Category: Family Time

We celebrated

Halloween feels different when teens are at parties and there is only one child at home to go trick or treating with. Mark is tremendously fun company and we enjoyed our walk through the neighborhood.

Have you read Bram Stoker’s Dracula? The description of Dracula includes the usual things you see in a classic costume, but one horrible detail is that he had hairy palms. Eww.

Timothy had no words to describe what he was dressed up to be, and neither have I. But the costume had the funny factor for sure.

Mark and I are pretty proud of the jack-o’-lantern we created.

The morning light of November 1 finds my shelves adorned with Pilgrims and Indians and expressions of thanks. Let the celebration of gratitude begin!

Hello Halloween

I realized the following:

  1. We haven’t carved pumpkins.
  2. I haven’t bought Halloween candy.
  3. Only one boy is dressing up this year. I think.
  4. I am ready to put up my Thanksgiving decor as soon as we stop seeing trick or treaters.
  5. I might like to dress up this year. I am thinking Rosie the Riveter.
  6. Paige is having fun being an illustrator and got her first commissioned project. Her Instagram feed this month has been whimsical and cute.
  7. Mark decorated his room with spiders and 6-inch plastic skeletons. Hanging just inside the door is a spider with a full human skeleton in its grasp. It’s so morbid that I can’t bring myself to take a picture.
  8. I have been sick and Richard took good care of me. Now that I am feeling better I will need to start cooking again.

BYU Homecoming Spectacular

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I am thinking in lists these days. Paragraphs are too much work. Here is what I will remember about our weekend.

Apple harvest and preparation

A Poldark episode with a happy ending

Solar salesmen with long presentations

Gladys Knight, Vocal Point, And Lexie Walker at the BYU Homecoming Spectacular

Mark’s Primary program at church and his piano duet with Richard

Mark’s Adventures with Grandparents

1-dsc_2593-001Mark and I took a trip with my parents to California to visit my Grandma Ruth. Mark wasn’t sure if he would have a good time spending lots of time in a car to be with his grandparents, mom, and great-grandmother, but he did. For real.

He explored the Delta with Grandpa.

He bought doughnuts with Grandpa

He played with Fisher Price toys from the late 1960’s with his cousin who stopped by.

We drove the scenic route on the way home, along the Sacramento river. We stopped at a little diner and had the best lunch with big mugs of milk.

He got a hat at the Donner Memorial gift shop.

He enjoyed a breakfast buffet at our hotel.

He stayed up late watching The Lord of the Rings.

He made and served dinner with Grandma, which he said was a true highlight.

He rewired a lamp with Grandpa, also a highlight.

He crawled under Great-grandma’s furniture to replace electrical cords and loved it.

He met a new dog friend.

He didn’t have to share Pop Tarts with his siblings.

He packed a bag full of Archie comics to enjoy with Grandpa. It was time well shared.

He and Grandma watched movies in the back seat of the car on the drive home.

He grew in admiration for his grandparents and cheered his great-grandmother with his presence. He tried a few funny lines and people laughed. He got to be independent and not compared with older siblings. He soared.

A trip to Sparks to say goodbye

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We traveled to Sparks, Nevada for a party hosted by my aunt and uncle. They invited all of Grandma Stewart’s friends and family for a luncheon to honor her. It was happy and upbeat, and gave us all a sense of closure that we didn’t have after her death because there was no funeral. They held the party in my aunt and uncle’s yard on the week of my grandmother’s birthday. The weather was perfect. My mom read aloud tributes written by family members. I was able to meet my grandmother’s friends and see my cousins.

Richard and I took the kids to grandma’s old house to walk around the yard one last time. That was really hard for me, but it made me feel better to tell myself that tears aren’t such a bad thing if they come when you are reminded of sweet times and dear people.

My tribute to my grandmother is written here.

In a time before texting

We were reading the Bible as a family on Monday night and Mark was using my childhood scriptures. He found this note in the pages, written to my friend Thora when I was his age.

This note is one of the earliest surviving documents of the first time I decided to change my name to Angela. Back and forth, Angie and Angela have taken turns my whole life.

It also shows how I had an early interest in animals, which promptly disappeared after I finished a degree in Biology with a Zoology emphasis.

It shows the development of my handwriting style. I think I was imitating someone popular, who was actually very mean.

When Mark found this note he just laughed and handed it to Richard. I cringed and laughed and sent a picture of it to my friend Thora, who still has cute hair, while I still wonder if anyone likes mine. It awakened all sorts of preadolescent demons in my mind.

Be careful what you leave in your scriptures. You never know who will find it.

😉

September favorites

This (edited) movie:

I watched it twice. And liked it both times.

These books:

It’s about aging and dying, medicine and home. It is an important and good read.

This was good because it shatters the idea that we need to build powerful friendships before we can invite people to come to Christ.

This audiobook:

We actually listened to this in August but I keep remembering outrageous quotes. Some sentences you just need to hear to believe. The narrator also has a great Han Solo voice. This is actually not worth your time…unless you are on a long road trip with a preteen, in which case, it is gold.

Lego hunt 

August has come, and the schools are sending us emails and mail and phone calls. In an act of solidarity with the spirit of summer, today Mark, Timothy, and I went on a search for Lego figures, specifically the rare Lego babies. We passed Pokémon GO players, fixated on their screens, keeping our heads high and alert for the small yellow packages in stores. On our fifth stop we finally found them, zealously guarded at a counter at a toy store.

The blind yellow packaging made it challenging to know which figure we were handling. We were joined by other seekers at the counter, one clearly more dexterously confident. I would take a good two minutes to handle a package, while our neighbor, who brokered a deal with the cashier to bring out the remaining stock of figures, cast aside packages quickly. When the boys and I thought we found a Lego baby, he offered to feel the package to validate it. Instant friend! Expert in his field. He did not disappoint. We came away with two Lego babies…and several other novice (not pictured) surprises.

Richard takes the boys on grand adventures. Mine are designed to be shorter, less dangerous, and closer to fast food restaurants. It was delightful to be a kid with a couple of my boys, opening Lego packages as soon as we got to the car and exclaiming joy or bewilderment at what we discovered. It was a simple 3 hours, full of conversations, and I’m really glad we found something, or else the boys may not have agreed it was so fun. I was just happy to be with them, and not driving them to school and back.

They even offered to let me keep a Lego baby. My heart melted.