Sunday, January 23, 2011

JANUARY 9, 1953.....A SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF THE LAST 58 YEARS

58 years of wedded bliss was an opportunity 
to celebrate the love of our
incredible parents.
Who also are grandparents...
 and  great-grandparents.
As attested by each of their posterity;
Never have we heard them argue....
Never have we heard them speak evil of each other...
Never have we heard an unkind word pass between them....
From the beginning of their bringing 5 children into the world...
One of them being "the golden child".
( sorry Melanie, I couldn't resist, you know we love you!)
Have you heard Amazing Grace?
Gracie has an amazing voice in that tiny body.
and
NO FEAR....
What family function would be family
without everyones' favorite
KYLE
Grand daughters gave loving tributes to their
grandparents.
Lauralee spoke about what
it is like to be the favorite...and only
 daughter in law.
Jamie......
who got her name because being the 3rd girl
to come into the family
 dad was convinced
that perhaps he would never have a son...
He need not have worried.....
Kevin was born
and became the favorite....
son.
And we as his sisters, were determined that he
WOULD NOT BE A SISSY.
(that would be a whole other story)
Just when Kevin was enjoying his status as the favorite.
along came
Melanie...
The Golden Child.....
Need I say more?
She holds a special place in my heart
 as well as in the hearts of her siblings.....
She was the golden child to all of us....
Karen 
relates the tale of how she was just
a bit rebellious in her youth....
Nothing major...but the words
"I'm not going to church, and you can't make me"
as well as
 "You'd better hem that skirt up to here, and not down to there, or I won't wear it!"
did escape her lips a few times.
Leesa,
Mother to Amazing Grace and cute Ellie
and a beautiful person as well
and not only because she is married to....
  A practical joker extraordinaire....
Kevin is the master prankster....
Only he could get his mother in law
to shower with what she thought was a bar of soap,
but in actuality was a wedding mint.
(She wondered why it wouldn't lather up)
Tyler, and Tressa...
parents to 3 amazing children.
How Tyler survived his childhood without
losing any limbs, is another mystery of life.
Colton, who doesn't look ANYTHING
like his daddy; does he?
Jeff, Lacie and McKadee
this poor little girl doesn't have
anyone to spoil  and love her.....
Not anyone at all....
especially not these 3 uncles..
Whatever...
these guys would walk through fire; stand on their heads,
 and jump through hoops
for this "mini ruler" of all things breathing.

McKoy; one of the sons of
the golden child...
Does that make him a 2nd generation golden child?
Another descendant of the golden child is Morgan.
He is the youngest grandchild of the Ockey posterity, 
and therefore stands to
 inherit the "golden child" title.
Karter
aptly named after Grandma Great's parents
(only they spelled it Carter.)
Kyler kept begging and begging me
to put his picture on my blog.
He wanted me to post as many pictures of him as possible..
to give him the crucial exposure to all the babes in blog land
through this prominent , illustrious ,well known
virtually unknown blog.
I finally had to break it to him.... the unbelievable fact
that my blog gets very little zero traffic.
See the look of disbelief on his face?
I know, hard to believe that this blog has not
been voted the #1 comical site of the year.

Jamie and Larry also are finding it
hard to believe that my blog is not as well known
as say, for instance....
a popular blog of an admired, role-model type Ockey cousin,  
But this post is not about "me" or "her"
so lets get back to the story.
Lily,
the youngest great-grandchild for now.....
and the youngest daughter of Tyler and Tressa...
In March, this family will produce the youngest great grand child
in the Ockey clan
In summary:
This is what 58 years,
5 children
19 grandchildren
and
14 1/2 great-grandchildren
looks like.
Missing in this picture, Dave and Lindsay Grantham and their 3 children, Macie, Dalan and Khloe.
For those family members whose individual photo is not here in all its glory....
I will
 "get you next time my pretties"....

In Conclusion:
This is what a phenomenal, admirable, incredible, awe inspiring,
 happily married couple looks like:
We love you!
(even though you will probably never see this post!)
and that my dear reader,
is
IRONY

Saturday, January 15, 2011

AND THERE WERE "SHEPHERDS" ABIDING IN THE LAND....A BELATED, LENGTHY AND PICTURE FILLED CHRISTMAS POST

This year for the 1st time I was able to spend Christmas morning with
the Shepherd/Bailey family.
I was greated by this cute reindeer upon my arrival.
Then I was told all about Mr. Peeps....and the Christmas Elf.
They make their annual appearance the 1st of December.
Mr. Peeps hides in a different spot each day to make sure
the kids are dong what they are suppossed to.
He of course, reports any violations directly to the
Big Man in the Red Suit.
The other Elf is the keeper of the key for Santa.
Since there is no fireplace for Santa to use to get into the house,
Some clever person devised another way to finagle money from parents
The other elf leaves him a magical key
so he can deliver the booty.
Each year when my kids ask me what I want for Christmas,
my brthday, Mother's Day or whatever the occason,
apparently my answer is always the same.....
N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
And so this year, I got what I have
always asked for.. I give you
My jar of nothing!!
We can't forget to leave Santa his snack.
Briqelle kindly wrote "have some milk and cookies" on the cup for Santa.
Cali explaining how the magical key works.
The first Christmas for this Shepherd
and she wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about.
Looks like we might have a diva in training here....
And she has the best teacher on the planet.
Jameson can't quite take it all in...
that's one BIG train set
It only takes one word to describe the true love of this little man...
TRAINS
 And when he starts playing with them...
Well....lets just say NOTHING comes between him and his trains. 
He got very upset
when he was pulled away from his train set
to open more presents..
VERY
VERY
upset
However,  more Thomas the Train cars helped him get over it.

Time for Mr. Peeps to go back to the North pole for another year.
That will be a good thing for a certain girl who may or may not
throw a diva tantrum when she doesn't get her way.....
Such as in this picture where she was tired of hiking after 10 minutes,
because in true diva style, 
it made her all "dirty and sweaty."
That's MY kind of girl
But I digress...... 
 Mr. Peeps and Mr. Elf leave until next year...

The Shepherd family as they keep watch
over their little "flock"
With the newest little angel Quinn 
making the Shepherd's Flock
complete...
It was a wonderful Christmas in 2010
spent with a beautiful family.
Bumma minus make up is not a pretty picture.
Maybe Cali can help me, with her "diva in training" class.
The favorite present of these two:
Their "pillow pets"
Thats Bumma's kind of a pet....
remember this
and that?
In my world, pillow pets are the best.