August 1981

At the beginning of August 1981, Bruce's brother Chuck came to California to work on the job that their dad's company was working on--the church in Carlsbad. He brought along (temporarily) his daughter Jamie, who is Kelli's age (but older by 8 months).

Aug. 7 -- Kelli has been so happy lately! Jamie has been here for more than a week, as Uncle Chuck has moved upstairs into Apt. 10. It is so nice to have someone her size around to play with. They get along so well with each other. Sometimes they fight, but they make up quickly, and have so much fun together. Kelli will really miss Jamie when she has to go back to Utah. (At this point, her flight back to Utah was imminent.)

Aug. 8 -- This morning, Kelli and I were play-arguing:
Kelli: My daddy.
Me: My daddy.
Kelli: My daddy.
Me: My daddy.
Kelli: You can't say my daddy! It's not your daddy, it's your Bruce. It's Kelli and Abbi's daddy!

Kelli learned to write Jamie's name, too. Aug. 8, 1981.

This day has been fun! Since Jamie has to fly back to Utah tomorrow, we all spent the day with her. First, Uncle Michael took pictures. [We went to Presidio Park to take pictures, which we often did. Such a beautiful setting.]

L-R: Abbi, Jamie, Kelli.  Poor Abbi was most unhappy about the post she was standing on, which obviously is not nice and flat like the posts the other two girls are standing on.  Why did we not switch places around so she would feel better about the whole thing? Silly parents.

Much better! Sitting down, all three girls feel safe and happy!

And the four of us: Bruce, Kelli, Abbi and I.

Then everybody (us four, Arlene and family, Chuck and Jamie) hit the beach at Leucadia. Kelli was excited to try out the surfboard for her first time. Uncle Michael helped her lay on it and hold on tight, and then got her out to where the waves were breaking, and she just rode the waves on it and made a perfect landing on the beach! It was a fun day!

Sunday August 9-- Kelli told me what she wanted to write, and wrote it herself. I helped her to spell any words she couldn't spell by herself, but she printed them herself:

Also August 9 -- Kelli can tell time! She has been able to for several months [I just forgot to write it down sooner]. She can tell the hour [on a clockface--I am not talking digital clock here]. She knows 8:00, 9:00, etc. When the time is between the hours, she tells me that it is "after" and says the number the big hand points to. I think that's super! Kelli is only 3, after all. She even tells time better than Mindy, and Mindy is 9! We are so proud of Kelli. She learns so quickly. She has a very quick intelligence. We hope she will use and develop it wisely.

August 10 -- Kelli had the highest fever she has ever had. We were really worried, because her temperature was 103.9 and it took a long time for her fever to break. Finally, at midnight, it was down to 100 so she could sleep, and by morning she was well.

Picture simply captioned "August 1981". Kelli and Abbi are standing in front of my beautiful yellow piano. How I wish I had kept it!  Not everyone has a yellow tole-painted piano with red and pink hearts and blue birds and flowers on it. I LOVED that piano! I bought it from my friend Cathy Watt, whose husband did not like it. He thought it was tacky, and wanted an ordinary piano. I, apparently, love tacky!

August 23 -- This weekend Kelli was really happy that Grandpa and Grandma Layton and Cory came! Yesterday we had a primary party. Kelli learned to do a dance--Sur le pont d'Avignon. The children made a big big circle and the boys bowed and the girls curtsied and everyone saluted like soldiers. [Margaret Ellis Brown and her mother, who are from Montreal, taught the dance to the children.  Margaret was my sister Colleen's roommate at BYU. She later married Chris Brown, who was a Jesperson cousin. The Jespersons are from El Cajon, CA. And later, Elmer and Geraldine Jesperson served as missionaries in SLC when my parents did--lots of connections with their family.]