Cousin Icky (Nicol and Scott)

This was an exciting wedding in our family. Nicol is 33 years old and is a lovely, accomplished girl. She has lived in D.C. and worked on the Hill for the Department of Agriculture for the past few years. She has a masters in public administration and (before the wedding bells rang) she recently applied for the position of assistant to Laura Bush. But last Thanksgiving she hosted a dinner and one of her friends brought a friend...and the rest is history. The groom, Scott Jones, is 35 and from Idaho originally. Now he lives in Cincinnati and is an arborist. He's the eldest of a bunch of kids (like 12!) and has never been married. He's currently in the bishopric of his family ward in Ohio. What a find! I'm so happy for them.

It's always heartwarming to see good people find good people. I will have to elaborate more tomorrow about the festivities. Tonight I must sleep. (ps. Thanks, Shauna, for your contribution to this post.)

What do you stand for?

Acronym or abbreviation to find:

I have a great friend I met in DC (who now lives in Boston) named Ginny. How do I explain Ginny? OK - you know you are like Ginny if you take the number of children you will have by the end of this calendar year, add it to the number of tattoos you will have by the end of this calendar year and the result equals your age by the end of this calendar year. If that is confusing then just imagine a punk-rock, Mormon, Pippy Longstockings who wakes up a 5 am to knit her children some new underwear. And that is just the first hour of the day.

Last week I noticed she posted a link to a site called Acronym Finder. I had forgotten she talked about how her mom had started this company several years ago. Curious as to how one makes an entire living off or acronyms, I checked it out.

Maybe it was just my stint in DC (even the city is an acronym) where everyone works at the ABC or PDQ or has daycare in the XYZ building, but it seems more and more people are using acronyms in everyday lexicon. Not to mention nick names and initials that really capture a person's nature. It was quite entertaining to see what each person in the family really stands for. (HINT: If your name nets no good results then try your initials.)

Have fun!

ANDI -- A Normalization and Development Instrument.
(MOM -- Master of Magic -- to ALEXander --Automatic Launch of Expendables)

Instead of Laundry

Look what I found in my inbox this afternoon:
========================================
FEMALE FRIENDS OF SUNSTONE,

We are looking for any and all images/photos that relate to today's LDS/Mormon women. Pix of women by themselves or with their families. Pix of single LDS women. Pix of women of all ages. Pix of women doing something they enjoy. Pix that depict something about their lives and interests, whatever they may be. Women in contemplation, doing sports, creating art, running on the beach, being a mommy, whatever.... Even pix that don't have women in them but perhaps represent an interest (photography, film, reading, scripture study, etc.)

Our plan is to create a collage of images for the next Sunstone cover (dedicated to Mormon women in 2007) and for use in various ways inside the magazine to link the diverse pieces in the women's voices section together so they feel related to each other both in content and general "look."

Please feel free to put the word out as well! We hope you will help us make a great magazine cover!
Thanks for the help.

John, Dan Wotherspoon and Kristine HaglundSunstone
======================================

I have to admit it feels very narcissistic to put together a bunch of schmaltzy images of fluffy children (almost all mine), but did that stop me? (You should see the condition of my house! What a cruel & jealous muse is creativity.)

Zendina and Daniel

My friend Zendina makes these (above) and these (below).

The word on the street is she is working on a new round of scrumptious morsels. This time it's a boy -- James Jr. is due in February. Congrats! (I am sure she is going to come up with a much better name than little Jimmy. She never disappoints in that category.)

**********

Now for something completely different ... My other friend, Daniel (of the Bombay House), is a LDS movie producer. He was behind Pride and Prejudice -- LDS version. Last week Marco brought home his newest, Anxiously Engaged. I have to say I really didn't hate it. Of course it is 100% predictable, but it had some nice moments and even a groovy 70's feel to it that made it slightly less sacrine. But it was not the movie that caught my eye. Look what Blockbuster put on every copy of Daniel's movie.

