Another important February birthday

 February means we celebrate our dear friend Ry Nebeker. He and Harry were college roommates and our lives have stayed connected ever since.

Ry died 6 years ago - but we always remember his birthday - and think about how much we miss him. Thankfully a lot of his art work adorns our walls, so it feels like he is always with us!!

Happy Birthday to Sue!!

I usually sort of tack my good friend Sue onto Ella's b-day post - since they are birthday buddies - but thought that Sue deserved a post of her own!!  (Not that I have that vast an audience!!)

And isn't this a great photo?  And doesn't it just capture something really great and special about Sue?

The answers are both YES!!

So here it is - and here's a great big birthday greeting for our beloved Sister Cornwall!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Hope it's the best day ever - and that the year ahead is wonderful!!

Seven Decades!!

A little "visual" tour of the journey to 70 - and 1 husband, 6 kids, 5 spouses, one girlfriend, 20 grandkids (I'm writing this early - hope those two new grandbabies have been born by now!!)

Here I am at the end of the first decade of my life - 10 years old!!

And here I am at the 20th surprise birthday party that Alice and my friends at BYU put on for me!!  Another decade down!

And here I am at age 30 - married with 2 kids!!

 Here I am at age 40 - just prior to having 2 more kids!!  (Eliza came when I was 38.)

Here I am at age 50 - with Phoebe, who came along when I was 32.

Here I am on my actual 60th birthday - goodness it was a celebration - thanks to my good buddies at Clifton Middle School!!

And this was last November - almost 70.  For my 70th birthday,  I am in Virginia, helping out with the newest little Selander!!

Wonder what 80 will look like??

Women friends are the best!!

When I posted a photo of Tina,Val, and Sue Graham, my girls all responded with things like "I babysat for all of them," and "Love these women," and "80's and Monrovia East Ward!"  (This occasion today was a surprise 60th birthday party for Sue Graham - her girls pulled it off beautifully!!)

When I first moved into the Monrovia East Ward - we had been sliced off from the Monrovia Ward - I found out about a monthly birthday tradition that I participated in for many years - a very fun, lovely tradition.  

Every month we met to celebrate that month's birthdays.  We often ended up at Tina's house - her backyard backed up to the playground of Mayflower School, so it was close to where a lot of our kids were.

We each brought food.  I don't even remember if we sang Happy Birthday or not.  Sometimes there were gifts, sometimes not.  Sometimes a non-member friend came along.  Sometimes we turned them into baby showers if a baby shower was needed.  Always there was lots of love and friendship.

It was a special time in my life.  I will always have good memories of it!!

Friends are the best - value them, treasure them, keep them close.

And remember their birthdays!

Happy Birthday to the two of you!!

Today is the happy day for Porter and Phoebe.  A couple of my favorite people.  

 

I enjoy being able to interact with Porter on a pretty regular basis.  He's an earnest and hard-working young man.  We have watched him grow and mature - and it's a delight to behold.

It was a special day indeed when our wonderful Phoebe Elizabeth joined our family - after much prayer and great desire, I might add!  Her name means "light" and "gift of God."  Pretty apt I would say!

 

Phoebe is fond of saying, "I'm here.  The party can begin!"  And she's right - I think she brings the party with her!

Hope you both have a great day - and a wonderful year ahead!!

The Costume Queen Celebrates Her Day!

Our good friend Sue is Ella's birthday buddy - or more accurately, Ella is Sue's birthday buddy.  I usually tack on a shout out to Sue at the end of the Ella post, but thought I'd take a new tack today.

Happy Birthday Sue - and all year through too!

Birthday party time!!

Fun times at the Bolanders on Sunday as we celebrated Annika's 9th birthday - a few days late but still great!!

Fun to have Toby, Aspen, Isaac, Hazel, Nora, and Ari there to join in the fun!

Backpacking 101!!

Can you tell what Henry got for his birthday??  He was pretty excited too.  And of course, Mama had to weigh in on how it was worn!!

 

And Grandpa and Dad too!!  Backpacking is a Terrill tradition - apparently a Fillmore one too.

Happy Unbirthday to you!!

My friend and colleague Marcie, has always very thoughtfully celebrated the birthdays of everyone in our "lunch bunch" at school.  Her birthday is in August, however, so we were never celebrating hers!!  A couple of years ago, she suggested we draw names - it was getting a bit much for her to do it all - so we gladly agreed.  But somehow it seemed that the summer birthdays - and hers was the only one - got forgotten.

We remedied that yesterday with an "Unbirthday" celebration - complete with cake, flowers, and gifts.  The theme was "Vintage Marcie?" or "Marcie, Vintage?" since this year - at least in 3 months - she will have one of those "significant" birthdays!

A wonderful time was had by all!

What the weekend was -

Finally got to have my Grandma's Saturday with the lovely Miss Isla.  We had a fine time together - and she garnered lots of compliments as we wended our way through The Monrovian and Target.  She is pretty cute.

 

Went to a "farewell" party for Jennifer Martinez Hayden and her husband Robin.  They live in England but have been visiting here for the last 3 months.  It was nice to re-connect with her mom too.

 

Thought I'd include a shot of myself - just so you know I was there!  It was chilly but sunny.

Even with total 80s hair,

I love her to pieces!! On this Thanksgiving Day, which is also Donna's birthday, I am especially thankful for her!

"Happy, happy birthday Donna dear, Happy days will come to you all year!!"

(Thankful for my great parents too!!)

40 years ago today!!

When Bonny was born, I was in labor at the hospital for over 7 hours - and it wasn't very comfortable to say the least.  In those days, they kept you flat on your back the whole time!!  And in my case, they sent a rather annoying young intern in every so often to say, "Hey Sunshine, how is it going?"

