The "Extra" Clifton Mile!!

There has been a  new award going around Clifton with the addition of a new principal last year - at the monthly faculty meeting, an award is given for "going the extra mile."  Then at the next meeting, the award is passed on - each recipient selects the next recipient.

Last May I received the award and today I passed it on - to Marcie Hoopes!

It is nice indeed to be recognized.  The new school year - all three days of it - has been pretty smooth.  The kids seem pretty well-behaved.  It could be a "honeymoon period" but it's been my experience that trouble-makers usually show their stuff almost immediately.

Let's hope that's still true.

And let's hope that a cooling trend materializes soon!!

Summer vacation is over; school is starting - sigh!!

This shot is from the house on Lime in September - notice I said September, not August!! - of 1979.  Bonny and Harry on their first day of school at Bradoaks.  Phoebe is standing there in her pajamas, shading her eyes from the sun!!

Bonny and Harry made out like banditos that year - school had ended in May in Utah - in August we moved to Monrovia - and in September they started school.  They got a couple of extra weeks that year!  (I won't even go into this insane trend in California for starting school earlier each year!!)

And now Bonny has already gotten her kids off to school last week.  Harry's kids go tomorrow, and Phoebe and Eliza's Theo go after Labor Day - the way it should be done!!  (In fact, I think someone ought to get real and have school go from October 1st to June 30th and we get July, August and September off.  I'm not expecting that to happen anytime soon though!!)

 

And that means I go off to school tomorrow too!!  I go kicking and screaming every year - I just have to get through the first day and then I'm fine - but getting there is brutal!!

 

I should not go on like this.  Noah helped me set up my room.  Lesson plans are lying on the front desk.  There is food in my cupboard at school - I will not starve.  

 

But I will have to set my alarm.  I will have to get dressed before 9.  I will have to think about what shoes I'm going to wear since I will have to wear them all day!!

 

I will let you know how it goes - in case you care!!

It's the end of summer (vacation), but the heat goes on!!

 We have been enjoying visits from Leslie, Sam, Adam, and Kylie and her fiance.  We gathered Sunday to celebrate the big 5-0 for David.  Here are some grandkids with their granny!!

 David's fave is Banana Cream - so I made one - and it promptly fell apart. Kind of like a slow earthquake.  Or a glacial melting.  Tasted fine though, so it didn't go to waste.

 Apron time - I finally made myself a birthday apron - you can borrow it for special occasions if you like!!

 Kylie and her fiance Jordan - they tie the knot on December 15th!!

 Bonny and family and Harry and family joined in the celebrating - which means the lovely Miss Isla was there to entertain us all!!  And Ara drove part of the way there!!  How can she be driving?  Didn't she just start school??

 Five siblings and Mom.

 David with the cake Diane made - at least it held together for the candles!!

 Harry's headed for the Hood to Coast Relay - I miss it every year because of the ridiculously early start dates for school.  What happened to the day after Labor Day?  (Or the week after, actually, when I was a kid.)

 He's enjoying some quality time with Phoebe and family - while I'm enjoying quality time with Noah setting up my classroom!!  (And eating lunch out and movies and lunch dates with friends and going out to GH - I'm keeping busy!!)

Enjoyed a visit last night from Miella and her mom and sister.  Her mom is here visiting from Nicaragua.

Guess I should take a picture of my classroom - even me I suppose - when I look at the staff photos - that go back to 1996 at Wildrose - I can certainly tell that the years have been marching along!!

They keep promising a cooling trend - but I will believe it when I feel it!!

Meanwhile so long summer vacation - it was nice while it lasted!!

A letter from Grandpa Clayton

My Grandpa Clayton was married to Agnes Marietta Busath.  They had 4 sons.  She died in 1934, when my father, her second child, was 17.  The two younger boys were just pre-teens.  I had never seen or even heard of the letter above that my grandfather wrote to his mother on Mother's Day, 1934.  My cousin Cheryl posted it to us on Facebook today.  She has been acquiring material from her father Peter Gilbert, and this was included.  My grandpa married twice after Agnes' death.  His marriage to Helen Barlow Pratt, which produced Peter Gilbert and Jane, ended in divorce.  He later married my Grandma Connie, the only grandma on that side that I ever knew.  

Connie was wonderful, but I have always wondered about the grandma I never knew.  My dad talked about her often, but he truly idolized her, so I didn't get lots of details that help you know a person.  We do know, however, that she inspired devotion and loyalty in her children.  And now it seems that my grandfather truly loved her also.  

My grandpa was not without flaws - and some of them were significant.  However, I am grateful that no one really talked about them until after his death.  We loved him so much - he was somewhat "larger than life" actually - and I would hate to have not had those times and feelings for him.  Reading this letter, I see that he was a man of many dimensions.  He was not perfect, but it seems like he was trying.

I am transcribing the letter here in case it's hard to read, but I love seeing the actual handwriting.  I also have a letter from Agnes to Peter from 1925.  I will post it some time.  It is revealing also - you see love that is struggling to overcome difficulties in their relationship.

Los Angeles Calif

May 12 - 1934

My Darling Mother.

