Happy 16th!!

I've said it more than once, but it's a truth that bears repeating - the best thing that ever happened to Harry is Dawn!!

16 years has certainly changed our family!!

Congrats to you both!!

Catching up - as usual!!

Got back this week after nearly three weeks in Virginia with Eliza, Matt, and family - and new baby Polly!!  It was a nice time - I always enjoy just being part of the daily life of our children and their families.  And it is work - but as Beverly at SMCNS always says, "it's work worth doing!!"

But I had not finished up my advanced blog posting before I left, so here's a happy 15th anniversary shout out to Harry and Dawn - who celebrated in style at the U2 concert!

 

And happy 14th birthday to Henry - grandchild number 3 and the first boy in the roster.  I won't even mention that I just can't stop wondering where all the time is going!!

We are heading to Menlo Park for Karl's wedding - will be fun to see all of Alice's kids - and Phoebe and Hannah and Rhoda too!!  (Bonny and Bruce and crew are coming up too.)

Maybe I will remember to take photos!!

Sunday dinner and other adventures!

Dawn's niece Mamie is here visiting from Idaho.  She owns a restaurant in Haley.  And she cooked dinner for us - it was great!!

It was fun to be together - and quite cozy as it got dark before we even started eating!!

Happy Anniversary - a little late!!

Is this what happens when you've been married for 13 years?  You feel like you have to clown for the photo op?  Harry has taken to making funny faces when I ask him and Dawn to smile for the camera!!

Sunday was their anniversary - and we were in Oregon - so here's to another great year to add to the total!!

More from Ireland - and that's no blarney!!

Harry said they stopped in Limerick to see an old castle -from 1200 AD - that is old all right!

Guess Harry is the photographer and Dawn is the model - she's cuter anyway!!

This is the cottage where they are staying.

Hmm - is she in trouble??

Not sure what this is - he sends photos, not explanations!

We had some "face time" with them today - the kids enjoyed it - they are doing fine and we are enjoying being with them.

"In Dublin's fair city, where girls are so pretty . . ."

Harry and Dawn went from LA to London - then on to Dublin - here are the photos he sent me.

It is indeed green! The comment I got was that it's an "adventure" to drive a manual transmission on the other side of the road!!"

Saying good-bye to a good friend -

We headed out early Sunday a.m. to drive to El Paso for Bill Cardon's funeral service. The plan was to drive to Mesa and attend church with Marcia - my old college roomie. The problem was two-fold, however. First of all, we did not factor in the the fact that Arizona does not change their time. Like smart people, they keep the time the same always!! We might still have made it for the 11:30 a.m. Sacrament meeting, but Dad got pulled over for going too fast once we crossed the Arizona border. Fortunately he got off with a warning! So we went to a 1 p.m. Sacrament meeting that was pretty cool. Pres. and Sister Udall reported on their mission as temple presidents in Paraguay. Dad especially enjoyed hearing about the early work in the Paraguay mission when Pres. Udall had gone there in 1956. At that time the mission included Peru!

Afterwards we enjoyed a lovely lunch with Marcia, Dea, and Dea's cousin. It put us behind an hour, but it was worth it!! And Marcia sent us off with a bag full of homemade chocolate chip cookies that actually rival Donna's! (They will figure into the story later on!!)

We got to El Paso about 10:30 at night and stayed at Doug and V.J.'s house. They were out of town, but their two cats kept us company!!

The funeral service for Bill was very nice - a fitting tribute to such a fine man. The chapel was full to overflowing - many came to pay their respects. Joe, Marjorie's oldest son, spoke, as did Harry F. Joe went over a lot of history that I was not aware of, which was nice. Funerals are often very illuminating! Harry's talk was great too - he did a wonderful job of personalizing Bill's life and the lessons we can all learn from it.
Dawn's nephew Travis played a medley on the viola which was beautiful, and a cousin of Bill's sang beautifully too.

