This morning the first words I heard were Halle's sweet voice saying, "Happy Birthday." From then on that was the phrase I heard most. I was lucky enough to have these darling, sleepy children that I love engulf me and start my day with warmth and love. Could there be anything better?
Lacey took the last picture, then her mom came home from working out and took this one which included Lacey.
To top my day off I got the sweetest card Halle had created for me by herself. She must have spent a lot of time on it and it really made me feel loved. I was so excited! Then the children helped me open my presents. I received two books I have been wishing for for months.
But all good things must end. The children went to school and Lindsey took me to meet up with Rosemary, Marti, Spence, and Dad to go to Orem for Sharee Paulson's funeral. I hardly noticed the cold and snowy day it started out to be because of the warmth I felt from being with my family that I love and never get enough of seeing.
It was a very beautiful and spiritual funeral. Sharee's family will really miss her and all her love. It just doesn't seem fair that they should lose both parents so young in three years. I know Sharee and George are so happy to be together. I was also impressed with how much Sharee's ward loved her even though she had been there about two years. The primary children she taught said she had been their favorite teacher. She was a kind and very generous person who was totally devoted to her family. She will be very missed.
Funerals aren't often a great place to take lots of pictures. Luckily, the snow and rain stopped when we drove into Salt Lake for the graveside ceremony. I snapped a picture of Spence, Marti, Rosemary and Dad as we left the graveside.
The Paulson family hosted a lunch at Little America which was wonderful, but the Arizona family had to catch a plane at 5:00, so we just had time to satisfy our hunger and run off. I only got a chance to take a picture of the Durhams who attended the lunch and sat at our table and the adjoining one.
Above are Margie, Mary and Mark, and Mark and Nancy
Above here are Louise (Cole is off talking to someone else), Maren and Paul, Dennis and Janie, and Janet (I don't know where Kelly was at the moment.)
Rosemary and Spence say goodby to Carol, Sharee's daughter, as we leave.
It is difficult to only see all these cousins at sad things. The ones who help us gather and stay tied together seem to be passing from this life. We need to have a reunion even without parental arm twisting. These are some of the finest people I will ever know and I want very much to still have them in our lives.
After a stop at the airport, Rosemary took me to Sunny's. One by one as the children saw me they called out "Happy Birthday, Nana!" and gave me big hugs. There was no adult coaching them either. Charlie was the first one to say it when I came in the house. A hug from Gracie took a little coaxing, but after Sam and Charlie jumped into my arms, she followed suit and snuggled for a minute.
Then in a whirlwind we were off to Riley's dance recital dress rehearsal.
Below she is waiting her turn to perform. Isn't she cute?
The pictures I took of her dance number just didn't turn out because of the low light and distance, not to mention the movement. But when it was over Riley was more than happy to pose for me below.
A dash back home for a quick bite of Sunny's spaghetti and meatballs, and we were off again to see Riley's soccer game. She is such a ham, she strikes the funniest poses when you point the camera her way.
When she is out on the field she is the one most often in control of the ball. But since they only play three at a time and switch them out frequently, the other team also got to score some goals. Riley scored 3. As soon as she was taken out of the game, she would run to one end and chase around 4 or 5 lingering boys. She is tireless.
A little fancy footwook.
A common sight at Sunny's: three kids on her lap, in her arms, gathered near her.
Jessica lights the candles as the boys supervise.
After the game, it was birthday cake time. Sunny had gone above and beyond in making my favorite chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. This was a chocolate/chocolate chip cake and on top of the rich dark chocolate icing she had yummy chocolate mousse.
Sage also gets into the candle lighting business. Lucky the candles were only symbolic of my many years and not numerically accurate.
So fun to have these great helpers, Sam and Charlie, to blow out the candles. Unfortunately, Gracie got squeezed out, but doesn't yet know she should be upset.
Now to the best part: eating that delicious cake, which was done with great intensity.
Gracie loves this Smith's special Tinkerbell nightgown.
Can you believe I captured this darling picture of Gracie? Maybe a little of Lindsay is rubbing off on me.
I don't know where Sam was the rest of the night, but I sure got a couple of cute picts of Charlie.
Tristan grows two inches each time I see him. He is trying to decide how to style his hair when he gets it cut. He has such thick nice hair, he could do almost anything and it would be great.
This is Sage's spot most of the evening. He works hard in his spare moments at school to get his homework done before he comes home.
Jessie vanished to the basement all night and I didn't get any additional pictures of her. Alex had been on a 25 mile bike ride with her dad. But she came home with great enthusiasm for the day's activities. I was so glad to see her. We talked for a while, then it was off to do homework and I was off to download pictures and blog until late into the night.
I sure wish I had more time to spend with these families up in Utah. I am glad to see them for a few minutes anyway. We have to plan a longer visit soon.
