Pretty darn neglected

Well, Christmas has been  awesome.  Aside from making sure that:

1. presents purchased and wrapped
2. stocking crap purchased and stuffed in stockings
3. an entire grocery stores worth of food transported to our house
4. cooking and delivering treats to home teachees, visiting teachees, a few neighbors,
5. a fun ornament making party for Ethan and the cousins (instead of gingerbread houses)
6. X-mas breakfast (cinnamon rolls and sausage) and X-mas dinner (steak and shrimp) and gluten free bread and pancakes for Breanne
7. Forcing Brandon to shop online the after Christmas sales for his gifts from us(clothing).  I was on my phone and computer, he was in his apt. on same, we coordinated , I ordered - took HOURS.  Still, way better than arguing and dragging ourselves around the stores, and the deals, people, the deals!  How will he ever manage to look like a DI reject hobo now?

OTHER than the above, it's been easy street around here!  TV (assorted holiday specials), internet, books (The Lost Hero by Rick Riodan - more fun interesting than the Percy Jacksons) movies: (Despicable Me, Tangled, Unstoppable) games, Oh my!  Monday Roger took Ethan ice fishing with Uncle Lamar, and today they are skiing.  I am HOME ALONE, ooh baby (fist pumping). 

Did you know that Pandora will cut you off after 40 hours?  Holiday folk music channel, you are my heart and soul.  Hence, I am going one last time through my own Xmas CD's today, before I cut myself off, cold turkey.  The inmates here, they are rebelling. 

We spent a pretty penny this year on the BEST thing: Phillips Sonicare toothbrushes with UV sanitizer and Orabrush tongue scrubbers for the whole family.  They Rock!!!  ( I really wanted to capitalize rock, but I may be overdoing it.)   ((will work on my overuse of parenthesis later))  My mouth has that "just back from the dentist" sensation of so very, very clean, slick and kinda sore.  I have the breath of a crisp pine tree forest in winter.  I'd kiss ya, but then I'd get germs in my mouth.

Randomnity

I just walked by the front room, now the Christmas tree room, where I saw Ethan curled up on a chair, reading. Reading what he just found on the bookshelves, titled: How babies are made. I see conversations in my future.


Moon has decided that Toby must not be going anywhere, so she had better work a little harder to get hers. Consequently, she is haunting me around the house and rubbing up against my leg every second that Toby isn’t in sight. Formerly pretty quiet, she’s much more “meowy” and “keyboard jumpy” now that there is (apparently) a scarcity of loving attention. Maybe she has a point, because I’m trying to type this with Toby in my lap – which is not MY idea!

Last Sunday we had gotten subs for our classes, because we were going to a nephew’s (Morgan Stanley) mission farewell. But Roger woke up with a migraine, and proceeded to barf for the next 4 hours. At one point he PASSED OUT! So I called the instacare to see if they had something to help him (I was thinking pain meds and Phenergan) but they said if he had passed out they didn’t want him and we should go the ER. He wouldn’t go, so I gave him the “one more time” ultimatum, and that must have done the trick. He finally held down the ibuprofen, slept for 3 hours, wobbled to the couch to weep through Hachi, A Dogs Tale with us, then went to choir practice, tithing settlement, a meeting with the councelors, and by the end of the day was running around the lawn after Ethan. Sheesh.

But now I know there’s an instacare open on Sunday’s in Orem, and Phenergan suppository’s are a prescription item that I need to get my hands on and keep on hand.

So here we are a week later, and to keep on with a theme – Ethan woke up yesterday at 4 in the buttcrackadon, and proceeded to keep us advised on how bad his stomach felt, until he finally barfed about 7 am. He was livid when I made him go back to bed after that, and we all slept till noon. OOOOOOhhh yeah!

I’ve been Christmassing, knitting, reading Gregor the Underlander series, and my whole house looks like this.

Cluttered, misplaced, piled up, shoved, procrastinated, high enough that Toby can't chew on it.  At least the man is cute! And the Christmas tree is pretty.

