Gratitude Journal - blog style - post number 14!

I am truly grateful for the grandparents in my life - even the ones I never met!  My father's mother, Agnes Marietta Busath Clayton, after whom I am named, was a profound influence in my father's life.  She died when he was 17, but her influence never left his life.  I love the above photo - that I recently found - Agnes, in an apron, sitting on the porch, reading!!  Can I identify??  (Yes indeedy!) So grateful that her influence was felt in my life.

 

My Grandpa Clayton, shown here with Uncle Paul, was a larger-than-life kind of guy - and we all loved him.  He was always around, always had a joke or a song or a trick or a silver dollar to give you! Turns out he wasn't all that exemplary, but I'm glad no one felt they had to dampen our enthusiasm for his visits.  And frankly, as the years go by and more information emerges, his life makes sense, as the forces that shaped it emerge in more clarity. And I think his heart was right!

 

My Grandma Stevens was a lovely woman.  I was a little intimidated by her as a child, but fortunately for me, she helped me overcome that!!  When I was in college and a young mother, she wrote me letters of encouragement - and she sent recipes!!  She typed them on her Remington too - she was a stenographer in her younger days!!

Wish she'd lived longer so I could have known her even longer, but we have eternity!!

 

My Grandpa Stevens was an executive at General Motors - and he was a little intimidating too, but he also helped me overcome that.  Funny how that works!!  So grateful for the years I knew him - he died when I was in my freshman year at BYU - a good man - even if he didn't have much good to say about Mormons!

 

My Grandpa Clayton married 3 times - his second wife was Helen Barlow Pratt - and I don't have a photo of her - but the hazy memories I have of her are good ones.

His third wife was our favorite grandma - Grandma Connie - what a wonderful woman she was!  She lived into her nineties, so my children got a chance to meet her.  She inherited a whole passel of grandkids when she married my grandpa - but she opened her heart to all of them - and kept track of them too.  She is the reason I even know some cousins I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know if it hadn't been for her!

Grateful for all my grandparents!!

Gratitude Journal - blog style - post number 13!

So grateful for Noah!  Child number 6, son number 2, a young man with a ready smile and goodwill to all!

 

He was a cute little guy - easy to spoil, if that's what you call loving!!

 

Loves his big brother!!

 

And his dad - even if he more often than not was mistaken for a grandson!!

 

Not much of a scholar, by his own admission.  But also by his own admission, a "lifelong learner!"

 

Didn't really grow up "alone" since his buddy Andrew was a fixture in our household.

 

We are grateful that he has found his "better half!"  Taylor is a welcome addition to our family.

 

And so happy that the package deal includes Keesa and sweet baby Francis.

We love you Noah!!  And we love your little family too!

Gratitude Journal - blog style - post number 12!

I am grateful for Hannah Rebekah - Harry has had to be persuaded with each daughter to allow a middle name - he said, "Okay, we can do Rebekah - but only if we spell it with an 'ah' at the end!"  That was easy!!

 

Hannah has always been pretty mellow and laid back - at least she was as a baby and child - she can get tense but you can usually talk her out of it!!  Slept like a dream even with her awkward casts and Dr. Brown splints!

 

And she is crafty and creative and resourceful.  I will never forget her science project - and her query "Can I use anything I can find in the garage?" And she just keeps going - we love seeing what she comes up with!

And her Halloween costumes this year were over the top cute!!

 

There were "dos Hannahs" growing up - and she handled it fine.  She's always been surrounded by friends and family - everyone seems to love Hannah - and we do too!!

 

With Hannah comes Robbie - and boy, Howdy, were we happy to welcome him into the family circle!!  They complement each other perfectly.

 

And with Hannah and Robbie comes the lovely Miss Rhoda - and we do love her - looking forward to the holidays and having the Hamills here with us!

Lucky number 5 - that was our Hannah - so grateful for the wonderful daughter that she is!!

Gratitude Journal - blog style - post number 11!

