The Family Terrill

A few years ago, we decided to take a family photo on New Year's Eve.  Kelly Shaw was in town and was willing to do the job for us.  And she did a great job!  Unfortunately, she's not often in town over New Year's, so we didn't do another photo the next year.  Then we discovered Marissa Carlson, and started having her come.  At her urging, we did a big family shot - and individual family shots.  

It is great to see the families grow and change - here are the shots from December 31, 2015 - starting with Team Bolander - Bruce, Bonny, Ara, Ella, Esme, and Annika!  (sometimes referred to as B, B, and the Vowels!)

 

The Terrills of Lemon Avenue - Harry F, Dawn, Eve, Porter, Harry W, Isla, and Deacon.  (And in our hearts we remember baby Jonah!)

 

La Famille Fillmore - David, Phoebe, Henry, Calvin, Agnes, Sullivan, and Rex!  (We include cannies who want to come!)

The Selanders of Fairfax - Matt, Eliza, Theo, Ida, Lars, and Polly.

 

The Hamill Clan from Philly Town - Robbie, Hannah, and Rhoda.

 

The newest family group - The Terrills of Glendora - Noah, Taylor, Keesa, and Francis.

 

Maybe we should have been at the head of the line, since we started all this almost 50 years ago!!  What a blessing family is - we love them all - and look forward already to next year - although there will be changes!  Stay tuned!!

Happy Day to Phoebe!

Bonny and Harry started lobbying for a new brother or sister - and we were on board with the idea - but it just wasn't happening.  Bonny even told people at church that I was pregnant with a new baby - I think she thought if she told people, I would make good on the suggestion!

So we had a special Family Home Evening and decided to fast and pray for a new baby in our home.  Bonny and Harry both participate - and not surprisingly, our prayers were answered!

Phoebe's name means "light" and her middle name, Elizabeth, means "gift of God."  She has lived up to her name in its entirety!

Phoebe is and always has been an essential member of our family.  We are so grateful for the wonderful gift from God of light and delight that she is in our family!

Have a great year - and a wonderful day too - we love you!!  (Everyone does actually!!)

Music for a Beautiful Saturday

We attend the Messiah Sing Along each year with the LA Master Chorale at the Disney Concert Hall.  It's a long-standing family tradition which we once again enjoyed this year.  For the last two years, however, there has been a perk for the ticket buyer - which is me - that includes a series of 3 concerts.  

We usually choose the full Messiah, which we like to attend close to our wedding anniversary, since that's how we celebrated our first anniversary.  And for the last two years, we've chosen a matinee concert in January as the third concert.

This year featured the Bach B Minor Mass, a really exquisite piece of music, that was done beautifully by the choir and the orchestra.  The acoustics in the hall are wonderful, and they certainly added to the beauty of the afternoon.  The soloists were all from the ranks of the Chorale itself, and they too did fine job.

Prior to the matinee, we lunched at Phillipe's and scored with a parking place and no wait in line!  That and the beautiful SoCal day - winter in January that is like winter nowhere else - made it a perfect day.

We topped it off by going out to Bonny and Bruce's to pick up the blessing dress - and got a lovely dinner there, as well as a nice visit.

I love Saturdays - especially Saturdays like this one!

"And just why are you visiting Minnesota?"

So we just got back late last night from our very fun weekend in Minnesota.  Believe me, it takes a lot of explaining.  And I've been doing a lot of explaining.  But the Terrill girls have long loved all the Betsy Tacy books.  If you have never read them, you really should.  It will bring you joy - trust me!

They all own multiple copies of all the books in the series.  They have Betsy Tacy tote bags.  They can quote whole passages from the books.  Eliza was fond of saying that everything she knew about WWI came from the Betsy Tacy novels.  All things Betsy Tacy bring them joy.

They have all long dreamed of going to the annual Betsy Tacy Fan Club conventions.  They have talked about trekking to the birthplace of Maud Hart Lovelace, who wrote the somewhat autobiographical books.  The buildings and locations in Mankato, where Maud was born, all figure prominently in the stories.  I have been re-reading them since we went - and having been to the real place adds quite a dimension to the stories.

