History Repeating Itself

My little Morgan loves to help Riley mow the lawn and push any type of wheelbarrow or wagon around. In fact, it's one of his favorite things to do. Whenever he stays at my parents house in Irrigon, 9 times out of 10 you can find him pushing their wheelbarrow all over their property pretending he's mowing the lawn and fixing things. Up hill and down hill, through dirt, grass, gravel, and rocks he pushes away. Sometimes in bare feet no less. He will do this for hours on end - rain or shine. It's a trait that makes him the little boy that he is.


I've always remarked to Riley how much I think our children resemble him as a child and also his father when he was little. On Sunday I was looking through an old photo album that one of Riley's aunts made for him with pictures of his dad and his grandparents. It is a true treasure. She documented dates and names and it is a real gift. I had looked at this picture of his father before, but this time I literally got goosebumps. Take a look a this little gem:

This is Riley's father Dwight James Dodson probably around age 2 or so and wouldn't you know it he's pushing an old lawn trimmer. Coincidence? The family resemblance is pretty strong. Morgan asked, is that me?

I never had the chance to meet Dwight because he passed away about 6 months before Riley and I met. Riley and his father were not that close and had a strained relationship most of his life, but I am so thankful for these pictures so that we can look back on his father's childhood and younger years and show our children and teach them a little about who their grandfather was.

Family History

"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from." -Alex Haley


I've been thinking a lot about family lately. I LOVE my family and extended family and am proud of my heritage. I'm beginning to learn more and more about both sides of my family and it is all because of the people who kept journals, pictures, and records. There are so many interesting stories. I hope that one day, the things I have written about through my blog will be of equal interest to my children and grandchildren, even the mundane every day details of my life. I hope my stories will make me come alive in their minds, so that I am not just a picture hanging on a lonely wall somewhere years from now.

This is a picture of my great grandparents on my father's side, Lester and Edith Tovey. Edith was a tiny little woman and had 14 children, the youngest two being twins. (Twins run on both sides of my family.) They lived in Malad, ID.



































I saw this quote of my great grandmother's on my aunt's facebook page and I can't get it out of my mind. I love it. I think I need to hang it in our home where I can read it every day:

"If there is righteousness in the heart, beauty in the character, harmony in the home, and order in the nation, then there can be peace in the world." -Edith Tovey

I think that pretty much sums it up.


A year or two ago a member of our family posted this picture on our family website of Edith when she was a little girl. I love the big bow in her hair and her big dark eyes. She looks like such a charming little girl. There were remarks about the resemblance between her and Kendle, and I can see a little of myself as well.




























There is not so much space separating the links in our family chain as we might think.

"Family faces are like magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future." -Gail Lumet Buckley