Turning 10

My oldest niece is turning 10 this coming week. I've always considered 10 a big birthday because you move from one number in your age to two. It's the same when you turn 100. Because of this, I decided to make Sid a special birthday gift. Sometime last year I decided to paint all my nieces and nephews a piece of pottery with their name on it since it's always cool to have something with your name on it. Some got cups and some got bowls (and if I accidentally overlooked any nieces or nephews, I expect their parents to tell me immediately.) As Sidney received a cup last year, I decided to make a bowl this time. Her favorite color is pink so I started with that. I then decided to do white "branches" on the outside with red and purple berries (in a minimalist way.) The inside of the bowl was an accident. I tried to make a cute heart but it turned out horrible. I ended up covering up my mistake but it ended up looking kind of cute (see below.) Here's how it turned out:This was so much fun that I may make another bowl for all the rest of the kids when they turn 10 (or much sooner.)

The Amazing Audra McDonald

Tonight I sat less than 30 feet away from one of the greatest voices I have ever heard in my life. This voice belongs to Audra McDonald and I was in the Hale Center Theater in Orem. She is performing in 110 in the Shade for a limited two week engagement as a fundraiser. After hearing her voice on the soundtrack to 110 in the Shade (as well as the three other cds of hers that I own) I was blown away. She sang her first song (Love, Don't Turn away) with true heart and passion and received thunderous applause for her effort. About half way through the first act, the audio track stopped working. They stopped the show for 10 minutes and then continued with nothing but piano accompaniment. They made one joke then continued on in a professional manner. The sound came back on about 25 minutes later. My favorite songs were Raunchy, Old Maid, and Simple Little Things. Despite these words of praise, words cannot truly express how I felt and how I was lifted up by hearing her singing. My heart was full of joy. During the intermission I hummed all the music while reading through the program. After 5 minutes, a woman leaned over to me and asked how many times I had seen the show. I told her that this was my first time but I had almost all the music memorized. She laughed, complimented me on my humming abilities, and then I proceeded to gush about Audra and her other cds. She received a standing ovation at the end of the show (oh, and the other people in the cast were amazing as well.) A friend of mine, Melissa Lindsey, was in the show and did a great job.
After the show I waited by the door for her to come out and was able to get my 110 in the Shade cd signed and get my picture taken with her. As a side note, she said that she loved my necklace (Monopoly necklace as seen in the picture below) and mentioned that her daughter would have loved it as well. She was lovely and gracious as she could be. I will now have to buy myself another ticket for next week. If any of you have the opportunity to get a ticket, do so immediately.As an interesting side note, I ran into a friend of Alison and Jordan's. I have met Amelia several times (their wedding, Caleb's birth and funeral, Isaac's birth, tree decorating, etc) and we compared our love for Audra McDonald. She drove down from Salt Lake to see the show.

It's good to be busy

I know it's been a while since I've posted. It seems like there is never enough time in a day to accomplish all I'd like to. In the past two weeks the following events have occurred in my life:

• I regained electricity in my bedroom and bathroom
• Went to Lagoon with my parents, a few siblings, and their kids (boy were my feet tired afterwards)
• I lost my hat from work on Wicked at Lagoon
  
• Did my Visiting Teaching (for those who don't know what I'm talking about, please visit www.lds.org)
• Sat through a very long lesson on dating and courtship (while making snarky comments under my breath to the person next to me)
• Saw Wicked Tinkers in concert
• Attended the Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point (it rained)
• Went to Summerfest (it rained)
• Watched the fireworks from my back porch (it had finally stopped raining)
• Went to lunch with Sherri and Emily (it had been way too long)
• Delivered lunch to a coworker and his wife who were working on a Saturday to finish a project
• Attended a wedding reception (it started to rain)
• Went to dinner with Cameron, Cami, Scotty, and Sarah @ Gurus
• Attended a very long managers meeting at the Provo Library
• Bought the new Glee CD
• Had brunch with Sarah, Cami, Angie, and Scotty (I provided Milk and OJ)
• Visited a friend who had just gotten out of the hospital after having brain surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor (radiation starts in a little while)
  
• Attended church, FHE, and Ward prayer (once again, see www.lds.org if you are confused)
• Had a sit down with my landlord about renewing my lease and had a roommate meeting with our landlord about cleaning, leases, and construction in the basement
• Listened to my roommate and gave her advice about work frustrations
• Worked 8.5 hours each workday
• Send my boss on yet another business trip and sent his wife a gift certificate from all the managers to apologize for all his trips.
• Ate 3 healthy salads
• Cleaned my bedroom and my bathroom as well as cleaning my car inside and out
• Began reading a book on interviewing relatives for family history projects

This weekend I plan to get together with family, clean, and perhaps go out with friends or on a date. I hope you are having as much fun as I am.

