Home Improvement: Summer 2011

Here's the new family room. The cabinets still have a ways to go: the four sections on the middle bottom will have doors, and the center section will have a white back to hang the paintings on, maybe eventually to have shelves in. It was supposed to house the flat screen TV, but we didn't want to pay for a TV that big (60 inches was the smallest that wouldn't look ridiculous). So Ed solved that problem by buying a projector, mounted by the back wall, and installing a motorized screen. So now we have a movie screen. And let me tell you, it is ridiculously huge. We love it.

I've also included a picture of the upper right corner of the molding so you could see Ed's super-creativity.  All the speakers, DVD, projector, etc. wires all run behind the wall unit, out the side by the wall behind the molding, through the hollowed out crown molding and around the room.  Isn't my husband awesome?



We inherited the couch and tables from Ed's maternal grandparents this year, and Rachel is in the process of stripping the tables so we can paint them a matching wood color. We picked up the chairs secondhand and were pleased with how well they seem to go with the set. It's all a bit more ornate than we had planned (we were originally planning to go modern), but it's starting to grow on us. Some day we'll reupholster, but we figure we'll go ahead and let the kids destroy this fabric first. We also won't have the large cabinet in there long term--right now it's a bit crowded.


Here's our new garage door. We had a lot of fun knocking down walls for this one. And for the first time in my adult life, I don't have to take my kids out into the rain to get them into the car. It's so fantastic.

Family Time

These two photos were taken on Memorial Day in Pocatello at the Sutton's place, my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Tom. They have five boys, all of whom are married, all with children or expecting them, and living within an hour radius. As a result, Ruth and Tom have a permanent playroom and are well set-up for visitors with young kids. On Memorial Day they pull out all the stops for a barbecue, lots of ice cream, games, and even motorcycle rides around the property. Isaac thought he died and went to heaven; Linda just thought she was really cool. And Uncle Tom's looking rather Harrison Ford-esque, don't you think?


This picture below was also taken on Memorial Day with my mom's mom, Jean Nyberg, who also lives in Pocatello. She lived in my hometown while I was growing up, so I was lucky enough to always have a close relationship with her. She is a great lady, and I sure wish I saw her more often.



Labor Day, swimming at the hotel pool where my parents were staying when they came for Mary's baptism. Mary wasn't baptized in the pool...

After the baptism, Mary and I with my mom, Linda, and my Grandma Jean. I think Mary and Grandma have nearly the same expression!

Isaac's Christmas Program

The first grade classes put on a really cute program this year, devoted to their grandparents. They learned and sang over a dozen songs, so here is just a taste. When he found me in the crowd he spent the rest of the program waving and winking at me. He was awfully sweet. Grandmas and Grandpas, he has some gifts he'll be sending to you since you couldn't make it.

Random photos of the last few months

Here are some fun photos of my crazy children. Do you like Linda's new sense of fashion?

This is Linda with our neighbor, JT. He has a child development class at school, so he invited Linda to come for an hour last week for a special Christmas party. I don't think I've seen her so excited in a long time, and when I picked her up she had such a huge smile. One whole hour of undivided attention from one of her favorite people in the world, doing crafts and eating treats--sometimes I think she gets lost here at home being a middle child, and this was a good reminder for me to be a little more careful to spread my attention around.

Bath Dancing:


Isaac usually has his tongue out in photos, but he doesn't usually look so much like he's possessed......


Abby is firmly into the Adorable Stage, although she likes to pull the Christmas tree over, eat crayons, and climb on the kitchen table.




I feel bad that I don't have any photos of Mary, but she got her own post about the baptism, right? Usually she's at school, or reading Turkish on the couch, or sitting at her desk working on her book--a grammar of Egyptian hieroglyphics. You might think I'm kidding but I'm not. She also begs Dad to teach her calculus.

Halloween

Despite the trauma of choosing a costume, Mary finally settled on a BYU paleontologist, Isaac picked his dinosaur costume again, and Linda was a princess.


Mary is holding her paleontology brush and a styrofoam replica of a T-Rex tooth. Thanks Aunt Rachel, for the tooth and for the dino head on the cougar body.

Isaac decided his costume was too hot, so he took it off for the school parade. At least he carried it, eh? What a silly boy!


I think the mess on Abby's chin here is just some chocolate, I swear.



