SPT

I really need try and meet this challenge every day (perhaps several times a day). One of our biggest clutter issues is paper (mail, stuff from school, flyers, newspapers, magazines and catalogs). My zeal to recycle often means that "things" pile-up and then everything appears overwhelming. With Lelly's challenge in mind I gathered the pile(s), tried to quickly sort through everything(what's that rule about only handling an item of paper once) , recycled and took care of everything. Granted, daughter #2 has a significant amount of college brochures to look through now - but my pile is quite manageable. Thanks, Lelly.

SPT

SPT - Childhood Memories

I didn't have access to a back-to-school picture of my own and so I've posted a back-to-school picture of my sweetheart. It is dated '72 on the back which would make him 10 at the beginning of the school year (I'm thinking he must have been mighty warm, if this really was the first day of school - or maybe there was a freak cold spell?!). Isn't he cute!

I have great memories of going back to school. There was always the excitement of a new outfit and new school supplies. I especially remember one year going to ZCMI with my mom and we picked out an entire outfit just like the one on a mannequin. I'm dating myself here but there were pants, a vest, and a sweater top - mmm in a beautiful dark burgundy/wine color! Think late 70's! To this day I enjoy shopping with my girls for back-to-school outfits and school supplies. In fact we usually make a day of it and include a special one-on-one lunch. I love this time of year and really see it as a new beginning (sometimes even more than in January).

One memory that my girls laugh about is the fact that when I was in elementary school we could only wear pants during the winter months (in freezing cold no. Utah where winter begins in Oct. and ends in Apr.) and if we wore pants they had to be part of a pant suit - of course this changed as I got older but it is pretty hard for my girls to imagine. In fact, the year before I went to high school was the first year that girls were allowed to wear jeans...

Back-To-School

School actually began on the 27th of Aug. but I'm just getting around to posting. Here are C and E as they head off for 12th and 7th grades respectively. Yes, Cara graduates in '08. Note that Emily no longer wears glasses - she now has contacts and is managing them quite well! There have only been a few minor problems ("Mom, help, I can't get it out..."). Everyone is back into their busy schedules, college classes, homework, chorus rehearsals, pom practices, dance class, etc. etc. and I've settled back into my lunch making rut/routine. (Why is that so hard for me? - So far wraps have been the biggest hit.) Ideas anyone?

Summer Reading

The girls both had summer reading to finish before school started. Cara read The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy and How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas Foster. Emily got to choose her books and read Lily B. on the Brink of Cool by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and something else that I can't remember.

Although I didn't have any assigned reading, I thought I would take a minute to compile my summer reading list as well:

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

I meant to read this on the cruise but made the mistake of picking it up and reading it before the cruise even started. Highly recommended.

Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris

Cruise reading material - great book (I could especially relate to the very descriptive passages about the smell of the oranges - since that smell makes me nauseas.)

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Bought in Amsterdam (english version) - interesting book set in the Sabarthes Moutains in SW France. Moves back and forth from the present to 13th centuryLanguedoc. Another look at the idea of the Holy Grail.

At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks

Borrowed from Alicia. Quick read - good. Don't read if you are pregnant...

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

Borrowed from Elaine. Quick read - quite disturbing, on a number of fronts. A nightmare (a man is falsely accused of commiting a crime. Based on Arthur Miller's, The Crucible.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Yes, that is a lot of Harry Potter - We read books 1-4 out loud as a family, as soon as they came out. However, I couldn't get into #5 and didn't even try #6 - but when the final one came out I read 5, 6, and 7 back-to-back-to-back. I was sad to see the series end :(

The Tainted Relic by The Medieval Murderers

Borrowed from Craig -- I had run out of reading material (see above). Interesting book written/edited by 6 different authors who books are set during medieval times. The book centers around a cursed relic believed to be a piece of the True Cross.

