Not any Woman

This is something my Cousin Ivory wrote --I think at 2 am after my mom passed away or maybe right before--I love it and it says a lot of what I want to say about my mom for mother's day.

Not Any Woman

Any woman can get married and have eight children...any woman can have five daughters and three sons (with technology now, really ANY woman could) and hold them, feed them, teach them and change them.

But Peggy Hicken Baldry is not ANY woman.

She is our daughter, our wife, our mother, and grandmother. She is our sister and/or best friend. She is our aunt or A.K.A. adopted half-biological mother. She is our sister and law; our daughter and law. She is part of the Hicken Herd, Hicken sisters, the Gang, the Raymond Playhouse Society, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If you are not biologically blessed to be related, then she is your best friend and confident. She is our hiking buddy, fashion designer, our seamstress. She is our co-worker and counsellor. She coined the term "slogging" which many of you know if you graduated from RHS between 1991 and 1993. I am sure she has coined many other terms.

She is our chef - her specialty is Caesar Salad, baking bread, cinnamon rolls, and pretty much everything else delicious. She is a nurse - mainly to her own children, but also to dozens of other children blessed to be in her care. She started cheerleading as a teen - and hasn’t quit since. She cheer-led for t-ball, swimming, soccer, volleyball, piano, dance, track and field, singing, Grade 9 plays, baseball, basketball, football, rugby. She actually cheered for the cheerleaders and does for Stake Presidents, bishops, missionaries, life, and love. We think she has a world record for most years spent as a cheerleader. Not many are dedicated enough to actually cheer for the high school coach (can you DO that?) But Peggy is. And when he quit coaching, she found another coach to cheer for.

Any woman can get married and have eight children. She could have 5 daughters, 3 sons, 15 grandchildren - granddaughters and grandsons, and hold them, feed them, teach them, change them. But NOT any woman can give birth to THIS family then hold them, feed them, teach them and change them into the best person they will ultimately be. NOT any woman can do all of the above and touch so many lives with such grace, tenderness, and love. NOT any woman can hold them, feed them, teach them, change them, and then leave them with a hand-print of her spirituality that will be forever in their hearts. And then pass her hand-print on for generations to come, while showing them that the prints in His Hands are the ones that really matter.

But we know that Peggy Hicken Baldry is NOT just any woman.

Love, Ivory

AKA adopted half-biological daughter

More memories of Mom

I'm going to catch up...

My mom was very musical. She grew up learning music from my grama and sang quartets with my aunts. She was really good at singing and harmonizing. I remember that she was always harmonizing to my music, which when I was a teenager I thought was so annoying. But now I find my self doing the same thing and it almost always makes me think of my mom. She sang a lot of barber shop with my aunts and always sang in the ward choir. She also always had music playing. When I was little I remember Blondie, Barry Manilow, Anne Murray, etc. She also usually had a part in the town musical theater.

My mom was a really good cook. She made almost everything from scratch. She was a great baker and made homemade bread, cinnamon rolls, cookies, pies etc. I loved coming home from school to her fresh baked bread or especially cinnamon rolls. She always had a hot meal for lunch since we all came home for lunch(small town). She loved trying new things. I remember when she took a chinese food cooking class--she started making the best chinese food from scratch. She also liked to involve us in her cooking and baking and taught us the tricks of the trade. Later I'll post a picture here of me and her in matching aprons(made by her) making cookies.

My mom was also an amazing seamstress. She could sew anything. When I was little she sewed us matching dresses. ( I also have a picture for that I will add.) She made us cabbage patch dolls, jackets, dresses etc. It was always a big joke that when we would go shopping and we'd find stuff we liked mom would go on about how she could "make that so easy"--but then wouldn't. She also made really cute baby blankets once the grandkids started coming.

Mom was super handy. She was for sure our family handiman--dad was just the back up. She told me once that dad was so busy with work and coaching and church stuff that she realized she would have to do the projects herself. She was great at figuring stuff out and did all kinds of projects around the house. She had a really good mind for figuring stuff 0ut--as well as the patience.

