of pirates and other sundry items

This week has been a relatively quiet one for us (on both sides of the U.S.), which is probably a good thing, as I’m intending to devote much of tonight’s blog to some much needed photo updates!

Andrew and I are finally settling into a pattern here: get up, go for a walk (so as not to wake up Grandma and Grandpa, and incidentally, for health reasons), come back, eat breakfast, try to wreck as much havoc as possible on Grandma’s kitchen and living room (Andrew), try to prevent said havoc (me), nap (Andrew—me, I wish!), work frantically on instructor’s manual project (me. Luckily, my editors have graciously given me an extension, if I need it, which takes some of the heat off me). After lunch, our schedule depends. This past week, as often as not, we descended on my sister Jeni’s house, where Andrew, Emi, and Jacob gleefully run in circles around each other, dance, and fight over toys. Jacob is trying to further Andrew’s earlier instructions (from Jake Wells) in sword fighting, and he and Emi have taught Andrew how to scream (when he’s not upset, that is). On alternate days, I try to find excuses to get us out of the house without getting too hot, which usually means that we go shopping with Grandma. On Friday, my friend Karin came over with her son, Ezra, who’s almost two and a half. We walked over to a local park, where Karin and I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible and our kids ran around. That afternoon, we went to Jeni’s house again, where Jeni inflated a giant slide in the basement and the cousins had a wonderful half hour or so running and sliding. Saturday, I tried to vary our excursions a little by taking Andrew to the Bean Museum on BYU’s campus (which houses an extensive collection of stuffed animals—real ones, I mean). Andrew was pretty excited by the tigers and lions, which he recognized, and a little bemused by the row upon row of deer, impala, big horn sheep, etc. I found the whole experience just a little depressing, though I remember I used to find it more interesting as a child. I do know that the museum houses a wonderful insect collection (I took an entomology class during college that met in the museum), but that wasn’t really something Andrew was interested in. We then proceeded to the neighboring creamery for ice cream, which Andrew seemed to like just as well, if not better, than the museum.

This afternoon we had a birthday party for Jacob Tolley, who will be four on Wednesday. Given his current fetish with all things pirate (much like another Jake we know), we had a pirate themed party: he got a full pirate costume from his Grandma Patti, pirate books, a pirate shirt, and a pirate themed cake (decorated by yours truly). He was about as excited with all of it as a little boy can get.

In the meantime, Andrew continues to grow and (I think) miss his daddy. At least he still remembers what Dan looks like and unerringly identifies him in photographs. (Well, most of the time. Sometimes he gets “daddy” confused with me). He’s also (sort of) learning how to count—if I say “one” he will sometimes respond with “two,” a number that he seems to have latched onto for some inscrutable reason. He’s also getting used to attending a nursery with some kind of structure (the branch in Huntingdon was a little too small for that) and learning how to sing songs with the big kids. (How do I know this, you ask? Well, Andrew caused a bit of excitement in nursery today by puking all over, following a crying jag. Sigh. The joys of a sensitive gag reflex! I went into nursery intending only to stay till he had calmed down, but he saw me trying to leave and started up again, so I stayed the rest of the time).

Dan also had his fair share of excitement this weekend. After a temple trip with the young men last weekend (they had a nine a.m. start time—and it takes nearly three hours to get to DC from Huntingdon, which meant Dan had to leave around five in the morning), a weekly activity on Tuesday with the same young men, and a campout this Friday, followed by a long Eagle Scout project on Saturday, he seems to have had his surfeit of young men for the week (although he does genuinely enjoy being with them, I think), and was relishing the thought of a whole week without them!

I wish I had something witty to say in closing, but that, alas is not my style (unlike some I could name), so I’ll simply close with an earnest wish for a wonderful week for our few but faithful readers! Oh, and lots of pictures . . .

Park City, UT

Hogle Zoo, Salt Lake City, UT

Cedar City, UT (and Bubby's popsicle)

Provo, UT (Grandma's house)

Jacob's pirate cake

Jacob and Emi in their pirate costumes

kith and kin

Still no pictures . . . with any luck, within the next week or so we won't be quite so technologically challenged.

