Bob's Birthday!

Ode to Bob, or my dad, father, paps, pappa, padre, etc.

At 29th Birthday Last Year

 Just want to give a shout out to my dad and all the many things I love about him. My dad is truely an enigma, he has so many sides to his ornate and complex personality, it's hard not to love him and find him interesting. Some of the things I love most is my dad's brillance. He is innately very wise and insightful. You come to him with a problem, and he can pinpoint what the problem is and by doing so, has the insight of helping you see and face the actually problem, whether deep or surfaced, and gives real life solutions and advise in resolving it. He knows how to solve problems and is very creative in coming up with solutions. He will never cease to amaze me the ideas he comes up with.

My dad and I at the house where he grew up in Morgan, UT.

 My dad is a very loving and sensitive soul. He loves people, especially the people close to him, like his family and grandchildren. He would do almost anything for them. He loves creatures and animals, we used to call him Doctor Doolittle, he loves to create life in his living space. Whether it is fish in his ponds, geese, swans, gennie hens, peacocks, turkeys, cows, horses, goats and even bunnies :)

My dad and his namesake, Robert Lawerence at his baptism.

He is very generous and giving. He is so willing to give and help wherever he can. He has given me so much in my life. So many great opportunities of traveling, and learning. He freely gave in areas of his life, he could have been greedy and selfish. What a wonderful example he is to me of his generosity to human kind, a true humanitarian.

My dad giving his love and support at my grandpa Peart's funeral

 My dad is also very fun. He has a great sense of humor and will crack some very creative and funny jokes. I love it when he is around to sit and talk with and make jokes with and he'll always laugh. He easily gets a kick out of things. It's always more fun when he is around.

Hanging out and talking at his house after one of his many BBQ's.

 Most importantly I am grateful for him being my dad. He was always willing to be there in times of trouble. A listening ear eager to give his daughter advise she might not want to hear, but knew would help her the most. He always encouraged me to do my best and do what was right. He always was willing to help in time of need. I am in debt to you and will always appreciate the love you gave me.

Love you dad.

My favorite picture of him and I of all time. At my wedding reception. I think he was the happiest camper there :)

Grandpa Lichfield's Funeral

 The Lichfield Survivers, just missing Narvin.

We had a memorial service on Thursday Feburary 24th. They held the service at my dad's place. We were a little weary of how nice it might turn out, but it turned out quite nice. A lot of people in the community came, him and my grandma had only been living in LaVerkin for almost a year. He was to be buried the following afternoon in Cache Valley with a military salute funeral. We did not make it up to the burial.

Our family, Reagan was there, just not for the picture, just missing Robbie :(

This was a tough time for me to see how tough the loss was on my dad. He very rarely let's down his guard to show emotion or expression. He was quite emotional and I could tell just enjoyed my presence of support.

The glue of any family, the WOMEN

 Nathan was at work, and Loni had actually planned to come into town just two days before for my dad's birthday, so it worked out nicely that she was able to attend as well.

Like Father like Son, both gave wonderful thoughts on my grandpa's memorial service.

I tried to just be there for my dad and help in anyway I knew how. I think it was especially hard to have such a loss being alone. I think it is times like these he really misses the company and comfort of my mom. She was a gem, and came and showed her support to the family and even sent flowers to the cause. I am so grateful and glad I come from a family that despite our circumstances or even differences we stand and support each other during the tough times. Just so ironic that I have lost both grandpa's within six months of each other. I am so glad my parents get along well enough to support each other during these tough times. 

The extra family support. Tala and Malia drove up from Vegas to show their support :)

It was also neat to see the other people in my dad's life show up just to show more of their support for him during this tough times. Like a lot of his old co-workers, employee's, director's, co-coaches, community and church members.