Electricity

I have not had electricity in my bedroom for over a week. On May 26th I arrived home from dinner with friends to discover that I had no electricity in my bedroom, bathroom, or the hallway outside both rooms. I called my landlord and left a message. I called again Thursday morning and Friday morning with no response. Luckily, I own an extension cord. This way I was able to have a bedside lamp that I could carry from my bedroom to the bathroom and back. It has been very frustrating. On Saturday I heard from my landlord, who reported that she had not received any of my messages but had been told my one of my roommates of my predicament. She and her husband came by to flip switches in the electrical box (as though I wouldn't have already tried that.) She said that she would call her handyman. That was a week ago. Apparently her handyman was out of town and he is the only person that she trusts. I received a voicemail from her today saying that the handyman was coming tomorrow night. This has been a frustrating experience but I have tried to be patient. Thank goodness for an extension cord, flashlight, and an battery powered alarm clock or my bedroom would be unlivable at night (as my landlord has forbidden candles of any kind.) I guess I'm just grateful that our air conditioning and power to the kitchen and family room have remained.

The last two and a half weeks

The last two and a half weeks have been busy ones. Here are just a few things that happened:

• I sent my CEO and President on a business trip and one of them forgot to take their cell phone.
• Drove to Bountiful to celebrate Caleb’s birthday and had dinner with my family
• Babysat Lauren and Emily while their parents went to the theater (Emily was in pretty good spirits considering she had an ear infection.)
• Drove to K-town for a wedding reception
• Spent 6 hours weeding and planting for a Mother’s Day present (I was sore but it was totally worth it)
• Manned the information booth during a two day conference put on by my company (7am is not a good time for me to be in charge of giving others information)
• Set up 30+ meetings for my two bosses
• Painted (and mailed) a bowl for my newest niece
• Organized personal correspondence from my great, great grandfather to my great grandfather (Binder #2 of family history is underway)
• Printed off some new wallet size pictures of my nieces and nephews for my purse (I love that my dad and siblings have blogs so I can find recent pictures of high quality)
• Began organizing two more business trips for my boss (Germany and Scotland anyone?)
• Had a cold along with allergies (a whole box of tissue was used)
• Deep cleaned my kitchen, bathroom, and living room
• Wrote a letter to a sibling
• Bought a set of Oneida silverware for myself (a woman my age should have real silverware)
• Listened to three books on tape while driving and organizing letters (Sarah Vowell and David Sedaris are awesome)
  
• Planted flowers in my small patch of ground by my townhouse (the soil was like concrete so we’ll see how they do)
• Went out to dinner with friends
• Did all the things I regularly do each day (sleep, eat, work, drive, etc)
  

Lusting after a vase

I really, really want to buy this vase:

The problem is that I can't really justify spending $365 on a vase. Sure, it's interesting and unique and can fit 47 flowers in 47 little vases, but I just can't justify it. I love the artistic lines, the symmetry, and the classic all white shade. As it is made of Bisque Porcelain, I suppose it would be a bear to clean. "Sigh."

New stamps

My talented brother, Jordan, has created two new stamps for me. I've always wanted a stamp with my name and I commissioned two from him. They turned out great.
The simpler one was my idea and the checkerboard stamp was Jordans. The man's talented. I'd be willing to bet he'd carve one for you if you commissioned it (his prices are actually quite reasonable.)

Swingin with the boys

On April 9th I had the chance to babysit Issac and Aaron while their parents went to a dance concert. Isaac, Aaron, and I started out playing in the park. The slides and swings were the best part but running hither and yon was fun as well. After a long time in the park we went back home to eat peanut butter sandwiches, milk, and oranges. After eating we painted on poster board, then ate ice cream and watched a movie. I attempted to get them into their pajamas but it didn't happen before their parents came home. It was a lot of fun.

