Not a lot of pictures from this week--we were too busy enjoying ourselves!
We had Thanksgiving with my parents, and Justin and Lia graciously hosted us. We arrived early, as per Lia's request, and spent the time hanging out and making up Thanksgiving theme games and crosswords to torment--I mean, entertain--each other. We had a wonderful dinner (Dan did wonders with the turkey, again, and everything else was good too), and then played tag games and ultimate frisbee until we were too cold to keep playing. We had pie, hung out some more, and then enjoyed the children's interpretation of Native American legends, some (Eli's) more polished than others (everyone else).
Friday, of course, my mom and I went shopping. I understand why a lot of people don't like Black Friday, but for me, it's mostly about spending time with my mom doing something we both like (hunting for bargains). It wasn't too crazy this year, and we managed to take care of a good chunk of my Christmas list, which was nice.
Friday night we got together with my brothers and their families at my parents house--we had pizza and pie (well, the kids had cookies since the two pies--buttermilk and hazelnut-chocolate--were a little advanced for their palates). The kids played well, the adults had fun talking, and it was lovely to see everyone. (We do miss Jeni, though!)
And yesterday we came home. Exciting, no? But really, we had a wonderful time and aren't really looking forward to reality tomorrow.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Grace
God's grace is a funny thing--it's ever-present, but I think sometimes we miss it until we need it, and then find it's always been right there.
The last couple of weeks have been hard for me for varying reasons. Thursday, I was asked to speak in church today along with the rest of the primary presidency, on finding peace through the Atonement. As president, I got to go last. My counselors gave wonderful talks on finding peace through repentance and forgiveness. And I--well, I felt prompted to focus more on the way the Atonement heals the daily heart-aches of life. So I did. And I cried--as I'd cried every time I tried to work on the talk. (I still can't think about that talk without weeping). But I also felt the spirit, and I remembered that God loves me (all of us) despite of our brokenness.
So that's really the main thing I want to say today: God loves us, and he knows what we're feeling, even in our darkest hours, and his love and faith are always there for us.
Anyway.
Jared and Mitcee came down to visit on Friday with their kids and we had a lot of fun just hanging out: playing games, watching the kids run around the park (or chasing the kids around the park, if you're Jared), walking/hiking up the canyon creek trail (and seeing the deer leg at the side of the trail), and taking them to some of our favorite restaurants in town (Bruno's and Brick House). They got to stay just long enough to see me cry in church (lucky them!). It was wonderful having them--and we're glad we don't have to wait long to see them again!
(This is Joshua, rolling down the hill after our "hike"):
Oliver, especially, was smitten:
The rest of the week was pretty average school/work stuff. One piece of news--still mulling over how I feel about it: my publisher decided to push my book back from Fall 2016 to early winter/spring 2017. My editor explained that they want my book to have a chance to stand out and felt it would be competing against too many big fantasy trilogies that Random House is releasing in Fall 2016. Part of me is disappointed--I have to wait longer, I won't be published before I'm 40 (lame, I know, but part of the sting), lots of people who sold their books after me will be published before me. On the other hand, both my agent and editor think it will be a good thing as it will give us more time to build buzz pre-release. And it will give me time to get the other books in the series written before this comes out!
To round things off, here's a picture of Oliver from preschool a week or so ago. He got the mustache as he was leaving school but didn't like it--he wanted to take it off as soon as we got home (thus why he's still in his coat). I think he's cute--looks a bit like a baby Tom Selleck.
The last couple of weeks have been hard for me for varying reasons. Thursday, I was asked to speak in church today along with the rest of the primary presidency, on finding peace through the Atonement. As president, I got to go last. My counselors gave wonderful talks on finding peace through repentance and forgiveness. And I--well, I felt prompted to focus more on the way the Atonement heals the daily heart-aches of life. So I did. And I cried--as I'd cried every time I tried to work on the talk. (I still can't think about that talk without weeping). But I also felt the spirit, and I remembered that God loves me (all of us) despite of our brokenness.
So that's really the main thing I want to say today: God loves us, and he knows what we're feeling, even in our darkest hours, and his love and faith are always there for us.
Anyway.
Jared and Mitcee came down to visit on Friday with their kids and we had a lot of fun just hanging out: playing games, watching the kids run around the park (or chasing the kids around the park, if you're Jared), walking/hiking up the canyon creek trail (and seeing the deer leg at the side of the trail), and taking them to some of our favorite restaurants in town (Bruno's and Brick House). They got to stay just long enough to see me cry in church (lucky them!). It was wonderful having them--and we're glad we don't have to wait long to see them again!