My dad and his dear friend Alan Cottle

The most touching moment of the day was I was driving with my dad from his house to the gym, when a random car come from a different direction. We were kind of lost of who it would be, too early for guests, my dad almost annoyed wanted to go on, then I recognized that it was his old mission company and life long friend, Alan Cottle. He drove all the way from Draper, UT, to be a support for my dad. So I said out loud that it was Alan Cottle, my dad stopped the car, quickly got out and a tear was running down his face and he hugged his friend. It was so touching, just the tender mercy my dad needed. To remember he wasn't alone, that he has so many people who love and care about him and support him. It was really touching and memorable.

My sweet cousin Katilyn. We were asked to sing an old country song, "Silvered Hair Daddy of Mine" 

Then their was the funeral, too long to talk about, there were a lot of speakers and all talking for an extended time, but it made it that much more noteworthy for my grandpa.

Lichfield grandchildren with grandma

We then had the traditional Ham and potatoes, so ironic, because my grandpa was religious and personally against eating pork, but that was what was on the menu, not intentionally, just the graciousness of the Toquerville 3rd Ward Relief Society.

Walter Curtis Lichfield

Such a grandpa Lichfield look, military haircut, hanging out in garment top and big smile on his face:)

It was President's Day weekend, so Nathan and I came up to LaVerkin to spend time with my family. We almost didn't come, but I was glad we came anyways. We woke up on Sunday morning, doing the usual, and my mom gets a call and kind of leads out a scream, my mom being dramatic, that could mean anything. Her eyes were all open wide and looked at us as we mouthed, "What happened?" She mouths back "Walter," and we pieced it together from that. This morning he passed away, I wasn't aware that the past few weeks he had been suffering from a cold and with his bad respitory system, even had a case of pneumonia. I felt bad, for the last time I saw him was at Christmas time and wish I would've spent more quaility time with him at Robert's baptism, rather than just a simple giving a hug and saying hello. I am so glad we took this last picture with him before he died.

 Last picture with Grandpa, December 2010

My grandfather was a great man, and a man who left a strong impression on those he met and interacted with. At times he could come off a bit strong or overbearing, but he always had such good intentions. He loved the lord and loved his gospel. He talked about church stuff whenever he could. He thought about most things most of us don't spend time to think about.

The Lichfield Men at Reagan's Eagle Court of Honor, the only Lichfield Male to achieve it. 

He was a true scholar. He loved to learn and loved to teach. He enlisted in the Marines out of High School, then went to school and became a Seminary Teacher. He loved to teach the youth. We have heard many of his past students express how impactful and influential he was as their teacher. He kept this passion and enthusiasm through-out his life, especially wanting to instill into his prosperity. He was very knowledgeable about many things. He's brain just worked harder and faster than most, part of his charm and sometimes part of where he didn't know when to refrain from saying what he thought.

 Love this expression of my grandpa's, one of thought and ideas stirring. 

He loved history, he received a Master's in History and was very close to receiving his doctorate as well. He loved family life, his whole hobbies in life was his religion and his family. He was frugal in his money and if ever could help pay for something for his children, he would sacrifice his own desires.

The Happy Lichfield Family 2009, with 7 out of the living 11, not bad.

He and my grandma raised 13 children, and lived off a light budget, but they knew how to create fun within their family. All of his children are very talented. Most of them sing and dance, most of them are very well spoken and articulate, most of his children have an innate wisdom or brillance, that is probably where my father gets it from.

With my dad and his parents. Don't you love my dad's spill on his shirt :)

He was a very loyal and devoted man to the things in his life that was important, his god, his beliefs, his wife, his family and his country. He was a great man to learn many things from. I hope one day I can live my life with same conviction and passion.

 At Reagan's Homecoming, till the day he died, he always mispronounced Reagan's name as Regan.

My grandfather at my wedding with his trusty old cane and one black glove to hide his fingerless hand.

The Lichfield Family Clan at my wedding as well, well some of them at least :)

Happy Hearts Day!

