Surprise, Surprise

Justin and I got to go a real date last night. We had a nice time going to a movie. Our first suspicion that something was different came when Justin opened the garage door and could see the headlights glinting off what looked like broken glass on the garage floor. I got out to investigate and discovered it was just tiny strands of silver tinsel that had gotten scattered on the floor. Then we walked into the house:

Bronwyn has been so anxious to decorate for Christmas that she hauled our little tree upstairs from its storage cubby, along with the enormous plastic tubs full of lights and decorations. She had started putting things out when we left. By the time we got home, Christmas had officially descended. And she still isn't done. I came home this morning from playing music for a stake baptismal service and found even more lights out. Thank you, Bronwyn. I wasn't sure I was going to have the energy to do this. I love that she has jumped in to help. Did I mention that she tidied up the living room, vacuumed up strands of stuff as well?

Good-bye and Good Night

Our kittens are old enough now to find new homes, which I started working on thanks to the impetus of a neighbor who loathes cats. That's a story I am not going to share, but I did want to share how we have found a home for one of our kittens, Sparky. She is the light orange, stripey kitten and the only one of the three with the normal number of toes per paw. I put up an ad in the KSL Classifieds last weekend and we got a call Sunday night asking if it were an okay time to come over to see the kittens. I agreed, and when the family came we noticed some amazing coincidences with our families. They have four children, three boys and a girl in the same birth order as we do. They keep chickens and have a mouse problem (hence the need for a cat). We have chickens (even if they're aren't laying now). And they wanted an outdoor cat that would be happy living in the garage and was litter-box trained. Well, I think Sparky was made to order. They happily carted off the cat and left behind two very weepy children. Evan and Bronwyn started talking about Sparky as though she had died, saying they would at least get to see her again in heaven and even though she was gone they could still pray for her. Both of them cried for about half an hour over Sparky's departure. I reassured them that Sparky had gone to a great home with people who would love her and hold her. I also told them that Sparky had an important job to do for them, that they really needed her. That helped them a bit, and as the days have passed they are mentioning her less and less. I've decided we could keep Ginger, but we still need to find a home for Snowshoe, our orange and white cat. So if any of you know a home where she would be loved and needed, let me know!

The gorgeous weather we have been having coaxed me back outside to try putting my garden boxes to bed. I spent Tuesday raking up leaves around my yard and my neighbor's yard to pile in my garden boxes for mulch. I mucked out the chicken coop to spread manure and pine shavings on top of that to compost over the winter. I was so proud of myself! And last night it started blowing fiercely. There is a storm coming in today. It's still blowing. There are leaves all over my backyard now, but very few left on my garden boxes. Sigh. Do I get points for trying?

Happy Halloween!!

Owen made a Saturday afternoon decision to go along with his friend James for trick-or-treating. In our family you don't get to go do that any more once you turn twelve. So Owen didn't actually go up to any doors, but he accompanied his friend and a couple of others. Owen is on the left. They made their swords that afternoon out of wood. They're supposed to be Black Riders from Lord of the Rings.

Bronwyn changed her mind to be a gypsy. She was going to be a spy. Guess the make-up is more exciting for a gypsy.

Evan went from being a Ghost Recon II army guy to OSS officer/spy to Frodo Baggins. Watch out...he's got Sting!

Some of the trick-or-treating group. A couple of Evan's friends joined him for his first unescorted Halloweening.

Liam really, really, really wanted to be a vampire. He wanted to be a vampire from the Twilight books until he realized they didn't get to have scary Dracula fangs, dark circles around their eyes and blood dripping from their chins. Here's what we came up with:

A Public Confession

Just before Fall Break my daughter brought home a copy of Twilight that she had checked out of the school library to read. One of her classmates is "infected with it," as Bronwyn says. Maybe some of you will agree that "infected" is an apt description. I hadn't read it because I have a personal quirk against reading anything that is wildly popular -- never read any John Grisham or Dan Brown books (aside from The Davinci Code, which I read before it was a big deal. I started Angels and Demons, but didn't finish because I didn't like his decidedly hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church...and I thought it was gruesome, and I have no desire to read anything else of his) or Mitch Albom, for example. I don't think it's because I feel any particular intellectual snobbery. I think it's more that I'm just not a bandwagon sort of person. ANYWAY. I hadn't read the Twilight series because I figured it was all for swooning teenagers. I teach some students who LOVE the books and the music and they all want to learn to play it. They are wonderful kids and good students. But I just figured ... not for me. However, I wanted to know what Bronwyn was reading and if it was something appropriate for her age. I knew it was about vampires and teenagers, but that doesn't mean it's quite right for a third grade girl. Even if her classmate loved it.

