Terminal

In "The Terminal," Tom Hanks plays a character who flies to the USA from some tiny East European country that has a coup while he is in the air. The country, and therefore his passport, is no longer recognized by the United States. He cannot enter the United States, nor can he board a plane to go back home. He is stuck at the airport, not being able to come or go. I can now empathize with him, at least a bit. This morning, I took my sister Kelsey and her friend Tessa to the airport to start their monthlong backpack-across-Europe adventure. Thinking that a walk around the airport would be more helpful to Miriam than just driving straight home, we went in with her while she checked her luggage. Miriam LOVED the moving sidewalks and we went back and forth on them while Kelsey took care of everything. Then we bid her farewell as she walked through the passenger-only gate. As we walked back towards the car, we stopped at the pre-pay for parking machine. I love using this machine because the first half hour of parking is free, and turning the parking stub in here rather than driving out to the pay area makes me feel like I get a few extra minutes to stay within the free time. But I could not find my parking stub. It was in no pocket, no purse, no nothing. Hmmm. It must still be in the car. So much for saving the few minutes by using the inside machine. We walked out to the car but, you guessed it, still no stub. Now, I consider myself to be an organized person who usually knows where things are. A place for everything and everything in its place. But perhaps not. I decided that with a little girl who was already pushing naptime, I'd just pay the fee and go home. So I drove out of the parking lot and to the pay area, where the lady who helped me said it is $45 for a lost ticket. I'm all for just paying the fee when it's my fault, but GOODNESS GRACIOUS $45 seemed a bit steep for my less-than-a-half-hour stay at Salt Lake International. She told me I could go back and look for it. So I tried to. I drove around and around and around but couldn't figure out how to get back to the airport. I couldn't find the parking garage. No matter how much I drove, I couldn't get anywhere but parking lots. Once you're in, they don't let you out. It was at this time also that I remembered that although I keep a ziploc of pretzels in the car for hard times, I had just yesterday taken it inside to refill and had not put it back. I also had just cleaned out the car, so there weren't even any old stale ones on the floor. Apparantly Miriam realized this too. She was not happy, to say the least. I called my other sister Erin for moral support and thankfully she was in a position to offer it. We finally parked in the Economy Lot (row 15C, to be precise), and walked to the shuttle. The shuttle was a hit. We sat by a little boy just older than Miriam and she was back on track. After a scenic trip through the Economy Lot, we finally arrived at the Delta terminal. Whew! We climbed off the shuttle and made our way back to the alcove we had played in so happily that morning. No stub. We looked up and down the moving sidewalks. No stub. We asked all of the travelers if they had seen a stub. No stub. I asked the guy sitting at the table giving travelers bags for their 3 oz liquid containers if there had been a stub turned in. No stub. He suggested to talk to one of the parking attendants. When I told him they wanted to charge me $45, he declared it ridiculous and went to go find an extra parking stub that he could validate with his employee card. At this point in time, Miriam discovered that the windows above the moving sidewalk had sills wide enough to walk on. Oh the joy! We spend the next 15 minutes walking up and down the window sills. Since she didn't walk as fast as the moving sidewalk, I walked backwards. As long as we're hanging, I might as well get a workout in. While we were doing this, I saw Heather Jacobs, a girl I had gone to high school with and hadn't seen since high school. She and her 2 year old daughter were headed back to their home in Arizona. We had a nice chat, but she hadn't seen any extra stubs. The friendly worker came back busted. He said he had tried to get an extra parking pass, but to get the machine to work, you have to have an actual car there. He said he'd tried a few things but eventually somebody told him it wouldn't work. I hope he doesn't get fired for it, because he ended up not being able to help us and if he's gonna get fired over doing something kind but possibly a bit shady, it would be nice if he could have actually helped somebody. Us. But to no avail. By this time I felt that I had been in that landing area for hours. I knew the travelers and the workers, yet I could go nowhere. We had no tickets to fly out of the airport. We had no parking stub to drive out of the airport. We were stuck. So stuck that $45 to be able to go home was looking better and better. There was still the glimmer of hope that that dang stub was stuck in some corner of the car. So we trucked down to the Economy Lot shuttle stop and Miriam explored the wooden waiting benches. We all filed onto the shuttle, welcomed by an extremely friendly shuttle driver. He gave so many tips and hints that I felt we were on a tour of the airport parking areas. Which would have been nice an hour before when I was navigating the parking lots. We finally made it to Shuttle Stop 7 and worked our way to row 15C. I decided to go through the car one last time as Miriam realized that she had to get back into her carseat. No stub in the jockey box, no stub in the consule. Miriam started to cry as I buckled her in. No stub under the car seat, no stub in the purse. This little girl is tired and not happy about our big adventure. I unzipped a pocket in my purse I had never seen before and still no stub, but glory hallelujah, there was a bag of fruit snacks! Miriam couldn't have been happier. Even if it would have been the stub. I resigned myself to our fate and drove to the pay area. I decided to look for another parking attendant, hoping to get one that could speak clearer English. The only other worker was a lady wearing a headcovering from India or a similar country. I took a deep breath and took a chance. I told her that I'd searched for the stub both in the terminal and in the car and it was nowhere to be found. Throughout this entire exchange, I was giving Miriam fruit snacks one at a time and hoping that we wouldn't run out. The lady said that a lost ticket was a $25 charge. Apparantly, the price dropped between the hours of 9 and 10:30. Lucky, lucky me! I gave her $25, along with my drivers licence information and telephone number, and felt like I'd gotten a steal of a deal. I gave the last fruit snack to Miriam as the parking arm gloriously arose. I was one of the Children of Israel walking through the Red Sea. I was Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego walking out of the fire unscathed. I was a monarch butterfly breaking free of the confining cocoon. Free at last, free at last! As I left, the lady told me that if I found the stub I could bring it and the receipt back and for a refund. So if anybody is at the airport and sees a loose parking stub floating around, take note. There could be a reward for any information leading to the recovery of a stub that may be worth up to $22.50, depending on how long our big airport adventure actually ended up taking!

