Been a long time since my last post.

If anyone still checks this, wow, it's been a long time since I last posted on this blog. Things have been so busy, I have just sort of forgotten to update. So my dad is still @ what I still call my grandmas house even though he owns it and its now his house. He has chosen to start early social security due to lack of job prospects. It's too big of a house, too big of a yard, etc etc for just him, but he likes living there so thats all that matters. My brother is enjoying this recent spring weather and is jumping the gun getting in a garden to play with. He loves to be outside and play in the dirt! As for me, well I am packing boxes! We are planning to move in the coming months, although where is still up for grabs. We are thinking West Valley, Magna, Tooele area. I work in Salt Lake and he works in Tooele. So living in Utah county (Saratoga Springs) means we both drive an hour for work. Not a good thing with current fuel prices and economy. So although I am not sad to leave that particular house (as I never considered it home), I am sad to leave the area and the neighbors. I have loved living in a place that feels country but is still close enough to the stores and such to be quiet at the house but in 10 minutes I can be at the store. I love my nieghbors. I never knew there were still neighborhoods like this, I thought they died long ago. Neighbor helping neighbor, people caring about one another, waving at each other as you drive down the road, etc etc. With my husbands declining health, I can't tell you how many times my neighbors have been over to help me pull weeds, lend a hand with something I couldnt do alone, even bring in meals when he was just out of a hospital stay. I have come home to find the lawn mowed (by two pregnant ladies, sorry ya had to be there, it was very funny and humbling at the same time). I have enjoyed my time on Meadow Run and I will miss the area and the people very much. I know that when I leave there I will never have those kinds of neighbors again, which makes me even more sad. My dogs have had some health issues as well, then on top of everything else for Christmas Eric and I gave each other sulcata tortoise hatchlings (I know I am nuts to take on more). They are now 4 months old. As for the rest of the family, as far as I know everything is about the same in Billie's family. There isnt any communication between Billie and my dad or Billie and I for that matter. I do talk to her sons via facebook on random occasions. Cindy and her family are doing well. I talk to her kids on facebook a little more often than Billie's sons. Brande and her husband are still living with Cindy and her husband. Brande is building a home and so they have been living with Cindy since selling their old house. From what Brande told me they should be moving into their new house next month if all stays on schedule. Landon and his family are doing well. Ryan is also good. I still check Phil's facebook often and we speak off and on over the days. I keep telling myself to write Jim, just need to get the time to sit down and write it before I take the desk apart for my move. So probably next time I post will be post move. Hope all is well with the rest of you Heeding's. Ya'll take care!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Now with Christmas approaching, faster than I am ready for, I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. For Thanksgiving this year we kept it small at my mom's house with her and her parents, myself, my husband, my brother, and his youngest daughter. The weekend that following however we followed my brother to the mountains! A small get away that was EXTREMELY needed! I left my husband in charge of my dogs, since he hates camping and cant camp now that he is on oxygen. My dad, my mom, my brother, my youngest neice, and myself out in the mountains where my grandpa Heeding used to take my dad and my dad always took us. It felt like going home as we pulled up into wide canyon outside of Holden. I have not been camping since meeting a "city boy", so its been 12 years since my last camping trip. A weekend of mountains, fall colors, camp fires, ATV's, fresh air, and tons of deer all over the place. I am burried in project, but I do this every year to myself. If they all get done great, if not oh well. I am not going to stress out over them. This time if year is hard because this is when we lost my grandpa. I still regret that they would not let me see him before he died. I had a cold and they told me to stay away so that I wouldnt get him sicker. I offered to wear a face mask, but still they said to stay away. He gave them a run for their money though. Getting up from his hospital bed and wondering the halls with is hospital gown flapping in the breeze. Landon and Ryan showed up and the nurse told them to get him back in bed. I miss him a lot. After he died Landon and Ryan and I think Brande went and decorated grandma's house for Christmas. She took it all down and said she didn't feel like having Christmas that year. Now she can have Christmas with grandpa and her siblings and uncle Bill. I hope you all have a great holiday season. Talk to ya next year!

