G-DAWG!

I'm sitting in the Denver airport waiting for my aircraft to board following a quick 48 hour trip to visit a couple of students working in their final internships and to spend time with my daughter and her wonderful family. It's always a bonus when I can include time for family on my trips. That doesn't happen very often,but then I don't travel for business like I used to, and I enjoy the reduced travel. JoAnn and were trying to remember the last time I left her at home for business travel, and it has been a while.

Prior to arriving in Denver I discovered I could not get a car at the airport. The state has 4 vendors for car rentals and none were available. That has never happened to me before. So Jeni picked me up at the airport and took me to a car rental location. From there I went to her house and was amazed to find the driveway all festooned for my welcome. Mac explained to me that "G-Dawg" was my text message handle he had assigned to me. I was flattered and the kids love it.

I love the "welcome" emphasis. And yes, visiting families
is a stairway to Heaven.

Spending time with the family was a wonderful bonus to my trip to see the driveway festooned with decorations was just plain fun! JoAnn and I really enjoy visiting family, and that seems to take the bulk of our travel time, but it is so rewarding to see our children and grandchildren grow, mature, and blossom. And each one is an individual in their own right and watching each child and grandchild develop their personality, from the time they are a newborn until - well none  of the grandchildren are adults yet, regardless of what some may think - they get to where they are today. I have great hope in our grandchildren, in what I see in them, in how they conduct their lives, of how they embrace family values and life itself.

The greatest joy in life is family, and together JoAnn and I have embraced our family as the most important focus of our lives.

Oh yes, and the trip, after a couple of business meetings that were very positive we finished off with a late afternoon at the reservoir beach and later that evening a daddy - daughter - granddaughter date to Sonic Drive-in for a little ice cream - and yes it was good, but what was better was to have 3 generations together enjoying one another. It was a great business/family trip and much was accomplished.

Just as I got to the front porch, the kids couldn't resist a little humor at Grandpa's expense - but I do love their humor.

I really wasn't too late, but every time I left and returned
I was reminded by my grandchildren that life is also about
having fun!

Thanks kids for hosting your Dad in such a wonderful way.

PS - Watch for my next post on the 24th of July celebration in Spanish Fork (and yes, I know these are going to be out of order, but I’ve been busy on other projects.

At the Drop of a Hat

Our family likes to get together. We visit the children and grandchildren - they visit us - sometimes in groups - we have Sister's Weekend annually - family reunion every 2 years - we get together on holidays - and more. It's not always all of us, but it may be 2 or more families. We all wish we could make all of these events, but the beauty of smaller get togethers is that we still have a great time and enjoy each other all the more.

Today we have 4 families in San Diego. Krissie and David live there - thanks the the U.S. Marine Corps - and Jeni and Donna decided to come and visit together with their families. That adds 10 additional people to David & Krissie's little 3 bedroom condo (a nice term for military housing). Then Sally and her family (6 more) had their scooter rally in Colorado Springs, CO cancelled, so it was off to San Diego - and at least they brought a tent. That means there are 18 people at Krissie and David's house through tomorrow when they leave for Sacramento and visit David's family for the 4th; Donna, Chris  and family go home; Jeni, Craig and the kids come back to our place for the 4th; and who know's what the Bradley clan has up their sleeve. As I've said more than once, "Our family will get together at the drop of a hat!" and this weekend proves it remains true.

The photo below, which I just received via email from the families in San Diego includes front to back and left to right: Front row: Meagan, Charlotte, Chas, and Bonnie. Middle row: Sydney, Cole, and Alyssa. Back row: Clayton, David & Sammy, Krissie, and Mac.

Personal Progress

In March I wrote about attending our grandsons Eagle Court of Honor. In April JoAnn and I attended a "Young Womanhood" recognition program that included our oldest granddaughter, Alyssa. The "Personal Progress" award is the equivalent of the young men's "Duty to God" award. Both are awards focusing on religion and specifically on commitments, actions, and progress in religious education, personal development, morality, and family. To me these 2 awards are more important than the Boy Scout Eagle award. They receive less recognition, but for the individual completing them, they have a more significant long-term influence and impact.

