First Day of School

I thought it might be fun to point out a couple of differences between the U and the Y as made painfully apparent on my first day of school.

1. Prayers in class - That's a little bit different, not wrong or bad, just different (okay, I'll go as far as to say it is weird).
2. Babies everywhere - I know that mormons have lots of kids and all but I guess I didn't expect them to be all over campus. I literally had to reroute while walking through the hall to avoid running over a little toddler taking its first steps.
3. Conversation - Here is a little excerpt from a conversation I overheard while walking on campus:

Girl #1: One of the vocal point guys is totally in my ward!

Girl#2: Oh my gosh, that is SO awesome!

This could take some time to get used to...

Spencer's New Home

I dropped Spencer off for his first day of school this morning. He will literally live in the building of slow, painful death by mathematics Talmage Building, where his office and all of his classes are. Maybe we'll take bowling or world religions (so he can meet "Is dat wight?") together so he can break out.

That's So Grandma

A little excerpt from LB's last letter:

...Well until next week. Much love.

Elder Ek

P.S. Grandma- The woman from Mongolia whose number you gave me is slated to be baptized in about a month in Vienna. Her husband wants to then get baptized by his brother from Arizona or something. That is neat!

Lots of People Saying Stuff

No one will come out and say it, but if the prophet says OK, BYU is cutting loose.

And for the Boise fans, did you see the cover of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated? Lots of blue. :)

Scuba Is On

At age 16, Stacy Taniguchi (above) made a list of 100 things he would do before he died, things like get a driver's license, fly a plane, climb Mount Everest, scale the most difficult rock-climbing face in the world, see the Taj Mahal, etc., etc. Lucky for me, he settled down enough to live in Provo and teach at BYU, so now I get to participate in his final list item: No. 100, scuba dive.

Mr. Taniguchi says he's up for certifying this fall—we'll be taking classes from his graduate assistant's wife. Then the magazine just may send me to accompany him on his first real dive, somewhere beautiful and tropical, naturally . . . I wish I weren't terrified of the ocean.

Please, No More Boys

Friends, family, please stop having male babies. There is nothing cute to buy them. I have a closet full of gifts for precious baby girls. If you have a boy, you will get blue Patagonia mittens. Sorry, that's the best I've found.

Pound Out

The Malibu survived. I hope the deer did, too.

Spencer did an admiral pound-out job.

Replace Me in Master Bedroom

At 5 a.m., the fire alarm in our bedroom goes off:

Alarm: BEEP, BEEP, ALERT! SMOKE IN MASTER BEDROOM!

Spencer: I'm going to throw that across the street. (gets up and dismantles fire alarm, chucks it in kitchen)

Alarm, 2 minutes later: REPLACE ME IN MASTER BEDROOM! REPLACE ME IN MASTER BEDROOM!

Spencer: It's your turn to get up with the baby. This is good practice for you.

Me: It's detected CO2. (gets up to sleep on the couch)(in my defense, I am sleep walking here)

Spencer gets ready for work. Brittany is still paranoid about CO2.

Spencer, bending to scoop Brittany off couch: (in robo voice) REPLACE BRITTANY IN MASTER BEDROOM.

Three Years

Happy Anniversary to us.

I'm Goin' to Jackson

The scene on our drive when we were somewhere in the vicinity of, say it with us, Kemmerer. This is before we hit the deer.


Despite the traumatic roadkill events of the night before, there's no summer day better-spent than kayaking Lake Jackson.


We also rafted the Snake River, where we saw two bald eagles, a moose, and umpteen beavers. To liven up a raft full of accountants, we antagonized our guide, a lifelong resident of the Jackson Lodge, with the following statement: "Isn't the skiing at Targhee better than Jackson?"

Fighting words, yes, but we do not take responsibility for the 2-ton raft getting stuck in the middle of the river while he was on his soap box. It took him and his partner (and their boss, three boats behind us) 20 minutes to unlodge us.

We also hiked up and camped at the back of Cascade Canyon, then continued on up Avalanche Divide. I have never hiked another mountain to a scene more stunning than the backside of the Grand, South, and Middle Tetons. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our camera up to Avalanche Divide, so no photos to prove it.



We woke up to this guy's claws under the rain-fly of our tent. He was eating my shoe. We chased him away once, but he came back to chew Spence's pack.


Just as infommercial Charlie Amoratti—Jackson Lodge activity guide—promised, we saw some of the six bull moose up Cascade Canyon. "All my guests are seeing 'em—YOU WILL TOO!"

We did miss the wolf kill that everyone else and their dog saw on our last day, which leaves the wildlife checklist at:

Moose: 4
Bear: 0
Cougar: 0
Wolf: 0
Elk: 500
Beaver: Umpteen
Bald Eagles: 4
Marmot: 2
Buffalo: 2
Porcupine: 1

A Repost Is in Order

Jenn already put this up, but I must prove to others that I have the cutest niece (well, nieces) in the world.

Catch a Cougar

New magazine day came and went. If you like a challenge, there's an error in the news section. And the title of this post is a hint. Yeah . . . we did that on purpose . . . .

Niels on Wheels

Remember when we used to call him that?



Nice missionary face, Niels. Pictures courtesy of member in San Jose.