Remembering... 40 years ago

Sunday was Miss Fiona's 4th birthday and Grammie has earned the privilege of being the birthday cake baker! I love this new role! But, actually, it is just returning to a very old role; a 40-year old tradition.

My sweet Mama gave me her cake decorating books and tips (because SHE wanted to learn to decorate cakes) so I could make sweet cakes for my children. I've reflected at how very kind this was of her.

This was my first grand attempt for Tony's 5th birthday. He wanted a cowboy and Indians theme for his party. Back then, when money was so tight, the 5th birthday was the first one where we had a *friends* party for our children.

I went and bought a new decorating tip just to make all of these fun balls on his cake.

(This is the same tip that I pulled out Saturday to create Miss Fiona's master-piece featured in a separate post!)

As I scanned and edited these old photos, yellowed with time, I started having memories pour forth from these simple images.

I think this photo is the one that really got me. The casual observer only sees Tony and Bekah with his party cake and cupcakes for his friends party.

I see-

• my old Formica table with gold flowered chairs that we bought or acquired when we moved to our trailer in 1974.
• on the window sill is the start of the first shamrock plant I ever had. Mike had been at a week-long training seminar in Shalishan, Oregon in January and brought back the funny little bulbs for me. It is potted in a Lucerne sour cream container.
• also on the window sill is a start of my Mom's Christmas cactus, tucked in behind my stylish curtains.
• out the window I can see our 1970 Chevy Vega, parked at the curb. It was my favorite green.
• Tony's #17 jersey is one I made him. Mike's favorite number was 17.

And this one of my darling family.

• Amanda is 11 months old, Bekah is 3.5. I love how interested Tony's sisters are in his special gifts and how he is sharing the experience with them.
• our not-too-long green shag carpet.
• my little rocking chair from when I was a tiny girl.

I'm so grateful for these happy memories.


**
And as long as we are on the memory train I had to share these photos of my darling Tony and his 2nd birthday cake.

I like doing things ahead of time... doing things last minute stresses me out too much. Fortunately I learned this lesson early on in my life and usually avoid a lot of stress...

but not this time.

We'd only lived in Priest River Idaho for 3 months when Tony's 2nd birthday came rolling around.

(Isn't he darling? I love his sleepy morning face!)

Grammy, my Mom, got him this red wagon for his special day.

He's put his favorite toys and his special quilt, made by Auntie Ann, in his new ride.

I'd made a fabulous cake for him. It had homemade marshmallow frosting that came up in beautiful peeks with swirls of dark chocolate on the top and sides. I put it, for safe and secret keeping, on top of the refrigerator.

Imagine my disappointment when I went to get the cake and found that the heat of the fridge had melted all of the marshmallow frosting down around the bottom of the cake. Luckily I had it in a cake-cover-plastic-deal and was able to smear the, now milk chocolate, frosting back up over the cake.

Funny story, but here's the thing... Tony was thrilled that his 21-year old Mommie had made him a special cake for his special day.

I'm so grateful for all the memories that came pouring out along with Fiona's special birthday cake!

The Amazing Gordo

My husband's nickname isn't the Amazing Gordo for not'in'!!

Several years ago we were introduced to Zipfizz at Sam's Club. Initially I was pleased with this *slow* energy drink and found that it made a wonderful replacement for soda (NO sugar or aspertame)...

But the security sealed wrap has proven to be a long-lasting problem. I've been known to stop strangers and ask for help in opening said seal! Without a sharp implement I can't open one of these vials.

At home I have a handy-dandy paring knife that lives in the drawer nearest the pantry for this very purpose. When I travel I take that knife with me.

A couple of weeks ago the Amazing Gordo thought about using a bottle opener. First he'd cut the wrapper and then use the opener. But yesterday, for some reason, he just tried the opener right from the start. It opened the vial like magic!!

Who knew??

So now I need to share my favorite Zipfizz story with you...

We all know that I suffer from dyslexia and, happily, a little bit of caffeine makes all of those random thought processes calm down and let me function a little more like a normal person (not that I've ever claimed to be normal!)

Three years ago I taught a VERY challenging class of 15-16 year-olds in Sunday school... I really had to be on my A-game. Luckily I had several who were wonderful, helpful, reverent, bright, strong, and spiritual. On this particular Sunday Witney came into class early as I was pouring Zipfizz into my bottle of water as I set up the class room.

Witney- What is that Sister Lewis?

Me- Zipfizz.

