after about four hours of sleep last night

Brianna, Melena and Jensen earned a bronze medal for their paddling prowess today. Competing in just over two minutes. The gold medalists were about ten seconds faster, but there were others who were about five minutes slower!


Megan and my husband were sporting their Minnow Club shirts tonight. You do have to actually eat a minnow to earn one. He did it a couple of years ago. He said he had to because all the girls were chanting, and so he succumbed to the pressure. I'll tell you what (no shocker here) no amount of peer pressure would induce me to eat one of those slimy nasty things!

Presidents Carter and Ingalls paddling across the lake to the 4th year campsite where President Ingalls will...

...earn his shirt.


And finally, just a reminder that they are at girl's camp in Florida. We were playing spot-to-spot tonight, on the back of one of our girls, with mosquito bites! or maybe it was those yellow flies that got her!?

The weather was actually really lovely tonight. I personally had a great time hanging out with the girls who were positive and fun and almost made me want to sleep over! And apparently, the bugs got all they wanted today because I came home sans bites. Oh yes!

...and they're off

Brianna, Nashua, Emily, Melissa, Nellie, Anabel, Megan, Sarah, Melena, Jordan and Jensen
Of course, it is pouring rain at the moment, so I am hoping that their tents are watertight!?! They sing a bunch of crazy songs at girl's camp. Only one of which I recognized from my own camp days. "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" Actually, I think they added a second verse!

Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them o'er your shoulder
like a continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

Do your ears flip-flop?
Can you use them for a mop?
Are they stringy at the bottom?
Are they curly at the top?
Can you use them for a swatter?
Can you use them for a blotter?
Do your ears flip-flop?

a river runs through it

The "sisters" will be surprised? delighted? amused? amazed?

to know that their tent has lived to spawn another generation of camp stories. We did go to Walmart tonight and purchase a tarp with the hope that a river will not, in fact, run through it when it rains. Which it, no doubt, will this week. Brianna is off for her adventures tomorrow morning.

sunday visitors

Today was an unusual Sunday in the first place because when Brianna and I got home from church Doug was already here. Brianna kept wondering if he was sick or when he was leaving.

Megan came home from church with us because it just made more sense for her to be at our house this afternoon. I warned her on the way home that the house was not tidy and we had nothing to eat. I won't write what she said back to me, but I will say that it was comforting. We ate homemade macaroni and cheese (meaning not from a box, and ready made noodles that just had to be boiled) and applesauce. Luckily for her, she had a real dinner invitation for later in the day. And Brianna loved it because it is one of her favorite meals.


After a little while the 5 others that are going on the Road Trip with us a week from tomorrow came over and we painted "Road Trip 08" shirts on the porch. It was hot as anything outside, but we were lucky enough to have some breezes blow by. No one complained and mostly we just had a good time talking about camp coming up this week and making our shirts. I got some help with mine and so it turned out very adorable.

Then my friend Mary came over and gave me a birthday present and we had a nice little chat.

Afterwards I thought that I hadn't had such a social Sunday since I lived in the dorms at BYU. That probably isn't exactly true, nevertheless, it was a really nice Sunday afternoon.

get your shine on

Brianna has been unhappy in her dance class for several months now. In spite of that, she has finished "the season". Tonight was the recital. She didn't want anyone to come, and at intermission after she had already performed she wanted to leave without even being part of the finale. So, we did leave and went to dinner together. It was nice. And her recital piece? Well, I thought she did well! She is the last one to enter the stage and is back left for most of the performance.

6/6

Do you know the primary song "I like my birthdays every one!"

Well, I do. I often call out birthday favors because it is my birthday week or even my birthday month. Of course, the birthday day is the most important. It's not that I haven't had more than my share of special gifts and experiences lately. It's just that it is the birthday day!

We got off to a rough start tonight. Flowers and dinner at Goblin Market helped...

ALOT.

camp flag

Our wonderful stake camp director, Amy Lowe, made these camp flags for all the wards in the stake.
Each ward was then asked to personalize the other side of the flag. Our "color" is orange.

