VOTE!

Election Day is kind of like a holiday at our house. Brent says it's as much fun as sports to watch the different sides go back and forth, yet the results really can change your life. As much as I have always loved voting, I have found that being an informed voter makes it even more fun (imagine that). So here is some info to help yourself be an informed voter. If you live in Utah, there is some great info on the Lieutenant Governor's page on the Utah.gov site. You can get there by clicking here. On the left hand side towards the bottom there are two links that are extremely helpful. The first is called the "Voter Information Website." Here you can enter your name and address and get your polling site (which might have changed because they expect a very high turnout this year have added a lot of sites since last November). On the page that shows your polling site, you can click another link and get a sample ballot. This is nice because you hear about so many races, and it's nice to make sure which ones you get to vote for. Then you can take that sample ballot to see the things you will vote on and look them up in the Voter Information Pamphlet. This is actually online (if for some odd reason you recycled the one you got in the mail). Go back to the Lieutenant Governor's page and go to the second link on the bottom left. It's called "2008 Voter Information Pamphlet." You can go through there and see the different candidates and issues that will be on the ballot. If you would like to discuss the issues and/or candidates, Brent and I always host a gathering the evening before Election Day, in this case it will be next Monday, November 3rd. And just in case you didn't know, Brent frequently votes Democrat and I frequently vote Republican so it's not a "vote for our guy" night. We just have been following a lot of the races for a while now and we can tell you what we have learned about each candidate and issue, then you can make your own choice at the voting booth. We'll have soup and cookies and you can come by anytime in the evening. Those with kids usually come early so they can get home and get the children to bed. Those who work late usually come later. If you print off your ballot ahead of time, it would make it easier for you to know which races are important to you. If you don't we can look them up here. We have the Voter Information Pamphlet, the newspaper voter information article, and some various campaign mailings. If you want to come over, just let us know. You can leave a comment here or email me at onepagemore@yahoo.com. Oh, and for those of you who don't live in Utah, I am sure that your respective states' webpages will have voting information for you as well. Whatever you do, please make your voice heard! VOTE!

Miriam's first talk

Sunday was our Primary Program, and Miriam was entranced with watching all of the kids at the microphone she has coveted for so long. After the program was over and the room and emptied (somehow it takes me that long to get all our stuff organized back into the bag), Miriam found her way up to the microphone and pushed the red button to turn it on. She got the stepstool so that she could stand up close to the microphone. After a few warm-up vocalizations, she clearly said "Poop. Daddy poop. Mimi-a (how she refers to herself) poop. Mama poop." I was so proud. With no prompting whatsoever, she introduced her topic and gave three examples. All she needs now is a clincher of a conclusion and she'll be set. I am unaware of how many people heard her speech, but as we left the building the primary president gave her a cupcake she had left over from congratulating the primary kids on a great program. So Miriam was well paid for an excellent discourse.

We Also Sing!

Back in May, I told you about the "We Also Sing!" choir that I joyously sing with. We have been practicing hard and I am pleased to announce that our concert is coming up! And free tickets are available! And have been for a few weeks. I am cordially inviting you to attend. It will be held in the Tabernacle on Temple Square next Saturday, November 1st. There will be two concerts: one at 5:30 and one at 7:30. The actual concert is a little less than an hour and in my personal opinion should be fantastic. You can get tickets by going to the church's events website (just click here) and following the directions there. You can get them online, but the word on the street is that the online thing is malfunctioning. So it might be better to call. And so you know, each year I type up a listening guide about the songs and different thoughts and other factoids about them, complete with the lyrics. Then those who attend to see me (so far just Brent and Kelsey, bless their little hearts) have a little of my personal insight about what is going on. And really, who wouldn't want some of my personal insight? If you get tickets, let me know and I'll send you a copy of the listening guide for your own listening enjoyment. How's that for service? The picture here is the cover of this year's CD. The lady who designed it talked a little about her inspiration which I thought was kind of cool. "As for the cover, I always get inspiration from some of the music we sing. This year, I felt the front cover should have a very feminine, flowing 'pretty' look. I LOVE gardens and especially flowers: [As a missionary, several of the Nauvoo Restoration Inc. Missionaries I served with would tell me about various plants surrounding our historic sites--and my love of the earth was cultivated there.] So that was my starting point. For this CD cover, I've spent a few lunch breaks walking through and taking pictures of the flowers at Temple Square. Looking closely, I noticed that some of them stand out and are really colorful, some are delicate, some are simple, others bloom in beautiful clusters they come in all different sizes and colors and collectively they combine to create a flower bed that is eye-catching and harmonious. The background has a light pattern of flowers from an old wallpaper sample. Several words have been put on a pink panel in the lower third. Each verb is something from our music, or that has been addressed in various practices." Hope to see you there!

