The annual bike ride

Our numbers were smaller, but the experience was just as fun!

"When the family gets together . . " at Christmas time!

We broke with tradition and had the Terrill Family Party on Thursday the 29th. (It has usually been on the first Sunday after Christmas, and it includes Claytons and Terrills!!) It was well attended - over 60 people were there - we loved seeing the Doug Terrill family, represented by Janae and Telare, the Kreitleins, the Dunns, Mom, Mary, and Donna, Scott and Farah, Frances and Dee, the Cieslas, Greg Smith and his family, all the Harry Terrills, Grandma Terrill, and we were glad to be joined by Marjorie and Hal, Blanche and David Card. It featured carols - led by Eliza, piano courtesy of Hannah - with page turning services by Noah! We enjoyed The Candy Game - thanks to the Kerksieks - and a very competitive pinata bashing session! Thanks to Harry Francis and Phoebe for some great soups. Thanks to all who brought appetizers and candy for the pinata. Thanks to Bonny for tons of hot, fresh bread! And we ended the evening with hot fudge sundaes - it was such a fun evening, I took no pictures, except the one below!

Bonny's familyspent the night - since we were heading for Clocker's Corner the next morning. Phoebe and David have been staying at Harry and Dawn's.

Everyone agrees that the the "new look" at Chez Terrill is great.

• The crowd was bigger than usual at the racetrack - it was a long haul to wait for breakfast - good thing it was warm and beautiful. And we had good company - and fast horses!
  

Later, when we went to the cemetery to visit Jonah's grave, Eve was at gymnastics and Sully was in the car sleeping, so I've made it a point to include them in other photos on this post.

Theo remembered the racetrack from last year!!

Here we are at Jonah's gravesite. With all the grandkids except Eve and Sully. I commented that I wanted a shot of all the grandkids at his grave - and someone commented that maybe we would note that often there is someone missing from a photo op - but never missing from our hearts!

Every shot had Annika's face blocked by the star!!

So here's her lovely curly-hair, missing teeth photo!!

We did pull off a family photo of Mom, Dad and kids - all with our matching sunglasses look! Dad and I could not ask for greater children!! We love being with all of them together - and with their spouses and children too - we truly have a "quiver full!"

Jonah's headstone was just installed this week - they did a lovely job. It is sweet to remember this little boy who means so much to our family.

"It's beginning to look a lot like a kitchen!!"

The cupboards are still in the painting process - the cold weather slows down the drying time. But we don't let a few undried cupboard doors stand in our way!! Dawn and Arcelia came today, and we made a significant dent in the organization process.

I guess I should say that Dawn made a significant dent in the organization process - since she is definitely the Organization Queen!! I knew it to be true, but seeing her in action was inspiring. Arcelia of course is just a dynamo - doesn't seem to get tired!! I was one fortunate woman today!!

I am loving my pull out shelves!!

And the increased number of shelves that I have!!

A small miracle occurred - the cabinet guys called and said they had an opening for us - and so now the countertop is in. Nathan Miller comes tomorrow a.m. to install the faucet.

And hopefully the cupboard doors will be in condition to be hung.

A lot of the clutter is disappearing - well, it's not really disappearing - it's taken up residence in the family room and my little office. But it is progress!

I wanted to use the blanket chest as a lamp table - seemed like our new floors and paint just didn't go with my Michael's flimsy plant stand that has served as a lamp table all these years - but Dad wasn't sure. I persuaded him to give it a try. So tell him how great you think it looks!!

It's hard to get the whole room in one shot - but it is starting to feel like home once more!!

The stove and fridge are in - the microwave, vent hood, and dishwasher are in transit somewhere. Dawn even alphabetized my spices - she is one top-notch organizer - she should be in business - but maybe then she wouldn't enjoy it as much.

Phoebe, David, and kids are in town - at Harry and Dawn's - camping out in the attic-playroom. Let the wild rumpus begin!!

Happy Anniversary to Eliza and Matt!!

What's with this fascination with Christmas weddings?? The joke's on me, of course, since Harry and I started it off that way!! And seriously, a December wedding is lovely - you just won't get it celebrated all that much as the years go by - you will either have no time, no money, or both!!

Eight years ago - can it have been that long ago?? It can indeed - the years fly by - and it was a lovely wedding, and a lovely reception, and it's a lovely family that is the result these days!!

We are excited to see this happy family this week!!

We'll babysit so you can flick out or something fun like that!!

That will be lovely, I am sure!!

Not much to report!!

Christmas Eve was fun and very low-key - so low-key that I forgot to take any photos! We had a nice dinner at Harry and Dawn's house - joined by my mom, Donna and Mary. Also Greg, Miella, and Kevin. Noah spent Christmas Eve at our house so that Santa would know where to find him!!

One of his favorite gifts - in fact, I would go so far as to say his absolutely most favorite gift - was the 40+ year old sterling silver mustache comb that Dad gave him! (I gave it to Dad over 40 years ago - before shopping on the internet came into vogue - and even before catalog shopping came into vogue. It was featured in a Woman's Day article about "unusual gifts for the man in your life" or something like that. So I called up Neiman-Marcus and ordered it. It went well with the sterling silver razor I ordered the next year. But alas, Dad no longer has a mustache - and they no longer make the razor blades that go in the razor, so the one will become a museum piece, and the other is happily hanging around Noah's neck!)

I coerced Dad into hanging some pictures on Christmas Eve - I said, well there are no Santa chores to do, so let's do some regular chores!! It can be your gift to me - along with the faucet for the kitchen sink!