quick update

As I am sure most of you who might be reading this know. Phil has moved to Idaho Falls and living with Jim now. I am excited for him to have a new start and hope that his part time teaching will soon become full time teaching and that Idaho will be the place to give him his chance at recovering from all this down time. I also hope that the two of them get along well and will be good company for one another. In Utah news, my brother (Jason) and his wife are finally getting their divorce papers going. They have not lived together for two years, but Annie was the one who wanted a divorce so until she got in the mood recently nothing was done. I dont know how long it will take or any details, but I hope this will give J a new start. He is almost done fixing up his old house. It is a very small house, but with MaKenzie in AK for nine months out of the year and only having Harlee part time, the house is big enough for now. He has done a great job, especially since he had never taken on such a project before and was learning mostly by trial and error. He will soon realize his mistake on putting in all those flower beds in the yard I think. My husband and I are looking into moving. I work in Salt Lake and he now works in Tooele, however we live in Saratoga Springs. I am tired of the fire danger. We were evacuated in June, but luckily the firemen were able to convince the fire to go the other way just shy of our entire subdivision. We are also spending way too much in fuel and are looking to save some of that money if possible. We both are driving an hour each way (during the evacuation it was the longest hour of my life trying to get to my dogs, who are basically my kids). We are mostly looking in Tooele for a place, but also in the Magna, West Valley area. Dad was not able to find a job and his unemployment is running out so he has filed for early social security. He still lives in his/grandma's house. I have told him its just too big for one person, but he says its too much hassle to move. It is a bit more money to pay for that house rather than a smaller home, and it has a pretty large yard for upkeeping. Oh well, his choice I suppose. Three of my cousins lost a half brother at the end of Sept. Cindy's kids, Ryan, Landon, and Brande, lost their half brother through their dad/Cindy's ex-husband. Brock Butler was his name. He turned 21 in ICU waiting for a liver that just never came. He was sick most of his life and he was a good kid who deserved a second chance. In his obit, it listed Ryan and wife????? however I know nothing about Ryan getting married. I know he is supose to be engaged, but who knows maybe they snuck off and got it done without telling anyone. That is what Brande did a couple years ago. Well I think that about catches things up from what I know. Ya'll take care.

just a lil update

I have no idea if anyone still reads this or what, but a lil update from Utah. My dad, Bob, is still living in my grandparents home, he bought it after grandma died. I hear through the grape vine that one of my cousin's is getting married. Looks as though Ryan is gonna marry his gfriend of about 2 years. I rarely hear from my cousins, but we are all friends on facebook so I check up on them from time to time. Ryan and Landon turned 30 on June 3! Wow! I can remember sitting in a foyer at the hospital when they were born. I remember everyone being panicked because something went wrong during delivery and they didnt know if Cindy or the boys were okay. My brother is a home owners now! He got some help from my moms credit and got a small house for him and his two girls. He shares custody of Harlee with her mom and sees her at least part of every week, and then shares custody with MaKenzie's mom who lives in Alaska and only gets her during summers and every other Christmas. He is enjoying having a place of his own (well enjoying all of it except the bills part). He bought it knowing it needed a lot of work and has dedicated himself to fixing it up the last several months. Putting in a whole new kitchen and bathroom and redoing at least part of every room. He is now putting in a yard, as it didnt have lawn before. One can only hope he is going to see a little better luck in the future, especially with women! He also has had bad luck with pets, as he lost his 17 year old cat and 4 year old dog in the same day a couple months back. We dont know who did it, but they were poisoned. It was a very hard blow to him, as he loves his pets. He has gotten a new dog now and has gotten into raising chickens and quail, and chuckars. MaKenzie will get here a little late this year for summer break, since she had to do summer school for being a little slow on reading. She will get here June 30th and we all cant wait! I start looking forward to seeing her again the day after she leaves. I hope all of you are doing well. I hear from Phil that he may be moving and he seems a little bit happy about it. I know things are hard for him and wish there was something I could do to help him out. I am planing on sending him some info on some cousins through grandpa Herberts side (his brother, his niece and her son). I also have been contacted by a distant cousin's father in law about any info we could give. Grandma Lillian's sister Ethel married into the Droubay family and her son Raymond had a family and went off to war in WWII. Aparently he suffered greatly after returning home and took to the bottle. His wife took the kids and left, they never saw each other again. If there is anything about Raymond Droubay that any of you can recall please pass it along to me or let me know you have something and I will be happy to forward it along to his son or give you the email address I have for his father in law. To contact me you can email me @ saratogaredneck@yahoo.com. Phil remembered him but now much else. I also wrote to Jim, but have not heard back from him as yet. I have been lacking on writting to Jim lately and feel horrible about it. I always tried to write at least once every couple months, especially when Bill was around, but since loosing Bill, I have not written as much. I hope that Jim is doing well and wish I were closer so I could visit with him every so often. In my deffense, I have lacked on a lot of genealogy and so on, I have been very busy. I am still working full time, I have my three dogs, my youngest step son left on his mission in Feb. for Georgia, my husband ended up with pnuemonia and we have since learned that he has lung damage from health issues that surfaced three years ago. He only has 55% use of his left lung and when the pnuemonia set in it almost shut down all together. He is on oxygen 24/7 and has to sleep with a machine that is a mix between a cpap (sleep apnea) and a respirator. It forces air in and then sucks it back out, to get the exchange he needs. He quits breathing on his own and this machine will make sure to force the air in even if he quits on his own. Its been a long, busy, few months. In the mean time he cant do much, so I am on my own for house and yard work. A neighbor brought his kids over and they helped me for a whole evening cleaning out flower beds and filling trash cans with weeds. I am so thankful for their help. Of course things around the house keep breaking so I am getting a crash course on how to do home repairs on my own for a few things. I have taught myself how to install a new door lock (thanks to the guy at Lowe's for keying it to my old keys to match the rest of the house), how to repair a jetted tub (its my sanity I was going crazy without my jetted tub and a good book to relax with), how to fix a door that had a bullet catch instead of a regular door latch, and I even fixed the lawn mower myself after calling about every mower repair shop in Utah trying to get some one to tell me what size bolts I needed (they all wanted to charge me service fees and repair part charges instead of just telling me bolt sizes so I could do it myself for a fourth of the cost). I am also getting pretty good at arguing with insurance companies and doctors offices over bills and claims. I have won two arguements so far and hope to win at least two more in the next couple weeks. I had a lot of practice at doing this three years ago when my husband almost died. Well, now that I have typed a short story here, I will end it now. Ya'll take care.