We went in a long cortege to Ft. Bliss National Cemetery. The service was lovely - the military does do some things very well. Taps was played, and Marjorie received the flag covering Bill's coffin. Many paid their respects to Marjorie after the dedication, and the little kids were kind of running around. Isla wanted her mom, but Dawn was trying to visit with some people, so I had Noah get the leftover chocolate chip cookies from the car - and Isla was content to stay with Noah. The power of a good homemade cookie!!

Dawn with her brothers Bill and Shon and her nephew Travis.

Of course the ward did a great luncheon afterwards - ham and funeral potatoes - but these funeral potatoes has a Southwestern flair that was yummy. And the dessert selection was impressive - mint brownies, sugar cookies, rice pudding, apple pie and Texas sheet cake, of course.

There were framed photos from Bill's life on each table, and Travis had done a great slideshow. I should have taken more photos, but I was busy eating!! (This trip has done nothing for my weight loss plan!!)

We enjoyed visiting with the many family members who were there after the luncheon. The Cardon family is a large one - I had things fairly straight at one point, but I think I've forgotten some faces and names by now!! It is obvious that Marjorie has lots of love and support as she faces the days ahead.

Before heading out to Tucson - where we planned to spend the night with the Hamills - we had dinner with Doug. V.J. was still in Utah, but we enjoyed playing "catch-up" with Doug. And I finally got to have some sopapillas!!

We got to Tucson close to 11 p.m. Dave, who has to get up early for work, was already in bed, but we had a nice visit with Diane.

And the next morning we had some more visiting. Dad and I were thinking that we could meander our way across the country, staying with friends, for quite a spell before we ran out of friends and family!!

We pulled into Monrovia around 5:30 p.m. after a stop at the job site Dad is working on in Claremont. We have spent the better part of the last 3 days in the car - it's a good thing we all like each other!! It was not so bad - we had food - only had to stop 3 times for gas - and lots of NPR podcasts to listen too. My fave was listening to and singing along with the Christmas carols.

There were lots of beautiful flowers at the funeral, and here is a photo of the ones we sent to Marjorie. She is enjoying them at home.

It's back to work and getting ready to leave on Saturday for DC!! The fun never stops around here does it??

We will certainly miss Bill and his kindly demeanor. Christmas just won't be the same without him. For one thing, who will help Harry finish his puzzle?? But we do have some wonderful memories to reflect on.

Officer of the Year

Harry was recently selected as "Officer of the Year" for Burbank P.D. There was a dinner tonight to honor him and 3 other people from other departments. It was at the Elks Club - always good for a meal there!! This certainly beat the meal they served at the Elks Hall when Phoebe was on the Monrovia Days Court though!! Burbank is a bigger city - maybe that's why they can do it better!

We are proud of Harry and the fine work he does in his field. And we are glad that others recognize his excellent qualities too! We had lots of people come up and tell us how great he is! (We knew that already - it's just nice to hear it from others too!!)

Way to make us proud Harry!

Happy 11th Anniversary to Harry and Dawn!!

I have so many memories of the wedding and the trip to El Paso. My dad had died just two weeks before - but my mom said, "Well, if they told your dad he could come back, he'd say no, so I might as well go to the wedding with you." So she and Helen drove with us in the van. Did Bonny and Bruce drive with us too? It was a full car - it was fun. I recall that Brian Lee rode home with us.

And I recall that when we got to the hotel, it was quite late - but there were ants everywhere, so we had to move to different rooms.

And after the reception - or maybe the next night - we were in a parking lot in El Paso and saw Harry's truck - so Dad moved it!! (and then we parked somewhere to watch them come out and look for the truck!!)

The last 11 years have been good ones - not only has it been wonderful having Dawn in our family, but her mom and dad seem like part of our family too. Families grow exponentially - and isn't it wonderful??

Our best wishes to Harry and Dawn for a wonderful anniversary celebration!

A decade down!!

In the scope of eternity, a decade is a drop in the bucket. But the decade that has passed since Harry and Dawn got married has certainly brought many changes.

Mostly good ones, I might add.


Congrats to both of you on your day - hope you get to enjoy it!!