What have they done with the REAL Nyquil?!? Plus: a bonus body count of the children I've exposed.

Day 1 - hmmm, I think I'm having allergies.  Exposed: Ethan, Eli, Aislynn, Micah, and by extension, their new baby sister, Abigail.

Day 2 - Thanksgiving, Sneezy McSneezerson. hmmmm, dang my throat is sore, I just might be coming down with something.  Exposed: Ashlynn, Donnie, Mackenzie, Hailey, Kaila

Day 3 - Black Friday, got up at 4:30 am to go to Walmart, where we scored both Roger's and Breanne's X-mas present, saving at least $100 (so it was worth it)  It's official, I've got a cold, not too bad; carry on.  Exposed: Eli, Aislynn, and Micah, just in case it didn't take the first time.  Then Roger and Ethan packed up to go camping IN THE SNOW.   No one would go with them.  Mystifying.

Day 4 - I'm siiiiiiiick.  I sound like that deep voice guy who used to do all the dramatic Tv show commercials.  Exposed: (parents forewarned, but fatalistic.  Somedays ya gotta take babysitting where you can get it) Ava, Lila, Maia and Mathias.  Good thing these kids mostly watch themselves, and outside in the freezing cold to boot.  I unreasonably insisted on shoes and coats (I know!)

After they left, I faced reality, got a substitute for primary, and settled down with my unleaded Nyquil, Mucinex, The Deathly Hallows, Christmas music, and my new calling in life: snot machine. And now, back to my regularly scheduled productive coughing.

We had a special stake conference today, wherein the stake was not split, we just had the cool opportunity to have a General Authority speak to us: Elder Gerrit Gong.  I think it would have been pretty awesome, but the internet didn't have the spirit (I'm quoting the guy trying to fix it, not just being flip, which, I don't really mind being flip, but it wasn't me this time, I'd just like you to know that) and there were problems with the feed to our stake center for a good chunk of the program.  But the part I heard was indeed good.

Since Roger took the scouts camping this Friday, he had to purchase a 3 day pass up the canyons. So after church we got a wild hair and decided to drive up and see the beauties of the wintery mountain landscape.  Since it was lunch time, the trip morphed into us heating cans of chili on a propane stove in a driving stinging blizzard.  Truly.  We drove up on wet, bare road, and in the hour or so we were up there, the roads were covered with at least 2 inches. Placed sideways at times.  It was beautiful and humbling, like a good trip to the wilderness ought to be.  As we froze our body parts off for all of 10 minutes before getting back in the car to eat, we pondered on the plight of the pioneers, without polar fleece, propane stoves and thinsulate boots, trying to make the journey with children, babies, and little food. It's just incomprehensible. I don't even ............  how?................how could you ever DO that?

What a heritage of faith we have.

Ethan is wearing my coat, cuz he forgot his, which explains why I'm in the car taking the picture.

Bonnie treated me to a free Harry Potter movie on Saturday. She had 2 free tickets, and she and Ava were going to go together, until she was prompted not to take Ava.  I, for one, was pretty tickled to go, and I totally agree; definitely not child-level cruelty and dread.  At least on the overwhelming, uncleanflicked big screen.   But it was really well done, in my opinion, and completely nailed the feelings I got from reading the book.  I haven't read the book since I re-read it shortly after it came out, so I can't say how faithful to the nit picking it got - but wow!  I do wish it had had a few more laughs, (I think it had 2).  It put me on to the feeling of poor Frodo, struggling to Mordor, but with a magic tent.

PS.  You would think, would you not, that with frozen drinking water and snow on the ground, the dog would NOT want to go in and out 40 times an evening to lick the frozen water, but would want to stay IN, and drink actual drinkable water.  You would be wrong.

