A Cool May Brings Back Memories...

I recently attended a wedding reception of a fine young man in the beautiful backyard of a ward member. It was freezing. The bride was wearing the groom's jacket. Ah, memories. I always note the weather on May 16 and 17th here in the Sacramento Valley. You may recall the winter of 1990-1991, the coldest winter in 80 years. If you were part of the wonderful Bowling clan during that cold winter, you may recall all the plants that died in Mom's backyard as a result. You may remember all of the replanting, painting, and reroofing that went on that spring to satisfy the hopes and dreams of a young bridezilla. You may have known the young bride-to-be who really wanted a lovely, out door reception and wanted nothing at all to do with the green and mauve, sandpapered-walled, carpeted cultural hall of the French Avenue building. You would've known the fabulous, selfless, wonderful mother of bridezilla who stayed up to the wee hours of the night and early morning to string white lights in grape vines. You would've known the wonderful father of bridezilla who took the young bride-to-be out to dinner months before and offered a check in lieu of all the chaos that was about to ensue.
You may have attended the beautiful, yet repetitive, sealing of bridezilla to her patient and longsuffering young groom on a beautiful, sunny, yet windy day in the bay. You may know that the young couple decided to begin their life together on Thursday and then greet the world at the outdoor wedding reception the next day. (This focus on the actually wedding day led to an expensive mistake in the first round of invitations which invited everyone to a reception on the wedding date instead of the day after.)
The young bridezilla and the patient, long-suffering, young groom awoke to a beautiful, sunshiny day in Oakland. As they slowly made their way to Great Gridley, the weather slowly took a turn for the worst. With clouds obscuring the sun, then turning gray, then spitting rain as they drove through Live Oak.
Bridezilla probably to this day doesn't fathom the stress and mountain-moving efforts that were put forth in her behalf as her dream of outdoor glory melted in the drizzling rain and cold breeze. House plants were whisked from their indoor settings to provided greenery in the unloved, green & mauve, sandpapered, carpeted French Avenue Cultural Hall. The rented adornments for the backyard were rerouted to the church to save Bridezilla from green upholstered chairs on the day of her royal blue and silver glory. (You must know that I am smiling profusely as I recollect my absolute love for that color combination despite the spring season timing.)
Unfortunately, you may recollect the young Bridezilla did not take this change gracefully with the proper appreciation for the house-plant adorned hall. You may also know that the young Bridezilla took (and still takes) nothing very well on limited sleep which definitely played a factor in her less than gracious attitude in the pre-reception chaos. (Enough attempts at false justification. On with the tale...) You may have witnessed the patient, long-suffering groom taking his young bridezilla aside and lovingly giving her the first much-needed chastisement of their young marriage. "A lot of people have been working very hard to make this special for you. You need to act more appreciative." Gazing in the blue-green eyes of her young husband, bridezilla's heart melted and changed in that instant as she took in his counsel. It ceased to matter that the rent-your-wedding-dress company had sent her the wrong pouf-your-dress-out-slip-thing and her skirt was pouffing so much that her shoes were showing despite her very large brother sleeping on it under his mattress all night long. It ceased to matter that her view was of plants hanging out of the basketball hoop instead of sparkling vines under the stars. It ceased to matter that the cake frosting flower color scheme was backwards. It ceased to matter that her darling youngest brother was doing his very best to sabotage any and all picture taking (actually I don't remember even being mildly bothered by that--it was very entertaining watching Sharon Well's reaction). The beauty of the day before and the blessing of being surrounded by her loving family satisfied all of her desires for the day of her dreams.

Sisters in the Snow

It was such a blessing to hang out together in December. I love you, Anne!

The Better Group Picture

Rich and Lisa's blog has excellent pictures from the trip, and maybe Nathan will post some of his & Kobe's pictures on his blog.

The Best Part of Living in California is FAMILY!

Thank you, Rich and Lisa for organizing a family outing to Muir Woods. We all had a great time, even though Bella does not look particuarly thrilled in the last picture. It was chilly, beautiful fun. I think the cousins enjoyed the time together more than the actual surroundings. Nathan and Kobie were hilarious. We have some great pictures and videos capturing their keen senses of humor and their Indiana Jones-inspired antics. We missed Anne, Bob, Doug & their families and are looking forward to their Christmas arrivals!

Young Grandpa Francis

What a handsome, little guy! Mom, do you know how old Grandpa is in this picture?

Grandma and Grandpa Francis Through the Years

What wonderful grandparents, what great examples. I used to think it was such a rip off that they passed away at such young ages (and it must be hard on you younger grandchildren), but having watched people deal with aging parents who have lost a lot of their abilities and faculties, what a blessing to go without those struggles. However, I still don't think that Dad should plan on checking out in 14 years.

Thinking about Grandma and Grandpa, I'm sitting here crying happy tears. I loved Grandma's laugh and her great smile. I wish I had listened
when she tried to tell me how much I would regret being mean to my brother. I remember visiting them when I was 10 and staying up so late talking that she fell asleep in the middle of her sentence. Grandpa had such a warm smile, you just felt great when he'd look at you. I loved looking at the trophy case with Grandpa and Uncle Arthur and having them tell me the stories behind each shiny artifact. Thanks, Mom and Dad for taking the time to drive us down there as often as you did, especially since we were SO fun to travel with. And thank you, Heavenly Father, for protecting them and all others on the road in their many travels to see us and for blessing us with their love and example.

Look, it's Dave and Rich!

I love and miss Grandpa Francis. He gave great hugs. It's fun to see resemblances in our generation. I've always thought that Dave resembled Grandpa and Uncle Arthur, but I never noticed Rich to resemble him until I saw the picture on the right. It's funny how much Rich can look like Dad and then still look like Grandpa Francis, too. Do you see the resemblance? Rachel thinks I'm crazy.