Thompson Family

We were thankful

2011-12-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

This year we again went over to Utah over the Thanksgiving break. It was very similar to our trip last year, which just shows how much we enjoyed it. Minus that blizzard, freakishly cold weather, and car issues, thankfully. The weather this year was perfectly lovely. We stopped at Nephi's grandparents on the way over and they met Benjamin.

We then got to spend a day with our friends from San Diego, the Whipples. We made delicious food, chatted, and took a little hike up Slate Canyon. We really loved seeing them again.

Thanksgiving day we spent with ellen and Samuel and a few of ellen's friends. Only after the meal did ellen reveal that she doesn't like turkey and had no desire to bother cooking one, so bought one pre-cooked just for us. The boys worked on seating arrangements and cards, and Caleb placed himself strategically in front of the turkey.

It was delicious.

After the meal we vegged out in front of a Miyazaki movie for awhile. Taking up most of the living room is ellen's amazing I Spy quilt she is working on, with things to find not only in the fabrics, but also in the quilting itself.

She outdid herself with pies. And Samuel contributed a wonderful apple pie.

That night we headed up to Martha's where we spent a day. Joseph loved seeing Keturah and Alaina and Marah.

Caleb and Isaac had a great time with Charles and Sarah.

Friday night we went to Temple Square along with most of the rest of the Wasatch Front. It was pleasantly not as freezing as last year, and we didn't lose any of our children in the crowds.

Saturday we went to the Conference Center and took a little tour.

Afterwards we went bowling with our friends the Dunfords, and that night we spent with my old college roommate Melissa and her family. It was a party all the time we were over there - so many good friends and fun kids for our kids to play with. We felt blessed.

Oakland

2011-11-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

In early November, my parents and I (with Benjamin) flew out to Oakland to visit my sister Laura for a weekend. It was such a great few days! I was amazed by how much I loved Oakland. What a great city! It feels so livable and authentic. I felt a little bit like the country mouse going to visit the city mouse, though. The scale of commerce in one half city block is about equivalent to our entire little town; I just felt awed. It was refreshing to see all kinds of people all mixed and mingled. And so much good ethnic and vegetarian food! Hoppin' farmers markets! Nordstrom Rack! Diverse people at church (including facial hair on a member of the bishophric! Scandalous!), and a beautiful temple with a great view! There is the slight drawback of a dead body being found in the street one house down from where my sister lives the morning before we arrived... so we stayed somewhere else and found her somewhere new to live that's not in the ghetto. And the traffic bites. So yeah, cities.

Mostly we just wanted to spend time together. Benjamin got lots of love.

My mom, sister, and I did some shopping.

We spent an afternoon wandering around Golden Gate State Park and the Japanese Tea Garden.

That night we went to a really amazing restaurant in San Francisco that is so hip it doesn't even have a sign with it's name. Really. We ate the best fried brussel sprouts you could imagine, and I know that might not be a very high bar, but they were amazing. We also ate at a fabulous Cambodian place and got some good Indian food other days. So tasty. I love understanding more about my sister's life - seeing where she lives and works and meeting her friends.

Halloween

2011-11-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

This year: two skeletons and Harry Potter.

And an elephant.

And the jack-o-lanterns. Check out mister Isaac Picasso Thompson! He was very particular about the postmodern shaping and placement of his jack-0-lantern's features. I like!

After days of festivities - school party, church party, friend party - we had our friends the Dohertys over for dinner and went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.

The weather was perfect, the neighbors friendly, the Reeses delicious, the photography disappointing.

Benjamin at nine months

2011-11-26T16:04:00.000-08:00

Colorado National Monument

2011-11-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

The boys had a day off of school in October, and Nephi didn't have classes to teach that day, so we headed over to Grand Junction. In the morning we met up with Nephi's parents at the beautiful Colorado National Monument. We did a short hike and had some cake to celebrate Lawrence's birthday.

The boys earned their Junior Ranges badges, and that afternoon we went to the wonderful Math and Science Center. Definitely two highlights of Grand Junction.

A fine autumn day on Independence Pass and at Maroon Bells

2011-11-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

We live in a very beautiful area. One day this fall Nephi and I took Isaac and Benjamin on a drive over Independence Pass, where I had never been. We stopped at Maroon Bells, one of the most photographed places in the country, especially in autumn. We hit the fall color almost exactly right. It was astonishingly beautiful.

Fall

2011-11-23T15:53:00.000-08:00

After summer came... fall. Caleb and Isaac played soccer. Joseph did Cub Scouts. In September my aunt, uncle, and cousin came to visit from the east coast. They have a lovely tradition going of taking a week or two during the fall and coming out west to visit some national parks. This year the came to Colorado. After spending a few days at Rocky Mountain National Park, they headed west to our neck of the woods. We were lucky to get to spend a day with them hiking around Maroon Bells near Aspen. That night they treated us to some fantastic Nepalese food. It was great to see them!

There were the usual projects around the house.

Some Very Tall Lego Towers.

Some cuddling while we watched General Conference in October.

Some raking and jumping around in leaves.

I helped out at school. I tried to get a mill levy to pass so our school district wouldn't need to make really drastic cuts for next year, possibly (likely) including closing our elementary school. It would have cost property owners about $3-$10 per month. But times are tough, and it didn't pass. I can get all worked up about it, but we'll see how things shake out. Maybe it won't be as drastic as I fear.

The rest of summer

2011-11-22T03:47:00.000-08:00

We still had a good chunk of summer to enjoy when we returned from our travels. The three older boys did a great job during two weeks of swimming lessons. Joseph's class turned out to have only two people in it, so it was almost like private lessons. We attended the Rifle Air Show one weekend, a great, friendly small-town event with some good acts. No Blue Angels like San Diego, but it also doesn't take two hours to get out of the parking lot. At her invitation, we picked most of the sour cherries from our neighbor's very productive tree.

I spent a few days pitting, peeling, and preparing fruit and put up quite a bit - cherry jam, mango jam, peach jam, peach butter, and peaches. One thing that I seem to always forget is that canning really doesn't scale. I often think that if I'm going to do some, I might as well get a lot of fruit. But it takes about twice as much time to peel and pit two boxes of peaches as one. By the end of processing all that fruit I feel grumpy and irritated and calculate (yet again) that I really didn't save much money, if any at all. But the little popping noises as the jars seal are so rewarding, and the jars just look so pretty.

The boys rode bikes.

Benjamin looked cute.

Nephi and I spent a night (with Benjamin) at Vail while my parents stopped by on their way back home from their time in New York and graciously watched the older boys. We got in a nice hike, a baby-friendly outdoor performance at the Vail Dance Festival, and some good sushi. We celebrated his birthday at his parents' house.

The three older boys all participated in a BMX bike race in our neighboring town. They had a great time and were all fierce, determined competitors. They just missed out on the $10 Walmart gift certificates in the final rounds. It was fun to watch them compete.

Finally, summer was over and Joseph and Caleb headed off to third and first grades. Isaac started preschool two mornings a week a few weeks later.

I, for one, was ready to settle back into a routine.

14ers and 13ers of 2011

2011-11-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

After we returned from Hawai'i, my friend Jared and I got right to work. First we climbed La Plata Peak.

Then we climbed Culebra Peak, the southernmost 14er in Colorado, along with Red Mountain, its neighboring 13er.

On the traverse, we saw a huge black bear eating insects out of the tundra and enjoying the sunny day. We'd never seen a bear so high up on a mountain.

Then we camped at Lake Como and climbed Little Bear, Blanca, and Ellingwood Peaks.

Little Bear Peak is famous for a steep funnel-shaped section called the Hourglass which required some fun rock climbing moves and rope work.

That's the ridge over to Blanca Peak from Little Bear. It's a negotiable traverse, but we opted to climb Blanca and Ellingwood Peaks from the lake the next day.

Then Joseph and I climbed Mount Sherman. It was his first 14er. He did so well that I talked him into climbing Dyer Mountain, a nearby 13er.

We completed the loop back to the car by glissading down some snowfields, much to his delight.

Then Jared and I climbed the Maroon Bells, famous for their rotten rock; but we didn't find them too terrifying. First, we climbed Maroon Peak.

Here's the traverse over to North Maroon that's even more negotiable than the Blanca-Little Bear traverse, but we opted to climb North Maroon the next week.

North Maroon turned out to be one of our favorite peaks. It had varied and beautiful terrain and the degree of difficulty was just right.

This chimney was the crux of the route. Our friendly mountain goat escort climbed it in seconds and seemed to be laughing at our relatively awkward descent.

Then we went to the San Miguel Mountains in southwestern Colorado. We climbed El Diente from Kilpacker Basin.

We negotiated the traverse between El Diente and Mount Wilson and found it quite airy and exhilarating.

We descended into Kilpacker Basin and hiked back to camp.

The next day we climbed Wilson Peak from Silver Pick Basin.

We then traversed over to Gladstone Peak, a neighboring 13er. I have never encountered such rotten rock as on Gladstone and was happy to safely descend.

Here's the improvised lightning rod on Gladstone's summit.

This pika welcomed us to Silver Pick Basin.

Next we climbed Pyramid Peak, which was Jared's finisher. He has now climbed all the 14ers in Colorado.

It was a fun hike, with abundant mountain goats to keep us company.

Pyramid's route includes a fun ledge called the Leap of Faith

At the beginning of fall, I talked Jared into an endurance hike. We started with Missouri Mountain, then traversed over Iowa Peak to Emerald Peak, a 13er overlooking the beautiful Missouri basin.

Then we climbed over Elkhead Pass to Mounts Oxford and Belford, at which point we were seriously wasted.

Thankful that the thunderstorms held off until we made the last summit, we let gravity take us back down to the trailhead.

Since the weather this fall was so pleasant, I climbed a few more alone. I started with Mount Bierstadt and thoroughly enjoyed my traverse over the Sawtooth to Mount Evans.

Next I camped out at North Halfmoon Creek and climbed Mount Massive and neighboring 13er Mount Oklahoma.

Last, I climbed Mount Yale with my friend Regan during the height of the fall colors.

By my accounting, that is 19 14ers and 5 13ers. Not a bad year. Only 10 14ers to go.

Mesa Verde

2011-11-21T01:44:00.000-08:00

And while we were driving around the west, why not stop by Mesa Verde too? So the thinking went. So on our ways home, all 19 of us drove over to Mesa Verde to check out the cliff dwellings. Some of us stopped at Four Corners to say we had been there.

Mesa Verde is a cool place! The dwellings are impressive, and the road up the mesa is amazing. We camped one night and did a tour the next morning.

Grand Canyon

2011-11-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

We flew in and out of Phoenix to get to Hawai'i. The tickets were cheaper, and we got to visit my parents for a few days when we got back. We swam, went to the science museum, did some school shopping, played tennis in the early mornings, and went to a huge indoor jumpy-house place that the kids loved. It was great.

And by a happy alignment of fate, Nephi's brother Aaron was travelling in Arizona with his family at precisely the same time we were there! And Martha, who lives way up in Utah, decided she might as well bring her family down to meet us all at the Grand Canyon! Ellen came down too. This is the sort of thing that happens in the West that easterners don't understand. That's the equivalent of someone in Burlington, Vermont deciding to swing down to Washington, DC. Anyway, we all converged at Grand Canyon and camped and hiked for a few marvelous days. There were nineteen of us, and it was like being part of a flash mob wherever we went. One day we hiked part of the way down the South Kaibab trail. Nephi actually was quite sick and stayed in the tent that day, which was sad. But it was a good hike. We were there on July 4th, and that evening there was a ranger program where we all got together and sang patriotic songs.

Cousins are the best. The Grand Canyon is amazing. Good times.

Hawaii, in conclusion, five months later

2011-11-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

All good things come to an end, of course. We eventually came home from Hawai'i, even if I left us there on our blog for five months. There are a few last thoughts, memories, and pictures I wanted to put up here before I finally let us leave.

The largest volcano on the island is Mauna Kea. It is almost 14,000 feet above sea level, which is something to consider when you're sitting on the beach at its base. The highest peaks in Colorado are just over 14,000 feet to put that in perspective, and we live at 5,500 feet elevation. Something else interesting about Mauna Kea is that we only saw its peak about twice the entire month. There is a permanent cloud layer at about 8,000 feet or so. It is also a very broad, non-peaky peak; you would never guess the elevation change was so dramatic. It gets snow on top. Nephi hiked to the top one morning. The guide books make it sound all super-intimidating and epic to do, but he knocked it off pretty easily. Because he's awesome like that. (Wait till he posts about the peaks he did in Colorado this summer after we got back). There are also quite a few world-class astronomy observatories up there that are not open to the public, as well as a University of Hawai'i observatory that does nightly public viewings through their telescope. So he took Joseph and Caleb up to see the stars one night. He was glad to be able to see the Southern Cross up in the sky. There was a pretty sunset and some cool cloud goings-on before the viewing.

Also, here are a few pictures of where we stayed. We found the places on either homeaway.com or vrbo.com. With our size of family, rentals like this look like the way we'll travel most of the time. Both rentals worked out very well. Here's our place on the Hilo side, where we were for most of the month. It was a four-plex in a very strange gated community that consisted of a mix of run down little homes and new multi-million dollar beautiful villas actively being updated.

You can see ours was nothing fancy, but the price was fantastic and we liked our neighbors. Also there was a patio with an ocean view where we ate dinner most nights. Really, I'm not complaining.

On the Kona side we stayed in a generic condo complex with a pool (with a sign forbidding "boisterous conduct") with another lovely patio. And this one had sunsets!

Our living arrangements were good reflections of the feel of the two sides of the island. Hilo is definitely a more organic, wild place. There were produce stands on the side of the road on card tables. Hitchhikers were everywhere. Everywhere! Hippie-looking twenty-somethings, fifty-year old ladies in church clothes, just everyone hitchhiked. Also, pick-up trucks with passengers in the truck bed sitting on beach chairs were a common sight. It felt rural and relatively poor.

Kona, on the other hand, felt like a developed cruise ship stop that wanted to suck all your money out of your wallet through carefully planned shopping plazas and Macaroni Grills. Can you even imagine going to Hawai'i and eating at Macaroni Grill?!?! There is a Costco there, where everyone does most of their shopping. The traffic is annoying and people drive nice cars. It reminded us an awful lot of San Diego, actually.

But the Kona side sure has nice beaches and snorkeling. Again, we didn't bring our camera to all the beaches we visited, but we took a few pictures at 69 Beach. Beautiful sand, beautiful water, nice shade, great day.

And eventually it was over. We loved our time on the Big Island of Hawai'i!!

Mahalo for the memories.

Place of Refuge

2011-07-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

Back in the days in Hawai'i when letting your shadow fall across the path of royalty or eating with someone of the other sex was enough to get you killed, there were apparently a few places on the island called "places of refuge." If an offender was able to reach one of these places before being apprehended, they were completely forgiven and could rejoin society as if nothing had happened. Curious. One of those places is now a national park on the Big Island.

We had the great luck of visiting during the annual Cultural Festival. I discovered that festivals are a little hit or miss. There was a festival I anticipated being a huge deal on King Kamehameha day; we had scouted out parking and wondered if we'd spend the entire day there. As it turned out, parking was not a problem, there were three craft booths and some folks from the senior citizens center doing hula. So it didn't really take the entire day. On the other hand, the Cultural Festival was pretty amazing. There were many craftsman and artisans who practiced old Hawai'ian arts such as weaving, carving, dancing, and fishing. Many had crafts that we could participate in for free; I wove a bracelet from dried leaves, and the boys made a bamboo instrument and sanded and hollowed out some decorative gourds, all of which we brought home. There were outrigger canoes and catamarans to take rides on.

There were some very good hula dancers. They were from Oregon (?). I grew very fond of hula dancing on this trip. There is something wonderful about a dance style that can look beautiful and feminine even if the woman is seventy years old or overweight. It is very experessive and engaging to watch, and can be feminine without being sexual. And it is so inclusive. The city of Hilo has a slightly cheesy song "Hilo, My Hometown". There is a dance to go along with it, and it seems everyone knows it. Several times we witnessed the song, and people spontaneously joining in the dance. I like that. The hula dancers at the festival were more traditional. Some of the individual dancers were very good, and some not as much, but the effect was still striking, and I like that too.

And there were some games of skill,

some tossing of fishing nets,

some strategy games,

and some really amazing traditional carved weapons.

There was still more to see and more people to talk with when we had to leave. It was a fantastic day.

Hanging out

2011-07-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

Some of the most important memories in Hawai'i were just everyday patterns we fell into, and I don't want to forget them. We played countless games of Yahtzee and cribbage and checkers. We taught the boys solitaire. We got library cards and the boys read a lot, especially about WWI and WWII. There was a summer reading program the kids participated in; it's shocking how motivating one candy bar a week can be. Strangely, we cooked a lot of pumpkin bread. Caleb became proficient at building card houses.

We played dominos.

We drove a lot; the big island is indeed big. Songs that we listened to about two million times at the requests of the boys include: South Side by Moby, Death or Glory by the Clash, and Dani California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

We played with the little girl Audrey whow lived downstairs. She was a bit wild and destructive; it was nice to feel like we had obedient, well behaved kids by comparison.

The boys loved catching geckos in the backyard and putting them in our apartment. This one lost its tail during the ordeal, but it stuck around in the boys' bathroom the whole month.

And snuggled. When they weren't wrestling or chasing each other around like crazy people driving us nuts.

The boys all shared a double bed which worked just fine. It was so sweet to see them all intertwined. And quiet.

Champagne Pond

2011-07-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Just around the corner from the Pufferfish Tidepool in the bay was the Champagne Pond. It was a lovely place with lots of nice memories.

The Pufferfish Tidepool

2011-07-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

A short walk from our apartment in Kapoho was a geothermally heated tidepool with some terrific snorkelling. (Note: not our place in the background there.)

We called it the pufferfish tide pool because right next to it was a pool with an enormous captive pufferfish, and lots of other great fish that we fed our papaya that we didn't want to eat.

Look how adorable Isaac is in his goggles and life jacket.

There were turtles in the water. One spectacular day there was a turtle that had to have been about six feet long just grazing along the bottom. Another day one scared the heck out of my by swimming up alongside me, not six inches from my head. We also saw a large coronet fish. Once our neighbors showed us how to get here, we went back again and again. Good times.

Musings on Hawai'i

2011-07-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

Whenever anyone asks me, "How was Hawaii?", I feel dissatisfied with my response. How can I convey what it was like to live on the Big Island for a month as a family? From their follow-up questions I can tell that they are envisioning that I spent a month lying on some beautiful beaches. Maybe I'm different from most, but lying on beaches for a month sounds very unpleasant. I've seen people that have lain on beaches for years and from the looks of it they will be enriching some lucky dermatologist's life in the near future. The beach isn't all bad; I like sitting next to Gina, talking and reconnecting, and playing with the boys in the waves and the sand. Our trip wasn't really about lying on the beach; my goal was to spend a lot of time together as a family, building some valuable memories, and I think we were wildly successful.

