Mom

There's really no way to express what I'm feeling right now. Well, I suppose there is but I'm too tired to go there and the list is so long of what still needs to be done. It's been 3 days since Mom passed away on Wednesday, September 5th. Someday, I will write the book that seems to be scattered all over my computer in bits and pieces, sort of like her cognitive ability as it began to fade and parts of her personality became puzzle pieces that slowly pulled apart and rearranged, but never quite fit back together.  Someday, I will. But for now, I put one foot in front of another, look out for Dad including assembling what he'll wear to the funeral and hoping he has the strength to make it "just one more day".

I think my mom is happy. I think she may be rejoicing and frolicking and exploring and laughing and laying down another perfect hand of Rook. I hope she's missing me like I'm missing her. I hope she knows how much I love her. I hope she understands how she'll always be my hero. I hope...I hope...to see her face again.

Death by consensus is hard. With 6 brothers and sisters and everyone with an opinion, it took four hours just to revise the recently written obituary.  However, it is done and here it is.  Last week I felt prompted to order Mom's birth certificate just to verify how she really spelled her middle name. To our great surprise it is May with a "Y" instead of an "E".  And even though it arrived in time to correct the obituary and the program,  some members of The Committee argued for an "E" since that's how she spelled it during the last 40 or 50 years of her life.  

Olea Mae, MaY you enjoy your time without us because I promise, when we start returning home we will make you be our mom again and look for you to rub our heads and scratch our backs and tell us, "this too will pass".

                                                     Olea Mae Babbel Woolf

                                                           1924 - 2012

Olea Mae Babbel Woolf, age 88, passed away peacefully in her home in Laguna Niguel, CA, surrounded by family and friends on September 5, 2012, due to complications of Lewy Body Dementia.  Born in Twin Falls, ID, on May 28, 1924, the daughter of Frederick August and Lena Lamprecht Babbel, Olea was the 7^th child of 9 children, her parents being immigrants from Germany.  Olea had a strong adventuresome spirit, boundless energy, great enthusiasm, lived unselfishly and loved life.  She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1946 in Bacteriology and completed her 5^th year certification as a Medical Technologist at Stanford Medical Hospital in San Francisco.  In 1947, she married Anthony DeVoe Woolf in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.  Olea and Anthony had 7 children during the next 12 years and resided in El Cerrito, CA, for over 40 years.  Although she had a long career in Hematology at Samuel Merritt Hospital in Oakland, CA, Olea’s first devotion was to her family and her faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where she enthusiastically served among the children and the youth.  She had a great love for reading, nature, travel, music, singing, and most of all, people.  She was blessed with many gifts but her family believes her greatest gift was her ability to manifest her love for people in her everyday actions.  Olea and Anthony retired to Auburn, CA, living a wonderful life together for over 20 years in the foothills of the Sierras before moving to Laguna Niguel, CA, to live with their daughter, Joyce, for the past 2 years.  Olea is survived by her husband, Anthony; her children, Cheryl (Jay) Munns of West Covina, CA; Joyce Woolf of Laguna Niguel, CA; John (Gayle) Woolf of Murray, UT; Fred (Melissa) Woolf of Alpharetta, GA; Marlene (Kelly) Gallacher of Granite Bay, CA; Sandy (Bill) Marble of Woodland, CA; and William (Alycia) Woolf of Park City, UT; her sister, Pearl (Wendell) Schenk of Twin Falls, ID, her sister-in-law, Ivie Babbel of Manti, UT; her sister-in-law, Mary Woolf, (Georgetown, TX).   She is also survived by her 26 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.  She will be greatly missed but her influence will be felt for many generations.  Her family wants to thank her recent caregivers and hospice workers.

A viewing will be held on September 17, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. with services at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3050 Mojave Lane, Provo, UT.  In addition, friends and relatives are invited to the home of John & Gayle Woolf, 569 E. Trunk Bay Circle, Murray, UT, Sunday, September 16^th at 7:00 p.m. to visit with family members.  Condolences may be left at www.jenkins-soffe.com.  Contributions may be made to www.lbda.org.

PHOTO A DAY/Days 6-10

And so I continue with the Photo A Day challenge. I've found this to be quite interesting at it causes me to focus on seeing things all day that would fit into the specific daily category. Provides a different dimension to my quotidian activities.

July 6:  Chair---  a perfect Friday afternoon at Aliso Creek Beach in Laguna. Cousins everywhere.