Things I Love #2: Audiobooks

I love to read. I always have. When I walk into a library or a bookstore, I see hours and hours of adventure and discovery and understanding. I just imagine how wonderful curling up with one of those books would be. One of my favorite commercials right now is the one on PBS where the kids are all waiting at a train station and the destination board pops up places like "The Shire," "Narnia," and "Hogwarts," then the kid who climbs on the train gets his ticket stamped "Oz." While the the kid sits down in his seat, the train fades away and instead the kid is sitting in a gorgeous window seat reading a book. I get goosebumps every time. During the summers growing up, going to the library was one of my favorite after-chore activities. It just felt magical going into that building and coming out with hours and hours of entertainment. I used to limit myself to one novel a day because if I read more than that then I would run out of books before the next library day. Even now, as much as hiking is Brent's "Perfect Day," mine would be sitting on the couch in a clean house feeling caught up on my things with a great book that I haven't read yet. Wow. Once I grew up and didn't have as much time to sit down and read, I discovered books on CD. I used to have these in my car all the time going back and forth from Boise and when my work was taking me all across the valley. I sometimes would sit in the car in a parking lot trying to finish a chapter before I went in to get my groceries. But these days I don't drive much. If I do, I'm chatting with Miriam. And when she lays down for a nap, there are a lot of things I want to get done that I can't do with a book in my hands. Which is why I am so incredibly enraptured with books on CD on my ipod. Once Miriam is down, I pop in my earbuds and am instantly in another world. I listened to the entire series of Harry Potter (which is an amazing story that still brings tears to my eyes) as I washed Miriam's bottles a hundred times a day when she was tiny. I listened to Sheri Dew's wisdom as I cleaned the tub and the toilets. I listened to "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver and watched a family travel to Africa and was astounded how it affected the mother and four daughters so incredibly differently. I listened how Pi Patel survived a shipwreck and lived on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker in "Life of Pi" by Yan Martel while I swept and mopped the floors. I love it. Perhaps too much. As much as I used to crave cuddling down with a book, I now can't wait to push the earbuds in and hit play. I do find times where I have listened too much in a day and haven't had time to think and plan. So I try to keep it under control so it doesn't take over my life. But it is something I love. There are readers that are incredible (like Jim Dale, who reads the Harry Potter books), and some that are surprising (Kirby Heyborne of cheesy Mormon movie fame reads some of Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker series), and some that make me love the characters all the more (the reader of Life of Pi portrays Pi as absolutely adorable). There are also readers who are just average and make me wish I would have read the book myself and not have their voices tied together with the story. Oh well. But I love love love my books on ipod. Happy listening!

