See the Songers

Chinchillas

2012-02-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

On January 2nd my sisters and I went to a baby shower for my niece, Katy. I never would have thought that by the end of the day, I would be the owner of two new pets and would also have fulfilled a childhood dream--to have chinchillas!

There is not another pet on the planet that would have tempted me out of my reluctance to have inside pets. Especially after the gruesome way the kids' pet mice met their demise. But when I was 10 or 11, I wanted a chinchilla. Don't ask me how I even knew about them back then. I even wrote a picture book about them for a school assignment. It was a really stupid book. Anyway. . .
When I learned that Katy's mother-in-law had two chinchillas, with all the supplies, looking for a good home. I knew what I wanted for my birthday this year.

The kids were ecstatic! Casey, not so much. But, nicely, he hasn't complained.

They spend most of their time in their cage but we let them out once a day for play time in Underland, the room below our basement stairs. Lissa is their favorite person because she spends the most time with them. I'm a close second.

They are the softest creatures in the world, which is why they were hunted almost to extinction for fur coats. They don't like to be held or to snuggle, but they are very curious and will hop up and walk all over you if you sit down and hold still. They also seem to like it if you talk to them. Lissa can get them to give her a high five. Well, a pretty low five.

If you want to come see them, play time is late afternoon to evening. You should put it on your bucket list.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T09:55:00.001-08:00

Anika went as a windy day. Puppies ears kept coming unpinned.

Rosalie was several different versions of Belle. (She wore something new under the tutu each day for a week. Tutu by coocoofortutus.com)

Meredith went as a box turtle. Get it?! That's the kind of costume you get if you tell your mom you want to be a turtle 3 days before you need a costume.

Clarissa went as Medusa.

Here's a close up of her snake hair.

Anderson went as a ninja. He made the ninja stars and the sword out of paper, foil, and duct tape.

Peer Pressure

2011-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Rosalie recently made friends with Isabelle. Isabelle has baby goats at her house. And baby kittens. And a beautiful playhouse in the yard. In four-year-old's terms, Isabelle is cool.

They both wanted to get in the safety swings at the park. I lifted them in and gave starter pushes.

Rosalie has never liked swinging high. In her own words, "Not too high, Mom. I freakout when I get too high."
But Isabelle LOVES to go high. And higher. "Again! Push me higher!"
Never have so many underdoggies been given in so little time to so little a kid. At least, not by me.

Rosalie said, "Okay, Mom. You can push me a little higher."
Isabelle yelled, "This is fun!"
Rosalie, through clenched teeth, "Yeah, fun! But not too high or we'll fall out. Right, Mom?"
When I contradicted that fear, she loosened up a little more. Pretty soon I was doing a full circle--underdoggie to Isabelle, turn and underdoggie to Rosalie.

What we'll do to be "in" with the cool kids.

Mesothelioma Awareness Day

2011-09-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Most of you who read this blog are already aware that my sister-in-law, Sarah Songer-Smith has Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma. And the reason you are aware is because my family on both sides have posted it on their blogs. (See here and here and here and here.) If you are one of the few readers I have who is not part of my extended family, here is a blog my s-i-l Katie started for Sarah.

So.

Today is Mesothelioma Awareness Day.

And if you read that page you can see this is serious.

Sarah is 30 years old. If she was exposed to asbestos she must have been just a little girl. None of us knows when or how it could have happened. This is usually an old man's disease.

Why did it take me nearly five months to post about it? I have sat down time after time to write about this and drawn a blank every time. Apparently, I am a wuss. My brain veers sideways whenever I try to think about it.

In contrast, Sarah and her husband Shaun are tough as nails. They are in New York getting Sarah treatment because this cancer is rare enough that no one here knows how to treat it. That they are able to maintain their upbeat, "kick-mesothelioma's-butt"-attitude is a testament to their characters. Especially in the face of all the invasive and painful things Sarah has had to endure so far.

We're pulling for you, Sarah. Even the wussiest of us.

On the 3rd

2011-07-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Anika said, "Hey, Rosie, tomorrow is the 4th of July!"
Rosalie answered, "I know that."
"But do you know what that means?"
Rosalie paused a half-second, then said, "Candy."

Anika couldn't deny it. Because it's true.

"Well, yeah, but it also means we live in an awesome country!"

And tomorrow, we will wear our awesome t-shirts that we made at our awesome Songer Family Reunion.

Semi-tropical

2011-06-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

We've had the rainiest spring on record. Some of the plants here are very happy about it.

the sudden stop at the end

2011-06-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the saying that goes "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end"?
Our van was killed on Wednesday, June 15.

(This is an example of what our van looked like afterward. I didn't have a camera with me.)

But the important thing is that those of us riding in the van at the time are untouched aside from a little welt on Rosalie's shoulder from her seat strap, and a few small bruises up and down my left side. And the man in the other car had only a scratched arm.

I was heading east on a straight road when a small truck drove south across the intersection. He had a stop sign and had thought it was a four-way. He couldn't see me coming because of a semi to his right. I was looking straight ahead and didn't see him until it was too late. We hit his passenger side nearly head on. I had just enough time to swerve slightly to the right. (In retrospect, and after talking to the paramedics, it would have been safer to hit him straight. At least for those of us in the van.)

I had been worried about getting home in time for Rosalie to use the bathroom because if we stopped, the ice cream for Clarissa's birthday celebration might melt. In the first seconds after the impact, with broken glass everywhere and a haze of smoke from the airbags, I first made sure my girls (Meredith and Rosalie) and I were physically okay. Then, of all things, I thought of the ice cream again. My saner side had to remind my perpetually worried side that if the ice cream melted before we made it home, it would be OKAY.
Someone who witnessed the crash told me to just stay in the car, but with a 4 and 6 year-old panicking from the chaos and shock, I felt we needed to get out. My door wouldn't open so I unbuckled the girls and went through the passenger side door. It turned out to be the only door that would still open.
Once outside several witnesses rushed up to us and asked if we were hurt. One woman told me she'd never seen a crash before. Another woman was an off-duty paramedic who checked over my girls while a policewoman took my information. And there was a Polynesian man who just kept asking me if we were hurt or if there was anything he could do for us. He asked us so many times, I wondered if he was in shock.
So the paramedics had to check us out. They gave my little girls a stuffed animal each. ( Rosalie pulled off her rain boots in the ambulance, dumping safety glass fragments on the floor.) The police gave us a report for our insurance. The tow trucks came and took both cars away. And my mother-in-law came to drive us home. Luckily, she was in town and not far away.

Later Rosalie was telling Lissa what happened. "We bumped into something BIG! I think it was a tent."

Casey and I had been talking earlier that same day about needing to get a newer van, and how much we both hate shopping for cars.

Two final notes--
Yesterday we ate cake and ice cream for Lissa's birthday--the ice cream made it home just fine. It had melted just a little so I kept it in the grocery bag when I stuck it in the freezer. When I unpeeled the bag yesterday, there were some blobs of shattered safety glass frozen to the drips.
Usually we are the ones getting our car registration done the last few days of the month. I was so on top of it this year--our registration stickers arrived in the mail on the 17th.

(For future reference, may you never need it-- If they ask you what tow company you prefer, don't say "Whatever." Say "Anyone located close to the center of town." Or they may send it out to the boondocks because that's the next company on the list.)

Potty Humor

2011-05-31T16:14:00.001-07:00

It was time to get our septic tank pumped.

I looked out the window and what did I see. . .

2011-05-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day!

P.S. Sarah, are you guys still going swimming today? We think we'll pass.

P.P.S. When Anika came upstairs she said, "Snow! Again!"
That's right. Because the pictures we took this morning are identical to the pictures we took yesterday morning. This will probably also be gone by noon, but somehow I can't face getting out the swimsuit just yet.

Head Trauma Week

2011-04-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

1--Anderson startles too enthusiastically when Lissa grabs him from behind, propelling his own forehead into the corner of the newel post. He is sad that his hair keeps people from easily seeing his newest bruise.

2--Rosalie tries to scale the climbing wall at cousin Mckays' house but gets discouraged two-thirds of the way up and lets gravity get her down. With a severe head bonk she lies on Aunt Wendy's bed surrounded by female relatives who bring her pain-killer, books, blankets, and frozen hash-browns (to ice the bump) until she falls asleep.

3--Lissa gets up in the night to use the bathroom. With a sleepy sense of vertical she smacks her head hard against the door frame.

4--While removing rodent corpses from the window well, Casey comes up for a breath of fresh air. The overhanging corner of the widow well grate punctures his scalp even through his thick, knitted ski-cap. Instead of stitches, we use the time-honored method of pulling the hair together around the gash and holding it in place with an elastic.

5--Anderson learns that hanging upside-down from the bar stool can result in the bar stool falling over and landing on your face. With blood gushing from his nose he screams, "SAVE ME! I'M GONNA DIE!" The small puncture wound on the outside of his nose (where his glasses were pressed into his face) continues to ooze all through our visit to Mckay's house to see Hudson open his mission call. Lissa regrets that we didn't take a picture of all the blood on the floor before we cleaned it up.

6--While at Mckay's house, Meri tries to show cousin Chloe that she can pick her up. Chloe tries to help her by jumping. Both girls fall over and the back of Meri's head hits the tile floor with a loud thunk. She wants to go home and go to bed. In the morning her vision is no longer blurry.

While talking over the spate of injuries, we realize that only Anika and I have not sustained any head trauma recently. Should we worry?

Valentine's Revisited

2011-02-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

In Preparation For Valentine's Day:

Meredith and Lissa wanted to do their own homemade Valentines this year. This one is Meri's.

And these are Lissa's.

(Anderson hated the ones we bought for him but they turned out to be cool after all-- "Mom, even the girls were like, "Do you want your bug tattoo? Can I have it?"")

Rosalie left me a cup of fresh squeezed monkey.

Valentine's Day:

Anika, who no longer has to do a Valentine for every kid in her class, decided to do one for every one in her family. She left us a card and a plate of heart-shaped pink pancakes for breakfast. There was a rhyme inside for each of us.

Is that my hair? Is that my hair?

Clarissa dressed up all fancy for the 6th Grade dance. (Ah, the 6th grade dance, such memories. Mostly awkward and yucky ones.) She had a great time. So did the other moms and I as we circled the floor taking pictures and remembering back when we learned the same dances taught by the same teacher.

Boy's choice

Girl's choice

I dropped in on Anderson's class. They were playing "minute to win it" games--balancing dice on a popsicle stick held between their teeth, etc. I just missed seeing Anderson hold four dice without moving. So he showed me how he looked when he did it.

Meredith wore her most pink clothing and her tights with hearts on them. She's actually wearing little sister Rosalie's skirt. (Rosalie has sworn off all clothing but her brown butterfly dress. She's been wearing it for three weeks now.) On the tray--our family night dessert, provided by Grandma and Grandpa Songer.

As always, Rosalie told me she loves me several times during the day.

What did Casey and I do for Valentine's Day?
Me: I didn't make monkey bread. And I gave away all of the sugar cookies we baked so that we could avoid temptation. Wasn't that nice of me?
Casey: Said to me, "Don't you look valentine-y!" What I heard: "Blah blah blah tiny!" (Aw, thanks, sweetheart!)

Disturbing

2011-02-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

Rosalie threw herself on my lap and announced to cousin Ellie, "I found another one!"
Ellie squinted at me sideways and then said, "Okay."
"Another what?" I asked.
"You're in the game!" announced Rosalie.
"What am I in the game?"
"You're in the game with us," she said, patient with my apparent slowness.
I asked, "Am I your mom?"
"Yes, " she said, "Our new mom."
"What happened to your old mom?"
"We killed her." Ellie stated, "Cuz she kept us in a high tower."

I wasn't sure I wanted to be the new mom. I knew I didn't after I related this conversation to Casey and he told me he'd overheard them saying that not only had they killed the old mom, they'd eaten her.

Songer Family Update

2011-01-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Here's our most recent family photo:

Anika, Rosalie, Casey, Clarissa, Edith, Anderson, Meredith

Some random facts about our life in 2010--

Birthdays celebrated: 7
Total ages combined by the end of the year: 115
Number of inches added to our total height: 13
Number of pounds added to our total weight: Classified
Number of broken bones: Zero! (aside from Casey's annual Church Ball rib re-cracking)
Number of stitches:6--all on Anderson's head
Number of haircuts done by a toddler on herself: 3
Number of haircuts our son allowed on himself: Not nearly enough
Sets of braces put on a 13 year-old girl: 1 (trust me, they're there)
Years of marriage: 15 (otherwise known as the appliance replacement anniversary)

A couple of cool things we did this year--
Casey and Clarissa got to be extras in a movie made locally by the LDS church.
Casey and I got scuba certified and dived in the Caribbean during my parents' 50th wedding anniversary cruise. That was cool.
Lived through it all--you know, everyday life multiplied by 7 people over the course of 365 days=1 truly astounding experience. Can't wait to do it again.

Rosalie says

2011-01-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

Rosalie slouched up to me, and in her most pathetic voice said, "Mom, my heart is broken!"
I asked, "What happened?"
"Meredith bit it. And kicked it."

She loves me

2010-11-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

As I helped Rosalie out of the booster seat in the car, she turned her little round face up to me and said, "Thanks for bucklin' me, Mom."
She tells me she loves me twenty times a day. It's what she says when she wants my attention but doesn't have anything to say.
As we started to walk away from the car I felt her arms wrap around my leg. I slowed, so neither of us would fall over, and looked down at her. She nuzzled me, then looked up again. In the same sweet voice she said, "I was just wipin' my nose on your leg."

Stupid dogs!

2010-10-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, my sister-in-law wrecked her car on the way to my house by swerving to avoid hitting two dogs who were hogging the road. The same thing has nearly happened to me a number of times. One icy day, after a near accident with my babies in the car, I decided that, if it came to a choice between someone's dog and MY CHILD, that dog would be flat and I would have no regrets.
That didn't stop me from reflexively slamming on the brakes just a couple of months ago to avoid ramming a dog who veered into the road just as I was passing him. He had done the same thing to the two cars ahead of me--I was watching. If I'd known he was trying vehicle-assisted-suicide, I would have been more helpful.
Ever since that day my three-year-old yells, "Stupid dog!" every time I have to slow the car down suddenly.

This morning, after doing a few household tasks, I followed my two youngest girls to my Mom's house next door. I immediately noticed that there were only three muddy boots on the front porch. After checking around the house, I headed to my sister's construction site. There I had the joy of beholding two dogs playing tug-of-war with a pink and red rain boot while other dogs watched, drooling.

I yelled as I ran toward them. They stood and stared. The tug-of-war winner cocked his head at me with the boot crushed between his teeth. I yelled the dog owner's name and one of the workers said something that made the dog drop it. And I yelled some more as I waved the boot in the dog's face and said things amounting to "No! Bad dog!"

I don't know what those construction workers thought about me as I stomped off, but I don't care. I wasn't about to lose another boot to those. . .unspeakable. . . . . .

