Gift of the Magi

So I have a friend.  She is a cool, round, older Mexican woman who speaks about as much English as I do Spanish.  She is very involved in her Spanish ward, and whenever we see each other, there is lots of smiling and hugging.  She is great at pantomiming and I can tell that she is spunky and kind.  Last week we were both washing dishes at a stake luncheon and she communicated to me that she really wanted to wash and take home all the hundreds of nice plastic plates that we were all throwing away.  So I grinned at her and we snuck out back and went dumpster diving (literally.. upsidedown, her giggling and holding my legs).  We rescued and then washed hundrds of plates and she was very pleased and grateful.
   Ffwd to last night and we see each other again at a Christmas Charity event where everyone brings their extra stuff and we take two days to organize it, set it up, and display it.  Fills the stake center with wonderful used things.  Then on Saturday, people who need it will come thru and take what they need/want.
   So basicly it is not time to take stuff yet, it is time to sort and organize it.  She and I are working near each other and she waves me over to the jewlery.  On the wall of jewlery, she points out a gaudy, purple, beaded necklace.  "Sooo beautiful!" she says, lovingly fingering it and looking for approval ("eh?  right?!").  I nod supportivly and act out "Can you come get it tomorrow?"  She indicated, with a pouty lip, that she had to work.
   So I got the idea to take it for her.  I was coming tomorrow, but they let in "high need" people first and it would be well picked over by the time I got in.  It didn't exactly feel like stealing.. but I felt the need to be sneaky when I shoved that loud purple necklace into my pocket.  My Beth Brain was already Wizard-of-Oz-Skipping down the mental path of how I would wrap it up and find her at church before Christmas and surprise her.  OOOh it would be so fun.

-- Long night/moving furniture/climbing into the back of trucks/unloading boxes/tie down straps--

I got home and pulled it out of my pocket and had a slow motion movie moment when the plastic purple beads bounced on the floor and scattered as they slipped off the broken necklace..

It was unfixable.  If I hadn't been so tired, I might have tried to recreate it, but I didn't.  I threw it in the trash.    A fitting end to my life of crime, really, but I would have liked to have seen her beautiful wrinkly face when she opened it.

Picnic, Moose.

It was a lovely day in Rocky Mountain National Park. The sun was shining and the aspen leaves were glittering gold in the breeze. Dad and Kathy were visiting Colorado and we'd decided to have a picnic for Dad's birthday, six of us seated around a picnic table on the creek bank. "Maybe I'll have just one more blackberry," I thought, lazily reaching across the table. When Lucy sat up straight on the other side of the table I wondered if she was going to fight me for it. I glanced at her and realized she wasn't interested in the blackberry. Instead she was staring behind me, her body frozen, her face a classic mask of 'there's something right behind you' horror.
I whipped around to see a gigantic bull moose emerge from the brush across the creek. His lady friend trotted off down the creek bed to graze, but he picked his way slowly towards us down the opposite bank, maybe 30 feet away. He had everyone's full attention. "Maybe we should back up a bit," someone suggested. As we were all sort of generally agreeing that might be a good idea, the moose shifted gears, surging up the near bank directly towards us in a burst of speed, snorting and shaking his giant head. We emptied that picnic table in zero seconds flat.

I raced for the car, pushing Theo ahead of me, expecting to feel hot moose nostrils on the back of my neck at any second. I'm sure enormous antler shadows fell across us as we fled. "Get in the car!" I screamed at Theo, who had stopped to look back. He pointed behind me at the table, where Lucy had decided to stand her ground and Grandpa Guy hovered, ready to moose wrestle if necessary. The moose stopped about 10 feet from the picnic table, trying to work out how to maneuver his giant antlers between two small trees. "Lucy, MOVE!" I shouted. "At least put a tree between him and you," suggested Grandpa Guy. As Lucy reluctantly acquiesced, the moose decided that fighting Dad, Lucy, and inconveniently placed trees just wasn't worth the hassle. He turned and ambled off down the creek to join his lovely bride.

We all filtered back to the table like slowly deflating balloons. "What just happened?!" someone asked. "I think a moose almost killed Lucy," someone else replied. I wasn't sure what to say, a little chagrined that I'd left my Dad to defend my child while I ran for the hills. Fortunately Lucy didn't seem to have noticed. "Mom, are you going to eat that blackberry?" she asked.

