PETS

It's a little strange that my third post of the blog should be about pets because you may or may not know, but I am not much of an animal person. Sure I think puppies and kittens are so-o-o-o cute, and I collected giraffes when I was a teenager (not real ones), but I am happy to keep most animals and creatures of any sort at a distance. It's getting worse the older I get, probably because of the mad rooster that attacked me a few years ago. I don't actually know if he was mad--it's possible that when I appeared in my flimsy flip flops he just recognized an opportunity.

Anyway...pets. When I was growing up in Richland we would have kittens/cats now and then. I don't remember any in particular, but my sisters remember names like Happy (who gave birth to Snip, Snap, and Snurr--I have a book I can show you where these names came from), Crackers, and Salt, and Pepper.

My little sister Lynette with Happy

A cat (maybe Crackers?) at our Richland house

We had a dog once whose name was Tuf. He was part Boston Terrier and not very big. My oldest sister Judy remembers receiving him for her Christmas gift one year. The name came from a math game that my family played (and it was a tough game especially when playing with the math-smart people in my family.) I remember one traumatic experience--not sure how it happened but I was with Tuffy (I think most of us called him that) in the field across the main road from our street. I don't know if I was taking him for a walk or what, but I couldn't catch him and I was chasing him and calling his name but he wouldn't come and I cried and cried because I didn't know what to do. In my memory I remember going home crying to my Mom and she said not to worry. I don't know what happened after that but the dog appeared at home later.

When I was about 14 or 15 we had two kittens that we named Starsky and Hutch after two police detectives in a popular TV show.  Starsky & Hutch  One character had dark hair (my favorite of the two) and the other was blond, so you are right if you guessed that one of the kittens was black and the other was--not blond--but lighter colored like an orange color. Sadly Starsky didn't survive, but Hutch lived a very long time. They had other siblings with names like Bruno and Cinnamon, all born to a mommy cat named Nephi. Obviously we originally thought she was a boy. Some tried to call her Nephiette after that but it didn't stick.

(above) Great-grandpa Giberson with Hutch. (below) Hutch in his delicate older years.

My lasting memory of Hutch, though, is when I was home from my first year at BYU and working everyday. In the morning, (before my alarm would go off, of course) Hutch would come and scratch at my bedroom window (right above my bed) until I was forced to go to the front door to let him in the house. There was no way to sleep through that scratching, scratching, scratching and the insistent meowing, meowing, meowing... Speaking of meowing, you all know Kylie's pet cat Ollie.

 Ollie as a cute new kitten

He joined the family at the beginning of Kylie's 6th grade year. Maybe her parents felt sorry for her because the only other sibling still left at home was leaving on a mission in the coming months (Jordan left for Uruguay in February of 2013). (We had other cats through the years and cats named Happy and Jedi when Kylie was a baby.)

Sadly, Ollie is not a people cat (I was going to say people person, as the saying goes, but he's not a person so...) though he does like Kylie on his own terms. Now I just need to figure out how she can take him with her when she moves away because Ollie likes to scratch and meow until someone lets him in too.

1) with Jordan, 2) with little Morgan, 3) with little Evanie, 

4) with little Parker, 5) in the tub, 6) sleeping in a weird position

^ ^ ^ Can you find the cat hiding in this picture? ^ ^ ^

My Birth & a Piano

My family before I came along: Dad (Richard), Judy, Mom 

(Eileen), Michael (we called him Mickey and now he's 

Mike), Todd, Robin (Age order: Judy, Todd, Mike, Robin)

This is the only picture of me as a tiny baby that I know of

"In 1961 we added Valerie on a sunshiny April day"...as the Family Song 

my mom wrote says...the 4th to be exact, in Richland, Washington. 

My dad always said I was his easiest delivery but I've given birth to a few children so I know that means nothing haha. I do know it means I came more quickly than previous births had, so for at least that much my mom could be grateful. He always called me his "merry sunshine girl" and his "Blondie." If you can believe it, I had the lightest color hair of the whole family, and, well, I was always just a happy ray of sunshine, I'm sure. 😜

at our house on Longfitt St.

