Catching up

Whenever lots of things are going on that I want to document and remember it unfortunately also means that I get too busy (and thus tired) and it seems like blogging is the first thing that drops of my list.

But late is better than never, so I am going to take some time to jot down some things. If you are a casual reader of my humble blog feel free to skip this one; I'll have some vacation photos coming up very soon.

Here is some of the stuff that we've been up to lately:

• We went to the Monet to Picasso exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine Art. I was very impressed. They also had works from Dali, Van Gogh, Rodin, Manet. They had these great handsets that narrated information about all of the exhibits. Lisette really got into it and listed to most everything. I did hear "this is boring" from Ian, and "can we go yet?" from Miles, but I think deep down they really liked it.
• Lisette and I had a Daddy-Daughter date put on by our stake primary. They had a faux Italian restaurant complete with candlelight and dressed up waiters. Lisette and I had a very nice time together. We danced the waltz and the swing, ate dessert from a chocolate fountain and we made tinfoil roses.
• The kids finished their super summer session swimming instruction. Miles and Ian didn't want to continue, but since Lisette and Saffron were still swimming, they decided it was better to swim then just sit there and wait for them. Ian got much better and Miles was very brave and even swam across the deep end of the pool. We'll have a bunch of swimmers before we know it.
  
• We've been busy getting Lisette ready for school. She is going to attend public school in the morning, and then homeschool in the afternoon. We still love homeschooling and it works very well for our family. However, we've felt that Lisette has reached the age where she needs more adult mentors. We really like the unschooling philosophy were you give them free rein to explore and learn all on their own. But we also thought that it would be good for Lisette to try out a set schedule for some of her academics. It is also her last year in elementary, and we thought it would be a good time for her to go to some of public school just for the experience of it.
• Saffron had to have one of her front teeth pulled out. She fell on it when she was one and the tooth died. We took her to the dentist and unfortunately he found out that it had abcessed. So the dentist pulled it out while she was under anethesisia. It was so sad to see our little girl missing a tooth, but she is still as cute as ever.
• We drove to Brigham City to visit Ruth and Darius while they're still in Utah at my Grandma's house. Ruth made us the most yummy apple and cherry pies. We hadfun playing with Zach and Ben and visiting with everyone. Saffron even gave Great Grandma a kiss (after she gave her a dollar).

Saffron loves her little cousin Zach. Here's the kids meeting their cousins for the first time. Melinda is holding Ben and Lisette is holding Zach.
Ruth and Darius courageously took the bus and the train in the summer heat to come visit us. I love their little baby carriers; when Lisette was born Ruth gave us one of these.
Phew! I think I'm almost caught up now. Now I can get on to our vacation. Wahoo!

Counting down the days

Here are some of the highlights of this week:

• Saffy is doing very well using her little potty
• Some of Melinda's cousins came over and sang us carols
• Ruth and Darius got married December 11th on Smathers Beach in Key West
  
• We found out Ruth is having twins (Yeeaahh!)
  

• The kids went to the Planetarium and the Children's Museum
• Miles read 2 Star Wars books
• Ian wrote a story about a time-traveling penguin
• Lisette can now play "Beauty and the Beast" on the piano
• Melinda had Brian and Dejah (who are very happily engaged) over for cooking club; they made jambalaya and pinwheel biscuits

• Melinda and I went to my company party and were entertained by a hypnotist while Connie babysat
  
• I took Lisette, Miles, and Ian for a quick visit their cousins in Roy
• The car windshield cracked (just before safety and registration is due)
• The kids are counting down the days until Christmas
  

Phew! Just one more week before Christmas; I hope you all have your shopping done!

Couple of the hour

Yesterday we had had a wedding and a baby shower for Ruth and Darius. The rest of our family was finally able to meet Darius, and they weren't disappointed. We're so glad that Ruth found such a fine gentleman that takes good care of her. They are such a kind and loving pair. I absolutely can't wait for their baby; he or she is going to be über cute. I mean just look the parents!

Mom and Connie got this fabulous wedding cake that was very elegant (and tasty, too.) Darius cooked up some jambalaya and their was plenty of cornbread.