It is a parental warning sticker! His movie is listed as a "Youth Restricted Product" like Halo II or HBO's Big Love. I have seen the movie and I promise there is not one thing in it that is questionable ... unless you consider overt religious practice in the form of teaching Gospel Doctrine as threatening to impressionable teens. I am determined to 1.) get to the bottom of the issue 2.) promote a film that is worthy of a Family Home Evening in any home. Has anyone else seen this film? You should go rent it tonight and then let me know what you think.

Because the gospel is just like a roll of tape...

This song goes out to two people who have taught me that the gospel is just like retractable pencils and scotch tape. Let's hear it for Liz , who believes people are like mechanical pencils. If you push them too hard they will break. And Chindy ,who always believed tape was just metaphor for love. Special thanks to Kimberly of DC for hooking me up with my new favorite group -- Flight of the Conchord.

Enjoy! Well, don't enjoy it that much, Andrew. (Oh BTW -- Liz and Andrew FINALLY posted again.)

(sorry, I really can't resist one more song. Stop your whining, it's the weekend -- you've got time.)

Sharing is Nice

This post is for those of you who had any difficulty attracting MILLIONS of dollars even after taping the "millionaire's mantra" to your mirror. Welcome to Share the Harvest. Back in the days when Marco was knee high to a 1961 VW bus, they would say the only reason to lock your door in Orem was so your neighbors wouldn't walk in and leave zucchini on your counters while you were at Homemaking. (I loved homemaking. How ironic that they dropped the name just when homemaking was becoming hip again.) Needless to say, breaking and entering isn't as simple as it use to be. Luckily, Orem city has it's finger on the pulse of its citizens. Now you can just leave extra produce from your garden in this handy-dandy veggie cart parked at 100 N and 400 E.

I have read in the paper that the real reason for Share the Harvest came from the need to spray in west Orem to fight the infiltration of the Japanese Beetle. It was recommended to people in affected areas that they NOT grow gardens this year. What? No gardening in Orem, UT? But we're Hobbits -- er, um, I mean Oremites. What a nice gesture on the part of the city to help ease the bite of the beetle.

We visited the cart a couple of days ago. (As you can see, most of the veggies had already been shared.) We do not live in the spray zone but our garden was hit pretty hard this year by a bigger bug ... renters. Somehow it didn't occur to them that the back yard needed any water until mid-July. This is Orem we are talking about here, man. Are you trying to get arrested? (But Betty Perry is a subject for another post ....) We picked-up a couple of tomatoes and some really nice purple potatoes that I gave to Emily for her birthday. Because that is the kind of friend I am.

So while you are waiting for those millions to find you, head on over to Share the Harvest and pick up something for dinner.

Today's affirmation

Check out what I came across while cleaning up a few things left over from the people who rented our house while we were in DC. Click, print and tape to your favorite mirror. That is where I found these after the renters left. Nice family, they ran multi-level sales meetings out of our house selling some sort of "super-water." The neighbors have told me that every Wednesday the street was full of cars coming to millionaire pep-rallies.


Oh, did I mention they didn't pay their last month's rent? Really.

The Snow-Dome Theory

Ta-dah.

Mostly this post is for my sister in Jersey so she can see the new blue in the living room. (Marsh, did you know can comment anonymously with out signing up? You too, Berty.) You see, I have something I call the "snow-dome theory" of life. Basically, life is like a snow-dome. You can shake it up all you want but, at the end of the day, unless you really try otherwise, it all just settles in the same spots. What is the point of even shaking it up if it is just going to land in exactly the same plase 10 months later? Needless to say -- I was not interested in it all being stacked in the same piles. (Liz once said that if our family name reflected our behavior, i.e. Miller, Crabapple, Porter, ect., she would belong to the Stack family.) Maybe new paint, a little splash of something cool over there, a dash of this, a spot of that.

And I think we survived our snow-dome move home. I always say that stuff (papers, mementos, furniture, half cut out projects and the like) is like asbestos -- most toxic when airborne. When all your possessions are stuck to the walls and floor they seem down right benign. Moving it all here or there, now there lies the serious hazard. I like it when Marco and I bump into each other with our ideas. We don't naturally choose the same things for our house. In fact, just about anything else is easier in our marriage (and we got a whole lot of marriage going on.) But last week he was brilliant and picked out the loveliest leather sofa, ottoman and chair from an ocean of Naugahyde at RC Willey scratch & dent. Well done, Marco! Congrats are in order -- this is the first sofa we've purchased in our entire marriage. Next stop, the garrage!!!

