October 30, 2009 by Mallory.

Just a reminder for everyone. We (the Fackrells) have our own blog now. It’s funwiththefackrells.blogspot.com. There is also a link on the left of the screen. If you want to know the on-goings of our life in Memphis, then just go there. I’ll be making it private sometime, but as of right now, it’s still public. So enjoy!

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October 21, 2009 by Melanee.

A week and a half ago we received the news that Randy’s mother-in-law (Gayle’s mother) passed away. I was able to visit with her twice. Zoe, being 93 years of age along with her husband, Karl, who is 91 showed how being married for 70 years can be really precious or cute. My first visit was a really sweet scene of them sitting up and leaning towards each other touching heads while they both slept. I wish I had a camera to freeze that scene, but it will stay in my mind forever. Karl cared deeply for his bride and did everything he could to make her comfortable.
We traveled to a remote town of Ely for her funeral. That’s where they lived most of their married life. We traveled 3 and half hours with only passing maybe seven remote towns along the way. Lots of sage brush, dry lake bed, pinion pines and the beautiful mountains that bound the land. I compared it to my three hour trip to New Jersey to visit my grandchildren- huge difference in people, population, cities, and scenery.
The funeral was very touching. Randy and Gayle’s two brothers, Terry and Reg, spoke. Laura, Randy’s daughter, played a beautiful piece on the piano. Other friends spoke and did musical numbers. Terry’s family did a beautiful job with the display of quilts, funeral programs, family pictures, copies of family recipes to pass out, and cookies to munch on. Family gathered together for prayer-there was not a dry eye due to the great love for their mother and grandmother.
But something happened during the burial services that should be written in the family history for posterity’s sake. This helped lighten the mood and really created lasting memories that will never be forgotten. I don’t know all the reasons why this occurred. Maybe it was because it is a small town. Townspeople are usually in charge of certain things and maybe this part did not get done. This experience made a good story and the family laughs about it to this day. They also think Gayle and her mother were laughing during the whole ordeal.

When the hearse arrive and the family gathered near the grave site. They noticed that there were no bars to set the casket on or straps or machine to lower the casket after the dedication. There was just a real deep hole about 8 feet deep with the plastic cover to seal the casket off to the side about 10 feet.There was a problem-there is no way to lower grandma into the ground.
The wife of the graveyard keeper was calling her husband to tell him there was nothing available to lower the casket. She started talking on the phone while the grave was being dedicated, so she was politely asked to leave the area while she tried to see what needed to be done.
But, one the sons, Ronnie, took charge and found someone to go home and get three twenty five foot straps and three two by fours. A few minutes later they were brought to the site. The boards were put across the hole and casket was set on top. A fellow in his thirties was lowered down to place the bottom half of the plastic cover before the casket was lowered. He got everything set and tried to get out of the hole himself, but he dislodged rocks on the side that landed on the cover bottom. He was lowered again to clear all the rocks. They moved the casket out of the way put the two by fours across the hole and the fellow hiked himself up like dismounting parallel bars. The casket was lowered by the sons and grandsons, but someone noticed that the spray of flowers were not removed from the top. So, one of the light and agile grandsons who was 10 years was lowered upon grandma’s casket and retrieved the flowers. The straps were removed and the plastic cover to seal the casket was lowered with the straps to cover the casket. The same grandson was lowered again to jump on the cover to make sure it was sealed. There was a jovial mood about the whole thing and all the family members said they now have a story to tell that will be passed down through the generations.
These small towns produce resourceful people who take the situations as they come. They try to solve the problem, laugh about it, and get on with life without complaining.
Welcome to the wild west!

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October 17, 2009 by Marlene.