Clair made a great MC for the night. We did a quick round of Mafia and we were totally bamboozled by the chosen mafia; we had no clue. Speaking of cute babies, Makenna was completely adorable laughing loudly every time we did. Everyone is anxiously awaiting for this years rendition of the "Thanksgiving Song."

Mom hosted the ever-popular Newlywed Game where we found out that Clair has lots of holey socks, Bobby is the only guy Carrie ever gave her real phone number to, Darius likes to ride horses, and I have a diaper in the glove compartment.


My lovely wife Melinda had a good time (probably laughing at me for taking so many pictures.) I used her mom's cool new digital camera and her dad's big flash attachment. Only problem is it makes me want to get a new camera.

Michel brought 3 of her girls and Joy brought Olive, her dog. Olive is my little canine friend. My little hairy, loose-skinned, drooling buddy. We all talked about how we met our significant other. Michel didn't let me forget about the time she made Brent a chessecake to impress him and I pulled the instant mix box out of the trash. Whoa, I was such rude little punk then!


Carrie and Bobby were very gracious to host the party at their house. They have these super high-tech light switches which people kept leaning into and turning out all the lights. I would hazard a guess that their was some smooching going on during those dark episodes.

I got to meet Bobby's mom and dad; Bob and DJ (I don't know if I spelled that right?) Their first "meeting" was pretty funny - Bob and his friends drove up to DJ and her friends and honked at them and drove away. Then DJ met him later and said, "Hey that was you!"

We had a great time. It was cool to have everyone together (though we did miss James who is in China.) Ruth is going to make a great mom and we're so happy to have Darius as a part of our family. Because so many of us are far apart now, it's extra special when we do get together.

Florida

On July 4^th my grandfather died. He is from Utah, but he had been living in Sarasota, Florida for the last several years. My dad couldn’t get off work, but I was able to fly over for the funeral. What was really nice is that my sister Ruth lives nearby in Palm Harbor and so I stayed with her and her partner Darius for 3 days.

I hadn’t met Darius before so it was quite enjoyable to stay with them and to get to know him better. Darius is from Louisiana and he treats my sister like a true gentleman. He loves to fish and he’s really into all kinds of sports. My sister warned him that I didn’t follow sports at all so he was prepared for how clueless I am. Once he started telling me about all these famous athletes and my eyes kind of glassed over, but he was very understanding.

I arrived in Tampa on a Tuesday and they picked me up from the airport. On the way back from the airport they stopped to
pick up a pizza from Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Oh baby, it was good! I saw an alligator in one of the ponds by their apartment. That evening we went out Honeymoon Island State Park and I dipped my feet in the Gulf of Mexico. I saw a cool little sea star and a crab with blue pincers that scuttled by in the surf. There were lots of beautiful and unusual birds.

After the funeral on Tuesday (I'll have to do a separate entry for that) they took me out to their restaurant, Bonefish Grill. Darius waited on Ruth and I and we ate bang bang shrimp (to die for) and a really yummy salad. Ruth let me taste some of her sashimi and I ordered Chilean sea bass with all of their signature sauces on the side (how's that for alliteration?) Next came the key lime pie for desert. It was heavenly, especially the pecan pieces in the crust. So I waddled out of there with a bowling ball in my gut, but oh man, was it worth it. So if you ever near a Bonefish Grill, I highly recommend it.

Ruth and I then went on a walk by one of the canals behind their place to walk off some the food and look for gators. We didn’t see any big ones (they were probably hiding in the reeds on the bank) but we saw a little one sticking his head out. We also saw rabbits, lizards, frogs, and all sorts of birds. The sun was going doing during our walk, but wow, it didn't cool down. I don't know how you ever get used to high humidity. I took a swim in their pool after the walk, but it was too warm and you don't cool off after you get out. But I do have to admit, my skin never got dry, which is unusual for a desert dweller like myself.

Florida was really beautiful. I loved all the trees and how there were natural areas woven into the city. It must be really nice to live by the ocean (or the gulf) and see the unending stretch of water out to the horizon. Most of all it was very satisfying to reconnect with my sister who lives so far away.

And I hear she and Darius have some very exciting new for us!