Happy Day to Annika!!

Annika has truly mastered the art of being the youngest of 4!! She does not get lost in the shuffle, but gets right in there and sits in the driver's seat!!

With panache and aplomb I might add!!

Enjoy your birthday Annika!!

(And felicitations to Harry Potter too!)

Happy Birthday Joy!!

Joy and I go way back - at least to our early teen years. And you would think that since we are such good friends and have been such good friends for so long that I would have a lot more pictures of her.

She probably has more pictures of me than I have of her. And she keeps her pictures in an orderly manner - she could probably lay her hands on any given picture whenever I asked.

That is one of her sterling qualities - her attention to detail - all kinds of detail.

Other sterling qualities include being the world's best college roommate, introducing me to the joys of custard pudding (no pun intended), having faith that Harry would be the one when I was losing faith in the idea ("But who wouldn't wait for Harry?" I wailed inconsolably. "She won't wait," Joy insisted. "Just you wait and see."), letting me borrow her cute shoes and purses, always sending me a cute purse on my birthday, and knowing just when to laugh!!

Happy 63rd Joy - welcome to the club!!

(The above photo was taken in front of Horne Hall in September of 1963 - fitting since Joy is 63 this year - and I am too.)

"Shake, rattle and roll . . "

(This is NOT today's 5.8 shaker - but is the only earthquake image I have on my computer - at least the only one that is "personal" and not just general. This one is from the '94 Northridge quake - the freeway overpass by Grandma Clayton's.)

Well, we had a little rockin' and rollin' today - about 11:45.

Some things we forget: Cell phones are useless in an earthquake. I know there's a reason, but I forgot what it is.

Computers can be impacted - mine froze and it took a while to come back up. Probably from overload.

They are scary!! I will blithely go around saying things like, "Give me an earthquake any day over a tornado or a hurricane." But when they hit, you feel pretty vulnerable - especially if you are "home alone" like I was.

Someone needs to type up instructions on how to get our T.V. on and leave them posted for when I am "home alone!" It is such a complicated procedure to get our T.V. on - and I don't watch it often enough to memorize how to do it - I only memorized how to watch DVD's!!

I did talk to Dawn - who seemed unfazed.

Life goes on.

Attention Terrill kids - this is your mother speaking!!

Check your email for some holiday updates!!

Happy Birthday Charlie!!

There are no baby pictures of Charlie and Mary - in fact, this is one of the earliest photos of Charlie - and that's me in the background. I've probably posted this before - but then, there aren't a whole lot of pics to choose from.

(However, I remember that the little toy dog on the table was red and white plastic. And my dress was green and white striped.)

But Happy Day little bro!!

If life would only stand still!!

I have so much blogging to catch up on - but life keeps happening!! I need a little time-warp, where it will all come to a small halt - for a small moment - but alas, that is not going to happen! I am only willing to commit to saying that I will complete the 40 Year Anniversary Posts prior to our 41st anniversary! (This from the woman who still has Christmas cards from 2007 to get sent out! And I must send them because there are stamps on the envelopes - and the envelopes are sealed! But I have to add 1 cent stamps because the price of stamps went up!!)

We have a new principal at Clifton - Traci Gholar - we had a little "meet and greet" today and I'm excited to work with her! She remembers Phoebe, Hannah and Noah - and said to say hello. She knew who Eliza was, but didn't know her well.

Alice is here until tomorrow a.m. She brought Mom out and we went for Mani/Pedis at Urbane - and we were treated royally. It was Alice's first pedicure - and she's a fan now!

I fixed lunch for us - French dip of course - and we browsed a bit in my favorite antique store - Mom kept saying "I have one of those."

I thought that I would tuck in a picture or two from the rest of our SA trip every time I blog something current - and maybe I can catch up that way - and keep you all on your toes!! Fittingly enough, I will begin at the end - here's Dad in the airport in El Salvador - we had an hour or so to wait - and it was the middle of the night - and we were tired.

Our last day was spent in Peru - in Lima - our cabbie knew a great museum of Incan antiquities, so we browsed there a bit - it was interesting. And there were busloads of school kids - to help me feel at home I guess!