So I read it. And then borrowed the next three books from my sister Heather. And read those. In three days. And I watched the movie. And now I'm trolling the internet looking for cast interviews and fan sites. I found Stephenie Meyer's website with a few chapters of a book called Midnight Sun, which is Twilight from Edward's perspective. Read that too. And really liked it. It turns out there's a whole website for Twilight Moms... more "mature" women who've been caught up in the series. Since I'm confessing, I'm going to "out" my son as well. Owen read the last three books too. He says "there's too much kissing and he was only reading it for the violence", but he liked the series enough to read them. I think the books get better written as the story progesses, and the first movie, while not fabulous, has some fun things about it. I think the next movie New Moon is going to be much better. And here's the truly pathetic part. I NEVER buy magazines off the rack at the store. I almost never even pick them up. Especially the ones that focus on celebrities and gossip. Well, at Walmart the other day, when I went to buy Twilight, the movie, there was a People magazine devoted entirely to the New Moon movie. Not only did I actually pick up the magazine and thumb through it. I put in my cart. Face down, of course, so no one could see that I had actually turned into a fan. Sigh. What is it that a woman of my ... life experience and wisdom (that's now been seriously called into question!) would be drawn into this?

I think I feel apologetic about it thanks to what I said at the beginning. I have always avoided reading the latest pop fiction. Maybe it IS a bit of snobbery on my part. Maybe I'm embarrassed to have to admit to this snobbery. But now I have the movie and the two books of music published (one is the popular music stuff and the other is the original score music). I've visited fan sites and talked with my sisters about my new addiction. I've had discussions with neighbors about this, and I'm going to go get a ticket to see New Moon with a group of them when it premieres. I don't have the soundtracks or the books of my own yet, but my birthday is coming. So I admit it. I read the Twilight series and I enjoyed it! There.

Oh, and Bronwyn doesn't get to read it until she's fourteen. She wouldn't like the kissing stuff, and wouldn't understand the rest. But I've shared the story with her as I read the books, telling her what was happening next. She just wanted to know what happened to everyone.

Fall Break in the City

Fall Break started out much differently than I had anticipated. The original plan was for a mother-daughter bonding trip to Salt Lake. All of the menfolk were heading up north for a different kind of bonding trip. Fishing and camping. Don't get me wrong. I love fishing and camping. I just don't love it when it is COLD. And they were heading into COLD. If my socks stand up beside the tent and I can see my breath in the morning air, then that's not the camping for me. I would never have put up with Klondike Derby camping in Scouts if I had been born male. Anyway, Owen woke up sick and ended up with us. I warned him that he was subject to all things female for the weekend and he wasn't allowed to complain or make derisive comments. And I have to say he did pretty well!

We started out meeting Heather and two of her kids for lunch at Kneaders...
Notice Flat Grandma and Flat Grandpa. They are coming with us on all of our adventures.



Owen decided to try his hand at being a reindeer...


Bronwyn had insisted on Gardner Village for one of our adventures. Twist my arm! We had fun trying on witch hats. The Village was all dressed up for Halloween. There were people everywhere there since the Village was hosting their big Witch Festival the next two days. Glad we missed the bigger crowds!

In the evening Bronwyn and I headed downtown on TRAX to enjoy a night at the opera. We saw MacBeth, which is not performed very often. I was surprised at how well she followed the story and how much she enjoyed the performance. It was a very late night for her, though.


I have wanted to visit Tracy Aviary for a long time. I had been there several times as a child, but I have to admit that nothing looked familiar. We had a wonderful morning wandering around, looking at some very unusual birds. I think my favorites were the sun conures and the great southern hornbills with their unusual faces and eyes ringed with eyelashes.


We finished off our day with dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square. It was the first place I ever got a job when I was a teenager. I still love the food and atmosphere of the restaurant. The dark wood floors and tables and booths, the delicious smell of pasta, mmmmm. I could eat there every day.
I also got hooked on the Twilight series. I read all of the books that weekend (much to the detriment of my usual sleeping habits) and watched the first movie with my niece who came to visit us for an overnighter. Thanks for loaning us the video Sarah! We had wonderful weather for tromping around, and I don't think Owen felt too corrupted by feminine influences (unless you count getting hooked on Twilight himself feminine corruption!). Sigh. I was NOT ready to come back to "real life" this week.

Autumn Colors

After I drove the kids to school this morning I drove over to a ridge near my home that looks like it's on fire right now. I got permission from someone who lived at the end of a gravel road to cross his property to climb on the mountain to take some pictures.

This is the valley view from the ridge. Somewhere below the fiery trees is my house and my children's schools.

A friend of mine who is a great photographer told me she likes to take backlit pictures of autumn leaves. This is one of my attempts.

If you look at the angle of the dirt on the lower left of the picture you'll see how steep this is. Being the chicken that I am about heights, I didnt' go much further up. I couldn't decide if the faint trail was safer because we'd had rain last night and so the ground would be soft and help my feet grip or if it would be too soft and I would end up in a mud slide. I also found out why the area is called Slate Canyon. There were chunks of slate everywhere on the ground. I wanted to take some home (collecting rocks to take home has been my inclination since I was little), but I resisted, figuring I had enough to manage with keeping my balance and not smashing my camera.

Canning Season is Almost Over

I have started putting away the canning gear. Most of the garden has been ripped out, save eleven hardy Roma tomato plants that are doing their best to ripen the last of the harvest. I've been covering them every night for about 10 days now, although we are having warmer night-time temperatures this week, so I'm not bothering. I don't know know many more tomatoes I'll get that are worth doing anything with. The Celebrity tomato I bought did fabulously, but I ripped it out Saturday because it looked "done." I'm going to plant more Romas and another Celebrity next year for sure. They've both been great producers in my garden.