Jordan designed it. I put it together and Sarah told me on Wednesday in the nicest possible way that she thought it could look a little better. She came over today and made it look way better!

last day

Another year has gone by. I am extremely grateful for the help my Young Women have given me by volunteering in my class this year. I have had a group that has been high maintenance. Extra hands and help has been a blessing. Thanks to Megan, Nashua, Nellie and Brianna, I was able to teach and meet the needs of this class much better. I am also grateful for a wonderful teaching partner. She is fabulous to work with. I believe that she found this job listing as an answer to my prayers. I am thankful for the hand of the Lord in my life. Happy summer to us all!

the good and bad of monday

This is what happened today:

Good: I only had 15 kids in my classroom. I know it is not supposed to be a good thing to be missing kids. It doesn't seem to matter which kids are out (okay sometimes it does make a big difference which kids are out) but even when the best kid is missing...less is just easier and easier is nice.

Not good: We realized that my brand spanking new dishwasher is not working. So...after three phone calls to Asko and four phone calls to Moon Appliance where we purchased it and 2 more phone calls to the person who is going to come and have a look at it on Wednesday, I was well and truly miffed. It annoys me that you have to be the Wicked Witch of the West to have people take you seriously. Among the ridiculous things that I heard on the phone today, my favorite comment has to be when I was told that you are not put in the system for a month after you make a purchase so they couldn't help me. Pardon? Are you kidding me?

Good: Brianna came to school with me until 1:00. It is always nice to have an extra pair of hands and she is pretty strict with those kids. She is excited because she is spending the next few days at the beach with Natalie, which is why she got picked up at 1. She called me a few minutes ago to say that they were having a good time and that she loves me.

Not good: The car salesman called me At School! at 3:00 and said that they were putting in the DVD player as we spoke and we could pick up the car today. Great, I said. Call me when it's done. He called at 7:00 to tell me that someone had picked up the wrong DVD player, apparently one meant for a car with a sunroof, which my car does not have. So they are going to try again tomorrow. another someone at the dealership said those guys charge at a rate of $98 per hour. I am just wondering if it took them over four hours to figure out they had the wrong DVD player?

Good: It came up in class today that my birthday is on the last day of school. My last day with the kids is tomorrow, but their last day is Friday. FYI--You can only count on this being a good experience with the younger kids. Of course, someone said, "How old are you going to be?" And I said, "Guess!" And they were saying things like 29 and 34. LOL Love it!

Not good: Doug took his car into be serviced and it was not the "minor repair" that he had been hoping for.

Good: Doug and I went grocery shopping and planned a nice little dinner together tonight.

Not good: I ended up talking on the phone while he ate alone.

Good: Doug sat with me while I ate so that I didn't have to eat alone.

Not good: I think the girls are worrying about what to get me for my birthday because they are calling him tonight instead of me.

Good: I feel loved!

Not good: I am exhausted.

Good: It is bedtime.

sunday night

Tonight I am listening the the piano music of Wayne Gratz, which I think is just beautiful. I like New Age piano music. I had been reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I liked this paragraph at the end of chapter eight:

"Margaret went home, wondering at her new friends, and smiling at the man's insight into what had been passing in her mind. From that day Milton became a brighter place to her. It was not the long bleak sunny days of spring, nor yet was it that time was reconciling her to the town of her habitation. It was that in it she had found a human interest."

Then I got an email from Debbie Clayton. She asks questions that I have to think hard and dig deep to answer.

Here is what I loved about church today. I loved listening to the members bear their testimonies of Jesus Christ. I loved the peace I felt. I thought about how their testimonies were a strength to mine. I thought of the hundreds, maybe even by now, thousands of testimonies that I have heard in my life. I thought of the bond among believers, followers of the Savior. I am grateful for their words.

Later in Sunday School class, someone mentioned their own gratitude for the testimonies today. That was an especially good moment for me, not because ultimately, I bore my own testimony near the end of that earlier meeting. It was good moment for me, because I felt like I understood what he was talking about. He had an insight of what was passing in my mind. I felt a bond with this person that I don't believe I have ever even spoken to--a human interest, I guess you could say. Thank you Elizabeth Gaskell for your words, which help me explain my own feelings.

tortoises and the new shell

Last week I posted a picture of the right side of the garage. This week, the left. So...even though we are slow as tortoises, the good news for us is that there is consistent progress. Maybe we are not as slow as tortoises, maybe it was just the quantity of work that needed to be done. So after putting in another 7 hours on the garage project today and another trip to the dump, we can see that there is light at the end of the tunnel, or in this particular tunnel, there is light in the garage.

