Author: Angela
I write so my family will always have letters from home.
General Young Women Meeting year 3
Each spring before we attend the General Young Women meeting, Paige and I have our picture taken.
A picnic and truffles
Sarah and Bryan came to our house for the afternoon. We packed a picnic, loaded it into a basket and Mark’s jeep and we made our way to the park by our house. We ate big sandwiches, fresh strawberries and raspberries, chips, and snickerdoodles. YUM. Some of us played frisbee…
And some of us ran through the sprinklers.
And one of us just took pictures, which is all she wanted to do anyway.
Mark, as driver, learned the inherent privileges of driving with food in the front seat. Sampling!
Sarah taught us how to make truffles. We made milk chocolate truffles and raspberry truffles; some we decorated with white chocolate and drizzles; others we rolled in sprinkles, making them less edible, but very colorful.
And yes, they do taste *THAT* good.
Thanks for a fun visit, Sarah and Bryan. Come again soon!
Piano Ensemble 2011
It’s our springtime tradition: a new suit or dress and the big ensemble concert at Centennial Hall. This was Paige and Daniel’s 4th year to participate in this concert.
We invited some friends to join us. Daniel didn’t hang out with us in line because he was with his piano duet partner. Yes, Paige is taller than I am in this picture. We’re both wearing heels. I’m posting this even though I look old.
We saw some Family at the concert! Bryan’s sister was in the concert, too.
Paige and her piano partner played one of the big Steinway concert grand pianos in the front. They played the Liebeslieder Waltz by Johannes Brahms.
Paige is wearing my formal concert skirt with a shimmery silver top from her own closet.
Daniel, always the brave and independent one, went up to the conductor to thank him when it was over. He played the Russian Sailors’ Dance which was just incredible.
Spring Break
Here we will stay
Sometimes I just have to pinch myself because those saguaros are so beautiful. We bought our house 5 years ago today. It’s St Patrick’s Day, the day we said in writing, “Here we will stay.”
We have a full life here and I am grateful to be here. This week I have been privileged to see the generosity of many people in my community working together on a humanitarian aid project. So many times this week I have had a full heart as I have responded to calls and emails offering to help. One person heard about the project but is currently traveling overseas. She contacted me to find out how she can contribute. Such generosity! Tomorrow we will complete our project of making hygiene kits for disaster victims and send them off.
Dear Japan,
Someone in this desert is thinking of you and hopes you will be okay.
Love,
Sahuarita, Arizona
Sneaking sweets, surfing, and poking around allowed
The kids have been writing about their grandparents. I’ve noticed a common theme in their writing and it is that grandparents are a lot more lenient about rules.
“Grandpa always sneaks cookies to me.”
“Grandma and Grandpa let us go mattress surfing down their stairs.”
“They let us poke through their house and mess up the bricks in the backyard.”
How great is that?
Paigie
I love this girl. She towered over me yesterday at church in her heels. She is so talented. She is so smart. She is absolutely lovely.
Vendor Day 2011
It was the annual homeschool Vendor Day yesterday. We sold things! We bought things! Everything had to be under a dollar.
This year, we changed our marketing strategy. We abandoned the stationary booth idea. The boys were mobile, moving from person to person. Mark had the cute factor going for him. He was our most successful salesman. He sold fruit snacks. Timothy sold candy.
A group of kids put on a carnival with a cakewalk, games, face painting and PRIZES!
Snow cones!
Jewelry!…and everything was priced under a dollar! The jewelry booth girls probably didn’t make a profit, but they were popular with their nice jewelry, organic lollipops, free balloons, sand art, prickly pear jelly and a raffle for books by their mother who is an author. They became friends with everyone.
This booth provided my lunch. Yum.
One problem with Vendor Day is there are too many salespeople and not enough customers. Just when things began to look bleak, the retired bicyclist club arrived! They engulfed our snow cones, bought all of our Popsicles (it was 85 degrees) and spread their money around in heroic ways.
Aloe vera plants, anyone?
This teen was selling things he had made out of DUCT TAPE. I liked the water lily, myself. It was only 75 cents.
There were many booths I didn’t photograph. There were homemade cards, water bottle holders, sodas, about 5 cupcake booths, refrigerator magnets made with walnuts and googly eyes (I bought two), and sachets. There were about 30-40 cute kids there.
Daniel’s artistic sugar cookies were a hit. He made about $6. Later that evening, we had 3 kids show up on our doorstep to buy more.
Planting Day
It’s about time to plant the garden. We have a little work to do in the raised beds in the backyard: some waterproofing of the stones, some more dirt to haul, and then some planting. Richard threw old leaves and odd things on the soil this winter. The other day we found a bunch of eggshells scattered in the dirt. I guess tomatoes need calcium.
As a child, I always looked forward to planting the garden. I’d admire my parents’ strength as they turned over the soil with shovels. Dad’s investment of leaf and grass compost really made for a wonderful garden. I don’t remember a motorized plow in the early days.
I didn’t mind weeding the garden. I could nestle in beneath the corn plants and breathe in the smell of the tomato plants. It was a good time to tell my dad secrets and squish my toes in the mud. You can’t beat that.