November

Things have been interesting around here. In one week we had snow flurries, torrential rain and 70 degree weather. Virginia Beach is really a beautiful place to live. Despite the changeable temperature, the changing of the leaves has been lovely. Regular gas is 1.559 at my favorite station.

This Sunday there was some confusion over what lesson was due in Relief Society. You know, the old "fourth Sunday vs. last Sunday" dilemma. Our teacher didn't come, so with no advance notice my counselor and I team taught the lesson. It went quite well. The assigned conference talk was President Monson's address, "Finding Joy in the Journey." This is a great talk filled with quotes, stories, scriptures and reminiscences.

At one point, Denice, my education counselor, began to read the following story:

In the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, Church member Jay Hess, an airman, was shot down over North Vietnam. For two years his family had no idea whether he was dead or alive. His captors in Hanoi eventually allowed him to write home but limited his message to less than 25 words. What would you and I say to our families if we were in the same situation—not having seen them for over two years and not knowing if we would ever see them again? Wanting to provide something his family could recognize as having come from him and also wanting to give them valuable counsel, Brother Hess wrote—and I quote: “These things are important: temple marriage, mission, college. Press on, set goals, write history, take pictures twice a year."

While she was reading the story, I had the other counselor, Lisa, go out to the RS closet just outside the door of the room and get pencils and index cards. I asked the sisters to write the most important things they could think of to tell their families in 25 words or less.

Keep in mind that we had no preparation time for our little messages; it was all spur of the moment. But I wanted to share with you what I wrote:

Love each other
Keep in touch
Cherish the children
Watch the sunsets
Laugh out loud until milk comes out of your nose
Bake Christmas cookies

I guess I should have put something in there about the Gospel, staying strong in the church, etc. Instead I just focused on love and our family unit, with its little quirks. I love you all! This holiday season is going to be fantastic!

Windows 2.0 part two

Front Windows

The windows are in. I was a little naive and thought all we would have to do after the workmen were finished was to put the curtains back up and move the furniture back into place. It is not that easy.

Front bedrooms' windows
- note the lack of hedges, new landscaping coming soon!

There is a bit of repair work to be done on almost every window. David has sanded and painted all the window sills; they got a little scarred and scraped. There is some plaster repair as well, and we have to find matching paint. I washed all the curtains while they were down and want to replace the kitchen and laundry room ones. Because well insulated windows are a lot thicker than what we had, our sills are a lot narrower now. Also the windows almost entirely fill the window wells, so there is no room to put the room darkening shades in the guest room and the roman shades in the family room. Both of those applications were within the window opening and there is no longer enough depth for the hardware. Sigh.

But the windows are very pretty, very clean, and the house seems so much quieter!

kitchen and family room windows

Windows 2.0 part one

Old living room window

Today is the day we get our new windows. Two fellows arrived at about 10am and a couple more are expected soon. The whole process is a little nerve wracking.

Although they came and measured the windows previously, the new ones don't seem to fill the holes exactly. Apparently our window holes are not perfectly square. They keep telling me everything will look great when they are finished.

Right now, it looks like there are big holes in the walls of the house. I'm very glad the rain we have been having for the past 3 days stopped overnight, and it has gotten warmer.

The sound of sledgehammers is not soothing.

No living room window (inside)

No living room window (outside)

to be continued...

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday David had surgery on his left hand for carpal tunnel. We were at the surgical center at 7:30am and home by 10:15am. All is well. He took no extra pain meds and says he doesn't feel any pain.
Today he is back at work. He drove himself.
This was all an after effect of the injury to his hand in June (see "the big orange sock puppet" post). Three fingers of his hand have been either painful or numb or both since then. The doctor expects full recovery. I even asked "Will he be able to play the piano?" -- a very old joke -- and the doctor said yes. He didn't laugh. Since David really does play the piano, I guess the joke doesn't apply.

Happy Halloween to all my piglets -- especially the little tiny one!

Space saver

Wow! It has been a while. I have so much to muse over, and even a few pictures. But with all the time that has gone by, I will never catch up. What to do.

I want to find a way to put in a slide show of our California pictures. I am working on that. Stay tuned!

Up, up and away!

We are doing a lot of traveling this summer. It has mostly been family related for me and church and school related for David. This week we actually go somewhere together!

We are off to visit with David's brothers and sister and their families. It will be fun; this is something we don't do often enough. Bethany, Adam and Emma and Elena will be coming soon, all at different times, but we will all have several days together. When we come home, Adam will come with us. It will be his first visit home since Christmas. We have missed him!

