Joan of Arc

Tricia's class held a wax museum. Each student researched a person from history and wrote a paper about them. They also dressed up like the person and wrote a speech. The museum patrons walked among the statues and at certain intervals could push a button in front of the statue and it would give its speech.

Tricia picked Joan of Arc. (Thanks to Uncle Scott and All a dollar for costume help). Tricia put alot of time and thought into her presentation. She painted a brick castle wall as a backdrop and decorated her desk with a tablecloth and props. Her teacher commented to me that she had allowed the children to pretty much pick anyone. What had surprised her was the similarities she could see in her students and the person they chose. She felt like Tricia had some of the same characteristics as Joan--strength and courage.

It wouldn't have been in Joan's character to smile though. (For the record, I did try). War with France was serious business and people in the olden days didn't smile in pictures. Besides how expressive can wax be?

Journaling

It has been a fun and busy few weeks. Staci was able to come home on Halloween weekend. I was sick, sick. (Hopefully it was the swine flu so I have it over with.) Staci jumped in and cooked as per usual and made us yummy food like eggrolls. Another nice thing she did was she took Tricia and Krysta to a trunk-or-treat. I'm not sure her motives were completely altruistic though because she came home with a nice stash of candy for herself.

At the Jr high, Krysta and some of her friends have gotten involved in the Jr Honor Society. Somehow Krysta got roped into singing at the induction ceremony. She has really liked her choir class this year but it wasn't until recently we realized that she likes to sing. Apparently, according to her, some of the rest of us Broadway belters in the family are just so loud that we have just never heard her. So...for a month she has been deciding with her friend Joelyn (a pianist) what to sing and practicing the song. The big night rolled around and she walked up to the stage and sang a duet (with a boy!) just like it was something she did all the time. She sounded so good and she and the boy (a boy) blended so nicely.

Camille has been anticipating her Birthday for months and reminding us often of the day count. She wanted it to be a big deal going out to dinner and having a party for her friends. Several weeks before her birthday her good friend Renae asked me at church if she could have a surprise party for Camille. Camille's birthday was on a Thursday and the party would be on Saturday night. I felt like such a shmuck(is that a word?, is it a bad word?) explaining to Camille that with Krysta's big mystery party (the week before) and helping put together a Daddy/Daughter Activity Days Italian Dinner that weekend I just wasn't able to even think about a friend party until the next week--wasn't that sneaky. On her birthday the family went to a sushi restaurant. She enjoyed that and then on Saturday I dropped her off at Renae's to "watch a movie or something". She was completely surprised when she got there and her other friends were there too.

I am now 3/4th done with my humanities class. With a Jan12th deadline looming I can't putter like I have been. I'm currently reading Dante's Divine Comedy and then writing a paper comparing it to the philosophy of Aristole. A daunting task. Daunting Dante. Hah!

Mystery Party

Heiress Jewel Rockefeller"s father gave her an expensive ruby bracelet. Jewel has been flaunting it at many public functions. At a weekend gala she was spotted wearing the rubies and dancing with Britt Beckham"s boyfriend, NFL star Freddie Foote! (See center photo, Jewel (Amy) and Freddie (Paul)). Today the bracelet is missing, which of the 8 suspects stole it? (picture at left, left to right: Amy, Joelyn, Chrys, Jessica, Krysta, Abby, Rianna, Kymbel)

Krysta had the idea several months ago that she wanted to host a murder mystery party--not really a murder, just a crime. Bruce came up with the concept and helped write it and I finished it up and put it together. When Krysta invited the girls she told them their character so they came dressed and acting like the person. The athlete taped her name to the back of her shirt and the equestrian came with horse barrettes, horse head band, a horse shirt and a notepad covered in horse stickers. she had also googled "horse facts" that she told others randomly, "Did you know that a baby horse is called a colt?". I was the boarding house matron, Alison was the maid (so the house was nice and tidy when we got done) and Camille was the policeman. (right photo) Without knowing, Krysta had assigned herself to be the thief. Which turned out to be quite funny when she was the one who discovered the final clue that proved she did it! It was a fun, loud, giggly night.

Quotes for the week

"I only like the rotini that has spirals that are close together."
Krysta explaining why she couldn't eat the pasta I had made for dinner.

"What is that rice that is whole wheat called?"
Camille trying to remember the name of "brown rice".

Journaling

What a hectic week and this one promises to be too! We had concerts three of the weeknights and a Halloween party that the ward youth put on for the primary children. (Pictures above, Krysta helping with a bowling game and Camille, with Tricia in the backgound getting ready for the party). It was so much fun to attend each performance. The choir program was excellent at Northridge High on Monday night. It was so fun to watch Camille sing in the choir and an extra treat to see Rachel (who like Camille, in women's choir) and then later in the night Daniel and Paul. Paul sang with a smaller little jazz group and accompanied them on the piano for one song and was excellent.

Wednesday at Sunset Jr. we heard from both of their orchestras (Eric in one and Amy in the other) and their choir groups. It was great to watch Krysta having so much fun as she sang with her women's choir.
Friday was a highlight. Camille's voice teacher had arranged for a performance for all her students at Layton High's small theater. Camille sang, "Someday" from Hunchback of Notre Dame. She has nice poise and confidence when she sings and is progressing and sounding so good.

