August 2011

We started out the month by celebrating my niece Carmen's 11th birthday. She passed away, as you may remember, in February 2009. Her birthday is August 10. She was born in 2000. Every year on her birthday we bring her mom and dad yellow roses (yellow for remembrance)--one rose for every year since her birth. This year we went to Brentwood to deliver the flowers and we joined Dorothy and some of the children in visiting Carmen's grave and releasing balloons--one balloon for each person. We said a family prayer and talked about what we remember about Carmen. If you look carefully in this large tree above, you may see my nephew Timothy (he's wearing a red shirt). If you look even more carefully, you may see a red dot in the sky to the right of the tree. It is one of the balloons we released. We watched them until we couldn't see them any more. How we miss our Carmen.

In happier news, this month Cliff and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary. I first fell in love with this man when I was 16 years old and I have not been out of love since. That makes 28 years of loving him. I've been WITH him longer than I've been WITHOUT him. I'm grateful for a happy marriage to a man who does his best to fulfill my every wish.

I had a birthday in June. My sister called me around my birthday and said, "I saw a piece of jewelry I thought you would like, but then I thought I'd rather buy you a plane ticket to come visit me for your birthday. Would that be okay?" "YES!!!" I said. I didn't even have to think about it. After some jockeying around of dates for her family and mine, we chose the second week in August during which I got to fly to Seattle and spend a week with her and her family. Yay!!

My sister just bought a little Mazda Miata. Blue. Convertible. We drove that little car everywhere, and when she was at work and I had places to go, she let ME drive that little car everywhere. Such fun! I meant to take a picture of it, but I forgot.

I did, however, take a photo of this dish:

My sister, who spoiled me every day of my visit and didn't let me pay for a THING myself (she is so good!) took me to a very good sushi restaurant in West Seattle (or is that East Seattle? Can't exactly remember). She ordered for us: the chef's choice meal, where the chef chooses several courses to bring to your table. I think we had 4 or 5 courses and dessert as well. All were very delicious. There was a lot of raw fish involved, which I actually truly enjoyed. If all sashimi and nagiri were this delicious, I would crave it continually! This bowl, however, gave me pause. It contained 4 entire fish--smelt, deep fried. The sauce was sweet and sour, the greens delicious. But to eat the whole fish! The head, the spine, the bones.... well! I managed the first one, all complete. It tasted delicious! But on my second little fish I just could NOT manage that spine! I confess--I pulled it out and ate the flesh on its own. But what a good meal! A little culinary adventure for me.

We also went: to Vashon island on the ferry:


Hello beautiful sister! My brother-in-law had taken the kids camping for the weekend, so Jessica and I were free to amuse ourselves howsoever we liked. I had never been on a ferry before and I loved it! I always love the water and being on the water in a big boat (the bigger the better, to me) was very fun. It was great to be able to just drive the car off afterwards. She let me drive her speedy little car all over the island, stopping only for bookstores. Paradise!








We went on walks, including a long one, at sunset, to their beach.

















My sister is all about activity. She climbs the walls if she is required to stay still for too long. We played badminton, we walked to the store, we walked to the beach, we played frisbee. She is also a great cook! Every meal is filled with a variety of delicious things. I live with a great cook, so that's not so new to me. And I do exercise regularly. But not like my slender sister! She dragged me all over the place. And when I got home and got on the scale, I had lost 2 pounds. Wow. My own little health spa. I can't wait to return!

We also visited: the Seattle aquarium



The sculpture park in Seattle:






I loved it all. My sister and I had long talks, I attended her ward in Seattle (loved that!), I spent oodles of time in her bookstore, which I also LOVED. How I wish I could live in Seattle and work in that little shop every day and learn the business from her! I read and read and read while I was there too--one of my very favorite things to do. I visited with my brother-in-law Chris, one of the kindest men around. I met a few of Jessica's friends. I had pastries from the bakery every day (and hot chocolate quite a few of those mornings too). I went book shopping at thrift stores with my sister. I arranged and labeled shelves in the store. I also got to visit my very good friend Charlene Jensen in Snohomish. It was an hour's drive from my sister's house and she let me take the Miata. The wind in my hair, the gentle Seattle sun on my face, lunch and visiting at Charlene's--what a treat! All in all, it was one of the best weeks I had this summer. One of the sweetest parts for me was spending time with Gemma, Miles and Peyton. I treasure my relationships with my nieces and nephews and it was a privilege to get closer to them. When it came time to leave, they wanted to know when I'd be back and I was so glad they WANTED me to come back! :) It was a great trip, one I am eager to repeat. Maybe October? Or November? Soon, anyway!

At the end of the month, my brother Gerald and his wife Frances visited here on their way back to Taiwan. They've been in the country for about a month, but have spent the bulk of their time at their place in Draper, Utah (curses!). They stopped by here on their way to Utah, but I was in Idaho at Rayne's graduation, so I missed them then. So I only got one day with them here. I sure enjoy them! Here are all three of my handsome and good, kind brothers: Reed, Gerald and Ben.
(terrible picture, I know. Sorry!)


This month also I was called to be a seminary teacher--I'll be teaching early morning (6:30 a.m.) Old Testament study classes to a large group of high school Freshmen starting August 23rd. Wow! A little overwhelming.

