Little Houses

Last night, my husband said, "Come look at this little house", referring to a photo he found on Ancestry.com.

Francis Marion Cook is Carl's first cousin, 4 times removed. This little house, which was built about 1860 with their own hands, was in Henderson, Texas.  That got me thinking about little houses.

Like this one (on the left, in the late 1800's-- on the right, how it looks today with an addition to the left side).
This is the little 2 room red brick house that Heber Gunn built for his bride Effie Stonebraker Gunn.

Heber and Effie Gunn are my children's 2nd greatgrandparents.  Besides raising 7 children in that little house, the Gunns served as Hoytsville's postmaster and postmistress for 37 years (Effie serving after the death of her husband). The little postoffice was in that house (after an addition was put on). The original postboxes are preserved in the basement museum of the courthouse down the road in Coalville.

I also thought of the first house I lived in (after we stayed with my Grandmother for my first 9 months).  This was right after World War II. A lot of little houses were being built for the returning WW II vets and their new families (that's me on my father's lap in the photo). My father paid $2,000 for this house on Halsey Drive in Warwick, R.I.  All the new streets and schools in Warwick were named after WW II heros. Our street was named after Admiral William Halsey, commander of the U.S 3rd fleet during part of the Pacific War against Japan.  (I went to Warren A. Sherman Elementary School (another war hero), and graduated from Warwick Veterans Memorial Hight School.)
such a lot of history, heart and soul in little houses.

Newsflash -- Taylor Swift gets hitched!

Do you think Courtney sort of looks like Taylor Swift? Do we have a celebrity look-a-like in the family? Cast your vote here.

Milestones

This weekend was one of those times, when I asked myself, "Where has the time gone?"

These two, my first grandchild and my last child, celebrated milestone events.

On Saturday, we celebrated Elayna's first decade of life. She has grown up to be such a beautiful, intelligent, helpful, kind and loving 10 year old young lady.

The next morning, we left the house at 5:00 a.m. for the long drive (8 1/2 hours) to take our "little" Carl out to Texas Tech in Lubbock for his freshman year. We helped  move him into his dorm room, met his nice roommate, and then  attended church at his new student ward, where he was very warmly greeted by the church members. Monday afternoon, after purchasing books, and having lunch together, we said our good-byes and came home to an empty house.

We won't be seeing him very often, now that he's spread his wings and flown out of the nest. But he'll always be our baby.

P.S: Grandpa and I are now empty nesters. I recall my mother's favorite poem,  "The Open Window", by Longfellow. He speaks of standing in front of the old family home, looking up and seeing "the nursery window, wide open to the air; but the faces of the children, they were no longer there". (Thank goodness for grandchildren, who, when they visit, bring again liveliness and cheerfulness to this empty house.)

P:S: to our grown children -- no matter where you are, you are never far from our hearts.

almost time for school to start

Seems like just the other day that Jessica was in kindergarten.

Now, she's about to start her 3rd year of teaching Kindergarten. We visited her classroom this week while she was getting organized.

We admired the paint job Walter did on one of the long walls -- a very vibrant color with the bottom half painted with chalkboard paint. He's not finished yet. The window and door frames along that wall will be painted an equally vibrant shade of lime green.

We also checked out Jessica and Walter's new digs. They're living in the same ritzy part of town where her school is (near Rice University).  Just 5 minutes away from work, Jessica won't have to fight the traffic anymore.

the circus came to town!

The girls spent 6 days with us while their mom, dad and baby brother were in Utah. The heat, humidity, and mosquitos kept us indoors most of the time (except for going swimming), so we really enjoyed it when the circus came to town!

During the "pre-show" the kids got up close and personal with the clowns, and got to try on some clown clothes.

They also got to try out their acrobatic skills.

I missed Kyla's walking the tightrope, because she came across so quickly behind Avery, while I was busy snapping pictures of Avery. So super-acrobat Kyla got to have her picture taken with one of the pretty circus performers.

 The girls got so close, they could have reached out and touched this gentle giant.

   She painted a picture during the "pre-show", using her trunk.

Some of us enjoyed parts (the intermission) of the circus more than others.

But I know we all agree, it was the "greatest show on earth"!

 Grrrrrrr! Grrreat fun for boys and girls of all ages!

a lot has been going on this month (part 2)

At the end of June, we flew to Utah for Andy and KayLynn's  wedding. The celebration began the evening before the wedding, when the bride-to-be's parents hosted a wonderful barbeque at their home for family and friends who had flown in.

Andy enjoyed the reunion with several of the guys he has grown up with who had flown in from out of state.

We sure enjoyed meeting KayLynn's sweet family. Here's her mom and sisters . (Her Dad and brothers had to leave for a while to play in their baseball team's final tournament.)

While everyone enjoyed visiting, the bride and groom had fun unwinding and relaxing before the big day.

 The wedding was beautiful. I was so happy that our four other sons got to be there for their brother.

Our oldest daughter,Emily, was the fantastic wedding photographer.

The youngest member of our family group to travel to Utah, was grandson Colby, accompanied by his very loving and patient Daddy, Mark. (Colby's mom stayed in Minnesota with newborn sister.)  Here is Colby enjoying the lovely reception.

The day after the wedding, the newlyweds had us over for lunch and then for an outing up in the mountains. Then they were off on a honeymoon trip. We are so blessed to have another awesome daughter-in-law, and we're so happy that Andy has such a sweet, loving, supportive wife.

a lot has been going on this month (part 1)

The first part of June, we drove for 8 hours, through the heart of Texas and to the panhandle to the college town of Lubbock for several days of our youngest's freshman orientation at Texas Tech University.

                                                                   Go Red Raiders!

He'd die if he knew I was taking this picture. This was the last hour of the last day we were there, and Carl was pulling up the list of books he'll need in the Fall.

It was a great orientation, with lots of informative sessions for both parents and students. Carl got to meet with his advisors in the college of mass communications and with their guidance, registered  for his fall classes. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, and we met some wonderful folks.

Back to humid Houston, after enjoying the dry, cooler weather in Lubbock. (Dad had fun spending time at the university he graduated from. Although I didn't graduate from Tech, I was really impressed with the place and think it's the prettiest campus next to BYU.)