Since coming home I have read What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (mystery, quick read, r-rated language) and am now reading the memoir Family Romance: A Love Story by John Lanchester, for my book group.

I'm happy that none of my reading required annotating, journaling, or the writing of any essays!

The Summer of Our Complete Content

This post is not an homage to Steinbeck and his The Winter of Our Discontent it is a rather belated post that will attempt to capture our summer (post cruise)- truly one of complete content. I've tried to capture the summer by keeping track of the places we went, some of the people we saw and some of the things we did. Each item on the list could be accompanied by a lengthy summary with more detail, inside jokes, side-stories, etc. etc. etc (I"ll spare you that). And can you believe not a single photo of my own?? - I really thought I had taken at least a few pictures but my digital camera went straight from our arrival from Amsterdam to 1st day of school photos of the girls. What was I thinking....

Anyway, here goes:

Zion National Park:
Canyon Overlook
Emerald Pools
Too numerous to count drive-thrus
Angels Landing (A and E)


Bryce Canyon NP (twice)

Grand Canyon NP - North Rim (twice)
Bright Angel Point
Imperial Point
Cape Royal (the most amazing and best view of the canyon - north or south)
Jacob Lake (best place to regale the girls with stories of my youth)

Kanab:
Honey's Jubilee (our favorite grocery store)
Nedra's Too (best tex-mex in Kanab?!)
Gunsmoke Western Town Set

St. George
Little Black Canyon Petroglyph Site (AZ)
Zion Ponderosa: Pool, Climbing Wall, Zip-Line, ATV's, Horses
Coral Cliffs Cinema 8 (Hurricane)
BYU - The Creamery on 9th - lunch and laughs with MD friends
Temple Square & Conference Center
Haacke Motors - Hyundai Sante Fe and the Garmin (affectionately referred to as Gremlin)

Ray Reunion (photos via Elisa/Darin)
family - fun - food
family flags
gps
swimming
hiking
talent show
tie-dye
photo shoot
family shirts

Company: Janes, Killpacks, Elaine
Utah Shakespearean Festival: Twelfth Night and Candida
Cedar City - Alicia's apt. move-in
Sonic - as often as we could
Freaks and Geeks Marathon
High School Musical II
Thunderbird Restaurant
Orderville: Church, Terry's Groceries
Wal-Mart
(It's true we only go to Wal-Mart while on vacation, weird?!)

I have had the hardest time adjusting to "real life" - post Zions. When can we retire??

Tagged...

Belated answers after having been tagged by Elisa:

Four Jobs
I Have Had:

Medical Social Worker
Soils Lab Secretary
(I also learned how to test alfalfa for
protein content if I can be of help to anyone)
Jacob Lake Gift Shop Salesclerk
Cheese Plant Packager (pre-pre OSHA days)

Four Movies
I Can Watch Over and Over:
Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Lawrence of Arabia
Monte Walsh or was it The Outlaw Josie Wales
(Just kidding, I'm not much of a movie watcher - I always fall asleep before they are over.
I have however seen the beginning of all of the above movies. Craig and I watched them once when we came across a list of top ten movies of all time. I really don't have any favorites. Strange, but true.
The westerns aren't necessarily classics :)
they just made the list in case DMM is reading.)

Four Places
I Have Lived:

Utah
Oregon
Texas
California

Four Guilty Pleasures:

Sunday Afternoon Naps
Reading When I Should be Doing Something Else
Crossword Puzzles
Buying Yarn

TV Shows I Watch:

The Office
HGTV
Top Chef/Project Runway
Local News

Four Favorite Places
I've Been on Vacation:

The Mediterranean (Italy especially)
The Baltic
Classic Family Trip to Arches and Mesa Verde as a child
Disneyland/World
(it is after all the "Happiest Place on Earth")

Four Websites
I Visit

aol.com
hjnews.com
blogs (family/friends)
pizzahut.com

Four Places
I Would Rather Be Right Now:

