May 25, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 3 Comments
Memorial day at Shelley's grave with Jessica and Ben.
Growing up I don’t remember going to gravesides to decorate or honor those who have passed before. It seemed more like a time to have a break from work, have a BBQ, or camping trip. Until my sister Shelley died from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 1996, then it was real and important. She was an amazing person with dreams, an education and love for her family. Her life was cut short at age 32 and left a darling smart three-year-old girl named Jessica and dimpled cheek son named Benjamin. These children were the light of her world. From this I learned death gives us time to reflect.
After I was married I developed a relationship with my Grandfather Horman. We shared at a distance our love. He lived in Salt Lake City, Utah and I lived in Spokane, Washington. After he died I was surprised that to find others did not honor him on this day. I have since gone every year and think of the man who could not hear and asked the same questions over and over again to his wife. “Did you turn the sprinklers off?” Then again, “Did you turn the sprinklers off”? What do you expect of a 93 year-old man? He also had a new car every year. One year he was going to trade it in since it was nearly worn out at 15,000 miles on it. He said they were not going to give him anything for it so he was going drive it until it became a boat.
The year after Shelley died we were able to take her little ones to the grave for the first time. It was simple. Her headstone has a framed picture of her on it. The children were able to touch and talk about their mother. I loved our time together.
About 2003 we again had Jessica and Ben for the holiday and went camping at Utah Lake and my brother-in-law, Sieg brought rockets. We spend days shooting them off. We had lots of extra kids from the campground “helping” us. In my mind this is when Savannah (my niece) and Jessica really loved being with each other. The were each other shadows. Their slender bodies were mirror images of each other. So fun to see the the family resemblance and the debt of their relationships develop.
The most memorable Memorial day was again visiting Shelley’s grave in Sandy. My parents home is on the cliff edge of the cemetery. We were trimming the grass and placing flowers when we heard lots of sirens of fire trucks and police cars running up the hill to Pepperwood housing. We sat and watched the flames rising higher and higher. We commented on how terrible the fire was and wondered how it got started. After a moment someone said, “That looks like its close to Mom and Dad’s house”. “Let’s go see”. When we got to the street we jumped past the fireman to find out IT WAS my parents property flambé. The four very mature pines trees, grass, the property between their house and the neighbors and down the mountain side were carefully extinguished by the local heros from the Sandy fire department. My nephew Brady, confessed of playing with some fireworks at the home before we left for the cemetery. Let’s just say it was HOT all day.
Life passes by quickly. I want to enjoy my loved ones while I have time and honor those who have shown love to me. I am thankful for the Memorial Days past and look forward to ones in the future. Have a memorable Memorial Day.
May 12, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 3 Comments
I watched a young mother talking softly to her children and hugging them close. There were mirrored smiles and laughter. It reflected simplistic love. I wondered if this mother ever wanted to fast forward the ages of her children like I did at times with mine. Now the shoe is on the other foot. I would like somedays to go back in time. When I received paper coupons book, programs where angelic voices are accompanied by a tone deaf child and elastic bracelets that cut off my circulation.
There have been so many things change since then, that I could not go back. Two kids married, one graduated from college, three served missions, four kids in college, now and the birth of a charming grandson. As I contemplate I wrote this little poem about my 6 sons.
Jacob was a clever chap,
He really hated to take a nap.
Dimples in his cheeks, we called him Tyler,
For he truly was a big talker and smiler.
Nick was thoughful and followed the pack,
When he was not moving he was taking a nap.
Zack seemed to take the lead,
There was nothing he did not read.
Josh’s hair curly and white,
Cars and trucks were his delight.
Ben was happy and funny,
He definitely was no dummy.
Our past is what makes the present. I savor the good times and the joy these 6 amazing men have brought to me. You are my “Sun”shine. Thanks for being a part of my motherhood. I love you all.
May 12, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 2 Comments
Sweetness defined
At Orson Gigi’s I found some amazing cupcake cup papers. They were so colorful and I had to have them. I envisioned the masterpieces I would create inside those little papers. I would explore the new cookbook
101 Gourmet Cupcakes by Wendy Paul that I had not explored. Her photos are inspiring of the small desiccant delights.
I was expecting my parents for a birthday celebration for my father who turned 82. Dad and mom are diabetic. It wanted a “little cake” for them and chose to explore the recipe Banana Streusel. I was making tacos for a small army when I was making the cupcakes. I was not following the recipe correctly when I noticed the streusel was to have a half cup of the reserve DRY MIX. I had already mixed the dry with the wet. Then I saw the butter was meant to be in the streusel NOT in the wet batter. UGG! I did not have the time to run to the store and start all over again. So I made my own recipe. I used the wet batter and bananas on top of one batch. They were tasty but I was afraid that the bananas would go brown so I tried another way mixed it all together. They had an extra half a stick of butter since I added it wrong in the batter. I have to say they were excellent, even with all the mistakes. My name of my cup cakes is Gone Bananas.