Stroller Ride

2010-10-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

I love this drawing by Meredith. I love that she and Rosalie are holding hands. And we all look so happy.
Also I love how she shows my flyaway hair. And my super-skinny arms. (I only wish.)

Coming soon to a selected theatre

2010-10-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

Casey and Lissa had the ultimate daddy-daughter date last Friday. They left the house at 4:45 am, drove to Provo, and spent the next twelve hours being extras in a film depiction of the Haun's Mill Massacre.

Lissa had the time of her life.

She had kids to run around with and snacks to eat.

All sorts of people to fuss over her clothes and hair.

Even live, egg-laying chickens to play with. (Note anachronistic elastic hair band on wrist. Hopefully, that doesn't cause any of her scenes to be cut.)

Casey's prodigious beard growing talents were featured. People at church and work had begun to comment.

Even people at the shoot said things like, "I keep wanting to ask you to build me some furniture."

His favorite part was playing a dead guy. (Note gunshot wound to the head.)

They learned some interesting things about the process of making historical re-enactments.
For instance--150 years ago everyone was really dirty. After they put everyone in their costumes, they shook dirt colored chalk all over them to make them look authentic.
Also, if you stick flaming torches into a barrel with dry ice at the bottom, the fire will suffocate instantly.
Also, if they ask you to be the guy who gets tackled by a mob through the fence of a horse corral, be prepared to have your face rubbed into the muck through 6 or 8 takes. Luckily, Casey wasn't that guy.

Lissa's prodigious emoting talents were featured. With the help of red eyeliner and peppermint oil. She may even have a close-up.

So, will we get to see it? And when? If only we knew!
All we know is they plan to add this footage to the Joseph Smith movie currently playing in the Legacy Theater in Salt Lake City.

Even if it never makes it to the screen, it was fun. And they even got paid! (Not much, but it just made it even more awesome from Lissa's point of view.)

10:10 pm, 10/10/'10

2010-10-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a party to celebrate the confluence of a whole bunch of ones and zeros.
"Why are we doing this?" asked Anderson.
We tried to point out how rarely the dates line up like this, which makes it cool, right?
"Can we have ice cream?"
"You just had two desserts at Grandma's, so no."
"What are we going to do for the party?" asked Meredith.
"We'll run around making noise for 10 seconds."

(silence)

"That sounds like the stupidest party ever," declared Meredith.

But at least it was short.

iRock

2010-09-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

I took Lissa on a mommy-daughter date last Thursday.
We went indoor rock climbing. It was a first for both of us.

Lissa's goal was to climb up high enough to touch that green thing that looks like a turtle shell. She got so close!

(Here she takes a little rest.)
Unfortunately, the more she tried, the weaker and shakier and more blistery became her hands. We learned that you can climb the highest on your first go before you use up your strength.

And Lissa found a new use for the fountains just outside the Salomon Center. (Ahhhhh...)

My favorite part? Trying something new and exciting (and a little scary) with my daughter along.

Second best? Outside confirmation that. . .

All that she wants

2010-08-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

We had one of those days where all our best laid plans resulted in a promise to go to the zoo being broken. And this after we drove to Salt Lake--an hour long trip.

Instead, we went to the movies with a dozen of our cousins. On the way out of the theater I handed Rosalie the box of Raisinets. There were four or five left. She tried to get them out of the box and ended up spilling them on the floor where they were trampled.

It was just too much for her. She collapsed next to an arcade game and began to moan. I let her have a few minutes to herself while we were gathering everyone up. She began to pull off the rubber edging on the game case. Aunt Victoria reattached it while I tried to cheer up my three-year-old by rubbing her back. And I asked her what she wanted, hoping it would be "I wanna go home." (That's what she wanted on the trip there.)

At first I didn't understand what she said. I asked her to repeat it. And again. At last I understood--the thing she wanted was. . . a Unicorn.

I had to ask.

In which I drop names like something my toddler handed me when I wasn't paying attention

2010-06-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Last night some of my family and I got to go see Will Swenson and Audra McDonald star in the Orem Hale Center Theater's production of "110 in the shade."

It was amazing.

One of my sisters overheard a man say he had flown out from New York to see this because in New York you'd pay a couple of thousand to see Audra McDonald through binoculars. Here, no one was farther than 7 rows away.

And that woman can ACT. And SING. WOW.

And then there's my cousin Will. Yes, my cousin. Will. All the Hale cousins used to play together at the Ranch every summer. And even then I knew Will was going to make it big in Show Business. He was unstoppable.

The whole cast was excellent. So, if you are in the neighborhood and you have a chance, I can recommend this one.

You can get there from here

2010-06-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

On our way to Utah's amusement park--Lagoon--on Monday, Casey did a search on his phone for the nearest Little Caesar's Pizza. Here's what the search told him:

Little Caesar's Pizzaria
Mundaring, WA
Australia

Distance: 14,229 miles
Time: 55 days 0 hours
Traffic delay: 22 minutes

(Dad, are you sure you didn't search for the farthest Little Caesar's?)

The driving directions began simply--from Farmington, Utah drive northwest to Washington, etc., etc.
Then there was step 35: "kayak across the Pacific Ocean--3,879 miles."

With a left turn at Hawaii (nice of them to plan for pit stops, doncha think?) you again "kayak across the Pacific Ocean" to Taiwan. Then after winding your way through most of Indonesia, "kayak across the Pacific Ocean"--to Australia. After that you're almost there!

All I can say is good thing it's so easy to get a second opinion from the internet. We found a much more efficient route that cut a good 12 days off the total travel time.

A Good Day

2010-06-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

On Monday we took our kids to Lagoon for 11 hours. Here are some of the things they said during our stay:

"That was the ride of my life!"--Rosalie, age 3

"Curse you, Gravity!"--Anderson, age 8

"I want to go home!"--Meredith, age 5

"This is the perfect day!"--Lissa, age 11

"I want to go home!" --Anderson

"Why can't we go on another ride?" --Meredith

"Can we do three more rides before we have to leave?" --Anderson

And during the car ride home:

"That was too much fun. Maybe next time we could go halfway through some lines, and then pretend they're closed. And we'd be really disappointed."--Anderson
(Some of us prefer our roller coasters to be emotional.)

Scuba Diva

2010-06-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Ignore the hand signals. This person is not okay.

Getting certified for scuba diving was one of the best things I've ever done because it resulted in me getting up close to the reefs in Grand Cayman and Cozumel--experiences that were amazing and unforgettable. But the actual certifying process was fraught (fraught I tell you!) with difficulty. It was also very revealing.

"My name is Edith, and I have an "attention seeking personality disorder."

Right from the start I singled myself out from the rest of the class. It was easy. I just popped back up as soon as I could so the instructor would have to come help me personally. For the rest of that class I was the proud recipient of several comments like these: "What claustrophobia?! You're doing fine!" "Are you a plant from the Salt Lake Class?"

You'd never know that I tried to keep a low profile during the next class. Not with my dramatic clawing for the surface from 15 feet down after I forgot how to clear the regulator before re-inserting it and breathed in pool water. My sister and I came back for extra practice after that--simply another way to get more attention, I assure you.

I could have complained about the question they marked wrong on our first written test that I actually got CORRECT, but you know, I was really trying to get this thing under control.

But with the end of the course in sight, I managed to create a truly attention-getting scenario. For our Thursday night class I began developing a cold sore. Friday I was sick and exhausted--and that's when my tooth began to hurt. On Sunday my face began to swell. After lots of internet research and several long-distance phone consultations with my favorite dentist (Thanks, Joey!) I was pretty sure I needed a root canal. On Monday my local dentist confirmed it and said she could do the first part then, and the second part on Thursday. But our last dive was scheduled for Tuesday night, and you can't dive with a partial root canal. Your tooth is liable to implode.
That's when I called our divemaster, Greg, to see if, by any chance, there was a group going to dive on Friday? Or even Thursday night? He informed me that I should have gone with his group that went on the previous Saturday. Yes, that WOULD have been better. Let's do that.
Then I remembered that you are not allowed to dive within 18 hours of flying. Since we were flying out Saturday, a Friday dive wouldn't work anyway.
After a flurry of phone calls and consultations with every medical person I know, my brother-in-law Mike set me up for an appointment with his brother, the endodontist, for Tuesday afternoon. Endodontists are not as conservative as dentists; they do the whole root canal in one go. I was only hoping I'd still be up for a dive after that.
It was a little awkward unscheduling with my dentist in favor of a "professional." But it was worth it. The appointment was fast and, after the numbing shots, painless. Lucky for me, I guess, my tooth was already dead.
When I left an hour later I wasn't able to smile like I wanted to, but I was humming inside with relief that I'd get to do my last certification dive. And you might think that that would be the end of my pathetic plea for attention. Not at all.

Diving in the Homestead Crater is wonderful because the body temperature water is fully enclosed by rock walls--no currents and no creatures to add complications. And it would have been wonderfully uneventful but for two things--somehow my hubbuddy and I managed to get ourselves down to forty-six feet before Greg hauled us back up to our 40 foot limit. (We got a scolding for that.) And partway through the dive my knee joints and forearms began to feel a little odd. Like they were cold, or cramping or something. By the end of our dive they felt positively buzzy.* And even though I just really wanted to forget about it and go blithely on to our family vacation, I felt like I had to mention it, just in case it was the bends.

Greg swore. And began to tell me just how much I DID NOT WANT to have the bends. And that's when I knew I'd gotten his attention! And that I needed help to overcome my disorder. And that's my story. Thank you for your kind attention."

*Pretty sure it was a combination of dental medication, exhaustion, and malnutrition from five days of being sick and mouth-sore. It went away slowly over the next few hours. And the lightheadedness, which I didn't mention, went away right after we ate our late dinner.

Rampant Cannibalism

2010-06-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

My two older girls came upstairs with the shrieking heebeegeebies--a mouse was devouring the carcass of another mouse in our window well! "Eww, eww! "
From their description I gathered they thought a new breed of vicious flesh-eating rodent had moved into the neighborhood. I pointed out that the poor trapped thing was simply out of other options. So they decided to rescue it.

With a long-handled butterfly net and a piece of bread on a string, they freed the beastie to roam the fields round our house.

Ani came to tell us about the rescue, and stayed to obsess some more about the revolting behavior of eating your own kind. It reminded me of the story I had read just that morning in the Old Testament--a woman goes to the king to complain about her neighbor. You see, there was a famine in the land and the neighbor lady had proposed a plan: Let's eat your son today and my son tomorrow. So they ate the first son, but the next day the lady who came up with the plan refused to follow through. The king found this pretty upsetting. (But not for the same reasons the woman did.)

My toddler, Rosalie, also seemed bothered by this tale of maternal munching.
I reassured her, "I would never eat you, Rosalie. I would rather starve to death."
Her response was a flat, "I taste yucky."

Scuba-Duba

2010-04-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

Two days ago my sister Victoria got us to sign up for scuba certification.
I had assumed, what with us leaving on our family cruise in three weeks, that we wouldn't have time to get certified before we left. (Yes, I've known about the cruise for months and months. And yes, I did sort of hope it was too late.) But apparently, we have time.

And I knew Casey wanted to try it, and I thought it might be a really cool experience. So, despite the fairly high price tag, we signed up.

Yesterday, when we walked in to the dive shop, they had us all sit around a table and introduce ourselves. Then he told us it was time to get in the pool. What? I thought we had to learn some theory first. Or at least the names and functions of all the parts that will keep me from drowning!

But apparently, that's how it's done. We suited up, stuck that fancy bit of rubber in our teeth, and went under.

I tried to stay calm. I tried to believe I wasn't suffocating. I wondered, if you spend less than a minute under water will they give you a refund? And then I went up for air.

I stood there alone above water with my mask on my forehead (which I learned later is the sign of a distressed diver) until the instructor surfaced to see what was wrong with me. I admitted that I might have claustrophobia. He said I'd have to come back on non-class days for more practice. Right. This when I'm already spending 6 of the remaining 18 evenings away from my kids before I leave them for 9 days. And didn't you just get that I don't want to spend MORE time underwater right now?

Well, after a quick review of procedure, and the instructor prying the buoyancy regulator out of my fingers (oh, I don't have to hold that?) so I could hold his hands and try again, I was fine.
Phew! I didn't just waste a couple hundred dollars.

(I also panicked the first time I tried to snorkel. The water was choppy and I couldn't handle trying to breathe with my face under water at the same time that I was trying to stay afloat. When I put on a life jacket I could just concentrate on breathing, which, really, is the most important thing.)

We did all sorts of exercises for a couple of hours and then we were done for the day. I left feeling really excited. And tired. And hungry! Does scuba burn calories? Because Casey and I both hit our lowest weight in months today.

I woke up in the night to the sound of the wind rushing over our rooftop. It sounded like an ocean dragging on the shore. An ocean of air. I started to feel claustrophobic again. I wondered if I would drop my regulator. Or get carried away by the current. I wondered if dolphins ever get rabies. Eventually I had to turn on my light and read a book. The whole thing. And then listen to another book on the ipod before I finally fell back to sleep.

Eggscrutiating

2010-04-07T19:57:00.001-07:00

Once (quite recently) there were some Easter eggs. They were happy little monsters. Well, actually, some of them were sort of angry.

Then something terrible happened. One by one, they began to disappear.

Some of them vanished for obvious reasons.

But as more and more of them went missing, some of them began to worry.

Others were relentlessly cheerful, even when faced with their own destruction.

The full peril of their situation began to dawn on the few who remained.

They needn't have worried. It didn't help.

Airhead was the only one left.

He attributed his survival to Show-and-Tell. "If my five-year-old owner hadn't begged her mom to make me hollow so she could take me to Pre-school with her, I never would have made it. If only the process hadn't give her mom "balloon-ears-syndrome" more of my fellow monsters would be with us today."

Eventually, Airhead moved past the tragedy and started a family.

And the circle of life goes on.

Emily's Song

2010-04-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

This is Casey, posting a video from my sister Emily's wedding shower. The rest of my sisters and others put this little song together about Emily's life and some still haven't seen it.

Not for the squeamish

2010-04-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

Anderson had his stitches out today. (Already!)
Casey thinks that I should have shown the "before" of his wound. I don't know. I got a lot of complaints about Lissa's squished finger.

Here is before:

And here is after:

So, leave the first picture up or not?

. . .like you need a hole in the head.

2010-03-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Casey called to say he'd be bringing Anderson home from his cousins' house. Since this was the plan, I said, "Okay."
"Didn't my parents call you?"
"About what?"
"Anderson cut his eyebrow open on a scooter. Could you call your dad to see if he can take a look at it? We'll meet him over there."

It's nice to have a surgeon in the family and living next door. And lucky when our injuries coincide with my Dad (and Mom) being home between missions.

