Updated 09-Dec-2022

I’m a writer mom of six grown kids, four of whom are married and the other two are having their own grand adventures in life. I’m married to Mr. Hot Stuff and have been for 36 years.

I thought it might be nice to have a “character list” for the main people I talk about here:

• Mr. Hot Stuff – My one and only.
• Rainbow – My oldest daughter. Served an LDS Church mission to Bahia Blanca, Argentina. She graduated from BYU spring of 2013, and is married Mr. Stillwater (because still waters run deep), photographer extraordinaire, and they have a little boy who doesn’t know he holds my heart. Update: They now have two sons, ages 7 and 5, and twins, age 2. These kiddos are marvelous.
• Mr. T – My oldest son. Served an LDS Church mission to Tirana, Albania. He is studying business and is married to the Bird Lady. Update: They have one little girl, age 5, who is not too sure she likes being bossed around by other people in kindergarten. They currently live in Milwaukee while he attends graduate school.
• Miss Electric – My third child. Served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Graduated from BYU-Idaho in recreation management. She is married to a chemist who also does rock climbing (brains and brawn!). They have two adorable daughters. Update: This busy family now has 6 kids. They have 4 who are blood, and 2 who are theirs by virtue of love. They have some big challenges in their family but are taking them on with God’s amazing grace.
• Meigi, formerly Mei Guo, also known as “Hermana The Chef”  – My fourth child. She lived on her own for a year in mainland China, studying Mandarin. Graduated from Utah Valley University with a degree in culinary arts and worked a three-month internship in Florence, Italy. She served an LDS church mission to Panama and loved her island life on Ustupu so much that she still sleeps in a hammock now that she’s home. Okay, so some things there she didn’t love – the crabs that were like scavenging rodents, and the rodents that were like scavenging cats. And the ants. No more ants, please. Currently working to make food more appealing to residents of a nursing care and rehab facility. She’s 24 and single, but wouldn’t mind changing that. 😉 Update: She’s married now to a smart numbers guy, and they have three adorable children – a girl, age 4, a boy, age 2, and another boy under 1.
• Miss Sassy – My youngest daughter. Worked as a senior supervisor at a customer service call center and helped the company open and train employees at their new call center in Hong Kong. She served an LDS church mission in Irvine, California, came home from there and jumped right into school at LDS Business College. Her heart was quickly claimed by Mr. Fun. They are married and have a baby girl. These grandkids just pass my heart around among each other. Update: They now have 3 kids – 2 girls and a boy. They keep their parents hopping. When she isn’t hugging her kiddos, she makes the most amazing cakes.
• Arctic Boy – I might have to change his name to Arctic Man (or Sasquatch) soon, because although he’s my youngest son, he just passed the altitude of 6 feet, 4 inches. He attends Snow College but has paused that to serve an LDS mission to Cambodia. Update: Just after returning home from his mission to Cambodia, this smart man married his high school friend. They now have a little boy, who adores their very patient cat, and they live in a small town (population 320-ish) in Washington State.
• Casi – It’s Gaelic for brave, and I think it’s very brave for a 15 year-old girl to leave all that is familiar and come to a place with an unfamiliar language and culture to attend school for 9 months. Casi is our exchange student from Germany. She returned home in June of 2014 and we miss her so much. She’s getting on with school and her family back in Germany though and we still pray for her right along with the rest of our kids, wherever they all may be.
• The Magnificent Unicorn is another adoptee in our home. Her parents are dear friends of ours. The Magnificent Unicorn lived with us while her parents were gone for a while. She’s now a licensed massage therapist and is soon to marry the love of her life. The girl’s a night owl for sure, and I have no idea how she does it, but it seems to work out for her. She’s a red-haired fireball of fun. 🙂 Update: She’s married with two beautiful kids and living her best life. We keep in touch, but don’t see her as often as we used to, because she does have her own actual awesome family as well as ours.