We have been having furnace trouble--actually it has been broken. The fan wouldn't shut off without turning off the power and it wouldn't make us any heat. We researched the problem on the internet, learned to decipher the blinking led code, Bruce took the furnace apart and took out a suspected part, and I took it to a furnace repair and parts store that Alison had recommended. The guys there told me that the part I brought really worked and showed me on a furnace on display what their guess would be. I drove home, Bruce took out the new suspected part, I went and got it and he put it back in. Voila, Heat! It only took three weeks, some chilly mornings, two trips to Clearfield, 21 dollars (yeah, only $21), multiple hours of work and research and it was fixed. The same morning we picked up the snowblower we ordered from Sears. We are prepared now to huncker down for the winter.

Katrina called and asked Tricia to illustrate a children's book she had written as a class assignment. She sent it Thursday but our internet was down. Friday was way too busy to begin it so Saturday morning at 9:45 I put Tricia to work drawing. We figured that to get it to Katrina on time we needed to get it to the post office on Saturday which closed at 2pm. With Tricia drawing, me outlining her art in black and Krysta and Tricia coloring. We got it done and zipped up to the post office with 3 minutes to spare. Pwhoosh, (that was the sound of me wiping my brow).

Camille gave her first Sacrament mtg talk on Sunday. Our home teacher (also in the bishopbic) asked her to speak a month or so ago but never really told us the date, so it was really embarrasing two weeks ago when from the pulpit he asked, "Sister Stanford, Are you planing on speaking today?" My heart raced! Camille's probably did too. So, this Sunday when I woke up and realized that this was the week of the talk, there was no postponing a second time. Bruce printed a couple of talks about the subject off from the internet and I talked to her about it. She went to her room and 45 minutes later she was ready for church and ready to give the talk. She did a wonderful job. It was organized, she used scriptues and quotes and applications to her life--makes me want to see what she could do with more time.

Last night we drove to Springville to participate in blessing David and Rebecca's new baby, Henry. (Tricia tells us that is such a handsome name for a young man) He is a perfect little boy, so cute. It was nice to see extended family and spend some time with Staci, who we picked up at BYU on the way there.

Krysta is planning a muder mystery party (actually it is a theft not a murder) for Thursday. She planned for us to clean "top to bottom" on Saturday and worked hard long after the rest of us got tired. She has left me a list of things to do today so I better get to it.

Three words

I took my humanities midterm.

Identifying art and sculpture was a breeze:
Equestrian group--parthenon--check.

The section on identifying literature was tough--Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus, Sophocles...
all seemed so similar with few identifying features.
The Apology, The Republic, On the Nature of Things, Genesis, Romans, Poetics...
Who said what and why?
I agonized over each passage
looking for clues,
digging deeper into my brain for forgotten tidbits.
Logically pulling apart phrases and narrowing options.

I started on a fresh passage,
read a few words and curiously, I knew...
It was the Bible.
I questioned myself,
"How could I know? I've only read three words."
"Read more then."
I read the first line.
"Yes, it's the Bible."
"But you haven't read anything that identifies it as a Bible passage."
"Right, but it feels like scripture."
"Just to be sure you better read the whole thing."
I slowly read the passage's five lines ending with "sons of God." In all that we had read only Christians believed mankind were God's children.
Those final three words had intellectually proven it. The answer had to be the Bible.
But in my heart I had known after the first three words.

shoot, shooting, shot

I took Tricia to get a flu shot this morning.
The doctor's office said to come at 8am.
We rushed the 25 minutes to Bountiful and learned that--nope, they were out (shoot).
After 2 healthy winters with shots I was determined not to have her go shotless this year, I persevered...
IHC has been out for a while.
Smiths and Walgreens were by appointment only and you to be over 13.
Davis Health Dept--not open on Thursdays.
Weber Health Dept--open but had a limited supply.

Shooting 40 minutes back across the valley we headed to downtown Ogden.
Inside a crowd was gathering--I didn't bother with the scooter, just grabbed Tricia and headed in.
A nice lady coming in at the same time held the door for us.
Inside I learned they indeed still had vaccinations so grabbed forms and asked about costs.
As we filled out the paperwork the nice door lady approached.
Her: "Let me help you".
Me (feeling in control of the situation, so confused): "In what way?"
Her (feeling in her wallet): "Let me pay for your shots".
Me (flustered): "Oh that is so sweet,thank-you, but we are all right, really".

A few minutes later Tricia got her shot (what a tough cookie, she didn't even flinch), a turquoise bandaid that matched her shirt and her double whiff of M1N1.

I'm wondering just a few last things from the day.
-Do you think the McDonald's sausage biscuit that I bought Tricia counted for "you owe me big"?
-What was it about us that prompted sympathy from the door lady? I'm feeling slightly self-conscience. Is there something about us that says, "desperate", "poverty stricken"? My flat hair? My worn purse? Maybe I need some new shoes. New shoes would say money in the bank, right?

Zen Garden-rain

Journaling

For the last week and a half Tricia has been quizzing me. "Can I take orchestra, did you call the place, when will I get my violin, I have to take a soft cloth can you hem this, when will you pick up my rosin...." Last evening I made it back from an errand and went looking for her. She was in her room practicing. She was up an hour early this morning and just minutes ago I dropped her and her forth size instrument off for her first lesson. I hope the enthusiasm lasts.

We had a busy weekend. Katrina came home from school to go to her friend Troy's missionary farewell. He invited us all to come to his open house Saturday night and to hear him speak in church on Sunday. It was fun to meet his family and see their gorgeous home and huge garden. As we met family members and introduced ourselves as Katrina's family they knowingly responded," Ohhh, Katrina's parents..." Not that I can imitate the inflection---but they definitely knew her.

