Hello and Goodbye

Hello--We woke to a little rain.  It was mostly just pretty clouds, lovely wet foliage and great for the green hills and low water table. 
Goodby--No walking today.  We are not die-hard walkers, fair weather exercise is all we do.

Alan said this picture wouldn't show the rain.  Can you see the rain hit the water in the pool?

Interesting clouds early in the morning.

Hello--Alan had a good work day, closing two nice cases in one day.

Good-bye--My Aunt Sharee passed away this afternoon from esophageal cancer.  She was only 73 and it has been such a short time since Uncle George died of liver and pancreatic cancer. (Rosemary sent a picture, but it isn't the kind your post on a blog.)  I know she is happy now, though. She was a role model to me as a young woman and have always honored her example.  I am planning on going to her funeral next week in Utah.

Hello--Tonight at Base FHE we had three new Marines home from deployment.  They are all active young men.  They have been out on a miew--deployed on a ship that goes many different places.  Among others they said that Jordan and Kuwait weren't bad.  The chaplain on the ship was LDS so they got to have services weekly while they were deployed.  Here they are:

Sean Datwyler is from Provo but is going home on leave to Payson where his mom has just re-married and now he will need to get to know a new family.  He was planning a big biking trip, but has broken his finger (wouldn't tell us how) and that ends the bike riding.

Chris Saunders was a very willing participant in the FHE and quite outgoing.  I am told he is very active.  It helps to have others in your unit that are members.

Travis Wardle is excited to go home on leave after deployment, but more excited about getting out of the marines at the end of May.  We will only see him  a few weeks before he is gone.

Goodbye--Seth Carlson is leaving next week for Afganistan. He is excited to go because he has been in the marines two years and never deployed.  There is a stigma attached to that.  He drives a big truck for the marines. 

Seth doesn't really live in our ward.  He lives in barracks south of ours at Las Flores off Las Pulgas.  Seth comes from the island of Palau.  I think he is quite active, but he attends the Carlsbad singles ward.  When he found out we hold FHE on Wednesdays he works very hard to attend.  He doesn't have a car so takes a bus or finds someone to give him a ride the 15 miles it is from one camp to the other.  Of course, by the time we are done, no more buses go back to Las Flores.  We add more than 40 minutes to our drive home.

Emily telling Seth goodby.

Hello--We had a great attendance tonight and a nice spirit present. I taught from David Bednar's talk about the things we can teach our children so we will see the warning signs in their lives.  I just took out the teaching children part and applied it to our lives.  It worked well, I thought.

Carolina Rodriguez, one of the YSA's who came for the first time tonight.  The others slipped away before I remembered to get my camera out.

Goodby--Our committee is having a hard time doing all they have been assigned.  Alan conducted as well as led the song.  I brought refreshments again. Since that assignment is almost never made, I try to always bring a back-up.  I know that you need to let them fail so they will be accountable, but it is the marines who lose and I can't stand to let them down. 

This is Rachel Johnson.  She did not want to be photographed tonight and wasn't there for pictures last week.  She is the young woman committee chairman.  She is dating a marine officer who is now taking missionary lessons. Rachel is from Las Vegas and also quite outgoing and a great participant.  She has had this calling in the past and is very familiar with the marines and the base, which is so helpful to us. 

The Holidays in April?

Since this is more for Alan and me and our memories, I am using this commitment to pick up some of the past highlights again.  The holidays started for us when Jade came for Thanksgiving.  We were lucky to get the Schooleys to come for Thanksgiving and share that day and our mutual kids with us.  We also got Mao and Cathy and their kids for the first time in a few years.  It was a wonderful day with way too much good food.  We did this with them the first year we moved in this house.  We have a little different combination of our families, but it was nice to be with them again. Carla Birmingham from our office also joined us since her boys were with their dad this year.  We were so glad she came and that we could share with her.

As our tradition has been since Mackenzie was old enough to decorate a tree, JR brought his kids over and joined with Jen, Bailey and me in decorating our tree. 

Mackenzie is no longer content with the lower branches.

Bailey almost made the top branches.

Even Kayla wants a higher spot.

Ethan broke more than he got on the tree I think.  Jen helped him hit his mark.

