Monday, April 21, 2008

Suede's Scootin' Shufflin' Shimmy

"When words are scarce they're seldom spent in vain" Shakespeare



This pictures is a bit old (about 3 mo ago), but I felt it was fitting for her first word. Let me introduce the family dog. We enjoy all the perks of being dog owners without any of the hassle i.e. feeding, cleaning, walking. Our upstairs neighbors (my brother and his family) have the best Boxer. He's smart, sweet, and cuddly and Craig never lets us forget he's also stinky. He's amazing with kids and Suede squeals every time he comes down to visit us. So her first word was not the loving expression of Mama, but that of "Boo" the family dog. You can see here she is tugging at his ears while he just lays in waiting for what may come next. He has one blue eye that is thus red in the picture and I'm starting to think he might be deaf in one ear. His hearing is very acute, but he has trouble spatially; figuring out where the sound comes from is sometimes a challenge. He opens doors to get in the house (which can be bad if you want to keep his muddiness outside). But like I said, I have the joy of hearing about the messes without having to take part in their cleaning up :). He actually assists in OUR clean up with his rapid actions under Suede's high chair after meals. So, all in all I don't feel slighted by her choice of word. I think he's rather great too.

DISCLAIMER: Craig, being the one that sees the most of Suede during the day, states that Suede's first word was in actuality Dada. I was not told of this at the time, thus if he wants me to concede to such things has to keep me abreast on all the latest happenings in the world of Suede.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Happy Easter


Happy Easter to everyone. I had a wonderful week leading up to Easter Sunday preparing to speak in Sacrament Meeting (to the congregation). I've never spent that much time contemplating the Resurrection of Christ before Easter actually comes, and I think I'll make it a yearly tradition (hopefully not counting the speaking part). It really helped me to appreciate it much more than I have in the past. We spend so much time leading up to Christmas, but Easter, the most important event of all we kind of glaze over until the day of. It was a little nerve racking having me and Craig as the only speakers on Easter Sunday, but we got through it.

My favorite quote of this year for Easter is by Howard W. Hunter (in his talk "He Is Risen"):

“Think of it! When his body was taken from the cross and hastily placed in a borrowed tomb, he, the sinless Son of God, had already taken upon him not only the sins and temptations of every human soul who will repent, but all of our sickness and grief and pain of every kind. He suffered them all. He did this to perfect his mercy and his ability to lift us above every earthly trial. But there remained one more set of chains to be broken before the Atonement could be complete; the bands of death... It is the responsibility and joy of all men and women everywhere to “seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have [testified]” (Ether 12:41) and to have the spiritual witness of his divinity. It is the right and blessing of all who humbly seek, to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness of the Father and his resurrected Son.”

Here are some pictures of Suede and her cousin Hannah in their pretty Easter dresses. Happy Easter!


Thursday, March 20, 2008

Deer Me! Hiking (a wee bit of) the AT

What's the AT? you ask. For us veterans of long distance hiking, we have our own explanation. For the rest of you couch potatoes, the Appalachian Trail is 2,175 miles of the most bucolic and famous hiking trail in the US. We decided to tackle the AT (well,  4 miles of it anyway). This was just the first of many warmups to our June 2-6, 5 day, 56 miler.

The first thing we discovered was that we were not alone.

What we didn't realize was that Pete's dragon was somewhere near.

Well, it looked big on the book cover.

Taralyn decided to use her awesome hooded exercise jacket to it's fullest.



We made it to the top of Stony man Mountain, second highest point in Virginia.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I love Jane Austen

I am Anne Elliot!


Take the Quiz here!



I was quite surprised. I always pictured myself as an Elizabeth Bennett :)

4 Generations

My 86 year old grandmother was in town last week for my cousin's wedding so we took the opportunity to take some pictures of our 4 generations of womanhood. Let me say she is absolutely amazing. She exercises every day, is computer savvy, and of course keeps up on politics. Just last March she even traveled to Israel. I'm proud to be carrying her mitochondria and passing it on to Suede. Thanks to my sister the photographer. It's always nice to have a professional around.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

It's been absolutely wonderful returning to my home of Virginia after a seven year excursion in Utah in which I gained both an awesome husband and a wonderful daughter. I did enjoy my time there, but I really never expected to miss it this much when I came home. Here's a short portion of what I miss about that Beehive state inspired by Leslie's recent post.

1. The Sowby Fam
2. Huge looming mountains with snowcapped tips
3. Beautiful temples around every bend of highway
4. An excess of great music concerts (played and watched)
5. SNOW, SNOW, SNOW, SNOW
6. Did I mention the SNOW?
7. Being able to walk to church (instead of driving 40 min.)
8. Hiking
9. Rock climbing OUTSIDE
10. Great bike trails
11. Sunday drives on the alpine loop
12. Many nights of debate and fun with the Wittusens
13. Sunday dinners at the Orchard's
14. FRIENDS

Leslie I must say, and I never thought I would, I heart Utah as well!