I feel like I’ve been dead to the blog world for a while and Ashley’s the only one really posting. Sorry guys.
Life has been same ol same ol for the most part. The first round of midterms are over and I enjoyed a small break from the craziness of study, eat, work and sleep and not much else. Now the second round is approaching so the pattern of life is coming back but hopefully this time won’t be quite so stressful.
As I said in an earlier post(or meant to if I didn’t) the grounds crew for our complex pruned our sun blocking tree letting me have some sunlight for my plants. I still need to move them around to keep them in the sun but it’s much better than nothing. I know it’s WAY too early but I planted some seeds in my little seed starter. I have some flowers and cilantro growing. I spilled mustard seeds from our spice rack in the soil so those are about to take over the universe. Seriously. They sprouted like the next day and I can’t bring myself to kill them. Maybe they’ll be pretty. I’ve never seen a mustard plant before. Yesterday I thought that maybe I got a plant from the Little Shop of Horrors. In the morning there was nothing in that spot and after they sat in the warm sun all day that evening I had two leaves thick and sizeable ready to eat whatever came too close in proximity. I had NO idea what it was and it was cool but weird. I dug down a little this morning and found that it’s a resurrected squash seed….so I’m not entirely sure how I’ll keep that alive over the winter so we’ll see how that goes.

Last night we watched the movie Chocolat and of course we had to have some air popped popcorn. Usually I’ll make one bowl for me and fill our colander for him but that was getting annoying and since we don’t have any big bowls I decided to improvise. Stephen has an empty drawer in his nightstand so I washed it out and put the popcorn in there instead. It was perfect! It fit everything and was soo easy to mix because of all the extra space. We will still look for a big mixing bowl but it looks like this just might end up being our popcorn bowl. Oh and by the way, yes we did have chocolate afterwards. A must for that movie.
It was a really good movie. I originally saw it in DC with my family years and years ago and we lamented not having chocolate afterwards but it was still a really good movie. It’s a movie about a woman and her daughter opening a chocolate shop in a super religious french town just before lent. It has a nice message and I definitely recommend it.

That’s just about everything exciting on this side of the island for us. Until next time.

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October 12, 2009 by Ashley.

Gosh, I’m beginning to think this is the “Ashley” blog. (Mal, you don’t write on your blog enough to have your own!) ANYWAYS…

Pat and I have not had the chance to go anywhere “vacation-type” since our honeymoon, especially not on our own. So when our friends the Fairbanks suggested a trip we thought it’d be a great idea. It was actually supposed to be a surprise for me, but I’m quite good at figuring things out and Pat isn’t the most secret about it either, so I ended up guessing where we were going and thus was able to help plan the trip. Things were a little tough though seeing as Pat had, like, 1-2 vacation days (HP forces him to take all of it during Christmas) and finances as always were very tight, but I worked extra and we’d been saving for a super long time so we were able to work a budgeted trip to Las Vegas. Mom had just moved to Utah so it worked out too that she was able to watch Lydia and thus Lydia was able to get some time with her Grandma, which I thought was good.

This tunnel was part of the “Fremont Street Experience.” It’s where the original casino and Vegas experience started. The roof of the tunnel is actually all lights and lights up every night at a certain time

The theme of Fremont Street this year was a 60’s/70’s theme (there was a new Beatles Cirque de Soleil show in Vegas I think they were trying to promote). All the workers wore tie-dyed shirts.

The Fairbanks and us at Maggiano’s on the strip. It was our first time there – it was delicious!

Pat and I at the Wynn just before seeing Le Reve (pronounced La Rev). It was a Cir de Soleil show all done in water. It was our giant splurge for the vacation, but I really wanted to see a Cirque de Soleil show. Watching those performers made me want to recommit to exercise – they were in such good shape!

This was inside the Venetian, which I believe was my favorite hotel/casino. The whole thing is set up like Venice, Italy. At this part it looks like you’re outside…but you’re not!

Every night in front of the Bellagio there’s a water show set to music. (This is the same hotel with the fountain at the end of Ocean’s 11 or 12 – I forget which one, if you’ve seen it).

In front of the Luxor, the hotel we stayed at. It’s a black pyramid with an Egyptian theme. We probably spent way more time though in other hotels (especially the Venetian, so I don’t feel like I got to know the Luxor very well). One this though, the Luxor actually had a McDonald’s in its food court with a dollar menu! That saved me when I just wanted to chill and eat cheap food.

We saw a lion exibit. There’s a tunnel that you can walk though that goes through the lion habitat. This is the female lion sleeping right on top of the tunnel. The male lion was with her too. They just layed there the whole time. Lions are so incredibly lazy.

The New York New York hotel. It’s cook they make it look like a bunch of buildings when it’s just one.

The M&M store. I was majoring craving chocolate walking through there. You can make your own custom bag with any color you want for a mere $12/lb… I don’t think so.

