It looked good

enough to eat. So she did. The mailbox, the satellite dish, the motorcycle, Santa and the chimney, they're gone.

Emily made this at Young Women. One of the leaders has an awesome pan. I need one.

Most wonderful time of the year . . .

when Emily is once again dancing in The Nutcracker. This year she is "Spanish."

Who would not want to wear that tutu?

Last week, Emily's dance teachers told me they were trying to teach her to be sultry. I thanked them because you know that is important for a thirteen year old. So much more practical than that silly algebra 2 she has during 3rd hour.

There's no place like home

after a week in the Emerald City. The 8th grade choir has been rehearsing for The Wizard of Oz since school began.

The week of the actual show took it up a notch with daily practice until 5 each day. Then a performance for the 7th grade during school hours and a second performance in the evening. The very next night Emily and her fellow Ozian went to see Wicked.

They have the sad face because they sat in the wrong place. (our regular seats are in the center, Emily always wants to be off center.)

Here is Emily's serious face. I am trying to think if I have ever seen it before.

Emily was a pointe dancer in the Lullaby League. She is far left in the picture.

The costume was interesting but she was fortunate to have a part among a group of 200. Apparently not everyone can sing as they dance on their toes.

Then she was an Ozian, fourth from left in the picture. The costumes were provided. She was lucky in green.

Not everyone was so fortunate.

Thankfully

we at least had the two girls together for Thanksgiving. And look how excited they are about dining with their parents. Texas was toasty warm for this cowboy.

Baby Max has gotten chubby for the holidays. Look at those arms. Talking about Max here.

Kirsten and Emily feeling festive, put buns on top of their heads, but kept to the no photos policy.


The blanket came off and still no peeking at the buns.

Advantage with the I-phone is photography over the shoulder made easy.

Max remains the master of sleeping.

Does not matter whose lap he lies upon.


Colton finally noticed he had a baby brother or maybe it was the big truck on his p.j.s. that distracted him.


We were back on the road to Dallas Friday. The hotel had a view of Cowboy Stadium but no cowboys.

The old guy from Six Flags seems to have developed a thang for Emily.

Do other states have amusement park rides involving cattle?

And in the dark Emily found two friends. She had the sweatshirt, they had the tights.

Usually it is Emily with the tights.

My favorite veteran

would have to be my dad. Definitely.

I grew up during the Vietnam War. I remember the draft, the protests, the nightly newscasts of casualties and devastation and prisoners of war and missing in action. It was just a part of life. Yet I know of no one my age that served in Vietnam because thankfully it was over that spring of 1975.
I was 16.

My Dad enlisted in the army when he came home from his mission. He had already entered the Salt Lake mission home when he was drafted. He was sent home while the Church and the government played tug of war with his life. The Church won with the understanding that he was only delaying his entrance into the Service. My mom and dad married while he was in the army. Two months later he was sent to Berlin, Germany for 13 months without my mother. The Korean conflict had recently ended. Dad was a clerk at the Spandau prison where the Nazi war criminals were held. Boot camp and all those rifle and survival training exercises in Yakima prepared my dad to sit facing a typewriter. He may have been through East Germany but I think the enemy was loneliness and boredom. I love that my dad served in the military. Thanks dad and servicemen everywhere who protect our freedoms and this great country.

Sleepyhead

woke up. Once. When he had a firm grip on all that was left of his previous life.

Otherwise he slept in our arms.

And the carseat.

And the baby chair.

His little life was exhausting.

It all happened so fast.

Emily had fall break. We could be in Midland by Tuesday night. Riding in to town for the main event. Except Jenny woke up early Sunday morning. She thought she might have wet the bed. Thank goodness she came to her senses because Max was born in a hospital less than a hour later. All that drama wore him out. He napped for the rest of the week.

He slept if you were looking.

Or not.

With the pacifier.

Or without.

A prodigy of baby sleeping.

Papa came for the weekend.

No one asked Colton about having a baby brother. He took it like a man and ignored the thorny issue.

Their is mischief in this boy but no front teeth. Max is safe from the little vampire.

Maybe.

Kirsten got the Hollywood treatment before her debut in the ward Primary Program. The shades. The tinted windows. The mature driver. She is such a star. Get your autograph now.

Trick or Treat?

You should know Emily has changed her name to Candy Corn.

Week in Review

I am not sure of blogging protocol concerning chatting about General Authorities so I could be breaking some rules here. We had our stake conference last weekend. Lonny picked up Elder Zwick from his hotel to drive to Bartlesville. He asked all about the family and told Lonny about his. His wife is a relative to Ralph and Helen Lake, my stake president in Eugene when I was a child. He built the Portland Temple. He has a daughter named Jenny and married to John Eyring, son of President Eyring. He has been to Eric's mission and told a story in stake conference about the Mayan people of Tuxtla Gutierrez. He personally assured me that Eric's mission was a safe part of Mexico. On Sunday afternoon we had dinner together. Emily was the unfortunate only kid there so she got more attention than she desired. Lonny told the gathering that Emily has memorized The Living Christ. She was asked to recite her favorite part and she performed like a champ. Wednesday at dawn, I had her recite the full version to my seminary class.

Monday morning was Justin's first day in his new job as a lawyer. There were days in his reckless youth we thought he might need one. When Justin was little I suggested he drive the Keebler truck so we could eat the cookies at lunch time. A mom can dream.

This morning Jenny called and she had had the BABY!!!! Baby Max did not wait for Grandma. Or the epidural. So, yeah, that's what happened.

Something from nothing

I leave for a week and now there is a practically a Quiktrip on Elm Street. I have waited 15 years for a Quiktrip in Jenks. Now they build one. Fine.

I will miss you.

Or maybe this post should be titled nothing from something because the First Baptist Church sat here before I left home. Emily and Eric went to preschool in the brick building to the right but graduation was in the missing building. Emily still has piano lessons in that white house.

Here's the closeup, only the foundation remains. As if the Church was just taken up to heaven. Hmm, well they did build a big new building, so mystery solved. Probably.

When we moved to Jenks I wondered why there was nothing built along the river. That's considered prime property anywhere but here. This future restaurant wasn't there when I left town either but now it sits between the Jenks bridge and the Aquarium.

I thought we were in a recession. You can't tell around here.