How do you decide what mattress to buy???

In Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale the Princess and the Pea, a princess is unable to get a good nights sleep because a pea has been placed under her mattress, actually 20 mattresses, piled high! The moral to the story is that the quality of what you sleep on really does determine the quality of sleep you receive. Believe me, I can testify to that. For the past 9 months I have had very few good nights sleep. I read somewhere that when we are asleep our body is compressed by gravity in a different way then when we are standing upright, and we need to be fully supported by the mattress and it's supporting structures. We spend more time in our beds then on any other piece of furniture in our homes. We spend about 24 years of our life in bed. About 9 months ago Les and I decided we needed to purchase a new mattress, our old mattress of 20+ years I'm embarrassed to say was not as comfortable as it use to be. I kept complaining of being tired and ache when I got up in the morning because I tossed and turned all night trying to get comfortable. Les got tired of hearing me complain and one night after work he told me he was taking me over to buy a new inteligel mattress. He had heard it advertised on KSL by Doug Write and he's a pretty reputable guy right? The nice salesman showed us a sample of what the inteligel looked like and how it was suppose to support your body, it looked good, sounded good and for the 5 or 10 minutes we tried the bed out it felt pretty good. Les wanted to get the mattress THAT night but they didn't have any one to deliver the mattress from the wear house until Monday. Les told the salesman he would even go and pick the mattress up him self if he could get it Saturday. Everything was set up and on Saturday Les and our two twin grandsons went and picked it up. Les said the first clue that this mattress might have problems should have been when the guy at the wear house told him we needed to rotate the mattress once a month for the 1st 6 months and then once every 6 months there after. Why would you have to do that???? The first couple of months it was pretty comfortable BUT the gel holds your body heat!!! When you get to that wonderful age where you turn into a flasher that is not a good thing. The next problem is it started to make depressions in the mattress even though we rotated it every month and believe me that is not an easy task! The sucker is one HEAVY hunk of jel. Les and I could hardly rotate the thing and try doing it with a bed skirt on, the bed that is. Are you getting a mental picture here? It is not a pretty sight believe me. We went back to the place we bought the mattress and they said, "if you were having problems you should have brought the bed back within the first 2 months and gotten part of your money back BUT because you waited so long there really wasn't much we can do." How ever they agreed to send someone out to examine the mattress...so tweedle dee and tweedle dum came out to check out the bed and of course you guessed it, they are Spanish. Not that there is anything wrong with that other then the communication problem. You speake Spanish???? Thank goodness one could some what speak English . We were told the indentation was not an inch and a half , (how did they measure that? We didn't see any tools to measure with.) Needless to say we are stuck with this mattress and sleeping in a hot, hole. Les and I had to go last Saturday and spend most of the day looking for a new mattress. Hopefully we didn't pick out a new lemon. It will be here next Thursday and we'll give you an update. The sad moral to our story is that we paid $1000.00 for a mattress that we hate and the companies suggestion is to list the bed on Craig's list or KSL and oh, they told us that the bed we got on sale for $1000.00 is now going for $2000.00. Does that make our miss fortune any better? Stay tune and we'll let you know how the new mattress works out. Wish us luck. And heres to peaceful sleeping:-)

Father's Day

Today was Father's day and I don't think the fathers I know went on a guilt trip when they got to church today like us Mothers do. My father passed away just shortly before fathers day 10 years ago. Wow, I can't believe it has been that long but I sure do miss him. I miss his sense of humor, his wisdom, his kindness, his beautiful tenor voice, his honesty and integrity, his understanding, his commitment and loyalty to our mother, their marriage, and our family. As I listened to the talks about fathers today there was one universal theme, fathers play such a big part in shaping our lives. There were 3 P's in the roll of fatherhood. They are to PROVIDE, to PRESIDE, & to PROTECT. I would like to honor the men in my life this fathers day. My father, my husband and my sons/son in-law. My father was a great provider, he wasn't rich but he made sure we had sufficent for our needs. He worked hard and he taught us to work hard and to always do our best. he was very frugal. His motto was make due with what you have, wear it out or pass it on, and if you don't have the money you don't buy it. I know he was always going with out, sacrificing for us kids. Les my husband is a lot the same way. My dad always presided in our home giving prayers and blessing and always letting us know that our Mom was the most important thing in his life and we needed to always respect her. What a great example my Dad has always been to me. He was our great protector. You better not mess with his kids.