The Situation

Rachel and Claire came to take care of my kids while I went to Geneva to see Chris. After a day or so I thought I would check in with Rachel to see how it was going. "Have you had any situations to deal with?" I asked.

"I'LL TELL YOU ABOUT A SITUATION," said Rachel.

Turns out that Apollo had paralyzed a mouse, but not actually killed it. When Rachel realized it was suffering, she knew she had to do something about it...but what? How do you dispatch a mouse without, you know, feeling like you're killing a mouse?

Claire had suggestions. "Put it in the bathtub and throw in a hair dryer," she said. "Put it in a bag and seal it to the exhaust pipe of the car." "Throw it in a bucket with some dry ice."  "Handcuff it to Apollo until he assumes responsibility?"

"Put it in an opaque bag and run over it with the car."

Bingo. We have a winner. Rachel put it in a ziploc bag first, for good measure. Contained, concealed, quick, and conclusive.

A few days later I received the following text from Rachel:

"I should tell you...There's a flat dead mouse in a paper bag in the garbage in the garage.
You might want to make sure the trash gets taken out."

Situation resolved. Thanks, sisters.

On a scale from 1 to Pioneer, how was your family trip this summer? Yellowstone 2019

     We stayed at 5 different places, saw cousins and friends, ate fancy pizza with Rachel, got a personal tour of the BYUI Farm by cowgirl Darcy, got surrounded (insert movie quote here) by a herd of buffalo, ate great hot food cooked in our car oven, saw a bear, burned our fingers in a "hot spot" in a cold river, laughed a lot, listened to U2 LOUD across the dessert AAAND left our daughters and drove home.

Reenactment of a classic Lawrence pic.

We took A LOT of pictures

Rachels place was just like her- lovely, classy, and cozy.

A beautiful  section of Yellowstone River

Salt flats album cover

When Eric asked if he could stick his head our the sunroof and take a picture.. "Sure!  Its Wyoming!  Here you can kill yourself if you want to."

Also Eric was annoyed Mom wouldn't let him spank a buffalo OR a bear.  Lame.

Hilarious "Who Done Its" over dissapearing Oreos.

Eric- "Every pillow has a purpose.. and it's under my head."

Milkshakes at that famous place in Loomis.

Funny Jack, running away from encroaching buffalo.. "No no no!  I have a fragile body!!

Darcy in her element.  She was amazing working that farm tour.

Number of mosquitos in our camp site - 20,000
Number of mosquitos it takes to send Jack into a full emotional tail-spin - 1

Items used the most- DVDs, Ice, Bug spray, gasoline, and Mountain Dew

Calming Jackson down after mosquito attack

Colin and Darcy are a lot alike and missed eachother

Tim thought he'd rather face mosquitos than us in a tent all night.

A River Trip in Pictures.

Salmon River

The whole Gregory crew. Are our eyes open? Who's to say.

Me in the Lil' Debbie with my birthday paddle.

Me disappearing into Vinegar Rapid

Alllmost going over but not quite.

Theo with squirtgun and no willing targets.

Chris and Lucy coming up on some big water...

..and safely through.

Enjoying safety and a sandwich.

Lucy had a sick day.

But she recovered nicely.

Lunchtime.

A Survey

Which sister would you be most likely to drunk dial?

Cl - Carrie
S - maybe beth because she's the first one in my phone
Ca - Claire. She doesn't judge and I always have weird impulses to confess stuff to her.
B - Rachel.
Th - Rachel
Lu - Beth
V - Rachel. And if you looked back over our gchats, you'd be convinced I already have.
R - her majesty, Carrie
J- it's a good thing I don't drink, because I think I would call all of you.
G- Clo (I don't remember why she's listed that way in my contacts other than that it's the name of the cow mascot of a dairy, but it makes for easy dialing)

Name a song that sounds good played loud?

