Grandkids and Sleepovers!

Esme is here for her Grandma' s Birthday Sleepover - but I think we need to start calling them Grandma and Grandpa Sleepovers, because Grandpa is becoming a key player in these events.



And then Eve came tonight to join in the fun - and Grandpa thought it was pretty hilarious to hear them talk about the bubble bath they had while Grandpa and I were at Stake Conference.

Maybe you had to be there.

Happy Birthday President Cornwall!!

There have been days when the crown of "Birthday Queen" has weighed heavily on my head. I have been tardy about sending greetings on many occasions. So this year I have taken to blogging about the birthday boy or girl - I don't even know if they read the blog or not - I just fete them anyway!!

Sister Cornwall is out of town for a wedding and emailed us because she was concerned about her husband feeling neglected on his special day. And like I said, he may not even read this blog - but Happy Day anyway!! (The above shot is from a long ago Ward Pioneer Day celebration!)

And this is from a less long ago Young Women in Excellence evening - or maybe a New Beginnings. And aren't birthdays about remembering how old we are now - nothing like looking at an old photo to feel older!!

This is a "Feeding the Homeless" event - and it was '98 or '99. That's Noah and Andrew.

And of course, no post about the Cornwalls would be complete without a Halloween shot - it would be like doing the Terrills without the Ides of March!

Hope you have a great day,President Cornwall, and "feel the love" all day long!!

Weekend Wrap-up - again!!

Thought maybe some of you Terrills might enjoy seeing a Clifton Spelling Bee - maybe bring back some old memories!

This boy is one of my students - and he took first place!!

We worked at the temple this weekend and hurried home to make it for the end of the Corrigan's 50th anniversary bash!! Thought some of you would enjoy seeing Polly and Miss Shippen!! The gal in the middle is Corinne Steimle - who told me that Vera is always saying how bright and wonderful those two Terrill girls were!! (She had Hannah and Eliza - the rest of you are bright too - but Miss Shippen didn't have you in her class! And she didn't have Noah or Harry either!)

Sunday night found us at Esme's birthday dinner!! Yum!! Grilled salmon, ravioli, salad, corn, blackberries, bread and cake for dessert!

It was nice enough to eat outside - even though the forecast had said rain!

It's always nice to see sweet Ella!

And Porter wanted to join the "girls" shot!

GrannyBabs with the birthday girl - who is missing some teeth!! (Annika took this one for me!)

Ara - doing the candlelighting honors - and Lynn McLean joined us too.

"Shutter-bug Mom" on the job! I don't think you can see the "birthday banner" very well - very cute - thanks Phoebe.

Noah and Anna made the trek too - Noah grumbled that this was the 3rd time they'd been asked to pose for a photo!! (fortunately Anna didn't grumble!)

I bet if I went through my pics, I'd find a number of these - Dad and Bruce engrossed in conversation!!

Harry Son had to work - but Dawn and Harry W. - and the others of course - joined the party.

Eve drew this for Esme - it shows Esme, Eve and Annika with their respective American Girl dolls. I'm sure you can tell who's who. (The initials by each doll stand for Samantha, Kitt and Nell, I think is the last one. Someone will undoubtedly correct me if I'm wrong - as well they should - don't want to be perpetuating errors in the American Girl World!

No holiday tomorrow - too bad!

The stork has landed!

If you haven't read Aunt Donna's blog, be sure to go there for details and pics on Paul and Camille's new baby boy!

A plethora of birthday!!

Back in the day, the 22nd of February was Washington's birthday first and foremost. And you got the day off - no matter what day of the week it was. So that has changed of course, and we now just have the generic President's Day - always a Monday - although if we still celebrated Washington's Birthday, it would be a Monday this year, since the 22nd is a Sunday.

But there are actually 3 important birthdays on my birthday calendar. The gal to the left of me in the photo about is Julie, one of my instructional aides. She is great - and I love her! It's her birthday today!!

And this is a less that flattering shot - note the weird eyes that won't "red-eye correct" out - but the gal on the far left is Carla Sierra, our beloved Chilean friend. When you are looking at thumbnail photos, it's hard to know what they really look like. So here's a better shot from a few weeks ago. It's her b-day too!

And the man of the hour - our own Ry Nebeker - the first name on my birthday calendar - by virtue of his being one of our oldest - and dearest - friends!

Happy Birthday to all of you!!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

I'll bet I post this every year on Melissa's birthday!! You would think I'd check to see if I have any others in my file! I'm sure I do, it's just that this one shows up first!

But it's not a bad picture - and to show you how motivated I am, here's a more recent shot - maybe 2 years ago??

So, you can see why they call her "Melissa the Beautiful!!"

Have a great day!!

We love Esme!

Today Esme is 7!! Can you believe 7?? That means next year she will be 8!!

This photo captures the sassy streak she often manifests - and I can tell that it will stand her in good stead in the years ahead!

