In my pretty garden

the herbs and flowers and vegetables are growing. Since we moved here, I have wanted to have a garden. The first summer we were here, I just blankly stared at my yard wondering what would grow where, what all those weird plants were, and wondering if there was actually a spot in the whole thing that got full sun. Full sun is a rare commodity in these parts! The second summer we were here, I had a newborn baby and was gone the last month of summer. Neither lent themselves to being able to plant or take care of a garden.

It turns out (after watching my yard carefully for many months) there IS a spot in my yard that gets full sun all day long. WAY out in the far corner, there is a spot!So, this summer, with lots of help from David and Grace, I finally have one. Well, I guess I should say that Grace has one. The newly painted and decorated sign hanging in the corner says "Grace's Garden." Next year, when Harriet is old enough to help, we'll hang another sign that says "Hattie's Herbs." The project has been really fun for us to do together. It gives Grace and me a daily "something to do" in the morning as we go out together and water the garden with her new watering can from Drumlin Farm and look for weeds. Haven't had any weeds yet. We have also spent the better part of this week making the big garden sign and the little signs that say what is growing that you stick in the dirt.

We are doing a garden project called "square foot gardening." It's a whole style of gardening I had never heard of until someone in the ward introduced me to it. You take a 4x4 square raised box and divide it into 16 "square feet." In each square you plant something different. We have a few squares that are the same, but I guess that's ok. The idea with the square foot garden is that you don't have to actually walk IN the garden to do any weeding or harvesting. You can reach any plant in the garden from the outside of the box. It is also raised up from the ground so that you can control the soil better and also the water (here you sometimes fear that you will get too much water in the garden when it rains for days on end.) In the first box we built, we put starts we got from David's colleague at work. She hooked us up with rosemary, chives, garlic chives, and a few flowers. We also planted some cilantro and basil in that box. In our second box, we are trying out starting everything from seed. I know that the growing season isn't long enough here to get to the harvesting of some things from seed, but it's an experiment and Grace had fun choosing the seed packets at the store and carefully planting each seed. I really hope they sprout, or I will have a disappointed 4 year old. I will have to go find plants to put in their place so that she has something to keep watering! She planted sunflowers, another type of flower that I can't remember, pumpkins, two kinds of tomotoes, and cucumbers.

We are really hoping to get a few herbs because we like to cook with fresh herbs and they are so dang expensive at the store - $3-5 for a little sprig of basil? And, we are also hoping to get our favorite salad ingredients - tomatoes and cucumbers are staples at our dinner table. Grace desperately wants to grow her own pumpkin for halloween. We hope that one works out too!

summah, summah, summah

say it with a Boston accent and to the tune of The Cars song "Magic"...

Yes! It's summer! Ok, I know I've made a record of my mixed feelings about summer in New England. The sushine is great, I'm fine with shedding my 20 layers of clothes I wear just to be inside, but it also brings out TOO MANY LEAVES ON TOO MANY TREES, and TOO MANY BUGS flying about in those trees. We've been literally eaten alive this week. We started out the week not being able to go out after 4pm, then it moved to noon, and then at 10:45 on Friday, Grace and I both had 2 mosquito bites after being in the yard only 30 minutes. We gave up. I'm grateful for my cute picture windows so that I can look out at the beautiful outside since I can't go out in it. Forget taking a baby out. You can't put enough bug spray on a baby to keep these mosquitos away!

Hooray for Daddy. He rescued us today by spraying the entire perimeter of the house, porches, deck, garden, and play areas with garlic. The bugs have bugged out. MUCH better now.

Grace and I have made a focused effort to be outside during Hattie's naps. Grace is enjoying:
*riding her new (bought from a consignment shop) spiderman scooter
*riding her trike
*watering her herb garden
*bird watching cardinals, blue jays, robins, finches, swan, ducks, and geese
(hung up new bird feeders, but the birds haven't noticed them yet)
*listening to the peeper frogs as she goes to sleep (who sadly quit peeping this week!)
*chatting over the fence with the neighbors any chance she gets - she can often be heard shouting "Jeanne, Jeanne, Jeanne!!!" while running towards the fence-
*walking to the mailbox
*going on long walks with her dad to Crow Island when I'm gone
*driving with her window down in the car (and the sunroof open)
*going to Erikson's Dairy for any reason on any day