So with Harry, I decided to stay home until I thought birth was fairly imminent - we were within walking distance of the hospital, so I was confident my plan was a good one.

All day on the 7th of September, 1972, I was feeling crampy.  I was 11 days overdue - just like with Bonny - so I was thinking this might be it.  But when Harry asked if we should go to the United Homes dinner at Chuck-a-Rama that was scheduled that night, I suggested he go and get the free meal, since I was convinced nothing "real" was happening yet.

I think he got his first course before I called the restaurant - this was indeed before cell phones - and had him paged!!  We got someone to come and stay with Bonny and hustled over to Holy Cross Hospital - where Harry Francis made his appearance less than an hour later!!

 

The Sunshine intern was no longer there, but in the ward where I was taken after Harry was born, there was a very young woman who was not married and who had just had a baby. boy too  Her foster parents had told her that if she kept the baby she could not come back to the house.  She sat in her bed crying because she wanted to keep her baby.  I have often wondered about her.  On every birthday of Harry's, I would wonder where that boy was now.  The nurses were close-lipped - as they should be - and I was possibly too wrapped up in my own drama to talk to the girl myself.  So it all remains a mystery that I will never solve.  But I hope both of them have found happiness!!

Harry was a good baby - in  fact, one day Harry the dad asked, "When is he going to start crying?"  And he didn't spit up either - Bonny had been a colicky baby and so we thought every baby was that way.  (Bonny may have been a fussy new baby, but once she got over the colic, she was our ideal - you could set a clock by her!!)

Harry has continued on in his life being his own person - a wonderful son, husband, father and friend!!

Happy Birthday Harry - here's to a great day and wonderful year ahead!!

What goes around, comes around - and aren't we glad it does??

Agnes got an American Girl doll for her birthday yesterday - and she was pretty excited!

 

25+ years ago her mom got a Cabbage Patch doll for her birthday - and she was pretty excited too!!

Sometimes it's just not too hard to bring a big smile to a little girl's face!

(The funny story about Phoebe's doll - which I'm sure I've told before - is that we went to buy it and there was only one left.  I picked it up - and noticed that it was $37 - which seemed outrageous to me.  I walked around the store debating whether to get it or not - saying to Bonny and Harry F. - "Your dad will flip when he finds out what it cost!"  And then Harry F. said, "Well, you could buy it and take it outside to the parking lot and sell it for $75 - and there's a line of people following us around to see if you are going to put it down!"  Harry the Dad did indeed "flip" when he heard the price.  But when he saw the look of pure joy on Phoebe's face when she opened it up, he said, "Well, you sure called that one right Barb!")

My "BFF" - that would be Joy!

My "BFF" Joy, high school buddy, girls' camp cabinmate, college roommate - sent me this for my birthday this year.

Joy has given me some great gifts over the years - this one ranks right up there!!

Giving Hallmark a run for their money!!

Here's the card the Bolander girls made for me!! Click on it to read the words - I've gotten lots of birthday cards over the years, and this may just be my all-time fave!!

Thanks to everyone who always makes my birthday "such a special one!!"

"A very merry unbirthday to you, to you . . ."

We have a nice group that eats most days in the lunchroom - lots of teachers just eat in their rooms - and Marcie has taken to celebrating each of their birthdays with a special cake and some gifts. I posted the celebration she did for me earlier this week.

Marice's actual birthday is in August - when we are not in school - so we decided to have an unbirthday party for her. I didn't plan it - but was happy to contribute. The mass email said, "And we were hoping you would do the cake Barbara!"

So do the cake I did - my Apple Cake - it was a big hit - as was my very cool cake plate!!

May is full of birthdays on my birthday calendar - and now it's full of unbirthdays too!

Birthday Presents

Dad has his heart in the right place, but sometimes he just can't find the gift that in his mind will be the perfect gift.

When there were 8 grandkids - about 6+ years ago.


Eight years ago, Harry and Dawn gave me this swing for Mother's Day. And it's gotten lots of use. And I've really enjoyed it. But it is getting pretty shabby.

So Dad wanted to get a new canopy and cushions for it. He couldn't find what he was looking for, so he told me what he wanted to give me. I rummaged around and found the booklet that came with the swing, so we have been able to order a new canopy.

Now we are working on the cushions. I told Dad not to feel bad that he hadn't come up with the gift he had in mind - we will be getting it, just in installments.

It's all in the packaging, after all!

With My Birthday Buddy!!

I think this was the last time Roseann and I were together for our shared birthday. And I know I post this every year, but it's the only shot I have.

This was our very first apartment after we were married - this was the combined kitchen/living room - with no couch. You can see the bedroom in the background.

Here's to another great year for both of us - and we are exactly the same age - same day, same year - but Roseann is a few hours older!

Happy Birthday Alice and Maddy!!

Happy Birthday today to Alice and Maddy!!

I've often thought it would be fun to share a birthday with a daughter - and Maddy and Alice seem to enjoy it!!

Here's to a great day for both of you - and a wonderful year ahead!!

Happy Birthday to My Grandma Stevens!!

I'm pretty sure I post the same photos and tell the same story. But today is the anniversary of my Grandma Stevens' birth. Alice was born the day after. And I would say, "Oh it's too bad she missed yours by just a day." My grandma would say, "Might as well have missed it by a month, she still missed it!"

My grandma had been a stenographer, and she still had her Remington typewriter. When I was in college, she typed letters to me all the time. I loved it.

She was a wonderful Grandma - we often spent nights at her house - and that was a real treat. And I always thought she wore the most amazing jewelry. Years later, my mom gave me a box of her jewelry for a jeweled Christmas tree I was making. I remembered all the jewelry in the box - and it was all costume jewelry!!

Oh well, she was royalty to me!!