Anderson rode in the backseat of our car while Grandma Songer held his head and coached him in Lamaze breathing. Grandpa Hale confirmed that he would need stitches, and then offered to do it himself. While he gathered his supplies, Anderson lay on Grandma's couch and was comforted with sippy cups and a blanket fresh from the dryer.
Two-year-old Rosalie, who heard us talking about getting Anderson warm, attempted to put her coat over him. The pink blur moving towards Anderson's face was met with a hasty, "No, no!" and a strong-arm. She burst into tears. (And learned that no good deed goes unpunished. Wish we could try that again.)

Surgery on the kitchen table:

Anderson was very brave. The injection of the anesthetic into the wound produced some complaints but he held still anyway. When he felt his forehead go numb and learned he wouldn't feel any more pain during the operation, his big sigh and grin of relief were comical. Six stitches later, he got a candy bar and went home for dinner.

We wonder what kind of scar he will have. My dad says scars make men look more attractive. Clarissa called him "The Chosen One."

Anderson's third eye:

Romance vs. the eight-year-old boy

2010-03-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight our family watched Sydney White--a modern version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs--(yes, that is the correct spelling of dwarfs, Mr. Tolkien.) And I DON'T recommend it for children, but this is not a movie review. This is a psychological snapshot: It's the end of the movie. Sydney has fallen asleep in the library after pulling an all nighter to finish a major paper. Tyler Prince is searching for her everywhere--she'll be late for her presidential election debate! At last he finds her. Her face is so peaceful in sleep. How will he wake her? Hmm...
Anderson knows! He shouts it out, "SLAP HER!"

To the Rescue

2010-03-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Meredith burst breathlessly through the door to tell me, "Mom! Chloe was doing a cannonball on the trampoline and Rosalie moved into her spot and Chloe accidentally, um..., like..., squished her flat."
Mirthfully, I mean mercifully, I found her saddened but unflattened. After a few minutes of lap time she was ready to go outside again.

The next time Meredith burst through the door to tell me that Rosalie's boot was stuck in the snow and she was "crying her head off!"
By the time I got to her she was, luckily, still capitated, but wailing. When I got close she was quick to tell me what was really bothering her. "I peed!"
I appreciated the warning, as it altered my rescue plan somewhat.

And now she's back outside again. The day is just too beautiful--49 degrees!--to stay inside. And rescue workers are standing by.

Sugar Cookies and Sex Appeal

2010-03-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today when we walked into the chapel for Sacrament meeting, I noticed two things: One was the number of young men and women in formal wear and the other was the alluring smell of white cake in the air. If you know me, you know which one was the more interesting to me. (Here's a hint--I'm a sugar addict.)
After I thought through the possibility that it might be Mother's Day, or a new holiday in honor of early-switch-from-Daylight-Savings, I realized that there was probably no dessert in my near future. So I turned my attention to the Prom dresses. It was interesting to see that more young men than young women from our ward had gone to Prom. At least, I counted four tuxes and only two ball gowns.
Can I say that I still think it's weird that there is this tradition here in Utah to wear your Prom clothes to Church the day after? I mean, sure they're expensive and you normally only get to wear them once, but they are a little flashy for Sunday worship. One was FUCHSIA with a huge tulle skirt, and the other was cut DOWN front and back--and inadequately disguised with a loosely draped wrap. (Here is the too-low-cut dress.)

I tried to contain my judgementality by sketching some lovely future prom dresses for my daughter--I do believe you can be stylish, attractive, and modest at the same time. Because I can't really draw they ended up looking like something I knew my daughters would never want to wear. But for fun I told them they would get to have high-necked, long sleeved dresses made of wool. Or poison. (That's so boys can look but not touch.)

After the meeting I followed both Prom dresses up the stairs for choir practice. The smell of cake was so strong, I remarked on it out loud. That's when FUCHSIA informed me that it was the other girl's perfume. Other girl then said, "It's called "Sugar Cookie.""

I sat next to her during choir practice so I had half an hour to ponder the effect of that dress combined with that smell on any normal teenage boy. At some point I said to the girl, "I imagine that scent is really effective." Her reply?: "Oh, yeah!" I twitched with the impulse to jump out of my chair and go tell her date's mom.

By the time my son hits high school, I hope they've developed portable sensory deprivation chambers. 'Cause that's the only way he's going to Prom.

Valentine's Day Vignette

2010-02-21T20:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been a while, but here are some highlights from the day.

I Sink I Love You

It was a few days before Valentine's Day. Lissa came up stairs, after bedtime, to bemoan the fact that she still needed an idea for her Valentine's Box. I was reading my friends blog about her bathroom remodel and the idea was there--"How about you make a model of a sink? It could say "I sink I love you!"" I waited for a laugh, or even a groan (the true sign of a good pun.)
Nothing.
"What? I think it's a good idea," I said.
"That's just the first thing you thought of!" she complained. "What else could I do?"
"Sorry," I said. "That's all I've got."

After a day or two, she came around. Here is the result:

Don't you love the crystal finials on the handles? The white ribbon is supposed to look like spraying water.

It brought back memories, I'll tell you. In sixth grade I made a model of our wood stove and it said, "My Hearth Glows For You." My Dad helped me paint it with real stove blacking. My dad also made possible the drain hole in the base of the bowl of this sink. He's always a good one for helping my improbable ideas become real. Thanks, Dad!

Valentine's Package

My sister Kate sent homemade goodies, without which we'd have had none.

You can see that Meredith loved every bit of this package, from cookies to bubble wrap.

She was inspired to create a Valentine of her own.

You can always count on Kate to spread the love. Thanks, Kate!

My Favorite Things

My good husband bought me a box of Turtles. I LOVE turtles! And what's really great about it is that he doesn't really like them. He could have bought something we both like. Or something he likes, since I'll eat anything. But he thought about what I like instead. That's true love right there. Thanks, Casey!

So, yeah, another good Valentine's Day.

Things my kids say

2010-02-17T18:16:00.001-08:00

Anderson, who needs glasses soon, has been told that they can be expensive.
"How much?" he asks.
We say, "Around $150."
He shouts, "Cool! I can trade them in for a DS!"

Rosalie, in the process of potty training, chants "I'm going potty trained!" over and over down the hall past the open doors of the Sunday School class, despite repeated shushings from Mom.

Grandma gave us a bag of Valentine's Day candy to share. I was eating them enthusiastically, in preparation for a month long fast from sugar starting the next day (in support of Anderson, who gets $100 from Grampa S. if he can do it.) Meredith (age 5) said, "Mom, don't you think you should save some of those for the other kids? I think you've had enough."
When I tried to remove a jelly bean that was stuck in my molars, she got suspicious and said, "You'd better let me hold the bag, Mom."

Those Crazy Inanimate Objects

2010-01-24T20:45:00.000-08:00

Our microwave has started to show its age. It has become moody. It began by flashing the word SHELLFISH across its readout every morning, followed by asking us to enter the serving weight.

Poor thing has never yet been asked to do anything involving seafood. Have we been thwarting its life's ambition?
We simply pushed cancel and continued cooking our cheese roll-ups.

Then it began beeping insistently in the middle of the night. It would take Casey or me a few minutes to wake up sufficiently and stumble downstairs in the dark to investigate. Each time we were greeted by glowing green letters alternately flashing BEEF PORK BEEF PORK BEEF PORK!!!
We mostly eat chicken. And cheese-roll-ups.
This time the microwave refused to be canceled. We had to pull the plug. After three or four nights in time-out, the microwave backed down.

We've reached an uneasy truce. The microwave no longer wakes us up in the night. And we look the other way when it swears.

Some of the objects in our house have entirely too much personality.

(pillow monster by Meredith)

Mini Man

2010-01-21T07:18:00.000-08:00

This was Lissa's present to her Dad for Christmas.
It's a replica in miniature of his desk! And himself!

The resemblance is uncanny.

She was going to do one of me, too, but she didn't want to have to make a miniature couch.

Sing Along

2009-12-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

This is how Anderson harmonized with the family as we sang carols on the way to town yesterday:

Angels we have heard on high, I just wish that they would die. Hah, hah hah hah hah (etc. in place of the glorias.)

Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer (Stupid!) had a very shiny nose (like my family!). And if you ever saw it (So Annoying!) You would even say it glows (This song is stupid!)

The first Noel, the angels did say (you guys are so annoying!)

Jingle Bells, my family smells. Oh I hate this song!

And yet, this morning he was looking at Space Station Nathan's latest entry for the 12 days of Robo-Santa. And singing along. In tune.
When he got to the Six Geese-o-matics he sang, "These geese-o-matics are just the coolest!"

Thanks, Nate. The rest of us just aren't awesome enough to bring the Christmas spirit to some people.

Toddler Times

2009-12-06T20:57:00.001-08:00

How to appreciate your two-year-old in the middle of a high-power tantrum: Dress them in stripey tights.

That's all it takes for me.
There is just something hilarious about the flailing blur of stripey legs that brings up all my childhood Suess-induced giddiness.

Rosalie did not appreciate my levity. Nor my photography. She took steps.

My doom approaching.

I recognized the danger, but was unable to remove myself due to paralyzing spasms of laughter mixed with trying to hold the camera steady.

I've heard this age called pre-adolescence. It's the mood swings. Just the other day Rosalie told me, after a bit of mom-initiated snuggling, "Mom, you love me soooo FAT!"

Yes, I do.

At Peace

2009-12-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

I have finally ended my search for the perfect Christmas stockings!

(For those of you who live back east, these come from the Christmas Tree Shops and they are cheap. (Though they seem well made.) For those of us who live in the West, the only way I know how to get them is ebay. For more than cheap. But still way less than most wool knit stockings. )
Casey doesn't believe this will end my obsession. He thinks this is simply a yearly itch I get that will never go away, like my quest for the perfect swimsuit.

But look at these--they fit all my criteria: same size and shape, same color scheme, seven different patterns for ease of identification, and a nice chunky hand knit (or looks it) in wool! They do have floating strings inside, but like my mom's handmade stockings, they don't seem to get in the way. I plan to line them anyway to be sure they don't snag.

You'll have to admit they are a vast improvement from my former lineup.

Plus this year I attached all the stocking hangers to a board to make them more stable and keep them spaced. I may anchor it to the wall. You can see how the green present is dented on one side from being pulled down by some child who thought she/he could swing on the stocking. Luckily no one was concussed.

Having children with opinions means that I don't get to hang them in the order I would prefer--red cuff, green cuff, red cuff, green cuff, etc. But that's just my OCD kicking in and, luckily, I'm easily distracted. Maybe that's why it took so long for me to find the perfect collection.

Happy Christmas Season!

2009-12-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

(With our teeny-tiny amount of snow, Lissa made a teeny-tiny snowman.) (He looks quite festive, don't you think?)

Standing for Something

2009-10-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

This summer Casey's sister Sarah got married.
The ceremony and reception were held in a beautiful park. There were flowers everywhere. The tables were decorated in red and gold and lavender. My family was dressed in the same. We all looked great.
There was a DJ who played pop songs and acted as the Master of Ceremonies. There was also an open bar. My younger children were fascinated by the tall plastic flutes being handed out filled with pale yellow bubbly. I made sure they got only the non-alcoholic version, which I also got for myself.
At one point the DJ called for the friends and family of Sarah and Sean to give toasts. We all raised our glasses after each person expressed their best wishes.
When the toasts were over I noticed my oldest daughter, Anika, looking a little down. I offered her a drink from my cup, noticing she didn't have one. She said no with a slow shake of her head and a look of such sadness--and I suddenly saw what she was thinking.
"Anika, this is non-alcoholic!"
"Really?! Oh!"

In the face of what she saw as her parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even grandparents abandoning their cherished beliefs, Anika refused to partake. She stood for what she knew was right.

And there is no way that I can say all I feel about this, and about her. (I've embarrassed her enough as it is.) But as her mom, and as an admirer here's how I sum it up: This girl will do just fine.

Captured by Russians

2009-09-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

The newest obsession is Russian nesting dolls. Rosalie doesn't have one of her own, so she borrows Anderson's, Meri's, and Grandma's. All at the same time.
The endless loop of taking them all apart and then putting them all back together is mesmerizing. But just try carrying several pieced wooden dolls everywhere you go. They are prone to coming apart without warning, hitting the tile floor with a truly shattering sound. This has gone on for days and days.

Yesterday, they trapped her on the trampoline.
Meredith came to tell me that Rosalie was crying for me. When I got close enough I could see that she wasn't hurt. She just couldn't climb down while holding a doll in each arm.

We've made numerous trips through the field to put "Gurma's doll" back in its place. Rosalie goes and gets it again when I'm not looking. But by evening yesterday she was beginning to feel the weight. With two armfuls of wood she quavered, "I wanna go home."
"We are home, sweetheart."
"Unna go Gurma's house."
The sob building in her voice prompted me to take another look. She looked like I feel when it's past time to put the kids to bed. Luckily, Aunt "Bictoria" was just heading to Grandma's. Rosie let go of her burden with obvious relief.

Today, she has all three dolls again. And there's one in the mail with her name on it.

Perseids Passing

2009-08-20T15:10:00.001-07:00

So, are we the only ones who learn about special days only because the Google homepage has some new art up?

A week back we learned it was time for the Perseid meteor shower again! We loved it that year that we were driving to the Ranch after dark. One meteor actually came down so close I saw the last glowing ember burn out just a dozen feet above our car. And when we got to the Ranch we just plunked down on our backs on the grass with our cousins and goggled for an hour instead of unpacking.
This year we went out to the trampoline that is in the field between my parents' house and ours. The two youngest were in their beds but the rest of us snuggled up under a blanket and stared toward the northeastern sky. And talked. And wondered if we would ever see any--OOOH!
And argued about whether the shooting--Look at that one!--stars were mostly moving perpendicular or parallel to the milky way. And--Wow!--speculated that the little sharp prickles on our bums were not static, as Dad thought, but actually mosquitoes biting us through the mesh of the trampoline. And got sat on by the cat, who--I see one!--didn't want to be left out. And got cold. And--You keep seeing them when nobody else does. I think you're imagining it--colder. (And what's up with the super cold August nights this year?)
And didn't wan't to go--look!--back inside because it felt so good, all of us scrunched up under one blanket (and one cat), looking for lights in the sky.

Toddler prediction

2009-08-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

On the way to church today our two-year-old Rosalie said, "Mommy? Daddy? Mommy? --- You're goin' down!!"
(Meredith clarified for us that Rosalie just meant the direction we were driving at the time. Still, we were on guard a little more than usual for the rest of the day.)

How to act suspiciously

2009-07-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

We like to call 911 at our house. Just for fun.
Last year it was Rosalie, age one, who dialed for emergency help. Have you ever noticed that the 9 and the 1 are conveniently located near the edges of the phone where fat little thumbs can squeeze them repeatedly?
That's when we learned that they have to dispatch an officer whenever there is a call. Just in case someone is trying to get help and someone else, like a kidnapper, is stopping them.