This past week has been a good week (barring a lingering homesickness for Pennsylvania and an even greater sense of missing Dan . . .). We've been busy trying to unpack our boxes (Andrew insists on "helping") and I'm trying to finish up a big project for my advisor. In the meantime, we've still found lots of time to play with family and reconnect with some old friends.

This week was even more momentous for Dan. The week started out with a rousing (i.e. LONG) group meeting Monday night, as his advisor returned to the States from Sweden for a few brief days. On Thursday, Dan defended (successfully!!) his dissertation. After feeling like his presentation and defense had been less persuasive than he would have liked (apparently a common feeling at defenses), his committee dismissed him from the room to let him sweat for a while. They finally recalled him to tell him that he had, in fact, passed. So now only a few revisions stand between Dan and the actual completion of his degree. After six years, this moment seems a long time in coming--but hopefully worth all the work and effort. (Since Dan isn't here to look over my shoulder and edit potentially embarassing comments, I can add that we are quite proud of him and his hard work). Dan celebrated by going to see Transformers with a friend from church Thursday evening and then, on Friday, he "got" to take his lab out for dinner.

On Tuesday, Jeni and I took the four of our combined offspring to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. In retrospect, I'm not sure about the wisdom of being outnumbered by four children under age four. We started out our visit with a thrilling ride on a little train that pulls us through the pens of the more mild critters (goats, etc.)--although I was quite surprised to ride within a few feet of some placidly chewing bison. I went with the three oldest children (Andrew, Emi, and Jacob), while Jeni stayed behind with her baby, Enoch. The four of us crammed in one seat, and the most "exciting" part of the ride was trying to keep Andrew in his seat. It's a good thing he was squashed between Jacob and I--if he hadn't been, I'm not sure he wouldn't have tried to get off the train while it was moving.

After the rousing train ride, we proceeded to visit the resident fauna. We started with the monkeys and gorillas, which were pretty thrilling to the kids, especially Andrew. He rode in the double stroller with Enoch, and Emi and Jacob rode in our double wagon (we decided that it was better to put Andrew somewhere that he could be strapped in). The seating arrangements worked out okay until we got by the giraffes, where Emi began to complain that Jacob was taking up her legroom and she wanted to ride in the stroller. Well, Andrew stayed in the wagon for approximately two minutes before trying to climb out of the wagon. After that, there was literally no holding him. He scampered happily down the path, Jacob in pursuit (we had to convince Jacob not to laugh hysterically at him, as that only encouraged Andrew to think Jacob was chasing him, and to run off even faster). One of the funniest scenes occurred just outside the zebra pen--there was a ditch just outside the fence, and Jacob persisted in running back and forth by the fence, shrieking happily at the zebras and trying to stampede them (all two of them) into the ditch. Andrew giggled and ran after his older cousin. I overheard a couple of other bystanders comment indulgently, "look at those little boys! They're trying to make the zebras run . . ." Not that their tactics worked all that well, but it kept them amused. We had a little trouble after this getting Andrew to go in the same direction as the rest of us without getting distracted (there was a particular lion shaped drinking fountain that Andrew seemed to think repeatedly needed his personal attention).

On our way back to the entrance, Jeni decided she probably should feed the baby--so that left me with Jacob, Emi, and Andrew. We bought each of them a creamie, in the hopes that icecream would soothe the savage child within. Jacob and Emi were both delighted with this (if the amount of melted chocolate that ended up on their clothes was any indication), but Andrew quickly lost interest and emphatically did not want to stay put. I finally had to strap him into the stroller (which he hated). At this point, Jacob announced that he needed to go to the bathroom. This meant that I had to get the two smaller children into the stroller (I made the mistake of trying to move Andrew to the back of the stroller and he refused to cooperate), after first getting Emi cleaned up a bit. I ended up pushing the stroller with one hand and carrying Andrew on the other hip, while Jacob danced around us. The only bathroom I knew about (Jacob having just thrown away our only map of the park) was near the entrance, which was some distance away. When we finally got there, I still had to get Emi out of the stroller and put shoes on Andrew. I was afraid we wouldn't actually all make it into the bathroom before it was too late for Jacob--luckily, just then his mother came out and was able to make everything okay.