Any thoughts on baby carriers?

When I had Miriam, I knew I wanted something that would help me carry her with me so that she could be with me while I did other things. I got a little snugli pouch, I'm not sure which brand or anything, and we used it, but not extensively. We went on walks when she was little and such, but I had some issues with it. I couldn't take her out of it if she was asleep because she'd wake up. It was awfully awkward to get on and it dug into my shoulders. Miriam loved to be held and carried, but didn't love the snugli pack. She loved being wrapped up really tight, but it was difficult to squish her into the pack with her blanket on. And she didn't like being in there not wrapped up. After not very long at all I quit using it and just carried her. Which helped with her desire to be attentive and involved or else asleep with mom, but didn't really help with the "oh my arms and my back are so tired and I can only use one at a time..." thing. So I decided to get something different for Elijah. This time around, I'll have both the wee little child plus a running and dancing and quite energetic bigger child. I originally planned on a Baby Bjorn because of the rave reviews I have heard about them. But after I borrowed one when babysitting a little child, I was disappointed in how awkward and sore I still felt. So as I started reading about different styles and such I found myself leaning heavily towards a wrap, specifically the "Sleepy Wrap." See their site at www.sleepywrap.com. I really like the different options it has for carrying... both asleep and awake, looking around, legs together or apart, on your back... And I like what it says about having the thing wrap around your shoulders and back so that the weight is distributed throughout the whole area rather than just on your shoulders cause GOSH that hurts. I also like that the material is stretchy and moveable so the kid can move around, but has more substance than just a tee shirt so it supposedly won't get all stretched out. I really am leaning towards this one! Still, I want to know if any of my faithful blog readers have opinions about this. I know I don't have a slew of followers, but I love and appreciate each and every one of you and would like to know about your experiences, if any, with baby carrying and baby wrapping. Have you tried it? Is there something that you loved? Something that you hated? Let me know! It will definately help with the decision to purchase or not. THANK YOU!

Famous!

Every week there is a picture in the Outdoors section of the Salt Lake Tribune asking "Where is it?" Readers can email in their ideas of where in Utah it depicts, and they draw a name from the correct answerers to win a book. Well, last week Brent knew exactly where the picture was, actually emailed it into the guy, AND he was the lucky person to win the book! HOW EXCITING IS THAT?!? Here's the link to this week's "Where is it?" article that says that Brent won. It's a little ironic that the spot is one in Grand Staircase that Brent tried to find but alas couldn't. Still, he immediately knew it was Zebra Canyon. To the left is is the original picture from the paper. Below is a picture of Brent and Miriam enjoying their Dinosaurs of Utah book. And below that is both of them looking up like T-Rex is doing in the book. CONGRATULATIONS, BRENT! WE'RE SO PROUD!!