Harriet, when awake, is enjoying
*her dogs
*crawling from room to room
*climbing up on anything that she can hook her little leg up to
*sitting on short stools
*laughing at Grace
*bird watching
*going for stroller rides
*eating ALL BY HERSELF - preferably with a utensil if she can grab one
(she freaks out if you try to feed her and she likes to take things off your plate - tonight she drank my whole margarita and screamed if I tried to get a sip!)
I am enjoying spending every day with the girls. I may not be 100% happy 100% of the day (ok, sometimes, 5% is all I can ask for), but a bad day at home is better than any whole day away from them at work. I'm starting to realize how much I missed by working when Grace was tiny. Just the other day, they were playing with the shoes in Hattie's "closet" and having the best time putting them on each other's feet while I was putting laundry away in Hattie's drawers. Another treasured moment was on Thursday when we couldn't take the hot day and drove over to Erikson's Dairy for a quick spot of ice cream. We ordered a cup of black raspberry and a soft serve twist. We took them in the back where there are picnic tables in the shade and Hattie sat in the middle of the picnic table and took bites out of both bowls as Grace and I spooned up the yummy stuff. I love little times like that with them.

Ok, if you didn't know that you can click on a picture in a blog to enlarge it, you'll have to try it with this one. See if you can see what's in it!
(hint - it's one of our furry family members chasing something in a wet spot of our yard)

Happy Mother's Day!

When you have little kids, it's hard to get a day off. Not that I really want a full day off, but an uninterrupted nap or tv show might be nice. Starting with all 4 of us in bed together this morning with little sleep was about par for the course. I did get to get ready for church without any kids awake. That was nice. We were late to church since the kids slept so long from their tired day yesterday. David is also cooking me dinner, so that is nice too.

At church, Grace got up for the first time in sacrament meeting with the primary to sing a Mother's day song. David had to walk her up to the front. She didn't sing, but put her arms over the front of the wooden podium railing and stared with a cross look on her face into the congregation. To her defense, she wasn't here the past 2 weeks to practice or to be warned about having to perform.

Then, in primary, she participated in making the traditional mother's day gift. The kids were interviewed and their answers written in a card for their mothers. They also took home chocolate kiss necklaces to give to their moms. I think most moms had to give up the chocolate kisses to their kids before they got out of the church doors. I let Grace share mine...it was cute enough just to see her bring it to me with a big smile on her face. She was so proud.

Grace's mother's day interview answers:

"All About My Mom"

My mom's favorite color is: green
My mom's favorite food is: everything
But, she doesn't like: (blank)
She spends most of her time doing: (blank)
Mom helps our family by: making train tracks
The thing my mom likes to do for fun is: read books
If my mom could have one wish, she would wish for: (blank)
I want my mom to know: (blank)

On the blanks, she said she couldn't think of something to tell them to write.
She was right on the color and mostly on the food. There's not much I don't like. I thought for sure she'd say I spend all my time doing e-mail because that's what she tells me when she wants me to do something during the day (I do check my e-mail frequently, but don't spend the whole day on the computer - it's mostly after she goes to bed that I monopolize David's computer.)

I'm surprised she said I like to read books. I do like to read books, but I seldom get a chance to do it. I have been trying really hard to read the books for my book group, so maybe that's what she thought of. I'm also surprised that there was no mention of horses in there anywhere...

Since I am in primary, I got to help a bunch of kids fill out the card. Their answers were pretty funny. Most kids said that their moms spend a lot of time cleaning and vacuuming and that their favorite things to do are to play or clean. (I guess I don't clean as much as I should because Grace didn't mention that I clean!) I was suprised that a lot of moms' favorite food was reported to be broccoli. I am wondering if they are just trying to get their kids to eat broccoli? Grace loves broccoli, so I don't have to worry about that one.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my grandmas, my mother-in-law, my sisters, and all my friends who are mothers. We're all in this together! Hope you all get at least an hour off today.

Operation Bachelorhood-Mission Completion

Well the bachelor "party" is finally over. After 2 weeks (336 hours) I now have to share the bed, wipe noses, change diapers, help Grace go potty, and an assortment of other things that I missed. I also still have to cook, clean, go to the grocery store, and all of that. Life of a modern man.

