This picture was taken during the part of Youth Conference when we were at the St. Louis zoo! I'll mention more about that later...
One of my very favorite parts of the day was waking up and looking out the window and seeing this tree and listening to the birds sing. I remember growing up under a memosa tree and spending hours stripping off the little leaves and playing with the pink flowers. I have given this tree a LOT of TLC and it is finally turning into something. I will miss it!
My dear sweet friend, Karen Wall, shared several of her beautiful lilies with me a couple of years ago. Last year they were great...this year they have been fantastic. So glad I was there to see this...
...and this...
...and this....How I grew to love Karen and her dear, sweet husband Norman. I miss Norman and am so glad I was able to see him embrace the gospel.
One of the very best parts of living where we did is how close we were to Nauvoo. Love, love, love Nauvoo. There's no where like it! Sarah and I (along with Arena) made one more dash up the road to experience it just one more time. Spent the night in a log cabin, listening to thunder and lightening and remembering how similar it was to the night before Katie was married in Nauvoo. So grateful for the Prophet Joseph. I love this statue of Joseph and his brother, Hyrum.
How lucky I was to come in contact with lots of tennis friends. Wow, Edwardsville has the BEST indoor tennis courts at the YMCA. We were so lucky to be able to play all year. These ladies are amazing - providing equal amounts of competition and socializing and plain fun.
This is another fantastic group of tennis ladies. If I can find even just one group in Katy like I've had the pleasure of playing with in Edwardsville, I'll be one happy girl!!
Yep, I'll be lost without Carmen. Carmen cuts (and colors) my hair and provides lots of humor and a listening ear at no extra charge. The girls all love Carmen and will miss their visits whenever they came to town!
I've been so blessed to have such good friends while living here, and these are just a few of them! It is so very strange to find myself a tad bit older than most of them...how could that be? It seriously seems like just yesterday that I was the young, young mother, desperate for a friend. Girls need friends and after a certain point, age becomes irrelevent!
Debbie Coffey used to live around the corner from me in Huntington Beach, CA. Now she lives in St. Charles, MO, which was not too far from Edwardsville. We didn't get together nearly enough, but did have a chance for lunch a couple of weeks ago. Debbie amazes me in many, many ways! Melody came along also. Ummmmm....I can't even begin to say how much I'll miss Melody. I knew Melody and I would be good friends when we discovered that we had chosen the same china pattern decades ago. We've been through weddings, and fires, and walks, and talks, and serving, and grandbabies together...and that's just the beginning. Although we won't be together as much, I am sure that our paths will cross often - and I will look forward to those times!!
I have lots of little friends, too! I love all of the kids in the ward. Ashlyn and Payson were regulars at my house, as Heather was Sarah's flute teacher and brought them along. Small price to pay to have the teacher come to MY house. Didn't get a picture up of Sarah and Heather together, but I can not NOT write this without mentioning how grateful I am to Heather and her influence on Sarah - not just musically, but as an amazing example of all that is good and all that she has to look forward to. Heather always knew just the right thing to say and just the right way to say it. I will miss our musical afternoons!
And here are some more of my little friends - the Reeds. Their last Sunday was also the same day as mine, but they are headed north. These are some of the best kiddos and I will miss them tons. So glad the world is much smaller with the internet! Like I said, there were tons more...
I have never had a "Stake" calling before until I was called to work with the Stake Young Women, meaning I work with all of the 11 units in our Stake. These two ladies, Deor Jorgensen and Dana Waggoner, are a blast! We have had so much fun serving together and getting to work with the 12 - 18 year old girls. Keeps us young!! We had a blast last year at Girls' Camp and Youth Conference and monthly dances. A couple of weeks ago Deor and I drove out to Dana's farm - yep, a REAL farm - and spent the day seeing how life is on a true farm in Salem, Illinois! Way amazing. They have thousands of acres that they farm, AND she teaches 5th grade, AND her daughter just had twin baby boys, AND her husband is Bishop of the Centralia Ward. The woman is CRAZY busy. Deor has a daughter that lives here in Katy, Texas, SO we took a road trip down here together...way fun. Deor is so easy to talk with and the miles flew by. I will miss my association with them immensely...I learned so much!!
This is just one set of the many, many missionaries that have served in our area, but we really like these guys...Elder Dodge and Elder Jensen. Hoping they'll still be there when we go back in August. They so remind me of Marshall!
Miss Arena!! LOVE this girl. Arena has been such a sweet friend to Sarah. She is a year behind Sarah in school, but looks forward to catching up with her at BYU-I. She came into our Sacrament Meeting to see Sarah receive her Young Women Medallion - meant a lot to Sarah. Arena is representative of the amazing youth that I had the chance to spend my last weekend in Illinois with...
Here is the group after we finished our scavenger hunt at the St. Louis Zoo. I can't even begin to express how GOOD these kids are. Our Mutual theme this year is the 13th Article of Faith, which was printed on their t-shirts. Our conference theme was "We believe, we hope, we will endure" and they will! They gain strength from coming together and truly represent what is "virtuous, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy" to me!!
Ah, 102 Friar's Lane...I will miss you! I have loved driving (and running and biking) through our beautiful neighborhood. I have loved mowing the grass and caring for the flowers, in spite of the poison ivy, bugs, bee stings, and weeds. In the end it really is just a house...what matters most are the sweet memories that took place within those walls. Three high school graduates, two wedding receptions, one missionary farewell, music lessons, the Hawks living with us, Beth living with us, lots of other short-term occupants, luncheons, showers, birthday parties, parties after school musicals, Christmases, grandbabies visiting, ice storms, snow storms, power outages, bike trails, wonderful neighbors, Oreo, visits from extended family, spontaneous times around the piano...I'm sure I'm forgetting a thing or two...I am so grateful that I got to know the family that is moving in! Especially made me happy that Julie likes the red front door and has no plans to change it...
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