Leading Up to Mother's Day

It was the week that started with an orange cupboard.  I figured something out after Dad managed to squeeze in another cupboard in the Carriage House.  I already have a stack of dishes in it.  I was a little sad to realize that it is not antique, in fact its 15 years shy of being an antique, being a midcentury modern piece from the 40's.  That was what I asked for Mother's Day.  What an accommodating guy.

 I did work my way through almost ten boxes of books too.

Look at all the empty space that was full of boxes and boxes of books

He made himself some more brownies too.  He always has some on hand these days, which is good as his wife, starting her 14th month without sugar, is absolutely useless in the treats department.

On Tuesday we went to the family history center to figure out why my sister Julie's baptism, confirmation and born in the covenant status, are not attached to her church records in Family Search.  Actually, the folks that staff the center didn't know either and I got to talk to a sister in Pennsylvania who made a petition for me.  Doug and Shirley, (Doug's giving Shirley credit) added Julie's death info, but suggested work for her included baptism and sealing to parents, which had been done.  Of course, there is a chance that she has had her records removed, so that is what we are waiting to hear.  The gal in Pennsylvania did tell me one comforting thing, and that is that even if you have your records removed the BIC status never changes.

We also went to this movie that day and thoroughly enjoyed it. Dad wanted to see it, I wasn't that excited but loved it just the same.

Yep, that's us.

and the bonus for Dad was running into a Finnish missionary, Darryl Dudley and his wife, with whom we had a nice visit. (his favorite place to serve was in Rovaniemi.)

At work Bruce offered me this old lamp shade, as he had been unable to sell it.  I told him that if it looked good on me, I'd take.  Nope, didn't take.

These girls came into the mall, and I thought they were the cutest.  The gal on the right, left two braids long when she got her hair cut a few months ago.  I thought it was adorable with her bob!

And speaking of young people, Elias and Adi had an art show at school.  It started before I got off work, so I missed the fun.  This one is by Elias!

So is this.

and this.

Adi's are on the top two rows, except the bull, she took a photography class.

Elias's snake cup.

this is also Elias'.

And Guess what?  Benny is 6, that means that our other Benny will have been gone 7 years come August.  Oh, how we love all our Bens (Including Van) 

Somehow this one reminds me of his name sake.

Such a happy boy.

and (to use Davin's word) he gragitated from kindergarten with his best friend Ethan.

On Saturday Dad and I, and a high school kid named Henry, drove to SLC to the First Baptist Church on 13th east across from East High. They were at a chorale coaching event and former Tab Choir leader, Craig Jessop, personally coached each choir in front of the whole group.  Dad said it was very beneficial. 

 There were 6 choirs, including the Saltaires.

Here is a choir known Utah Voices.

This one is Lacus Vocem

This one is Amabi Chorale

This one is the Utah Choral Collective.

This group is called Sojos Choral Artists.

After I dropped Dad and Henry off, I headed to the Harvard Yale area nearby for an estate sale.  I loved this house ...

Which was on the corner of Yale and Douglas street.  Do you remember me telling you that your Uncle Doug was named after this street?  I know many of the stories of who we children were named for. Julia Ingaborg, for Dad's sister Ingaborg, Clark (Mom's maiden name) Rudolph (Dad's name), Emory Harry, after Dad's army friend Emory Leeson, and Aunt LaRee's husband Harry Arend, Waye Lars, Dad's first name, Bruce Norman, Mom's name Norma as she'd given up hope of having another daughter, Douglas for the street, and Charles for her niece Becky's husband. Paula from the movie Random Harvest, Norma finally, Joyce Estella for my mother's mother, and Ross Edward, for the male version of her mother-in-law Edvarda.  Such fun, can anyone fill in the blanks here?

This is the house on Yale that had the estate sale, pretty high priced and on the second day, the good stuff was gone.  I did, however go to 2 DIs, another secondhand store and an antique shop.  So, I managed to have a good time.

When we got home we found the beautiful Geranium planters that Davin and Bri traditionally get me for Mother's day and my birthday.  They are so beautiful.

That night Eva and her fun friend group all dressed up, took a tablecloth and dinnerware to McDonald's and ate in style, how fun is that!!

In Church this morning the Primary kids sang, and 8 of these were in our class last year or this year.

In Relief Society I sat next to Nancy Ramarez and she showed me this graduation picture of her daughter Brittany's husband.  How fun is that.  It's hard to believe that Nancy is 52, now, she was a newlywed when I met her 26 years ago.

Here are pictures from the party at Trevor's tonight.

Everyone helped with the Potato bar, it was amazingly yummy.

We watched Nate Bargatze shorts in anticipation of going to see him live in December.

Saying goodbye

How cute are these girls?

And as we were leaving, I noticed this picture of Nell in their Red Family Portrait that hangs in the entry, and my brain's facial recognition went off and said "Twiggy"