Why go to Hawai'i? The easiest way for me to answer that is to list the things that we were able to do:

Swim in lava heated ponds
Catalog the abundant life in the ocean: sea turtles, manta rays, moray eels, tropical fish
Go to farmer's markets
Watch native dancers
Witness the power of volcanoes, tsunamis, the ocean
Climb Mauna Kea
Hike into Waipio Valley and down to Kealakekua Bay
Scale banyan trees
Explore lava tubes
See the Southern Cross
Paddle in an outrigger canoe
Go to the temple
Eat new foods
Experience another culture, another solution to the problem of living a meaningful life

These are things we would not be able to do at home. New experiences excite me. They allow me to learn and grow, to examine my life from new perspectives. I feel that one of the gifts I can give the boys is new experiences in a supportive environment where they are free to explore and figure out what they like.

Besides sharing all of these experiences with the family, I was able to watch the boys grow and develop. They grew increasingly comfortable in the water, learned that they were strong and competent hikers, and adjusted beautifully to all the newness. I like that they identify as people that try new things. As they gained confidence in their ability to negotiate new situations, I gained confidence in their ability to live successful lives.

Waipi'o Valley

2011-06-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

At the north end of the island is a beautiful valley called Waipi'o. Apparently it was where King Kamehameha grew up, and was the meeting place for royalty when important decisions needed to be made. It was really productive farmland until a tsunami wiped it out in 1960, and now is a community of homesteaders and off-the-grid folks. To get into the valley you go down a really steep hill that our mini van definitely couldn't hack, so we walked. At the back of the valley is a waterfall.

Oh, oh! And in the valley is a little stream that crosses the road!! It was definitely the most interesting thing we had seen so far that day. We could hardly tear the boys away. Really.

Then we came to a much bigger stream to cross. It was very pretty. The boys were even more interested in this stream.

So it was only a matter of time until someone fell in. But it's just water.

Then we walked around a bit. Found a few ripe guavas we picked and ate.

Swung on some vines.

And headed back up the hill. Isaac walked the whole way himself, and it was a bit of a trek. The views were lovely.

Hilo waterfalls

2011-06-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hilo has some beautiful waterfalls! We saw them. Here is Rainbow Falls:

And Pe'epe'e Falls, my favorite.

Also, Akaka Falls was a stunning 410 drop, but we didn't bring our camera that day.

Food

2011-06-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

Eating in Hawai'i has been an adventure, and I've enjoyed it. As our family has settled into patterns over the years and Nephi and I have divided up responsibilities by necessity and interest and sometimes just by inertia, it's happened that getting the family fed is mostly my job. Nephi makes breakfast most mornings, but shopping, lunch, and dinner is generally my realm. So arriving in a new place with a bunch of kids who will soon be hungry presents an immediate challenge. The first night we arrived I headed to the grocery store. It was overwhelming. Everyone says that food is expensive in Hawai'i, and they are right. Stunningly expensive. Like loaves of bread for $5-$7 (and $3 on a really good sale), milk for $5 a gallon, a dozen eggs for $3. Processed food from the mainland seem to be about $1-$2 more per item, so things like a can of tomatoes can get pricey. And how about a half gallon of Breyers ice cream for $11? We'll wait a few weeks. I was driven to do things like buy Ragu pasta sauce. I know. One surprise in the super market: half an aisle devoted to different kinds of soy sauce. And only the one fake Kikoman brand fish sauce, just like in Colorado. As the days went by we found a few tricks to save a bit of money, but I still think we spent about double our usual grocery budget over the month. Which is ok.

The most wonderful and enjoyable discovery was the farmers market in Hilo on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

There was the most exhilerating array of such beautiful, exotic, reasonably priced produce; I just loved being there. And it wasn't the pretentious, fake kind of farmers markets where you go because it seems like the hip thing "white people" and Michael Pollen like to do, and you end up buying a bunch of sorry looking kale for $4 and an artisan loaf of bread for $8 and think that farmers markets kind of suck. No, this was the real deal; real food for great prices. Long beans, Japanese eggplants, tomatoes, greens, bok choi, lettuce, cucumbers, gigantic avocados, purple sweet potatoes, basil, apple bananas, and papaya out the wazoo. Papayas everywhere. Five huge papayas for a dollar. Puna is the papaya capital of Hawai'i, and maybe the world. We passed huge papaya farms every time we left our home there. Too bad papayas are gross. We pretended to like them for a few days, but then just admitted they taste bad and snuck the rest of what we had in a few smoothies. Sadly, no mangos. This was going to the mango vacation when we ate delicious mangos three times a day! But no crop this year. Our neighbor said last year was the year of the mango. Oh well. There were pineapples, but they cost and tasted about the same as on the mainland. But the little apple bananas are everywhere and we ate them like candy. So delicious. And there were plenty of exotic, new fruits to try. Lychees, mountain apples, soursop, rambutans, longans. It was fun to try spikey new red or green things. Here's what I got the first day.

Shopping at the farmers market was really, really enjoyable to me; I loved the people, the smells, the sights, and the tastes.

Another great find was this place:

Suisan fish market in Hilo. I fell in love with it. It seemed there was always one kind of fish at a really great price; we ate lots of mako shark and ahi. Also, they sold amazingly delicious poke, marinated raw fish. And they had a markdown dairy section with super cheap yogurt and cheese, leading my kids to forever associate Yoplait yogurt with Hawai'i. I never buy anything but plain yogurt at home, and they eat and like it; the fruit and sugar-laden yogurt is totally off limits. But when I could get a twelve pack of mountain blueberry for $1.50, and everything else is so expensive, I just bought cases and cases. The kids were in heaven. It's vacation, right?

Another treat we ate quite a bit this trip was malasadas, Portuguese donuts with tasty fillings. They are pretty common here. (History: did you know that 90% of the origional Hawai'ian population died off due to disease within a generation or so of westerners arriving? By the time folks wanted to really get sugar plantations going in the late 1800s, there just weren't enough native Hawai'ians around to exploit, so they had to import workers from Asia and Portugul. And I guess the Portugese brought their donut recipe with them).

The final culinary highlight of the trip for my kids was the quintessentially Hawai'ian food croutons. We were at a restaurant getting malasadas one day, and they had huge bags of tasty looking croutons for $1. Wow, did my kids want to eat salad with those babies on top. They liked them so much that they wanted to drive back and get some more, even though it was an hour and a half away.

We got loco mocos from Cafe 100 in Hilo, a local hotspot. One day I found a markdown seafood case at a grocery store in Hilo and we had an amazing lunch in a park of poke and sushi. One day we got shave ice for the kids, which still seems kind of gimmicky to me. A snow cone for $3 a piece? And in Kona on the tip of my friend Ashlee we got some super delicious lau laus from a lady who essentially sells them from her home. They are pork wrapped in taro leaves and steamed. Yum. So I feel like we've had some culinary adventures. But we'll leave poi for the next trip, I think.

Trees

2011-06-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

All that rain makes for some pretty amazing trees. One thing that Joseph and Caleb dislike about Colorado is the scarcity of good climbing trees, but I think this trip should tide them over for awhile. There are striking trees almost anywhere you look here.

But it's the banyan trees that make for amazing climbing. The first good find was a big one in Hilo in Liliuokalani Park, a charmingly manicured, Japanese-garden style area. It is a comfortable, welcoming space despite the formal elements, and walking through it is even more pleasant than one would expect from the edges. It's a really impressive urban space.

And the granddaddy of them all by Rainbow Falls near Hilo.

Look at that tree! It's the size of a small building! It has tunnels and largish rooms inside it! Needless to say, it was love at first sight for the boys.

Rain

2011-06-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

It really knows how to rain in Hawaii. Downpours the likes of which happen a few times a year in Colorado are near daily occurrences here. As I said earlier, the Hilo side of the island where we are staying has a 50% chance of rain at all times, and it seems pretty stochastic; that is, the weather 15 minutes from now is completely independent of the weather at this moment. There have been a few days that were almost all rainy (two days ago) and a few that are almost all sunny (yesterday), but most are a mix. And really, it's fine. A constant 78 degrees covers a multitude of sins; the rain is never cold, and never steamy, grows awesome trees, and usually is just a lot of fun.

Kehena

2011-06-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Friday we went and spent another day at Kehena, an absolutely beautiful beach not too far from where we are staying. And I brought the camera this time. When we got there around 10 it was almost deserted; as the afternoon wore on it got progressively more crowded.

There is lovely sand there for the boys to play in. The Hilo side of the island has very little sand, so it's a treat.

The surf is pretty big here; the boys have to be right next to Nephi or me to play in it. Joseph especially loves it. In the afternoon, I guess a few people asked Nephi if we were local because the kids seemed so comfortable in the water.

There is quite a bit of shade by the cliffs around the edges of the beach for Benjamin to hang out it. He's fighting a really nasty yeast diaper rash, so we let him go commando as much as possible these days to help it heal. He fits right in at Kehena.

I love these boys.

Swimming

2011-06-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

We've done a lot of swimming since we've been in Hawaii. Shocker, I know. But I have almost no pictures, because water and sand and rocks and carrying lots of stuff and leaving valuables in cars in parking lots and cameras don't mix very well. We'll go back to a lot of our favorite places that we've found, and I'll make the effort to get a few pictures so we can remember them. But here's a quick rundown.

Champagne Pond - This is the small bay a five minute walk from where we are staying, and we've been here a lot. It is amazing. We've gone there several times in the evenings after getting back from doing other things, and towards sunset it just feels magical. The water is crystal clear and heated by the volcano, and there is a sea turtle who lives there. Sometimes we are the only people there, and often there are super nice local families that our kids play with. One thing I didn't clearly understand before arriving is that the only easy access to the place is through the gated community where we are staying; otherwise you need a four wheel drive capable of driving over a super rough a'a lava road. If we weren't staying where we are, we might not have gotten to see this place at all. There is a small rocky beach, and right behind it a shady grove of trees where Benjamin can hang out.
Kapoho tide pools - These are just two miles from where we are staying, and we've been a few times and plan to go back several more before we leave. You pretty much park your car, walk 50 feet, fall into the water, and see lots of awesome coral and fish. It is a little tricky with everyone because there is no beachy area. I've only gone once and didn't get to spend too much time snorkeling because Benjamin was fussy, but we'll go back. It's an absolutely perfect place for the kids to snorkel because it is very protected from the ocean, and between the tide pools are shallow areas they can stand to rest if they get tired.
Isaac Hale - This is a state park just a few miles down the road. It was ok, but mostly a surf area. There was a sandy area with some big waves, and a protected boat ramp where we spent most of our time swimming. Just back from the ocean is an idyllic little heated pond in a coconut grove where the boys swam for a bit until a local guy came by and pointed out all the dead shrimp probably indicating that the water wasn't especially healthy. But no one got sick, so it's just a happy memory.
Punalu'u - A black sand beach quite a ways from our place where we spent a day. There were lots of sea turtles, a super friendly girl named Destiny who endeared herself in our hearts forever by finding Nephi's water shoe that got ripped off, sunshine, and fun but not too scary waves. It wasn't as pretty as I was expecting, actually.
Kehena - I think this place is definitely one of the highlights of our trip. It's not clearly marked, although there is a small parking area off a really remote, jungly, beautiful road. From there you hike down a short path to what has to be one of the most beautiful places in the whole world. It's a little cove sheltered by dramatic sea cliffs and lush vegetation with wonderful fine black sand, with a little tide pool off to one side. We spent such a wonderful day there. The surf is rough, so the boys played with one of us very nearby, and dug tunnels and buried each other in the sand. Predictably, a secluded place this beautiful is a nude beach, so things got more colorful as the day went on. I'm just going to say categorically that doing yoga with no clothes on is ill-advised. But there were lots of families, and a surprising two separate film crews making short movies for their respective Christian churches. We'll definitely be back.
Onekahakaha - This is a state park near Hilo. It was raining, but we were nearby so checked it out anyway. It is calm and sandy bottomed. The boys were a little bored. But I was in the car with Benjamin so I got a picture.

The boys are turning into really good swimmers. Isaac wears a little life vest and some goggles and just bobs around happy as can be, and Joseph and Caleb love snorkeling.

Volcano National Park

2011-06-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

A few days into our trip we went to Volcano National Park, about an hour from where we are staying. It was SO AMAZING to see the lava flowing down into the ocean and feel like we were witnessing creation. We could hike right over to it and I especially loved watching the way the hot insides would crack through the blackened, hardening shell as it flowed. And the greatest part is that the best place for viewing the lava at night, when it is most spectacular, is just half an hour from where we are. Such an awesome way to end a day.

I'm just kidding. Actually, the flow which has been pretty much flowing continuously down to the ocean for the last 28 years stopped on March 5th, three months ago. So there actually is no lava flowing anywhere above ground on the island at the moment. BUMMER. Why is my life so hard and nothing good ever happens to me? Except spending five weeks in Hawaii with my family, I guess. So you don't actually have to feel sorry for me. But still, it is kind of too bad. We enjoyed the day nevertheless; there is a surprising amount of variety in the park. We started by checking out the Kilauea crater, which does have some smoke and steam coming out.

We walked around some steam vents and took a little hike through an amazingly lush and beautiful rain forest, then tempted fate by bringing the boys into the Volcano Arts Center. We figured the universe was in our debt by stopping the lava flow, and happily we got all the kids out before accidentally buying a broken $5000 glass sculpture. There was a lot of really beautiful art in there; I stayed a little longer while Nephi and the boys hiked back to the car and came to pick me up. Then we drove down the Chain of Craters road, which goes from the top of Kilauea down to the ocean. There were some terrific views, and much of the way you drive through previous flows. At the end there is a sea arch and dramatic ocean cliffs.

Towards the bottom there is also a hike to a huge grouping of petroglyphs. It was very cool to hike across the stark lava field.

And finally we stopped at a lava tube, big caves hollowed out by flowing lava. Half of the tube is lit, and half isn't. Being the bold adventurers that we are, we went through the unlit part too (with headlamps). But we got to do the "turn out your lights and experience complete darkness" thing at the end, which was cool.

And then, we didn't spend the evening captivated by the red glow. But that's okay.

Lava Tree

2011-05-31T15:17:00.000-07:00

We are staying for a few weeks in Puna, a fairly rural, wild, jungle-y part of the big island. On the way to and from most places, we drive down a fantastic road, which is basically a tunnel through huge, amazing monkeypod trees. When you look up, it looks like this. It is wonderful.

Along this road is Lava Tree State Park. A long time ago there was a lava flow here, and some of the trees were wet enough that the lava cooled around them and left casts of the trees. You can see them in the background. I'll be perfectly honest; I was a little underwhelmed.

But there was a big banyan tree with vines hanging off it that the boys had fun swinging on.

Joseph would like to title this photo "Yo."

Aloha by the numbers

2011-05-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

We're in Hawaii! Here's our trip so far by the numbers.

5: Number of weeks we'll be here. I know, it's completely outrageous. It feels like somehow it shouldn't be allowed. Definite perk to being a teacher. And when you can rent places to stay for weeks at a time, it makes it much more affordable. Especially if you don't mind your accommodations just a little bit gritty. Not gross or unsafe, mind you; just the sort of place normal working-class Hawaiians live.
2: Places we'll stay while we're here on the Big Island. We'll be on the less touristy east side near Hilo for four weeks, and spend the last week on the west side smack in the middle of sunny, beachy tourist land.
50: Percent chance of rain at all times around Hilo. I hope they don't pay their weather forecasters much here. It's pretty liberating to always have a 50% chance of rain; no point to either planning around the weather or letting it slow you down.
6: Hours on the plane from the mainland. The kids did fantastic. But I do want to say this. For part of the trip I sat in front of a kid who would not stop kicking the seat. He seemed to have some behavior or developmental issues and could not control his body or voice very well, and I seriously did not envy his mom. And here's a secret to parents everywhere: it was NO BIG DEAL that he kept kicking the seat. I mean, I could feel it but it was only the tiniest bit annoying. I'm not saying parents should just let their kids kick plane seats, but if your kid kicks a few times before you are able to intervene you do not need to be filled with the deep sort of angst and regret and embarrassment I am prone to. If the person gives you mean looks, you can just chill and feel sorry that their lives are so petty that they go around feeling put out by every little bump they encounter.
5: minutes walking from our condo to the Champagne Pond, a geothermally heated little protected ocean bay with crystal clear water, often completely deserted. Amazing.
100: percent of the time the Champagne Pond has had sea turtles swimming around.
Roughly 250: number of stalls at the Hilo farmers market staffed by friendly cute old Asian women selling amazing, fresh, fascinating produce for super reasonable prices.
7: Dollars for a gallon of milk at the grocery store.
3.93: Dollars for a gallon of gas, which is about the same as Colorado. We were bracing for much worse.
1: Number of mornings we've woken up and hacked down some coconuts with a machete from a tree in the front yard with our friendly neighbors.
1: Number of times a clerk at a store has asked if we were just visiting based on my (glaringly non-local) last name. Apparently she knows some Thompsons who live in Louisiana. Which really cracked me up.
0: Number of pictures you'll get on the blog from our underwater camera until we return home, because we forgot the right cable to transfer them.
At least 1: Number of geckos who share our residence.
8: Number of fresh-faced, white shirted visitors at church today who were here for the summer doing "marketing." And for all you snarky BYU alums, no, they aren't selling pest control. They are selling security systems.
2: Number of talks at church that actually started with the person saying "aloha" and the congregation all answering back "aloha". I secretly believed until today that Hawaiians on the mainland were just making up that whole exchange.

Which is all to say that so far it's been great. I can't believe we're really here.

Baptism and Blessing Weekend

2011-05-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

The second week in May, Nephi was able to bless Benjamin and baptize and confirm Joseph at our church. It was a very sweet day, and family came from far and wide to celebrate with us. My parents came a few days early. We loved spending time with them, and of course my Mom helped with a million things around the house, fixing some paint issues in our room, planting some flowers, and helping get all the food ready for Saturday. My Dad spent lots of great time with Benjamin. I love seeing my Dad with my babies.

I put together a little slideshow of pictures of Joseph that we showed at the baptism. It is so cliche but so true that time goes so quickly.

At the service, Nephi's sisters Martha and Ellen sang a nice duet, his Mom played the piano, and his Dad and I gave talks. It was a really nice family day. Then everyone came back to our house for some food and time together. Martha and her family and Ellen had driven over all the way from Utah, and his brother Aaron flew in from Georgia. We really appreciated everyone's efforts to be with us; it meant a lot to Joseph to have all those people together on his specal day.

Ambroses Assemble in Arizona

2011-05-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in April I was able to fly down to Arizona for a little family reunion. What started as one or two family members meeting up snowballed until all my cousins and aunt and uncle on my Mom's side were able to assemble in Phoenix for a few days. I think it's the first time we'd all been together in 15 years!