Cl - Muse: Time is Running Out
S - ?
Ca - Muse is a good answer. Supermassive Black Hole is my choice.
B - U2 In God's Country
Th - Dancing Queen
Lu - All music should be played loud
V - Whatever it Takes. Imagine Dragons
R - Iron by Woodkid, or the 1812 Overture
J- Can't Hold Us, Macklemore
G- Kylä voutti uutta kuuta, Värttinä (but you have to give it a minute)

Song lyric that you like

Cl - There were 87 Advil in the bottle now there's 30 left
        I ate 47 so what happened to the other 10?
        Why do you suspiciously change the subject and break my concentration
        As I dump the bottle out and I count the Advil up again?
S - "If I'm louder would you see me?"
Ca - "and if I ever lose my mouth, all my teeth, north and south, yes if I ever lose my mouth, I won't have to talk...."
B - "He's got a watch with a minute hand,..Millennium hand and an eon hand...When they meet it's a happy land...Powerful man, universe man"
Th - "Hear the beat from the tambourines, oh yeah"
Lu - "When the day has come
        But I've lost my way around
        And the seasons stop and hide beneath the ground
        When the sky turns gray
        And everything is screaming
        I will reach inside
        Just to find my heart is beating"
V - There ain't no party like my nana's tea party. Hey! Ho!
R - “All the rowboats in the oil paintings, They keep trying to row away, row away. First there’s lights out, then there’s lock up; Masterpieces serving maximum sentences.”
J- Hold on little girl, hmm mmm huh huh nuh nuh. Yeah I can't hear lyrics.
G- Othello told Desdemona, “I’m cold, cover me with a blanket

     By the way, what happened to that poison wine?”
     She says, “I gave it to you, you drank it”

Have you ever had a bad pizza?

Cl - Oh my, yes. South Dakota
S - No? I don't think so.
Ca - only once, in Colorado springs. There were ice crystals in the tomato sauce.
B - While trying to learn, I made bad pizza for 8 years..
Th - School lunch pizza
Lu - Yes. Yes. Yes
V - the one 4 yr. old Levi puked up in a hotel room in Boston. Almost ruined me on pizza forever.
R - Oh my, yes. South Dakota.
J- anything with pineapple
G- Yes, the second time I ordered a corn and jalapeno pizza at Capitan Tortuga's.

What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?

Cl - Guppy from the creek, I guess. Swallowed whole.
S - I don't eat weird things
Ca - grasshopper, in Thailand. Not the head though. I mean, there are limits.
B - A camp bullfrog frog that Eric killed. Tasted good, but couldn't shake the heepies.
Th - Maggot in Thailand
Lu - Same as Theo
V - Slim Jim
R - Rabbit lung
J- monkey
G- Zapote fruit I shared with a monkey

Name one place you would like to go to right now

Cl - Antarctica
S - Greece
Ca - home, to bed. Or Istanbul.
B - Sydney's apartment. Or Spain.
Th - Beth's house
Lu - Gondor
V - Shaver Lake
R - Spain, with Beth
J- anywhere in South America
G- the bakery in Vienna that makes the Edgar.

If you went to prison, what would you use your phone call for?

Cl - The Thomases. Either one of those guys can get things done on the phone.
S - to call claire. She knows things.
Ca - apparently calling the RS president. Or drunk dialing Claire.
B - I'm with Claire. Time to call in the big guns.
Th - Some type of food establishment. All I'm going to be eating for the rest of my
life is prison food
Lu - Carrie
V - I'd call dad, not that he would help, but he would be proud.
R - Yeah, Viv and Jerry.
J- I'd call Comcast and convince them to pay the prison to get me out.
G- I'd say Evan, but you'd know that I was lying.

What's the most embarrassing thing that happened to you at church?

Cl - This isn't that bad, but one time I was accompanying the choir, and the person helping to turn my pages turned one a whole line too soon.
S - I left to go to the bathroom during sacrament meeting when I came back to the front where we were sitting a note was passed to me that my skirt was tucked in my underwear. I was 12 or 13.
Ca - fainting, when I was pregnant with Lucy. Out cold on the floor with a whole crowd of people standing over me.
B - I was teaching gospel doctrine and I made a claim, rough-quoting a scripture. A woman argued with me in front of the whole class and was pretty rude about it. I fumbled for a sec, couldn't find it to prove my side. Found it after church and really really wanted to send out a ward wide email...
Also I have totally embarrassed myself in front of our stake pres 4 times now.. solidifying no major stake callings in the near future.
Th - Once I didn't know the lyrics to a song for the primary program, so I just hid behind the podium. It didn't work.
Lu - Crying. Doesn't sound that embarrassing because everyone cries in church, but I have never happy cried. I only angry cry. And it tends to be pretty obvious that it's angry crying.
V - Once I had to leave sacrament meeting with a screaming kid. Just as I exited the doors, I put the child down. The thing is, my skirt was a little big for me, and as the kid slid down me, so did my skirt. Both all the way to the floor. There were 3 or 4 people in the foyer at the time.
R - This was more funny than embarrassing, but in a talk I once said, “and then, once the disciples had been eaten…”
J- As a 12 year old, I passed out and fell over  during a performance of "I never stand alone".  No one caught me.
G- I once mocked the hot chocolate at a youth activity without realizing the person who made it was right behind me.