But even more overwhelming is that my dearest Dad was called to be the Patriarch of the Pleasanton stake. I, of course, am not surprised. He is a wonderful man and he'll be a wonderful Patriarch as well. He is... well, humbled, overwhelmed, nervous. It's a lifetime calling, you know, so he'll be Patriarch until he dies. It's also a pretty strong reason for us to stay here in Pleasanton. We've talked about leaving here from time to time. But it seems that Pleasanton is where we belong for now.

It's been a great month. Next month: back to school for me and the two youngest children, back to work for Cliff, and business as usual for Chase and Rayne. It's been a great summer! Onto my favorite season of all--Autumn!

July 2011

The main event this month was Rayne's graduation from BYU Idaho. Our little family--Cliff, I, Allegra and Isaiah--drove to Idaho to see our oldest daughter graduate from college. What an occasion! But first, some of the other stuff we did first in July:







Allegra has been, as usual, very productive. She made this little ballet dancer for one of her cousins. We started out the month of July with "grandparent camp". Since grandparent camp takes place at Grandma and Grandpa's house, it also takes place at Uncle Cliff and Aunt Audrey's house. So we had a VERY full house for a week. Because of Mom's mom's recent death, my mom (i.e. Grandma) wasn't up to planning a week full of activities, so the week was mostly about playing with each other--which is always fun. Allegra and Isaiah, being among the oldest of the cousins, were often the caretakers. Allegra, ever the generous, sweet girl that she is, offered to make a doll for every cousin. They all chose what they wanted--Pokemon figures, Japanese dolls, ballet dolls, etc. This ballet doll is just one of the many she made. I am sorry to say that I didn't get pictures of any of the others and, since they went home with various cousins, I am sure I'll never see any of them again. Keep in mind, dear reader, that Allegra doesn't use patterns when she creates. She sees the item in her head, draws it on paper and then she makes it. She's amazing! As you can see, this little doll is also a music box. She's such a talented girl.

Have you ever seen a sliding glass door shatter? Unfortunately, I have. My dad was running the weed whacker (a very long job around here) in our "backyard" and it threw up a rock that shattered our door. It was actually kind of pretty! The glass was tempered, of course, so we had a little pile of shining, glittering glass outside our door. It reflected the light of the sun and threw rainbows on the walls of our room. I was almost sorry it was swept up and thrown away! Fortunately, since our glass is all "e-glass" that is, it's all energy efficient, there were two panes on that big window. Since only one broke, it's not like we were open to all the world until it was fixed. And fixed it is now. I kind of miss that tinkling sound it made as more pieces fell off in the wind. And the little rainbows on my walls.....

Other July activities included: gardening, swimming, visiting the Jelly Belly factory with 13 children. A little hairy while we were waiting in line, but otherwise much more fun than it sounds like it might be with so many kids!!

Chase turned 20! He's serving in Cape Cod and we sent him a birthday package and many, many of our good friends sent him packages and letters and cards. How blessed we are to have so many generous people in our lives! This 20th year will be the first complete YEAR in which I will not even SEE my boy. His 20th year will be experienced by me through letters and (hopefully) pictures. Strange to think about it. Sure, though, that his 20th year passed in any other way wouldn't be nearly as happy and right. Happy birthday, dear Elder Adams-Hart! So glad he's on a mission! Wish I had more PICTURES though. Sigh.

Cliff also had a birthday! He turned 45, still as handsome as ever, and productive, smart, hard-working, kind, generous, loving.... all those good things. We celebrated with a dinner that he made himself (I know, I'm lame. Usually I cook for him but this year I totally bombed on that) and with his favorite dark chocolate cake and frosting that I DID make. Yes, I did.

We had my sister Jessica's 3 kids here to stay for most of the month of July. Gemma (11), Miles (9), and Peyton (7) were tons of fun to have around. One of the great pleasures of being an aunt is getting to know my nieces and nephews. Because Jessica and her family live in Seattle, I don't know them as well as I know the kids who live here. So it was a real pleasure to have the Gendreau kids around. I really got to love them. I was sorry to see them go. Jessica stayed for a few days when she came to pick them up and we went to the beach. Why do babies always like to eat sand? Here's baby Bruce (Reed and Dorothy's youngest) with a sandy mouthful.



While we were in Utah (on our way to Idaho) we also visited our good friends the Hutchings for a few days. We always enjoy our time with them.

And..... finally, RAYNE GRADUATED!!!!








After all those years working at Nordstrom, saving and saving, working hard at school (she graduated with an A- GPA), putting up with all those roommates and all that SNOW and ICE... she's done! I can hardly believe it. She can hardly believe it! We are very proud of her. It was amazing to go to her graduation events and experience the uplifting atmosphere of that school. When Rayne first expressed a desire to attend BYU Idaho, I was unsure. I had kind of wished that she would attend BYU Provo, where both her Dad and I earned our undergraduate degrees. But she--ever the adventurer--chose BYU Idaho. After her 4 years there, I can enthusiastically say that I hope all of my children attend this university. I LOVED BYU Provo, but BYU Idaho has a very different feel to it. I like the way spiritual growth is emphasized, I like the closeness between the students and their professors, I am in awe of the many prophecies associated with this school, I admire and embrace BYU Idaho's educational philosophy. I'm very happy that Rayne led the way for our family to discover this university. Yes. But most of all, I'm very happy and proud that my baby girl, my Rayne, my firstborn, my much-loved daughter, has earned her 4-year college degree. What an accomplishment! She is such a hard-worker, so dedicated to progress and goodness. Next: work at Nordstrom until January and then off to Taiwan to teach English--a whole new adventure. Go Rayne!