Writing Fellows Band

I just wanted to share this video of the Writing Fellows Band. Matt Gee wrote the song some 5 or 6 years ago, and I mainly wanted to show him that it is still alive and well.

This performance was at a 7 am staff meeting--first of the semester, when a third of the fellows are still learning the song. We'll be much more lively at the end of the semester!

Happy Family Reunion Time

August 23, 2009

We have just had a marvelous week and a half with our whole family (except Dell, who couldn't leave work). We had such a great time. Here's what we did.

Monday, August 10th
All the Provo gang spent the day making last minute preparations: cleaning, changing sheets, grocery shopping. Paul and I even painted the bathroom over the weekend, trying to make everything as pleasant as possible! Dave, Margaret, and Baby Olin arrived in the evening. We were so happy to see them!

Tuesday, August 11th
Dave and Mark went with Mary to help her choose a new laptop. We all had fun hanging out.

In the afternoon we all went to pick up Anna, Henry, and Lizzie at the airport, and then we all went to Emily's house for dinner. I brought up two crockpots full of food, salad, and watermelon. We were so happy to be together!

Wednesday, August 12th
Emily and Margaret had to work all day, so our festivities began at 5 when we met the Lyman's at Boondocks for an evening of fun and games!



Thursday, August 13th
The Lymans drove down to Provo on Wednesday night and stayed with us until Sunday. We all fit in the house, amazingly well. As Mary said, it just seemed right. Anna and Henry slept in Mary's room; Lizzie was in the "closet/nursery" off Paul and my room. The Lymans were all in Mark's room (except for a couple of nights when Sam had a sleepover with Henry in Mary's room). Mark slept on a nice air bed in Dad's office. Dave's family was in my office/guestroom in the basement, where Margaret could work during the days. We had so much fun!
Here are the babies together. Olin is 4 months, Lizzie is almost 7 months. They weigh almost the same though!

Thursday was the day for the award presentation. We all dressed up and went to campus around 11. Mark took family photos at the botany pond--we'll send copies of those later.

Then we went up to the Wilkinson Center Ballroom for the lunch. We had two tables reserved for us all at the front. Richard came all the way from California to join us--so good of him--and of course Kay came. It was so fun to have everyone there and be able to introduce my wonderful family to my work friends.
That's my boss, Gary Hatch, giving me the award.

In the evening the children organized a fun party, inviting all the family members in the area. We had quite a crowd! They got me a cake and we had other delicious snacks. Then they passed out goblets of Martinelli's and Emily and Mary each made a toast for me. It was so good of them and I certainly felt deeply loved and appreciated.


Friday August 14th
Lagoon Day!

Sadly, Margaret had to stay home to work (and she kept Olin with her). But the rest of us drove up to Lagoon and spent a glorious day. We brought a tent and blankets to set up on the grass in the picnic area; it was so nice to have a home base to go back and rest. There was so much to do--even staying all day we couldn't do it all! The little ones rode the boats and the airplanes and the cars, while the bigger ones braved all the roller coasters. I dropped my cell phone in the water, but a Russian ride operator told me how to save it and it is just fine. We had a great picnic lunch of sandwiches (everyone made their own in the morning, so we would all have what we wanted). We went all together to the musical revue and on the Rattlesnake Rapids.

Here's a video of Lizzie dancing to the musical review.





That evening Dave and Mary performed with Divine Comedy in a benefit alumni show. It was so fun that they could perform together again and the timing worked out that Dave was in town. Paul and I went to watch on Friday night. Then on Saturday night, everyone else went while we stayed home to tend the little ones.

Saturday, August 15th
We were pretty tired. We had planned to go to the mountains, but we just never got up enough steam. We were also going to go to the ward swimming party, but that was rained out. Instead we took the kids to the Bean Museum to look at all the cool animals and then to the bookstore so the out-of-towners could get their fix of chocolate-covered gummie bears and LDS merchandise. It was just so fun to be together.


Sunday, August 16th

In the morning, Emily got us all together for a family talent show. Everyone participated and it was very fun! Henry did tricks and piano, Sam did Karate, Eden sang I am a Child of God. Emily recited a poem she wrote as a child, David did impressions involving holding a baby (baby as bazooka, etc.). What a talented family!
This is Sam doing karate.

I got my wish of having all the family in church together, all lined up on two pews. I was so proud of all our wonderful children and grandchildren and it was fun that all my church friends could meet them. Then we came home for a rather haphazard barbecue--we just threw together what we had.

We had borrowed an inflatable water-slide from the neighbors, but it had been rainy every time we tried to use it, so on this sunny afternoon we got it out and Paul and Jared and David figured out how to inflate it. The kids had so much fun with it!

We also had a pinata! All the kids whacked it, and the older ones tried hitting it javelin-style. The candy was a big hit!

Finally, we all watched old family slides (the old-fashioned kind) and laughed and laughed.

Then the Lymans had to leave. Sigh.

Monday, August 17th
We still had lots of fun with the rest of the family here.

We had a wonderful Family Home Evening planned by Anna, a dramatization of Noah and the Ark, with Henry playing all the main parts and a laundry basket as the ark!

Tuesday, August 18
We just had fun together--again!
Above is a photo of us walking to the park. May or may not have been on Tuesday.