It is good to have them back. The flight was early arriving and I almost didn't get there in time. Right as I was getting on the freeway (about 1/2 way to the airport) Michelle called. I made it there almost in perfect timing, but they did have to wait a couple minutes for me at baggage claim. The delay was on the moving sidewalk. Don't people know it is stand on the right and walk on the left!

Yesterday was spent getting "daddy time" in with Grace and Harriet. Grace helped me go to Home Depot to get our new basement windows that I will soon be installing and then helped me weed in the yard. Of course she wasn't very happy that I was pulling up dandelions, so she would pick the flower before I picked the roots. She then made a giant bouquet of literally dozens of dandelions and gave them to me for in her words, "Valentine's Day". I guess it is good to know that I am her valentine. I'm sure it won't last, so I should enjoy it while I can.
Even though I had to share my bed with 3 other people last night and even though we still had a fun Sunday morning getting ready for church, it is nice to have everybody home. Now I just have to remember that I can't yell at the TV when the Jazz play poorly tonight.

mommy's travel diary - last entry...

I feel badly that I didn't blog during the last week of our trip, but it is a good sign that you're too busy having fun to blog. We packed more into this trip than any other.

The weather this past week was b-e-a-utiful and we took advantage of every last drop right up through late evening each day. I couldn't get Grace to come inside whether we were at my parents' house, David's parents' or Melissa's house, or whatever. I'm not sure how many hours she logged in Melissa's yard, but it was quite a few. Melissa has a spectacular backyard with a cool new deck complete with tree swings, a swing set, and every yard toy known to man. When we came "home" from lissie's, she played in the sand box until late evening. When she was with the Chapmans, she went on walks to the "river" and ran circles around their backyard. At my grandparents' house, she couldn't get enough of walking on the stones through their garden and sitting in the arbor seat or on the big porch swing. She is meant for the outdoors. As I write, she is out on a bike ride with her dad down on the road that runs along the river.
Harriet loves being outside too, but it is a little more challenging for her. She can't walk yet, so she has the option of ruining her clothes or her knees crawling on the cement. She doesn't like the way that grass feels, so she doesn't want to sit on it or crawl on it. She doesn't like sand either. She cried when Grace sprinkled some sand on her leg in the sand box. We did find a great solution at Melissa's house. Sean has this little red chair and Harriet LOVED to sit in it and climb on it. We took it outside on a blanket and she spent over an hour sitting in it while everyone played. She likes the swings too, but those aren't as easy because you have to share them!
Let's see, other things we did this week... We visited a few friends in SLC. I went to my Gamma Xi dinner on Monday night. My friends from my college sorority have been getting together on the first Monday of every single month since we graduated 10 years ago. I love it when my trips to Salt Lake include the first Monday of the month so that I can go to the dinner. We meet at a different restaraunt every time. Really, I can only think of once or twice that we went to the same place. (there really are a LOT of restaraunts in the Salt Lake valley.) It is the coolest way to stay in touch with that group of girls. We have all gone our separate ways in life (some are still friends on a more weekly level), but when we all get together for dinner, it's just like old times. It is therapy for all of us because we can vent all of our worries on each other and get lots of advice and support from people who we trust and who are going through the same things. "go gamma gals!" I miss you out here on the East coast!!!

On Tuesday, we went to Hogle Zoo. I think that every single elementary school field trip, junior high bonus day, and mother of small children who hadn't been out of the house last week was there! It was insane, but it was still pretty fun. All of the kids had a ball. All 3 of my sisters went with us and it was a great family outing. Grace's favorite part was the white alligator who is a temporary resident in the "tent". We came home with many souvenirs... all except a picture! I forgot my camera, Melissa's camera was dead, so we bought a disposable film camera. We did get some photos from it, but now I've left those in SLC too. So, no zoo photos for now...

We visited with our pals, the Covilis on Wednesday night. Jared was absent, but we got to see their kids and Tara and catch up a bit. We are excited to be hosting them this summer for some Red Sox games (and I suppose I will let you go get a geocache or two.)