For more years than I am sure of (maybe 27 or 28), the Christmas season doesn't truly start until our ornament exchange group gets together.  This is who are left of that group.  Now we buy the ornament and meet at Mimi's.  Next year we are not even buying an ornament.  I love these dear, dear friends.  We need to get together more than just this once.

Then we took time out from the Holiday busy-ness and flew to North Carolina for Sam's actual graduation.  (A separate blog some day.)  We were so excited for baby Ruby to arrive a little early so we could spend the five days with her as well as see Sam walk at his graduation ceremony from NC State. 

Isn't she a beautiful newborn?

We  went out and helped them buy a Christmas tree.

Fun to decorate the tree together.

Should this one go here?

Got to find the perfect place.

Aren't they good looking brothers ready for church?

Got to have a family picture, but the camera failed on most of them this trip.

We loved this cute little Ruby already.  We were glad we would be back in 2 months to see her again.  What a great early Christmas present!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TODD

Today is Todd's birthday--at least it still is on the West Coast.  We are so lucky to have him as part of our family.  I really wanted a picture of him by himself.  All I could find was a graduation picture.  I guess that is who Todd really is.  He is always surrounded by family and friends (not counting when he is out of town working.)  Almost every picture I have of him, he is doing something for others. 

Todd with little Toby and Baby Ben

Here are some of the things I love about Todd:

1.  He loves my daughter and brings out the best in her. He wants her to be happy and works hard to help her be that way.

The family grows and changes

2.  He is thoroughly committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and shows it in how he lives.
3.  He is a wonderful father.  He loves to be with his sons.  Most of my pictures of Todd show him spending time with his boys.

At the top of the lighthouse.  A long climb with a son in your arms.

A snack in Central Park

Helping Toby fly a kite.

4.  He is the best kind of role model.  The boys not only want to skateboard  and surf like Dad, they will want to emulate him throughout their lives and he sets the example a mother-in-law can be proud of.

Skateboarding with Toby and Ben in Boston.

5.  Todd is so thoughtful.  If he is home, he is the one to get up when the boys wake up so Ashley can sleep in a little.  He doesn't seem to mind that he only got a few hours of sleep.  He loves being with them.

Not quite awake, but loved.

This was early morning in Outer Banks.  Where was Ashley?  Todd let her sleep.

6.  He is so patient and kind.  I have never seen him frustrated or angry, no matter how anyone else is behaving.

Helping them with computer learning games.

7.  Todd is blessed with intelligence and the wisdom to use it properly.  I guess that is easy to see since he earned his PhD in Bio Engineering from MIT and has a great job with McKinsey consulting.

8.  Todd is a very hard worker, whether it is going to school, applying himself to his career, or doing the dishes at my house.  It shows in his achievements. 

9.  Todd loves to engage me in interesting conversations about political and controversial topics (much to Ashley's consternation.)  I am an easy target.  Yet when we disagree, we both learn something and it never feels adversarial. Todd never lords his knowledge over me or puts me down.  He is humble enough to also see the other side and admit it.

10.  Todd is a great competitor, whether it is a board game, a surfing competition, or some othe sport, Todd puts a lot into it, is fun to play against, and often is the winner.  However, win or lose he is always on the same happy, even plane.  He is a good winner and a better loser.  Fun to play with him.

WE LOVE YOU, TODD!  HOPE IT IS A WONDERFUL YEAR FOR YOU.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

RETHINKING SUNDAY

Today was my first time going down to the base for the Sacrament Meeting held at SOI (School of Infantry).  Alan has spoken there several times either as a High Council assignment or when he was invited.  It is held at 2:30 pm in a multi-use little chapel there.  The marines that attend there are all the ones going through SOI who can't leave the base for church. The Marine Corps School of Infantry trains entry-level Marines in basic warrior skills. SOI's training mission ensures "Every Marine is, first and foremost, a Rifleman"  SOI also trains Marine leaders from the rank of Corporal to Lieutenant in advanced infantry and light armored vehicle skills. ( I took that off the marine website).  When they first go through boot camp they are told on Sundays "You can either go to church or sit in the barracks."  Most of them choose to go to church.  SOI is the next level above boot camp, but they have their choice whether to attend or not.  So there were only six marines instead of a possible 40-60.  We go there to see if we can identify any LDS marines who will soon be assigned to our area of Camp Pendleton. Of the six marines, one did not know yet where he was going, one was going to Missouri, one to Monterey, one to Okinawa, and two were Reserves from Portland, Oregon about to be deployed to Afganistan next week.