Sometimes in life things don’t go as planned. We have to decide how to deal with it. I made the best I could out of it. Sometimes you have to plow forward and be creative.
April 7, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 1 Comment
Eastwood 5th grade, Lost photo
In the charming year not so far away I went to Skyline HIgh School when Gunny Sack dress were a must. When guys really wore ruffled shirts in the prom tuxedos and the teachers were know as “Mr.” and not by their first name. These were times when we loved and hated school. There were early morning breakfasts at Marie Calendar ‘s where we may have missed first period. The ruff kids were the “wallgangers” that did “whatever” at the tennis courts. There seemed to be a non spoken judgement of our peers that mentally we declared wether we were friends or not.
The years have rolled on and technology changed, cell phones (remember the brick?), DVD’s (remember the beta tapes?) and computers that took up whole rooms to operate (remember when apple was something you ate?) last but not least ipods (remember 8 tracks?) (If you can remember the things in parentheses you are about my age!) Then social networks came to be, I to was drawn in by one of my sons. He set my account on Facebook and I was terrified to do anything on it because I had no idea what I was doing. Zack, who set it up for me said, “If you are going to go to back to college you have to do it”. I had no I idea what Facebook was other than my kids had to barrow my phone to change their status and chat many hours away. I did not realize it was part of my initiation with tuition.
Almost two years later I have found interesting things that have changed me. I added my family members and then their friends wanted to be friends with me. Good idea since they spill the beans on Facebook about everything forgetting they are friends with “Josh’s” mom. It can be educational (Zack was right on that one!) You can find out who really made the dent in the car. Where “Ben” was when he said he was studying.
Then there are the most interesting people from the past who want to be friends again. I had an old boyfriend contact me he thought I would not remember him. Then friends I went to Skyline with contacted me. The ball really started rolling with all the Skyline classmates. Since I had many of them and enjoyed it I started a group of our gradating class so we could all be together. I really enjoy the chatting and support for each other. One classmate is fighting to get her grandkids back from DCFS. Another is supporter of Angel hugs that donates blankets for babies who die shortly after birth. Some classmates I did not know very well but we are connected together in life and have renewed friendships. The current favorite is posting my elementary photos from Eastwood. I have remembered about half the names in the pictures. My classmates help me identify them. I have saved all my pictures from school. I had one missing. That was my fifth grade picture with Mr. Erickson. On Facebook I asked if anyone had the picture. Robert said, “I think my sister (Jennifer) was in your class” and shortly I had a copy of the picture. A real prize for me. One day Creighton posted he had a week stay in Las Vegas at the Hilton Grand on the strip for $200. for the week. I was the winner with the Hilton for the college kids on spring break.
These are not faces in my yearbook any more. They are people who accept each other for who they are now. Next class reunion I might actually recognize them as they currently are. What a change.
March 3, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 0 Comments
I am an olympic junkie. I had a light schedule in school which accommodated watching as much as possible. Canada had a hard time not having enough snow, too much fog and cauldron fail. Olympics are staging their city and country to the world. It reminded me of 2002 when I was a volunteer. I was assigned to the opening and closing ceremonies. Just like Vancouver things did not go perfectly. After rehearsals of four months they opening ceremonies day came and we had the biggest snow storm ever and popped the hot air balloons that aerialist where going to be dangling and performing. Then we had to shovel snow from all the seats.
Volunteer for me was thrilling. The month before opening ceremonies we were assigned specific duties. I was assigned the flag raisers (anyone who touched flags, American, Greece and Olympic flags). I walked them to where ever they needed to go and made sure they were early to the post. It was crazy practicing with stand ins. I did not know who I would be working with until a few days ahead. I was sworn to secrecy. I loved going out on the floor during the ceremonies and taking pictures. I have super pictures of many famous people like Steven Spielberg, Jacques Rogue, Desmond Tutu, and Dorothy Hamill.
During this time is was my goal to have my family experience as much as possible of the olympics. We took buses to events, award ceremonies, anything we could get tickets to. Many times just having a camera at the right place at the right time was captured a special moment. Ty ran into Bode Miller at McDonalds. Jake, Ty and Nick went to see the Today Show in Park City and ran into Kelly Clark hours after winning her gold medal in the half pipe just walking down the street.