The Great Outdoors

While I've always enjoyed camping and hiking, it is definately not my favorite thing to do. I have never instigated a camping trip. Part of it is water... I like to be clean, or to at least be close enough to running water to know that I can be clean when I decide to be. I also hate mosquitoes and other flying bugs and the insane itching they leave behind. How I ever got Brent, to whom the ideal day is waking up in the mountains and never seeing another person, to marry me is a mystery. Maybe he didn't believe me that I didn't like it. Maybe he just couldn't fathom that I could possibly be telling the truth. However it happened, the best thing about being married to a man who loves the outdoors is that he knows where the short and easy yet still beautiful hikes are. We can leave the house at 4, drive up the canyon, have a great hike, and be back by 6. I love it. Really and honestly I do. I love how it's so much cooler, the sound of the river, the way the sun comes through the trees. And water tastes so great with the background of a pine smell. Yesterday we went on our first hike of the season. We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Mill B South. I certainly wasn't the one naming the trails. But despite the unfortunate name, it was gorgeous. Miriam did great in her pack, pointing to everything. About halfway, I asked to rest for a bit. Brent took the pack off and got Miriam out, but she wasn't ready for a rest. She immediately started hiking up the trail, and did a darn good job of it too. She loved how much mud and dirt and how many rocks and sticks there were. Her favorite part was coming across patches of snow. Her dad showed her how to scrape the top before putting it in her mouth to get the dirtiest parts off. She became a pro snow scraper. We did not finish the hike, but we decided that Miriam wouldn't have thought the pinnacle top was any better than the snow piles we already found. So we headed back down. The game then became getting dad's hat off his head on onto hers. She was really good at it. All in all it was a great time in the mountains and I'm glad to be in hiking season.

Basketball at its (Almost) Finest

After three and a half quarters of dismal basketball last night, the Jazz somehow turned things around and absolutely sparkled. They were down by 13 points at the quarter, 19 at the half, and 16 going into the fourth quarter. But the last four minutes of the game they played some fantastically glorious basketball. Really, it was the kind of basketball that made me glad to be a sports fan. Plays fell into place like magic, shots started falling like rain (five 3-pointers in the last 2:30), and Kobe Bryant, normally suave and unruffled, was flustered and frustrated. It was inspired ball. It was miraculous. It was the kind of play that makes me proud to be a Jazz fan. With a missed free throw by the Lakers, the Jazz were down only three points with 13 seconds left to play. Both Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams got good threes off, but neither sank. And the season was over. But here is why I feel so good about the game: they played like champs! At least in the waning minutes. If you don't make the Playoffs, it is considered a "rebuilding" year. Of the teams that do make the Playoffs, every team but one ends the season in a loss. If we had to lose, what a way to go out! Like absolute masters of the game! Deron Williams showed the world that he indeed is an All-Star, despite having been overlooked for the All-Star roster this year. Carlos Boozer had time to shake the "Playoff Blues" that had wrenched him all post season. C.J. Miles and Ronnie Price showed that they indeed belong in the NBA. The team as a whole crinked the Lakers' swagger, at least for a little bit. The Jazz indeed succeeded in their Playoff run. Plus, the Jazz are the youngest team in the NBA which bodes well for next year. And without sports, there would be no next year.

Brush with Greatness

We are an American Idol family, and our favorite episodes each season is when it's down to 3 contestants, and said contestants go to their respective home towns. When David Archuleta made it to Hollywood, I pictured what it would be like to have American Idol come to Murray. When he made it to the top 12, Brent imagined what Mayor Dan Snarr would say and do and wear. Each passing week, we got more and more excited about the visit to Murray. So when it actually happened, we were there. We took Trax to the Murray station and walked to the high school's football stadium. The excitement was rip-rollin' and hum-dingin'. It was all we had dreamed of and more. If you missed the episode last night, you missed seeing Brent, Miriam, and I amongst the throngs of adoring fans cheering wildly for Little David, as he is affectionately known. Here is a picture of (L-R) Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Coroon, David Archuleta, Miriam, and Brent. The Mayor and David are about 50 yards away, but it still counts as Miriam with a major celebrity. Two, in fact. Miriam doesn't seem thrilled, which makes me wonder if deep down she's a David Cook fan.

Fifteen Month Checkup

Miriam hit the 15 month mark a few weeks ago and she had her checkup today. She weighs 23.2 pounds (50th percentile), and is 32 inches tall (90th percentile). Her head size stayed the same and is now at the 25th percentile, so we may be raising a pinhead. But she's a cute pinhead! She is an amazing little girl. Here are just a few of her major accomplishments:

1. She can crawl, walk, and run, depending on where she wants to go and what she wants to do there.

2. She can go up and down stairs all by herself.

3. She can go down a slide all by herself.

4. She knows her animals: she moos when she sees a cow, pants when she sees a dog, quacks when she sees a duck...

4. She knows her body parts. Some of them at least. She knows ears, hair, head, eyes, tongue, and usually nose. Once you ask her tongue, though, she has a hard time getting back on track.

5. She knows how to calm down and ask for something politely, using please.

6. She goes to bed at 7 and usually sleeps til 7 or later.

7. She takes 1-2 naps a day, and knows how to ask to go to bed. (Its usually just hanging on the side of the crib... still, it's an appropriate request!)

8. She eats pasta, cheese, green beans, black beans, carrots, corn, broccoli, hot dogs, pizza, pretzels, and goldfish.

9. She prefers water in her sippy cup and milk in her bottle.

10. She knows how to put things "in," and can put her toys and books away.

She is an amazing girl and I am thrilled to be her mom.