We were tired and exhausted and decided to go out for dinner. On the way, we stopped off at the Toyota dealership and look what we bought! Ours is red. We left it at the dealership, however, to have a DVD player installed. We are looking forward to picking it up sometime this week!

Can I just say, I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

the May garden

I was just worrying about my orchid last week. It last showed off in November/December, but I thought they orchid guy told me that it bloomed twice a year. And then all of a sudden I find that it has 7! blooms. Welcome back beautiful!
As the last days of May are approaching and the majority of the northern hemisphere is looking forward to days in the garden, we here in Florida finish up the last tasks and then go into hangon mode until fall. I feel like a mom sending her kids away for the first time. I've done the best I could for them and now they are just going to have to cope through the furnace of affliction coming their way. But today my herb garden is happy so I thought I would share.

Nolan Carter Evans

Our new grandson

Welcome

Number Nine

Girls 2
Boys 7

book club

I wish that I could say how much I enjoy the women that come to book club at my house without sounding somewhat pathetic. We don't actually spend all that much time discussing the books we read as we do discussing how the books affected us...how the books give the past, present or maybe even the future some enhanced perspective. Sometimes someone else's ideas have balanced my own in an even better and more meaningful way. And every time we meet I think again, I am really glad they came tonight.

memorial day holiday

Doug and I were in the garage before 8 this morning, which we thought was quite admirable for a holiday. The temps were only in the 70's this morning and we took advantage. Doug got all of the hurricane doors stacked and we mounted all of the big garden tools on the wall. It is nice to actually see some progress even though we are still far from the goal. Brianna worked diligently inside this house tidying up after the weekend. She did a great job.



Then the Berge's came over. We had a great time on the lake and afterwards playing Wii.

flips flops and rainbows

First the garage update. Sadly, I am no longer in New York. It is back to reality and the reality is that the garage still needs work. The heat and humidity are really slowing us down, but we did manage to work for about three hours this morning. Only one trip to the dump. Doug wanted to make two. We have been having a standoff about an iron table and chairs that he was sure nobody wanted and I was sure somebody did. Finally, against all his better judgment, he loaded them into his tractor and took them down near the street. Can I just say that I didn't even have time to make the "free" sign before the chairs were gone. And not many minutes later so was the table. I think whoever it was that wanted it, just couldn't fit it all in one load. So I am feeling good about that tonight.After lunch, five of my Young Women came over to make unity things for camp. Today we were working on flip flops. They turned out adorable!

Afterwards, we fired up the waverunners. It was quite a stormy afternoon and we got rained on three times. It never stopped us for more than a few minutes as we were lucky that there was no lightning accompaniment. Finally, the sun was sinking and the rain was coming again so we had to call it a day. We looked up into the sky and saw an incredibly beautiful double rainbow. Ah, rainbows – those will-o'-the-wisps of ethereal beauty, made possible only by a full lineup of optics phenomena. I didn't have my camera but this guy did. He says:
"This double rainbow came as a complete surprise.
I was waiting for a little bit of evening sunlight to fall on a tree.
Then a heavy shower started and the sun came out at the same time.
The result – a double rainbow – and I got very wet – but it was worth it."

We were already wet. Still, the double rainbow was a complete surprise. I am always going to try and remember to look at the order of the colors on the second rainbow. Because I know they are supposed to be flip flopped! You would think that I would have remembered that today! But I didn't.

when the wrens almost ruined everything

For several weeks now Brianna has been watching this family of Carolina wrens. First, building their nest above our front door and then waiting on and now rearing their young. I have enjoyed seeing them zoom past the dining room windows numerous times a day as they hurry to take care of the needs of their young.

Wrens mate for life and like to build their homes in cavities. It was very hard to try and catch one of the parents as they are so speedy with their to-ing and fro-ing. Maybe you can just see one of them there behind the vacant light holder.