Bruce and I drove Katrina back to Rexburg on Sunday evening. We dropped her off and were headed back home when we heard her cute ring-tone.
"If you're not the one, duh duh duh duh...".
"Oh, Katrina is calling us. Wait... that is her ring tone, not mine."
We stopped and dug and dug around the car until we found it and drove back to return it. The funny part was that she was talking on the way there about how she struggles some with school being so far away from home and I told her that we were only a phone call away. When we returned her phone she said,"Its good we realized it was missing or I wouldn't have been just a phone call away."

Krysta asked me to come and hear her sing a solo in her choir class yesterday. I showed up just before the class started and introduced myself. The teacher was so friendly and nice, had me sit with Krysta, told the class how wonderful it was for mothers to join them and Krysta was going to get 50 extra credit points for having me there. There I was in the middle of 30 singing Junior High girls so I warmed up and sang with them, basking in the memories. Soon enough the bell rang and the girls got up and left. The teacher invited me into her office to see Krysta's grades and thanked me for coming. Not one little mention of Krysta's solo. Fortunately it was fun so I'll enjoy myself next time I go.

Jumping on the trampoline has become an essential part of the day for Camille. Several times she has even been accidentally locked out of the house because she was out jumping in the dark. I mowed the lawn on Monday and moved the tramp to cut under it. As I was pulling it a weld came apart. I felt so sad breaking the news to Camille that it wasn't safe to jump on. All is well though because she already knew--it has been broken for weeks. She hadn't mentioned it because she thought I'd throw it away.

Bruce and I were called to teach 6 year old children in Primary. They performed their Sacrament program Sunday. Tricia sang the solo,"I'll Seek the Lord Early". When she walked up to the mike, the room went quiet (an amazing feat in our ward). She sings with such a sweet spirit and did a beautiful job. As we have been practicing for the program we have gotten to know the children in the ward better. There is something pretty bonding about asking the same child to be reverent 20 different times and ways. We have a little boy that sometimes comes to our class. He is working on his sense of humor, but not all the adults in the room understand that. We have been patiently trying to teach all of the children in our class reverence. Sometimes though especially during long program practices they can't stand it any more. We quietly try to distract them or let them sneak out the side door to get a drink of water one at a time. When we got to primary last week this little boy was seated with the class in front of us, no other seats were available. He turned around and talked to us. He wanted to make sure that we were still his teachers and that if we separated for class he would be going with us. Both of us had to reassured him multiple times. He stuck close when we divided up and tried so hard to do what we asked him to do. He really seems to like us. It is such a sweet thing to be liked.

Bruce has had a sinus infection. He has been too stuffy to use his "machine" at night thus, he hasn't slept well. He went to the doctor last week and got himself several prescriptions. I had them filled at Wal-mart--I've comparison shopped before and I thought they would be overall the cheapest. The total came to $190! Ahh! We had them reverse them out and re-called the doctor to see if he could prescribe a less expensive antibiotic. This time we thought we'd try Smith's--Bruce drives right by it on the way home from work. I called earlier to check if they had heard from our doctor and to ask prices. They told me they could price-match Costco. Great. Bruce decided not to get the nasal spray ($45 at Walmart). The other two prescriptions turned out costing us $43 from Smith's. Explain that?!

We are now finished with our 9 post-check-up dental appointments. I had the last one. The dentist numbed the upper tooth twice. When he was finished I had a side effect that I've never had before--my nose and sinus were totally numb on the left side. Really strange feeling. I didn't let that or the fact that the dentist had been running and hour and a half behind stop me from going out to lunch with Staci. BYU changed some of their employment rules. She had planned to just work full time this fall because she went to school through the summer. To keep her job (and jobs in Utah county are hard to come by) she had to be a student. She signed up for the minimum amount of classes but it is also a rule that students can only work 20 hours a week. Fortunately there is also a hiring freeze and it is football season so happily last week she managed to get 40 hours of work in.

a reptile and other things

I would rather have been blogging about the salamander that is living in my sprinkler valve box (center of photo, under the pipe) but for the last few weeks my literary energy has been used up with topics like Christian themes in architecture and epicurean philosophy.

Homework

I came back from picking up Tricia from school today and found this.... It was so cute that I couldn't resist taking a picture. Camille and Krysta both were all set up and doing their homework. They were laughing as Camille read from her driver's handbook. Apparently there are rules of the road that are so obvious they are hilarious.
For several years there have been little hormonies at work making everything another sister did annoying. What fun to be able to enjoy each other again.
Also note their favorite homework spot. It's straight in from the front door--for any visitor to look at the clutter, and it also blocks access to my bedroom, the laundry room and the garage. I've suggested alternate locations--in the same room there is a table, with chairs and also a counter, with chairs. How about the bedroom or the family room? Nope. This is the best thinking spot in the house.

Five children--Five schools

As we began school on Monday I realized that each of my children are going to different schools this year. How many people, I wonder, can claim that? BYU-Idaho doesn't start for a couple more weeks but my plan is to add each daughter as I take their picture with their school. We'll see how it goes.......

Tricia-Elementary School

Tricia started 6th grade this week. She has a sweet teacher, Mrs Geiber who Krysta also had in 6th grade. For the last few years she has shared an aide with another girl who is a year older. The other girl loved having the aide handy and independent little Tricia didn't, I mean really didn't. This year with budget cuts and Savannah off to jr high, the school thought they'd try Tricia aide-less. It makes me worry a bit more but Tricia is happy about it.
She has started caring about how she looks and likes to decide on her hair-style and clothes for the day and finds accessories and hair do-dads to match. Her biggest disapointment was that her closest friend Diana is not in her class this year. Well maybe the biggest disappointment is that her grade isn't in the new addition of the school because it is so "clean and new and has cool lockers, just like high school".