Fall Cleanup

One thing I love about living in Midvale is their green waste program. Once a month, from April to October, you can set any green waste stuff out on the curb and they'll take it away to make mulch out of it. Well, not grass clippings because nothing can be bagged. And of course, it has to be in four foot lengths or they give you a red tag and don't pick it up. We learned that the hard way. But as a non-truck owner, it is so nice to be able to get rid of yard clippings all at once rather than putting as much as you can into your garbage can each week. It's fabulous. Frequently throughout the spring and summer we set branches and things out of bushes and trees we've trimmed. And every October we set a whole bunch out after our big yard cleanup. Today was such a day because our green waste pickup is Tuesday. We started with the catalpa trees. I don't know where in this world besides our neighborhood that clips catalpa trees back so they look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, but because that's how they are, that's what we do. We also cleared the garden and the bamboo plot. When I was little, we always had a big Saturday yard cleanup day. We pulled and dug and weeded and took the truck to the dump at least once. No green waste pickup in Boise. As I tossed the rotted tomatoes into the garbage can, I remembered chucking similar rotted tomatoes over the back fence into the canal behind my parent's house. I don't know how many made it and how many just splattered on the canal bank. For the next few weeks, joggers probably had to maneuver carefully around that section. I may have jumped the gun a little on the tomatoes this year. The tops of the plants were frozen, but after I had them dug up and carried out to the curb I noticed the lower branches still looked okay. Maybe some of the 95% of our tomatoes that were all still green could have been salvaged. Oh well, this way it's done and I don't have to deal with it. Miriam was a huge help. She picked up the downed branches from the catalpa trees, carried them to the curb and proudly said "STACK" as she piled them up. Until she got tired of that and buried herself underneath the downed branches, as pictured. Then she ate lunch and went down for a good long nap that lasted til we were almost done. What a girl! It's amazing how much two people can do without a little person running around. We are proud to declare that we are done with the annual fall cleanup. Besides raking up the leaves that are even now blowing off the trees, of course.

Is it red?

When Miriam was born, she had definate dark red hair. That all fell out in a stage I refer to as her "little old man" look. It has grown in pretty blonde. I in fact think of her as blonde. But twice in the past week, complete strangers have commented on "what a cute redhead!" And they weren't talking about me. Both of the strangers were at car-oriented places (the gas station and the place we got our state inspection), so maybe it's a car thing. But there is a chance that we still have a redhead on our hands! Above is a picture where I think she could really be red. And below is one from before her dark red hair fell out, then another from her little old man stage cause gosh I thought she was so dang cute (in a really homely sort of way).

OMSI

While we were in Portland, we visited one of the coolest museums I have ever been to. Miriam loved it. It was called OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It was amazing. There was a huge room of science activities for toddlers, then one for kids a little older. Those were the only two rooms we went to before we had to leave, but even just those two rooms were amazing. Here are some pictures from the day because I think seeing what she did will make more sence than me explaining. A picture is worth a thousand words, ya know.






















All of the Levanger cousins minus Henry because he was in blissful morning nap sleep at this point in time. Miriam looks so grown up! I can hardly believe it!


























This was a color wheel talking about how when light particles get smaller they change colors or something like that. As you move the lever up and down, the big circle in the middle changes colors. Miriam really liked this because she's all about naming colors these days.
























A life-sized eagle's nest with life-sized eaglets and life-sized rubber eggs.
























Perhaps her favorite activity was a water area. She didn't really care about the actual activities, but loved using the watering can to take the water from the lake area and dump it into the water erosion area. What fun!
























Miriam was plumb worn out when it was time to go. Here she is with Kelsey, Nana, and Papa on the way to the car. She's in a stroller, despite the wheelchair look, holding tightly onto her fries. Oh she loves fries! She's an Idaho girl at heart.

Self-Sufficient

Our evening routine includes a bath, some quiet playtime, then a bottle to take to bed. Lately, Miriam has been choosing to take her bath in the sink rather than the tub. This is fine with me because if I'm watching the bath I can clean up the kitchen while she plays. The other day I was sweeping I realized things were pretty quiet so I looked to see what she was doing. Apparantly she was ready to go on to the next steps of the routine because she had crawled out of the bath side of the sink and was sitting in the dry side closest to the clean dishes. She had selected a newly cleaned bottle, filled it up with tap water, and twisted a nipple on it tight enough to keep at least some of the water in. I think she's already learned that if mom won't do something for you, sometimes it's easier just to do it yourself!

Portland

Miriam and I spent a quick weekend in Portland, Oregon to attend and celebrate my brother Nathan's sealing to my sister-in-law Penny. We flew out Thursday and back in Saturday and had a fantastic time. All of my siblings were there with their kids and although it got a bit hectic at times, it was wonderful. Miriam had so much fun with her cousins! She has identified them through pictures for a long time, but it was so nice to see that she knows which name goes with which cousin in real life. And still does... a few of Henry's toys got mixed up in our Potato Head bag, and when Miriam comes across one of them she'll pick it up and say "En-y, En-y," and walk around like she's looking for Henry. And it was so nice to be at the Portland Temple with my parents and all of my siblings. What an amazing moment in time! Throughout the weekend and especially at the temple, Miriam's oldest cousin Malone watched out for her. And she loved him for it. Below are pictures of Miriam with Henry in their carseats, and Miriam holding Malone's hand on the way into the temple. Mom, I think I left her new magenta sweater in your purse. I hope so, at least, because it didn't make it back to Midvale with us. We had a wonderful time and I am so glad that I was there.

