Happy Day to You!!

A favorite photo of mine - Frances with Harry Francis!!

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

Happy Birthday to My Sister Alice!

The good times just keep on going on!!

Have a great day!!

Happy Day to Maddy!!

Do I post this every year, since I really don't have any grown-up photos of Maddy?!!  But we all enjoyed all those years when the Kerksieks came to California for a few weeks each summer.

Maddy is a birthday buddy with her mom - and the new blogger is mysterious to me and I can't get it to add Maddy to the pics of Alice - so Maddy gets to go first - and be a tad early!

But best wishes for a great day and a wonderful year ahead!!

Happy Day to Grandma Stevens!!

Today is my Grandma Stevens birthday.  Alice's birthday is the day after.  Whenever I said, "Oh, it's too bad she missed your birthday by one day" to her, she always said, "Might as well be a mile as an inch.  She still missed it."

Kind of personifies her!  She said it like it was!!  

She used to type letters to me when I was in college.  And she taught me how to play Solitaire!!

Love my Grandma!!

Saying good-bye to an old friend

 Today was the funeral service for our good friend LaMar Heslop.  I wish I had a photo from that first day we moved to Monrovia -  he was there with the other great men from the ward - Aulvie Bourgeous, Tom Smith, Bishop Neely, Kenley Holmes - and they helped us move in.

 Connie was our first babysitter in Monrovia - she asked after you!!

 The Heslops - and their extended family - have been part of our lives for many years.  I used to walk in the mornings with Polly and Shirley - after he retired, LaMar joined us - never a dull moment walking along with him!!  (And Clarissa Heslop shares a birthday with Phoebe!!)

This wedding shot was on display - I recall Shirley telling me that their wedding photographer ended up forgetting to put film in the camera!  So all they had were snapshots others had taken.  I frankly think this shot beats any stylized wedding photo hands down!

LaMar is the one who called us to be temple workers.  He and Shirley worked together at the bookstore on Fridays.  Lots of memories with LaMar - we will miss him!

Happy Birthday to Bruce!!

Can I just say that Bruce is the best!!??

We couldn't have done a better job if we'd chosen him ourselves!

Happy Day to you - and a good year too!!

Happy Day to the Birthday Girl!!

Talk about random photos!! I just sort of cruised through my photos - which are stored in pretty random order - will I ever get it all organized?? And each shot of Eliza had it's own story - I could go on and on. For this shot - can I just say, who can forget my hot pink terry zip-up-the-front robe - that I was known to wear all day long at times!!?? But Eliza doesn't seem to care!!

The Selanders and the Hamills seem to have been together from the get-go - how fortunate.

Sometimes when I see Eliza with her kids - it seems like they are almost as big as she is!

Eliza - along with her sisters one and all - came for Jonah's birth - what a special time for all of us.

Cannot do a birthday post for these lovely ladies without including this vintage shot!!

I was sorry to miss Boston this year - just because of all the fun times from Bostons in years past!

Kind of the Terrill Third Family!! (First being Bonny and Harry, then Phoebe - the true middle child - then the 3 little kids!!)

Hannah and Eliza do know how to get a good laugh!!

We are all grateful that Matt "won" Eliza's hand in marriage!!

Eliza is a great Dad supporter - as is Hannah!!

The "old days" when Bonny came home for quarter breaks!

Eliza was probably the youngest guest at Leslie's wedding - she was born 4 days before the event!! Hester is the other baby.

Not sure if they was Dad's b-day or Eliza's b-day - or maybe it wasn't a b-day at all - just a great day to clown around with Dad! (Isn't day young and handsome here - he's still handsome to me - but this is a fave photo of mine.)

Baptism - a special day!!

Dad wanted to name her "Anna Magdalena" but I prevailed - on the delivery table I said to the nurse, "Doesn't she look like an Eliza?" And of course the nurse said yes!

You all know that she plays the organ and piano beautifully, but did you know she also studied violin? A woman of many talents! Blogger won't let me go below this photo - I mostly don't understand Blogger.

But I do understand that Eliza is a joy and a blessing in our lives - and wish her the best day ever - and a wonderful year ahead!!

Do you know what happened 237 years ago today?

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

Seems appropriate for the day after I pick Harry up after the Boston Marathon!

So, do you know what tomorrow is - besides Eliza's birthday?

The Runner Rests on His Laurels - well, a park bench anyway!

I certainly was missing being on the sidelines for the big event. But so glad that Eliza, Hannah and Lars were there to cheer him on. His time was 4:21:54 - not what he'd hoped for, but with the 90 degree heat, he opted for "stayin' alive!" instead! (Good choice!)

He does make it look easy, doesn't he??

The Week That Was

Well, it seems like as busy as I was with the grandkids here, I was still able to blog more than I have this last week - when I only had school, my class, and rain - and a car that needed servicing - why does that always mess up your week??

Bonny's girls were loading up the plastic eggs with candy for the "hunt" and discovered that they had more candy than plastic eggs. Never let it be said that Bonny's girls are not creative - because indeed they are - and they came up with these plastic and foil packets of candy - rather large packets I might add, which made them highly desirable. Harry F. dubbed them "foil dinners" and the hunt was on!! They may take over next year!

Never let it be said that Dawn would let a little jet lag slow her down - Sunday a.m. and p.m. she cooked up this luscious "Peeps" cake!! Tasted as good as it looks too! (She and Harry seemed to avoid the curse of jet lag - probably because they are used to sleeping at odd times in their work lives.)

We went back to Lemon Ave. on Saturday, in preparation for the homecoming - and their car promptly had the battery die!! We were set though - the community egg hunt and mini-carnival was just across the street - and there's always Market Grill for lunch and dinner if necessary! (AAA eventually took care of the car.)

The bouncers were the popular venue, natch!

Harry and Dawn didn't manage to snag a leprechaun, but we found one!

Harry W. and I took sprightly spring flowers to Jonah's grave. Someone had put balloons there too. Easter was the 6 month anniversary of Jonah's birth - seemed like a fitting celebration of our sweet boy.

Why do all children know to put olives on their fingers?

Egg dyeing was a hit.

Miss Isla loved it too.

The kids all lined up at the top of the stairs before heading out for the hunt!!

A big thank you to Bonny & Bruce for hosting us all - even though they were a bit under the weather! A good time was had by all.

Another glorious Easter - and a special anniversary too -

Today is Easter Sunday. And today is also the 6 month anniversary of the birth of our sweet baby Jonah. It seems fitting that we pause to think about the death and resurrection of the Savior at the same time that we rejoice in the knowledge that Jonah is part of our forever family.

As I drove around Monrovia this week with the grandchildren, several times we passed the three wooden crosses that adorn the lawn in front of the Immaculate Conception Church on Shamrock. They put these up at Easter time each year. I am not sure exactly what part of their Easter celebration involves these three crosses.

Eve said, "I know why we don't have crosses on our church and why we don't wear crosses. We don't want to think about Jesus dead, we want to think about him living." It was one of those perfect teaching moments for me to say, "We worship the living Christ. Because of His sacrifice, we know that Jonah will be with us in the next life. This is a great blessing and one we are truly thankful for."

Then Eve said, "We aren't glad Jesus died, but we are glad that he was resurrected."

Jonah is still influencing our lives for the better. Happy Half-Birthday baby Jonah!

The Adventures of Harry and Dawn in Ireland

We will have to wait for a commentary on these photos as to their significance and location. But it does look scenic and lovely and green.

This one is a duplicate from the last post - but don't you think Dawn looks like Maisie Dobbs? At least the way the books describe Maisie Dobbs!

Forgive me if I've posted duplicates - there's a lot going on around here!!