Mitchells in Motion

Cousin Antics #2 - READ SECOND

2009-11-29T15:55:00.000-08:00

If you have not read COUSIN ANTiCS #1, close your eyes (somehow) and skip to the previous post!!!!

So, after their antics with the first set of photos - I got the bright idea of adding them in the order of birth - with Spencer coming in last because he is marrying into the family. I would love to reshoot this sequence at the wedding with all of the cousins - they are SO cute, don't you think?

Cousin Antics #1 - READ FIRST

2009-11-29T15:49:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving night was at Bob and Lisa's this year. Of course I had to take pictures of the cousins - and since Shane was the first one ready I took his picture all by himself - which led to this series of photos - adding one cousin in to each picture.

BOO!

2009-11-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

We managed to get Tyler and Krista together to take their picture in their costumes. Kristae is "Malice in Wonderland" while, hopefully everyone recognizes Tyler as Waldo.

Krista had these fabulous fake eyelashes, but she couldn't stand them very long.

Then she had some friends over to watch scary movies. It was really funny listening to them scream every time the doorbell rang!

Punkins All Around!

2009-11-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Bob and almost all of his family came over for Sunday dinner, pumpkin carving and belated birthdays. The kids carved 10 pumpkins for me - sadly, this year none of them were from our garden - we had only one grow this year.

The group did a good job of posing for me. And Krista talked them all into going up on the roof. I don't think that any of them were really thrilled to be up there!

Up on the Roof

2009-11-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

I don't just have Christmas lights on my house - I also have Halloween lights, which just happen to be the same color. We didn't take them down at the end of the season last year, so I have to replace all of the bulbs. Certain parts of the roof are easily reached, but the peaks are not. Krista volunteered to do the roof climbing. In fact, she really wanted to do it. When she got up there, however, she realized that it was much scarier than she thought it would be. She did replace a goodly number of bulbs, however.

Tyler came over for dinner witht he cousins and he thought that if Krista could do it, so could he. But as you can see, he is instead desperately clinging to the chimney instead. He'd better buy a house with a much flatter roof!

Tyler sighting

2009-11-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

So, this picture is back from the middle of the month - I don't even remember why Tyler had come by - but he did stay for meatloaf. I think he really likes the meal plan at the dorm. He said that if he misses dinner, he can just have lunch, dinner and secind dinner. Kind of like a Hobbit.

Golf Stances

2009-08-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

I have been scanning family photos some this summer - A very long process, as our family, especially the Pier side, is inclined to take a lot of photos whenever possible. I love this series of photos. I have to assume that Rusty took them. I have no idea of the year, but it was easy for me to identify all of the subjects. Who can you name?

New Friends and New Stairs

2009-08-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

We have made new friends this summer. The raccoons that lurk in the block to the west of us have adopted out pond for their nightly watering and ablutions. They seem to leave the cats alone, which we appreciate. The other night I was on the phone with Ed - lounging on my chair in the front yard - when they paraded up the stairs and calmly into the back yard. I managed to get this picture of one of htem. So now we hae bats flying above and raccoons in the water!

These are the stairs that we have lived with for the last 19 years - the big chunk broke off the bottom step just before winter 2008. You can't really see all of the cracks and holes and all, but believe me - they were there!

These are out pretty new stairs now. We didn't get them totally replaced - but a gentleman did come in and repair the problem spots and recoat all of them. They are so pretty - and smooth and nice on your feet. And now we don't have to worry about anyone stumbling on the chunk of concrete. Come see our pretty stairs some time!

Robisons Came to Town

2009-08-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

We got lucky this summer and the Robison's stopped by for a visit. Well, almost the whole family. Nathan couldn't come, so he sent his twin sister Nichole. We had diner at Cafe Rio, talked alot and walked alot. It was just really good to see them again.
Audrey is always more than happy to hold Tyler's hand or sit on his lap. That is much better than at Christmas time, when she used to always cry when she looked at him! Her taste has gotten much better.

Fine summer dining

2009-07-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were looking for some way to amuse ourselves on a Wednesday. Mike found word of an authentic old time dining car that had been brought to Utah from back East. Oakley, Utah is where it is - I just enoyed the ride and know that we were somewhere behind Park City.
There was a bit of a wait in the drizzle, but it was well worth it. Tyler wasn't with us - I can't even remember where he was that day! But lots of people kept pulling up, so word is definitely out. I wouldn't want to live near there, but I would be willing to make the drive again.
This was a charming boat that we saw outside the diner. You have to get really close to read the writing on it!

Mike has been institutionalized!

2009-07-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Now that I have your attention - I really just want you to know of the great gift I got Mike for Father's Day. I totally surprised him. He took me to an art show months ago and talked about how much he liked this painting. All of the paintings were based on songs - this one the song "Institutionalized". He went back a couple of weeks later and said that it was still there, but that he didn't know if he should buy it or not. So, I snuck down there, bought it, had it wrapped up adn hid it in Tyler's closet.

About a month later I asked him if he had gone down to see if they still had it. He had, but the show had changed, so he figured that he had missed out!

It was great to see him open the present a month later and know that it was his to have and to hang!

4th of July

2009-07-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

For the 4th - we went to Bob's house to hang out by the pool, eat BBQ and play with Kelli Ann and Will - who brought their parents down for a quick trip to Utah.
Dessert was partailly hand churned ice cream - pretty much all of the kids took their turn churning.
AndBob and Tom were masters of the grill.
I thought this was a pretty cute picture of the three sisters!
And Rachel is definitely learning some diving skills!
I got another diving board shot of those cousins who were there, but this year no one got pushed off, as everyone was carrying expensive electronic devices!

Happy Birthday and welcome to Post HS life!

2009-06-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

Bright and early the morning of his birthday, Krista and Tyler went to the X96 studios to hang out with the DJs while they were on air. They got fed, Tyler got to talk a little and mostly they just chilled.
Grandma was here for the big day - Tyler got two leis of his favorite tuberose flowers, but we were crammed into the Huntsman Center, with no extra time, so I didn't get any pictures of Ty, Al and Aaron all together.
I did get this shot of Tyler lining up just before he walked across the stage.And here is Aaron with his girlfriend Isabeau trying to make him look presentable. We did have front row seats for the whole thing. We got there early, pushed our way down as the previous school was leaving and saved seats for the Stillman-Williams and the Zweibel-Batson groups also.

Chaos ensued after graduation, along with a large amount of rain - typical this year for June - so we didn't stick around.

For dnner we treated ourselves to Benihana - okay, Mike treated us!

Alex's Walk, too.

2009-06-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

And last, but not least, here is Alexander.

And now for Aaron

2009-06-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so these aren't going up in alphabetical order! But here is Aaron's walk for everyone to admire!

Walk Tyler Walk

2009-06-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here is the long awaited video of Tyler's graduation walk. For some reason there is no audio, But the reason I didn't follow him for part of it was that I was screaming "Happy Birthday Tyler" as loudly as I could for part of it.

All Growed Up

2009-06-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

Friday night was celebration time for our seniors. Margy, Kellie and I organized a party for many of the ELPers who joined our boys in kindergarten, 4th grade or 7th grade. We met at Wasatch Mountain Club, up by Brighton Ski Resort - and got a load of snow. It was not fun unloading the cars in the drizzle and up through the ice (I can't call it snow) - but once we got to the safety of the cabin, it was grand. It is a beautiful place with lots of room and dorm space on the second floor - nothing primative about the kitchen, bathrooms or heating!
We posted the pages from the 6th grade yearbook on the windows so parents and kids could see all of the year pictures and the dreams that the kids had for themselves in the 6th grade.
I think we had fourteen kids there, with at least one parent each. Plenty of food and lots of talking.
Marley, John, Isabeau, Taylor, Kristina, Ian W., Alexander, Charles, Selene, Chase, Ruth, Alev (hiding), Tyler, Aaron.

After a round of toasting, most of the parents and some of the kids headed home. Mike and I stayed at the cabin with eight of the kids and Kellie and Len stayed down at the Brighton Lodge. I am not sure that the Lodge was better than the cabin, but I bet they did get to sleep a little earlier than we did.

We stayed up and watched a movie - a very bad, but funny at times movie - and at about 1:30, we sent the kids upstaris to go to bed. SHHH - don't tell anyone, but we let the kids sleep in the same room - the only rule was that they couldn't share beds. There werent any couples there, so we weren't very worried. Once the overhead lights went out, things quieted down pretty quickly - we could hear every word and step through the ceiling, so chaperoning was easy - much easier than the sleeping part!
The next morning we got them up earlier than any of us wanted, but slow breakfast, packing and alot of cleaning and then hauling everything down barely got us out of there in time to get Tyler to work by 12! The boys did haul out the tobaggans to ferry things - and then they took the tobaggans the what was left of the snow on the ski slope!
And here is proof of John sweeping, just in case his mother wasn't sure that he knew how!
And no, these three are not waiting for the boys to finish playing - no, they are waiting to be first on the lift when the ski slopes open again mext winter!