I was child number 5 and that forced my family to move to a bigger house. I didn’t know until many, many years later that my mom sold her piano to help make a down payment on our new home at 1422 Agnes Street. It certainly was a happy day for her when we bought a new one. 

This is your great-grandma Eileen's piano. You can find it now in Landi's front room because when my dad and 

Nana Karla moved to Utah from Texas it needed a new home. Your Grandpa Ipson was so nice 

that he drove all the way to Amarillo and back to pick it up because he knew I wanted it.

One of my VERY favorite things was to listen to her play. I became obsessed with piano music and I can remember many times putting a Floyd Cramer album on our record player and then sitting at the piano to pretend I was playing. Every song on that album brings back so many memories of when I was little. 

Take a listen: The Best of Floyd Cramer

(This is the actual album cover but the video is of only one song from it.)

My Mom played hymns and all kinds of other music but one of my favorites was Moonlight Sonata.

She taught me how to read music but she felt that attempting to teach one's own children piano lessons was a recipe for disaster. My brother Todd was deemed the most musically-inclined, I guess, and he received lessons for a short time.

While I regret not being able to play the piano well, an appreciation for the instrument and its beautiful sound is a gift my mother gave to me.

Easter Grudge

Back in the day, way way back, the ward I grew up in held an annual Easter Egg Hunt for the Primary kids out on its grassy, sloping lawn on the day before Easter Sunday. One year stands out in my memory. We gathered before the event and they revealed a huge chocolate bunny that would go to the lucky finder of the egg marked with the gold X. I don’t know why, but I just knew in my heart that I was winning that chocolate bunny.

I didn’t care that I was wearing the play clothes I had on that Saturday instead of a pretty Easter dress like some of the girls, and that I had a home made Easter basket. All I cared about was that prize.

Since I was old enough, I ran off on my own to gather what eggs I could, and, more importantly, to find the egg with the X. I still remember the nervous energy I felt with each egg I picked up.

Then I heard a shout. Just ahead of me was a little girl and her dad. “We found it!” he said. “We found the egg with the gold X!”

It was right ahead of me. A few more steps and it would have been mine.

I fought back bitter tears at the presentation of the chocolate bunny to that little girl (I mean, what was she, two years old?). I remember her frilly pastel dress and bonnet and the fancy store-bought basket at her side. Despite the eggs and candy I had collected, I left the Primary activity feeling empty-handed. It was so unfair. Her dad had found the egg and he would probably eat most of the prize.

It took me a long time to realize that my Easter grudge was as hollow as that chocolate bunny I had hoped to win. What was everlastingly more important than the hunt for candy eggs and chocolate bunnies was what I learned about the Savior in the church building next to the grassy lawn. It’s true, back then we did sing songs in Primary with titles like Horsey, Horsey, Rags the Dog, and Mean Old Witch With a Hat (I'm totally serious!) but we also learned the stories of Jesus. We learned that He loves us. He died for us and rose again in a glorious resurrection.

Easter is all about not finding something. Not finding the body of Jesus Christ in the tomb on the third day. I remember as a Primary leader giving children empty Easter eggs symbolizing an empty tomb. Egg-shaped candies and chocolate bunnies last only a moment, but the events of that First Easter Morning and its message of love, hope, and redemption are of infinite value: He is not here for He is risen.

True, Christ was not found in the tomb, but He was found. He was found by Mary after His resurrection. Before that He was found on the cross giving His life for us, and even in the final moments of His life, teaching the prisoner who hung at His side about the plan of salvation. Before that He was found in the Garden of Gethsemane, offering Himself as a ransom for that same prisoner’s sins, and for all of our sins too.

And today, as you seek Him, He will be found.

+This story was originally told as part of a talk I gave in the Noble Ward on Easter Sunday, April 2019+

LINK TO EXCELLENT TALK BY TAD R. CALLISTER ON THE ATONEMENT
^^^I based my talk on his^^^