I love that man.

(foggy family portrait)

Happy Birthday, Emily

We all gathered in SLC with the grand assistance of a wonderful bunch of husbands who took the kids. Thank you, Marco! Thank you, greatest group of girlfriends! Thank you especially, Emily for the occasion.

Here is Erin, always at the center of the party. Oh, oh -- guess what! Zendina is pregnant. I totally didn't know. I can't wait for this next one. And Marsha, Kirsten, Whitney, Cindy all present (and none pregnant) (Emily either!) (Me either!) (Glad we made that clear.)

I love this shot of Cindy. "I am not getting sick. I am not getting sick. I am not getting sick." She got sick anyway. Hop over to the Goosegirl for better details.

Fresh Eggs -- $3.00

You just have to tap the right vein to find gold and the best place to go mining is, of course, Emily and Lara Asplund. They get credit for my new favorite field trip. Little did I know that there is a magic egg house right in West Provo where you can step into an 1890's farm house, leave a little money in jar and help yourself to colorful organic eggs. (They also have an assortment of honey, homemade candles and the like.) It is the perfect place to take kids and grandmas to go time traveling back through a bygone time of Utah County. There is something heart-thumping about opening a stranger's door without knocking -- even if a sign says to do so.

"Are you sure we can just walk in?"

After letting yourself in through the front door, wander back to find "The Clifford Family Farm Store: The chickens determine the size of the eggs." Being surrounded by twelve inch wood molding and little willow chairs makes you feel the perspective of stepping into someones storybook. Even the light coming through vine covered glass coats the most precocious child in an aura of virtue. Put it all together and it is marketing genius. I dropped $3.00 on a dozen eggs and didn't miss the sample ladies from Costco.

I can only imagine my kid's great grandmas, all of which grew up on farms just like this one in Provo, Kanab and southern Alberta. What would they think? I can see them gathered together -- peeking over a dusty Utah sunbeam -- watching me from heaven with my dusty little sunbeams. (By now grandmas Favorite and Ina are great gal pals.) I know just what they are whispering to each other.

"Ina, look at that girl. She just plunked down THREE WHOLE DOLLARS on a dozen speckled, miss-matched, pathetic eggs with out even checking to see if they were cracked!?!"

"Oh, Fay. You and I know both know it's not the eggs that's cracked." (twinkle, twinkle)

... and, ladies, I'd do it again.

If you want to give your agricultural ancestors (who may have past on to that great hen house in the sky) a good laugh too -- drop by Clifford Family Farm at 1461 N 2100 W in Provo. Look for the "FRESH EGGS" sign on the west side of the street, right where the Grandview Hill road turns sharply to the north.

Survival Camp for Toddlers

The picture I wish I could share with you is one from 1996 when I met Kirsten for the first time in the "field". It was Christmas in the Arizona desert and we were trail walkers for Anasazi (aka -- Hoods in the Woods.) There she was with long blond hair a neatly pressed shirt and a giant Buck knife on her belt. She was going to smile those juvenile delinquents into reform. I thought I had never met a more cheerful person in my life. Little did we know then that teen hooligans were NOTHING compared to toddlers. My goodness, are all those kids really ours. Who are these children coming down, coming down like gentle rain from heaven above? (I really looked like a local when I pushed all four kids in the Valco on our walk. We stole those peaches our children are eating off some vagrant's tree who couldn't be bothered to pick them.)

Needless to say, Xan has a new crush....

Here is Kirsten and her German boys. Henry is so funny and gibbers on and on only in German to whom ever will listen. Below is a close-up of August who has giant blue eyes and was named before all those movie stars named their babies August. Ahh, such is life. This is the best part of living in Utah. Funny how our circle has all these kids and we insist that they be friends with each other. It was a good day to be kid. (And a mom.)