This time it was our 10-year-old calling 911 just to shock her older sister.
"I thought the phone was off!" she protested, when her dad informed her the police had returned her call.
When the officer arrived, (Finally! Good thing it wasn't a real emergency.) she refused to face him and hid behind her hands and her dad until he left. Just like someone who'd been threatened by evil kidnappers who didn't want her to be identified. Kidnappers who hoped to reassure the police by letting them see a regular family with a daughter too embarrassed to show her face. A face which was probably as red as her hair. The only red hair in the whole "family". . .

Detton-ation!

2009-07-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

My college roommate (bff) Shelley Detton came to visit with her husband and kids the day after the 4th of July. Since they'd already seen the best Southern Utah had to offer in tractor parades and demolition derbies, we offered some different small western town activities--horse back riding (on borrowed horses) and inviting yourself over to your neighbor's pool.

Thanks to our cousins the Mckays, we can always offer a good time to our guests when they come.

At our own house we offered them activities such as pushing through a hundred yards of 4 ft. tall alfalfa to the trampoline, hiking through the back 40 to the riverbed to look for wildlife (mostly slimy water-life), and being checked for ticks on coming back home. Just kidding, we forgot to check for ticks. Shelley, if any of you start to feel feverish. . .
It was fun for my kids to get to know Shelley and Steve's kids. Their oldest, who is 7, is nearly as tall as our 10-year-old. And their 4-year-old is as tall as our 7-year-old. I'm not sure how much taller their 1-year-old is than our 2-year-old; she never held still long enough to compare them. All the kids played hard and slept little for two and a half days. It's somewhat difficult to fall or stay asleep when five kids try to share the space under the stairs.

Shelley is so talented. Not only did she bring me a present, (the blue and red bag) she also speaks couch! She walked into my living room, took one look at my two sulking sofas, plopped down one of her handmade decorator fabric bags and said, "This fabric goes with both sofas."
And lo and behold, it did. Just like that she bridged the thirty year generation gap between our old new couch and our new old couch (which we found out, from an upholstery tag inside it, was made in 1976.)

Take a look at the photo essay she did on her visit here. She makes everything look good. I wish she could stick around and be my personal decorator.

Mystery Couch

2009-06-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Last week Casey and I went out on a date. We had dinner (with a coupon) and then we went to the D. I. to shop for cheap stuff that other people did not want anymore. I get a thrill when I find perfectly good stuff for very little money. I get the opposite of a thrill when I pay retail for anything.
And that is where I found the couch.
I was drawn to it instantly. It's whimsical stripes. It's petite size. I hoped it would replace the tortuous love seat in Casey's office. And even if it didn't, I wanted it. It was $30! And it looked like it had never been used.
Getting it home involved swearing that I would be back for it at opening time the next day, with a bigger car. I borrowed my Father-in-law's shell covered truck, assuming that the couch would stick out the back and need to be tarped to protect it from the three-week rainstorm we'd been having. To my satisfaction, it fit all the way in. I knew I loved this couch.

And here it is, in our living room. I told my kids to act natural for some candids. So they did.

I love this couch. It is so comfy. And fun! So, wherein lies the mystery?

1.--When I showed this couch to my Songer family, they thought it was great. Sis-in-law Emily openly coveted it. (She is furnishing her first house.) When I showed it to my Hale family, they basically said, "Meh." So, mystery no. 1 is--How could anyone not like this couch?

2.--Where did it come from? It seriously looks as if it has never been used. That is not the case with any thrift store furniture I have ever seen before. And it seems to be good quality; the stripes match up across all the cushions from top to bottom. And the feet are set back under the skirt so you can't stub your toes. I know the provenance of every other sofa/love seat we've ever owned so this makes the first time we've entered the world of "Who sat here before me?"

3.--Where will I put it? It doesn't fit in Casey's office. It is not on speaking terms with the other couch in the living room. I hate to relegate it to the basement because I will never see it. Sigh. Once again I am confronted with my non-flair for decorating. But at least I have a soft place to sit while I contemplate my options.

Ahh! Fiders!!

2009-06-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Skewwy!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

EEEEEEEEK!!!!!

Mo', mommy! Mo' 'cary fiders!!

Disclaimer: She asked to see scary spiders. She begged to see them.

A few days later she was talking as she ate breakfast.

She: " 'Cary gogs!"
Me: "Scary dogs?"
She: " "Cary cats!"
Me: "Yeah, scary cats."

The drama was building.

She: " 'Cary mions!"
Me: "Scary lions!"

I was feeling it. Then.....

She: " 'Cary wadybugs!"

The dok, dok house

2009-06-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

There was this time when Meredith learned a scary story and enjoyed telling it to us. She probably took the strained, eyes-popped expressions we wore for terror. But really, we were just trying not to laugh. It goes like this:

"In the dok, dok woods there was a dok, dok house.
And in the dok, dok house there was a dok, dok kitchen.
And in the dok, dok kitchen there was a dok, dok stairs.
And up the dok, dok stairs there was a dok, dok hall.
And in the dok, dok hall there was a dok, dok room.
And in the dok, dok room there was a dok, dok closet.
And in the dok, dok closet there was a dok, dok box.
And in the dok, dok box there was a Boogeyman!

She had me at dok dok.

Separation Anxiety

2009-05-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Rosalie is worried. The kids just went upstairs without her. ("Hey, guys!")
She turns to me and spouts a string of syllables out of which I only recognize "Emma"--the name of her visiting cousin.
"You can go, too," I say
She slips off my lap, turns and says, "Shee ya!" while waving.
Me: "Bye!"
She turns on the first step, waves and says, "Bye!"
She turns on the third step and waves.
On the fifth step she turns, waves, and says, "Yater!"
On the last step before the landing, she turns and says, "Soon!"
Just before she goes past the bend on the landing she leans around and waves one last time.
She knows I am watching her every step. She worries--I don't always handle separation well.

Happy Birthday, Rosalie! 2 Years Old! Don't grow up too fast, K?

Angels and Demons

2009-05-28T19:50:00.001-07:00

by Lissa

Knock-Knock

2009-05-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

I think my entire character as a mother can be illustrated by how I react when my four-year-old tries to tell me her made-up knock-knock jokes. (It's not to my credit.) She likes to do this when I am driving. Here is today's example.

Meri: "Mom, knock-knock. . . Mom! Knock-Knock!"
Me: "Oh, knock, knock. I mean, "who's there?"
Meri: "Bird." (She always takes her inspiration from what she can see out the car windows.)
Me: "Bird who?"
Meri: "Bird . . .on the side of a mountain!!!"
Me: "Uh-huh. Riiiiight."

This is pretty mild compared to some versions I have heard. All of my children have gone through this stage--they know the form of the joke, they realize there is some kind of surprise involved with the punch line, they just don't get the humor yet. But what could be more surprising than something they just thought of themselves for the first time?! Especially when, as is usual, it involves some kind of bizarre random violence?
Like this--"Bird who?" "Bird. . .who gets his head pulled off by a giant dinosaur and EATEN!!"
Anderson was especially fond of this kind of ending.

I feel like a bad mom. Maybe I should just laugh. But I'm afraid if I do they will keep telling me this kind of joke. It might not sound so bad, but just imagine a half-hour car ride filled with endless iterations like this: "Knock-knock! . . .Dog with a bone in his head!!" "Knock-knock! . . .Tree that's pink and purple and blue!!!" "Knock-knock! . . . Car that's right in front of us!! And it's turning!! Like a burning!!!" (rhymes are funny, right?)
It's pure torture.

So I tried to tell her a few real knock-knock jokes that she could fall back on. I told her the one about Dwayne. Dwayne the tub, I'm dwowning? You know, 'cause Dwayne is a name, but it sounds like a person who can't say their r's? (She can't say her r's either. Maybe that's why she didn't get it.) It's one of only two knock-knock jokes that I can remember.

So here's how today's conversation ended:

Me: "Would you like me to tell you a real knock-knock joke?"
Meri: "Yes."
Me: "Knock-knock."
Meri "Who's there?"
Me: uh. . .I already told her Dwayne--she didn't get it. . . I can't think of one! "Um, I can't remember one right now. We better look some up when we get home, K?"
Meri: "That was funny, Mom!"

It's like my sister said, the divide between kid brains and grown-up brains is absolute. At least when it comes to knock-knock jokes.

Oh, and the only other knock-knock joke I can remember goes like this:
Me: "Say Knock-knock."
You: "Knock-knock."
Me: "Who's there?"

Organized Sports

2009-05-18T20:43:00.001-07:00

Clarissa and her cousin Megan were recruited to be in a softball league for the next month or so. The coach's daughter was the only one in our area who signed up, so coach Dove called girls in her daughter's grade until she got enough together for a team. By this you may gather that there wasn't a whole lot of experience amongst the members of "The Valley Girls." We parents felt a little inexperienced ourselves:

--"Wasn't the game supposed to start at 6:30? What are they waiting for? An Umpire? Do they have to have one? I thought this was just for fun."

--"Look, they're hitting the ball! How did they learn to do that? They've only had three practices."

--"Hey! Lissa's pitching! Did you know she could pitch?" "No, I didn't know she could pitch. I've never seen her pitch before. "

--"Megan got someone out! Look at that! Wow!"

This is the first time we've had a child involved in an actual team sport. Jenny and Rex are first-timers, too. We are the farthest thing away from the parents you hear about who get rabid about their kid's sports. We just like the fact that our kids are outside, but that the season is short.
The Valley Girls lost their first game tonight, something to 3. (We only keep track of our own team's runs.) Lissa and Megan each got a run and we are so proud. And Lissa struck out two batters! (She may have walked more than that, but we don't keep track of the other teams runs.) And she tagged someone out.
It made for a great family night. Rex and Jenny brought pizza so that my kids could have second dinner. There was lots of shady grass for the other kids to wrestle on. We only lost track of our one-year-old two or three times. And afterwards, we ate ice cream at a park.

I think we could actually do this.

Things Learned from the 1st Grade Operas

2009-05-15T11:59:00.001-07:00

There are four classes in our school's First Grade and each one got to put on a 10-15 minute Opera. They wrote the words themselves. And the plots. It was very creative. And informative. Here are some things we learned:

Animals help plants survive the winter by moving the heavy snow off.
When bunnies and cheetah girls eat too many carrots, they get tummy aches.
Drinking Sprite will fix a tummy ache. ("Sprite has saved the day!") (Sing it!)
Butterflies just want everyone to get along.
If praying mantises steal the butterflies' eggs, the bees will threaten to sting them unless they return the eggs.
Butterflies, caterpillars, and aliens like to vacation in Hawaii.
Caterpillars can fly to Hawaii. With butterflies and aliens.
If, while you are vacationing in Hawaii, a tree is struck by lightning and falls and breaks your pool, dogs and horses can help you fix it.

Also, some bees (named Anderson) like to keep their hands in their pockets the whole time. While rolling their ankles in and out.

What makes a mother?

2009-05-10T20:15:00.001-07:00

Basically, having children.

There you have it. Proof that I am a mother. That's all it takes, right?
(Snort!)

Three Decades in the General Vicinity

2009-05-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

My sister Victoria and her husband Michael just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the day they met. They have a nice story. (Read it here.)
It got us thinking. We don't remember the day we met. We barely remember the year we met. But we must have met in kindergarten, because here is our class photo.

It's like fate that we are close enough to circle our two heads, don't you think?
The boy under the yellow arrow is Johnny. He had such dreamy brown eyes. And he had a crush on me. He would sit next to me on the floor during reading time. I would scoot away and he would follow until Miss Pat told us to sit still. If she caught us while we were sitting together it was like the last petal of the daisy saying "He loves me." He moved away at the end of the year. Again, like fate.
It wasn't until much later that I developed my crush on Casey. Three whole years later. By then he had his own crush on my best friend, Jenny. I used to pass the notes back and forth between them. I wonder why I never checked the No boxes on those "Do you like me?" notes. Too innocent, I guess. I'd do it in a heartbeat now.

(Here we are again! We don't get any cuter than this.)
(And check out the Dukes of Hazard Tee top left.)

Here's how I fell in love with Casey: At age eight my phobia was BOREDOM. Specifically, Eternal Boredom, as in "If God knows everything and lives forever, than He must be BORED! I don't want to live forever!!!!" This is what I thought when I lay in my bed at night and couldn't sleep. Weird, I know. (My previous phobia was earthquakes. My subsequent phobia was MX missiles.) (Did anyone else have irrational phobias as a child?)
So one day at school they had all the second graders sitting cross legged on the floor and we must have been doing some kind of presentation for parents or something. The teachers would ask a question, then hand the microphone to a kid for the answer. I remember one girl told us how to spell "friend" by saying the mnemonic "FRIday is the END." I've spelled that word perfectly ever since.
Then, (the fateful moment) a teacher asked, "What is the only constant, sure thing?" She let some kids try to answer. We came up with Death and Taxes, etc. She shot us all down, then handed the mic to Casey.
And he said, "The only constant is change."
I was stunned. Seriously. My phobia vanished like a puff of steam. He was my hero.

It took me years to realize that the whole thing was staged. I mean, Casey was always a brain but his bent was Math/Sciences--never Philosophy.

When I did my "remember when" about this pivotal moment, Casey said, "That never happened." (!!!)---That is what he says about things he doesn't remember. Looking back over 30 years that happens a lot. ('nother mnemonic--"a lot" is a lot of words--I think my friend Kyle Frank told me that one. Yes, I used to spell it "alot.") It's our own personal law: The Conservation of Memory--if one of us remembers it, the other one probably doesn't. When we say "remember when..." it is not a rhetorical question. I think that's a good thing, in a way. That way, even though we share so many of the same experiences, we haven't run out of stories to tell each other.

We haven't really had 30 years "together" (yet), but you could say we were close the whole time.

The Long and Short

2009-05-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Ani was growing her hair for two reasons: to see if she could get her hair as long as her friend Lindsey's, and to donate it to Locks of Love (minimum of 10 inches-) She had reached both goals when spring arrived, and suddenly everyone wanted short hair.

Lissa didn't have 10 inches of hair to cut off, but I learned that they will take shorter lengths of hair and sell them to offset the costs of making their wigs for kids.

I hope red hair sells for a lot, because it breaks my heart to chop it.

I also cut Anderson's and Casey's hair.

"I want my freakin' awesome hair back, Mom. Why'd you have to cut it?"

And Handsome Man is still handsome.

Meredith cut her own hair not long ago--the same haircut she gave herself last year. (I give her a bob, then she cuts the sides off when I'm not looking.) I guess that's how she likes it.

Mission Impossible

2009-05-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

Rosalie likes to take off vent covers and look down into the creepy depths.
Yesterday, she dropped in a 2 inch jingle bell. It rolled just like a ball about three feet down the gentle incline. We thought it was gone for good.

And that's when Gadget Man appeared!

Using only some tape, a vacuum attachment, a magnet from a Relief Society fridge decoration, two flashlights, a tape measure, and a webcam, he constructed a retrieval system the likes of which you have never seen before!

