Table for Eight

Yes, my eyes are GIGANTIC. But it's kinda my signature feature. Well, that and my Jay Leno/Grandma Dotty underbite. But my point! See ... I'm still here! I know most university students dread Finals Week, but I guarantee you their teachers LOVE Finals Week. Why? Because while our students are studying and taking exams, we have a tiny reprieve from classroom teaching. AND it's the one time in our lives when we can justifiably lock ourselves in our offices--without interruption--and read student papers. It's AWESOME. I really REALLY love Finals Week. (And my students at BYU. I feel really fortunate to teach there.) Now, about blogging ... It's been a few months since I've posted consistently, but I am still in that "meh" mode when it comes to sitting down to blog each day. BUT I'm trying to accept this phase and just remember, "sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don't." This is just a time in my life when i...

It has been almost impossible to blog the last 10 days or so: 1. We've had strep throat--all 7 of us (and it's been staggered in terms of when/how sick each of us have been). 2. It's been snowing a bit (and our commutes have been a little different as a result). 3. Our dearest family friends the Conleys learned that their father/husband/Dave's amazing boss for many years--Bill's--leukemia is no longer in remission. And in fact, it has spread to his nervous system. So time is short. He's in the hospital now and family is rallying around him. We know he's surrounded by love. But it is hard to process. We feel so much sadness. And I could go on an on, but I don't want to be a downer. I just feel like I can't really take time to write a recipe or post too many photos. It feels more important to BE in the moment right now ...  and not writing about the moments. But I will for sure blog when I am able. PS: I hope  you are well. (And thanks so mu...

  Yesterday we FINALLY had a pretty good snow storm.   We love the snow. Love love love it .   The only downside to a lot of snow?  We aren't able to drive as much or as far as we'd like (it's dangerous and just dang SLOWER to drive everywhere).  And as a result, we're missing our really dear friends' son's wedding today (in Idaho). We heart you Tyler and Ashlyn. Sorry we aren't there. We hope you have a beautiful day and we can't wait to see the wedding photos--everything will be sprinkled in snow! XOXOXO (PS: I stopped the car to take this photo.)     (PS: Papaya wasn't feeling the snow yesterday, so we'll have to get snow pix of her later.) **** And one last photo ... from Dave's bday this week. Dave's birthday--opening gifts.

Dave and I: Thanksgiving 2013. (And finally, a pic with my darker hair. LOL!) We are so glad it's December. This is probably our favorite month of them all: we have a few birthdays, school is out for part of the month, Hanukkah is this month ... and we get to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus. Woooooohooooo! But before I get ahead of myself, I wanted to thank my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and their kiddos for making the 12-hour trek to our home for Thanksgiving. It was SO good to spend Thanksgiving with you (though we sure did miss Elder Meehan). We love you so much and had a great time visiting, eating, and spending time together. (Did I mention eating? I think we did that a lot!) My brother and his beautiful wife.   Our kids playing at the park (it was about mid-50s--which is warm for November in Utah!). Lu and Papaya at the park. My niece on the slide. Cousins at the lake. Two Jrs and Zu. (Literally, my nephew...

This past weekend was "General Conference" for our church--which meant our church meetings were broadcast over a two-day period and we could watch them from home, the internet, at our local church building, or even in downtown Salt Lake City at the LDS Conference Center. We do this twice a year in our church and it's awesome. We get to hear from a lot of amazingly inspiring people (they each deliver 15-20 minute talks) AND we get to spend extra time with our family. It's something we really look forward to each October and April (every 6 mos.). So, it was a low-key weekend for us. No rushing around. And even some lounging around. Oh, and a lot of volleyball. *Dave and the kids love volleyball!  They played in between Conference sessions and after dinner with our neighbors. Just in the street. It was awesome. And kind of funny. Hard to believe we have enough kids to play 3 on 3 volleyball. (Though we did miss Elder Meehan.) (*I love volleyball, to...