Love... Lest We Forget

It was always good to be together as a family as we celebrated Christmas. Many a cherished event brought us together. We still continue get together when we can. Traditions are strong... and none so strong as the love that links the generations together.

Celebrating New Year's Day at the Pollock home in 1985 with my Mother and Father, and with my two sisters and brother. The memory is sweet, not being able to do it this year or next year makes me feel a bit lonely.

68th wedding anniversary

December 18, 1941 John and Madeline Oleson on their wedding day. Mom's dress is blue. She wore it out and then threw it away. Years later she's heard to say, "Why did I throw away my Wedding Dress?!!" We know why... a little house full of family with only one closet. Mom didn't store or keep much!
We have a picture of them on their 25th Wedding Anniversary but I don't have it scanned yet. I would love to take a picture of them on their 68th anniversary. I miss them so much. Occasionally I am blessed to have a sweet dream and see them.

John and Madeline at their 40th Wedding Anniversary

John and Madeline Oleson at their 50th Wedding Anniversary

Christmas Party

A bit of Christmas cheer with tuxedo brownies, cherry tarts, fruit and cheese and crackers... the Miamaids brought more treats and we had a sweet feast!!

The Greybull Ward Young Women met in my home for a Christmas Party. I am blessed to serve these young women.

Thanksgiving 2009

Jake, Jill and Grace. We are thankful for our family.


Ken and I with our Granddaughter, Grace. We are thankful for her.

Treasures

Jill and Matt getting their Christmas ornaments. Christmas 1987.


My Dad and my Mom with Matt. The holidays are lonely without them here.

Matt on his first birthday. January 1987



Jill reaching out to hold her little brother, Matt. June 1986


Matthew Weekes

Memories

Steven Pollock and Matt sitting in Grandpa's green chair.

Ken and I changed the flowers out at the cemetary on November 19th as we reflected on Matt's life and how very dear he is to us. We miss him so very much.

A view of home from a distance!

I was amazed how easy it was to spot our farm and home from up on the Big Horns. The farm is the yellow you see in the center of the picture. The pivots really show up and the dried corn makes a splash of sunlight on the desert. With a telescope we could even see the house. It was awesome!


A view of Sheep Mountain as you look west from where Ken and I were hunting elk on the Big Horns.

Chocolate Covered Raisins

Tonight I am eating these raisins and with each one I eat I think of my sister, LaRae. Chocolate covered raisins were one of her favorite treats!. I often think of my childhood days and recall how sweet it was to have a big brother and two big sisters to watch over me!

Halloween Fun

Our little spider is thirsty. We were blessed this past weekend to have our Buffalo gals with us to celebrate Halloween. Jake was with his family hunting. We were delighted to see how much fun our little Grace had at the Harvest Party!!

Halloween day has arrived and Grace is curious about the pumpkin carving and happy to see her Mom and Grandpa Ken working hard so she will have her very own. Her Nana Francie brought the pumpkin home from school just for Grace!!! It was raised on the school's very own Buffalo Ranch.

Grace checks out the pumpkin her mother and Grandpa carved for her and thinks the witch is looking good!!!

Grace found that sometimes it just feels good to sit down on a bale of straw and let her Grandma take a picture of her! Halloween parties can be very exhausting!!!

Grace is fishing for treats with the help of her mother, Jill. Jill and I worked together to turn our little princess into a very sweet spider for the evening. The costume we sewed turned out really cute and fit her like it was made just for her!!!

Grace is becoming well known for her funny faces! We know where she gets them... Just watch her mother for a little while. Example.... what a powerful thing!

We attended the Greybull Harvest Party held each year in Greybull. It is always well attended and lots of fun! Grace and Jill enjoyed the Cake Walk and their number was the winning number!! It wasn't long before Grace was doing the cake walk without Jill's help. She didn't care if she was on a number... or even going the right way, she just kept moving and had a wonderful time!!!

My Mighty Hunters

Grace and Jill are up bright and early to begin the days hunt. Grace spent two days and two nights in the Big Horn Mountains with her Mom and Dad before going to Greybull to stay with her PaPa and her NaNa.