It's been a good harvest. Every surface that can hold a bottle in my basement has stuff crammed onto it. I have lost track of totals, but I know I've done a fair amount of this and that. I did 7 quarts and 8 pints of applesauce last week. That was so fun. Sticky, juicy, perhaps, but the kitchen smelled so good. The applesauce has a distinctly rosy complexion. I wonder if the bits of Jonathan apple peel that got in there have anything to do with that.

I'm going to try cooking and pureeing a bit of pumpkin to freeze next. Everything I read online said to not even try to can it because getting the right amount of acid per batch is very unpredictable. So I'll just freeze some for ready use. My deep freezer had just better not go out on me!

Things I will do differently next year:
1. I will put the creeping vine things in a different place so I can keep the vines out of my gravel pathways.
2. I will not cram 12 tomato plants into a four-foot square spot. At least, not unless I get taller, more sturdy tomato cages!
3. I will not plant yellow zucchini/summer squash. At least, maybe only 1 seed instead of the two hills I planted. Talk about squash overkill.
4. I will figure out an easier watering system than all by hand.
5. I will not bother putting vegetable plants in a wooden garden box. They don't stay moist enough and they don't thrive like the ones in the ground do. And I don't think I'll bother with trying upside-down tomato plants either. The ice cream buckets worked much better than the milk jug, but they were too far from my other vegetables to get regular watering and they just didn't thrive.
6. I will start my pepper seeds earlier.
7. I would like to try doing a cold frame on a box or two to get the summer plants going sooner. And I really will try using my wall-o-waters.
8. I am GOING to reclaim my raspberry patch. I am just going to.

The mental gears are already turning to figure out things for next year. I love my garden!

Seven Year Old Willpower or The Power of Wills Struggle

As the school year began Liam was a changed boy. As the first day of assigned homework approached he excitedly looked forward to having homework. I wondered what had happened to the boy from first grade who finally got grounded to the living room every day after school while I was teaching piano so I could oversee the homework getting done before he left to go play. The first week of homework went along swimmingly. No complaints or arguments. Liam brought it home every day. He was even cheerful about it.

Over the ensuing weeks, however, I began to notice that the homework pages weren't coming home as regularly. I knew we had finally hit the wall, however, when one of the other kids who had been assigned to clean the main floor bathroom came to me with several of Liam's homework pages found hidden under the bathroom rug. I also got an email from his teacher saying that homework was assigned Monday through Thursday. So I knew he wasn't being honest about the "no homework" thing on those days. We were back to battle.

I have many conflicted feelings about homework at this age. I firmly believe that the only homework that should be assigned is reading. Kids need to be reading in school and reading at home, aloud and silently. Anything else should be taken care of at school. Once my kids come home they are mine, to do chores, to play with their friends, to play by themselves. They should be unencumbered by school assignments so that families have time together to do fun things and work things. Orson Scott Card wrote two excellent essays on this subject that I wholeheartedly agree with. Click on Homework I and Homework II. On the other hand, I also firmly believe in supporting my children's teachers. I don't want my children to think they can pull the "My child can do no wrong" trick. But here in the case of Liam, there's got to be a happy medium somewhere.

Last week I finally told Liam that if he didn't bring his spelling words home that I would give him my own spelling words and he would have to write them out five times each instead of the three times his teacher asks him to. If he would just do the assignment from school as asked, it would only take him ten or fifteen minutes. Well, we had outright rebellion last Tuesday. He had forgotten his spelling words. Again. So this time I wrote out some new ones for him (like diligence, cheerful, quickly) and told him he had to write them five times. As his looks darkened I told him that if he crumpled his paper or threw a tantrum that he would have to write them ten times each. So he promptly crumpled his paper and snapped his pencil in half because he was angry. Since I was teaching there was nothing I could except tell him he had to stay in his chair until I was done teaching and that he would get to write the words twenty times each if he didn't finish by the time I was finished. So he said no, he wouldn't and he curled up in his chair and went to sleep.

When I was done teaching I had him come into the kitchen to write his spelling words with the remaining broken half of his pencil twenty times. He argued with me about it and then announced that he was running away to Josh's house (a playmate of his). We had a long discussion about it, with me explaining that the neighbors weren't going to take him in because he already had a home. I finally decided I was done with the conversation and told him to sit on the back porch in time out until he was ready to come in and do his spelling. He sat there for a few minutes and then I saw him march off across the lawn to Josh's house.

I tried calling over to their house, but there was no answer. I called a couple of other neighbors he'd mentioned he would try to go live with to explain what he was up to. After about twenty minutes I went out to find him. He was at another friend's house, next door, playing video games. Sigh. I talked with the mom and she said she had just come home to find Liam wandering back and forth between a couple of houses and that he had asked if he could come over and play. I sent him ahead on home and when I got back a few minutes later he had sneaked onto the computers to play them! Unbelievable.

