Memory Lane Monday: Dear Laura,

Ice Skating with Laura-December 2009

We went ice skating on Saturday.
And of course it made us think of you.
And thinking of you made us very happy.
We are glad that you are where you are.
And we love the stories and pictures.
Enjoy some warmth for us!

Until we 'skate' again,

See you around the next corner on memory lane,
Alison

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Memory Lane Monday: Daddy and Daughter

Baby Randy and Big Brother-probably early 1972!

Baby Lita and Big Brother-October 2011

So many people have said that Lita takes after her Daddy in looks-especially when he was a baby. Now I see it... high hair line, round full face, prominent forehead and serious expression. I was excited to find the top pictures recently in my photo archives. How fun to compare the two baby faces! I think Lita might be a little older in her picture but I definitely see a family resemblance. Do you too?

See you around the next corner on memory lane,
Alison

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Memory Lane Monday: All Our 9 Month Olds!

Lita Girl is 9 months old today! It seems to me like 9 months is kind of a magical age. For all of our kids it was the age when things really started happening. The age when they really become a little person with a little personality. When they really started responding to us and interacting with a new level of intelligence.

It's when they started to be able to communicate ("maaamaaa"..... is the "mommy is the only one who can make me feel better" cry ,"da da da da" is "daddy's in the room and I want to play!", and "NUM! NUM!" is "Come on! It's time to eat!", etc.)

It's when we started telling them "no" and "good girl/boy" and when they started to understand what that meant.

It's when they all started to move a little faster and little farther than this Mommy was ready for.


And the rest is history...

Kyla Jean (9 Months) in May 2001,

Colter Steven (9 months) in April 2003,

Maya Judy (9 months) in July 2005,

and Melita Lauren (9 months) today!

Happy 9 months to my little "on the move" Lita Girl!

See you around the next corner on memory lane,
Alison

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Memory Lane Monday: Then and Now

I absolutely l.o.v.e. this picture taken back in November of 2002. Colter was only 4 months old here and Daddy was already introducing him to some of the finer things in life. How To Bag The Biggest Buck Of Your Life was the book and I adore how Colter looks so into it!

So here are the same two just a few night ago...
Colter and Daddy relocated all the reloading stuff up to the living room and enjoyed the evening together reloading bullets. I "heart" this too!

Then on Saturday they headed out to bag the big buck! No luck that day but maybe next time...

See you around the next corner on memory lane,
Alison

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Memory Lane Monday: Nineteen-Eighty-Something

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life
- to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. ~George Eliot

Happy Anniversery Dad & Mom!

See you around the next corner on memory lane,
Alison

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Memory Lane Monday: Grandpa Clarence

Grandpa Clarence 4.3.1919 - 10.10.2011

"Clarence served in the Air Force at Moffett Field in San Jose, California
where he met his wife, Florence, and they were married June 12, 1942.
He served in the Philippine Islands toward the end of World War 2."
~taken from his obituary

Grandpa Clarence's Military trunk. He wrote inside with white paint...

Moffett Field
Chico Field

This special trunk came into our possession after an online auction to disperse Grandpa Clarence and Grandma Florence's things to the family. Although it would never replace having him here again, it does feel like we have a tiny little piece of him with us still.

I try to imagine Grandpa Clarence when he was there, serving his country in California. His life had been ranching and farming and I believe his desire was to return to his native country and ranch and farm again, as soon as he could. But like every experience of life, either good or bad, this experience would prove to be one of life's better ones for him. We don't read in his obituary all that happened to him in California and in the Philippine Islands but we do read that he met and married the love of his life. And that was only the beginning of something wonderful...

My first memories of Grandpa were when I went to a family reunion with Randy before we were married. He accepted me as if I were one of his own grandchildren. Every greeting after that included an arm around the back and a squeeze. I never thought of him as anything other than my Grandpa to. I am thankful for every time through the years we were able to see him and for the once a year cards he sent. They are saved so we will enjoy them for years to come.

At the graveyard on Saturday, as we stood around his casket and paid our last respects, I felt so touched by his life and I felt thankful for him, and so many others that I have known through the years, who have loved and served. The three rifle volleys fired, the sweet sound of the trumpet playing taps, the soldier's heartfelt message as he presented the flag...

"On behalf of the President of the United States and the people of a grateful nation,
may I present this flag as a token of appreciation for the honorable
and faithful service your loved one rendered this nation."

I feel like, again, I have been blessed to know, to see, to feel, to be. I want to love and serve. That is all.

See you around the next corner on memory lane,
Alison

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Memory Lane Monday: "Long Ways Back"

Remember my Auntie Karen and Uncle Joe that we recently visited up in Alaska? Before we left on our trip, I packed a bar of Heathers Soap for Karen to enjoy. In a comment the other day she wrote about the soap...

"I love the fragrance - takes me back to my youth (long ways back)."

When I saw this picture today, I knew I had to post it! Guess who is right smack-dab in the middle of the picture! Auntie Karen in her youth ("long ways back")...isn't she sweet! And that's my adorable Mother to the right in the picture and their other sister (my aunt) Joanne. Also pictured are my Great Grandparents and my Great Aunt. I just wonder... where did their paths take them after they got up from the breakfast table that day?

What I also love about this picture... the patterned wall-paper and table cloth, the Wheaties and orange wedges on the table, the pitcher and dishes, my Mother's little outfit, Great-Grandma's apron and Great-Grandpa's suspenders. Talk about true vintage! I really could just look and look at this picture-the sweet faces and my grandmothers, Alice's bright and inviting breakfast table. Old pictures...just another thing I love!

BTW, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a bar of Heather's Goat Milk Soap! It ends Tuesday evening. Just leave a comment here about something you love and you're automatically entered!