I also pay tribute today to my own husband. Les, like my father makes me want to be a better person because of him. He is my best friend. He is a great husband, dad and papa. I don't know where me and my children would be today with out him. From the look on his face in this picture, doesn't it look like he must have been saying to himself, "What was I thinking?"He looks like one scared guy to take on this family! Can you blame him? :-)
I would also like to pay tribute to my sons and son in-law who are now fathers of their own families. They all are hands on dads. I want to thank them for being such good fathers and let them all know how much I love them and wish them a very Happy Fathers Day!

Did I say it was Spring????

What did I say about the winter that won't die? Mother Nature is playing a crappy trick on us Utahans! She teases us with a nice day here and there and then it's cold and rainy the next day. Les and I came home and turned on the heat. I know that must be hard for our kid that are in Texas where it is HOT HOT HOT! Some times I wonder if Summer is ever going to get here. But one thing about the rain is we get the reward of a beautiful rainbow afterwards. Wouldn't you agree? If you look close you'll see a double rainbow.

Spring is FINALLY here!?!?! :-)

Last Saturday I was saying, "I love this time of year!" After the long cold never ending winter and having the house shut up I can finally open up the windows and let in the nice fresh warm breeze. As I was getting dressed that morning I was enjoying the warm breeze and the smell of spring. Isn't that something, that you can actually SMELL spring. It brought back a flood of memories. Memories of my childhood when we lived in the country the smell of new mown hay. How is it that smells, sights or sounds can take you to another time another place bringing back a myriad of memories to you mind. Les and I are enjoying working in our yard planting the vegetable and flower garden. Among the perennial flowers that come back each year is my Columbine. When I worked for JB's Restaurants many years ago I had a wonderful friend who was my boss. His name was Harold Freeman and he and his wife Valerie had a beautiful home in Oregon. Harold moved to Utah for a few years and one year for my birthday he gave me a columbine plant. He and Valerie grew them in their yard and I loved them. Each year as those Columbine return I think of Harold who passed away just before his 50th birthday. I remember the great things about Harold and what a great friend and fellow co-worker he was.

Another Year Older and not as deep in debt!

Another birthday has come and gone which usually I just want to forget but this year even though I can hardly bring myself to say just how old I am it is one that will be a mile stone in my life. Why you ask? I hate to say it but I turned 62 May the 27th and can now take an early retirement if I choose to do so. Yahoo!!! Lately I have been day dreaming of what I might do with my leisure time. Taking photographs, gardening, reading, genealogy, working in the temple, taking an English class, maybe a cooking class, spending more time with my mother and sisters, children and grand children. If I want to go visit someone I won't have to worry about getting back to work! The sky is the limit, as long as it doesn't take a lot of money because I won't have as much as I use to. However I could pick up a part time job just for FUN:-) Just the thought of getting the heck out of the hospital and customer service where I take phone calls all day long from grumpy, ornery, mean tempered people as well as kind people brings a large smile to my face and makes me trunky. I'll miss the people I work with as well as the pay check but I definately won't miss the job itself. Wish me luck and if you have any suggestions on thing I can do to fill up my days let me know.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