Anyway, I was watching them today from the car while Brianna was running an errand for me in the house. Suddenly, I was transported to another time--the summer of 2000.

Doug, Brianna and I were living in South Florida. Melanie was home for summer vacation from BYU and she and I were doing renovation work on the Birdhouse. In the summer there are often lightning-started fires in the Everglades. That year they were particularly dramatic. As we drove up from the south we could smell fire for much of our journey.

We arrived late, and I put Brianna to bed. Then Melanie and I sat down to relax. We had a little laugh and said, what are we thinking? We need to go to bed. We have a ton of work to do tomorrow. So, we walked back up the stairs. When I got to the top of the stairs, I said to Melanie, I can still smell the fire. She replied that she could as well.

And then I had one of the most singular experiences of my life. Very literally, "not knowing beforehand the things that I should do", I walked back down the stairs as did Melanie. As we neared the bottom, we could both see fire--literally right at the front door and right at the dining room window. I don't recall speaking to each other, but I do remember that she carried on downstairs and called 911 and I went back upstairs and grabbed Brianna out of bed and we left the house through the back staircase.


By the time we walked around to the front of the house, the fire engine had pulled into the driveway and the hoses were being unreeled. Fortunately, for us, it was a very small fire that was quickly put out. Then the firemen pulled a few boards off the front of the house to make sure that there was nothing simmering inside the walls.

At some point in time, someone had made light fixtures for the front porch out of wood. A wren family thought that was an ideal cavity for their home. When we turned on the front porch lights the nest materials were kindling for what followed.

Even though it is a hopelessly inadequate understatement, I still want to say how I am grateful for the promptings of the Spirit that kept us and our home safe that night. How often I have thought about it!

************************************************************************************
Given the severity of the situation and as ridiculous as it sounds, I have always hoped that the wren family escaped. Maybe their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandbirdies are busy at my front door now.

thank you berge's

for taking such good care of Brianna while we were away

priceless

the joy
as we see the love and support your family gives
a most extraordinary woman
making our dreams come true as well

the enrichment
that you bring to the lives of so many others
including our own

the walk
that is the outward manifestation
of a very significant accomplishment

the light
on your face
even though it is an otherwise dark, cold and rainy day
it comes from walking in the light and
it emanates from within

with all our love
CONGRATULATIONS TRICIA

princeton junction

We rode the train to Princeton Junction this morning where Cherylyn, Andrew and...Clark were waiting to pick us up. We had some fun playing on the cars at the mall
and then we had lunch before meeting up with Tricia and her family. We caravaned to Rutger's University together.

meeting the little people in the big city

We had the most wonderful day with---Courtney, Bella, Carter and Jonah.
First we went to see their dad's apartment.

Then we went to see where he works.

Of course, we had to have pizza for lunch at a great
New York pizzeria.
Papa played "rock, paper, scissors, shoot" outside with the kids
while we were waiting for a table inside
amongst all the professionals who may have been wondering
what on earth these kids were doing on Wall Street?On to the subway for a ride from downtown to midtown.So that we could capture
Tricia, the librarian
with one of her favorite library sayings:

But above all things
truth
beareth away
the victory

We didn't want to miss this picture of the kids on one of the giants lions either.


We were off next to the American Girl store
where Courtney negotiated a deal with her dad to purchase this suitcase
for her adventures this summer at Princess Camp.
We can't wait to see her at
Birdhouse Castle!
Bella entertained more than just me
dragging a similar suitcase throughout the store...
all the while saying
"Dada! Dada!"
A quick stop at Rockefeller Center
where the cherry trees were just beginning to bloom.

Next up...FAO Schwartz!



We were had some great piano entertainment.

Bella didn't quite make it to the last stop.

The Stage Deli

Where Courtney
pondered the possibilities of picnicking on a plate of pickles.

************************************************************************************

How do you take four little people to the city?
You have four big people go with them.
We walked their little legs off
and they were as good as gold.
It was a perfect day,
or so it seemed as Doug and I were walking home
alone together after dinner.

But then I saw the
Tristan and America
store.
And we went in.
And my husband bought me an adorable dress!And then it really and truly was a perfect day
in the big city!