We spent quite a bit of time at my cousin Merideth's home just hanging out. A highlight was seeing her real-life-artist-husband Jason's studio where he makes his awesome sculptures. And playing dominos because that's just an Ambrose thing.

My sister Laura and uncle Tom won both times, just edging out my cousin Tommy and me. They were insufferable winners, of course.

My cousins and I spent a few weeks together each summer at Lake Erie when I was young. They're the closest thing I had to older siblings, and I idolized and adored them accordingly. It's still kind of strange to me that we're all grown ups together now.

Saturday we went to a Greek Festival and enjoyed some good eating. In fact, much of the weekend was spent planning for, anticipating, and enjoying the next really excellent meal. Saturday night we ate some of the best Thai food I've ever had. It was incredible.

The weather was unseasonably lovely while we were there and it felt great after the cold rainy spring we've had in Colorado.

I'm always a bit reticent to have my picture taken with my beautiful sister, since it makes even more clear where the good looks ended up in our family. But it's always so nice to catch up with her. She's got lots of good stuff going on in her life right now.

This weekend was the first time my dad got to meet Benjamin and they were fast friends.

Benjamin also got lots of love and attention from Meredith's darling daughter Grace.

I also finally put together the tribute video I've been half working on for years. It is shorter and not nearly as polished as I had initially hoped, but I really wanted to get it done in time for this weekend so I cut lots out and allowed for a some sloppiness in editing. It actually turned out better than I feared when I was blasting through it. My grandparents were remarkable people. As I made it and watched it with their children and grandchildren, I thought about how creating a family is a significant, enduring endeavor.

Easter Weekend Camping

2011-05-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

On Easter weekend we met Nephi's sister Martha and her family, Samuel, Ellen, and Nephi's parents over in the San Rafael Swell to camp for a night. It was a good time.

The weather was a bit chillier and wetter than one would hope for while camping, but not too bad. Benjamin was bundled up the whole time and again slept well and was more or less his happy self. But even he has his moments.

Friday after dinner the kids dyed Easter eggs, and that night we had a little devotional and sang some hymns around the campfire.

The next morning the kids looked for eggs in just about the prettiest location you could imagine.

It was nice to be together. Samuel headed up to Idaho the next week for a job with the forest service, so we were glad to see him before he left.

As we were packing up the next morning I noticed this. Now bearing in mind that there are a 13, 10, 8, 7, 6, and 5 year old on the premises, three of whom are girls, who do you think wrote this on the back of our dusty van? Nephi. Is that sweet, or what? A bit surprising, but sweet.

Then we headed off for a terrific hike through a lovely canyon. Again me with the rocks and the kids and the climbing and the bit of panic and nagging, though. But a really beautiful hike.

And that's how we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.

Camping in Escalante Canyon

2011-05-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

The boys and Nephi had spring breaks that overlapped this year at the end of March, so we thought it would be a perfect time to break out the old camping gear for a few days and head to slightly warmer regions. Happily, we didn't have to go far; we drove down to Escalante Canyon just south of Grand Junction. It was incredibly beautiful, the weather was perfect, and we were apparently the only people on the Western Slope who had the idea, because we had the whole huge beautiful place to ourselves. It was faaantastic.

We had our terrific friends the Dohertys along with us. I first cought wind of this family shortly after moving to this area and looking at home exchange web sites. They had their home listed and were looking for exciting places to visit with their two young boys. The web site doesn't list any names or exact addresses, so without joining the site I had no way to find out who they were, but I knew someday we'd meet these folks. And we did the next summer, when Joseph and their son Wyeth were in a summer electricity for kids class that Nephi was teaching. And happily we've gotten to know them this past year. Nephi and Scott and another friend get together every few weeks for a philosophy club, Lisa and I hang out, they have legendary Halloween and Scrabble parties, and we were so happy to discover that they are absolutely delightful camping companions.

Like I said, we were pretty much the only people in the canyon so the kids could just play Frisbee in the road or wherever. We had some lunch and found a campsite, which was very beautiful but also, as it turned out, more or less right on a cliff. But no one fell down into the canyon, so it's all good.

Then we headed up to do some rock climbing. Actually, everyone but me did some climbing. I'm not much for heights, to be honest; I'm pretty uncomfortable up on the rocks. And when it's just me feeling a bit uncomfortable I can do all right. But these days we've got these three boys who seem to think they are little mountain goats hopping all over the place, and it's getting to be a bit of a problem with me and anxiety and knowing where exactly to draw the line; how much concern is reasonable and responsible, and how much is phobia. Lisa had to talk me through a little breakdown at one point.

It was a perfectly clear and beautiful night. We bundled little Benjamin up very well and he slept the whole night through because that's the sort of agreeable baby that he is. The next morning we headed down the cliff, which turned out to have a path down it and probably couldn't technically be called a "cliff" to the river to splash around a bit. Nephi and Lisa scouted out another rock climbing spot down there.

Later that day we stopped by at Nephi's parents who live nearby and had dinner, then headed home. It was a really wonderful two days. Western Colorado, I love you.

Some things the boys have been up to

2011-05-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy spring; here are a few things the boys have been up to.

Building forts/tanks.

Making weapons out of various non-weapon toys.

Having a good time with Benjamin.

Playing with gumdrops and toothpicks.

Legos. Of course.

Winning second place in the district pinewood derby. Go Joseph! (This also means Joseph started cub scouts, which he loves, and so far I do too.)

Having a great time on Joseph's Destination Imagination team. There is a family history of participating in the program, formerly known as Olympics of the Mind; I myself was part of the legendary "Burger and Fries" superhero skit at the moderately more successful "Cartoon Switcheroo" team back in the day. Joseph loved the whole experience. The coaches are under strict orders to offer no real assistance to the kids as they prepare a skit; to the credit of Joseph's coach, I think he actually resisted the almost irresistible urge to help the kids along towards something perhaps a bit more coherent. As it was, it involved a donut-eating police officer, a little old lady who needed to cross the street, a clown, and a cane. The rest was a little hard to follow. But it was fun! And the judges said very kind things like "It looks like you really enjoyed yourselves!"

Joseph's 8th Birthday

2011-05-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

Also in March, Joseph turned eight. We had a nice family celebration, and also invited some friends to a swimming party at a local pool.

Joseph has gotten to be a good reader as of late, and he especially loves comic books. The fit is so natural, it has helped me realize that Joseph seems to have a comic book constantly unfolding in his head. Although he is very observant and engaged when he wants to be, he can also seem distracted much of the time, because he is constantly imagining completely outrageous and funny and comic-book-like scenarios. Sometimes while reading out loud, he'll stop mid-sentence and relate a very elaborate scenario he's apparently been thinking about in the background, often involving either a slap-stick kind of humor or something exploding. I'm not sure what this means, other than Joseph has a very (always!) active imagination, and I hope he finds wonderful ways to put it to use in his life.

Eight is an important age in our religion; it is the age one becomes mature enough to be accountable for one's actions. I can see that maturity in Joseph; he want to be kind, and so often is. He has an innocence and purity at his core that I hope he never loses. We love him!

Isaac turns 4

2011-05-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Isaac turned four back in March.

It's hard to convey the sweetness of this little boy. He is affectionate, good hearted, silly, and so easy to love. Also, he's smart as a whip. We celebrated his birthday with a joint swimming party. He chose rather eclectic cake decorations and had a great time swimming with a few of his friends.

We are so, so happy to have you in our family, Isaac!

Reading Roundup - January and February

2011-02-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall (4 stars)
This is a really good, honest, funny, ridiculous story. Everything is over the top, but endearingly so, starting in the first chapter when Golden arrives home to his twenty-eight children running wild around the "race track" in the Big House. The book has laugh-out-loud funny scenes, empathetic characters, commentary on nuclear testing in southern Utah, loneliness, tenderness, forgiveness, redemption... and most everything is done very well. Some significant messy plot points are resolved a little too easily, but overall it's a great read. It will make you laugh, make you cry, etc.

The Solitude of Self: Thinking About Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Vivian Gornick (2 stars) This book made me a little crazy. It's not really a straight biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton; it's also a personal essay by Gornick about her feminist roots and reflections on Stanton. I found Gornick's personal reflections to be so irritating that I had no faith in her analysis of Stanton. She struck me as completely unable to imagine or experience the social structures of Stanton's time without the most annoying kind of stereotypical academic feminist disdain. Not that there is not much to find horrifying; it truly is shocking to think of how completely a married woman lacked any basic rights - to vote, divorce, have any say in her sex life, hold property. And Stanton was way beyond her time in her perspective on these things. But somehow Gornick's tone just drove me up the wall. I wanted way more Stanton and way less Gornick.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (4 stars) This is a remarkable book about the massive migration of almost six million black people out of the south to the north and west from 1915-1970. It focuses on three real people who migrated, one to California, one to Harlem, and one to Chicago, and alternates their stories with narrative summaries about how their experiences reflect or highlight overall trends. The book struck me as remarkable in it's honesty; I did not feel that people, conditions, and experiences were manipulated to be worse or better than they actually were.

Which is not to say the book shied away from how genuinely horrifying and awful living in the south was for a black person. I really cannot comprehend living in a place that on the word of any random white person, I or my family member could be killed with no hope of any justice coming to the murderers. And that is to say nothing of the sickening, dehumanizing, relatively petty injustices that were part of every day life. The book does a remarkable job of dramatizing how impossibly suffocating and terrifying life under Jim Crow laws could be for a black person. And it illustrates that just because people believe with their whole hearts that something is right, in this case that black people are inherently inferior, and they argue in terms of apple pie and protecting the children and in defense of all that is holy and right et cetera, it doesn't mean that they aren't hateful, twisted people who are dead wrong.

But things weren't all peaches and cream up north or out west, either. I mean, at least if a white person raped or killed your daughter you might have some legal recourse, which is not to be underrated, but there was plenty of prejudice and injustice to go around. The troubles that many of the black migrants found in the northern cities are still reflected in our urban troubles today. They were forced to live in certain neighborhoods, where they paid about 60% higher rent than white people paid for similar housing, while being paid less than white counterparts in the worst possible jobs. It is not surprising that this situation created it's own problems. I am reminded of Lincoln's second inaugural speech given in the middle of the Civil War, which makes me feel slightly uneasy and sad every time I read it for it's truth and prescience:

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.""

The war is over, but in so many ways it seems our country is still paying the price in blood for the horrors and injustices inflicted under slavery.

It's a very readable, enjoyable book. There were a few things I found a bit irritating, one being Wilkerson's affinity for referring to any house occupied by a black person as a shotgun house every time she mentions it (perhaps to make it sound more dramatic?). Another is her apparent goal of making any given section of text easily excerptable, thus requiring her to repeat information you might have read just a few pages before. But overall, she does an excellent job of detailing in an engaging way this important story.

Two weeks

2011-02-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

This sweet guy is 18 days old, and I'm pretty sure it's not only because he's my very own baby that I think he's heart-meltingly cute. Also, he slept from 11 to 7 last night. Don't hate me.

Book of Mormon Party

2011-02-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

Our family finished reading the Book of Mormon together a week or so after Benjamin arrived. It took us almost five years, but we read it verse by verse, day by day, out loud together as a family for a few minutes each night before bed. I'm very glad we did it. It is an amazing book, and the experience of focusing spiritually together as a family each day brings many blessings. We celebrated with an ice cream sundae party and strobe light dancing. And the next night we started over.

Benjamin arrives!

2011-02-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Our baby Benjamin Carl was born on Monday morning, January 31, 2011 at 4:13 am. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces, 21 inches long, and incredibly beautiful. Feel free to skip to the pictures, or read the birth story if you're interested.

Sunday night around 10 I decided it was time to clean the bathrooms. Which was enough to make me very suspicious that something was up. So I enlisted Nephi and we cleaned the bathrooms and went to bed. At 1am I woke up to a serious contraction - the first serious contraction I'd felt the whole pregnancy. Four minutes later, another one, then three minutes, and I woke Nephi up and said it was time to get going. In no time at all they were one to three minutes apart, and I was a weee bit nervous about getting to the hospital in time. We called our friend Ronda to come stay with the kids until Nephi's parents got here and headed off to the hospital in Glenwood Springs, about 20 minutes away. The only adventure on the way was a huge elk herd in our neighborhood we successfully avoided; traffic and stoplights are very cooperative that time of night. We arrived to my relief with no baby yet around 2:20. The nice nurses almost hid their scepticism that I was well on my way to having a baby when I told them I had been in labor for 80 minutes, but they finally checked me and discovered I was at an 8 and indeed correct. Contractions slowed down a lot once I got settled, which was nice since they were getting harder all the time. One of my concerns about having the baby at the hospital was getting poked and prodded and told what to do and how to do it. Happily it wasn't like that at all; my midwife Teresa was wonderful. There was about and hour and a half of things going slowly, and she just let them go slowly. The lights were dim, no one really spoke, and they just let me close my eyes and do what I needed to do. Eventually a bit of drama ensued when my water broke quite enthusiastically. The pushing was fast and furious, and there Benjamin was. Beautiful.

That afternoon Nephi brought the boys, his parents, and sister ellen to come meet the little guy. The boys were so incredibly sweet.

We came home Tuesday around lunch time and things have been going really well. Benjamin is a great eater. He's also a great sleeper as long as it's 1. daytime or 2. nighttime and he's in our arms. So we're a bit tired. But Nephi is able to be home almost this whole week; we're able to trade off napping during the day and we're doing all right. Newborns are so precious and fleeting, and I think we're doing pretty well at savoring the time.

Due to make an appearance soon

2011-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Well I think that for eight months I've neglected to mention on here a tiny little detail about our life, although between Facebook and that olde tyme thing "talking to people" I'm pretty sure everyone knows. This little guy will be joining our family any day now! The due date is January 27th, two weeks from today.

It's been a relatively easy and uneventful pregnancy so far, for which I am grateful. I was in the first trimester during our trip this summer, and other than feeling tired and a week or so of being mildly unexcited about food I felt fine. We didn't tell anyone the whole trip; I just wasn't ready for all our conversations to be about the baby yet. Now I feel about nine months pregnant - rolling over in bed is an event, my hips feel so loose I'm amazed I make it up stairs, I have the weird end of pregnancy difficulty sleeping - but overall still feel good. Two weeks ago the baby was breech, but I lay dutifully with my head down on an inclined ironing board a few times during the week, which is really quite a production when you're in my state, and the little guy turned on his own, which made me like him even more. I'm going to have him at a hospital; there are no birth centers in the area, and it just seemed easier (and cheaper) to go with the flow and have him there rather than a homebirth. I feel good about it; if the birth is as easy as my others have been it will be fine to be at a hospital, and if it isn't it is probably best to be there anyhow.

My very sweet friends threw me a baby shower on Saturday, but instead of baby stuff people brought me frozen meals for when the baby comes. This is one of the most amazingly wonderful things they could have done for me. It takes a huge amount of stress off to know there are easy ways to feed everyone when I'm tired and distracted after the birth. And people were so, so generous; I have an obscene number of meals in my freezer (and some more in my friend's deep freeze). I'm not even going to tell you how many, because it seems like way too many and you'll be jealous. Ok, ok. Sixteen. I know!!! It's like a month of not having to worry about cooking dinner! I feel really indulged and taken care of. Not everyone who came were friends from church, but many ladies were. It's one of those times when it was so clear what a blessing it is to be in a ward, connected to so many wonderful people. There is a feeling of being supported and taken care of that is so affirming and reassuring. To be on the receiving end of all that giving is such a blessing, and so motivating to help out when other people need it. Relief Society really is an amazing organization.

Other than that, we've got the crib up, the clothes and diapers washed and ready. The boys are excited. Isaac has been extremely clingy and almost desperately affectionate lately, so he might be feeling a little bit of anxiety; I keep trying to reassure him we'll still love and cuddle him just as much after the baby arrives. Now it's just the waiting. It seems like the time left is both too short and too long.

New Years with the Hayes and Ellen

2011-01-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

We were so happy to have Nephi's sisters Ellen and Martha, along with Martha's considerable family, come stay with us for a few days to celebrate New Years. It snowed just in time to enjoy a bit of sledding:

And one day everyone went swimming:

Other than that, we just enjoyed hanging out together around the house with cousins.

New Years night was very fun; Joseph got out his strobe light he had gotten for Christmas and the kids had a dance party. Seven little kids dancing in strobe lights is one of the cutest things you'll ever see. I fell asleep a little after 10, but Joseph, Caleb, and Nephi made it to midnight to bang some pots.

Thanks for coming to visit, Hayes and Ellen!

Christmas aftermath with Grandparents

2011-01-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

On Christmas afternoon, my parents flew in from Arizona to stay with us for a few days. So we all got to open even more presents. They were just in time to help put together lots of Lego sets, help with some bead stringing, play many, many games of Sleeping Queens, and witness some of Joseph's cool snap circuits.

As is becoming tradition whenever she comes to visit, I put my wonderful mother to work painting our house. She claims she really enjoys it, and she does such a great job it's hard not to take up her offers of help. But I think she's probably at least a tiny bit glad that we're running out of rooms to paint. This time around it was our bedroom - a nice blue that matches the duvet cover I got for Christmas. It is also becoming tradition that I change my mind about the color at least once, which she took in great spirits.

We really enjoyed their visit. They spoiled us all with gifts and help and love and attention. Thanks for spending a few days with us, Mom and Dad!

Christmas morning

2011-01-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

In case the boys ever try to claim that they didn't receive an amazing number of gifts this Christmas...

Christmas morning we woke up to find that Santa had left us a foosball table! The sleepy boys got right to work.

He also left some other good stuff in their stockings.

Then I just enjoyed the kids opening their gifts and put the camera away.

Other December festivities

2011-01-06T06:20:00.000-08:00

December this year was a good balance of fun and relaxing. I was relatively ahead of the game; I got Christmas cards sent out and gifts mostly taken care of pretty early and was able to enjoy the holidays. Early in the month we had our church Christmas party, which was AMAZING. The people in charge did the "Night in Bethlehem" party which I've heard of other wards doing. We were asked to come in costume. I thought about borrowing a donkey to ride in on, but it seemed kind of messy.

To give you an idea of how much work the activities committee put into the night, there was a well (as in Woman At the) in the middle of the cultural hall with running water where we got our drinks. Surrounded by about eight booths with wooden frames where we bought our dinners from bakeries and delis. It really looked great, and I don't even want to think about how many hours of work went into it.

This year I also finally bought the Little People Nativity set like I've been meaning to for the last six years. We just kept it by the tree and the boys played with it quite a lot.

Some friends hosted a Gingerbread House making party for the kids which was very fun. Joseph actually made a sledding hill because he always does things his own, creative way. I wish this was a better photo; he added lots of interesting details, including a woodman busting up some graham cracker trees with his candycane sledgehammer.