(This is Joshua, rolling down the hill after our "hike"):
Oliver, especially, was smitten:
The rest of the week was pretty average school/work stuff. One piece of news--still mulling over how I feel about it: my publisher decided to push my book back from Fall 2016 to early winter/spring 2017. My editor explained that they want my book to have a chance to stand out and felt it would be competing against too many big fantasy trilogies that Random House is releasing in Fall 2016. Part of me is disappointed--I have to wait longer, I won't be published before I'm 40 (lame, I know, but part of the sting), lots of people who sold their books after me will be published before me. On the other hand, both my agent and editor think it will be a good thing as it will give us more time to build buzz pre-release. And it will give me time to get the other books in the series written before this comes out!
To round things off, here's a picture of Oliver from preschool a week or so ago. He got the mustache as he was leaving school but didn't like it--he wanted to take it off as soon as we got home (thus why he's still in his coat). I think he's cute--looks a bit like a baby Tom Selleck.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Falling toward Winter
This week has been a long, busy week.
The first part of the week, Dan had events (college research fair, recruitment) that kept him out until after the kids were in bed. Andrew and Evelyn had gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do as usual, so we were grateful Bubby and Poppy could help him get home on Wednesday after Oliver and Evelyn were in bed.
Then, just as Dan's schedule slowed down, I took Oliver up north with me for a book signing at the King's English (Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, with local author Dan Wells). I know I've been doing these more recently, but they are kind-of work related: they're a chance to network with other (better known) authors and they also give me a better idea what to do if (when?) I get asked to do similar signings on my own. And in this case, Amie and Jay have not only the same agent as I do, but the same publishing imprint (Knopf/Random House), and I was hoping by meeting them I'd get a little better idea what to expect--except, of course, that their book was huge (it's been on the NYT bestseller list for three weeks running), so it's sort of out of my league. But I did get to go to dinner with them (and several other author friends) at the Dodo after the event, so that was fun. I can now say I've had dinner with bestselling authors.
Friday the kids had school and Oliver and I hung out with grandma (i.e. we did lots of shopping we can't do at home). Saturday, the kids helped Dan rake the yard, and then they went with Poppy to the dump--and generally had a good time hanging out with Poppy.
I went to a board meeting for the upcoming Writing for Charity conference, which I've volunteered to help with, and then Oliver and I drove home.
Not a spectacularly exciting week, but we got through it--and through the brief spurt of extremely cold weather (though we have another coming this week). I don't love the early dark nights--it's only mid-November and already they feel oppressive.
Hoping everyone reading this is safe, warm, and happy!
The first part of the week, Dan had events (college research fair, recruitment) that kept him out until after the kids were in bed. Andrew and Evelyn had gymnastics and Tae Kwon Do as usual, so we were grateful Bubby and Poppy could help him get home on Wednesday after Oliver and Evelyn were in bed.
Then, just as Dan's schedule slowed down, I took Oliver up north with me for a book signing at the King's English (Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, with local author Dan Wells). I know I've been doing these more recently, but they are kind-of work related: they're a chance to network with other (better known) authors and they also give me a better idea what to do if (when?) I get asked to do similar signings on my own. And in this case, Amie and Jay have not only the same agent as I do, but the same publishing imprint (Knopf/Random House), and I was hoping by meeting them I'd get a little better idea what to expect--except, of course, that their book was huge (it's been on the NYT bestseller list for three weeks running), so it's sort of out of my league. But I did get to go to dinner with them (and several other author friends) at the Dodo after the event, so that was fun. I can now say I've had dinner with bestselling authors.
Friday the kids had school and Oliver and I hung out with grandma (i.e. we did lots of shopping we can't do at home). Saturday, the kids helped Dan rake the yard, and then they went with Poppy to the dump--and generally had a good time hanging out with Poppy.
I went to a board meeting for the upcoming Writing for Charity conference, which I've volunteered to help with, and then Oliver and I drove home.
Not a spectacularly exciting week, but we got through it--and through the brief spurt of extremely cold weather (though we have another coming this week). I don't love the early dark nights--it's only mid-November and already they feel oppressive.
Hoping everyone reading this is safe, warm, and happy!
Sunday, November 08, 2015
Welcome Winter
We had our first snow storm of the season last week, and it reminded me how unready I am for real winter.
Not to mention the fact that it curtailed Oliver's newest hobby of collecting fistfulls of leaves on the way to--and from--preschool each morning. (Okay, maybe that's not so bad. It does take us twice as long when he stops to inspect every leaf that catches his attention. As we live on a tree-lined street, this is a lot of leaves).
