September Visit

I'm sorry that I haven't put on a new post, but I was waiting because I knew Miles and Gigi and the boys were coming for a visit. It was Mile's twenty year H.S. reunion and they got to our house late Thursday night. This is a picture of Miles and Isaac early Friday morning on the patio enjoying some Froot Loops.
This is Adam starting his day with a little alfresco dining.
Jacob is in the back with glasses and Hunter is the scowly one. He wasn't unhappy. I just caught him at a bad moment.
This a much better picture of Jacob.
A close-up of Hunter.
Isaac jumping on the trampoline.
The boys got out the blocks and built marble runs. Isaac really loved sending the marbles down through all his different designs.

Maurie and Miles standing by the new grill. Maurie bought this grill two years ago, but we didn't get it out from the box until the patio was done. Meanwhile in Kansas Miles had been eyeing the new Weber grill line and had his heart set on this new grill. He was very surprised to find that his Dad owned one and that he, Miles would get to grill on it. It makes great hot dogs, burgers, bratwurst, and Italian sausage.
Rachel and the boys were having a good time with their laptops on the patio.
Here are Rachel and all the boys. They were posing for someone taking their picture. Meanwhile I was catching this image from the side. Noah and Mike are in the background. Miles is obscured by the umbrella pole.
Hunter is being very thoughtful.
Gigi, Hunter, Seth, Miles and Kate. They were sampling some appetizers.
On Sunday we traveled to De Kalb. The Decker boys were performing their Primary Sacrament Program. These pictures were taken just outside the chapel. We told them to stand straight and smile nice for the camera, but this is what we got.
This is a much better picture. Now I will name the boys. Left to right, Jack, Isaac, Liam, Ewan, Adam, Sean, Jacob, and Hunter. They are lined up according to age.
Here they are again, only Jack's turned around. The Decker boys have the tall genes. Notice that Sean had just received his Scout sash and was proudly wearing it.
Here we all are. In our glory. Look close and you will see that Noah is in the picture. He surprised us and arrived Saturday night. Miles and Kate were in on the secret, but Maurie and I were floored. We had offered to fly him out to be with us, but he said he had tests and couldn't make it . Lo and behold he had been planning this since last April when he first found out about Mile's reunion. Maurie cried and I screamed. We are one big happy.
The Kansas Colemans
Brothers and Sisters

Just Wanting to Connect

I just finished going through the blogs looking to see if anyone had a new post and I was struck by Stacey's post where she talks about how she counts. She counts all kinds of things. She described it as a little OCD and it got me to thinking about all the little things that I do that could be seen as OCD habits. I don't know if any of them are real OCD type behaviors or just patterns I have fallen into, because they are comfortable, or they once served a purpose, or any number of reasons. But the first one I thought of is I like to work off a list. I write everything down that I have to get done and then I cross them out when they are finished. I reason that goes back to Daddy writing lists for us. I liked that you didn't have to deal with Daddy, you just dealt with the list, and when it was done, it was done. I liked the crossing out part too. I give my kids lists too and then they deal with the task, not me. The thing that may be a little OCD is that the list has to be written in my best handwriting. If it is not then I have to write another list. Also I have to write the list. No one else can write it. It's the same with my weekly calendar that I redo every Sunday afternoon. I once let Seth write and it bugged me all week long. It's a magnetized list of the week and it goes on the front of my refrigerator and I looked at it several times each day and I cringed to see Seth's writing and not mine. I told him specifically what to put on each day, but the fact that it was not in my handwriting made me tense and uneasy for a whole week and I have not let anyone else do it since the Seth fiasco.
Another thing that sends me quickly crazy is a bed that's not properly made. The sheets have to be just right and absolutely smooth. I hate even the slightest crumb or bump. In the morning I have spent time picking off all the hair that may have come off our heads in the night and throwing it into the garbage. And the sheets have to be fitted sheet right side up, flat sheet right side down and the pillows fluffed just right. I am so anal about my bed.
Like Stacey I wished that I was more into cleaning and keeping everything just so. My habit is to keep things basically picked up and then do cleanups when company is coming. My visiting teachers count as company. The kids friends count as company. And absolutely anyone coming for dinner counts as ultra company. I relish any reason that comes up that triggers our all working together to make the house look nice. Rachel and Seth don't understand. Maurie thinks I'm silly. He says we are who we are, but I think and say different. Maybe I take too much pleasure in having things picked up and nice. Maybe I'm focused on the wrong things, but I don't think so. I wish that I had a quote from Brigham Young like Shelley's quote about making our yards pretty, and it would back me up on my tidy home stance. It just feels right.
Anyway, I was wondering if any of you have habits, styles, ways that you are very particular about and if you would like to post them and then we can see how crazy we all are, or maybe we are not crazy at all.

Buckingham Fountain

I should have explained about this pictures when I first started the blog. It is a picture of the Buckingham Fountain. It is an iconic Chicago landmark. It was donated to the city by the very wealthy Buckingham family. It stands at the bottom of Millenium Park and has been there for the longest time. When only the center jet is on the water can shoot so high that you have to tip your head way back to see the top of the water. Yes, that building in the background is the Sear's Tower, another slightly more famous landmark. Would you believe that I have never been to The Sear's Tower. Everyone in my family has, but I haven't. I just haven't gotten around to it.

Maurie Conquers Another Project

Maurie working in our kitchen. He has projects now with Abbott Pharmaceutical. He has given his blood, sweat and tears, not to mention brain cells and hours when he should have been sleeping.