Valentines Day, Lover's Day, Single Awareness Day, what have you, I believe it's the day to celebrate the people you love in your life. This was Nathan's and I first Valentines Day together, we were just starting to get to know each other this time of year, through talking and texting, but not full blown dating. So it was another first for us this year. We were excited, and at times we can be romantic, probably him more than I, we are also very practical and grounded to not go to far out for the special occasion. He bought me some beautiful white roses, I know not red, they had ran out at the store :( And he made me a cute coupon book stating different things we was going to give me, like pampering, taking me to Disneyland within the next year and other cute stuff, he's very creative and fun like that. Then I got him his favorite treat of beef jerky, a big bag from costo and new memory foam pillow. He made reservations for a new Italian restaurant nearby that he wanted to take me to. Well, of course our Valentines Day was not typical, my mom was kind of going through a rough time, she recently had broken up with her at one time fiance, and I think didn't like the feeling of being alone on such a day, due to the current circumstances. So she came down to come to dinner with us, Nathan and I had our alone time after work and exchanged our gifts before we set out for dinner, where my mom and Lana, who begrudingly came. The good news of her sharing it with us, is she paid for dinner, we had fun talking and such, then came home and talked. We had a really good talk. She talked and told stories of the old days when they first started their business and how tight money was. It was fun, I learned more details and it was all new for Nathan, I think it was a fun outlet for my mom to. To see how much she has grown and came from. I am sure grateful for such a great mother and such a sweet husband and lover for making our valentines day special with his cute gifts and thoughtfulness and willingness to share it with my mom :)

I am Phoenix

One of my life aspirations is to one day teach college. I love to teach and I love to teach about things I am passionate about, like working with people,psychology, human services, etc. I have had many experiences in my life to conduct workshops or trainings on tips on working with adolesences. I love to see the response when people catch on and how impactful it can be in their life. It is performing social work service on the macro level without so much of dealing with policy. I have always made it my goal to one day to teach on the college level of share my experience and knowledge in the field.  So back in November, yeah November, don't worry about it, it's obvioiusly a long process almost like getting approved to work for the CIA or something like that. My co-worker set up a site visit at University of Phoenix Counseling Center. It's a center where they provide free therapy, so their Marriage and Family Therapy master students can use as an internship. So they great news it is free, the bad news is, it's very limited of who they can accept, since it's kind of the learning ground for interns. So no one who is on any kind of mental health medication, or diagnosis. So that pretty much rules out most the students who would be in need of a referral. But a great place for students or people going through a rough time of loss, depression, etc. So after the site tour, I kept thinking how I would love to teach here, and my other co-worker on the site asked what the creditantials were needed to work for UOP. She said a Master's degree from a credited insitution, work experience and she also informed us she actually has 5 openings in the human service field. The bad news was, they didn't have a social work program and social workers are not permitted to teach clinical classes, just the human service. Which she thought was a shame, because she said in her experience social workers are some of the best clinicans, amen lady :) So after getting the information, she gave us her card and told us to email us her resume. So I jumped on it, she then sent it to the recuiter in Phoenix, it took them awhile to get back to me, after reading my resume and seeing I approved the requirements, I had to do a written interview over line, this was around the middle of December, right before school break. I didn't find out I had passed until beginning of Janurary. Then I was asked for a phone interview. I had that, passed and then was asked to come to an assessment, like a personal interview, where I present a subject matter of my field to a group of assessor's, they will observe my teaching style to see if I pass the test. At this point, I also needed to have my transcript and references sent. So my assessment was scheduled for Saturday Feb. 5, 2011, I presented on "Ways of Building a Rapport," it was nerve racking, but kind of fun and laid back with a lot of support from the assesors. I then found out a week later, Feb. 11, 2011, I passed once more, they seriously put you through the ringer. But it doesn't stop there.After passing the assessment, I have to attend four workshops on four Saturdays in March, it's called the training and certification, and then they will pay us after that, smart people.

So I AM PHOENIX!
t