Linda has a wonderful preschool teacher who goes all out for everything. Here is the tail end of their Halloween parade and program:

Mary's Baptism

The baptism was a wonderful day. Mary was well-prepared and seemed to understand exactly the covenant she was making. She looked beautiful in the dress her aunts Sarah and Rachel Stratford had been baptized in. Her two Grandmothers gave the talks, Rachel and Sister Budge gave the prayers. She was adamant that it should all be girls. Thank goodness she relented and let Dad baptize and confirm her!

I told her she could pick a dress for her special day and I would make it for her. This is the pattern and fabric she chose. She loves China and loves unique colors and designs. Hence the neon dress. I realized about a month after the baptism that I cut and sewed the skirt with the Chinese characters upside down. I wouldn't be so embarrassed except that a Chinese family just moved into our ward. Oops!

Our 9th Anniversary

Thanks to Aunt Rachel, Ed and I got away for a couple days down to the San Rafael Swell in central Utah for some backroad drving, camping and slot canyon hiking. I think the San Rafael is my favorite formation in Utah, and that is really saying something, considering that Utah has more National Parks than any other state in the Union.

DAY 1
Utah has it's own "Little Grand Canyon" with stunning views of the various geologic eras visible throughout the depth of the rock face. In order to get there you drive for ten miles through nearly flat ranchland, take a left through the campgrounds, then whoa!! It's right in front of you! Almost out of nowhere and breathtaking.


A real dinosaur footprint:



We drove out to an old Ghost Town through some absolutely magnificent scenery: gorgeous buttes, washes and rock formations. The town itself was a little bit of a disappointment with only one building standing and another recently fallen down. Due to the number of broken beer bottles it seemed more of a high school Friday night hangout than a ghost town. Ed did find an old rusty car he wanted to tow home.


Wild burros near our campsite:


Petroglyphs from about 2000 years ago


and pictographs from the Fremont peoples about 1000 years ago were created on the same rock face:


DAY 2
The second day was spent hiking to, in and out of the Little Black Box, a slot canyon portion of the San Rafael river. We only saw two other people the entire day. We hiked in two miles on an old jeep road that's now closed to traffic (due to scientific study, but perhaps due in part to mishaps such as the one illustrated in the picture below), dropped down into the river, then hiked/floated through a beautiful canyon rising at times fifty feet above us. The water felt wonderfully cool and we wished the water level had been a bit higher to make for more floating and less wading.

After we finished our course through the river, we climbed out to the top and hiked another two miles back to the starting point, crossed the river (taking time to wash the dirt out of our shoes), and headed up the other side to hike back to the car.


As we were leaving the river it began to rain from clouds we had been urging towards us ever since leaving the shady shelter of the canyon. The rain quickly turned into a torrential downpour, and before we reached the top of the cliff we had to hide out in a small crevice in the side of the rock. The rain was pouring diagonally one way, then the other, then straight down, and pretty soon it felt like the cliff was coming down with it. The river began to flood, lightning struck the buttes all around above us, and water gushed from the middle of the rock face in a flash flood. Of course it was a little scary, but one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring moments either Ed or I have ever experienced.


We were grateful to be safe in our little (and I do mean little) cave, but we couldn't help but worry about the car key we had hidden under a rock near the trailhead. We didn't want to carry it in the river for fear of it getting wet and the electronic part getting ruined. Funny joke on us, eh? Since we were about twelve miles from a main road, we began discussing our options, including racking our brains to remember ever hotwiring job we'd ever seen on TV. We were overwhelmingly grateful when we finally got back to the car and the key was still there, a bit muddy and the ground all around it washed away, but still there and working. Hallelujah.

DAY 3
We had intended for there to be a Day 3, but we felt like we had seen and done so much, and it was late when we finally got out of the river and back to the car. We didn't want to be searching for a campsite in the rain in the dark, so we stopped for dinner at a terrible diner in Price (should have eaten our dehydrated camp food instead) and got home for hot showers and our own comfortable beds. I didn't regret coming home early until the next morning when Ed went off to work and I was back on duty with the kids. After spending every minute of two wonderful days with him, I missed him a lot. Still do sometimes. I'm grateful to be married to such a loving and attentive husband who likes to take me on great adventures.

