Table for Eight

The ducks at Oquirrh Lake near our home. Well, I made it to my first day of class at BYU... thanks to friends with jumper cables and a battery charger. (Thank you Janae/Jeff. XO.) And ... it was a great first day of classes. I really liked my students and am looking forward to fall semester on campus. BYU is so close to the Wasatch Mountains; it is amazing: Y Mountain (my view from the faculty parking lot). In other news, our kids learned to make their own lava lamp on Tuesday--and it was way cool. (The internet is crazy-awesome. Seriously, what did we do without it? ) Jr., Zu, and Bam at the start (It's a combination of cooking oil, water, food coloring and Alka Seltzer tablets.) Freeze-frame of the lava lamp. Groovy baby. Papaya. ***** PS: Our daughter Bam taught herself to make this bow bun yesterday from a post on Pinterest. Isn't it cute? If you have long hair you have to try it. Bam's bow bun.

Well, I wasn't planning on listing My Favorite Things today, but it seemed like the only thing to do ... given that our ONE working car will NOT start this morning.  Did I mention I start teaching at BYU today? And that it's 32 miles away from our home? Ahhh. Life. Sometimes it's just too much fun. Right? Anyway, no use crying in the middle of the sitcom that is my life--seems like it's much more "fun" to just take a few minutes and remember all the good that's happened in August.  At least that's what I'm telling myself. Ha! Have a beautiful day wherever you are. ;) Some of My Favorite Things This August Bam and Papaya on the first day of school. Lu and Zu on a walk this past weekend. Zu and Lu again. (This is the run-off from the lake near our home.) This random duck sighting. (Taken by our oldest, Jay.) Utah clouds. They're incredible! Papaya. Jr's bday (and Harriet's relu...

I don't know how it's possible, but as of yesterday we have four teenagers in the house!  Yup, Jr. turned 13 yesterday! Forgive me while I sing a chorus of "Just Keep Swimming" from Nemo right now. (FOUR teenagers! What the honk! Who does that? ) Happy Birthday Jr. We love you so much and feel so fortunate to be your parents. You're a great young man and such a blessing to everyone knowing you. We love you! Best part about Jr: he actually looks excited when his sister snaps this photo. (Not many teenagers are excited about books for bday gifts, right?) It was a beautiful sunny day here in Utah. Perfect for a bday outing to the lake. (Okay, it was a little on the hot side.) Papaya and the bday boy. PS: Ruby --we love you and thought about you all day yesterday. You made one BEAUTIFUL bambino when you brought Jr. to Planet E. You have to be so proud of him. He's an incredible boy/young man! XOXOXOX Me and Dave...

Donovan-the-Pumpkin If I'd known how excited I would be at the sight of our first pumpkin blossom, I would have planted 2,000 pumpkin seeds! For reals. There's just nothing more exciting than life "going right"--even if it is something as simple as a pumpkin growing. And honestly, the whole process kinda "blows my mind" (to borrow a phrase from our youngest daughter). Life. It's pretty remarkable, no? *** PS: Yes, I know I'm back to my Oprah Life Coach impersonations. Bear with me--it's been a LONGGGGGGGGGG summer. Until tomorrow, have a great day!  Canoeing with our kids last week.        

This Sunday as I was leaving church, I had an exchange with our Bishop (clergy) that left me feeling so optimistic, I just have to blog about it--in hopes that it may help you feel optimistic, too. You see, this summer has been a real Mountain-Top and Valley summer for our family. We've had some of the best times (Mountain-Tops), but also faced some real hardships (Valleys).  And I think it's safe to say as for me and mine, we prefer the Mountain-Top experiences. Ha. So, moving on ... my point! As I was leaving church Sunday, probably looking a little less than my perky self, our Bishop came up to me and simply said, "We'll get through this." We'll get through this. And that was it. That was all that needed to be said.  Those four little words gave me such relief. You see, he's right: we aren't alone in our troubles. Our friends and family are here to help us journey through. And although things may  not be perfect, we will get throu...

Me, our daughter Papaya and our son Jr . at Bridal Veil Falls (Provo Canyon), yesterday. I'm done with my blogging hiatus! Yay!  So get ready ... new posts, recipes, and photos are coming tonight. (I think I've found that evenings are going to be the best time for me to write, so I'll be updating the blog each night after home-life settles down.) Talk to you soon. (And thanks for all the emails asking me "where are you, Dawn?") PS: Did you see the new cast for Survivor 25 was announced yesterday? (You can check them out at CBS.com)

Happy 28th Birthday Whitney! I love you. ****** PS: I'm soooo glad it's Friday. How about you? Canoeing with our kids yesterday. Not all of them are shown here, but there's actuall 6 of us in that canoe. Can you say CAPSIZE?

Opening our box of goodies. Last year I was sitting at our kids' gymnastics practice when I received a message from Tyler Cox--the amazing college student who's featured on TLC's Extreme Couponing. He was writing to tell me he was/is a big Survivor fan and also let me know about his show. Ironically, our family had already seen his show and fallen in love with him months before. So, Tyler and I did what all reality tv people (oh that cracks me up) do: we formed a Mutual Admiration Society and vowed to keep in touch and one day meet. Well, we haven't met yet. But ... yesterday our doorbell rang and the UPS Man (ours is really a man) had a gigantic box for us FROM TYLER. Can you believe that? Tyler--From Extreme Couponing; A college student (21); With lots of college things and work on his mind--took the time to pick out things each of our kids would like, package them up in a box with a teddy bear on it, and send them to us.   Oh! And wait! He also sen...