Fall colors

I promised myself I'd update the blog decently once I got my huge project done--well, project was successfully finished yesterday, but I find that I've invested so much time into that project that I don't have much left to say. We're doing well, thank you for asking.

This morning before church we took advantage of our late church time (1 p.m.) to drive up Cedar Canyon. We didn't get as far as we'd like before we had to head back, but we had a beautiful drive and enjoyed the colors. They can't match what we saw when we lived in PA, but they were beautiful nonetheless.


We had dinner after church with Bubby and Poppy, during which time Andrew grew increasingly tired (and therefore increasingly wired and naughty). All we can say is we're grateful he goes to bed early on days like today. I made an Italian Prune Crisp out of some of the mounds of plums growing (and sadly, rotting) in our backyard. The plums themselves are just a little too tart for me, so I haven't been eating them--and neither has anyone else in our family. I found this recipe online and we made it up today--but even cutting up the 6 cups of prunes barely dented the pile I picked a few days ago (much less what's still on the tree). The crisp was good--a nice balance of the sweet topping and the tart plums. Even better with ice cream, of course!

All in the Family

So, today I got up early in order to finish my weeks-long project and mail it before we headed south to go to the Temple. Of course, we got to St. George only to find that the temple had closed early because of the Relief Society broadcast tonight. Or rather, Dan found out, as we had already dropped him off and driven away and, due to a dead cell-phone battery, Dan couldn't get a hold of us and had to wait until we came back two hours later. Luckily, his aunt lives within walking distance and he was able to hang out at her place. (We're hoping, though, that we can get some credit for good intentions).

Passing the temple inspired an interesting conversation in our car. After noting all of the wedding groups clustered around the lawn, I commented, "Oh, it must be wedding day today!" (i.e., Saturday). Andrew wanted to know what I meant, I explained it, and away we went. It didn't come up again until we were coming back to the temple to pick up Dan. The following conversation went something like this (I should warn our readers that some potentially disturbing material follows):

Andrew: "Someday I'll get married and maybe Evelyn and I will have kids."

Me, somewhat concerned about Andrew's choice of words: "Yes, someday you'll have kids, and Evelyn will have kids too. But not the same kids." Then, out of curiosity (and to settle my concern): "Who do you think you'll marry?"

Andrew: "I don't know. Maybe Evelyn or something."

Um . . . NO. "Andrew, you can't marry your sister. It's illegal. You need to marry someone your own age, who's not related to you."

Andrew, in a tone of enlightment: "Chi chi [a nickname for his cousin Lydia] is my age."

"Andrew, you can't marry your cousin either. Don't worry: eventually you'll find a nice girl who isn't related to you."

Glad we cleared that up! Obviously, we need to get out more and expand Andrew's social circle to include more non-blood relatives.

savoring the moment

of procrastination. (I should be chipping away at the mountain of work in front of me, instead, I'm going to post a short blog). Two things, totally unrelated.

The first is: I've been thinking a lot lately about how incredible some of my friends are. They're doing amazing things--working on advanced degrees, taking conscientious care of children, running marathons (and half marathons), canning fruits and vegetables, keeping up with current events, cultivating their faith in productive ways . . . all kinds of things that I wish I were better at (or more consistent about doing). Part of me is amazed, when I think about the truly incredible people I know, that they are actually willing to consider me a friend as well. I'm certain that I'm not (yet) on their level--what's less certain is whether they simply add generosity to their list of virtues or they haven't figured out yet that I am essentially a fraud. Whatever the true case may be, I'm grateful to these people because they encourage me to push myself a little more than I would otherwise.

The example of my running friends has inspired me to try something I've never done before: actually run a race for fun. Not a marathon, or even a half-marathon (I'm nowhere near that league!). But I'd like to try a 5-K the end of next month, and I've actually been running pretty consistently for the last two weeks. (Although I hesitate to call what I do running since my pace isn't exactly what you call fast.) And the last time I went I managed to run the full three miles, so there's hope that I'll actually manage to improve my speed to a respectable pace.

The second thing (did I mention that they're unrelated) is just a funny story about Andrew from earlier today. He and Evelyn both have colds, so life has been a bit emotional at our house, and bound to get even more so as our cranky children are joined by equally cranky parents (Dan is already sick, I can feel it coming on). This afternoon, in an effort to get out of the house but not infect anyone, I took the kids for a walk. I explained to Andrew that we couldn't stop at the playground to play, because we didn't want to pass along any germs. I think he got the message--at any rate, as we were nearing the last block of our walk, Andrew stopped a total stranger who was pushing a stroller, and announced: "I have germs." I'm sure she was so glad to know that!

catching up

As penance for not pasting faithfully the last couple of weeks, I have an extra abundance of photos (and videos) to load. We have (not surprisingly) been busy.

