Tara's wedding

We stayed over the weekend after Glen's business trip to Utah so that we could attend Tara and Christian's wedding party.

Christy, the mother of my daughter-in-law, Sally, is in the background. Tara is Sally's sister. The very tall beauty behind her is a sister of Christian who is also a super model. Christian's family is very tall family with 6 ++ feet the norm. Tara is greeting one of her high school friends from San Diego.

Tara is a graphic designer who had many good ideas for her special day. This is the club house at Soldier Hollow in Midway. The giant white balloons were stunning as was the scenery.

Tara looked beautiful in her champagne beaded gown. She and her step-mother, Brooke, agree that the decor is unique and just right.

Glen and Scott, the father of the bride, watch the photography session from the balcony.

One of the great things about our children marrying people from California is that we have met some wonderful new people. When Oscar arrived for the party, he became an instant star. So many people wanted to meet him. These are his surrogate grandparents and aunts. Lezlie (far left) and Nichelle and Sally were BFF's in high school. Kay and John, Lezlie's parents, have been so kind to Nichelle through the years. Kay and John were so excited to tell us about the arrival of their first granddaughter who they had just met in Texas. (You might notice that we also have a very tall member of our family. Yeah, Nate!)

Our wedding responsibilities included helping the nieces get ready to go the the Salt Lake Temple to greet their aunt as she exited the temple. They looked so cute in their jackets and styling dresses.

Sadie loved the new flower fairy doors book that I had purchased the previous day at Anastasia's Attic at Gardner Village. More about that fun day in a later post.

After the girls left for Salt Lake City with Aunt Amy, grandpa and grandma were in charge of Mabel for the rest of the day. This is how Mabel watched BYU football with Grandpa Glen. Special thanks to Great-grandpa and Great-grandma Alvord for letting us hang out at their house.

For more pictures of Tara and Christian's day go Here and Here and Here.

Heather's dress and friendship

On one of my many trips to Provo (perhaps the one when Raymond was born) I found myself at Borders. As I cruised an unfamiliar store I passed the magazine rack which I usually ignore at home. This caught my eye, an eye which couldn't believe what it had found. A high quality magazine devoted to smocking with complete patterns for each project along with gorgeous photography. "Australian Smocking & Embroidery" magazine became my new delightful pleasure. When I returned home and went online to subscribe, I felt really cheated that this magazine had been in existence so long without my knowledge. This led to the purchase some back issues as well. Now I anxiously await the delivery, from far away Australia, of my copy of this magazine each quarter. I have used it to create blessing gowns and rompers. That first magazine cover also prompted me to make this beautiful dress for Heather. It was my first attempt to smock and sew silk and the magazines multi-sized patterns allowed me to procrastinate finishing it for a couple of years before it finally became Heather's Easter dress.

I first learned to smock while a young mother in Bountiful. One of the blessings of my life occurred with the arrival of two other young mothers in the two houses across the street. We created a triangle of friendship and love and babysitting and support. I honestly don't know how I would have made it through newborns and toddlers, breast infections, knee surgery and everyday lack of adult conversation without these two beautiful women. Sharon also became my inspiration for painting and sewing myself out of the mundane of everyday. She fueled my passion for decorative painting and English smocking. She passed on what she learned at her painting lessons (and even some woodworking) and patiently taught me how to smock clothing like they do in the South. She was my Georgia peach and far better than a breath of sunshine.

Robert and Sharon Starling, Cindy and Charlie Skewes

Bountiful, Utah house about 1979
(Ignore Cindy's tongue - she was always creating waves)

Sharon recently tracked me down on my Facebook account created for me by my daughter. (My daughter-in-law created this blog for me as a birthday present - the present that keeps on giving.) It felt so good to be in touch again, but I also found myself regretting the years spent out of touch. Our children had grown, grand babies been born, and we had aged without each other. Where were the blogs and instant messaging when we could have used them? So, after I publish this post, I will then go on Sharon's wall and tell her to check out pictures of the dress I created because of her gentle guidance years ago. I will share with my friend.

House guests

Meet this weeks house guests. They emerged from their chrysalis on Monday.

Yesterday afternoon, the grandkids came to help set them free. The painted ladies seemed hesitant at first, but once they realized their visit with us was over, they skedaddled up and away.
(Thanks to Janae for the picture.)

Here are my house guests of a couple of weeks ago. Simone and her friend were here to spend their spring break shopping! I merely provided a place to sleep and shower, oh, and a good breakfast to send them off on their long drive back to Albuquerque with Eveline.

We've had other guests as well recently. Nate and Nichelle spent a weekend. Farrell drove Simone and friend over and then he and Eveline did a Sunday switch out at the airport. Both TJ and Heather have had separate overnights. We welcomed them all!

We were not so welcoming to the cockroaches which appeared in my compost pile. Glen showed them the door pronto!

Parallel Lives

Sometimes you feel like you know another person pretty well. You have lived in the same neighborhood for umpteen years, attended the same church, and interacted on many levels. Then you find out how little you really knew about them and more surprisingly that you are more alike than you imagined.

This morning, Glen and I attended the funeral of Grandpa Toone at the Westwood Chapel. He had spent his last month in Mike and Carol's home after falling and breaking his hip in December. Mike's father was born in southeastern Idaho where his family farmed. He was in the Army Air Corp during World War II where he met his wife who was also serving in the Corp. They started a family and farmed in Idaho. He had been ill while a young man with scarlet fever which had damaged his lungs. By the late 1950's, his lungs couldn't deal with being a farmer and a doctor told him that he must move to a drier and warmer climate. They sold their farm and loaded a cattle truck with all their possessions and moved to Mesa in 1960. Does this all sound a bit familiar?

When I went to LaNell's mother's funeral last year I also learned that her family moved from Idaho to Mesa in the 60's. And so I've learned that people I've known for twenty plus years and assumed to be lifelong Mesa people, are really hardy (or maybe not so hardy) Idaho people whose parents just wanted to be warm and live near a temple, just like me.