"Hmm, let me think!"

A favorite with the aunties - and the Grannys Babs!

Enjoy your day Mei, Mei!!

Happy Day David Lee!!

Phoebe either calls him "DL" or "David Lee" - whatever you want to call him, be sure to call him and wish him a happy b-day!!

This is David with Agnes on her blessing day in 2007. At the park in Lake Oswego.

And this is one of my fave photos - and I just wanted an excuse to post it!!

We love all the men who have joined the crew by marrying one of the Terrill girls (that includes you Robbie!!) (And we love the woman who joined the crew by marrying a Terrill boy!!)

And we couldn't have done a better job if we'd hand-picked all of you ourselves!!

But today we want to celebrate David and tell him we love him - have a great day!!

News to Note

Congrats to Hannah the bold, the beautiful, the brilliant, the brave!!

For all those who don't peruse all the Terrill blogs, go here for Hannah's great news!

(Once again the random photo - but don't the horn-rimmed specs give her such an air of je ne sais quois - our newly accoladed scholar?)

A note

Apropos Eliza's latest blog challenge, see my own personal blog here.

I'm just saying.

"How do I love thee?"

All the Valentine's Day hype has me feeling like I dropped the ball - but then I feel that way about a lot of holiday happenings.

But it did get me thinking. And with no school tomorrow - yay!!! I had time to blog about it.

Many years ago - 30 to be exact - and in February too - Dad took a trip to LA - we lived in Centerville, Utah then. In fact, we had just moved into our new house there - it was not really finished, but it was livable. Anyway, when Dad got back from the trip, he said, "Barb, I've been thinking," and the rest is history. (He had been thinking that we should move back to LA where he could go to work with his father.)

We made the decision to move - a decision I was not happy about - but decided not to tell anyone yet since the move would not take place until the summer. One of the things that the new house did not have yet was a dishwasher. And never in our married life before that had we had a dishwasher. In fact, at that point, I had never even lived in any home with a dishwasher!

So Dad put a new dishwasher in for Mother's Day - we still hadn't told folks we were moving - and many wondered why I wasn't more excited about such a great Mother's Day gift. (I still wasn't reconciled to moving.)

We have been without a dishwasher for several months - I haven't particularly missed it - we don't have lots of dishes. I think Greg and Dawn missed it because they do most of the dishes on Sundays. No one complained much when they were here at Christmas either - but then we used a lot of paper and plastic.

Dad was the one who mentioned it most often. I think it has been on his "to do" list for quite awhile now. He researched it - asked if I trusted him to get one without me - I was not up to going shopping - and I said sure.

So yesterday he went and bought it and installed it. And now the biggest problem is finding somewhere to put the bread! (for the uninitiated, while the old dishwasher was defunct, it made a rather admirable and adequate breadbox!)

I just thought about how these two events are coinciding - there have been other dishwashers in between that I was more excited about - this one is adequate but I could have lived fine without one - and I'm certainly not unhappy these days like I was 30 years ago.

But we aren't even pretending it's a Valentine's gift. We are not really romantics I guess. Not that there isn't a lot of romance in our lives - we just don't seem to go in for the trappings. We did go to dinner Monday night with Joan and Fred to Sesame Grill and the meal was superb - and the waitress informed us that Monday night was the Chinese Valentine's Day - so we feel like we've celebrated in fine style.

This is my idea of a superb Valentine's Day gesture - but I'm not sure that this was - I think it was for Harry to propose to Dawn - 9 years ago - can you believe it?? (That it's been 9 years, not that Harry proposed to Dawn!)


So the romantic streak is there in the genes anyway!!

I do love Dad, and he loves me - and we have had a lovely, lazy weekend that had no photo ops to speak of - so this will have to do for now.


(I did do a Valentine post on my own blog - just so you know that we are aware!)

And the new dishwasher works just fine - and the bread is now in the cupboard where the water heater used to be - in case you are here and looking!

But do watch out for our Ides of March post when it comes - now there's a holiday we know how to celebrate in fine style!!

Friday night musings

Bonny gave me a subscription to an amazing little magazine called Seeing the Everyday. I have enjoyed the articles, poems, thoughts and photos. (there is no advertising in this lovely little publication!!)

This most recent issue had an essay on marriage called "The Prosaic Marriage." The authors cited various Hollywood interpretations of love and marriage. One of the notations was about the film Tender Mercies with Robert Duvall.

We recently re-watched Secondhand Lions with Ara and Ella and I was reminded anew that I really like Robert Duvall - I've really only seen him in Lions - or at least that is the one that has stuck in my brain - so when I saw his name again, I wanted to find this movie. We watched it tonight at our own little Friday Night Filmfest and quite enjoyed the film.