Holidays

Wow its been a long time since I posted anything to this blog. Anyway, I hope all my Heeding cousins had a great Thanksgiving and will have a wonderful Christmas and New years. Things havent changed much lately, so there isnt anything new to update on the blog. If I didnt already post it, Cindy's daughter, Brande, got married a while back. They have lived together for a few years now and decided to make official with a quicky wedding down in Las Vegas.

a year ago we said goodbye

It's been a year since we said goodbye to William "Bill" Carl Heeding. I still think of things I want to tell him and things I would love to ask him. I miss my phone conversations with him and I miss that contagous laugh he had. He was always upbeat when we spoke and even though I knew he didn't feel well, he never complained. I knew years ago about his arthritis making his hands hurt and all I ever heard from him was a joke about how he had a good excuse to flip people off and not get into trouble, because he couldnt move that finger. He was always proud of his kids and his grandkids and took any oppertunity to boast about whatever latest thing had been done. He loved his life and his family. I wish I had been able to visit with him more. We are all scatured to the four corners doing our own things, but we will forever be united by the two brothers, Bill and Paul. Through our memories and our hearts they continue to thrive. All my best to my Heeding cousins. Take care.

Paul Heeding "Heed"

Today would have been my grandpa's 87th birthday. All week long things have been reminding me of him. Little things people say or do, this morning I woke up to find it had rained over night and I took my dogs outside to do their duties and the smell of sage came over me and reminded me of all our deer hunting trips. I was always the tom boy so I went hunting with grandpa, my dad, and cousins. I miss those days crawling around in the mountains before the sun even comes up so we could get to the "ideal hunting spot" before the sun gave away our location to the animals. It hardly ever worked. I dont think grandpa even wanted it to work most of the time. He just liked going camping and walking the hills. Some years he was so sore and feet swollen he would literally sleep in his boots so his feet couldnt swell up over night and not be able to put the boots on in the morning. What a fight it was for my dad who thought you had to be covered from head to toe in orange so you didnt get shot to get grandpa to wear any orange at all. Grandpa usually only wore a single vest of orange if any. I think of all the weekends he spent having grandkids stay over when I'm sure there were other things he would have loved to do something else. His sunday routine of going to Harmons to buy a paper always turned into such a production dragging along three or four of us all piled in his old pick up. He was a joker and loved to laugh. He had such a deep rolling laughter that shook his whole body. He loved very much but didnt show it all the time. If you pointed a camera at him he would "strike a pose" every time. Rather it was putting grandma in a mock head lock with one arm and balling a fist with the other like he was going to hit her (which he never ever did), or cracking the biggest goofiest grin nashing his teeth, or just flat out arms on hips or splayed out in the air posing. I have very few "serious" pics of him. Happy birthday grandpa. Love and miss you always.

