Grandpa Jack

John P "Jack" Redd 1930 ~ 2010 John P "Jack" Redd passed away peacefully March 10, 2010 of natural causes. He was born in Mt. Pleasant, Utah December 25, 1930. He was placed in a Children's Service Society orphanage, with a brother and sister, early in life. After living with several foster families he was adopted as an early teenager and raised as their own by Leland W. Redd and Alice Vera Hunter Redd of Blanding, Utah. He and his sweetheart, Erma Helquist Redd, have been married for 60 years. They are still in love. He was a loving father. He is loved by his children and their spouses, J. Michael and Kathy Redd, David K. and Patti Redd, Linda and Terry Roundy, Lowry W. and Kim Redd, Audree and Chris Jones and Kristin and Don Rasmussen. He and Erma have 29 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren. Jack is also survived by his brothers William (Bill) Redd (Virginia) and Mark Redd (VeraLee), sister-in-law Kathleen Redd (Wayne), his sisters Elizabeth Coleman (Tom) and Shirley Kovacs, sister-in-law Ronnie Burns (Dick), his half sisters Virginia Fox (Jim) and Grace Jensen and many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers Wayne Redd and Richard ("Dick") Burns. Jack was a dedicated community servant. He served in the Utah House of Representatives for 10 years, was the President of the Bountiful Jr. Chamber of Commerce, served on the Utah State School Board, was the recipient of the Boy Scout's Silver Beaver award and contributed in many ways to a wide variety of state, community and service organizations. He was a successful businessman. He graduated from the University of Utah in chemical engineering and worked for several oil refiners before starting his own consulting engineering firm. He was an active leader in a number of engineering societies and was elected Utah Engineer of the Year by the Utah Engineering Council. Above all, he was a disciple of Christ. An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served as the first Bishop of the Val Verda 4th Ward, and served honorable missions with his sweet wife in the Knoxville Tennessee Mission and the Brazil Curitiba Mission. Jack overcame many obstacles in life to have a strong and abiding belief in the mission and service of Christ. Jack was loved and respected by all who knew him. He will be sorely missed.

To My Grandpa...

I haven't felt like blogging these last few days, my grandpa wasn't well and it hurt my heart. He was supposed to get better, and go home from a care center where he had been staying. But Monday of this week he had a seizure, and was rushed to the hospital. Drew and I went up with my parents that night to see him and my grandma. It was hard.

My big strong grandpa, was laying frail and sick in a bed, where he was fighting for every breath that he was taking. But that's my grandpa... He's a fighter. When we walked in he feebly tried to give us a thumb's up, but just couldn't muster the strength. He was in and out of it, just trying to breathe. As we sat there and talked with my grandma, I was almost certain that would be the last time I would see my grandpa. I called my brothers to tell them to get up to see him, it wouldn't be long.

Tuesday he was diagnosed with Leukemia, and this morning, Wednesday, he was gone.

Today the family gathered together to talk about what a great man my grandpa Jack is. I just wish that Drew and I could have told him that when and if we have a boy we had already decided to name him Jack Redd. That name is a lot for a little boy to live up to.

But he's gone now, and I know he knows.

I wish I could write on here all of the incredible things I know about my grandpa. I just have a little to share. My grandpa was put up for adoption when I believe he was around 6-7 years old. His mom left him and his brother Bill with an orange, and they watched her drive away from a window of the orphanage. The were sent from home to home trying to find a nice family where they could be adopted. Back in those days, when the trial period at a home was over, if they weren't going to adopt you, you would walk home from school and if your luggage and hat were waiting for you on the front porch, that meant you weren't going to be adopted by that family. You didn't see the parents, or kids that you were hoping would be your family again. You just picked up your luggage and went back to the orphanage. So that's what Bill and Jack did. My grandpa said that whenever they moved into a new town, the first thing they had to do was beat up every other boy around. That's how you got respect. He also said that in the orphanage if a baby cried or someone got hurt, he some how became the fall boy for the mistakes. Whether it was his fault or not, they punished him. Making him anxious around babies and small children, so what he started to do, to make sure the great grandchildren knew that he loved them, was every Sunday dinner he would give them a dollar. He wasn't sure how to show affection any other way, because he was shuffled in and out of so many homes, until he was adopted at 12. He never knew what the reason was, that he and his brother went to so many homes, and weren't adopted. He just thought it was because he was such a bad boy. He did end up running into one of the children, from one of the homes where he was "trying out for". And they said that they day that they put the luggage on the porch, they had just found out that the mother had cancer and only had a few days to live. So they couldn't support 2 more boys in their home. And the family was never able to explain to Jack and Bill how sad they were, or that it wasn't there fault.

Finally one day a woman showed up at the orphanage to adopt a little boy, because her son had passed away. So they lined all of the little boys up in the orphanage for Ali, to look at. She pulled Bill out of the line and asked him a few questions, upon deciding he was the one. Someone from the orphanage said, well he has a brother. When Ali's husband said "We didn't come here to adopt the whole orphanage." But Ali asked Jack to come forward, and took the two brothers home for good.