My Father in Law

Today is My Father in Law--John's birthday. He passed away about two and a half years ago. I can't believe it's been that long. Anyway, I'm going to interrupt memories of my mom to remember him today. One of my favorite memories of John was a few months before he died. He asked me if I remembered where we were the first time we met. I said yes. It was in Louine's geneology library. I was visiting Ojai for the first time with Matt and we weren't actually dating yet. He had just returned home and came in to the library and that was the beginning of it all. I was so flattered that he remembered--because John has a very good but selective memory. I miss him a lot. He did a lot of good things for a lot of people--and especially our family. He was a great example of hard work and dedication to the things that are important. Happy Birthday John. We love you.

It's May

I can't believe it's May already. May is a good month. It is the month my mother was born and the month of mother's day. So I have decided that in May I will post a memory or thought about my Mom every day of the month. I haven't really started writing memories of my mom yet and I really want to so I think this will be a good start.

So I just had a memory come to mind the other day that I hadn't thought of for a long time. She came to my first girls camp. I remember being on the hike together and being in a canoe together. For some reason I remember that when we were canoeing I noticed that her legs were really hairy. I know--it's random but that's how I remember it--and who knows--maybe someday it will help me remember that you don't always have to have your legs shaved when you are going to the lake. You know like when you have six little kids and you are leaving 5 of them home to go with your oldest daughter to her first girls camp. That must have been a lot of work and arranging--no time for shaving.

Ella's love

Me: Ella, are you happy?

Ella: Yes

Me: What makes you happy?

Ella: All of my love that I have for you.

Pray

Pray for my friend's brother and his family. You can see their inspiring story on the Team Ryan link on my blog list. I can't stop thinking about what they are going through and relating to it in many ways. My last couple of months with my mom were the most difficult of my life--but at the same time so wonderful. I know that might seem strange without having experienced it but my family and I all agree it was a deeply cherished time in our lives. We laughed and cried and grew so close. Those memories are one of my greatest treasures. I've been thinking about those memories alot the last couple of days and I hope this sweet family has peace. I think they do. They have faith. I think I can share this...I want to. A couple of nights before my mom died she had a moment of alertness. She said,"I am totally prepared." She said it a couple of times and couldn't finish the thought. We tried to fill in the blanks with everything but what we knew she was trying to say. We knew. Thanks for indulging me...I know it's kind of sad.

Spring Break at the Beach

We had a really fun spring break. My dad, Karie and Austin came down and we went to the beach house for the week. Karie's sister Jodi and her three kids also came. I don't have pictures of Jeremy and Addie but they were also with us at the beach for one night.

I'm pretty sure that my dad is laughing at Karie and Austin getting smashed by the waves. My dad--as many times as he has been here has never been in the ocean. What a wimp:)

Carson was pretty sick for a couple of days. On this day he came with us to Zuma because we had been feeling alot better that morning--after a round of beach volleyball this is what he did for the next few hours. It was sad.

Uhh...basically this is Kade's drool.

Ella, Brinley, Claire and Haley

Me, making sure Carson is hydrated. Poor guy.

The girls went out for mani-pedis. They, of course, loved it. Lots of sparkles.

Kade--frolicking.

Kade loves Grama Karie. He was so excited for her to come and she came through with plenty of playing and attention.

Ella and Griffin

Bubbles!

Austin was the favorite uncle this week. He put in plenty of play time with the kids and they loved it--and this seemed to be his best pose.

This is Carson's lovely photography at the Santa Barbara zoo.

The kids also went to Alice and Wonderland and How to train a dragon. We ate lots of good food and played on the beach. We played softball. The girls (Claire, Ella, Brinley and Haley, planned a girls night with plenty of activities and the boys (Carson and Griffin) responded with a less organized boys night. The kids had a lot of fun. And so did the big people.