Prom 2009

2009-05-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

So, Tyler went to the prom last night. Here are a bunch of photos of him and his group - except we are missing one couple who didn't join the group until the restaurant. I know that after the prom, Tyler and some of the guys spent the night at Alex's house - and Tyler showed up at home before he had to - and it sounded like everyone ha a great time.

Stuck

2009-05-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

Yes - who knew a cat could get stuck like this - I thought they only got stuck in trees! Tyler was playing with Olie on the stairs. She reached out to climb onto his shoulder, or bat at his face or something, but he backed away and she got left in this position and couldn't move from it. She must have sat there for two minutes just staring at us while we laughed at her - and then while we got the camera to take this picture.

Meanwhile - got a chance to chat with my Mom on Saturday. They seem to have embraced Vonage. I just wish they could find reliable internet services, because I am really msising the reams of information we got when they were in Indonesia - I feel kid of cheated with just the dribs and drabs that we are getting right now. I hope dad has a load of info for us so that he can back post once they are up and running. and especially the pictures - it really helps to be connected to what they are doing.

It's All about Tyler

2009-05-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

We are deep into senior season. This week we sat down and got Tyler's graduation announcments out. Mike printed the addresses on the computer - Tyler and I stuffed envelopes. Tyler got to address the inside envelopes himself. The graduation is in the Huntsman Center at the U, so there is plenty of room for everyone who wants to come to town for the event! Hint, hint!
Mike is a big fan of Jones Soda. They have a program where you can get custom labels on the flavors of your choice. Here is the label Mike created for Tyler. I chose the quote on the back - from one of our favorite movies!

And to top everything off - last night a young lady asked Tyler to Prom - it is actually a Girls' choice dance at West - that way they don't have to wait around for the boys to get their acts together! This particular young doesn't even go to West, but most of her friends are there, so she wants to go. I don't think that Tyler has been to two dances with the same girl his entire dance career! I guess he likes to share the wealth!

Honey Bear Birthday

2009-05-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Krista is now a very proud 15 year old. Her Grandmother Virginia gave her $$ for her birthday and she immediately wanted to order herself a refurbished ipod. You should ask her some time what happened to her previous ipod - enjoy the crusty looks when you do!
I had a great time indulging her with an all black cake - purple wriitng, black candles and Emily the Strange hanging out on the side.

For our gift to her, we finally took away the brick - the large bright green phone that hse has occasionally used for the last couple of years. Don't ruxh to text her congratulations - she does not have text messaging - you would think the world was going to end!
She gathered several friends for the day and went to see Monsters vs Aliens 3D - none of them had seen it yet and they all enjoyed it! Many of the kids remained until 10 pm - for a party that started at 2. Yes we fed them - lots of pizza!

Paparazzi

2009-04-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

If you don't recognize the person in the photo above, I am not going to tell you. Suffice it to say, we were attending the downtown gallery stroll Friday night and snapped this prize-winning photo. For saying how disdainful they were of this person, Mike and Tyler sure wanted to talk about his presence a lot! Especially about 1) the number of people following him around and 2) what they thought of his personality.

Ahh, Easter

2009-04-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

We had a smaller gathering of people over for Easter this year. Bob and Lisa took their kids to Orem to Lisa's parents'. The Robison's are too far across the country for a weekend visit. And Peter and Anita were not available. That means that we were several children low. So we didn't break out every egg for filling - just part of them.

Krista and Sydney Fowkes played it cool on the lawn most of the day.

Tyler, Patrick and Julian Fowkes did most of the egg hiding. It was Patrick's first year at the hiding part.

And this is just a really cute picture of Drew and Rachel Heath. Drew didn't really want to search for eggs - he wanted to help Rachel. Rachel was obsessed wth following Olie araound - she even got to hold the cat a couple of times. Olie was very patient!

Things in Motion

2009-04-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

Mike is happy again - the weather has cleared up and he has a new scooter to ride. He picked it up on Saturday and has already ridden it to work Monday and Tuesday. He tried to ride to Park City today, but the surface streets are still closed. He is not a fan of freeway driving on a scooter. Which all for the best. I know Krista is anticipating being picked up from school. But first Mike needs to get saddle boxes to keep helmets and stuff in.

If you look very carefully, you can see our old freezer in the back of this well-stocked truck. As an experiment, Mike decided to put the old freezer (the dead one, remember) out on the sidewalk for neighborhood cleanup. It didn't take more than two hours before this truck drove up - already very full. We kept quiet in the house, because we didn't want to scare them away - we wanted to get rid of the freezer. It was kind
of fun to watch them maneuver everything to fit it in. But I just couldn't resist trying to snap a photo!

Frozen in Time!

2009-04-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

What is this, you say? Why is Krista in a box? Has she been kicked out of the house? Have we down-sized? No -- scroll on down and have a peek at our Wednesday night fun!Well, not my Wednesday night fun. I was at a presentation by a blind guy who climbed Mount Everest. I am attending a two day conference in the Salt Palace. When I was done, I decided to walk home instead of calling for a ride. Good thing, too. Because this scene was awaiting me!
At some point recently - today maybe - our freezer, which was already in the house when we bought it - died a timely death. Mike and Tyler wrestled it outside and dumped it here. Then they headed over to Sears to buy a new one. Too bad the freezer didn't die during the friends and family super sale on Sunday, huh?!
So, I as I arrived home, I saw the front door open and wondered where everyone was - and came into this - Mike was just removing the back door and the he and Tyler wrestled the new freezer in.
I don't have a really good picture of the carnage inside, you get the idea. Everything has been transferred to the new freezer - well almost everything - and life goes on!

Dance Fever

2009-03-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

Tyler totally surprised me by asking a girl, Alexis, to the junior's dance. Any grade can go - its just to raise money for the junior class. Isn't her dress cute - she got it from Cinderella's Closet - its a program at school where girls donate their gently used formal wear and then all other girls can look and see if they can find something to borrow for upcoming dances and events. I think it is a great idea, but I am only at a middle school, so it's not like its a program that I can start up at my school.

Krista and I went to the Young Women's General broadcast last night with some neighbors. I was surprised that the crowd was kind of thin - I don't think they gave out enough tickets. Of course, they probably got scared by the ticket debacle this winter when they were filming a YM/YW event.

Krista remarked that she thought it was odd that the only person who made us laugh while we were at YWGM was the prophet. She and her friend Sydney are both taking ASL classes, so we frequently had to make them stop signing to each other! Squirrely girls!

Kitty Antics

2009-03-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like a new kitten in the household to shake up the status quo. Okay, maybe a new baby - but that is A LOT more work. Olie is trying very hard to be Spelen's friend, but Spelen is not buying it. I know she's still hurt from Hex's death, especially because she has no idea where her friend went. They seem to get a long better outside, but there is a snow storm raging outside right now, so no hope there.

In the photo above Olie is tring to get Spelen's attention from above the chair. She tried for about ten minutes before Spelen finally got annoyed enough to move.

Olie found a special hding place that I had no idea existed. One of the cats tore a hole in the bottom of the chair above - and Olie can squeeze herself in and hide. I don't think she does it alot, but we had a great time watching her this day - and trying to catch a photo!

Chow Time

2009-03-29T09:20:00.001-07:00

So, for those who might not remember, I was called to be the Chairman of the Activities in our ward. Last week we had our annual chili cookoff. Only 6 people signed up to bring chili, but we ended up with about 14 pots - how's that for a nice surprise.We didn't set out bowls at first - instead we only set out little cups - so that everyone could try every chili, if that was what they wanted to do. Paige, who is one of our adult judges, took her job very seriously. She labeled every cup to help her make her decisions.
Not only the adults took things seriously, however. Since we had a People's choice award, even some of the childen lined up their cups and did their judging.

I love this activity, because it is very low key and casual. Since we are the last people in the building on Sundays this year, our next activity is a linger longer - its on Mother's Day, so I think we may do something a little fancier.

Catty!

2009-03-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

Mardi Gras happened in our neighborhood lately! We went over for food and socializing and to show some support - but didn't stay for the night of heavy drinking!
And here is the latest addition to our family - Olie! Yes, that is the Dutch word for Oil, and she is completely black. We looked at County Animal Services and kind of liked a gray kitty, but went to the Humane Society and feel in love with this one instead. Its been just a week, but Spelen is still only hissing at her. Just our luck, of couse - she is sneezing and has gooey eye. We did pick up antibiotics. But isn't she adorable!

Farewell Hex

2009-02-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

I am writing this before I break into tears. Krista just called me - I am staying late at school for Parent-Teacher Conference - in tears, because Hex was hit by a car this evening and died. I am going to have to remain numb until I get home tonight.

Bad Hair Day

2009-01-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

This is SPirit Week at school and today was Fashion Disaster Day. You can't really see my purple/bkack stripped socks with sandals in the photo and I am a little jealous that Ashley's eyeshadow shows up better.

And wouldn't you now - today I received some nice words and a little gift card for Employee of the Month!

Don't feel sorry for Mike

2009-01-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

Don't feel sorry for Mike. This is the view from his hotel room in Hawaii. He will be there for ten days, pretending to be at a conference. He didn't take his golf clubs this time, so he will be marking a lot of beach time!

