Posts in Family
March Forward Today With Kindness

March 5, 2010, is the day our son Jonathan passed away. As a family, we like to honor him on March 5th  by doing something nice for somebody else. Jonathan was always going out of his way to help others; he was very kind and had a heart of gold. “March Forward Today with Kindness” is now my motto to remember to be kind every day of the year as I reflect on my son Jonathan’s life.

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November 2022—Enjoy your traditions! Would you like a piece of pie?

I love our family tradition of baking pies for Thanksgiving. I took this picture of my husband David with our grandson and granddaughter (twins) proudly showing off the pumpkin pie they baked together here at our ranch this year! Traditions are what pulls at our heart strings and bonds us as one, kind of like being stuck together with “Crazy Glue,” with our family and friends. Yes, some of our traditions are kind of crazy! Some make us smile, some make us laugh, some make us a little teary-eyed.

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October 2022—Happy Halloween—Have a little fun!

 I like to dress up for Halloween! This year I was visiting at my daughter and son-in-law’s house, so I looked around to see what I could find to make myself a costume. I found a black satin sheet lying on a bed, which I knew would work for my main costume. After searching through my granddaughters’ dress up boxes, I found a fluffy little skirt and put it around my head. I thought I looked great! My grandchildren all laughed at me and asked, “What are you?” 

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50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Excerpts From My Journal

Our celebrations continue… The first activity of the day was a “Guided Courtship Tour” so David and I could show our family where we dated in Provo and where we lived when we were first married! Our tour began at BYU where we bought ice cream cones for everyone at the Cougareat. It was a great bonding experience to walk together across campus and other places in Provo in our matching yellow and blue t-shirts, which were our wedding colors! Such a long, fun afternoon!

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FamilyAngela FalesComment
Happy 70th Birthday To Me!

Excerpts From My Journal

I wanted to plan a big celebration for my 70th birthday, which was on June 29th and also celebrate David and my 50th wedding anniversary, which had been on March 30th. Our celebrations lasted a week—June 28 – July 4! It started in Provo, Utah, and finished in Cody, Wyoming! David and I wanted to begin our celebration by attending the Provo Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because we know that the Sealing Power of the Priesthood and our temple covenants provided the foundation for our 50 years of a happy marriage!

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FamilyAngela FalesComment
Gratitude

As we sat around the table for our family’s Thanksgiving feast, we all took turns saying what we were most grateful for on this special Thanksgiving Day. I shed a few tears as I spoke of the miracles of God the last few years, both big and small, which had allowed our family to be together this day. Without His divine intervention, we wouldn’t have had this day of rejoicing with our family and friends.

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Living Life: Helping with a Newborn Infant

I have a friend who was planning to be with her daughter when she had her first baby, so she asked me if I had any suggestions for her—since she knew I had done it so many times myself! (In 2021, we are now up to twenty-nine grandchildren with a new granddaughter born on January 14th and a new grandson born on March 16th!) I typed up my suggestions for her, which I am now passing on to others as well. Whether you are a mother, mother-in-law, sister, aunt, cousin, or special friend, there is something you can do to help make life a little easier for a mother with her new baby!

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Women of Conviction: Rock-Star Aunts

The role of “aunt” in our family has always included nurturing newborns, playing with young children, overnight babysitting, cutting, styling, and/or braiding hair, painting fingernails, playing all kinds of games including baseball, basketball and football, helping with homework, assisting with cooking, cleaning, and house organization, being available to help family members with moves from coast to coast, and sneaking their nieces and nephews some candy and treats when their parents weren’t looking!

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Living Life: To set Goals…Or to not set goals?

A few years ago, while pondering about setting a specific goal, this encouraging thought came to me, “A goal is not a cane to beat yourself with—it is a walking stick to help you climb the mountains in your life.”

Yes! Let’s not beat ourselves up for what we haven’t done. Let’s set a small goal and achieve it! Enjoy that sweet feeling of accomplishment for a few minutes and then set another small goal. Step by step we can climb all the mountains in our lives.

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Reflections on Marriage—P is for Posterity

Of course, the hard work of being parents is a 24/7 commitment, but the joy that each of our eleven children has brought us is well worth the effort. We learned that we had to always keep an eternal perspective on the hard/sad times. We also learned to sit back and simply enjoy the delightful/happy times. As David always tells people who are overwhelmed with the number of children we chose to have, “Even having one child is a wonderful gift.”

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Women of Conviction: A Season of Strength

In 1983, Barbara B. Smith gave a talk entitled, “A Season of Strength” that inspired me when I first heard her speak when I was a young mother. Now, as a grandmother, I still find her words inspiring today. Whether we are single or married, young or old, the nurturing work we do as women can provide true friendship to the lonely, bring joy and love to a child, and instill hope into the hearts of discouraged souls.

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