Routine Contentment

This has been the most beautiful autumn season in my memory!  Just driving around has been breathtaking, and I've spent an inordinate amount of time just kneeling on my couch and gazing out the back window.  The power of a blazing tree to fill me with .........what?  Happy/Wistful/Wild/  you know, Autumn feelings.  Crunch down the street, swishing up the leaves, bluer than blue sky, totally conscious RIGHT NOW.   I need the perfect poem, or phrase.  Anyone got one?  While you're at it, do you have one about sleeping in the afternoon sunshine next to my black cat? 

But now, dun dun dun, getting brown, shriveled, cold - same old thing that happens every year.  I feel indignant!  Not quite shocked, exactly, but REALLY?  AGAIN!?!  Didn't this just happen last year?!?  Hmmmph.

Yet!  These have been some awesome days around here. Nothing out of the ordinary, and I was going to blog about the enjoyable predictability of my days, but the phrase "routine contentment" rang my bell when I started listening to To Kill a Mockingbird on CD last night. 
I just finished Pride and Prejudice on CD and Oh, it was wonderful! Among other things, (you know, the story and language being perfect and funny)  the reader pronounced  "room" more along the lines of "rum" so it became my form of a drinking game to raise my imaginary glass and proclaim RUM! each time after her.  I watched the Kiera Knightly P and P version the other night, and Ethan exclaimed "isn't that the same as the CD you were listening to?"  Smart cookie, that one.  I've borrowed the Colin Firth version, which I've never seen, and Leslie advised me to just go ahead and give it the 5 straight hours it deserves.  Somehow, I'm going to manage that, because I had to stop and start the KK PnP about 400 times at least, (and anyone with kids, puppies, phones and a small bladder knows what I'm talking about!) and it was annoying.
 Of course, movies never live up to books with the two and only exceptions of LOTR and Stardust.

Yes, I just wrote a blog post about the weather, books and movies.  I am indeed - pretty darn prosaic.

Halloween

I had to do this in 2 posts, because (blah, blah, blah, stinking computers, blah), but here's Halloween!



Only after I took the picture, did I think, hmmm. maybe it would be appropriate to take down the picture of Jesus?  Is there halloween decorating protocol to cover these situations?  Jesus is going to hang with the Christmas decorations in a month or so.......



Yes, I knit the "disguise." 

Breanne was a "steampunk" girl, and she made her own skirt, vest, jewelry, and cane!  She got her parts from a shirt, DI, some aviator goggles and her own collection of "junque."  I knit the spats, just cuz she needed some and her outfit is so AWESOME!!

It was raining cats and dogs for the ward trunk or treat, but that didn't stop this attractive bunch!   Bryce and Uncle Rick came, and Roger decided the disguise needed to be a lumberjack.   

At the end of the day, who doesn't need to sleep in their Princess Lea wig?  It's just nice and warm.

A fall walk

We took a walk the other day, up Battlecreek canyon, before going to the Purple Turtle, then to see The Sorceror's Apprentice.  A very fun family date!!  For those of you in the local area - you do know about Watergardens being $3 a seat, and drinks and popcorn being 1 or 2 bucks?  Is Awesome!

My talk is on........this piece of paper

Let's see, laundry, family, work, meals, dishes, let the dog in, let the dog out, family, shopping, laundry, work, knitting...........  Oh yeah!  Here's a bright shining nugget of chagrin-


My assignment:  a talk in church on "serving the poor and needy" with at least 40% of the talk consisting of personal examples.  Yes, you heard me right.  The other 2 members of the old RS Presidency didn't get their assignments worded like that, so I called BACK and verified, and yes, I had heard  correctly.  So I dithered around with that for awhile, but when I finally got down to it, I felt like the talk really wrote itself; I got the "flow", and I felt really good about it.  I was a little stoked to give my talk, which didn't totally offset the actual "giving a talk" clammy nausea and such, but still.