This contest of wills is spilling over into everything. He won't clean his room unless I am standing right there. He doesn't do any of his jobs unless he has adult supervision at all times. I'm in a pickle because I don't have the time I did when my oldest was his age to be the constant supervisor. I have three other children, piano students, and a busy household to run. I've talked with his teacher about the spelling thing and we've agreed to several acceptable alternatives. She is wonderful to work with, and very helpful. What's so frustrating is Liam generally an affectionate, kind boy. He likes to work alongside me...sometimes. But teaching him to work independently is not working. I told him yesterday that he wouldn't get dinner until his room was clean. That didn't bother him. Grounding doesn't do anything. As far as the bedroom cleanliness thing goes, maybe I just take everything away. But that still doesn't teach him to stick with a job until it's done. And he is sneaky. If he doesn't want to do something he waits until my back is turned and then he sneaks off to go do something else. He sneaks off to play on the computers. He sneaks into food in the pantry. He sneaks off to his friends' homes. Or he just sits in his room and plays with stuff in there. I haven't yet found the button or the reward that will consistently motivate him. AGH!!

So all of you parenting gurus out there, HELP! What do you do with a child so stubborn?

Catching Bait for the Big Fishing Trip

Just arrived at the secret spot in Summit County. Owen is still recuperating from a Scouting overnighter at which he stayed up way too late. Liam has already found the requisite gun, I mean, stick.


Bronwyn is happy as a clam to in up to her ankles. The water got a little deeper along the edge. She and Liam declared the place where they entered the water to be Ann Arbor. They're upstream from Ann Arbor now.


Evan enjoys the sun on the bank. Kicking up rocks in the river to catch a bullhead is hard work!



Our elusive prey. This one is much too large to use, so he (she?) got tossed back. There were others that were much too small, according to the Fishing Guru Justin. They also caught a small brown trout in their net.



Liam showing off his big gun. He later found another stick that was notched on the end so he could balance this one across the top, like a machine gun on a tripod. What is it about seven-year-old boys and weapons? Here we are, enjoying the gorgeous mountains and fall leaves, and Liam is blowing it all up. Sigh.

The intrepid bullhead hunters at work. "Have we got anything?" Owen wonders. "Nope."

We had a wonderful field trip to the town where Justin lived as a teenager. The weather couldn't have been more lovely. We ate our picnic dinner at the pavilion Justin helped build as a teen. Evan, Bronwyn, and Liam were excited to find a swing set and jungle gym there. The drive home was amazing. I wish my camera could have captured the colors we were seeing. But, it was sunset, my camera couldn't have done it justice, and we just needed to get home so Owen could open his birthday presents.

Autumn Has Arrived

I got the chance last week to visit with a friend who has been gone for the last couple of years teaching English in China. We climbed up the mountain behind her home to take some pictures and enjoy the view. Wow. Fall is already creeping into the mountains here. Since I am trying to figure out what kind of camera to buy next she loaned me one of hers to try out, a Nikon Coolpix camera. My blog header and the next couple of pictures are three that I took.

Summertime Recipes

I wanted to share a few recipes for things I've been preserving...

Spiced Peach Syrup
2 1/2 Cups fresh pureed peaches
2/3 Cup sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP cornstarch
2 TBSP cold water

Combine peaches, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes (stir frequently). Combine cornstarch and cold water. Gradually add to the simmering peaches, bringing back to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened to your liking. Yield: 3 1/2 cups. I put this in freezer containers and popped them in my deep freezer. We've almost used up one jar. It thaws nicely in the microwave and tastes fresh.

I also should mention that the original recipe called for 2 cups of water to be mixed in with everything at the beginning. I thought that would make the syrup too runny, so I didn't add it. I didn't miss having it in there either. Just thought you'd like to know. Maybe you know why I should have added the water.

Vanilla Peach Syrup
5 Cups pureed fresh peaches
2 Cups sugar
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla

Combine puree, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Pour into hot jars and process for 20 minutes in a water bath canner. (I let the mixture cool and poured into plastic containers to put in the freezer).

The two syrup recipes are great over ice cream, pancakes, waffles ....

Dilly Beans
Makes enough pickling brine for 5 - 6 pints
2 1/2 Cups water
2 1/2 Cups cider vinegar (can use white vinegar if necessary)
1/4 C salt -- canning/pickling/non-iodized salt is best
1 gallon or so washed, ends-trimmed-off green beans (I measured 1 gallon by stuffing them into a one gallon freezer ziplock bag)
2-3 peeled cloves of garlic per jar
1 head dill plus 1/3 stem per jar

Pack green beans into jars. Add 1-3 garlic cloves and dill. Boil the brine and pour over beans, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

This is my mother's recipe. These are so tasty and crunchy. As this is my first time making them, I don't know that I have a lot of advice to offer. If anyone knows why many of my beans are wrinkly now I'd sure like to know! My mother's beans aren't wrinkly. Maybe the wrinkly goes away after a while. My next project is to do something with the loads of cucumbers filling up my fridge. I wish I had my Grandma Jessie's pickle recipe. My mouth waters remembering them.