Witney- Doesn't it have caffeine in it?

Me- I certainly hope so Witney!

Oh, I love that wonderful girl. Who, by the way, gave her missionary farewell talk today. She is headed to Nashville Tennessee, Spanish speaking. She said, "I'll come back saying "Bienvenidos, y'all!!"

Tomato-y Goodness

My Daddy told stories with the best of Texans! He was born in 1897! No, that is not a typo... he was 55 when I was born.

When Baby-Jake was just toddling about some kind neighbor brought by a bushel basket of tomatoes and left them on the porch. Back then, in the rural pan-handle of Texas, folks believed raw tomatoes would poison you. (I never could work that one out!) Baby-Jake was a sickly little guy but he managed to get over to that bushel basket of ripe tomatoes and ATE THEM (dun! dun! dun!) Almost immediately he stopped being so sickly. He always credited his improvement in health to those tomatoes.

MY DADDY, BABY-JAKE AND HIS SISTER FRANK

CIRCA 1898

Thankfully, we know that tomatoes, particularly garden grown, are marvelous! And my little grandchildren totally agree with their great-Grampy!

Lasterday was our early Thanksgiving (I'd rather have ALL of our [local] children on any day than only part of them or stressed-out kids on THE day!) After dinner Fiona came up from the dungeon with a tomato and it reminded me that I have several boxes of ripening tomatoes ferreted away weeks ago when I put the garden to bed for the winter.

I had Kaia and Elise bring them up to the dining room table in hopes that I might be able to *pedal* some of them to the family. (It always amazes me at how hard it is to give away garden produce this time of year. We are all *so done with that* and just want them gone!)

Camille and I were sitting at the table visiting. I was holding my sleeping baby-boy, but when he woke up he wanted his Mama!! She was trying to send an email to a co-worker and not paying attention to Mr Chunka-Monka- who I was watching as he and his big sister, Miss Bitty, were sampling Grammie's tomatoes (THEY are not *so done with that*!)

That's one of the wonderful things about being the Grammie... most things amuse me rather than aggravate me! Chunka, with only his two little teeth, was making a good job of demolishing eating tomatoes! 

(Those CHEEKS! I DIE!)

When Camille noticed she wanted me to get photos of his tomato-y goodness... all down the front of him...

And all down the front of Mama! (She texted me later and told me he needed a bath because he smelled like tomatoes! Imagine that?)

He thoroughly enjoyed his Thanksgiving feast of first yams and then tomatoes for dessert! (Grammie had some of Suzi's wonderful salad for dessert!)

As Camille and I talked about how precious he was with his tomato-eating we remembered that last year, almost to the day, Miss Bitty did the same thing at Grammie's house.

MISS BITTY, 19 NOVEMBER 2014

She has her tomato in one hand and her [banned and illegal] Kinder toy in the other. (Stuart and Stephanie smuggled brought it back to me last fall when they returned from Europe.)

I can hardly believe that the little girl who speaks paragraphs to us today was this tiny girl just one year ago.

I was quite certain I'd blogged about this day, when Miss Bitty was alternately gnawing on the tomato AND the fingernail file! But I could find no trace of it. I even had to dig... dig DEEP, to find these photos. That's what I get for taking photos with my iPad instead of my iPhone. Fortunately I hadn't deleted them!

Tomato-snatchin' Swine-Deer

This post has been two weeks in the writing... not that I've sat at the computer for 2 weeks, but the incident that perpetuated this post happened two weeks ago today.

I've learned a wonderful truth... if I keep moving DAILY I don't hurt as much. I used to *take Sunday off* from taking my walk but soon realized that those are the days that I REALLY hurt. Welp, I love walking enough that adding a 7th walk each week is, frankly, a delight.

So, Sunday a fortnight ago, Harley and I were just returning from our evening stroll. As I rounded the corner into my backyard movement in the tomato patch caught my eye. I caught two 4-legged thieves in the act of pilfering my prized tomatoes. (I'd noticed a partially eaten tomato a couple of day before and thought, stupidly, that it was the birds!) THEY were surprised at my untimely return and bolted, not towards me and out of harm's way, into the backyard... from which there is no escape! (Dun! Dun! Dun!)

I brandished my dog-deterring, fly swatter, sans the swat, and challenged, "And now what are you going to do?!" They stared mutely back. I loosed my fierce hound-companion on them. They quickly sized up the situation and decided that this Grammie looked less intimidating than said fierce hound and bolted past me and sailed crazily over the newly erected fence and existing hedge meant to keep THEM out and ran home to their mommy.