On Thursday, Grace and I went to visit our mirror images in the west - Jaimy and Reese. We went to the barn for a horsey ride with them as is our perennial favorite thing to do. Gracie and Reesie are such cute little friends. We wish we lived closer so that we could throw the girls in a haystack and ride together. Actually, this trip, Grace and Reese got to ride, but neither were as interested in riding as they were about playing with trains in the cross-ties and climbing up and down the haystack. Jaimy and I made a pact that we will be the ones who get to ride next time and leave the girls to play now that they are old enough to hang around the barn without too much worry.

Thursday night, we had a mother's day celebration with my family in lissie's yard. It was low-key with take-out dinner from one of my favorite places (Rubio's), but was SO nice to just hang out and exchange gifts in the cool canyon breeze of her yard. It was a perfect "end" to our trip.

We were in town all day on Friday, but it was full of craziness. Amid the packing of 4 giant bags plus carry-ons, we had to say our good-byes and do our "one-lasts" of everything. Harriet is getting her 1 year molars and was teething terribly on Friday. She cried a lot of the day and kept on going into the night.

We got on the plane at 11:15pm. As soon as the engines started, Grace laid down and fell right to sleep (so much for her carefully packed back-pack of STUFF to DO!) Much to the shagrin of the other passengers, Harriet was in too much pain to sleep. She screamed for the first 2.5 hours of the flight. I finally got her to sleep and I think we both slept for one hour before the LOUD announcement from the stewardess that we would be landing shortly and to turn off your electronics and buckle your seatbelts. Then, she cried for the last part of the flight too. Grace kept on sleepin'. I had to shake her awake to change planes at JFK (where I had 20 minutes to collect my gate-checked stroller, change terminals and board a second plane.)

We got to Boston at 7:30 in the morning and home before 9am. I'm not so sure about the red-eye with the kids. I think it is easier IF they sleep, but that is a big ol' IF. I wouldn't mind trying it again. We'll see what airline prices do to me in the fall.

Now we are looking forward to our visitors. Mo Deb and Aunt Em are coming in early June. The Chapman grandparents, Aunt Christine, Aunt Jane, cousins, Evan and Janie, and Uncle Richard are coming in late June, and then the Covili couple in July.

Thanks everybody for helping us to have a great time when we visit and for doing such a good job of keeping in touch with us as we live so far away!

Day 12 and other Random Thoughts

Day 12: Food is running low. I made 1 trip to Trader Joe's to pick up the essentials--salsa, chips, and milk. No energy to go again. Forced to get inventive with food in the house and dip into the reserves. Chicken nuggets on pita with bbq sauce and blue cheese is actually pretty good.

Dogs are also suffering. They are out of milk bones and the peanut butter is all gone. Keeping the kongs filled in the morning is becoming a challenge. Dogs just like me are getting lethargic.

To break the rut I went on a 5 K run tonight. I probably haven't done a 5 K in 15 years when I routinely ran sub 17 minutes. Let's just say that the extra 35 lbs. I'm carrying won't allow me sub 6 minute miles. I have been riding my bike so I felt ok. The dogs did well too, but the heat and humidity are hard on them with their black coats.

I have been busy with work (even bringing it home the last week) which has been good in keeping me busy while the family has been away. What really has been keeping me entertained, and tired have been the Jazz games over the last 2 weeks:

Random thoughts about the Jazz:

Derek Fisher-my heart goes out to him. I'm glad that he (and the Jazz) have priorities correct. It should be family first. If we had lost the games in SLC this week because of Fisher's absence it would have been ok with me. In today's world not enough people realize that family is first. Everything else is in the background.

As an east coast Jazz fan could you please wrap the game up in the third quarter. Finally when I thought I would be going to bed before midnight, the Jazz blow a fourth quarter lead, subsequently tie the game, and go on to win in OT. Save me the drama. I can take a blow out. TNT knows drama should be confined to cheesy medical and investigative shows.

Who is the stud on this team? Williams, Boozer, Okur? With the Stockton and Malone teams I always wanted Stockton to have the ball. On this team, I would be ok with any of those three in pressure situations. I just know that I can't have any more nights on the edge of the couch with the heart pounding, the blood rushing, and the alternating emotions of angst, fear, and annoyance, with happiness and giddiness.

Game 3 in Oakland will be the hardest game to win for the Jazz. Prediction is Jazz will lose in the last 5 minutes of the game. They will come back in Game 4 and sneak out with a win. Hopefully they will wrap it up in 5. But it could easily go 7. I sure hope not though, I may have a heart attack.

