Beautiful Baby

Aubrey Jane, one year old. Photos by our friend, Jessica.


I may be prejudiced, but I think she is one of the cutest babies I know.


She looks good in any color! And Jessica didn't even get her cutest look...when her face is split in half by her dazzling, toothy, beaming smile!

New Beginnings...

Maddie on the first day of seventh grade Monday. Is she cute, or what? I can''t believe this is our baby! So glad we have her...


Amy left this morning for her second year at BYU. She will be living in on-campus Spanish language housing this year. She can only speak, read, and write Spanish in her dorm and will be eating dinner with Spanish speakers every night. She will cook for 6-12 students once a week. She seems to have a gift for languages and has skipped a couple of classes in her Spanish progression. She is nervous and excited!

I hope Loretta doesn't mind that I blog-lifted her first day of school photos.


Julie is a seventh grader this year too. She and Maddie have only one class and lunch together. They meet before school and chat with their friends while waiting for the bell.


Ally is a fifth grader and likes her teacher. Her best friend, Summer, is in her class again this year. Hooray!

Good luck with all your new experiences, girls! Work hard!

Wallowing...

Okay, I admit it. I am wallowing in misery. Most moms are happy and relieved when summer is over. They go out to breakfast with their friends to celebrate. They enjoy the peace and quiet. They breathe a sigh of relief and put up their feet for a minute.

I hate the first day of school as a mother.

I don't enjoy sending my children back to school. I love the lazy, unscheduled days of summer. I like having a house full of people. I like having family around.

Even at this stage of life, with only "two children" left, I still feel the pangs when another school year is officially gone and the summer is over and they are another year closer to leaving home for good...Having Maddie and Amy home for the summer was great.

Don't get me wrong. I like my solitude and the opportunity to get my work done in peace and uninterrupted quiet. I enjoy being able to pick up and go without worries if I need to go get plans or (unexpected joy these days!) a check. I don't mind being able to change my schedule on the spur of the moment or meet a friend or Jeff for lunch without feeling guilty.

But, I miss my kids. I miss hearing their background noise and the stories they are always telling me. I miss having someone around who's always hungry or busy or needy. I miss having something to do for someone all the time. (I know-try telling that one to a mother of preschoolers! Been there, done that!)

I know it is a necessary part of life, and of course I want my children to grow up and live productive, independent, joyful lives. It just leaves me a little lonesome and sad...

Family Olympics

Last night for Family Home Evening we held a 100" race around our dining room table top. It was Dad's turn to plan FHE, so it was a spur of the moment activity, but it was a huge success.

First, we decorated aspirin tablets with country flag colors to represent our runners.

We competed for gold, silver, and bronze awards.


We used wind power for our runners' energy source.

Dad set a new world record for the 100" tabletop race.

But only AFTER Maddie won gold in the finals!

We miss the Olympics...

Finished and Cute!

I just realized, when organizing photos on my computer, that I never posted a picture of Aubrey's quilt when I finished it. It was for her first birthday, June 18th.


I think it turned out pretty cute (thanks to Quiltique picking the fabric and my friend, Georgia doing the machine quilting!) I love this quilt!

One Determined Cat

For those of you who don't know, we adopted a stray cat a couple of months ago.


Today Charlie Brown is at the vet having his "loss of cat-manhood" operation.

It was supposed to be yesterday, but alas-we had to reschedule.

You see, Charlie was not supposed to eat anything after 9pm Monday evening so he would be ready for anesthesia Tuesday morning. Maddie diligently brought his food in from the garage and set it up on the kitchen counter. We also placed his bags of food, which he has previously been know to CLAW THROUGH when he is hungry (and he is, apparently, ALWAYS hungry!) high on a garage shelf.

When we let him in the house from the garage yesterday morning he meowed loudly and piteously, begging for the food he could not have. You would have thought he hadn't eaten for a week. It was pathetic.

Before we went walking it crossed my mind that Charlie could jump up on the counter and eat his food while we were gone, so I placed a bowl over his dish to hide it.

When we returned, the bowl was in the middle of the kitchen floor, Charlie was lounging contentedly on the high chair tray (!) and the food was eaten! The vet had to hurriedly be called and after messages and consultations, THE operation had to be rescheduled.

The funniest thing is that later last night we found a large bowl of food and water in the garage. Jeff had apparently taken pity on Charlie when he left for California at 4:00am and, noticing he had no victuals, had loaded him up. All that piteous meowing was for show AFTER he had eaten an unauthorized breakfast. That is one stubborn and determined (and always hungry) cat!

Back from Vacation

Boy, am I relaxed. I wanted to sit on the beach, sipping a drink, under a palm tree. And I did!


Looking through the palms to the ocean at the Iberostar Hotel where we stayed in Cozumel last week. Michelle and I lounged in chairs for hours one day while Jeff and Dennis dove. I read the book for this month's church book club, embroidered a sampler (is that permitted on a tropical beach??,) sipped a soda, and took a nap. Also snorkeled off the shore and took several dips in the pool behind us. What a relaxing day.


This is the grass in front of our bungalow hotel room.


Our bed was so big we could have fit Amy and Maddie in it too! A king-size bed is really big!


This is what we saw every night when we crossed the little bridge in to dinner.


Sometimes at breakfast we would see this!


There were iguanas all over!


We attended church in one of the Cozumel wards. The members were very friendly, and we felt very welcome. There was air conditioning in the chapel, but not the rest of the building. There was a piano, but no one to play it, so we sang a cappella with the music director pre-singing the first line so we'd all be on the same notes. It was a nice experience and I'm glad we went. (Jeff was a little mad that I told him he didn't have to wear a white shirt. He kept saying, "I shoulda brought a white shirt. I shoulda brought one!)


We also visited the ruins at San Gervasio. Cozumel was the island where Mayan women pilgrimaged to petition their goddess Xel Ha for fertility. There are several ruins that were apparently used for ceremonies. San Gervasio is the only one you can visit at the present time.


Hey, I promise. We came upon these from the back and didn't notice the "no climbing" signs till after we took the pictures. (I was concentrating on my subject matter, okay??!!)


Apparently there were some sacrifices performed here. Human bones have been found.


I wonder how much of what we conjecture about these places is really true.

This was the pier at our beach where we caught our diving and snorkeling boats.


The view looking back from the pier. Our relaxing beach...


Jeff took a snooze in the hammock on our balcony.


This peacock slept on our railing at least one night. We never went outside late the other nights, as we were in our room watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics.


Michelle in front of the old plaza of San Miguel, the only real town on Cozumel.


We loved these orange-flowering trees. These weren't even the prettiest ones!


What a great vacation. We snorkeled from a boat and saw lots of beautiful sea life on the reef, saw baby turtles hatching on the beach, rode some waves on the west side of the island, ate good food, spent lots of time together, and had a very relaxing time. I feel truly blessed to have had so many opportunities to see some of the beautiful places on this earth.

We're Off to Cozumel

Thirty years (and some months, actually) ago, Jeff and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity.

(Wow, who is that slender girl? And that young cute 70's guy with her? Is that really us?)


This week we celebrate! With sunny days, beautiful sunsets, great diving and snorkeling,


and good company. And hopefully, no hurricanes. (It IS the season. Thus the cheap rates...) We're off to Cozumel with our friends Dennis and Michelle early tomorrow morning.

When we get back...photos of our own! (Photos borrowed from Yahoo! Images and our wedding album.