Families Can Be Together Forever

Who would of thunk it Precie?  After all these years of hoping, wishing and praying for Mommy to find a companion to love and share life with that it would really happen ;)  November 17th, 2011 in the Provo, Utah temple she was sealed for time and all eternity to the most wonderful man you can ever imagine, John Garrett.  I am certain you were there with us to witness this glorious event.  Wish I could talk with you about it but since I can't this post will have to do ;)  

Memories by Mauri Liljenquist Nelson

A heart felt thanks to Mauri for sharing some of her memories of Caprece with us! She says these are three distinct memories that she has of Caprece.

1. When we were in Young Women, we took a temple trip. I have an idea that we went to Washington DC on a big bus, but I don't know why we wouldn't have just gone to Atlanta. I remember Lisa Condrey was on the bus playing Yahtzee the whole way, so maybe she'd remember where we went. Caprece had a little stereo on the back of the bus, and I remember two songs from that trip that I associate with her. Lean on Me and Richard Marx' Endless Summer Nights. I was probably 12 or 13, and I thought Caprece was so grown up and so cool. Ever since then those songs remind me of that trip and of Caprece.

2. Just after Caprece's mission, she and I were both in the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Maybe the summer of 1993 or 1994? I didn't know she was going to be there, and she was so excited to be back in her mission area again. Each day part of the opening exercises was for everyone to stand and recite the Standard of Truth. I remember Caprece actually leaping up in her excitement to participate in this moment. The force of her testimony and her love of the gospel seemed so obvious to me then. I always remember that moment as specific evidence of that testimony that guided all of her life.

3. Finally, I remember participating with you and Caprece in a stake mini-MTC for the youth a few years ago when she was pregnant with Abraham (is that right?). (Yes, that is correct. Matt was training at FLETC and Caprece was pregnant with Abe.) You can probably figure out the year. My mom and I taught about sewing on buttons and ironing shirts. You two taught about meal planning, grocery shopping, and recipes and meal making. You gave out this little recipe book, and I still use it for a couple of my standard recipes. I love the chili recipe I found there! This was probably the last time I saw Caprece. I saw her serving others and the Lord, working together with her sister, sacrificing to bring a precious little spirit into the world, and focusing her life around creating her eternal family. Most of all tha'ts what I remember about her.

Green Apple Memories

As I have mentioned in a previous post some tastes like smells have a way of transporting us back in time. Green apples do just that for me. My sister, Caprece, loved green granny smith apples, in fact it was the only apple she would eat. When we were young we enjoyed jolly ranchers and guess what flavor was her favorite? You guessed it "green apple". It was the same with now and laters as well. So, now when I taste or smell green apple sweet memories of her flood my mind. We started a tradition a few years before her death in which I would purchase her a super duper chocolate covered caramel apple for Christmas. She loved it! Although, she is gone I have continued the tradition only now I make them any time I need a "Caprece" fix. These I made and donated for an auction for the Youth at our church. Thinking of her all the while. Of course, I made one especially for my family to split. They were definitely SUPER DUPER! :)

Mama - Mommy - Mom - Mother

Currently I am serving as a primary teacher to the CTR 7 class. As usual this time of year we practiced during sharing time for our Mother's Day performance. One of the songs we sang is "I Often Go Walking". Honestly, I couldn't get through each and every practice of this song without tears trickling down my face. It didn't matter if we sang it 1 time or 10 times each time we began to sing these words...

O mother, I give you my love with each flower, To give forth sweet fragrance a whole life-

time through; For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,

I lean how to love them, dear mother, from you.

These words filled me up with Caprece each and every time that we sang them. Hundreds of memories of blossoms, meadows and walking with her and her children filled my heart and mind. If there was ever a woman who understood her role as a mother and rejoiced in it each and every moment of each and every day it was my sister. Oh, she got frustrated with her children when they weren't obedient or were arguing but she never lost site of the work she was performing as their mother. She disciplined her children with love and in a very individual way. She listened to her children and honored their individuality. She didn't expect Lilah to act like Chancey or Livvy to act like Lilah. I remember once Chancey was given an assignment to write about her best friend and she wrote about her mother. It really touched Caprece that Chancey called her not only Mama but friend. Lilah, though she never actually said it, felt the same. Lilah's afterschool ritual was to come home and tell her Mother all about her day. Every little detail. Lilah relished this time with her Mother and Caprece felt the same. Miss Livvy and Abe were at home. While Abe was napping Miss Livvy received special one on one time with her Mama...reading books. Abe, well Caprece couldn't get him out of the kitchen...he loved to cook and she loved having him as her little helper. She was constantly seeking the spirit of discernment as she viewed each of her children praying to be aware of not only the weakness in each child (so as to help them overcome it) but to see the divine, the talents, the gifts. She wanted her children to see themselves as God sees them.

