Summer Wrap-Up!

With the kids back in school, the summer, for all intents and purposes is over. Although we didn't manage to squeeze in everything we wanted to do, here are some highlights:

The end of last school year coincided with the performances of

Lovin' n Fightin'

a review of musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, Oklahoma, State Fair,

Unsinkable Molly Brown, etc.

Education Week

Last week, Coral and I attended Education Week at BYU. I have never before been interested in attending. I am generally bugged by members of the Church who make careers out of recycling principles of the Gospel for sale to other members and by religion teachers whose primary teaching style seems to be entertainment and popularity. While a student at Ricks and BYU, I dubbed such teachers 'Game Show Hosts' and avoided their classes.

I think my issue is this: I was taught the Gospel primarily by my parents. My mother taught us at home and in Seminary in a very straight forward and straight out of the scriptures manner. My father taught primarily by example- his model of personal conduct and church service are unrivaled in my experience. Anything that seems different from the way I learned the Gospel at home, seems suspicious to me. And yet, I am living and rearing my children in a place where the Church is a cultural force as well as my own personal and family religion.

Coral has been attending Ed Week since we moved here as an alternative to EFY- there are many offerings at Ed Week for youth 14-17 and she chooses from the adult offerings as well. She has participated before with friends, but ended up this year without a companion. India is not old enough yet and wanted to earn money babysitting Leith. She is saving for an IPod. So, I, primarily to meet their needs, agreed to accompany Coral to Education Week.

As I waded through the class schedule, I immediately ruled out such offerings as "Be All the Woman You Can Be", "Ideas for SUPER-busy Moms", "Never a Dull Moment", and "Making Your Home Fun"(Kevin said, "Why start now?")

I did make a few mistakes. One parenting class I tried turned out to have a teacher -read: author of popular parenting books- who was doing an aging, Mormon, white-guy version of Bill Cosby's classic parenting routine, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!" His topic was anger issues in the home(not that we have any), but he basically yelled at us for an hour, eliciting huge laughs from the audience. Ugh!

Coral and I both went to a class on the importance of music in the home for young children. It was basically a lounge act comprised of Primary songs. The teacher actually leaned into the mic, at one point, and said, "Sing with me, now", and broke into "Give Said the Little Stream" with a very elaborate piano accompaniment. We bailed.

Coral had her own dramas sitting next to seat hogs and being disappointed in some classes, but enjoyed a number of music classes by people like Michael Ballam and Jenny Oaks Baker and a great class on the writings of C.S. Lewis.

I settle into a satisfying schedule of three main teachers throughout the week. I attended as many sessions as I could of Richard Holzapfel teaching on the writings of Luke, Dallin D Oaks teaching on the History of the English Language, and David E. Bokovoy teaching on Ancient Temple Worship. I actually learned a lot. And, I didn't mind too much when they were entertaining. Bro. Bokovoy referred us to an article that he wrote, but made sure we knew where to find it for free on the Internet. He said, "I'm not in this for the money, I'm in it for the glory!"

I'm not sure I can give a whole hearted endorsement to the whole experience, but I did attend some great classes. A friend asked me if I would go again and I think I might.

Peach Cobbler

Yesterday(Mon., 8-27-07) was the first day of school for India and Coral. At 6 a.m., I took Coral to Early Morning Seminary class, saw India off to the bus at 6:35. After working out, driving Niall's carpool, doing errands, laundry, and paying bills, I showered and went to an Assembly at the Elem. school concerning the new Art program for which I am a volunteer. After hosting my Visiting Teachers and debriefing the girls as they came home from their first day-Coral was mostly positive- India, not so positive-I drove Coral to work and returned to the school for more training on the Art program. After a beautiful, home-cooked meal-not really, it was pizza and salad, I delayed taking India shopping for school supplies in order to deal with the huge pile of ripe peaches my neighbor gave us over the weekend. As they all needed to be consumed at once or wasted, I sorted, peeled and sliced them into a huge peach cobbler.

I was using the recipe I got from Granny some years ago. I thought back to when I was young and spent early mornings in the cabin on the 7D Ranch, preparing buckets of peaches, to be frozen and then transferred to the the freezer 'locker' in town before it became too hot to work.

I remembered my Grandfather pumping water from the creek-bed to water the peach trees and defending them from raccoons. Kevin thinks raccoons are cute and is inclined to feed them. He just doesn't have the understanding that comes from good midnight stake-out in the orchard with a gun.

I also remember several years ago at a family gathering preparing peach cobbler in Granny's kitchen with Aunt Susan. We talked about whether the recipe really called for that much butter(we used only half) and that we preferred a biscuit topped version. I have to admit that I have since converted to the traditional pie crust version. I also grate my nutmeg fresh.

Here is the recipe:
combine
4C fresh, peeled, peach slices
2 heaping T flour
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1C sugar
place in pie crust lined baking dish- you 1 1/2-2 recipes of pie crust altogether
top with 1/2 stick of butter, cut up, and a lattice of pie crust strips
bake at 425 degrees for 15 min. and then at 350 degrees until bubbling throughout and pie crust is done

I think the kids all tried to eat cobbler for breakfast this morning. I hope they understand why, after an exhausting day, which was not over, I spent the time on my feet to bring the traditions and flavors of my childhood into our home. I also hope they didn't see me look over the other produce neighbors have given us- odd colored cucumbers and medium to large zucchini- and sweep it all into the trash. It just doesn't inspire me like fresh peaches.