The Cabin
Anywhere With The McNeils
A Bookstore
Any Museum

Four Favorite Foods:

Guacamole
Cheesecake
Ice Cream
Caesar Salad

Four Books I Love:

Gift From the Sea
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Remembering Wholeness
Anything by Chaim Potok

Four Things
I Would Like to Learn How To Do:

Digital Scrapbooking
Furniture Refinishing
Spin Wool on my antique Great Wheel
Keep the Kitchen Desk Cleared Off

Four Things I Worry About:

My Girls
How Far Can I Drive on Empty
Things I'm Not Doing but Should Be Doing
Whether I Locked the Doors and Put Down the Garage

Four Things I Want to Accomplish this Year:

Organize Our Photos
Put Up the Decorative Stained Glass Windows
??
??

Wow - possibly more than you ever wanted to know - blame Elisa!

Happy Birthday!

"I could eat a hamburger THIS big"!
You know who you are and we hope you have a
Wonderful Birthday!

Thanks for the memories:
Reunions (old and new)
DC
NYC - Blackout of '03
California (especially the pool & Alcatraz)
Temple Square
and more...


Sorry about the time we starved you!
Just remember we fell in love with you before Darin knew he had!

Summer Cruise '07

I keep waking up at 3:30 am - the after effects of our two-week trip. I really should use the time more wisely. Basically I've just been getting up, wandering around the kitchen and family room, and reading (Labyrinth by Kate Mosse). I probably should have been doing laundry, repacking, making our family reunion family flag, or blogging! Here are a couple of pics of the trip - the itinerary for anyone who is interested included:

The Netherlands
(Amsterdam)
Denmark
(Copenhagen)
Sweden
(Stockholm and Sigtuna)
Finland
(Helsinki and Porvoo)
Russia
(St. Petersburg and Pushkin)
Estonia
(Tallinn)
Lithuania
(Klaipeda)

A windmill/home outside of Amsterdam

The Little Mermaid Statue in the
Copenhagen Harbor
(Den lille Havfrue)

Alicia dressed as Pippi Longstocking outside a children's museum that
celebrates the books and characters written about by
Astrid Lindgren. We didn't actually visit the museum (we were
next door at the Vasa Muesum (absolutely amazing), but Alicia and I quite literally ran
over the the Junibacken to get a couple of pictures. (Alicia loves Pippi!)



The Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki
The church is underground and built right into the granite.


What can I say - it's a McDonald's in the middle of St. Petersburg?!

The girl's in front of The Catherine Palace in Pushkin.

A view of Tallinn in Estonia - possible our favorite stop.

All good things must come to an end....

Look at that Smile!

Cara is now an officially licensed driver! It was the first thing she did after returning from our cruise - not even jet lag could get in the way of this grand adventure. We are excited for her - I'm excited that she can drive herself from high school to community college classes this school year - although I will miss our time together in the car. Congrats!!

A little like Lelly, I thought I probably didn't have too much Americana in my home because I don't think of my decorating style (or lack thereof) as "country". I was pleasantly surprised to find a few pockets here and there.

A small part of the display above my kitchen cabinets
Includes (from l. to r.)
a pony express spitoon,
a pony express Jim Beam bottle
(we have a relative who was instrumental
in the establishment of the pony express),
a reproduction bottle,
an egg basket,
and a Coca Cola sign (if that isn't Americana, what is?)!

Also, although not uniquely "American",
the spinning wheel I use feels like Americana to me...

... and my antique spinning wheel (circa 1890).

Thanks Lelly for a chance to look around the house with a different perspective!

Teacher Appreciation Party

Friday we hosted our 14th Annual Teacher Appreciation Party! After hearing about Cristin attending one as a teacher (when A. was tiny), we decided that it was something that we wanted to incorporate as a family tradition. Over the years we have done a variety of things - it is always fun to sit down at the beginning of May and begin planning. This year was a little smaller than usual - only two students, rather than three, and Cara only has a 1/2 day schedule.