So, among other things, I told a lovely story where my mother was a wonderful example of service to the poor and needy for me by inviting a smelly homeless man into our home to shower and sent him away with some of my Dad's clothes.  Because she felt good about it.  Like the spirit let her know it would be ok.  I remember this!   I've been telling this story for years to illustrate listening to the spirit.   Except....... when I was sharing my (successful!  spiritual!  totally not too long or short!) talk with Mom over the phone afterward, she had to regretfully inform me I had it all wrong, as in: there were 3 or 4 men on the sidewalk, and 1 of them asked if his Dad, who had messed himself could come in and shower, and she DID NOT feel good about it, so she gave them some of my Dad's clothes and told them they could use the hose outside.


Yeah.  I totally pulled  a Paul H. Dunn!


Now I have to view my own stories and personal (version of my)  history with suspicion. 
What the heck else have I invented?
Why can I only still remember MY version of the story? 
What's more real in the end, what actually happened or what you think you remember? 
So did I feel the spirit or just invent THAT too? 
Isn't this just the perfect testimony about keeping a journal or what!  


Well, I do know: Brains and memory are wierd; mine plenty so.  I know from having OCD that my brain is SUCH a liar, so I guess I shouldn't be so dismayed here.  (But I am) Also, the Lord works with what he's got, namely us, the weak things, and he's in the process of making us stronger, so theres that. 
One moral of the story: Do a fact check BEFORE you give your talk. (Actually, I had called Mom before church to see if she had anything to add, but she was in meetings herself, and when she called back, I was in the shower, and Ethan took the call......)


Since this is what currently passes for my journal, photo album AND communication with others who are interested enough to read here (bless you!)  I thought I should write it down.

the saddest sweater ever

Warning: non-knitters will find this incredibly boring.  Skip to the pictures. 


So this sweater has been kicking my butt.  I whipped the actual sweater out pretty quick, then debated, pockets before or after zipper?  I decided to add them after the zipper, then found out I could buy a zipper either 1 inch too short or too long.  I went with too short, and really regretted it.  Then I debated, hand or machine sewing?  I went with machine sewing and really regretted it.  It made the front stretched out and mashed down.  I thought about re-doing it, but the yarn (Encore) has turned out to be a huge disapointment.  The one day he wore it without pockets, he came home with 4 snags!  The yarn is thin-ish, and chintzy feeling, instead of plump, thick and soft like his last sweater made from Knitpicks Swish.  So I plowed ahead, adding bad to worse, because the kid had specifically requested the pockets, but I was down to a little leftover smidge of yarn, and everytime I knit with it, my face and nose itched like crazy.  I j-u-s-t c-o-u-l-d-n-o-t make myself sit down and get 'er done.  I don't know what was wrong with that last bit of yarn!  To add insult to injury, I don't like the way the striping and shading turned out on the pockets; I found that adding the pockets after the zipper was a mistake cuz it poufs out, and I sewed the top of the pockets unevenly!  The whole thing felt like when you almost slip, cartwheel your arms wildly, wobble and stagger around for awhile and finally fall in slo-mo. 

I could fix it, you know.  I could unpick the zipper, resew the pockets, handsew the zipper, even buy one long enough.........

 Ethan is already wearing it, and he moves fast, right? 


Next time: only good tough wool for a childs sweater!  A kid who will wear hand-knits religiously deserves the good stuff.




Here's the one I made him in kindergarten, 2 little, 2 short, mended several times: well-loved. 




Here's the new one, funky short zipper, bizzare pockets.  It's killing me. 
Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple, children's neckdown cardigan 
Size 10-12 
Yarn, Paton's Encore 




This is the view from the dining room table looking out the back door.  The light shining in the house was amber gold all afternoon. A certain slant of (autumnal) light indeed.




Breanne finished her duvet cover.  It's awesome!  I had to show it here, but I hope she puts it on her own blog.  Skulls, winnie the poo, Hawaii, China, batman: it's all on here.





I................I am sorry.  I can't help myself!  He's so stinking cute.  How have I turned into one of those people? 



