Today.

Last Memorial Day I looked something like this.


My friend Brittanie was out to visit for the weekend, and I sang the National Anthem for the Memorial Day service at our local cemetery with my sister and her friend, which is no small feat when one's lungs are that squished.

But the organizers of the service neglected to tell us that right after we sang (i.e. in the silence), there would be a 21-gun salute.  So we were standing there with our backs to the guns all innocent-like, and they fired three times, and WOW you should have seen my belly jump.  The rest of me jumped too, but little unborn Liam was definitely not expecting that noise.  I still think that might be what put me into labor exactly 12 hours later.

the Genealogist

As you all know, I am doing some top-secret research and writing for a book.
(Hopefully it won't be top-secret forever.)

This involves online research, which is almost turning into family history research, which, have I told you about that one Family History class I took?  The 400 level class I signed up for my last semester at BYU, thinking it was something entirely different?
Well.
Turns out, family history is not a piece of cake, especially when you've never done it before and you're in an upper division college class where the teachers expect you to know how to do it right.  Like a professional.
(You guys, there were employees of Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org in my class.  I was in WAY over my head.)
But I digress.

My latest three subjects have been somewhat difficult to find information on.  Sure, there are 50 websites about them, but they all repeat the same little bio, practically verbatim.  I need more.  I finally found a little family website with some genealogies and the same last name, and I emailed the webmaster asking if he had any information on my subject.

So far, he has sent me four emails back.  After telling me he really didn't have anything (he's "just a hobbyist"), he went and looked at censuses, military records, county records, and compiled all the information to send back to me.  The stuff just keeps coming!
I was tickled in the first place that he would even reply - but now he's practically doing my job for me.  I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't think of these things before, what with all my training.  Ha.

Anyway, how awesome is that?

You better believe I am encouraging this.

I'm not the biggest Harry Potter fan around, I know.  But perhaps I did re-read the entire series right before the 7th book came out (while I was taking summer classes and had thousands of pages to read for them ... ahem.), and perhaps I attended a midnight movie showing or two, and perhaps I bought the 7th book at midnight the day it came out, read it all along a cross-country road trip, and perhaps I BAWLED at the end of the book when Harry walked into the woods.

Perhaps I even read the last book twice without emerging from my room.  (Sorry, roommates!)

Anyway.  I have been telling Slice to finish the dang series for three years now.  He read the first few, moved to Japan, and never picked them up again.  Until yesterday.

We finally watched Part One of the Deathly Hallows a couple weeks ago, and part of the Goblet of Fire Saturday.  I guess that was the catalyst - he picked up the 7th book yesterday afternoon, and he's been basically useless to me since.

I'm okay with that.

my new favorite snack

(or meal, as the case may be)

  +

I could make my own dip, but that would require some work.
Off to see what else I can put on my crackers....

Graduates

This week my two older brothers are graduating from St. Louis University (for the Wikiness see here) - one as an M.D., and the other with a joint MBA/MHA.  (Remember how Brent went to China for school last winter?)

gratuitous wedding reception pic + dad sighting!

My parents are there for the week with my three youngest siblings, while the rest of us pine for/envy them.

Anyway, I just think my brothers are awesome, and also my sisters-in-law because we all know it takes a good woman to put a husband through that much school.  (Especially with two or three kids.)
Congratulations to all of you!  May the paychecks start rolling in!

a little bit obsessed

with this video:

 
and also the Glee version.  Mostly for Jonathan Groff's voice and the a capella.


The song's been stuck in my head for three days now .... help.

C'est la vie

Last week during the rainstorm our basement leaked a little.  There's a closet under the front porch that sucks all the water from the surrounding dirt, and since we also have no rain gutters, water streams off the roof into that corner unless Slice puts up a tarp to stop it.  Leak leak leak.
($$$)

Our bathroom has been looking like this for a couple weeks now:

you may now admire Slice's tiling job

because when we bought a (standard) toilet from Lowe's and tried to install it, we realized that our 70-year-old bathroom will NOT be fitting a standard toilet.  We need a 10" rough in.  According to our local Lowe's expert, it will cost us 3x what a 12 " would, and also take a month to get here.
($$$)

Wednesday Slice took his girls golf team to their State tournament at Mountain View golf course in Salt Lake.   He left his Ipod touch there, so I've been having Words With Friends withdrawals.
($$$ - but we'll get it back)

Saturday we ran a few errands around town, and when we got out of the car, my wallet was on top of it.  The wallet that I had put there with my BRAND NEW phone before we left.  Only, the phone wasn't there anymore.  Classic!
We've retraced our route three times now, with no luck.
($$$)

Also on Saturday I did some laundry while Slice was gone.  He came home and started hollering at me from the basement, where there was a bona fide flood from the drain in the floor.  Luckily we had a shop vac handy from our bathroom job, as well as a carpet cleaner, and two dads with pipe snakes.  Slice worked on the drain all Saturday night and a good part of yesterday afternoon, but we still don't know what is wrong and we can't run the kitchen sink without it backing up.  So, a plumber is coming this afternoon to check it out.
($$$)

Basically, I can't do dishes or laundry right now.... all I can do is post pictures of the puppy sleeping.

I tried to tell you yesterday but Blogger went AWOL.