Awash in Produce

It's harvest season around here. And canning season. And getting it in the freezer season. My early peach tree (the Reliance) ripened so quickly that I wasn't ready for it. As a consequence, my garage became a fruit fly breeding ground and the peaches were going bad by the minute. By the time I got to them to do something with them probably half of the fruit was beyond any use. I've gotten 6 quarts of juice (inducting my birthday present steam juicer in the process) and four batches of peach syrup: vanilla peach syrup and spiced peach syrup. The syrups were so easy and I could have bottle them, but didn't have time. Instead I put them in freezer containers and into the deep freeze they went. I didn't have time to try to get any peach jam out of this particular crop. Maybe with the O'Henry tree that ripens in late October (just a side-note here: I liked the names of these peach tree varieties. "Reliance" sounds dependable and sure. "O'Henry" reminded me of all of the O'Henry stories Justin used to read to me when we were dating. He has a lovely O'Henry collection. So my O'Henry tree is in honor of Justin). Oh, and I also just pureed a bunch of peaches and froze them for making peach ice cream at some point. Anyway, tomatoes are coming on now, so I simmered a batch of spaghetti sauce most of the day that I pureed and put in the freezer this evening. I've done 12 pints of green beans, and with the next batch of beans tomorrow I'm going to be doing dilly beans. They're dill pickled beans that are heavenly! My mom's grapes are coming on now, and so last Saturday I juiced them and got nearly four full quarts. Yikes! Are you tired yet? I am! The zucchini has slowed down a bit, but the summer squash (basically a yellow zucch.) hasn't slowed down in the least. And my vegetable crisper bins are chock full of cucumbers I've gotta pickle. What was I thinking???? I am having fun, though, I have to admit, looking at my jars and containers of produce. The most time consuming part is getting all of this produce ready to go in the jars. Once the stuff is in the jars the processing is easy. So, pickled beans tomorrow. Pickle pickles are right after that. If I have time I will post my peach syrup recipes. It's very easy and wonderful on pancakes, waffles, ice cream. It's probably wonderful on oatmeal or hot cereal. Hmmm. I'll have to experiment and see what else it's good on!

Oh, and I picked up the piano teaching again. It's busy, but I love my students. They are fun to work with. All that being said, I'm sure you can imagine there are a number of things going to pot around here. Housework is at the top of the list (not that I'm the greatest housekeeper in the first place!). I may have to declare a cease fire, however, on the canning thing and get SOME housework done. Or get the kids to do it. Yeah!

A Present for a Nine-Year-OId

I got inspired this week. I have three large bins full of fabric just waiting for the right project. Some people stockpile lumber, nuts, bolts, and nails. I stockpile fabric for Someday. In this case I thought of something for Bronwyn. She likes to put aprons on for keeping her Sunday clothes clean (what a thoughtful child) and she likes to help me in the kitchen. I'm trying to encourage a bit of kitchen independence too. So I made up my own design for this apron. The fabric was originally given to me when I was young by a great aunt I barely remember now. The front is a rose color, while the back is a dark maroon (that was for another project). The pockets are lined so I could fold them back for fun. Instead of buttons I found I had some glass beads to use instead. Now if I can just stand to wait until her birthday to actually give it to her.

Shakespeare Festival 2009

We try to attend the Utah Shakespearean Festival every summer. I've been going to the plays since I was little. In those trips of yore we would stay at the KOA campground in our camper trailer while Mom and Dad would attend the plays. When Justin and I started going as newlyweds we would stay in college apartments across the street. There was no pool, but we weren't interested in that. When we started having kids, staying in a motel with a swimming pool was much more important. But this year I returned to my camping-at-the-Festival roots and we stayed with Annaleigh and Kyle in their backyard. The kids loved getting to play with Reggie, their chocolate lab. We got to see shooting stars on our last night...as well as getting drizzled on (Bronwyn and Liam were fine in the tent. Owen, Evan, and I dashed inside because we were under the stars). The plays were wonderful. All of the kids except Liam got to see Comedy of Errors. Liam went to the "Babysitting Place" (USF Child Care). He loves it there. Here are a few pics:

Annaleigh and Kyle (foreground), Owen and Brian Smith (background); Greenshow at the Festival.

I know the photos are untouched. I'm using iPhoto now and am just figuring things out. Anyway, we're in the Adams theater for Comedy.

Bronwyn and Evan are mugging for the camera, but Brian Smith and Owen are too busy playing Magic before the show begins.

Bronwyn and Liam were game to go up the canyon to play in the ... well.. you'd have to call it a creek now. They are piling citizens (piles of pebbles) on their kingdoms (the boulders).

Paul (white ball cap) and Kaylene (orange ball cap) got to join us for the green show one night. Thanks to Annaleigh and Kyle for being great hosts. The kids still talk about Reggie.

Sixteen Years Ago...