Christmas Day in the morning

2009-01-11T19:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas began at home with the annual burning of the novelty candles. This year it was a flotilla of little Santa's
Since we had so many, we each chose one like a horse race - Krista won this year. While the burning occured, we opened stockings, presents from each other and from far away family. Tab, our neighbor, joined us as he has for several years. Tyler's big present was a Flip Video camera. And Krista's was a guitar.

At Grummy and Grumpy's house, Tyler and Shane played Santa this year - they handed out all of the presents. It was still quite a pile! Bob and his family, me and my family, Tom and his family, Brian and Kaden, Grummy and Grumpy made for a great crowd! Christmas lasted quite a while. After things settled down, most of the kids treated us to a Christmas themed play - not the nativity - something funny, instead. Gentry and Tyler played the roles of a couple, but they exchanged genders for the play - it made for quite funny stuff!
And here is Kaden and Brian - we don't see them together very much, so I have to get what pictures I can!

Odds and Thens

2009-01-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

Don't you dare say that my Christmas lights are pink! Granted, they aren't as much purple as I wanted them to be, but I think they are very pretty.
We have had some fabulous snowstorms finally this winter. Tyler has a job shoveling snow for a business down the hill, so he is very happy to each snowfall.
Her is Alexander, Aaron and Tyler at our annual Christmas exchange - this year at Alex's house. I can't believe all three of them are seniors!
And Mike go a picture of himself and his sister Carolyn with Oski. I have no idea whether he is buying seson tickets for next year's games or not!

Gingerbread TIme

2009-01-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

We went to our friends the Robinson's house again this year to create gingerbread houses with the children,

Tyler mad e Santa bachelor pad, complete with rooftop hot tub.
Mike made a Santa Claus factory, complete with Santas in different stages of completion coming down a conveyor belt.
Krista made a fairly traditional house, but with a rooftop message that can be seen in GoogleEarth photos!
Gavin did a fabulous job on his fantasy creation.
And Cady is all ready for bed and for some house nibbling!

Oski Bites!

2009-01-11T18:59:00.000-08:00

Mike had a fabulous time going to CAL home games this year. He took Tyler (twice), Krista, me (rainiest game in ten years) and his sister. ANd he got to see his nephew Christian each time. The last time he went with Tler, he got this great picture of the boys with Oski.

Birthday Baby

2009-01-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

My niece Charlotte had a wonderful time at her birthday party back on Thanksgiving. It was actually a celebration for many of us, but Charlotte stole the scene when she attacked her cake with gusto. One year olds - aren't they fabulous?!

As I said, we celebrated many birthdays that day, and Thanksgiving, besides. Bob looked especially cute in his party hat, but since I already put it in the calendar, I won't embarrass him by putting it on the net, too! You can look at Olivia and Gentry, instead!
Shane has taken up a new skill - crochet. Maybe one day he'll let me teach him how to knit, too.

Cindy's Amazn Wishlist

2008-11-28T12:37:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1YDMKDFX3VZ1F

Krista's Chrismas list

2008-11-27T08:47:00.001-08:00

1. Acoustic guitar music
2. An Audrey Hepburn Poster
3. Deck of Cards
4. Gift cards-Urban Outfitters, I tunes, Black Chandelier, Vans.
5. Guitar picks
6. Movie Posters
7. Music Stand
8. Posters
9. Strings

Tyler's Christmas list

2008-11-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/3J6G2TCHTXV32

Here is the link to Tyler's Christmas wish list.

Rude Awakening

2008-11-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

So, this morning I went outside to go to work and as I peered down the front stairs I noticed that my car looked a little funny - namely, the glass was all smashed in the hatchback! I wen tback up to the house to tell Mike and to get the police department's phone number and all that.
When Mike went down to take pictures, he noticed the large rock at the bottom of the stairs. So, it looks like someone had a gret time last night throwing a large rock at the back of my car. You can see the rock in the picture below.

I still drove to work, made all my phone calls and the glass man is out in the parking lot right now making the change. It hurts just a little bit more because Saturday I took the car in to the dealer for the 15,000 mile service - and that already cost me $250 this month - here's to another $250 gone away!

Family Christmas Gift Exchange

2008-11-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

So!

If you keep up with the blog, here is the list for the family gift exchange. As is traditional. the first person on the list buys for the person listed next to them.

Tom - Mckay
Shauna - Rachel
Kellie - Charlotte
Will - Brian
Bob - Shauna
Lisa - Mike
Ryan - Tom
Shane - Kristy
Taylor - Cindy
Gentry - Tyler
McKay - Will
Rachel - Olivia
Jim - Taylor
Kristy - Bob
Charlotte - Shane
Olivia - Ryan
Mike - Gentry
Cindy - Jim
Tyler - Lisa
Krista - Kellie
Brian - Krista

Masqued-capades

2008-10-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

We took a family trip to a Halloween store to trick out the kids for the holiday. Mike seemed to have more fun trying stuff on than the kids.

Krista is going to be a cat. I made tails for her, Tyler and for a friend of Krista's. But I think K-Bear is the only one who is actually oing to wear one. I told her she couldn't wear it in public except for at costume functions! I really don't want a tailing-wearing daughter. Besides, Stacey and Clinton on What Not to Wear are definitely anti-tail!
So which "hat" do you think looks best on Mike?

October Snow!

2008-10-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 12 we woke up to a winter wonderland. All of nature was shocked just a bit - but we didn't go overboard. No need to shovel or build a fire.
ut I didn't take the opportunity to take some great shots.
The pumpkins below looked nce with their frosting (e harvested more than 16 this year). And Arthur is no worse for wear. In unrelated news - Arthur is going to need a whole new engine. Yikes! But it should be cheaper at this point than buying a new or used car.

Cal Road Trips

2008-10-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

This summer Mike bid on and won two tickets to each Cal home game. SO far he has taken Tyler to one, where they met up with Christian (below) and Krista to the other, where they saw the entire Elder clan (above). Mike and I are headed out there Friday night for the Oregon game. It sounds like we may be able to see Ed and Sandra while we are in there.

would show you more pcitures of the kids' adventures with their dad, but these are just about the only pictures they took the entire time!

The Rashness of Tyler

2008-10-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

So, On September 20th, Tyler decided to go for bike ride, which he has been doing on and off. But he had only been gone a few minutes when I received a call. He had hit an uneven spot and wiped out. He was just on the other side of the state capitol, so I ran to the car and went to pick him up.

When I got there, there was a police officer keeping an eye on him. I just threw his bike and him both on the car and took him home.
Nothing was broken, but he bore these wounds for quite awhile. I haven't looked for scars lately; I can only hope that there are few! I think we got off lucky with no broken bones!

Shoulder Pain

2008-09-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

After putting off the inevitable for far too long, Mike had shoulder surgery in Mid-August. I hung out with him in the surgical center - even though we wer a little late getting in, the surgery itself didnot take long - or at least no extra time (unlike that horrible wrist surgery lo' so many years ago.)

Now, September, Mike has regained full use of his shoulder, without any more pain. Yep, he's back to his full time teasing self. Pity me, please.

80's Indulgence

2008-09-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

In August, Mike, myself and our friend Anthony went to see some 80's bands perform at The Depot in the Gateway. The concert was orginally scheduled for Usana Amphitheatre, but the sales were low, so it was moved. Mike and I were admitted early, during the band check, so we scored awesome seats in the balcony, directly in front of the stage.Here is ABC,
Belinda Carlisle (sans the other Go-Go's),
The Human League (with a key-tar!)
And the origal singet of Naked Eyes.

Help! Police!

2008-09-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

In July we were also able to take the kids to see Elvis Costello and The Police. It was a pretty good concert. I don't really know any of Costello's newest stuff - he has never stopped performing, I guess.

Sting seems to have lost the upper register of his voice. But, the concert was still a treat.

California Redux

2008-09-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

At the end of June, Krista and I took a road trip to Anaheim for the ALA convention. We spent parts of four days in the Magic Kingdom and even had Corrina with us for parts of two days. SHe was overwhelmed by the convention, but had a great time in D-land.
Here I am with Orson Scott Card. His line was VERY long, so we only had a couple of minutes to chat. I don't know whose line was the longest - his, Dean Koontz or R.A. Salvatore.
Here is Krista with lauren Myracle. They balancing Lauren's latest book on their heads.
The boys joined us just in time of Corrina's birthday. Mike came from SLC, but Tyler joined us from Berekely, where he did a summer engineering camp. He said he enjoyed the med camp kids better than the engineers. I talked everyone into going down to the beach for photo ops.
Can you find the stranger in this picture? He was happy to take a group photo for us, but he wanted his picture taken with the kids. Why not!
ANd here are Tyler and CHristian trying to hurt Colin. Split, Colin, split! Afterwards, the boys flew back to SLC and Krista journeyed home again. If I had been able to drive straight through, we would have beat the boys home that day. But I hit the wall in mid-Utah and had to stop for the night.