Mother's Day Centennial

In 1907 there was a push to create an official day to honor mothers. Then in 1908 the first "Mother's Day" services that continued annually until the present day were held. It took another six years for it to be made a national holiday by Congress, but we are now enjoying the Centennial of that first Mother's Day celebration. When I was in Boise last, my sister-in-law Penny saw a tab in the paper requesting stories of "When I Knew I Had Become My Mother." She showed it to everybody, hoping somebody would bite. I did. What can I say? I'm a sucker for sentimentality, especially when it comes to professing my love for my mom in a public setting. (I trust you all know me well enough to know that that prior statement was facetious, but yet there's an insecure part of me that is going to keep this disclaimer in here.) Anyway, I sent in a little ditty about my mom and it ran in the paper this morning! Not only that, but we got a full color picture on the cover of the Life section in the Idaho Statesman. Now how is that for famous? You can read the whole article here, although the picture isn't online. Either way, here is my portion:

SPECIAL DAY
When I was little, my mother loved birthdays. She didn't throw extravagant parties, but she made sure it was always a special day for me. She always told the story of the day I was born and showered me with loving attention. I loved it but figured that it was just what mom liked to do.
It wasn't until my own daughter had a birthday that I realized the magnitude a child's birthday has. As I told my daughter the story of the day she was born, I remembered how I felt when I first held this tiny person who would change my life. As I tried to tell her of the overwhelming love I have for her, I realized that my mom had tried to tell me the same thing.

And I dearly hope that when my daughter has a daughter of her own that she will know how much I always loved her.
Paige Moore, Midvale, Utah

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

The best thing in the world

is a gutter full of water.

We have real words!

Miriam has understood communication for a while now. She knows sign for "all done," "more," "water," and "please," and uses them correctly. She can follow verbal statements. She has specific sounds for dogs, cats, cows, jumping, and thank you. But over the past few weeks, there have been definate words develop. The things that are important enough to Miriam to label them with precise words are the following: Zeke (one of our cats), cheese, and shoes. Yes, shoes. She has always had a fascination with her feet, so a budding love of shoes really is no surprise. Plus, as the workers in shoe stores where Miriam really gets excited, she's a girl! Her Aunt Erin, a shoe lover first and speech pathologist second, is prouder than anybody over both the word development and the word choice.

Some updates...

Friday's Sesame Street episode was the one featuring Ben Stiller singing "These Are the People in Your Neighborhood" with Telly. Instead of the milk man, it was the cable guy as the second person in the neighborhood. My bad. Still, it was an impressive and quite enjoyable sketch.

We DID finally get my car's hood open. It took a home teacher, two missionaries, and Brent's dad's inch-based socket wrench before we found out that the bolts we needed to undo were metric based. After that, it merely took one neighbor only about a half hour before it gloriously popped up. We promptly jumped it and took it to the auto body shop where they fixed the hood latch. I think, at least. I haven't popped it yet because if it still doesn't work, I'll have to do something else with it and I'm not up for that right now.

The Jazz finally beat the Rockets in the first round. Game 6 was last night and they won resoundingly. Whew! They will go on to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round, whose first game is in LA tomorrow afternoon. It starts about the same time Sunday School does, so we're going to record it and watch it later.

I spent some time tonight improving the Midvale Arts site. I learned how to upload images and post them, and how to change the "favicon," the little colored thingamajig on the tab top and the address bar. It's really the little things that make a difference.

I think that brings you up to date on my thoughts... Aren't you so lucky?!?

We Also Sing!

For the past two years, I have sung with a choir called "We Also Sing!" It is comprised of 364 women from Logan to Ephraim. That's a ton of women, both literally and figuratively, but we perform our concerts in the Tabernacle and that's how many choir seats there are, so that's how many women we have. I know it's cheesy, but I love singing in this choir. Merrilee Webb is the conductor and she is absolutely amazing. For those who saw, she conducted the YW choir for the General YW broadcast this year. I know that those girls had an amazing experience. I love how Merrilee instills emotion and excitement to her choirs. They sing with happiness on their faces and I know it is also in their hearts. I also love how she weaves life lessons throughout the rehearsals. I leave rehearsals wanting to be a better person. I have tried to do this with my private piano students also. Yes, it's a women's choir, yes, it's sometimes cheesy, yes, it's sometimes a pain to drag yourself to rehearsal on Sunday nights, but I feel it is so worth it. I would like to extend an invitation to any women who would like to join so that you can experience the joy! This is honestly a choir that you will look forward to rehearsing with. Plus you'd be able to be with ME! And 363 of my closest friends, of course. Rehearsals start in late August on Thursday nights for six weeks, then switch to Sunday nights for the next five. There are two concerts in the Salt Lake Tabernacle on Saturday, November 5th. You can read more about it by clicking here to read the choir blog. (Are you impressed with my link-embedding skills? I just learned how to do it and am quite proud of myself.) And if you want to talk to me about it (the choir or the link-embedding), just call or email me. This is a picture of me climbing the stairs up to the tabernacle choir loft for last year's concert. Can't you see how much fun I'm having?!

