Grampa Ikie 1923-2008

Grampa LOVED his garden!! He wanted good soil so he could plant beautiful flowers and peaches, apricots, apples, tomatoes-everything delicious, everything to share with his family and friends. When we moved to Utah 9 years ago, Grampa Ikie and Gramma Ruthie came over one afternoon with cornstalks and pumpkins from their garden to go on our front porch. We felt so festive, and not only did we get to enjoy the bounty for the fall, we got the pleasant surprise of pumpkins actually growing in our front yard the next summer-bonus! (although we have since attempted to keep the pumpkins growing exclusively in the back...)
Here's Grampa and young Curtis on Curtis' very 1st Duck Hunt, a tradition that has spanned at least the last 50 years (Curtis laments the fact that he has not been alive long enough to have attended each and every one of them-it has truly been an annual highlight and the early morning breakfast buffet at JB's is the cherry on top, except that the breakfast buffet is pre-hunt, so I guess it could be the cherry at the bottom?? It's a cherry, anyway)... Grampa Ikie and Grampa Randy having one of the best days ever...

Football, Snowy Weather, & Grampa

Our weekend started with some of this...

with fall/winter weather that was like this...

Cute Paul concocted this super dahlia cover/protector from impending frost so the flowers could make it for one more night to be displayed at sweet Grampa Ikie's viewing...

Goofy-face Cael was so excited to wake up Sunday morning- "It is snowing, Mom!!" He was ready for some serious snowman action, but by the time we got home from church, the snow had melted away, but we are all sure it will come again another day-like next week...

Monday was a sad/sweet day. Our cute Grampa Ikie was laid to rest next to his beloved Ruthie. Grampa (Bapah Ah-kee, as Mr. Cael would say) would be so proud of his 8 handsome grandsons, who were completely honored to be pallbearers for this darling man, an absolute classic. Knowing that families can be together forever means everything...

**as a bummer sidenote, about 20 minutes before the funeral, it was discovered that Grampa's house had been broken into and robbed, with a variety of things "removed," the largest being his gold Oldsmobile. There are some things in life that are lame, but seriously, does it get much lamer than this??

October has arrived...

Here are the sights and sounds of early October at the casa de Goff...

We love Conference weekend! Great messages, beautiful music (we totally caught a glimpse of my SIL, Jen's cute mom, Risa, who is in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), and incredibly, the children of the family didn't seem to mind not sitting nicely in the 2nd row in the cultural hall (our usual spot, with soft chairs, though) for church services. They will so be in Sunday best next week...

My lovely ladies are absolutely delighted with the jazzy dance costumes they have inherited from my cute neighbor-the choreography that these ensembles have inspired would dazzle you (Straight up, Paula Abdul, watch out)...
We finally harvested our pumpkin crop- 2 1/2 measley pumpkins! They are lovely pumpkins indeed, don't get me wrong, but the "daddy," "mommy," and "baby" pumpkins (thank you, Cael, for the clever names there) do not hold a candle to the bumper crop of 14 pumpkins that graced our garden last year! Oh well, we love what we've got and we'll be thankful (and we'll come up with a new strategy for next year's garden, like weeding regularly)...




What did turn out beautiful and abundant are our dahlias!! Paul's cute Grampa Ikie has always had a special way with this beautiful flower, and the green thumb (not to be confused with green jeans) has been passed on to my industrious husband, who is so gracious to share the bounty!! Actually, if you have any extra pumpkins you want to swap for dahlias...

October is here!!

1 Miss Kendell
+
1 Speedy Green Scooter
=
1 Scrapey Face, 1 Scrapey Knee, & lots of good sportsmanship points...
(too bad about the brand-new leggings she was wearing that are now shredded, good thing they were a red hot super clearance bargain buy, and if I knew how to link to a certain post on Kari's blog, I could show you the same injury on Cousin Jack this summer from the same speedy green scooter; we'll try to be done with the scooter injuries...)