It has been a great summer, but very busy. I hope to put up more pictures soon. In July I spent a week playing with Elena and it was wonderful. It just reinforced why we have our children while we are young!

The good ole summertime!

We have had a busy summer and there is still a month left! I got to play with Elena in NC while Emma had Youth Conference, Emma and Elena came here for the 4th of July, and tomorrow I am going back to NC to play with Elena again. Emma has Girls' Camp! David will get to come too at the end of the week to help Emma at camp and get in some playtime. In August when summer term ends, we are off to California for the Wright Reunion.

I am putting this video up not only because Elena is adorable, but mostly because it shows what a loving and patient father Dan is. Not too many dads would let a 17 month old help with electronic car repairs. It was sweet to watch!


Elena made friends with all sorts of animals on her visit to Virginia. She named the wild neighborhood rabbit, Pop. He showed up in the front yard almost every morning to see her. At the pet store she met all sorts of animals and got to pet a kitten. Seeing the horses up close in Colonial Williamsburg was a big treat. We just love watching things through her eyes. She makes us young!

Thirty Five Years!

This is our engagement photo. It was taken in the rain just after finals in the Spring; we had both been studying and had very little sleep the night before.

This is our wedding photo, taken by Ken. A wonderful day, thirty five years ago today.

Eternity minus thirty five years equals ETERNITY!

Water Baby!

For those few of you who have been patiently waiting for me to resurrect this blog, here is the payoff! I can't remember how I edited previous videos, so this one goes on a few seconds too long. The computer is not too cooperative tonight, and I am half asleep. Be sure to scroll down for all the new June posts.

The Big Orange Sock Puppet

David broke a bone in his hand last week. When the specialist heard how he did it (dancing on stage at Busch Gardens while wearing stilts) the doctor decided that deserved a bright orange cast. Now everyone notices and asks about it. The fifth metacarpal was broken, but set easily. The cast should be off in a little more than 3 more weeks.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Birthdays!

Our sweet daughter had a birthday this week! It amazes us that we have grownup children; children who are not children anymore. That must mean we are getting older.

We didn't get to see Emma on her birthday, but managed to get in that "birth minute" phone call. Hopefully she had a great day and got to do her favorite things. Here is a picture of one of those things:

Adam, our baby, had a birthday too! Wow! Apparently we have don't have a lot of pictures of Adam alone or recently. Here is one from this winter when he and David went skiing. Honest, it is him.

This is a little clearer. This is his birthday last year. This birthday his roommate made him a cake, we sent him a package, and I sang "Happy Birthday" to his voicemail.

Sigh. . .

I am getting a little frustrated with trying to post this weekend. My computer is running awfully slow; my photo programs won't open or edit; blogspot doesn't believe I am me; and I have missed so many events already that I am so far behind!

This has been a very busy Spring and Summer is already overcrowded!

That, by the way, is an apology.

Number One Daughter!

Another birthday in our family! We like to keep them close together, so no one has an excuse to forget! :) A broken toe and pulled tendon did not keep our birthday girl from ripping open her presents with enthusiasm! Her friendly week-end chauffeur even took her out to lunch as her prize for winning the blog contest from earlier in the month!

It was a great day: bright and a little windy!

Spring has sprung!

Spring has come to Virginia Beach and it is absolutely beautiful! We wish you all could see the lovely flowers and all the trees budding. The forsythia is covered with yellow blooms in front of the house and periwinkles are going strong in the english ivy along the backyard fence. The azalea under the kitchen window is in early bloom, probably thanks to the new compressor unit next to it. The evenings are still cool; daytime is sunny and perfect. Come and visit!


One of the best parts of Spring is always Spring Break! This year David spent his week at a planetarium training class. Spouses weren't exactly invited, so I thought really hard of all the places I could go and ended up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina! I missed David, but there were compensations.

The week was so much fun! We took Elena to the mall and she discovered the Disney store. She loved the mountain of stuffed animals on the back wall. So did I! Elena liked the elephant, but the one I wanted was priceless.


Among all the wonderful, everyday things I enjoyed with Emma, Dan and Elena, we made a special trip to the North Carolina Zoo. There our little girl saw real elephants and so much more. I noticed an adorable little creature behind a plexiglass wall, but Emma said I couldn't have her. Even though there seemed to be an extra.

It was hard to leave the Dison family, but I can always keep up on www.thedisonfamily.blogspot.com.

