The Kids Are Here

Our quiet days are over!  Gerald and the kids have been here for several weeks now and it has changed our lives.  We are into school again, and all sorts of other kid stuff.  All previous routines have been modified and spaces are no longer open.  Already we have adjusted pretty well to having Seth and Angelica with us.  They seem to be adjusting nicely to American life and settling into its less structured and demanding routine pretty quickly.  Gerald has done a great job of organizing things to accommodate their lives here.  I so admire him and all the planning he does for his children.  He invests in them with all his heart.  I know he will sorely miss them once he returns home this coming week.  I'm used to him being with us.  So I hate to see him leave.  I so admire this son of mine.  He has the purest of hearts and gives himself to wife and children unselfishly.  Here's hoping that the kid's life here will bring him and Frances here also.  I'm always hesitant to make my hearts desire too openly apparent.  I suppose I don't want to be disappointed, or manipulate people into doing what is not in their best interest.  But I dare to say that I hope they come.

Last week Allegra came with Audrey.  After a sweet weekend with them, Allegra stayed and Audrey returned home.  It has been so fun to have Allegra with us.  She adds a certain sparkle and the kids love her.  Well, so do I.  She will be here until January.  Here she is with Angelica.

We have had fun blending cooking preferences of Angelica, Allegra and me.  It is such fun to be surrounded by family!  There is such an interaction of personalities now.  I've forgotten what that was like but here it is again.  And I like it.  I hope the kids will settle in with us and not miss their folks too much.  They are excited about the coming holidays and thus, so am I.  There is none of our American holiday celebrations in Taiwan, so it will all be new to them.  That makes it fun to anticipate.  Add to that the upcoming Temple dedication and the activities surrounding that, and the next few months appear to be quite a fun thing to look forward to.  Here are Angelica, Allegra, Gerald and Seth at the family table. 

So, adventures await.  I'm hope I'm up to it.

Mother's 100th Birthday and other Stuff

MOTHER
I have been thinking of my Mother all day.  If she were still with us, she would be 100 years old today.  She has been my model for how to have a productive, fulfilling, happy life.  I love and admire her, always and forever.

These past few weeks have been full of activities.  It has been too busy to document them, until today.  This is our last Sunday without family for awhile.  Gerald and his two kids are due here this week.  Seth and Angelica will stay until next summer.  Allegra will soon arrive also and stay until she returns to school in January.  It will be a life-changer for us, for awhile.

TOTAL ECLIPSE
We were lucky to be able to witness a version of the total eclipse that passed through Idaho and beyond on August 21st.  We watched it from our new gazebo.

The moon covered the sun with only the narrowest possible slip of sun exposed.  Totality could only be seen a little bit north of us.  That slip of sun turned our day into dusk but not darkness.  Even the littlest bit of sun gave us an amazing amount of light.  It can be seen at its peak in our yard here.  With special glasses, we could see the small sun sliver.

BEAR LAKE

Our friends Larry and Carol Wintersteen invited us to spend a few days at Bear Lake this past week.  Carol's brother, Roger, has a home there.  So last Monday Larry, Carol, Layne, me and friends Stan and Nancy Beck packed our car and drove there.  We spent 4 happy days in Roger's home.  He built it all himself, in the 70s.  His place has a lovely view of Bear Lake.  We spent our days visiting the various local sights.  We learned that the Bear Lake area is known for its raspberries.  Indeed, Roger has a huge raspberry patch.  We ate raspberry shakes every day and bought some of their local raspberry jam.  Here's a view of Roger and friend Clell in his berry patch.

Here's a view of Bear Lake from Roger's deck.

Here's Roger's homemade home and our gang standing in front.

L to R:  Larry, Carol, Nancy, Roger, Stan, me and Layne.  Oh yes, the dog Lamb Chop traveled with us too.  She was so good!

One of the places we visited was Minnetonka Cave, filled with stalagmites and stalactites--formations that grow up from the floor and down from the ceiling.  It was pretty magical inside, with stairs, pathways and lights posted throughout.  As we walked deeper and deeper into that cave I began to imagine what would happen if we happened to have an earthquake inside there.  It sits on a fault, so the threat was real, it seemed to me.  While we loved viewing the amazing world inside that cave, I was grateful to make it back outside without incident.  But here's the thing; they DID have an earthquake there this weekend!  Here Carol and I stand in front of the cave.  It was 40 degrees inside!

Here's one view inside the cave.

HOME

We had a lovely drive home in Friday, visiting a museum on the way, much to the objections of Layne.  He is so not a tourist.  We had a lovely, fun drive home and so enjoy being here again.  No matter how fun being away is, it is always good to be home.  One of the first things I did was check our very enthusiastic squash plants.  In spite of friends raiding it while we were gone, the plants were full of more and more and more summer squash!  Sigh.  I picked it and bundled it up and took it to Church today, where almost every one disappeared.  If you look closely, you can see a small crook neck squash pocking out of this happy plant.  There is plenty more where it came from.

Layne called to me from our bedroom window today to hurry in and see a surprising sight.  For 4 and a half years there have been no sign of deer in our neighborhood.  But today look who is sitting in our yard, in the shade on this hot day, right by our garden!

Our lives are about to take a dramatic change this week.  Gerald and kids arrive on Thursday, and Allegra comes on the 12th or so.  Our house will be full!  I'm excited for this new adventure.  For awhile we will be parents again.  Here's hoping we do a better job this time around!