Angela – Page 236 – Letters from Home

Overdue

I am late wishing you all a Happy Mother’s Day. We made these hand prints yesterday. Paige’s hand was too big for the mold. These turn my heart. That little fluttery feeling is about the best thing about being a mother, next to the kisses from babies, giggles, homemade cards, and fingerprints on my door frame from little ones looking for me in the dark.

It was so nice to talk to my mom, the temporary mother of 180 missionaries.

These library books are overdue. We try to max out our library cards so we don’t have to go as often. I think they are an impressive sight, stacked in the entryway and ready to go.

Happy Anniversary to us

Workspace

I recently saw a project where someone took photographs of the insides of people’s refrigerators. Along with each photo the authors listed the person’s profession, marital status, and age. I thought it was fascinating. And it made me think of my refrigerator, heavily stocked with milk and ketchup, sure signs of young children in the house.

I’m not willing to show you my refrigerator but here’s a picture of my workspace. It tells a good story about what’s going on at our house this week. Not visible on this table are the beanbags from Timothy’s foray into the world of juggling, my iron cooling before I put it away and a stack of CDs full of photos for a DVD project I’ve decided to do.

I admit it. I am overwhelmed today and that doesn’t happen very often.

Gila Valley Adventure

Today we went on an adventure to the Gila Valley in Arizona. It was a long drive but we took our friends with us and that made the drive more bearable.

We attended the Gila Valley Temple Open House. We forgot our camera. This was taken with my phone, but as you can see, heaven’s rays were clearly visible here.

In the most beautiful room in the temple, Mark planted his feet and gently resisted my efforts to move him away. All of the children said they liked this room best. I caught my breath and tried to keep my composure when I entered the room, too.

It was a nice place to visit, thinking of our 15th anniversary this week. We were married in the St George Temple.

Butterflies!

Over the weekend we had 5 butterflies emerge.

They’re still in their little mesh habitat. We’ll release them tomorrow when the nighttime temperatures are higher.

I couldn’t get a good photo through the mesh, so I crouched under their enclosure and snapped some photos through the clear plastic on the bottom.

These are Painted Lady Butterflies.

The caterpillars were fun to watch because they grew so quickly. The pupa stage was very dull until we transplanted them into their mesh habitat. I was holding the fabric on which they’d attached themselves and suddenly they were all gyrating violently. I nearly dropped them (as their defense mechanism hoped I would). I did NOT scream, as my pride as an old entomology student was at stake, but I felt a little bit like Indiana Jones around snakes.

Timothy loved this activity.

Paige’s irises

Be sure to find beauty somewhere today. It makes all the difference.

Some Quotes

Mark

4/12/10

Mom: What kind of soda would you like?

Mark: Definitely not the kind with gasoline! (He means caffeine.)

Mom: You’re so funny, Mark.

Mark: And cute!

4/10

Mark, discovering a dandelion gone to seed says, “Look, Mom! When you blow this, little feathers fly off!”

4/23/10

Mom: Lehi saw the tree of life with beautiful white fruit.

Mark: I think it was GARLIC. Garlic is white!

4/25/10

Looking at a package of licorice and mistaking the cherries for apples, Mark says, “Licorice is made out of apple! So why can’t you give us that apple snack?

Austin Now

Yes, that’s Richard in a field of Texas wildflowers.

Richard was in Texas last week. Most of the time he was in Dallas, but he took a day and a half to visit our family and a few friends in Austin. He visited our old house and the trees we planted in our yard. He ate a Freebirds burrito and went to Chuy’s (whoa, boy; lots of Tex-Mex!) and rehearsed the finer points of dry, sarcastic humor with his brother, Rob. He’s still serving out that brand of humor a week later.

Piano Ensemble Year 3

Tonight was a Big Event in our family. The annual piano ensemble concert took place at Centennial Hall in Tucson.

Preparation for the piano ensemble concert began around September. Paige and Daniel learned the primo parts to their duets and then memorized them. For the last month they have rehearsed each Saturday at the University of Arizona with their piano ensemble groups. There are 12 pianos on stage and usually 24 performers per piece.

Paige and Daniel worked very hard to achieve this night. Here’s a little photo essay of their special night.