Things I Love #1: Sesame Street

I grew up on Sesame Street and watching it with Miriam makes me feel like the circle is complete. I loved it as a child. As an adult, it is almost even better. They still have The Letter of the Day, The Number of the Day, Fairy Tale Breaking News, Hooper's Store, and Trash Gordon. They've added Rosita with the Spanish Word of the Day, Elmo and Elmo's World, and Abby Cadabby, one of the cutest little fairies in training I've ever seen. One of my favorite things about Sesame Street is the special celebrity appearances. Ben Stiller was on the "People in my Neighborhood" segment with Telly. After singing the song about the mail lady and the milk man, he dressed up as a piece of cheese and sang about how cheese is a person in your neighborhood. Then decided that wasn't a good idea when the mail lady and the milk man came back hungry and saw a hunk of cheddar. The Dixie Chicks sang "There's No Letter Better than B" to the tune of "I Can Love You Better Than That" with Big Bird, Bert, and Baby Bear. The letter of the day that day was "B." Anderson Cooper, the CNN reporter, joined Oscar's GNN (Grouch News Network) crew. Alicia Keys sang and danced with Elmo, Alison Kraus and Union Station sang and counted with the Count, and Travis Tritt actually appeared in Elmo's World. Rachael Ray, Robert DiNiro, Gloria Estefan, Diana Krall, Dr. Phil, Ann Curry, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Al Roker have all appeared in various silly situations with our favorite monsters of Sesame Street. I also love the celebrities appearing in monster form. Donald Grump showed up one day looking for a trash apprentice, Dr. Feel stepped in for a self-help show, and Dan Rather-Not said he'd rather not answer any questions. With Sesame Street it really is a sunny day, chasing the clouds away. I feel that I'm on my way to where the air is sweet. Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

The New and Improved "After" Shot

When Brent realized I was serious about feeling like a punkrocker, he gave me his tip on keeping hair down from the days that he had hair longer than it is now. He said he always put on a baseball hat right after his shower and let it dry smashed down. Well, I did it and it works. No more punk look for me! HOORAY! I can honestly say that today I have felt cute and peppy and trendy. Thanks for the tip, Brent! I love this haircut!

The First Cut is the Deepest

About a month ago, I was watching the show "What Not to Wear," which I love (and since I don't have cable the only time I see it is when I visit Boise, but that's another topic). Anyway, Nick Arrojo, the hair guru, cut a girl's hair really really short. I have always looked at girls with short hair and thought "gosh, that's cute, I wish I could do it..." This time, I thought "gosh, that's cute, maybe I should do it." The more I thought about it, the more I decided that now was my time for short hair. Last week I went in to my haircutting lady armed with pictures of short haircuts that tickled my fancy. Two and a half hours (spread over two days) and twelve inches later, I have a brand new look. Here is the breakdown of pros and cons that I see with my new sassy cut.

Pro: I love that it is different than anything I've done before. Especially now that I'm a mom, I don't want to get caught in a hair rut, and this is anything but.

Con: I don't want a "mom" cut. But I don't think it is. And the more I get used to fixing it the more stylish it will be.

Pro: I love that I can lean back on the couch and not have a ponytail (or bun or braid or kukabunny) lump crinking my neck.

Con: When I can't get it to look right, I can't put in a ponytail (or bun or braid or kukabunny).

Pro: I love how chunky and textured the back and bottom of it is.

Big Con: I feel that the top is too short and almost punk-rocker-ish.

Pro: With short hair, I only have to wait a month or so for it to grow out to a doable length, as opposed to the cuts that I have to wait six months for them to do so. In fact, I think a huge pro is that if I try something and cut it a way that didn't work quite how I thought it should, it won't take that long for it to be long enough to go back and try it again.

Pro: I love it how a little fringe comes out the bottom and sides of hats, which is perfect for the spring and summer. And when I can't get the top to lay down.

Con: With my hair short, I find that I actually have "bear hair," the kind of hair that is kind of puffy and separated and looks like it would repel water.

Pro: Jeff Hornacek has bear hair, so it can't be all bad.

Pro: With a little product, I can texturize the bear-y-ness.

Con: Even with product it still is pretty puffy, just a texturized puffy that leans towards the previously described punk-rocker look.