On Wednesday, an old friend of mine, Karin Bean, came down to visit. Appropriately enough, her husband has also just finished graduate school at Kansas State (she finished her PA some time ago), and they've moved back to Utah County--to live in her parents' basement! So at least we're not alone in this! She brought her two-year-old son with her, and he and Andrew had a wonderful time together--that is, when they weren't fighting over toys. Karin and I have been friends since junior high--it was a little bizarre to be hanging out, watching our kids, and talking about such grown-up topics as insurance and diaper brands, rather than the boys that used to dominate our conversations in high school.

Thursday night, I went to the baby shower of another friend from high school and was able to reconnect with a couple of other friends whom I haven't seen for a while. It's nice to be reminded that I'm not completely rootless here--even if I do still miss my place in PA.

This weekend was also a bit of a whirlwind for Andrew and me. Friday morning, Trisha (Dan's mother) called to tell me they were having a bit of an impromptu family get together and it would be so nice if we could make it. So, we rented a car and drove down to Cedar City for the weekend. Andrew had a wonderful time running around with another set of cousins and swimming in the pool and out-eating his cousins. As always, a weekend at the Eves revolved around food: grilled hotdogs and vegetable skewers Friday evening, with a healthy side of macaroni and cheese (which Andrew downed with enthusiasm). Saturday morning, we went early to a local restaurant (and for the life of me I can't remember what it was called), where we enjoyed pancakes, omeletes, and other delicacies. Poppy was quite pleased with Andrew's healthy appetite. (Although in general none of the grown-ups were quite as happy with Andrew's tendency to throw his food off his tray when he was done eating). Later that morning, Trisha, Sarah and I drove around to some of the local yard sales--they weren't nearly as good as some in Pennsylvania, but we had a lot of fun and we found some good children's books. Sarah and her brood had to leave early Saturday afternoon, but Andrew and I stayed another night to hang out with his Eves grandparents. I think he enjoyed the attention, but I know he was fairly exhausting at church this morning--wiggly and over energetic and refusing to be constrained by anything so meager as a chair and his tired mother. The lights switches for the chapel were conveniently located low enough on the wall that Andrew could reach them on tiptoes--he tried to get to them at least five times, and once even managed to turn off the lights over part of the chapel before I could stop him. Although I think it's important to go to church with children to help them learn about the importance of church attendance, I was nonetheless exceedingly grateful when the meeting was over! (To make matters worse, we had attended a student ward with Robert, who is in the stake presidency, so Andrew was the only person in attendance whose age figures in single digits).

All in all, a good week for this branch of the Eves clan.

Rampant consumerism

Well, we're finally back in Provo after a week at Park City, UT. (Incidentally, we also don't have pictures this week, since the computer equipment is still buried in a box in the basement, as I've had less than forty-eight hours to unpack stuff). Since my family is not particularly athletically inclined (I guess I should qualify that--the first few years that we went to Park City, my mom, my brother and I would occasionally go hiking, but there was no way that we were going to hike with Andrew, which would have meant one of us toting the 30 lb plus kid in a backpack, and none of us are in that great of shape!), there wasn't a lot to do in Park City, besides swim (splash, if you're Andrew) in the hotel pool, watch TV, eat, and go shopping. Which, I suppose, is a large part of the attraction for my parents (my dad especially, whose ideal vacation would probably involve telling everyone he knows that he's going to be out of town for a week and then staying home). It was a nice change from the hectic pace of the last couple of weeks, although it took Andrew the better part of the week to remember how to sleep through the night! And it was a little challenging to keep a rambunctious toddler quiet enough not to wake up my parents a good two hours before they were ready to get up (there were at least a couple of mornings when I wasn't fast enough to stop him from opening the door to the room where they were sleeping).