Come to find out, it was nominated for 5 Oscars in 1983 - and Robert Duvall won for Best Actor! (Maybe all of you knew all of this - I'm a little behind in popular culture arena - so bear with me if this is all so "last year.")

One of my favorite things about DVD's is all the extras you can watch afterward - they are becoming an art form in themselves! And of course we watched all the ones on this one. I think it satisfies a desire we have to complete or round out our experiences. It's like reading a great book and then discussing it with someone.

We discovered - and maybe everyone knew it but us - that Robert Duvall was Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird!! Actually the director had done Driving Miss Daisy and the screenplay was written by the man who wrote the screenplay for Mockingbird.

They ran through all the films Duvall has been in - he was the lawyer in the first two Godfather movies - but the one that caught my eye was Wrestling Hemingway.

I'm ready to start a regular Friday Night Filmfest - as soon as I find Wrestling Hemingway.

Hotel Monrovia

We are delighted to welcome Falyn and her friend Andrew to stay at the palatial digs here on Primrose - if they can handle our aging futons, we are happy to have them!

Their destination is Disneyland - for starters anyway - and they are being joined by other friends who are converging on SoCal for the holiday weekend. (The other friends are staying at other places!)

It's always great to have company - the empty nest doesn't seem quite so empty that way!

So, what's new with you?

This photo has nothing to do with anything - except maybe to note that time is really marching on, isn't it?? For the uninitiated, that's Noah, Bishop Cornwall, Jacob M., Steven G., Andrew R., Jeff C. and David G. I believe the occasion was a feed the homeless activity - perhaps at Christmas time - or maybe on President's Day or something.

Some days I forget that I am growing older and am surprised when I look in the mirror. I know it's a common experience - universal I would say - but that doesn't change my sense of surprise at the passing of years.

When Annie Burnham died about 18 years ago, she was 62 years old - younger than I am now - and I thought she was really old. She wasn't well and had lived hard and so seemed older than she was, but it still seems like I should have noticed that she really wasn't elderly!

I was commenting to someone that I don't have problems with discipline in the classroom - another teacher actually - and she pointed out that age is a plus sometimes - kids are inherently polite to someone they perceive as old.

I prefer to think it's my excellent classroom management skills!

Check this out!!

Page 43, the newest issue of the Ensign - which would be the March issue - a beautiful photo of Mary and Genieve!!

See for yourself!

Happy Birthday Elder Clayton

Today is Adam's birthday - and he seems to be having a great experience on his mission in Wisconsin. I think it's a cold experience right now, but he always sounds upbeat in the emails Diane forwards to me.

This picture is from when he went to the temple just before his mission - and now he's on the way to coming home in the next few months!!

Where do the years go??

Have a great day Elder!

Another weekend flies by!!

It was another temple weekend for Dad and me, so we capitalized on it and had breakfast Saturday a.m. with Trent and Laura - she was Sister German for us here in Monrovia for many months. They are living in Santa Monica - he's teaching art at Santa Monica City College and she's finishing up her degree at BYU long distance. It was great to catch up - and to get to know Trent better!

Sunday found us hosting another crowd for dinner - it's always a crowd here - more than two seems to do that - but we love it - I said to Dad, "We don't seem to have quiet Sunday afternoons do we?" And he said, "No, and it seems like that's been a good choice!" I have to agree.

Not sure what Eve and Anna were discussing - but Anna was probably listening attentively to Eve's comments - which can certainly be charming and entertaining! (Ask her to tell you a "knock, knock" joke sometime!)

Greg and Dawn seem to be the perennial kitchen helpers - and what would we do without them?? At least Greg remembered his apron this time!! (As you've probably noticed, Harry Son is on a shift that precludes his attendance at Sunday dinner!)

Noah enjoys coming and catching up on his newspaper reading - he did comment though that there is really not much to read anymore - it costs more every month - and you get less!!

Porter likes to hang out in the family room - when I said "smile" he started being coy!!

We invited Jenny and her boyfriend Allen to join us - Jenny's b-day was Friday - and she's apparently been enjoying an extended celebration - as well she should. We were thinking that it would be perfect if she'd been born in January - because then she could celebrate "Jenuary!!" We enjoyed meeting Allen - and discovered that his birthday is on the Ides of March!! Is this auspicious or what?? (Augers well for them to get an invite to our annual fest!!)

Also, ask Allen to tell you a "knock, knock" joke - it's pretty funny!

Dad suggested S'mores for dessert - so here's Jenny apparently coaching Eve and Baby Harry on the correct way to deal with fire and marshmallow roasters!

And here's Baby Harry contemplating the stickiness of S'mores!

Charlie and Jeanette are here in town and they showed up for a visit. It was great to see them and catch up. They also enjoyed an online chat with Matt, Eliza, Hester and Brian in Virginia - Brian is in D.C. on business.

A long day - good thing there's no school today - it's that late already!

It's good to have family and friends you love to be with! (With whom you love to be??)