The tilted head resting gently on the right hand in all three pictures cracks me up. It is either a spontaneous gingerbread house look, or a cute illustration of how much Caleb and Isaac look up to Joseph and try to be like him.

We also went carolling twice, made some delicious snacks we gave to our neighbors and friends, and did our traditional 24 wrapped Christmas books under the tree tradition, which the boys really look forward to. We tried hard to enjoy this "Christmas sweet spot", with kids just the right ages to anticipate and find the celebrations exciting and fun.

The 2010 Christmas Tree

2011-01-06T05:49:00.000-08:00

Now that we live in wild, wonderful Colorado and a few miles from national forest, it seems way too citified and easy to just go get our Christmas tree at Lowes. We like to go cut ours down from the forest. So, we got a $10 tree tag and headed up to the Flattops to cut down our own tree. (After someone lent us their truck to use. We're making the Real Coloradoan shift one step at a time, ok?) So off we headed into the woods. It turned out to be lots of fun.

I kept making the boys stop and taking their pictures. It kind of made Joseph want to throw a snowball at me.

And forgive me, I know I'm his mother, but are these eyes just too amazing for words?

After not too much searching we found The Tree, and Nephi cut it down and carried it back.

That afternoon he got to put it in the tree stand. I won't dwell too much here, but if you have suggestions for making this task less frustrating, please share. The next day we turned on the Christmas carols and decked the tree. I really liked how our little tree fit into our living room; not too big, and what may have seemed to me at first a bit on the scraggly side just became endearing and cute. I loved our tree.

Two things about cutting your own tree. Although you'd think it would make your home smell extra Christmasy, it actually didn't give that nice pine smell at all. Is this because it wasn't dying yet, or because of the kind of tree? I don't know. But when it was time to get rid of it several weeks later, it had lost a total of like 20 needles, which made me like it even more.

Caleb turns six

2010-12-31T10:21:00.000-08:00

Mixed in with the crazy of December was Caleb's sixth birthday. I think our celebrations made him feel happy and special, so they were a success. He got a baseball bat and some rock climbing shoes.

And a terrific Star Wars Lego set.

On his actual birthday he brought cupcakes to share with his class, and that night he got to blow out candles on some extra cupcakes.

A few days later we had a small party with some of Caleb's friends from church. They decorated light sabers then played "Pin the light saber on Luke". You might notice variations of this game are popular at Thompson family birthday parties. As are not-impressive-looking cakes decorated by the birthday boy with (well washed!) toys from our basement. Why mess with what works, especially when it's easy and cheap?

Caleb is a remarkable boy. He writes stories and does challenging math worksheets for fun. He is fiercely competitive and incredibly dedicated to improving his skills. He is a kind friend and has the most beautiful laugh. We love having him in our family.

2010 in Facebook Status Updates

2010-12-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

Gina Nasca Thompson Christmas concerts I've attended this year are 2/2 for including this beautiful piece written in 2008.
There is Faint Music - University of Utah Singers
December 14, 2010 at 12:56pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Which seems more unlikely: that I lost a box of six #10 cans of dry milk somewhere in my house, or that we actually used all our dry milk before it expired?
December 14, 2010 at 12:46pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Christmas cards and packages mailed! Post office on Saturday afternoon in December: one other customer and two friendly, non-frazzled postal workers, one of whom knows me by name. Sometimes small town living is the BEST.
December 12, 2010 at 3:24pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Local Colorado folks: we're looking for someplace to store a foosball table until December 24th. A garage or shed would be fine; if you want it in your house you could play foosball for a few weeks :) Anyone with a bit of extra space?
December 6, 2010 at 1:57pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is going to die of frustration if I can't figure out how to get the table headers to wrap in a Java table. How can this be so difficult?!?!?!
December 2, 2010 at 11:36 am

Gina Nasca Thompson Back from a great week in Utah. Had a lovely time visiting family, saw lots of old friends, drove through a blizzard without incident, lost tire on interstate with no injuries (!), saw Christmas lights on Temple Square, stocked up on pants that son will happily wear, went to temple, ate at Cafe Rio. Excellent.
November 29, 2010 at 3:09 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Um... WOW. This is required viewing before anyone is allowed to brag on Facebook about how well their kid did in the Primary Program. You'll click on the link just to see what it is, but this little girl will have you riveted. She is amazing.
The story of Jonah
November 18, 2010 at 9:51 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson bought an animal print sectional couch. You only live once, people! Plus, it is super comfy and was only $150 on Craig's List.
November 15, 2010 at 10:37 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson highly recommends the Math and Science Center in Grand Junction. It's a terrific hands-on discovery place for kids (and grown ups!)
November 12, 2010 at 8:56 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson totally scammed my kids for dinner - first time I've ever succeeded in sneaking vegetables into something. I whizzed up leftover ratatouille and used it for pizza sauce. They *loved* it; even my pickiest. I feel a disproportionate sense of accomplishment.
November 10, 2010 at 5:33 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson This is a very sweet story. Makes me feel good about the baby coming to our home. I'm envisioning mainly a higher level of chaos, but maybe he will bring more good things than I know.
Fighting Bullying With Babies

A group that brings infants into classrooms to teach empathy has produced sharp drops in bullying.
November 9, 2010 at 12:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is trying to sell Nephi's aunt's baseball and basketball card collection for her. I've found a few that are supposedly worth a decent amount of money. I'm planning to sell them on ebay, but does anyone have experience with buying or selling cards to give me some tips?
November 7, 2010 at 7:43 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson enjoyed this gorgeous November day on a hike with the family. I love Colorado!
November 6, 2010 at 3:35 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Ahh! Sun is setting and still one pumpkin to carve! We're not technically late until it's *dark* on Halloween night, right?
October 31, 2010 at 3:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is pregnant. And is wearing an orange shirt. But is NOT going to pin a jack-o-lantern face onto her belly for the Halloween parties later today.
October 29, 2010 at 9:34 am

Gina Nasca Thompson I'm looking for a good biography of a suffragette. Any recommendations, either for a specific book or a particularly interesting person to read about?
October 20, 2010 at 2:50 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson I know it's hard to believe, but our dinner of oyster stew and roasted cabbage was a bomb with the kids. Yes, that's really what I made for dinner. And I promise, it was good.
October 19, 2010 at 7:10 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is back from an excellent three days at Capitol Reef. Perfect weather, super fun cousins for the kids to play with, great camping spot, nice hikes. And tonight -- I sleep on a mattress.
October 16, 2010 at 7:18 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson now has soapstone counter tops in my kitchen. And they are beautiful!!
October 8, 2010 at 3:18 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Pad Thai for dinner. Always a winner.
October 5, 2010 at 8:30 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Warning: only follow this link if you have several hours and/or days to spend daydreaming about vacationing in every single corner of Europe. Can there really be so many charming little vacation homes?
Holiday Homes Holiday Rentals Apartments for Rent
Homes to Rent Across Europe and the World, Rent Holiday Homes in Europe, Rent a Home for the Holiday, Cheap Accommodation to Rent
September 29, 2010 at 4:50 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is getting all excited (and a little carried away) thinking about summer trip ideas. Think we'll go get passports soon. Where would you go for a month with four little boys and a moderate budget?
September 26, 2010 at 4:20 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson has dodged learning to braid hair yet again. Thompson boy #4 is on the way!!!
September 9, 2010 at 8:25 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson has completely abandoned my roots. Pulling for Boise State with all I've got. I still love ya'll in Virginia and all, but it's the BCS thing...
September 6, 2010 at 7:15 pm
6 people like this

Gina Nasca Thompson tried to make my kitchen smell nice by putting a few orange peels down the garbage disposal because I'm such a homemaker. Clogged the garbage disposal. Homemaker fail. Then unclogged the garbage disposal MYSELF (using a wrench and everything) because I'm such a handy homemaker. So in the end... I guess a win for "homemaker"?
September 1, 2010 at 2:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is so bad at making cupcakes look cute. Worst bake sale contributor ever. I think it's because in my heart I just can't really care, no matter how hard I try.
August 31, 2010 at 1:47 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is so glad Nephi returned home safely this afternoon from his backpacking trip. He's been up 16 fourteeners this summer so far, six in the last three days. Pretty amazing, I think.
August 28, 2010 at 9:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson feels right now a desire to be better, and spend my life on important, good things, and to listen more closely to God. It is a gift to feel this way. I am grateful for grace and to know that He can make me better than I am otherwise inclined to be. And, strangely, I felt like I wanted to share this on Facebook.
August 28, 2010 at 10:04 am

Gina Nasca Thompson must stop reading about bedbugs and how they are infesting everywhere or I am going to start going out in public wrapped in plastic and not letting anyone in our house without fumigating them first. And it seems like even that wouldn't help. Cities on the top-ten list for worst infestations: Dayton, Denver, and Washington, DC. GROSS.
August 25, 2010 at 1:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson with both big brothers at school all day, Isaac is apparently in bickering withdrawal. He is arguing with himself at the moment. Did too, did not, did too, did not, did too...
August 17, 2010 at 9:46 am

Gina Nasca Thompson just watched an interesting American Experience about the CCC. Turns out lots of local spots here were built/improved by the CCC - Hanging Lake, Rifle Gap State Park, CO National Monument. I think that's probably true of almost anywhere - if it's a hiking trail or state park, you probably have CCC to thank for it.
August 12, 2010 at 9:44 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson On the way to kindergarten orientation today, Caleb told me he is scared of being a father and of getting in a crash when he starts driving. The poor guy is a bit of a worrier, I'm afraid. School just needs to start so he can see that he'll be just fine and relax!
August 12, 2010 at 2:18 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Caleb is stressing about kindergarten that starts in a week. He's worried because the biggest word he can read is "government" and he can only read all the 1st grade reading words; a few on the 2nd grade list trip him up. Also, he doesn't know the names of all the kids in his class yet. Poor guy. He really is worried, and I hope he's not too disappointed...
August 6, 2010 at 9:30 am

Gina Nasca Thompson Thank you for all the birthday wishes and congratulations! I think FB is terrific since I get to hear from so many of you at least once a year :)
August 6, 2010 at 7:35 am

Gina Nasca Thompson is a riddle in nine syllables and has boarded the train there's no getting off. Yes, that's an announcement. End of January, sex TBD. Excited, trepidatious, glad there are a few months to grow into the idea, grateful, mercifully not sick. But tired.
July 30, 2010 at 2:25 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson ate Nutella for breakfast with Nephi this morning while gazing up at Maroon Bells. Nice.
July 29, 2010 at 8:53 am

Gina Nasca Thompson Off to spend a few days alone with Nephi!! Aspen music festival, some hiking, and some good food. So excited! Thanks to my Mom and Dad for staying with the kids.
July 27, 2010 at 6:28 am

Gina Nasca Thompson Made this today. It is so good I could hardly believe it. I think I've been craving this exact thing for months.
Recipes for Health - Quinoa, Corn and Edamame Salad - NYTimes.com
July 25, 2010 at 8:27 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is seeing Nutella references everywhere. I'm pretty sure the universe is trying to tell me I should buy some.
July 20, 2010 at 3:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Is there anything more wonderful and heartening than a few hundred bright, shiny, earnest teenagers doing good, fun things? Great job to all the youth and leaders from church - the dance festival was WONDERFUL. I felt so inspired and happy seeing you all.
July 17, 2010 at 7:01 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson just had a really nice day at the Burning Mountain Festival, our little town's annual festival. Kids got to march in the parade down main street, I ate some really good lamb curry from a food vendor, kids ran around on the playground with kids they knew from school and listened to a concert by the local kids choir. Chalk one up for small town living.
July 17, 2010 at 1:38 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson finally finished the Abraham Lincoln biography I've been reading and am genuinely moved by his life. Surely he is among the greatest of men.
July 15, 2010 at 9:25 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson just made cherry freezer jam with cherries from my neighbor's sour cherry tree. (With her permission!) Wow, is it good. Pie to come.
July 13, 2010 at 3:21 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Colorado folks - hello! We're back! We're going to the Rifle pool tonight for family night at 5; it's only $1/person. Come on over if it works out for you. We'll bore you with stories of our trip. Which was fabulous.
July 10, 2010 at 2:11 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson had just about as nice a 4th of July as I could imagine. Perfect weather, happy kids (who took a nap before fireworks!!), surrounded by family and traditions. Lovely!!!
July 5, 2010 at 8:07 am

Gina Nasca Thompson went to Mt. Vernon today. Isaac only set off alarms twice - once in the house, and once in the museum. No big deal, happens to everyone, right? Right?
June 25, 2010 at 4:42 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is in love with air conditioning and suburbia at this moment. Hate me if you must.
June 22, 2010 at 2:23 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson got to go with Joseph to the ballet at the Kennedy Center tonight. Very fun! Thanks to my friend Matt for hooking us up.
June 16, 2010 at 8:00 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson went and saw the DC monuments today. Walked about a million miles in super hot, muggy weather. I love this country - all the great leaders, the inspiring ideals, the brave people who have fought and died to make it happen.
June 13, 2010 at 6:11 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson felt like the punch line in one of those country-girl-goes-to-the-big-city today driving to the grocery store in Washington DC. Totally overwhelmed, and even had a pushy taxi driver behind me honking his horn. But I made it. And we're here in DC! I think there are probably more people here in a 1/4 mile radius than our whole town in Colorado.
June 11, 2010 at 6:36 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson wonders how I got so lucky to marry the kind of awesome guy who can catch two moon jellies and a puffed up puffer fish (so cool!!!) in a purple plastic bucket at the beach, in between making big sand castles and diving in the waves with the kids all day. I'm such a boring sit-on-my-towel sort of beach person.
June 9, 2010 at 2:58 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson had an excellent day at the Outer Banks. There really is something special about the ocean.
June 8, 2010 at 4:26 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson had a nice day visiting my old friend Trevor and his family today. It's good to see people making nice lives for themselves.
June 6, 2010 at 6:09 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is off to explore Jamestown in record high temperatures. 98 degrees and SO humid. Sitting here in my air conditioned hotel room, I can't make myself believe that it's going to be quite as bad as it actually will be. I think we'll still have fun though, even as we melt.
June 5, 2010 at 5:53 am

Gina Nasca Thompson just woke up from a long, wonderful nap on a hammock. It's a tough life.
June 3, 2010 at 1:02 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson had a fun day picking cherries and at the lake. And this Georgia humidity makes my hair MUCH bigger.
May 29, 2010 at 2:16 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson can't believe what good sports the boys were today. 16 hours of driving, and they did great. There sure are a lot of wide open spaces in this country.
May 27, 2010 at 9:08 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson thinks it's a pretty well established pattern now that when there is a big trip pending and there is a LOT I need to do to prepare, I may say I'm "working like mad" the morning before it's time to leave, but I don't really kick into gear until about an hour after I should be in bed.
May 26, 2010 at 9:08 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is working like mad today to get ready for our trip TOMORROW!! Six weeks! Across the country and back! Lots of fun things to do and many of my favorite people along the way. I'm getting so excited!!
May 26, 2010 at 7:08 am

Gina Nasca Thompson enjoyed the finale as I watched it, but am realizing as I think about it more that it really makes no sense whatsoever. Oh well.
May 24, 2010 at 4:50 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson thinks learning about history is a great antidote to worrying too much about things today. Things have always been uncertain, times have often been tough, politics has always been nasty and disheartening. But people make it through, and if not they die and somehow their children make it. Very often wonderful, surprising things happen even amidst the bad.
May 10, 2010 at 10:12 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson My 3yo just decided to potty train himself 2 1/2 weeks before our 6 week, 4700-miles-of-driving vacation filled with museums, new situations, and public toilets. Just told me he needed to poop, took off his diaper, and went in the potty. The timing could not be worse!!! Do we go for it and hope he is totally trained in two weeks? Put it off? Resign ourselves to pull-ups for six weeks? I HATE potty training. Ugh.
May 8, 2010 at 1:34 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Day three of this song stuck in my head. Not sick of it yet. It's *really* good. (As usual I'm about seven years behind on pop culture stuff).
New Slang
The Shins music video for New Slang
April 28, 2010 at 6:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson married Nephi twelve years ago today! He's an even better husband and father than I had hoped he would be, and our years together have been wonderful. He is such a kind, giving, gentle person, and seeks out so many fun adventures in life.
April 23, 2010 at 12:58 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Sayre Park (in Glenwood, near the hospital) at 12:00. Be there if you can! April 19, 2010 at 6:44 am

Gina Nasca Thompson loved Fantastic Mr. Fox.
April 16, 2010 at 9:59 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson has made Nephi suspicious by accomplishing so much today...
April 12, 2010 at 9:09 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is going to be at Alder Park this afternoon around 1 pm if anyone wants to join us.
April 12, 2010 at 8:31 am

Gina Nasca Thompson heading to Moab! Life is good.
April 9, 2010 at 1:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Ahhhh, Butler. We all still love you. And Duke, you may be national champions but it just makes us like you EVEN LESS.
April 5, 2010 at 8:51 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson regrets that we are already half way through the year to having to come up with Halloween costumes for the kids again.
April 5, 2010 at 12:02 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson He is risen! Happy Easter!
April 4, 2010 at 7:05 am

Gina Nasca Thompson forgot how pretty dyed eggs are.
April 3, 2010 at 8:38 am

Gina Nasca Thompson Hey weather - nice April Fool’s joke to send a genuine snow storm in APRIL. You're very funny. Now you can stop.
April 1, 2010 at 1:37 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson heading to southern Utah for a few days of camping over spring break!
March 29, 2010 at 8:18 am

Gina Nasca Thompson is pretty sure that scary Kansas State coach is yelling at his players in the locker room right now.
March 27, 2010 at 2:21 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson and tonight I got to celebrate my sweet Isaac's third birthday with my Mom and Nephi's parents. Isaac was absolutely charming and it was so nice to see him get lots of attention and feel so happy. What a terrific few days.
March 25, 2010 at 10:06 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson enjoyed celebrating Joseph's seventh birthday today. And my Mom's birthday, too.
March 24, 2010 at 8:08 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson had a great time with Nephi tonight playing tennis and eating Thai food.
March 23, 2010 at 7:36 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson So does this confirm that David Plouffe is solid gold? Things are a catfighting, nebulous disaster, he joins back up in January, and now we get this. A focused, effective message from the White House, people falling in line, and voila. It's like back to the campaign days. I'd like to offer a toast to David.
March 21, 2010 at 10:03 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson ROCK ON. And that's all I'll say about that on here.
March 21, 2010 at 8:05 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is looking forward to book club tonight.
March 19, 2010 at 3:36 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is just going to follow March Madness through facebook. Much more efficient! I take it this would be an appropriate time to say, "Go Cougars!!!" It's *almost* as exciting to read my wall as watch a double overtime win.
March 18, 2010 at 12:33 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Yikes! I did not realize that the maternal mortality ratio in the US has DOUBLED since 1987!
Amnesty International Report on U.S. Maternal Health - TIME
In a new report on pregnancy and childbirth care in the U.S., Amnesty details the maternal health care crisis in this country as part of a systemic violation of women's rights
March 15, 2010 at 10:36 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson not sure how I feel about there being enough roadkill strewn about the sides of the road on our drive back from church to generate conversation for the whole 25 minutes...
March 14, 2010 at 1:55 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Today I made dentist appointments and set up college savings accounts for the boys. It is the day of doing things I've been putting off forever! But somehow I think I'll still not get around to cleaning the toilets.
March 11, 2010 at 1:35 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Local CO people - any recommendations or warnings about dentists around here? Thanks!
March 5, 2010 at 4:06 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson thinks it really feels good to learn new things and solve hard problems. And even better to get paid to do it.
March 4, 2010 at 10:19 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson 50 degrees and sunny! Helloooo, spring!!! (cue major snowstorm next week)
March 3, 2010 at 1:13 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson not to minimize the suffering and 300 dead in Chile, but let's hear it for structural engineers, building codes, and societies with enough wealth to build to the codes.
February 28, 2010 at 10:13 am

Gina Nasca Thompson little kids thinking Axel F and The Final Countdown are awesome = cute.
February 22, 2010 at 5:02 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson thinks that woman figure skating commentator is so ANNOYING!!
February 16, 2010 at 9:44 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson loved the whales! And the beat poet! And the Sarah McLaughlan number! And the flying wheat field fellow! And was stunned by the amazing amount of geography my kids knew as the nations came in! And loves how my boys were completely captivated by all the right things - the triumph of excellent athletes, the world coming together to celebrate, the beauty of so much of the ceremony, the torch being lit...
February 13, 2010 at 12:41 am

Gina Nasca Thompson Met 13 years ago, married almost 12 fabulous years. Happy Valentine’s Day. La la love you. Don't mean maybe.