I was in Park City on my honeymoon. Sixteen years ago yesterday I got married to a wonderful man I met in a dance class. I happened to talk to him in that dance class because he had on an Evans & Sutherland shirt and my dad had worked there for a while before moving on to another company. It was a blue shirt. We didn't actually start dating for another three years and that also was a result of a chance (!) meeting at a spring wedding reception. There was dancing at the reception and we danced together for most of the evening. We started doing things together, like teaching a singles ward FHE group some ballroom dancing over the course of the summer. We went to a couple of BYU devotionals together. He invited me to Homecoming, having to wait to start our date until I had finished dancing in the Homecoming Spectacular with the ballroom team. I attended his English department musical based on The Scarlet Letter. He consoled and kept me company when I had to miss the latin team's trip to Austria to compete in the Worlds' ballroom formation competition thanks to mono (and no, I didn't get it from or give it to him!). He was the first (and last) boy I ever tried to kiss first (I missed his mouth because he turned his face, and I was so embarrassed that I vowed he would have to do all the work if there was going to be any more kissing! I can still picture the huge tree stump we were both sitting on on a walking trail on Maeser Hill. The sun was setting, and it seemed like the perfect, romantic moment. Hah! I wonder if that stump is still there.). We traded beating each other at fierce Boggle competitions. He proposed to me in the canyon, serenading me with his guitar on a snowy Sunday afternoon. We had to set a wedding date six months away thanks to work, school, and dance team commitments. He put up with me being gone for five weeks while I went on tour, and then, once I got back, he had to drive up the canyon to Aspen Grove to visit me in his off hours. I was working on the maintenance crew for the summer to earn and save money.

Our wedding day couldn't have been any more perfect. All of the most important people were there to support us as we were married in the temple, and then as we celebrated at a reception that evening. I can appreciate now what a major request I made of my mother when I asked for Grandma Jessie's brownie cake for my wedding reception cake because I've made it several times now and it's a bit tricky. But she didn't complain or try to talk me out of it. She just baked like crazy and it was delicious. The reception was a great party where I got to see so many friends I hadn't seen in a long time and be introduced to Justin's friends and extended family.

Our honeymoon was wonderful, a combination of nice hotel and roughing it camping. I learned to fish with a spinning rod on Justin's family river. There's a hole now up there called the Honeymoon Hole where the river goes past the spot we camped. There's still a debate about who left my hiking boots at my parents' house (it was him! He packed the car!).

And sixteen years later we have four beautiful, spirited children, four cats (does anyone want a kitten? We have two!), and four chickens. He works hard as a headmaster and teacher and Ph.d candidate and I teach piano and take care of the children and home. Our family goes to the Shakespeare Festival and camping; fishing and play wrestling in the living room. We have Sunday Night Movie Night and watch classics like "How to Steal a Million" and "The Great Race." There are certainly some challenges, but who doesn't have them? Here's to sixteen years more!

Midnight Movie Madness

I should have known that one hour and forty-five minutes was still not early enough to get closer to the front of the line when the line we're talking about is the one waiting to get into the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Duh. It wrapped all the way around the side of the building. I went last night with Owen and two of his friends. As a side note here, I must say it's pretty fun going to a midnight movie with three teenage boys. They did a good job of keeping me awake until the movie started! (my younger three kids stayed overnight with the neighbors (thank you Bakers!) so I could go with a clear conscience.) The whoop that went up as soon as the theater staff started allowing people in was loud and it got my adrenaline going. Once we got inside the ticket takers just told people to pick one of two screens to be seated in. In the decent seat area (anything five rows from the front or further back) there weren't four seats together to be had, so we all split up. We were all in single seats. I ended up next to a couple with eight kids. They were fun to talk with and we passed the remaining minutes until showtime sharing family stories.

It had been a long time since I'd read the book, so I figured there would plot elements that would surprise me. I know there are fans of the books who are offended if anything at all is changed in translation from print to screen, but I'm not one of those. I understand for visual story-telling purposes sometimes events and information need to be rearranged a bit in order to accommodate the medium, i.e. not all story lines will fit into a film; important plot points may be brought up in a different way than in the book. So if you're looking for a faithful, absolutely true-to-the-book adaptation you won't find it here. However, overall the film works very well and I think it does stay true to the purpose and mood of the book. A friend of mine pointed out that perhaps the flow of the film is a little choppy thanks to editing, that a smoother flow had to be cut down to fit a better length. I think that's a fair comment.

Editing and plot points aside, I have to say that I loved the characterizations in the film. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have grown into fine actors and they are genuine and believable teenagers. It's fun to watch them work together on screen. Snape is amazing as always. The fun surprises for me were Draco, Dumbledore, and Slughorn. Tom Felton suddenly grew up and turned into a handsome young man. He shows off the doubt, fear, anger, and determination that Draco experiences as he works to fulfill his mission. Michael Gambon as Dumbledore finally gets it right in this film. They gave him longer, whiter hair. He wasn't so angry/abrasive and I almost forgot I wasn't watching the Richard Harris Dumbledore of the first two movies. Jim Broadbent does a note-perfect Horace Slughorn. He is much more sympathetic in the movie than in the book. Bellatrix was more finely tuned and not so out-of-control.

There's a good deal more comedy than I expected and it's not out of place. Overall I was really happy with the film and I'd really like to go see it again...after getting more sleep (and earlier in the day!).