The Young Women's Personal Progress award recognizes young women for their "worthiness and for completing all the Personal Progress requirements." As a recipient of the award, they show that they have established a pattern of progress in their life. The award recognizes that young women "are prepared to make and keep sacred temple covenants … are committed to keeping the commandments, serving others, and developing and sharing your gifts and talents."

Our daughters participated in this award, and I think they all completed it. I was and am so proud of their efforts. The recognition is completed over a period of time and involves making and keeping commitments, learning to work with others, learning how to plan and carry out plans, and become young women ready to enter the world with a strong foundation in faith and belief in God. There theme explains it far better than I can:

"WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. WE WILL “STAND as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue

WE BELIEVE as we come to accept and act upon these values, WE WILL BE PREPARED to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."

I am so impressed with their 8 values and the power and preparation it gives these young women to live their lives. I have watched my own daughters, and now granddaughters, pursue and now begin to receive this award. The requirements have changed over the years to reflect the challenges facing young women as they grow to maturity. What has not changed is the commitment to excellence. I'm humbled by the strength, maturity, and compassion that I see in our own daughters and being carried forth by our granddaughters. I know that working towards the Young Women Recognition award was one of those tangible factors that influenced them for good.

3 Generation Photo - Part 2 (Wordless Wednesday)

This is our 2nd photo of three generations of McLean's. Tim should note that
I finally learned how to use my remove! Taken at Mesa Park in Las Vegas, NV
close to our home.

Wordless Wednesday Monday Birthday

Father's Day Hopes

It's Father's Day again, my 41st as a father. JoAnn and I were talking about father's days and this father's expectations for our children. As we discussed the topic she said there was a difference between what my expectations were for our children and what they thought those expectations might be. That was both interesting and a little disconcerting.

I do have expectations, but I think the better term is hopes. Hopes are desires and beliefs in what you might become. They are less judgmental. I do not want you (forgive the tense change) to have a pass-fail perception about what I think you do in your life. You need to live your own lives - and you all do - and not worry about what I might think. However, on occasion I've been willing to share my thoughts without you asking for it. I'm trying to get better about that.

What are my hopes? They are simple. First, that you love your spouse and children and make them the most important people in your lives. Second, that you love our Heavenly Father and honor Him in your actions and thought. Third, that you find joy in living every day. That's it. Everything else is incidental to those. Like my own father, I'm proud of each of you and your and families and what you are doing with your lives. Each of us lives a different life. It was meant to be that way. What binds us is our family and the love for one another. Knowing that love is unconditional and free of expectation strengthens our family and allows us to grow individually and together.

This may appear as a bit of a ramble, but at the end of the day, it's what we do in our homes with our families that ultimately is important. It's my joy as a father to support, sustain, and assist (when asked).

Thanks for being such great daughters, sons, sons-in-laws, daughters-in-laws, and grandchildren.

Wordless Wednesday

A Day at the Zoo

One of the fun things of being a grandparent is taking the kids to the zoo. In this case it was all 8 of them. Had we not brought the mothers (and our daughters) along I'm not just sure how it would have turned out. As it was we had a great time.

When you are a child you never tire of going to the zoo. It is a place of adventure, of seeing old friends, of seeing new and exotic friends, and of having new experiences. On this day as we walked in the zoo, a zoo volunteer was walking around with a king snake, which of course the kids had to explore.

Zoos have learned they need to create fun experiences for children. It is the experiences that bring families back. The Boise Zoo has play areas spread throughout the zoo, and the kids absolutely love them. The play areas have representations of animals, and the areas expand the children's opportunity for imagination, resulting in a lot more fun.