February 11, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Gina Nasca Thompson My favorite Olympic memories: Sarah Hughes skating out of her mind to win the gold in 2002. Michael Phelps’s mom dropping from shock when he won the 7th race. And the torch being run through my neighborhood in 2002. I'm excited for the games to begin!! Your favorite memories?
February 10, 2010 at 1:21 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson I have no real opinion about football, except that every team needs something as entertaining to yell as "Who dat?!" when someone intercepts a pass and runs for a touchdown.
February 7, 2010 at 9:28 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is having a surprising amount of success with increasing "please" and "thank-you"s around the house by threatening to cut impolite children out of our will.
February 7, 2010 at 3:53 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson aaaaand.... I'm kind of disappointed.
February 2, 2010 at 10:38 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson finished re-watching last years season finale. Ready. To. Go. Tomorrow night! Lost! Woohoo.
February 1, 2010 at 10:02 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is in love with 11:00 church.
January 31, 2010 at 3:55 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson still so glad he's our President
January 27, 2010 at 8:32 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson thinks the *super* cute way that Isaac pronounces "Professor Fizzlewizzle" ALMOST balances out the annoyance of him asking to play it every three minutes or so.
January 22, 2010 at 3:41 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson If only there were more Nate Silvers in the world. (fyi, a few offensive words towards the end.)

FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Post-Partisanship Epic Fail?

What does that mean? The first part is obvious. All 60 Senate Democrats and independents voted for the bill, and all 40 Republicans voted against it. The second part is the counterintuitive one. Yet it’s ...
January 20, 2010 at 4:30 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson Caleb has taken to drawing very complex Where's Waldo type pictures and then asking me to find things like a "camouflaged doorknob" or the "man hiding in a chair." These quizzes are (imagine the drawing ability of a 5yo) fraught with peril and stress. Lucky for me, he usually is staring hard straight at whatever he's asking me about, and so far so good.
January 19, 2010 at 1:23 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson can't tell you how relieved I was this morning to see that my son's school had corrected the spelling on it's large info sign from "your" to "you're". Man, that was like fingernails on a blackboard.
January 18, 2010 at 4:54 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson A hit with the big and little people at our house.
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass
Official video for OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass" off of the New Album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed live and features the Notre Dame marching band. Directed by Brian L. Perkins and OK Go
January 16, 2010 at 8:29 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is completely amazed by the fertility of my German ancestors. Several generations of 12-16 children. 24 straight years of childbearing. 24 years of diapers to wash by hand with no running water. While pregnant. I can't even imagine.
January 16, 2010 at 1:20 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson spent most of last week reading David Foster Wallace and watching Arrested Development season 1. Is this some sort of soccer mom mid life crisis? Am I trying too hard to up my hipster vibe?
January 14, 2010 at 10:46 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson cooked shark for dinner.
January 12, 2010 at 7:04 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson can only hope in 20 or 30 years to have a body as strong and beautiful as many of the older ladies in my yoga class.
January 11, 2010 at 12:44 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson hopes someone in grad school for pop psychology or technological sociology or whatever they'd call it captured that whole weird fb color day for their dissertation research... Or maybe it can be an aside in the next Malcolm Gladwell book or something.
January 7, 2010 at 8:08 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson can't help myself. I have to demonstrate that I'm now in. White.
January 7, 2010 at 4:39 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson is obviously not in the "in" facebook crowd, because I don't know what's going on with this color thing.
January 7, 2010 at 3:12 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson has merged so many people in the new familysearch.org in the past few days you can't even believe it.
January 4, 2010 at 11:26 pm

Gina Nasca Thompson enjoyed Sherlock Holmes so much that I don't really even mind that Avatar 3D was sold out.
January 2, 2010 at 7:14 pm

Thanksgiving Week in Utah

2010-12-19T17:22:00.000-08:00

Over our surprisingly long Thanksgiving break we spent an excellent week visiting friends and family in Utah. On the way over we stopped to see Nephi's Grandparents Jex who live in Payson; we were happy to see his uncle and his family who were also visiting.

We were trying our best (unsuccessfully, as it turns out) to beat a blizzard that was moving in to Utah and spent the last hour of our trip to Kaysville driving through it. It was a bit tense, but Nephi did a great job and we arrived at Nephi's sister's house without incident. We got to spend the next few days there relaxing and visiting with family. To give you an idea of how much our kids love playing with their cousins, after the last two times we've spent time with the Hayes, Joseph has casually asked how common it is that parents die and kids have to go live with another family. Not that he's hoping for anything in particular, he was just wondering. Nephi's parents and sister Ellen and brother Samuel were also there.

Ellen helped assemble a big puzzle:

We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving feast, which tasted much better than my picture looks.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. To avoid the traffic nightmare we took the train into the city, which was half the fun. We only lost one of our children in the crowds at Temple Square, and then only briefly. It was cold and crowded, but pretty and fun.

Nephi and I also got to go to the temple early one morning, which was a treat. On the way we had the exciting experience of a tire coming off our van while driving on the freeway. The way it happened was actually was a huge blessing if it had to happen. Nephi's parents were driving behind us, the freeway was not crowded, the kids were not in the van, and it happened shortly before a semi parking area that we could coast into. So it turned out not to be too big a deal at all, while under different circumstances it could have been terrifying and tragic. We hopped into Nephi's parents' car and continued on to the temple, and later that day Nephi's Dad kindly helped him get new tires.

Saturday we spent doing Utah- and city-type errands. We went shopping for pants that Joseph doesn't hate (major victory), saw the Bean Life museum at BYU, and ate Cafe Rio. We then got to spend the weekend visiting old friends. Saturday we stayed with some friends from San Diego who now live in Provo, and Sunday we spent with the family of an old college roommate of mine. Earlier in the week I also got to have brunch with San Diego friends who are in Salt Lake now, and our family visited two other families we knew when we lived in Utah. It was so good to see everyone!

Monday we managed to drive home through a bit more snow, but we made it safely. It was a very fun, very full six days, and we felt very blessed that the travelling close-calls turned out to be no more exciting than they were.

The first day of Thanksgiving break

2010-11-22T20:50:00.000-08:00

Here's how Nephi and the boys spent pretty much the entire first day of Thanksgiving break. Well, after a little early morning playing in the snow while Nephi hung the Christmas lights on our roof. Nephi and the three boys played Cities and Knights of Catan for about seven hours. Yes, even Isaac, who seemed to have a better-than-you'd-expect-for-a-three-year-old grasp of what was going on and really enjoyed feeding his knights and building roads. Joseph and Caleb were totally into it, with good strategies and goals. If you're not familiar with the game, it's quite a complex strategy game. This is close to nirvana for Nephi. He loves strategy games, but they have lots of small pieces and take a long time to play which tend to make them incompatible with little kids. So to discover that one's kids are suddenly old enough to play such games with, and that they love them maybe even more than you, is a happy discovery indeed. (I must also add that for nearly the entire time, they listened on repeat to the soundtrack of Spirit Stallion of the Cimmaron which Nephi very unwisely downloaded one day at the request of Joseph. It mostly consists of Bryan Adams ballads and pump-you-up sorts of songs. The boys really, really like it, and I'll leave it at that.)

Reading Roundup - August, September, October

2010-11-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

Parenting With Love and Logic by Foster W. Cline, Jim Fay (3 stars)
Parenting books are so particular to what you are experiencing and struggling with at the moment as a parent. This just didn't fit my need right now, I guess, and I didn't love it. It did give me a few new ways to think about situations with my kids, and overall I like the approach of letting kids fully own their decisions and their consequences. But there were just some model dialogues that seemed so ridiculously unrealistic when I thought about applying them with my kids, and some that seemed like the parents could really come off as jerks. I also thought the authors were incredibly blase about not getting kids fed. I totally understand an eight year old being able to handle the consequence of being hungry if they are outrageously inappropriate about food or something. But they seem to think a two year old will somehow comprehend the lesson inherent in dinner being taken away the second time they throw a bowl on the ground. Like - when they are hungry at 2 am they will think to themselves - wow, I'm really going to start taking table manners seriously. Have they ever been around hungry children? They are irrational, impenetrable, unable to communicate- or reason-with little stinkers. I think it's one of the least likely times for children to learn or internalize any lesson, in my experience, but they seem to think it's a great consequence to all kinds of things - we'd love for you to join us for dinner as soon as your chores are done, etc. Anyway, there were some things I liked, but did not revolutionize my parenting.

Double Take by Kevin Michael Connolly (2 stars)
The memoirs of a 23 year old guy born with no legs. He's a remarkably tenacious person and seems like a good guy. But a really great writer, unfortunately, he is not. And 23 years is not quite enough life to generate book-worthy memories. Of course he has some interesting insights and experiences to share as a consequence of his disability, and there were parts I enjoyed, but his age and inexperience as a writer definitely tainted the book.

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder (4 stars)
Paul Farmer is just a remarkable person. It is so refreshing to read about someone who lives life with so much integrity and allows inequality and suffering and injustice to trouble his soul and motivate him to so much good. It is amazing to see how much good one person can do, how many lives he can save, how much suffering he can alleviate. It is also an unsettling reminder of how little first-world money can make such a real difference in third-world suffering. It is one of those books that will leave you measuring indulgent kitchen-counter projects in terms of how many lives could literally be saved if you just sent the check to Farmer's organization Partners in Health instead. But not everyone is Paul Farmer, who seems to have boundless empathy, intelligence, energy, courage, and charm, and the book does struggle with the question of how normal people can run the organization he has started going forward. It also touches on the cost to his family of living such a driven life. But overall it is a very well written, inspiring biography of an incredible man. Incidentally, Ophelia Dahl, daughter of everyone's favorite wacky children's author Roald Dahl, plays a significant role in his life and work, and hence the book, which feels like a cool, real-life cameo.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (5 stars)
When I was about 14, late one night I was reading Les Miserables and I got to the part where Fantine smiles and she is missing her two front teeth. I cried that night like I thought my heart would literally break, because the world is so cruel and unfair, and there is so much suffering, and there are so many poor people with faces to grind upon. I thought maybe a book wouldn't ever make me cry like that again, because I'm not 14 anymore. And I regretted that.

The Book Thief made me cry like that. Because war is so horrible, and there are people at this very moment whose lives are being ruined by it, and people can be so evil, and yet people can be so good even in the face of it all. So I give it five stars, because it is cathartic to feel and care that deeply about suffering, if only for a little while. I think it's one of the best things literature can do for us, actually.

I have to admit that I was fairly skeptical of a popular YA holocaust book, because I'm a snob like that and generally resist all three categories. But folks, this book is really, really good. Sometimes the writing reminded me of Vonnegut. The characters are compelling, the story is beautiful and wrenching, and amazingly the take on Nazi Germany felt fresh. There were times that I really liked that it was being narrated by death, and a few places it felt a little forced. But really, you should read it. It's exceptional.

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely (4 stars)
This book is fascinating. It's in the vein of a Malcolm Gladwell book but I enjoyed it more than Blink, for example. I think I liked that the author is himself a scientist and is reporting his own peer-reviewed, scholarly findings. But his tone is so friendly and conversational, it strikes a very pleasant balance of credible and trustworthy yet interesting and accessible. He goes through all sorts of situations in which people act... predictably irrational. One that stayed with me was the study (not done by him) in which Asian women, embodying two stereotypes in relation to math (Asian = good, women = bad) were given a math test. One group was primed before the test with questions related to their sex, and the other with questions related to their race. Amazingly, the questions affected their test scores, and those with their gender on their mind performed measurably worse. The significance of this is pretty amazing, especially when we like to think that if we just give people opportunities to succeed and break out of a bad situation, if they don't make it it's their own lazy fault. The messages we hear about ourselves really, really matter even if we wished they didn't. I was also fascinated by the experiments he conducted on how people cheat, under what circumstances, and to what extent. There is also an interesting chapter on the differences between business and social interactions, and why it is such a terrible idea to mix the two. Overall a really fun read with challenging ideas.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (3 stars)
This was a very fun book to read; I think I just went in with expectations a little too high. As has been much discussed, it is really six stories, with most cut in half, so it's structured like ABCDEFE'D'C'B'A'. Each story is in a very distinct style, covering time periods from mid-1850s to a distant post-apocalyptic future, and I enjoyed each one on its own. Necessarily each is relatively short and limited in its story arc, however. So you'd expect the trade off would be that they all inform each other in a really compelling, fascinating way and that they come together to make a sum greater than the parts. My big disappointment was that I didn't feel that happened. There are some connections, but they mostly seemed to be gee-whiz coincidences. There were thematic ties between all the stories of oppression and the way humanity's lust for power causes all sorts of evil. But at the end, the structure felt like an ambitious project that turned out a little gimmicky. One of the characters actually expresses this exact concern in reference to a musical piece he's writing that is structured in the same way as the book, and I'd have to agree.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween! We had a busy weekend involving several parties and lots of candy. I didn't take any costume pictures this year, but the boys were a storm trooper, Jengo Fett, and spiderman in the most generic ways possible. A friend gave us some old costumes and we all were happy. I'm making peace with not being a homemade costume enthusiast. I really, really admire my friends who whip up amazing, creative costumes from their fabric scraps and a bit of cardboard. But I can guarantee it would be bad for me and my kids' relationships, and I wouldn't enjoy it. We live in the age of cheap polyester printed costumes that kids love. I think I was meant for such a time as this.

Nephi and the kids did a great job decorating our front porch with a little help from Nephi's anatomy lab props, and they all had fun handing out candy last night. I think my favorite part of the holiday is the neighborliness of trick-or-treating; I wish everyone went around talking with their neighbors more often. Hope you enjoyed the weekend too!

Capitol Reef

2010-10-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago the boys had a few days off from school, so we met Nephi's sister Martha and her family at Capitol Reef to enjoy a few days camping in the perfect fall weather. Capitol Reef is one of the secret National Parks in Utah. If it were located in many other locations like oh, say, anywhere east of the Mississippi, it would be famous because it is so beautiful, but it just sort of fades into the background in Utah. It looks like this in the early morning:

and the trees and sky looked like this when we were there:

It was so lovely.

We had a great camping spot right next to a little stream that kept all the kids busy for hours. I brought no towels or swimming stuff, but no one seemed to mind.

Joseph, Keturah and Alaina had a project cryptically named "KAJM Spot" that filled a good part of three days. It involved eroding the stream bank and making an island. This is the sort of thing that makes Joseph's heart truly happy - a big, earth-moving project and equally enthusiastic friends to work on it with.

We took some nice kid-friendly hikes. Someone found a little water hole for the kids to swim in on the first day, and the kids caught lizards and climbed on rocks and played indians and really had a grand time.

We also had lots of campfires and marshmallows, and one night some people took a night hike and saw a rattlesnake! Not everything was perfect - I, being nearly six months pregnant (oh yeah, forgot to mention that yet on here... post coming), slept terribly the first night and was just a weeee bit edgy on day two. But happily, by that night I was so worn out I actually slept a little bit. Otherwise... yes, things were about perfect. Ahhh, southern Utah. If you haven't been there, you really can't imagine how beautiful and incredible it is.

New counters

2010-10-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

We got new kitchen counters last week. I've been thinking about it since we moved into the house last year and finally followed through. Here are our old counters. They were fine; there is really no reason to get new ones other than they were kind of ugly and the sink was really shallow. I know, cry me a river; and people's children are starving and dying of preventable diseases for lack of a few dollars. I just decided to indulge myself and call it creating a welcoming home environment or something defensible-sounding. It's because I love my children, people.

After lots of considering different kinds of counters I decided on soapstone. Why? Hard to say. Soapstone seems... kind of upscale, but not granite. I like that it's not too shiny. I like that it's a natural stone. I like that it will age in an organic kind of way. I like that I can't stain it and don't need to seal it. I like how it goes with the feel of the saltillo tile we put in last year. Also, you can buy it in big slabs and cut and install it yourself so it can be significantly cheaper than granite. We didn't do it all ourselves; we hired our friend Marty to help install it. He's an experienced builder and craftsman, and we like an excuse to have him at our home. He totally nailed the tricky sink cutout.

And here's the finished product. I like it! A lot!! The counters are beautiful, and the deep sink is heavenly. There are a few things I should have done differently, but I won't tell you what they are and I really doubt anyone else will ever notice them.

Here's a closeup of the stone; there is a lot of pretty veining.

And here's a shot of the kitchen. I really like how warm the feel is with the stone and the floor together.

14ers

2010-10-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I was able to climb 19 of the 54 Colorado 14ers this year. I decided to document them here.

The first one was Quandry Peak near Breckenridge

Then Grays and Torreys Peaks

Next, Jared and I backpacked into the Chicago Basin and climbed Windom, Sunlight, and Mt. Aeolus

Then we did the Wetterhorn - Uncompahgre combination

Next we made the long trek up Longs Peak

After that, we tackled Capitol, with its amazing knife-edge ridge

Then Elbert with my brother Samuel

Jared and I finished off the summer with a trip to the Sangre de Cristos where we climbed Humboldt, Kit Carson, Challenger Point

Followed by Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak

As a bonus, we also had enough time to climb Mt. Lindsey

Finally, we concluded our season with a fall climb of Harvard and Columbia.