General Conference Peanut Butter Cups

Just in time for General Conference this weekend, here is one of my all-time favorite email forwards. It makes me laugh right out loud. Whoever wrote this initially certainly had an insight on how these men would talk about their Reese's experiences.

How General Authorities Eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Paul H. Dunn: "I remember back in WWII that I ate a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Back then, they were big enough to live on for a week. Being the only soldier to have survived the battle in my brigade, I really didn't know if I could eat it or not, but I remember my fallen buddy's words as he died in my arms: "Paul, if you just take one bite at a time you can tackle anything." So I took that giant cup and, breaking it with the bat Babe Ruth gave me after I struck him out with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game of the World Series, proceeded to wolf down the tiny morsels."

David B. Haight: "Imagine 70 years ago on a rough road between Idaho and Logan. There were no Circle K's, no 7- 11's. You had to bring your Peanut Butter Cups with you. Ruby and I split one for the first time in 1937."

Dallin H. Oaks: "The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup challenges us to consume. From the beginning there have been three steps in eating a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. First, remove the wrapper. This is best done quickly, by turning the cup over, grasping the outer fold and pulling away from the bottom. Second..."

Joseph B. Wirthlin: "When I was young I would sprint to the corner store, buy a Reese's and run my hand through my hair before taking it down in one bite. These days I don't sprint, and I have no hair, but the peanut butter cup remains."

Richard G. Scott: "If you have not eaten a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, I plead with you. Eat one now. Enjoy the chocolate, the peanut butter. Do not delay. If you have thought, "That's not for me," I plead with you to reconsider. Of all foods I treasure, this one was the first."

M. Russell Ballard: "The time has come when members of the church need to reach out to our friends and share a cup, a peanut butter cup. It is not enough to raise a chocolate bar, it must now have peanut butter."

Thomas S. Monson: "I remember I ate my first Reese's Peanut Butter Cup when I was a tender lad of eight. My mother came up to me, and with a loving twinkle in her eye, asked, 'Tommy, are you eating a Reese's?' I invariably smiled up to her, 'Yes, Yes, I am.' 'But Tommy, did you know that Sister Jensen next door hasn't eaten a Reese's Cup in years?' My young mind thought upon the plight of my neighbor. Tears were shed. Hearts were gladdened. A cup was shared."

Boyd K. Packer: "In all my years, I have always eaten my Reese's Peanut Butter Cups the same way - the established way we have been instructed to eat them. There is a far greater evil in this world - those who believe they can eat their cups in a way unconventional to the time-honored manner. We must be true and faithful and eat our Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the customary and recognized approach as it has been established."

Neal A. Maxwell: "I intentionally initiate the delicious design of deglutition of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup by nibbling a negligible nit of the culinary creamy cavalcade. It is exclusively through small entities that the great things are fabricated."

J. Golden Kimball: "Hell, Heber, I'll eat a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup any damned way I want!"

Happy getting-ready-for-conference week!

IT'S A BOY!

Our little new addition due in February is a boy! I remember when we found out Miriam was a girl I was kind of in shock thinking "Girl? How am I ever going to deal with a girl?!?" And now come to think of it, when I got my mission call, I remember thinking "Chile? I have to go to Chile?" At this point, there is a part of me that is still kind of in shock thinking "Boy? What are we going to do with a boy?!?" But there is another part of me thinking "HOORAY!" We're quite excited. He was so cute during the ultrasound! He kept putting his hands in his mouth and over his face. It looked like he couldn't decide between peek-a-boo and finger-licking. For this picture he chose finger-licking. All of his organs and appendages are where they are supposed to be and have all the parts and sizes that they are supposed to have. The ultrasound lady commented more than once on how big his feet are. We are good feet-makers: Miriam was born with noteworthy-long feet and toes, and still has them. She also has a deep and innate love for her feet and anything that goes on them (shoes, socks, and toenail polish). These things might be connected. Either way, this little boy is already ready to fill big shoes :). Take another gander at him. Isn't he absolutely perfect?!?

