"Wills"

Dave and I took a short trip to Idaho a few weeks ago and on the way my mind started to wander about, life junk.  Hey, there is LOTS of open space out there with nothing to look at, so that's what my mind does.  I forgot to bring a book to read to/with Dave so I was left to my own devises. 

We were taking Amanda up to college (BYU-Idaho) and so I kept thinking of all of the things that I might have forgotten to teach her, like how long to boil an egg for the perfect hard boiled egg, and how to pick good fruit (assuming she would actually buy and eat some).  It's amazing what you think of when you are faced with sending your kids out into the world, to survive on their own.

This led to another subject that raced through the empty cavern of my mind...

If we die on this trip, would the kids know what to do?  Who to call?  Where the guns are?  Where the ammo is?  What to sell?  What to keep?   How to handle the bills?  How to get Dave's life insurance $$ to pay the bills?  Did they know that they would need several (like 20) death certificates?  The answer was a very loud NO!  Holy crap!   This is how my mind works!    Scary, I know!

Now, living with Dave for 23+ years has taught me a thing or two about being prepared.  I usually have extra this or that around the house, in case of an emergency and I usually don't let the gas tank get below a 1/4 (he would prefer 1/2 tank) etc, but the kids growing up and being capable of handling the "in case we die" topic just seemed to sneak up on me and yet, here I was, face to face with this time on our lives.  

So Dave and thought it would be a great idea to sit down with them one Family Home Evening (FHE) to discuss this very strange topic.  We told them that should we both go "toes up" that they need to first call G-ma and G-pa Peterson (my parents) who will help them through financial junk.  Then of course, call Marcia and Ron (Dave's sister and brother in law) and continue calling family and friends etc.  

My dad dealt with money his entire career and is pretty good at it so he would be able to navigate through that for them.  

Now here's where it goes WRONG...

We asked them to make a list of things that we own, that they would want.  The lists are as follows, with quotes from them while they laughed.

Chris, speaking on behalf of Sarah, "We want everything in the garage!"
Amanda, "No, I call the Avalon.  I love that car.  It goes FAST!"
Jeff, "Well I call the Suburban and the 22 year old Camry"
Becca, "I want the 4-wheeler"
Chris, "Okay we'll take everything else in the garage".
Amanda, "I want the blender!"
Jeffrey, "I want all of the kitchen appliances and the electronics".

This is when I said, "Umm the blender I have now probably wont be alive then.  I go through blenders like no body's business."


Becca, "Okay, I'll take the NEW blender that you will have!"
Jeffrey, "I want the coasters"  (These are the, hold your drinks kind of coasters that I made)
Amanda, "I want all of the Disney movies and books.  Oh and, the couches and ONE bed"
Jeffrey, "I want the guns and Grandpa Charles' historical stuff."
Becca, "I want all of Grandma Corry's stuff like the chair, dresser, etc. and moms jewelry"

Jeffrey, "So, this is like the ultimate Christmas list!!"

It didn't take long for the laughter to erupt and soon, what was going to be a serious discussion, turned into ridiculousness!! Oh well, we tried.

Burn it all, sell it all, I don't care, just don't fight over anything or we will haunt you!!