David came home the day after I did, and we are getting all caught up at home and school. On Saturday Bethany came over and we all checked out the the sweet treats from the Easter Bunny. Chocolate eggs are always a delight, but I had a little daydream of what I would REALLY like.


Easter was beautiful and our time at church was inspiring. Our choir had worked very hard on a special hymn, "The Empty Tomb." We were so moved by the message of it and can only hope the congregation was too. Happy Easter to all!

For Lani!

This is a limited time only post for my BFF Lani! I didn't want you to miss out on Lynnea's birthday party. She is such a cutie and really enjoyed her cake. See you soon!








I'm having a hard time getting the last video, the one with the cake to load. I'm giving up for now and going to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

Okay, after numerous tries I figured out that the cake video is too big. So I have split it into overlapping halves. Also, I am sorry I talked so much; she was just too cute!

TCC Science Building

Even if I seem to be consumed with grandparenthood, David has a life. Quite a busy one, as it seems. The new Science Building opened at Tidewater Community College after Christmas break. There are still kinks to work out, but classes are being held there and David is constantly occupied in various aspects of the new structure. It is two story with two wings fanning out from a planetarium. Yes! A planetarium! David's personal playground!



Physics is on the second floor on the right.



Biology has a living lab outside between the wings.










There is an observatory just outside the building as well. The telescopes are not set up yet, but I have a shot of the roof opening.
















Now here are some pix of the planetarium:
The dome is 40 ft
It seats 81 people
There is a "command center"
and the computer with light up red keyboard.































Wow! I am so tired of manipulating these pictures around. It will have to stay as it is now!
Hey! If that is the command center, is David the Commander?

January and February!

Because this blog is so infrequently updated, it would seem we have a very boring life, but NO! We have Elena!

Elena is now ONE year old! I got to go to Winston-Salem for the big event; David was stuck at work and then a conference in Baltimore. Elena had a wonderful birthday on Thursday, January 17th, and then a fun party with lots of friends and their families on Saturday. It was fabulous to be a part of all of it. She had her first chocolate cake and her first ice cream cone. She approved of both! I realize this video is over 4 minutes long, but now you can feel like you were really there at the party! The other videos are shorter, promise.




Since David had missed all the good stuff, Elena and Emma came to visit in February for a long weekend and we had so much fun. She was walking around furniture, and sometimes, when she wasn't tired, all alone for a couple of steps. Of course, the camera was never going then. She enjoyed all the stuffed pigs around the house and learned how to turn on the musical one after watching me do it once. She is brilliant as well as beautiful!



We also went to the Virginia Aquarium (formerly the Marine Science Center) where she enjoyed watching the big, shiny fish, sea otters, Grand-dad, and the other children. She is very happy, sweet and well behaved.



Then she got eaten by a shark.




She was rescued by Grand-dad just in time.

People have always told us that grandchildren would be fun, but I don't think we were quite prepared for how much we treasure this little princess! We are glad we get to share her with this blog.

Christmas!

Wow! We had a wonderful Christmas. It was a little smaller than we are used to, but great fun. Adam was home from school, and Bethany had almost just as much time off. Working at a college has its benefits! We did most of our traditional Christmas stuff: food, fun, cookies, chocolates, caroling, etc. It was a banner year for our little street; we got 10 families at home when we went caroling on Christmas Eve with the sister missionaries. We missed singing for Mrs. Baylor, who died a month before Christmas. But her daughter, Sandy, was so glad we stopped by. That left only 6 plates to deliver around town. For once we got home at a decent time. Christmas morning was lovely and got started a little later than when we had little ones. Bethany stayed over and wake up time was 7am.

This video, the first with our wonderful little Flip camera, shows Bethany and Adam enjoying their gifts. Also, it shows off our tree. We love our tree! We love our kids! We got to talk to everyone on Christmas Day.




The whole week was great. We went to a couple of movies, Dad made his special Death By Chocolate birthday cake, watched videos, went geocaching, and ate leftovers. Mostly we talked and laughed.

New Year's Eve was a quiet night at home for David and me. Since it was Monday night, our stake didn't have a dance, at least not for us. There was a Young Single Adult dance with a lot of activities. Adam and Bethany both went, but didn't stay much past midnight.

It's back to work and school for everyone; all the decorations are put away; and I'm back at my regular, irregular schedule. The next big event is Elena's First Birthday! I plan on being in North Carolina on Janary 17th for the big event - just like last year!