Star of the "Today Show"

Aunt Karalie was the star of this morning's "Today Show" feature about Betty Ford's funeral! You can see the segment by clicking here. She did such a great job! I think it's more than a coincidence that out of all of those people, they picked Aunt Karalie, who had not only the breast cancer connection to Mrs. Ford, but was also her former neighbor. It's pretty cool how they start out the segment by saying that the public came to the funeral to feel close to Mrs. Ford, and then they go right in to the interview with Aunt Karalie--she's the introduction to the whole segment! I think she did a great job. Way to go, Aunt Karalie!

Eventful Week

A lot has happened this week--some good things and some sad things! Last Saturday I worked for 14 hours--but it was okay because I was having fun. I never would have survived a 14-hour day at the Lincoln Home. My day began bright and early at the museum with a group of War of 1812 re-enactors who were having a conference there. As you can see, these guys were super hardcore. I love this picture of them in front of the tank. Things would have been different back then if they'd had tanks! They were really nice guys, and I learned a lot by listening to their various presentations. Later in the day we had a farewell BBQ at the museum for the director, Mark, who has accepted a job in Washington, D.C. I didn't get to work with him for very long, but he is a really nice guy and I enjoyed my time with him at the museum. The BBQ was a lot of fun, and Greg got to meet all of "the guys."

Unfortunately a couple of great people passed away this week. First of all, former First Lady Betty Ford died on Friday. Our family has always felt a special connection to her because when my mom was in high school and her family moved to Alexandria, Virginia, they lived across the street from Gerald and Betty Ford, and Mom would babysit their kids! She certainly has some good stories. One of my favorite stories about Betty Ford is from when she helped Mom get ready for the Junior Prom. Grandma had been out of town and was delayed in getting back home, and Mom had been babysitting some other kids whose parents had gotten home late, so she was running late. She needed to pick up her shoes, have her slip hemmed up, and her hair done, but Grandma was stuck on the road! So, she called Mrs. Ford who dropped what she was doing and came to Mom's aid. She hemmed Mom's slip, sewed an elastic into it, and helped Mom with her hair. She told Mom to bring her date by their house before the dance, and Mom remembers that both Mr. and Mrs. Ford made a big fuss over them. Mom says that the thing she remembers most about Mrs. Ford is that she was first and foremost a mother--which definitely shows in how she helped my mom get ready for the prom. Today my Aunt Karalie went to Mrs. Ford's funeral in Palm Desert, California, and she even ended up getting interviewed by the Today Show! So maybe you'll see her on TV tomorrow! Aunt Karalie was best friends with the Ford's youngest daughter Susan in Alexandria. And, Aunt Karalie, a four-time breast cancer survivor, always felt a special connection with Mrs. Ford, also a breast cancer survivor and awareness advocate. Gerald Ford was a great man and President, and Betty was a great woman. I love that I have grown up hearing stories about things that happened in their family life. Back in 2007 I had the opportunity to visit the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan with my graduate school classmates. This is where Mrs. Ford will be buried, next to President Ford. The words above their names at the gravesite are very appropriate: "Lives Committed to God, Country and Love."

And yesterday I found out that my very good friend, Harvey Black, passed away. He was married to Susan Easton Black, a Church History professor at BYU. I worked as Sister Black's research assistant for two years while I was at BYU, and since Harvey was a big part of everything she did, I was able to work with him a lot as well. Harvey was always interested in new technology, and one of the fun things I remember doing was setting up his new MP3 player for him to use when he was exercising. One of my very favorite memories is from the time that Mom and I spent with Susan and Harvey in Nauvoo in 2005. Sister Black needed some help with some research she was doing, and so Mom and I got to spend a few days with them. Part of our research took us through the rural Iowa countryside where we were looking for obscure little Mormon settlement sites. Mom took this picture of the Blacks and me at the Skunk River in Iowa where Harvey's ancestors had once settled. We had such a great time with them! Greg and I are grateful that we got to see Harvey one last time just a few weeks ago when we went to visit the Blacks in Nauvoo. We were only able to spend a few minutes with them, but now that he is gone, those few minutes are especially special to us. Unfortunately Harvey had been battling cancer for quite a while now, but he had been fighting hard. I suppose that in some ways it is good that he can now have a break from all of that. He will be greatly missed, and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to know and work with him!

In other news, today I went running and in the process of jumping over a ditch, I messed up my ankle/foot. I landed wrong on it, and the pain got worse all day. Greg and I went to the doctor to have it x-rayed this afternoon, and thankfully he doesn't think it is broken. However, he said that a break wouldn't show up for a few days, so in the meantime, I need to treat it like a broken foot. So I get to walk around in a giant, stylish boot for a few days. It is really painful when I walk! But after icing it (actually I used frozen corn, but it seems to work just as well) this evening, it is feeling a little better.