36 hours to go. Wish me luck. I just hope that I don't have to eat lasagne again for at least a year.

These games are killing me...

These late night games are killing me. I am super busy at work, but I don't have the discipline to not watch the Jazz game. Unfortunately the Jazz kept me on the edge on my couch the entire night. I hate watching these games alone. I can't handle the pressure. But at least I can yell and let out my frustrations without waking up any kids.

I may be tired, but I'm routing for my team. Get ready for Wednesday night.

Jazz 1, Warriors 0. Let's go Jazz.

Hello, I'm Elder Chapman

I've been trying very hard to avoid this, but I finally ran out of excuses and had to go on exchanges (splits) with the missionaries tonight. It really wasn't bad, the inertia against going was high, but once I got over that it was ok.

Since I didn't have any luck setting up an appointment on my own, Elder Georgell and I spent the night tracking down the MIA's of the ward. I guess that we had some success. We discovered that two people on the list had moved out. A third man was home and we had a nice conversation with him at his doorstep. He was friendly, but not interested in having Home Teachers or coming to church.

The memories flooded over me from my own mission experiences of both knocking on doors and working with inactive members. During the night Elder Georgell asked me about my mission and I think he was a little shocked by my response. More than a decade after returning home from my 2 year stint as a missionary in Brazil, I am still torn about what I think of being a missionary. While I value many of the people I met, and I value many lessons I learned, I wouldn't do a mission again. There is wisdom in the church having 19 year olds go. While I have a stronger testimony now then I did then, life circumstances change. I also have the knowledge of what it is like to be a missionary. Perhaps when Michelle and I are older we will serve as a couple missionary. Who knows? I can say with assurity though that I have absolutely no desire to be shadowed 24/7 by a companion not of my choosing and I like being able to stay up past 10:30 if I choose or sleep in past 6:30 if I choose.

To sum it all up, I have to agree with J. Golden Kimball, "The church must be true, if it wasn't, the missionaries would have ruined long ago!"

Diary of a (Tired) Jazz fan

First, it is tough being a Jazz fan on the east coast. Invariable I have stayed up late to watch the games and half the time I was in a good mood and half the time I was upset going to bed at the AM early morning hours. Last night was a microcosm of the events of the series over a two week time span. I was already tired from waking up at 5 AM to hike Monadnock. Then the game didn't start until after 9:30. No matter. I wasn't about to go to sleep and miss a potentially huge game 7. In the past the Jazz haven't faired so well in game 7. On the road they have never won. Of course all of that is meaningless to this team. They had played decently in every game in Houston and had a chance each time. But couldn't get over the hump.

However, last night they did it. They finally won a road playoff game. I almost didn't think that they were going to pull it off, but when it mattered most, the Jazz took control and fought to victory. The Jazz started off strong and opened up a 16 point lead. They let the lead slip to 4 before getting it to 10 for halftime. During the third it ebbed and flowed, but the Jazz were able to hold them off each time that Houston made a run.

The fourth quarter made me nervous however. The Rockets quickly evaporated the lead the Jazz had and with 6 minutes left had a 5 point lead. I was about to write the off with Kirilenko made a huge 3 pointer and the Jazz were taking control.

It would have been a big disappointment had they not made it out of the first round. I feel bad for Houston, but Utah was the better team. I hope we don't play them next year in the playoffs though because I'm sick of hearing how McGrady is 0-6 now in the playoffs.

Bring on Golden State and let's hope the Jazz make the conference finals.

mommy's travel diary continued...

We are just having a blast in SLC. Although the weather pretty much sucks, we are trying our best to have fun inside. Since Aunt Jess went to Vegas for the week-end, we inherited the use of her "monster truck" for the week-end. Tooling around in a jacked up black truck has been pretty cool. (probably looks a little silly to have 2 carseats in the extend cab, but my nickname in college WAS "truck-chick"...) It's a little hard to drive since it's so big and also a stick. I haven't driven a stick since I sold my truck 3+ years ago. I'm an old fogey who just likes a nice automatic now. Finally, today, I got good enough at it again to talk on my cell phone and shift at the same time!