I waved my swatter-less swat again and hollered, "And don't come back!"

I suppose that it was too much to hope that they would actually leave my open tomato patch alone, even though they've never ventured there before. This meant, you guessed it, more fence building.

My original plans from nearly two years ago had included this section that closes off the raised garden from the side parking area but I had hoped that I was really finished with the fence. No such luck.

I got another section of hog-panel and made a temporary fence whilst I build the new, TALLER section.

The first order of the business was posts. I measured and the center post, at 8 feet, landed right behind the beautiful boxwood bush on the left (pictured below).

WELL, THAT WASN'T GOING TO HAPPEN! I've nursed these babies for 10 year and they were finally filling the measure of their creation.

Plan change! I trussed up Bush 2 and Bush 3 like a couple of big fat Christmas turkeys and dug the center post hole between them.

The weather has heated up (it is summer, ya'know!) so I didn't work as fast this time. I took 3 days to put in 3 posts. That used up most of week 1.

Then a wonderful thing happened. I got a surprise visit from my niece, Jill, and her family. They've never been here before and wanted the 10 cent tour. When I showed them the partially constructed fence Doug, her husband, suggested that I carry the picket area at the same level as the first section of fence and then go taller from there, keeping a more cohesive look. I loved that idea!!

Saturday I completed the second gate that leads into the raised garden all by myself (remember I had a great teacher). But when it came time to hang it I called son-Kevin to the rescue me again. He brought Chloe and Ethan and they had a wonderful time climbing Grammie's new fence and finding *hidey-holes* under the grape vines.

Monday and Tuesday this last week I finished the fence off. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. The other thing that is an unexpected bonus is that, since I am slow, the new wood is taking on a wonderful patina in the elements. I like it so well that I'm not going to stain it, but seal it in a couple of weeks when all of the new wood is burnished red.

Gordon points out that the deer can still jump over the lower fence into the backyard and then into the garden. I just hope that the swine-deer don't figure that out before I get something tall planted along the inside of the backyard fence.

Keep it on the down-low for me, OK??

First Tomato for Daddy

Today is my Daddy's 118 birthday! Happy Birthday Daddy! I thought it was only fitting that I should eat this year's first tomato in his honor!

My Daddy was quite the story teller. We used to love to get him going on his stories.

He told us that he was a sickly little baby- kind of scrawny and puny. Back in the day folks in North Texas believed that raw tomatoes were bad for you (sad, I know!). His Mom had a bushel basket of tomatoes stilling on the porch and little Jake managed to get at them and EAT THEM! Rather than making him sick he started getting better almost right away. He always credited fresh tomatoes as the reason.

Jack "Jake" Homer and Francis Amy Caraway about 1897 taken by Fischer portrait landscape photographer

Liam's Puzzle Quilt

I don't know if it's that I'm getting older or if I've just made so many quilts that I don't think about it anymore, BUT I keep making quilts and giving them away without taking any photos of the finished quilt! I almost always have photos of the fabric AND the design wall but I've gotten lax in the *finished* category! (I had Camille bring Liam's quilt with her when she came down this week so I could get this photo.)

Be that as it may, I'm here to share Liam's puzzle. I am so pleased with how it turned out. (And it has a soft minkee aqua with white polkie-dottie back... but no pix!)

This quilt involves a good story... and you know how I love good stories!

Early summer 2013 I was working on Bishop Doxey's thank-you-quilt when a friend in the ward told me she would donate fabric for the back of the quilt from her business. I didn't even know she had a business! But I quickly learned she had some absolutely darling Riley Blake fabrics that would be just right for Fiona's polkie-dottie quilt. (I'd clipped the pattern several years previous knowing it was just right for a Camille-baby!)

Camille and I looked at them online and decided on these wonderful fabrics. They are beautiful, fun fabrics! I picked them up at the warehouse and stuck them in my fabric closet to wait while I finished the Bishop's quilt.

Several week later I pulled them out and lined them up on my ironing board... and although they were still beautiful, fun fabrics THEY WERE ALL WRONG FOR BABY-FIONA'S QUILT! So I quickly came up with Plan B... which was just right for Miss Bitty!

I carefully replaced these fun Riley Blake fabrics in the USPS mailing envelope I'd picked them in and returned them to the depths of my closet.