A Public Service

This summer I've been absolutely pathetic on the canning front, I've canned exactly nothing.  But the following recipe is so easy, I've put away batch after batch of this roasted tomato sauce.  It is SO GOOD people, SO GOOD!!  It makes my mouth water thinking of it.  This real recipe is here:  http://family.go.com/blog/catherinewman/easy-roasted-tomato-sauce-832480/ .   I love love love Dali Mama's writing and recipes!   But here's the Robbie version.   First, ya pick em.  I stop after I fill this giant silver bowl, because it's just about right to fill 2 cookie sheets, which in turn is all that will fit in the oven. 



Then you cut them in half face down on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle on a sliced onion, 2-3 smashed garlic cloves, and drizzle on some olive oil.  Salt, pepper, a swish of sugar, italian spices if you want  (sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  It just depends on how fast I'm pushing this thru), then bake for 2 hours at 375 degrees. 



Well, this is an example of what not to do, small bear, these ones were overcooked because I forgot to switch the pans 1/2 way thru, and they were a little hard to scrape off the  cookie sheet, but still delicious nonetheless.  I scrape them all into the blender, blend the heck out of it, then freeze 2 cup servings in ziplocs.  The real recipe says you can use a food mill to sieve out the skins and seeds, but I've never needed to, the blender takes care of it just fine.  Bonmama has tried this, and she said it was so creamy she just went ahead and made tomato soup with it.  Several other people I've recommended this to have become converts, so I thought I'd just spread the lycopene love.

You're welcome.



The new carpet

So, I've been looking for a cheap but beautiful carpet for our TV area, mainly to anchor the couches in place to keep the one from scooting back into the curtains and over the furnace vent.  We tried carpet grip stuff under the legs, but it didn't work for long. The Liquidation Team had this 8 by 10 that was EXACTLY what I had in mind, and if you don't think it's beautiful, you can word it carefully, but I won't believe you. 

Anyway, I muscled it home, wrestled it around by my lonesome with Ethan and Toby dancing around making me all frazzled.  It took awhile to get it all moved around and lined up and I was pretty sweaty, but happy with how it looked. 

Then.............. dun dun dun. 

I decided to water the plants, and put some miracle-gro in the water, cuz, well, it was just time to do that, and as I walked to the corner to water that Dr. Suess plant I've got there in the corner, I thought "huh, that coffee table is just a little crooked, bent over, and SPLOOSH, there went 2 quarts of blue liquid over the new carpet.  It had been in place all of 30 minutes!!!!!!!!  Yep. 

I hauled it out to the driveway, scrubbed it out and hosed it off.  It washed out fine, and Roger came home to wet carpet drying over the stair railing.  Ethan didn't hear a single one of the dirty words I furiously muttered to myself, so I'm counting this one as a win. 

This all happened early in the month, but such is my camera cycle.  You know, the taking of pictures, the downloading of pictures, the naming of the file, then the cursed searching and searching for the bleeping file.  You gotta want it.

Yes, something needs to be done about the coffee table I bought at Salvation Army 20 years ago, but my gumption for projects is missing, and my money for new is sitting on the floor there. 

Doesn't this look like he's got Dr. Oct legs coming out of his back?

 

Ethan, Aislynn, and Eli had all earned free Utah State fair tickets (plus one free ride and a free drink) this summer by reading books and filling out a form, so we went and had a dang good time, if you don't count the $6 corn dogs.  The kids were most excited by far by this bungee/gymnastic contraption, but the art and craft displays were pretty popular with them too. 

homework, money and crappy plastic toys

The routines of the schoolyear have started up again, and I find myself deluged with making sure one single 2nd grader does his reading, spelling and math pages EVERY SINGLE DAY (except Sunday) and recording it on the form that must be signed and turned in every week. I got a personalized note about checking his math more carefully please. (ok, that was last year, but still! I know the teacher is watching) His piano lessons have homework FOR ME!!!! I could darn near be homeschooling. It was NOT this complicated with my first 2. Sheesh. One thing about having assigned reading every day (20 min) is he only does that, and hardly ever reads for pleasure. (Well, I'm sure having netflix and computers handy affect that situation also. Well, and Roger reads great books nightly to him. Well, and he's young.)



