Road Trip

Katie and I are on a road trip! Where? Why? To Provo to see Tayson, of course--you know a grandma/aunt road trip. Oh yea ... we happened to see Collete, Trevor and Reggie while we were there. The trip up was smooth and quick--for this being Katie's first road trip, her driving passed. (Honestly, she did most of the driving.) Her "filling the car with petrol" needs some work, though. Still shys away from the whole "do it yourself" routine--if you know what I mean. (Okay, so if I was with my mom I'd run for the ladies room too as soon as we pulled up at a station so I wouldn't have to actually touch those dirty gas nozzles much less pay what comes out of them!) By my count we only stopped four times. That's good isn't it??

Here are a few pics of our trip:

On Saturday I took the kids to Costco. Is there any place more fun to tour on vacation? Of course not! Its the best place in the world to do the "grandma thing"-you know--spoil, spoil, spoil. Actually--its the cheapest lunch around right? Their turkey wraps were pretty good, have to say.

Sunday morning we RACED to be on time for church. What family doesn't race to church--its in the handbook, I'm sure. Wow--brought back a lot memories, getting the diaper bag, etc. ready. As it turned out we had second row seats. Tayson was awesome--reverent, respectful, listened attentively--the perfect grandson ... good boy Tayson!! We were so at-home, Katie was asked to give the closing prayer in Relief Society. Colette was sustained as a visiting teaching supervisor and Trevor will be sustained next week as an assistant ward clerk.

That afternoon we drove to temple square.

Here's Katie and I standing in front of the church office building where I worked for CES 30 years ago in the Seminary Curriculum department. Brought back a few memories, to say the least.

On our way to SLC we dropped off dinner (pot roast, homemade rolls) to Reggie who had to work. Here's where Trevor and Reggie work--APX Alarms--right at the mouth of Provo Canyon. Beautiful office building.

Playing games is a Riley tradition--my kids LOVE them. Here they are going at it. I think they're playing Settlers. Not sure who won ... does it matter?

I had more important things to do like play with Tayson.

How many Rileys does it take to put Tayson in the car? Well--at least three! One to open the trunk, one to fold the stroller and one to buckle in the carseat. Oh yea ... and another to record the procedure!

And how does Tayson feel about Grandma and Aunt Katie coming up for a visit?

Hmmmmmm ... he feels right at home!

A morning tradition

Alma once counseled his son, Helaman, to have an "everlasting hatred against sin and iniquity" and to "withstand every temptation of the devil." (Alma 37:23-33)

I worry about the world our adult children are entering. There seems little hatred for sin and iniquity. On the contrary, it is tolerated. Tolerating sin and iniquity is merely a cousin to embracing it. That worries me. I hope it worries my children.

For the last 20+ years, we had a morning tradition in our family. I always had an individual prayer with each of them as they left the house every morning. I miss those precious moments. They should know, however, I still have a prayer every morning for each of them. Why? Becase every day brings new temptations. And every day our hatred towards sin and iniquity must be renewed. A repetitive prayer? Absolutely. Redundant? Of course. Necessary? To me, it is.

"Trevorisms": A Stroll Down Memory Lane #1

I was going through my old letters a few days ago and found some I had sent to Tracy just after he graduated from college and flew to California for job interviews. Trevor was almost 4 years old and Reggie was almost 2. Here are a few of what I like to call “Trevorisms.” Quotes from my little boy while his “best bud” Dad was away for a few weeks.





Here’s an excerpt from a letter dated Monday, September 5, 1988, 8:00p.



Hi Sweetheart!

I’ve been just cracking up at what Trevor has been telling me to do, so I sat right down to write so I wouldn’t’ forget! He’s been asking for something to eat (preferable in the treat area) so I made him some chocolate milk.

Then he started asking for something else, so I said, “How about some King Vitamin or Just Right?” [names of popular dry cereal] He leaned up against the fridge and said—and his hands were going and his eyebrows going up and down—“Now, Mom, s’ink about it—just relax and s’ink about what you could give me. It could be something in the fridge, or something in the cupboard.”

I said, “I’ve already thought about it and you can have some dry cereal.”

“Mom, you didn’t s’ink about it—okay—(hands extended). I could have more chocolate milk or some cake …those are my choices.”

Here’s another one from a letter dated Friday, September 9, 1988, 8:10p.

This is from Trevor to Trace--verbatim: “I’ll give daddy a letter and my card. Now … I love my daddy. Please take him one on the airplane. I wish daddy could come home. I hope daddy has good job. I love my grandma and daddy. I hope daddy could hurry up on his job and come on the airplane. Hurry up Daddy!”

[Later in the letter] …. We were coming down the Orem hill and all of sudden Trevor said, “Mommy, how would you feel if I spanked you?”

I said (very surprised because it came out of nowhere), “well, that wouldn’t make me feel very well.”

He said, “Yea—you see (try to picture his hands a going)—if you were a little girl and I was a big boy you wouldn’t like it if I spanked you so I don’t like it if you spank me.”