Fast forward 16 months... now I need to make a quilt for baby-Liam. Camille went internet shopping for ideas; she came up with a cute pattern- Connect the Dots quilt from  eQuilterPatterns.com with the predominate colors of aqua and red.

Well...

I still hadn't forgotten about the fun Riley Blake fabrics. I just happened to have a great start on Liam's quilt with fabrics JUST RIGHT for a baby boy! So I did what I do best... drove 2.3 miles to Corn Wagon to find more darling fabrics to round out this puzzle quilt.

The fabrics on the right are the ones I found at Corn Wagon. The four in front came in the neatest Riley Blake fabric panel made up of 4 printed fat quarter! PERFECT!! I pulled in two more stripes from non-Riley Blake lines to round out the collection! The red/aqua/white stripe also became the bias binding.

(And can I point out what a saver I am? Those teeny pieces up front will get used up in something else fun!)

A design wall is essential for a project like this. Mine is nothing fancy. I picked up a set of full-size flannel sheets on clearance several years ago. The flat sheet is a permanent fixture in my sewing room. I used to take it down and put it away but then asked myself why! I just drove my old sewing machine needles [instead of nails] through the sheet to hang my rulers, cutters and mats.  I can temporarily add the fitted sheet, now flattened, when I have a really big project.

I always take photos during the design process for two reasons- Looking at the small photo helps me see the color/light/dark balance better and if I get confused in the sewing process I can refer to my photo.

I also decided to add a red border (see the lead photo) to stop the eye and finish off the quilt before the fun bias binding.

And I can't just leave you hanging about Miss Bitty's new sleep arrangement. They got Elise's toddler bed out of storage and set it up in the baby room. Her polkie-dottie quilt is just right for her little-self bed.

Yup, and this involves another story. Fiona and I love to go on walks, frequently to Target (to buy Bunny Milk!) I found a beautiful, soft, purple extra-deep twin size fitted sheet on clearance (do we see a pattern here?) I picked out all of the seams and elastic and made TWO toddler size fitted sheets. I still had a couple of good size pieces left... but not big enough for a pillow case.

Remember those little piece I save? Welp, I'd saved them from Fiona's quilt too and scratched together enough to make this pieced pillow case. I even embroidered her name on it (It reminds me of my tiny-girl pillow case my sisters made for me with MY name embroidered on it!)

I have to say I absolutely LOVE to create!  It just fills me up!

Nature is Back in Balance!

I posted a pix to Instagram and Facebook last week when my bed went flat... the responses were quite amusing! So maybe I need to start by way of explanation-

'NATURE IS INDEED OUT OF BALANCE"

It all started in 1974 when I hurt my back loading firewood... wait... maybe that is too far back for this post, but a necessary fact nonetheless!

From there I will fast-forward to 10 years ago (Is that any better? My brother-in-law teases me that when I tell a story I go WAY back!) We'd recently moved to Utah and I was called as the Girls Camp director for our ward. I took my blow-up mattress with me, no sleeping on hard surfaces for this Grammie. Shortly thereafter I ran away back to CA because I missed it so badly! And I slept on my air mattress again for the 3 weeks I was gone.

When I got home I realized that my back didn't hurt as much (see I told you this would be important) so I decided to make myself a poor-man's-sleep-by-number-bed. Gordon and I had been sleeping on two twin bed mattresses pushed together to make a king-sized bed anyway, so it didn't impact his bed.

That first mattress lasted for a bunch of years before I had to replace it. The later models just didn't seem to have the lasting power.

Last fall I had a soap-bubble party out on the back deck locating all of the pin-hole leaks in various mattresses of different sizes and patching them. (Whew... this is getting long!)

ANY-way, about a week ago my air mattress, which had been patched, started leaking again. And since my back has been worse lately (lo, these 40 year later!) I decided it was time to get a REAL mattress!

I decided on a Novaform foam mattress, that is similar to the Tempura-pedic, sold by Costco. They didn't have any in the local warehouse so I ordered it at Costco.com and waited patiently on a Rube Goldberg make-it-do situation of leftover foam pieces, two pillow and a foam topper that used to be on the air mattress. I felt like I was sleeping on a trundle bed!

But Monday finally arrived with the UPS dude delivering a HUGE 72-pound box that contained my shrink-wrapped mattress. It took a few hours to for it to "recover" (Sleep Innovations term for getting un-shrink-wrapped) but...

BEHOLD THE BED! NATURE IS BACK IN BALANCE

And I'm not the only one who is pleased about that fact!