Margaret and Mary went horseback riding in Midway--a long-time dream. They had a real cowboy guide.
Wednesday, August 19th
Leaving day! We drove Dave and Margaret to the airport in the morning. Sad to see them go, but so thankful for airplanes that make it possible to get together.

Stopped by Lymans to see them after the airport. We are so very glad they are nearby.

Anna spent the afternoon with her good friends Hannah and Jodi. Then we went to dinner at Brick Oven for a last hurrah before taking the Dunns up to the airport.

What a great reunion! Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

Back to the Cabin (and the Coast)

Paul and I drove 860 miles to visit all our favorite places in the Northwest. Paul grew up in Vancouver, WA. While the kids were young we would drive up to visit Paul's parents every year or so, and we loved those trips. Grandma and Grandpa were great to be with, and there were so many fun places to visit. Our favorite was the Summer Place, Grandma and Grandpa's cabin in the Cascades. Paul actually built this cabin for his folks almost 20 years ago, and all the rest of us helped out. Mary, who was age 5, remembers picking up the nails that fell--that was her job. We camped out in tents and a small trailer for about 6 weeks while Paul built. It was pretty wonderful to come back to this cabin and enjoy it and the beautiful area surrounding it.
Here is the area just outside the cabin, with huge picnic table that Grandpa Hedengren built long before the cabin. The trees are probably 100 feet tall. So green and beautiful.

Here I am at the "Little Creek." The cabin sits on a kind of ridge, with "Big Creek" or Trout Creek in the back and the "Little Creek" or Martha Creek down the hill in front. Little Creek is a magical place, where our children would hunt for salamanders and fairies, experiment with dams, and on at least one occasion create an original one act play, performed to great acclaim.

Paul and I also visited his brother and his sister. We had a great time with them--but unfortunately I forgot to take photos. (How could I!?) Both siblings have recently remodeled their homes, with beautiful results. I should have photos. Jean has bought the parents' house, and it was really fun to see how she has brought it up to date.

We also went to see Mount Hood, went shopping in Portland, and went to dinner at the Old Country Buffet (where Grandma and Grandpa always took us.) Sorry--no pictures.




Dad and I drove to the coast for a few days. One of our first stops was Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis and Clark expedition wintered over. Paul has recently read a book about the expedition, so it was really fun to see the recreated fort. Here's Paul on the beach at Seaside, a town where we stayed one night. I love the Oregon Coast, chilly, foggy, spectacular.

We also went to Newport, where we went on a "Discovery Cruise" for 2 hours. Here is what we discovered: an actual whale. It surfaced about 30 feet from our boat, so surprising! It surfaced once on our right, then again on the left, and then again at the stern, circling us. What an experience!
Here are a bunch of sea lions on the wharf at Newport. We also saw harbor seals at the mouth of the harbor, and murres and cormorants out on the waves.
Here's an old lighthouse along the coast. Beautiful setting.

Sunset over the Pacific. We had a wonderful trip. It was a little bit difficult to come home!

Happy Babysitting Week

This week Paul and I were able to spend a delightful couple of days with our little grandbaby Olin Paul. His mom, Margaret, came to Salt Lake to attend meeting for her work with WGU. Margaret's mom watched Olin on Tuesday and Wednesday, then Paul and I had the pleasure of helping out on Thursday and Friday.







Mary came with us on Thursday and we had so much fun. We walked around downtown SLC in the morning.


Then in the afternoon we met Jared and the Lyman kids at the zoo. Here we are enjoying an ice cream break.


We had a great time!

Freedom Festival 2009

Freedom Festival 2009 in Provo

Friday night the Lymans came to Provo to celebrate the Glorious Fourth with us. While Emily, Jared, and Mark went to dinner at a friend's new restaurant, Sam and Eden and Paul and Beth went mini-golfing at Trafalga. Sam got two Holes in one! What a guy. Eden loved her "pink ball" and liked to drop it in holes to see where it would come out.



















Saturday morning Paul and I went to the balloon launch, which was beautiful. Then we all went to the ward breakfast where everyone was so happy to see Emily and her family. Next was the grand parade. Emily and I teared up to see marching bands and the missionaries; Sam got lots of candy and even a pencil.
















Then home for lunch and naps before heading out again for Colonial Days and the Carnival on Center street. We walked through a replica of the Mayflower and Sam and Eden made Indian medicine bags. There was a great exhibit of Bren Ashcroft's revolutionary period documents: letters written by Franklin, Washington, and such. At the fair we had snow cones and bought a cool poster and a princess hat.














Home again to watch the musical 1776 (Eden watched for a bit then went to find her toys, proclaiming "This boring movie."). Barbecue followed, with requisite hamburgers, hot dogs, and flag cake. Then sparklers and tank wars until we were all so tired we could hardly move. The Lymans went home and we went to bed. We didn't even stay up to see the fireworks!

It was a grand party in every way! We're so glad that Emily, Jared, Sam and Eden could come!

I'm a Baby Blogger

Hi,
My children have inspired me to start a blog. We'll see how it works out.

I feel a little weird doing this; maybe it will begin to feel more natural later.

Hmmm. I think I'll stop and check what this looks like.