off i go

i'm going on a trip. by myself. all weekend. in case you want to know, i'm going for this. it is crazy getting ready to go, and it will be crazy the second i get back (i have to speak in church literally as soon as i get back from the airport and then teach a class of 3 yr olds about the importance of the sabbath). but it will be worth it. right?  what will i do on a plane for an hour and a half without anyone climbing on me or whining for treats?  i'll let you know how it goes.

birthday boy

i just love this kid. happy birthday to my favorite little scientist, whistler, reader, lego master builder.  you make our lives so rich.

we're going swimming after school then having a pizza picnic for dinner. not bad for an april birthday.  especially considering it's snowing in utah.  then the real party is on friday. now if you'll excuse me, i have a lot of work to do before 12, yes 12, six year olds show up at our jedi training academy.

bloody noses

3:35 a.m. luke came into my room screaming "bloody! bloody!" it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. he was holding a lego magazine crumpled up to his nose--ah. bloody nose. he gets them a lot here, probably because the air is so dry in arizona.

i could hardly get him to move from the middle of my room into the bathroom so i could clean his face off. the sight of blood absolutely petrified him, and he barely let me trade the magazine for a kleenex. then, the only way i could pry the kleenex off him (15 minutes later) was to tell him it was going to crust onto his face if he didn't take it off.

for someone who knows as much as he does about the human body, you'd think he'd be okay with a little blood. guess he will need to find a bloodless area of medicine if he really wants to be a doctor.

after i peeled the barely spotted kleenex away from his face and showed him that it was all done, he was so giddy with relief. after a few giggles and some zebra hugs, he was fast asleep. me--i went back to bed but couldn't sleep. my brain was too busy planning a star wars birthday party for that soon-to-be 6 yr old boy.

to old friends

i sent paul off to baltimore today for a conference. i'm jealous. go ahead and laugh.  but remember how i always used to say, '"i can't wait to miss baltimore?" baltimore has old friend status now. i can look past the blemishes now (ok giant hairy warts) and extend the kindness of selective memory.

i love baltimore in april and may. i miss wyman park. the aquarium.  the science center.  new system bakery's chocolate glazed donuts and . the walters art museum. red tree. the book thing.  so many great restaurants and festivals and HONFEST! our little hampden library.  and most of all my friends.

usually when you move, it takes a while, but you establish a new life for yourself in the new location. here, we are temporary, but indefinitely.  and we live with my parents.  i have some friends from high school, and paul and i each have a cousin living nearby (who are, strangely enough, related to each other through their spouses!)  and i have friends in the ward i can call to watch my kids if i need to.  but the friends we actually hang out with are ones we knew from other times in our lives, driving an hour or more to get together with people we know and love.

i love my friends. i feel rich as a queen with friends all over the world and so many great memories. what would i do without you all?  good grief i am starting to sound old.  but let me raise my glass anyway. to baltimore. to friendship over the years. to you.

2 boys

it seems like we have more than our share of fights lately, mostly over lego guys, but every once in a while they'll pull something like this:

luke: "good job building those legos, liam!"

liam: "thanks, lukie!"
luke: "you're welcome!"

and that gives me hope that maybe, someday, they might turn out to be constructive members of society after all.