There and Back Again

The family (sans Eden) drove to Boise to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents. A much needed break ensued. We watched a healthy dose of sports (any for us is a lot), went jogging, raked leaves, played games, went shopping, ate turkey, went to a movie, saw family, took naps and ate turkey again.

This is my Mom and Dad.
They are alway good sports about the food we eat and the mess we bring.

These are the lego racers Evan and I built.
In spite of the wings, mine basically rocked over his.


Hailey and Tracy at the gaming (kitchen) table...
Ticket to Ride is serious business.


Like a good son and grandson, we helped Grandpa rake leaves in the front.
Like typical knuckleheads, we forgot to do the back.

We capped off the trip at the airport. Eden arrived home from India.
Covered in henna. Craving cheeseburgers. Gifts for all.
She took tons of photos... maybe she'll let me post some here.

I could still do way better on the photo front...
This new camera isn't the magic wand I thought it would be.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

An incomplete, inarticulate list of things I'm grateful for...

Tracy - completely genuine, strong, my personal savior
Hailey - smart, fiery, a softer heart than anyone knew
Eden - outgoing, involved, a magnetic personality
Evan - funny, inventive, always good hearted
Resilience - one of the most important gifts we have
Forgiveness - the most important gift we have
Potential - new paper, new pen, everything's possible
Places - The kind you try to capture by breathing more deeply
Movies - they're not all good, but someone, somewhere is making another
Pie - the best days seem to include it, more days should

Gifts

Ken and Annie visited Salt Lake on Friday to pick up their new car.
It was a short visit. Just a couple of hours including a lunch at Koko Kitchen.

While it's always great to catch up, the best part of their visit is pictured below. All from their garden. All homemade. To me, there's almost no better gift one could receive. I highly recommend having relatives in Idaho's farm country.

Recently, They Looked Like This

Turning Point

It snowed yesterday. I suspect fall is finished.

Wheels Up

Remember this photo? Probably not. I posted it way back in February. This is Eden holding her acceptance letter to Youth Making a Difference (YMAD). I'll let you read more about the organization on your own, but in the interest of time, I'll sum up the critical stuff here...

- YMAD is a non-profit that takes teens to do humanitarian work in India.
- Eden has spent the last year with a group of fellow students preparing to go.
- They will work primarily in remote villages outside of Kolkata (Calcutta).
- She left this morning at 5am.
- She and Tracy waited until the very last minute to cry. (I was unaffected).
- She will have not have access to a cell phone or ranch dressing for 17 days.

The place:


The people:


We are excited for her and proud of her.
If you only knew how far she has come...

You can also follow their daily progress on the YMAD blog.

Stay tuned.

The Big Show

Like Hailey and Eden before him, Evan recently tried out for show choir. If you're not familiar with the concept, show choir combines the singing of choir and the "show" of showing people things. Usually props or humorously choreographed movements. Although some choir directors get the "show" part better than others, we have always enjoyed the performances. This one was no different. Evan also unexpectedly auditioned for a solo. Our kids never cease to surprise.


They invited the students to submit designs for the program. Evan's (not pictured) was not used. Okay, I may have helped a little too much.

Tomorrow Says Hi

Harvest Time

We planted a garden this year. But thanks to the rainiest June we've ever seen and some fairly mediocre soil, just about everything we planted was a bust. Or maybe this guy was to blame. (no, not the grasshopper)

Even the pumpkins (Tracy's favorite) only turned out okay.

So, to supplement our harvest, we visited the pumpkin pro shop.


Everyone grabbed their favorites.

Or tried to anyway...

The pricing was vague. Had we spent $8 or $80?

Only $27... Maybe we should go back for more?


Note: Eden missed out on the family festivities to take part in some of her own. Homecoming. Dances these days are apparently an all day affair. And even though it's halfway into October in Utah, somehow boating was involved. I don't know all the details (I never do) but I know she had fun.


Maybe September was just a hinge connecting summer and fall. We've turned the corner toward better things. The air is different now. Stay tuned.

In The News

Really??? (click to enlarge)

Back to School (in October)

Okay this happened over a month ago... but I already apologized for that right?
First day of school photos.

My September Coma

It's funny... whenever I fail to post for an extended period of time I feel the need to apologize.
But to whom? I'd like to think that someone is checking daily, fingers crossed.... but there's just no proof. Who can blame you? (whoever you aren't)

I guess I haven't been feeling it lately... the last 30 days or so. Not completely sure why... I just remember not liking it all that much.

Let's try this again.

Is This Anything? (Part 3)

Albion Basin II

Almost exactly one year ago Tracy, Evan and myself made our way up to Albion Basin to see the wildflowers. It was nice to hike around a little and check things out, but we had clearly missed the peak. The flowers were plentiful, but not the explosive bouquet we had expected. We'll come earlier next year I vowed to no one in particular... And thanks to an iPhone reminder, we did. Planning an event (of any kind) an entire year in advance was a record for me.

We took the whole family this time. And while our picnic plans didn't quite work out and certain people vetoed the hike to Cecret Lake (spelling ridulous, but intentional), we had some laughs, took some photos and ate eclairs in the car. You can click the thumbnails below to see for yourself.