'ello?

Just wondering if everyone's still checking the blog. How are things for y'all? I miss you!
Annie

My friend Jen flew out from SLC to run in the NY marathon on Sunday. Her daughter Laura and Maddy were great friends in Virginia so Maddy and I drove down for the weekend. The marathon is AMAZING. It was really warm that day so most of the runners had a harder time than they usually would have. But I'm in awe of the self control and motivation needed to run 26.2 miles. We had such a great time rooting for the runners. Many of them have taped or markered their name to the front of their jersey. Maddy was especially great at calling to people by name, saying "You can do it! You're doing great!" Wonderful to feel a part of it, even if it was standing by the side and yelling. Jen finished but a little longer than she'd hoped. We had pizza with her and her family and Sam & Deirdre, who were in town on business. FUN. 

Perfect autumn day in Central Park! Maddy's a great travel companion...non-complaining and game for anything. 

So, don't be alarmed by this picture--we're fine--but on Sunday night we had our second encounter with a deer this year. Late at night, coming home from the NYC marathon (and, ahem, going 80 mph on the freeway) I hit a deer. Amazingly, Maddy and I were fine (but shaken) although the deer came through the windshield. It flew up over our car and the car behind us swerved and rolled their car into the median. Stupid deer! We ended up with shards of glass all over ourselves. In fact, when I got home I found I also had deer fur and deer ticks under my clothes on my skin. (Too much information?) Anyway, I'm convinced the deer mafia has a hit out on us.... 

AAAARGH! She's a pirate. Maddy knew for quite some time that she wanted to be a pirate. She realized later that she wanted to have her sword and earring for the picture but by then my batteries had died. Imagine if you will..... 

Sorry for the fuzzy, ill-lit picture of angelic Lauren! Lauren was planning on going as a witch but then her friend persuaded her to be an angel and her friend would be a devil. As luck would have it, her friend was sick on Halloween so she went with another friend, who was dressed as a toilet. As hard as we tried, we couldn't come up with a cute, duo connection for an angel and a toilet! 

It was a no-brainer for Sam to choose Harry Potter for his Halloween character, since this has been his Year of Potter. He's whizzed through the first four books this summer and has been begging to read the fifth, which Lauren protests is too mature for him. 

Go Rebels! 

Maddy in the huddle getting coached 

Shout out from the east

Hi all,

Life has gotten really busy for us. How does that happen? One minute we're enjoying the pace and the next--suddenly--we're over committed. I started my "part-time" job in September and really like it. But I've realized that, although they agreed to make it a part-time job, they haven't taken anything off of the full-time job description! Right now, I'm working on new curricula on bullying, grandparenting (for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren), friendship, bringing out the best in your child, and parenting children with special needs. It's challenging but I like the idea that it's giving preventive help and skills to families and parents, especially since we serve a lot of the homeless shelters and other parents who didn't have the chance to receive good parenting themselves, as well as good parents who just need a little support. Anyway, it's going fine. Although I have noticed that the laundry fairy doesn't show up nearly as often as she used to. If any of you happen to see her, send her our way :).

Greg just finished with his busiest week at work, where they were laboring to finish the bid for a big government contract. But it's done and submitted, and I think he's happy to see his bed before 2:30 a.m. now. To his credit, he still showed up with a smile to coach Sam's soccer practice and game last week. I don't think I would have been as engaged or up to it. I have a good man, there.

The kids are immersed in school and activities. Even keeping them to one music and one sport each, we're still pretty booked. Lauren started playing field hockey this year at school and really loves it, although she does come home with some pretty ugly bruises. She's getting great at the flute and started with a new teacher this fall. Maddy, much to our surprise, decided to play flag football, one of only four girls in the town league. She completely loves it, though. She especially loves playing defensive back...her interpretation is that she "only has to stand back there and pull someone's flag before they make a touchdown." I think she's been trying to get some playground credibility; someone called her a "girly girl" last year and she's been trying to prove them wrong ever since. (I asked her what's wrong with being a girly girl but apparently it's an insult to 3rd and 4th grade girls. On the other hand, she still loves her baby Emily and is asking for another doll for her birthday so she's probably a good blend of girly and sporty.) Sam's playing soccer still and loves having Greg coach. We had his belated birthday party a couple of weekends ago and there was an abundance of 7-year-old boy energy bouncing around the house!

Freaky weather here. It's been pretty warm and all the trees are still green, even though this is typically peak color weekend in October. No color yet.

I'm reading Wicked right now & enjoying it, although it is a little atypical for me to get into fantasy-type stuff (kind of like Matt and horse stories). The author Gregory Maguire's son was in Sam's 1st grade class last year...our little brush with greatness. Of course, I've never spoken to him because my response to encountering anyone remotely famous is to pretend I don't know they're famous. Maybe I can give Nancy's great line she spoke to Alec Baldwin--"Oh, to be famous...."

So that's us. Life is good. Love your blogs. And your guts.
xoxo, Annie

Sam and birthday crew--silliness aplenty!

