!

James, D.J. and Tanner Nelson.

It may be cold, but it's beautiful!

My favorite mountain man!

Another favorite mountain man.

I love that scouts provides so many learning activities.  It's a bonus that many of the activities already appeal to boys.  They were asked to burn a string by making their own fire.

James and Theo attempting the same.

One of the funnest activities at Klondike is the sled race. The troop uses the same PVC sled every year and it's always fun no matter what place they come in!

Jonathon Prisbrey, DJ, Brock Gregersen, Tanner Nelson, James, Theo Larsen, Colin Heaps and Nolan Heaps.

Cake Review 2015

Alright, here is the cake review for 2015!

My friend's son graduated from High School (with a big sigh of relief!), so she wanted a celebratory cake for his graduation party.  I used melting chocolate to make the lettering and stars in his school colors.

After celebrating Granna's 70th birthday (she requested pecan pie), we celebrated Lieve's birthday with a cake that was a chocolatey masterpiece no matter what it looked like because of the chocolate buttercream frosting.  Taste aside though, I was happy with the way it turned out and I think Lieve didn't mind the chocolatey surprise either!

We've been watching a lot of the Marvel movies this year, so D.J. requested a half S.H.I.E.L.D., half Hydra cake.  I had to use a lot of black food coloring to get the frosting so dark.  We discovered that consuming a lot of black food coloring makes for greenish waste matter.

Spencer was non-committal about what he wanted on his cake, so I summoned help from DJ and James to determine his favorite character from League of Legends, a computer game he plays.  I painted the character this time and added a few 3-d items.  Thankfully he saw the finished product before Roxy got to it and thankfully she only ate half of it!

James is still a big Lego fan, but wanted something a little different.  So we made Lego bricks with origami items, courtesy of DJ.  

Since I was in a sling, I could handle the baking, but I couldn't wield a rolling pin, so Mark did most of the fondant decorating and he did a superb job!

1-1; James's 11th birthday

James has always been a good sport about having his birthday right after Christmas, even if we have to use a little Christmas wrapping paper sometimes - it's what’s inside that counts.  He is still our little cuddle-bug, and probably gets away with too much with those blue eyes of his and clever ways, but we love all that he is!

As with all the boys' birthdays, they get to order what they want for their meals for the day and James takes advantage of that to make his day his own.

Orange Julius, bacon and hash browns were on the menu for breakfast, and obviously he knows what he's doing since such a meal produces muscles like this: 

He loves his presents already!

He has reached the point of not being able to hold up how many fingers represent his birthday.  So he went with the one and one picture.  I had to request a simple cake this year since I was a one-armed bandit in a sling, so Mark and DJ made the bulk of the Lego and origami cake, two of James current fads.

This year the boys were into modifying Nerf guns, so James wanted a brand new one, just so he could modify it.  That makes complete sense, right?

Finally, the gift he had been waiting for . . . a big white afro!  Hooray!

The afro also doubles as a bean bag.

For lunch he requested Pizza Pie cafe, a pizza buffet.  His favorite part of the buffet are the dessert pizzas.  I think he had 1 slice of cheese pizza, one breadstick, two slices each of oreo, apple pie and cinnamon pizza.  You only turn 11 once!

Merry Christmas! 2015

Christmas was a little different this year.  I was in a sling, so most of Christmas shopping and delivering needed to be done before December 14th.  But it made for a relaxing and meaningful Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we delivered gifts to neighbors and friends and partook of our traditional big Christmas Eve dinner.  The boys opened their Christmas Eve gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler which were Utah PJ's and a new addition: Happy Socks! We played a new dice game called Bang! and killed each other off.

James and his stack o' presents.

D.J. and his pile o' presents.

Spencer is too cool for his presents.

Me in my Holiday sling.

James still loves to get Legos!

Ok, maybe Spencer is not too cool for his presents, especially the video game he has been trying to convince us to get for the last. . . ummm. . . year, I think.  And DJ was equally happy to received the latest football game: Madden 16.

But the star of Christmas morning was the introduction of the onsie.

Captain America, if you please.

A gargantuan Batman that you would not want to meet in a dark alley.

A rare moment of Darth Vader flashing a smile.  Maybe he's not so evil.

The family gift this year took a little while to figure out. The clue was a silhouette of a man with spiky hair saying "You Too!"  with the date 3/18/16. With a few other clues, the boys figured out that we were going to see one of our favorite comedians, Brian Reagan in March!

A wonderful Christmas Day that was full of smiles, relaxation and the peace of being together and recalling the hope offered by Jesus Christ. A good day and a great season!

Las Vegas Bowl 2015

I had shoulder surgery on December 14th, 2015. Mark and the boys took care of me so much and so well, that they decided they needed a well-derserved break.  So, five days after my surgery, they left me to go cheer for the Utes at the Las Vegas Bowl.  Mark made arrangements for a babysitter for me, Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler, and after we watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening day, they headed for Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas to watch the Utes smash the BYU Cougars.

IHOP: the breakfast of champions. A good omen.

Since the game was around Christmas time (December 19), and Santa just happens to be a Ute fan, as evidenced by his consistent red garb, the boys donned the elf hats.

In the first jaw-dropping period, the Utes scored four touchdowns off of BYU turnovers. The second and third periods were extremely boring, so it was a good thing the boys had inebriated BYU fans in front of them for entertainment.  

BYU started scoring enough that in the fourth period, there was a bit of a worry they would actually win.  But the Ute defense held off further scoring and the Utes came off victorious with a 35-28 win.

Utah men are they!

Which calls for a celebratory Las Vegas buffet!

Hooray for crawdads that show their Ute pride by wearing red

As if the Las Vegas buffet wasn't enough celebrating, there was just enough time to fit in yet another viewing of Star Wars IN 3-D and lounge chairs.  According to the boys it was by far the most comfortable movie viewing ever.

I realize as I write this blog that I was never destined to be a sports writer. I'm just happy I know what the word turnover means - and it's not the pastry.