Generations

So...I typed this post last Saturday but did not finish it until today. Running to catch up with life, as usual!

The Little House on the Corner has been bursting with people and love lately. Diana and Lucas have flown home to their sunny beaches and Nick. My mother is here. She came to visit me but also to meet Lucas for the first time, It was sweet! As I type this post I am expecting the arrival of two of my nieces, my oldest sister Sharon's daughters, & their children. One of these nieces, Jalyn, is just four years younger than me and is the mother of nine, yes, NINE sweet children who are mostly grown now. She is bringing her two youngest sons. Annie is Sharon's youngest child and she is coming with her five little ones and her fun husband Cory. They are coming to see Grandma Helen and in the case of the kids, Great-Grandma Helen! Later on today another niece Emily will arrive from Provo with her father Steve. Em is my youngest sister Georgena's daughter and she is a BYU student. Steve is currently living and working in Ogden, far from his Colorado home and his sweet wife. We get to see them frequently on weekends but they are coming today especially to see that Grandma-Great! Hots and burgers will be on the grill this evening and thankfully the weather is finally behaving. It is a glorious 75 right now and I am in heaven. The only thing missing are my usual Mother's Day flowers that the Master and I go pick out the Saturday before. He buys me my hanging basket for the summer and I choose some pretties to put in my pots. Sadly, he is on a recruiting trip for BYU today but will be home tomorrow. I won't do the flowers without him so they will just have to wait. It's tradition, you know!

There will be five generations in the Little House today. Wow. Pictures will be taken and I am excited! Here are a few generational pictures I  insisted on before I took Diana & Lucas to the airport.

 This one cracks me up. My mother didn't want her picture taken because she was still in her robe although she had showered and put on her make-up. Rachel thought she would be sneaky and get her in anyway, A sneak attack Four Generation shot!

Lucas and I getting in a few extra hugs.                                                         We crack each other up!

 

We finally got Grandma Helen in one. Not bad either!

Lucas, his mother Diana, her mother Marianne (me!), and my mother Helen.

Four generations.

Done!

Here are the pictures we took on Saturday night. We had an extra surprise because the girls called their brother Norman, who lives in Logan and he came too with his darling wife Svetlana. It was so good to have them all here. Grandma loved seeing them!

 Back: Norman Black, Jalyn Black Bertagnolli, & Thomas Bertagnolli, Middle: Sveta Black, Helen Ellsworth, Annie Black Hadley & Cory Hadley. Front: Mason, Trace, Kennadee, Jaxon, & Olivia Hadley.

Emily Faria, Sveta & Norman Black, Thomas Bertagnolli, Helen Ellsworth, Steven Faria, Jalyn Bertagnolli, & Marianne (me!).

 In the photo below just add Annie on the end!

Helen Ellsworth with Great-grandson Thomas Bertagnolli who will leave in early July to serve a mission for our church to Ohio. His mom is Jalyn and in the second photo she and Grandma are sharing memories about my sister Sharon who we lost to cancer in 2007.

I have been wanting this picture for awhile too. This is my mother with her oldest and youngest grandchildren, my son Richard who is nearly 18 and my niece Jalyn who is...ahem! (four years younger than me!)

 

Here is our BYU student Emily hugging Grandma goodbye before she heads back to Provo. She is my younger sister Gena's daughter.

 

We had a wonderful visit, good barbecue, and fabulous desserts including cheese cake and a yummy Russian cake that Sveta brought! I put on a few pounds but may have lost them again playing Farkle with everyone.

 I won!!

Time Travel Tuesdays~Easter in Camelot

I am a bit late in posting this but only by a few days and it is Tuesday after all!

We are traveling back in time today to Easter Sunday of 1963. As usual, the weather was glorious in Mesa. No need for sweaters or umbrellas here! I am five and-a half years old  and had been an aunt to this weeping little girl for a year! This is my niece Jalyn Black, my sister Sharon's first child. I was in love with this little girl and her red hair! She was my first baby; my little sister Gena was born nearly 8 months later. Jalyn made me an "aunt" which none of my friends would believe when I told them. I loved watching her learn to sit up, wave, and crawl. Crawling was a whole new adventure because she did crazy baby things like eating Gravy Train dog food from the bowl set out for Tammy, our Boston terrier. She once pulled a watermelon rind right out of the garbage can and we found her gnawing on it happily! There were other not so funny things we caught her eating...but I digress!

Look at how we are dressed in blue. My mother and big sister planned our outfits to be matching. Gena was just a little six month old at the time but her dress matched too. Our dresses are homemade (as they all were back then). Aren't they cute? I don't know why she had reason to cry!

 This was Jacqueline Kennedy's heyday. The height of being a lady! I had white gloves to wear with this ensemble but I hate to tell you that they were hiding in that darling hand bag! I hated wearing them, which drove my sainted mother crazy! When I did have them on I did awful things to them like eating jam or drawing pictures in the dust on the end tables! I wish you could see the bib collar on the dress up close. It had three blue buttons down the front. So cute! I loved the hat and purse. I am certain they were purchased at J. C. Penney's on main St. in Mesa. Love my little Mary Jane shoes too! This was a special outfit because I wore it for a mother/daughter fashion show that the church Relief Society put on that spring. I remember walking out on that stage holding my Mom's hand and just knowing I was so adorable! (I had my little white gloves on too!)

Look at those vibrant roses! My Dad loved to grow roses and these were his favorite, Chrysler Imperials. I have a bush of them growing in frot of my house now in memory of him. I loved our shady front yard where we had many birthday parties and pretend adventures. That is North Recker Road in the background. It was gravel then. Now it is five lanes wide. Apache Wells golf course was built a few years later across the street. You can just barley see the orchard in the distant right side of the photo. That was my favorite place to play! It either smelled like orange blossoms and lemons, or was fragrant with plums and apricots growing. There were grapes, blackberries and pecans too! Why am I not living there now?! Sadly, the very spot I am standing is now the driveway to a Camelot Country Club. Unreal. Why does progress ruin things?

Oh geez!  I just had a cheesey thought.

"Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment 

that was known as Camelot".

That's what the Kennedys thought of their time in the White House. It's how I feel about my childhood. Now it's covered over by asphalt and concrete and called Camelot!