Caprece understood something key about being a mother and that was not only that she love her children but the importance of living her own life as close to the spirit through study, prayer and service as she possibly could. Caprece and I spoke daily throughout her married life and I can honestly say that a week never went by that she wasn't performing some act of service for a neighbor, friend or family member. She delighted in the scriptures and we reveled in our brief but wonderful moments of sharing scriptural insights from our recent studying. I miss these moments. She understood that her service to others would teach her children more about the gospel than anything she could ever say. Even in her weakness she taught her children about her testimony of the Savior as she got on her knees seeking his grace and mercy in overcoming.

Caprece, more than anything else but wife, loved being a mother.

Caprece, as I, have learned how to be a Mommy from our own sweet Mother who loves us both with an unconditional love. She doesn't just love us she likes us...and we too call her not only Mama but friend. Caprece comes from a long lineage of wise and wonderful mothers and she has left her own sweet Mama legacy that I know even now comforts, encourages, and inspires her children.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY CAPRECE!

Matt: Caprece and I find each other

I always like to boast that I never had to ask Caprece out on an official date, we just went straight to marriage. This isn't stricktly true, but almost. Caprece and Karmen hung out often at my apartment because there were three good looking, fun guys there- Jared, Todd, and Eric, and I happened to be there too reaping the rewards of my roommate's personalities. From my view, Karmen at one time was trying to decide if she liked Jared, then later on she had a bit of a thing for Eric who turned out to be too much of a perfection freak to stay with any girl very long. Caprece seemed to initially show some interest in Todd, but after a while I actually found myself talking with her and found that I really couldn't wait for her visits to our apartment. We developed a friendship and eventually I sort of suggested that maybe we could go up to the campus (USU) and shoot baskets together. I now know that Caprece had no interest in shooting baskets, but I'm just grateful that she was patient enough to go anyway. We continued to talk and hang out with everyone, but still no official "out on the town" dates. Then Caprece decided to take matters into her own hands and invited me out for my birthday (in April). She took me to Tony Roma's in Logan and bought me a shirt for a present. We had a great evening and Tony Roma's became a special spot for us for years afterward and we spent several anniversary dinners there. When I dropped her off at her place we stood out and talked for a while and I later learned that we both wanted a good night kiss very badly, but of course I didn't make that happen so we said good night and I went home disgusted with myself about my spineless, kissless night. At this point I have to share an event that nearly ended it all for Caprece and me. My roommates began to tease me a bit about spending so much time with Caprece and so I, of course, wanted to throw them off the scent of how important she was to me. So I made a bet with my roommate Todd that I wouldn't ever have another date with Caprece. Now, I knew this was all for show, and so did Todd, but he still put the word out in our circles that I had made this bet with him about Caprece. So Caprece of course heard about this. I'm lucky that she ever spoke to me again! But she showed up at my apartment supposedly to retrieve a dish that she had left there and she was in tears as she asked for this dish. I was baffled and didn't know what to do, but thankfully had enough brain power to ask her what was wrong. Well, she let me have it about my bet with Todd and it took some doing for me to convince her that I was just playing around and really wanted to keep seeing her. I was lucky that she let me off the hook because at the time Caprece wasn't the most easily forgiving soul- she tended to hold a grudge pretty well then. Anyway, after that we started spending a lot of time together and I started going to her and Karmen's little basement apartment a lot to hang out and watch movies with Caprece. Somehow Karmen was gone a lot during that time :) - thanks Karm! We fell in love and started talking marriage and about 6 weeks after our first date to Tony Roma's we got engaged. About 6 weeks after that we were married! Caprece initially wanted a longer engagement, but I quickly convinced her that there was no reason to wait and we should just get it done. Since you all know how amazingly beautiful Caprece was, you can imagine her fiance wanting to move the wedding along! :) Caprece often talked with me about how important our temple marriage was to her and how special her feelings were that day. The Bountiful temple will always be a special and extra sacred place for me because of the many wonderful times that we spent there together, beginning with June 29, 1995 when we entered into our eternal marriage there.

The Roof or Chuck-O-Rama

The title of this posting is the names of two popular restaurants here in Utah. The Roof is a well known restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith building which serves a very nice and very expensive buffet on Saturday evenings. Chuck-O-Rama is an all you can eat buffet...I think the name says it all.