The remote image on the laptop screen showed every last detail of his triumph. The bell surrendered-- scooting toward the magnet before its position could be taken. It was Fully AWESOME!

The kids were enthralled. Gadget Man/Dad was the hero of the day.

It seems a waste to disassemble it--anyone swallow any pennies lately?

My Little O. C. D.arling

2009-04-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

I love it when my kids can find something quiet and non-destructive to do to entertain themselves. Though sometimes I do wonder if this kind of repetitive behavior is normal. You should see what she does with blocks.
We had to get rid of all the really small elastics (the half-inchers) after I caught her with dark-purple hands a few times.

She had already moved all the elastics onto one hand before she started the transfer to the other. I wanted to see how long it would take her--in real time, five minutes. The soundtrack is "Bagdad" played by Lissa.

Give us a (spring) break!

2009-04-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

March has come and March has gone.
But still the snow is on the lawn.
The birds are here, they sing their song.
But something still is very wrong.

The bikes are out, they lie about.
The kids are in, they sit and pout.
The snowpants have to be got out--again!
Poor Mom! Just hear her shout.

April's here, but still we fear
That her intentions are not clear.
No buds are open on the trees.
No flowers wait to greet the bees.
We're begging! We're down on our knees!
Oh, Springtime! Come to our house, Please!

Major Bed Head

2009-04-06T17:31:00.001-07:00

A few mornings ago I suggested to Anderson, "You might want to brush your hair today."

He took a look in the mirror and said, "No way! It's freakin' AWESOME!"

The Plan of Salvation

2009-04-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

This is what we did for family night last week. It's always fun to draw on the wall.
For more information, go here.

Got me some soul

2009-04-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

In India, the saying goes, "A woman without jewelry is like a body without a soul."

The pearl and emerald necklace and blue blouse are just some of the pretty-pretties Casey brought me from India. I also got two other blouses, two silk scarves, one Kashmiri scarf/shawl, and a sequined maroon skirt.

I love them. But mostly I'm just glad to have him back.

India Blog - Day 11 (last day)

2009-03-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

We didn't really have much we wanted to see this day and were planning to spend most of it shopping for stuff to take home to our families. We ate breakfast and Randy and I checked out of our room. Gail and Kurt kept their room for late checkout, so Randy and I moved 0ur stuff into their room.

The driver took us first to the India Gate, which is like the tomb of the unknown soldier. There is an "eternal" flame there and flags for the different branches of the Indian armed services, and the monument is dedicated to the Indian soldiers who fell during WWI.

After that we tried to get the driver to take us to some open-air shopping to get some deals, but he didn't understand and took us to another high-priced kickback store. We came out immediately and finally got him to understand where we wanted to go and he took us to a place with lots of shops with decent prices and open-air market. I bought a bunch of glass bracelets, some t-shirts, a drum, and a chess set. I was starting to get the hang of the whole haggling thing, but it really starts to give you a headache after a while and is a lot of work. I was at the point where it was almost worth it just to pay more to avoid the work of haggling. But I did get some good deals.

After shopping there, we asked the driver to take us to Humayun's tomb. He took us to some shopping center instead where we paid 15 rupees (30 cents) to get in to the street. I guess they just do that to keep the riff-raff out? All the shops there were pretty much the same, but I did get a cute shirt for Rosalie.

After shopping, we finally got the driver to take us to Humayun's tomb. We went to one tomb first that we thought was it, before we got to the real one.

There are ancient tombs and ruins everywhere in India. At this point I think we were getting a little burned out and were ready to be done with ancient buildings. Especially since it was pretty hot.

The driver took us to one final place for shopping which was a mall. This mall was totally westernized with stores like in a western mall selling jewelry, high-fashion clothes, etc. The prices were western too, with everything as much or more than in the states. We didn't stick around very long. They did have a McDonalds there as well.

If you look close at the menu, you can see they have no beef or beef products.

We had the driver take us back to the hotel, and Randy and I went shopping in the streets around the hotel. There wasn't really anything we wanted to buy there. I wanted to get some candy for the kids, but couldn't find anything that wasn't either really expensive or looked like it might make them sick. We ate fries and a shake (too timid to try the veg burgers) at McDonalds. The guy looked at Randy funny when he asked for a spoon. We soon realized why, as the shake was like slightly lumpy chocolate milk. No spoon necessary. The fries were pretty much the same as in the states.

We went to the shops downstairs and spent all the rest of our rupees, except for the tips for the driver and sundry porters etc. Then Randy and I showered and called home one last time and then stuffed everything in the suitcases. Luckily I had a fair amount of space on the trip there so everything fit in the one suitecase.

The driver drove us to the airport and after only getting turned around once, we made it there. After we tipped him and went into the airport, Randy realized he had handed the driver his wad of US cash ($90 worth) instead of the 400 rupees ($8 worth) he had meant to hand him. Luckily he was able to get the driver on the cell phone and get him to come back and make a switch. Kurt and I both thought the driver would be long gone with the cash, but I guess he was worried about the feedback through our company.

Anyway, there isn't much more to tell about the India trip. The trip home started at 1:00 AM in India on Tuesday and arrived in SLC at 7:30 that same day, including a 3 hour layover in Paris and a 4 hour layover in NYC. It was a seriously long day. I slept off and on through the flight to Paris and to NYC. I had a hamburger in NYC and went with Edith to Costa Vida in SLC. One of those two places caused me to wake up that night and puke my guts out. Ironic, isn't it, that after 12 days of being careful and avoiding sickness in India, I get tagged by food poisoning the minute I get back in the States?

I gave Edith a bunch of stuff I bought for her in India the night I got home, and presented the kids with all their loot the next morning. They were quite excited.

I don't think Edith's presents come anywhere close to making up for ditching her with 5 kids for 12 days, but I guess it's a start.

At Home--Day 11

2009-03-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

The kids were out of school today. Which meant we were all here together, except for Casey, all day long.
I don't know why I always want to get some project done whenever Casey is gone. I can't remember if it was my sister Kate or Victoria who said she would be especially sure NOT to work on projects when her husband was gone. Taking care of the kids alone is enough. I agree with that, but I just couldn't help myself, soooo--I deep cleaned the downstairs bathroom! Call me crazy. . . (Here is a sample of what I thought I might try to do--build storage shelves, build matching headboards for girls' room, build closet doors for girls' room, varnish basement door, refurbish bedside table and add tile top, make pillows for windowseat. . .)

The best part of the day was Grandma and Grandpa Songer coming for (and bringing) dinner. I pretty much dangled the carrot of their arrival (with pizza) over my kids for hours to get them to behave. And I tried a new recipe out on our guests: Oven Roasted Asparagus ala Pioneer Woman Cooks. I knew they would appreciate it. It was yummy. Lissa and Anderson liked it, too. Anderson probably liked it because asparagus comes in spears.

Casey called three separate times since it dawned Monday where he is. So we got to wish him Happy Birthday three different times. The last time was from the airport before he boarded. It was an hour from Tuesday there and he will arrive here Tuesday (tommorrow!) evening around eight pm. He gets to travel for around thirty hours and still have four hours left of Tuesday. It's time travel!

He's almost here, he's just about here! (repeat!)
(This is based on the Grover final approach song that we kids used to torment my parents with after a 7 hour drive.)

Do you think pilots would go any faster if they could hear their passengers asking "Are we there yet?"?

At Home Day 10

2009-03-22T20:35:00.001-07:00

I already did my blogging today--I hung over the sink and went "blahg, blahg!"

Seriously, I am sick.

It was such bad timing. Luckily there are good and talented people all around me to fill in when I go down with the stomach flu. I was told that the choir number went well, directed by a woman in our ward who graduated in Performance Arts. (I was assured that it didn't go as well as it would have if I had been there. But I didn't believe it.)

And Casey's parents took the older kids to church with them. And fed them afterwards. Here's Grandma Songer's account:
With Casey in India and Edith sick with the flu, we took their kids to Church and brought them home for crepes. Dad was mixing the batter. I set an unmarked container of salt on the counter, which he mistook for sugar. Four tablespoons of salt :o Yuk! We mixed up another batch and ate lunch. Afterward, as we're cleaning up, I was thinking out loud, "I wonder if there is anything I can do with this salty batter"
Ani had the best idea - "Grandma, you could melt the snow!"

Rosalie was remarkably patient with me as I continued to fall asleep on the couch or the bed while she played with hair elastics and talked to herself. She did stay awake calling from her crib during her whole naptime, but that didn't stop me from sleeping, either.

Then Wendy took Anderson and Meredith to the Hale family farewell to Jon party. And Ani and Lissa went to the Stake Center with Grandma and Grandpa Songer to watch the Draper Temple dedication. I hope they remember it and are glad they went there instead of the Hale party. There are always Hale parties. Not so often a Temple dedication.

We talked to Casey and wished him "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" It is already his birthday in India. He'll be catching the plane in about 15 hours after a very long day. We probably won't hear from him again until he is stateside.

Casey, can't wait til you're here.

India Blog - Day 10

2009-03-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

We ate breakfast this morning, changed some money, and met our guide in the lobby. He first took us past the red fort (just driving by) and through some of the bazaar streets, most of them looking like a flea market. Finally we came to Jama Masjid (the Friday Mosque) which is the largest mosque in India, which has room for tons of people to pray. Seems like it was 25,000 people, but I don't remember for sure. The mosque itself isn't all that big, but the courtyard is very large and that's where they put most of the people.

Here's me in some kind of little box on the front steps of the mosque:

We were required to remove our shoes, and Gail had to wear an interesting cover. I guess all the western women were required to wear it, and any men wearing shorts had to wear something to cover themselves as well. You can see the covers and skirts on these guys below:

After the mosque, we drove to the Gandhi memorial. This is the place where Gandhi was cremated and some of his ashes still are. We didn't actually go into the memorial area so we didn't have to take our shoes off. We just took a picture from a place overlooking the site. The guide was making sure we hurried to each spot.

After that we went to the craft museum, which is where Gail wanted to go to see the different crafts that they make across India. I don't know if it was because it was Sunday or what, but there wasn't really anybody there doing crafts. They had examples of the different housing styles across India, and lots of artisans selling clothing and art. It was sort of a disappointment, but I did buy a couple of art sketches there.

After that the driver told us he was taking us to a place to learn about Kashmir. We soon arrived and detected it was actually a kickback stop. He told us that the people there would let us try some Kashmir tea but we told him we didn't drink tea. The man was very nice, but it was a sales job. We learned how they make the rugs and how each takes 6 months to 2 years of tying knots and packing the threads down on the loom. He showed us that the rug wouldn't scratch or burn. It was kind of like the cutco knives guy or some other sales pitch. Anyway, the rugs were very beautiful but they were also very expensive, so we didn't get any.

Then the driver took us to a cool archaeological site called Qutab Minar. It has several examples of Hindu architecture, and some Muslim architecture. The Muslims came in and destroyed all the carvings of the Hindu temple, because they don't believe in idol worship. Then the Muslim leader erected this huge 250 foot tower. It is really cool.

Here is the base so you can get a perspective for how big it really is.

There is also this really strange iron post in the courtyard that is about 1600 years old, but has never rusted. Supposedly NASA or somebody is trying to figure out what it is made of and why it doesn't rust.

While we were checking all this stuff out, this little kid came up and asked if he could have a picture with me. Then his sisters (I assume) came up and posed as well. Very interesting.

The guide to leave to go to lunch after about 20 minutes, but there was too much to see. Also the Indian lunch he wanted to take us to was 600 rupees ($12) and we were thinking he probably got a kickback for it and we weren't really hungry for more Indian food. So we told him we wanted to stay for a while and not go to lunch. He said he was pretty much done for the day (it was only 1:00) and the driver could take us to the next temple and so we tipped him and he left. We spent another 30-40 minutes in Qutab Minar and it was really cool.

Since our guide was gone, we communicated to the driver that we wanted to go to the Akshardhan temple. He asked about lunch and we said we were going to skip it. He said he wanted lunch so he brought us to another kickback store. I think maybe they feed the drivers for free if they leave the passengers at the mercy of the salespeople. Randy didn't feel like hanging out in the store so he went down the street half a block and joined a cricket game. They let him hit the ball a couple times. Too bad nobody was there to take his picture.

Finally the driver was done scarfing his (free?) meal and he took us on the long drive across town to the Akshardhan temple.

You can kind of see the temple in the background here. This place was like Disneyland, with huge lines of cars to get in to the parking, lines to get in to, major security, boat rides, animatronics, and tons of people. They had a huge list of things that were not allowed inside, including cameras, phones, food, pens, paper, and about 100 other things. We got the frisking and finally made it in. The temple was over the top ornate with gold statues and levels on levels of carving everywhere. Since we weren't allowed a camera, I don't have any pictures of the inside, but if you're interested they have a website here.

We grabbed some water at the food court and tried to go see if we could get on the boat ride, but the wait was 2.5 hours, so we bailed. A very interesting place.

We were hoping to see one more place that day, the Lotus Temple (Bahai), but it was closed by that time and not open on Mondays. Oh well. We did more this day than we were expecting, I think.

We went back to the hotel and ate at the fancy Chinese restaurant on the top floor. We had to roam around and shop for a while because the restaurant didn't open until 7:30. I got a couple silk scarves in the shops downstairs. After dinner it was back to skype the family and blog. Here is Randy talking to his wife.

India Blog - Day 9

2009-03-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

We woke up at 5:00 so we could be down in the lobby by 5:45. Not sure if I mentioned that Randy and I were sharing a room to lower costs. We have to pay for these last few days where we are extending.

Anyway, the guide took took us to the east gate of the Taj Mahal and we bought our tickets to go in. The $15 tickets included a bottle of water and little booties to put over our shoes so we wouldn't have to take our shoes off. We waiting in line for security, the men and women in separate lines. The security people confiscated Randy's granola bars and Gail had to put her ipod in a locker, but eventually we all made it inside the gate.

Inside there is a large outer courtyard where you can see the three external gates and the main gate here:

The main gate has 22 domes on top of it, one for every year it took to build it. You can only see 11 of them from this angle. The Taj took 22 years to build, and there were 20,000 workers working day and night that whole time. That's a lot of work.

The guide took us to various spots to get some good photographs of the Taj. Here is one of all 4 of us that the guide took.

And of course, the obligatory trick shot:

We put our booties on and of course right when I sat down an old guy came over and helped himself to helping me on with my booties. So I had to tip him 10 rupees. I hate that.

We got up close to the Taj and I took some shots of the detail work. All the colors are made with inlaid stones (coral, lapis lazuli, mother of pearl, etc.) and there is no painting anywhere on it. The carvings are amazing too.

The inside was very cool, with marble lattice work and lots more inlaid stones. However it was dark and you couldn't take pictures in there. I took a lot more pictures outside, but I'm not going to bore everyone with them. I will, however, post this picture of cute chipmunks for the kids:

After we had our fill of the Taj, we went back to the car. We had to take a small auto (natural gas) to and from the parking lot because they don't allow any gas vehicles withing 2 km of the Taj. Here is a shot of everyone trying to sell stuff to Randy. They follow you and are pretty relentless in trying to get you to buy.

