At the end of June we had a nice summer rain storm and out came this beautiful rainbow. If you look at the stop sign in both pictures you can mentally put the picture together. What a shot! 
Tuesday, August 19
Where is that Leprechaun?
2 Moms & 5 Children - California or Bust
My cousin Rabilin and I decided to drive out to California for my Aunt Patti's funeral and to visit family. It was us and our five little one's. Our husbands couldn't break away on such short notice so we took the challenge. We stayed with my brother Mike where there were a total of 5 Adults, 10 kids and 1 bathroom. It was little like Circus Circus, but it was well worth the trip. We got to spend some time with Grandma Boggs and my mom flew in from Texas. The day after the funeral we spent time with Grandma Boggs at her home and even went out to eat with all our little kids. It took both Grandma's and both moms to get them all fed at Home Town Buffet. That must have been a site.
Cousins...
We got to go visit John's sister Karen and two of her children Kayla and Logan while on our trip to California. They always get along so well and love spending time together. They are so silly.
Cousins Cousins Cousins
Here are a few really cute shots of the kids with their cousins in California. These are Carolyn's brother Mike's kids. They had a lot of fun together swimming and dancing and playing and just being kids.
Swim Meet
We got to go with Mike and Jenn's family to their children's swim meet. This is the same swimming pool that us kids swam at when we were growing up. 
Mike and Jenn
I just wanted to show pictures of my brother Mike and his beautiful wife Jenn and all their cute kids.
Sunday, August 17
"MY" Aunt Patti
Written by Carolyn: I have my Aunt Patti’s hands. In my down time I have had opportunities lately to look at my own hands and hope that I can use them for good as she did. I want to be an instrument in the Lords hands as she was for so many people. She was like a second mom when I was young and she means a lot to me. I am sad to say goodbye to such a beautiful person. My life has been changed in significant ways because I knew her. 
Carolyn's Thoughts:
God will call people to care about you and to teach you.
- Henry B Eyring
I truly feel that you can learn something from every person that you come in contact with, but there are certain people that are put in your life for a reason. Some for a short while and others for periods of time to help you, lift you up, love and teach you. Patti was there for me when I was a growing up. I loved her then and didn’t realize all that I was learning from her at the time. Now I appreciate the things I learned and thank the Lord for her being there to teach me those lessons and remember those happy moments.
One story I remember was Patti planting daffodils outside her back door at the Ashlan house on the right side of the steps. They were various colors of yellow and I remember bending down to smell them when I came over in the spring. The first time I saw them in bloom at her house I remember asking her what type of flower it was because I had never seen them and they were so beautiful and different from other flowers I had seen. Like a ray of sunshine in her heavily shaded yard. As the years went by I noticed that she planted different varieties and that allowed them to bloom at different times to make the color last longer. Some bloomed early and some later. Some were bright, others pastel and others with variegated or crinkled blooms. It was her little happy spot in the yard. Her spot of sunshine. Whenever I have seen daffodils I have always thought of my Aunt Patti. I have loved those flowers since I was a child and after coming home from the funeral I decided that I am going to plant my own little happy spot in the yard this next fall. So in the Spring I will have something beautiful to make me happy and remind me of Patti. 
An advocate of women, schoolchildren
LDS ward leader also was president of elementary PTA.
By Jim Steinberg / The Fresno Bee
06/25/08 23:28:44
Patti M. Binford was well-known for her compassion and the ability to translate it into action.
Mrs. Binford, 59, of Fresno had suffered pulmonary fibrosis, and died Friday.
She was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and had served as president of her ward's relief society, concentrating on the needs of women.
Earlier, she had been a leader among a small group of parents in Fresno Unified School District who challenged administrators and eventually prevailed on them to find more than $13 million to air-condition district schools. She and the ad-hoc group challenged the status quo that had forced tens of thousands of small children and older students routinely to sit in classrooms with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees for hours each day. They returned home literally red-faced on hot days.
Mrs. Binford was born in Lynwood and moved with her family to Fresno, where her father had found a printing job, said her husband, Tom Binford.
She attended Fresno schools, and worked for a telephone company until she graduated from Fresno High School.
She continued at Fresno City College, married and became increasingly involved in her children's schools, serving with the PTA and as president of the Del Mar Elementary School PTA.
That warmed her to schoolchildren's plight inside hot classrooms, Tom Binford said: "When I got here from the Bay Area, I was just blown away. I thought, 'How could anybody in this Valley not have air conditioning?' Administrators had it in their offices."
Mrs. Binford's work with her LDS church deserves at least as much praise, said her husband, mother, Arba Boggs, and close friend, Ellen Thomas.
"Patti was very organized," her mother said. "She was given basic responsibility from our bishop for the care of women in our ward," a geographic and administrative division of the church. "I guess Patti was called to do this."
Mrs. Binford maintained a notebook of all women in her congregation, or ward, and directions to each woman's home, her mother said. She kept track of the ward's "visiting teachers."
"She was born to it," her mother said. "We believe they come with these gifts. She helped a lot of families."
Thomas called Mrs. Binford "a master of organization," a talent she handled "with such dignity and grace."
Mrs. Binford also was an accomplished musician, particularly on piano and organ, teaching music in her ward along with organizational skills and preparedness.
"The compassionate service is something she did so well," Thomas said.
A memorial "graduation service" was held Wednesday in the LDS church on East Alluvial Avenue.
The reporter can be reached at jsteinberg@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6311.
Patti in the the 80's
This is how I remember my Aunt Patti when I was growing up.
Patti was a wife, a mother, a mother-in-law, an aunt, a grandmother, a sister, and a friend to many.
Boggs Siblings
Back Left to right: Lloyd, Jonathan, Michael
Front Left to Right Suzanne, Nancy, Elizabeth
These are the remaining children of Ralph and Arba Boggs.
Ralph W Boggs
Here is a picture I took at the funeral of where my Grandpa Boggs was buried. It is at Belmont Memorial Gardens in Fresno, CA.
4 Generations
This was totally unplanned but we were able to get a picture of Great-Grandma Boggs, Grandma, Carolyn (Mom) and Ella. Pretty Cool!
Father's Day
This was a picture of Father's Day in June. The kids helped me get him some speakers for his IPod. He also got some knee pads for when he is working out in the yard.
Saturday, August 16
Utah's Hogle Zoo -Salt Lake City, Utah
We got to take a trip to the Zoo in early June and spent the day there. The weather was still pretty cool. They have done alot of upgrades in the last ten years and it was pretty fun!
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