Falling into Fall

Great pictures, Waddoups! I can remember that first day of school excitement mixed with trepidation. Who will I sit by? Will the teacher like me? Am I smart? Why do I have to wear these blasted thick long brown stockings held up with a garter belt? (Seriously.) I'm sure I have told you before that I grew up attending school, from kindergarten(belt) to college, wearing a skirt (no, not the same skirt, come on - that would have been a real problem! I would have been asked to go home and change into something longer, like a full length gown, by the time I was in junior high). Such oppression - such nonsense. Remember the story about Susie, when she was about 10 and my ma and pa took her to a movie playing at the Varsity Movie Theatre at BYU? It was winter, and she had on pants under her winter coat, but when they got to the ticket counter the cashier told them that she wouldn't be allowed in because she had pants on. Mom took her hand and they went into the restroom close by in the hall. Susie removed her pants, showed up at the counter again and was welcomed into the theatre. But enough of that. All water under the bridge, or wet pants in the dryer.
We went down to SLC Friday. I went to Day Murray music and spent a blissful unrushed 2 1/2 hours perusing choir music. I had a list of songs for Thanksgiving and Christmas that I had one copy of, hoping to find a dozen of them there, but found some great arrangements and surprises while I tried out several on their muted piano. Our theme this year for Christmas program will be "Let Every Nation Welcome Him" - a global Christmas carol program. I have always wanted to do The Carol of the Birds, taken from the Pablo Casals melody, and this is the year. Then we will sing a Welsh carol, a French carol (Ile ne la divin enfant (sp?), Silent Night woven with a contemporary song Carol Him Softly and some others I am waiting to see if they have in publication. We went out to dinner at Monsoon Thai (very good) and to see Junebug the movie (very good). And, of course, I did stop off at Xocolate for our usual small box of chocolates. Duh.
We are watching the Emmys tonight, although I don't watch Lost or Desparate Housewives. But we enjoyed the Johnny Carson tribute alot. And Jon Stewart's show won several awards, which we applaud. We don't get HBO, so we will have to rent Huff, Empire Falls, Warm Springs, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
You may not know that Sarah McGee's wedding is off. Her boyfriend Chris called it off and went back to his former girlfriend. I feel for Sarah, such a heartbreak. Mary says she is handling is fairly well, but, oh, that hurts.
Also, Dad is doing well. (My dad, your grand/greatgrandfather.) He says he has a steady pulse, and they are putting him on a medication to regulate it. He wrote "I Got Rhythm, I got music. I got my gal, who could ask for anything more?" We are so relieved. They have bought their season tickets for every series of concerts, lectures, plays and bowling tournaments offered within 60 miles of Provo.
Well, that's the news. Love goes out to you all. Let's talk! Warm thoughts, Ma

First day o' school

(Hooray for digital cameras...this year you'll see first day of school photos before January!)
Just thought I'd send along the traditional and tolerated first day of school photos. Much excitement and adrenaline all around...I think everyone woke up at least a half hour before they had to.


Lauren: preoccupied with wearing just the right thing ("I just realized that I need to look like I didn't try too hard but still look cool"...ah, middle school) and broke a record by 8 a.m., already phoning me from school to bring some forgotten money.





Maddy: aiming for "sporty girl" comfort in t-shirt and shorts, painstakingly prepared her lunch and snack last night and slept in the longest this morning.

Sam: wearing summer clothes & no new school clothes at all, sporting a fresh-cut hair trim, and had his backpack on, ready to go at least an hour before the bus came. The bunch of them will home in an hour or so.

I have to admit I miss them today! (Although I did get many errands done today it is .) It's a delicious, warm-with-a bit-of-breeze day here and I've just visited my favorite farm stand...gorgeous peaches, raspberries, tomatoes, and apples. Don't you love September?

A.