Hello Mexico

2008-09-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

As soon as school got out for the summer, Mike swept us away to Mexico. We disenplaned in Puerto Vallarta, taxied to a small dock at Punto de Muertos in the south end on the city and took a 45 minute boat ride to a very quiet little bay.
This picture is from outside our rooms. Each set of rooms is two large rooms under one roof. Each side has its own shower, so you could have strangers sharing your hut, but we just had the children. In order to get to the village, we had to walk across that stretch of beach every time.
This is how the locals get stuff from the village to the resort. I wish I had had a private donkey to take me back and forth across the beach!
Her ewe all are outside of our hut. We had a nice porch; Tyler had a great time playing with all of the different sizes of crabs constantly scuttling around. We even found one inside our shower one morning.
Here are my feet haning out onthe beach. Tyler liked the hammocks slung under private awnings.
This is one of two docks in the bay. Every evening this group of people would come and fish off the pier. Pretty much every person that worked at the resort lived up the river that projects from behind the bay.

Here inside the kids room. The only things you can't see are the chest of drawers with closet bar and the bathroom/shower.
Here is Tyler with his cusins in El Segundo. The second day of our vacation he stepped on a bee and it didn't heal well. He was swell, instead. So, we cut things short and headed back to the US.

Graduation Day

2008-09-08T18:58:00.001-07:00

This picture is actually out of order. Krista's graduation from 8th grade was before Mom and Dad's return from thir mission. But I am so far behind now that I am not surprised that I made the mistake.

This is Krista with her friend Stephanie Metherall.

During graduation, they called students up in groups to accept different kinds of awards. Brainiacs, Model-types and I don't remember really any more of the categories. Krista's group was the Pyromaniacs. Not because they like to start fires, but because whenever they are around, foreworks are sure to happen. I don't know about the other kids, but that certainly fits Krista to a "T".

The Tail End

2008-08-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here are the final few pictures from the family get together. I think that Mike has a picture just like this with every baby in the new generation - but isn't Charlotte adorable!
Will had a fab time in the pool. He was the king of the floating pool bed. Sometimes he really thought he could swim, but he was well looked after.
And when he fell asleep exhausted, Grumpy finally got a chance to hold him.
And here's a super bunch of crazy kids!!

Swim buddies

2008-08-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

With Mom and Dad's return also came pretty good weather, so we were able to hit the pool with everyone except Brian and Kaden. Charlotte took to the water like a fish. What a appy girl!And Olivia was the Princess of the floaties. SHe wasn't afraid of going anywhere with her movable throne.
And here's the whole adorable family.
Here's a funny picture from the homecoming. Shauna was kind enough to make impressions of Krista's teeth so that Krista can whiten her teeth.

Return to Sender

2008-08-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

So, Mom and Dad made it back from Indonesia. Bob and clan got info about how to say Welcome Home in Indonesian and made this banner for them. We made a nice sized group at the airport.
At Grummy and Grandfather's house after their homecoming, we took new group pictures of all of the families.

Even Kristy's brother came by with his new, wel not so nw, baby boy.

Farewell Paris

2008-08-18T15:08:00.000-07:00

Not much time left in our Paris jaunt! Here are last graves for your enjoyment.I took this picture for my dad because I thought he might know who this Jazz pianist is.
And this is the joint grave of Heloise and Abelard. Its okay if you don't know them. Actually, their story is a little creepy, looking at it in a modern perspective. Back in the 1100's, Heloise was 13 years old and Abelard's student. He seduced her, she had his child and then her father had Abelard castrated. Why anyone would give them joint tombs I don't have any idea.
After massive amounts of shopping, we met Laura, Ian and Cozette for a lovely dinner at our favorite local crepe restaurant. That of the square crepes from earlier in my recountings.
And how can I not post such an adorable picture of Ian in one of the world's tiniest elevators.
The next morning Mike and I got up early to catch or plane home. When we got to the metro, our tickets also let us through to get o to the train. When we arrived at the Paris airport, however, our tickets would not let us OUT. There were no ticket counters that we could get to, so we (and pretty much everyone else that we saw) had to perform gymnastics with suitcases and bodies and hike ourselves over the bars and into the airport.

Then we couldn't find any human help to aid us in finding our departure gate; we were stumped until Mike noticed an electronic helper that gave us the info we needed so badly. We looked pretty "chicken with its head cut off" before that. The lines weren't too bad and we had a very nice ticket agent help us with the electronic ticketing, which didnt like us for some reason.

We had a change of planes in Atlanta on our way home. I noticed a gentleman who looked an awful lot like Merrill Osmond, but I didn't say anything to Mike at the time. We had managed to talk our way onto an earlier flight to SLC, so we didn't sit next to each other on the way home. I got off the plane pretty easily, but I was surprised when Mike took quite awhile deplaning, because he was only one row behind me. When we reunited, he started complaining about some old ladies who held up the entire back section of the plane, not letting anyone pass in front of them while they arranged all of their stuff. Then he asked me if I had seen Merrill Osmond on the plane, which I had. After a bathroom break, we saw the old ladies and heard them talking amongst themselves. One said to the others, "Did you see Kenny Rogers on our flight! I can't wait to tell -so and so-." Mike and I just looked at each other and laughed.

Well, we made it home and the house was still standing. The kids and Autumn had survived. We gave Tyler all of his gifts, and Krista a couple. But she got all of hers the next day - her birthday! I think she liked having the Parisian presents!

Graveyard and Shopping

2008-08-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

On our last day in Paris we did a lot of shopping and visited Paris' famous Pere Lachaise cemetery. Above is Oscar Wilde's grave. It has lip prints all over it.
These are just representative of a very common kind of grave in the cemetery.

This one is Jim Morrison's. It always has a crowd around it, even though it is not easy to find.
This is no one famous, but the name is pretty funny if you read it in English. Laura, a=who speaks fluent fFrench didn't get it until we pronounced it Americanized for her.
Chopin's grave. He seems to be very popular for flowers.
Rossini = he lloks popular, but most of his flowers are plastic. Sadness.
And here is Mike in front of his favorite fountain in all of Paris.

Disney Heaven

2008-08-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

When Mike first asked me if I wanted to go with him to Paris in the spring, I answered, "Sure, as long as we can go to EuroDisney." And he faithfully kept his promise. Today was my day at Disneyland Paris. It was a bit tricky getting our tickets, but the station agent at our favorite booth at San Michel was very helpful. The train ride was uneventful, and we really didn't notice more and more people getting on as we neared the Park. But when we got off the train, there was a nice, but not overwhelming crowd along with us.
I have to say, Euro Disney is prettier than Disneyland or Disney World. It has a more delicate, fairytale like air to it than the others I have been to. Very pretty. We did not get a park hopper pass. WIth one day, we only concentrated on the main park.
I got my wish and the first ride we went on was The Haunted Mansion. It never had a huge crowd, but the second time we went on there was a bit of a line. This is a pavillion in the entrance to the ride. It seems like here they were able to really create full blown stories to go along with certain key rides in the park.
We also went on Pirates. How could I not! It has a huge pirate ship parked in front of it and a skull rock and the whole ride is inside an old rocky fortress.
Mike needed a ride after all of that.

Space Mountain was fantastic. It was alot of fun getting shot out of the beginning of the ride and then descending into the traditional darkness. The ride seemed much faster than the other two I have been on - and I confirmed that on my trip to California ith Krista in July.
These are the adorable Australian Catholic school girls that we befriended during our wait for the ride. They were calling out for someone who spoke English who could tell them about the ride. So, we managed to keep them talking long enough to get them on the ride. They were, of course, terrified and screaming the entire time. But when they exited, they wanted to go back on right away.
Alice in Wonderland doesn't have a ride; instead she has a labyrinth - which makes sense, too.
Sleeping Beauty's castle is much prettier than the original. What's really is cool is that when you climb the stairs, you actually get to go out on the battlements and view the crowd below.

The Indiana Jones ride (Temple de Peril) is an outdoor roller coaster. Big Thunder Mountain was busier; I'm not really sure why.

And I haven't seen this at Disneyland - This is the only Disney character that i had my picture taken with!

AHHH! Disney. Maybe some day I will go to Japan and finally seee that last one.

Messing on the Champs

2008-08-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

After our trip throught the netherworld, Mike and I went off to the Champs Elysees to climb the Arc de Triumphe and cruise around for a bit.
Someone very nicely pointed out the stairs underneath the street that took us to the cirle so that we didn't have to risk life and limb running through Paris traffic like we saw some doing.

When we arrived we had to pay our fee (of course) and then climb all of these lovely stairs to reach the top. I forget to count, so I don't know how this compares to climbing to the top of St. Peter's Basilica.

Once we arrived, we had a beautiful 360 degree of the streets of Paris. And we could easily see the Eiffel Tower, too.

Back down below, Mike darted out into traffic to take this picture of the Arc all lit up.

We didn't spend too much time wandering along the Champs, but we did duck into Virgin Mega store and into Sephora. DIdn't buy anything. It all really wasn't our scene.