Pro: Brent loves it. He has always said he liked my hair, but I have never gotten so many non-requested sincere complements on my hair from him.

Pro: It is fun to be one who is "brave enough" to cut my hair. This is the most common comment from other women. And I like it.

Con: When I look in the mirror, it doesn't look like me. It actually looks like pictures of my mom when I was a little girl. Which is good because she was a chic and stylish lady, but it doesn't look like what I picture myself to look like.

Pro: Again, I don't want to get stuck in a rut, so it's good to have a look that stretches me.

Pro: I really like the way it feels when I run my fingers through the back of it. I've frequently noticed how women with short hair always play with and ruffle their hair. Now I know why.

So all in all, I love the new haircut. Yes, I'm excited for the top to grow a bit and not be so spiky, and there will probably come a time where I go back to long hair. But I'm thrilled to be a short-hair girl for the time being.

And I know that the title of this post sounds a little dismal, but I don't mean it to be. That's just the song that has been in my head since she took that first cut and I think it's a pretty catchy opener...

Go Jazz Go!

I came home from my mission (nice segue from the last post, don't you think?) in March of 1999. That was the year where there was an NBA strike in the early portion of the season. To make up games, the Jazz were playing almost every night. Now I had always been a Jazz fan, but I hadn't ever before actively followed the team. I had never watched enough games to know all the players, to know what was going on in the season, and to sense the grandeur of the Playoffs and Finals. During this time, however, I went to an intensely lonely and mind-numbing job all day, and virtually every night returned home to a cozy Jazz game with chips and salsa and my good friends John Stockton, Karl Malone, Flyin' Bryon Russell, and Jeff Hornacek. My life was complete and happy. I at times lament the timing of my joining the Jazz fan base due to the fact that the two years immediately preceeding this, the Jazzmen took us to the Finals. But in reality it is better this way. In 1998 I was in Chile and would not have been a part of the action anyway. By not knowing how wonderful it was, I didn't realize how much I was giving up. ANYWAY, back to the Playoffs of '99. In the first round, the Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings in a nailbiter fifth game (back when the first round had only five games). Although we won, I developed a great dislike for the Kings and greasy East European players. The second round was against the Portland Trailblazers. After four games, it looked bleak for the Jazz, who were down 3-1. Then they won another game, making it 3-2 and breathing life back into the Finals dreams of Jazz fans everywhere. But it was not to be. The Jazz lost game 6, and the season was over. It was sad, sad, sad. But sadder still was the realization that came upon me in the days to follow. The only friends I had were the Jazz players. The only social life I had were the Jazz games. And with the Jazz out of the Playoffs, I was out of luck. It was a sad, sad, sad hit of reality. But every October they come back. John and Karl have moved on, but I have Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, Matt Harpring, and Kyle Korver (my favorite). And for those who don't know, after the past few rebuilding years, they've been doing absolutely fabulously this year. They finished 4th in the Western Conference and not many games behind first. They are currently playing the Houston Rockets in the first round. The first two games were in Houston, and our boys won them both! That means that the Jazz are headed home for the next two games and they are already two games up! And the Jazz have the best home-game record in the entire NBA! The winner of this series will go on to play the winner of the Lakers/Nuggets series (I think) in the Western Conference Semifinals. And the winner of that series will play in the Western Conference Finals. And the Western Conference champion will go on the play the Eastern Conference champion in the NBA Finals. If you want to be inspired by this team, go to http://www.utahjazz.com/ and watch the flash intro. If that doesn't get your heart pumping, I don't know what will. This is what dreams are made of. GO JAZZ GO!!!

The Tale of the Butterfly

A week and a half ago, Brent and I went to my mission reunion. It has been ten years since I served in the Chile Santiago West mission and about seven since I went to a reunion. But being there with the people I shared my mission with completely swept me back in time. During my time in Chile, I went from a girl who thought she knew quite a bit about life to a girl who felt she could do nothing to a girl who realized the magnificence of the truths she taught the Chileans and that they also applied to herself. I feel that much of who I am today was forged during that time. When it came time for me to go home, I was terribly excited and also so terribly nervous. I wondered if the person I had fought to become would survive the trip back into the real world. I shared my fears with my mission president, and he told me a cheesy story about how a butterfly never goes back to being a caterpiller. It was completely silly. The only analogy he could have shared that would have been more trite would have been the ugly duckling. Even so, I believed him and I cried. As cliche as it was, I felt like a butterfly and knew I would not revert again to a mere caterpiller. I felt at that moment that he understood me, knew me, and loved me and through him I experienced the all-encompassing love of my Heavenly Father. I feel like my entire mission built to that moment, when I turned to the future with a calm and peaceful heart, sure about myself and my testimony of Christ and His restored gospel. I have not kept in contact with President Hadfield. I knew he moved back to California after his mission years, but that's about it. I saw him at the reunion last week and felt a surprising gush of love for him and his wife. For the first time in a while, I thought of details of the mission years and noticed with pride the parts of me that exist because of them. I embraced both President and Sister Hadfield and again was thankful for what we shared. I am grateful for that experience. I got an email yesterday that President Hadfield passed away early Monday morning. Although I have not been close with him, I feel that a part of me is gone. My thoughts and prayers go out to Sister Hadfield and all of the Hadfield family. This is a picture taken on Saturday evening at his stake's prom. (A stake prom? What a gung-ho stake activities committee they must have!) I love it because Sister Hadfield is laughing and President is trying not to. I think it gives them a wonderful realness. I will miss President John C. Hadfield and am honored to be one of his missionaries.