After we got back from the Taj, we gave tips to the guide and went to eat breakfast. While we were eating breakfast, our "other" guide showed up and we gave him a few tips. After that we went to hang out in our rooms, call home, and blog.

Around 11:00 we left for another 5 hours of driving back to Delhi. I mostly read to keep my eyes off the death-defying action going on outside. We made one pit stop where the driver disappeared for 15 minutes and we were forced to wander around looking at overpriced goods and listen to pushy salespeople. Randy noticed that the guys sitting by the door wrote a '4' down in his notebook and we figure that is the kickback credit that the driver gets for delivering 4 tourist to the trap. Eventually he returned and we got back on the road and finally made it to Delhi.

We checked in to our hotel there, a pretty nice one. I'm staying with Randy again. After getting settled, we went to the hotel restaurant to get something to eat But we didn't really like anything on the menu so we all left. We had seen a McDonalds on the way in, so we thought we would go there. But when we go there, they didn't have anything except Chicken and Fish sandwiches, and lots of strange Indian sandwiches. We then walked around until we found a Pizza Hut and ate there. It was good to have mostly familiar food, and the meal only cost $5 for a personal pizza, garlic bread, bottle of soda, and ice cream.

After dinner we wandered around the local neighborhood and looked at all the shops. Lots of interesting odors. I bought some batteries, since my camera is chewing through them like crazy.

After that we went back to the hotel, and I paid $18 for a day of internet access and did some actual work for 2-3 hours and also some skype and blogging. It was the first day we had had time to relax in a long time.

At Home--Day 9

2009-03-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

I don't really have a lot to report for today. Except we pigged out!

Whole wheat muffins for breakfast (some with chocolate chips--I made them for the choir practice and only 11 people showed.)
Then, after a futile housecleaning (futile in that it's messy again already) we had strawberry crepes for lunch. Hooray! Strawberry time!

And then we had Navajo tacos for dinner. Victoria and Mike walked in just as I was beginning the fry up, so they stayed to dinner with their kids. It was nice to have company. I miss adult conversation.
And, in spite of a lot of freshly ground whole wheat in the above items, I don't think it was very healthy. There was too much oil involved. And sugar. (nummy)

Don't tell me you don't wish you were here. I know you do.

India Blog - Day 8

2009-03-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Friday, I had to get up at 6:00 so I could get ready in time to eat breakfast and check out before we had to leave for the airport. We checked out and left before 7:00.

Hyderabad has a pretty new airport, so the roads to it are under construction, but the airport looks pretty nice. We ended up getting there in plenty of time so we didn't have to rush through like we did the last time. There are always a ton of guys trying to grab your bags and carry them for you to earn a tip. I usually try to avoid them.

One thing that was interesting is that they always have a separate line for the women and the men for security. The women's line has a screen so they have more privacy. I assume this is for the Muslim women that have to keep covered in public. The security people pretty much pat you down every time. I'm a little tired of being touched so much by people I don't know.

We got our bags out to the van and tipped the guys who brought the bags. The driver started the long drive down to Agra. It was an interesting trip, but definitely the cause of lots of anxiety. Tons of close calls. The driver spent a lot of time talking on his cell phone with one hand, while honking with the other and weaving around oncoming tour buses. Here are some shots from the drive, representing a small portion of the different types of vehicles we encountered:

Tons of bicycle rickshaws

Sometimes they fit as many as 15 people in the 4-person auto-taxi.

There were a few camels on the road in Agra

Motorcycles are the most common vehicles on the road. I blogged before about how the guys usually drive and the girls sit on the back. Doesn't seem very comfortable.

Whole families on bicycles too. I bet this guy has a hard time on hills.

Anyway, after 5 brutal hours, with one quick rest stop, we arrived in Agra. We glimpsed a few monkeys running around on the roof of the place we stopped for a bathroom break. Gail took a picture of a monkey that a guy had on a leash while we were stopped for a toll, and the guy made her pay money for taking the picture. People starting gathering around the car and banging on the windows trying to sell stuff. Luckily we took off pretty soon after that.

Right before we got to our hotel, the driver stopped by the side of the road and picked up our guide. We didn't know we were getting guide, but figured it would be good. We checked in to the hotel and then met the guide and driver downstairs.

The first place we went was the Red Fort of Agra, which is all made out of marble and very beautiful. We spent a couple hours there, and took tons of pictures.

The fort was red marble on the outside, but most of the inside was made out of white marble. Tons of really cool engraving and carving on the walls and ceilings. There were also lots of monkeys and parrots inside and climbing all around.

After the fort, the guide took us to a marble place where they showed us how they do the inlay work. I'm sure the guide gets kickbacks from these guys, because they then took us into a shop room to show us stuff for sale. I was a little worried when they shut the door and drew the curtains, but it was just so they could show us how the marble is translucent. The marble was beautiful, and the inlay work is amazing, but no way I was going fork out that much dough for something so impractical.

The guide wanted to take us to some more shops, but we were having none of it and asked to be taken back to the hotel. He had the driver drop us back at the hotel and said he would meet us at 6:15 the next day to go to the sunrise at the Taj Mahal. When we got in the hotel, there was another guy in the lobby that said he was our real guide and had been waiting for us for 3 hours. He showed a UHG business card and had us call our contact there. It was quite an uncomfortable situation. He said he would meet us at 5:45 and take us through the Taj. He looked legit, so we decided to meet him the next day. We finally went to sleep late at around 11:00.

At Home--Day 8

2009-03-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

This morning I had to run to town to do some errands. Lissa stayed home sick for the second day so she was there to answer Casey's Skype calls at 9 and again at 11. I was sad to miss them. But I got to talk to him at 10 tonight. Sounds like he's having a wild day.

Meredith went to a birthday party today for a girl from her preschool. Does it happen to you that your child comes home from a birthday party with more stuff, and worth more, than they took as a present? This keeps happening to me. But I know how my kids are with toys--the more they have the less they value them. So at least I don't spend a lot on these gifts that are destined for the D. I. Also, my kids only get friend parties at ages 5, 8, and 12. Teenage parties are something I don't even want to think about.

Today the neighbor kid came to clean the outsides of my windows. He is raising money for Prom, I think. Anyway, it was pretty embarrassing how messy my house was. I paid him a little extra to keep his mouth shut.
Rosalie and Meredith thought it was the funnest thing ever to follow him around outside while he worked. Somewhere along the way Rosalie ditched her pants and smeared her face with dirt. Did you ever see two kids who look more like nobody loves them? My mom used to say "You look like nobody loves you," when we got really dirty. When I say it, it means "You're making your mother look bad, go change and/or brush your hair and/or wash your face." My kids think it means "You are quite an individual, aren't you? I can see you like to make your own fashion choices and I applaud your avant garde appearance."
Then again, maybe they think it means nobody loves them. Maybe I shouldn't say that anymore.

And since it's Friday night, we did Fort Night again. This time they all get to share one big fort so we don't have any whining about whose fort is better.

Wish you could be here for Fort Night, Casey. We could make the best fort of all and not share it with anyone else.

India Blog - Day 7

2009-03-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

We got up in the morning and went to the Cognizant offices in Hyderabad. We just spent the morning there, since Randy, Kurt and I don't have a lot of contacts there. The team there presented us with flowers when we arrived. Since I couldn't really take them with me to give them to Edith, I took a picture so I could give that to her. Here you go:

They also gave us a very cool plate with Indian painting on it.

After lunch in the office (more Indian food), we took off to go to a museum. It was a huge museum with all kinds of stuff: paintings, clothes, sculptures, glass, toys, swords, guns, etc.). It was pretty cool, but started to all blur together after the first hour.

After that we drove into town and took a conference call in the car that was really hard to hear.

We went to a Mosque/Monument that Hyderabad is famous for called Charminar. It looked cool during the day and even cooler lit up at night.

We went into some shops and stuff. Gail got sucked into a pearl shop (Hyderabad is famous for them) and we ended up spending a long time there waiting for her. And some of the others decided to buy some as well.

We didn't get back to the hotel and done with dinner until after 11:00, but I went to sleep as early as I could after that, because we had to wake up early and get to the airport for our flight.

At Home--Day 7

2009-03-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

Whoohoo! I'm finished with my fabulous Relief Society presentation! I finished writing it about 4:30 this afternoon, picked up a spare reader during dinner, and it was all over in a matter of minutes. It was all about how to simplify your life. And if they ask me to do another skit any time soon, I will simplify my life by saying "No." Or maybe "No, thank you."
Actually, I thought I would feel a little more relief than this. But it just cleared room for all the other things that I have to do to press in on me. (recycling tomorrow, must buy birthday present for party, need groceries, doctor's appointment, pick up recital music, call everyone for choir practice Saturday morning, make muffins for choir members, buy non-staining juice to go with muffins, lead song on Sunday (don't mess up), make jello-salad for farewell dinner for Jon, make or buy bread for same, don't forget to buy ingredients for jello salad, no school on Monday, early out tomorrow, arrange play date for Anderson, find overdue library books, return projector to Stake Center)
I hope you didn't read all that.

Here are a couple of links I used in my presentation--you've probably seen them. But they are fun.
Mom My Ride
Momsense
The Meanest Mom

And here's something else you've already seen: Rosalie outside. She's so bossy. She makes me take her outside two or three times a day! But she doesn't throw hissy fits if she gets her outside time. Maybe it's the vitamin D.

Casey, thank you for buying me tons of stuff, I mean stuffs, in India. I hope when you go to the Taj Mahal and think about how it is a big tomb a man built as a monument for his beloved wife, you will think of your beloved wife and wish that I was there. With you. Not in the tomb.

At Home--Day 6

2009-03-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Things that happened today:

Andrew came to play with Meredith

Rosalie threw only one tantrum

Lissa lost a tooth

I learned how to connect the projector to the laptop and make it show the PC's screen

We played outside

Things that didn't happen today:

Anderson did not go to his friend's house as arranged--Branson was sick

I did not find, nor inspire Anderson to find his missing library book that is due today

I did not finish my "skit" for the Relief Society Birthday party tomorrow--my techie is out of town and my brain feels like this:

Miss you, techie. Wish you were here.

India Blog - Day 6

2009-03-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today, in addition to checking emails and talking to Edith and the kids on skype, I had to shove everything in the suitcase so we could check out of the hotel. We ate breakfast and then brought all our stuff down and checked out. It's pretty weird to see your bill come to 28,000 rupees, but that ends up being about 560 dollars. The exchange rate is right around 50 rupees to the dollar so the trick is to drop two zeros and multiply by 2. Luckily the company pays for this part.

Sasi and Ganesh took us to their version of the mall. It was 3 levels of shops and then offices above that. Here's a shot from the courtyard.

Most of the shops, especially the smaller ones, have somebody standing outside who try to get you to come into the shop. Most of the time it makes me NOT want to go in there. There was a really big store that had tons of everything, including lots of DVDs, books, toys, etc. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the "Indian Barbie" display

The prices in these bigger stores weren't that much better than in the states. Randy bought an Indian CD and DVD just for fun. I didn't see anything that I wanted to own. Most movies produced in India are in Hindi, and some in the local language (every state has its own local language). Most movies have optional English subtitles, since English is the official language.

We did get sucked into a few of the smaller shops where we tried to bargain with the guy. They would pull out all kinds of items and tell us the price, then the bargaining would begin. Sometimes we would walk away, and sometimes they would call us back and give it to us and sometimes they would just let us walk away. Ganesh was with Randy and me and helped somewhat with that. I bought several things for Edith and something for each of the kids, but won't say exactly what so it can be a surprise.

After shopping we met on the 3rd level at the food court. They had all kinds of Indian options as well as food from other countries, including a Subway and a Pizza Hut. We opted for a Chinese restaurant. I had fried rice with the "devil chicken" which was much less spicy than the name would imply.

We drove to the airport and said goodbye to Sasi and Ganesh and tipped the drivers. There were some mixups inside the airport, since we didn't really know where we were supposed to go. They required an intinerary to even enter the check-in gate. Luckily, I had one in my pocket, but Randy had to go outside and get somebody to print one for him. Then they zip-tied our baggage shut and we checked in. We had to hurry through security and barely made it on the last bus out to the runway. The plane was a turboprop so the bus took us out to it and we entered through the back. The plane only held 70 people.

We met our drivers and Raghu and Ajay from Cognizant. We drove through a pretty slummy part of town on the way to the famous fort at Golkondor.

The fort was pretty cool. I took a million pictures, but I'm only going to upload a couple. Here are the five of us, with Raghu and Ajay standing in front of the fort.

The fort was actually a palace for the kings here, and had running hot, cold, and rose water (and some other kinds, I think). The way they got running water up to the top of the fort is they had 4 different holding ponds and they had slaves to pump the water up to each holding pond. Now the holding ponds mostly hold algae and trash.

The front gate had a cool acoustical effect that echoed a clap so that it could be heard at the very top of the fort (almost a mile away).
We hiked all the way up to the top of the fort and back down, the stairs were pretty steep on the way down. Then they had a "light show" where they went over the history of the fort and the kings that built it. It was pretty good, but very long and we were all very tired.

Finally when the show was over we were driven to our hotel and we checked in. This hotel was extremely nice.

At Home--Day 5

2009-03-17T20:36:00.000-07:00

This morning, by special request, I did Anika's hair. We do that so rarely that it has to be documented.

St. Patrick's day--and sister Victoria's birthday. For her present, I went to Ogden and brought her girls home with me.

Rosalie chose her own outfit today entirely without my input. All I had to do was put her tights on (over her pajamas) and button her sweater. She did the accessories herself.

She looks sweet, don't you think? Well, it didn't last. Due to an appalling lack of sleep last night, in which I shared (not by choice) Rosalie had a number of grade A meltdowns today. The last was best of all the game. "And when she was bad, she was Horrid!"

My brain is full, may I be excused?

Casey, I really wish you were here. Have fun, anyway.

India Blog - Day 5

2009-03-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

This morning was the same thing. Get up, answer some emails, talk on skype, and eat the same breakfast at the hotel buffet: pineapple, french toast, bacon, potatoes, and pastry.

We drove to the Cognizant building and we met with the teams again. I got to spend some time just with my team that I work with every day. It was nice. I wish I had been able to spend more time with them, because it was good to get to know them and put faces to the names and voices.

For lunch we had catered food again. At 3:00, we had a "fun force" activity where the teams get together to play some kinds of games. There was one where you had to try to pretend you were somebody else and copy their mannerisms and such. Then I participated in a contest to see how much bread you could eat in 30 seconds. It was fun and I was sad that we really didn't get to spend that much time with the teams.

After that we left the Cognizant building to go do some shopping. Here is me in front of the Cognizant building:

Their building has some pretty funky architecture and colors.