Return to Paris - Catacombs

2008-08-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Yes folks, we are back in Paris again. Well, not really back in Paris, but I thought maybe I should try updating the blog now that summer is almost over. According to my parents, as far as they are concerned, we still haven't left Paris, so I thought I had better go back and finish up our trip!If you go backto the last post about Ian, you may remember that we were waiting in line to enter the Catacombs. We made in not not very many minutes before the entrance closed.
The catacombs is a place where they took the disinterred bones of many, if not most of Paris' dead in a time when they wanted more ground to build homes and businesses. If you want to know more, wikipedia has a pretty good article about them.
In a few places, people even made elaborate carvings. These were done by refugees who tried to hide in the catacombs during the French Revolution.

All of the bones are arranged by the cemeteries from whence they came, very carefully palce, as far as we can tell. When you leave the catacombs, they inspect your backpacks. Before we left they had taken away a skull that someone had tried to sneek out. Gross. and sad. Ian did really great underground. The way was well lit and he wasn't too creeped out by all the bones. We had a good talk about why they were there and about respecting them. The way was much longer than we ever thought it would be.

A Speedy Birthday

2008-05-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

We finally had Krista's birthday party. We went to Winners, a local go-kart place and she brought along four of her friends.
I had a hard time getting them to model their head socks for me!
But they looked super cool in their helmets and racing suits.
One of Krista's friends was freaked out by the practice laps, so she didn't run the final long race. Krista was the most cautious of the racers left in the game. One K's friends, Isaac, managed to do a great job of blocking Mike from passing him for quite awhile. It was much fun to watch.

Mike and Tyler raced too. They, of course, managed to lap everybody - more than once in most cases. Mike was the overall winner of the races. I was in charge of keeping the party going and taking pictures, so I didn't get to feel the speed. Some other time!

Many faces of Ian

2008-05-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

We returned from Amboise early enough in the after noon that we had plenty of time to take Ian with us to the catacombs. Yes - his mom wouldn't let us take him to "Chateau de Walt" as we called it in front of Ian, but she was happy to let us take him to see the bones of uncountable numbers of people.

Any way - the line was a bit of a wait, so we entertained Ian by letting him make funny faces for the camera. He was happy to oblige and to admire himself in the view screen.

Chateaus Aplenty

2008-05-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today we took a mini-bus tour of a few chateaus along the Loire. Why mini-bus? Because the only car rental place in Amboise is much farther on the skirts than I wanted to walk to in a steady drizzle! Bu tour tour guide was very nice and pretty funny. He lives in Amboise, so we got to ride with him to Tours to pick up the rest of the group and ask him any questions we wanted to.
The first two picture are of Villandry, a non-royal chateau with very extensive, complicated gardens. We didn't even go inside the home. I have a little video of Mike inside the maze, but I don't know if I want to post it to youtube so that I can embed it here. Maybe someday.
The next chateau was Azay de Rideau, designed by women - man off at war, leave me the checkbook so that I can build us a home. They actually diverted a river to act as the moat.

Here is our lunch stop back at Tours. Mike was trying to get free Internet from McDonalds. We ate a hurried lunch - not at McD's - and as we were getting ready to go back to the van, we spotted a English imports clothing store and ended up buying cool things for Tyler, Mike and Krista. Krist really scored, because her birthday was two days after we arrived home, so every one of her presents came from France.
Next stop - Chenonceaux - The biggest tour attraction of them all. They've done a great job of making it accessible to lots of vehicles, plus make every room interesting to look at. The hallway with all of the black and white tiles is actually just a bridge. The mistress of the king got tired of being rowed across the river, so she had this built instead. During WWII, one side of the river was in occupied territory while the other side was in free territory, so someone could literally cross the bridge to freedom. Not that easily of course, but still kind of interesting.
Mike mugged for me in the kitchen of the chateau.

The last visit was to CLose Luc, where Leonardo lived the last three years of his life. No, this is not his house, but Mike did find this fixer-upper the grounds. Interesting side note - while I was in teh WC, I noticed that the toilet paper dispenser was made by Rossignol. Not just ski makers, I guess.

We did not join the group for another tour of Amboise's chateau, instead we wandered around town. Dinner was leisurely crepes at a hip downtown bar/diner, where we could watch the world go by from its neon glow.

Mike also took this beautiful picture of the bridge at night.

In the morning we had to bid farewell to Amboise, but not after Mike got to eat the rest of our host's pear/apple compote!! We had to hang out until all of the other guests left the tabe - no room for us - but it was worth the wait. Yveline put on a great continental breakfast!

On to Amboise

2008-04-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we took the train down to Amboise, in the Loire River valley. The town is of about 13000 folk, but we arrived on Monday, so almost every store was closed. We briefl tried to see about renting a car to tour chateaus, but after walking in the persistent drizzle, we opted for the minibus tour instead for Tuesday.Amboise is just plain adorable. If youever get a chance, then you need to stay there. We stayed at a B&B called Le Grange Chambres. The garage style door opens right on to the street and eery time we opened it, a car or ten were zooming by.

Amboise has a castle, or chateau, named after the town. I believe it was for Henry 1, mostly inthe possession of Catherine de'Medici, but she hardly ever came to town. It was, however, used as a lovely prison for a Arabian sheik of some sort with a large entourage.
The picture above is no the chateau. That is just the chapel, where some of daVinci's bones are buried (big controversy with Florence Italy over that), because he lived in Amboise the last 3 years of his life.
Here is the actual chateau with its extensive gardens. There is not much furniture in the place, but there are lots of great staircases and hundreds of bizarre ornamental carvings and gargoyles.

Mike was surprised to find an actual fire going in one of the fireplaces, so he needed a picture.

The amount of time spet carving these ornate and fairly peculiar figures is just too weird. ou can tell which chateaus were designed and overseen by women and which by men because of the nature of these types of carvings.

For dinner we found an Italian eatery open for business. Everthing had some prety unique French twists. Of course ordering was always an adventure, because we weren't always sure that we were translating the ingredients correctly. This bruschetta had chicken with pineapple and a sprinkling of yellow curry powder. We also had a very ig salad and a pizza. We took lots home to tote for lunch tomorrow.

Eiffel Tower Day

2008-04-29T20:06:00.001-07:00

They may look funny, but this little shacks were our lifesavers all over Paris. It used to be that you had to pay for the public toilets, but now they are free. Thank goodness! Because, while they aren't plentiful, we could usually find one when we had no other choice.Ian and I were playing hide an go seek. He thought he was extremely clever, but a little camera with a flash can expose someone in the darkest little corner!
On our way to the Eiffel Tower, Mike spotted these interesting goth girl. Krista would die for the backpack! Goths are not plentiful in France, but they certainly are around - not Americans, but Parisians.
And here is an example of classic Paris parking. As the cars line up at night, it is hard to believe that they will ever be able to get out in the morning. Actually, there are many underground parking structures all over the city. Sometimes I wonder if there are any solid bits of land underneath Paris at all, or if it is all a huge catacomb of metro, train, parking and utilities!
Mike wanted an artistic look at the tower. The mornig lines were extremely long. It looks like afternoon, or after the first wave would have been better. We stayed the course and made it to the 2nd level. Then, in the line for the 3rd level elevator, we were smack int he middle of a group of elementary students from Spain. We chatted with them a little, but mostly we just sat back and watched their antics.

I did not recreate my photo of twenty year ago, when I lay down on the sidewalk to take Aunt Barbie's photo in this same spot. Mike didn't take that route either.

Versailles Day

2008-04-28T19:23:00.001-07:00

Today we spent our time wandering the gardens and the halls of Versailles. Its an easy train ride outside Paris. We kind of skipped the house and went straight out to the gardens. We made it just before they started the weekend fountain presentation, where they turn all of the fountains on for show. We stood there and enjoyed them for awhile, but both of us were kind of bewildered. Then we realized that we were way to American - we were waiting for the music and colors and flashing lights! After we figured that out - and that there weren't going to be any, we were able t relax and just enjoy.We bought tickets for the handy tram and rode on down to Marie Antoinette's hamlet, where she escaped palace life and lived with her friends and her lover. And where she tried to pretend that she was a peasant. Its extremely picturesque.

We eventually wandered our back up to the actual palace. Versailles was built after the Louvre when the king wanted a country home. Ha! We enjoyed the hall of mirrors and wandered through a few on the rooms.

Later we wandered back through Paris and found the bar where they have the only known remaining French Revolution used guillotine. Back at Mike's favorite place - Saint Michel.

2008-04-28T18:43:00.000-07:00

There are so many gargoyles on the walls of Notre Dame, but here is one little guy whom we enjoyed.
After Notre Dame, we visited the Concergerie, where during the French Revolution people were held until their executions.This is the great hall, where the masses were kept. The gothic arches are so cool, especially when lit like this. This actually used to be the palace of one of the French kings, but after the Louvre was built, he moved there instead.
Wealthy and highly political prisoners were kept in cells, including Marie Antoinette. Here is her lovely cell.
We wandered across the streets to Place Saint Michel. Mike dubbed it his favorite part of Paris (I wonder why). It was also the only place, so he said, that he actually recognized where we were durings our ramblings. Otherwise, he just let me navigate.

Next we just started wandering the streets of Paris and eventually found ourselves at the Pompadou Center. We didn't actually go in, but we did hang out on the slope and watch an Asian man playing the guitar sing American songs with a group of German teenagers.