As a tradition our family has always gone to the cemetery on Memorial Day week end to decorate the graves of our loved ones. As a small child I have pictures of me and my little uncles playing among the head stones while my mother, grand parents, and other relatives visited and reminisced about our family members. It was like a family reunion of sorts, many times we would pack a lunch and actually have lunch there as we visited. Through the years Mom always makes sure that grandma and grandpa Wanlass's graves are decorated as well as my fathers. Les and I always take flowers for my fathers and our little grandson Andrews grave but this year it was a little different. I didn't even make it to the cemetery. The group I dance with, "Jeans Golden Girls" were performing in Jackson Hole Wyoming. They perform there every year for OLD WEST DAYS. I wasn't particularly interested in going with them because I knew it would probably be cold. Then we got a call from Les's sister Susie saying she, Les's Mom and her twin sister Dorothy, and Susie were going to be in Star Valley Wyoming and wanted to go to Jackson to watch me dance. Les said, "I don't think Judy is going to Jackson," to which Susie replied, "She has to go! Were going to see her perform." So I signed up to go and there were 5 dances to learn. As the time drew closer I thought, "What was I thinking?" Practices almost every night and I didn't really feel that confident about one of them, plus the weather has been so out right crazy! Snowing one day, raining the next and then a couple of days before we left it got up to 90! The day we arrived in Star Valley it sprinkled off and on which was okay but the day we performed...was cold and rainy. We got there and ran through our routines before we had to go and line up for the parade. When we got to the start of the parade route it was windy and cold. Just before we started in the parade it started to sprinkle. The parade route wasn't that long and it only took us about 20 minutes. Thank Goodness! When we got to the square to perform the sun was actually out for a few minutes and we thought maybe our prayer was going to work and we would have sunshine for the performance - WRONG! Just as we were about to perform it started raining cats and dogs but the show must go on and there were actually people there smiling and cheering us on even in the rain.


Can you find me?





Les's family starting right, Les's mom, Sabrina Les's sister, Mattie his niece, Sandy his sister, Sierra Sandy's daughter, Aunt Dorothy Les's moms twin, and Susie Les's sister.

And the next picture is of Levi, Les's nephew yours truly and Les.
We had a lot of fun spending time together.

Hanah Montana is coming to Provo Utah!!

Les emailed me the other day and said, "guess who is going to be at The Stadium of Fire?" The first person who popped into my mind was Carry Underwood? Nope he said, "Miley Cyrus, (Hanah Montana) and The Blue Man Group!!! "Oh really," I said. I didn't know that Les thought Miley was such a big deal. I know that Keagan, Brynlee or Lily our grand daughters would think it was a big deal but Les???? I should have know that he was seeing dollar signs. He informed me when he picked me up that night after work that he and two of his co-workers had gone over to the Marriott Center and stood in line to get an wrist band so he could stand in yet another line on Friday and hopefully be lucky enough to have his number picked. This would allow him to purchase some tickets which, he was hoping to sell for a LARGER amount of money. He held up his wrist to reveal a "hot pink" wrist band which he had to wear for 4 days. If the wrist band was removed he would be disqualified from being able to purchase tickets if his number was called. Tickets were going for $45.00, $65.00 and $120.00, and if your number was draw you would be eligible to purchase 25 tickets. Les and his two co-workers made a pack that if any one of them were lucky enough to get the tickets they would divide them among the other two. Les was so excited, as he told me about this it brought back memories of the old Les when we were in video business and came across an old out of print Video. I had to remind him that we were suppose to leave to go to Saint George Friday or had he forgotten? Well, he said, "We can leave after that." To make a long story short he didn't stand in line. He found out from a good source that at 5:00 the tickets would go on sale on line as well as in the line at the Marriott Center. He agreed to leave his credit card with Cheryl his co worker and she agreed to try to get him some tickets. We ended up with 4 tickets. We were hoping for more so the grand kids could go and Les would still have some to sale. This way one adult can go with 3 grand kids. Can you imagine being that adult with the 3 kids and 1000's of other SCREAMING and cheering kids there to see Hanah Montana? It will definitely be a blog writing as well as journal writing experience. Keep watching for to find out which lucky adult gets to accompany the grand kid and "The Rest of the Story."

Wow, Technology changes so much daily!!!

Les just bought us a new computer. The photo on the left is Les, taken from the computers photo cam. So, if you happen to have a cam on your computer too we could actually email each other and see and speak to one other. Wow, isn't that increditible!!! We could do that, that is if Les and I can figure out how to work it :-) This computer is way over our heads and I'm sure we won't learn how to do half the things it if capable of doing before the next new an improved computer comes out.

What?? January's gone!?!?

