Father's Day

Hola and Happy Father’s Day!

This is a very fun day because Frank is HERE, isn’t that wonderful! We get him for 48 hours, including a few hours on Father’s Day.

Here is the Origin of Father's Day, which you may or may not know:

Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day." She thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

Sonora wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.

After Sonora became an adult she realized the selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

Of course, I am thinking about my dad today. I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting on "Leadership," and included a few examples of him from our family, growing up. I created these pages for my kids’ scrapbooks, in his honor (you can click on them to enlarge--I know the old photos of him are tiny in that 2nd one). These are photos of some of the cousins and family at the funeral last September, in Tucson. It was good to be with family, even though it was a sad event. I hope to do more pages of him, after my mom sorts through the photos she has, and gives some to the rest of us.

I just desperately don’t want my children to "forget" him. I know my kids won’t really know him like I did. But at least with photos, they'll remember what he LOOKED like, and that makes people more real. It's a start.




(Paper by AmyLeigh's Designs, godigitalscrapbooking . Elements by Jessica Alger, godigitalscrapbooking. Butterfly by Vicki Stegall, Oscraps.)

"A father is a guy who has snapshots in his wallet where his money used to be."

Have a great day! Love, Kari

Speaking, Reading, Teaching

Hola!

Well, a good news item is that my carpets DID go back to normal! (See previous blog, after they were cleaned last week.) Whew! That was a huge relief, and it only took 1 or 2 days.

Otherwise, it was a good set of speakers in our Stake Conference. This was a fun thing, after the fact of course: Teresa (10 yrs old) gave a talk in Stake Conference! Yep, the building was full, after they put chairs up in the gym and on the stage. There were probably 1000 people there. I have never given a talk for that many people. I was more nervous than SHE was! Ha. We put it together early last week, and she practiced out loud each night. She did a really good job, speaking slowly and clearly. Just before she got up, MY heart was pounding…I really was nervous for her, but she didn’t seem scared.

I put together these scrapbook pages for the girls, for when they received their Recognition Awards over the past couple of months.

Teresa (5th grade) got a reading recognition award. She reads like crazy, and has taken “reading counts” quizzes on so many books. Each book, depending on length and difficulty, may be worth 10 points, or it may be worth 30 (think “Lord of the Rings” trilogy for that many points). This year she has earned 750 points! Very cool. (Here is Teresa's page. You can click on it to enlarge it.)


Kara got her award a couple of weeks ago. Hers was “Future Teacher” recognition. Her teacher says she is always helping someone in her 2nd grade class, or explaining if they don’t get it, or making sure they finish an art project or other work before everything gets put away. I didn’t even know they gave that one out. Very nice!

(Templates by Kissed Studio., paper by Rebekah Jennings/Merek Davis. Teresa's paper by Jilly Bean Designs)


I’ll have to talk about David’s another day. Have a great week! Love, Kari

Weekend Woes

Hola!

Wow, June, imagine that! The kids are SO counting down until summer. 7 and a half days left. My brain has been bouncing around like popcorn popping, but what is new, you ask… I’ll choose 2 things on my mind today/recently, then go to bed and start over tomorrow.

CARPET CLEANING. I love clean carpets! I am so happy this morning, after the ChemDry guys leave, with my freshly-raked carpets and instructions that “It will be dry in 3-4 hours.” I spend a few minutes just looking at the symmetrical formations, kind of soothing and therapeutic. Then I make a couple of phone calls.

I return to the glorious scene of my sparkling carpets, to find…BUBBLES. (What??!?) yes, bubbles in the living room carpet, like a groundhog has funneled under the rug, leaving a long, skinny bubble…and oh, look, there’s another one over there, and –yes, over there, too?? What have I done?!? By chalking ONE thing off my list, now I have added SIX. I must now call the Chem-Dry people to come back again, have a carpet stretcher come out and re-stretch this carpet…get chem-dry to pay me for it...the list goes on. I kick myself for trying to be in the spring-cleaning mode.