I've gotten really really intolerant of crappy plastic toys, and laid down the law last spring that he couldn't buy anything under $40. Just can't do it. He needed to set a goal for something big that he wants and then save up for it, cuz there are just too many stupid little (..................insert all the things you've ever thought or said about wasteful, expensive, breakable, piece losing, crappy little plastic toys......................) in our house. So he got all motivated to earn money and buy a nintendo DS (gameboy) like Ava has. I thought that was great then found out they cost $180. gulp. I agreed then that we could buy it when he saved up $100, so he piled at least 1/2 his toys in boxes for a garage sale and bugged me weekly about when could we have a garage sale. I should have just let him have his own, but of course I thought I should declutter the whole house and have a GOOD garage sale while we were at it. Which of course I never did, and a friend in our ward just got cancer, and his friends were throwing him a fundraising garage sale, so I gave Ethan $20, and gave the stuff for the garage sale, and got that monkey off my back. The kid's up to $63. Now he's angling to sell me his sack of Halloween candy for $20.


Ok, here's the other thing. If he does all his homework and reading WHICH I AM SUPPOSED TO HELP HIM DO, he can pick a crappy little plastic toy out of the treasure box from his teacher. Same at Piano! 2 crappy little plastic toys per week added to my house!!!! It is a cruel, cruel joke. Especially because he is insanely motivated by these treasure boxes, and the mere mention of these boxes existence wins willing cooperation every time. Do you see my dilemma?

Pictures for your enjoyment.

Paris Hilton's got nothin on us.

A sweater for Abigail Hope Butler. 
yarn: Knitpicks Main Line, Dusty Lavender,
Needle: 7
Pattern: Eloise Eyelet cardi, Lion Brand free pattern, sz 12 mo. 

The yoke detail and snazzy buttons.

Head to Toe new Sunday duds.  Worth gussy-in' up yer hair for.  I wish that closet door handle would stay on.

Ethan almost feels about Toby as he would a sibling, which probably explains the hands around his throat, and the mischeivious glint in his eye.

The beautiful girl in pearls is Breanne being a cashier at her job at The Incredible Pizza Company.  We went there on Labor Day and had much fun and much to eat. 

I forgot I had a blog!

Really!  It was such a surprise (and not in a good way) when I remembered.  Same here when I came home one day from work and found the back door wide open, (open, as in - the dog and the flies and the air conditioning going in and out for 6 hours)  and then the 2 times I found the front door unlocked in the morning. 

I know just what's going on too.  It's the Ambien. Memory loss is one of the side effects, and this happened to an (opinionated) friend of mine.   I cut down to 1/2 pill a night, but it's so good, so very, very good to get 8 full, mostly uninterrupted hours of sleep a night.  Gooooooooooooood. 

But if that's not the problem, then I'm just losing my mind.

So............. when my dog shakes his head violently, as dogs and cats are known to do, his face is so loose the whites of his eyes show on the apex of each shake.   Pause for a second to see this in your minds eye and crack up. 

Roger bought an enormous stand alone basketball hoop at a garage sale, and set it up by the side of the driveway.  It gives me a start each and every time I back up and see it out of the corner of my eye.  Yes, this IS after I look around to see if the driveway is clear of children running over to be run over. 

giving blood

So I went last night to give blood, and my iron count was the lowest possible acceptable number (38).  So I started taking iron last night.  Anyway the gal doing the needle poking stuck it half way thru my elbow - I swear!  It burned like fire, then I started to feel like I was going to lose my lunch.  That has never happened to me before when giving blood.  I felt pukey for a couple of hours, and draped myself dramatically around the house. 

Then I went to a piano lesson parents meeting but not STRAIGHT there, oh no.  I had written the address down wrong, couldn't program the gps properly, forgot my phone to call home for better instructions, and drove like a bat out of hell all over, ALL OVER the weird up and down parts of Lehi.  At one point a woman out in her front yard saw me looking frustrated and made a "can I help you?" expression.  So I drove back and asked her where that address was.  She said that one doesn't exist, but who are you looking for?  I told her, and she walked around her corner and pointed out the right house!  What a tender mercy!  I love living in Utah, let me tell you.