As I lay in bed last night unable to sleep, I was contemplating how fast this month has slipped by. If you don't stop and plan your life it goes right on plans or not just the same. A lot of things have happened this month some happy and some we meet with mixed emotions. Les turned 55 January 23rd. We were driving to work and all the sudden he blurted out..."It just hit me!" "What just hit you?" I replied. "I'll be 55 tomorrow," he said. Since I am a few years older then he is and I wanted to say, "No big deal! Get over it! You'll have something to complain about when your my age!" But whats to complain about? When I look in the mirror I wonder who that is staring back at me and I have more aches and pains but we're healthy, we have jobs, a home, each other, a family. We do have something to celebrate! The Texas kids called and sang Papa Happy Birthday, AshLyn and the kids came over to sing happy birthday and have birthday cake with Papa. Lily and Keagan made the cutest cards and AshLyn's brought Pop's some of her famous home made cashew turtles. That's the best things about birthdays is sharing them with those you love.

Last week end we received a call from Les's sister Susie that his uncle Ted who just recently celebrated his 90th birthday had a massive stroke and was not expected to live. They keep him on life support long enough for the his family to get there and then they would make a decision what to do. Uncle Ted has always been a great example to Les. He was a great father to 8 kids, a great husband who was married and faithful to the same women for 50+ years. He was a great example of hard work, of honesty, kindness, love of his Savior Jesus Christ. We will all miss Uncle Ted but we know he is in a much better place and that he is still moving on with his life doing and accomplishing many of the things he did right here on this earth. Then just days later our Dear Prophet President Hinckley also passed away to return and be with his sweetheart, as he put it, "the girl of his dreams." What an example he too has been to more then just the members of the LDS Church.

One of the people they interviewed said, he always prayed that he could work up until he was called home." And he really did. Two days before he passed away he was a little tired and didn't feel well and then quietly and peacefully returned home. What a legacy he has left for members of the church as well as his posterity. Sherri Dew put it so well when she said, "President Hinckley was a builder." He built his home and added additions to it through the years to accommadate his growing family. He has built more temples then any other President of this church. He built the conference center. He built bridges for the church and the media and public to cross. He helped others to come to really know what the Gospel of Jesus Christ was. He will be greatly missed. But I found I didn't feel an awful sorrow with his passing but a warm and good feeling knowing he was with his dear wife knowing he will continue the work on the other side of the veil. Les and I sat and watched his funeral on TV the tears started as I watched President Monson and Irring come and sit on either side of an empty chair where Presidently Hinckley had always sat at General Conference and other meetings and I had a sadness feel my heart knowing we would not see him and his quick wit or hear his counsel. We will miss him.

And on January 29th Les and I celebrated our 26th anniversary. Wow! 26 years. I feel pretty lucky to have made it thus far. We may not see eye to eye on a lot of things but we love each other and try to bless each others lives.

Well we've changed just a little bit don't you think?

Family Traditions

Jeramy wrote the other day saying,"Mom, now you have a blog you have to keep adding new things." OH! Is that how it works?!? Alrighty then here is my new posting.

Can there ever be such a thing as to much Christmas? Does anyone really appreciate all the work I go through to create a Christmas holiday spirit in my home? Every year in the midst of the holiday preparations and with all the stress of work and things to do I ask myself this question. And every year I answer the same way, Yes, I,or I should say we, (because Les is in this too). We probably go a bit over board. And yes, I think my children and grand children like to come to Nana and Papa's house with all the Christmas decorations and presents. I know after the house is decorated, Les and I enjoy sitting on a quite evening and just admiring the decoration and the cozy atmosphere. This year I didn't put out all the decorations because we had Jeramy, Rebecca and Family with us for the holidays and I felt it would be to much.

One of our traditions is for the family to get together for our big dinner and opening presents on Christmas Eve. I know our grandchildren look forward to this time together just as I did as a child growing up in the farm lands of American Fork. Each of us cousins would draw names. Then we would get together Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Wanlass home. There would be stories and song and last but not least the opening of gifts. I really don't remember any of the gifts I received but I do remember the love and fun we had as a family. That tradition carried on with my parents. Mom still has everyone together for a Christmas party. We've grown to big to meet in any ones home anymore, we rent the Senior Citizens Building. What fun the little kids have as they come together as cousins. I hope our grand children will have those same kinds of memories when they are older and hopefully keep those traditions going with their children and grandchildren. Les always makes a point to try to get every grandchild something they really want and this year wasn't any different. Before I married Les I didn't have a lot of money to give my children very much for Christmas. Les and I don't have a lot of money now, but Les makes preparations just for Christmas and has always made sure that our children and grandchildren have a great Christmas. It's fun to watch him as he picks out each child's special gift.

