A little bird...

A little bird (named Jenny Beth) brought it to my attention that I have been neglecting my blog posting. "What?!" said I. "But it has only been a mere... 6 months since my last stirring update."

So, as is common this time of year, I will do a "Year In Review" of sorts. For, as I started going through my pictures, I found them to be delightful reminders of many a memory I do not want lost. So, on with the show...

2009
I unexpectedly spent the first days of 2009 moving from my home on Locust Lane in Provo into Brett and Tufa's basement apartment in Orem. It was a bit of a squeeze, but eventually found my new home and especially my new house-mates (Brett, Tufa, Josiah, Tasi, mom, and dad) to be just what I needed.

My dear Erin Colleen and I have celebrated our birthdays (which are only one day apart) together for many years now. Caroline put together a luau and murder mystery party for us this year. Good times were had by all! Me, dad, and my Caroline.

Erin and I did have a minor issue when it came to a handsome fire-knife dancer. We eventually worked it out - thankfully friendship is thicker than... cardboard and brads.

For our birthdays, Erin's sister Shannon did a photo shoot with us. These were my favorite.

When it started warming up we did a trip to the zoo. This is not all my nieces and nephews, but you get the idea that they are all darling! I took pictures of them impersonating different animals. Wow, laughed till my cheeks hurt.

I was up on a hill so I was face to face with this giraffe. And look, he's totally winking at me! He is kinda cute, but not really my type (or species).

Spring is such a fun time of year. We visited one of my favorite families who have a farm full of the usual (goats, chickens) and not so usual (kangaroos and alpacas) farm animals. Tasi was a little leery of the chicken.

We had our Easter program and egg hunt at my brother Spencer's house. Luminaries were set out and the kids had flashlights to help them hunt for sweet treats. These two little cousins, Grace and Jess, were apparently pleased with their finds.

In early May, my sisters and I took a little trip to Salt Lake to see Wicked. I'd seen it before but was thrilled to go with my sisters. We all loved it (doi...who doesn't love Wicked?)

I finished my master's degree this year as well. Graduation was in May but classes weren't actually finished until June. Jess made this crocodile for me as a graduation gift. It is one of my most treasured possessions.






























As a graduation gift to myself I took a little trip to Europe to visit Alex and some friends. It was fun all over! I know I'm over doing the pictures on this post, but I thought I'd include one from each country we visited.
Scotland...













Ireland...
























Finland...














England...
***No pictures available***
About 3 days after I got home from my trip I was back to school. The first month was quite the whirl wind, but we made it through. A short trip to Lake Powell was a welcome break. Thanks to my brother-in-law Troy's patience I got up for the first time on water skis. Pay no attention to the glow of my legs, it was the glare off the lake!!
























I started noticing a funny sound coming from the corner of the ceiling in my room one night. I thought it might be a mouse. I got up on my night stand to knock on the wall and punched a little hole instead. Within seconds there were a dozen wasps flying around my room. This was our patch job and that would be the wasps trying to escape when the exterminator sprayed. Yucky.














Some girls in my ward decided to do the Turkey Tri triathlon in early November and to try and raise money for a friend who has cancer. To my (and my whole family's) surprise I decided to do it too. We trained for several weeks. I won't claim speed (in fact I was dead last in my age group) but I had such a good time. And, we raised $5000 for our friend. Awesome!

















During Thanksgiving break I again found myself packing, this time to move to Pleasant Grove to live with my sister and her family. She's got 3 little ones now and is expecting twins, so there is plenty to keep us busy.





















The first 5k Santa Run in Provo took place in the beginning of December and our running group decided to take part. When you register you are given a santa hat and beard along with the shirt. Erin and I added the socks. I hadn't trained as well but again had such a good time.















I spent Christmas morning with Caroline and her family. Christmas is a different experience with kids. All my siblings came over later in the morning and we spent the day chatting, opening gifts, and eating. I love them all, really and truly!

It's been a good year. Very good. I wonder what 2010 will bring about. Hopefully I'll have a post or two up before then end of the year ;)

Best dollar I've spent!

When I was young we frequently had lemonade stands in the summer. I have many memories of sitting there with my little pitcher of juice and waiting...hoping. I would get so excited when a car would stop. Sometimes they would give me a dollar and say keep the change. I thought I'd really hit the big time! When business was good I would expand into offering two types of juice or buy some licorice. I usually lost money on the licorice. It's hard for a kid to just sit there with candy that close and refrain.

I love to keep a stash of coins and bills in my car so I can stop at stands during the summer. So I was sad that I'd missed out when my sister's son Johno painted some rocks and set up a little rock stand on their lawn. He had the rocks sorted by size and priced from 1$ to 3$.