But here is the last bit of fun that came with my new mattress... the gi-norm-ee-ous box transformed by the Grammie-faerie into a Fiona play house!

She was a little unsure whether she wanted to go inside to get her new pony but Camille sent me a couple of photos last night of her thoroughly enjoying her new digs.

Christian's Big Day

Today, Christian's 12th birthday, was a special day. His Dad conferred upon him the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained him to office of a Deacon. We are so pleased that he is a worthy (and handsome) young man.

Since it was their Ward Conference today we all gathered at Doug and Jessica's home (which was quite nice and packed to the gills) for this happy occasion.

Grampy Gordon, Papa Dell, Papa Warner, Christian, Doug, Uncle Stuart, Uncle Kevin (Camille's kind of Kevin), Uncle Kevin (Suzi's kind of Kevin), Uncle Beau and Uncle Matt.

We are so blessed to be here to participate in these wonderful milestones.

OK... Funny story-

Years ago I was sitting in Primary with the older boys when Josh says to me-

"Sister Lewis, when do I get to be a duncan?"

"A DUNCAN, Josh?"

Yeah, a duncan. You know, those boys who pass the sacrament!"

"Ahh! A DEACON?"

"Yeah, yeah... a deacon!"

Today our Christian is a Duncan!

Somebody's Got a Screw Loose!

OMSH! I think that is me!!

Yesterday I wanted another ceiling fan, this time in the master bedroom. I just like how they move the air around on hot days. Somehow it makes 78* a little more tolerable.

Since I had previous experience last year, I knew that I could easily install this one. But is seems that I'm a little challenged when it comes to the screw part! (Sheesh!) Last year a posted this-

Okay true story… I was installing a ceiling fan today when I lost one of the mounting screws. I looked everywhere for it. Finally I had to go down to Sunroc and buy two screws that would work. I just took off my bra...tink, tink, tink... guess what I found? (7.29.13)

Because of that experience I wanted to be oh-so-careful, but somehow my Grammie-hands just can't handle the job like they used to. I needed to move the bed out of the center of the room so I could install the fan, of course that exposes all of that wonderful, long pile, brand-new, never-been-walked-on carpet that we installed several years ago.

I was very methodical, but, yup, still dropped a few screws, but they were all big and easy to find. Finally I get the screws that hold the cover over the lighting fixture and dropped not one, but two of the three screws! Great coogily-moogily! I glanced around hoping for an easy find, but these weren't normal sized screws they were teeny- not even a 1/4" long! (Are you kidding me?)

So I-

• Got out my high-powered flashlight. Ha! I found one!
• Used the strong magnet on the flashlight... no luck.
• Remembered reading that a way to find small things is to put a nylon stocking over the end of the vacuum hose. Yeah, not so much... I loosened my grip slightly on the stocking and the vacuum ate the stocking!
• Laid down on the carpet to get the horizontal view- erm, no.
• Tried each of the above several times. All to no avail.
• FINALLY, I started vacuuming very slowly and as soon as I heard a click on the beater bar, stopped and found the teeny screw.

I suppose that *All's well that ends well* but sometimes I like to have just a little less drama with my DIY projects.

"It All Started in Yosemite- 1912"

I love family history- most specifically, family stories. I grew up in a family rich with stories. So telling this one makes me very happy. I've known it for quite a while but I just pulled it out and dusted it off to use as part of Primary Sharing time last Sunday.

My Mom, Elsie Munce Caraway must have asked her father William Munce to write her the story of when/how she was born. The following is the letter she received from my Granddad. (his original punctuation and spelling have been preserved)

"Home
January 21, 1960

Hello Kido:

Well you have sure landed me a dilly of an assignment, requesting at this late date the mode, and method, of your arrival at 2010 East 16th St St in Oakland, Calif. on April 15, 1913

I'll have to go back to 1912 to get this tale off to the right start.

Our neighbors, named Garner, wife and daughter, talked up a trip to Yosemite Valley; said trip to be made in a covered wagon and a team of horses."

WAGON TO YOSEMITE 1912

"Dad supplied the transportation and we russeled up the grub; so bright and early one July morning we hit the trail, and enjoyed every hour of the four days it took to reach Inspiration Point where we got our first glimpse of the wonders of Nature."