Along with the Christmas tradition we have a tradition of having sleep overs and with the Texas cousins here this Christmas it was no different. Just after Christmas Ashlyn's Children came to have a sleep over with their cousins. What fun they had but it's hard keeping everyone occupied and happy when their all together. I remembered an occasion when Les's family were all here for Thanksgiving and his sister Sandy brought a video camera, this is when video cameras were a novelty. We set the camera on a tripod and we all did some acting. No one knows what happened to the video but all the children remember how much fun we had together and how funny this was. So, I suggested to Keagan that they write a play and then act it out. They took my suggest and ran with it coming up with a darling video that I'm sure they will remember and love to watch for a long time. It was called the Chocolate Touch. I wish I would have used my digital camera to video so I could share it with you but darn, I didn't. As you can see from the pictures below the children had some pretty awesome times together creating family memories!

Lily, Keagan, and Brynlee

Lily and Brynlee getting ready for their big acting debut.

Jeramy ready to give Brynlee a head plant in the snow.

Jake, (Look at the snowball in midair) Keagan, Isaac getting ready to pelt someone with a snowball and little Jaron with snow caked gloves.

Keagan getting snow tackled

Family Picture

Having family pictures taken in comparison is like going to the dentist, getting a shot, or better still having a baby. It’s a real pain getting ready, setting the time, coordinating colors, getting everyone to the photographers, and last but not least getting everyone to say cheese, SMILE, and watch the birdie all at the same time?!? But when it’s all over done you have something wonderful to show for all the hard work and labor pains. Jeramy, Rebecca and family were here for the Holidays this year, and Doug and family as well as Rod and family had moved back to the area. This is the first time in 12 years that our and family has all been together. We felt this would be the perfect time to have a family picture taken. Ashlyn went to work arranging for the photographer, who is a friend of hers and put together the color scheme. If any of you know Les and me very well you know we are directionally challenged which Les strongly disagrees. He says, I'm directionally challenged not him, to which I reply, "then why do we almost always get lost?" Anyway, everyone agreed to meet at our house in plenty of time to make it over to the photographers. Well that sounds easy right? Wrong! Everyone arrived but Rod, Raquel and the boys. We waited a little bit thinking they were just running a late, but finally called only to find out that they weren’t going to make it. What? Rod had to stay late at work and so did Raquel. This was disappointing because now it would only be part of our family. We all got into our cars and proceeded to caravan following Ashlyn with Les, Brynlee (our grand daughter) and myself at the rear. All the sudden Les passes everyone and gets right behind Ashlyn. This is a bad choice because Les doesn’t follow very close, allowing other cars to crowd in and soon we can’t even see Ashlyn. To make matters worse he takes off the wrong exit, that’s right the wrong exit and Doug and Jeramy follow right behind us. We have an address but like I said, Les and I have a problem. I call Ashlyn on my cel and she can’t understand why Les had to crowd in. We all start in the same right direction but it’s dark and we can’t see the address signs. I’m angry with Les, Les is getting angry with me and Brynlee doesn’t know if she wants to ride with Nana and Papa again, mean while everyones driving around behind us. Finally, I tell Les to pull over and we all stop. I called Ashlyn on her cell phone and she came and found us. I made everyone go ahead of Les so we don’t end up with the same problem AGAIN. Do you think anyone was in the mood to have their pictures taken when we FINALLY arrived?!?!

Well, I’ll let you be the judge. Here is the final product, at least one of them turned out. Now I need to get Rod and his family to get a picture taken and put it next to the family photo so at least he is practically in the family. I'll bet this makes you want to rush right out and schedule your family for a family picture after reading this. :-) Happy family photo taking!