After that, Vasu took us to the train station and we rode the train downtown. Luckily, the train wasn't very crowded at all. Randy joined this guys hanging out the train, but I neglected to get a picture of him.

On the way we looked at lots of trash and some slums, and some people playing cricket in a vacant lot.

When we got downtown we went shopping at a street called Ranganathan Street.

There were tons of street vendors and small stores and big stores. I bought some dresses for the girls at one of the larger stores

It was very crowded and hard to focus on stuff. One guy came up to me and wanted to sell me a drum. I was slightly interested in it, but realized it would be hard to fit in my luggage. I tried to leave but he followed me for almost the whole street, dropping the price from 450 to 400 etc down to 200 finally (about $4). Ganesh was with me and kept telling him to get lost. It was interesting.

Finally, Vasu took us all in the cars to a couple more shops. Then we took a really short "auto" ride (that's what these guys called the yellow cabs). If I can figure out how to upload the video of the ride, I will.

Finally, we came back to the hotel, had dinner with all the management guys from Cognizant, and went to bed.

India blog - Day 4

2009-03-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Monday we got up and ate breakfast (I pretty much ate the same thing at the buffet as before. I know, I'm boring). Our driver came at 9:00 and drove us to the Mepz technology section where we were meeting our counterparts. We spent lots of time meeting everybody and doing meetings all day. They have tea breaks each morning and afternoon and lunch in between. Lunch was a buffet catered inside the building. Food was good, but not great.

After work, around 5:30, we drove back through Chennai to the beach. Here is a shot of all the workers walking back to the train.

At the beach we basically stood around and talked. Shankar told us all about politics, language and other fun Indian topics.

After that we went to a Catholic church (St. Thomas Cathedral) that was fairly impressive.

Then we drove back to the hotel. Kurt, Gail, Randy and I ate dinner at the restaurant on the roof. It was really nice up there, because there was a nice breeze that was cool and it felt wonderful. The food was good too, including the brownies and ice cream. I don't think I'm losing weight.

After dinner I answered some emails, talked to Edith on the skype, and then went to sleep.

At Home--Day 4

2009-03-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

So today I talked to Casey at 11:00 in the morning and then again at 8:00 at night. For him it was late at night and then again first thing in the morning. I catch myself thinking, "I wonder what Casey is doing in India." And then I remember, "Oh, yeah. He's asleep."

I didn't sleep well last night. I had at least four BEI's--Box Elder incidents. That's when you reach for an itch and discover a wriggling bug under your fingers--ICK! Even if you are sound asleep, that will wake you right up. I've gotten to where I can chuck the squirming thing across the room without conscious thought. So now I've resurrected the bedtime tape-of-death ritual--yet another use for duct tape. I really hate those things. This is the downside of Spring.

I went to the sixth grade "Serve to Save" dinner tonight. It's an annual fundraiser for charity put on entirely by the sixth graders and their teachers. Casey's mom came, too. Anika was a waitress. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. ("When I grow up I want to be a waitress or a servant.") (Okay, she was four at the time and has moved on to bigger dreams since then. When she was six she wanted to be a floozy like the ones in the pretty red dresses in the Fourth of July melodrama.)

I just snatched a box elder bug out of the air with my strip of tape. I am swift and deadly like a Mantis!
I am also tired before my bed time. Goodnight.
(Good morning, Casey. Wish you were here.)

India Day 3 continued

2009-03-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Driving in India is a very interesting experience. The lanes are barely even really regarded as suggestions. There are more motorcycles than anything else, and a lot of little yellow taxis which they call tuk-tuks.

The taxis have two wheels in the back but only one in the front. They are basically motorcycles with a passenger compartment on the back. In the city, everyone just kind of weaves in and out of the lanes and tries not to die. Outside the city, the motorcyles mostly stay on the shoulder of the road, the tuk-tuks drive close to the shoulder, and the cars and vans stay in the regular part of the lane. Our van spent about half the time in the oncoming traffic lane, passing other cars and tuk-tuks and swerving back into the lane just before getting smashed by an oncoming tour bus.

Many of the motorcycles had multiple passengers, some had whole families hanging off them. The most common was a guy driving with a girl wearing her sari and sitting side-saddle in the back. Most of the time the guy had a helmet but the girl almost never did. No sure what that means.

There is tons of trash along the sides of the road, at least along the road we were driving down. It was along the coast and there were roadside stands selling watermelon or coconuts every half-mile or so.

There were cow wandering the sides of the road, mostly just eating the trash. Also some goats and dogs. The tour guide said that the cows belong to people and they are basically just free-range and they all head home at night. The people keep them for their milk. I wonder how trash tastes when filtered through a cow. The guide said that if somebody hits the cow then the owner will expect restitution. Since they tend to wander out into the highway (we had to swerve around a few) I'm guessing that is a fairly frequent occurrence.

A few times we stopped at stop lights and people came up to the windows and tried to sell us stuff. There were also small children who came up to the windows to beg. We had been told not to give anything to beggars but it's hard to see. When we got to Mahabalipuram and got out, we were accosted by people trying to sell us stuff. They would follow us around and wouldn't take no for an answer. Often they would follow us until we got to the car and then still stand outside the window trying to get us to buy.

Our first stop was the "Shore Temple" which is something like 1300 years old. It is made of granite and is mostly eroded. I guess there were originally 7 towers, but 5 of them are under water. We were surprised they let you climb around on them.

We went to another temple area where each of the structures was carved out of a single rock of granite. There were 5 of them and these things were pretty amazing.

There were some animals there too that were carved out of solid granite:

Finally we we came to a huge sculpture that was a whole mountain of granite with carvings all over it. The pictures below don't even show half of it.

It was very hot and humid and we were glad when it was time for lunch and we went to a gated, air-conditioned hotel for a buffet. I wasn't very adventurous on the foods I chose.

Next we went to a crocodile farm where they have thousands of crocodiles and a few turtles and other things. They have a 16 foot saltwater croc and thousands of these regular crocs

And even this baby which they let me hold

Last place we went was a place called Dakshinachithra, which is basically a little village where they have crafts and building from all over the different Indian provinces. It's basically like the Polynesian center in Hawaii, but for India. We saw potters spinning pots, weavers weaving silk, people making baskets and all sorts of things. The only thing I took a picture of was the drummer/dancers. They were very loud but fun to watch as they danced and made human pyramids (or human whatever you call this)

Finally we went back to dinner at the hotel. We ate at the Mongolian restaurant where you pick lots of raw meats and vegetables and they fry them up for you on the grill. Very tasty.

It was only 8:30, so I thought I would watch the rest of Gandhi, but when I lay down to watch it on my phone, I woke up around midnight. Jet lag and a very full day catching up to me. I answered some emails and went back to sleep around 1:00.

At Home--Day 3

2009-03-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

Ah, Sunday.
We did Fort Night last night because we all forgot to on Friday. Here are the chipper faces that greeted me at 8:00 this morning.

We got to church just as the clock was chiming the hour. Ani and Meri went to nursery with Rosalie today until the second hour when I sent them to class and took their place. Sacrament Meeting and choir practice both went okay--I promised the kids I'd make crepes for lunch if they were good. Rosalie spent ten minutes of choir practice hanging onto my leg, and then ten minutes on top of the grand piano at my elbow. Apparently that was a fascinating place to be, because she sat like a sack of sugar until it was over.

I managed to semi-nap on the couch after getting Rosalie up from a failed attempt at her nap. And then Anderson pestered me until I helped him put together the kite. I wasn't about to help him fly it though. Yes, I am the meanest mom.

Just regular chaos and disorder reigned for the rest of the day until bedtime. Casey got to see it over the Skype video for twenty minutes until I chased the kids out and shut the door for some private time with the Eye.

Yeah, it was romantic.

Too bad he doesn't have one of these with him in India. Rosalie saw a picture of him and said, "Daddy, bye-bye. See...him...soon?"

Wish you were here.

India Blog - Day 3

2009-03-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday , March 15

I woke up a little before 7:30 after less than 4 hours of sleep. Luckily I woke up before my alarm because I found out later I had accidentally set it for 7:30 PM. I showered and met Randy in the lobby at 8:00. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant buffet. They had all kinds of strange Indian dishes available, like Aloo Paratha and Poori Bhaji. But I was a chicken and went for the things that looked like pancakes and some bacon and some spiced potato things. We also ate the pineapple because Randy said it was less likely to make us sick. We're supposed to stay away from most fruit. Also, no drinking the water, unless it's bottled water and the cap is still sealed (and not sealed with super glue - has anyone seen Slumdog Millionaire?) We're even supposed to use bottled water to brush our teeth. I nearly forgot last night and rinsed my toothbrush with tap water. I poured a whole bottle of water over it after that so hopefully I dislodged most of the critters. After brushing I gargled with Listerine, so maybe that will kill some more. We're all watching each other to see who will be the first one to get sick.

Randy and I met the driver and drove to the address of the church we got off the web. The driver stopped a couple times to ask people on the street more specific directions, since there aren't any house numbers or street signs to speak of. Turns out the church had moved in the past 6 months, but luckily one of the guys working on the side of the road near the old place knew the new address. The church was in the basement of a building. There was a small sign out front, but I don't think I would have been able to find it.

We got there at 9:00 but it didn't start until 9:30 so it was basically empty when we got there. But lots of people came up to us and introduced themselves as they started to show up. One lady told us how her trainer from the US had introduced her to the gospel even though she had never met him. She has since been baptized and married in the Hong Kong temple. She told us how they have had property to build an actual Church building for 11 years but because the Church won't pay the necessary bribes, they haven't been able to build yet.

Church was very good, especially one talk about general conference and how we need to be prepared. There were a fair number of non-Indian people in attendance, mostly missionaries and people from the US working here. But the majority of the congregation was Indian. All the women wore saris. The bright colors were very striking and beautiful and I wished I could have a picture, but didn't think that would be appropriate. Randy and I had time to go through most of Sunday school before we had to get back. Here's a picture of me on the stairs going down to the church.

Our driver was outside waiting for us and he drove us back to the hotel and we met up with the rest of our group. We had a tour guide and some people that we work with in India. They were going along on the sightseeing tour to Mahabalipuram.

I'll finish this later...

India Blog - Day 1 (and 2)

2009-03-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here is the start of my India blog. I promised Edith and the kids that I would take lots of pictures and put them up here. Feel free to skip ahead and just look at the pictures if I get boring.

March 13 (Friday the 13th)

5:15 - I wake up to get ready to go after getting to sleep after midnight while packing. Getting 5 hours of sleep is not a recommended way to start a 28 hour flight to India. Thanks, Edith, for helping me pack.
5:50 - Edith drives me to the airport (thanks again).
7:00 - I say goodbye to Edith at the airport. This will be the longest we've ever been apart since being married.
7:10 - My passport won't scan at the kiosk for some reason, even for the agent that came to help me, so she let me skip the long line and checked my baggage for me.
7:20 - I arrive at the gate and try for an hour to get my laptop to connect to the Internet through my phone. No luck
8:40 - We take off. I have always loved this part of the flight. The rush of takeoff is awesome, especially when I have a window seat like I did on this flight, and can watch the ground drop away from me. Call me crazy but I also really like turbulence. I figure people pay lots of money to go ride the rides at an amusement park, so why do they complain when the plane does the same thing to their stomach? I don't like landings so much.
8:50 We fly east and I can see my house. Well, not so much my house but the valley. I'm sure if I had really strong binoculars I could pick out my house.

I watched "City of Ember" and an episode of "The Office" on the little screen in the seat in front of me. At some point during the flight we flew over Des Moines and fairly close to Pittsburgh. We went through a bit of Canada and finally landed in New York. At this point I'm going to stop with the time because time started to have no meaning.

I knew we were in New York because everyone was wearing black. We had to switch terminals and go through security (again) and got sent to 5 different gates before we finally settled on a flight. Couldn't find any power outlets to charge the laptop, but since I was too cheap to pay $10 for wireless access, it didn't matter much. Lunch was $14 for a sandwich, and bottle of water and some cake. At least work is paying for it.

The flight to Paris on Air France was interesting. I read some, watched "Ghost Town" on the little screen in the seat in front of me, and ate some really good food. Even on airline flights, the French food is good.

I slept a little, the kind of sleep where you can't tell if you have slept or not and you feel a bit delirious.

We arrived in Paris around 7:00 their time and had to catch a bus to another terminal. We had to go through security for the third time and since I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket, I got a very thorough pat-down by the security guy. At least we didn't have to take our shoes off for this one.

Again no wireless in the airport so we waited until the pastry shop opened and Randy changed some money and bought me a pastry.

Before the plane took off, one of the flight attendents came down the aisle spraying a constant cloud of something through the air that filled the whole cabin. The announcement came that it was bug spray and was "harmless" but I breathed through my shirt for a while anyway. I try to avoid inhaling pesticides as much as possible.

On the flight to Chennai I was really tired so I slept quite a bit at the beginning. I watched most of Gandhi on my phone, which Randy had ripped and given me a copy of. I got through about 2 hours before the battery ran out and we were about to land anyway.

We went through the long lines at customs, security (again), at the baggage claim, and at the money exchange. Then went out to find our drivers holding up signs with our names on them. It was 2:30 in the morning (Sunday morning) but there were a lot of people out. We checked into the hotel and I immediately signed up for Internet and called Edith and the kids. It was great to talk to them. I didn't feel that tired but I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Things that make me happy

2009-03-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Star put out a call for things on your happy list. Here is my list for today.

Day 2--

1. When Anderson asked "If I buy it with my own money would you let me get a regular crab with really sharp claws?. . .Well, what if I find one, then?"

2. When I said, "Oh, Goodness!" to Rosalie and she echoed me "Oh, Gohneets!"

3. Rosalie has doubts about my intelligence. She walked right up to where I was sitting on the floor, looked me dead in the eye, and said, "Food!"
I said, "Oh, are you hungry? Do you want some food?"
On her face was a look of mild exasperation that I have begun to recognize--Why doesn't Mom understand? How can I make myself more clear?--"Mmmunch!"
(I think she meant "lunch.")

4. When you, Casey, called from India at 2:45 am your time (3:15 pm here) to say you'd arrived safely. I hope you slept well for all of four hours before you got up for church. We all miss you very much and pray for you every prayer.

Wish you were here. Since I'm not there, I should have sent a li'l me with you to pose for photos!

At Home

2009-03-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

Casey left for India this morning. I drove him there on less than 5 hours of post-packing sleep. I felt a little groggy on the trip back home but it didn't really hit me until after school when Ani had two of her friends over. Every time they passed through the living room I snapped awake from my slumped position on the couch. It's never too early to start embarrassing your pre-teen in front of her friends.
Casey is usually here to experience and/or endure the daily minutiae of our lives. But since he's not, the next two weeks of blogging will be mostly for his benefit.
He has promised to post about his experiences while away, too.
So here goes:

Day 1--

Ready to bust a move

Ready to bust a moue

Happy as a duck in the muck

Look closely--the cranes have returned! They flew a circle around the whole property while they had this discussion--She: "Why do we always come here? It's spring everywhere else but look at all this snow!" He: "I kept telling you we didn't have to migrate yet." She: "No one likes a know-it-all." He: Honk!

