Grandma's Funeral

Grandma's funeral the Monday before last turned out to be a truly wonderful celebration of her life and a stellar opportunity to enjoy time with dear family members. It felt like Grandma was there, so pleased that her passing had given us a bonus reunion and so glad to see how much we all love and appreciate her.

My whole family flew in from all over the place to be there. While it's so fun to have everyone's spouses and kids with them, it was a unique and special experience to have some time with just my siblings and parents (too expensive for everyone to bring spouses and kids - Jared and our kids joined us for the viewing and funeral, but for other parts of the weekend, Jared was kind enough to take the kids so I could enjoy quality time with my siblings and parents).

We went for a great hike together.

We ate a beautiful dinner together:

We talked and laughed and had such a fabulous time sharing worries and hopes and joys and laughs.

I sure love these people:

And these people (all my cousins were able to make it, most of whom I see far too infrequently. SO fun to have time with all of them!)

We all crammed into Grandma's house to share favorite memories and it was just a perfect evening full of love and laughter and some tears of love.

The viewing the next morning was very nice. It was great to meet good people with stories to share about our beloved grandma. And Grandma looked peaceful and pleasant. Saydi and my mom and I got together with Aunt Karen and sweet Jan who was Grandma's caregiver at the end to prepare Grandma's body for the funeral. It was a bit jarring to see here there dead at first. But as we worked together to put on her favorite temple dress and do her hair and make up just the way she liked it, it felt so very right and I was so glad there was one last thing I could do for her in a very physical way. It was a very holy experience.

As the oldest grandchild, I was asked to share a life sketch at her funeral. I felt a little stressed out about how to offer an even somewhat representative gathering of information about her long and strong life. But I gathered ideas from grandma's sister, her children, my cousins, and her husband's old journal and sure learned a lot. I was way more emotional than I imagined I'd be as I got up there to speak but it all came off alright, I think.

Here are the parts of my grandpa's journal that I shared so he could be represented in the life sketch:

• April 21, 1941 – Ray, Lois, Ruthie and I had a nice drive up the canyon yesterday. Oh, but Ruthie is a wonderful girl!
• (When Dean and Ruthie were in a dance review together. Ruth was in about ½ the dances and Dean and Ruth were doing one dance together.)
• April 29 – Oh, but I love Ruthie. I’ve just got to make her love me. I will do my darndest! I look forward to the practices with Ruthie for the dance review. We’re doing a very pretty waltz.
• May 21^st – Yippeee! Tonight was the night. After our picnic tonight, Ruth actually told me she loved me.
• May 22st-  I can still hardly believe it! I’ve been whooping and hollering. She loves me! Just think – the most wonderful girl in the world.
• June 17^th – when I think of the other love affairs I’ve had, oh, they were just puppy love. Ruthie is the real thing. I think I’ve found the one for me.

And here's my sweet great aunt, Beth (with Shawni's daughter, Grace). She's Grandma's little sister (just 13 months younger) who looks and talks SO much like Grandma. I just had to ask her to share a bit about Grandma as a little girl as part of the life sketch. She shared the cutest story about how she and Grandma would play with their beloved dolls every day after school and talked about how Grandma was always the peacemaker in the family and was a conscientious "mother" and care-giver, even back then.

Beth also told me about the "dancing school" she and Grandma put together for all the little girls in their neighborhood, right there in the church where we held the funeral. Grandma so loved dancing:

(she's third from the right in this photo)

(she's front row left in this photo)

Each of Grandma's children shared beautiful memories and tributes (Kevin, Rawlin, Sheri, Chris and my dad, Richard)

And Elder Perry, who went to high school with Grandma, shared memories and urged us all to be valiant and to leave our mark on the world. He looked RIGHT at Ashton, sitting there on the second row and said, "You, young man, you've been given a powerful legacy and I can't wait to see the good things you'll do as you leave your mark on this world." Such a great moment, one that Ashton and the rest of us won't ever forget.

After the funeral, our time at the cemetery was soft and perfect.

So this past couple weeks, I've sure thought a lot about what I'd like my own children and grandchildren to be able to say about me one day. April and I devoted our Power of Moms radio show last week to our ideas about what sort of legacy we want to leave. Check it out here if you want - I share a lot more about the funeral and my thoughts and feelings about what I learned from Grandma in this podcast.