Right after I got home, I had lunch with "The Girls of '45" at Brent's Deli in Northridge - I would recommend it highly.

Yesterday there was a baptism in our ward - a young man joined his wife in the gospel net - and it was one of the most moving and spiritual baptisms I have ever attended - he got up and spoke about how excited he was to start the journey to the temple to be sealed to his wife forever! Here he is with his non-member parents - who were a great pair - the father told Dad that his kids have never seen him without a beard!!

After the baptism, we went out to Mom's to see Alice and Dale - and Mom's cousin Ron Stevens showed up. He's an interesting fellow - and I will leave it at that! He's a real Stevens though!!

We did a group shot with Dale's trusty self-gripping tripod. And we enjoyed Clayton Household Chocolate Chip Cookies!! (And some excellent corn too!)

Here's a shot of me with our outgoing principal, Deb Rinder. I've enjoyed working with her, and we will miss her - but education is all about change!

Before she says anything, I must tell Hannah that when I bought this shirt on the bargain rack at Target, I had totally forgotten that you had one too. I'm pretty unobservant. But I promise not to wear it when you are around - so there won't be any unfair comparisons!! (Ha, ha!!)

An anniversary

A year ago today Jim died. It seems longer ago than that - and also like it was yesterday.

The year that followed Jim's death has been marked by other deaths of friends and family members. It causes one to pause and think.

And to be grateful for happy memories to sustain us until we meet again.

But reflection also reminds us of so many new beginnings that have come with the passing year.

A favorite Carol Lynn Pearson poem talks about birth and death being all about position,

"Birth and death, near and far, it all depends on where you are."

It's important to focus on "where you are" and to embrace it fully.

Sad news

Keli's mom died on Friday night after a 6-week battle with pancreatic cancer (same thing that Charlie Graham died of).

I never met Keli's mom but I know they were very close, and I'm sure she was just as fun and friendly as Keli. Our condolences to the Clayton and Noorda families.

Go here for more details.

Pioneer Day - 2008

I'm pretty sure I post these same pix every year - but hey, these seem to be the only Pioneer Day pictures I seem to have, so a little review won't hurt!!

Bonny and Harry in 1977 - in the cornfields outside the Cook Apartments in Centerville - the dress is still around and still making the rounds. Can't say the same for Harry's duds - although the hat lasted for a long time.

Hannah and Noah with me in '96 or '97 - or maybe '95? (You'd think that after posting these so often, I'd know the dates!!)

They had me tell pioneer stories that year, so I made the dress - and the pocket lady apron was from my stint as Sister Friendly. If you look closely, you will see a much younger Bill Card and Ruth Rannis.

And the Gutierrez family - when they were a little smaller!! (I mean their family was smaller - not John and Roseann themselves - although the kids in the picture are certainly smaller than they are now!)

Nick Tobin giving the high sign - and do you recognize Diane Seely?? Bishop Cornwall looks the same - just younger.

Rachel and Hannah - and you can see Erin McGlone in the background. I'm not sure what Hannah is doing!!

So what are you doing for Pioneer Day? I'm still playing catch up from the wedding and being gone for 3 weeks. They don't seem to have Pioneer Day celebrations anymore - at least not around here. They were a really big deal there for awhile.

But I will survive - maybe have venison stew for dinner! (j/k!!)

Update

Noticed on Heather's blog that Amy and Phil's daughter Evva is in the hospital and having surgery tomorrow for a lump on her neck. Keep her in your prayers.

Speaking of prayers, Alice noted that Peter and Amy's daughter Clara appears to have overcome her hip dysplasia - the doctors call it a miracle - we all know better - well, we know it's a miracle, but we know how the miracle happened.

Speaking of which...

While we were in Salt Lake I found this toddler picture of Matt while rummaging through old photos.

Sorry for the poor quality but it's a pretty small photo.

Blast from the past

Does this remind anyone else of... This?

Except Agnes doesn't exactly have Hannah's curl. Bummer.