(Can I just say, Johno is his father's son!) Well, the rocks looked great, but February apparently was not the best time to start a front-yard-business. And with the economy what it is, Johno's business went under. He was a little discouraged. I called him and said I'd heard he was selling some rocks and could he save some for me because I had a space on my shelf that needed something... it needed a colorful rock. He was so excited. He brought his rocks with him the next time we were out and he gave me the special "friends-and-family discount" (a $2 rock for half price - what a steal!). It was a tough choice, but here is the one that he and I decided would look best on my shelf:

McDonald's

I realize that I am very easily entertained, but I thought this was rather funny.

I have started taking my family members out for a birthday dinner (some times a week... or month... late. But who cares when someone else is buying your dinner, right?). Then I interview them and post the interview on our family website. Anyway, my little niece Lilian wanted to go to this little restaurant called "Max and Cheese" that had little kid meals like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And the tables were game boards to play on while you ate. Sounded really fun, but it isn't nearly as fun when it closed about 5 months earlier.

So, what was Lilian's second choice? "McDonald's!" of course. After we ordered our food, the cute girl behind the counter asked for my name, which I said and she wrote it on the receipt. I didn't happen to look at the receipt at first, but when I heard her call out "Dicky" several times I realized she meant me.

Ivy House Girls

Once upon a time there was a house, a cute little red brick house with ivy growing all over the front entrance. There were 6 girls who claimed "The Ivy House" as their humble abode and had many a happy memory created within its walls. There were late night talks, Sunday dinners, camp outs in the front room near the swamp cooler, bean bags wars, "Orange Colored Skies" dances, back flips over the couch, clogging (though never after 11 pm...who clogs after 11 pm?), concerts with wooden spoon microphones, roommate prayers, and life long friendships. Truly, good, good times were had in that little house.

Well, years later, those roommates are still friends, though we don't get to see each other near as much as we'd like to. We did have a weekend to catch up. We went to see Erin perform in "The Savior of the World" and then stayed at the Marriot. For Christmas a few years ago Betsy, one of the Ivy House girls, gave us all a sign that read "Together is a wonderful place to be." And so it is.

So, while at the Marriot we were a little crowded, but Erin was able to strap herself in for the night in order to save on space. Bless her heart!

Here is a very natural, candid shot of Betsy and Erin casually catching up.

Oh, wait, here's the candid one...
I realize that this was months ago, but the memories of good friends are never to old to keep me feeling happy in heart and mind. Ahhh, good times indeed.

So, this post is dedicated to some of those good friends, the Ivy House Girls: Karen, Erin, Betsy, Jenny, Caroline, and Vicki.

What to write about...

So one of the excuses I've had for not starting a blog is I don't know what I would write about. I'm sure there are things in life that I could share, but I don't know what those are. I see the benefit of blogging. What a great record of stories and life and people and lessons and daily moments that are of value.

I've decided to get my feet wet with this whole blogging thing by putting on a picture and writing about it. That seems easy enough...my favorite pictures seem to always have a story behind them. And I like telling stories. Well, then, all I have to do now is choose from the thousands of pictures I have on my computer.

Let's start with this one:

This was taken up Hobble Creek Canyon (I think) in 2004. We were all up Hobble Creek Canyon for a Memorial Day breakfast that Spencer's law firm was putting on. I remember that I was leaving later that evening to go back to Vanuatu. I'd been home from my mission for 5 years and was going back via New Zealand with Betsy and Kristen . I wanted some pictures of the family to take with me so I was snapping away. I developed them in an hour and picked them up on my way to the airport.

I decided to start with this picture for 2 reasons. 1) It is one of my favorite pictures of mom and dad. 2) It is days like these - family, laughing, talking, outside, with beautiful surroundings - that I love most. There are big events that are so fun to reminisce about, but it is all of the "every day" joys that make for the spirit of the family that I most value.

There are so many things I love about my mom and dad. I love the little things they do almost every time I see them. Dad calls me "Angel" and gives me a kiss on the cheek. Mom will call me "Vicki-donald" and share some thing she learned that day. I just like them a whole lot!

My Message

The other day Brett told me of a time when Mahatma Gandhi was asked why he didn’t write more books to share his message with the world. His response was, “My life is my message.” I feel that in recent years I have been awakened to the vast knowledge and goodness available in those who I have the privilege of associating with. My family, my friends, my students, co-workders, and strangers - their lives have delivered messages that have provided much light in my life. I would not have guessed that my life would have unfolded as it has…which makes me hesitant to try and make predictions about my future. But I do believe that if I continue to listen to the stories of those I know and meet, that the messages I hear will be beyond my imagination.

What has my message been?

What will my message be?

This is to be a record of the messages I receive from others who I am privleged to know and those messages I hope to convey “in small ways, as one person.”