Tales of a Shoebox Princess

Jim's eyes are much better. Much much better. I can see the whites of his eyes now, and there is only a little faint pink tint to them. He's feeling much better too. He still gets tired at the end of the day, but hopefully with the Thanksgiving break he'll get some rest. I'm trying to be philosophical about having nearly 48 hours of precious vacation time lost to an illness, but part of me is whiny and wants to go back to make up for lost time. I don't blame Jim at all, mind you. I'm glad his episode was temporary and not, like, Ebola. Next time, though, we will not take a red-eye flight, because Jim literally wound up with red eyes. I'm very grateful that there was help when I needed it, from the EMTs, the hospital staff, and the branch president and his wife from church down in Marathon. I'm glad that Jim was not hurt by the fall (I have myself to thank for that--pat on my own back there for being 2 feet away at the precise moment of the first attack...

I can. These were all taken by Jen of hawleyfocus (with the possible exception of the very last one). We like her photography skillz. We also like her. Under the olive tree bouquets Bride and bridesmaids Boys don't like to watch kissing The wedding party male contingent looking very manly He couldn't stop kissing her--and right in front of her parents! And his! Very happy! A bunch of people who showed up

This is a story from the wedding. It is 100% true. Most of you have probably heard the story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. Sunday morning of our Utah trip was spent slowly getting ready for church. Daylight Savings had kicked in so we were up early with plenty of time to spare before we had to head over to the Tanner Building on BYU campus for Paul's ordination in his priesthood class.  As we were getting ready, Jim grabbed the suit bag for the suit he brought, which he was going to wear both to church and to the wedding and reception. He bought the suit a few months before and had the pants tailored to fit. He unzipped the suitbag and eased the suit coat out. Then he reached in for the suit pants. But he couldn't find them.  "I think I left my pants in Minnesota," he said with a perplexed look on his face. He was so sure he had packed them.  No suit pants anywhere. All he could find were jeans. We still had an hour before we had to be at the church ...

Except we aren't old. Our friendship might be getting up there in years, but we aren't. Certainly not my friend, who does not look as old as we technically are. I knew Beth from my early years. We went to the same church and she was my age. She might younger than I in years, but I felt she was older and wiser, mostly because she had all older siblings and "knew" things that I didn't, I having been the oldest of my set of sibs with no one to tell me about how boys operated, what music is cool, or how to avoid being a dork. Even during the high school years (Beth went to a different school), in my eyes, Beth exuded cool. She would not agree with me, I'm fairly sure, but I didn't know that then. Teenagers are not known for effective communication skills, are they? How was Beth cool? Her hair. She had a wicked mane of blond hair that she could get to look really big. She laughs about her hairstyle then, but I still secretly love 80s big hair. She had aweso...

Jim and I had a mini vacation Friday and Saturday. We drove all the way up to Canada, but weren't able to cross the border. One of these days we have to get passports. We went to the edge of Voyager's National Park, but again, didn't go in. This time, lack of a boat and camping supplies kept us from entering. We saw childhood homes of two famous people during our trip--Judy Garland and Bob Dylan. The Dylan house is a regular residence where someone lives and we felt like we had to be secretive about taking a picture. Some pics from our trip: I allowed myself to be photographed. That way you know I'm a real person. Bob Dylan's childhood home. There was a street sign near it that said "Bob Dylan Drive." Other than that, there isn't any signage that this is the house. We looked it up on the internet and drove around until we found it. A giant inflatable loon on a lake in the city of Virginia. Why is it there? I don't know. Sculptur...

Paul is now gone. He's in his own apartment with three other guys. His cupboards are stocked with hand-me-down pots and pans, silverware, and plates. He has a new cheese grater to call his very own. He has college books and some obstacles to meet and clear (getting a job, and proving he has health insurance) on his own. On our way out to Provo, we stopped at Mt Rushmore. It's one of my favorite places in one of my favorite areas (the Black Hills). The last time Paul was at Mt Rushmore (which was about 10 years ago), it was fogged in, but this time, the clouds were kind enough to stay up in the sky and let Paul see the Presidents in stone. Paul didn't say much the entire ride out to UT, and we aren't sure if his reticence was nerves or just Paul being Paul-with-his-parents. Mostly he slept. I don't get how he can sleep so much. Most of the time while we were in Provo, Paul was at orientation activities. They were scheduled from 8:30 to 5 both days and some opti...

After the convention mixer on Friday night, Jim and I stayed overnight in Sioux Falls. Our kids are growing up and Paul was more than capable of being the man of the house for one night while we were away.  We didn't have to hurry home anymore than we had to hurry there. We met Jen and Mike for breakfast at the hotel in the morning. They were able to stay overnight because they have a compound apprentice (niece Morgan) on site for a bit and were able to utilize her as a babysitter. We drove up to see the Compound and have lunch with the Hawleys and Ms Smith. Since I was there last, Mike has added a calf, two pigs, several dozen pheasants, some guinea hens and a couple of barn cats. I had to see the new additions. I can't get enough of Mike's birds, and these pheasant babies are no exception. I had to dip my hand in the vat of peeping chicks and grab a couple. They are so cute. This is a post Morgan helped install. She dug the hole and helped insert the pole i...

A long time ago, there was a mom and two little girls. One night the mother called her girls into her bed and said she was going to read a book to them. The little girls thought this sounded like a nice way to end the day, especially because they both liked stories. The mother picked out the book "Little House in the Big Woods" and began to read. Every night, she would read one chapter, although sometimes, if the little girls begged enough, the mother would read a second chapter. The oldest girl sometimes tried to read ahead, but her mother wouldn't let her. Reading the Little House series of books became a nighttime ritual and no reading ahead was allowed.  The mother and the two daughters together read all the books in the Little House series, which fast became the girls' favorite books. After they finished all the books, the oldest girl read them again on her own, time and time again. She loved the pioneer setting, and liked to imagine herself as a fiesty tomboy ...

(Although I could post a lot about EJ's preparations) 1. Matt is home sick for the second day in a row, although he doesn't have a fever anymore. I'm keeping him home because last night at 10 p.m. his fever was 102, and I want to make sure it's gone for good. He's still looking a little peaky and he says he has a sore throat. 2. Jim took the day off work yesterday 3. so he could drive me to South Dakota 4. probably because he doesn't trust me to drive by myself 5. or maybe he was jealous that I get to do all kinds of driving when I have to go into the office. 6. While in South Dakota, I got to show off what little I know about my job to some people who have several years experience doing what I do. 7. But they brought cookies, so I was at ease. 8. Mike and I talked a lot during the visit from the other dental office (not to each other, mostly to the visitors) and the two PRE assistants didn't get a chance to get a word in. 9. One of the visitors co...

I have very limited time today because a) I'm teaching seminary in less than an hour, b) then I have to go to work, c) and make one more lasagna for the d) pasta dinner tonight that we are hosting here and my house and e) I have to still bake the 6 lasagnas that I made yesterday and f ) cut up several pineapples snf g) clean this messy house AND 7) I teach seminary tomorrow too. So time...not so much of it to be found around here (I might have left some extra time under the bed or something. I hope I can get my hands on it). But I have these pictures of the fall drive Jim and I took last Saturday and I like them and want to put them up on my cyber wall to show everybody. On our trip, we took a few minutes to explore a burned out restaurant. We wondered when it burned, and wondered why. After the burned out restaurant, I went closer to the beach (we were driving around Lake Mille Lacs) and snooped around an abandoned shack. while Jim strolled on the beach.  Then we dro...