MAY - FAVORITE FAMILY PHOTOS

This blog is not a Bucket List item - it is a "Serial Blog" and it will be updated and republished with a few of my favorite family photos on the 7th of each month.

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When your first baby drops her pacifier, you sterilize it.

When your second baby drops her pacifier, you tell the dog: 'Fetch!'.

~Bruce Lansky

"The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love

are dogs and infants."

~Johnny Depp

"If you were to open up a baby’s head – and I am not for a moment suggesting that you should – you would find nothing but an enormous drool gland."

~Dave Barry

Ah, babies! They’re more than just adorable little creatures

on whom you can blame your farts.

~Tina Fey, Bossypants

Favorites Photos for May:

This month I've rounded up some photos of our babies ----

and some of our babies with their babies.

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Jenny --- Tracy --- Heather

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Tracy, Heather & Jenny --------Jenny --- Tracy --- Heather

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Jenny with Bekah -- Jenny with Matthew & Bekah -- Bekah -- Matthew

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Tracy with Bjelkier and Hakuna -- Tracy with Frankie and Dottie

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Heather and Griffin

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Meghan ---- Curran

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PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED

"The most important thing that parents can teach their children

is how to get along without them."

~Frank A. Clark

"My parents were good role models

because they worked hard and gave me a happy childhood."

~Sophie Ellis-Bextor

"Appreciate your parents.

You never know what sacrifices they went through for you."

"Be sure to spend time with your parents while you can,

because one day when you look up from your busy life,

they won't be there anymore."

Favorites Photos for April:

Some of the photos below are not of the best quality. They were wonderful parents, but unfortunately we didn't take very many photos of them. I assume most readers of this blog would know our parents, but just in case I'll make a few identifications. The first photo on the left is of my parents, June & Ronald J; the second photo is Bonnie and her parents, Clyde & Lenore. The first photo in the 3rd row shows Clyde holding Jenny at our South Pasadena apartment. The first photo in the 4th row shows Lenore holding Jenny while we still lived in the apartment in Logan. The last photo includes my sister Julie and brother Dale on the right side.

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"Happy is the man who finds a true friend,

and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife."

~Franz Schubert

"A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong."

~Milton Berle

Favorites Photos for March:

These photos begin in the early 1960s with Bonnie and our dog Zock, cover many of our trips around the country (and London in one case), include a New Year's Eve photo with the famous Toilet Seat Cover Hat, one when she was Sweetheart of Sigma Zonk (with the original straw hat crown), and her pose on a Harley when we toured a Harley factory in Kansas City.

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Here she is with two of her favorite men.

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"If at first you don't succeed,

try doing it the way your wife told you."

Trust your husband, adore your husband,

and get as much as you can in your own name."

~Joan Rivers

"There are two theories to arguing with a woman.

Neither one works."

~Will Rogers

Favorites Photos for February:

These are some favorite photos of Bonnie and I taken over a number of years at a variety of locations. I know there are too many, but I couldn't find a stopping place. Photos from the left:

1st Row - 2005 on Alaska Cruise; 2004 walking in the rain at Zion Nat'l Park; 2008 having lunch at a downtown Nashville restaurant; 2016 having a LaBeau's Raspberry Shake at Bear Lake.

2nd Row - 2011 in Catalina for 50th Anniversary; 2007 in our Monrovia home; 2008 having lunch along the canal in San Antonio; 2004 checking out a cemetery in Deadwood.

3rd Row - 2007 in Solana Beach; 2006 a "Glamour Shot"; 2003 at Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City; 2014 in Los Olivos for 53rd Anniversary.

4th Row -2008 in Tubac for New Year's Eve; 2010 in Laughlin with traditional New Year's Eve hats; 2015 on a Ski-Chair bench in Park City; 2007 at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for New Year's Eve.

5th Row - 2010 at Chandelier Tree on Avenue of the Giants near Humboldt; 2007 at the Sigma Zonk Reunion in Mesquite; 2008 at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville; 2014 in Mesquite for New Year's Eve at the clock at midnight.

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"Friends are the family you chose."

~ Jess C. Scott

"A good friend knows all your stories.

