My Sister, Sharon

My sweet sister passed away two years ago. I miss her. Ours is a strange and unusual family, you all know us, right? So I'm going to share part of my strange and unusual relationship with Sharon.

Imagine a four year old Gena standing on a kitchen chair rinsing and stacking dishes while a nine year old Marianne washed. Gena looks up and sees three children, Jalyn, Edwin and Norman, running across the lawn with their parents, Jay and Sharon, close behind. All she could think of was the mess of toys she had to clean up after they left.

Gena: "Here comes that bossy woman with her kids again!" (Sharon did tell me what to do... a lot)

Marianne: (with lofty disdain), "Don't you talk about our sister like that!"

Gena: (belligerently) "Who's our sister?!"

Marianne: (rolling her eyes) "Sharon's our sister!"

Gena: (growing indignant) "She is not!"

Marianne: (insert what you know this would sound like) "Go ask Mom!"

Yeah, turns out Sharon WAS my sister. I was so incensed! Why hadn't anyone ever told me? This explained a lot. I mean, why would my Mom let one of her friends tell me what to do so much?

As one of the "grown ups" I enjoyed getting to know Sharon as a sister. I realized we were so alike in many ways. I love her and I miss her.

The Queen Has Spoken!

Being a member of the ruling class has it's advantages. I get to boss people around. I can throw a royal fit now and then, blaming it on the aristocratic hormones of course. Let's face it, I rule.

But there are many tasks left to the queen that can dampen the regal spirit.

This week, first and foremost, has been the Arvada 3rd Ward YW's Camp Fund Raising Garage Sale (say that three times, heck, one time, real fast!). It was supposed to be this past Saturday but our latest blizzard put it on hold until the upcoming Saturday. This also mean that during said blizzard my car was outside. Try talking Helen into staying home sometime! I worried so about the Queen Mother stubbornly walking through the slush! Silver lining? More donations are piling up in my garage which will, hopefully, pile up more money. The photo on the right? That's a week old and I've had the items increase by almost 50%. Most excellent. I just wish I wasn't allergic to dust (hack, cough, wheeze...). But the best silver lining? Our cars are shiny and dazzling, even the windows! Now to get the inside to match the outer shell.

To greatly brighten the spirit... drumroll, please... Emily Faria was accepted into the exclusive singing group "Shades of Blue" for her senior year. She joins her sister, Allison. They are both very excited and are starting to scour the internet for dress options to present. Allison is also excitedly scouting out shoes. They are also knee deep in preparations for an audition Tuesday for a spotlight performance in the year end concert. The song is "Alto's Lament" (check it out on youtube, it's hilariously true to what altos face in music).

The royal mind is spinning and the Queen Mother is impatiently waiting to be taken to the post office. We love you all!

April and Easter

As you all know after many months and many prayers Steve got a new job! It's here in the Denver area which made Steve really happy. WE were ready to follow him anywhere but he was really stressed over the girls having to go to a new high school their senior year. So Allison and Emily are going to graduate as Ralston Valley Mustangs, like their brothers, and I don't have to pack and move. Allison, all by herself, made and decorated a cake for her Dad.



Decorating for Easter became a silly, light hearted affair.



We LOVED these little terry bunnies and chicks and had a macabre laden time inserting ribbons into their bodies to tie them to the chandelier.



My favorite decoration is a lamb I found a few years ago. He's so fluffy! I wanted something to show the scale of the lamb so I grabbed Charlie. He knows he's not supposed to be on the table and I kind of upset him by making him pose in this picture.

After six months of having "Daddy" around every day I was anticipating Charlie going through withdrawal. Steve's first day of work coincided with the girls going back to school after Spring Break and me starting a week of substituting. Mom said he had a miserable first day. He sat in the entry of the house all day and would moan and yowl every once in a while. He'd run to her and make sure she was still around and then return to the entry. As the week wore on he relaxed a little.

On Sunday mornings Charlie knows by our preparations that we are going to church. He mournfully follows us around. He's escaped the yard a few times and wandered the church grounds but Steve had altered the gate for strength and height. As Mom and I walked out of the church yesterday our flying furball met us. Walking with him across the little field we could see the gate was closed, so, how did he escape? Hmmm....




Let's see, printer cartridges, tissue box, pens, pencils,...



It's a good thing he's so darn cute and repentant!

Our April Fools Dinner

Allison, Emily and I made a delicious dinner last night. As interesting as it looks it was really, really scrumptious!

Oooo, do I smell potato soup simmering?



Cornbread all ready to bake!



Let's mix some yummy orange punch.



What a beautiful tureen of potato soup!



Just add bacon and cheese.



Mmmm, fresh steaming cornbread with melting butter!



And for dessert Strawberry Rice Krispy Treats with Green Sugar Sprinkles (just so it would fit in with the color scheme)

Spring Time in Lovely Colorado

When Gena told her friends in California, oh so many moons ago, that she was moving to Colorado they all shuddered at the thought. Did she know about the snow? Duh. But it's not what people imagine here in Arvada. Gena likes how Denise's husband, Mark, put it when he said "Everyone in Californina thinks we're buried in snow all winter and we like them to think that. It keeps them away."

Above is a picture taken from Gena's back door. Notice the chairs, stacked four high, popping out of the snow drift? This is the amount of snowfall in six hours and it's still coming.

Gena doesn't mind snow. It's pretty. It's white. It's fluffy. It's great to make snow ice cream with. It's much needed moisture. THIS snow is like being buried in a melted snow cone. Proof? Gena's van is at the foot of her hill on her street. As Steve and Gena left the store with basic survival supplies (milk, flour, sugar, "Quantum of Solace") they should have had a return trip of, oh, 10 minutes? Nuh-uh. Two and a half hours.




Gena's daughers decided to have a "grand adventure" (Allison's quote). Steve was determined to shovel enough slush off the hill around the family's second car to get it up the hill. That's right. The smaller front wheel drive car was brought to the bottom of the hill to rescue fair damsel, and domestic goddess, Georgena, and made it half way up the hill. The intrepid young women had two thoughts on their minds; to rescue the apple juice to drink and the flour and sugar so they could have homemade cookies. Said fair damsel was glad to see the enthusiasm since she had biffed it big time in the snow and her 46 year old body was aching from knees and elbows hitting the slush covered pavement. No picture of that, thank you.



Off they went. Their determined Daddy had struggled with his car and was within two houses away! The flour wasn't saturated! The sugar was dry! The apple juice was cold! (the movie had made the trek up the hill with the fair damsel)

Gena isn't too sad to miss substituting in middle school language arts today, and maybe tomorrow. She can stay home sniffling, sneezing and coughing in warm comfort where people will actually feel sorry for her.

Gena is deeply grateful that her family is warm, dry and happy. Happy? Oh, didn't she tell you? Gena's honey, Steve, got a job offer this afternoon. Here. In lovely Colorado.

ps. Allison wants to know if anyone can tell which bundled up girl is which... let us know... Helen messed up!

"Night and Day it's Cinderelly..."

Their schedule the past few months has been sleep, seminary, school, practice, nap and homework... every day. All the hard work paid off. The musical, "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" was a beautiful production. We are so happy that the girls were able to participate and had such a great time of it. After a lot of make-up sleep Sunday they are ready to get on with hum drum everyday life.






(gasp) The Prince is Giving a Ball!



































Who will win the tug of war and try on the slipper first?






















It took 38 bobby pins and 8 ponytail holders to take two braids from the base of their necks and secure it around their heads... too much hair to hold up in all that dancing!







The cast all get a mini poster and sign it for each other, ala yearbooks. I couldn't afford to buy each girl a bouquet so I bought some silk daisies and wired pictures of them in the play to the stems. I must admit I have a few good ideas now and then.

Killing Time in Maine

I received a fun letter from Christopher, uh, Elder Faria, this week. As I read it Mom claimed, "He sounds just like you." Maybe that's why I thought it was so clever? Chris was killing time waiting for his companion to finish with his e-mail. The silliness was the result of viewing the screen saver at the library, repeatedly.

"I'm sitting in the UMF (University of Maine Farmington)library in front of a computer screen whose screen saver is a slide show featuring a stuffed beaver (UMF mascot I assume) in humorous poses throughout the library (i.e. checking e-mail, reading a book about trees, surrounded by a pile of tree books, looking down a "forestry" section aisle, etc.). Can't say I'm too impressed. Cosmo the Cougar probably eats rodents like this for breakfast. On a diet that is (it's too cute, almost cuddly)...

"The sad thing about this slide show is that there are only five pictures. I want to spike the mangy critter like a football in the end zone then proceed to execute an over-the-top victory dance and squish out its fluffy innards...

"Now I'm thinking about plucking out it's beady, plastic eyes, ripping out its felt buck teeth, sewing its tail to the back of its head and shooting hoops with it. (O.K., no more violence. Fake or not, this beaver deserves respect)...

"Why did UMF pick a beaver anyway? There aren't even that many beavers here. There's not many moose either, but that would be so much cooler. And more intimidating. A moose could put up a decent fight with a Cougar or a Mustang (his high school mascot), but what could a beaver do? Nibble at the ankles? Slap it with its tail? Chew a wooden spear and nibble the end for sharpness? That last idea might be crazy enough to work...

"P.S. Elder Gonzalez just finished! No more having to amuse myself by poking fun at a rodent-like inanimate object!"

I miss my baby boy!

Busy as a Boring Bee

I'm such a slacker about posting AND I seem to have forgotten that I own a camera. It seems my life is full of busy nothings that don't seem noteworthy or fun to read about. There's also the 300 lb. gorilla in the room that is been Steve's unemployment, six months now. The stress is "(insert swear words)" but who wants to read about that? (bleh!)

We're in the home stretch for the musical and the girls are incredible. They are totally keeping up with all their homework and don't complain. I think the fact that they sleep any chance they get helps a lot. (smile)

Mom and I took a few days to take Michael to UT to get him settled into his new life before school starts. Brittany even took the day yesterday to scour the town with him for jobs. I'm really happy and excited for him but I miss him! (sniff)

We arrived home Tuesday, I slept away most of Wednesday (?) and now it's Thursday. I have a YW's Fundraising Dinner to pull off tomorrow night for 200 people and I'm also substituting tomorrow. I'm thankful for the sisters who have stepped up and let me delegate a LOT of the grunt work. Now I just need to help the girls each come up with a silent auction item and dessert to auction off. It must be done today because I only have 90 minutes tomorrow between the end of school and the set up at the church. Then we're on to the Fundraising Garage Sale. (sigh)

Love you all! I think I'll glue my camera to my side so I can find some fun things to share.