This past week was a little intense for me. On top of the usual things (Evelyn's gymnastics, Andrew's Tae Kwon Do, writing deadlines, etc.), this week was Pitch Wars. For those of you non-writers (most of you), this is a big annual contest where writing mentors select aspiring writers to work with and read and give feedback on their entire manuscript, and at the end of the two month revision period, the pitches and first pages are posted and literary agents (the people who submit your manuscript to big national presses) publicly request the books they're most interested in.
It's a great contest. I had a lot of success from it last year (that's the book that's going to be published next year) and I wanted to pay it forward (the contest is all volunteer run), so I volunteered as a mentor. I got to spend most of September-October working with two incredible writers on their books, and this last week was the agent round. Both of my mentees got requests, which was a huge relief (it's hard to spend so much time on something with little to show for it). But the three days of the agent round also meant I was even more distracted than usual. I think I was more anxious for my mentees to get requests than I was for myself last year.
Anyway, because Dan had to put up with me talking about it all week, I figure it's only fair to subject you all to it as well. If you're interested, you can peek at my two mentee's projects here and here.
Andrew got to go to an event for the Confucius Institute on campus and break a board (part of his Tae Kwon Do group). He was really excited. Dan, who won the parent lottery to attend with him (I got bedtime duty), was less excited. He said there were a LOT of people there. Supposedly, there are pictures, but I haven't seen them yet.
Dan and I went to the temple Saturday morning (much overdue) and it was much needed for both of us (it helped me, in particular, feel peace about some things that had been troubling me a great deal recently. Not going to say more than that, because it's still a little raw, but as this is an account of our family life, it would be less than honest to gloss over that entirely). (And wow, this post has a lot of parentheses!) Afterward, we got to have lunch with Bubby and Poppy at an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet (with, thankfully, other options as well. I've discovered I like *some* sushi at the Ninja, but unfortunately, that has also made me a sushi snob . . . ). We took the kids to Costco, which was just as exciting as you'd think on a Saturday afternoon and then headed home to clean the basement.
We've been playing "The Lake Game" (I learned it in high school as "The Expletive Game") with A and E most nights this week and it's been a lot of fun. Partly because I like the game, but partly because I enjoy watching the kids learn about gaming strategy. Evelyn's still working on it--she tends to overbid or underbid--but she's fun to watch.
It's nearly time to head to Bubby and Poppy's for our weekly dinner, so I'll sign off. Hoping our readers had a lovely fall week.
Oh, and two pictures.
I got my hair cut (finally!) and the lady also straightened it. It's a different look for me--I'm not that patient to do it in real life. And since I was taking selfies, Oliver had to have his picture taken too (with, what else, one of his leaf treasures).
Not to mention the fact that it curtailed Oliver's newest hobby of collecting fistfulls of leaves on the way to--and from--preschool each morning. (Okay, maybe that's not so bad. It does take us twice as long when he stops to inspect every leaf that catches his attention. As we live on a tree-lined street, this is a lot of leaves).
This past week was a little intense for me. On top of the usual things (Evelyn's gymnastics, Andrew's Tae Kwon Do, writing deadlines, etc.), this week was Pitch Wars. For those of you non-writers (most of you), this is a big annual contest where writing mentors select aspiring writers to work with and read and give feedback on their entire manuscript, and at the end of the two month revision period, the pitches and first pages are posted and literary agents (the people who submit your manuscript to big national presses) publicly request the books they're most interested in.
It's a great contest. I had a lot of success from it last year (that's the book that's going to be published next year) and I wanted to pay it forward (the contest is all volunteer run), so I volunteered as a mentor. I got to spend most of September-October working with two incredible writers on their books, and this last week was the agent round. Both of my mentees got requests, which was a huge relief (it's hard to spend so much time on something with little to show for it). But the three days of the agent round also meant I was even more distracted than usual. I think I was more anxious for my mentees to get requests than I was for myself last year.
Anyway, because Dan had to put up with me talking about it all week, I figure it's only fair to subject you all to it as well. If you're interested, you can peek at my two mentee's projects here and here.
Andrew got to go to an event for the Confucius Institute on campus and break a board (part of his Tae Kwon Do group). He was really excited. Dan, who won the parent lottery to attend with him (I got bedtime duty), was less excited. He said there were a LOT of people there. Supposedly, there are pictures, but I haven't seen them yet.
Dan and I went to the temple Saturday morning (much overdue) and it was much needed for both of us (it helped me, in particular, feel peace about some things that had been troubling me a great deal recently. Not going to say more than that, because it's still a little raw, but as this is an account of our family life, it would be less than honest to gloss over that entirely). (And wow, this post has a lot of parentheses!) Afterward, we got to have lunch with Bubby and Poppy at an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet (with, thankfully, other options as well. I've discovered I like *some* sushi at the Ninja, but unfortunately, that has also made me a sushi snob . . . ). We took the kids to Costco, which was just as exciting as you'd think on a Saturday afternoon and then headed home to clean the basement.