The days of the petting zoo are not gone, but are approached differently at many zoos. Boise lets you feed the goats. The kids love lining up to get food for the goats and then feeding them. I think there is more of a feeding frenzy lining up than there is of the goats competing for the food. It's interesting to see the grandchildren feeding the goats, but ignoring the ones they have at home. I guess zoo goats are better than home goats.

Everyone in our little group had a great time at the zoo, on the play devices, feeding the goats, looking at the Tiger, running ahead of mom who couldn't catch up, and playing with their siblings and cousins. The final photos show various aspects of all of the fun we had. It was a great day!

The Golden Eagle nest is just the right size for a gaggle of Eaglets.

Did I mention its more fun sometimes to
watch the feeding frenzy at the goat food
dispenser for the grandchildren and mother?

Chas is all about knowing just how cool
that hat is, especially when standing
next to a penguin (sort of penguin).

Classic Monday

I have a hard time finding time to write during the week, so I thought I would start a Classic Monday. It can have text, and will always include an historical (or hysterical) photo. Anything over 1-day old is counted as historical.

Tim was born in Kansas in 1975, and by the spring of 1977 he was getting around pretty well. Tim loved his Hot Wheel tricycle. He could really make that thing go. We had a long sidewalk in front of our apartment in Manhattan, Kansas. It wrapped around the parking lot on two sides, so he had about 100 feet of good area to gain speed. Out the backdoor was a playground. I'm not sure the Hot Wheel made it out there much, but if you look at the wheels, it seems that it got a lot of use. I'm sure Tim wasn't the only rider of that Hot Wheel.

You will also note that the car grill and not Tim is in focus. I had an old Mamiya-Sekor camera with a spot meter and sometimes I have now discovered, I had the wrong thing in focus. Too late to fix that problem now, but we can still enjoy the photo.

Wordless Wednesday - Shameless...

Photos and Memories - Part 2

Time to post a few more slides and thoughts to go with them. It is fun to look back at our memories of our family. As one of my daughters said yesterday, “I’m so glad you took photos when we were young.” That’s the whole point of taking photos.

Following World War II my dad got out of the Marine Corps and we moved back to Des Moines and built a house on property owned by my grandfather. It was a basement home which were fairly common in those days, especially if you couldn’t afford a full house. Dennis and I were 2 and 3 (I’m the older and with the dog) in this photo. Within 2 years my dad was called back up for the Korean war and we moved to North Carolina, but for a few years we lived in this wonderful basement home out in the country just north of town.

Skipping forward 23 years our little family left California so I could pursue a masters degree. We moved to BYU with our two daughters, Donna & Jeni. We moved from Ventura, CA to Lawton, OK, where I completed the Artillery Officer Basic Course at Fort Sill. Then we moved into Wymount Terrace, married student housing at BYU. Part of the beauty of living in Provo, UT was the closeness of the mountains. Going up to Cascade Spring and walking in the spring and summer was one of our favorite things to do. In the first photo Donna is holding her hair back while she gets that good mountain water. In the second you can see JoAnn keeping an eye on Jeni. This had to be close to 1974 just before we moved to Manhattan, Kansas. How do I know? Jeni is looks about 2-years old and JoAnn is pregnant with Suzanne. We moved in July when JoAnn was 8 months pregnant. I know, what were we thinking?

Our three little girls are having a peanut butter sandwich with Suzanne in the middle, and obviously not old enough to have a peanut butter sandwich. Suzanne was 4 or 5 months old and it was winter, 1974. Please note that the wonderful couch the kids were sitting on was purchased in California when Donna was born and survived moved to Utah, Kansas, and 2 moves in Iowa before it got so old it was given away. It was an 8 foot long couch and we could put all of us on it. It had a great charm and I still miss it.

Just 13.5 months after Suzanne, little Tim showed up. Our first boy and I was excited. There is nothing better than laying on the couch and playing with my son. In fact, this photo, taken in 1977, just before we left for Iowa, looks a little bit like his almost 2-year old, Joshua.