Emily's blessing

My darling youngest niece Emily was blessed last Sunday, April 11th. I drove to Salt Lake and heard John pronounce a wonderful blessing on his daughter and welcome her into the church. After the sacrament meeting we went to Emily's house where her mother had put together a great spread of food. The kids had fun playing downstairs and outside. Sid borrowed my camera and took some great pictures.

Emily and her paternal grandmother
Of Poppy
Of Aunt Jen

Of her brother

And of Lauren

My stamp

My siblings are very talented in both intellectual and artistic spheres. Each of my siblings has their own talents. My youngest, Jordan, has the ability to carve things. This started years ago. His latest creation was a commission for me. It all started over a month ago when he borrowed a book from me. He saw me write my name in a book and asked why I didn't have a book plate or stamp. I explained that years ago I had bookplate stickers to identify my books as belonging to me but I had run out. He then offered to carve me a book stamp if I gave him an idea of what I wanted. I eagerly sent him some ideas and this is what he made me:
It is carved out of rubber and mounted on a piece of wood. He did a great job (and I, of course, paid him for all the materials and his time.) Here is what the stamp looks like on paper: Thanks Jordan; you rock!

Real mail

I received two letters this week. While this might not seem important or noteworthy to others, it is unusual for me. Most mail I receive are bills, junk mail/magazines, or official correspondence (from banks, doctors offices, etc.) Most correspondence I write, whether personal or professional, is via e-mail. This week, however, I received two letters in the mail from people I love. One was a card, which had a two page typed letter inserted into it. The other was a three page handwritten letter. I was pleased and surprised. I am a big fan of "snail" mail from people I love. I also love to send handwritten letters and cards to people. I think I get this from my father, who still hand writes his journal and hand writes letters to missionaries and those he loves who happen to live far away. When I lived and worked at a resort in Montana he sent me several letters which I still have today.
I am, and have been for a while, of the opinion that hand writing letter and notes is a dying art form. When someone wants to communicate with someone else these days, they generally pick up a telephone. If they don't telephone, they e-mail, IM, skype, or text.
Letters and notes used to be so important to humans. In some of my favorite books, the main characters received news, encouragement, and love via letters. How does Elizabeth realize that Mr. Darcy did not wrong Mr. Wickham? By reading a letter that Mr. Darcy sent her. How does Jean Wainwright discover who her true parents are and who killed an innocent woman? By reading through hand written notes, wills, etc. How does Anne realize that Captain Wentworth is still in love with her? By reading his letter. The list goes on and on (and I digress.) When researching historical figures, you can often find collections of their letters. Examples include Emily Dickinson, John Adams, Charles Dickens, John Calvin, and Samuel Beckett.
I love handwritten letters (or even letters that are typed, printed out, and signed.) Handwritten letters are still something that people appreciate. People send handwritten cards at Christmas, sign important documents, and many journals are still handwritten.
All this being said, when was the last time you wrote someone a note or letter and slipped it into the mail? When was the last time you received a piece of handwritten mail?

P.S. While this may seem a request for letters to be mailed to me, I assure you it is not. I just wanted to get some thoughts out of my head and onto a page, so to speak.

Cupcakes

In January, we had a cupcake decorating contest for a Family Home Evening activity. I didn't decorate one but was pretty impressed by some of the people. I provided the cupcakes, icing, food coloring, and candy. The winner, decided by my one committee member, was the cookie monster cupcake.

