Yesterday my oldest brother stopped by with his oldest son who just returned home from his LDS mission in Brazil.
My brother had a compact disc full of photographs which he allowed us to put on our computer. The collection were pictures from my parents photo albums that he took the time to scan and organize for our whole clan.
As I browsed through these photos last night with Allison and Shelly, we marveled that so many pictures we had never seen were a part of the collection.
I grabbed a handful of shots of my own family from the years 1987 to 1998 and made a quick montage over at One True Media.
This is our final week with Michelle, who will be leaving for University life in a few days. Looking through the photos brought back so many good memories from when the children were small.
Here is the montage:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I added a video of me singing Come Thou Fount, which has been the theme song to my life these past few years, to the end of this montage. I memorized it during Ben’s pregnancy and singing it during the day, especially when I am tired, tends to recharge me spiritually.
I look at Michelle and all I can see is her cuddling things. Cuddling her dolls, her little sister, her brothers when they were babies. When Benjamin was born, I rarely had a chance to hold him during the day because Michelle always had him in her arms. This is one of the reasons to nurse a baby, because the family has to give the baby back for feedings!
Michelle is going to be a great mother. And I don’t believe it is any accident that she came first to our family. She has been such a mothers helper to me since she was just a little girl. Always wanting to help, always wanting to learn how to “do it herself”.
My favorite memory of her was from when she was learning how to ride a bike. We had been saving loose change for many months, and she really wanted to get a two wheeler without training wheels.
I shop at Childish Things in Boulder, a consignment store when we have purchased just about every thing we have ever needed for our children (Including furniture, clothes, and toys). One day we were at the store and we saw this killer red bike that was just her size. No training wheels.
It was a perfect match to my engagement bike. Red Schwinn cruiser that Paul had purchased for me instead of a diamond ring. I still use that Bike, had it completely redone a couple years ago with metal baskets, new wheels, chain, and seat.
Sidenote, when Paul and I were dating he wanted to buy me a diamond ring. I don’t wear much jewelry and have a horrifying habit of loosing just about every piece of metal ever given to me (I went through seven CTR rings as a kid). I hate wearing poky things on my fingers, and I told Paul that if he bought me a ring, I would probably never wear it. I asked him if he would buy me a brand new bike as an engagement present. He sort of balked….like “who is this woman???” But a couple days later he told me that if that was what I wanted, he would get me one.
So we went down to the schwinn store and I picked out my first ever brand new bike. Every other bike I had ever owned was always a hand me down from my brothers, or one that we picked up at a garage sale or thrift store. My mother purchased a bike for me at the D.I. in Provo, and I nearly lost my life riding that sucker around campus.
It was pure joy to pick out this amazing brand new bike, with huge metal baskets over the back tire which I used over and over again to do the grocery shopping. Still do when I am in the mood for a good workout. Since we have always ever owned one car, that bike has been my car, and hooked up to our double Burley trailer, I often would ride with a couple kids in the trailer, various park toys, and a couple bags of groceries in back.
Many, many times I pushed it up the hill from the grocery store to our house filled with hundreds of pounds of “stuff” yes, including the children, because as a one speed bike it was impossible to pedal with all that baggage. I have also lifted it numerous times onto the Dash Bus that goes into Boulder, somtimes while Ben was in a back pack on my back. I am woman, hear me roar…..
Anyway, I digress….we found this amazing bike for Michelle at childish things and Kerri, the owner, who had just bought the store, was so nice about our payment…..which boiled down to about fifteen dollars in pennies, dimes, and quarters. But Shell had her big kid bike, and was so very, very happy.
We spent a few days practicing in our apartment parking lot, while she learned how to manuever the brakes and handlebars. And then one morning I asked her if she was interested in going on a “real” bike ride. She said yes. I had this trail that I liked to bike on and it was pretty safe, except for the first big hill. Now, this was just a bike path of dirt, with grass and weeds on either side, so I figured it she crashed it would not bump too hard. I asked her if she was OK biking down that hill. “Sure Mom” was the confident reply.
“OK, I am going to head down and I’ll wait for you at the bottom. Don’t start until I am all the way down, K?” Confident nod.
So I start down this hill and before I stop at the bottom, I hear this “YEEEEEE Hawwwww” screamed out from Shellys four year old mouth. I glance over my shoulder to see her come barreling down that hill peddaling as fast as her little legs will go.
She did not even stop at the bottom, she just whizzed on past me and I had to hurry to catch up. She did not crash once.
On that day I decided that my little girl was going to be fun to watch as she grew up.
I plan to take a Blogging Break during the next few days to spend more time with her.
Jenny Hatch
PS The BYU version of Come Thou Fount is a little more fancy than mine…. ENJOY!