Free Ice Cream

On Thursday, you can be part of the WORLD'S LARGEST ICE CREAM SOCIAL! Doesn't it sound like fun? Go to your local Cold Stone Creamery from 3-5pm for a free 3oz ice cream creation. Go to their website for more details.

Phone Photos

About a year ago, I got a phone that takes pictures. A little late to the scene, but still pretty cool. I finally sent them all to my sister Erin who in turn sent them to my email (because she, unlike me, knows how to do that) so I now have them on my computer. Technology is truly amazing. Here are some of my favorites phone photos through the year.


This is when Miriam first started to walk. We had a dinner party at the church and afterwards, all the kids were racing back and forth across the gym. Miriam was amazed, and before whe took of to race after them, she just stood there and pointed. Oh, she wanted so badly to be a part of the crowd! She took off and ran and ran and ran. She was usually a full lap behind the others, but they were nice to her anyway. I personally like the way that she's looping her thumbs through her belt loop with her little Budah Belly hangin' over the buckle.











This is at the music portion of her library class at Sandy. She was so excited to shake the shakers and ran over to show me that she had two. This is moments before another kid hit her in the head with his bells. She reacted well, though, and just told him that she's tough and he can't hurt her. I was just glad it was the other kid that hit and not mine.














"Here Comes the Sun!" This is one of the first spring-feeling days. We went to the park and Miriam was so happy to not be cooped up inside or freezing outside. She just ran and ran, feeling the wind and the sun on her face.

















Proof that we finally found a teeter-totter! At the time, we balanced best with Brent on one side, and Miriam sitting behind me on the other. It took us a while to figure that out, and who knows how it would work out now.















Miriam has always loved tomatoes. This is one day when she didn't want anything I offered her for lunch (okay, so that happens a lot). Then we got the cherry tomatoes out and it was EXACTLY what she wanted. Oh what a happy girl! Please note the pictures of all the Levanger Cousins on the board behind her.














This summer, we went to quite a few outdoor potluck gatherings. Miriam was fascinated by the idea of just pulling whatever food off the table she wanted. Potato chips were her favorite until she discovered the juice dispensers. She would fill up her cup, sit right down in the gutter in front of the cooler to drink it no matter how many people were standing in line behind her, then go do it all again.

Ride 'em, Cowgirl!

I wanted to walk to the day old bread store which is just a block from our house. I asked Miriam if she wanted to go in the stroller or the bike. She said that she wanted to ride her horsey. And bless her sweet little heart, she rode the horsey all the way there. It's only a block but that's a long way for those little legs. She loved it. Then she showed everybody in the store her horsey. They thought she was pretty cute. And they were right. Even cuter because I hadn't washed off the blue m&m that was all over her face. As we checked out, however, the cashier lady gave her a cupcake, so lucky mama got to carry the horse home. No complaints from the cowgirl, though, as long as she kept getting her bits of chocolate cupcake each time she asked "more please!"

Feliz Diesiocho!

September 18th, or el Diesiocho de Septiembre, is Chilean Independence Day. In my experience, it is one of the holidays more celebrated than others by the Chilean people. I entered the MTC on September 17th, and so have two days back to back where I find my thoughts meandering to Chile and my experiences as a missionary. Usually I make completos for dinner on el diesiocho, but I didn't get to it yesterday. It was a busy day and I kind of felt a little sad for not doing something Chilean to honor the day. Still, I must have thought about Chile more than I thought I did because I dreamt last night that on one of my yw activities (I'm in charge of the Beehives, the 12-13 year old girls), we somehow ended up in Chile. It was an accident but I took the girls around showing them places I had been and telling them about my companions, my Chilean friends, and the food and candy that I liked. The other leaders were kind of freaked out, as well they should have been, but I just mingled and chatted and felt right at home. Because I felt so recently Chilean when I woke up, I have had a lot of mission thoughts today. The most important one, though, is who I have become because of that experience, the sure knowledge I have that my Savior will help me through the things that I just plain can't do. That is the part of the atonement (just to show how dang Chilean I'm thinking now, I had to pause before I wrote 'the atonement' because the only word that came to mind was the Spanish 'la expiacion') that I feel the closest too. There are things that are so important to me that I want to do right. But this life is way too hard to do everything right. But I can turn my life over to Christ and when I get to the end of what I can do, he will guide my steps. And this I know. HAPPY DIESIOCHO DE SEPTIEMBRE!