Finally, Christmas, 1981 in Ames, Iowa, Sally is experiencing her first Christmas. That teddy-bear is the most exciting thing in her life. When I showed JoAnn the photo, she said, “She is just stinking cute!” Clearly JoAnn’s choice of phrases has been impacted by her daughters. I think it was a good influence, but sometimes I wonder. Not really!

The Cartoon Father's Day Card

Imagine my surprise when Mike sent me an email directing me to his Minidove comic site. I was even more surprised when I saw his work. He warmed my heart. I love my children.


Thank you Mike

Friday Night Lights - 9-Year Old Style

We are on the road again. I just finished leading a workshop in central Utah so we are taking advantage of visiting with our Utah children and grandchildren. Since they grandchildren are 2 boys we took in a ball game and a play on the book, "Friday Night Lights", which was written about Texas football, but seems to aptly apply to Spanish Fork baseball.



Our 9-year old grandson plays baseball and I think he enjoys it. He is the right fielder, which means he stands 3 feet behind the basepath on the grass and sometimes watches the game. Actually a couple of hits were directed to him and he was on top of them before they got by, not that I'm sure they were hit hard enough to get by him. His throw is a bit of a shotput effect and is pretty good shotput form. The important thing for this 9-year old is that when he threw the ball it went where it was intended, even if it had a high arch.

Getting on base has a pretty standard model - 4 walks to every hit - and then, once on base, it's all about base stealing. For 9-year olds base stealing is about seeing the ball go by the catcher, watch the catcher run to the wall to get the ball and then have it register in their mind that they can steal. My favorite part is the slide. If you run towards a base, any base, you must slide. If you don't quite make it, well then you reach out with your hand and touch the base. If you didn't get to slide during the inning you walk towards home plate and take a slide. The rule? Every boy must go home with a bit of the basepath on their pants. It may be the most important component of the baseball game.

Was it fun? You bet. I think the boys had fun. I know most of the parents had fun. That is what it is all about - having fun! None of the boys took it too seriously and I only saw a couple of dads who took it too seriously. The umpire is 13 or 14 and did a great job. In the preceding game before he made an error and a lady was all over his case. Thank goodness the game was almost over. I went up afterwards, called him over and said, "You are doing a great job. Just ignore the parents." He seemed appreciative someone said he was doing a great job.

Baseball is about fun. If it's not fun then why play it. Kids are forced to take too much seriously in this society and too many parents have to make sure their kids live out their sport fantasies (or frustrations). Keep the fun in the game - and win occasionally, but enjoy it for what it is - a game.

Did I mention that the ballpark has the best hamburgers and fries I have found. Actually Spanish Fork has the best little hamburger joints I have ever found. Friday Night Lights in Spanish Fork is about baseball, boys, families, hamburgers, and fries. Does it get any better than that - I don't think so. Well, maybe they could add fireworks!

Happy Birthday Mike

It seem like just yesterday I was holding our brand new son, Michael. Yet it has been 28 years since that cold and icy day in Ames, Iowa. We remember how excited we were that we were finally going to have a baby that was not born in the dead of winter. He wasn't, just during an ice storm. And we shouldn't have been clueless when he seemed to take forever to deliver. Mom was in labor for hours and in those days labor rooms were little more than an after thought - small, uncomfortable, and sometimes forgotten by the staff. Most of the time fathers were not even allowed in the birthing room. I don't remember if I was allowed in for Mike or not. However, in spite of all of the pioneer (by today's standards) medical technology, he was born and has become a wonderful young man.

And Mike, I'm sorry that I'm a couple of days late this time, but we didn't pick a very good time for you to be born. We are "super busy" right now as my blog attests to only weekend work and then not every weekend. I hope everyone enjoys this long set of photos of our youngest son.

What is not to love in a little baby, and like all of our children (no bias here) they were all beautiful.


Mike has always had a smile on his face and even at this age was still a little short of hair.


When you grow up in a house full of girls you always have to be a little wary since you don't know what they are going to do to you next. And no girls, I don't want to know how you tormented your little brothers.