Swing into Spring

Since the snow melted, we have been hitting the parks many afternoons and most weekends when we don't have to be elsewhere. A lot of what we do is scouting out what Miriam likes because the last time it was warm enough to be outside for long periods of time, she wasn't walking yet. And a walking child has much different park needs than a non-walking child. We have found that our favorite slides are at the public schools. They tend to be slower and Miriam can actually go down all by herself. It's adorable... she puts her little hand on the side and grins as she slowly twirls to the bottom. After trying most of the parks in Midvale, we still couldn't find swings or a teeter totter. So today we ventured to Murray Park to see what we could see. Their slides were slickity fast, but they had a lot of variety of other playground events, including climbing walls and crazy twirly pods. But they did have swings, and the swings were a huge hit with Miriam. She initially had the "I'm-not-really-sure-what's-happening" look, but when we took her out of the swing, she ran back to it and each time I stopped the swing, she signed "more." So we swang and swinged and swung all morning long. She swung while we watched a family get ready for their family pictures. She swang while the park lady picked up all of the garbage. She swinged until we simply got tired of pushing her and the only way we got her away from the swings without a breakdown was by putting her on dad's shoulders. Murray Park was a hit. It's a little sentimental because that is where Brent and I had our Utah wedding reception. Ah, those were the days. But we are still in search of a teeter totter. Do they exist any more?

A Great Paradox

Monday morning, Miriam and I went to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy with Claudia and Myelle and family. It was fantastic. Afterwards it was dark and rainy, so I turned on my headlights. When I got home, I was so focused on a very tired little girl who is transitioning to one nap a day that I forgot to turn off the headlights. So it came as no surprise that when we got into the car to go to the library that afternoon that the car did not start. No problem. We'll go to the library another day. When Brent got home, we went back out to jump the car but the hood did not pop open. The cable that opens the hood seems to be broken somewhere between the lever to pop it open and the latch that pops. So what I have is a car that needs to be taken in to get the hood fixed but before we can take it in, we need to get the hood open so we can jump it, but before we can jump it, we need to take it in to get the hood open...

First Haircut

Miriam has beautiful strawberry blonde hair that was getting so long that not only were her ponytails drooping, but her hair was constantly getting into her eyes. Consequently, she had her first trim this weekend. Aunt Kelsey, Miriam's fashion consultant, did the honors. She took a bit off the back to create a short bob and added a little fringe in the front for some bangs. We love it because it is such a fresh Spring look. It's absolutely adorable, although we had a hard time getting a complete "after" picture. The great cut just makes her feel so free that she can't sit still!

My Favorite Things #2

Thing number two in my "My Favorite Things" series is a website called "The Cosmetics Cop" by a company called "Paula's Choice." A lady named Paula Begoun has studied, analyzed, tested, and critiqued thousands of skin care and makeup products as well as their ingredients. She then rates the product as to whether it works according to its claims, whether there is an ingredient that will actually hurt your skin, and whether it's priced too high for what it does. You can go to her site and look up what her diagnosis is for most makeups and skin care products. She also has her own line of makeup and skin care products. I use and love her daily cleaner, her moisturizer with sunscreen, and her extra strength blemish fighing solution. I don't always agree with her (she doesn't rate my eyeliner pencil very high, but I can't find another I like better). But I always check what she has to say about certain companies or products before I make a purchase. You can read what she has to say at cosmeticscop.com. Empower yourself!

14 Months Old!

14 months ago, Miriam joined us and our lives have never been the same since. To celebrate, here are some more things I absolutely love about Miriam:

1. How ladylike she is. When she sits she almost always crosses her legs at the ankle. So dainty!

2. Her three freckles. She has two on her right shin and one on her lower back. There are other places I think are getting them but they're not dark enough to be official yet.

3. Her ever-increasing-in-difficulty dance techniques. Today she started twirling. She was glued to the BYU International Dance Show on tv. She stayed focused on it longer than she even does during Elmo's World. After a while, she stood and spun, laughed, clapped, and spun again. Then repeated it a whole bunch of times.