              Tonight mother I am thinking of you, and wishing I were a boy again at your knee.  That you might kiss away my troubles as you then so often did.  It's a sad mother's day in our home for our mother with her smile and tear will not be here with us to-morrow.  It is hard to see the wisdom of our Heavenly Father in taking her from her children, but it must have been his will, and we are trying to say "Thy will be done."

             I am thankful to my God that I am your son, and that your example of faith and courage in your great sorrow, has been a heritage passed on to me, I now realize what your sorrow was when Dad was taken from you, no one can realize it untill called upon to pass through it themselves.

             I am thankful for your example of faith, constantly before me, a faith unwavering in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and from his teaching comes the only real comfort that we can find.

             I want you to know dear mother that I love you and now appreciate more fully your noble life.  My boys join in wishing you a very happy Mother's Day.

                                                                  Your Baby Boy,

                                                                                       Pete xxx

    

Happy Day to Hannah Rebekah!!

 Hannah was 2 days early!  This is unheard of in Terrill annals - every other baby was late!  All the way to the hospital I said, "I don't know why we are going - they are just going to send me home!"  She came just a few hours later!!

 Hannah was a climber - I had never had a climber.  She thought the bookshelves were ladders!!

 Hannah is a champion sleeper - she was out when her head hit the pillow.  As a baby she slept in a room with Harry - and he had an aquarium.  The hum and the lights trained her well I guess.

 This little dress was Hannah's fave - even dressed up as a cowgirl she needed her dress!

 She had a pensive side too - wondering why she's stuck inside I guess!

 She's always made good choices!

 She didn't have a lot of years with her Grandpa Terrill, but she capitalized on the ones she did have with him.  And she keeps the memories alive!

 Did you know she won a spelling bee?

 And loved softball?

 She and Eliza were often mistaken for twins!

 She's definitely a California Girl!!  (Shown here in Oregon!!)

 Can show a quirky side when necessary!

 Loves her dad!

 Celebrated her first birthday without me!!  (If no one had told her, she wouldn't have known!!)

 More of the "twinness!"

 Loves her little nephew Jonah.

 Always the accommodating aunt!!

She cooks and sews and is a regular fashionista - and she loves Robbie too (as do the rest of us!)

I could go on forever - but I won't.  Just know that Hannah is a special, important part of our family - and we wish her a happy day and a happy year ahead!!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary today to Helen and Pop - who tied the knot on August 19, 1938.  A wonderful couple!!  Hopefully happy memories will be with Helen today!

Happy Day to Lyn and David!

 Lyn - probably 1950 something.

 David - probably 1965?  Notice Joan's Nash Rambler in the background!!

When David was born, Lyn famously said, "Well, you don't need me anymore - you have a birthday to celebrate for someone else!"  Here they are in 1966.

David hits the big 5-0 this year.  Lyn is a year older than he was last year!!

Happy Day to both of you - and may the year ahead be the best one ever!!

Happy 72nd Anniversary to Bob and Mary!

Happy Anniversary to my great parents - 72 years ago they tied the knot - and we are glad they did!!

School Daze!!

Me with my instructional aides Beth and Julie about 3 years ago.

I've probably posted these ruminations on prior occasions - maybe I do every August in fact.  But I am looking to start school again in two weeks - summer vacation flies by faster and faster every year!!  (I  posed the question once, "Why does the time seem to go by faster every year?" and someone answered, "Because you are older and so there is more time to flash by."  Not sure if that's the answer, but it's a thought!)

(Note I said  summer vacation - summer is still with us and will be for many weeks I fear!!)

But when I contemplate the start of the school year - which for some points in my life truly did mean the end of summer weather and the change of seasons - I am impressed with the thought that school and all its controlling  parameters has dictated most of the days of my life.

I don't remember much before age 5 - and I don't remember a whole lot of specifics about my childhood.  But school figures prominently in most of the memories!  

Walking to school.  Walking to school with friends.  Walking to school with siblings.  Riding the bus one year when we shared a campus with Northridge Junior High.  Hiding my socks in the bushes when it was not cool to wear socks - and putting them back on when I headed home. Packing lunches.  Frosting the graham crackers for those lunches.  Begging for a lunch box and thermos.  Usually not getting either.  Choosing new school clothes.  Dreaming about having a dyed to match sweater set.  Wondering whose class I would be in.  End of school.  Report cards.  Homework.  Folding your paper so that there was an answer column.  Reports.  Projects.  Dad helping me with my posters.  Dad covering our books with paper sack book covers.  School carnivals.  Blackboard monitors.  Cafeteria food.  Rainy day schedules.  Pledge of allegiance.  Chalk dust.  Proms.  School plays.  Football games.  P.E. clothes - washing and ironing said P.E. clothes on Sunday night!  Studying for tests.  Exulting over good scores.  Despair over poor scores.  

 

(Mrs. Anderson saying, "Barbara, are you going on with math?"  "No, ma'am, I'm not."  "Well, I will give you a C in Trig then.  But you aren't ready to go on to Calculus."  "You have my word, Mrs. Anderson,  I will never take another math class."  I kept my word - I'm so old you could take 4 years of a foreign language in college to fill the math requirement!!)