Bedhead morning in Midway

1.) Greet the rising sun with a great morning hair-do. We thought we would mix things up a bit, you know, enough of the samo old day in and day out routine. Off we headed to Midway for a little overnight adventure.

2.)Since we were on vacation (and not fake-ation) we decided to do something wild and and totally different for us. Once we figured out how to use that strange box across the room, we actually watched TV. I know -- crazy. I don't think in the 6 years I have been married to Marco I have ever seen Marco channel surf. Honey, just so you know, I love you even though you don't know anything about channel surfing. Others may laugh but I like you just the way you are.

3.) Xanny's reaction to the news that we were driving AGAIN. Are you trying to tell us something, kid? OK we will go home and not go anywhere for ... at least 72 hours.

4.) And finally, have you seen the "Mushroom House" of Midway. I love this place. The word on the street is that it is owned by the Eccles and hasn't had anyone living in it for many years. It looks like they are finally refurbishing it. Nice.

And this is my random list of Midway memories. Next time, we will take you with us.

I must admit ...

I must admit that my close friend, Erin, is my favorite blogger of the week. So why compete? For today's post ... I give you Madre Sanchez. (You can hit the link or just read it here.) A little background on Miss Erin. She has two very small girls, ages 2 and 3 -- she had them about 10 minutes apart from each other. The second of her girls is special needs and cries all the time. I have seen it. The older of the two is just as persistant in getting her mother's attention, only she does it several languages. More info ... her livingroom is PINK ("any color can be a neutral") and she claims that Shari Dew (Our Lovely Virgen of the Holy Deseret) GOT MARRIED this year????!!! Enjoy. BTW -- the following list should be read with a slight southern accent.

I will hereby take lines to show that there are good things in my life. I mean really good.
1. My child is potty trained which means that we have enough diapers for an entire pay period without having to go into debt to buy extra diapers.
2. My husband is very, very cute. especially his bottom.
3. I have a car with a DVD player in it which means my children technically don't have to bother me at all only I have this system where they can lose and win privaleges and they have always lost their videos for the day by about 8:15 am. I am just shooting myself in the foot but it's this or actually appear on the supernanny.
4. I know that if I am good now, I will get to live with Heavenly Father and all these folks that either do or do not drive me insane daily and that is comforting in and of itself but also because I will have no midriff fat or strange red scar on the side of my nose or really bad temper or ADD or need Wellbutrin or Prevacid.
5. I really have wonderful friends that make my life better without waking up in the morning to think that they are going to make my life better.
6. My husband gives me time to go and do things by myself because he knows it makes me more able to cope even though he doesn't go and do things by himself besides work and other work.
7. My parents are super nice people.
8. Dellah comes to me more than once a day and says things like, "wow, mommy, you a great cooker." or "wow, Mom, You da bes painter of my room!" or, dillusionally, "Mami, you look beautiful!".
9. I have the recipe memorized for small round cookies that are dipped in powdered sugar so that if I am ever accidentally trapped on an island with a grocery store and cash and an oven, I can totally make them without the cookbook.
10. When Ruby cries, after you get over the initial blood boiling anger at the fact that she never stops crying, she actually has the cutest cry face I've ever really seen. She actually looks like a small something or other that I can't describe but I guess if you're going to cry your whole life, you might as well be cute at it. (unlike claire daines who is the ugliest crier on the sphere.)
11. I am actually reading three sort of rediculous books right now that actually are three really different places to be during the day if things get really rough.
12. I have a separate trash can outside on the back patio for dirty diapers.
13. I don't have a serious malloclusion orthodontially speaking.
14. I have health insurance.
15. I live exactly beside a wal mart, a lowes, a cafe rio, a subway, an italian restaurant, a yogurt shop, a day spa, a kinkos/fed ex and about 50 other unbuilt stores.
16.I have the internet.
17. My blog actually defied the odds of murphy's law and came back after a year of strange disappearance from existance and it hadn't lost any of it's information...now that I think of it, perhaps aliens have something to do with an abduction of this nature.
17 a. My life is interesting enough to have obviously drawn the attention of cyber aliens.
18. My metabolism, while sloth-like, is not altogether non-existant which, after watching the world's largest man on TLC, is, indeed, a blessing.
19. From 8pm on, there is silence to be had in my home until at least 7:30 the next morning.20. I have recently acquired various GUESS accessories sporting the letter G which actually looks like I'm wearing my husband's initial on purpose like a shiny dangling representation of my undying affections.
21. My life will never end like 'Finding Jane' or 'Once' because, come on....why do I pay money to go and see all that lovey lovey and leave feeling like fecal matter?
22. Whitney told me last night that Sherri Dew got married.
23. Gabriel got a raise at his work that starts next year.
24. I actually just saw gas for 2.54 in west jordan.there, I think that about does it.
My mind hurts. Next time it'll just be regular old mixed bag of tricks around here but I wanted an exercise in positivity at least. I think I am the kind of person that actually would just say, the glass is filled to the middle, to avoid any undue pidgeon hole-ing as a pessimist or otherwise.