However I probably should not have taken the post meeting trip to Walmart, because the do it yourself register just absolutely freaked out.  Slowly, in a way that took an eternity.  Alternate time-line freak out.  The lady ended up telling me that I was probably charged for my purchases, but she couldn't produce a receipt, was that ok?  Well, since it's 10:15 pm - sure.

But the toughest thing has been watching my one of my offspring deal with the consequences of choices.  My heart just aches, and that makes my throat hurt too. 

some knits

A gift for a very long awaited baby, Asher Brandligt.  I just need to mail it off before he grows up!   I bought the buttons in Alaska while on the cruise. 
Yarn: Knitpicks swish, superwash wool, color "Truffle"

I knit this tie to the length of his other x-long ties, then had to shorten by 6 inches cuz it grew in the "tying." Now he has a tie to match his socks.  
 Yarn: Schoeller & Stahl, Fortissima colori superwash sock yarn
 color: Mexican? or Mexicali? something like that, but the ball band doesn't say.

 Now!  If people would quit having babies (I LOVE to knit for babies) and if the days would quit flying by, I could just catch up to my 2009 Christmas knitting list!  I can see I'm gonna have to knit X-mas presents every other year.  This once a year thing is too dang fast!

that's how it goes sometimes

So, I went to a wonderful series of classes by Anthony Sweat, on how to teach with the spirit, how to involve the students, and how to ask inspiring questions.  I prepared the heck out of the lesson, only to get to primary, and find they had recieved that same lesson last week.   Sheesh.

bullet points

Boy, I know bullet points are lame, but some days/weeks are like that.


(Ha!  Now that I think of it  I don't even know how to make bullet points in blogger)


Weekend before last Roger took Brandon, Ethan and Toby camping/hiking up the canyon.  Pictures to follow.


Roger hiked Timp with the boys this weekend.  It was quite the story, which I want him to journal here. He can be a guest blogger.


Got called to be the Valiant 8/9 boys primary teacher.  I've never taught a boys only class in primary.  I've done scouts, which always gives the buffer of "doing or making something,."  so I hope I do ok.  I know and like all the boys involved, and am glad to be in primary.


Breanne got her new, beautiful bag that Aunt Bonnie made her, stolen last night along with: $60, credit/debit card, drivers licence, etc.   She's pretty sick about it, reported it to the police, and cancelled everything.  (Bonnie, that bag was the envy of all her friends.  It's the part she most cried about)


I am hosting at BYU education week this week.  It has been so AWESOME!!!!!  How I'm kicking myself for never attending before.  How? Why? Are you kidding me?  So lame.
 I read the announcements for (yesterday) James Oniel Miner, and today Marvin Goldstien.  His music was so moving, I started bawling for the day, and then it got weepier from there.  The classes are just incredible.  Thank you, my G & T friend, Leslie, for making me to do this.


The crying has given me a headache, and all the knitting I got done there has cramped up my right hand.  But I feel so inspired; now to turn it into action!


And may I say, that campus is so very beautiful.

Another Tuesday

Whoa, a week really rolls around fast!  Saturday, the big Relief Society Mother/daughter activity that we've been working for awhile came and went.  It was pretty successful, and I wish I had some pictures of the happy, absorbed girls and women sitting and making things for "the orphans."  At least that's how I kept trying to explain it to little Sophi sitting next to me who slaved over her little beaded gecko, and kept lamenting how badly she wanted to keep it. 