Nurse Jessica to the rescue

I've always prided myself on being fairly calm in emergency medical situations. I don't get queasy at the site of blood or vomit and I generally keep from crying or panicking if it doesn't involve a niece or nephew. My roommate, R, had surgery on her leg about a week and a half ago. She has been on crutches since. On Friday I took her to the doctor's office to have her stitches removed. The doctor said that she could walk if she was careful and could really shower. (I helped her take a shower once while sitting on a chair with her leg out of door. It was quite the process.) On Saturday I took her to the library and the grocery store. It tired her a little but her leg felt good. This morning we went to church. After Sacrament Meeting R was tired so I took her home. While walking into the kitchen, she felt something wet on her leg. Looking down, we saw blood dripping quickly down her leg. Her long incision had clearly opened. She was understandably alarmed and began to cry due to pain and fear. I ran to grab a towel, her purse, and quickly got her into my car. Off to the emergency room we went at a safe speed. All the while I told her that it would be ok and that there was nothing to fear. She was checked into a room (I asked if she could fill out the paperwork in a room so she wouldn't drip blood on the floor. They agreed.) The nurses cleaned her up and the doctor numbed her incision area, put seven stitches in, and gave her an Rx for an antibiotic. While they were working on her leg I did my best to clean the blood off her shoes while telling amusing stories about my own visits to the ER (fainting, getting a Q-Tip stuck in my ear, having a concussion, etc.) I called a friend and asked her to stop by our house and pick up R's crutches. We were then off to Wal-Mart to fill the Rx. By the time we got home three and half hours had passed. All in all it was an interesting Sunday afternoon.
As to my own life (since it's been a while since I've posted anything) I have had a cold that has lasted over a week. I am getting better but my weak immune system still hasn't recovered. Since I haven't been feeling well I haven't been very social during the past week. I missed church last week along with FHE, temple night, Sarah's dinner invitation, and my regular weekly dinner with a group of friends. This week will be a busy one at work but we will probably accomplish quite a bit. I am generally happy with my situation in life. I wish all of you a good night (or day depending on when you read this.)

Christmas

I was sick on Christmas Eve, the time I had appointed to drive to my parent's house. I had food poisoning and could be far from a bathroom. It was a pathetic time but luckily I woke up on Christmas Day feeling better. I drove up North and was able to visit Sidney & Wyatt and Lauren & Emily. The was too late to visit Tanner & Ava and Isaac & Aaron. I had dinner with my parents and then had a fairly slow evening. On Saturday, the day after Christmas, my siblings came over and we celebrated Christmas again. It was a lot of fun to get together. I received some wonderful gifts and was able to spend time with almost all of my family (John and Emily were missing.)I, oddly enough, didn't get any pictures of my parents or Sidney, Wyatt, Jeremy, or Britnie. There were there but I only took a few pictures.

Sunset

I was called from my desk at work to see this beautiful sunset. I only wish I had a better camera and wasn't shooting through glass. It was taken on Monday night.

Blogus Interuptus

It's been a pretty busy week (couple of weeks actually.) My boss went on another two trips and this past Wednesday the managers and executives had an all day off site meeting. I arranged for all of us to leave the office at 8:30am and drive to The Homestead Resort. We didn't leave to come home until almost 8pm. I typed 24 pages of single spaced, 11 point font minutes. It was productive but we have a lot to do now.
I arranged several FHE activities from afar (as I wasn't able to attend them due to prior engagements.) They included a service activity. I attended a showing of The Forgotten Carols with some friends last Monday as well as going home for a family dinner with my parents and sibling last Saturday.
On Thursday afternoon I drove to Salt Lake to babysit Lauren and Emily (more info in another post) and then helped plan and attended my work party on Friday night. Yesterday some people from the ward came over to watch a movie as part of our ward party. I actually spent most of the time in my room catching up on some work so I could be prepared for this Monday's meeting with some people from the East Coast. Thank goodness the holidays are coming and I will have a couple of days off. Anyway, I hope to be able to post a little more frequently in the coming weeks.

The tree

In honor of Caleb's 5th birthday and what would have been his entry into Kindergarten, the tree this year was labeled "Kindergarten Christmas." Alison envisioned a wonderful tribute and it came true. After much painting over the past week and few days. The painting of some ornaments, beads, a village, boxes, and boards took some time but they turned out well. After days of work, Alison and I put the combined ornaments on the tree with wire. Grandma Roberts spent several hours stringing the garlands. Here is the entire tree:

I couldn't get far away enough to include the manger/star on top. Here are some of my favorite letters and what goes with them:

K is for Kris Kringle. Alison found this cute Kris for the tree.

S is for Sled. We stained this one and then I stenciled "Believe" and some snowflakes on it.