Artwork

2010-09-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

Today we had Stake Conference at church. If you're not Mormon, from the perspective of a child that means we sit for two hours in metal folding chairs in a dark room. (From the perspective of a grown up, it can also mean that we get to hear some potentially great talks from church leaders. Today we got to hear from Elder Uchtdorf, who dazzled as usual. It was a good meeting.) And all things considered, the boys did as well as could possibly be expected. They each spent a good part of the time drawing, and I was struck by how representative they are of how each of the boys approach things right now.

Here's Caleb's drawing.

It's detailed, thoughtful, constrained, realistic, and I think pretty impressive. It's a water park.

Here's Joseph's picture.

Imaginative, wild, unrealistic, mad-scientisty, and huge. The only reason it's not sixteen pieces of paper long is because I kept telling him no. Joseph always thinks outside the space he's given. When we get bigger paper for him to draw on, his ideas just grow proportionally. If we have one family over for dinner, why not two? And when we invite two, three would be better. Today he was thinking about designing an airplane a mile and a half wide so it could carry an extra huge amount of explosives. He'd like to buy the property next to ours to expand our yard. When he catches a snake out by a creek, his first thought is of how to breed it to get more snakes. He always thinks bigger and more.

Here's Isaac's.

I don't know how much of this picture is Isaac's age and how much is his personality, actually. The purple lines are a hive where all those little bugs live, and there are sleeping quarters somewhere in there. He did an especially adorable acting out of how they would fall asleep and snore. There were lots of dramatic interactions between the bugs as he put the stickers on the paper. It was all very cute.

I really, really like them all.

A new schoolyear

2010-08-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of school for Joseph and Caleb!! It was an exciting morning.

I got them to stand still for a few pictures, and they were off!

I feel so optimistic for this school year. I've heard wonderful things about both of the boys' teachers, and it seems like they each have some great kids in their classes. Last week was kindergarten orientation for Caleb, and when we were there I was reminded how much I love the school. Many teachers stopped by to see if Joseph had come with us to say hello and to meet Caleb. All last year I felt like there was a team of adults on Joseph's side who wanted to help him succeed, and Nephi and I appreciate that support so much.

It was also a great relief to have the first day of kindergarten finally arrive for Caleb. He had been extremely anxious about school, and by extension all sorts of things. On the way to kindergarten orientation he said he was scared about becoming a father, and also of getting in a crash when he began driving. Apparently kindergarten signals the beginning of a lifetime of oppressive responsibilities for the poor guy. I think it will entail a bit more playing on the monkey bars and finger painting than he realizes... He also worried last night, "What if they give me a math worksheet?!! I don't know any math!!" This coming from the boy who a few weeks ago figured out how many 20s are in 100 in the following way: "Well, I memorized that two 60s are 120 [to figure out time problems he likes to make up for himself]. I also figured out that there are three 20s in 60. So I just went 20 back from 120, so really I just had to add 3 plus 2 to get 5." Ummmm, wow. That's pretty much algebra, I think. Anyway, I explained that the only math they expect you to know when you get to kindergarten is how to count to 20 and was pretty sure he'd be juuuust fine.

At the end of the day both boys were happy, liked their teachers, and are excited for another day. When the boys were much younger I felt very concerned about sending them to public school, and have been so happy and grateful that it's been such an excellent expereince so far.

April, May, June, July Reading Roundup

2010-08-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (4 stars)
This is a wonderfully written, honest reflection on loss. It is nostalgic and sad, but also beautiful. I could tell as I read that hard things were going to happen and was worried that it would turn heavy handed and lose me, but it never did. Definitely recommended.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (4 stars)
I reread this recently and liked it more than I remembered. The comprehensive way that Achebe describes and recreates a foreign culture in such a short book is really impressive. His skill in doing this makes it all the more tragic when the missionaries and colonists arrive and things really do start to fall apart.

A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White Jr. (4 stars)
I thought this was an excellent biography of Lincoln. I loved that it didn't seem in any way salacious. It didn't dwell on his marriage or depression or relationships with his parents. It did dwell on his writings and speeches and spent time discussing his rhetoric, poetry, and influences, and this was so much more appealing. I thought White handled the civil war amazingly well; I am no history buff and although I needed reminding of many of the important battles and their significance, I felt really comfortable following the flow of the war. I hadn't realized that Lincoln had essentially no time in office before the war began. Between his election and inauguration, states were already seceding; his election was really the final straw. I was also alarmed at how current and relevant the pre-civil war tension felt. I left this book with a much deeper appreciation and love for Lincoln. His general style and approach to life felt like something I could relate to, or at least aspire to. His measured and thoughtful manner when handling a problem was criticized much of the time, but in retrospect it worked so well for him and our country. I was also amazed by how charismatic, personable, and funny he was. And finally I was struck by how unpopular he and many of his decisions were at the time. Sometimes you just can't judge a president without some hindsight, and that is worth remembering.

Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie (3 stars)
I pulled a not-too-thick and not-too-thin biography of Thomas Jefferson off the shelf at the library and was amused that it was written by Fawn Brodie (who also wrote a rather infamous, although respected, biography of Joseph Smith). I decided to read it, despite first reading reviews that warned it fixated a bit too much on his romances. It was a fun book, although it did spend a lot of time on his romances and tried as hard as it possibly could to talk about issues Jefferson had with his mother, supported almost exclusively by a complete lack of reference to her. Brodie tries really hard to delve into Jefferson's personal and emotional life, of which he tried equally hard to leave no record. So she is left to fill in lots of gaps. To her credit, she is transparent as to when she is supposing, inferring, and sometimes making things up, like the time she says his wife Martha left only one letter and we know very little about her, but then proceeds to analyze the handwriting to conclude she was a very rigid woman. Whatever. It does leave the reader with a general lack of confidence in her conclusions.

Much of the book talks about what Brodie sets forth as Jefferson's decades-long relationship with Sally Hemings. Apparently she was one of the first serious proponents of this relationship, and was lambasted for it, although it seems the evidence does tend to fall on her side of the fence. Jefferson was at Monticello at the time that all six of Sally's children were concieved, and other men who had traditionally been pinnned as the fathers were not. She talks a lot about how this relationship forced Jefferson to back off the slavery question.

Jefferson was obviously an amazing, talented person, but I have to say I left this book liking him less. Because Brodie talks so much about slavery and his views and positions in relation to it, it was sad to see him get less vocal and opposed throughout his life. It scared me a little, to be honest. It is a terrible thing to justify ourselves in a wrong. We are forced to continue to justify ourselves, and push ourselves further and further from truth. Whether or not the Sally Hemings relationship was as important as Brodie makes it out to be, Jefferson clearly loved the comfort of his plantation lifestyle (which incidentally bankrupted him) too much to do what it seemed early in his life he knew he must in relation to slavery.

1776 by David McCullough (4 stars)
This was very enjoyable recounting of the momentous events of 1776. Important things happened - the seige of Boston, the battle of Long Island, the Declaration of Independence. By focusing on a relatively short period of time, McCullough was able to go into quite a bit of detail without the book getting too long or tedious. But it was a little unsatisfying at the end that everything was so far from wrapped up. Clearly we know who eventually won the war, but at the end of 1776 things are still looking extremely bleak for the Americans, and there was a lot of war left to fight. I wanted more. Mostly it leaves you with a better understanding of how ridiculously overpowered the colonists were, how terribly trained and unprepared they were for a war against the superpower of the day, and how unbelievable it is that they eventually won.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (3 stars)
A fun page-turner. Everyone's reading it, and you should read it too. Still not sure why I can't love YA books. Not nearly enough sexual tension oozing off every page to get middle aged women to start wearing Team Peeta or Team Gale t-shirts, I'm afraid.

Our Aspen escape

2010-08-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

My parents are really fantastic. This last week they stopped to see us on their way back home from New York to Arizona. We celebrated my Dad's birthday the first night they arrived, and for a present we left him and my Mom alone with the kids for three days. Happy birthday, Dad!! I think it's my favorite birthday present I've given in a long time.

Nephi and I headed up to Aspen, just over an hour from our house, and had such an excellent few days. One morning we got up and walked around the wilderness by Maroon Bells and ate some Nutella for breakfast. Lovely.

Most of the rest of the time we enjoyed the Aspen Music Festival and School. To say we loved it would be a huge understatement. The whole experience was incredible. To begin with, we experienced about five hours of live music each day, all for free. A few hours were polished concerts or dress rehearsals, and the level was (almost) uniformly excellent. Lots of chamber music, some solo performances, one orchestral concert. By the end we had a fun game of guessing which cellists were going to be the weird kind who make bizarre faces and move their heads in abrupt, distracting ways. As it turned out, not as many as we thought. Several hours a day we went to master classes, where world-class musicians gave lessons to advanced students. The process was fascinating to watch; the attention to detail of professional musicians is inspiring. We attended classes for classical guitar (by Sharon Isbin) and violin (by Paul Kantor). We also went to an informal lecture from the conductor of the Atlanta symphony orchestra, which was very interesting. There are some events that required tickets, and the evening concerts were all by professional musicians. But even then I thought the ticket prices were very reasonable. Overall the atmosphere everywhere we went was just wonderful. Surrounded by artists who have given their professional lives to perfecting and creating beautiful music, in such a beautiful setting, with people who appreciate music, supported by generous rich people who love the arts and make it possible for normal people to enjoy them too... Fabulous.

Some good looking boys by the lake

2010-07-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

One morning we took some pictures, and I love these of the boys.

Van Buren and the return home

2010-07-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

When our time was up in Washington DC, we spent a lovely day with some friends in Wilmington, Delaware whom we had not seen in a long time. We really appreciated their hospitality and wish we had more opportunities to spend time with them.

Then we were off to western New York, place of so many of my wonderful childhood summer memories, my parents' roots, and old friends and family. As we arrived after a day of winding across Pennsylvania, I put on Dar William's ode to the region that always hits me just right and captures the essence of the place. It definitely got me in the mood.

We spent a really nice nine days there. Some mornings we played tennis with the kids before heading down to the beach for the afternoon.

The fourth of July was a whopper of a day. After church in the morning, the boys got ready for the neighborhood bicycle parade followed by a pancake breakfast.

Then we headed to the annual Zaccari reunion for all the descendants of my great great grandparents. A hundred or two people still come every year, and there is a nice familiarity in it. There is a jump house for the kids, and they alternated between jumping and eating desserts for a few hours until they were completely worn out.

We headed home where, against all odds, I actually got all kids to take a nap before heading to our third party of the day at the home of an old family friend. They served us some delicious dinner, we got to catch up with old friends, and it concluded with an absolutely extraordinary fireworks show over the lake followed by a bonfire, s'mores and hot dogs. Whew.

My Mom and her sister Lynn together own my grandparents' old cottage on Lake Erie. For a few days both of their families were all at the lake, and it was great to catch up with my cousins. We especially appreciated how generous Lynn was with her motorboat; Joseph and Caleb got to take lots of rides in it and go tubing, and Nephi got to water ski.

The lake has some of the loveliest sunsets you could imagine, and this year each night seemed to be amazing. One calm evening we had a stone skipping contest between Joseph, my sister Laura, and my parents. After an impressive showing by my Mom, my Dad managed to edge her out for the win.

It was especially lovely to have a few days to spend with my amazing and beautiful sister. I loved catching up with her on where she is in her life right now, and where she's going. This summer she's spending a few weeks in Tibet as part of her study of Tibetan medicine.

We also got to spend time with my Grandma. I really can't overstate how much we all love her. And she loves us all, and especially the boys, so much.

Her Alzheimer's is slowly progressing, although she is still able to function quite well on her own in most respects. But many associations she makes are automatic, and every time we came over she would see the boys and immediately want to make cut out sugar cookies. Once we tried to just bake the break-apart premade cookie dough cookies, and she said we were ruining everything. "I want to see little boys covered in flour!!" she insisted. So we made cookies pretty much every day, and really, what is there to complain about?

We also spent a terrific day with my parents at Midway park, had a nice reunion with my Mom's cousins, and hosted our traditional kids' tea party on the beach. Overall it was one of the nicest years we've spent at Van Buren, and really appreciate all the work my Mom and Lynn put in to make it such a special place.

On our way back to Colorado, we spent a really wonderful two days in Dayton. We got to see a few friends there, had a barbecue with our old neighborhood, enjoyed the amazing playgrounds and parks that are everywhere in that city, and also hit up some of the city's thrift stores in between. I have no idea what magical mix of thrift and wealth cosmically combine in Dayton to make it the thrift store capitol of the universe, but those stores are incredible. I miss our friends in Dayton, but those stores are a close second.

And then it was drive, drive, drive until we arrived back home to discover everything well. And the trip was over. Lots of amazing memories, 4700 miles, no real catastrophes. Success.

Mount Vernon

2010-06-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of our time in DC we spent a day at Mount Vernon.

It is a lovely home, and the view of the river is beautiful.

And wow, were those Washingtons bold with their paint colors!!! If they wanted a green dining room, they just went for it. I really loved the colors in one of the smaller parlors. So much, actually, that I told Nephi that those were the colors we were going to paint our bedroom. I'd have taken a picture but we weren't allowed. (I didn't want to push my luck seeing as Isaac had already set of one alarm during the house tour). And the room is actually painted different colors on the official site's virtual tour. Inconvenient, no? But never fear. My mind is like a steel trap when it comes to decorating ideas and color palates. The colors were a sort of dusty bluish color with olive greenish trim. Sounds a little like just enough rope to hang myself, right? It looked really good.

In addition to the mansion, there are plantation buildings you can walk through. The boys spent close to an hour at the blacksmith's shop watching the men work. The blacksmiths really warm up to the kids when the realize they are genuinely interested in what they are doing and not idly passing by like almost everyone else. We spent substantial time watching blacksmiths at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Mount Vernon. That's got to be approaching somewhere near 100% of all working blacksmiths shops on the east coast, right?

We also liked the museum on the grounds. There were several films and lots of information about Washington and his times. Did you know that Martha was only 4'11"?! George was 6'2". It seems so unfair that he died relatively young; after such a remarkable a life of service, and the whole time just wanting to get back to Mount Vernon and enjoy his home and family. Isaac only set off one more alarm in the museum. We just looked around like we had no idea who had done it and ducked into the next room.

The temple

2010-06-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

One Sunday after church we headed to the LDS Temple near Washington DC to walk around the grounds with the boys and spent some time at the visitors center. I love the temple.

We also met some friends from San Diego there, then spent the afternoon with them. It is good to see old friends, especially when they are happy and doing well. Thanks, Sam and Mollie!

National Arboretum

2010-06-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

On the advice of a local friend, we spent an afternoon at the National Arboretum. And excellent advice it was!! It is a real gem in the city, and probably the most "off the beaten path" thing we did of note. If I had only two days to spend in DC I probably wouldn't go, but if I had a week, definitely. Especially if the day was a lovely spring or fall day - crisp in the shade, some pleasantly warm sunshine, a light breeze wafting by. Instead, the day we went felt like this:

I think it was actually 100 degrees, and so humid you just wouldn't believe it. But still, we had a good time. The boys checked out the carp and their creepily huge mouths.

One of our favorite parts of the arboretum was the bonsai exhibit. Some of the displays really were amazing - very beautiful and artistic.

In the center of the arboretum are the original Capitol pillars from before it was burned in the War of 1812.

There was a great sensory garden full of herbs and edible plants we were encouraged to taste. I have some ultra sensitivity to mint. I can barely walk by a mint plant without getting all dizzy and lightheaded. Weird, huh? Especially since my sense of smell is usually close to nothing. We also walked a ways through a "fern valley," which was lovely but as far as we could tell was another name for "woods." But I guess it's all native species.

We didn't spend as long as we would have liked because we were all about to melt in the heat; there were lots of other areas we didn't get to explore. But if you're in the area, check it out. It's free, beautiful, and you'll have the place almost to yourself.

Great Falls

2010-06-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

There were two coolish days (read: not sweltering) while we were in the DC area and we spent them outside. On one of them we went to Great Falls National Park and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a relaxing break from the city and museums, not to mention very pretty and dramatic. (In an "east of the Mississippi" way, if you get my drift.)

We hiked a bit through the woods and were very excited when the woman in front of us shrieked hysterically because she had spotted this rat snake. We followed it for awhile.

We spent a long time at a little beach down by the river where there were lots of water holes full of tadpoles and mosquito larvae and other captivating critters. The boys explored and I lay on a rock in the sunshine.

This was one of the nicest days on our trip, I think.

We were feeling so happy at the end that we even treated the boys to ice cream at the gift shop before heading home.

The Zoo

2010-06-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

We spent two days at the National Zoo. According to our photographic record, the boys primarily climbed on bronze animal statues. I'll just share this one.

It is a nice zoo. The panda was eating bamboo, the big cats weren't all sleeping, and the invertibrate house was awesome. Surprisingly, one of the coolest things about the zoo was a huge foam pizza playground for the kids. I have no pictures, so you'll just have to imagine: olive tunnels. Cheese slides. Giant rolling pepperoni slices. I don't really get the connection between a zoo and a pizza either, but a good time was had by all nonetheless.

Air & Space Museum

2010-06-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be straight up with you here, folks. Just get this out in the open right up front. I find air and space museums incredibly boring. I have never in my life seen an airplane or rocket and been genuinely moved by it. It's taken me a long time to just admit that. Maybe it means there is something wrong with me. I'll also just come right out and say that I don't like dogs. I think it means my heart is a little dead, but I've tried and I just can't help it. I know somehow rockets and flight symbolize the human spirit and imagination and yada yada, but I've never felt it. This is especially ironic given how many days of my life I've spent in air and space museums with my boys, reading eight million placards about every single stinking airplane in the place. Everywhere we go, it seems we are haunted by excellent air and space museums. The San Diego Air and Space Museum. The National Air Force Museum in Dayton. So of course, how could we miss the Smithsonian? We went. We suffered. The boys loved it. They studied every rocket and every Apollo launch pattern. I'll admit that the cosmology section was actually pretty cool. I could imagine getting into astrophysics. We didn't see everything, and they wanted to go back another day, and we made excuses until we left the area.

And now there is half a continent between me and possiblity of another day there, and I'll admit I feel pretty good about that.