  

I am so grateful for Eliza, another waited for,  longed for baby!!  How happy we were to find out that another child was coming to our home!! 

I was the only mom in the hospital when she was born - so we got lots of special attention - what a great way to start out your life!

 

 Phoebe too was pleased to have a new baby sister!!

And there was no chance for Eliza to be a "later only!" with the addition of Hannah and Noah.

 

Eliza is bright and personable and empathetic and understanding and so kind!!  She also writes extremely well - and she's a wonderful teacher!  (and musician and mom and I could go on and on!!)

 

With Eliza comes Matt - and we are so grateful for him too!  A wonderful husband and father - not to mention son-in-law par excellence!

 

Another quartet of charming children rounds out their happy home - we love them all - and love to visit - and love their visits here!!

Gratiude Journal - blog style - post number 10!

I am so grateful for Phoebe.  We had two lovely children, but really wanted more.  In fact, Bonny would tell people in the ward that I was pregnant - hoping I'd make good on her story!  So we made it a matter of fasting and prayer - and Phoebe was the answer to our prayers!  Her name - Phoebe Elizabeth - means light, and gift of God. Seems fitting!

 

She was a delightful little girl - charmed everyone she met!  And you'll notice as a woman of fashion - Phoebe was ahead of her time - notice the Saltwater sandals!!

 

Parties and Phoebe just go together - it's as if the party can't start until she is there!  We love that about her - and love her visits - and visiting her!  She is the queen of "visitor's baskets!!"

 

She is the one who gets the tan to beat all tans!!  Our beautiful Phebes!!

 

And you can't have Phoebe without David - we had never met him when Phoebe informed us that he was the one - but we didn't doubt her judgement - and she was right!  David is an essential member of our family - we would not be complete without him!

 

And with Phoebe and David, you have the wonderful quartet of kids that round out their family - so grateful for each one of them - and grateful that we get to visit them for Thanksgiving!!

Gratitude Journal - blog style - post number 9!

Not sure why this is the youngest  photo of Harry with me that I could find!!  I don't have lots of photos of my kids with me when they were little - I guess I was the photographer - and they didn't do selfies then!!

But today I am thankful for Harry and the wonderful son that he is and always has been.  He was my little buddy for many years - Phoebe wasn't born until he was 5 - and after Bonny started school, we had lots of great times.  He was always well-behaved and loved to use his imagination.

 

 And of course, when you are thankful for Harry, you are thankful for Dawn - so glad she came into our lives.  We often are heard to remark that the best thing that ever happened to Harry was Dawn!!  I recall the day he rushed into the house - he'd been doing laundry at our place - and grabbed what were still probably damp pants out of the dryer, put them on and rushed out of the house.  Found out later that Dawn had called him and asked if he could help her move something with his truck - he didn't let that request even get a minute old before he was responding!!

So glad he recognized a jewel when he saw one!

And the package deal is these wonderful kids - and of course, our sweet baby Jonah.

 

So grateful for our number two child and number one son - Harry Francis!!

Gratitude journal - blog style - post number 8!

I am grateful for Bonny Brae!! The girl who made me a mother!!  And continues to bring joy into our lives!! Couldn't ask for a better first child - and she does take her job seriously!!

 

And being grateful for Bonny means being grateful for Bruce - so glad he came into our lives!! He's a wonderful husband, father, son-in-law and friend!!

 

And naturally, Bonny and Bruce leads to gratitude for the bevy of beautiful Bolander girls they have produced!! Love them one and all - what a blessing they are in our lives!!

I could fill a month of gratitude posts with reasons why Bonny, Bruce, and family are such a gift to our family!!

Book number 56 - check!

I think I went 3 or 4 weeks without reading a novel!!  I read magazines and newspapers - but didn't have anything that was "begging" to be read - nor did I have an airplane flight scheduled - I always have a book or two for those!

I've gone through phases of not buying physical books - went a year - but certainly bought a lot for the old Kindle account!!  You say, try the library - but you sort of have to know what you are looking for there.  There's too many just to browse!