WILLIAM AND ELSIE MUNCE AT YOSEMITE 1912

"We made camp under the Royal Arch, and for about ten days we were leg weary;"

WILLIAM AND ELSIE MUNCE ON MULES AT YOSEMITE 1912

"and then went over to North Fork where Mrs Garner had a mother and brother on a rundown ranch close to a small Indian village where we stayed about a week and then took the trail back to'ard home by round about roads arriving safely having spent about 25 days of dust and ashes with board and lodgings in the open."

GROUP AT NORTH FORK- ELSIE MUNCE 2ND FROM RIGHT

"Time marched on; and on one occasion I see Mother making baby clothes and asked her how come? She said I had planted seed under the Royal Arch and that she was going to make a daddy out of me, which she did, for she wanted her baby born in Oakland so here we are back where we started from.

When my Mother heard the news she was real tickled and told your Mother-to-be that she had been with each of her daughters when their baby came, so she would stand by.

On the 15th day of April old Dr Beckwith was on the job with all his equipment and you took your own sweet time coming out to see what kind of company you were forced to keep. You were a red, rosy, package, and I can still hear my Mother singing, crying and praying as she was giving you your first bath. She never got through telling folks of her new granddaughter's big blue eyes and ready grin; she was the proudest Granny in town and was happiest when she had you in her arms and sang to you some of the old time Scotch lullabyes."

JESSIE RAE MUNCE HOLDING HER GRANDDAUGHTER ELSIE LOUISE MUNCE CIRCA 1914

"Hope this is what you wanted; but if it isn't sing out and I'll try again.

Dad"

They had several other happy Yosemite vacations but no Munce-Yosemite-vacation story is complete without adding this last photo! My Granddad was a big man, over 6' tall; surely he knew the dangers of hand-feeding the bears! (Run away, run, run away!) But here he is... feeding the bears with his "machine" in the background.

WILLIAM MUNCE HAND FEEDING BLACK BEARS AT YOSEMITE 1930

The Joy of Photos

I've said this before but my memory works like photographs; I have a whole library of mental images. I think that is one of the reasons I love photographs so much. They freeze a moment in time and when I look at them all of the emotions from that moment come back to me with clarity.

After finishing the 8 bridesmaid dresses the next item on my To-Do list was to scan photos of Stuart for a video presentation to be shown at the groom's dinner (aka rehearsal dinner) and the reception. I leafed through 21 years of photos and pulled out the ones I liked the best; the ones that captured Stuart for me.

Not many days later Stuart informed me that he looked goofy in all of the photos (and that's MY fault?) He looked through 15 years of photos, marked ones he wanted me to add to or replace. I sent them off to Liz and told her she would have to get with Stuart to pick the ones that don't look goofy!

This whole *search and scan exercise* got me infected with photo-phever again! I want to be able to share these wonderful memories with my kids... you know, the ones who made these wonderful memories.

Working in no particular order I started in 1993 and decided to scan every page and label them chronologically so they will *read* like the paper photo album. (I have about 6 years scanned)

It didn't take long before this photo jumped of the page at me! Look at these beautiful girls! Rebekah and Megan were room-mates at BYU before Rebekah got married. So when Megan and Erik got married two years later I captured these two friends, and now sisters. I just want to cry with love for these two beautiful girls who have matured into wonderful mothers and women.

August 23, 1994

Another of my favorites is this one of Rebekah and Spencer. Rebekah is wearing a cute little jumper I made for her to wear in the ward road show. Spencer is just 2 months old; the same age his little Annabelle!

March 3, 1984

And here are Camille and Stuart when they were only 7 months old... just about the age of little Fiona. How is this happening to me? This fast forward of 30 years?

May 1986

OK... and then there's this one of my babies with mustaches...

 DRAWN BY DADDY WITH A PERMANENT INK MARKER!

He said they liked it. What really happened was he liked to vex the mama because they wouldn't wash off! Can you see how unbelievable cute these babies are?

April 1987

And my beautiful Rebekah again. She is 13.5. When I was that age I looked like a boy (Stuart, in fact, and whereas it looked good on him at 13.5, it didn't work so well for me!)

May 1987

No list of favorite photos would be complete without this one! These precious little children! What a joy! We have two more re-enactments of this photo. Camille just commented that we need to do that again. Wouldn't that be fun with them and their spouses and kids?

August 1989

And here is that same cute group... 1st day of school 1995. Spencer is starting 6th grade and Camille and Stuart are starting 5th grade. Such happy siblings.

July 26, 1995

I'm so grateful for all of these happy photo and memories! What a blessed life I have!