Christmas Eve photo shoot

I think there's one good one in there!

Funny Conversations and Concert Week

Some funny conversations:

(This one is kind of visual, but hopefully you can picture it.)

Camary: "How many days until Christmas on Christmas?" (That's funny in itself.)
Tracy: "Zero." (Makes a circle with his fingers.)
Camary: "That's not zero. This is zero." (Makes a thumbs-up.)
Tracy: "How is that zero?"
Camary: (Counting down with her fingers, closing her fist in between each one.) "Five, four, three, two, one, zero." (Makes a thumbs-up.)
So, thumbs-up=zero. She demonstrated this for all of us at dinner.

Tracy picks up Finlay's homework folder off the couch. "This says parent/teacher communicator. How come I never see it unless it gets left on the couch?"
Finlay: "I don't know."
Sam: "Mom sees it. She's the parent. You're, like, the assistant parent."
Gee, aren't I lucky to have an assistant parent around?

Finlay's teacher is really good to give him assignments that challenge him and keep his interest. He's working on a report on rattlesnakes. Here's a line from his report. "Rattlesnakes are born with venom and are more dangerous than adults."
I know it's hard to imagine anything more dangerous than adults. (I know what he meant, but reading it like that made me laugh.)

Last week was our Christmas concert week. On Tuesday, Ryan played with the Nebo Youth Philharmonic. We didn't go to this concert because I had to be at the Relief Society Christmas dinner that night. Wednesday was his regular high school band concert. It was terrific. He played with both the concert band and jazz band, and in jazz combo one (of course he's in the top jazz combo.) It was amazing. His jazz solos brought me to tears. (If you ask him, he'll say it wasn't that great, but he's wrong.) His combo was playing out in the lobby before the concert. So awesome! Thursday was Rusty's first ever band concert. He plays sax. These kids didn't get to start band in sixth grade like all the kids before them. They only started on their instruments less than four months ago. They sounded great! I was so impressed. Friday was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert. When Denise went to enter her name in the ticket lottery, she realized that she'd have a better chance if she entered all of her kids in it, too. (At least the ones in Utah.) We ended up with sixteen tickets for the family. Tracy, I, and Rusty went. (Ryan was playing with the pep band at a basketball game--surprise, surprise.) We left two hours before the concert began. Traffic was terrible. I mean TERRIBLE. It took us more than two hours to get there. There was traffic jam in downtown Salt Lake. By the time we got to the Conference Center, they weren't letting anyone in. We went to Temple Square and heard some high school choirs and a women's chorus perform. They were good, but they weren't the Mo-Tab. Oh well, maybe next year. Saturday we did not have a concert, but I did have dress rehearsal for my Musettes concert. Sunday was the Musettes concert. Camary had the stomach flu on Friday/Saturday. The rest of us got it on Sunday. (Except for Finlay and Xander.) We all got blessings. I was blessed that I'd be able to go to the concert. I did, but toward the end, I nearly passed out and had to sit down for a couple of songs. I think it was because I was dehydrated from not eating all day. I was white as the snow. For a while, I was thinking, "How will I get home?" Then I realized that my friend Suzette was there, and she would take me home. As soon as the concert was done, she was right there saying, "I'll take you home, and then we'll come back and get your car." She would have done it, too. (She's so awesome.) I was feeling better by then, though, so she just followed me home in case I had to pull over. I didn't, but I was glad to know she was behind me. Thankfully, we are feeling better now, so we can get on with this week, which is Doctor's Appointment week (dermatologist, eye doctor, chiropractor...)

Fifth Grade Wax Museum

Last month, Sam did the Fifth grade wax museum. The kids each choose a figure from American History to portray. Sam was Paul Revere. Here are some picutres:That's his best buddy Ammon with him. Ammon was Clark (of Lewis and Clark).


It got me thinking about Ryan and Rusty's wax museums, so here are some pictures from them:

Here's Rusty as Henry Ford.