One day I left a note for housekeeping asking for more shampoo, conditioner, etc. This is what I found that afternoon. I thought it was pretty funny.

Each hotel had it’s own “theme.” This was at the MGM Grand. There were lots of waterfalls, flowers, etc.

Oh, and did I mention every hotel is a casino too? Wouldn’t be Vegas without that!

Posing with the Blue Man Group (actually just a statue in the Venetian)

In the Venetian we went on a gondola ride with our very own gondolier. I didn’t get the picture I quite wanted because we were on the side of the boat opposite the gondolier, but that’s ok. We rode on the river inside the hotel and he even serenaded us.

At the Venetian right before Phantom of the Opera (we got tickets for $10 by going to this awful 4 hr long Time Share thing. They say it’s “no pressure sales” but oh my gosh, but by the 4th level of sales people I couldn’t even understand what the heck they were even talking about - throwing all these numbers around and writing literally nonsense on paper. But hey, we got to see another show and for a 10th of the price Le Reve cost.

The conservatory at the Bellagio. They made a giant garden with flowers covering the grounds and even a little greenhouse with parakeets in them. When we went in the greenhouse all the birds were all curled up in their own feathers asleep – it was really cute. I have a thing for hot air balloons and they had a bunch of them hanging from the ceiling. The lady bug and other decorations were also made of flowers. And there was this really cool fountain that was a sphere (which I also really like – it’s one of the reasons I have a pearl for a wedding ring instead of a diamond). We tried to get a picture like we were holding it.

The Eiffel Tower outside the Paris hotel. There’s a restaurant at the top or you can just pay to go to the top, but we decided to pass on that one.

We took a tour of Madame Toussaud’s (pronounced Tooso) Wax Museum. We had fun going through getting our photos with all the “celebrities.” Many look really good in the museum, but unfortunately our flash makes them look quite waxy. Can you guess each one??

We’re blocking his arms, but Pat and I were copying his stance. Notice how they changed his “terminator” look to a more appropriate “governor of California” business suit.

I didn’t like this one of Matthew McConaughey because I though his hair just made him look fake. They could’ve done better I think.

Overall, it was good to get away but the photos don’t show the ridiculous amount of walking we had to do! After Le Reve we had a 2 hr walk back to our hotel (because we hadn’t discovered a free mall parking lot at the other end of the strip at that point), which just about killed me and I don’t know if I ever fully recovered after that. You must remember I’m pregnant and get tired easily! Plus, I don’t think Vegas is my kind of town. The big appeal is night life, gambling, and being able to smoke EVERYWHERE…which I do none of. So I think next vacation I’m visualizing a beach where I do absolutely nothing!

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October 12, 2009 by Melanee.

Life looking back had so many-challenges, blessings, joys, sorrows-all for me and my family’s growth and progression. Now I am living 2000 miles away from my home state. Because of the emotional support I receive from my new husband I almost feel emotional and physically normal. He has told me he feels back to normal too. We both understand each other very well since both of us lost our spouses.
The majority of the time I am-going through boxes, changing addresses, getting a new driver’s license, and other official business. Also I have been organizing my new home so I know where things are and seeing what there is already. While I was living alone I did not cook too often for myself now I am back to baking and cooking and giving away the leftovers to our young married children. Helping to raise two more girls has been great too.

I love being with my youngest daughter Marlene since she is lives the closest to me. She is super busy with school, a new married life, so its great to be with her when I can. I miss my grandchildren so I booked to flight to see them. I am excited. Seeing Ashley and Lydia was such a treat. And I can’t wait till I get to see Mallory when they comes out for her husband’s internship working as an optometrist.
Making friends is on the agenda. We have gone on dinner dates with other couples and we will be inviting people for dinner soon. Missing my east coast friends dearly though. All those years of experiences will never be forgotten.
Randy’s oldest daughter, Laura, is expecting in December, Ashley is expecting is February, and Mallory is expecting in March. Last year was the year of marriages and this next year is the year of babies. So, I will be very busy being a grandma helper.
Peace has entered my life once again. My soul feels at rest. I know there is much more for me to accomplish and hopefully with the guidance and promptings from the Lord I will do what I need to do while I am here. –Off to live my adventure.

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