An Afternoon at Sara's

A few days ago, Sara & George invited the Family to their house for BBQ Pork Sandwiches to celebrate Darbi's 10th Birthday; and to enjoy the company of Mickey & Lana who were visiting from Utah, and Steve, Natalie and their boys who were visiting from North Carolina.

For Very Good Reason Judy called the house and tried to warn us of Great Impending Party Doom due to the behavior of certain family members. However, George - being the kind of guy he is - simply laughed and hung up on her. Because he would not listen to her, things happened!

At first glance, this group looks innocent enough - sort of like they had just watched Darbi open her gifts and were now waiting for their cake & ice cream. Looks can be deceiving.

Notice Grandma on the far right hand side of the picture. Just a minute before this picture was taken she was jumping from chair to chair screaming "I want Cake! I want Cake!". Mom (Aunt Penny) had to lasso Grandma with her oxygen tubes, sit her down and tell her very firmly that that kind of behavior was not very ladylike. When Lana saw her skootching toward the edge of the couch, as if she was going to spring up and chair jump again, she sat on the other side of Grandma and threatened her with, "Don't even try it!" In the background you see Emily & Maci. They were very disappointed that Grandma had to sit down but decided to add toys between the chairs to make it more like an obstacle course ~ just in case Grandma got away from Mom and Lana. Dallin was simply wondering when it was going to be his turn to jump. George's mom kept clapping her hands and stomping her feet saying "Go Granny Go!"; so Sara had to turn to her and explain, "We don't want to encourage that kind of behavior!" And then there's sweet Darbi, who was very patient about the whole escapade, even though she just wanted to say, "But it's MY Party!".

While this was happening Inside, we were having trouble with other family members Outside.

Bart was ignoring the "Sharing" Rule and would NOT get off the kids scooter.


Cameron and Eric cornered him to remind him of the consequences of not following the Sharing Rule. It was starting to work...


But just as they were making headway with him, Natalie showed up! As you can see, she can bring out obnoxious behavior in anyone, especially Sara...


Barbie was not amused and when Natalie turned to her to make "Nicey-Nice", Barbie tried to smile back. Through gritted teeth she said, "Don't you dare mess with my Sara ~ I'll be watching you!" Then she kicked Natalie under the table.


Well, a good beating from Barbie always kept me in line ~ especially the "Spanking- with-the-Comb" kind of beating ~ and I had hope it would make a difference with Natalie. But Nat's a tough cookie. She only pretended to have learned her lesson. Don't let her fool you. Behind that "I'm a good girl" smile was the scheming mind of an experienced trouble-maker! You can see that Sara was beginning to believe Judy's warning and was quite wary of Natalie by this time.


It was really no surprise when, without any provocation, Natalie jumped from the table, pushed one of the children off a scooter and, after racing out of control around the tables, began ramming Sammy's big-wheel over and over and over again. You can see he hated this! And he could not stop crying, "Why can't Mommy be kind to me?"


I feared I was going to have to declare this Celebration a Complete Bust when Someone came to the rescue! It was Darbi - The Birthday Girl! She jumped on another scooter and gave that Natalie-Girl a chase around the patio that she deserved! And though it is too graphic to show, Darbi made sure Nat understood that THat would never be happening at one of HER Birthday party's Ever Again!!!


Finally, with Go-Go Grandma sitting peacefully, Bad Bart accepting his reprimand, and Naughty Natalie getting used to her New Understanding, all Frivolity was quickly restored.


As the day came to an end, Dallin could be heard delivering an Oath that only the Son of a Marine can deliver. It went something like this... "Father, when you are 97 years old, and you want to Chair Jump, then it will be me, Dear Ol' Dad, who will allow you to do whatsoever you wish!..."

With his belly full of cake & ice cream, all Steve could do was utter a teary, "Hoo-Rah, My Son! Hoo-Rah!"