Twinkle and Binkle, The Starr News: Olivia's birthday was January 21, 2012

OLIVIA GILES

I remember when Olivia was born. Lanny and I were in Utah attending my brother Calvin's funeral service and visiting with family and friends. We left Utah and arrive in Washington just a few hours after Olivia was born. She was an adorable baby with dark hair and reddish complexion. As she grew older her hair lighten as well as her eyes.

From my observations, Olivia likes to do a variety of things like read, paint, theatrical plays, helping and having fun with her siblings and parents, having fun with her cousins and friends, just to name a few. She comes by the theatrical interests through her Grandpa Lanny's Great Grandpa Alexander Baird. He was born in Scotland but eventually became a U.S. citizen. Here's a few paragraphs from his autobiography:

"Just as soon as I got to Brigham, Brother Snow (President Lorenzo Snow)wanted me to start a theater. So we went to work to get up a dramatic troupe. I was chief cook under Bro. Snow. This was in the

spring of 1864. He, Brother Snow, gave me the names of the ones

he wanted in the troupe. They were as near as I can remember; Alex Baird, Elija Box, Chester Southworth, Peter Madsen, Peter Baird, Elias Snow, Miss Herritia Smith and Mrs. Levina Nicholas. This formed our troupe, with a few extras.

We started and practiced well. I worked in the mill all day and study and rehearsed at night. I did well in the mill all summer and fall. We played short dramas and farces once a week on Saturday evenings. We took well and prospered well and made money which all went to get properties and scenery.

In the winter of 1864 or in the early part of 1865, the troupe was sent to Salt Lake City to get our endowments, as President Snow said it would make us better boys and girls, which I believe it did."

Grandpa Lanny and I visited with Olivia, her mom and her siblings yesterday on her birthday. It was Martin Luther King Holiday, and the kids had the day off from school. When we walked into the Giles' home we were greeted with the "kid next door", or so we thought. At second glance we found that it was Caleb, with his first "buzz" haircut. My what a difference. I have pictures I took and videos of him and the others as well as the day's activities but will post them later.

For lunch we had what I consider is America's most favorite food and for sure the kids' favorite food, "Pizza." These were exceptionally good pizzas.

Stefanie tells me that Olivia's goal for the year is to exercise and eat healthy. This is a good goal, one I should work harder at. Good luck to you Olivia. When you come across some really good recipes you've tried, let me know. I have been sauteing and using the green leaf vegie Kale more the last two months. It's a healthy food and fixed various ways, is good. Angie likes it very much sauteed with onions and cabbage, and sprinkled with salt and pepper and soy sauce added at the end. Doesn't that just sound like something Grandpa would eat?? or not!

Here are some pictures I have of Olivia at my fingertips. Windows on my computer broke, so I lost access to my stash of photographs. Larry and Richelle showed up Sunday with their used computers and replaced our's with them. We appreciated what they did. Dad is happy playing on his better computer with his big screen, and I will have access to all the programs again that I like to use such as PAF and Adobe Photoshop.

In the meantime we will share what we have and add more to this page later.

Hope your birthday celebrations were delightful and full of fun. LOL, Grandma and Grandpa Starr