We've been playing "The Lake Game" (I learned it in high school as "The Expletive Game") with A and E most nights this week and it's been a lot of fun. Partly because I like the game, but partly because I enjoy watching the kids learn about gaming strategy. Evelyn's still working on it--she tends to overbid or underbid--but she's fun to watch.
It's nearly time to head to Bubby and Poppy's for our weekly dinner, so I'll sign off. Hoping our readers had a lovely fall week.
Oh, and two pictures.
I got my hair cut (finally!) and the lady also straightened it. It's a different look for me--I'm not that patient to do it in real life. And since I was taking selfies, Oliver had to have his picture taken too (with, what else, one of his leaf treasures).
Sunday, November 01, 2015
Happy Halloween!
A good week. The cold, drizzly weather threatening midweek didn't hold through the weekend and Halloween was, all expectations to the contrary, nice enough for the kids to go out in their planned costumes without too much extra layering. Hooray!
I turned in my round two edits late Monday night--it was a relief to finish that round, though we're still far from done. (For those wondering, I may have another round of content edits, depending on how well my editor thinks I did this round, then copy edits, where another editor goes through looking at grammar and usage, then first pages pass, when I get actual proofs of the book with pages laid out like they're supposed to appear, and then an advanced review copy, which looks like an actual paperback book but isn't final copy yet. Whew. No wonder this thing won't be out for a while!)
It was a good thing I finished early, because then Oliver got sick (croup, again) and I got very little done midweek while he stayed home sick. He missed dressing up for preschool, which made me sad but I don't think he cared much (or even realized it was happening).
Saturday started bright and early with chores: winterizing the yard, cleaning kitchen cupboards, etc. But in the afternoon we took the kids to a Halloween activity at the hospital where they got to walk around the trail outside and stop at various stations to get candy and other goodies. Then home for a quick dinner, and then the real business of Halloween: trick-or-treating!
We went to a few homes on our street, and then, for the first time ever, let Andrew trick or treat with friends instead of with us. (He went to Bubby and Poppy's neighborhood instead of ours). We swapped him out for his friend's younger sister, so one of Evelyn's friends came with us, and we joined up with a third friend mid route.
Oliver cracked me up. He kept running so fast to keep up with the others and his bag was so heavy (for him) that he fell over about two dozen times. Every time, he popped up, "I'm okay," and scurried after the others. He even knew how to say "pterodactyl" which impressed a few people. I brought the stroller, but we only used it at the beginning and the end--Evelyn's third friend had a younger brother with her, and he took it on himself to "be the boss of" Oliver, to their mutual satisfaction (the other kid is the youngest of five, so I think he enjoyed having someone smaller around). In any case, everyone seemed to sleep well!
I turned in my round two edits late Monday night--it was a relief to finish that round, though we're still far from done. (For those wondering, I may have another round of content edits, depending on how well my editor thinks I did this round, then copy edits, where another editor goes through looking at grammar and usage, then first pages pass, when I get actual proofs of the book with pages laid out like they're supposed to appear, and then an advanced review copy, which looks like an actual paperback book but isn't final copy yet. Whew. No wonder this thing won't be out for a while!)
It was a good thing I finished early, because then Oliver got sick (croup, again) and I got very little done midweek while he stayed home sick. He missed dressing up for preschool, which made me sad but I don't think he cared much (or even realized it was happening).
Saturday started bright and early with chores: winterizing the yard, cleaning kitchen cupboards, etc. But in the afternoon we took the kids to a Halloween activity at the hospital where they got to walk around the trail outside and stop at various stations to get candy and other goodies. Then home for a quick dinner, and then the real business of Halloween: trick-or-treating!
We went to a few homes on our street, and then, for the first time ever, let Andrew trick or treat with friends instead of with us. (He went to Bubby and Poppy's neighborhood instead of ours). We swapped him out for his friend's younger sister, so one of Evelyn's friends came with us, and we joined up with a third friend mid route.
Oliver cracked me up. He kept running so fast to keep up with the others and his bag was so heavy (for him) that he fell over about two dozen times. Every time, he popped up, "I'm okay," and scurried after the others. He even knew how to say "pterodactyl" which impressed a few people. I brought the stroller, but we only used it at the beginning and the end--Evelyn's third friend had a younger brother with her, and he took it on himself to "be the boss of" Oliver, to their mutual satisfaction (the other kid is the youngest of five, so I think he enjoyed having someone smaller around). In any case, everyone seemed to sleep well!
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