I'm happy I still have a couple days of Christmas Vacation

Most of our Christmas vacation has been sucked up already. We spent a good part of it driving to and attending funerals.

Move over Michael

Got Roller Skates?

Margaret Ann O'Rando

Margaret Ann O'Rando Feb. 21, 1920 - Dec. 17, 2009 Resident of Concord Beloved wife of the late Kenneth Balding; mother of Nancee Aboussie (Michael), Theresa Van Auken (Mike), and the late Patricia Ann Balding; grandmother of Michelle Aboussie Wolf, Michael Aboussie, Melinda Aboussie, Melissa Aboussie, Majeed Aboussie (Kristine), Tony Van Auken, Nicole Van Auken, David Christopher (Suzette), Johnnie Balding, Donald Moore (De Ann); and leaves behind twenty-four great-grandchildren and many friends. Margaret, a native of St. Louis, Missouri, enjoyed cooking Italian food and playing bocce ball and softball in her early years. She also cherished spending time with her family and she always looked forward to her large family gatherings. Family and friends are invited to a Memorial Mass on Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 9:30am at St. Catherine of Sienna Church at 606 Mellus St. Martinez, CA 94553. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to the St. Jude Foundation. Ouimet Bros. Chapel (925) 682-4242

Visit to California

A day after Tracy died, Grandma Orando died. She is Don's biological grandma. Don's mother left him with her intending that she would raise him right before she died. Instead he ended up in a group home. But that is another story. I asked Don how long he lived with her. She came and lived with his family when Don's mom was still alive, several times. She had a huge impact on his life. I think he was closer to her than most grand children are to their grandparents. She distanced herself from him when he joined the church at 17. So I only met her twice. But Don has some great stories about her.

We drove straight from Las Vegas to San Diego on Sunday. The catholic funeral was held on Wednesday. Don's family was busy before the funeral so we just visited with them on Wednesday at the wake after the funeral. There is a lot going on with his family right now.

The highlight of the trip was when Don's aunt Nancy gave Don all the pictures his grandma had kept of Don's family. There were tons of them. Don has few pictures from his childhood. These pictures mean more to him than most anything. He has put them in a special place to keep them safe and calls them the "Arc of the Covenant". With the pictures was a little jewelry box with a couple of necklaces in it. Grandma had written, "Last gift from Patti" on it. I am so happy that Nancy gave all of these things to Don. We have been trying to get copies of these pictures for years.

My big mistake came when I wore a bright flowery skirt and white shirt to the Catholic funeral. It wasn't until we came out of the cathedral and I saw everyone dressed in black that I remembered that everyone wears black to a funeral. Whoops. I stood out like a sore thumb. It already puts strain of the family that we are Mormons. So, not good.

Tracy's Wake

Tracy died on Thursday after having a heart attack. She was about 47 years old. We went to her wake on Saturday in Las Vegas. There were a lot of people there. Don really wanted to be there for Christina, Evan, and Deanna. Christina is married. Evan lives in Las Vegas on his own. Deanna is seventeen and lives with her dad. Anytime is a hard time to lose your parents. Tracy was very young and her death was unexpected.

I shouldn't be laughing.

I started telling Don about my day today. As the stories kept coming to me I was laughing so hysterically that I couldn't even tell the stories. Kids are so funny.

We are talking about immigration in our second grade class. I gave my class the assignment of researching their ancestors and telling our class about one of them. I gave the class the example of my great-great Grandpa, John Devey, that built the first car in the west. They all thought that was very cool.

So today I had a child stand up and say that his family invented pink lemonade. Yes, pink lemonade. I asked him what the secret recipe was and he said that they add food coloring. I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. I mean, it's possible. It made me so curious that I started searching the Internet for pink lemonade recipes. Amazingly enough, none of them call for food coloring.

Another student, not to be outdone, stood up and said that his grandma made the first watch. "Is she still alive?" I asked. He answered in the affirmative. "Hmm," I said, "Watches have been around for quite a long time. Are you sure it wasn't a great-great grandma?" "Oh yeah, he said. "It was my great-great grandma."

I was amazing how much more realistic the stories were once I clarified that the class needed to share real stories that they had found out about their ancestors. I had descendants from Brigham Young, the person that shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln, and war veterans. There were some really great stories.

After each presentation I opened it up to the class for questions. Without fail, a student always asked, "How old were they?" You would think that the question was always coming from the same student. I wasn't. It didn't matter if the presenter said their age in their presentation. It didn't matter if someone else had asked already. It seemed to be the popular question. I even stopped them at one point and said, "You can't ask them how old they were." Guess what the next question was?

The topper was the part of the day when one of my students choked on a piece of candy. This student actually isn't allowed to have sugar. I can only imagine the candy deal going on outside at recess. "I'll give you four pencils for that peppermint candy." "No way!" "Okay. Four pencils and TWO erasers." "Deal!" Anyways he managed some how to get a small round peppermint candy.

We were right in the middle of learning about friction, when he started screaming, "I'm choking!" His face turned red and the whole class looked in horror. I ran over to his side to assess the situation. I mean his face was red. But he was able to yell to the whole class that he was choking. Doesn't that mean that he was getting air? I sent another student to get a cup of water. I knelt by the student's side and watched as he started to gag. One gag, two gags, one great big gag and then the small candy came flying out and onto the floor. I grabbed it quickly with a Kleenex and threw it away before the class could see. Crazy. He was okay. I sent him to go get a drink from the water fountain so he could compose himself.

You would think I would have told his mom seeings how she works at the school. I totally forgot until she asked me about it during lunch. The hard part was trying to tell her the story without cracking a grin. I mean, he wasn't supposed to have candy in the first place.

Life is good when Don's around

The last 11 days have been amazing. Don has been off because the temple is closed. I come home to a husband and we are actually functioning as a family. We had a baby blessing on Sunday, Porter's Christmas program Monday, and the ward party on Tuesday. It was so different going as a family to these things. I didn't have to spread myself thin watching all four children at once and try to get something out of the activities as well. What a difference.

It is hard to imagine Don back at work. We will hardly see each other. It is when Don gets time off that I realize just how hard it is with our opposite schedules.

How Twillight Should Have Ended

I loved this.