Krysta-Jr High

Katrina-BYU-Idaho

Sisterhood of the traveling skirt

It lay folded neatly on the bottom of a stack of clothes in my laundry room. It looked so familiar. It is stretchy and forgiving and matches a multitude of colors--reds, browns, blacks, whites, off-whites. Several months ago Amy picked out this skirt. It was too big, and a little short. Alison hadn't gotten around to fixing it so gave it to Camille. Krysta talked me into altering it and giving it back to Amy. So I did, I picked off the waist band and elastic, snipped and sewed and then hemmed--I even changed the thread on my sewing machine AND serger. Then back to Amy it went. One fine August day I picked up Megan for EFY from the Soderquist's. She looked so cute wearing this skirt. Then we drove around the corner and picked up Savannah. One look at Megan and she said,"Hey, I've worn that skirt".
Katrina said it was in a pile of her things and figured it was Staci's so took it to the laundry room. Personally I think it is one of those magical traveling wardrove pieces that fits and looks great on everyone and provides a nice experience for the wearer. I don't know about any of the experiences this skirt has provided but I can vouch for one thing, this skirt has traveled and it didn't care if it went to Idaho or Provo but it was trying to sneak off to BYU.

Days of '47 Float Party

Free uncrowded parking--
drinking fountains and handy restrooms.
Floats, floats and floats.
Creators on hand proudly showing beginning to end.
The sketches, the scale, the raw chicken wire, dense foam and glitter--pounds and pounds of glitter
and the final works of art up close and every angle.
A marching band, clowns, balloon creations, face painting, and cinnamon toffee nut smells.
All in the air-conditioned expo center
Next year you're all invited.
It's the best parade of the season!

Why this

There is a 4 year old that follows us around at church asking me...
What's wrong with her? What's wrong with her shoulders?
This happens so often.
She shuts off and I'm left to try, as fits the situation and the age of the child to quickly explain. I never know quite what to say--I feel loyalty to make her feel as comfortable as possible as I tell strangers about her medical problems.
I'm not quite sure why they ask me, when she can hear and talk perfectly.

Children everywhere we go stare as she zips by--
she puts on blinders and drives on.
A couple of times in bad moments I've asked them not to stare, that it makes us uncomfortable.
Its like fighting a losing battle.

Sometimes we'll hear, "Mommy, I want one of those scooters, she is so lucky!"
If only they realized... but its a nice change from those who did.
Old folks, they're the best.
I tell her it's because they have life experience. They have seen enough to understand.
Little grandpas wave at her. Smiling grandmas address her and love her scooter and her eyelashes.

The other day I thought it was a safe place
a backyard sandbox, a couple of children.
But the truth poured out on the way home. They had quizzed her about her feet
("just put your heels down, just do it"), her knees, her shoulders and her back...Was it real or did she have a toy or something in her shirt? They came and poked her just to check. And, "You're the weirdest person I've ever seen", and "Do you have any friends at all?
It was awkward and embarrassing (her words) and she cried as she told me.
Can you put the blame on curiosity? cruelty?
Do you blame the parents like you blame the owners of a naughty dog?
We decided to chalk it off as lack of experience.

Still after everything she been through
Why this too?

Arete

I have been thinking about virtue.
Actually I keep bumping up against different definintions--at church and with the humanities class that I am taking.
The Greeks had the word arete. It translates to virtue and it meant excellence. For women, beauty and domesticity. For the men, heros like Achilles and Odysseus exemplified arete. Physical perfection, war heros, leaders, and with the endurance and cleverness to get them sucessfully through any situation.
The Romans took it one step further. Aeneas, their hero, had all the attributes the Greeks admired plus he had an incredible sense of duty to his god-given mission, to family, to the glory of Rome. His arete was proven in his self-sacrificing actions.
The Greek philosopher Socrates believed that Arete meant excellence of soul. True virtue came with knowledge and understanding truth.
I have been interested in the church's addition of virtue to the young women values. We visited Matthew and Kimberly one Sunday. When the meeting got out, man after young man came out the doors wearing gold ties. The girls and their leaders had on lovely gold necklaces. Their stake had decided that if it was important enough for the girls to focus on virtue that the young men should too. They had all their youth and their leaders make commitments for the year to become more virtuous based on the girl's personal progress program.
Virtue as per the new YW value is defined as: a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards (definitely different from the Greeks and Romans). They have goals pertaining to chastity, worthily entering the temple, living so the Holy Ghost can guide you, learning about repentance and reading the Book of Mormon.
We had a speaker talk to the Stake. She defined virtue as the power of Christ. She based this on the scripture where the young woman touched Christ's robe and he felt virtue leave him. I thought that he felt the priesthood being used and that virtue was being used a different way in that story. But it did make me think about it more that I would have if it had made sense to me.
Several days later I read this in the D&C. 121:45: Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

I like the use of the word garnish--like a sprig of parsely added artistically to make your salad more appealing. There has got to be an analogy here somewhere. From the dictionary virtue means: moral excellence; goodness; righteousness and some possible synonyms for garnish are: decorate,embellish, enhance, attach.