T is for Toy. Isn't the rocking horse cute?
There is a desk and chalkboard that goes along with it thanks to Aunt Nancy and Alison's Dad. It was a lot of work but also very rewarding. Here are the letters and the items on the tree that they stood for:
A is for Angel
B is for Bow
C is for Candy Cane
D is for Dove
E is for Evergreen
F is for Family (of Snowmen)
G is for Gift (painted purple)
H is for Holly
I is for Icicle
J is for Jingle Bells
K is for Kris Kringle
L is for Lights
M is for Manger
N is for Nutcracker
O is for Ornament
P is for Poinsettia
Q is for Quartet (the four small figures where hard to wire on)
R is for Reindeer
S is for Sled
T is for Toy
U is for unwrap
V is for Village
W is for Wise Men
X is for X-Mas
Y is for Yule Log
Z is for zzz (as in someone who is really tired after along weekend)

Lauren's little sister

The newest, littlest member of our family was born today at app. 9:15am. The yet to be named little girl was 7lb 12oz and 21.5 inches long despite being two weeks early. Other than being tired, she, her mother, and her father are doing well. I left work a few minutes early to drive up to the hospital to see her. I overstayed my welcome so I could hold her and explain to her how wonderful and cute she is. She is a darling baby and I can already tell that she is above average (as all my nieces and nephews are.)

A 3-year-old's perspective

My sister-in-law Alison has been doing a post a day for the past week. It has been interesting to read about her perspective when dealing with a three and a half year old and an almost two year old. They are darling boys and they have a different perspective from we adults. All my nieces and nephews do. In their eyes life is good when they have their blankets, some food, and have family surrounding them. Pain can be quickly overcome after falling down and they don't stay down. Each one has learned to hop back up after falling. When does that change? I have noticed that I don't hop back up after a hurt (and I'm not talking physically.) A hurt feeling lasts a few minutes with a small child but can be nursed for hours, days, weeks, or even years by an adult. For some reason the older we get the more we seems to remember the pains that are inflicted on us, either by ourselves or by someone else. Why is that?

To go along with the theme of perspective, I give you several pictures that were taken by a three and a half year old:

I babysat Lauren last Thursday while her parents went to a play. She and I colored in our coloring books, sang, danced, took pictures, read, and then sang some more. I had a great time and I think she did as well. My camera is really simple. It has a very large viewer on the back so that you aren't required to put your eye up to a hole in order to see what you are shooting. After teaching her that she shouldn't put her fingers in front of the lens and that she had to hold the button down until the light flashed, she did pretty good. She ended up with about 40 shots but I thought these were some of the better ones. The last one I took (obviously.)

Photo scavenger hunt

Tonight my ward participated in a photo scavenger hunt for FHE. The list was as follows:

1. One member of the group doing a handstand.
2. One member of the group with a boat.
3. Two members of the group on their cell phones.
4. Three members of the group by a Yield sign.
5. Two members going down a slide.
6. Three or more members forming a letter of the alphabet with their bodies.
7. Three members of the team with someone in uniform.
8. One team member next to a California license plate.
9. All four members of the team with blue tongues.
10. Two members of the team on a diving board.
11. All four members of the team with a sign that says "Orem" on it.
12. Three members of the team in a public laundromat.
13. Three members of the team with a member of the FHE committee.
14. Two or more members of the team under a bed.
15. Two or more team members wearing sombreros.
16. Three team members playing with light sabers in the toy aisle of a store.
17. Three team members having a picture taken with a bald man with a goatee.
18. One team member with a live farm animal.
19. One team member checking out a book from the library.
20. One team member ordering something from the Wendy's drive through.

They had one hour to get as many done as they could and the winning team of four people won gift certificates to a local movie theater. One team got all twenty (I know since I checked the pictures to verify.) I actually did not participate, hence the lack of pictures. I kicked the event off by handing out the lists and then I was on my laptop for an hour doing some work. Due to HP's visit to our office today I am really behind in my work. Instead of doing my usual stuff I took 23 typed pages of notes. There are many a meeting invite that I haven't responded to and I haven't even started the agenda for tomorrow's Executive Committee meeting. Despite this I am ready for bed and don't think I will stay up to work anymore.