Maia's dance recital

Brenda said I could blog about this. I think she doesn't have time because she's on a flight to Boston today to see Sheryl and go to a wedding on the Andrus side.  Besides that, I think she equates blogging with bragging, which as a grandmother I'm entitled to do. Right? I don't think it's bragging. I think it's keeping a journal of your life with pictures!

So, yesterday we went up to the temple and then over to Brenda's for a Mexican supper and then to see Maia's dance recital. The theme was a story about princesses and they really did look like princesses--14 little girls in beautiful costumes.

Maia's enthusiastic teacher, Heidi

After the performance with the gparents

There's always a lot going on at Brenda's. Berkeley was ironing a shirt for the prom when we arrived. Sam got up early to go running. His voice is deepening, his fingers are getting longer, and he's acquired a sense of humor. Sydney's bird died while we were gone to the recital. She mourned it fiercely, dug a hole in the flower bed to bury it, and then rallied to give us her report on Emily Dickinson, dressed in a white costume and complete with a memorized poem about a bird that is a symbol of hope. I hope that beloved pets will be resurrected too.

Mother's Day Weekend

Neil came up to do the MacDonald Forest Ultra Marathon (31 miles).  He came in first in the Masters Division (40 and over).  We were proud of him. I can't imagine running that far on forest trails and that fast.

Sisters: prospective missionary and prospective mother

After the race: we're all basking in his achievement

Em has the knack of taking good pictures of us!

After the race we went to a baptism. Eldon has been helping the missionaries with lessons for Mickey and Rose Maloney, a mother and daughter. He gave the talk on baptism and I led the singing. They are enthusiastic new members!

Then we went to dinner at Nearly Normals--a nice mother's day gift. Ken and Polly and Jason came too. And for Gelato afterwards. Yummy. I'm also happy for homemade chocolate granola from Brenda and the DVD of Les Mis from Sheryl.

Sir Andrew and Viola

We were popping buttons off our shirts watching the play Rachel and Robin were in. It was Twelfth Night by Shakespeare.

Rachel played a naive knight with a drinking problem. She evidently got the part because she could burp at will. But she filled it with confidence. She danced, she fenced, she pouted, and could she ever project!

Robin had a difficult part playing a girl who pretended to be her twin brother. She pulled the funniest faces--dismay, surprise, adoration, confusion. She seemed to feel awkward holding her lover's hand at the end of the play.

Ken and Polly sold tickets and helped run the concession stand.

Sydney, Maia and Annie at intermission.

Marvelous

I never cease to marvel how a poet can put so much into so few words.  Case in point, the song we are singing next Sunday in Primary. It's called "I Lived in Heaven."
This is just the third verse:

Jesus was chosen, and as the Messiah he came,
Conquering evil and death through his glorious name,
Giving us hope of a wonderful life yet to be--
Home in that heaven where Father is waiting for me.

And then when you put it to music, it can cause tears to come when you sing it.

Perhaps it's because I have TWO fathers waiting for me!

Neil's boys

We just got back from 5 days at Neil's. It was pretty light duty, just getting Gideon off to school in the mornings and being there when he returned. Cooking supper except the night that Erik did it. They have a busy household but Neil keeps things running smoothly.

I went to a track meet where Erik came in 4th in all three of the events he did. Another fine runner in the making!

He and Grandpa went toe to toe in a chess game. Grandpa says he's a real fighter!

We went to Gideon's pinewood derby race. Neil and Grandpa created his car. It looked a little like Uncle Ken's van. He ran it in 3 heats and came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. He was more interested in making shadows on the screen where they showed the scores. But he had fun and got lots of cheers.

The Mystery Machine!

Ready, get set, go!

It was good to watch Zachary's quiet dignity. He dressed up one day like Clark Kent and asked a girl to the prom!  Lucky girl. He made sure we had family prayer each morning before school even if his Dad wasn't up yet. He showed love and patience for his two little brothers. He even ate the salmon I fixed one night even though he does NOT like fish! Good preparation for his mission. What a guy. I could mention he's getting quite handsome except I don't want to embarrass him.

Having been commissioned

I had the privilege of attending the baptism of Abri Lochner, an 18 year old girl who works at Underwater Audio with Jessica and Michael. She was taking the lessons from the sister missionaries but she had a lot of questions, so she asked them of Michael at work and he answered them as best he could. That's why she chose him to baptize her and also to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. His talk was humble and spiritual. He told a story about how he was praying to know if he should be doing the baptism and the Spirit said to him, "You have been commissioned of Jesus Christ." So then he knew he should do it.

Abri also spoke and said that everyone had warned her that Satan would try her the last week before her baptism so she listened to lots of Motab! She also used the analogy of the mustard seed, that if you have just a grain of faith it will grow if nourished. She said the same thing is true of doubt. If you have just a grain of doubt, Satan can make it grow. But she didn't even have a grain of doubt! She had to wait until age 18 to get baptized without her parents' consent. Her boyfriend, who has been going to BYU Idaho, gave Jason Dodge a ride to Corvallis so he got to attend the baptism too. I hope he'll be attending a lot of baptisms in Las Vegas!

On Sunday Jason came with the Brewsters to our ward. He and Grandpa went in the Gospel Doctrine class where they participated in a small group discussion and Jason was the spokesperson for it. He went with the Elders to Priesthood. Then they came over to Sunday dinner. Jessica and I demonstrated the Family Tree program. Then Jason borrowed a bike so they could go bike riding together.

He'll be a fine missionary. He's not afraid to speak up. He already looks like one!

Robin's 15th Birthday

For a surprise for her birthday, Robin's Dad borrowed the neighbor's red 2-seater sports car and took her to Red Robin's in Albany where the family met them for supper. What a nice Dad!

Then they brought a beautiful ice cream cake over to share with us for dessert. We were happy to share it!

Robin is a mature young lady. She's busy working on her lines for Twelfth Night and she has been called to be a family history consultant for the young people in her ward. What a good idea! We're proud of her.