Sister Time

Ken and I went to Salt Lake to attend General Conference. We enjoyed the sessions. Like thousands of others we walked to conference in the rain on Sunday morning. Having suffered a terrible drought I don't complain about rain but see each droplet as one of the treasures of heaven. Those experiencing floods view the rain from a different perspective but different trials bring different perspectives as we pas through the trials of life. We loved the opportunity to see Cheryl and her family. We are always welcomed warmly and have so much fun together. I had taken apples with me to Utah and we made apple crisps. One with and one without sugar. (Ken gets a special one made just for him!!) The Crisps were delicious. It is such an Autumn recipe to make and of course we used my Mom's recipe. Just Wonderful!!



Cheryl has her home decorated so cute for the fall and harvest season! Here we stand with "Johnathan and Melba". This is in memory of the wonderful neighbors we grew up with as children.

Remembering Mike

Patty and Jim Conan

David Bourne and Patty Conan

Grace, Francie and Ken

Darlene Moncur and Jo Weeks

Grace, Jill, Aunt Emma and Uncle Jay McNiven

Kelli Aagard, Jill Wright, BetteRae Jones, Dana Preator

Carol Lowe, Aunt Jeannie Peterson, Kevin Peterson, Bette Rae Jones

Rich Weekes, Jim and Linda Reilly, Sharon Reilly

Michael Harry Peterson died on October 3, 2009. His funeral was held on October 8.
The funeral was at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following the funeral he was buried at the cemetary in Greybull. Family members gathered to eat together. I have included some pictures taken after we ate.
We love Mike and we miss him.

A Fabulous Little Rocker!

I serve in the Young Women. We are currently working on Young Women in Excellence. This is one of my projects! I purchased this fabulous little rocker at a garage sale and reupholstered it.

Happy Birthday Sam Pollock

September brings some important birthdays! I want to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful brother-in-law, Sam. I wish we lived closer so that we could be together and share cake and ice cream. Have a wonderful day!!

Prayers for Michael Peterson

In recent weeks my youngest cousin, Mike Peterson, has become very ill and isn't doing well. Lovingly and tenderly caring for him are his wife, Joelle, and his sister, Patty. Please remember him in your prayers.

Over Labor Day we went to the Big Horn Mountains and stayed at Shell Creek Campground. It was beautiful. Chuck and Rozella joined us for the weekend. Jill and Grace visited us! I went for a walk to the old wooden bridge and crossed over it to the site where we used to picnic on the July 4th with my Mom and Dad, the Stotts and the Pollocks. We even pitched our tents there a few times. Now the bridge is blocked off and the campsite is not available. Time brings change.

My Birthday Weekend

This Grandmother sure loves her little granddaughter!! Little GraceE is just a delight. We have spent a couple of weekends taking care of her while Jake and Jill work on their basement. We have enjoyed our task. We have explored Story and the historical sites in Johnson County.
Grandpa Ken sure loves his little Granddaughter!! She delighted us with her efforts to stand and walk. We were a great audience and provided her with lots of praise and cheers. Grace just lights up our lives with joy and happiness! On this particular weekend we were in Buffalo to celebrate my birthday. We went to Winchesters and I ate a fabulous steak. Getting older isn't bad when you have good company and good food!!

The Cattleman

We have 106 mother cows on our place. We had our first calf born on Feb. 15. Ken had hoped she would arrive on Valentine's day but it was not to be. Each morning Ken is found "outstanding in his field" chopping ice in the water trough. Some mornings the ice is very thick!! It is so nice to have the cows and have baby calves arriving. Spring is on its way!

The Teacher

Grace has learned many things in her short 6 months of life and she has learned in the arms of her mother and father.... except for drinking from a glass!! This grandma takes credit for that. I have been offering her drinks of water for some time and she is good. She just gets excited when she sees water. I can't wait to teach her more things. Then when asked, Where did you learn that? She will say, "I learned that at Grandma's house!"