We served a Sundae Bar - who knew when we planned early in the month that Friday would be the hottest and most humid day of the year so far?! Ice cream was a perfect choice. Craig even made homemade hot fudge, mmm. Next year will be Cara's last year and then it is just Emily - we've gone from small to large and now we are headed back to small. I remember one year when we sent over 40 invitations for just the three girls.

It has always been an amazing experience for me to look at our list and see the names of all of the teachers that have been a part of our girl's lives (school, music, dance, drama, church, etc., etc.) throughout the year. I'm grateful for those who are willing to share their time and talents with our children. Grateful for men and women who at times have been able to reach out when my own reaching has felt inadequate or maybe disregarded - it is a reminder to me that it really does "take a village".

College Stuff

Our mailbox is full almost everyday - thanks to C's college search which seems to be in full swing. So many decisions...

small liberal arts vs. large state institution
in-state tuition vs. out-of-state tuition
majors, majors, majors
close to home vs. far from home
small college towns vs. large urban settings
public vs. private

Things have definitely changed since I was making similar decisions - basically I don't remember that there were very many decisions to be made. I could either get a scholarship which would enable me to move a couple of hours down the road (which I did) or get a scholarship and stay at home and attend a state university. Grad school decisions were made even more easily (it was nearby, could be attended part time and I got in - decision made)! I also don't remember studying for the ACT - we just showed up with a couple of pencils, an eraser and a calculator. Today there are tests, prep classes, coaches, counselors, etc., etc.

What an exciting time!
Would you approach college differently if you could do it all over again?

More Sushi

Had to post a picture of this candy/chocolate sushi that I received as a b'day gift. It looks amazing - we are waiting for Craig to get home from San Francisco before we do any sampling. Funny, it is made in San Jose - we never heard of it when we lived there. If you have any sushi lovers (or chocolate lovers for that matter) in your life you've got to take a look at their website. Amazing!

SPT - on Wednesday

Favorite colors - whenever anyone asks I usually just say blue - I don't really know why though because other then wearing jeans I don't really have much blue in my wardrobe and really none in my home. I think it is just a safe/easy answer. However, as I thought about it I realized that I have surrounded myself with lots of different greens in our home not to mention that our home is surrounded by an amazing variety of greens in the woods behind our house that I treasure. In addition a few recent purchases have me definitely leaning in the green direction. I fell in love with the Tess Designer Yarn in a slightly variegated green (for a sweater) and I absolutely love my new VB bag that I helped to pick out for my b'day. (Thanks again, girls!) So green it is!





Loved seeing that my sis, also chose green for her SPT!

Sushi

Once somebody asked me what we like to do as a family - the first two things I thought of were eating out and traveling. Often we like to eat out while we are traveling! :) We are a family of five very different individuals all with different outlooks, different interests, etc. Our family dinners out and the trips we have taken together keep us close - especially when the rest of our lives have us heading in a million different directions. The picture above is at a sushi place that Cara introduced us to.

Yikes!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since the 15th...
In an effort to play catch-up here are a few pictures.

I received this beautiful cookie bouquet as a Mother's Day gift and enjoyed a wonderful day. I think I only had to use the phrase "All I want for Mother's Day is for everyone to get along" once! In case you are wondering, the cookies are fish - somewhere along the way one of my nicknames has become "mother fish". Believe me when I say that the etymology of the nick name would be far too convoluted to try and explain...



A couple of pictures of the inside of the Zion's house - Craig and I were able to slip away for a few days to oversee the furniture delivery, lots of last minute details and a shopping trip to St. George for incidentals (mostly kitchen stuff and bedding). I am not a shopper and that shopping trip just about did me in. At one point I was standing in an aisle at Wal-Mart and I realized I had been standing there for five minutes debating with myself over buying metal or plastic measuring spoons. I may not shop anywhere for a very long time...