King Family Timeline: 1983 Northbrook

January

24th: Today begins "Training Week" - a week with not TV and devoted to working and training the girls in love and household responsibilities.

Jennifer making snow castles with paper cups

Jennifer gave the scripture in Sunday School. She LOVES to give talks etc. She's he only one who will volunteer in her class and she does it everytime!

February

Happy Birthday dear Jenny!!

Jennifer and Sharilyn enjoyed this birthday party with friends. :)

At Jennifer's Parent Teacher conference Mrs. Parreli told me that Jennifer is just a delightful little girl, very intelligent and creative and adds interesting conversation to the group. She praised her on all accounts and said she was very ready for Kindergarten.

We were watching Oklahoma on TV and Jennifer kept hearing them say "ain't". She corrected them and said "We're just going to have to go there and teach them some manners huh Mom!"

March

I've been made 1st counselor in Primary Presidency

Sharilyn turned sweet 3! Sadly our photos didn't turn out. :( Little Sharilyn never went through the terrible twos!! I can't believe her, she is so sweet and loving & just a little angel. It sometimes seems she is too good of a little spirit to be here and I feel lucky to be blessed with her. She is a joy to care for and like our adorable little Jennifer, I love her more every day. I'm so grateful the Lord sent these two little girls to us. I wish he'd send us another!

Jennifer Funnies:

She has been taking a month long ballet class which just ended. It was so funny - She saw some teen girls come into the room wearing lots of makeup. Jennifer looked at them with a funny look on her face and said to me "Look at them! They ought to go look in a mirror!"

Another funny: While in the store, she saw a lady buying some candy and exclaimed "I can't believe that! A mother buying candy for her children before bedtime! Maybe she'll eat it herself. Doesn't she know what she is doing to her body! All that sugar! Oh!" ha ha ha

Jenny was playing with a friend whose dad smokes and she said to her friend "Cigarettes are bad for your body! They rot your teeth and then you have to go to the doctor and have your tongue cut off!"

March 22 - Jennifer's pre-school teacher, Mrs. Parreli, told me that Jennifer is just a delightful little girl, very intelligent and creative and adds interesting conversation to the group.

Sharilyn so adores cats. She even pretends to be one! She crawls around meowing.

May:

Mom and Dad Clarke came to visit for a week. We had a great time. Went to Long Grove, visited the temple sight, rode the train into Chicago to see that office. Saw the Board of Trade and ate at Watertower mall. I took Mom to my Women's Choir concert and luncheon.

We also went to Nauvoo.

Mom and Dad got to see their Benson friends on a mission there.

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Jennifer is a leader and a half! She is a strong (and bossy) leader with her friends. She is very smart, can argue like the dickens and will do really well in school. Jennifer has been planning ahead and making invitations to her birthday party! I tried telling her that it was a long ways away but that didn't deter her. She has passed out 14 of them already!

Sharilyn is so girly, graceful and feminine and becoming more independent. She isn't in as big a hurry to grow up as Jennifer was.

During spring clean up days we picked up a couple chairs, a recliner rocker and a swing set! Got the frame at one place, a teeter tauter at another place, slide at another and the double chair swing in yet another! Couldn't believe it! We put together a whole swing set from people's discard piles.

Fun in the Sun at Glenco Beach

June 5

We received something very fun in the mail! Having discovered the birthday of Mr. Rogers, Jennifer sent him a birthday card and we received this back!

Letter to Jennifer

Envelopes

Letter to me

So cute...the girls were dancing around a light pole singing "Vina Vina" :)

July - we got Great America passes!

Brookfield Zoo in Chicago

We took a very fun weekend get away to Minnesota. (see next page)

Chris had a business trip to Sun Valley Idaho and he's going to spend the weekend in Rexburg. While he was gone I was in charge of the Primary Pioneer Day activity. We had a potluck, sing along & craft table (made a covered wagon). I had to drive to the airport to pick Chris up. The traffic was so terrible and with detours and construction I got lost. Found myself flustered at a toll booth where a kind person told me how to get back to O'Hare. Poor Chris had to wait so long for me.

August

Mom and Dad Klingler, Kevin, David and Steve came to visit. The girls were so excited all day and remembered grandpa's fancy car horn so they kept listening for it and sure enough! "ba baba ba ba" the tune came from down the street and the girls raced to the window & in pulled Klinglers. We had a great time. (See next page for the photos etc.)

I feel so undeservedly blessed to have had the privilege to sing in the Chicago Temple ground breaking in a place called The Grove. I just can't believe Chris and I were so blessed to have this opportunity.* It was a beautiful clear & cool morning & it felt so special to sing there in the grove "Oh how lovely was the morning, radiant beamed the sun above. Bees were humming, sweet birds singing, music ringing through the grove." The spirit was so strong. Elder Gordon B Hinkley dedicated the site. Elder Cuthbert and David Kennedy were also there.

Our friend, Rex Gardner took this picture.
I'm in the white dress near the left side.

David & Claudia Beal with us at ground breaking

*Br. Gobin called on the last day of July to invite us to sing in this choir, which is by invitation only. He said he really wanted to invite himself ha ha but he felt impressed to ask us. Here's the story:

It was a Sunday and we had been playing with the girls in the backyard. I was thinking about a really good sale at Walgreens, especially for toilet paper and we really needed some. I thought about it and rationalized that I could be back within 10 or 15 min and it would make no difference to anyone. I got up to get my keys and felt a strong feeling that it would be breaking the Sabbath. So, I changed my mind, turned around and a thought came into my mind: "You never know what blessings you would miss by not keeping the commandments."

When Br. Gobin later called to invite us to sing I was so delighted and surprised and just cried joyful tears when I got off the phone. The thought then came to my mind once again "you never know what blessings you would miss by not keeping the commandments." I felt impressed that Br. Gobin would have picked someone else had I gone to the store and we would have never known that this blessing could have been ours. Choosing the right not only keeps us from sin but opens us up to receive blessings the Lord wants to give us.

I got called to be Primary President. I was in a bit of shock over it for awhile. Chris is Elders Quorum Pres. Some of his responsibilities have been overwhelming lately.

With Josh Millett at Vacation Bible School

Sometimes when I do stupid things and feel really low and pray for forgiveness and start reading scriptures again each day just to be a better person, the Lord picks me off the ground and places me lovingly on the right path and with all confidence in me tells me to set out again and He says "Now stop doing the dump little things that get you down. Avoid evil places and strive to follow the promptings of the spirit. It will never let you down." How grateful I am for the Lord's love. (The evil place was a drive-in whose movie dumped garbage on us with some bad scenes.)

Sept.

6th: It's official - we're going to have another baby! Due April 10th. We're very excited.

First day of Kindergarten for Jennifer and pre-school for Sharilyn. Jennifer was so excited but as we were walking to school she said "My stomach feels kind of funny. Maybe I should stay home." She was nervous but went in very well and came home excited. I went to Sharilyn's nursery school to meet the teacher. Sharilyn was so excited and didn't seem at all shy. She chatted enthusiastically with the teachers and seemed right at home. (She's been really anxious to go play on the train in their playground.)

Jennifer's Kindergarten photo

Sharilyn's Preschool photo

These are two murals I painted for our RS social, "Escape to the Islands".

Chris came to our social wearing a lava lava and he played his ukulele and sang Hawaiian songs. He didn't just stand up and sing but serenaded from table to table.

October. Sharilyn's teacher said Sharilyn is always smiling and happy and even when things go wrong she just rolls with the punches and keeps a smile. She's such a sweetheart.