Well, this bubble thing has never happened to me before, but my friend tells me it is not uncommon and it has happened in her house before. The carpet absorbs all the moisture from the cleaner, and it gets “bulky,” or maybe a little “bigger” than it was before…it bubbles up. Relax, she says, when the carpet dries out it will go back to normal. I am holding my breath.

GAS PRICES RISING HOURLY. No, I’m not even kidding. It is like the Twilight Zone. Last Thursday evening, driving by my usual station, I see that gas is $4.09 for a gallon of premium unleaded. Friday morning I fill up at that station for $4.15 per gallon. I drive by the same intersection that evening again, and it is $4.25, and the NEXT morning? $4.31. I can't believe it. (Just for a tiny consolation: tonight I fill the other car, and it is back down to $4.25. Silver Linings to my clouds!)

There’s my brain-bouncing update. We’ve had some fun end-of-school-year activities…hopefully I can get the photos on the computer and share some soon.

Have a great week! Love, Kari

Two Stories

Hola!

OK, now I need to tell you the “Awwww….” part of the story, from last week’s depressing library fines episode (check previous blog post).

STORY #1: LIBRARY SACRIFICES

AFTER Teresa gets out the calculator and figures out that from our overdue pile of books, we owe the library $26 and some-odd cents, my mini-tirade makes it unmistakably clear that I am not a happy camper. I remove myself from the room and go up to my room, to read on my bed, to distract myself, or whatever.

When I come out, Teresa (10 yrs. old) of her own accord, has collected money from her spending stash, and she has also gone to David (12) and Kara (8) and asked them for donations. She presents me with enough money to cover the fines.

Speechless, I take the money and set it aside. Frank comes in and asks, “You’re not really going to make them pay the fine, are you?” I tell him I hadn’t thought about it yet, but now that I was thinking about it, I never had actually told them this was THEIR responsibility. I just always check the calendar, plan a library trip, and we turn in the books. So, no, I would not make them pay this time.

But isn’t it cool that they were willing to?

STORY #2: CAUSING A COMMOTION

Yesterday we went to the California Science Center (check David’s blog), a huge hands-on museum in L.A. with lots of fun experiments! There is a bicycle on a high-wire that you can pay $2 to ride. You get strapped into the bike, and ride it out over their atrium, so you are actually 3 stories up. People-watching goes on from the ground floor up to the bike, as well as from the 3rd floor railings looking down. There is a net just 5 feet underneath the bike. We let Teresa do it. (Not the other two, since Kara is too short, and David is not wearing the required tennis shoes…)

Teresa rides out to the middle, and of course, what happens…her shoe comes off, in a kind of slow motion, landing gracefully in the net under the bike. Initially she thinks the shoe now belongs to the museum…it is a little unnerving for her to contemplate walking around the rest of the day lop-sided.

But the man brings her back to the side, gets on his radio and asks for someone to come get the shoe out of the net. The comical part is watching their process of forming the rescue. From the top of the atrium, where we are waiting, we can see the employees below, talking on THEIR radios. Then there are 4 of them together, conferencing gravely, looking up at the Serious Situation, and conferencing some more. Then one goes to the desk and takes a Very Important Phone Call. Then one lady from the Conferencing Group stands blocking and waving people away from walking exactly below the net with the shoe in it. The Expert Man With The Fishing Hook comes up and gets on the bike. (Quite a crowd is on the ground floor looking up, now…) The Expert Man With The Fishing Hook rides out and carefully fishes for the shoe. He misses a couple of times. The mesmerized crowd holds its collective breath. Oh, there, he’s got it! Rousing applause and whooping from all levels.

At bedtime, I ask Teresa what was her favorite part of the day. “Losing my shoe on the bike ride,” she says. I chuckle and ask why.

“Because it caused a commotion.”

Books, Beaches, Kamikazi Surfers

Hi!

Well, today is May 18…NOT May 10. How, exactly, do I know that? Teresa gets home from church and asks, “Mom, when are our library books due?”

I tell her that I think it’s around May 24, I looked last week and that’s what the receipts said.

“Well, remember, Mom, we got a bunch from the Newbury Park branch, then a few days later we went to the Main library for me, to get the ones I wanted for reading points at school.” Hmmmm.

