Happy Birthday #6

Kami's big day was today.. six years old... I love you Sweetie!

Happy Birthday

My beautiful boy... Christian... age 17 on Jan. 21

Christian with Kami (nearest) and Macy...... Kami's Birthday was today....age 6

Melissa's grandmother... last year there were these flags all over town...I'm going to have to try to buy several of these flags for me, Melissa, and my brothers. Christian offered to 'get them' for me...but I don't trust his method.

Melissa.....brush up on your equestrienne skills. Maybe since Steve is from The Cowboy State, he could give you some pointers. This was your grandmother in about 1938. No wonder my dad was smitten.... and married her 3 months before he went to war.

Here is my mother leading the parade in 1936...

Don't you think that Melissa looks like my mother? I still have the original boots & several outfits...

Queens

Last week I was contacted by a member of the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo committee ....She told me that she wants to rebuild the float because this year is the BIG 75th anniversary of the Ogden Pioneer Days... In this photo below, my mother was invited back for the 30th year anniversary to stand on the float.
My mother was the image of it---named "The Whoopee Girl"....they want Melissa to play my mother and her two daughters to be the rodeo 'princesses'...isn't that cool? We'll fly out the family out for the event.... Anyone even NEAR Ogden on the 24th of July this summer...come on out with your cameras....They are recreating the costumes, too. Remember, my mom was 14 in 1936 when she posed for the original photo.

hummm...looks like Melissa, right?

Cookies

Today I made dozens of chocolate chip cookies with my dad's California walnuts.
Here's the plant you bought us, Melissa.... Dad will take it to work soon, but I like it here on the red table!

I love the pictures of the kids you sent... I had them framed in these cool frames that have them 'floating' in glass. Notice all the snow outside?
Close-ups

Rebel Mom 1972

My good friend from high school, Rachel Fraga, found these two pics of my mom in the yearbook and sent them to me. Since I've lost those yearbooks, I am so glad to have a copy of these shots. ......One has Mom with our beloved cocker spaniel, Ralph, but the other picture is really great..... Up until that time, teachers at RBUHS were living under the UNWRITTEN CODE of dress conduct..that the woman had to wear dresses/skirts. My mom just up and bucked the system one day (she told me) and wore a lovely knit pantsuit (with really cute shoes, you can see). Soon, Mrs. Brasier followed, and it was such a fabulous gossip & scandal (loved by all the hippie, ruler breaker kids..) that they featured her in the yearbook.

Old Pics

Pics from the past..

Misc. #1 Son

Wolfy

Christian ages past

Mrs. Stoll

See this face? Notice the shock of white hair? The look of determination and lack of nonsense? This is the meanest English teacher you ever heard of and everyone at Red Bluff Union High School (California) feared her ... but she was the best teacher I ever had. When I think back about the ONE teacher who made a difference in my life....it was she. When I picture her, she is standing at her lectern, a thin wiry body always in a silk dress, with her hand in the air making a point: and always, I mean ALWAYS that wild white hair of hers sticking up as if making the point stronger. She was a Berkeley graduate. She took no guff from anyone. There was never anything about her that we could giggle about ... like the other teachers. Her class was QUIET and filled with learning every minute. She lectured a lot. No one dared to not bring in the assignment, or not study for a test. We learned vocabulary from the Word Wealth book, and I still remember those words. Every comma or semicolon had to be perfect. On the major English themes we had to (so often) write, we all knew the RULE....if there were more than THREE misspelled words, she would give you an "F" no matter how perfect the essay was otherwise. Those essays are some of the few things from high school I still have. I learned to proofread well. She was the Advanced English teacher for the juniors. I keep hearing those 'Mrs. Stoll Tapes' running in my head. I often wonder if I have affected my students the way she did. It is what I have tried to do ... since she is the gold standard I've tried to reach during my 30 years of teaching..... Hats off to you, Mrs. Marie Stoll! You did it well..... Does anyone else remember the teacher that touched them? Share, Share...

8 Stocking Now

I love making these for my growing family...

Melissa, this one is the newest, of course.... CASH....you have to enlarge the picture and notice all the details... I LOVE it... (if I may pat myself on the back!)