P.S. This is Theo. I found this partial survey and added to it

(Not) Getting the Chickens Drunk

Rachel came to visit us awhile ago and I really didn't have anything planned to entertain her. I kept thinking about Vivian (what would Vivian do?), and how she always comes up with just the perfect outing. Rocky Mtn National Park? Too crowded. Horseback riding? Kinda expensive. I guess we could just go on a bike ride, or...maybe we could get the chickens drunk? Yes. Perfect.

After a truly fantastic lack of protest from Rachel the game was afoot. Chris supported the idea, but not to the point of actually being willing to go purchase the alcohol, which left Rachel and I in the chilled beverages section of Safeway, feeling a little in over our heads. What kind of beer do chickens drink? Cheep beer, right? So we chose the least expensive one, felt exposed and awkward getting carded at the checkout counter and ran guiltily out to the car clutching our beer in a little brown paper bag.

Back at home some questions remained. How much beer does it take to intoxicate a chicken? How do you even get them to drink the beer? How do you know when the chicken is drunk- does it just get snuggly? Or sad? We poured some beer in their water dish but they seemed uninterested. I mixed up a slurry with some oatmeal but they abandoned it after a few pecks. Finally we soaked some bread in the beer and they ate a reasonable amount...before wandering off, still appearing remarkably (and disappointingly) coordinated. These chickens would absolutely have passed a roadside sobriety test.

We looked at each other, perplexed, until Chris took a better look at the beer we were using. "That stuff is basically water, you know," he said. "The cheap stuff is about 2% alcohol."

"Can we go back to the store and get whiskey this time?!" asked a still-motivated Theo.

But the thrill had gone out of the game. We ate our dinner, watched a movie, went to bed, and mostly forgot about it until the next day when Lucy, ever noble, told me she'd brought it up in her annual bishopric interview:

"Is there anything you need to confess to the bishop?"
"Well, is it a sin to try to get your chickens drunk on beer?"
-Long Pause-
"Um. Hmmm. OK, maybe just don't do it again."

No promises, Brother Walker, no promises.


(I thought about including a picture of a not drunk chicken on here, but it would have just looked like a regular chicken, so...just use your imagination.)

Summer 2019

San Diego! Cayucos! Yellowstone! Salt Lake City! Cousins Camp! Harry Potter World! Madera! Salmon, Riggins, and Rexburg Idaho!

Summer 2019 ranged far and wide, and a good time was had by all. What are your memories from the last few months? Pictures needed.

Carrie and the kids spent a week hanging out in San Diego. We slept in a tent in the garage and watched Women's World Cup games every day. We scoured the city for 40 dark chocolate bars for Jerry's birthday.

The Rees Family had fun taking visitors to the beach, enjoying their best blackberry harvest to date, and trying out new skills at the local track and fields meets.

Highlights of Cousins Camp: the Flinch game. The story of Carolyn capturing a bullfrog shirtless at 2am for the Flinch game. The Great Ashby Family Baking Show. The lip sync battle, with Hal as Bon Jovi. The weather. Building the raft that actually floated. Gail, Mere, and Carolyn reenacting the road trip with Grandma. Rachel was casually informed that the bed she slept in was "the one Cousin Leslie was conceived in".

We floated the Salmon river for 90 miles.

Theo enjoys safety, and a sandwich.

Couch time at the beach cabin.

Wizarding World. Just what you'd expect, but somehow even more expensive.

Memorable CC Lip Sync

Beat boxing sale open

Beth and Sarah saved Rachel from 4 hours of waiting in the Fresno airport

Lawrences were orphans for the Beach this year, but had their first whole family vacation in years.  Yellowstone, Rexburg, SLC - dropping Darcy and Sydney off at college. 

Sydney comes to live with Rachel!

Golden Rain Tree...of DEATH.

"I ate some of your tomatillos," Theo mentioned as he casually leaned up against the counter in the kitchen, happily reaching for a peach from the bowl. "Off of your tree."