My crowning moment was when I was asked to be in the closing ceremonies to raise the Greece flag. I was shocked and readily accepted. It was a special olympic moment for me. I could not stop smiling on the podium. It was so cold but my spirit was hot. I will never live my dream of being an ice skater and winning gold but I was a winner just being apart of the great olympics in Salt Lake City. Go USA!
On our one year anniversary we had the head writer and choreographer, Kenny Ortega of the Olympics come back (he is also know for doing High School Musical, maybe you have heard of it or his other known event was the comeback tour of Michael Jackson). Kenny received a Emmy Award for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and brought it back to the reunion to share with us. Kenny said he could do it without us.
Live every moment and share with others. Life, live it!
February 28, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 0 Comments
Yummy Pizzas
Pizza Palazzo.
It was a promotion with Sandwich thins to use their product and share with your friends. It sounded like something I vowed to do more of this year, HAVE MORE FUN.
I invited some fun and crazy people and we had a party. My unusual idea was to make Sandwich Thins into pizzas. We had over 25 toppings and made amazing pizzas. While they were cooking we ate a green salad and fruit.
Those that came were treated with promotional products and left having a good time. Next day I had left overs with the family. My 25 year old said this would be great a a group date. So there you have it, it was a pizza palazzo hit!
February 26, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 0 Comments
Bake 400 degrees for 10 minutes approx. I cook on stones, I let them cool on the stone for five minutes then remove to rack.
1 c butter
1 c sugar
3/4 c light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 3/4 c flour +4 tablespoons
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup your favorite baking ingredient ( I used M & M’s, skor chips, mini chocolate chips and cherry kisses.)
1 1/2 cup snack foods ingredients ( I used goldfish, trail mix, sunflower seeds, and tortilla chips)
I think salt should equal the sweet ingredients.
Mix butter and sugars together for 3 minutes. On low speed add eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the the flour ingredients. Add last the just and salty ingredients. Mix until just blended. It is a great concoction make yourself a believer of goodness in the mouth. Even though the recipe sounds WIERD!
February 9, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 1 Comment
For Christmas my dad made DVD’s from old family 8 millimeter home movies. They movies were when I was a little girl back in the 60′s. I was the oldest of seven children born very quickly. My parents claimed they had seven kids in five years. I have never been known for my math skills, when you do the math is really is 6 years.
What I remember from childhood are many things The day that my youngest sister April, was brought home from the hospital. Birthdays celebrating four girls birthdays in September and sharing parties. I was born first, the next year the twins, Susan and Karen, and last was Becky. I was part of the family productions that my parents orchestrated for the backyard. Where we sang with ukulele’s, danced, mom wrote everything in rhyme and dad did magic. We moved to Monza drive to our big new house. Our first night I slept in my own room with a sleeping bag on the floor. I felt this was the biggest house I had ever seen. We went out for dinner to Chuck-a-rama to celebrate (a very uncommon event at the Horman’s). These are just some of my memories.
When I think about these events I feel I know how I was raised, until I view the home movies I received as a gift. It was a glimpse of a time that I don’t remember. Seeing from my parents eyes who I was, and my six siblings. I saw vacations I don’t remember, Christmases with wonderment in our eyes, and how beautiful my siblings were as young children. Vacations to Yellowstone and boating on Grandpa Horman’s boat. Karen always catching a fish even if no one else could. I was moved to tears as I saw how enchanting the chemistry was with the September girls. My sisters were beautiful and sweet. Karen had a pixie face and always smiling. Becky was happy and my niece Brooklyn (April’s daughter) looked just like her today at the same age. Susan had engaging dark eyes that seemed to have knowledge behind them. We played together, laughed, and always helped the younger kids. I thought, I wish I new those little girls.
There were things that showed the era that pulled my funny-bone. My brother and sister Briggs and Shelley (twins) were playing in the toy box. The lid on the toy box had the name on it that said “Gay Time”. My mom, Hermine climbing into a boat with a dress on which she also wore while fishing. My dad also included clips of his single life, boating with some local woman. There were woman swimming in the lake with swimming caps on. My personnel favorite was a lady climbing in the boat and turning her head and flashed the sporty look of nose plugs. These moments are captured on film for documenting the 60′s in the life of the Horman’s. Which I am grateful.
It wished I had known back then those cute little girls with curled hair and the young parents that slept well from exhaustion. It makes me think, if I have taken enough videos to catch the movie magic of my six sons or have I focused on still photographs? It makes me wonder where is my video camera? So that I can have them say, “those were the days”. I think the camera might be by the beta tapes we filmed of our first three sons.
February 2, 2010 - Posted by Heather - 0 Comments
What a cute baby!
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