Extended family – Page 32 – Letters from Home

General Priesthood Meeting and a New Suit

Our traditional pictures at the front door just before General Priesthood and General Young Women meetings may need to find a new location. It’s too sunny!

We bought Daniel a new suit. The salesman asked him where he was going on his mission. Daniel is compiling a list of things that he’s heard lately that you would only hear in Utah. On Sunday we went to Spring Lake to watch General Conference. There were a lot more flowers than we found last week. We roasted marshmallows outdoors. Grandpa let the boys use hatchets. It was a good time.

As we drove home, Mark exclaimed, “I love spring!” I do, too. I have poppies & irises from Spring Lake to introduce into my flower garden today once the April morning shower ceases. Hooray!

A visit with Grandma

Here I sit with my grandma working on her history.

It was a happy day and we were laughing at Richard’s antics in this goodbye photo.

Easter Eggs in the Secret Garden

The kids had their first Easter egg hunt in the Secret Garden at my parents’ cabin on Saturday. The annual Easter egg hunt is something we have heard about with a twinge of pain because we have never had the opportunity to be there. Well, this year we were THERE. And we loved it. Almost all of the cousins were there from my side of the family. I loved watching the dads hiding the eggs almost as much as I enjoyed watching the kids finding them.

Daniel took the photos of the spring flowers emerging on the property. At our house the bulbs are beginning to bloom in our front yard and it was a happy surprise to find a row of crocuses in our new flower beds. We planted some tulips, but the the beds are full of more varieties of tulip leaves than we planted. The daffodils arrived just in time for Easter. I miss my Arizona irises which are probably blooming right now, but living in Utah was worth every sacrifice.

We laughed so hard

When you visit Grandma, you’re sure to have a good time.

Grandpa sat with the liveliest group, moving now and then to a different room.

He liked the grandkids quite a bit.

Girls’ Weekend Year 2

Photo by Sarah Hainsworth via fancy remote

We celebrated a second annual Girls Weekend with the Sanchez women this month at Spring Lake. Activities included shopping at outlet stores, going out to eat, eating snacks, eating delicious soups and enchiladas that my mom prepared beforehand, yoga and essential oils with Becky, facials, a Victorian era chick flick, and a special morning choral reading of my mom’s book about her parents. I couldn’t be there the whole time, but we captured this moment with all of us together, promising we’d edit out the lower half of everyone’s ensemble. (wink!)

I have a few things to say about this photograph.

My little sister Susan is NOT that much taller than I am.
Paige is, however, that much taller than I am.
I did not get the memo about purple and blue. Even if I had, I don’t think I could have found something those colors in my closet.
This is a very happy picture. I smile when I see it.
These ladies are great company.

Great-grandmothers

It’s been quite a special time for me, learning about my great-grandmothers. I only have memories of one of these women, and she didn’t look like her photo when I knew her. The effort is deeply satisfying. I’m so involved in the project that I have given up cleaning the house or reading, and sometimes I forget to eat. My book is growing, and to use a phrase that I hear from my middle school son, “It’s epic!”

A Wonderful Story

I’m at 9,300 words in my grandmother’s history. This week I have written about forbidden marriages, ocean voyages, WWII valor, sacrifice, family traditions, family recipes, and a lullaby. I’ve gazed at baby pictures of people I only knew after they had wrinkles. I have laughed, I have cried. I have seen how my great-grandfather looked in Paris and smiled at his beret. My source materials include letters written in the 1990’s to me, copious notes from Grandma’s stories, photographs that Paige took of photo albums and objects, my great-grandmother’s collection of newspaper clippings and photos, slides that I have painstakingly scanned over the years, and previous histories and careful genealogy work by my dad and aunt. I have had a Finnish letter translated. I have hoarded and identified every photo I can get my hands on. We have done some of my family’s temple work. Whenever I revisit family history, it fills my life.

My mom just finished her parents’ history and shared it with us on Sunday. It is a treasure and I came to love my grandparents even more through the reading of it.

The more I learn, the more I see that Norman Rockwell was painting OUR STORY! That little redhead on the top could be my Mark.

My projects are his projects

1954-04-14 David — My dad, two days before my mom was born

I am so glad that Richard assumes the role of technician and editor so I can write and create. He makes my ideas become something more than dreams. I’m so grateful that he knows computer languages, English grammar, and is so unselfish about time.

When I was studying Greek philosophy a year or two ago, Richard came home with a book called A Pheonominally Phrank History of Philosophy (Without the Poncy Bits) so he could have conversations with me. This was an incredibly endearing gesture.

This week he knew that I had some photos to edit, so he sat down to preview some programs to help me do it. He worked on this picture of my dad which was covered in black dust spots. Thank you!

My March Project

Scan-130304-0002 — John, Ruth, David, Jeri, September 1951

The winter months have been devoted to cozy projects. My extra minutes in January were spent making our 2012 family album. February’s minutes went to violin practice. This month, my project is to make a third draft of my Grandma Ruth’s history that I began writing in 2008 after spending a week “interviewing” her. I’ve collected many pictures and I’m currently scanning slides so this little history is full of images.