Officially caught up

It's kind of an exciting time.  After 20 odd years of making scrapbooks for my children, I'm caught up!  (That is if you aren't too particular.)

I have an entire set of shelves devoted to the two-inch wide three ring binder page protected scrapbooks.  They are full of pictures and drawings and the like and they make me happy.  (On Mark's recent birthday he and I looked through several of them, then when the big kids came home for dinner they looked at them too.)  They feel like time worth spent.

But then, I decided to make Snapfish photo books.  They are easy and can be done without pulling out all the scrapbook detritus.  As a big bonus, they take up less shelf space.

But then what to do with all the scrapbook type stuff?  The ticket stubs, the play and concert programs, the birthday cards.  I had been collecting all the stuff for a few years and finally decided a scrapbook with just that stuff and no pictures would be boring.

So I bought each kid a box.  I sorted the stuff in less than an hour and some day I will give each kid  their box (I apologize in advance to their future unsuspecting spouse).  Then they can keep it lovingly on a shelf, put it in a scrapbook or throw it away.

In the meantime, I'm caught up.  On one thing.  And that's something!

Thou shalt not covet

Saturday, Emma and her friends stopped here and made cookies on their way home from seeing the lights at Temple Square.  I'm not sure who all came because I went to bed before those crazy night owls made it here.  They did leave me some cookies on the counter though.

Sunday, Braeden's Family Home Evening group came here.  They had a white elephant gift exchange and ate treats and drank Cranberry Sprite (love that stuff!).  There were twelve of them and they were great kids.  I gave the hungry boys a bowl of sliced apples and oranges.  I am a one woman campaign to keep them from getting scurvy.  (They don't eat very healthfully.)

Monday, I was backing out of our driveway to drive Mark to school.  I told him I was jealous of the Porters across the street.

Mark told me that I wasn't supposed to covet what my neighbors have.

I said, "I know, but Sara is home from BYU for Christmas!"

Who knows when my turkeys will make an appearance.  They're in no rush.  I guess I can't have everything.  I can't have a revolving door of them and their friends (which I adore! the more the merrier!) and have kids that are homesick and dying to get home.

Still, I'll be glad when their friends go home for Christmas.  Then maybe they'll come home.  We don't have snow or mistletoe, but I'm ready!  I mean, these halls are decked!

50/50

We had a nice time.  It was great to relax and talk and drive through beautiful country side by side.  Turns out I like Moab.  I had never been there before.  There's a lot of Utah I've never been to, considering I grew up in the state next door.

We are slowly seeing a lot of Utah though and I love it more all the time.  What a stunning place!

We went to a really delicious Thai restaurant for dinner.  It's the best Thai food (hands down) that we've had since we left Seattle.

At our hotel we got in the hot tub, well one of the many hot tubs.  There were a network of hot tubs and pools and our kids would love it.  We'd probably never be able to get Mark away.  We chose the hot tub that had the most steam.  Another couple joined us.  Adam wanted to explore but there was no way I was getting out until we were ready to go in or I was uncomfortably hot, whichever came first.  So Adam went to look around at all the pools and that left me engaging in small talk with my new friends.  It was a difficult choice, but I opted to stay warm.

The guy enthusiastically told me all about what they had been doing and gave me unsolicited advice about what we should do at Arches (some people just love to feel like experts).  They told me they were going to camp the next two nights.  I asked, "How cold will it be where you're camping?"

"In the 20s," he gleefully responded.

"I don't like camping in the best circumstances," I said.  Which maybe sounded a little snotty so when we left I told them I hoped they enjoyed their camping.

They cheerfully said, "Look for us in the news."

People mystify me.

There was ice on the sidewalk going back into the hotel.  It was cold.  Which is what happens in December.

It felt like the perfect time to be there though.  The hotel was super cheap and there were no crowds anywhere.  At breakfast Saturday morning, Adam started talking about when we could come back and bring our kids.

Then we hit the National Park.  It was beautiful!  I don't have the adjectives to describe it and the pictures don't do it justice but will have to suffice.  At least there are a lot of them....

I loved this tree. There's something just stark and lovely about the desert.

This view reminded me of the Fremont Troll in Seattle.

We took a few short and easy hikes and it was cold but not terribly cold.  We drove around too and I pointed out to Adam what the rock formations looked like to me.  It was kind of like pointing out shapes in the clouds.

Here Adam and I took pictures of each other:

Because we know how to have fun in a National Park.

I went away feeling grateful for Adam + National Parks + not camping + eyesight + a heated car + Christmas lights at our house when we returned.

Speaking of Christmas, on the freeway on the way home, we saw Santa:

He didn't seem to be the jolly old elf I've come to expect.  Maybe he was cranky because he had to drive and he'd rather take his sleigh.

Grateful Friday

We've never been shy about celebrating made up holidays (here's looking at you pikkujoulu).  Today is a holiday for us.  It's our 50/50 day!  Today, Adam and I have been married exactly half of our lives.  We are able to have this day in common because we share the same birthday.  It's like a super anniversary (even though it isn't our anniversary at all).

We're going on a little getaway (which seems perfectly timed because Adam has been busy and I haven't seen enough of that guy lately).  We're leaving Braeden and Mark at the helm.  I fully expect an emptier fridge/freezer/pantry when we return.

Where does one go for a 50/50 day?  I'm glad you asked.  We are going to Arches National Park.  In December.  Why not?  The weather will not be sunny and warm but like Dean Martin's song, "what do I care how much it may storm, I've got my love to keep me warm."