Our wanderings next took us by the Louvre. Again, we didn't go inside, but we did enjoy the gardens and the fountains and the pyramids. Earlier in the day, when we told Ian that we were going to the Louvre, he said that we shouldn't go. When Mike asked him why, he said that it was too stinky. "What do you mean?" mike asked. "Well," said Ian, "The loo is stinky!" That's what you get when words sound so similar!
Dinner that night was crepes at a very nice creperie on the Rue Daguerre. My crepe was square, while Mike's was octagonal.

Paris Day 1

2008-04-28T16:59:00.001-07:00

So - home we are and now Ican start reporting on our trip to Paris. "Our" or "we" will always mean Mike and I, unless I specify otherwise.

So - I was severly jet lagged when we arrived - no real sleep on the planes and a headache. So I dropped off to sleep from about 11 until 4. Mike took off with Cozette and Ian and explored the neighborhood.

We are sleeping on a futon in the apartment that Mike's cousin Laura is renting for a month. She was doing some presentations and some research on immigration to South Africa, her personal historic specialty.

Cozette is there to help her with Ian, her 5 year old son, while dad has to stay at home. We are in the 14th arrondisement, down near the Port d'Orleans. Right next to a Metro stop, so we can very conveniently get around the city.

Once I finally woke up and felt alive, I went with Coz to the bank and to get bread from the boulangerie. Dinner was cozy at the apartment and then Mike and I went exploring the neighborhood. We are near the Rue Daguerre, which is very busy shopping street.

The next morning, Mike and I got moving slowly and then headed out to Notre Dame for our first outing. Mass was going on, so we tried to be quiet. BUT - you know how there are little chapels lining each side of large cathedrals? Well, the chapel named for Saint Germaine was filled with extra chairs and other oddements. So, we decided that Saint Germain is the patron saint of sotrage. So, whenever we saw a pile of storage, we called it a homage to Saint Germain.

Are you jealous yet?

2008-04-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Jus tthought I would let the family know that Mike and I are in Paris and we have left the children behind with a friend. We are staying in an apartment on the Avenue de Maine in the south part of Paris. We feel very local with going to the Boulangerie for frech croissants for breakfast and other such things.
We talked to Krista today - the phone to the US is actually free ( I don't know why, but I'll take it!). We went to Versailles today - plan on Eiffel, Louvre and something else tomorrow. We are taking the train to the Loire on Monday and then I think next Wednesday we are going to EuroDisney. Occassionally we wish we had the children along, but mostly we are just enjoying getting lost in Paris. We don't have a chord to download pictures, so those will have to wait until we return home!

Feel free to call and check in on the kids!

Hiding in Boulder

2008-04-10T17:08:00.001-07:00

I was kind of surprised when Mike asked if I wanted to go to Boulder for the weekend, but since it was conference, I of course jumped at the chance to get out of Dodge so that we didn't have to tange with the inconsiderate conference crowd.

I got some great advise from my friend Tom who lives in Boulder, but he was out of town for the weekend, so we couldn't catch up. We did, however, go to this fantastic breakfast place that he recommended - Lucille's - Cajun style food for breakfast!

We wandered up and down the Pearl Street shopping area and just generally admired how adorable Boulder is - quaint at heart, with a great preserved downtown core, but all grown up with every chain store you can desire in a different part of town. I remember going to visit a great aunt of Mom's when we took our cross-country trek, but had no idea where she might have lived. If I could have only seen into the future, I might have cultivated the realtionship much more - maybe I could have ended up living there instead of SLC. Seroiusly - if you haven't been to Boulder, its pretty fantastic.

I didn't realize until the day before we left that this was also a college tour. We went to a tour at CU - Boulder. The Buffs, as they are called. I liked it; I am not sure where Tyler is going to actually apply. I think Mike wants to take him to Oregon this summer to look at campuses there, too.

Easter-ific

2008-04-10T17:02:00.001-07:00

This year for Easter we had an impromptu celebration down at the Robison's house. With this little group of kids we still hid all of the eggs that I kept in the bucket from last year - something like 250! Boy was there an explosion of candy. I was shocked that the weather was so good - but I as glad that I didn't plan the party this year. Plus, we had spread manure on our lawn recently and it still reeked to high heaven. Nobody would have wanted to be there!

The Wednesday after Easter, Tyler and Mike took off for Boston to look at colleges - MIT, Harvard, NorthEastern and Boston College, I believe. They really didn't take any pictures - except for Tyler with his sunburnt nose from a day of skiing, so here is a picture of the adorable chocolate penguins they bought me - just before I bit the heads off and ate them!

ZOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM

2008-04-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

For Mike's birthday - and for Christmas - I bought him a Mustang experience at Larry Miller Sportspark. He got to drive a mustang on the offiial track for twelve laps, playing follow the leader with a professional driver. He said he was taking some corners at like 80 mph. Then he rode along with a driver for three really fast laps - at pro-racing speeds. I think his happy expression was worth the 5 month wait!

Indonesian exports

2008-04-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

So - way back when, I finally went over to Jospehne's house and met her and Elder Subandriyo's wife Stefie (probably not spelling that right). I ate yummy kroepoek and nasi and fried bananas.

News Scraps

2008-03-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here are Krista and her friend Mariah at the ballet when we went to see Cinderella with the Relief Society. It was probably the most successful Enrichment activity of the year. I took the girls out to lunch before the ballet. And then later that night our family went to Temple Square where we heard Tyler's friend Alexander play with the Utah Youth Symphony. Dad would have really enjoyed the concert - they are excellent!
Here is Mike lounging on the couch with his broken finger. He hasn't said much about it lately, but I don't think that the little piece of bone will ever actually reattach. I have no idea, however, and Mike's not talking. By the way - he and Tyler gave talks in church on Sunday. Neither of them toldus girls that they had been asked, so Tyler wasn't prepared and I was just surprised to see Mike on the stand. I thought he was preparing for aPriesthood lesson.
Here is a picture of an eyeball-shaped bag the I found on the Internet. After I made my own, complete with blood vessels, Mike took it to work to show off. I will probably give it away at the office White Elephant exchange next year. I am working on a blue-eyed version now - slightly larger, with a sturdier rim and longer blood vessel ties.
ANd here is our goofy kitten. In the evening she will let my lay her on her back and scratch her belly. Then she will fall asleep in this position for a bit. Sometimes she will even let someone else scratch her, but she's a momma's kitty. Heks and Spelen are getting along very well now. They like to groom each other.

Pier Family on Deck

2008-03-09T15:14:00.001-07:00

Bob, Lisa and all of the kids came over the next Sunday night. We got to eat Belgian waffles again - since we're using a real Belgian recipe, they are extra yummy! Both families get out of church at 2 and the Pier kids showed up pretty soon after that. It was nice just to hang out and not feel like we had to entertain each other. I don't think Bob and Lisa read much of their books, however they did try.

The kids have decided that if I am going to amke them sit for pictures that they are going to be as goofy as possible.

The Elders come calling

2008-03-08T15:54:00.001-08:00

Craig came to town a day early so that he could go to Tyler's school and talk to his calculus class. Craig's sister Marilyn was also coming through on her way to Hawaii (flight attendant for Delta), so we all went to dinner at Settebello. Yumm! The rest of the crew arrived the next day.

We took the sleds to Sugar House Park and the kids, Craig and Mike had a great time sliding down the hill by the pond. Colin tried using some cardboard, but the sleds were definitely much better.

Krista, Corrina and I stayed home on Sunday while the rest of the group went skiing. The elders also received their yearly eye exam.
Sunday night we had Belgian waffles for dinner - our waffle iron died at the last second, but we rushed to Sur La Table and snatched a new one qickly, so dinner wasn't ruined.

Winter Blooming

2008-02-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

These paperwhites are a Christmas gift from Virginia. They survived being shipped back to Utah and being neglected for awhile. They were happy to bloom and have a nice spicy scent. It was so easy, I may try forcing me own bulbs again.

This arrangement is a Christmas gift from Margie Batson. It's a miture of tulips and daffodils and muscari.

Other than watching flowers bloom, there has been much newsworthy going on around here. I spent much of January getting ready for my conference in March. That took up huge amounts of my time at work and home. We got the binder off to press, so I have a little breathing room. Now I just need to make my lists and hope that none of my presenters back out at the last minute.

School is actually incredibly busy. Besides the conference oming up March 6th, I have a book fair at the end of February and an author visit the day after the conference. The SBOs have a major service project at the end of March and I have to crack the whip to get all of those details done. Plus, In April start elections - and since I am going to be in Paris, I have to get everything ready for someone else to execute.

So I guess when I say nothing is going on, i really just mean at home. Because work is certainly very busy and the future is no less full.

The cousins are arriving this weekend. Craig comes in Friday so that he can talk to Tyler's calculus class about engineering and his moon mission. The rest arrive Saturday for some skiing and socializing. The next weekend we have Bob and his crew arriving for dinner. I will take lost of pictures and finally have something interesting to post!

Posers and Floats

2008-01-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

My kids and the nieces and nephews are all the same. WHen I try to get them to pose for group photos, they groan and protest vociferously. But as soon as I snap a couple, they suddenly start hamming it up and I have a hard time getting them to stop!