Ballet at the Kennedy Center

2010-06-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

A lovely and surprising night in DC was made possible by my friend Matt. He lives in the area and used to work at the Kennedy Center, and he often has access to tickets to shows for which they need to fill up seats. Happily, he thought of us when he had some ballet tickets to give away, and Joseph and I got to go the ballet after eating some BBQ in Georgetown with Matt and Nephi and the boys. It was very fun to go somewhere a bit fancy with Joseph, who was really taken by the whole experience, and behaved very well. He loved the theater and views of the monuments from the roof of the building. The performance was actually three different ballet companies performing 20-30 minutes each, all in very different styles, so it was a perfect show for Joseph. The first was a very classical ballet, the middle was a Stravinsky piece, and the last was an incredibly fun and energetic hoedown number. We loved it!

Natural History Museum

2010-06-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of our time in DC was the Natural History Museum. We spent an amazing three days there - at Joseph and Caleb's insistence - and still didn't see everything. Pretty much every single exhibit (with the exception of gems) was completely captivating to them. They loved the hall of mammals, the ice age animals, the dinosaurs, the ocean hall, the insect zoo, the comparative anatomy exhibit...

One of the greatest parts, though, was the kids' discovery room. We spent hours there. You could touch everything, and there were all kinds of interesting things to look at through microscopes, or bones of different animals to feel and compare, or skulls of different hominids, or magnifying glasses and binoculors to carry around and look really cute.

Another huge hit was the hall on human origins, where they spent an entire afternoon completely absorbed.

It was pretty amazing to see how fascinated the boys were. Thanks, Smithsonian.

Holocaust Museum

2010-06-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

I went to the Holocaust Museum today while Nephi went with the boys back the Natural History Museum. It was, of course, horrifying and sad. Overall it was well done; I thought it hit the right balance between being honest about the horror without being unrelentingly gruesome. It also captured the deep sadness of losing whole communities of people. There was a large hall covered with photographs of people who lived in one community that had existed for 900 years, and it is all gone.

What really struck me, however, was a small monitor that was part of a display about liberating the camps. Apparently near one camp, the liberators forced the people in the neighboring town to walk through the camp and witness what had gone on there. It was so poignant to watch the people in their horror and sadness. Not, of course, that their suffering compares in any way to that of the people in the camps. But I felt like I could relate to them. I felt like watching them, it might be a small part of what judgment will be like one day. Somehow, the truth of everything will be laid bare before our eyes, and the blood and sins of our generation will be evident, and so will our complicity in it, and it will be horrifying, and we will have no hope but to cast ourselves on the grace of God to somehow, miraculously, be free of it. There is a difference between the guards in that camp, who threw in the gas canisters and fired up the ovens and starved and beat the people, and the people in the nearby town who did nothing. But I fear sometimes that there is not as big a difference as one would hope. At least speaking for myself.

There was a floor devoted to many of the people who saved Jews from their death, and they were incredible. I fervently pray God that I would be one of those people.

Memorials

2010-06-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

The second day we were in DC, we did the big monument walk. The hotel we were staying at was in Rosslyn, just across the bridge from the Lincoln memorial. It was a hot, hot, hot day. We started at the Lincoln memorial, which is incredible and moving. I'm reading a biography of Lincoln right now, and his courage and principles are so inspiring. It is stunning how close we were to losing our country.

Our clever home teacher back in Colorado told Joseph and Caleb to be sure to get a picture of themselves touching Lincoln's toe. We did the best we could.

We then turned around and admired the view of the Washington monument. It is interesting how it truly towers over the city. We came back another day and got to go to the top.
We walked by the Vietnam War Memorial, which is so moving. It doesn't look that big, but as you walk and walk, and the names of those young kids just keep coming, it does something to you. We also walked through the Korean War Memorial, and just as we got there, the skies opened and there was an incredible, refreshing downpour for about 5 minutes, then it got really hot and steamy. Kind of made you feel like you were in the jungle with the guys.

Then it was around the tidal basin to the FDR and Jefferson memorials. I had never been to the FDR memorial before and like it a lot, as did the boys. Jefferson's memorial fit him well. He's there in the back in this picture if you look closely.

Before we went to the top of the Washington memorial a few days later, we walked down to the WWII memorial, which I also loved. Nephi described it well - a classical monument to the last of the classical wars. It was beautiful and substantial and reverent. The range in styles in the memorials is so impressive, and there's not one that didn't work for me. I really loved seeing them all.

The big landmarks

2010-06-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

We made it to Washington DC! The first day we were here we had tickets to go on a tour of the Capitol building, which was a nice, iconic way to start this leg of our trip. The tour wasn't too long, and the boys did a good job and even seemed interested. The dome was impressive.

Later that day we walked briefly through the Library of Congress, which is so beautiful inside! So many interesting things on the ceiling. It would be a great building to go through with a good tour guide someday.

A few days into our time here we made the trek over to see the White House, which isn't especially close to other things we had been seeing (or a Metro stop, for that matter). Due to changes in our schedule after we requested the tour tickets (which you have to do months in advance and provide all kinds of personal information like social security numbers) we didn't get to go on the official White House tour, but we're not too sad about it. We went through the Visitors Center, which is really boring if you're not totally fascinated by the interior decorating choices of various first ladies, then got the picture of the boys in front. Which is what we were really after all along.

They got soaking wet in the sprinklers on the lawn, which helped cool them off and made it a bit more fun.

DC Itinerary

2010-06-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

In response to your various queries about what we've seen so far and what we're planning to see, I offer the following itinerary. Like all of you, I look forward to reading Gina's impressions and analysis. But until then, this seems like a serviceable placeholder.

Jun 12 - Tour of the Capitol, Library of Congress (The Founding Fathers very much looked to the Classical Ideals - the Renaissance revival of Greek and Roman ideas for their inspiration.), National Museum of the American Indian

Jun 13 - Memorials Walk: Arlington Cemetery, Memorial Bridge, Lincoln, Vietnam War, Korean War, Franklin Roosevelt, Jefferson (Deeply moving and spiritual; also a long walk.)

Jun 14 - Air and Space Museum (The boys liked all of it. My takeaway: Cosmology is cool!)

Jun 15 - National Zoo (Saw the giant pandas. Only made it halfway.), Marines' Iwo Jima memorial parade (Hard not to whistle to Colonel Bogey.)

Jun 16 - Natural History Museum (We only made it through part of the 1st floor; the boys study every single exhibit very closely.), Kennedy Center ballet (Gina and Joseph's special date.)

Jun 17 - Great Falls (A nice break from the city. We observed tadpoles and mosquito larvae at the edge of the Mather Gorge in the beautiful weather.)

Jun 18 - Natural History Museum part 2 (The boys intense curiosity and scrutiny continue; we still haven't seen everything.)

Jun 19 - White House (Glad I'm not the one making the interior decorating decisions. That seems more overwhelming than being leader of the free world.)

Jun 20 - Washington Temple Visitor's Center and Grounds (I love to see the boys' enthusiasm for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

Jun 21 - National Zoo part 2 (Almost finished it off. Enjoyed the Invertebrates, Amazonia, and the Giant Pizza (?) )

Jun 22 - National Arboretum (Another oasis of tranquility from the hubbub of the city.)

Jun 23 - Huntley Meadows Park (Amazing wetland just minutes from strip malls)

Jun 24 - World War II Memorial, Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum (Gina), Natural History Museum part 3 (Nephi and the boys)

Jun 25 - Mount Vernon

That's what we've been up to. As you can see, I couldn't resist some pithy commentary of my own.
To the boys delight, we've taken the Metro around to most of the sights. Escalators! Trains! Bars to hang on!
Also you should know that this is only what we do during the day; at night we've reconnected with a lot of old friends, many of whom have generously fed, sheltered, and conversed with us.

Wright Brothers' Memorial

2010-06-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

Practically across the street from our hotel was the Wright Brothers Memorial, famous site of the first powered flight. We all enjoyed it a lot more than we expected, I think. It was really interesting to learn how focused, systematic, and determined the brothers were in solving the problem of flight. They were like the archetypal scientists, with a really important and interesting, yet solvable, question sitting right before them. The glider they brought down one year to test was a total disaster and would barely fly at all. They were of course discouraged, but went home to figure things out. They realized the data they had been using was really unreliable, so they built their own wind tunnel and carefully tested some 120 wing profiles. The glider they built the next year based on their data worked like a dream, and they had essentially solved the problem of flight and only needed to power their glider. Isn't that a tidy story? That year they went back home and wrote to every automobile engine company with the specifications of the engine they needed. Every single one said it wasn't possible to build. So they and the machinist in their bicycle shop designed and built it themselves, exceeding their power requirements. Isn't that a nice detail? They brought the plane back down from Dayton the next year and flew. It's hard to imagine how thrilling it must have been. Here's the very spot where it happened, with four markers indicating the length of the first four flights.

And a little re-creation.

There was a nice ranger talk that kept the kids' attention, and then kites to fly.

We then walked around the monument erected on the hill where the tested their gliders. Apparently the whole place used to be just sand, like Jockey's Ridge. They apparently chose it because it was one of the windiest places in the country and offered soft landings.

I was really impressed by what the brothers had done by the end of the morning.

Jockey's Ridge

2010-06-17T04:41:00.000-07:00

One evening while we were at the Outer Banks we went to a state park near our hotel called Jockey's Ridge. There are lots of sand dunes and some nice views of the ocean and the sound.

Then we got some ice cream and went home.

Outer Banks

2010-06-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

After Williamsburg we headed a bit down the coast to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. OBX for those in the know, apparently. For three days we mostly just hung out on the beach. It was really nice. I could tell my life was pretty much stress-free because I spent a lot of mental energy wondering - almost worrying, to be honest - about whether we should or should not spend the money to go to one of those all-you-can eat seafood buffets on our last night there. I know you're dying to know how I resolved this really serious life problem. We got cheap fast food take-out for the boys and some good seafood takeout for Nephi and I, which was half the price and turned out to be all we could eat and was very delicious. (Except for the soft shelled crab, which was completely nasty. Who wants to eat mushy yellow crab innards? Gross).

In a very happy coincidence, our neighbors from Dayton were also there on vacation, and staying just a mile down the road from us. They have two boys similar in age to ours, and we got to spend an afternoon on the beach with them. Small world!

Nephi was definitely the coolest Dad on the beach. He swam and swam and swam with the kids - especially Joseph - even on the last day when somehow the weather got hot but the water temperature dropped ten degrees and was freezing.

And when he was done swimming, he made sand castles and forts.

In between, he caught fascinating sea creatures with nothing but some tiny goggles and a plastic bucket. Here's one of the three moon jellies he caught.

His most impressive catch was a purple puffer fish, all puffed up and looking a bit ridiculous and very alarmed. Sadly we didn't get a picture of it.

And what better way to unwind after a day at the beach than a swim in the swimming pool? Nephi did that, too.

I only brought my camera to the beach one day, and the sun was too bright to get good pictures, but here are a few anyway.

We left without any serious sunburn, which I consider a major victory. Joseph turned a deep bronze color within the first five or so minutes, but the rest of us had to be a bit more careful. Overall it was a really excellent, fun, relaxing few days.

Williamsburg

2010-06-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

After our big Jamestown/Yorktown day, we had a much more relaxing Sunday. That morning we went to church at the ward where, incidentally, the "O" family of Mormon blogging fame attends. I didn't really have time to talk with them, and they don't know me at all, but it was funny to meet people in real life that I've been reading anecdotally about for awhile. They seemed like lovely people and Heather O. taught a terrific Sunday school lesson. That afternoon we took a possibly ill-advised walk around Williamsburg in the still-sweltering heat to scope things out for the next day, then headed over to Richmond for a visit with my good high school friend Trevor and his family. I hadn't seen him in well over a decade, and it was wonderful to see him again and meet his kids and great wife.

Monday was the big Colonial Williamsburg day, and we were overjoyed that the weather finally broke. It was 80 degrees and clear, and an absolute joy to be outside walking around in, which is what you do a lot of at Williamsburg. We took a longish tour of the Peyton Randolph house in the morning. Our tour guide was a very serious fellow and seemed to be very nervous about our kids (who we watched very closely and who behaved very well the whole time). He never seemed to fully recover from Joseph commenting on how much fun the banisters looked to slide down.

The brickyard was a fun stop. The boys got to help mix the clay and water together with their feet.

Our favorite shops were where craftsmen were making things - the blacksmith, silversmith, cabinetmaker, etc. My mom treated us to a delicious lunch, which included some amazing peanut soup. Thanks, mom! We ended the day by attending the Revolutionary City outdoor theater, which for the most part was astonishingly bad and perplexing. If the weather hadn't been so lovely I would have felt downright hostile about it. As Nephi and I were talking about it later, we realized that overall we weren't especially impressed with the workers and guides, especially compared to those at Jamestown. They didn't seem very keen on being in character and didn't generally put forth much effort to engage the kids. But overall we really enjoyed the day, and I think the boys did too.

Jamestown and Yorktown

2010-06-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

We left Deann's home Friday morning and headed up to Williamsburg, Virginia where we were excited to pick up my Mom who flew in to spend a few days with us. That night we played some miniature golf at our hotel, swam in the pool, and ate some delicious pizza. For all the touristy stuff we're doing on this trip, those activities are still some of the boys' favorites.

Friday, however, it was time to get down to business and see some sights. At breakfast we discovered there were going to be record high temperatures that day - 98 degrees - with the sort of humidity only a swampy coastal area can muster. So we braced ourselves and went touristing anyway.

In the morning we went to Jamestown, site of the first permanent English colony in the New World. The whole place was really impressive. There was a reconstructed Powhatan village with huts and skins and obviously non-Powhatan but very informed and interesting people dressed in animal skins that were completely inappropriate for the weather. The boys liked the village a lot.

There were also recreations of the three ships the English settlers came over on. Folks, they are small. It would have been a nasty, smelly, uncomfortable voyage, I can assure you.

There is also a reconstructed fort where they had some houses, a church, a blacksmith shop, magazine, etc. Again the guides were really excellent.

By this time of the day we were definitely feeling the weather. It was putting us in no mood to conquer the wilderness or drain a swamp or plant crops or befriend/trade with/go to war with the native Powhatan.

We went and got some lunch and then walked through the blessedly air conditioned, and also excellent, museum about the colony.

By this point we were basically all completely exhausted, me at least as much as the boys, but there is no rest for the weary on vacation so we sallied forth to Yorktown, which was also much better than I expected. We were just in time for the last artillery demonstration of the day, so we dashed to the back of the park where they have a recreated revolutionary war camp. We got to experience the firing of a cannon, which was, as you might expect, bone-rattlingly loud.

We also got to hear about the horrifying medical treatments available in the camp. More than twice as many soldiers died in the camps from infection, dysentery, etc as died in battle. There was also a late 1700's era farm to walk through and a Revolutionary War museum we skimmed before closing. Finally, we headed out to the actual Yorktown battlefield. At the end of a long, hot day like this, the obvious thing to do is to sprint all the way across the field.

There were some cannons to climb on that just begged for a cute pose for the camera.

And finally we had checked all the boxes and got to head home. But every box was more impressive, enjoyable, and interesting than I had expected.

The Charlotte Cousins

2010-06-06T18:19:00.001-07:00

After the emu, we spent a relaxed few days with Nephi's sister Deann and her family who live outside Charlotte. We arrived at their house with Isaac, who we thought was getting better but was actually still quite sick, and after dinner the first night Joseph threw up. It seemed we were well on the way to making their whole family sick and earning the Worst House Guests EVER award. That night I offered one of my most fervent prayers in a good while, and amazingly Joseph woke up perfectly fine and no one else got sick. Poor Isaac just lay in our room for about a day and half sleeping and making occasional sad little noises until finally he kept down a bit of hamburger bun one night and tottered weakly out the next morning.

One morning I took Joseph and Caleb and had a lovely visit with my friend Kim from San Diego, who now lives on the other side of Charlotte. I always enjoy catching up with old friends, and she keeps a nice blog about her family that I've enjoyed reading. I was amused to realize that I actually couldn't remember her youngest child's real name since she refers to him only as Bugaboo on her blog. And now I know it, but I can't tell you, because blogs are good for some things, but other things are just for real life interactions, and her kids' names are one of them.

I'm always amazed by the lack of chaos in Deann's home when we visit. I'm sure some of it is her five kids' temperament and some of it is good parenting, but there just doesn't seem to be the ambient roar that usually accompanies children (mine in particular). My favorite part of visiting Deann is seeing how much she and her husband Zak really enjoy and love each other. He called one day, and I could tell right away that it was Zak that Deann was talking to because of the wonderful tone of her voice. They enjoy so many of the same things and together have done an amazing job decorating their lovely home. They seem to face life on the same team, and it's wonderful to see a marriage like that.

The kids had fun with their cousins, playing outside, at the pool, and especially on the Wii. I was a lazy photographer and only got this one picture, which is missing Monet and baby Jonathan, who we got to meet for the first time and you'll just have to take my word is very cute.

Thanks for hosting us, Deann and Zak! And you just can't believe how glad I am that we didn't get you sick.

Then we saw an emu

2010-06-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

On the way from Georgia to South Carolina, we stopped at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve to meet my cousin Jessica for a few hours. It was a pretty cool place! There was this emu who followed us around for awhile, and if I thought about it for too long it could creep me out a little, because look at it. Kind of creepy, right?

It was behind a fence, but still. For a relatively small preserve there was a surprising number of large cats, which a very friendly keeper talked about walking on a leash after hours to exercise. Seriously, she did. I don't know why I didn't ask for more clarification on that. Here's my lovely cousin Jessica and me:

Here are the older boys with a lion in the background. I know, you can't see it. Don't take pictures at zoos. I KNOW. I don't know why I can't help myself. Have you ever taken a good picture at a zoo? But I bet you bring your camera anyway, too.

But really, it was a nice place. The animals were strangely helpful. Like, usually at zoos the tiger, or pretty much every single animal you'd actually want to see, is sleeping the very farthest corner in the shade with just one little paw sticking out for you to maybe identify if you look very closely. Well, yesterday we'd walk up to an enclosure and suddenly the animals would animate and be interesting! The lion actually came out of her hut to sit majestically and look beautiful. The wolves started pacing! (Sad, but the best they could do given the circumstances.) The cockatoos all started speaking to us - in English! The alligator opened it's mouth really wide! Also, one of the keepers gave Joseph a really huge, awesome snake skin. To keep! If you're ever in the area, which I highly doubt, I'd recommend visiting the reserve. It feels like a small town zoo with really big, exotic animals. That apparently they walk on leashes after hours.

Georgia with the cousins

2010-06-02T06:05:00.001-07:00

After two solid days of driving, we arrived at Nephi's brother's home in north Georgia. We were very glad to finally arrive and had a fun few days playing with cousins. The kids spent a lot of time looking for bugs, riding bikes, and playing on the cool wooden play structure in the back yard.

Saturday we went cherry picking. Aren't they pretty?

We spent that afternoon swimming at a lake and playing in the sand. I didn't take pictures because sand+cameras=drag. Sunday we went to church with them and just relaxed around the house.