So I thought of a couple of fave authors of mine and thought I'd see what there was.  The trouble was, I'd find a book, read the description, and then think I'd already read it!!  I do keep track of the books I have read - they are in various book journals I have started and discarded.  The librarian suggested I gather them up and digitize their info.  Not a bad idea - I will add it to my list of "worthy projects to consider!!"

There was a featured book on the end of one  row, a novel by Lisa See.  I have only read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan I think.  But some of the other dust jackets seemed to ring a bell.  The above did not seem too familiar, so I gave it a try.

It's a pretty good "summer read" if you follow my drift.  Novels about Chinese history, written by American born Chinese women, are often well-written and full of description and history.  There is a sameness to them, however, but it's not a huge detraction.

This was about the period of time in China before World War II - once the sisters get to the U.S., the story goes through to the 1950s. I especially enjoyed the descriptions and stories about Chinatown and Olvera Street.  LA history has a definite pull.

The stories about FBI investigations and the McCarthy era purges were a little disheartening.  It ended kind of up in the air - turns out there's a sequel - and I just started that!!

It's good for passing the time - but I'm still looking for a great read to capture my attention!!

And on to book number 57!

Perhaps I should have made this a gratitude post - because I am grateful that I'm a reader.

Gratitude journal - blog style - post number 7!

Lest you think I'm grateful for the "Wall of Fame" that hung for many years in my folks' living room, let me say that this post is doing double duty today.  I am grateful for my wonderful parents - they didn't have much, but they were ambitious, hard-working, and diligent - and sometimes that's better than having a lot!!

But today is also my dad's 99th birthday!!  So Happy Birthday Dad!!  He was a good dad.  He doted on his daughters - sometimes to the consternation of his sons.  He wouldn't let me get my driver's license until I was 17, but he'd drive me anywhere I wanted to go - and wait for me to be done to give me a ride home!

Before they had the internet and copy machines, he could do the lettering on a poster like nobody else.  And he'd happily do it for you.  

He could make the best book covers out of paper bags - and they never came off!!  He made wonderful hats out of newspapers too!

He built cradles for my girls and their dolls.  He'd share his candy bars when you came to visit his shop.  

And he never spoke about his mom without being emotional - a characteristic that made him the man he was!

So grateful to still have my mom in my life.  I try to visit her once a week - and it's always a treat.  She's still a great conversationalist - even if I do have to yell!

Good parents - a blessing and a gift indeed!

Gratitude Journal - blog style - post number 6!

I am so grateful that somehow I managed to go away to college.  I wanted to leave home, but life wasn't like it is now, and it wasn't automatic that you left.  I thought I wanted to go to UCSB, because lots of kids from my high school went there. But my mom said I couldn't go there.  The funny thing is, I totally paid my own way to college - not sure why I didn't realize that if I wanted to go somewhere else, I could just take myself there!

My brother Lyn went to the Y at the urging of another young man in our ward.  He and this young man mailed me a BYU application and I filled it out and sent it in.  I got back a scholarship application and sent that in too - and got a full tuition scholarship!  

Even funnier is that the summer before I went to BYU, I wanted my good friend Joy to go with me - so I got her an application and bugged until she sent it in - and she got in - in July!  And we got housing too!

Times have changed indeed! 

Going away, meeting new people, finding myself - all good things that might not have happened if I'd stayed home.

So grateful for the college years and the stamp they have left on my life!

Gratitude Journal - blog style - posts number 4 and 5!!

Should probably have reversed the order on these - I am grateful for Harry and the wonderful husband, father, and grandfather that he is!!

And grateful for our wonderful children!!

Gratitude Journal - blog style - post number 3!

I love aprons - and I am grateful that they exist so I can love them!  The above is a photo I cut out of the LA Times - this is a scene from a play that was running - and I LOVE this apron.  Have dreams of replicating it - but don't hold your breath!

I love making these aprons and giving them to friends and family and selling them at boutiques and even making new ones for myself!

So grateful for aprons!!