Carolyn and Craig took the kids to see floats being built for the Rose Parade. Mike and I didn't go, because we were trying to find everything that needed to be packed for the trip home!

Christmas Day cheer

2008-01-24T16:22:00.000-08:00

Merry CHristmas morning!!! Ok, so it's late January - but at least I now finally have pictures up! Here's a cute picture of Krista busily checking out all of her loot.
And here's Craig enjoying his treasures. Actually, I think he's unwrapping the present from us.
Grandma and the gand are checking out the calendar. We made them on iPhoto this year and it was so much more of a snap!
Christian and Colin.
Tyler and his stocking.
Mke and Craig received race car track from Grandma and the boys immediately appropriated it for their own use. Eventhe girls had fun with it later. I think Mike and Craig got a turn with it too.
Craig took the girls outside and pushed them up and down the street in the little red wagon. Of course, he also let them go and made them steer on their own too.

Christmas afternoon, Mike, Krista, Craig, Carolyn, corinna and I went down to the Strand and took a nice long walk. Well, the adults walked and the girls 'scootered". It was a lovely afternoon. Mike and I had a great time cheking out all of the houses that have changed over the years and the ones that have not. The property owners have started carving garden space out of the beach side of the Strand. Many o them are very complicated and expansive. Supposedly they are trespassing on city or county property, but that hasn't stopped any of them from making the gardens look like the are priate. Of course, that didn't stop me from freely enjoying them also.

Let there be lights!

2008-01-24T16:00:00.001-08:00

Momwanted some pictures of Christmas lights - so here some are! I actually took these pictures in El Segundo - there were WAY more lights strung up there than in my part of SLC> There is a street in ES that changes its name the Christmas Lane or some such for the holiday and every house is decorated. Most of them are cool - very few cheap blowups - mostly things that people have made by hand. Of course my favorite is the penguins.

We bought new Christmas lights for nest year - actually, they will be going up at Halloween, because they are dark purple! It should be pretty cool. Of course I will post those pictures much later.

Smash Up Mike

2008-01-16T19:49:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you can enlarge this photo enough to see it really well, but if you look at the very tip of Mike's middle finger, you might see the break.

Sunday after we returned from California, Mike was getting wood from the garage for the wood-burning stove. As he closed the door, there was an interruption and he slammed the doot shut and heard a "crack". He had smashed the tip of his middle finger in the door.

He and I spent about 2 1/2 hours at the emergency room - in a snow storm, of course. But that's a pretty good time for an emergency visit, I must say. And I have had some experience.

It hurts and keeps on hurting. Of course, he kind of likes the idea of it being his middle finger. If there can be any amusement out of the whole thing. And some guy really was driving very badly - Mike riased his hands and shrugged at him. At the next stop light, the guys gets out and wants to know why Mike flipped him off - Mike raises his hand and the guy just looks at him in disbelief! Nope - not flipping you off!

Sunny Christmas

2007-12-23T17:05:00.001-08:00

Well - we are safely in California at Virginia's house, with cousins and siblings around. We arrived late Friday night.
By way of catchup, we spent the previous week in a fog of colds. I brought it home from school. Mike picked it up and got a worse version. Krista came next and missed a day of school. Tyler caught a very mild version that didn't even affect his appetite. I still have a runny nose, but I think that is allergies, bot the cold still hanging on. I don't think many people have winter allergies, but I seem to be so blessed.
The end of school is a big blur. I had one day where I was busy with the Faculty and staff luncheon and then the next was another day of busy work with the end of year drawings. Thursday night was surprise. As I drove home the sky was clear, with big black clouds to the north. I was going to have Tyler drive to his haircut appointment, but as he was set to depart, the hail started coming down. I decided to drive him and it was horrendous by the time we arrived. By the time we got out, the roads were icy and slick and covered.
The next morning I think there were 6" on the cars. Mike and I shoveled, blew and scrapped before he took the kids to school. I was so glad I didn't have to drive to South Jordan in the mess. I did venture out later in the day and several errands. Our plane was only slightly delay and we had a bit of turbulence. I was just glad we weren't trying to get into LAX, because getting around it was hard enough!
Saturday we slept in and relaxed. Then in the afternoon, Mike, Krista, Tyler, Carolyn, Corrina and I headed to Hollywood to see WICKED at the Pantages theater. It was fantastic. So much better than the book. I am so very glad we planned this long ago. The girls of course enjoyed it, but even Tyler said he was surprised that we haven't done things like this before, because he enjoyed going to the theater so much. Who knew!
Today was church with the Elders and Virginia and then Mike, Carolyn and I went to finish our shopping, we hope!

Gingerbread Evening

2007-12-11T15:25:00.001-08:00

Monday night we went over to the Robison's house to make gingerbread houses. Last year was kind of a disaster, because the houses wouldn't stay together. This year we used a hot glue gun to get the job done right! Then we used frosting for all of the candies and decorations.

This is Cady, the Robison's daughter.

Krista wanted an all red house, just so that she could call it her Stanford house and annoy her father. She added a second story to her creation at the last minute.

Tyler's is the most elaborate of the group. He seems to have outbuildings with attached covered walkways. For someone who was orginally interested, he became the most intently active of us all.

Random Photos

2007-12-04T19:26:00.001-08:00

We finally got a nice dumping of snow. Lucky Virginia - she got out of town the morning before this storm. It was actually very beautiful. The snow fell late enough that it didn't melt off the branches before night fell. So when we went out, the trees were bedecked with snow balancing on each branch. And if it were a partially lit tree, then it was very pretty.

Krista created this torn paper self-portrait at the end of last school year. Back when she had long hair and liked to brush it over one eye.

Heks seems to have finally ingratiated herself into Spelen's world. Spelen was actually cuddled up on the coach when Heks wormed her way next to her. Spelen licked her ears a few times and then resigned herself to a companion.

Heks has found her newest play toy - a box. Originally she was content just sitting in the box and occasionally chewing on it, but I turned it on its side and cut a hole in it, so now she likes to run inside it and bat at you from her hiding place.

And we are thankful

2007-11-24T16:14:00.001-08:00

Then the children thought they should try to lift Tyler -
But the results weren't always what they were going for!

And lastly they tried for Mike - And you can see for yourselves how well that went.

Giving More Thanks

2007-11-24T16:02:00.001-08:00

The kids tried so hard to lift each other up; sometimes they succeeded, but sometimes they didn't.

Pier chidren showing off their can-can skills!

Building a pyramid of children!

The Totem pole of grandchildren.

Giving Thanks

2007-11-24T15:51:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving at Bob's house. Virginia, Mike's mom, had flown in Tuesday night and she spent Wednesday hanging out with Mike. We headed over to Bob's just before noons and didn't get home until 9:30. It's great that all of the kids get along so well. Rachel feels a little left out because she is the youngest, but all in all I think everyone had a grand time.

Lisa's family came by just in time for dinner and left before dessert. Except for her sister. Ugh was there with his foster daughter, too.

When it came time to gather the kids together for pictures, they didn't seem too keen, but once they realized I wanted them to have fun, they got into it.

Here is the extended Pier family clowning around and then the one serious photo that Lisa made them stand for.

Pictures, pictures

2007-11-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

Nope - no pictures here! I've just been playing with pictures all day. I received pictures from Bob and Betsy for the calendar - sorry mom and dad, I'm not sharing any of them with you yet. I also went to Kristy's blog and pulled out pictures of Olivia mostly and a few of Jim, Kristy and Kristy's sibs. Now if Tom and Carolyn and Laura (Mike's cousin) would respond, I could make everyone happy.

Not just pictures today. Krista and I raked leaves - this is the second year in a row the tree in front is losing its leaves before the first snow - could it be a sign of global warming? We threw the Heks (the new kitty) in a few times, but she refused to pose for us. THere are still plenty of leaves on the tree, so I will entice Tyler outside and get a picture of the kids another day.

We also spent the after noon clothes shopping. Krista and I did a major purge of her closets and drawers. After a huge cleanup fest. She seems to think she owns the entire upstairs. I never say a word about Tyler's room, because at least it isn't spread everywhere. Anyway, both kids got some warmer gear. Both of them have grown taller. A few more pair of socks, some new ski gear and we should be set.

Tonight we watched the CAL game vs USC game. Thank goodness our friend Jeff didn't come over - I think he is louder and more intense about the whole thing than Mike is (imagine that, if you can). And Jeff is an USC grad, so the gloating would have been too much.

At school this week, I taught three days out of four - all day long. I went through an International Cinderella stories lesson with all of the geography classes as an introduction to their world studies. At least a few of them prfessed thanks and enjoyment, so it was tiring, but rewarding. My assistant has finally realized that ALL of our projects in the library are ongoing - so she has lost that feeling like she has to hurry and get something done - we jut keep ding what we have to, because more of the same is right around the corner. Not that we don't get things done, its just that there is always more. Once we have these books repaired, cataloged, checked-in, shelved; there are more books to repair, catalog, checkin, shelve. And after this book fair is over, its time to plan the next one. Never ending! But a lot of fun.