Yesterday, Grace and Emily and I went to see Spiderman 3 while Aunt Lis tended Hattie. I know- the movie is a little much for a 4 year old. I justified it because she has seen the first 2 and watches them all the time with her dad. Emily asked her which movie she wanted to see and Spidey the 3rd was her choice. It was definitely a little more scary and dark in nature than the first 2. I hid her eyes a couple of times, but she still liked it and was glad to get to go to the movie theater with us. I haven't been anywhere with just Gracie for quite a while, so it was a treat to get to go out with her and spend some time with her, undistracted by Hattie. I was stoked to get to go to a cool movie on opening day (can't remember the last time that happened!) The only downside is that we went without Daddy. I know he would have like to have gone with us. Maybe we can take him when we get home...

Today, we went to lunch and shopping. We left Grandma Debbie home with Sean and Hattie (thanks for taking one for the team, Mom.) For lunch, we went to an old favorite, The Jasmine, for lunch with Aunt Melissa and Aunt Christine. Lunch was tasty and the company was great! We get very lonely for someone to go to lunch with in Massachusetts, so we do lots of lunches when we are here. As for shopping later in the day... Grace needs summer clothes and the next size (when does that stop?) She and I have had many words over choosing clothes in the mornings. I am so tired of having that conflict that I let her pick out a bunch of tops and bottoms at the store that all go together. My fantasy is that (weather permitting), she can go to her closet and choose any top and any bottom herself and they will be perfect together and will be good for any activity we choose to do that day. I know it won't work out just that way, but I do hope to avoid at least half of the clothes war that we are fighting. She does have a few really nice outfits from Aunt Em that she can wear to go on an outing or to go somewhere nice, but for the average summer day of playing at home, she can choose what she wants.

Now, we are hoping for the nice weather that is in the forecast for next week so we can go outside and play. We hope to visit the zoo, go horsey riding, and play in Lissie's new backyard before we have to go home.

Again... photos to follow???

Us Mormons

Happiness is the object and design of our existence.
-- Joseph Smith, Jr.

I finally finished watching the PBS documentary "The Mormons". I had set the DVR to record it knowing that I was going to be watching Jazz game and that I would probably want to review it down the road.

Overall, I thought that it was excellent. Not perfect, but still good enough to portray us Mormons as normal people with a strong sense of self, family, and community. People with large dreams that often are not met, but who honestly strive to love God and love their neighbors. I thought that the coverage was fair even though it spent too much time on the Mountain Meadows massacre and polygamy, and not enough time on the hardships faced by Joseph Smith and not enough time on the incredible journey west, colonization of the mountain west (Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, California, and Utah) and the stunning transformation of the Great Basin.

While I wished it had spent more time on Joseph Smith, I though the content was good. Joseph Smith was an interesting character, and as with most interesting characters he had his flaws. To me it gives me comfort that God does not need perfect individuals for His work. Perhaps even an average man like myself has hope of one day becoming perfected.

I was touched in the second hour by the struggles that individuals go through both in and out of the church. We are a people that should be happy. We are people that should treat those around us with Christ-like love. We are people that should explore our history, know our history, and cherish our history (as complex and interesting as it is). We are a people that should strive to make the world a better place by 1) improving ourselves, and 2) helping those around us.

I was particularly impressed by the black women who converted despite the crazy story of a white boy, a dead angel, and gold plates. I'm glad that they showed the gospel singing in sacrament meeting (especially instead of the dull boring meeting that is mostly is). I was saddened by those who felt ostracized and despite disagreements longed to have a part of the church back in their lives.

I was also disappointed by the churches stand against the ERA, our treatment of blacks for so many years (my largest struggle with the church), and was disappointed by Elder Oaks and Elder Packer. Elder Oaks claiming that criticism of the general authorities is out of line even if justified and true. What would Joseph say about that? I firmly believe in B.H. Roberts statement that not only is this the church of Jesus Christ, but it is also the Church of Latter Day Saints. We have a stake, an interest, and if our leaders should be respected, but should not be put behind glass to admire only yet not be able to interact with. Blind obedience is not a good thing (e.g. "If my mission president told me to blow myself up, I would do it."). We as a people are told to seek knowledge for ourselves and despite the authoratarian structure of our church we should still be able to study things out for ourselves and come to conclusions.