Casey, I really like this camera. I'm glad you took the other one.

Ani and her friends made us brownies.

Anderson and his friends terrorized Ani and her friends. And made Rosalie laugh and laugh.

Lissa is at a friend's house in Liberty. They are going to watch a Church ball tournament. I hope she doesn't get broken.

Oh, and I moved the furniture around.

Wish you were here.

How to up your square footage by 30%

2009-03-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

It took us over two years, but the basement is finally finished! Okay, my compulsion toward absolute accuracy forces me to admit there are still a few little things we have to do yet. But if I let that stop me from posting photos, none of you would ever have seen pictures of the upstairs of our house, either.
And so, without further ado (and without furniture or anything else) I present--The Basement!
The big girls' room.

The Family Room

Underland from the back hallway

All this open space just makes you want to run . . .

or wrestle.

Underland from the little door.

All the other photos are from a week and a half ago. Since then we have tastefully decorated our new TV room with vintage furniture, including Casey's grandmother's antique TV stand. We are well on our way to making the basement the nicest part of our house.

Bugged

2009-03-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

Sudden pandemonium echoed up the stairs from the basement.
Casey's low voiced "RAAARR!" was barely audible under the shrill screams of pure panic coming from my children.
"That's funny," I thought. "They aren't usually that scared of their dad."

It sure helps to have a visual aid.

As I walked past the primary room today, I just happened to be in time to hear the teacher ask Meredith what her dad does to help the family. "He touches the bugs and doesn't even die."

Post Edit: For those of you who asked for more information, here it is. We have one creepy window well in the basement that collects wildlife--everything from mice to lizards to giant bugs. (Despite my carefully installed mesh grating over the top.) Since, until now, we didn't spend much time in the basement, we usually saw these unfortunates in various stages of decay and/or petrification. Now that we have carpet (! Post later!) we thought it would be a good idea to clean it out a little.
This giant beetle is the Prionus Californicus--it is a "long horned" wood borer beetle whose larva attack the roots of stone fruit trees. They can grow to be around 3 inches long. We don't know how long this one was because it had disintegrated under its wing cases, but it was BIG ENOUGH.

Aunt Jenny saves the day

2009-02-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Casey and I went to the temple and did a few other things (like get the stitches out of his lip. When you live in an isolated area, you always combine errands.) Usually when we leave the kids on their own, I make dinner for them, remind them of the rules, and give them something to look forward to when they're done with their jobs, like staying up late to watch a new movie. But we learned that we'd have to leave early for Casey to get his second booster for the India trip and so there was no such preparation before we jumped and ran. Chaos resulted, as witnessed by my sister-in-law Jenny when she brought Meri home. I lifted this from her blog:

Violent Tendencies

This last weekend I helped babysit for my nieces and nephew. The violence that ensued reminded me of my own childhood when my parents would leave. I was witness to kicking, yelling, threatening, bawling, chasing, and machete-whacking intentions.
But I knew things were on the up-swing when I witnessed this tender moment:
My nephew hugged his older sister and apologetically said, "Sorry I tried to whack your face with a machete..."

Later, when I was recounting the horrors to my dad, I said, "Who in their right mind would give a machete to a little boy with violent tendencies?!"
Looking slightly abashed, my dad said: "Me."

When Anika related how Jenny had stepped in, she counseled us "You should probably pay her. Or at least buy her some shoes."

I'm pretty confident that if Jenny hadn't helped out it would have been a lot longer for Anderson to arrive at the point of apologizing. This is the same boy who, at age 4, chased Anika around the house while yelling, "I'm not gonna hurt you! Now come back here or I'll sword you in pieces!"

Valentine's 2009

2009-02-15T12:37:00.000-08:00

On the 14th of February, 2009, Casey and I celebrated our 14th Valentine's Day since getting married!

Here are some of the fun things we did on the day before Valentine's Day:

Casey worked.

I left the two little girls with him (during Rosalie's nap) so that I could go to school to help Anderson's class make paper flowers.

I snuck out of the First Grade Flower-making Fest to take some pictures of the Sixth Grade Valentine's Dance. Here is Anika dancing with her cousin Brigham. Aren't they cute!

Then I ran to town with Rosalie to get some fresh blueberries and strawberries on sale at Smith's but so did everyone else. So I got a raincheck instead and a bunch of refrigerated rolls.

I got home in time to say goodbye to Casey and the older kids as they went off to Casey's basketball game. After I fed myself and Rosalie, we drove over to watch, too. We cheered for a while, and then I took Rosalie into the women's bathroom to be changed. When I came out again, they were mopping Casey's blood up off the floor. The spectators excitedly informed me that my husband was probably in the men's bathroom and also probably in need of stitches. Both proved to be true.
It took us a while to get the whole family loaded back into two cars, drive home, set them up with instructions on how to spend the evening without us, and get to the clinic in North Ogden. About an hour later Casey had six stitches in his upper lip (mostly on the inside) and we were on our way home to watch Corner Gas together while Casey tried not to laugh.

Here are some of the fun things we did on Valentine's Day:

I actually decorated! That is, I put out a red tablecloth, only the warm colors from our plastic plate collection, and glass cups. They didn't match, but I knew I'd achieved the desired effect when Anika walked by and said, "Oooh---Fancy!"
The monkey bread (here's where the refrigerated rolls come in) looked wonderful. And was totally doughy inside. I followed the instructions exactly, but. . . Next time I'll skip the fancy bundt pan and just use a casserole dish. So I whipped up some crepes while we waited for the middle parts to recook.
After that, Meredith went back to bed with a fever while Casey lay on the couch in pain and hunger (it's really hard to eat with lip stitches.) Then he got up and did our taxes. And then his sister Emily's taxes. 'Cuz as long as you're in pain . . .

Lissa had been begging me, so I helped her make this owl (from a pattern my friend Star designed.) See how much she LOVES it. Anderson looked on. Anika drifted around between the bookshelf and the monkey bread platter.
And the day wore away like any other Saturday. Two baths for Rosalie, three outings (as in "get out!") for Anderson and Lissa, each, and some cleaning of the house in time for Sunday.

But wait! Did I mention our mutual gift exchange? We got each other matching King-sized Snickers bars! Go ahead and laugh (or snicker) if you must. In our defense, I think flowers are beautiful but I hate watching them die. Especially the potted ones. We had a discussion about getting some chocolates and realized that our favorite kind are the kind with nuts and caramel, but a box of them would be more than we want to go to waist--ergo the Snickers. Out of sympathy I am waiting to eat mine until he can eat his.

This year's Love Poem:

"Are you glad that we did marry?"
"Yes, my love," I answered. "Very."

The End

Pay it Forward--a risky proposition

2009-02-13T10:47:00.001-08:00

My friend Charity posted this little game on her blog--here's the deal: Be one of the first three commenters on this post and I will send you a handmade gift sometime in the next year. I get to choose what it is and when (mwahahaha) BUT!--You also have to do the same thing with your blog. It's a chain letter gone WILD! Actually, I hate chain letters but I love handmade gifts. And this will get me motivated to create something, which I love to do but rarely get around to anymore.

So if you don't want to get swept up in the crazy of a chain-homemade-gift-giving--do not respond! At least not until 3 other people do first.

Learning Patience

2009-02-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

When Rosalie gets hungry--at least eight times a day--she gets SO hungry. She hangs off the front edge of her highchair tray until I put her in and then moans and whines frantically until she gets something to eat. I have to make soothing reassurances while I'm fetching the juice, or opening the can of mandarin oranges--"Hold on, I'm almost done. Just a minute."
So I was halfway through making her some Ramen when I tuned in to realize that she wasn't whining for a change; she was repeating this to herself: "Ho'd on, Me. Ho'd on, Me."

Passage to India

2009-02-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

Casey is going to India on business. He works with "off-shore" employees who mostly live in Chennai and Hyderabad. His bosses think it will help things if the people from here go meet the people from there.

He'll be gone for nearly two weeks in March, including his birthday.

27 hours on a plane. Both ways. 10 hours a day in meetings. In the middle of big cities in the second most populated country in the world.

At least he is friends with some of the other people going on this trip.

He asked me, not quite seriously, if I want to go. I have considered it, but in the end, the logistics are too daunting. I would have to: get a new passport, (and pay extra to expedite it), get a bunch of immunizations against things like Hepatitis and Typhoid, plan to take malaria pills for the entire trip and 6 weeks after, arrange for child care for 2 weeks (!!!), pay a thousand or two for a ticket, and then figure out what to do with myself for the first 10 days while Casey is in meetings all day. And then I'd get to go see some sites with my husband for 2 or 3 days.
Now, my younger self would have thought my current self was being totally poopsie. (Songer variation on party-pooper, fogey, stick-in-the-mud, etc.)
My younger self was informed by the gorgeous color photographs in National Geographic. I maintain that the Sari is the most beautiful female clothing in the history of the world. And even the word, India, is beautiful.
My current self (I didn't say older, and don't you think it--I could just as easily have said "the old me used to think. . .but now the new me thinks. . ." That's funny--silly English language.). . .aaand where was I? Oh, yeah--I am still informed by National Geographic, but now I read the articles. And these days it's all about the overcrowded slums, the unemployment, the disease, the westernization--it's totally off-putting. And the PBS documentary about the young women forced into slavery/prostitution wasn't very heartening, I'll tell you. The only other information I have internalized comes from three books--A Passage to India, The Jungle Book, and Little Black Sambo. You might see why I have mixed feelings.

In the end it comes down to this--If I'm going to pay all that money, get all those shots, and saddle someone really generous with my five children, I want to go to China to visit my brother Mike and his family! And I want Casey to be with me full time, not just in the evenings when his head is spinning from speaking computer in nearly comprehensible English.

The Creative Power of Hunger

2009-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

It was Fast Sunday.

I was making dinner but just not fast enough.

So Ani and Lissa made pizza, noodles, a relish tray, a jug of orange juice, and some watermelon. Mmm, mmm.

Baking Powder--right

2009-02-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

So my mom asked me to send her a few things to Mexico including the rest of her can of special aluminum-free baking powder.

I can just see the Customs officer reading through my declaration slip--
"Spanish/English electronic translator--check
Music CD--check
Floss Threaders--?--uh, check
Christmas letters--check
Baking Powder--Hmm, this can is opened. And filled with loose white powder--Hah! You can't pull one over on ME--into the quarantine you go, with all the rest of these items which were so obviously included merely to throw me off the scent!"

And so I'll save the baking powder for a shipment that they don't need in a hurry. It will be an interesting experiment. I'm planning to send it along with Mom's prescription medication as soon as it comes in the mail. Hmm, I've been waiting on that for a few weeks now. I wonder if it had to clear Customs. . .

Post Holiday Slump

2009-01-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

The older kids are back in school. It's alternately too cold or too wet to go outside much, especially since I can't locate any 18 mo. snowpants for Rosalie. (I had two last year.) I still haven't written our family Christmas letter--most of the time we just call it our year-end summary--and it will soon be embarrassingly late even for that. We're feeling a slump. Can you tell?

The Season of Our Discontent

2008-12-31T09:49:00.000-08:00

Meredith is lying on the floor in her new footed-Christmas-jammies (which we had to get in exchange for the two piece ones that she refused to even try on.) She is looking out the window.
She says "I think it's going to be spring soon, 'cause the icicles are melting. "
"Hmm," I say. "I think it's going to be winter for a while longer."
"Well, I can't wait for it to be spring. 'Cause then there are flowers."
I ask, "Aren't you one of the kids who couldn't wait for winter, because then there'd be snow?"
"Well, about a month ago, when I was really young, then I wanted it to be winter."

At least she's honest.

2008-12-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Back during the Christmas of 2002, when Clarissa was three and a half years old, we used to try the Santa Claus threat a lot.
"If you won't be good, then Santa won't bring you any presents." It didn't really help.
Then, at the ward Christmas party, Santa came. And Clarissa told him she wanted a kitty. A Siamese Kitty. Then she went back to tell him she also wanted a black and white kitty. And then she went back again to tell him she also wanted a calico kitty. And Brother Mckinnie, I mean Santa Claus, was charmed by her. By her determination, and her bright hair, and her bright personality. People often are.
He called a few days later to ask if he could come by, as Santa Claus, to give her a present. Because he had found a three-pack of kitties in the desired colors and he just couldn't believe his luck. How could we say no?

So, in walks Santa Claus. In a booming voice, he asks, "Who's been good?"
And Lissa runs to him, yelling, "I'VE BEEN. . . . . Ohhhhhh." (That is the sound of her swallowing her words as she realizes NOW is when the reckoning comes due. You can't lie to Santa.)

We all had a good laugh. And she got her present anyway. And we're still using the no presents threat. And it still isn't working. Do you wonder why?

Choir Director

2008-12-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

We had our Christmas Program today. And it went remarkably well, considering that I was the director. You see, I have this style of leading where the choir learns they'd better know their parts really well, 'cause I won't be bringing them in or cutting them off. At least, not consistently.
We sang three songs: "Wexford Carol" (one of my all-time favorites), "No Room, No Room" by Sally de Ford, and a Medley of "Joy to the World, Angels We have Heard on High, and Silent Night." The first two I am showing links for, because they were written or arranged by people who are so kind as to let you download and print these beautiful arrangements for FREE!

I was also in charge of the rest of the program, so I asked people in the ward to read some of my Dad's Christmas skits. He has such a way of making the people from the scriptures seem real. And he also has a way of making you laugh and cry in the same minute. The laugh gets your guard down and then the spiritual side stabs you right through the heart. And it feels good.

How grateful am I that these wonderful people stood by me and kept coming to practice after practice? Well, if you want to know how wonderful they are, just consider that they kept coming, even after I said the following:

(In my defense, here is what I was thinking--"All our regular pianists are coincidentally gone on the same day and poor Michaela, who is only 14, is stuck trying to help us learn our parts while our incompetent director (me) struggles to remember that those are called measures, not verses." But here is what I said---)

"We have so many talented people in this ward and all of them are gone today."

Luckily, their reaction was to tease me mercilessly--especially Brother Hillstrom (Michaela's Dad). Had there been a stunned silence, I'm sure it would have been all over.

And now it is! I'm so relieved.

One sad thing happened--Lissa started throwing up at 2:00 this morning. (Anderson joined in the fun around 8:00.) So we had to ask Maddie Compas to take her part. She did a great job, too. All the readers did. And the string quartet. And Nathan Baker with his flute solo. And the primary kids and their bell choir!

Hooray! It's over!
Now is the part where I come down with some kind of illness. It always happens after the stress lets off. But then, with Christmas so close, I'm still feeling stressed, a little. . .