So, "let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly" could mean something like," let moral excellence be attached to your thoughts all the time." With the addition of virtue we are better people not just because we are doing good acts but that goodness extends through our thoughts. Like the difference in just providing service to someone and having charity. One is an action the other is really loving and caring for someone in our mind and hearts and actions. I can see how this could be applied in my life by asking questions of myself. How can I implement a standard of excellence in my thinking? Am I trying to see virtue instead of vice? Am I making sure that each of my thoughts is being viewed with a virtuous garnish?

July 12

Last night as we sang happy birthday to Midnight (Tricia's black Webkin horse) and lit two birthday candles in his honor. I realized that it also marked another day. It has been five years since my Mom's death. We had a family fast and met together for prayer when she got the news about her cancer. She told us that night that we were hurting because the news was so fresh and eventually it wouldn't hurt so much. She was right. It doesn't hurt so much, but still there is an empty space. I miss having someone to brag to about my children. I miss the cheer leading and her empathy and her wisdom in helping me with my struggles.
For my birthday this year Alison made me copies of some letters that Mom had written us my first year at BYU. She wrote weekly from September to February. (I think they ended there because Michael had his brain abscess). She wrote from her typewriter, making an original and a carbon copy and then personalizing them for each of us. She wrote neighborhood news, daily ups and downs and the funny things that had happened with various family members. It was very much "her". Her voice, her personality, her opinions and her wit. Here are a couple of samples:

"I talked to my Mom this morning. She said she had called each of you over the weekend. I think if you don't get so you call her every now and again, I will cut you out of my will. And I have some good things to leave some lucky person...Year old potato sprouts, 6 darling, intelligent obedient children, a 20 year old truck filled with used linoleum, handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy wigs made from turkey bags, two antique robes perfect for those blue days, a closet full of clothes that Deseret Industries would kill to have, six slightly used but personalized garbage cans, a box collection perfect for Christmas wrapping, if you can find enough tape to keep the boxes together, and lots of other valuable and unique treasures. So you had better get those calls going."

"I have been rather "down" lately about Nathan and Michael. Seems like my attitude had changed from "things could be worse" to "things could be a lot better". I know that attitude is not "church approved" and I have done alot of thinking about it. Just a few days ago I had a thought that helped me. The scriptures tell us over and over again that we should have grateful hearts, should sing praises of thanks to the Lord, etc. It's as though the Lord is commanding us to be grateful. I've decided that the reason it is important to be thankful and grateful is that it keeps us from the more negative attitudes of wanting more and not appreciating what we have. I have the feeling that if we knew the ways the Lord blesses us, we would be amazed and extremely thankful to Him. I'm sure that his hand is in our lives more than we can ever imagine, and it is directly because of Him that things are not a whole lot worse."

Besides bringing back so many memories, these have been especially meaningful to me now because I am in the same stage of life as she was when she wrote them. I'm so grateful Alison had the forsight to save them.

Pictures

A few poses Sunday night when we were all together. Yeah!


Tricia at Soderquists

Flight

I turned and saw a plane careening out of control,
spiraling wing to wing downward
toward the landing strip at the airforce base. The crash was coming.
I knew it.
I held my breath waiting to hear the impact, waiting to see the flames. Seconds later it soared across the sky. Up and out and away.
When my heart started beating again I realized that a group of children had stopped and were watching too.
Jauque knew,"They're practicing for the air show tomorrow."

Later, as I mowed my lawn I almost jumped out of my skin as another jet zoomed overhead...sound trailing speed.

Saturday, all day the sound of the engines and planes coming and going filled the air.
500,000 people flocked to the Base to watch.
Sunday from our balcony we saw the encore performance of the Air Force Thunderbirds.
Six jets, smooth and sleek and perfectly synchronized raced across the sky.
First in a V formation.
Then circling around the valley, separated, yet still perfectly spaced.
Each did a"touch and go" on the runway and flew away again.
It was incredible and surprisingly interesting.

Monday, Camille and I out for a walk, saw an old prop-plane, a small brightly painted plane and two huge helicopters going different directions toward home.
The show is over, the sky empty and the air quiet.

I turned and out on the back porch stood one of our robin fledglings.
Not smooth and sleek like its parents but fuzzy and awkward and unsure.
It glided to the balcony floor and skidded on its tiny feet to a shaky stop.
After a long pause it took a short flight to the handrail, and sat.

The other sibling perching on the edge of the nest, awaited take-off.
Scratching, flapping and performing other pre-flight checks.

Dad robin stood on the fence chirping and instructing the children.

Finally the first bird took off again-a precarious flight to the garden.
I held my breath, worried it would crash.
The landing stuck.
Dad flew over to join it and both started pecking for food. Dad found the first worm and hopped over and tucked it into the fledgling's mouth.
Later the nest was empty.
When the afternoon rain tapered off, I saw one of the small birds come out from under the protection of a hollyhock. It flapped and shook off the rain.
Dad joined it providing sustenance and courage.
This little robin family has been surprisingly interesting and incredible to watch.
Now they are gone, the nest empty and the air quiet.

Update from our nature preserve

I chased a snake out of my yard this morning with my fertilizer spreader. It's my third snake sighting of the season. I'm proud to say I didn't scream this time, just a surprised ahh, and yuck.

Yesterday I peaked out and watched a skunk waddle across the street and into my flower beds. He turned around when he hit the fence and headed back and disappeared into the field behind.