But there is always time for sleep and when it's on our favorite couch (the one we all still miss) you take full advantage of it.


And when your great grandpa Merriam comes to town you must have a photo of the event. It was the last time all of the kids saw their Great Grandpa Merriam. Grandpa was 90 in this photo.


Mike does love his sisters and in this photo with Sally and Krissie you can see that love.


But there is a bit of a funny side to Mike. Like any good boy/man he likes to have a little fun and always has. There is nothing better than a good laugh.


Or a new pose.


Or color coding a new dress code.


And time with Mom in the pool.


Mike has a soft spot for his dog - Strider. We all enjoyed her and had lots of fun with her.


And of course he has turned into a wonderful uncle (okay, some of the nieces may not think that, but even here he is softening). Calvin was his first nephew and was and is special to him. [I think they both just woke up.] He can always be counted on to take care of Suzanne's children, or just to play with them. Note how comfortable Chas is with Mike and vice versa in the 2nd photo.



Then he came home from his mission on a late evening. There were no banners, no large crowds, just Mom and Dad, but that was what was important to all of us. He was beaming and such a missionary.


And while there were other photos I could add these last two are probably the most important to Mike and for us one our proudest moments. There is nothing like the marriage of your children to excite and reward a parent. We are so proud of all of our children, but on this day we were most proud of Mike and Allison. Love ya Mike and happy belated birthday! Dad...



Even a little rain didn't dampen this special day!

And I almost forgot Mike's self portrait he sent us several years ago. This may be our best representation of the complexity of our young man.

Reflections on a Family Week

This past week we were fortunate to have one of our Idaho families in town, all 7 of them with the grandchildren ranging in age from 5 months to 11 years. And what a fun time we had, from playing kickball in the garage, to exhausting themselves at what they call the dinosaur playground. The meals were noisy, the nights were short (or long depending on how you define a short night). In the end it was all fun. JoAnn and the girls made caterpillars and she can talk about that in her blog. This I do know, that the girls were so proud of themselves. They worked all week to create those caterpillars. Grandma let them pilfer her extensive fabric collection, she taught them how to make a circle pattern, how to hand sew (she has taught this before) the body and the helped them put it all together. Grandma always has a project for the girls.

Swinging is always at the top of the of fun and it's even better when Dad give you a big shove.

Of course, playground equipment is also at the top of the list along with swings, especially when you get to play by yourself.

And a friendly wave is a great "love ya gramps"!

And all too soon the week is over, the grandchildren and parents are off and back to work and school. We miss them, but we had so much fun that we know the memories are good.

Happy Birthday Donna

Donna, you were our first child, but then you know that. Thank goodness you were born on February 24, the same birth date as your great grandmother McLean (Nola Elizabeth Goff) and she was sure excited to know she had a granddaughter born on HER birthday.

I have lots of photos to share in this blog, and it will only be one as I'm running on borrowed time this week. Exams to give, papers to write, wife to care for (she has a cold - or so she claims), and a cat to feed!

Babies are so cute and Donna was no exception. Of course, as our first she was the cutest baby we had ever seen (until the next one came along, and along, and along...).

JoAnn (Mom) calls this, "Donna and her movie star Mom!" She certainly has the 70's hairdo.

Then there is Donna with Aunts Patti, Marti, and Jeri who have become very special in her life.


And then the perpetual sleep time while in the car. As you can see car seats were a little less rigorous in those days, and certainly not very safe.


Her first day of school in Manhattan, KS was precious. JoAnn says this is her favorite photo.


As she grew she had great times with her brothers and sisters, like Christmas in Ames, Iowa in 1981.


Or outside with the most awesome looking glasses I have ever seen in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1986.


And always finding time to share with one of her sibilings as she and Krissie enjoy lunch on the front porch when she was 16. Love the hair!


There are many many more photos to share Donna, but let's end like we began, with you and Mom hugging. You just won't fit on her shoulder any more.


That's far from the end, but "that all folks"