Ryan was Benjamin Franklin.

Aren't they just so cute!

Here's one that has it all.

D&C 98:1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks.

Turkey Day!

We had a fun Thanksgiving yesterday. The day before (what are we calling that now? Chartreuse Wednesday?) we went to a Jazz game! It was great. They beat the Memphis Grizzlies 117-100. We got free hot dogs with our tickets, which we had to supplement with drinks, popcorn, nachos, and ice cream. That cost us almost as much as the tickets did! It was fun.

On Turkey-colored Thursday, we started out our Thanksgiving by watching The Fellowship of the Ring. After the movie, we had dinner. Yummy!


After we got all the dishes done, we played LOTR monopoly. Rusty won. Then we ate pumpkin pie.

Today, Raven Friday, we are watching The Two Towers, and for Vermillion Saturday, we will watch The Return of the King, maybe put up Christmas decorations, and hopefully go back up to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. I think I have finally overcome my fear of puking at Temple Square. :p

Rejoice Evermore!

Okay, really rough count from the Topical Guide under Cheer, Cheerful, Happiness, Joy, and Rejoice yielded 145 scriptures telling us to be happy and showing us how to be happy. (I take no responsibility for the accurateness of that count. I think some scriptures appeared in more than one topic and may have been counted twice. Still, that's a lot of scriptures on the subject.)

Here are some of my favorites:

Alma 26:35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

2Nephi 10:23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

D&C 78:18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.

Psalms 100:1-2 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. (I like this one because it talks about singing, too. A subject for another post, maybe.)

Alma 24:15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

D&C 128:19 Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth! As the dews of Carmel, so shall the knowledge of God descend upon them!

Now, I know full well that this is not some kind of guarantee against sorrow. Bad things happen. We have trials. There are times when joy seems impossible to obtain. But I do know from personal experience that the Lord is waiting to carry us through our sorrows, and He does want us to have joy.

Oh, and the title of this post is the entire text of 1Thessalonians 5:16

Congrats to Tracy!

For coming in sixth in last week's Deseret News Grid Picks.

He wins a T-shirt. He picked all 12 games right, with a tie-breaker score of 20. The top guy had a tie-breaker of 4.

Finlay's Baptism

Finlay was baptized last Saturday! It was really nice. The chapel was packed because there were 13 children from the stake getting baptized. Five of them are in Finlay's class at school, including the three from our ward. We waited in the chapel until it was our ward's turn. Autumn was baptized first. Her sister applauded for her when she was done. Paige went next. She had to do it twice when her dad said a wrong word in the prayer. Autumn's sister applauded again. The stake primary president whispered to her to stop. Finlay went last. No problems. No clapping. It was really special. I was happy for him. Then we went over to our house for lunch. It was nice to spend the day with Grandma Cindy and Papa Larry. We spent most of the afternoon outside in the nice weather before the rain and snow hit.

I totally forgot to take pictures on Halloween. D'oh! But here are some pics of pumpkin carving and Camary's preschool Halloween parade.

Grass at Last!

And because we bought way more sod than we needed, we also got the bonus mini-backyard.

He's got my vote

Fear Not!

In a quick search of the topical guide, I found 36 different scriptures telling us to fear not or be not afraid. Some of my personal favorites:

Isaiah 41:10: Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

2Kings 6:16: Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

2Chronichles 20:15: Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

John 14:27: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

D&C 6:34: Therefore, fear not little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.

D&C 50:41-42: Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me; And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.

D&C 68:6: Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.

A couple of these weren't even in the Topical Guide listing, so there are even more than I counted. Share some of your favorites in the comments if you want.

Next time ... "be of good cheer!"

Pioneer Trek Outtakes

I have several more tracks from the pioneer trek video, but it wasn't all serious. I did an outtake track with some of the funnier pictures and video clips. So here it is. I'll post the other tracks sometime in the future. Enjoy!

One-derful!

Xander turned one year old yesterday!

From this:

To this:

In just twelve short months!