The (Unexpected) Road Less Travelled By

Okay, so my friend Constance and I had this fabulous field trip planned with my children for yesterday afternoon. I would meet her at her house in the morning after Owen's viola lesson, we would have some kind of a lunch, and then drive up to Ogden to go to the Ogden Dinosaur Park. We met up and ate lunch at Kneader's (oh wow it was good. You should try their 12-grain hazelnut bread. MMmmmm). The kids were thrilled to be treated to any treat from the glass cases. And then we were on our way, Constance in her car with Bronwyn and me in our car with the boys. I have learned the kids are much calmer in the car when we listen to books on tape, so we finished up Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo on the ride up. It was a smooth ride, really, and traffic wasn't nearly as crowded as I was expecting. I don't drive north of Salt Lake very often.

The museum and park were so much fun. The boys got a kick out of copralites (fossilized dino dung) inside the museum, and we could watch three people cleaning up actual dinosaur bones for re-assembly. The outdoor part of the park was cool. There are life-size models of dinosaurs, skin and teeth and all, all over the place, and it was so interesting to get a feel for size. There was a giganotosaur from Argentina that I was kind of excited about because we've seen an IMAX movie about them at Thanksgiving Point. I couldn't believe what a massive head this one had. The kids enjoyed running ahead to see what dinosaur was poking through the foliage next. My only complaint about the set-up is that not everything in the exhibits are clearly labelled. Some are not labelled at all so you have to guess what you're looking at. Also, the full-color half-page map you are given has very poor print resolution on the 6-point font so you can't read the dinosaur names on it either for help. Small criticisms, however, for a great field trip. Even Owen was having a good time.

We munched on apples and cookies on the grass by our cars before heading off on the unplanned part of our journey. Since it was late afternoon and we knew we would be hitting commuter traffic for the next two hours on I-15 we elected to go through Ogden Canyon, picking up I-84 and head home through Provo Canyon via Heber. And gee whiz, the canyon was right there by the park. Owen decided to join Bronwyn and Constance and I had the other two boys with me. Constance put me in the lead and we headed right up the canyon. It was a lovely drive, and soon we were driving through cool mountain air in the direction of Huntsville. "Hmmm," my brain said. "I don't remember there being a Huntsville on the way to Park City and Heber. Hmmm." No alarm bells were going off in my brain. Yet.

Well, the road we were driving on kept heading northeast. I was really starting to doubt we were going the right way because I knew we should be heading south any time. The road was still climbing through gorgeous mountains, and it even got cool enough that Liam was begging me and Evan to roll up our windows. The two-lane highway was largely unoccupied save for our two cars. As we continued driving northeast I (half) jokingly said to Evan, "Well, we may end up in Wyoming before we're through!" I knew there was a road going through the mountains from Woodruff to Ogden because my sister-in-law and her husband had lived up in the Woodruff area for a number of years working on the Church's Deseret Land and Livestock ranch. My suspicions were confirmed when we came upon a sign announcing Woodruff and Randolph within fifty miles. I pulled over just past the sign and burst into laughter. Constance pulled up beside me and we had exchanged laughs for a few minutes before deciding we had come far enough that we might as well just continue on. We had enjoyed the exquisite scenery and the most opposite of commuter traffic that we could have experienced.

Once we reached Woodruff I felt like I was in familiar territory. I've driven that road a number of times going to and from Star Valley and visiting Lauri and Jay on the ranch. After a late stop at Granny's in Heber for juicy hamburgers and shakes we finally made it back to Provo around 9 p.m., eight counties and two states later. Phew! Sorry there are no pictures. I forgot my camera.

I can safely recommend Scenic Byway 39 as a glorious, cool drive. It's long, but not too winding. With the July and August heat here, maybe we'll just have to accidentally take that road again.

Foreign Language Training

I realized yesterday that my oldest child has truly morphed into adolescence as I listened to him and his best friend talking in the car on the way to and from The Dragon's Keep, our local gaming/comic book store. I had promised Owen as a reward for terrific grades that he could have a small budget to spend to spend there. He loves to play Magic, a strategy card game involving magic and monsters and wizards. He intended to add to his playing decks and just to see what else they might have there. A very good friend of mine also spends a lot of time there working on his online comic strip, and so I thought we would get to see him (sadly, no). But as I listened to these two boys chatter about what Owen had purchased all the way home I discovered that, while I knew the words they were saying, their usage left me befuddled. "Cool! This one does negative two plus one damage Wither!" Or something like that. Don't get me wrong. I love role-play gaming (RPG). I played Dungeons and Dragons through high school, went to science fiction and fantasy conventions (okay, only two), and love reading all things sci-fi and fantasy. Give me Robert Heinlein, JK Rowling, and Orson Scott Card. Love it. I thought that would keep me connected and "cool" to what my son is now playing. However, I'm left with knowing that the only way to truly stay in touch with this particular interest is to, gulp, learn to play the game myself. Owen would love to teach me. It would up my coolness considerably. But there's one problem: I'm not really interested in learning to play. And with the current state of my life, I just don't have time for games that take a long time to play. I probably need to change my attitude and just go with it. After all, what's more important, right? Decent meals or bonding with my teenager?