Several weeks ago I noticed birds building a nest on our house in the crook of a rain gutter. We had some territorial swallows build a home in our carport in Bountiful. They were really cute until they started "swooping" at our heads to scare us away. Our neighbor, Tally, a retired school teacher, went on daily walks past our house. First she crossed the street to pass, then resorted to bringing an umbrella to protect herself from our dive bomb birds. I called animal control, they didn't want to get involved. Swallows are not a protected bird and we could do whatever we wanted with them. My friend Liz was a cub leader. She said she could bring the scouts by with beebee guns after their next pack meeting.
That just didn't feel right.
We endured.
One afternoon I was covering my head and rushing for the car. Next door neighbor Al called out,"Did you see the birds go?"
We had missed it.
Mom and Dad bird had taken their babies out for their big flight, not to return.
Well not until the next year, but we kept hosing the nest down until they gave up on our location.
So,
the prospect of another nesting situation weighed heavily on my mind. I assessed it. It was really close to the balcony (a negative). It wasn't a swallow's nest (a positive). There was a guilty looking robin on a nearby fencepost with building material hanging from its beak. I postponed a decision. When I woke up the next morning Tricia was standing at the bay window watching the birds. From the comfort of our kitchen window we were going to have a perfect view. The educational value outweighed all else.
We are accommodating hosts. We apologize for scaring Mother Robin when we go out on the balcony or need to mow. We water the flower pots on the balcony at times when she is taking a well deserved break from the nest. We make sure all the balcony lights are off at night so we don't disturb their sleep and I didn't spray the worms on the red-twigged dogwood for fear I'd poison the birds. Last week I was concerned when I noticed she was in a contorted position on the nest. Worried that something was wrong I checked on her several times. I am happy to report, she was sitting funny so as not to squash her new baby birds! I feel so proud almost like I helped. There are two babies, maybe three. They have little furry gray faces and huge hungry mouths--not huge, huge... just bird-size, but they open surprisingly far. Cute, cute....and so far no regrets about sharing our space with them.
I can't say the same thing about the snake.
Or the skunk.

What girls need

A few months ago I asked the question, "What do girls need?" I got many great answers at the time.

On Sunday Krysta came home from church so excited for girls camp. "Candice is going to make sure we can go canoeing this year and we're going to certify or something like that and look at constellations and help cook..." She loved that plans were being made and there were fun things to look forward to. (And I love that someone found a camp certification manual this year.)

Tricia often asks me at bedtime what we are doing the next day. It's happening so often that I am consciously trying to think up things to tell her to so she can look forward to it. I caught a glimpse of her calendar and realized that she is labeling events herself--birthdays, holidays, fun events at school. We have been having Achievement days right after school on the first and third friday of each month. With this regular schedule our attendance has been very high. Tricia had pre-labeled her calendar with several more months of achievement days even though they hadn't been planned by the leaders yet.

So, girls need things they can look forward to. I'll bet they wouldn't mind a surprise here and there but when they know things in advance they get to enjoy the event longer.

Charity and Forgiveness

The lesson in RS and Priesthood today was about forgiving (JS#34). There were examples from Joseph Smith's life of times when people harmed him and the church and he easily forgave them. There is a line in Moroni 7 about charity that I have often wondered about : "...pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love" (meaning the pure love of Christ or charity). Why would charity be such a difficult thing to be blessed with that I would need to pray for it so earnestly and intently?

As we studied forgiveness I realized this application. When I have felt hurt or wronged, sometimes I have a hard time forgiving the person and letting it go. It is especially hard when they aren't repentant or if they don't know that they have hurt me. It starts to become painfully obvious that the anger or hurt that I am carrying inside is damaging me and I need to forgive. But, I'm angry and I feel justified in that anger. That makes it very difficult to pray to forgive the person. Sometimes all I can do is back up a step and pray to want to pray to forgive them. Finding the humility to say those prayers takes all I can muster, all the energy of my heart....But as I pray what I am truly asking for is charity. To feel as the Savior does toward that person, to see them as He does. When I have been blessed with the gift of charity I can easily give them the benefit of the doubt. I can feel like they were doing the best they could at the time. I can know that the Lord loves me and He loves the other person, and a feeling of forgiveness can come.

We are proud of Camille

On March 20th Camille was honored for completing her Young Women Award at the Stake recognition night. She is pictured (left to right) with most of Pres. Farr, Camille, Pres. Crittington, and Pres. Neilson.

We are also proud of her for being the student of the month at Sunset Jr. High. Here are excerpts from the letter we received:
"Those who nominated Camille said this about her: Camille is a hard worker: she always tries to do her best. Very polite-always says "hello" and "Have a great day" to others. Camille's assignments are turned in on time and completed in an exemplary way. She helps her peers and shows kindness to those around her. Known as a student who loves to read, Camille is articulate in her expression.
Camille was chosen from a student body of 990 students. We congratulate you and your daughter on her great accomplishments, and we wish her continued success."

Making a statement

-something short
-to the point
-welcoming (it is the first thing you see)

a bit unique
suited to us
slightly old fashioned--a classic?

it speaks of endurance:
"I can do hard things"
"with the strength of the Lord I can do all things"

and of progression: becoming, improving,moving forward, looking heavenward
that the best is yet to come

onward and upward...

Spring musing

Krysta and I spent Saturday driving to Idaho and back. Along the way we enjoyed seeing the newborn calves. One of my favorite things about spring is seeing the tiny newborn animals with their mothers. Two years ago at the ranchette across the road, the brown mare had a baby. It was the sweetest sight to watch the baby follow its mother around the pasture. Now I can't tell which is mother and which is child.
I'm feeling the same thing watching my own little "ducks" leave the nest. We dropped off Katrina on Saturday for another semester at BYU-I. It was so good to see her confidently meeting people and taking care of herself. This week we will be seeing Staci off to Japan to study for a semester abroad. (The same Staci as, "I've been meaning to tell you I'm dating someone ". That would be a whole different story though.)
I love seeing them grow and succeeding independently. But my nest feels so empty.