I look at the receipts, and sure enough, there is the group I was looking at (due this coming week), and then there is another group of receipts behind that, that were all due…May 10.

You have to understand: this is a BIG DEAL for me. I have worked SO hard, over the years, to refine our library system! I am SO CAREFUL! This is very hard for me to take…Teresa goes to get the calculator. We owe $25.60. Sigh.


On a happier note, Frank has been here this weekend! It has been a scorcher: temps in the 90’s and just over 100 inland, so our reply yesterday was…to go to the beach! It’s around 20 degrees cooler there, breezy, and of course the water is freezing. It makes a world of difference with the wetsuits, though, so Frank and I take the boogie boards out. If you can get through the first 5 minutes, while your bare feet go numb, the rest of you actually adjusts.

The biggest challenge, I think, is the surfers. Now, to help you understand…GOOD surfers are not dangerous. Maybe to themselves, I guess, if they take on waves that are just too big. But the REALLY dangerous ones are the “Almost-Good” surfers. They are good enough to stand up and stay on the board, but not quite good enough to steer or dodge the people around them.

We float in the water with various other surfers, waiting for a wave. A wave comes, and if another surfer is only 20 feet away from you and they catch it first, there’s no telling where they’re going with it. Sometimes they whiz by and only miss you by inches.

I have my eye on a particularly big guy…he has an athletic build so he’s not fat, but he probably weighs 225 lbs. He can stand up on the board and ride it, but he has no control whatsoever and I’ve watched him “Almost Nail” other people a time or two. I am quick to envision myself getting mowed over by his speedy board, and he wouldn’t even notice. I signal to Frank a little ways off and point to this guy: “I’m afraid of him.” Frank nods in agreement.

Beach highlights this time include: digging in the sand, collecting man-eating-sized seaweed, and of course Teresa finds a dog whose owner is more than happy to let her exercise with him. The ocean is a never-ending source of natural entertainment for the kids, and therapy for me. We should definitely come here more often.

Pancake Mistake

Hola!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. This afternoon I walk into a beautifully clean office, (downstairs at home), with lots of floor space and cleared-off desk space! I ooohh and aahh, and find out that Kara (8 years old) did that for me, for Mother's Day.

After I thank her profusely and give her a big hug, I cautiously ask, "Where are all the papers that were on the desk?" She smiles and points to a stack of papers on a bookshelf. Whew! I heave a sigh of relief. "That's just the right thing to do with all those papers, Kara," I assure her.

I am informed at breakfast that I have MESSED UP, by making pancakes for breakfast. See, tomorrow, the KIDS were going to make me pancakes. (It takes me approximately 5 seconds to think of a DIFFERENT breakfast they can make tomorrow. I am very resourceful...that's what mothers do.)

Happy Day tomorrow...Kari

Airplanes, Argentina, Art

Hola, and Happy May!

We are having a happy weekend, with Frank “visiting” for a couple of days. He returned from Argentina & Brazil safely, and has a “long layover” in California “on his way back” to Boston.

LAST spring, Frank and I went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and last week he browsed some of the same markets and museums that we went to last year. Here is an optical illusion Dot Painting from one of the museums. If you stare at it, the dots seem to move...

The second is of Frank standing in front of a HUGE sculpture of Brazilian explorers. These men were responsible for the founding of the country. (BTW, the explorers themselves were NOT that BIG…see, with sculptures, you can carve people a lot bigger than they actually were in real life…)David helped with the Youth Yard Sale on Saturday. This was to earn money for camps they’ll attend this summer. The kids collected donated items from congregation members, and one family said they could have the yard sale at their house. So bright and early last Saturday (5:30 a.m.—wow!), they all went to set up and price things, and spent the morning selling.

Teresa went to a "sleepover" Friday night, where the 10 of them pretended they would sleep in the family camper/RV, parked in front of the house! (Sounded to me like a perfect answer to not having basements out here: Send them to the camper!) She is definitely sleep-deprived, but had a good time.

And Kara has been working on her front teeth…one is definitely more loose than the other, but they’ll probably both be gone at the same time for a little while.

Hope your transition into May was a good one. Love, Kari