This caught my attention for two reasons:

1. Tomatillos don't grow on trees, and

2. I DIDN'T PLANT ANY TOMATILLOS.

"Did it look like a little green tomato?" I asked him. His eyes got shifty. "Well...it had those papery leaves..." and he pointed out of the window, at a definitely NOT tomatillo tree. "Those are just seed pods," I said. He started to look a little concerned. "Jackson ate them too." Now Jackson was interested. "I only ate them because Theo made me! Plus, I spit them out."

The next day Carrie and I were catching Sydney up on recent happenings and told her about this little escapade. She decided to do some research and looked the tree up online. "Aww, it's called a Golden Rain Tree. How pretty! That's a nice name," she said, scrolling lazily down the screen. Suddenly her face fell. "Although many people believe it is just the flowers that have the toxins, the whole plant is poisonous, including the seeds, pods, flowers, buds, leaves, petals, wood, bark, and roots." She continued, "The seed pods are the most toxic. Symptoms can progress from vomiting and diarrhea to dilated pupils, coma, and death."

In unison, we all turned our heads in slow motion to look at Theo, who was upside down on the couch eating a popsicle, pretty clearly not dead. "Number 5 on the world's most poisonous seeds list," said Sydney. We called Theo in and informed him of his brush with death. "You're the boy who lived!" said Carrie.
 "I'm Harry Potter, y'all," said Theo. "We should run some tests. Which cousin do we like the least?"

Can We Go to Nebraska?

I asked Rachel, "What do you want to do this weekend?"
She replied, "Can we go to Nebraska?"

Well, sure honey. Whatever you want.

So we did. We went to Nebraska.  We convinced Chris ("There's a diner named 'Diner'"). We coerced Lucy ("You can bring your book and you don't have to talk to anyone"). We sold Theo ("You can feel superior to people from Nebraska"), so Saturday morning found us loaded into the Subaru and heading east.

- We played Nebraska bingo. We found: people eating Rocky Mtn oysters un-ironically, hay bales, birds of prey, a tumbleweed, bullet holes, a pile of tires, antelope, people wearing camo, a hill. We did not find: rabbits, a misspelled sign, someone wearing a bolo tie.

- Things we could have seen but didn't: an underground bus buried by an really old guy who wanted to give Rachel a tour; an ICBM missile leftover from the cold war (pride of Kimball, NE); the hike to Pawnee Buttes, which weren't that impressive despite their funny name.

- Other things we did see: the Bison Breath Saloon, acres of sheep, Theo successfully avoiding peeing into the wind, M Gould's Buryville (featuring the metal sculpture 'Mr Cranky' and the aforementioned bus), and a 30-ft tall concrete statue of the Virgin Mary.

- We needed to make 1 turn in 50 miles. We missed it because we were spitting cherry pits out the window of the car.

- total trip miles: 228
- # of states: 3 (we came home through Wyoming)
- how far we made it along the trail to Pawnee Buttes before losing interest: 92 yards
- # of minutes spent trying to spell 'Nebraska' out of dried cow patties: 0.5
- # of minutes spent purposefully mispronouncing the word "Buttes": 22.0
- # of minutes Theo spent creatively dissing the flat Nebraskan countryside before being informed that we were still in Colorado: 17
- Average age of diners in 'Diner': 73
- Acres in Pawnee National Grasslands: 193,060
- # of trees seen: 1
- Most ironic sign: "Welcome to Nebraska, Home of Arbor Day"
- How much sense of humor Lucy had about possibly getting lost in Nebraska and getting home late for her mandatory band performance: Very little. (we arrived home on time)
- # of states Rachel has now visited: 42

The turnaround point on the Pawnee Buttes trail; Theo frolicking.

Diner

Old people really love Rachel.

The infamous tumbleweed disguise.

Snippets from my life recently...

Mae wanted some cereal for breakfast. She requested a kind we hadn't had in a while. As I handed over her bowl, I said, "Now, this cereal is a little old, so let me know if it's good, or if it's weird."

She said, "Mom, I don't like weird kids, but I like weird cereal."

______________________________________________________

Hal has been very dedicated to teaching Mae about "church" stuff. He writes out lessons on the white board, and even made up a worksheet for her to complete.

(He helped us. Every thing was not sins. He protects us. He has an angel. I love him.)

_________________________________________________________________________

Mae got a new stuffed tiger from her very first dentist visit. She has named it Alex Amy Honnold.