Love!

SPOOKY!

2007-11-05T17:57:00.001-08:00

Say hello to my little jester and Krista's newest Dark Fairy outfit. I surprised that T wanted a costume this year - and even more surprised that he chose this. But he was invited to a costume party, told us at the last minute and this is what he got.

Krista didn't want me to make a costume this year, so she recycled parts of various costumes from down the years. She went out with the children that she babysits frequently. I then paid her for her candy and took it to school to use for reading rewards. That way I know she isn't eating it.

A week ago Krista and I gave talks in church. We had to report on Stake Conference, so I actually paid attention for once. I just wrote down everything that inspired me and also the random stram of conscious stuff that came with it. I ended up quoting a commercial about mental illness, a song from "Reel Big Fish" and a bunch of scriptures. And I started off telling them that I wasn't quite sure how the whole thing was going to end, but that by the time I got there I would be inspired on howto tie it all together. And it worked (THANK YOU, HF)! I am trying not to be prideful, but I got lots of compliments and even some this Sunday. I'm glad I don;t have to give talks frequently, however, because I don't think Im that good at receiving inspiration.

This week I started teaching the Pimary the 13th article of faith. I printed up huge copies of the words and we are working on it in 3rds, taking words away as we learn them. So, we have two more weeks of this at least. I love directing the chidren singing. It s achallenge to keep it fresh every week, but they are so much fun. I go into the mursery as often as I can, too, even though it is not required, because they are just fun. And I hope the children aren't so afraid when they start big Primary because they know someone there.

Mike's birthday has come and gone. We bought him a gift certificate to the Larry Miller SPorts Park. He will take a lesson and ten gets to drive around the racetrack ten times. After that he goes for laps with a professional driver. The next session sin't unti March, so I just have to hope he doens't hurt himself again this ski season.

Christmas is Coming!

2007-11-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody:

The first person buys for the second person. Where is everyone going to be for Christmas? Mom and Dad - we know where you are going to be!

Baby P. Cindy
Bob Mike
Brian Taylor
Cindy Shauna
Gentry Jim
Jim Krista
Kaden Ryan
Kelly Brian
Krista Bob
Kristy Lisa
Lisa Tyler
McKay Olivia
Mike Rachel
Olivia Shane
Rachel Kristy
Ryan Baby P.
Shane Will
Shawna McKay
Taylor Tom
Tom Gentry
Tyler Kelly
Will Kaden

Whoa! Krista!

2007-10-16T18:49:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Krista's new haircut.

We went to a new (for us) salon in the Avenues and I just said that she couldn't get color or bleaching or shave it all off, but otherwise, it was up to her and Blythe, the stylist. Tyler took her there, so I didn't even see her until I came home.

Mike had the same reaction I did - its such a difference that it takes a bit to get used to, but after you look at it for ten minutes or so, you can see past the "different" and see that it is really cute.

Other than that, I am well (mostly) and Mike is back from Portland. He never even had a chance to say "boo" to Tom and the fam - lovely boring conferenceing kept him busy the entire time. I did do a mammoth update of my book reveiws and got those all out to the marketing peeps. And I am spend massive amounts of time at work - constantly busy and not really so sure what I actually accomplished. Maybe that's not technically true, but so many days it feels true.

Tyler is busy as ever with his classes - too many advanced classes for my liking, but he says he hates the one regular leel class he is in. Most Tuesday nights he is up at the chemistry lab at the U of U, because West doesn't have the facilities for the AP chemistry labs they need to do. Its nice having auniversity so convenient.

Krista is trying to take all of my jewelry and clothing that I have left from the 80's away from me. Usually without asking, of course!

Phlegm

2007-10-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

Yes - such an ugly word, yet phlegm has been my dear friend for so many days now. I think I have sick for a week and a half and an finally just pulling through it all. With Parent-Teacher Conference at school, I really haven't had much energy to keep in touch with anyone! So sorry.

Besides that, however, I did manage to also survive our Primary Sacrament meeting program - the children did a wonderful job - the only mistake was singing the second verse for "Smiles" twice. Quite unique. And cute.

Blue Ribbon baby!!

2007-09-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

First of all - here are some pictures of my blue ribbon winning sweater vest that I knit for a young lady at school. The detail picture is kind of bright, but I hope you get the idea.

And then her are a couple of pictures of Frank Beddor, the author who came and visited our school today - talking about his books in The Looking Glass Wars series. He was highly entertaining and very interactive as you can see!

Stalking the Wild Tyler

2007-09-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day we went to the zoo with our friends the Robisons. Gavin and Cady are a perfect age to play around with and they also have a new little sister - Audrey.
Gavin can eb quite wild - once he got this mask on he kept attacking me, so I had to pick him up to subdue him. Which he of course loved.
After wandering through most of the zoo, he finally found Tyler over by the wild cats (we knew he was there, but we didn't tell the kids).
We interrupted him during his biggest sale of the day. And this has become the standard Tyler reaction to taking his picture - cute, huh!?

Birthdays

2007-09-16T14:38:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we wwent to Bob's for birthdays - Mine, Bobs and Taylors. It was quite a strange crowd, because Taylor and Tyler both had to work. Rachel, Gentry and Shane had friends over at various times. Thank goodness MacKay had Krista.

The trampoline was very popular. Here's Krista and MacKay mugging for the camera.

Shane and his friend entertained with various musical experiences.

And of course the pool was as popular as ever. We had a late lunch and birthday cake. And no one got a sunburn.

It's a Girl!!!

2007-09-16T14:31:00.001-07:00

Of course its a cat - a cute new little girl kitty named 'Heks" (pronounce it like it looks), which means witch in Dutch. I was pushing or "Snoepje" (snoop-ya), which means sweets, but Krista was having none of it. We acquired her at the Super Pet Adoption on Saturday. She was the first kitten I picked up, but it was a hard choice between three we all liked - Heks, however purred the most. Now she is very busy exploring our bedroom. Spelen hasn't even come in the house, so I don't think she even knows there is a second cat in town.

Blue Ribbon Me

2007-09-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the kids and I went to the state fair. The kids so that they could hang with friends and ride the rides unti they puked. Me, that my frined Barb and I could check on the knitted items we entered - see if we won any ribbons. Barb won a 2nd for her shawl and a thrid for her socks. I won my first blue - for a sweater I knit for a friend at work. Very exciting! Sorry I don't have picture - but the vest is still on display at the fair. I will pick it up on Monday.

Then Barb and I spent several hours wandering through all of the buildings and displays. We recognized some names of students and friends who also entered and won ribbons. We checked out all of the animals - except for the cows. ANd had Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches from Moochies for dinner. Barb had to leave - so I wandered for a couple more hours solo - the kids didn't want to hang with me - before I forced them to meet me and head home. I enjoyed my afternoon at the fair!

Not Dead Yet

2007-08-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

I'd hate for anyone to think that the Mitchell's have gone missing - totally untrue. I can't even say we've been overly busy with school starting up - Just various reasons and sheer laziness have kept me from the computer.

Mike has been busy creating new ringtones for our phones and changing all of the rings on my phone. He has been taking songs or sound bites that we like and editing them to the 15 seconds that we need for the phones. He even created some from the Haunted Mansion soundtrack.

Tyler is still recovering from the shame of wrecking my car on the first day that he got to drive alone - and then getting a parking ticket in his Dad's car a few days ago. He was working almost daily at the zoo giftshop until school started. Now he will do weekends and special events. He also is involved in TV West, the high school news program. I have no idea what he will actually do and I don't think he does either. He has been tweaking his schedule so that he now is taking seminary during school hours and taking five AP or IB classes - Chemistry, European History, English, Calculus II and I have no idea what the other one is.

Krista is off to school and babysitting at least once a week. No fluffy schedule for her this year wither - every class except for PE is academic. She is even taking Spanish and ASL (American Sign Language). She actually has a class and lunch with her friend Stephanie this year - last year they rarely saw each other. But the year hiatus hasn't negatively affected their friendship.

I am back to school also. I spent much of my day checking out books, ordering the Student Body Officers around or trying to clean the piles of papers off my desk. Unfortunately my label maker pooped out before I was finished, so I abandoned that project. Now I have my stuff, so tomorrow I will be back at it! Tonight we went to Staples and stocked up on school supplies for everyone.

O - Mike had gun surgery yesterday. Turns out he has been brushing his teeth too hard and his gums have receded in horror. Now he has a clear plastic retainer protector to wear while he heals.

I will post a picture of my new car soon - as soon as we get the new computer in. This one has been having fits. It sometimes doesn't recognize iTunes music and other times our iPhotos. I haven't downloaded any pictures in ages!

Poetry ala Krista #1

2007-08-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

On My Desk

On my desk I have,
20 papers all shred and torn
10 pencils, all broken
Two pairs of scissors, none left-handed
One piece of poster board
Markers and colored pencils
Three rulers
One bottle of glue
Ten glue sticks
A pile of binders

All stuff my brother needs

School Posing

2007-08-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

I got Krista to pose in some of her school clothes.

She is very proud of the sparkly skeleton tennies in this picture.

Krista sewed the top in this picture.