Andrew started preschool last week and seems to be really enjoying his twice-weekly outings. I'm enjoying the fact that the preschool is just around the corner, so we can walk him there, and the hour or so of quiet I have while Evelyn naps and Andrew is out of the house. His Bubby gave him this shirt special to wear for preschool--unfortunately, now he thinks it's his "preschool" shirt, and, if it weren't for the fact that it only gets washed once a week, I think he would insist on wearing it for both days of preschool.


Luckily, if Andrew insists on wearing his preschool shirt, he will at least take input from me or Dan about what pants to wear . . . when Andrew takes fashion into his own hands, all sorts of bizarre things happen (see below).


After surviving another week of school, we went up north for the Labor Day weekend. I had a wedding reception in Salt Lake City Friday evening (after which, Dan and I joined Sarah, Aaron, and Bubby and Poppy for a lovely dinner at a Thai restaurant--many thanks to my mom for enabling this, by putting our kids to bed for us). We spent the weekend alternately playing and working with family: Saturday morning my sister and I took our kids to the toy store; Saturday afternoon, we went up to Sarah's house where Dan helped them put in some pergo flooring (admittedly, the bulk of the work had been done before we got there). Monday morning we went shoe shopping for Andrew--he's growing into an 11w and we've had no luck finding shoes locally. If you've ever been shoe shopping with a three year old, you can imagine how much fun we had. Afterwards, we went to Jeni's house for some more quality time with cousins before heading back home to prepare for another week of teaching.

Enjoying some Hagen-daas at my parents' house.


My mom made this lovely Sleeping Beauty dress for Justin's daughter, Eli, and was concerned that it wouldn't be big enough. As you can see from the way it drapes over Evelyn, it's probably plenty big. She sure liked wearing it, though. From what we can tell so far, she's all girl: she likes pretty things, dresses, and shoes . . .



Evelyn has really started moving in the last couple of weeks, which has made her even more adventurous. Her most recent discoveries include Andrew's bike, which is only a problem when she's outside with Andrew (which is pretty much all the time).

I had to get a picture of both my kids cuddling with their respective babies.


And I love this picture--although someday Andrew will be horrified by it. Even though I have to admit that dolly is pretty ghastly (she needs another bath, although that won't noticeably improve her visage), I'm touched by how much Andrew loves her.


After spending the week working on various projects (teaching, cleaning, etc.), we capped off the week by putting together the shed we ordered (having no garage and being reluctant to keep anything valuable--read: our new lawnmower and double stroller--in the carport). Actually, Dan and Poppy put it together. My job was to play keep-away, since Andrew gravitated to the shed like the proverbial moth to a flame. So we spent a lot of the day running errands and staying out of the house. Poppy maintains that his children are trying to kill him off, since he spent last weekend working for Sarah and this weekend working for us.

As I mentioned earlier, Evelyn has been walking increasing distances recently. For some reason, she seems to think that holding onto something (even if it's not touching the ground) improves her balance, so she's much more likely to walk across the room if she's carrying something. She's particularly fond of Andrew's toy broom and mop, or, barring those, our swiffer. Here's a video of our little housekeeper in action.




In other news, I've been spending all of my spare time on a freelance project, updating the instructor's manual for one of my graduate school advisor's textbooks. (Actually, I think that the woman who wrote the initial instructor's manual--a graduate school friend of mine, another of my advisor's former students--has been updating the manual itself, so I got promoted to the instructor's manual). It's a good opportunity for me, but it's proven to more time consuming than I anticipated, and the deadline is coming up fast . . . So don't be jealous of my quiet times when Andrew is in preschool--I've been using them to catch up on work.

We went to a two-stake meeting this morning with Elder Quentin L. Cook in the Centrum on campus. The meeting itself was nice--I appreciated the emphasis on strengthening families and focusing on the temple--but I have to admit that Dan and I were both relieved when it was over. It's very hard to keep two small children quiet and entertained in the confined space of stadium seating.

I apologize for the shallow nature of this post--I suppose it's the nature of the blog that you either get quality or quantity . . .

In that spirit, one last video (I realize it's mostly the grandparents who watch these, anyway)--of Evelyn dancing to Andrew's pirate cd (pretty much the only cd Andrew wants to listen to, and one we hear on a daily basis at our house).

Pre-teenage Angst

I promise a real post sometime soon (for those two of our readers who have been pestering me about lag time between posts). In the meantime, something to whet your appetite.

We went up to Provo for the long weekend, and came back this afternoon with two very tired children. Andrew enacted several little dramas between our arrival home and his bedtime--the penultimate one made Dan and I both giggle. (The final one--which woke his sister up--was not nearly so funny.)

I'm not sure what set him off--something Dan said--and Andrew fell crying on the floor. "I'll cry all weekend!" He threatened, sobbing. "I'll cry out into the night!"