For Andrew, the highlights of the trip probably included swimming on an almost daily basis (where he routinely tried to plant his face in the pool and drink the chlorinated water), and going to the park (on one momentous occasion there was a cat under a picnic bench. Andrew followed the cat around for a good ten minutes or so before some other little girls, also following the beleaguered cat, demonstrated the fine art of petting. After that, Andrew dared to pet the cat himself, but I don't think he quite caught the art of the thing, because, after a couple hearty whacks, the cat wisely betook itself out of Andrew's reach). He also did his best to wreck havoc on the hotel suite where we were staying; I described the couch and oil incident last week, and on the penultimate night of our stay, Andrew (whether from too much food at dinner or because he'd cried too hard when he woke up) puked up an astonishing amount. I managed to catch most of it on some blankets that were handy, but some of it also got on the couch (a different one), which necessitated washing the cushion covers yet again. In all, Andrew was responsible for us washing the cushions of all the couches in the suite. The final highlight for Andrew of the trip has to have been the visit of his cousins, Jacob and Emi Tolley. (His cousin Enoch hardly counts, as he slept through most of the trip). The three of them squealed and chased each other all over the apartment in gleeful abandon.

And what about Andrew's mother? you ask. Well, the highlight of her week has to have been the orgy of consumerism she indulged in with her mother. After all, the Tanger outlet mall is conveniently located a scant ten minutes from downtown Park City. I think that my mom went every day except Sunday, and I went almost as often. I think between the two of us the Oshkosh, Carter's, Gymboree, and Stride Rite outlets did pretty good business. Oh, and the Borders bookstore (who can resist the lure of cheap books? Not I). Early in the week, I purchased a reasonably priced pair of stride rite tennis shoes for Andrew, in a size 7 XW, thinking that they'd work well for this coming fall and winter (Andrew wasn't with me at the time I bought the shoes). Later in the week, when I happened to have Andrew with me and my mom wanted to look in the neighboring shop, I decided to take Andrew in and get his feet measured officially. Just for curiousity's sake. (I figured he was wearing a 6, at most a 6.5). Imagine, then, my shock when the sales clerk tells me that Andrew should actually be wearing a size 7 right now. So much for the pair of shoes that I'd already bought (which we returned for a size 8, also XW, which apparently Andrew definitely needs). And so much for all of the bargain shoes I'd bought this summer at garage sales, thinking I was providentially laying up in store for the fall and winter (those 6.5 and 7 stride right and new balances may never get any wearings at this point). Sigh. The perils of having an oversized toddler!

Dan tells me that he doesn't have anything much to report for the week. He's moved to a new domicile (he's staying in the Hulet family home) and has housemates. (The Hulets are currently out of town--in Utah, I think--and a family coming to start school at Penn State this fall are also staying in their house until their apartment is ready). In a kind of ironic twist, this new family also has an Andrew--this one a 13-month-old, with, so Dan tells me, enviable sleeping habits. Meanwhile, he continues to work hard, preparing for his dissertation defense later this week.

Such were our adventures in this, the second week of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven.

In our lovely Deseret . . .

(I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures--more pictures won't be forthcoming until I unearth the necessary equipment from a box currently residing in the labyrinth of boxes in my parents basement).

This week has been a momentous one for us: on Monday, Dan and I, along with the help of two stalwarts from the ward (thank you Adam and John!), and a friend to watch Andrew for the duration, managed to pack (almost) all of our worldly possessions in a 16 foot Penske truck. After loading the truck, we spent an afternoon frantically cleaning our apartment before picking Andrew up, having a celebratory dinner at Olive Garden, and driving out of State College enroute to Baltimore. I have to admit that it hurt a little to reflect that this would likely be my last time driving out of State College like that. I will miss Central PA, that's for sure! And not least because of the friends we leave there.