Congratulations, Xander. We love you!

End of the Growing Season?

Well, since the forecast is for a hard freeze on Saturday, we raided the garden last night to get the pumpkins, squash and other stuff and to see if our melons have ripened yet. They turned out to be pretty good, but not quite fully ripe, so let's hope the next few days get things done!



The big pumpkins in the picture are the Big Max variety, the small ones are Baby Pam (which are supposed to be excellent for pie), a honeydew, a watermelon (Sugar Baby), some butternut squash and green peppers as well as several tomatoes, a cucumber and a zucchini.

We also did lettuce, sunflowers, cantaloupe, spinach, peas, and another pumpkin called Howden, which grew pumpkins the boys described as "demented." We'll probably stick to the traditional-looking ones in the future. I'd have to say the garden was a success this year, despite all our summer squash and pumpkin plants getting powdery mildew and dying off over the last 2-3 weeks and the onions, beans, cauliflower, broccoli and hot peppers (jalapeno and habanero) being a complete bust.

We're saving seed from our spinach, peas, Big Max pumpkins, watermelon, butternut and sunflowers. All the other melons, squash and pumpkins will cross with each other or were hybrids, so we aren't saving seed for those. We bought a cool book called Seed to Seed that covers a ton of information on saving seed, so we're going to give it a whirl. Wish us luck!

Finlay turned eight!

Here are some shots from Finlay's birthday last week. He's eight years old now!

Sam made him an "elephalopagus" out of clay
I also let Sam decorate the cake. It's a magic wand made from sprinkles.










He got Legos and scriptures.

He'll be baptized on November 1st. Yeah, Finlay!

Xander's birthday is up next. Here's a picture of him enjoying a cookie.

Pioneer Trek Parts II, III and IV

Here are the next three parts of our pioneer trek DVD.

Part II - Pressing Onward


Part III - The Muddy Mile


Part IV - First Night

One Awesome Service Project!

I wanted to help out my friend Suzette. She is in the middle of renovating her house. They are adding a wonderful addition, and she's living in a construction zone. She has to pack up a bunch of her stuff and get it out the way. It's like moving, only with nowhere to go. And her husband just left town. He's a pilot for a mapping company, and he's gone for a month or more at a time. (He gets to be off for a month or more at a time, too). Suzette is always doing nice stuff for me. Like last year, for instance, she totally saved me from the post-partum nuclear meltdown I had after I brought Xander home. She's really like the best visiting teacher ever, though, ironically, she is not my visiting teacher. ;)

I told her I'd bring lunch over on Monday, and then I'd help her with whatever she needed. After we finished lunch, I said, "Okay, is there more stuff to pack up or what?" She said, "Yeah, there's still a ton, but what I really need is to relax and hang out." Her husband told her to have me take her into the pergola in the backyard to talk about writing, so we did. We lounged around on lawn chairs in the sunshine while the girls played on the swing set. After Xander fell asleep, we went in, and so we could stay upstairs where Xander was sleeping, we piled up all the pillows and blankets on her daughter's bed and lounged around there. We read a few picture books and ate way too many oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (I did make the cookies, at least). So, I spent two and a half hours relaxing, shooting the breeze, and eating cookies. That's my kind of service project!

Pioneer Trek Part I

Last June, our ward did a pioneer trek out west of Utah Lake. I made a DVD to commemorate the experience. So, here's the introduction (with music by yours truly) and the first track (music by David Tolk). I'll post additional tracks as I find time to do so. I recorded the music for the intro on our piano (which is less than well tuned), after I had kicked all the kids out of the house, using an MP3 player and a laptop to get the stereo effect and then mixed with Audacity. Makes me want to get some better equipment, although it worked well with the old-ified video effect...