June Ag Report

I decided it was probably time to update this page a bit and pass on the latest gardening news. Just about everything I started has now found a home somewhere in my yard. This morning I cleaned up a corner bed by my house and planted random plants in there. There are snap dragons, Bells of Ireland, a tomato, three peppers, some alyssum (it's looking rather sad, actually. I'll be thrilled if any of it survives), some asters and probably a thing or two more that I can't remember.

Everything I planted in my garden boxes is coming along famously now. The tomato plants are getting huge and I actually have a few blossoms...on the start I bought at Home Depot. But I'm confident the ones I started from seed are going to do well. The radishes think they're in heaven, so I keep having to thin them. If I do peppers again from seed I'm going to start them in January or something because they're all still little things. I don't know if I'll get anything from them this season.

There are green beans, cucumbers, yellow squash, and pumpkins all poking through the soil now, along with some beets and carrots. The beans practically exploded from the soil. They must be happy. The peas are done now (that's where the pumpkins have gone in), and I'd better harvest my two lettuce heads before they bolt.


Here is my latest experiment: upside down tomatoes. I guess there are some pricey upside-down tomato kits on the market. I'm trying the DIY version with ice cream buckets and one milk jug. They just got planted this week, and as you can see I'm also making good use of our defunct trampoline:

A Last Fieldtrip

Pengbo had to leave us yesterday to return home to China. Bronwyn cried most of the morning. (Pengbo was an awesome big sister to have at home, especially in a household of boys. Bronwyn feels very outnumbered sometimes.). It was a very early flight out -- we had to have her at the airport at 6 a.m., but that didn't stop Evan, Owen, and Bronwyn from wanting to come. Justin stayed home with Liam (who wanted to sleep).

Anyway, I decided for our final field trip that we needed to visit This Is The Place Heritage Park. I hadn't been there for years, since my mother was a volunteer docent there. It was so interesting! We all loved it. We took lots of pictures, but here are just a few:

What could possibly make a field trip more complete than getting to pet lambs and kids? There was also a duck/goose enclosure with ducklings and goslings running around, but Liam and Bronwyn couldn't ever get close enough to actually touch one. That didn't stop them from trying, however.

Everyone got to try their hand at dipping candles. Boy that takes a long time! Pengbo turned hers into a duck. Liam's looked like a giant teardrop, and Bronwyn put a curl on the bottom of hers to try to get it to stand upright.

An Indian village has been added brand new this year. They had Shoshone tepees (I learned that the tepee belonged to the woman and she was responsible for setting it up and taking it down. She could set it up in about 20 minutes and take it down in five. Wow!) as well as Navajo hogans. The Native American fellow who was explaining things told me that in Navajo culture there is always a male and a female side to everything. So there is a male hogan and a female hogan. The female hogan is what the family lives in, so here are the girls in front of the female hogan.

Here is Brigham Young's Forest Farmhouse that he never actually lived in. The most interesting thing I learned here is that there are no hallways because those counted as rooms, an important detail when your home was taxed according to how many rooms were in it. In fact, the docent there said that most people continued to live in one-room homes even though they could afford to build more until that tax was taken away (WHAT? A tax that was actually removed? Incredible.). We spent over five hours there and still didn't quite get to see everything. There are activities to participate in all over the park and the kids are excited about going back later this summer. We'll have to take Evan along the next time because he didn't come.

Thanks, Pengbo, for coming to stay with us. It was a wonderful year!

Heaven and Earth

On Wednesday I took the kids and Pengbo on a fieldtrip. We planned to visit the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house and then took an unexpected side trip to Kennecott Copper Mine when I realized we were so close. You get the pictures in reverse order because that's just what Blogspot does to me when I try to upload stuff.


Here are B and E next to one of the earthmoving truck tires they use at the mine. E was having a grumpy afternoon, although after we got home he told me he had a great time and thank you for taking him. Go figure. I love watching the big trucks hauling tons of ore as they circle the big open pit.


If you look closely you can see the rings around the upper edges of the mine. They have a great visitor's center and a fun gift shop -- probably one of the best places to get Utah souvenirs.

The ushers at the temple were so eager to help us take group pictures. This is in front of the temple as it faces east. L told me as we left the temple to go to the treat tent that although he had been cold before going into the temple he had a warm feeling inside and felt happy as he got to go through. I love being in the temple with my children. It's been an amazing experience to be able to take them through two temple open houses so close to our home. O didn't come with us because there wasn't really room in our car (the Ford only seats five, and that's still squishy) and he wanted to stay home and play with his friend. I missed having him with us.


As we arrived at the north parking lot there was a fellow who was all excited to drive us the 300 yards to the tent where they showed us an introductory little movie. The kids were thrilled to get to ride on this spiffy golf cart. Hopefully this won't be the only thing they remember. We got a ride back to our car after the temple tour too.


The "treat tent" was a very nice cultural hall-size tent that looked tent-like only on the exterior. The inside was carpeted and looked like a beautifully appointed reception area with chandeliers, beautiful furniture and cookies and water served by volunteers in their Sunday best. There were sister missionaries walking around inviting people to fill out comment cards. The kids each filled one out and turned them back in. Outside there were more volunteers offering to take our pictures for us.