Visits with Friends

My best friend from senior year of high school and college came into town with her husband for a weekend. It was great to see her and entertain her while her husband was attending classes. The boys and I took her out to Madison—the town that Sherman missed—and walked the historical trail. We ate lunch in a caboose sandwich shop (where the youngest spilled half of a gigantic cup of root beer on my new white shorts). That night, my husband and I joined her and her husband for some delicious barbeque. We got to talk a little more the next afternoon. It was great having her come out!

Pioneer Day

So our ward celebrated Pioneer Day on Saturday, and it was a little bit funny because the majority of our ward have been members less than 5 years. So they are the real pioneers—we (yep, I'm on the activities committee) tried to emphasize that, but our ideas kept getting blocked at every turn. So in the end, there was a lot of typical Utah pioneer stuff, including pioneer pictures. Now, to justify how I look—hot, sweaty, pudgy—remember that it is about 7:00 in the hot, humid South, I have clothes on under the dress and apron, I have been outside working with the activity since 4:00 (moving wood picnic tables and such), we are the last picture, and I picked the wrong bonnet. The brown shirt my sweet hubby is wearing is actually damp with sweat.

I dressed my biggest boy up for a picture with one of his really good friends from playgroup. It was funny because the 6 missionary elders in the ward were standing behind the photographer with their digital cameras snapping shots of these two. (What can I say, my boy is cute.) I joked that we'll use this picture in 22 years when these two get married.

Reaching for the Past

Every once in a while I wonder what the people I knew in high school and college (undergraduate and graduate) are doing. Well, the other day I typed some names into the WWW—in other words I googled them—and I was happy to see some things and not so happy to see others. One friend, still active in the church, is living in NYC with his family and is pursuing the theater. Many more are not active, which saddens me. Maybe it is naive to think of them as the somewhat innocent people I knew in high school, but I am saddened by some of the hard shell that I see in their public image. Of course, I may very well present that same type of shell to others.

I wonder about the etiquette of googleing someone. Are you allowed to/supposed to comment? Do you identify yourself in the comment? I'm not sure what I'll be doing with this, but I'm glad to know that they still are alive and seem happy (even if I don't agree with their form of happiness).

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That said, our older guy has become fascinated with dinosaurs. We picked up two books from the library (All Aboard the Dinotrain and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?), and he has been obsessed. Today he held his (invisible) green dinosaur's hand as we walked into the rec center for gymnastics. He also insists that he is going to have a green dinosaur birthday cake for his birthday "on Friday." (Try telling an almost-three-year-old that their birthday isn't for 3 weeks; they just don't get it.) We looked up some pictures on-line (tyrannosaurus rex, triceratops, brontosaurus, stegasuarus), but he couldn't decide which were right. He'd say, "This one, Mama," and then change his mind. He also plays dinosaur. It is all pretty funny because we don't have a single dinosaur in the house—at least not yet.

The little one has a new favorite place: he loves to eat the recipe books of the bottom shelf of the baker's rack. He has shredded two magazines and the family cookbooks. It is funny to see him so content there.

Pretty Pictures

This Post Brought to You by the Letter O

Our biggest guy has started learning his letters in a haphazard fashion. We sing random variations on the alphabet song, where, instead of repeating the letters, we come up with examples on a theme (ABC foods, or ABC names). It is fun, but there are surprise letters that always trick me. (Our guy also loves to help with suggestions: I'll be singing "C is for carrot and cauliflower." He will suggest, "And for Harry the Dirty Dog.")

We know the letters on the bathroom stool, sort of: everything stands for his name, or his friends' names (Q stands for Emmy, R stands for Azul). Occasionally he'll point out a letter on a sign or in a book. Sometimes I'll point to one I'm sure he knows—like S—and he'll be totally off.

About a week ago he came up to me in the kitchen with this:



"An O," he said.

I was immediately impressed, and took the picture. Then a video. I guess that for an hour or so I could brag that my son is a genius.