A best friend helped you write them."

Favorites Photos for January:

My Zonk Friends are Family - Photos from left:

1st row: Ron, Bonnie, Covert, Barbara

2nd row: Grant, Finch, Mel, Linda

3rd row: Merlin, Susan, Walt, Bev

4th row: Ted, Dixie, Jon F, Maridee

5th row: Jack, Dee, Al, Dottie

6th row: Mary Ann, Nancy, Carolyn P, Betty

7th row: Carl, Jeri, Dennie, Alison

8th row: Robyn, Marilyn, Art H, Bill

9th row: Gary D, Nel, Art W, Connie W

10th row: Paul R, Geneal, Neil, Joan P

11th row: Mike N, Nanette, Chuck (the only "swearing-in photo"), Vanessa

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The group below was our Zonk "New Years" Family during the years we traveled to National Parks to celebrate New Year's Eve. This photo was taken in 2007 at the El Tovar Hotel at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

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"Three Wise Women

would have asked directions, arrived on time,

helped deliver the baby, brought practical gifts, cleaned the stable,

made a casserole, and there would be

Peace on Earth"

"I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six.

Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph."

~Shirley Temple

Favorites Photos for December:

Family photos at Christmas: Photos from left: 1st row: Four family photos at Big Bear.

2nd row: The kids having Christmas breakfast at Monrovia home; Bekah opening a present; Meghan opening a present; Matthew opening a present.

3rd row: Curran opening a present; the family, including Clyde & Millie; Merlin and Tracy riding the tube at the Big Bear sledding hill; and Jenny and Matthew on the same hill on a toboggan.

4th row: Heather riding the saucer down Sylvan Glen; Tracy and Jenny on skis practicing for the "big hill"; and CeCe (Christmas Cat) with babies.

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"There are these girls that stole my heart - and they call me Daddy."

"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses

are family happinesses."

~Joyce Brothers

Favorites Photos for November:

Photos from the left: 1st two rows sequence: Jenny, Tracy Clair, and Heather.

3rd row - Heather, Jenny & Tracy; Tracy, Jenny & Heather; and Heather, Jenny & Tracy.

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“October had tremendous possibility. The summer's oppressive heat was a distant memory,

and the golden leaves promised a world full of beautiful adventures.

They made me believe in miracles.” ~Sarah Guillory, Reclaimed

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself ---

and spiders!"

Happy Halloween!!

Favorites Photos for October:

Photos from the left: 1st row - Heather, Tracy, and Jenny.

2nd row - Matthew & Bekah, Meghan, Griffin and Curran; and Griffin

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If you teach your children nothing else,

teach them the Golden Rule and "righty-tighty, lefty-loosey."

~Robert Brault

Favorites Photos for September:

A few photos of my favorite grandkids - photos from left:

Curran and Matthew in Big Bear; Matthew and Curran hiking with me; Matthew and Curran at our McKinley home; Matthew taking a nap at our Grand home.

Matthew and I on a hike at Padua Hills; Matthew playing the guitar, Griffin showing some fancy footwork; Meghan and Bekah with me on a hike.

Bekah snowboarding at Big Bear; Meghan at Boston College graduation; Griffin at

kindergarten graduation; Griffin in Big Bear Lightening Tree.

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"Daughters do wonderful things.

Not the wonderful things you expected them to do.

Different things. Astonishing things.

Better than you ever dreamed."

~Marion C. Garretty

Favorites Photos for August:

Photos from the left:

1st row: Jenny, Heather & Tracy at Bear Lake; Jenny and her Grandpa Ron at Bear Lake; Heather doing a heel-click at Alta Vista living room.

2nd row: Jenny and Tracy relaxing at Bear Lake; Tracy lounging in a plastic pool instead of in Bear Lake; Heather bouncing on an inner tube at Bear Lake.

3rd row: First Curran, then Griffin, driving the boat with their Grandpa Ron at Big Bear Lake; an old family photo on a pontoon boat at Big Bear Lake - back row, Ron, Grandpa Ron, Michael and Dale - front row, Bonnie, Kevin, Desirae, Pam and Tracy - then Heather facing the group.

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