Patriot Day

Miriam likes flags. For a while, I tried to figure out if her definition of "flag" was the American stars and stripes, or if it was any flag that waves. My answer came when she showed me a tiny "printed in the USA" insignia of a flag on one of her books. That and she never pointed out the flower and bug flags that wave around the neighborhood. At the same time, she has her little yellow flag that she likes to wave and she calls that "flag." Anyway, she loved the Healing Field in Sandy this year. As soon as we drove into view, she stared out the window saying "flag... flag... flag..." She ran around and around, amazed at how many flags there were. She lifted the flagpoles off their bars to see how they were standing up. She twirled herself around in the flags, loving being surrounded by the flags. She ran as fast as she could through the flags. She pointed at flags everywhere she looked. When we were done healing, we drove off and she again just gazed at the field. "Flag... flag... flag..."

Little Mama

The other day, Miriam took her baby doll in the bath with her. She helped the baby bounce on her big rubber ball, one of Miriam's favorite bathtime activities. She would stop bouncing and make the baby sign "more" before she started it again. Just like mom and dad wait for her to ask "more" before starting something she likes. She then gave the baby a high five to the baby's sprawled out hand and gave her knuckles to the hand fisted up to suck her thumb. It was absolutely adorable. But I am definately going to have to watch what I do with her because it seems she is going to be a mirror for me.

Things I Love #3: Links the Cat

I absolutely love my Microsoft Office Assistant, Links the cat. I think he is completely adorable and I love having him in the corner of my screen keeping me company. The first Microsoft Assistant I ever was acquainted with was Clippit the Paperclip, and the first time I ever heard about him was in a letter from my sister Erin. In the letter, she said she started writing and a little paper-clippy guy with big eyes popped up and said "it looks like you're writing a letter... can I help?" When I first read it, I pictured a geeky computer lab assistant with googly eyes peering over people's shoulders and wondered why she was so excited about something that was kind of creepy. But when I read on, I realized my error. When I started spending time with Microsoft Office writing papers of my own, I always like having Clippit pop up and watch what I was doing. But his antics did get old after a while. Which made me look to see what other Assistants there were. That was when I first met Links. He is, like I said before, absolutely adorable. He purrs and meows and sleeps and prounces around just like a real cat but much less annoying because he doesn't block the keyboard or try to get you to pet him when you're trying to type. Miriam likes him too. If she comes in when I'm working with something on Word or Excel, she points and says "KITTY!" We then go through all of his animations and meow along with him. Yes, I could go without an Assistant and just hit "help" when I need help, but it's really not the help that I'm looking for. It is the companionship and humor that I most appreciate. If I don't close the Microsoft applications, then Links hangs out when I write emails or do searches on the internet. While I've never kept them open purposefully for this, I do like his companionship at this time too. And when I close the applications, he leaps into the background until the next time I am ready to spend some quality time with him. Now that I'm writing this, it sounds like I'm in desperate need of interaction as displayed by my idolization of the graphic of a cat. But I prefer to think of it as enjoying the small things in life. If you've never tried an Office Assistant or are tired of Clippit, I highly suggest you meet my good friend Links. He won't let you down!