I was also impressed with comments of Harold Bloom and Richard Mouw. They both clearly disagreed with tenets of Mormonism, and yet they could recognize a strength and a goodness despite their doctrinal misgivings. That in the end was hopefully the take home message for those who watched it. Yes, we are a peculiar people, we have our quirks, but we strive as a people to live the commandments and to make our enviroments worthy of Christ. I hope this dispelled many stereotypes and myths and will give people a better insight in the lives of their Mormon neighbors, co-workers, and friends.

I'll end with some of Joseph's word from different discourses.

If I had not actually got into this work and been called of God, I would back out. But I cannot back out: I have no doubt of the truth.

Although I do wrong, I do not the wrongs that I am charged with doing; the wrong that I do is through the frailty of human nature, like other men. No man lives without fault.

Never be discouraged. If I were sunk in the lowest pits of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I would come out on top.

We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true Mormons.

-- Joseph Smith, Jr.

Monadnock

This morning I woke up at 5:00 AM so that I could rendezvous with my friend Pete to go to Jaffrey, NH to climb the "most climbed mountain in the world", but it may only be the second most climbed. ;-D Monadnock was a interesting hike. I had psyched myself up for a little bigger hike, but it was nice to get out on the trail and do some hiking again. It has been a long time coming since my knee problems began 1 1/2 years ago.

We got on the trail just after 7:00. We took the white dot trail which pretty much takes a straight shot up the mountain. An average 17% grade with the steepest section at 31%. I felt the leg burn at some spots, but it really didn't seem like it was as steep as I read about. The burn you get on Red Pine Trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon is much more impressive. About an hour later we had arrived at the 3165 feet summit. The most impressive part was the view. We got a glimpse of Mount Washington before clouds started moving in. Monadnock is pretty much all by itself so you have a very good view of the entire New England area.


We took our time going down and took about the same amount of time as going up. I'm glad that we got an early start though. The temperature was great and as we were coming down scores of people were heading up. You know how I hate crowds.

Coming down I tweaked my right knee a bit (IT band), but not too bad. Hopefully as I do a few more hikes the knee will do well. I am hoping that July 7 I will be doing a 22 mile hike in the Whites. If you are here you are welcome to come!

Another day...

Another day has come and gone and I really am a lousy bachelor. Five days is about my limit and I want to have my family around again. While I have been able to get some "honey-dos" done, I would much rather be playing Thomas, or tag, or hide-and-seek, or out walking with Grace, or playing peek-a-boo and doing "dump-ums" with Hattie.

Another day has also come for the Jazz. AK47 finally showed up and left Andrei Kirilenko at home. He was the difference tonight in the game. Let's hope that the Jazz have another day after Saturday.

On another note, I am getting extremely excited about watching the PBS documentary "The Mormons". I have read some interesting reviews, and both Jared and Bryan have made some interesting points about it. On that note, Jared called me tonight. It was half about the game and half about the documentary. I better get on it so that the three of us can have an interesting and intelligent conversation about our faith, what it means to us, and what hope we have going forward.

Bye Bye Dryer, and Hello leftovers!

I haven't yet gotten to dumpster diving, but who knows. Treasures await. Day 5 of Operation Bachelorhood has progressed admirably. I am still showered and shaven and no worse for the wear. I finally have exhausted my supply of food in the fridge so today I had to dig deep into the freezer for some food. My goal is to not cook except for on the weekends. We'll see if it happens. The weather has been gorgeous and I'm not much in the mood to eat chicken enchilada soup when it is 70 degrees outside. Lasagna isn't looking so good either, but I have plenty. I know before next Saturday I will have broken down. Leftovers are definitely better than cooking.

So after several weeks of trying to sell our dryer on craigslist we finally accomplished the task. We actually sold it 2 weeks ago, but it took the women that long to arrange to come and pick it up. All I know is that I am glad to have out of the garage. I needed the space.

diary of a traveling mother

Well, the girls and I landed in SLC on Sunday morning around 12am. We arrived at "home" before 1am and went to bed at 2am (4am Boston time.) Sunday was a rather mixed up day with kids off of nap and eating schedules. However, the kids are extremely good travelers considering...

We spent 2 hours in the Logan airport after Hattie missed her nap, then an hour flight to JFK, then an ugly 2 hours at that airport and then a wonderfully quiet nice ride to SLC. The kids slept on that last flight and it was a GIFT!

