This happens just about every night between 10:30 and 11:00 while I'm doing homework. Sometimes I have to check to make sure she is still breathing. As you may have read, Hannah had a long day of baking, organ practice, FHE, blogging, etc. She is quite the catch indeed. I realize that there is no real point to this post other than the fact that it is my first on this blog and that I needed some picture to accompany my blog-debut.
Please pardon my poorly framed picture; I didn't want to wake her up.
P.S. This is Robbie

Happy Birthday Ella - welcome to the world of double digits!!

Here's Ella - definitely in the single-digit years - enjoying a story with Grandpa!!

We celebrated with the family a day early!! And a wonderful time was had by all!

I think she will end up with two cakes - and two candle-blowing-out episodes - when she has friends over tomorrow - what fun!!

We are looking forward to our Grandma's Sleepover coming up at the end of the month - spare weekends are in short supply these days!! But the anticipation will make it all the more fun!!

Update on the Broadcast

I was reading here, and there are several links to blogs of LDS women who were commenting on the conference - and the comments were over-whelmingly favorable - and there seems to be a consensus that we all love Elder Uchtdorf!! And that his message really resonated with LDS women everywhere!!

This really makes me happy!! Many years ago - even before there was a regular Relief Society broadcast - I subscribed to Exponent II just to feel connected to LDS women throughout the U.S. mostly. After a while though, the forum became increasingly negative. And I finally gave up on it. A dear friend was on their staff, and she noticed the shift and dropped out too.

I have heard comments about LDS women and their "Mormon Mommy" blogs that are negative. I don't have time to spend on negativity, but I spot checked a few - and was disheartened by the tone of disparagement I sometimes encountered. (Many were very positive, but I guess any negativity among LDS women tends to dishearten me! More accurately, I should say that some posts were negative, some were positive, some comments were negative, some comments were positive. But when I read things like "I don't get Visiting Teaching - I wish we didn't have to do it" I am saddened.) So I'm delighted to see us all coming together on such a landmark address as the one Elder Uchtdorf gave last night.

We are really all more alike than we are different. And we are indeed all "daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us!"

A votre service!!

Once again, the great men of the Arcadia Stake came through with a wonderful meal for the sisters in our stake! (I meant to get a shot of Ellie and Grandma Terrill - they came since it's a much shorter drive to our building - but they hustled into the chapel before I had a chance to take their picture.)

My counselors and I decorated the tables and made cupcakes for the dessert, but the men did everything else - planned, prepared, served - and did clean up duty too!!

Fortunately we have John Houldridge - who's in the food service industry - and is a great chef besides!! He outdid himself - and last year's was pretty good!

We had a great turnout from the Chinese ward too. We served over 130 women - that is up from last year, but more importantly, all those women were there for the General Relief Society Broadcast, which we watched after the dinner (we had taped it.)

Speaking of the broadcast - let me be the first to say that I am pumped up!! Elder Uchtdorf was a real cheerleader for all the women of the church - my favorite quotes:

His from James M. Barrie, "Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."

And his own statement: "Happiness is your heritage."

Sister Thompson: "Service magnifies us and sanctifies us."

I can't wait to read the talks again - but if you missed it somehow, get it online or something so you can hear the great choir they had - and watch the chorister too! - and see Elder Uchtdorf in action!!

We were well-fed tonight - physically and spiritually!

Hope you were too!

Hats off to you!!

Alice did a post on hats - specifically her rather large collection of hats - that she uses and wears all the time - I just spent a week with her this summer and she really does wear a hat all the time - even inside sometimes!! She kept handing them to me to wear - she was worried about the altitude and my rather casual attitude towards the high altitude sunshine. (I did and do very dutifully use sunscreen all the time.)

And it made me think of "hat pictures" in my online collection of random photos I have scanned. Here's the ultimate "hat" - the ubiquitous mortar board - which Bonny wears well I think!

And the LDS staple, the Mormon pioneer bonnet, worn so beautifully by some precious Laurels of mine.

And my Grandma Stevens - who, like Alice, wore hats all the time too - but for fashion reasons mostly. She is only 19 or so in this picture, but don't you love the hat and gloves and her little bag?

Bonny was into straw boaters for 8th grade graduation.

And of course the Terrills always go for party hats!

And here's Harry in the ever-attractive marching band headpiece - officially called a shako.

Not truly a hat, but the women of my era all wore curler bonnets - to cover up their curlers, of course. They were a common sight on the street, in the store - there was no shame!

Babies look lovely in hats - when you can get them to wear them. Here's the co-operative Miss Ara - I'm not sure if she wears hats now or not.

And Baby Eve, in the little pink hat I made for her. She is still a hat wearer.

And of course, lovely little Agnes in the Sister Cornwall special we all love!!

Noah was - and still is - a big fan of hats - all kinds of hats.

Hannah - and her Carmen San Diego chapeau!!

Ever fashionable Phoebe - in a dress up hat that had more than likely belonged to Grandmother Taylor.

Baseball hats have always been popular - especially worn backwards!

Dad has never been much of a hat wearer - until they came up with the light ones for runners - but he mostly only wears them when running. He probably doesn't still prefer the paper bag, but there was a time when he did!!

Our good friend Nebeker is quite the hat man - always looks dapper too!

Playing with hats is always fun - can you tell who's who??

It's either Easter or Pioneer Day that brings out the hats for the Terrill women!!

Another Easter time.

Alice does indeed wear hats - and has for years now.

Love those pioneer duds - not sure what Phoebe's hat is supposed to represent - it was probably just one in the dress up basket!

I did wear hats in the 60's - had a few - thought I was the height of fashion. But then I've pretty much given up high heels too! Things change!! Maybe I will go back to hats one day. Alice certainly makes it look attractive.

So we end where we started - another mortar board. (and my mom's fetching little pink number - they were all the rage in the 60's.)

A little thematic walk through time and Terrills - how do you feel about hats?

"In the room the women come and go . . "

September 26th, 1888 is the birthdate of Thomas Stearns Eliot. Tomorrow will be crazy, so I'm posting today.

I had been told in 1970 that September 26th would be the due date for the baby we were expecting. She didn't come for 10 more days - so much for being born on the birthday of one of our favorite poets!

This is why I always remember when T.S. Eliot was born! I'm good with birthdays, but I have to make some kind of connection to remember them!!

I remember that I said that if we had a boy , we should name him Eliot Stearns Terrill. Dad wasn't keen on the idea. Good thing we had a girl - we agreed on that name. Which has turned out to be a most apt name for our lovely B.Brae.

T.S. had a big sister named Ada, whom he adored. In 1943, she said, speaking of her famous brother, "When you were a tiny boy, learning to talk, you used to sound the rhythm of sentences without shaping the words - the ups and downs of the thing you were trying to say. I used to answer you in kind, saying nothing yet conversing with you as we sat side by side on the stairs . . .And now you think the rhythm before the words in a new poem . . .Such a dear little boy."

A nice little remembrance. How often I think of ways and habits my children had when they were little - and they have those ways and habits still!

P.S. I took the picture and the quote from a book I gave Dad on his birthday in 1988 - on Eliot's 100th anniversary - the title of the book is The Letters of T.S. Eliot edited by Valerie Eliot. On the fly leaf I wrote: "Harry my love - from one old letter writer to another."

Happy Birthday Axel!!

With the current situation in La Paz, I was concerned that maybe the mail wasn't going through in a timely manner. And the Hallmark E-card program I usually use wasn't co-operating either.

So, I've resorted to the B-card, short for Blog Card!!

Hope you had a happy day Axel!! This shot is from Eliza's wedding reception about 4 years ago - so you can see how much you've grown and changed!!

Is that a smile?

Good morning everyone!!

Time to rise and shine!!

And have a great day!!

(These are signs from the St. George Marathon's Mayor's Walk!!)

Seminary Days!!

So Dad has been teaching seminary for the last two weeks for Sister M. He's done Seminary Duty for a lot of years now - starting with the year before Bonny started high school - he drove some kids to seminary who wouldn't be able to get there otherwise.

And on the last day, he wanted to do something special, so I baked Plunkets on Friday a.m. and took them to the church. Sister C. handed us an envelope with some old seminary photos she'd found while cleaning out the seminary closet - I guess it's been a long time since it's been cleaned out!!

I didn't recognize some of the kids - and Dad didn't either - but this has got to be Bryce baby!!

And of course we recognize B. Brae!!

And Desiree with the long last name!!

Ah, the years do fly by - think about that when you have Seminary Duty - it's worth it!

Where do the years go?

So, my old roomie Joy has started sending me some Kodak moments - she was the keeper of the scrapbooks and that sort of stuff - she has more old pictures of me than I do.

This is from Spring of 1963 - we'd gone on a double date - I forget whose date was whose - but you can hardly see the other guy. The one you can see is Gregoire Blount de Rhoulac - no kidding - that was really his name.

He actually was a lot of fun and pretty cool - we went to the rose garden at USC and then to TAIX's French restaurant afterwards - and it's not the same TAIX's that is there now. They had long tables and it was a communal dinner setting - we felt so cosmopolitan and urbane!! (They had bowls of red apples for dessert.)

And these guys also played Chinese taxi or whatever you call that game where you get out at a stop sign and switch drivers.

You had no idea I was so exciting to be around in my youth, now did you??

Update

There is much unrest in Bolivia right now. Check Alice's blog for current news. We've also been checking Google Alerts - but it seems to be the same news over and over again.

Keep them all in your prayers!

Unicorns?

or Cindy Lou Who?

Do they come for Disneyland? Or for Donna's chocolate chip cookies?

Jennifer - Lyn and RoseAnn's daughter and her husband and family are here enjoying the SoCal experience. We went out there tonight for a "Clayton Sunday Dinner" that was pretty sumptious!! Thanks Mom and Mary!!

We did a group shot with the remote - makes Dad look like the basketball player he'd like to be, doesn't it??

Bill and Alyssa were there - Jennifer and fam spent the last two days with Bill - he showed them the beach and there was even a celebrity citing!

Mom said it was like the "old days" with 13 at the table!!

Robbie, Jen and Aaron's son, enjoyed playing with Oogie.

Their daughter is Natasha - and it was fun to see them all after so many years.

Have fun at Disneyland this week!!

The Week That Was

Friday night was Eve's birthday party - with friends from her school and the ward. The big hit of the evening was the making of "fairy gardens."


Mary and Susanne helped with the food for the hungry munchkins.

And there was "Pin the Fairy on the Flower" too.

"Ring Around the Rosie" is still a big hit! Some things are just classic!


Porter and Harry were part of the crew!

And Baby Harry wasn't taking any chances on setting his pizza slice down!

We'd had a dinner date set up with Jim and Tina - so they dropped by and we headed out to Cafe Merengue in Monrovia - a great new bakery/deli - Cuban style. I recommend it.

And today I had a reception for our outgoing SPED director - I will miss her - it was a lovely party - good food - you will notice the wine glasses and coffee cups - and my soda can!

Tonight was Stake Conference too - now I'm ready for bed. The rest of the week happened at school - hopefully things will "settle down" soon!