Mary Turns 8

Mary's birthday was a low-key event, but it has engendered good enough memories that the kids are still talking about it. Mary and Isaac have good friends their age named Esther and Jared Gunderson, and we just took our family, Aunt Rachel and the Gunderson kids up to South Fork Canyon with lunch, cake and presents. Then the kids waded in the creek, climbed a mountain and got really dirty. (Apparently they had enough fun they begged us to repeat the adventure so a couple weeks ago we did it again.) Compared to all the money and planning usually involved in kids' birthday parties I've witnessed, this was a home run. If only Isaac wasn't born in January....

Grouse Creek: The Return of the Ten Tribes, July 16-17, 2010

Ed lost three grandparents this summer to old age. Despite the sadness that comes with losing a loved one, it was a wonderful time also for the family to reminisce and reconnect and enjoy the ties of family. Grandma Hadfield passed in May, and Grandpa outlived her by just three months, during which time he--and we--were able to join his surviving siblings for a reunion in Grouse Creek, Utah, a tiny settlement in the northwest corner of the state. Grandpa had been raised there with his nine brothers and sisters before moving to Logan as a young man and embarking on his own life. Ed has always wanted to see Grouse Creek, and we had a lot of fun visiting with distant and not-so-distant relatives. The kids just loved running crazy barefoot in the dirt around the chicken coop and tractors.

Top: Max, Norma Jean (Gordon's daughter--he was the eldest son that died during WWII at home on the ranch)
Bottom: Dean, Eldon (Grandpa), Vonda


On the way out to Grouse Creek, we stopped at Golden Spike National Monument to see the train demonstration. It was about 104 degrees, hot enough that most of us couldn't stand to watch the entire 20 minute show. I took Linda and Abby back into the air-conditioned museum.

Grandma Camp 2010

We spent a week at the end of June at the Oregon Coast with my side of the family. Ed had just finished his dissertation defense and I had just finished my really hard philosophy class, so we were ripe for vacation. It was so nice to be relaxed, we even had fun driving for two days each way.


The kids wrestling and playing horsey with Dad at a rest stop in Idaho.


Grandma and Mary keeping warm on the ferry boat across the Columbia from Cathlamet, Washington to a similarly tiny town on the Oregon side.



Hiking the Oregon Coast with cousins John, Ben and Elena.


Family Talent Show


Linda and Katie on the merry-go-round in Seaside, Oregon.

IT'S OFFICIAL!

DR. ED is a Ph.D, passing with honors. The kids think Ph.D means a "Dinosaur of Philosophy."


Ed and I got to spend two and half days in Chicago for the defense and had a wonderful time. There was no dissertation stress, no humidity, the trains ran when we wanted, and we ate at all our favorite restaurants, sans kids. Chicago was a like a wonderland!

Chica's kittens

Our eight-month-old kitten had kittens at the end of May. We had no idea she was even old enough and were slightly embarrassed that we had yet to have "The Talk" with her. Babies having babies, right? Anyway, Chica chose the couch in the family room for her labor and delivery (Uncle Pete doesn't really want the couch back now) and the entire neighborhood of kids got to watch the miracle of five births. I was amazed at how Chica knew exactly what to do to take care of everything, including the clean-up. Thank heavens no one ever expected ME to do the clean-up after my deliveries!


The kids thoroughly enjoyed the kittens for about three and half weeks until we gave them away. Gratefully Aunt Rachel (who lives in our basement now and decorates it way better than the elders ever did) kept the one with the best name--KiteFlyer--so the neighbor kids still get to play with at least one kitten once in a while.

P.S. Much to Chica's discomfort, we had her spayed last week. Mary was outraged at the supreme unfairness of not letting Chica (and Mary) have any more kittens, but I'm still quite confident we did the right thing.

Yard: Summer 2010

We finally did all we hoped most to do on our yard this summer, and we can now sit on the porch and enjoy our view and the beautiful green. The most discouraging part was the sprinkers: Ed thought he broke the pipe so we dug a trench five feet deep in the front yard

only to discover there was nothing wrong with it. Then one of the valves was broken and stuck on, but due to heavenly tender mercies, it was a quick fix requiring no extra funds. And now thanks to four days of steady thunderstorms we again have a lawn with grass you can walk barefoot on. There are still some bare spots and some other brown spots, but overall we don't cringe when we look at/walk on it.

So here are some photos, mostly just for those select one or two people who saw the yard at its wildest and can appreciate it's sparse, pruned beauty: