Happy Day to You Ara Grace!!

Today is Ara's 15th birthday!! How can that be - the memory of Dad coming on to the Wildrose playground to tell me of her arrival is burned in my memory?!! Such excitement - the first grandchild!! We have not been disappointed either, as the years have gone by!

I certainly wish I'd taken a photo of every grandchild in the wooden bowl - wouldn't that be an interesting montage??

Bonny and Ara on her first Easter I think. I loved that little hat!!

Bonny at 15 - see the resemblance above!

Bonny with me - a little comparison! This was an Easter Sunday too!

One of my favorite shots of Ara!! I saw a birthday card that said that "pigtails - like a party for your head - hope you have a pigtails kind of day!!"

Ara - have a great day - and a great 15th year ahead!! Driving, school, soccer, Young Women, family life, flutes, volleyball, studies - goodness - hope it's a pigtails kind of year!!

We love Ara Grace!!

Extremely good and incredibly well-wrought!

Dad and I are in movie-going mode this week - at least we made it to one movie!!

And an excellent film it was! The New Yorker was a little critical of its quality - but I think the reviewer missed the boat on that one. I thought it was well-conceived, well-drawn, well-acted, and altogether a satisfying experience.

I'd give it several stars and a couple of thumbs up.

Let me know what you think, if you've seen it.

Happy Birthday Hester!!

Okay, I just love to post this one every year for Hester's birthday!! Obviously Hester was in town - and it's a long time ago - but not in a galaxy far, far away anyway - now that would be something to blog about!

It's been a few months since I last saw Hester - and I miss those years when we got to see her quite often - but I do enjoy keeping up with her in the blogosphere!

Have a great day and a wonderful year ahead!!

Some traditions never die - but they do get makeovers!!

The rumors that Jim's Burgers was gone are not true. This is their new look. We scoped it out on our way home from stake conference today.

Maybe one of these Saturdays we will see if the quality has remained the same.

Back to where it all began

Love those cousins loving each other!

Love those Monday Holidays!!

Dawn and Harry have been hosting Sunday dinner for months now - I thought it was high time we got back into the rotation - dishwasher or no dishwasher!! (The dishwasher came, but there's something wrong with it - as you can imagine, it's taking some time for resolution of the problem!)

Mom, Donna, Mary, and Helen joined us - along with the regulars - Harry, Dawn and fam, Noah, and Greg.

Harry W. found some old Groucho Marx glasses in the toy box - it seems to bring out the "ham" in him!!

An uncanny resemblance also emerged!!

Just like the other Harrys we know and love!!

I did get the curtains made - I'm quite pleased - need to figure out some more attractive tie backs though - but that's a small problem. There is no end to the things you can do with shower curtains!!

And tomorrow is a school holiday!! Yay!!

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away

It was a long time ago indeed! But it was right around now, 46 years ago, that I took off for the great adventure called BYU Study Abroad!! I had never even been in an airplane - I took a Greyhound Bus up to Provo for the start of the great adventure!! A 22 hour plane ride was my introduction to air travel!!

I have been cleaning out cupboards and closets - oh, the things I've come across - geodes, old glasses, Cabbage Patch shoes, letters, pictures, bric-a-brac of all sorts, colors, and sizes. And enough address stickers to go from here to the moon and back!

And my Grenoble Scrapbook! Someday I will print off the slides I took on that trip - that will be a hoot.

Meanwhile, I am truly going to toss the My Little Ponies - no one, I repeat, no one seems to be the least bit interested in them. And the video tape collection - it's gonna go too.

(Note to Phoebe - Kay Lineback is the girl on the end in yellow - next to her is Lynn Stiefel and next to her is Pattie Nieman. I'm on the other side of the photo.)

Happy Birthday to Barbara Jr.

Leslie is 14 years younger than me - I think it's 14 anyway - and was often called "Barbara Jr." because she looked like a younger version of me. I'm not sure how much we look alike, but it's obvious we are related!!

And how glad I am that we are related!! Growing up, I was so much older than Leslie, that it was more like I was an aunt or something - one who came home summers actually!! For two of the summers I was home, I worked for LA Unified as a Playground Aide - and many days Leslie and Donna came to work with me and spent the day at the playground. I don't remember lots about it - mostly that it was fun to have them in the car with me as I commuted and at the playground as I interacted with kids all day.

I have a memory of Leslie driving up to Utah with me in our little yellow VW - when Bonny was a baby and Harry was in South America. She spent a couple of weeks with me - I remember it being fun to have her around - and not just because she was a great little baby sitter either.

I'm glad we had all those associations after I married and left home. And I'm glad that we are good friends as well as sisters. When Bonny chose UCSB over BYU, she commented that she wanted to be close enough to stay in touch with her family - she wanted to be part of the lives of her younger siblings who were still at home when she left. It has made a significant difference in our family that she made that choice - I'm grateful to her for realizing the difference it would make!

I am so grateful that I have wonderful sisters - and brothers too - and that Leslie is one of them.

Have a great day - and a wonderful year ahead!!

(And we will ignore that it's Friday the 13th!!)

From here to there!

Happy Day today to Theo - who is now 5!! I remember when Bonny turned 5 - we thought she was positively old!! Now I look at 5 year olds and think how young they are - especially for all we think they should be doing!

Theo as a sweet little newborn!! How much fun it was to hang out with Matt and Eliza as they embarked on this adventure called parenting. And we probably said things like, "How the time will fly - before we know it we will be sending him off to kindergarten." And here we are, getting ready to send him off to kindergarten!!

Theo is actually a mature little guy - look how he takes care of his little sister! I have enjoyed the time I have been able to spend with Theo - and Ida for that matter - this year. Since they live so far away, the visits are not so frequent - but they were extended visits this year - and there several of them. It was a special treat.

Here's a shot of Eliza - and others too - but she is 5 in this picture. I guess we should have a shot of Matt at age 5 - but I can see some resemblances!! Theo is a lot like Eliza in temperament - which is why she is so great with him - I wish I had been so patient with her - she gets the patience from her dad!!

Have a great day Theo - and a great year ahead - remember, you're going to learn all you ever really need to know in kindergarten, so take notes!!

A birthday anniversary

Sunday was the 3 month anniversary of Jonah's birth. So it seemed like a good time to go put some flowers on his grave. Also, Leslie was here visiting and wanted to visit, and Mom wanted to take some flowers from her yard. So late Sunday afternoon we headed to the cemetery. It is really a lovely spot - and we enjoyed walking around, especially in the Honor Garden for war veterans. It is always nice to reflect on Jonah's brief but meaningful life.

The yellow roses that Ida put on his grave when she visited are blooming and lovely too.

Afterwards we went to Harry and Dawn's for dinner - and Mary also joined us.

Leslie and Harry - engaged in some interesting discussion!!

Turns out Mom is a regular participant in air-hockey games with Harry William!!

Now that we have a kitchen - although there appear to be "issues" with the new dishwasher that finally came - we can start taking our turn hosting Sunday dinner once again - Dawn and Harry have been the host and hostess with the mostest for quite a few months now - and we have appreciated it!

Life is returning to normal - whatever that is!!

If you haven't already -

We Terrills seem to have celebrating the holidays down to a fine science - and the consensus seems to be that this year was the best ever! Which means, we'd better get our thinking caps on for next year - we can't let complacency kick in!!

Phoebe and Agnes, enjoying McDonald's!!

So if you haven't already checked Hannah's blog - do so now - for some inspiration!!

Holiday musings

I'm either getting old or tired or both, but I just haven't gotten around to blogging much about our really excellent holiday happenings! We are all agreeing that this may be the best year ever - and I think it's because everyone really got into the swing of things and shared their time and talents - and look what we got - a Terrillific time indeed!!

A big thank you to Hannah who suggested a Terrill Family Talent Show - what a great show it was! I can't wait for next year's - how can you top Hannah and Robbie doing "Moon River" on the guitar and melodica!!

Dawn treated us all to manicures - that always makes a holiday special!!

She wanted to thank us for all our help with Jonah - which was certainly sweet of her - but we all agreed that it was a privilege to spend those hours in their home!! And memories of Jonah did brighten our holiday celebration.

It's always fun to see a grandchild "grow into" the playhouse - and discover how much fun it is to stand in the windows and tell everyone to look at you!

We started a new tradition and went to the temple to see the lights and Visitor's Center. After we went to McDonalds for hot chocolate - and other delights. This will probably become a tradition too!

Maybe I can scare up the energy to post a few photos each night - I was feeling a bit melancholy when everyone started leaving - Phoebe on Sunday, Hannah on Wednesday, Eliza on Thursday - everything looked so blank with all the clutter gone.

But since school started for me on Wednesday, I didn't have a lot of time to mope around. Today I had to stay here all day and wait for the delivery of the dishwasher and microwave - so I tackled a few cupboards and drawers.

Now the trick will be to see if I can find anything!!

Happy Birthday Dale!!

I think I post this one for Dale's b-day every year - but it does seem like quintessential Dale, if you know what I mean!!

Dale's a great brother-in-law - I've always been glad he joined our family!! Have a great day - and a wonderful year ahead - we look forward to the next time we get to visit with you!!

Happy Birthday Uncle Jim!!

It's been over 4 years since Uncle Jim died. This photo was taken at Robin's wedding, about 3 months before his death. He looks happy and well. The way we want to remember him.

Harry often comments that a day does not go by that he does not think about his brother. Jim was a fine man - we would all do well to remember him often.

Happy Birthday to our own "Richie-boy!"

Who remembers when we called him "Richie-boy?"

At any rate, happy birthday today to Richard!! I remember sitting on the curb, waiting for Dad to come home to tell us about the "new baby!"

And have a great year ahead too!