April Fools

Hello all you Heedings that read this. Well its April Fools Day, and although its stupid it makes me think of my grandma and grandpa. I used to think up some stupid thing and call them and tell them something and when my grandma would say your kidding i would say yup April Fools! April is also the birth month for my grandpa and his mom, Lillian. Which of course means cemetery duty to decorate graves. Last month was grandma's bday and i did go decorate her grave and feed the deer at the cemetery.
Well not much exciting happening with the Utah Heedings. My brother still needs a job, he was employed for a couple months and then got laid off again, my dads still living in his home that was my grandparents, and all else is about the same. Phil still needs to find a teaching position and I got a letter from Jim yesterday in my mail. I wish they could both find something or some one to make them happy.
Well take care all. Happy April Fools Day and hope you all have a great Easter!

too much to do in such little time

i have a list of things i would like to do and it seems i never have enough time for it all. i get upset with myself for missing the deadlines i set for myself but i still keep adding to the list. lately i have been in a funk and just cant seem to get anything done.
my dad is not liking having that big house all to himself and says he may not keep the house after all. he plans on waiting for a year or two then possibly trying to sell. i am hoping he can find something or some place to be happy. he isnt a cheerful person to begin with but being in the house all by himself really isnt good for him. i am supose to be helping him with a will and with some other things he has asked me to do, again i just havent gotten to it yet.
from what i hear things are alright for billies family. i dont hear from them and probably wont. with all that went on when my grandma was ill and since billie and my dad dont speak to one another, and that is a good thing since it wouldnt be kind if they did. billie's kids seem to feel that my dad and their mom fighting mean we are fighting so i have given up communicating with them for now.
as for cindys family, since my last update of them all brande has moved to roy and lives with her boyfriend, dave. he seems to make her happy and for the first time ever she actually mentioned a possiblity of getting married one day. she has always told me she didnt want to get married in the past. rather marriage is on the horitzon or not i hope she is happy in life. i do speak with cindy's kids from time to time, mostly through facebook since it seems to be the easiest right now. ryan moved in with his girlfriend so cindy and jon have the house to themselves. landons family is doing good. i hear from his wife, justyna, through facebook. the girls are growing up fast.
my brother is still out of work. this will be his third year without a steady income. he has taken on odd jobs through the past few years to come up with some money but nothing permanent. his girls are of course growing up faster than i want them to. harlee will be three in july and makenzie will turn seven on the 25th of this month. kenzie will be in alaska til june when jason will get her for the summer. lil miss harlee has the biggest attitude youve ever seen and does not hesitate to let you know what she thinks.
grandma and grandpa got to spend their first anniversary together since his death in 2003 on feb 1. they would have been married 67 years. grandmas birthday is the day before st pattys day and she always loved that holiday so i am trying to find some fun things to decorate her grave with that are green or st pattys related. she always liked her "greenie day".
well i guess your all caught up now. take care all.

the voices

hello all. i spent the weekend playing around with some genealogy and while doing that i decided to open a pkg i got from my cousin Jim. It was a video of pics from his dad funeral, which i loved to see all the pics again, and another video that said it was footage of my grandpa, Paul. i played it not knowing what it would be. i was sitting on the ottoman just in front of the tv and this video of a building comes on and i hear Jim's voice talking about the zoom on the camera as the zoom gets engaged and the building turns blurry because of the zoom being too close, then zoomed back out again. as I am listening to Jim tryin to work the camera, I hear a voice I have not heard since 2003. My grandpa was talking in the back ground. Tears instantly filled me eyes as i hung on every silly word. then my grandpa and uncle Bill come into the screen and I can see them goofing and talking. Luckily this video was only 3 minutes long, because I bawled like a small baby the entire time. The voices that i thought i had lost forever, I was hearing them again. This Christmas the best present I will get is that 3 minutes of video from Jim. i have the voices that I love and miss terribly back and although I know I will probably bawl every time i watch it, i am thrilled to have just 3 minutes every now and then with my grandpa and uncle Bill. Merry Christmas to all my cousins. i hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday.