Stuffed Toy Savior

When I was a little girl I had a huge and I mean HUGE stuffed toy collection. I had a paper route and most of my earnings went into what I now call the "Save Every Toy on the Planet" project. I had this theory as a child, and little now too, that toys were alive and needed to be loved. I felt bad for the stuffed toys donated to Goodwill or Desert Industries. SO I bought as many of them as I could. Mostly animals and anything to do with Rainbow Bright. I have a lot of memories playing imagination with my stuffed toys, they got me, and it was fun. Just before I got married my collection was over 100 stuffed animals. I knew I couldn't keep them all. So I narrowed the pickings down to the ones that needed to stay in the family or ones with the highest sentimental value. Keep in mind the toys I had ranged from small to very large the size of a toddler toys. When I let some of them go I didn't just give them to anyone. I was very selective at the adoption process and tried to give them to kids or friends that would love and appreciate them like I had through the years. I even cried a few times. When I recently watched Toy Story 3 I bawled my eyes out at the end. I am such a sap...I am getting teared up RIGHT NOW just typing this. UGH! It was hard to let go, but I did and I slimmed the count down even more years later. When we started getting the babies room ready they were the first thing I pulled out.

So allow me to introduce you to the surviving members of the

"Save Every Toy on the Planet" association.

Here they are together

These ones were hand made by my Grandmother Bertha Stark, who passed away when I was 8 years old. There is an Ewok, E.T., Care Bears, and a little guy. The Car Bears and little guy belonged to me as a child and the E.T. was my sisters (the boys had a blue one) and the Ewok was one of my brothers. They tried to give them away and I saved them. If anyone else in the family tries to give away something Grandma Stark made I will be happy to rescue it.

These had high sentimental value.

The butterfly on the right and the doll on the left were the first toys I could ever remember having as a baby. The puppies were a gift from my Grandma and Grandpa Nelson while they were on a mission in New Jersey. The Teddy Bear was hand made by my next door neighbor. She named her dog Teddy and we helped her take care of him when she was out of town. She made all sorts of Teddy Bears and sold them. I can't remember her name, but she was nice and lives in New York now. The doll and the unicorn belonged to my sister. I would steal them from her and play with them. She would get mad and take them back. Eventually I just kept them probably because she got tired of fighting me. ;)

These are some fun toys that I kept cause they were gifts. The green ball, I called it Spud, was the reason for a lot of laughs at girls camp. The bunny is actually a puppet and has come in handy when I substitute as the Primary Chorister. The penguin, blue bear and frog were from my days at Fashion Bug. The monkey and cat were the only beanie baby like toys I had, besides a Huskie (he didn't make the picture because he is in the guests children toy box down stairs along with a smiley face doll that couldn't make the photo shoot.) The buffalo was a gift from my best friend Amy when she lived at Yellowstone. That gift was recent. I still love getting toys.

One reason this doll was so cool because it was 2 in 1

A day time doll..

and a night time doll.

So there ya have it. One of my obsessions is stuffed toys and rescuing them.