Tuesday morning, Andrew and I flew from Baltimore to Atlanta to Las Vegas. And because I'd purchased an extra seat for Andrew (who wants 30+ lbs of wriggling toddler on their lap for five hours, regardless if the airline allows it?), I spent the layover trying to maneauver myself, Andrew's stroller (with Andrew in it, of course), his diaper bag, my laptop bag, and a carryon bag, and Andrew's suitcase through the airport. If you're trying to picture this, I had the diaper bag on my back like a backpack, the carry-on and laptop bags slung over my left shoulder and the carseat slung over my right arm. I still have bruises on both thighs from where the respective bags and carseat banged into me as we rushed through the airport. In Atlanta, we had approximately thirty minutes to make it between two widely spaced points in different terminals--we made it, with just a few minutes to spare (I think there were only two people to board the plane after us). Not surprisingly, given our own narrow arrival, our luggage didn't make the transfer with us. From Las Vegas, we took a shuttle to St. George, where Dan's sister, Sarah, was to pick us up. Unfortunately, there had been a little bit of a miscommunication, as Sarah showed up at the other shuttle stop, then, missing us, drove to the local airport on the off chance we'd arrived there. When I arrived and found no one waiting, I called her house, where her precocious seven-year-old told me (with no apparent irony) that neither of his parents were home and his mother had gone to the airport (of course, he didn't say which one) to pick up "someone called Rosalyn." Luckily, Sarah got the message I left with Jake detailing our location, and she arrived shortly thereafter to pick us up. Andrew and I spent a nice day and a half with the Wells family--I enjoyed shopping with Sarah, and Andrew enjoyed playing with his cousins (and more particularly with their unfamiliar toys). Unlike our previous tryst with the Wells cousins, this time Andrew didn't make his three-year-old cousin Katie cry when he played with her toys or otherwise intruded on her territory--presumably because she's had the last six months to get used to her little sister, Lydia, doing the same.

Thursday morning Andrew and I flew from St. George to Salt Lake (a nice luxury courtesy of my parents, after discovering that a one-way car rental cost almost as much as a one-way plane ticket), where my parents met us at the airport and we returned to Provo, exhausted but pleased to arrive (finally) at our new home. However, our stay was destined to be short--as of this writing (Sunday evening) we've been in Park City for over twenty-four hours, as part of my parents annual vacation (pilgrimage?) to the town. But this gets us ahead of our story.

Meanwhile, let us not forget the hero of this adventure (who appears to have mostly vanished from this narrative--mostly because, from our vantage point, he had, as he has stayed in State College to finish up his degree). On Thursday, Dan, after having put in herculean hours for the last couple of weeks, submitted his dissertation to his committee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And yes, it deserves all the exclamation points. Given the arduous task of moving his family cross country and finishing the dissertation despite some recalcitrant experiments is a task little short of heroic). He defends his dissertation in a week and a half--if you see him, please wish him luck! We certainly send our best wishes.

Saturday morning, Robert and Trisha Eves sailed into Provo with our Penske truck. Robert admired Dan and Adam's neat packing job--the load hadn't shifted an inch despite the thousands of miles it had traversed. While Trisha watched Andrew, the rest of us, with the invaluable help of my brother-in-law Samuel, unloaded the entire contents of the truck into the basement. Some of the boxes were sorted (if I was available to give directions, which often I wasn't), but the rest of them were stacked wherever there was room in the basement. As soon as I return from Park City I have the unenviable task of unpacking everything we need and finding places to store the rest. However, I'm trying not to think about that too hard. I do know, however, that I am heartily sick of moving and don't look forward to doing this again in a year or two's time!

And so here we are, transplanted but whole. Being shifted through all these new places in such a short time has been a little challenging for Andrew--particularly as my parent's house is clearly not Andrew proof! It's a little exhausting to try and track his whirlwind progress through the house (he's especially delighted with the two sets of stairs, since our old apartment had no such amenities) and prevent him from dropping something he shouldn't have, pulling toilet paper from the roll, or generally getting into stuff he shouldn't. He also discovered the potty just before we left for Park City, and insisted on sitting on it repeatedly (or else he treated us to a serious fit). I even caught him trying to sit on it himself--a process that doubtless would have ended disastrously if I hadn't caught him in time, as it mainly involved swinging one leg over the open lid (and would probably have led to him putting his entire leg *in* the potty). The suite at the Marriot resort in Park City has been a little less challenging, if only because there isn't as much stuff. But Andrew has still managed to cause his fair share of trouble. Within twenty-minutes of our arrival, he had managed to spill a tupperware container with cooking oil all over himself and all over the couch. Luckily, the couch covering proved washable.

And on this inspiringly mundane note, we leave you, gentle readers, for yet another week.