Here are the results of his latest project. Yeah, it's a big stack. Lots of papers and ideas are in these boxes.

More boxes

And still more boxes.

Maurie has had enough of this project and he is ready to take a long weekend and sleep in. Actually what the project will achieve is an complete reorganization of all forms used at Abbott. It started with 84 forms and quickly escalated to 184 forms. Maurie reviewed them all, decide if the needed to be redesigned, redesigned them and then formed a highway for them to travel along within the Abbott family. He now will be developing the training to teach the Abbott people how to use them. Rumor has it that he may have to travel to Germany to teach the courses there at the German offices. Maurie loves to travel and would see that as a real bonus. Oh, by the way, Maurie's work at Abbott has been very well received. They think he is a prize.

Kate's Birthday Party

Kate turned thirty on the 3rd of September. Her husband planned and executed a marvelous party today. Yes, Saturday the sixth. To celebrate her turning thirty Maurie delivered 30 cans of Dr. Pepper, her favorite beverage, to her front lawn. He had them laid out in the numbers 3 and 0. He also took thirty Krispy Kreme doughnuts to her work at Bio Life Labs. Her co-workers were very happy to celebrate the occasion along with her.


Th This is Sean. Sean is in fifth grade. He loves being a top dog at his school. Sean is very big for his age. Many people think that he is much older than he really is. His brother's just think that he's their favorite person in the world and that he can be very bossy.
This Ewan. He saw me with a camera and he came right up to me and started posing. Ewan is in third grade. Ewan turned nine in July. He is a very sweet boy, but nevertheless he is still all boy.
Let me introduce you to Jack. Any stick becomes a weapon in his hands. Jack is in kindergarten, all day kindergarten. Jack is very excited because he gets to eat lunch at the school. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of Liam, but he was off playing on the swings.

Rachel was exhausted from, oh I don't know, maybe life, and she needed a little snooze on one of the picnic tables. All of us with cameras got a shot of her sleeping away.
Seth was put in charge of the grilling. He only lost one burger as he was flipping them. As the the briquettes got hotter and the flames rose he handed the job off to his Mom. I cooked for awhile then I handed it off to Maurie, who really is the best griller of all of us.
Rachel is standing by the strangest mushroomy/toadstool type things I have ever seen. We had a lot of rain this week and some odd fungi always appears, but these are the most colorfully weird shrooms I've seen in awhile.

Birthday Girl

This picture was taken of me when I was just a few hours old. I was born at St Marks Hospital in Salt Lake City. The reason that Liz, Shelly and I were all born at St. Marks is because that is where Grandma Thomas had worked. She knew Dr. Warinski was a good OB/GYN and recommended him to Mom. Dad wasn't able to be there when I was born because he was starting his brand new job with Emery County School District. All the faculty and staff of the schools had been called to a pre-class meeting. He was at that meeting the day I was born. Mom told me that I was a very easy birth because that summer before I was born she had whooping cough and she had done so much hard coughing that her muscles were all strong and toned. She pushed a little and I came right out. She also told that I had colic as a baby and spent many hours crying. I told you about the almost pleasant birthing I gave her and it seemed only fair that I give you the truth about the colic. I don't remember that any of the other kids had colic, but I've taken care of colicky kids and they can be mind-numbingly painful to care for. I have always felt bad that iIwas such a troublesome baby.






This next picture is of me in first grade. I went to school across the street at the old Castle Dale Elementary. Elda Anderson was my teacher and I have many memories of that school year. Mama was obsessed with my hair looking all ringlety. I could have cared less what my hair looked like, but I remember her brushing my hair into ringlets after I had worn curlers all night. The dress I wore had a red skirt with sewn in netting underneath to make it poofy. There was a white top with black velvet suspenders that had been embroidered. It was a beautiful dress and I loved wearing it. Someone told me that I looked like Heidi when I wore it. I didn't know who Heidi was but when I found out I was very pleased. This was the last year that Castle Dale students were not mixed with Orangeville kids. To even out the student teacher ratio there were some second graders in our class. I have a very strong memory of Gale Jensen teaching me how to color without going out of the lines, opening up a bathroom stall and finding my teacher, Mrs. Anderson going to the bathroom,(long before faculty rest rooms) and standing in line to get a vaccination and then running down the hallway into my classroom and throwing myself in my cousin Michael's arms. I was sure that he would comfort me after the indignity and pain of being inoculated, but he quickly pushed me away in embarrassment and I was more shocked by that than by the shot in my arm.






This picture happened when I was in third grade. Mama had tired of taking care of my hair and talked me into getting it cut short. I didn't mind too much. Iliked how easy it was to take care of, but the boys didn't think I was as pretty and I lost much of their attention. Nita Hampshire was my teacher and it was a the year she wrote a song that had all of the classmates names in it. Of course it ended with, " and my name is Nita . " We mocked that song for years and we mocked Mrs. Hampshire too. We were rude little girls. The dress I'm wearing had originally been made for Elizabeth, (remember Mama's art class and the famous picture of Lizzy?)Lizzy had grown out of the dress and it was my turn to wear it. Mama loved dressing her girls in the same colors that she looked good in. We had lots of brown and green dresses.



This is a picture of our family that was taken in 96 or97. I'm not sure which and I don't want to do the research that would help me figure it all out. You know when you have a family picture and you never can get a sitting where everyone looks good so you have to choose the shot where most of the people look good and just have to live with the dorkiness of that smile that Noah is sending out to the viewer. It is not that bad, but he didn't like it at the time. Quite a happy family. I'm so very blessed.