Category: Joy

After the storm

I drove through a heavy rainstorm on Saturday to attend a niece’s temple endowment. I was flustered by my commute and ran from my car to the unfamiliar temple in the rain.

I was greeted in the usual way by young and old temple workers, ushered through new halls, and given spiritual assurances that my visit was important.

You’d think that after years of temple attendance that these things wouldn’t surprise me, but that is the way with joyful things.

“Surprise!” Joy cries, as it jumps out from a hiding place such as a rainy day or a challenging relationship.

There was a time when I didn’t think I would ever see this niece again because of family difficulties, but I was invited to be with her on her important day. Poised and happy, she greeted me in the celestial room with a hug.

Later, when I walked outside, the clouds were gone and the brilliant afternoon sunlight descended like a confirmation.

Surprise!

Mark’s Senior Piano Recital

Well, we made it to our last piano recital, and it was a big one. It was a solo recital for Mark, and he played seven pieces.

I have heard nearly every practice session of Mark’s life in our home (11 years of lessons), but Richard and I enjoyed hearing his pieces played on this magnificent piano. Knowing all it took to get to this point made us really appreciate his interpretations and his growth as a musician and a person.

We had 44 in the audience. I wasn’t expecting that many, and we are touched that people came to cheer for Mark. Piano study is usually pretty solitary, unlike sports or band. So, having family and friends fill the recital hall to give one last hurrah for our youngest pianist made this a joyful night.

Just a list today

Enjoyed: an evening at Young Women’s camp with the bishopric.

Finished: 18 pages of visa application forms and instructions with Mark.

Played: a piano and violin duet on Sunday with Mark at church.

Wrote: a song for Primary Day Camp for guitar, voices, and percussion.

Struggling with: sleep while Richard has been away at Young Men’s camp.

Looking forward to: Mark’s senior piano recital.

Preparing: pepperoni rolls for dinner.

Loving: strawberry season.

Reading: The Count of Monte Cristo.

Collecting: so many screenshots of our grandson during video calls. 😍

Procrastinating: weeding the back flower bed.

A current favorite Book of Mormon phrase: “Publish peace.”

And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.

Mosiah 27:37

Accessible family history

This Instagram reel is an experiment to make my Grandpa Stewart’s home movies more accessible to my family.

One thing I have learned from watching his movies is that my grandmother was the star. ♥️

This was taken at the Spencer home in Salt Lake City at Christmas time in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother are beautiful in this clip. Carol is in the pale pink dress, JoAnn is in hot pink, and Lucille is in red.

I don’t know, I just really needed to see this film today.

I will post more short clips with music now and then. I look forward to sharing some very special family times with you.

This was a good day

This was a really good day. This photo, taken on a December’s early twilight, brings back many happy memories of a day spent together, working and celebrating family. It took some effort, but we captured a photo of everyone in their Sunday best. There is a chaos story behind most family pictures, but on this day, it was all good chaos.

50th Anniversary Party

We celebrated my parents’ 50th anniversary last night with a party and a program. One thing I can’t show here is the video presentation that Richard and I prepared from a mountain of photos and video contributed by family. It is too long to post here, but I think it was lovely.

The morning after an event like this is always sweet with memories. It was a treat to work with my siblings and their spouses on this party, and it was a treat to honor our parents. ♥️