Awesome Awgust

I so enjoyed hearing from Annie on the blogspot. I am very familiar with the surge of resolve that comes with being away from home, then returning. Ready to shake things up, redo a few rooms, build a spa and hire a masseuse, build a better computer, declutter (yeah, right), start a traveling harp ensemble complete with a dance troupe, take in several families from the Katrina disaster. (We could put them up next door in that big house that has been vacant for going on five years. What a waste!) Then I settle down and settle in and rent a video and get over it.
We did have lovely visits from the waddoups, nancy and dave, and chris in August, and that was so enjoyable. We did alot but not nearly all we wanted to do. Loved being with the grandkids and their parents. Such a good time with such oustanding people. A brief visit with the lovebirds from Tucson. Nancy says she is still moving in and is feeling quite domestic. Chris reports that he is in Philadelphia to see Sochi, his good friend, who is very ill and they can't seem to find the cause or cure. Good man.
We had a great stay with Matt and Frank in their beautiful home. It has such great features with its old wood sliding doors, moldings, and a plaster floral/garland decoration on the ceiling int he dining room. Frank has been working on remodeling and restoring. He finished the upstairs bathroom while Matt was in Italy, which entailed some emergency plumbing in the process of tiling and putting up fixtures. He is getting into woodworking with an eye to making some fine wood furniture. Leona, Marcel and Juan were great, if somewhat laidback hosts. Cats. Sleep, eat, nap, be cool, bring grasshoppers and crickets inside to entertain and eventually eat, sleep, eat, nap, etc. They drew the lucky card.
We loved the concert where Matt played with a trio of pianist/harpsichordist and recordist (recorder player). Tellemann to Vaughan Williams. Very nice program. And Matt certainly does well on the cello (thanks, Frank, for having one). It was pure enjoyment. So Matt specializes in strings, and Frank specializes in pipes (water). Good combination. There was a lovely gathering at the pianist's home afterward for a select group of friends. Such warm and loving people. Gracious and effusive, generous and kind. And they adore Matt and Frank. So gratifying. We had to get to Cincinnati that night to catch and 7 .a.m. flight out. But we did have a wonderful time in the guy's good care. Thanks, you two.
We are going to Holdaway's tomorrow, for a barbeque. And that will bring summer to a proper close. We have to go to choir practice right now for the dedication of the chapel next Sunday evening. I will try to start up ward choir next week and see what we have here. We lost virtually all of our basses, and all but one alto in the new division.
Currently cinema deprived, but fall is here, and we can safely go back into the theatres for more than explosions and horror or silliness. We have rented Downfall, which is about Hitler (German made) but haven't watched it yet. Your dad heads for Baltimore on Tuesday for the week.
We would like to do something as a family for the hurricane victims. Do you each want to send a check into the Red Cross in your neighborhood? We could do a matching fund thing. If you will tell us what you send in, we will match it all. So sad, and so disheartening. Those who have the least seem to get the least attention. Our hearts are aching for them all. Contrary to what some may say, I don't think God has anything to do with natural disasters, but watches to see how we represent Him in the aftermath. Love you so, Ma

Hello all you loved 'uns,

It's been long enough since we returned from our Logan Holiday that I've lost all the momentum and energy to improve everything in my life. Do you do that? I always get so inspired and motivated from the perspective and extra time that being away brings. Then I implement it for about four and a half days, dwindling quickly back into old habits and lethargy. But it's good while it lasts! On our recent return, I planned to repaint our whole house and redo the pantry! How manic and unrealistic! I got as far as picking out colors & sighing over the pathetic state of our 1890's pantry, then decided it was good enough. Plus reading books and watching movies is so much more satisfying, if not as useful. I did call some contractors about finishing our attic and engaged a landscape designer to overhaul our yard. So I'm good at getting other people to do things, I guess.

We had a great time in Utah:

• spent a good couple of weeks in Logan, doing the opera and parks and playing and watching cable tv, and attending Greg's 20th HS reunion

• did Lagoon, swearing off the Mouse Trap once and for all (Lauren's the most adventurous of us so she'll probably do it again)
• stayed with Greg's family at a great house in Deer Valley
• spent a fun few days with our friends the Whites at their place near Kamas--horse riding, four-wheeling, water-skiing, and staying up too late at night talking

The night we got back we arrived home at about midnight to a very mysterious, high-pitched noise in our house. We could hear it outside from the cab so we hurried in to investigate. It sounded like it was coming from beneath us but when we went in the basement, it was more up in the floor. We spent about a half an hour moving throughout the house, testing different locations. I lamented that our poor neighbors who share a wall with us had to live with this noise for weeks! Finally Lauren tracked it down to our luggage and, sure enough, it was. Sam's helicopter launcher (bday from Mom) had been activated and was whirring away in there. I wonder what the baggage handlers on the plane thought.

We're all getting geared up for school's start on Sept. 7. Maddy went to the school today to help her teacher from last year unpack all the boxes and get set up. We've done the clothes and school supply shopping and each has already anxiously packed their backpacks. Doesn't September make you feel like getting new pens and paper?

Sam has started keeping a tally of how many burps he's done, both per day and week...great statistician, he. So if anyone's interested in his data..... He's also (in his spare, non-burping time) anxiously awaiting Halloween and keeps saying, "MOM, it's almost SEPTEMBER, shouldn't we be thinking of costumes?" It's hard to believe, but yes, it's coming (although unfortunately for him I'm much more of a spur-of-the-moment costume mom). But he wants to be Harry Potter so I should be able to manage that.

Matt, thanks for your reading list...what a good idea. I've been pretty eclectic in my reading with some markedly beachy escape reads (very Brit chick lit). Here's the reading I'll admit to (or can remember):

• read Dad's copy of The Historian. Really enjoyable DaVinci Code-like novel with a Dracula theme.
• Kent Haruf's Plainsong. It's been out a while and received (or was nominated for?) a National Book Award. I love his sparse prose and character depth.
• I read Over Sea, Under Stone (Susan Cooper) to the kids. Didn't ever read it when I was younger but we all liked the mystery and setting. Four kids searching for the Holy Grail in Cornwall England. It's part of her Dark is Rising series & we're moving on to that one now. Anybody remember these?
• To add to Matt's books about writing: Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write...although it's hard to beat Bird by Bird and Writing Down the Bones.

Well, I've gone on long enough. How's your world? Sending love to you, A.