Little Girls, Who'd Have Em?

We would often hear my Grandpa Atkin say this when the family got together.

It was funny to all of us, because out of the 24 grandchildren, there are only 6 boys. Three of those boys are some of the youngest, and were not born until after I was in high school. So needless to say our family events were always full of little girls, and my Grandpa loved it!

Last week, at the age of 90 my Grandpa passed away. I loved his sense of humor, and his quiet way of doing things to make my Grandma happy. There were three things I have always been sure of when it came to my Grandpa. He loved his family, the gospel, and most of all he loved my Grandma, and wanted her to be happy.

As my family gathered together I found it fun to look at my parents grandchildren, and see that just as my grandparents family was full of little girls, my parent's family is full of little boys. They have 13 grandchildren and only 3 of those are girls. Our family gatherings are full of little boys.

My sister 's daughter, Bethany, is the only girl at their house, so she is always excited to come visit and see her big girl cousin Emily, and Baby Balerie. They arrived Tuesday night and when I opened the door Bethany had a big smile on her face and said "We are at Baby Balerie's house." Then just like the last time they came to visit Bethany gave Valerie all of the love and attention she needed.

Bethany loves to play little mother, and she LOVES to be pretty. To her the color pink is not called pink it is called pretty.

Two days before the funeral my sister, Ellen, found a "pretty" dress, with matching shoes at the store, and bought them for Bethany. Ellen decided that it would be fun if Valerie had a matching dress since Bethany loves her so much.

When they returned from the store, Bethany immediately put on her pretty dress and wore it for the next two days. (except when she was sleeping.) She would go around showing everyone her pretty dress. The morning of the funeral, she put on her pretty dress, her mom did her hair and she came out looking very pretty.

When I pulled out Valerie's dress and began putting it on her I could tell Bethany was not sure that she liked the idea of having a twin. Then when we all started telling Valerie that she was pretty too, Bethany was done with that dress and wanted her other one on. She cooperated enough to get a few pictures, and then she went to find her other dress.

When she found it she brought it to Valerie and showed her that she had another pretty dress. (I thought it was really cute and funny.) Ellen really didn't want to change her, because we thought it would be fun for them to match. But Bethany was not going to have competition.

A few days later, after they returned home, Ellen showed Bethany the pictures we had taken of her and Valerie. She loves the pictures, and still wants to wear the dress everyday.

"Little Girls, Who'd Have Em?...........

Us's That Got Em!"