4. How she loves her sippy cups.

5. How she loves reading her books.

6. How she says "thank you." Almost each time I give her something she responds by saying "doo doo" with a descending minor third tonality. What an amazing girl!

7. How she gives hugs and kisses.

8. That she is oblivious to her crazy hair.

9. JUST THAT SHE IS MIRIAM!

March Madness

Another great thing about springtime is the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I don't know of anything that causes more adrenaline and excitement. Who can forget the first round overtime victory of Utah State over Ohio State in March of 2001? I was in St. George, Utah at Applebee's watching that game. Brent tells me he was at Grandpa Moore's house. And what about the time that Chris Webber called a timeout in the waning seconds but his team didn't have a timeout and he ended up getting a technical called on him and the game slipped away. I'm glad he went on to have an amazing professional career. A lesser man would have been driven insane. And the brackets! There is nothing better than taking a highlighter to the brackets after a good day of great games. My brackets are never very close to right, but it is all for the love of the game and perchance a bit of glory. The greatest sadness during the weeks of March Madness is the letdown after four solid days of games when you know that you have to live through Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before the action starts up again. Apparantly little Mim feels the same way. Today we went to Savers to scout out some deals. Miriam likes to play in the toy area there and it is usually tough to get her out of it. Today she played like normal with all of the dolls and the stuffed animals and the things with buttons. Then she picked up a full sized basketball, smiled right at me, and proudly walked out of the toy area and towards the front of the store holding the ball the entire way. I think we have a player on our hands. Or at least a March Madness fan.

Happy Easter!

Easter is one of my all-time favorite holidays. It is in the springtime, when everything outside is fresh and new. I love the baby ducks and sheep and chicks and bunnies that are showcased. The pink and blue and purple pastel shades are bright and happy. I love seeing everybody at church bedecked in their finest spring fashions. Singing the Easter hymns brings me such excitement and joy. Plus you can't beat a good Easter ham.

This is the time that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, and everything about the Easter season points to that amazing and thrilling event. The new plants and animals give us hope for a new life. The hunting for eggs and baskets embodies our continual search for Christ. The bright colors symbolize the brightness of hope.

The Moore family had a fine Easter. Miriam caught on to finding and gathering eggs right away, although was disappointed that hardboiled eggs don't bounce. We looked for the baskets and read the resurrection story from our family Bible. Mim wore her new blue Easter dress to church and got many comments on how the color matches her eyes perfectly. After church we had Grandma and Grandpa Moore and Darrell & Amanda over for an Easter Feaster where we had the classic Easter ham and scolloped potatoes. And deviled eggs, of course. All in all, it was a perfect Easter.

Spring Break

What a fabulous vacation we had! Miriam and I spent the last week in Boise. It was wonderful to spend some time with my parents, and Miriam loved it. She learned that skooching down the stairs really is the most effective technic, that ice cream is better on a cone, and that signing "please" while standing next to Nana's M&M drawer really works. She loved spending time with her cousins Marsaela and Adelle, loved all the new places to find in a different house, and snuggling with Nana and Papa. She discovered the glories of the outside Boise world. The trampoline and the canal bank were both hits. We had a great time attending a party at Adelle's house, playing at the Burger King playground, and watching the Jazz games that we normally don't get to see. We also went shopping for a summer wardrobe for Miriam. It's a little stressful being the chief dresser of a cute little girl because if she looks dorky it is all my fault. Oh the pressure! Hopefully she won't be too terribly vocal about it when she grows up. Mim wasn't very happy on the trip to the airport this morning. Nana put in her John Denver CD, a favorite with the rest of the cousins, to cheer her up. After clapping and jigging to show her appreciation, Miriam put her blanket on her head. I'm not sure if it was because she wanted to block the sound out of her ears or if she was embarassed to be seen singing about "West Virginia, Mountain Mama." All in all it was a great vacation. But oh it's good to be back home again.

Practicing for Easter

Miriam and I are on our grand Spring Break vacation. We flew to Boise last Thursday and have been reveling on the homefront ever since. Brent, on the other hand, went to discover slot canyons in Eastern and Southern Utah. While he had fun, he also had cold nights and snow and arrived back in Midvale last night, two days ahead of his original plan. We have not had any snow here in Boise (although it did hail Saturday). It feels like Spring! Yesterday, Adelle (Miriam's 4 year old cousin) decided to sponser an Official Practice Easter Egg hunt. I'm glad, too, because Mim needs all the help she can get. She did good putting eggs into her basket. She also did good taking the eggs out of her basket and giving them to Papa, putting them in Marsaela's basket, or balancing them on her feet. She also enjoyed weaving the easter grass through her toes. We may be ready for Easter!