More pictures

I guess these ones didn't go through with the last batch:

Here are the kids in front of the Salt Lake Temple. My mom works for the church, so whenever we're in town we go and meet her for lunch and enjoy Temple Square.

Here's Jack at the Dinosaur park in Odgen. It's such a fun place--nearly full size models of dinosaurs, etc. lurking everywhere!

More dinosaurs. This one was particularly creepy.

Here are Charlotte and Rachel, her cousin that lives in Logan. They had such fun playing together!

Summer Update

So, I haven't blogged in weeks, and I haven't put pictures up in even longer. I just pulled 111 pictures off the camera. Oddly enough, we didn't take pictures of most of the fun things we've been doing--no pictures of the Swenson family trip to Moon Lake, no pictures of our excursion down the Green River on a rubber raft, nothing from the Logan Zoo or Charlotte's first water tubing adventure. Instead, this is what we have. Enjoy!

Jack did this all to himself, then came and asked me to take a picture. Who am I to refuse?

Here is a picture of Matt looking like a doctor and like a dad. I still giggle a little when he tells people he's a physician because this is the silly guy I know and it's a little weird to think of people putting their well being in his hands...

Here is Anna capitalizing on mom's ice cream cone and being totally happy about it!

Why, oh why, don't I have any clean pictures of my children? I promise that occasionally, I do groom them!

Stupid people

Right, so the day after I left town for a vacation in UT, someone jumped our fence, broke the lock on our backdoor, and stole a bunch of stuff from our house. When Matt got home from work he found the door broken and **eek!** the front door unlocked, which the police suspect meant they had been planning on coming back for more. I'm glad Matt was there to discover it.

So we're missing some stuff. Big deal. What really makes me mad--like infantile temper tantrum rage--is that people who think that it's a good idea to break and enter actually exist. I have been pretty happy in my life thus far believing that most people are decent. Sure, the fancy rich people with expensive jewelry or sports cars make themselves targets, but we are hardly that. The stuff they made off with doesn't even add up to our $2,000 home insurance deductible. I find it tremendously disturbing that people out there think it's worth their while to break the law, violate my home, and expose themselves to potential punishment all for a handful of wii games and someone else's computer. Really?

So we feel forced to install a security system, because we want to feel safe in our beds at night. And I just know that every time that I alarm it, or forget to turn it off and send it shrieking, it's going to make me mad all over again at the stupid people who convinced me that I need it.

So in the off chance that the perpetrators are reading this (meaning that they are even literate)...fie on you!

Here are some pictures of our kids and family that our friend Kirsi--a tremendously gifted photographer--took right before we moved from Maryland.

a houseful

Sarah and Mike with their kids, Mary-Celeste, and Matt's siblings Zak and Rose just came to visit this past weekend. We all had so much fun, and the house felt used and full and alive, which was so wonderful. Now that everyone is gone, the house is probably a bit cleaner, but it feels bigger and less friendly. Anyone else want to come and visit? :)

I've been a little suprised at how difficult the move has been for me. I know, though, that with all the moves to come in the military, I need to work on making new places feel like home as soon as possible. I know that I will miss this place tremendously in 5 years, and I'm eager to start building so that in the end, I won't regret wasted time.

So, when I meet new people and greet them with judgment and suspicion, I think of the weird and wonderful people that eventually became my best friends in other places--despite my initial suspicions that they wished me evil. Without exception, every new person I meet becomes more and more dear to me as I get to know and serve them.

I also walk through the house in disbelief and feel like everything is out of place and foreign. I miss my old window seat and the big kitchen window and the azaleas and dogwoods. But then I see the my old goofy pictures hanging on freshly painted walls, and my old battered desk in a new cozy corner, and I start to feel the beginnings of love for the new space. And when I go on vacation, I'll come back and enjoy the familiarity that snuck up on me while I was away.

The unfamiliar streets will begin to seem second nature; the new and intimidating gym will gradually fill with friends and inviting routines; the playgroup full of other people's kids will gradually begin to fill with faces like those of Grace, and Barrick, and Miriam, and all the other kids that I learned to love nearly as much as my own.

It hasn't happened yet. But I have to believe that it will.

Pictures of the new kitchen

So, I couldn't find the old pictures of the kitchen before we spruced it, but people keep asking for pictures of the updates, so here they are. We kept the cabinets, but replaced the countertops, sink, and faucets, and added a tile backsplash and cabinet hardware. My only complaint is that it is so gorgeous that I can't believe that I actually live here. :)

Matt actually built the corner cabinet because we couldn't find one pre-made to match the other cabinets. It pays to have a handy man around--the corner cabinet really pulls that distant lonely end of the counter back into the kitchen.

Needless to say, the kitchen is much less fun without friends to cook for and hang out with. Are you all absolutely sure you don't want to move to Las Vegas??

Quick, pictureless update

Graduation was wildly fun--lots of Matt's relatives came into town to celebrate with us, and we got to see everyone we love best before we left.  I even managed to fake my way out of a few tearful goodbyes by pretending I would see people soon.  Then, of course, I cried like a love-sick teenager in the privacy of my own car as we drove out of town.  I signed up for the military life with Matt to meet new people, see new places...kinda forgot that I couldn't just load them all up in the back of the truck when the next move came. Stinks.  

But it's not all doom and gloom here.  A list of things I love about Vegas so far: 

1.  The house is really wonderful.  Although it could be significantly improved by say, furniture and dishes, we already got lovely new tropical brown granite countertops installed.  I now spend more time than I should lovingly rubbing them with a burp cloth, but I haven't quite gotten to the point of naming them or anything, so it's all under control. 

2.  We have this giant, moon-like pointy mountain a few blocks from our house, standing separate from the nearby mountain range.  It is appropriately (though not very creatively) named "Lone Mountain" and beckons me to come clamber and dirt bike and explore.  It's a lovely reminder that despite commercialism and development, all God has to keep wildness about a place is just stick a big fat mountain in the middle.  Try moving that thing with a backhoe!

3.  The tile floor that we planned to complete in 2 days only took us 5.  Knowing that for most home improvement projects, (time actually spent) = (time planned)x3, we came in an entire day behind schedule and rewarded ourselves by showering (for the first time in.....) and going out for dinner.  And now, I have a truly awe inspiring porcelain-tiled bathroom floor.  Be sure to schedule time for an unsolicited tour should you ever be invited for dinner.  

4.  Clouds roll in over the mountains in the evenings, and although we haven't actually had rain here, we've seen it falling in the distance in streaky watercolor brilliance.  It also makes for sunsets layered with color and texture.  All completely unobstructed by any pesky trees.  

5.  The girl down the street had me over for dinner, the next door neighbors gave us gardening tips, and a lady out taking a walk gave me tips on where the good local gyms are.  I can already see that the neighborhood is friendly and that people are ready to make new friends.  

6.  Best of all, Matt is on his way back home now from picking Jack and Charlotte up from Salt Lake.  Our whole family will finally be reunited, and this house will finally begin to feel like a home.