Because church was so late I attended Sunday School and Relief Society in our family ward.  I haven't done that since we were called to the YSA ward in September.  I have been to lots of Sacrament Meetings, but not SS and RS.  It was nice to be back with the sisters I have grown to love.

Sunday is far from a day of rest for me.  I wake up early trying to figure out how I can attend the different meetings I may need to attend and still find the time to fix the nice Sunday dinner I have planned.  Do I start the rolls and do the dessert before I go to SS & RS?  Will I have time with traveling all the way to the base to get all the other parts of the meal done?  Did I buy enough if some of the marines show up for dinner?  Will we need a leaf in the table?  Have I planned menu items that certain family members don't like or will not eat?  If Alan or Adam doesn't fix breakfast for me I seldom find time to eat other than a taste of this or that that I am preparing.  I always worry that I haven't prepared enough and then I have too much most of the time.

Half the time, someone I am planning on attending dinner with us doesn't come after all.  Lucky for us Mao and Cathy came for dinner.  They have been on a little getaway, staying at a nice hotel in Rancho Palos Verdes.  Her sister came all the way from Boston to stay with the kids so they could have a couple of days alone before #3 arrives. It was her Christmas present to them.  Wasn't that nice?  We got to have a few hours with them.  They very much appreciated the dinner and made it all worthwhile.

But I think I probably am breaking the Sabbath to spend so much time and worry some days.  We may just cut down to one family Sunday dinner and one Marine Sunday a month.  I guess as a mother you want to gather your family around you as much as possible and Sunday dinner is my excuse to do that.  All my life my mother did such nice Sunday dinners.  We always had company and I loved it.  I don't remember it being so much work for my mother, but a child never knows how much their mothers really do.

Sunday Dinner with Mao, Cathy, Adam, Bailey, and Jennifer. Alan was camera shy, I guess.

You would never guess Cathy is six months pregnant.  In fact you probably wouldn't guess she was pregnant at all.  She is very lucky.  She is afraid, though, that people will just think she is putting on weight.  She doesn't even look like that either. Fun to have them, even briefly.  Hope to see them agian soon. 

WHAT TO DO WITH SATURDAY?

Boy, blogging every day means I really have to stretch to have something of value to say.  My "catch-up" posts take a long time to put together.  Alan says just to do a sentence or two like Ashley sometimes does.  I am not only not as clever as Ashley, I don't have funny little subjects to highlight.  So today's is a stretch.  What do you think?

Lake Forest was a beautiful place to raise my children.  The trees unified the area.  The kids had the greenbelt and the creek close by to play in.  We were surrounded by wonderful people.  But sometimes I wish we had moved to this house in San Clemente to raise my family.  There are so many activities close at hand.  I could just imagine all the exploring and creative things children could do being so close to all that nature. Luckily, we have Bailey to enjoy the area as well as some of the kids on this street.

For the last few days, if you want to find Bailey, Morgan and Homar who also lives down the street, just look up--way, way up.  See them at the top of the hill.

What are they doing up there?

What kids do, making a better place to play. 

The way down is the cement water channel.

It is not that easy to remain upright and walk down.

But eventually you are there...

Tiring of playing in the wild, the kids were off to a carnival not too far away where the city of San Clemente was putting on a carnival to celebrate the new sports park they are building on the sight.

Meanwhile, it was about time for me to bring a little beautiful nature to my almost barren gardens.  As usual I buy more than I have daylight left to plant.

At least the most visible front garden got done.

The rest must wait for another day.  In Lake Forest I always waited for Alan to turn into my dad and spend all his spare time making our yard and gardens beautiful.  Alan kept the front yard neat and the bushes trimmed.  Sometimes he planted flowers.  But it just wasn't his passion.  Besides, in Lake Forest the awful eucalytus trees poisoned the soil and kept things from flourishing.  When we moved to SC, I decided I would be more like my dad myself and like my sister Rosemary and spend some time in the gardens.  I don't have as much time as I used to and our gardens often are sparsely planted.  But when the season changes, it is fun to see how beautiful the yard becomes with a little color.