I must be some kind of insane person, because on Monday morning, I put them in the car and drove 4 hours south to Cedar City to visit my grandparents. I haven't been to Cedar since Labor Day of 2004 when I ended up getting hit by a red-light runner on my way into town (at the only light between the freeway and my grandparent's house) and nearly totaled my new Pathfinder. The reasons for not going back since don't have anything to do with superstition, mostly moving to the East coast, but it was good to go back and have an un-eventful, safe, non-insurance involved trip.

I have really missed going to Cedar. We use to go at least a few times a year. I love driving through Utah. Living in Massachusetts, I very much miss the wide open spaces of driving through the desert. I have really missed my grandparents too. They were a big part of my life growing up and it has been hard not seeing them since I moved. My grandpa had never met Harriet, so this trip was especially important. (We tried, unsuccessfully, to go in January, but weather and illness prevented the trip.)(Hattie with Grandma Primmer)

So, we spent 2 days in Cedar City. Grace had a ball with my grandparents, and surprisingly, both kids warmed up to the new surroundings and faces very quickly. Hattie was great - took her naps and was good on our shopping outing too. Whenever I travel or visit with my family, our favorite things to do are to go out shopping in funny little places and hang out and talk. We did lots of both.
(side note - I have this really great picture of Hattie with her great-grandpa. This was the first time that she got to meet him. For some reason, I can't get the blogger site to load that picture. I have tried more than a dozen times... photo to follow if I ever get it loaded...)

This morning, we drove "home" from Cedar City. Again, a really nice drive through the vast expanse of the Utah desert and both kids were stellar. They were actually pretty fun in the car. I really can't believe that they've been such sturdy travelers as we have flown 2500 miles and driven 500 miles in the last 4 days.To top off the day, we returned home for a second birthday celebration for Harriet. This time, she got to celebrate with most of her Aunts and her Grandparents and other set of Great-Grandparents. My sisters totally took over the party planning and did an incredible job (translation: totally overboard) on the decorations, cake, food, and gifts. Hattie got some more fun books, darling clothes, some stuffed animals, a baby doll, and some dough for her savings account. My kids are really really lucky to have such a number of people around them who care about them so much. The only thing missing from the party was DADDY!

We do miss David and Shadow and Velvet. We are sad that they couldn't drive through Utah with us and have a birthday party with us today.

PS - PHOTOS TO FOLLOW!!! After a frustrating episode where my entire memory stick was erased by my parents' computer, I eventually recovered the files with some software only to have blogger be too busy to load them.

Ultimate Lazy

Now that I have your attention let me assure you that Ultimate Lazy is not about me. I have actually been hard at work. Without the family around I have come home from work to get things done in the house and yard.

After spending a couple of hours working outside I decided to take the dogs on their nightly walk past Crow Island. Generally this is a great time for the dogs to run free and explore and for me to get 2-3 miles of jogging/walking in. Tonight however, I ran across the Ultimate Lazy. I have seen him a several times before and it irks me every time. The Ultimate Lazy refers to a guy who walks his dog by driving his car. The dog runs beside the car and he sits in his car getting no excercise and polluting the air with his gas guzzling SUV. In the past when he has seen me he has called his dog into the car until he gets past me. But tonight I didn't have a light with me as when I left it was still pretty light. I saw his car lights a way off and immediately leashed the dogs. Soon after a large malamut comes running up to me and the dogs. What really gripes me (besides the laziness) is the guy is just letting his dog run wild (with no real control) and not cleaning up after his dog. I'll have to remember to get to avoid the 8-9 PM walk time.
On the bright side I saw Canada geese and more interestingly our swan. The swan are an annual occurrence and they are fun to watch. I spent several moments watching them swim peacefully in the river. Soon I will probably see the beaver and if I'm lucky perhaps we will get a few more water fowl. I also smelled a skunk, but luckily no skunk crossed our path. Shadow knows too well about the damage skunks can do.

Finally time for dinner and then bed. If I have time I really hope to watch the PBS special on the Mormons. I DVR'd it last night and tonight and think it will be rather interesting to see a perspective not from a Mormon or Mormon basher. Stay tuned for my review.