Old Friends

When I was single, I lived in an apartment complex called Alta. I loved living there. As a matter of fact, I moved from ward to ward all through college, until I found Alta. I loved it so much, I didn't leave until I got married almost 4 years later. Not only did amazing people live there, but our Bishopric and their wives touched all of our lives forever. This last week I was able to spend some time with a lot of those former friends. Even though we don't see each other very often, all the friendships are still strong and we all have a great time together. It was wonderful to see a softer side of Stu, who was beaming with pride and showing us pictures of his little girl who was 4 days old. I loved getting to visit with Bishop and Sister Hawkes who remember all of us and continue to know us better than any of us ever realized, and who are always very quick to compliment and encourage. It was especially fun to see all the moms and dads and Clara LOVED playing with all the other kids there, even though she had never met most of them. I was able to get pictures of the 3 former roommates who were there.Jeremy also got to play with Clara some at a park. Clara loves her dad and can get him to do just about anything - even if he really doesn't want to. :)Speaking of getting Daddy to do anything, Clara decided to give Jeremy a "haircut." She calls it a haircut, but really it's just combing your hair and then trying to make you look pretty. So here Clara gave Jeremy some long hair so he could be beautiful. Hopefully he doesn't get too mad at me for posting this picture, but I love it!Clara had a field trip to the library this week. She loved story time. We'll have to do that a lot this summer.Clara also had her last day of preschool this week. She was able to "graduate" with all her friends. She loved going to school and can't wait to go back after summer is over.

• Clara is obsessed with things that start with the letter C because Clara starts with C. She usually puts the C sound repeatedly before saying a C word. For example, it's C-C-C-Clara or c-c-c-cat. I figured she was actually putting the sound with the letter when one day she said "C-c-c-can't! Mommy, can't starts with c!" I knew she had figured that one out by herself because no alphabet book is going to have a picture of a "can't" to represent the letter C. I was beaming with pride until the next word out her mouth was "C-c-c-friends!" I then said, "It's f-f-f-friends, not c-c-c-friends." Clara then said, "Yes it is c-c-c-friends! Friends starts with c AND f - both of them!" Well at least she recognized the f sound right?

• Clara came up to me with wet hands and said, "I will wash my hands on my dress because I'm Clara." Not sure how those two things relate.....

• Clara has a friend named Taylor and lately, every time they get together, they hold hands. One day while playing with Taylor, Clara came up to me with a very sad face and said, "Taylor won't hold hands with me." I had to explain to her that boys like to play with cars and trucks sometimes and don't always want to hold hands. I don't think she really comprehended why they would rather play with trucks.