The Springville Museum of Art hosts a quilt contest and exhibition each year. Continuing our tradition of viewing quilt shows together, India and I went again this year and took some friends-Marissa & Hope. We saw some amazing quilts- both artistically and technically. Here are some of our favorites.

Worry and Hope...

With the ongoing mine disaster here in Utah and the earthquake in Peru, I am jolted into a renewed sense of concern for those involved in these tragedies and others around the world. Modern communications allow us to delve into these types of situations vicariously and immediately & I am left with deep sadness and a wish that I could make a difference for those in need. I am grateful for prayer and for the planning and preparation of our church welfare and humanitarian departments which are providing aid and comfort to the victims and their families in both situations. I am always confident that my contributions are useful even when they represent the limit of my involvment in these difficult situations.
In the hope department, my prayers today have also included my friend, Tara, who is at the hospital today giving birth to twins conceived after a period of infertility and medical intervention. I will be thrilled to meet the babies and enjoy the aura of two spirits so recently come from Heavenly Father and to witness the joy of this new little family.

Becoming Jane...

The girls and I have spent yesterday and today rearranging their rooms &, shopping for jeans in anticipation of the start of school. We went out tonight to squeeze in one more summer movie-Becoming Jane. This movie takes a few known facts about Jane Austin's interactions with a man named Tom Lafroy and spins them into biographical romance that includes recognizable scenes and characters from all her famous novels. I recommend it to all fans of Jane Austin. It was beautifully filmed, well-acted, and devastatingly romantic. It fit right in with our summer surfeit of fantasy and romance in book and film. In fact, I am afraid that the line between reality and fantasy/romance/fantastical romance(Twilight) is becoming blurred in the minds of my teenagers.

I think we all need some fresh air.

I am determined to get the girls to join the rest of us on some morning hikes this fall. After all,

'What are men to rocks & mountains?'

(Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austin)

Fathers & Sons Camp Out

Kevin took the boys and his father on the ward Fathers/Sons camp out over the weekend. This was the first year Leith went along. They went to Mirror Lake(elev. 10,200'). They spent their time drinking hot chocolate, roasting marshmallows, kayaking and walking around the lake. I dressed Leith in orange- so he would not easily get lost- and packed them some fresh corn to cook with their hot dogs and watermelon to round out the inevitable pop tarts.

Coral has finished reading Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in preparation for 11th grade Honors English.
A few years ago, during the 100th anniversary year of Steinbeck's birth, I read a number of his works and spent some time learning about the places and issues relevant to his writing. At the time I was living in the Central Valley of CA and had the opportunity to see and be aware of the vast agricultural system there. I drove by fields and orchards while following trucks laden with tomatoes and onions. I saw newly flooded rice fields that had been planted from the air. I saw giant fields of sunflowers all facing one direction on the way to the beach and misty lettuce fields in the Salinas valley on the way to Monterey. As I drove with my family to Disneyland, we passed cotton fields, citrus and nut orchards and fields of vegetables not recognizable from the car.
I saw news stories about the competition for water rights between farm concerns, urban centers and environmentalists. I read of crops being ruined by unseasonable rainstorms. I watched live footage of a levy break flooding field after field with salt water siphoned up the Sacramento River Delta from the San Francisco Bay.
I also drove on streets named after Cesar Chavez while regularly hearing reports of the difficult circumstances and sometimes exploitation of immigrant farm laborers, especially illegal laborers. I saw workers in the fields, bent over in the sun. I watched shoppers at a local discount grocer late in the evening whom I suspected were immigrant laborers. They came in family groups at the beginning of the month to spend their food stamps stocking up on basic groceries. I also saw single workers at a taqueria and wondered if they send their wages back to their families in Mexico.
As Coral and I talked about Grapes of Wrath, I tried to explain to her that for all its natural splendor and resources, California is still, as it was when Steinbeck wrote about it, a complicated place where some people live very well while many others come from far away places to labor in difficult circumstances for a much less comfortable lifestyle.

India has finished Eclipse. She read it in about 8 hrs. She isn't giving away plot details since no one else has finished yet, but she did offer one insight. She says that if she were Bella, she would choose Jacob because she wouldn't have to change for him. She also loves his personality- fun, caring, etc. I see her point.

When Niall was almost 4 yrs. old & I was pregnant Leith, he decided that he was too old to let me kiss and hug on him any more. It was a pretty final decision- he really has not willingly accepted affection from me since.

Today, I began my weekly shift volunteering in his school classroom. When I arrived, he jumped up from his work, ran over to me and gave me a huge hug! He also hugged me again later as I prepared to leave.

I think I can still feel his arms around my waist.

Late night....

I am still drowsy today after chaperoning Coral and India and their friends at the Eclipse release party last night. They didn't really need supervision, just transportation. I am not ready to let them have the car in the middle of the night.

Speaking of the middle of the night...

That's four midnight release parties/movies this summer- Kevin fielded the Harry Potter movie and book and I took Pirates- At World's End & Eclipse. Perhaps we could lean on the publishers to start releasing their stuff at 7pm?

Anyway, a good time was had by all. The girls dressed up as if they were attending a Prom-it's part of the story- and managed to drag a few guys along, too. Coral and Chandler won the fashion show impersonating Bella & Edward. They were the favorite among the Barnes & Noble staff, but their victory was largely due to friends stuffing the ballot box. The prize was a free copy of the book and first place in line to get it at 12:01am.

India and Marissa(visiting from CA) have been in bed reading all day. Poor Coral had to work and is spending her breaks trying to finish Grapes of Wrath for school before she reads Eclipse or the new Harry Potter.