What's In A Name?

So what do you do when your head feels like it weighs 100 pounds because the migranes are worse with the head cold at 6 AM?


Blog of course! Seriously...100 pounds. I wouldn't want to get on a scale right now!


When people hear our kids middle names I get lots of questions like where did you get it. So here is the random blog for 6 AM on Saturday morning while I wait for the drugs to kick in to hopefully help them out!

Jordan Bayonne

Basically the kids first names are ones we just liked and actually agreed on. But his middle name is Bayonne...as in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Phil spent 2 years in New Jersey on an LDS mission. His favorite city was Bayonne.

Also his favorite honorary mom/ grandma while he was there lived in the city (she moved). When he told her the name she was so excited and told everyone there even if they didn't remember Phil!

By the way it was either let him have the middle name, which took a little getting used to for me, or let Phil pick the first name which his choice was Vito... So Bayonne it was! Actually I love it now. I love how unique it is and Jordan will have a story to tell about one of his names. I actually thought maybe we could call him B, but he never really was a B...maybe in high school he will get the nickname!

Peyton Natele (Nay-tel-ee) Must say with Italian accent!

Again Peyton was chosen because we both loved the name and no it wasn't/isn't after Peyton Manning, even though when we were deciding if it would be an A or an E I knew his name was an E and most girl Payton's I knew were with an A. Even though yes I do love Manning and always try and get Phil to pick him up on the fantasy teams...obviously he is popular since someone else always has him.

Which brings me back to Jordan... he isn't after Michael Jordan. Seriously that is what we get, "Oh you named them after Michael and Manning." Nope.

Anyway what were talking about...

We had a hard time with the middle name with him. But we knew who we wanted it to honor.

For those that don't know, Phil is the oldest and only boy of 3. His middle sister Natalia passed away in Feb. 2006.

It was very hard for us (which is probably why I don't blog much about her, trust me I have tried, but then I end up erasing them), but especially for him being the older brother who couldn't protect her.

So when we found out we were pregnant I thought if we have a girl I would love to use Talia one of the nicknames she had. But of course knowing our gene pool we kind of figured he would be a boy. So I looked into other names in the name book and showed Phil one day Natale which is an Italian name. But it looked like Natalie to me and wasn't sure about it for a boy.

I also thought Phil didn't like it, because he didn't say much! So when we did find out he was a boy, Phil said I liked the name Natele... but only if I get to say it with an Italian accent.

Even though we had a boy we wanted to still honor her (because let's face it we didn't think we would ever have a girl). But I felt if someone looked at his name on paper they might not be able to tell boy or girl since we already gave him a gender neutral name (which I feel is really a boy name...). So we went back with the E theme and still honored the sweetest and best person I will ever know, Talia.

Audriana Claire (Audrey-on-ah)

Well I always had the name Elizabeth picked out for a girl. But when we found out that we were wrong we could produce girls (and cute ones for that matter) I had heard the name Audriana and shared it with Phil. I know some probably think that is because I love Audrey Hepburn (I mean who doesn't?) But really Audriana was more of a name heard out East so isn't out here much and Phil was the one who actually fell in love with it. I wasn't sure, but he was. Seriously, I kept thinking about it while we were in labor, but I always kept going back to Audriana.

I also thought about using Talia for her, but we had already used a form with Peyton so we decided against it.

I have always wanted middle names to have a meaning since first names were more of a just cause we liked them deal. So it probably doesn't come as a shock that Claire actually came from another name.

Clarence. My grandpa.

He passed away in 2003 and I had a very hard time with it. I saw him almost every day growing up. He would come to my dad's shop to sweep. He also paid me a quarter to do it for him sometimes...man I was cheap labor.

But my last memory of him was when we found out he had cancer in the summer of 2003. I was going into my second year of college and driving back up to Logan again. Him and my grandma were staying in Ogden for his treatments in apartments that the hospital has for chemo patients.

I went to see them and he just looked so orange/yellow. I guess that was what the chemo did to him. I just wanted to cry because he looked so different.

I wanted to put my head on his shoulder to cry. But I didn't.

I hardly talked to him because frankly the look of sadness on his face killed me.

I almost didn't stop to see them. Because I was in college and too busy with my social life. Yet something made me.

He went up every week to Ogden for the treatments and came home on the weekends. One thing I remember is that my parents went up to get him for the labor day weekend (maybe just my dad??) anyway, he refused to leave his car there and I remember my dad thinking he was nuts because he would take him back for the next week and they would have a car to drive around during the week there, but he brought it back for him anyway. I also remember he didn't want the chemo treatments, maybe it was because he didn't feel he would survive much longer. But did it because he loved his family and they wanted him to.

He died that weekend.

Stupid me didn't go home that weekend which I regret when I think of him. What if I could have seen him one last time? My dad called me at 7 AM on the monday morning which we didn't have school because of labor day. I remember just crying all day.

I know I had a harder time with Natalia's death, because she was so young and should have lived as long as my grandpa was able to. But I still had an aweful time with his. He was one of the first persons to pass away that I really knew.

I wouldn't see him sweeping the shop anymore. In my mind I do and I can still get the quarters from him because according to my Uncle Glenn if I got a quarter every day from my grandpa I could save up for a car...he told me this when I was little so of course I got excited about the quarters!

After that sob story... what were we talking about again??

Now I said his name was Clarence, yet no one called him that. I don't know why but maybe in his day you didn't use your first name? He went by Wayne his middle name (maybe because John Wayne was just so awesome then??) My grandma goes by Evon even though her name is Rachel (also a name I considered, but has been used.) My other grandparents also use their middle names too, maybe I should ask them why.

However Claire kept coming back to us and we decided it would be a great way to honor him, because seriously if she was a boy I am pretty sure I wouldn't use the name Clarence...

Funny story. When my dad told my grandma, my grandpa's widow, the name we decided for her she said I don't know if I can remember that. My dad asked, You do know where they got that, right? She said, No. Well from grandpa. My grandma said, but his name was Wayne. After my dad had to remind her of his name, she said oh I think I will just call her Claire!

Got to love the old... Ok so she isn't old. I mean she isn't a day over 29... Right grandma?? (Every birthday I tell her that and she tries to give me a dollar for saying that.)