_______________________________________________________________________

My back went out a couple weeks ago, and it made me pretty focused on only the pain. Meaning- I wasn't much of a conversationalist, or very social. 

One morning, Gordon saw me putting on make-up before school drop-off. I guess it was a rare sight for him, because he said something like, "Doing something special?"

I said, "I'm trying to distract from my lack of social skills with make-up."

He said, "That's why I married you- what you lack in personality, you make up for with mascara."

____________________________________________________________________

I've been doing a lot of mothering from bed. One night, when Gordon was working late, I was up long enough to make dinner for the kids, but got back in bed to eat it. When the kids made their way back upstairs, I asked Hal if he finished his food. He took a camera, and took pictures of his bowl, and Mae's, to prove that he finished his food, but Mae did not. 

I guess I just have to trust which bowl is his, right?

Happy Birthday Tim!!!!!

Vivian
A while back I was listening to a radio talk show and they were asking people to call in and tell their claim to fame or a time that they were "famous". (Note the appropriately used quote marks there)

It reminded me of the time in Santa Barbara that Dad and Kathy had purchased a piece of furniture, a dresser I think, from a store on State Street. Tim was going to bring it back for them and when we went to pick it up, he had to bring his jeep around to the front of the store to load it.  On the way around he had to sweet talk some police officers to get around a blockade because of a 4th of July parade that was about to begin. Somehow, we got through. We thought the dresser might fit in the back of the jeep, but it was too big, so we had to strap it too the top.  All of this took a bit of time and all the while we could see horses and floats up the street getting ready to come down.  With the dresser firmly secured to the roof rack, Tim and I jumped in and as we started to drive it became clear from the crowds that there was no way to get off the parade route until... the end of the parade route.

There were hundreds of people lining the streets, waving flags, watching for something interesting to pass by.

Tim rolled down both windows and began to make announcements with his PA. "Helloooo Santa Barbara!!! Thanks for coming out on this beautiful day! The parade will begin in just a few moments! You're all looking great!" I waved and smiled at the crowd like the proud winner of a beauty pageant that was sponsored by a local budget moving company.

Sarah
I was going to the temple for the first time and Tim couldn't be there with us. He wrote me a nice note that I still have. I think the first time I really hung out with him is while he and Beth were dating - I went with them to San Luis to go rock climbing. I am also thinking of all the things he has done for me and others. 

Rachel
Tim is funny – remember when he put that Free Cat sign next to the dead cat on the side of the 41?

Tim is good in a fight – like when he brought a chainsaw to a snowball fight.

Tim is a hero – he stepped up and stomped his way through a frozen pond to rescue me and Sydney when all you schmucks were just watching.

Tim is a good brother– he baptized me, he made me stilts, he took me to hockey games, he gave me 100 $1 bills all taped together in an endless ribbon I got to unfurl when I was saving up for my first ever international trip.

Tim’s a pretty great guy.               

Carrie
Well, this is how I think of Tim.   Rocking a hammock after a big fishing adventure. I hope there are many more of both in your future.                                                                                         

Claire

Tim is such a likable guy, it was very easy to see him as family. It's probably good he was the first brother. I'm not the biggest fan of change, or interlopers, so I thought I'd be more wary of one of my sisters bringing home an addition for the first time. But when Beth and Tim woke me in the middle of the night to announce their engagement, I only remember happiness and excitement. 

I also have loved watching him interact with my kids over the years. He makes them feel at ease way faster than any 6'4" man should.

The first time I ever met Tim, he felt very familiar to me, and I asked him if we knew each other. We were at a young adult dance (even though I was only 17 at the time). He thought I was hitting on him, and was weirded out. He couldn't get rid of me that easy, though. Haha.

I know the sisters are a lot to take, so thanks for jumping in, Tim.

You're a charming, hardworking, interesting friend, and I'm glad to know you. Happy birthday!

Who Even Liked This Weekend? *ME!!*

We had a super duper 40th birthday weekend getaway for Claire in Red Feather Lakes, CO, that was practically perfect in every way.