Nice try, Trev! :)

My Girls

I received the following LDS-gem yesterday and wanted to write a quick post because the content absolutely, one hundred percent describes my girls—Katie and Colette. Here’s the quote:

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." (Margaret D. Nadauld, "The Joy of Womanhood," Ensign, Nov. 2000, 14)

Both Katie and Colette are Women of God, not women of the world. That is one of the reasons we love them and why so many are drawn to them. They are tender, kind, refined, faithful, filled with goodness, virtue and purity—exactly the kind of women Sis. Nadauld says our world needs more of.

Thank you, Katie and Colette, for your example to not only us “old folks” but to your peers. You rock! And I love you both. Mom Riley

"That ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things"

"Lines for Cash" was the leading headline yesterday in the news. As thousands of customers waited hours in the heat Monday to withdraw deposits from the failed IndyMac Bank, investors dumped the stocks of many mortgage lenders, precipitating the steepest one-day decline in banking shares since 1989. Which banks are next? Are we headed into a depression? That is the question on many minds today.

Troubling financial woes are all around us--mortgage failures, bank closures, stock market declines, value of the dollar steadily decreasing as the price for oil steadily increases. Within our own neighborhood and town, hundreds are defaulting on mortgages and walking away. Cause for alarm? Of course. But not an unexpected alarm. While my stomach churns, my heart is holding steady. We have been counseled for years and years that this turbulent time in history would raise the fearful head of anguish and that hearts would fail. But anguish can be tempered with knowledge. Knowledge that these troubled times were foretold and knowledge of how to survive them.

"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, and keep my commandments, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:36; JST)

There it is--the formula to endure these anquish-filled days: watch, pray, and be obedient to the commandments of God. The blessing? We will ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass.

Trevor, Colette, Tayson, Reggie and Katie ... these things are here--financial, temporal and spiritual woes. But always remember there is a way to escape all theses things--not necessarily the pain and suffering that these times will bring--but rather a way to escape the anquish and fear that accompanies them. Keep abreast of the news, pray every day for guidance in making wise and prudent financial decisions, practice provident living, continue your education pursuits, strengthen your family ties, pray for strength to resist the power of the destroyer, and keep the commandments ... then, and only then, you can wake up each morning without fear or anquish.

So buckle your seat belt ... we're in for a wild ride. I love you all.

Ahhh ... the Couch!

Reg ... Trev ... Trace ... just wanted you to know that "your position on the couch" has been dutifully kept in working order by Katie. No need to worry. A Riley tradition continues. After Katie leaves ... well ... we'll tackle that one when we come to it. :)

Happy Birthday America--Fireworks in the QC!

America the beautiful--home of the brave, land of the free! Indeed it is our home ... our land ... our freedom ... America YOU rock! For the last four years we have celebrated the 4th with the Kishpaughs--a tradition of swimming, bbque and, of course, fireworks! This is an actual picture of the fireworks in Queen Creek at Schneph's Farms. Best firework show I've ever seen (well, except maybe the Stadium of Fire in Provo. But hey--here its only $10 a car, whereas Provo's its about $40 a head ... go figure)

Here we are in our backyard--starting off the celebration with a "cool" dip. Really stretching that word "cool" ... the water is actually 92 degrees.

After the swim, its off to the Kishpaughs for a bbque. Here's David and Trace, our grill masters. Umm umm good. I made home-made ice cream sandwiches this year.

After dinner, its off to the fireworks. Big, beautiful monsoon clouds rolled in right on que, and with a soft breeze, the temperatures dropped and we actually enjoyed a beautiful evening of fireworks.
Here's Lynn and I ... can old ladies have bff's (or whatever that text acronym is?) Well--if they can, Lynn certainly is one of mine! Love ya, Lynn. btw ... check out her bag (inside joke) haha.

Well ... there's a wrap till next year. Hope Trev, Colette, Tayson and Reggie had a wonderful 4th of July. I miss you-all. Love, Mom

American Idol LIVE!

Last Tuesday, I got to see American Idol Live at the Jobing.com arena. It was their first show on tour but it was really awesome. Archie should have been the American Idol, he is so much cuter and has a way better voice. But hey, atleast I still got to see him live! Pretty much the highlight of my summer. Thanks MOM!!!

Charisse leaves for Scotland!

I dropped Charisse off at the airport this morning for a two-week trip to Scotland. Wow. She showed me all the places she and a friend of hers would be visiting, the castles, the Abbies, the farm houses, the bed and breakfasts, the coastlines. They are renting a car when they arrive in Glascow and will be going on a self-guided tour. (I'm not sure I could get used to traveling on the wrong (left) side of the road--so you go girl--admire your courage!) Chari has always had a love for history and has been studying all about Scotland for some time. As many of us know, she also has a great love for astronomy and is taking her astronomical map so she can identify stars from the other side of the planet. Only problem is .... the next 10 day forecast for Scotland is OVERCAST AND RAINY. Oh well. That is not about to deter her enthusiasm. We pray her trip will be safe and fun and can't wait for all her pics (I think she took enough memory chips for over 2,000 pics). Love you Chari!!