*** For lots more details and lovely photos, check out my sister Shawni's post here.

Ashton takes off, Isaac takes over - and gets braces

This morning at 5am, Ashton took off for the Grand Canyon with a school group. He's got a 30-pound backpack full of camping gear, food and clothes and he's happily tucked into a car with some good friends and a couple kind chaperone parents, enjoying a LONG drive that will be followed by a LONG hike as he explores the amazing waterfalls and unique Indian culture of Havasupai. He had to fill out a big application to be accepted as one of the 30 students who could go and worked hard to earn a big chunk of the money required for the trip. And he was SO excited yesterday, he was practically jumping up and down.

I was a little sad I couldn't sign up to be a chaperone since I love hiking and have longed to go to Havasupai plus I'd love the chance to see Ashton in action with his friends more. But I've got these four other kids who need me to be around. Plus that backpack did look awfully heavy... Maybe when the twins are old enough to go, I'll make the trip.

I'm so grateful for the teachers and parents who are sacrificing a lot to make this excellent opportunity possible. And when I went to the info meeting for parents about this trip, not sure whether I was quite comfortable sending my 13-year-old off for a week on a school trip, I saw the parents and kids who were going (many of whom I know), got to know the teachers heading it up (they're no-nonsense but really fun), and felt totally comfortable. Plus almost all the kids who came to Ashton's party a couple weekends ago are going and after spending more time with them, Jared and I felt extra great about the trip. Plus Ashton is just a good kid. He's smart. He's tough. He makes good decisions.

Anyway, with Ashton off on his grand adventure, Isaac's the big kid around here for a week and he's quite pleased about it. The twins have decided to share Oliver and Ashton's room for the week, leaving Isaac with his own room which he's excited about.

And today was Isaac's big day to get the braces he's been waiting for. He's been flashing his "buckers" (as he affectionately calls them) for years now, happily making authentic "rabbit faces" on demand, no self-consciousness with this guy. But he's excited to get those babies tucked in where they belong and was really happy when we got him set up with today's appointment.

Here he is ready to get started (and no, his hair doesn't usually look like this - it's Crazy Hair Day at school today and he was going for the wind-blown look):

Here he is ready for the orthodontist to place those brackets (oh, yeah, that's pretty, huh?):


And here is when we came out:


Bye bye buckers! (well, in a couple years...)

Best Zuchinni Bread

I've tried lots of zuchinni bread recipes. Many have lots of oil and sugar which I don't love. Some are too dry. Some are too bland. Over the years, I've combined several recipes to come up with this recipe my family loves. To me, it's got the perfect balance of healthiness and moist decadent deliciousness!

Mix wet ingredients:

3 eggs
1/2 cup expeller pressed canola oil
1/2 cup milk (or nonfat plain yogurt - makes it extra-moist)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or mashed extra-ripe banana (about 1 banana)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated zucchini

Then add and mix in one at a time:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour works best)
1 1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2/3 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Bake in two 4x8 loaf pans at 325 degres for about 45 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the centercomes out mostly clean). Can also be made into muffins or mini-loaves (reduce bake time).

Fall and Halloween Ideas

It got COLD for a few days and I started getting sad that maybe we were skipping fall this year. But today is glorious and the leaves are in full swing of color so I'm feeling much better about life.

The kids and I did our annual hunt for great fall leaves and chestnuts the other day and we were very pleased with the results:

We think chestnuts are just so pretty - so many beautiful swirly patterns on them, so smooth and pleasant to rub, such a rich nice color... We put them all into a clear vase and made a nice centerpiece for the table.

The kids thought of the great idea of putting our prettiest leaves under the glass on our map table - and we keep adding more favorites.

April and I did a radio show about fall fun and here it is in case you want more ideas:

Plain and Simple Fun this Fall (We do these radio shows every week and have fun talking about whatever topic is pressing for us at the time - feel free to listen as you clean, exercise, whatever...)

And as we get ready for Halloween, I thought I'd share a recent post from Power of Moms that I wrote - includes recipes and costume ideas and thoughts on how you can handle the plethora of candy.

A Deliberate Mother's Guide to Halloween

I love fall!