*feel free to add any memories from Thursday, plus any else I've forgotten

• Theo rhapsodizing about his love: "I've got the hotskis for [name redacted], she is one smokin' hot piece of bacon" (Carrie: just because you're not using the word steak does not mean bacon is ok), practicing hurling Shakespearean insults at potential slanderers
• "Donde esta mis pajamas" - Vivian. "Here is your pillow (piyo)" - Carrie
• Discovering Beth's aversion to the word 'boogers'. Asking super tired Sarah if she would ever say the word, and her response: "...boogers".
• Hot tubbing in the misty morning with goblets of orange juice
• Thrift store shopping. Finding awesome lumberjack hat
• Sarah's response to how China's first plants grown on the moon died. "Cause it's the moon!"
• 8 milkshakes for 7 people at Vern's. "Who even likes vanilla?!" Beth and Carrie: ME! *jump with arms up in the air
• Vivian navigating unplowed mountain roads like a champ
• "The logs are like THIS BIG!" (Rachel puts arms around her head to show size, gets made fun of) Claire measures spill of ranch same way. Becomes standard unit of measurement for weekend
• Mom starting a snowball fight, denying it 
• Pretend cross-country ski race
• Hot chocolate tea party with Mexican, salted caramel, and Thomas Jefferson flavors
• Power outage, yoga party in the dark
• Power goes back on and off and on again at 3am and 5am
• Everyone gets own beds at cabin, and even bunk room is made of quiet full sized bunk beds
• Working on the escape game, Sarah saving us by solving maze clue
• Beth and Vivian launching a log into the frozen lake
• Alllllmost asking random strangers if Rachel can ride their Zamboni
• Slingshotting Rachel on the ice
• Gnome hunting, and feeling like we had to whisper once we found them
• Super fun but ill-advised sledding down hill in backyard that ended in weeds and bushes
• Having a telescope provided by Airbnb, figuring out how to use it for super blood wolf moon eclipse. Listening to Star Wars, 2001 Space Odyssey, Pony Man, Moondance, Moonshadow. "The moon looks different with my glasses on" - Sarah
• Breakfast at Beaver Meadows resort, followed by hockey and ice skating. Random kid complimenting Claire on her hockey skills "you know what you're doing!"
• Mom claiming she's not competitive
• Carrie throwing a pillow at Vivian sleeping below because she slept through alarm
• Poudre? I barely know 'er!
• Theo, when we came back from the weekend - "so are we going to do that thing where we all snuggle in bed together?"
• Sorting Theo into his Hogwarts house with a panel of witches. Whispering around his head. Asking for Lucy's opinion - "I don't even work here". Ultimately - it's Hufflepuff!
• Playing pacifist Fortnite
• Hot tubbing - gust of wind blew snow off roof into faces
• Theo wearing suit to school for birthday - "I don't need a jacket, I'll just clothe myself in pretention"
• Playing UNO on the floor of the airport while waiting for three different planes 

I got a writing assignment from Lucy's Freshman Seminar teacher.

My Hopes and Dreams for Lucy

By Her Mom

I hope that Lucy will climb walls and build bridges. I hope that she will dance often and frolic occasionally. I hope that she feels loved in spades and can love with abandon. I hope that she has moments of reverence and hours of irreverence. I hope that she treasures her brother. I hope that she brushes her teeth but refuses to wait thirty minutes after eating to go swimming.

I hope Lucy will turn the music up loud, but down again when the neighbors ask nicely. I hope she will avoid spurious caviling. I hope that she will put her bare feet out of the car window, but not while she is driving. I hope that she feels beautiful.

I hope that Lucy always knows how funny she is, even if no one else in the room gets the joke. I hope that she sometimes gets upgraded to first class, but never ever expects it. I hope that she can balance honesty and kindness, courage and caution, and always remembers her gmail password. I hope that she knows to pray but is careful about leaps of faith. I hope she looks up at the sky.

I hope that Lucy has the strength to do what needs to be done. I hope that she howls at the moon but stops just before it gets obnoxious. I hope that she finds good books, great friends, and that there is a sunny spot on the couch to sit in when she needs it. I hope she sings along.

To misquote Tina Fey:

"First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the CSU logo stain her tender haunches.
Lead her away from renaissance faires, but not all the way to middle management…
When the Crystal Meth is offered,
May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half
And stick with chocolate.”

I hope that Lucy lives life abundantly, but mostly I hope that she learns how to be happy, regardless of circumstance. I love you, Lucybird.

Can Everyone Get As?

I completed my first semester teaching the Refugee & Migrant Health class at BYU! It was stressful, but ultimately really rewarding and enjoyable, especially since I had 38 fantastic students. I'm doing it again this semester and looking forward to it! (It helps to have had feedback like this)