Mid January Fun

We've had a busy week:
Monday. We celebrated Mark's birthday. (The real event was on Friday, but Mary was out of town--Vegas with DC-- so Paul and I just took Mark to lunch.) On Monday, thanks to MLK, we had a Holiday and the Lymans could come down and everything. We order Mexican food from the "personal chef" who lives around the corner and it was delicious and fun. As the Lymans arrived Eden leaped into Mark's arms exclaiming, "Mark! It's your birthday!" And Sam made a wonderful card for Mark that said: "This happy holiday comes just once a year so happy birthday Mark, Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Mark."

Tuesday. I had my book club meeting. We read a memoir/autobiography by Ling Ling, a famous concert pianist who is only about 28. He is from mainland china and he told how his parents made him practice 8 hours a day at least from time he was a toddler. But he said he liked it. It is quite a window into the Chinese drive to be "Number 1." His parents were both musicians who were not able to perform because of the Cultural Revolution--they put all their ambitions onto him, their only son. But, Ling Ling seems like a nice guy. And he's an amazing musician.

Thursday. Mark's film "Sundance Skippy" was shown at the LDS Film Festival. It was a real thrill to see the movie on the huge screen in the Scera Grand Theater. There was a good audience and they really loved the movie--lots of laughter at all the right places. Paul and I loved seeing it. Mark has worked so very hard on this film--it was wonderful to see an audience respond to it so favorably. After the film, Mark and Skippy himself had time on the stage to answer questions. Skippy kept saying how much he appreciated all Mark's work on the film, and even gave him a trophy-the 2010 "Skippy" for best director. That was nice of him. Afterward we went to dinner at Bajio. Erin, a nice girl Mark met through Skippy (she's in the movie) came with us.

Friday. Back to the Scera and the Festival for the screening of Mark's other film--this one made from the "Mormons" project. Mark took the photos from the book and played the interviews as a voice over. The film is really very moving. There are three sections: 1)Preaching the gospel, with interviews of missionaries; 2) Perfecting the saints, with interviews of members--a bishop, RS president, Primary president, a dad; and 3) Redeeming the dead, with an interview of a man who does family history work (Evan Eastley). Mark did a really good job of selecting the photos and timing them so they work very well with the narration.

Saturday. I spent the morning at BYU, teaching our big TA Workshop on Evaluating Writing. We had over 100 there--the logistics are a little crazy because we do breakfast and snacks. Lauren Johnson helped teach it, and we had a good time. The TAs were very appreciative, and several came up afterward to express thanks. Whew! One even came up to ask who did the fine photographs in the Brief Guide to WRiting at BYU--of course the photographer was none other than our own Mark! In the afternoon Paul and I went to the temple--so nice.

Now Mark has gone up to Park City to enjoy Sundance. He is going to stay with friends up there for a few days. It's a bit quiet here, but we're glad everyone is doing so well.

Simpsons

Mark, Paul, and I just watched the Simpson’s 20^th anniversary special. I have mixed feelings about the show. I don’t like them to make fun of religion. And they are vulgar at times. But I like the smart comedy. I like the characters; they are endearing in their disfunction. You can’t help but like them, from Apu to Milhouse to the family itself. I like the way the family sticks together, whatever crazy stupid things they do. How Marge keeps loving Homer no matter what. How Homer so sincerely repents, and then immediately messes up again. How Maggie sucks that binky and looks so wise. Watching Simpsons, you can laugh at that family’s wacky ways and come away loving your own wacky family more.

More photos from Jenny's wedding trip

Jenny Finch's Wedding

Mark and I spent the actual new year celebrating Jenny Finch's wedding in Mesa, Arizona. Here are some photos from that wedding. It was fun to see Richard's family. Jenny is Richard's granddaughter, Suzanne's daughter. It was also fun to be with my siblings. And it was fun to watch Mark work. He photographed the wedding and did a great job. His photos are much better than mine. But here are a few of mine.

Happy New Year 2010

Here it is a new year, and perhaps I will post more frequently to this blog in 2010. Here's a start anyway.

We just enjoyed a fun, if belated, new year's dinner with all the family but the Dunns. We missed them! The table was set with gold chargers, white dishes, goblets, and a centerpiece of candles and gold ornaments. We made the following predictions:
Jared, The Democrats will lose control of Congress.
David, The Democrats will maintain control of Congress.
Mary, The leader of North Korea will die (I can't remember his name.)
Jared (again), Elizabeth the II will die, but Charles will not be King
David (again), More Android handsets than Mac handsets will be sold
Margaret, The stock market will continue to go up.
Paul, There will be no military engagements between major countries.
Beth, Mark will get married.

We also toasted the new year with Martinellis and watched a slide show of 2009. It's been a great year, especially because we have had so many opportunities to be together as a family. We're thankful for airplanes!

Happy 2010. May we have health, peace, and prosperity!

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!