July 7:  Garden---  I have a little fairy garden in my backyard that is growing and growing and growing. And when the whirly-gig is going around in circles, that means a fairy is happy.

July 8:  Lunch---  I almost forgot about this one since it was Sunday and shortly after getting home from church I started cooking beef stroganoff with my sister for the 20 or so people we were having for dinner, but then I went into the kitchen that night and saw the remains of my lunch still on the counter, and a very little remains it was. Brownies from Zink's in Laguna Beach. I kid you not, I have officially declared these to be the BEST brownies in the world!

July 9:  Big---  Since the Gallachers were in town, early Monday morning we drove Brigham to the train station in San Juan Capistrano to take the train from there to Santa Barbara for EFY.  What great and rapturous joy we all felt when we saw about 10 gorgeous girls from San Clemente all boarding the same train and heading up to EFY with him. We now call it the EFY Express. The express train to Briggy's heart.

July 10:  Favorite Color---  Boy, I would have enjoyed photographing more than one picture of this color. I would have loved to photograph every color, many times. Color, color, color. How blessed we are to see the world in bright, vibrant, full-of-life color.

PHOTO A DAY CHALLENGE Days 1-5

I'm taking the Photo A Day challenge for the month of July. Although I'm posting on Facebook I've decided to post 5 days at a time on my somewhat forgotten, all too neglected blog. Thanks to my friend, Gayle Humpherys, (who got it from someone else) for the idea.

July 1:  Self-portrait---  (however it turned out to be Self-portraits or Selves-portrait since Miss Annie Jane had a sleepover with her Nannie.

July 2:  Busy---  Just the thought of moving usually makes everyone sick.  Brittany and Jordan moved into their new home over the past weekend. It's been a very busy few days indeed.

July 3:  Favorite Part of My Day---  as if this requires any explanation.

July 4:  Fun---  I posted this picture of family and friends at our bar-b-que. But I would have posted the second picture, too, of the Pacific Symphony program for their 4th of July performance. It was great fun for this old gal to get out and take a breather from things on the home front. Thanks for the invite, Metcalfs.

July 5:  On The Floor---  Brittany called somewhat distressed.  "Mom, can you come over between 12 and 12:30 so the babysitter can go to her next job? I'll still be with Annie and her birthday party friends at the nail salon (5 little girls getting mani-pedis)".  "Yeah, sure" I replied, "if you really get home by 12:30 because I have to be in Newport Beach before 1pm.  Needless to say she didn't and I wasn't. And Brooks and Tyler had an exciting time helping unpack the game room.

Looking forward to seeing what the next 5 days brings.  Hint for Day 6...starts with "ch".

Introducing,,, MY BIG COMEBACK

I'm baaaaaack!

Somehow life went from December to June and I don't know how that happened and I bet you don't either.
I see that this blog background was still Christmas themed so at least that was the first thing to change.. And in the past few months apparently blogger has changed their style, so I'll have to figure out what's up with that.
I will admit life has been crazy but not all bad. This picture sort of sums it up; Chelsea, and Sawyer in bed with me:

And I really like this one of Chelsea after her shower:

And this one just sort of ticks me off. It's a picture taken 3 years ago at my Cousins Reunion.  All the people in this picture are my cousins or brothers. HOW COME I HAD TO BE THE SHRIMP? My folks should have named me Lili Lilliputian Woolf. I mean really! The Gallachers got all the great hair. The rest of the Babbels, Harpers, McKnights, and Schenks along with brothers Fred and Bill got all the height. All my girl cousins and sisters are tall. Guess that just leaves brother John and me, and I got all the brains so what does that leave him?

In reflecting back on my life I am grateful that an ex-husband never used this excuse against me for marital dissatisfaction: 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/05/man-divorces-wife-after-she-brings-home-550-cats/1?csp=obinsite#.T88Iqe1r0w8

My headline would have read "Woman wearing bifocal contacts kills husband in furious rage after he has been out catting around and has the nerve to bring the skinny ladies with the big ears home with him.

I swore I wouldn't stay up til 2am two nights in a row, and I'm already a liar. So I'm calling it a night. 

However, I'm ready for Summer, I'm not letting this get past me, that's for sure.  Here's Sawyer to prove it:

                   .

And to get us past our typical June Gloom down here my brother Fred sent some beautiful roses for Mother's Day. They truly were amazing. I can almost smell them. Happy Beach Daze Ahead to You!