Lost and found-revised

Found: 1 bag of catfood (unopened)
8 lb purple bag in Macey's sack
chicken and rice variety

Where: In garage on steps leading into our house

Please contact us (or meow loudly at our door) to claim lost item.

If you have any information leading to the reconciliation of this item with its owner we would appreciate it.
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Here's what happened:
The Soderquist boys helped with a scout food drive but missed the connection with the food bank truck. Katrina volunteered to take the bags of food up to Weber State's Institute food drive the following Monday. Troy helped her unload all the bags of groceries but they didn't think pet food was being accepted so they left it in Katrina's car. Months(?) passed, weeks passed. We took Katrina back to Idaho. One day Bruce decided that he was going to drive our little teenager car to work. He quickly unloaded some of Katrina's things. Without investigating he assumed something heavy in a Macey's sack belonged in the house so he set the bag on the porch by the door. No wonder I was so confused.

Waiting

I packed my bag the night before--chapstick, an easy read, a few dollars, insurance card, and of course a flannel baby blanket to crochet while waiting. I packed it all into my homemade-by-my- Mom quilted bag. The hospital takes care of the patient but support people take care of themselves. I dress in layers, you never know if it will be too hot or too cold. I set my alarm early and awaken wondering if I really slept. Hurry up, Hurry up. Drive.
Check in. Hurry, wait...
What time is it? Oh, I almost forgot, time as we know it has ceased to exist. Double check with the patient to see if I can do anything for them. The patient this time, dressed in a periwinkle gown and white hose, isn't crying, throwing up, or resisting being poked, whew, that makes my job easier. I try a joke, "when you wear a dress you need to keep your knees together". Something I've said many times just never to this family member. Wait, wait, wait.
Wheeled away before I can say good-bye.
Now, the hard part, waiting.
First, I double the estimate of the surgery and promise myself that I will not worry until that time. I settle into a chair in the waiting room. Wait, wait.
I remind myself that during this time I will not be visiting the subjects of: infection, malpractice, insurance benefits, major life changes, fairness, how many times I have sat in a room like this, or any other similar or discouraging subject. Visit the hospitality cart, wonder what the expiration date was on the muffins, try one. Wait.
Get myself a drink.
Call home. Wait. wait.
Try to ignore the phones ringing, appointments being scheduled, and especially the surgeons telling others that their patient is done. Crochet and wait, crochet and wait, crochet and wait.
Hum, interesting conversation: Deseret Gym did what? The Boys swam in the nude during the '50's? Really? Intrude into conversation with harmless looking older men. Listen to them talk about the polio scare of their boyhood and their great grandmother who crossed the plains with the first handcart pioneers and lived long enough travel to Florida by airplane and how frustrating it is to miss a temple assignment and just sit and wait for his patient to have her surgery and he was the batisimal supervisor and he thought he was going to be able to do his shift but the hospital kept calling back and changing the time and then he'd have to call his coordinator, again... and I hope he didn't mention how inconvenienced he was to his patient.
Wait, wait...
It is almost time to start worrying. Wait, wait.
" Stanford?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Follow me to the conference room "
( That means he wants to talk privately. I'm used to it..."it was a difficult surgery, her muscles are like sewing wood instead of silk--I don't know how she will heal"..." It was a difficult surgery we did everything we knew how to do and still couldn't get her hips back in"..."It was a difficult surgery and we didn't get as much correction as we wanted to.")
"Everything is fine, It wasn't the easiest gallbladder to remove. He was quite inflamed and he had a huge stone that was about this big. (visualize pointer finger to thumb) Just wait for about 45 minutes more and then you can meet him at his room." I breathe a sigh of relief and go out to wait some more.

Connections

I have been studying ancient Greece in my Humanities class and put an interesting connection together. This picture is of the Altar of Zeus from the city of Pergamum (modern day Bergama Turkey). This temple-like building sat on the top of a hill and was an enormous (almost 400 feet long) open-air tribute to the gods with opulent sculptures showing battles between the gods and the giants. Serpents wreathing, satyrs, Athena pulling hair--exciting stuff! Pergamum, a Greek stronghold was one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities in the world around 200BCE.

In the book of Revelation in the Bible chapters 1-3 I have some notes from a Brother Millet Sunday school lesson a few years ago. There are 7 candlesticks and angels of the seven churches. My notes say those are seven of the branches or areas of the church at the time and the angels are servants or the church leaders of those areas. The angels of the church of Ephesus(2:1)Smyrna(2:8),Pergamos(2:12),Thyatira(2:18), Sardis(3:1), Philadelphia(3:7),and the Laodiceans(3:14). The deeds of the Nicolaitans are also mentioned. If you look at the map section of the Bible (Paul's travels) all of these cities are on the Aegean Sea (mostly the eastern side). These had been under Greek control for many years thus religiously influenced by the stories, rituals, etc of Greek Mythology. Any brief study of mythology of course includes awful stuff--think Oedipus, Antigone, etc. So here is the connection. In Rev (2:12) it says: ...to the angel (church leader) of the church in Pergamos (which is the city of Pergamum)...I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat (the Altar of Zeus) is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith..." Then he goes on to tell them things they need to repent of and how they can be blessed. It was so interesting to me that even though these things sound so mysterious to us, they were familiar and meaningful to the people at that time. John (John writing, the Lord speaking) knew how difficult it must be for that little group of church members in Pergamum and the evils they faced within their community. He was advising them and giving them special help for their situation. Just like our church leaders now. The advice was the same: listen to the Holy Ghost, be morally clean, be faithful, avoid evil influences, and keep the commandments.