I'm grateful for half a lifetime spent with Adam.  He's everything good in a husband and father.  We are all lucky to have him.

half a lifetime ago

Seasonal

The inversion is terrible.  I think the elementary kids are staying in for recess because of the air quality.  Also we have no snow to speak of, the deer are everywhere and if the cougar is still around (there was another sighting last week in our neighborhood) it should at least not be going hungry.

*

**

Gearing up for the return of all my chicks back in the nest, I changed sheets and pondered the differences of our children.  I put the nice quilt on Emma's bed because she's the only one that can be trusted.  She sleeps like a normal person.

Mark and Braeden both shun top sheets (which seems barbaric to me).  I picked which pillows Braeden has been using when he comes home to sleep (he grabs them from another bed) and put new pillowcases on them.  Why fight his preferences?  I heaved the six (not kidding) heavy blankets off Mark's bed to change his sheets.  I put three back on.  He's the only one besides me that sleeps cold around here.  He's very picky about how exactly the covers are arranged and I almost always do it upside down.  That's why I stopped at three blankets.  He'll redo it all anyway.  And then it will be a weird nest of blankets that only makes sense to him.

There's something soothing to me about slipping fresh sheets on their beds.  I mostly don't see them as often as I'd like and a small thing like clean sheets is something I can do for them.

*

**

Since it's nearing the end of the year, I'm coming across Best Books of 2017 lists. I'm carefully adding everything that looks interesting to my ongoing list of books I want to read.  I have a document that is 15 pages long.  10 point font.  It is at once ridiculous and thrilling to have that many books that at one time or another seemed enticing enough to me that I put them on my list.

*

**

Laundry has its seasons too.  We lived many summers where I was washing towels and swimsuits daily.  I think I breathed as much as chlorine as our kids did, even though I didn't get in the pool.  Now it's referee season.  Adam is a high school referee in his not very free time and it's striped shirts and black pants in my laundry basket.  I don't mind a bit.  I (perhaps weirdly) enjoy doing laundry.  Folding neat fragrant piles for people I love makes me happy.

*

**

Yesterday my visiting teachers came.  One of them asked, "So are you ready for Christmas?"  I said yes.  She was taken aback, "Really?  I was not expecting that answer!  I didn't think anyone was ready for Christmas."

An awkward pause followed, like she didn't know what to say to me after that.

I didn't say it but I think my sisters are ready for Christmas too....

I realized that it was one of those times when you are supposed to say the answer people expect.  Like when someone asks you how you are, you are supposed to say fine.  They don't really want to hear how you are.

And people don't want to know that you're ready for Christmas.  It's not polite apparently.

My mom and dad

Yesterday morning I was talking to someone about difficult family situations.  I found myself over and over saying things like, "My mom taught me..." or "My dad told me one time...."

It would seem like I have wise parents.

And I do.

We had dinner with them last night and then we went to Mark's voice recital.  It was sort of long and with a...varying...degree of talent.  Braeden came too (Emma was at work) and later when I was driving him home (their car was at work with Emma) Braeden said, "That was the ultimate in grandparent love, coming to that recital."

I'm grateful for the grandparents our kids have.  Without exception they are loving and supportive.  It's nice to have moorings like that in the world.

Two more adventures with electricity than I wanted

1)

Our outdoor Christmas lights stopped working.  I fiddled with the fuses like I knew what I was doing and I had Braeden unplug and replug the lights but then I was pretty much out of ideas.  I called the company that hangs our lights and a guy came to look at it.

He cut the cord and installed a new plug.  He asked me to flip the switch.

A horrible and scary sound ensued, kind of like a train was running through the house. There was popping and black smoke coming from the outlet.  "Turn it off!  Turn it off!" the guy yelled.  I did then we looked at each other with wide eyes.

He said, "That shouldn't have happened."

I couldn't agree more.

He told me his plan of how he'd fix it.  I said, "Christmas lights are not a necessity.  If this isn't safe, we don't need them."

He assured me he could fix it and he did.  The lights work.  I may even get brave enough to actually turn them on.

2)

As promised, Mark and I went to the DMV after school.  We waited in line and got the book.

We went back to the van and it wouldn't start.  Nothing.  Mark popped the hood, and after talking on the phone with Adam, was going to check if the battery connector was OK.  A guy nearby asked if Mark needed any help.  "I think so," he said.

As luck would have it, the guy was a mechanic.  Our battery was indeed disconnected.  This has happened before and I completely blame the really terrible roads in our fair city.  We didn't have any tools in the van and he didn't have any tools.  He was with his girlfriend.  She had a socket set in her car but the one socket that would fit was missing.

He was chatting with us while he tried to make the wrong sized socket work.  "So are you here for a driver's license renewal?" he asked Mark.  I explained that Mark had just turned 15 and we were there to pick up a book.  The guy looked at Mark and said, "Wow, really?  I thought you were a lot older than that."

"Just 15," I said, "He's tall."

The guy was super short.  He smiled up at Mark and said, "Yeah, I get that all the time too."

I love it when you meet real life heroes who just stop what they're doing to help you.

He couldn't get the connector tightened but he set it on and said we might be able to make it home.  And we did!  It was a little nerve wracking but Mark read the driver's manual to me while we drove.  (Which is not as interesting as it sounds.)

Mark had watched everything our mechanic friend had done.  When we got home he said, "I can fix the van.  I have the tools I need."

Of course he does.  In a few minutes, Mark had it running fine.

I like people who can do things!  And I'm going to start keeping the right tools in the van.  Mark will just need to tell me which I need.