Finally Eliza just up and organized a long weekend away where we would visit all things Betsy Tacy/Maud Hart Lovelace.  She did a great job of researching and organizing.  Hannah got Robbie on board and we had some deluxe accommodations at the Minneapolis Westin Hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  The rest of us juggled our schedules and pulled it off!!

To add to the fun, we took a side trip to Walnut Grove and were able to enjoy some Laura Ingalls Wilder moments.  Some photos below show you the fun we had.  

But first I have to tell you how delightful it was to chug up Hill Street - the very same Hill Street that Betsy, Tacy, and Tib had chugged up - to the very spot where there is still a bench - probably not the original bench, but a bench nonetheless.  When the girls saw Betsy's house and squealed with joy - and then let out another collective squeal of joy when they saw Tacy's house across the street - both houses have these great signs in front of them - I was glad to be in on the joy!

They collectively raced up the little hill to the bench - an important part of Betsy's story - and all sat down together.  Well, maybe you had to be there - but I was there.  And it was great.  (Aren't you ready to read them now, so you can know what the lure of the bench is??)

I will post more pictures, but I'm still fighting fatigue.  It's the last week of school for me, and there's lots to do before I lock the doors for the summer.  So here are a few to get you started!!

 

These are from the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum.  It's not anything they'd feature in Sunset magazine, but it sure was fun.  (The town of Walnut Grove has 871 residents - it is a small town!)

 

Here I am in the little one room school house!!  (feeling right at home too!)

 

My girls could not resist posing with the cut outs!!

 

Phoebe and Bonny were ready to ride!!

This trip was so much fun - watch for more installments!!

Wrapping up a weekend in New York!!

The photos will have to wait until we get home. But I wanted to give a big shout out to Hannah and Robbie for the very fun weekend in New York. And kudos to Matt, Eliza, and kids for coming along for the ride as they say!! Everyone else had the same idea we did - it was very crowded - but no one lost their temper or their wallet!

We took the Megabus to New York - traveled through Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey - I love watching the eastern scenery go by - maybe because it's so different from western scenery - and maybe because I haven't traveled that way before!

I dozed off and on. Heard the girl behind me say, "Oh, I'll be there in about 40 minutes - I can see the Empire State Building." I jerked my head up and took in the New York skyline - it's pretty impressive coming on it that way. Maybe the LA skyline does that to first time eastern visitors!!

Robbie asked me last night what was the most memorable part of the trip. I really couldn't come up with one moment or memory. But I do recall thinking that it's really nice to see lots of the places you've heard about or seen on T.V. or in movies or in books or magazines. There are certainly lots of things we didn't do or places we didn't see - but we did see a lot. I call it a "drive by kind of trip." We sort of took an overview - mostly for my benefit - but we did see:

The Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island

Staten Island

Lincoln Center - and the Chagall murals there

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - did spend time in there

42nd Street of Yankee Doodle Dandy fame

Harold's Square

Times Square - 3 minutes was enough there!!

34th Street - you know, the miracle one - and Macy's too

The Empire State Building

The corner where Deborah Kerr steps out of the taxi on her way to the Empire State Building - and gets hit by a car - and you know the rest of the story - at least I hope you do!

The Manhattan Temple

The Federal House where Washington took the first oath of office

The New York Stock Exchange

Wall Street

Brooklyn Bridge - we walked part way across it

Battery Park

Central Park

St. Paul's Church

St. Patrick's Cathedral

FAO Schwartz - and the $25,000 Barbie Fusbol Game!! Also the Big Piano

Tiffany's - didn't have breakfast though

Bergdorf Goodman - love the windows!!

Rockefeller Center - the tree was not lit, but we did see the skaters and sensed the aura of Sonja Heinie!! (I am dating myself bigtime here!!)

We stayed in Brooklyn

And we visited Ground Zero - very impressive - even covered by buildings and fences.

It has been great to be here visiting and gadding about. We got in to DC around noon and changed and headed back to Virginia to find a late Sacrament meeting - and it turned out to be the ward where Tom's brother David lives!! Only in the church is it such a small world. (Although Hannah had a "tweet up" in Manhattan!!)

We return on Tuesday night - I think I will focus on staying off my feet!!