Monday morning Nephi and Aaron took the kids on a hike to a really big tree. I stayed home with Isaac who wasn't feeling too well. They found lots of fascinating bugs and creatures along the way.

Monday was also Rachel's eighth birthday, and the kids celebrated with a pool party on the deck. They swam for a really long time.

That night she had some cake and we got to sing happy birthday.

And Tuesday it was back in the van for us. Isaac was not in a very cooperative mood. The poor guy is still not feeling well :(

Note the solar panels on their house. Aaron has spent a lot of time the last few years making their house energy independent. They are almost completely off the grid, and he did almost all the work and research himself. Pretty impressive. Thanks Aaron and Bethany for making us feel so welcome and showing us a good time in Georgia!!

Quick catch up AND our Grand East Coast Tour!!

2010-05-27T21:12:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged for awhile, and there are posts I've been meaning to do. I'm tired of not blogging until I "catch up", so here they are in brief.

Isaac turned 3 and is cute! We love him!

My mom visited and painted the boys' room. One wall is all camo and looks FABULOUS. My mom is amazing.

We went camping near Little Wildhorse Canyon one very windy weekend. We did an 8 mile hike with the kids through the awesome slot canyons and everyone lived to tell the tale. Boys had a fabulous time watching sage brush ignite in the campfire.

We went camping in Moab another weekend with Nephi's sister Martha and her family, and his sister ellen. Good times!

I'm working from home about 15 hours a week doing software for a local company. Love it.

Nephi acquired some nice rock climbing gear and is busy converting lots of his friends into climbing buddies. Also he has climbed three 14ers already this year. He *loves* Colorado.

There. Now I'm caught up. Maybe I'll expand on those thoughts one day. Maybe not. But now I can move on and tell you all about our super duper east coast extravaganza that started today!! We're going on a six week trip. (How awesome is Nephi's job with summers off?!!) We made it to Saint Louis today after about 15 hours of driving and a 4:30 start. The boys were amazing, all things considered. Joseph even puked *into* the bowl provided for that very purpose and immediately felt better! Isaac had a huge potty training triumph at a rest stop! (btw, did NOT intend to be involved with potty training on this trip. But what do you do when your kid initiates it, even a few weeks before a huge road trip? Encourage him, of course...) We read a few chapters of Harry Potter and didn't even have to resort to the DVD player. Tomorrow we finish the distance to Nephi's brother's home in north Georgia and enjoy a few days with his family. We're looking forward to it!!

PS - In case any of my blog readers are thinking maybe this would be a good time to break into our house since I'm posting about being gone for six weeks on the internet, too bad. There are people staying there. Really. Plus, we own almost nothing that would be of any worth on the black market, and the few moderately nice electronics that we own are with us. Find someone else who recklessly posts about her life online on a non-password-protected blog.

Joseph turns 7!

2010-04-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Joseph turned seven a few weeks ago! To celebrate we invited a few of his friends to a party at the community center in the next town over that has a pool. Joseph loves swimming, water slides, and Star Wars about as much as he loves anything, and he had a great afternoon. Here's his cake, as designed by Joseph himself. Apparently there is a scene in one of the Star Wars movies where two jawas are hiding behind some rocks to ambush R2D2. This is the scene.

And this, of course, needs no explanation.

We love celebrating Joseph! He is a creative, intense, and tender boy with an impressive capacity for imagining up ways to (hypothetically) incorporate pyrotechnics and/or explosives into just about any situation. He loves people and projects that involve moving large things, like furniture or large amounts of snow. We love him and are so happy to have him in our family!!

February and March Reading Roundups

2010-03-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

Didn't read as many books these last few months. I've been busy, and Infinite Jest is a tome.

Secrets of the Talking Jaguar by Martin Prechtel (3 stars)
There's a rule of thumb test I heard once to determine if a comment is patronizing to a person or group. If you switched the parties in the comment, would you find the statement offensive or obviously wrong? If so, it's probably patronizing. This works well when applied to comments about men and women or races, but I think it also applies very well to this book. If I read a book that spoke in almost uniformly glowing terms about a modern society, and dismissed an indigenous culture in gross generalities, picking only its worst moments and tendencies to characterize it, and implied that pretty much all of its people are spiritually dead and immature... I'd think the author was offensive and almost certainly wrong. So, all this is to say I found this book a little patronizing. The Noble Savage stereotype, as it were, promoted by Himself.

The book tells about how Prechtel, raised on a Pueblo reservation in the southwest US, wanders around Mexico and Guatemala in an aimless search in his early 20s until he finds his home among the Guatemalan Maya in the village of Santiago Atitlan. There he lives for 13 years and is apprenticed and becomes a working shaman. He is fully accepted and fully loves his life there. Eventually he is forced to leave the country with his wife and children as a result of civil war, although his exit is not clearly explained.

His descriptions of his training, the beautiful land, the village life, and especially the spirituality of the Mayans were wonderful. I learned a lot about the culture of the village, and their view of the world and their place in it. It certainly is radically different than a modern mindset. His life was full of amazing adventures (some of which I admit to being a tiny bit skeptical about) and it makes for a great story.

The thing is, though, it's also a call for each of us to find our own indigenous heart, to recognize the poverty of our own alienating, deadening experience in a modern society and return to a true, spiritual, enlivening, rich life as embodied in his Mayan village. (Conveniently, he teaches classes and workshops on how to do this throughout the US. Yes, I'm a bit cynical). I just didn't feel it. I think a lot of this might be my membership in paradoxically one of the most corporate AND one of the most "indigenous" religions around in our modern society. If you don't know much about Mormons, you'd be surprised at the number of elements of our beliefs and practices I found echoed in those of the Mayan. I'm not saying the religions are related, and there are many *significant* differences. Only that our temples, views about holiness and priesthood, ideas about humanity, and ideas about community are similar in many respects. Maybe this is why I don't feel many of the horrible effects of modernity he describes. I do not discount his own experience of alienation during his time in the US, nor his obvious joy in finding of a people and culture where he felt fully embraced, challenged, valued, and alive. I enjoyed his story. But I don't think it is mine.

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (4 stars)
After sitting with this book for awhile after finishing it... I think it is a stunningly good rumination on a lot of themes that don't resonate with me (thankfully) at the moment. So it didn't mean as much to me as I hoped it would. It's a book about addiction and the dysfunction that causes it and that it causes. And boy howdy is it about addiction and dysfunction - all 1100 pages. It will bring you to your knees in gratitude if you are so blessed to not suffer an addiction, and to have not suffered the sort of life that often brings one to that point.

The plot is famously hard to describe but involves: a hyper-addictive video titled Infinite Jest, Quebec separatist terrorists in wheelchairs, an elite tennis academy, a whole slew of people desperately addicted to about every substance and behavior that I've ever heard of (all of whom are dealt with with extreme empathy, some of whom are very likable and some extremely not), a halfway house, a dangerously beautiful woman, and a family of outlandishly brilliant and heartbreakingly sad people. Among many, many other characters and plot elements, most of which are interesting. It is not laugh-out-loud funny, but it is amazingly insightful and ironic and makes you chuckle, but often in a sad way. The range of writing and characters that Wallace pulls off is incredible. He manages a hyper-realistic style, where things are just on the line of over-the-top, not real but real enough to be more than caricatures. There are, however, parts that were supposed to be funny but are not, and parts that are show-offy, and parts that drag on way too long, so not everything works. Be warned that the language is extremely harsh throughout, and there are many violent, tragic, disturbing scenes. The characters are (almost) to a person desperate and sad.

And that's the thing. I felt very much the same as when I read The Corrections (which incidentally was written by Jonathan Franzen, a very close friend of Wallace). I many times wanted to yell, "But this is not true!!" The books are both huge undertakings and seek to reflect an experience in our modern American culture that I am certain does not capture the whole of our time. It is such a dark vision that they reflect! So desperate, so dysfunctional, so lonely, so chemical- and entertainment- driven! I know it is not the only way, because I exist and my life and outlook and experiences are not like that, and I know a significant number of other people who are part of decent families and live life with a purpose and connect with people in meaningful ways and are not driven to escape and addiction. I regret that two such extraordinary writers apparently experience our culture in such negative ways. Deeply regret it, actually, because I so wanted to love this book and I just couldn't really love it.

The Year My Son and I Were Born: A Story of Down Syndrome, Motherhood, and Self-Discovery by Kathryn Lynard Soper (4 stars)
A very moving, honest book about a woman coming to terms with both her post-pardum depression and the reality of having a son with Down Syndrome. Her insights into herself and what she values - and valued - are worth reading for. It made me cry a lot, and that doesn't happen very often.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows (3 stars)
A delightful little read!

Happy Pi Day!

2010-03-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hope you all enjoyed your Pi Day (3-14) last week. We decided to have a little pie party in the spirit of being social in a geeky-yet-delicious sort of way. If you can believe it, I couldn't find any store bought decorations whatsoever, so we had to make our own.

Then guests showed up bringing pies, and we ate a lot and had a lovely evening. I made my grandma's strawberry glazed pie, but feel like I kind of shamed her because I didn't cook the glaze long enough for it to thicken properly. But still, so delicious.

The Olympics!!

2010-02-28T21:07:00.001-08:00

I love the Olympics!! I love it even out of proportion to how much I actually enjoy it. A few thoughts about the past two weeks which you will probably find boring if you don't also really love the Olympics:

Watching the opening ceremony with the boys was an incredible experience. We got out a map and identified each country as the athletes came in and I was completely blown away by how much geography Joseph and Caleb know. Like, I bet they'd beat about 75% of American adults on a geography quiz. They knew the continent of almost every country, and could easily identify New Zealand on the map, for example. How do they know all this? I'm not sure. They were also touched by all the right things. In the middle of the long and kind of boring speech by the organizer, Joseph was apparently inspired. "These athletes are great examples of working hard! If they got knocked down or hurt when they were training, they just got right back up again to keep working!!" he said. Uh, yep. (I suddenly feel like we are in a Proctor & Gamble commercial.)
And the opening ceremony was so terrific! I loved the whales! I loved the Joni Mitchell wheat field number, and kd lang, and Sarah McClachlan! Not so keen on the punked-out fiddling tap dancers, but it did give some variety.
Kim Yu-Na was so phenomenally good. The highlight of the whole thing.
Rachel Flatt, bless her heart, skated well. But she really needs some costume advice and to match her tights to somewhere in the same universe as her skin tone. Holy distracting!!!
Short track - most adrenalizing sport to watch ever! So fun!
Lindsey Vonn - not ending the games as many peoples' sweetheart, I'm afraid.
Ice dancing - too painful and embarrassing to even watch.
Evan Lysacek deserves a second gold medal for handling all the post-winning baiting to talk badly about Plushenko with about as much grace and class as humanly possible.
Shaun White - unbelievable. How can someone be so incredibly much better than every other top athlete in his sport?! Just amazing to watch.
Hockey. Well, I enjoyed my half hour as a hockey fan as much as the rest of America, but it's probably best the Canadians won since they'll still care in a week.
The best way to watch the coverage is definitely with the mute button nearby and a book in your hand to make the endless commercials bearable.
One of the women on the Alpine ski team is from New Castle! Our little town of 3500 people! Her aunt is in my yoga class! Joseph's school made a big deal of her being there, and it is a big deal. She crashed out of her race, but still, very cool.

Anyway, it's over, and that's for the best. I feel like I can get on with my life again. But it was wonderful. Go world!

Presidents Day at Colorado National Monument

2010-02-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we all had Presidents Day free and thought we should do something fun. Sunday we drove down to Nephi's parents' home and spent the night with them. It was Valentine's Day and Grandma helped the boys make cute cards for us. Joseph was enamored with the ducks in their pond and had a good time trying (unsuccessfully) to sneak up on them. Monday we headed home through Grand Junction and the Colorado National Monument. It was cold out so we mostly drove through along a stunningly beautiful road. We did one short hike to Devil's Kitchen - a big sandstone outcropping. There was some snow and ice along the path, which made for some slipping, which made for some unhappy boys, but once we got there we had a good time climbing around and enjoying the view.

The exit to the Monument is right by the Dinosaur Journey museum in Grand Junction. We're members, so we stopped and spent about 45 minutes there, which is about right. It's a small place and the boys like it. Every time we go, however, I wish I remembered to bring my camera to take a picture to post on here of the last stunning display. It cracks me up every time. After the whole museum and accompanying video are very carefully non-bloody, this display shows a six-foot-tall theropod with the severed head of a sauropod hanging from its mouth. The sauropod's body is on the ground, and it's head is ripped off around mid-neck. And the head is still connected to the body by these stringy, dangling, ligamenty-looking things. The display animates, and the theropod shakes the head back and forth so the ligaments swing around looking bloody and gross. It is so off the wall, I just wish I had been in on the brainstorming sessions for that display. My kids don't seem to find it too disturbing, though, so there's that.

A nice day! I love my family!

January Reading Roundup

2010-02-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

Bombingham by Anthony Grooms (3 stars)

This book really puts in your face the reality of living in the Jim Crow south in the sixties through the eyes of a child. I think it's easy as a white person living in the 2000s to sometimes think lunch counters, water fountains, blah blah. To just kind of gloss over it. But there was no glossing over it for the people who lived it and had to somehow explain to themselves and their children the hundred ways they were belittled and dehumanized every day. It's harrowing to think this happened in our own country only fifty years ago. Reflecting on times like this, and how many people were willing to accept the status quo and justify it to themselves, it's motivating to be sure we're on the right side of truth and justice in our own lives. Because history will judge each of us.

The writing, however, seemed a little... inexperienced. A little too much telling and not showing, a few too many conversations overheard through a window. I thought the ending was surprisingly strong, though. The boy who grew up in Birmingham is now fighting in Vietnam, and the way violence and injustice and loss has scarred and shaped him, and continue to haunt him, come together just in the nick of time. To save the book, but not him.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (2 stars)

The language is quite lovely - its a very sparse, poetic read, and I enjoyed that. Especially the imagery of the desert and the grazing sheep. But it's just bursting out all over the place with self-importance and little life lessons. The sort of thing I would have made a list of deep quotes from when I was 13. But now it just sort of bugs. I find myself especially turned off by new-agey, deep-indigenous-wisdom sorts of things lately, so it just wasn't the right time for me and this book to meet up, I guess.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (4 stars)

The perennial favorite of Relief Society book clubs strikes again. I read it a few years ago, and was pleasantly surprised rereading it that it's really quite good. There are lots of interesting ideas explored - social responsibility, individual freedom, institutional memory, protecting a people from pain, commitment to honesty, loyalty, the price of love, the use of language to control thought and discussion, the meaning of family. It is interesting as an adult, and would blow the minds of a class of seventh graders.

A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder by Michael Pollan (3 stars)

Hey, it's Michael Pollan talking about something other than food?! Cool! I really like Michael Pollan, and I'm with him on the food thing, but still it was refreshing. I liked reading about his ordeal building a little writing house for himself in the woods, and all the Thoreau references made me want to reread Walden. I totally identified with his motivation for doing something like this - to tear himself away from ideas and words and computer screens and actually make something tangible with his hands. I laughed a lot about how he went about choosing the site for the house. But the project went on for two years, and the book lost a little steam for me. Also, it started to seem a bit ridiculous to be spending so much money for this little hands-on experience. But still, there were some interesting ruminations about architecture and wood and craftsmanship, and I enjoyed it.

Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays by David Foster Wallace (4 stars)

And with this I believe I am formally a DFW groupie. I love his voice and his thoughts. And he is so funny and so clever. I'm very much looking forward to tackling Infinite Jest.

This essays in this book cover all kinds of territory - the porn industry, John McCain, 9-11, grammar, Dostoyevsky, a hilarious scathing dismantling of Updike, right-wing talk radio, the ethics of eating lobster. I think I enjoyed the essay about the porn industry the most - very funny, and horrifying in a not-self-righteous sort of way. (Although be forewarned that given the subject matter it is at times shockingly vulgar and crass.) I also especially liked the article about his week on the road with the Straight Talk Express during the 2000 primaries, which happened to be the week that the push-polling by Bush people in South Carolina brought everything to a hasty end. His reflection on our cynicism about politics, and how badly people wanted to believe in McCain, and the impossible position that put McCain in were very interesting to me, especially in relation to my involvement with the Obama campaign. (Also, it was just flabbergasting to read about the cutting edge technology that the press were all using on the road a mere ten years ago and how incredibly ancient it seems now. Modems and fax machines beeping, people hooking up their laptops to their cell phones to send stories off, the novelty of fast-forwarding digital video and having things go all blocky...)

I think there is no one essay that is of long term consequence here, however. I just really, really like the way the guy writes.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

This year we got to spend Christmas with Nephi's family. His sister Martha and her family, and ellen and Samuel were all there too, which made for some mighty fine Christmas carolling and a full cast for acting out the nativity.

The lovely angels,

the wise guys,

and the shepherds.

Overall just a lovely, warm way to celebrate the holiday.

The lovely miss ellen

2010-01-12T16:18:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas we got a short visit from ellen, Nephi's lovely sister who was on her way from Denver to her parent's home for the holiday.

We had dinner and played a few games before she went on her way. We're so glad she was able to visit!

December Reading Roundup

2010-01-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments by David Foster Wallace (4 stars)

This was a very, very funny book of essays. The section on the baton twirling competition at the state fair is one of the funniest things I've ever read. Wallace just has a dark, ironic way of seeing things that resonates with me. I didn't actually read all the essays; I skipped the ones about David Lynch movies, postmodern lit crit, and tv (written in 1991) because I just wasn't that interested. But the essays on his experience at the state fair, about a professional tennis player, and on the Caribbean cruise were exceptionally good. He perfects a certain sarcastic, witty, slightly snobby yet self-depreciating style of writing that I love. It is, of course, also very sad to read, knowing as we do now how genuine the despair and "otherness" he conveys in his writing was, as he committed suicide several years ago. While it is true that there is much to loathe, or mock, or find very strange indeed at a state fair or on a cruise... it is (apparently unbearably) sad to not ever feel part of the fun, either.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

This was a tough book to read. Not the story, which was easy, but to just know from the start things were not going to work out for these people. They were going to be crushed. I think it very effectively demonstrated the cost of a coldly capitalist system with no safety net. It may be true in the end it is more efficient, etc. But in the meantime living, breathing people are crushed.

After reading this I read a few reviews, discussions, etc about it online. One interesting point was that the appalling migrant worker conditions in California dramatized in the book had been going on for several decades before the book was written. However, the workers mostly consisted of non-whites and immigrants and no one seemed to be overly concerned. It wasn't until the Okies showed up - white native born Americans - that the outrage at the exploitation and injustice began. But their whiteness did not save them from the dehumanizing conditions, mind you.

The writing was, I thought, wonderful. The characters were sympathetic and likable, and we were mostly spared from moralizing dialogue. Overall just a very moving, sad story. And unfortunately still very relevant.