(Thanks, Erin)

Quicky

There is too much to say and so little time. We are back from CO and I have good stories. Of course I just LOVE a good wedding and we had a real hum-dinger last week at the cabin. Linsay Stark grew up down the dirt road from us in the Rocky Mountains and she had the dream wedding that none of girls in my family ever dared having. It was great to DO a wedding and not have to be IN the wedding. Here is a link to a web-album of more pictures.

09-08 Colorado Wedding

Stalking moose was the other fun event of the weekend. These are the same mama and twin babies that Ari attempted to ride in July. Judy is the BEST and totally cracked up when I slipped in moose-poo. (The lens on my camera is like using a baseball bat instead of a .44, consequentially I had to get quite close to the wild beast -- 15 feet.) I am going to get kids in bed and then I will tell you all the juicy details. Click on the link to see Max with a Sunset Martini.

Above, Judy laughing at my poop shoe. Below, the moose(s) responsible for my poop slip-up.

I just have to say that over the last three decades of watching strange and wild creatures in the mountains of Colorado I thought I had seen it all; bear, moose, pine martins, elk, mountain lions, chipmunks. But this is the most bizarre furry object I think I have seen at the Bar DM. What is that thing? OH, a wedding guest at the cocktail party in the park --- of course. Darlin' you better think about crawling back into your cave before winter hits the Rocky Mountains.

Colorado here we come.

From the mountains of Colorado I am trying to post a few pics at the library "in town" near my parent's cabin. The connection is slow and the children are "busy" so my text will be brief especially because i am typing with one hand while holding picture books to entertain kids with the other. Maybe Marco will go through and put in a few details here and there from Orem. Please? (BTW- My children are appropriately dressed in randon cabin attire.

We headed off in the pouring rain early in the morning. My parents think they are brave of riding in the same truck as my little darlins all the way to their cabin in Colorado. (9 hours!) Our first stop was for breaky at Betty's in Vernal, Ut. Heads-up, Betty's Greasy Spoon has the absolute worst bathrooms West of ALBANIA! When we got to the cabin we were greeted by two large semis and a giant white tent. We are just two days away from the wedding of the century here in the Rocky Mountains. Lindsay Stark who grew up down the road from us is getting married on Saturday. So far it has been cold and rainy, but I guess that is why she needed the $7,000 tent with six heaters. Stay tuned for details.

Storytelling and a sideways Katie

Raise your hand if you have been to the Storytelling Festival in Orem. If you haven't made it there yet in your short life time, make your reservations for next year. The Saturday night session at the Scera is always my favorite. Timpanogos was beautiful and the crowd lively. I always feel like I am at a giant sleep-over with 5,000 others on the lawn with our sleeping bags and PJs.

This is a "Xanny-shot" of Katie and me. He is crazy about taking pictures. Below is a sideways that I am going to leave like this. Why is she sideways? You will have to ask her yourself.

How many of you have shared a house with me sometime in your life? Than you know how I get when I decide to paint! This is just one wall with 8 different blues. The rest of the house looks like we are living in a Joseph Albers color experiment with blues and browns in different shades and intensities on every surface of the house! This is the real reason I took the kids and ran to Colorado. I don't know is happy or sad I left him all alone with the painters. We will see how he is by Monday.