A small word of caution

Okay, I just want to make sure you all understand that Notes From the Writing Chair is meant to be a public blog. Well, this one is public, too, but really only our family and friends are going to take the time to read it. My writing blog is meant to be read by lots of complete strangers. I posted the link on a public bulletin board at Mindflights, and I know there are people looking at it that I don't know at all. That's what it was intended for, and I am glad. I just wanted to make sure you know that people we don't know will probably be reading your comments, too, so be a little careful that you're not saying anything you wouldn't want strangers reading. So far, I have loved and appreciated all of your comments over there. I just felt impressed to make sure we're on the same page. Love you all!

Nebo Loop

Our drive around the Nebo Loop on Sunday was not as colorful as we might have hoped. Most of the quakies hadn't even turned yet. But it was still a nice drive. It's always a nice drive. Of course, I haven't attempted it in the dead of winter.

This is as close as we could get to Xander looking at the camera. I love the sneer on Rusty.Yo, Daddy. You the man!

My New Writing Blog

Check out my blog for writing stuff: Notes From the Writing Chair.

Birthdays and such

My latest attempt to get their teeth brushed:

Camary turned four on the 13th:

Cute pic of Xander on Camary's birthday:

We went mini-golfing!

Ryan is listening to BYU obliterate UCLA 59-0

Tracy and I had birthdays last week, too, but no one took pictures. Here is one last shot of Xander last night, wildly tired, but refusing to sleep:

Random Thoughts

See that caption under the picture of our yard in the previous post? That was taken almost three weeks ago, and Friday we finally got going on the sprinkler system. Nothing like hand-digging in the Rocky Mountains!

I read Lindsay's and Tiffany's posts about how great Labor Day was. So here's an account of our Labor Day. We collected an entire month's worth of rain in our pants at the Payson Onion Days parade. Ryan was marching with the band, but we knew it was going to rain, so I had quite the debate in my head over whether to go or not. I chose poorly. Things were great at first, overcast and cool. But then it dumped on us for probably 20 minutes, then we got pelted with hail and the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees. Angie escaped with Xander back to the car before the worst of it, and before the first part of the parade even got to us. Then the rest of us followed after we had been soaked to the bone, which only took a couple of minutes. But Camary insisted on seeing the parade, so I took her back out to the chairs when everything let up and we got to see some of the "princesses" (Camary's term) huddling together on their floats, and there was a ton of candy floating down the gutter. Unlike the wimps from Spanish Fork, who were running down the road passing other parade entries, Ryan and his band were still marching and playing as they came by. And by the way, who thought it was a good idea to throw hard candy at a parade? I mean, if it doesn't knock somebody out, it shatters all over the sidewalk or the road. And when there's a foot of water flowing down the street, STOP HANDING OUT PAPER FLIERS. Especially when they're printed on an ink-jet printer.

And finally, Finlay's soccer team continued its romp through the U8 Elk Ridge soccer league on Tuesday, winning 7-0. Alright, so they've only played two games. But they haven't given up a goal yet and everyone seems to be having a good time.

If you are wondering what we've been up to...

Or even if you haven't...Here's Ryan marching in Salem Hills High School's first ever marching band in their first ever parade -- Salem Days. They sounded great!
Some of our garden bounty. Mmmmm. Still waiting for the watermelon to ripen.Some shots from our day camp up in Hobble Creek Canyon. We couldn't spend the night, so we just spent the day from lunch until it got dark.

The first day of school!

This is what our front yard looks like, but not for long...

A couple of weeks ago, I rented The Music Man because I wanted to watch it, but I wasn't sure how it would go over with the kids. Well, they loved it. We watched it two nights in a row, and they've been walking around singing 76 Trombones and Gary, Indiana, and Goodnight, Ladies. The boys told me that they especially liked, "those four guys who sing together." The Babershop Quartet! Me, too. It must be in our blood. So, anyway, I'm trying to weasel Tracy, Ryan, Rusty, and Ryan's friend Dallin (who sings bass) into learning some babershop music. I've even ordered some for them. We'll take them over to sing for Grandma and Grandpa Taylor. If I can get them to do it.