My grandpa loved his mother Ali, whenever he spoke about her, you could see the tears well up in his eyes. He thought this was just going to be another home that he would be out of in a few weeks, so him and his brother Bill thought they would just see how much trouble they could cause. Ali, with a major in Psychology saw right through these troubled boys, and told them they were a part of the family now, and broke down the rough and tough, street wise boys, and made them a home. Later on someone would go on to ask my great grandpa which kids were his, and which were adopted, to which he responded, "Ya know, I can't seem to remember." The Redd's were incredible people, who raised my incredible grandfather.

There are a thousand more stories, and successes about my grandpa. How a lost little boy, turned into such successful man. All of my thoughts are jumbled, and I'm a mess, I just wanted to send a small tribute to one of the greatest men I knew.

My heart swells every time I introduce myself, and someone says, "Oh are you Jack Redd's granddaughter." I love that my answer is YES! I love you grandpa, thank you for your legacy. I will miss your smile, and your big hearty laugh! I love you!

Lap Dog

Now all Drew needs is a purse so he can take Caesar with him everywhere!

Last night I cried because I was worried if Caesar died, would he know we loved him. (Random I know.) And then I see things like this and I realize, Caesar is one of the most spoiled dogs ever! We sure love our first born!

March Forth (no I didn't misspell the date)

I have never been into writing New Years resolutions. I think it's because I never really feel motivated in the middle of winter. In January we are just coming off the Holiday high, then it's our anniversary, then before you know it January's over. February always flies by and that leaves you two months behind on your resolutions. So instead of being bugged and disappointed for the rest of the year on broken resolutions I do things a little different. I can't remember where I first heard the idea but a few years ago I started my March 4th/Forth resolutions. Every March 4th I march forth with my resolutions.

(Do you like my hand model?)

So some of my resolutions this year are:

• I will write a Thank You note to someone once a month. I got this idea from my dad who would always randomly have a Thank You letter in the mail for someone. I always wondered how they understood what he was writing to them. My dad has a very cryptic handwriting. You would think he was a doctor!
• I am going to start my to-do/scheduling list again. Before and while I was dating Drew I was very meticulous about writing everything down. And was obsessed with to-do lists and my planner just ask my friends. You just get more done that way. Then I got into a funk where I just didn't do it, and wasn't me! Well I'm finally breaking out of that, and I'm going to be on top of things again.
• I am going to write at least one thing daily that I am thankful for.
• I am signing up for a community education class to get me out of my comfort zone!

These aren't all of my goals to March Forth to a better me, but you get the idea.

So to get started yesterday I walked to a stationary store and bought some thank you cards. I love these green ones, thank goodness there's always something to be thankful for. How true is that?

I have started up on my to-do lists already I am ready to March Forth!

What Did You Buy For a Penny?

Me? I bought a book!

More specifically a $30 book.

For a Penny!!!! From Amazon.com. I have wanted this book forever but really didn't want to spend $30 on it. Then I decided to check amazon, and there it was for $.01.

It has everything from what cleaners to use on which surfaces. Which would have been nice to know when I Mr Clean Magic Erasered the paint right off the wall. Oops.

To home made pest control and etiquette! I love it!!

Guilty Pleasures

I'm a nerd... I love gadgets... Even more then gadgets themselves, I love reading about them. I blame my mother...

That is why I LOVE this magazine. Which are something else I love. MAGAZINES!! Where else would you be able to read all about the pros and cons of a tiny iPhone projector?

Why do you need a tiny iPhone projector? I don't know, but I want one!

Another magazine of choice I love is Women's Health along with Shape and Fitness magazine! It's hard to justify buying all those magazines, they start to add up. For two years I have been begging Drew for subscriptions to some of them. (They Incredibly cheaper that way!) But for some reason whenever my birthday or Christmas roll around and he asks me what I want, I can NEVER remember to ask for a subscription. Why is this? Hmm...

Anyway..... The BEST magazine is the Consumer Reports magazine. I don't like to buy anything without studying it. Drew thought I was bizarre that I would research something so thoroughly like a vacuum or bathroom cleaner. But this magazine is my buyers bible! I LOVE it! Everything about it makes me happy!

Onto the next! I find myself taking all of my pictures from my phone. This could be due to the fact that a certain someones dog chewed my camera... (My dog... It was my dog! I can just hear the gasp that my mom just made as she read that! She gave us the camera as a wedding present. In my defense....What dog chews a camera??!!) I digress, so along with taking pictures from my phone I love all the apps available to edit pictures! Just to add something different to your pictures!

Like make Caesar's picture into a polaroid.

Or this one that looks like you are actually using an old Hipstamic camera.

It reminds me of looking through my Granny and Grandpa's old photo albums.

And those are some of the things I'm obsessed with right now! Whew... Feels good to get that out in the open!

Swings...

Did you ever think about the benefit of the things you played with, or want your kids to play with? Well in my major we study about the development of the brain. And I have always taken a special interest in why and how children learn. Fascinating information can be found in the simplest things. Swings...

Swings are a great developmental tool. Many people put their babies in swings to calm them down, people usually don't know that it soothes babies because the rocking, swinging motion releases endorphins in the body. When kids get older the develop gross motor skills learning how to balance and manipulate multiple parts of the body at the same time. While developing fine motor skills at the same time such as grasping the swings chain. Children who play in swings also do better in school because they learn to focus on an object that moves away and towards them. Which helps them focus on a chalkboard.

Those are just a few of the great things about swings. Anyway that's just what I think about while at playgrounds! Little treasures from my brain for you to have! You're welcome, ha!