Dorm life.  Roommates.  Choosing majors.  Homecoming.  Saturday night stomps at Cannon Center.  Hamburgers in the Cougar Eat.  Guys.  Cute guys.  Y Center Grand Opening.  Meeting Harry at same.  Working at the BYU Laundry.  Studying.  Study Abroad.  Reading, reading and more reading.  Writing, writing, and more writing.  Commencement.  Grad school.  Teaching Freshman Comp.

I could probably go on forever!!

The only times I was not in school were dictated by the times I was in school.  For a brief few months after I graduated from high school, in January of 1963, I worked in Saugus to save money for college.  So even though I was not in school, school was the reason I was where I was.

When I graduated from college, I went on the graduate school.  We even chose our wedding date based on the school calendar!  And when Harry graduated, we went on the graduate school at the University of Utah.  Even though I was not in school, I worked in the Registrar's Office and my schedule was dictated by school calendars and events.

When I stopped working when Bonny was born, Harry was still in school.  When he was through with school and I was expecting Harry, I enrolled in some classes.  For a few years I guess school did not impact us directly - maybe from the time Harry was born until Bonny started school 3 years later.

Then we started on the road to having our children in public school.  That started in 1975 - and ended in 2005.  There was even one year when Bonny was in college, Harry was in high school, Phoebe was in middle school, Eliza was in elementary school, Hannah was in nursery school - and Noah was home in diapers!  That was quite a year!

 

School memories and kids take up a lifetime.  Packing more lunches.  Frosting more graham crackers.  Buying more lunch boxes each year that usually end up being replaced by paper sacks.  Walking kids to school.  Driving kids to school.  Helping with projects, and homework, and carnivals.  Dressing up for Halloween.  Cupcakes for birthdays.  Room mothering.  Parent teacher conferences.  Book fairs.   Seminary.  Commencements.  Getting kids up in the a.m.  Getting kids to bed on time at night. 

In the midst of our children being in school, I started substituting.  Soon I was teaching half-time, then full-time.  School drove the days of our lives - not just public school either - soon college drove our schedules too - and drove wedding dates and vacations and trips too!

I am still teaching.  School still runs the show.  No one is in college at present - but probably before I retire, we will see Ara in college!

School will always run the show I suspect!!

(Where would our lives be without school?)

(This could be a book!)

Happy Anniversary to Phoebe and David!!

So, where do the years go??  For Phoebe and David they've gone from Provo to Concord to Davis to Portland!!  And along the way, they've picked up Henry and Calvin and Agnes and Sullivan!!

And we are all very happy about that - just like we were happy that August 14th in 1998!

Enjoy the day you two!!

Grandma's Birthday Weekend with Ella - version 2012!

The new blogger confuses me - but here's a shot that belongs at the end - the skirt Ella finished - now read on for the details - everyone knows I read the end first anyway!!

Can I just say that the Grandma's Birthday Weekend was one of my best ideas ever?  I love them!!  (Hopefully the grandkids do too!!)  Tuesday night we met up with Bonny, Bruce, Ara and Ella for a night at the Bowl with Yo Yo Ma.  Beautiful music under the stars just can't be beat!

The next day Bonny brought Ella by after their trip to San Diego to take Jinny to Becky's house and some Bolander cousin time.  We hit Joann's the next a.m. so that Ella could get to work on making a skirt.  She did a great job - we borrowed Dawn's sewing machine so that we could both sew.  I got two aprons finished.  Ella is a quick learner!  I certainly should have gotten a photo of the "dueling sewing machines!!"  Maybe next time.  (See above for the finished product!!)

Of course a manicure was in order - as was lunch at Market Grill!!  We did some good shopping for Ella - it was tough with the heat to be thinking ahead to fall and winter - but we managed!!

On Saturday, Ella was my shower buddy for a bridal shower at the Hoopes' - she won a couple of prizes too!   Then we headed out to Santa Monica where the other Bolanders were doing kitchen duty at the singles conference there, and we dropped Ella off.  No one mistook us for mid-single adults either!!

After that Dad and I headed home - with at stop at In 'n Out for burgers and root beer - this was obviously not a Weight Watchers weekend for me!!

Ella is a lovely young woman - and we had a lovely few days together - grandkids are the best!!

Can you name them one by one?

 Joan  

Lyn   

 

Barbara (with Mom)

 

Alice (with Harry and Laurine C.)

 

Charles

 

Mary

 

  Richard

Bill (with Anne)

 

Leslie

 

Donna

 

David

 

Bobby belongs after Bill - but can you believe this was the only photo I had of him??  Come on Bobby - let's not be so camera shy - or send me some photos!!  (Bill is tough to get photos of too!)

I had a roommate who prided herself on being able to name my siblings.  Even years later, whenever we met up, she'd stop and say, "Let's see if I can still name them!"

Too bad I didn't think about what I was doing at Mom's party - and then maybe I would have gotten an individual shot of everyone.

Oh well, now it's a goal!