Catch a fox, put him in a box

I looked out the window and what did I see? A cute little fox sneaking by the tree.
Krysta and I watched it for a couple of minutes from our back window and then I grabbed my camera and crept quietly out on the balcony. Click! Whoops, I scared him away but I think I got the picture. Nope, that was the power button. Oooo, here he comes again, there really must be something fascinating behind my fence today. (In retrospect, I'm hoping he found a lovely rodent lunch.) I guess I'll give my camera another try. Sorry to scare you away again little fox. But I am pretty thrilled to get your picture.

The puzzling grass mystery

The snow melted at last and this serpentine appeared. About 4 feet long, a couple of inches deep and winding its way down the hill and under the fence, I thought it was erosion from the melt. Another clue came to light when I was digging in my flower beds. At the fence line was a hole in the dirt about an inch in diameter. While consulting Larry Sager's web site for an unrelated bug issue I came across an article about pesky little critters that are not dormant in the winter. They burrow along the ground under the snow and can wreck havoc in your yard by eating the bark around trees, etc. Hum, perhaps my interesting erosion could use further inspection. Facinating...yep, each little branch-off is matted down and kind of bowl shaped. Puts me in the mind of Marshmellow our hamster and his nesting habits. Hum, droppings in each nest area? Yes! The mystery is solved. Our backyard was covertly being used as a Mouse Marriot.

Draper Temple

We went to the Draper Temple Open house this evening. It was such a nice experience. Because we had Tricia's scooter we had instructions to drive right up to the temple and park (rather than taking a shuttle from a nearby ward house). It made it such an easy experience to zip around and take the elevators. I was surprised at its size, it is really small compared to the temples I am used to. It was so beautiful. It is decorated with such beautiful artwork such as works by Simon Dewy and Minerva Tiechert (one of my favorite LDS artists). The sealing rooms had HUGE beautifully framed mirrors in them. There has got to be a story about how they even got them into the rooms and hung them. There is a repeated motif of a sego lily in the wordwork and ceiling that was lovely and a worker at the front door pointed out another repeated pattern of the log cabin quilt block used in all the stained glass windows. The hostess at the end had comment cards where we could write down our feelings. I think this is so key. It isn't an intellectual thing, you know it is good, you know it is right because of how it makes you feel. Recognizing spiritual feelings and having experiences with spiritual things helps you want to feel those feelings all the time. It also makes discerning and choosing the right easier. We were talking in the car on the way home and asked Camille how she felt when she was in the temple. She said she felt "still". I thought that was a great description.

Staci

It was so fun to have Staci home for the holidays. She works right now for BYU catering as a "close-er". I think that means that she is the last one to be done at each banquet. She manages a team of workers to set-up meals, serve and clean up. She is able to sample left overs from the events when she works and has been exposed to very yummy new foods. Over the holidays she made our menus and helped with grocery shopping and cooking meals. She found out during the break that she has been accepted for spring term with BYU study abroad in Japan. She has been taking Japanese since she started college and has been working hard to save enough money to go. She is really excited to leave the country in April.

Katrina

This is Katrina's natural response to having her picture taken and a pretty normal activity to be involved with at home. She is taking on the phone (I think she is even talking to a boy). She got back from BYU-I, mid December and jumped right back into her job as Katrina-the deli girl at Macey's grocery store. She became especially experienced over the holidays at making cheese balls--a nice addition to her potato salad expertise. She will return to school in April. Katrina also jumped right back into social life here with her high school friends and spent alot of time playing with them.

Camille

Camille can often be found at the computer. She likes to work on her blog and watch old sitcoms and Japanese cartoons on You Tube. Santa brought the family a karaoke game that Camille has enjoyed over the break. She has found that she loves to sing and has really enjoyed being a part of her school's concert choir this year. It is fun to watch her perform because she looks so happy and confident (and the soprano section always makes up cute actions to the songs).

Krysta

The best way to describe Krysta is busy. We had gone to our dentist in AF that morning and on the way home we decided to stop in at IKEA because we'd never been there. (Do we know how to have a good time or what?) While we were there the girls found this "containment unit" for Tricia's growing herd of stuffed animal horses. This is how I found Krysta. She had all the equipment she needed out; stud-finder, hooks, hammer, etc. She had filled the unit and was hanging it all by herself.

Tricia

Tricia is playing with the puppet theater we bought at IKEA. She added the hula skirt curtain. On the right of the picture is one of her Taiwanese glove puppets. It is a hand carved rat bride (last year was the year of the rat). When she was staying at Shriner's hospital last year a theater group from Taiwan was in town for a festival. They came up to the hospital one afternoon and performed for the patients. They met with the students that were in the school and taught them to work the puppets. Tricia picked up the techniques very quickly and has a natural affinity for things Asian and she and the puppeteers formed a friendship. When they returned to their country they decided that a highlight of the trip had been Tricia. They made her this red puppet and sent it about a year ago along with a DVD of them performing their 2008 show. This Christmas they sent her two more puppets, a boy and girl rat dressed in white wedding outfits.