Teenager Party

Our living room is full of thirteen and fourteen-year-old kids right now. They're playing Reverse Charades and having the time of their lives. My son is running the game nicely and I overhear some very funny comments from him here and there (in his deep voice). All the kids are polite and fun and seem like really great kids.

For tonight's party, my role was pretty minimal. I looked over the invitations my son made and talked to him about how many people to invite and the fact that a lot of people you invite generally don't show up. I bought pizza and soda. I put out chips and salsa. And that's about it. That and worry about how everything would turn out since I don't know many of my sons' friends and it's always hard to guess who might turn up. But the perfect number of really nice kids showed up. And I'm loving just being a fly on the wall and hearing what they talk about and seeing my son in action with his peers.

Gone are the days when I got to know parents at school pick-up time and worked with them to set up playdates, then had the chance to observe how my children played with others. Gone are the days when I was in the kids' classrooms all the time, seeing them in action with their classmates, realizing what combinations seemed positive, and nurturing particular friendships.

These days, I'm trying to figure out how to get to know my older kids' friends when they only really see their friends in school (they go to a charter school that has kids from all over the place) and their teachers aren't asking for classroom volunteers anymore. I'm trying to help them develop their own social lives while still getting a sense for who they're choosing as friends. I'd like to offer some helpful nudges towards kids that they might really enjoy being friends with - but it's hard when I don't have much of a chance to get to know their classmates, and even less of a chance to get to know much about their classmates' families. Since the older boys of have been on sports teams this year and I've been to lots of their games and meets, I've had a chance to meet a few more of their friends and their friends' parents. But still, my kids are having so many experiences each day that I'm not around to observe - and kids this age aren't really into volunteering information about friends (in fact, I've often got to ask scores of questions to even get a tiny sense of what is really going on!). I'm finding that nurturing your child's social development at this age is tricky - it's like working in the dark.

Tonight's party is giving me a vital, and thankfully heart-warming glimpse into my son's social life. I'm just so happy to see that my son is making some really good choices when it comes to friends and to see that he seems to be doing great in social situations. 

Perhaps parties at our house are part of the answer I've been looking for. I think I'll suggest we make these parties a pretty regular thing. And I think my son will be totally good with that.

September Wrap-Up

Oh, there are so many wonderful (and horrible) little things I don't post on this blog! (Some because I don't get around to it and some because it needs to stay private...)

Here are some things from September that I want to remember:

We had a great time at a couple different street festivals - Here's a random shot of me and Liza at the "Get Fresh" event in our neighborhood where local chefs compete to make delicious stuff using only non-cooked local produce.

And here are the kids having the time of their life at the "Harvest Moon Festival" last Saturday. Love this event - tons of totally free activities for kids, live music, great food, can't beat it. This event marks exactly three years since we first visited Ogden. The Harvest Moon Festival and the great neighbors we met when first going to the festival really helped sell us on this place.

Here's Liza almost to the top!

There's Silas in the middle at the top.

 This man-powered ride was a huge hit with all the kids (this is Silas and Ashton):

Oliver and Silas did book reports. They were supposed to create a cereal based on the fable they chose to read. I wasn't crazy about the cereal box crafting part of it and we had a couple crazy weeks so we were doing too much at the last minute. The reports weren't fabulous or polished. But they were sufficient. And for next month's book report we'll get ahead of the game (and thankfully, there won't be crafty stuff involved moving forward, yeah!).

Isaac's been really into photographing food lately. He captured some cool stuff. Food is so pretty.

Here's rubarb (oh, how we love rubarb! I've got to figure out how to grow some because it's pretty unusual to find it in stores...):

And a piece of a peach (we've been enjoying the most delicious local peaches from the farmer's market down the street - nothing like a perfect peach)

And these heirloom tomatoes were both gorgeous and delicious:

Oliver and Silas did a "leave no trace" badge for scouts that included making these posters and doing a clean-up project nearby. They were pretty excited about it.

Silas got a tooth out. He had this weird extra baby tooth grow in when he was about 2 years old and since it had no permanent tooth to dissolve its root, that random extra baby tooth was probably going to just stay in forever and it was making his permanent teeth come in totally weird. So it had to go. Silas was SO brave - they had to give him a few very painful shots to numb the area but he took it like a champ.

Here's the random extra tooth right before we got it out of there - it's the one to the right of his permanent top front teeth.


And he was super excited about this interesting long-rooted tooth he got to bring home. He calls it his "shark tooth" and has decided to keep it in his treasure chest rather than selling it to the tooth fairy. After all it took to get it out, I totally get why he wants to keep it!

(sorry it's a little gross....)

We've been spending a LOT of time watching volleyball games - Ashton's had 2 days a week where he's involved in games from 4:30 until 7:30pm.

Ashton's really enjoying volleyball and he's getting more and more playing time in the games as he's really getting the hang of the game. The team and coaches are wonderful and we're just so grateful for this opportunity for him - it's exactly what he needed in so many ways.

Volleyball's really fun to watch. But wow, those chairs get hard after three hours. The younger kids work on homework while Ashton's not playing then cheer their little hearts out for him when he's in. It's pretty cute.

Grammie and Grandfather came to watch one game. Yeah! 

Isaac's doing great at soccer - when we can actually get him to a game. His games are usually at the same time as his cross country meets and that's not working out very well (when we signed up, we understood the games would be on Saturdays but they had to move them to Tuesdays which really isn't working out well).

I tell you, my Tuesdays are not for the faint of heart. We've got dance for Eliza, lego club and scouts for Oliver and Silas, Young Men's for Isaac and Ashton, Isaac's soccer games and cross country meets. Plus Tuesday is the day for PTA meetings that I've just had to miss. And it's the day my Learning Circle meets. And it's a day Jared has Bishopric meetings. Seriously, why does everything have to happen on Tuesday? It's gotten so that whenever someone asks us to do something or invites us to something, I just know it's going to be on a Tuesday. And I'm usually right.

Here are a couple pictures of Isaac's most recent game (that was on a Thursday so we could actually go to it).

I'll share some photos of Isaac's cross country meets soon. I've driven all over creation to get to his meets and then missed him running on two separate occasions now (thanks to the craziness of Tuesday described above combined with my problems with getting to the right place at the right time...I really need to be less optimistic about how long it takes to get places!).

Eliza got to perform in a really beautiful dance with her Virginia Tanner group at Weber State. Oh how I love the way Virginia Tanner Dance offers kids the chance to dance in such a creative and free way! The boys and I were privileged to watch her dance.

Here's the beautiful finale:


Then that night, Eliza and I had a really really fun girls' night out while Jared and the boys went to the ward Fathers and Sons Camp out up in the mountains. Eliza and I went to dinner, had special treats and painted each other's fingernails and toenails. How grateful I am for this precious daughter!

My sister-in-law Julie was in town and the older kids just had to skip school for a few hours so that they could spend some time with their beloved little cousin, Zara (Isaac was so sad he couldn't come - he had the flu and we didn't want to get Zara sick).

The change of seasons have sent a little sickness our way.

Isaac got some form of the flu - chills and fever and aches for two days - then he was fine. Ashton got a cold. Jared got a cold. And I had this weird bout of vertigo for about a week in September. I'd wake up repeatedly in the night, feeling like I was for-real on a fast-spinning carnival ride. I'd get up and have to hold onto something to keep from falling over and I was terribly nauseous. I'd tipsily go through our morning routine with the kids and thankfully, an hour or so later, by the time it was time for school, I'd feel much better and was OK driving the kids to school and doing the things I needed to do that day including going running or hiking for my normal exercise. Then on Sunday, I was super dizzy all day, having to concentrate really hard to get down the hall to Primary and stand up in front of the kids to do Sharing Time. But I made it through and then the next day I was better. Weird stuff!

I did some research and it seems I had an inner ear infection. My ear did hurt a bit and all the symptoms lined up. It seems there's not much you can do about an infection like that other than wait it out. I guess all's well that ends well but it sure made me grateful for my usual good health!

To top September off, I got to go to the pre-conference Relief Society General Meeting at the conference center in SLC with my dear mom. It was wonderful to sit in the company of 21,000 other women and listen to uplifting talks. I really tried to listen with the Spirit and came away with some helpful messages just for me. I think my favorite part was when we all stood and sang together - nothing like 21,000 women's voices raised together. And it was really cool to be surrounded by women as we waited to get into the conference center and as we headed back across Temple Square afterwards - all these beautiful, faithful women, each with her own challenges and talents and needs and hopes and dreams, filling up downtown Salt Lake for the evening...

Mom and I enjoyed a rare and lovely chance to talk for a couple hours, just one on one, at the end of the conference. I'm so blessed to have this amazing mom of mine!

Despite all the rushing around, the stressful moments, the fact that my to-do list that goes on and on, and the many hard things that happen and are too personal to me or others involved for me to share on this blog, I'm so very grateful for my life and for the beautiful things that make it busy and complicated.

A Tribute to My Dear Grandma

Today my wonderful grandma was released from this life. She was 91 and died very quietly and peacefully.

I feel such an odd mixture of emotions. I'll miss her so much. But I'm so happy for her at the same time.



In her youth, Grandma (Ruth) was a beautiful dancer and a smart, strong-willed woman who knew how to get what she wanted and needed. She met the dashing Dean through mutual friends and they fell in love as they danced together in competitions. Dean worked hard to get himself set up in the restaurant business while Ruth finished her college degree in Early Childhood Education. Their love letters and journal entries during their courtship show that they simply adored each other.

Once they were engaged, Grandma saw exactly the wedding dress she wanted in a fancy magazine and figured out how to sew a beautiful replica for herself. When it was almost their wedding day, they heard friends were going to play a prank on them and keep them separated for their wedding night so they decided to evade the pranksters by getting married at the Logan Temple a day early with only their closest family present. It worked! There was no kidnapping! But the photographer wasn't there since he was scheduled for the following day instead. So a little while after their wedding, they got dressed up in their wedding clothes and had this wedding portrait taken.

They had five children, four boys and a girl (just like me). Grandma insisted on natural labor and childbirth and breastfeeding at a time that these things were totally shunned by a society enthralled with "modern" methods of childbirth involving basically sedating women and pulling the baby out and "scientific" methods of feeding babies using "formula."

Grandma and Grandpa scrimped and saved by living with Grandma's parents for quite a few years until they could afford to build their own house. Together, they designed a lovely modest home where every square inch was carefully planned to maximize space and functionality - there were built-in's and cleverly designed things everywhere in the house (pull-out step-stools built into the bathroom cabinets so small children could get up to the sink, a silverware drawer that could pull out in two directions - towards the sink so you could put clean stuff away and towards the table so you could set the table without walking around to the other side to get the silverware...). Grandma always worked to find the very best way to do everything.

Then when their youngest child was just 3 and their oldest child (my dad) was only 15, Dean died of cancer. Grandma was a widow for 53 years and talked often and fondly of her beloved Dean. There were plenty of good men who were interested in the beautiful young widow but Grandma had eyes only for Dean.

Here's Grandma with her children a few years after Dean died:

Grandma worked as the volunteer coordinator at the hospital to support her family and took in boarders to help make ends meet (plus when they were building their house and Dean was starting to be sick, they wisely decided to build two tiny but very well-designed apartments into their attic space so they could rent those out for extra income).

After quite a few years of work at the hospital, Grandma was excited to be able to use her Early Childhood Education degree to do what she loved the most - work with young children. For over 30 years, she ran a very popular preschool called the Joy School which was based on the Joy School curriculum she developed which is now known and loved around the world.

Here's Grandma at the original Joy School (that's my sister Shawni in the front). How we loved visiting the Joy School and bragging to the other kids that their fabulous teacher was our grandmother.


Grandma had this amazing knack when it came to teaching young children. She knew just how to explain important concepts in language that made perfect sense to little ones. She was always ready with a story and a song that would teach a principle in just the right way. I love reading over the Joy School lesson plans because I can almost hear my Grandma's voice in my head, telling each story, explaining each concept. So much of her original words are still in the Joy School lesson plans and her approaches are amazingly effective and timeless.

Grandma taught me so much. Grandma taught me to always always always clean up one thing before I got out another thing, how to make a bed with nurse corners, how to do the dishes the most efficient way, and how to wring out a rag or washcloth just right. She taught me to speak up when I had something to say and to ask for help when I needed it. Through her example, she taught me how to teach, how to make things interesting and fun for little kids, how to make people feel really special, how to stretch money and make-do, and how to organize things neatly and efficiently in a home.

She also taught me how to endure to the end with patience and sweetness and love.

Her memory started to falter maybe 4 or 5 years ago now. Then for the past couple years, she hasn't known who any of us are. "Now which one are you?" "I'm Saren, your oldest grandchild." "Oh, I knew that! I just wanted to be sure YOU knew!" (said with a sweet smile and a chuckle - her sense of humor stayed in tact for a long time). Then 2 minutes later: "Now which one are you?"

She told me that she felt like she was moving through molasses to try to remember certain things and that it was pretty frustrating sometimes.

When I'd take the kids to visit her, she'd always perk up and say how happy she was to see us. She'd show such love and interest in each of the kids and ask them questions (usually the same one or two questions lots of times...). Then the kids would do all the great wooden jigsaw puzzles she made for her children when they were young and she'd always remind them to be sure to finish doing one puzzle and put it away before starting on the next one so the pieces wouldn't get lost (after 60 years, all the pieces are still there!). While they'd do the puzzles, I'd talk with my dear grandma about long-ago things since recent things didn't stick in her mind at all. She'd rattle off the names of her 8 siblings and every time she'd ask how many children I had and I told her about my four boys and a girl, she'd tell me about her four boys and a girl. Then she'd tell me how much she longed to go be with their father, with her dear Dean. "When do you think Dean will come get me? an " she'd plead with tears running down her face. I'd tell her I knew it would happen at the right time and then we'd cheer things up by singing some of the old Joy School songs with the kids. She'd always say she didn't remember the songs but when we'd start singing, she sang along with every word.

When we'd get ready to leave, I'd tell her I loved her and she'd hold my hands in her cool, papery-soft hands and look right into my eyes with her watery-blue mostly-unseeing eyes and earnestly say, "I love you so much."

Me and Saydi with Grandma in 2009 (when she still mostly knew who we were):

Grandma with some of her 50 or so great grandchildren.


Visiting Grandma on her birthday in 2011:

Then a year or so ago, Grandma started to sleep for all but a couple hours out of the day. Her eyesight was poor. Her hearing wasn't great. She couldn't remember anything. She'd sometimes go through manic phases where she'd talk non-stop and have paranoid delusional ideas. But mostly she seemed to be in a sort of in-between stage between life and death during the time she was awake. She'd often ask, "Am I still alive?"

But her physical health was still quite good. She's always been very healthy and month after month, her body kept going even though her mind was done.

This last Monday evening, all Grandma's children gathered to have a special prayer with her. In the prayer, they asked that she could be released soon to be with her beloved Dean.

That night, she got up to go to the bathroom and somehow fell and broke her hip. At the hospital, they found she had some different infections as well as the broken hip. Then today, she peacefully and quietly slipped away.

Oh, how I love my dear Grandma! What a privilege it is to be related to her. And what a gorgeous thing it is to picture her back in the arms of her beloved Dean in Heaven now.

Here's Grandma with her family - Grandma's holding me in the front. This picture makes me remember all the times she tucked me in bed with a story and all the times she told me how special she thought I was.


Grandma with just her five children: Chris, Rick (my dad), Sheri, Kevin and Rawlin


Grandma with her grandkids (me, Adam, Josh, Shawni and Alisha - the first of the 23 grandchildren she would have):


Here's Grandma with my brother Josh:

Grandma with me on her lap and my parents on the right with Shawni, my aunt, uncle and cousin on the left. 

Oh, I'll miss you Grandma. But I'm so happy your suffering is over and that you're with Grandpa Dean. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think of the two of you together after all these years.

 *** For a beautiful tribute to Grandma from a few years ago by my sister Saydi, click here.

Eliza's Campaign

Last year Eliza ran for school president. She did a great job on her posters and her speech. She didn't win but it was a great experience for her.

This year she decided to run for Historian (she observed that 15 people ran for president last year and only 4 ran for Historian plus she thought Historian would involve more specific duties that she really enjoys like taking pictures and writing).

She made cute posters and was really excited about them:

She did an excellent job on her speech, talked about a blog she wants to start where she'll post photos and write about school events so people don't have to wait until the yearbook for that sort of thing.

Her cute friends and her little brothers campaigned for her.

Everyone voted.

And she tied for first place for Historian with two other girls.

So they had to have everyone vote again.

And after waiting and waiting for a whole week, Eliza called me from school yesterday to tell me the great news. She won!