So many pictures, so many memories

I'm not sure how meaningful these pictures are to anyone, but I thought I'd put some names with some of the faces for everyone's edification!

Here we are in the chapel in La Paz where Alice and Dale attend church. Dad commented that when he first came to La Paz, there were about 20 members and 6 missionaries - my how things have changed!

Sister Saenz was one of the "old timers" who remembered Dad. She is still a very vital presence in the ward.

Here we are in Iquique with Sister Iluvena Castillo - the matriarch of the family Dad baptized on the last day of his mission.

The man in the foreground is Brother Martinez - the patriarch of the family Dad tracted out on the last night and the last hours of his mission. Brother Martinez is now the Stake Patriarch. His two daughters are in the picture, along with a son-in-law and two grandsons. All are active.

Phillip Marais - the man who opened his door in answer to the prayers of Dad and his companion - died a few years ago. The young woman in the picture is his daughter Rouxlet, husband Luis and her daughters Lily and Emily. They are active - and were a wonderful family to spend time with.

I will post pictures here and there - there are lots of them!!

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I never used it, but I just reloaded a new widget on there for the people who like it.

Happy Birthday

to Agnes -

One year old - woweee!

Christmas in July

The cousins on the left will buy for the cousins on the right.

Ara-Agnes
Ella-Eve
Esme'-Harry William
Annika-Theo
Eve- Theo's Sibling
Porter-Ara
Harry William-Annika
Henry-Esme'
Calvin-Ella
Agnes-Porter
Theo-Henry
Theo's sibling-Calvin

That's how it went down at the big drawing of names. Hope that works out for everyone.
Time to start shopping!

Chilly in Chile!!

Too bad I´m not in a position to post pics - because we have some great ones. But we are certainly enjoying our stay here in Chillán. The Sierra family is a wonderful group of people, and it is a pleasure to be here with them.

Last night they had a FHE and invited the ward I think - there were over 50 people here at one count!! Elisa had planned it all - her son Alvoro conducted and he had the missionaries talk about the parable of the sower. Then 3 people shared their testimonies about planting gospel seeds. Then they had Harry tell his story about the beginnings of the church in Iquique. And we all sang ¨We are sowing, daily sowing, countless seeds . . .¨ It was a great meeting. (I might add that the Sierra´s have a very large home - very new and modern. Chile is quite different from Bolivia and Peru.)

Afterwards there were lots of great refreshments and visiting - uncles, aunts and cousins were there too. Then Carlos, Elisa´s husband, got out his guitar and started playing and singing ¨Qui vas para Chile,¨which is a Chilean folk song - and we have a record album of it and I used to play it all the time and dearly love it. And the whole group started singing it - it has many verses - and then we started dancing - it was wonderful.

The rest of the evening was singing and dancing - the spirit of good will and camraderie was palpable - an experience I will not soon forget. I finally gave up at 1 a.m. - I´m not sure when Harry came to bed!!

The Sierra family is great - they are all home on winter break, so they are delighted to be with one another again, but you can tell they are a loving, happy family - and it is a treat to share this time with them.

And some of the children like to practice their English on me - so I´m not always out of the loop!!

Cousin Camp cools off

Did you know that Bonny's kids have never had a Slurpee? Once that information was revealed it had to be rectified. They all approved and deemed it a tasty treat. As you can see my children really love them, especially Calvin.After swimming at our pool we headed down to the lake to have dinner (Chipotle, of course). It was a beautiful evening and I was reminded of why I love living here.
Please notice Calvin's vest. I thought Hannah, Eliza and Noah would be pleased to see that it lives on, 4 years later.
Esme', however, was the only one determined to get in the water.

Calvin is going to miss Annika.Those two are more alike than I realized.

Cousin Camp goes swimming

Annika was still uncertain even with goggles, water wings, a tube and a noodle.
Sweet Ella, always willing to play with Agnes.
Proof that I was there to supervise.
Henry wanted an action shot.

Annika showing off her "going under without goggles or tube" skills.

Ara was a great train engine around and around the pool.

Pardon the White Trash baby, swimming in just a diaper, moment. Putting on her suit just sounded hard at the moment.