Things are taking shape - slowly, slowly - and the workmen are here this morning in the kitchen. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Christmas Eve - 2011

The holiday season can now begin - we have a Popcorn Cake from the Cards. Whatever will we do if they ever give up making them??

This is going to go down on record as "The Year Without a Christmas Tree." We are still in disarray - although if you've been hanging out here much you will see some progress. Harry commented tonight, "It doesn't feel very Christmasy without doing any decorating." (What does he mean? There are poinsettias on the porch!!)

The painters were here today - but they didn't accomplish as much as we had hoped they would - the job is just more tedious and time-consuming than we had counted on- because they were working hard all day. They are painting the cabinets - so the fronts had to be removed, sanded, and primed. And the rest of the kitchen had to be masked. Until all the kitchen goods get back in the kitchen - and quit taking up all the space in the guest room, family room, garage, etc. - it's going to feel chaotic. I had hoped to spend Monday putting everything back - that may not happen though.

We did wash the living room windows and curtains. Put the blinds back up. Arranged the furniture. Dusted the floor and furniture. Unpacked my Garnet Hill ottoman - which I love btw! Not sure when I can get Harry to hang the pictures - I'm not so anxious to fill up the walls, but I am anxious to free up some space on the floors!

Here is Noah's Christmas!! Even had to buy a stocking - I was not about to haul down boxes and unpack more stuff! And our tree has a star!!

Harry brought me a lovely bouquet for our anniversary.

It is actually festive around here - carols on the stereo, Christmas cards piling up in the basket for your reading pleasure when you arrive, I'm wearing my green and red earrings, lots of tangerines to eat.

It will all be fun to talk about next year!

44 years ago today!

I'm pretty sure I use the same photos every year - there are only a handful of wedding pictures from the great day - so there aren't too many choices. But this is what we looked like then!!

And this is what we look like 44 years later!!

The women at Curves were duly impressed that I'd been married so long. One woman said, "That's a lot of years to be getting along with each other!"

(She doesn't know that Harry is a saint - you would think that I would have acquired more of his calm, patient demeanor!!)

But I do appreciate his good qualities - maybe not enough - but I try!!

Happy Anniversary to the "best man!!"

Happy Birthday Scott!

Happy Day today to the man we used to call "Scotty-Whatty-Doo-Dah!!"


The smart-alecky kid who would say to Grandmother Taylor, "I know, I know, I look just like your brother Orson!!" (This would be said after she'd pointed out - several times - that the cowlick in the back of his head was a Douglas trait - but she meant well!!)

Scott is always there, and always supportive - a great oldest child - and oldest grandchild!!

Have a great day - and a wonderful year ahead!!

Weekend Update

Not only does Harry's old camera - which I have appropriated - insist on putting all the pictures in the 2005 file - where I have a hard time locating them - but for some reason blogger puts them in a pretty random order. So here's a somewhat random report on the last few days.

We were at Harry and Dawn's today to celebrate Harry's birthday - and so the "girl cousins" were having fun in the guestroom - they were watching some Dr. Seuss video I think.

Dawn has done most of the hostessing for the last several weeks - she is truly the "hostess with the mostess" as they used to say!!

I went over there this afternoon to bake my 45th pineapple upside down cake. (We've only been married 44 years, but one year I made two of them!!)

Of course, Helen joined in the festivities - after all, she's the mom of the birthday boy!!

Some "Chutes and Ladders" going on here.

To give Dawn a little break, I brought the kids over to our house - we hunkered down in the garage for some "Golf" - and we each won a round!

There's never a shortage of helpers for the candle-blowing activity!!

On Saturday, Bobby, June, A.J., Mom, and Donna came out to Pasadena, and we had lunch together. They came for a brief visit - it was great to see them.

The living room if full of the new cabinets - but you can see a bit of the new rug we got. I'm loving it - Dad is getting used to it!

They come tomorrow to install the cabinets - hopefully the living room will be empty of them soon.

Harry - standing in front of one of the new cabinets - with slide out shelves - we are getting excited to be putting stuff away one of these days!!

Saturday night was the ward Christmas party - Helen joined us then too. I was late for it - I attended Alana Finlay's wedding reception - it was fun to see lots of old friends. Our ward party had a lovely program too.

All the hustle and bustle seems strange since we are still in "construction mode" around here - Christmas will come - we will not be ready. We are banking on being ready for New Year's Eve!!

Happy Day to Dad!!

I probably tell all the same birthday stories every year. Maybe it's because they are good stories though!! What I was thinking about this time though was how random these photos are that I chose. This is the way Dad looks these days - so that's not so random is it?

And for every season except summer, you can see him in his blue Patagonia parka. He is always cold - that's what you get for being thin!

At this holiday season, I frequently think of the Christmas holidays spent in Harris' house in Centerville - for those not in the know, we rented a house from a couple who were on a mission - for 18 months we lived in a "real" house in a "real" neighborhood. It was a lot of fun.

I like this shot of Dad - makes me think of the "old" days when we had mini-blinds and the blue couch and chair. Good times!!

I've posted this before - it's the day before Dad left to come home from his mission - in Iquique, Chile, with a fortune teller - who told him he was going on a long journey and he would meet a beautiful woman. (That would be me, no doubt!!)

Dad has never minded having a holiday birthday - and he's not hard to please - we may not have a kitchen this year, but I will still make his pineapple upside down cake - it will be the 44th one I've made!!

Happy Day to the "best" man!!