Fashionista

Lately, Miriam has been more and more aware of what she is wearing and what pictures and decals it might have on it. Along with this comes a more passionate desire to choose what she wears. Usually I offer her a choice between complete outfits so we don't have anything terribly crazy. But that could only last for so long. Yesterday while we were getting ready to go to Wheeler Farm for an afternoon activity, her purple pants had sat in something and had to be changed. While we were at her closet, she grabbed her favorite skirt, a pink gingham pattern with a tiny little Elmo tag on the side. She wasn't about to not wear it. At the same time, she did NOT want to take off her yellow shirt with the purple flowers. Purple, pink, and blue are the three colors she can identify with a pretty good percentage so she knew I knew what she was talking about. I finally gave in and let her wear pink gingham with purple flowers, along with her favorite hat, thinking that the whole ensemble might detract from the red road rash she currently sports on her cheek, her ear, and down her neck. No, it not poorly applied blush. I am still in control of that, at least. I should have realized it really wouldn't have mattered. After her wade in the ditch turned into a sit down, she stood up and declared "WET!" So the mismatched outfit came off, but she enthusiastically opted to keep the hat. She loves hats and any time she sees somebody wearing one, she shouts "HAT!" But I shouldn't have been surprised at how well she pulled the entire look off. This little chica just might be rewriting the fashion code.

Anything Can Happen!

While I was working at Jordan Valley, I came up with a lot of fun groups combining music, books, movement, whatever. Every once in a while, I'd do one of the groups with a bunch of normal kids and had a lot of fun with it. I always thought "gosh, if I could find a place I could do one or two fun groups a week and nothing else for a decent pay, I would totally go for it." Fast forward to last summer when Miriam was getting big enough to take places without a valid and real fear that she'd completely melt down. I started checking out the library programming that they had for kids. I went to the Whitmore Library in Cottonwood Heights, the Sandy Library in Sandy, the Murray Library in Murray, and the Tyler Library right here in Midvale. Most of the groups were fine. Some were even good. But the professional eye in me always thought "oh, I would have done this," and "I would say that..." And part of me really wanted to lead a group so that Miriam could attend a group done to her mother's professional standards. So I asked Kami, my friendly local librarian, about their special programming. She said to write up a proposal and to send it to her. She said she thought the going rate is $50 for an 45 minute-ish group. So I wrote up a proposal that had several different ideas about groups I could do with a bunch of kids combining music, books, movement, etc, entitled it "Anything Can Happen!" and emailed it to her. She promptly emailed me back and asked if I would like to do this througout the county library system or just at Midvale's Tyler Library. I thought she loved my idea and wanted to spread me around, so told her that I would love to go throughout the system. "In that case, you need to send it to this other lady..." Sigh. So I sent it to the other lady. About two weeks later, I got a phone call from her saying that she'd love to talk to me about special programming and could I call her back. This was in March, just before a trip to Boise. So I called her back. When I got back from Boise I called her back again. A month later I called her back again. After a while, I decided that she must have died without giving her phone pin to anybody and that my messages were just floating around the Salt Lake County Voice Mail system. That seemed to be the only logical explanation of why nobody had called me back. So I put the library group idea on the back burner and started something new. I did a little summer music class with some kids in the area. I did both theory stuff and fun things and quite enjoyed it. But when the class ended a few weeks ago, I didn't feel a great pull to start another yet. I did start thinking about my library proposal again and decided to figure out who the programming person was now that the one I had called was so assuredly dead. Yesterday I got a phone call from the original library programming lady. Imagine my joy to find she was not dead but instead alive and well enough to be working! She said she was working on December-February's special programming and had pulled a file with my proposal in it. She wanted to know if I was still interested in doing special programming at the library! Absolutely I am! So we chatted for a while and she is sending my "Anything Can Happen!" special programming out to the branches of the library so the local librarians can sign up for me to come do my dog and pony show for them. At the end of the month, she'll email me back with times that the libraries have requested and we'll go from there. I am so excited to see how this all comes together because in my mind it's the best of any possible worlds. I get to go do groups without having to commit more time than just the group time to the place of business. The people who attend the group get to attend for free. And more important than anything else, Miriam does in fact get to attend a group that is done to her mother's professional standards. When I get my schedule, I'll be sure and post it so I can have groupies that come just for me. I'm just glad that I wasn't doing it as a primary source of income. Job hunting is frustrating enough, but when they don't call you back for six months, it would be even more so unless you're like me and just taking life as it comes with a husband who is making enough to pay the bills. It just goes to show that if you just wait for long enough, that "Anything Can Happen!"

How does your garden grow?

