AM hit the big 4-0 this week. To celebrate we visited a local pancake house where "rain, sleet, or shine there is always a line" for breakfast and then for dinner a little italian. Her big over-the-hill birthday present was a serger. Now to non-sewers like myself, a serger and a sewing machine seem like pretty much the same machine, but apparently they are entirely different, sort of like a road bike and a mountain bike, except of course its more obvious why you need two bikes to have fun that two sewing machines...
Then on Saturday, we had a surprise party. I had smuggled decorations and food to our friend's houses and the playhouse for safekeeping. (I even got up in the middle of the night once to transfer things from the wagon to the playhouse because I realized that AM was likely to drive the wagon the next morning and might get suspicious about the towels covering stuff up in the back. Fortunately there was a big windstorm that night so when she asked why I got up, I could say I was checking on our trashcan that had in fact been blown over in the storm.) On Saturday, one of AM's friends invited her to lunch to get her out of the house so I could decorate. I then picked her up directly from the restaurant on our way to a juggling show that we as a family had tickets too. (Which by the way was fantastic.) This provided the cover for people to assemble at our house. Then when we came home, I made sure she was the first to enter the house. She was quite surprised when everyone jumped out. I was trying to follow along with the camera to get video coverage, but my video feed turned out real jumpy, so I won't post it. Anyway it turned out well and was lots of fun. Thanks to any of you out in the blogosphere who participated.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Spring Break
AM decided that the kids needed some excitement for spring break, so they visited the Memphis zoo, the Civil Rights museum, and CMOM.
The pandas were on break as well.
Feed the birds, tuppins a bag...
Why trying to outswim a polar bear is a bad idea.
"Early evening April 4, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky, free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride...in the name of love."
It will be 40 years ago next month that King delivered his mountaintop speech the night before his assassination.
"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Ring around the rosies...
The pandas were on break as well.
Feed the birds, tuppins a bag...
Why trying to outswim a polar bear is a bad idea.
"Early evening April 4, a shot rings out in the Memphis sky, free at last, they took your life, they could not take your pride...in the name of love."
It will be 40 years ago next month that King delivered his mountaintop speech the night before his assassination.
"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Ring around the rosies...
Billy Goat Gruff
A couple of weeks ago, we had a short visit from Nathan G, who was back in town to defend his dissertation. While we didn't get to see as much of him as we might have liked, we did get a chance to get caught up on the family happenings and as he successfully defended, look forward to see the whole family back for graduation.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Trail of Tears
JA did her 4th grade history project on the Trail of Tears which begins near Chattanooga and passes thru Middle Tennessee and then eventually on to Oklahoma. It occurs to me that there are many similarities with the Mormon pioneers being driven out of Missouri and Illinois ten years later.
Sledding
We had a bit of an unusual snow storm for Tennessee, dumping maybe three inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning. We hurried and blew up our triangle tubes (which take about 15 minutes each) and headed out to the local park with a decent hill. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing a lot of the snow off the hill, so it wasn't as packed as we might have hoped. Still we were able to get a pretty decent hour or two of sledding before it was melted too much to keep going. A little "Easter Egg" if you will before spring finally settles in for good.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Happy Returns
We had a surprise visit from an old friend yesterday. While we were unloading from our Macon County trip, a truck with Utah license plates pulled up and out stepped Chris S! After recovery from our shock, we of course what brought him back to our fair state. Turns out, he has a client who moved out here a few months ago, so he needed to come out. Chris and Amy S. and their kids were some of our closest friends here and we were devastated when they decided to move back to Utah. Chris has started his own law firm and doing very well. Chris is probably one of the brightest people and well-traveled people you will ever meet, but you could easily miss this because of his low-key attitude and self-depreciating humor. We're so glad he thought of us when some time became available in his schedule.
Tornado Cleanup
Last saturday, I spend the morning help a friend in the ward chop up his 45 foot pine tree that was blown done in the storm. They were really lucky because the way the tree fell it barely missed their house. At first we only had a few chainsaws and they kept conking out, so we were trying to do a lot by hand, which was slow work. Then we rented two chainsaws from Home Depot and we started ripping thru it. Chainsaws are way fun and way faster than by hand! Still, the trunk of the tree was 2 feet in diameter so it was still slow going and even couple foot section were extremely heavy. I was embarrassed by how tired I was by the end, I must be getting old.
This Saturday, JP and I went with a big group from our ward to Macon County to help them with their tornado cleanup. This was the area hardest hit by the tornadoes and where the most people were killed. The cleanup efforts are being directed by the larger churches in the area, so we went to the Lafayette Church of Christ site. Groups were then assigned to whatever tasks was needed next on the list that they had the tools for. We ended up being assigned to walk through large cattle fields and pick up the pieces of insulation, shingles, siding, roofing, etc... that were scatter throughout the field. Nothing heroic, just necessary.
After doing this for about three hours, we went to a different site at the heart of the worst damage. Driving into this area was simply surreal. Enormous mounds of debris, the only remains of the houses, were everywhere. Some homes still were intact but with "FEMA roofs" (blue tarps.) Former sites of trailer homes were recognizable by the remains of a flower path or an electric boxes outlining space where now nothing else remained. Most debris piles were smoking as burning the wreckage is about the only way to get rid of it. The scale of the devastation felt so much more enormous in person. Hopefully we will be able to organize a few more trips there to help.
This Saturday, JP and I went with a big group from our ward to Macon County to help them with their tornado cleanup. This was the area hardest hit by the tornadoes and where the most people were killed. The cleanup efforts are being directed by the larger churches in the area, so we went to the Lafayette Church of Christ site. Groups were then assigned to whatever tasks was needed next on the list that they had the tools for. We ended up being assigned to walk through large cattle fields and pick up the pieces of insulation, shingles, siding, roofing, etc... that were scatter throughout the field. Nothing heroic, just necessary.
After doing this for about three hours, we went to a different site at the heart of the worst damage. Driving into this area was simply surreal. Enormous mounds of debris, the only remains of the houses, were everywhere. Some homes still were intact but with "FEMA roofs" (blue tarps.) Former sites of trailer homes were recognizable by the remains of a flower path or an electric boxes outlining space where now nothing else remained. Most debris piles were smoking as burning the wreckage is about the only way to get rid of it. The scale of the devastation felt so much more enormous in person. Hopefully we will be able to organize a few more trips there to help.