See you around the next corner on memory lane,
Alison

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Memory Lane Monday: Bonnie R.

This week my thoughts and memories have been with Bonnie R.and her recent passing. She would have been 99 this summer. I have some sweet memories of her throughout my life. Here is a picture taken in 1982 that I wanted to share today...

Me with my grandma Alice, great-aunt Sylvia, Dottie and Bonnie

Bonnie gave me the Sand Dollar that you see in the picture at the top of this post in 1989. She had one that was broken open and she showed me the doves that were inside of it. We sat there, together in my Grandparents living room, and marveled over the beauty and wonder of it...

I was reading about the sand dollar and noticed that it's a dark color when it is living. After it dies and is washed up on shore, the sun bleaches it white. The top of the sand dollar has a five-fold radial pattern like a star or a flower. If you break it open, there are little dove-like shells inside that once were the teeth of the sand dollar. As I sit here and gently shake my sand dollar, I hear the little pieces inside.

More than this little sand dollar that she's left behind with me, I am so, so thankful for the quiet sweet influence Bonnie had on my life throughout my younger years. I'm thankful for her 75 years of service in a work that she saw as greater than her own plans and desires. I'm thankful that she had time to stop and talk and share something with me that day. Like the quiet sand dollar that sits on my shelf, there was something truly beautiful inside.



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Memory Lane Monday: Red Umbrella

(please go to my playlist near the top left corner of my blog and click play to hear "Red Umbrella")

This multi-media presentation is dedicated to my little family.

Let is rain
Let it wash my tears away
Tomorrow's another day

Who needs the sunshine when you have a red umbrella!

It's snowing/raining today. It made me think of this fun post I did a year ago!

Oh, and speaking of years... we just celebrated our 4th Anniversary here at "From This Front Porch". Here is the very first post I ever did on April 11th 2007.

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Memory Lane Monday: 5 Cousins

I like how this picture just shouts "SPRING!" Even though this picture is outdated, I still display it in a frame above the computer desk. It was taken a few years back when there were only 5. Come next month, there will be 10!

Our week of Spring Break is here and we're so excited to spend it with 3 of our cousins. Tyler-man (above) and his two little brothers, Boyd and Monte. The kids are "over-the-top" excited! I'm excited to spend some time with my sister and my mom. So thankful.

I considered leaving my computer tucked away. No blogging. No facebook. No email. Just visiting and being together. I'm pretty set on it... but I do have to show my Mom and Sister my new scrapbooking software-it's too good NOT to share. I'll just have to get it out for that. :)

Enjoy your week everyone!

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Memory Lane Monday: Remembering Japan

Our thoughts have been with those in Japan recently as we read and watch the devastation and destruction that has unfolded in "The Land of the Rising Sun" these past days.

I went back to April of 2008 for these pictures of when Randy visited Japan for work. His time was spent mostly in Nagasaki and in Imari, a more rural area in Southern Japan. He did spend a little time in Tokyo as well (above). The picture was taken from the top story of Japan's tallest building "Sky Garden". To see more the rest of his pictures that I posted back in April of 2008 click here.

The picture below is one of my favorite pictures of all time. I love how he captured the beautiful mountainous countryside of rural Japan as he was speeding by on the highway.
I can't even begin to imagine what these poor people are going through and what their country is experiencing right now. My heart goes out to them. My little problems seem so small and insignificant in comparison.

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Memory Lane Monday: Remembering My Friends

Instead of spending my time on doing a "Memory Lane Monday" post today, I am going to take my time and walk down blog avenue and visit all my friends and leave LONG OVERDUE comments! It just may take me all day... So this will be my post for today. Cheers!

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Memory Lane Monday: Phantom Homes

The above picture is of my great grandparents and other relatives on their homestead in 1915 in Eastern Montana. I like how well the following book excerpt goes with the picture above...

"Sometimes I walk up to the hill where my husband built that sod shanty and gaze about me at the wreckage of our dreams, wondering if I shall ever see anything here but phantom homes. Those of us who remain have lost the romantic vision, lost the dream that brought us here. I look less than seven miles from my old house and see seven phantom homes. Dry and deserted, I see the fields where plows have gone patiently up and down, now weed grown, and fences down. And I feel the hand of desolation.

"I look a little farther and see one tiny house. So small appears that fence field, but it is not small, except by comparison with the vastness of the untilled land about it. I look again, and in the immensity of the unbroken acres of range land, ... among the scattered bunches of cattle, beyond the sheep wagon, are horses.

"These horses are our only hope. We have no feed for them. They must fend for themselves... and they must be strong enough to pull sleds and wagons 18 miles to the nearest town. If our horses starve, and if the wild horses starve, we will starve...

"Through my tears I see them still, the phantom homes. Dear, painted, shingled houses... Stacks of grain... Trees tended by loving hands... Gardens loved and cared for... And fat, gentle, sheltered horses."

~excerpt from Montana Woman Homesteaders-A Field Of One's Own, Chapter 13- Life in the Badlands: Pearl Danniel (homesteader in Eastern Montana)

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Memory Lane Monday: Mommy's Helpers

Kyla -7 years old and Colter - 5 years old stirring at the stove.

Maya - 4 years old and Colter - 6 years old peeling eggs for deviled eggs.

So I had to go back and post these picture of my kitchen helpers back in October of 2007 and May of 2009 after doing the last post this morning about my kitchen helpers of now!

Ahhh, I love these little walks down memory lane...

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IT'S A NEW YEAR!!! JOIN US FOR MEMORY LANE MONDAY AND SHARE YOUR PAST MEMORIES AND PICTURES WITH US. 1 YEAR AGO OR 100 YEARS AGO?! LETS WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE TOGETHER!!!

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