Grandpa John liked to tell his experiences from WWII. Richard got him to speak before a camera in 2004. In memory of those who didn’t make it home, and in memory of Grandpa John, we share this video of him telling about an experience he had while sailing on a Liberty ship from Australia to Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
We’ve been entertaining guests. Since we are not very good at conversation or selling ourselves as interesting (I’m convinced it’s all in the selling… ), we compensate by eating interesting food when company comes. Richard smoked some ribs and chicken. We feasted on various things and ate a few pounds of Utah candy. It was nice to have Richard’s parents at our place.
We celebrated our 16th anniversary by having our portrait taken. It’s one of our best. I fell asleep as I was putting Mark to bed and didn’t find my anniversary gift on my bedside table until the day after, confirming that I am just as awesome a wife as this picture portrays.
Sarah and Bryan came to our house for the afternoon. We packed a picnic, loaded it into a basket and Mark’s jeep and we made our way to the park by our house. We ate big sandwiches, fresh strawberries and raspberries, chips, and snickerdoodles. YUM. Some of us played frisbee…
And some of us ran through the sprinklers.
And one of us just took pictures, which is all she wanted to do anyway.
Mark, as driver, learned the inherent privileges of driving with food in the front seat. Sampling!
Sarah taught us how to make truffles. We made milk chocolate truffles and raspberry truffles; some we decorated with white chocolate and drizzles; others we rolled in sprinkles, making them less edible, but very colorful.
And yes, they do taste *THAT* good.
Thanks for a fun visit, Sarah and Bryan. Come again soon!
It’s our springtime tradition: a new suit or dress and the big ensemble concert at Centennial Hall. This was Paige and Daniel’s 4th year to participate in this concert.
We invited some friends to join us. Daniel didn’t hang out with us in line because he was with his piano duet partner. Yes, Paige is taller than I am in this picture. We’re both wearing heels. I’m posting this even though I look old.
We saw some Family at the concert! Bryan’s sister was in the concert, too.
Paige and her piano partner played one of the big Steinway concert grand pianos in the front. They played the Liebeslieder Waltz by Johannes Brahms.
Paige is wearing my formal concert skirt with a shimmery silver top from her own closet.
Daniel, always the brave and independent one, went up to the conductor to thank him when it was over. He played the Russian Sailors’ Dance which was just incredible.
The kids have been writing about their grandparents. I’ve noticed a common theme in their writing and it is that grandparents are a lot more lenient about rules.
“Grandpa always sneaks cookies to me.”
“Grandma and Grandpa let us go mattress surfing down their stairs.”
“They let us poke through their house and mess up the bricks in the backyard.”
How great is that?
Richard has been going through pictures this week and he asked that I cull oh, about most of them. This one survived the cut because it shows Timothy really enjoying his time on the bumper cars with Daniel and his cousin Ray.
Timothy will jam his tongue into his cheek to suppress a smile if he thinks he is the only one smiling. He’s a soft-spoken sweetheart of a boy. He is very funny when he feels comfortable. I am glad that he has so many cousins whom he calls friends.
Look out, Timothy. I’m coming to hug and kiss you for no reason.
I was feeling guilt for posting this picture earlier today with no accompanying text, so here’s a quick post from a little bit frazzled and trunky Angie:
We’re all very, very cold in this picture. If you look carefully, you might see shadows of coats flying midair; we had just torn them off so we wouldn’t look puffy. This is the photo of Dale and Lorraine Ross and their posterity gathered for the occasion of their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
We then moved to Rebecca’s home where we tried to eat 50 pounds of roast beef. We failed, but we’ll keep at it until it’s gone.
We’re home. It feels like Christmas all over again as we unpack well-thought gifts and generous donations for our warmth in mind. Texas and Arizona have poorly tempered us for cold weather. Thermostats were pushed to their limits; every hat and scarf available was shared in pity and kindness.
There was rain, snow, slush, a melted cargo carrier, drenched gifts and subsequent re-wrapping (dismay!), timely mugs of hot cocoa, a Christmas pageant, a ski resort, laser tag, sledding, more timely mugs of hot cocoa, a movie, frozen freeways, many doggies under one roof (sorry), a trip INSIDE the Missionary Training Center for church, and a lot of food.
Name a food. (Did you do it?) I’m pretty sure I ate whatever it was that you said at some time on this trip.
Now name another food… BINGO! I’m telling you. We were served one of everything and two of anything else.
It was a long time to be away, but already my memories of time with family are growing hazy and golden-hued. Eventually, even the dog will develop a halo in the halls of memory. Here’s hoping it’s the same for everyone else, too, when you think about us. We know two weeks was a long time to entertain us.
We’re unpacking and taking down Christmas decorations at the same time. Now and then I sit down and watch Richard’s movie about his parents and then I page through a book of paintings. I lack focus, but focus will eventually return and the memories will get pushed aside. Until then, I’m just enjoying it. I think you know what I mean.
Happy New Year!
Happy Christmas wishes to all. Here’s a picture of our family nativity on Christmas Eve. The Savior lives!
We made graham cracker “gingerbread” houses with Grandma and Grandpa.
These colors are irresistible on Paige’s house. I like the decorative frosting curlicues, the tootsie roll mosaic on the front, and the flawless star she made from a gumdrop on her first try.
Daniel spent time on a wood pile, fence, sparkly snow, and a marshmallow snow house out back for a Boy Scout winter camp.
Timothy has very classic taste. It took a long time to place those sprinkles in a row on the roof. I love the Lifesaver wreath.
Mark spent a very long time working on his house. He and Grandpa built a Ramada, a very tall “Dr. Seuss” Christmas tree, and scattered sprinkles… many sprinkles. I like the cereal windows and the “M” for Mark.
Our family is held together with royal icing traditions like this.
We decided that Grandpa needed to see the Air and Space Museum where he could see hundreds of planes and drink up some history.
The boys spent most of their time with this big guy (Blackbird). Its allure was power, speed, spy capabilities, and history.
Richard asked for a picture alone with the plane to remember the special moment in his life. (Richard, are you reading this?)
I enjoyed the museum, not for the planes but for the walking history inside its hangers. There were veterans and historians everywhere just ready to tell you their stories. I loved the displays about individual pilots with their uniforms, photos, and mementos. As much as I enjoyed the day, I did not experience the museum on the same level as the boys. Oh, boys in paradise…
Here are a bunch of shots of kids. This picture above shows a real plane.
This was very educational… for me. I saw my boys like I have never seen them before.
When Mark gets angry he threatens that he will not come and visit me someday in his airplane.
Daniel helped with transportation.
And since most readers of this blog are girls, here’s one for you:
Tomorrow I’ll share our gingerbread house masterpieces.