Kendell queries, "What kind of parents go to the zoo without their children?" It is a completely valid question, to which the answer is "the kind of lucky duck parents that have only 2 tickets (compliments of the dad's employer) to a swanky business buffet that happens to be held at the zoo." Did you know they did catering at the zoo? I did not, but now I absolutely do- we are truly so wild and crazy...
Paul braved the "smell here" area, but perhaps the supposed "special rhino fragrance" is like a high-pitched whistle that can only be heard by certain animals?? -We weren't privvy to this swell stench, so sad...
There were 3 giraffes out when we got here, but I guess 2 of them didn't want to pose with me. The third one wasn't fast enough to get out of the frame, maybe if I would've been decked out in khaki from head to knee...
And last, but certainly not least, Zander and Mr. Cael love their awesome new trick-or-treat buckets/ hats! The lady at the store said Cael could pick one out as a bonus, but when he just couldn't part with either the mummy or Dracula, the lady said he was fine to take both of them, whew! It is supposed to storm tomorrow, so at least the boys can keep their festive Halloween heads nice and dry...

So we walk into this ice cream shoppe...

Here's a quandry- what do you do when you have a rebellious teen who wants to express his/her individuality, spread the invariable wings, as they say, stand out from the crowd, be his/ her own person, march to the beat of their own drummer (I could go on and on)...and change their natural-born hair color?? Not with sunkissed highlights, or even subtle streaks a few shades darker-I'm talking a complete and total revamp, something outrageous, something...purple??

What happens when it is not an experimental teen, but someone's sweet ice cream buying and sharing gramma? Do you think she knows her hair is purple? Do those around her know? Is she excited for Halloween and trying out a new "kid-pleasing" look? Is she a trend-setter? Did she let a loved one try out a new color technique that went a bit awry? So many questions... perhaps she is one of those red hat society ladies, I do think they do the red and purple- maybe she is running for chapter president? If she is running, I think she should be the winner because I see 110% commitment here!!

(*nice gray-sweatered shoulder of mine in the right corner and definitely a love/ not love relationship with the cell phone cam, but I don't know if this sight could've been believed without the benefit of modern technology)...

Just nice...

Cael just loves to demonstrate his gentle, loving nature in the backyard- nice pumpkin...

nice kitty...

nice Zorro...

nice flower...

and who's coming to your house for dinner??

My cute neighbor Shawna....

Life is so precious and can change so fast. Last Tuesday night, I was in the car getting ready to take Curtis to a Stake Youth Fireside on Chastity/ Morality. My cute neighbor Shawna pulled in as I was getting ready to pull out- we smiled and waved like always, like we have done almost every day for the past 5 years.

At 5:00 am on Wednesday morning, Paul's cell phone rang (I don't know that any call at 5 am is ever good). It was Mike, Shawna's husband, calling-he had woken up a little bit earlier to get a drink and rolled over to find that Shawna was not breathing. Our cute friend and sweet neighbor had passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Shawna was a miracle girl. A little over 2 years ago, Shawna suffered a major heart attack after having some chest pains as she changed her baby's diaper one evening. The ambulance came, and Shawna crashed once on the ride to the hospital, then 2 more times after that. She never should have made it, but prayers are answered, miracles happen, and our friend, Shawna has been proof of that.

Shawna loved these last two years. She got to be a stay-at-home mom to her 2 boys for most of that time and she loved it! She and Mike and her mom took the boys to Disneyland last year and had the time of their lives. The love that you feel in her home is tangible, and the pictures that she has left are great evidence of that.

My girls loved Shawna and loved to go chat with her and she was always so gracious with them. Their school pictures are on her fridge. My 3-year-old, Cael, is super buddies with Mike and Shawna's 3-year-old, Zander.

This week has been a sad one. We miss our friend. We weep for Mike, Hunter, Zander, and Candy who have lost their wife, mom, and daughter. We miss our friend.

The thought is always there to live like today was your last or what would you do if you had one more day-cute Shawna got 2 bonus years and she lived them that way, such an example. I hope her boys can always realize how much their mom loved them.

I love my neighborhood-people have been wonderfully supportive during this sad, sad time. It is amazing how tragedies can bring out the best in people, and how the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father abound. During all the commotion on Wednesday morning, with fireman, policemen, neighbors, etc. at the house, the boys stayed asleep. I don't know how they did, but they did. Their world completely changed when they woke up, but their mom can stay in their minds the way she was when she kissed them goodnight.

Shawna was loved and she will be missed incredibly. I am so thankful to have known her and I am so thankful for my own life, everyday...