This year in my garden, we planted a sqash plant, a cucumber plant, two round tomato plants, and a cherry tomato plant. We also planted some sunflowers from seed. The cucumber plant promptly died upon insertion into the ground, but the others have thrived. I've watched their flowers for the past month wondering when something was going to happen. And it finally did! Last night for dinner, we had squash and tomatoes with our rice and gravy. Tonight we just had squash and tomatoes, to heck with the rice and gravy. A cucumber would have tasted nice with it, but oh I love that fresh-from-the-vine taste. Pictured below is the first ripe tomato plucked from the vine. Miriam has been pulling off green ones for a while, but is always disappointed in the taste. As soon as she saw the nice ripe red one, she excitedly took a big bite, which is also pictured below. And there's a picture of a sunflower in the sun. Oh harvest time is so beautiful!

Sesame Street Again!

Sesame Street is broadcast on KUED (7) at 6am, which I believe is way too early to get up and watch tv. It is on KBYU (11) at 1pm which, ever since Miriam switched to one nap days most days, is out. So I have been a little sad at not having Sesame Street to watch. And Miriam misses it too. But lo and behold, it is on digital channel KUED 7.2 at 8am! That's a great time for television! Sesame Street has returned to Midvale! And because I have learned how to put on youtube videos, here is the one of Ben Stiller and Telly Monster singing the People in Your Neighborhood. I love it! I'm not sure what the little dancing music note at the bottom is all about, but the official "sesame street" version was unembeddable. So just deal with the dancing music note.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS! We have had a marvelous two weeks watching our good friends Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Dara Torres, Misty May-Traener, Jeremy Wariner, Sanya Richards, Asafa Powell, and so many others. We were amazed at Phelps' feats of glory, shocked as both USA mens and womens 100m medley track teams dropped the baton, and could tell that even to the untrained eye the Chinese divers were a lot better than everybody else put together. Last night we bid farewell to the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube, and Beijing as a whole. I always cry a bit when the flame goes out. But here's one good thing: I will be able to go to bed at night. For two weeks I've watched NBC til all hours not wanting to miss anything. In looking up Miriam's high fever last week on webmd.com, I noticed a new malady called "Olympic Exhaustion." They say that during major sporting events, and especially the olympics, lots and lots of people go with less sleep, contributing to less effectiveness at work and in life. As Bob Costas last night was lamenting about why can't the Olympics last longer, I thought that as much as I would love that, I couldn't survive it. As it is, I'm excited to go to bed on time tonight with no fear that I'm missing a major world event.

The Queen of Clean

First of all, let me assure you that Miriam is as filthy a girl as can be. A bath is required every evening and after most meals and snacks, although it usually is just a quick wipedown. The first thing I do after she goes down is marvel how messy things can get in such a short time. But other than being a very normal 18 month old little girl who is interested in absolutely everything, she also has a clean streak. It started when she was tiny. Very often, the only way we could get her to stop crying was by turning on the vacuum cleaner. It was instantly miraculous. After I got really tired of carrying her around while vacuuming, I just plugged it in by the rocking chair. We could turn it on and Miriam off as easy as pressing a button. I thought then she might grow up to be a lover of clean things. So far, I was right. She is fascinated with the potty. She knows that if she sits on it she gets potty candy (marshmallows), but in order to sit on it, she needs mom or dad's help. She can clean the potty though, all by herself. So often I'll hear splashes from the bathroom only to come in and see Miriam with the plunger or the toilet bowl cleaner, getting everything spic and span and wash washing it til it shines, a huge smile on her face. She also loves puting things away. Once her tin of crayons were on the bed in the office. They don't belong there, but that's where I had put them for some reason. She found them and brought them to the front room where we got them out and she colored. When it was time, I told her to put her crayons away. I saw her start putting crayons in the tin and I let her keep going by herself. After she was in bed, I gathered the few crayons that were left on the floor, but could not find the tin. I finally checked in the office and there it was on the bed right where she had found it. The lid wasn't on and there were crayons spilling out the side, but she had put her crayons away. It was so sweet I teared up right there. She loves to help washing the windows, she loves to wipe the table, she always helps dad with the kitty litter, and she knows to take her diapers and throw them in the garbage. If only I could get her to wash the guck away instead of just rubbing it in...

And for your viewing pleasure, you can push play and see how immediate and amazing the vacuum cleaner was for us. I love our Kirby!