While Caprece and I were at USU we planned to attend the Bountiful Temple open house with a group of our friends and go to dinner afterwards. To begin with we were going to all go together for the open house and afterwards Caprece and i were going to go to dinner on our own. We had been to the Garden, a restaurant serving lunch at the top of the Joseph Smith building and had heard while there that The Roof was really good. We pinched and saved our money so we could go. The Bountiful temple open house was wonderful. I will never forget how I felt when I walked into the chapel and first saw this beautiful print of the Savior's triumphant return to earth. It has to be 12 feet tall and 10 ft across. It was breathtaking and still is. We completed our tour and everyone wanted to do dinner together. We explained that we already had plans to go to The Roof and our friends said they would like to go as well. What Caprece and I didn't know was the price or that it was a buffet including prime rib and other pricey but yummy items. We were prepared though for whatever price it might be...our friends weren't. We arrived and were seated. Our friends took one look at the menu $20/person and wanted to leave. After a flurry of discussion, disagreement and finally resignation on the part of Caprece and I we all decided to go somewhere else. We didn't decide where to go before we all piled back into the cars. Caprece and I were so disappointed that we just followed the group. Remember, this was not the days of cell phones for the masses but for the elite few...we were NOT the elite few :) So we had no way of communicating as we went. We just follow hoping for the best. I guess our friends thought what Caprece and I liked so much about The Roof was that it was a buffet soooooo....they led us to none other than the local "Chuck-O-Rama" Just when Caprece and I thought we couldn't be any more disappointed we enter an all you can eat frenzy. The only thing I can remember eating that night was a small portion of mashed potatoes and gravy. Really disappointment doesn't begin to cover it.

Later Caprece and I came to love this adventure. It provided years of deep belly, tear jerking, pee in your pants laughter. Whenever we tried to tell others about the adventure we would be laughing so hard that all that came from our mouths was some strange language no one could understand. Just before I moved from Utah November 2006, I attended Caprece's book club and somehow as we were discussing things restaurants came up and someone said something about Chuck-O-Rama. Caprece and I looked at each other and we lost it. We were crying and Caprece 7 months pregnant was doing the pee pee dance...we didn't even try to explain. We knew it was futile but for us it was a terribly wonderful flashback. So you all tell me "The Roof" or "Chuck-O-Rama"?

Sisters, Friends, and Sparring Partners

There is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather....

Caprece and I are the best of sisters and the bestest of friends (More about this later)


Now having lauded our friendship...I'll let you all in on a secret (for my family this is no secret). Caprece and I fought quite a bit when we were younger. We yelled mostly but on occaision we got physical. Caprece's move of choice was scratching and mine was pushing. It started when we were quite young and continued until we were in middle school at which point the following took place.

I am not sure what we were fighting about...Caprece wanted to fry some bologne and I didn't want her to? Who knows...? but we were in the kitchen. It started with a simple argument and quickly turned physical. She scratched me and ran...I of course followed and pushed her. Well she had on slick shoes and the floor was a nice smooth linoleum. What is Newton's law? Something like...a body in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an outside force...she slipped and fell on her back and it knocked the breath out of her. It seemed like forever before she got her breath back. It scared me to death. I of course began crying and apologizing. That was it for me...no more! I swore I wouldn't ever push or hit her again and I never did. However, I can't say the same for Caprece :)

Although to be fair, it was years later...we were in college at USU and definately old enough to know better. As you ALL know our family, especially siblings, can push our buttons. I guess I pushed one of hers. The next thing I knew she was hitting me and I was backing up into the bed where she had me pinned and was pounding away. To make matters worse the fact that we were both in our late 20's and behaving like this got me tickled and if any of you know Caprece you know the worse thing you can do when she is angry with you is to start laughing. The harder I laughed the harder she pounded. Now my sister was no boxing champ...I use the word "pound" very loosely. She was hitting me hard. Somehow she regained her senses with no help from me. I was still laughing. Through the years any time I ever brought this up she couldn't help but remind me that I had really made her mad and that I knew better than to laugh at a moment like that.

Oh yeah, years later, just before Caprece left us she confessed that the day she fell and lost her breath well, it was an act to teach me a lesson. Teach me a lesson it did.

You wonder why I would share something like this? Even in our weakness we loved, accepted and understood one another. I pray that the love, compassion, quickness to forgive, forbear and friendship I developed for my sister I will develop for all...those who love me and especially those who don't.