My incredible Aunt Pam spends every Wednesday at a Stake Center working on these humanitarian projects, and when I went there one day (not knowing this was the same place she was at) it was so cool to see her and Uncle Lamar.  When she heard I was trying to set up some humanitarian activities for this RS activity, she IMMEDIATELY (and with all the warmth that any of you who know her know what I'm talking about!) offered to sew some of the dolls she makes for my group to stuff!!  I was blown away!  She sewed, clipped and turned over 40 doll bodies!  I'm so grateful, you can just imagine.  It was by far the most popular activity that day, and the stuffing flew!  Sadly, someone was a really good sewer-upper, and I'm having to unpick some really teeny invisible stitches to re-stuff some of the dolls for quality control purposes.


Well, no good deed goes unpunished, and Sunday our RS presidency was released.  We'd been warned earlier last week by the Bishop, so it wasn't a shock, but it is pretty bittersweet.  Our president's life had become untenable due to (a really LARGE boatload of reasons beyond her control that I won't go into)  and the first councelor just had her 2nd operation on her arm as a result of a fall at the start of the summer.  If I EVER start to feel I've got it tough, I just picture Gayla, with her shattered shoulder in a flimsy little sling, sitting in her easy chair for 5 DAYS waiting for the hospital to "fit her in".  Criminal.  oohhh, the hate mail I want to write.


ANYWAY, their husbands are, respectively, the 1st councelor and the bishop of the ward, so I'm surprised the situation carried on as long as it did, but I'm glad it did, because I really really enjoyed this calling and serving with those women.  So. 


And anyway, babysitting was going to become a real problem for me, cuz Breanne moved out!  I didn't think she actually would, but she made it happen and she really did.  Let's pause a moment to be sad for me. 
Yes, she's pretty excited.  We moved her up, and it didn't take 2 FULL car loads, more like 1 1/2!  I'm relieved at the niceness of the place we found, cuz we had looked at some scary places, I tell you.  We found the address on the institute bulletin board, and the place is mainly members, which is pretty unusual in University of Utah territory, and they rented out 1/2 a room like they do here in BYU-ville, which is pretty unusual up there again.


I may never sleep again knowing my daughter is walking home from the bus stop just 2 blocks away from trolley square at 11:00 at night. 

Tuesday?!?

Ethan played coach pitch this summer and enjoyed it very much!  He is the proud winner of the only dollar bill the coach had to part with!  He had promised it to anyone who caught a fly ball.  That face?  It is the only camera face he knows this summer.

Have you met Toby?  I'm alot more fond of this expensive mutt since he has POTTY TRAINED!!  I'm so PROUD, so very inordinately proud when he toddles off to do his thing.  He still has all his manic puppy energy though, and is cuter than cute.  Holy Cow.  He loves Roger best, and I feel like I should get them a room when Roger comes home from work.  The Looooooooooove!  He hardly barks at all, and follows me around the house, shredding any piece of paper he gets.  My back yard is currently carpeted with shredded paper plates, my bedroom with toilet paper.

These are the fireworks that Uncle Rick bought.  When Roger got a job in time for the 24th, the FIRST thing he bought was MORE fireworks. It's a sickness.   (I admit, I ran out and bought some yarn.  a sickness, I tell you!) 

Ethan lovingly took about a thousand pictures of the firework aftermath, so I felt I should include one for journaling purposes.

Here starts the Yellowston pictures.  What you can't see here is a mother elk stomping the everyloving hooey out of some poor campers tent.  Roger has a video, I'll try to post it, but not today.  Baby steps.

Roger has discovered he is sensitive to fire smoke, and usually gets a migraine and a miserable snotty night out of the deal.  Thats a heck of a note for a serial scoutmaster, no?  Anyway, he loves his propane stove.

The handsome happy campers! 

This is what any walk with Ethan looks like.

Ethan had his hat inside out in every picture.

Right after this picture, the buffalo rolled over and plopped down so dramatically they thought he died.   It was anticlimactic when they later saw his tail flick. 

A study in handsome.

Handsome, AND goofy.

This cracks me up.  Even though the colors of the Mammoth Falls have really dried up,  I guess Ethan can be enough color for everybody.

Yep, this is the camera face for the summer. 

Oooooooookaaaaay.

Brandon told me he was terrified here.  But he jumped anyway!