You may or may not know this, but Slice has a habit of bringing things home without asking me first.

BIG THINGS.

This happened Wednesday.

But ... since Slice has never had a dog
and since he's always wanted one
and since we've been talking about getting one forever
and since we don't have enough messes in our house already

and, most of all, since I am a sucker for tiny, adorable things

he is staying.

Internets, meet the newest member of our family.

So you want to be an Eddington?

That is great!
There are a few things you should probably know beforehand.

First - musical talent is not required.  This is a widespread myth.  Sure, it wins you major brownie points and admiration (especially while singing around the piano), but just ask the manly in-laws.  If you are an otherwise excellent person, not having musical abilities will not be a deal-breaker.

You know what is a deal-breaker?  High-maintenance lifestyle.  If you are the type of girl who spends $100 every six weeks on a hair appointment 100 miles away, I can tell you right now, you and I will not understand each other.

Also not required: snow sport skills, water sport skills, nunchuck skills, or video game skills.  Phew!
Boggle skills are good, just as long as you don't beat me.

Definitely required: hard work.  I am not joking about this.
Your mother may not have birthed you for the sole purpose of watching you work. (Lucky you!)
Your family may not have spent every single Saturday working together - out in the yard, in the house, painting, growing a garden, feeding animals - in addition to daily chores.  You may not have lived in a house with SEVEN bathrooms, nine bedrooms and no maid.  But hey. You can always learn.

Not appreciated: inappropriate humor.  I know, I know, many of you think Meet the Fockers and Superstar and Dumb and Dumber are hilarious.  But you know what?  We turn it off.  We're funny enough without it.  I bet you are too.

Another thing you should know is that we are serious about our Toyotas.  Oh, how we love Toyotas!
The last four cars my Dad's bought for himself have been Avalons.  Three families now have Siennas.  I fantasized about Priuses before all the celebrities bought them.  And I am telling you, my next car will be a Scion xB.  Yes, I know they are ugly.  Yes, I still want one real bad.

Other things we are serious about:
Cutco
Dan in Real Life
BYU football
BYU everything (But don't worry, we're not all crazy anti-U.  There are plenty of U graduates among us.)
parties
parties with food
parties with ice cream
parties with homemade rootbeer
Muppets from Space
Saturday morning pancakes
homemade syrup
MUSIC

 ... and I think that about covers it.

Any questions?


Post-edit:
I neglected to mention the way we typically find our eternal companions.  With one notable exception, we have all - parents included - married friends from high school.  This means SIX high school marriages.  So I guess if you really want to be an Eddington, you better know one in school, or be a professional athlete.

another Delusion of Grandeur put safely to rest

Yesterday I woke up at 5:21.  The baby was crying.
(He just started doing this in the early morning again.  Reason: unknown.)
I waited until 5:45, then got him a bottle, changed his diaper and put him back in bed.  He fell asleep, I didn't.

He woke up again around 6:30.  (WHY?!)
I got him up, turned on the light, sent Slice back to bed, and we played on the floor.  I fed him some breakfast while I caught up on Reader and Facebook; by 7:30 it was clear that he was still tired.  I put him back to bed, showered, picked up the front room and kitchen, ate some cereal, made two jello salads for lunch, and got ready for church.
Slice prepared the primary lesson.

We walked to church, pushing Liam in the stroller.  Along the way Slice made jabs about how nice it would be to have a wife who cooked, cleaned, and did all the housework without a complaint.
(Welcome to my marriage!)
(He really did want a Japanese wife.)

I sang a solo in Sacrament Meeting while the kids tried to remember the words to their Mother's Day songs ... Slice was already out in the hall because Liam was throwing fits.  Then when we got to our Primary class, the kids were all inside, barring the door with their bodies.  There were FOUR of them and we couldn't keep them under control.  So Slice went and got the bishop, who joined us for the rest of the class.  Then they were angels.

Liam was not.  I tried to stay with the class, but he was reaching for light switches and little girls' hair, arching his back, screaming like it's the new fad.  Most of the third hour was spent in the hall.

We went straight to my parents' house for lunch after church.  The food was great - until Liam started up-chucking the ground chicken and the jello.  I stripped him to his diaper until we went home.

At home (after some much-needed naps!), we tried to melt Symphony bars to dip strawberries in, but burned the chocolate in both the double boiler and the microwave.  (Apparently I am needing some tips, Heath.)  Fortunately, the chocolate chips worked perfectly.  Two more outfits for the baby.

We had a delightful monthly family meeting in the evening and a couple more visits, then put Liam to bed.  I wrote in my journal for the first time in six months ... and writing in it just reminded me of everything that's happened in that time.
Sigh.

For my first official Mother's Day, I'd say we're off to a roaring start.

What I know about you

... thanks to my trusty site tracker.
(Unless you are a URL feed reader, in which case I know almost nothing.)

• Approximately 35% of you are residents of the great Uintah Basin.  Sorry to say it folks, but I'm trying my darndest to get out of here.  

• A good majority of you are Utahns, even if you don't claim it.  70% -ish.

• One of you is undoubtedly Yasue, my most faithful blog follower.  Practically every day I have a visitor from Morioka, Japan and I'm pretty sure only one person there has the URL....

• Ratio of post-readers to comment-readers: 3 to 1.  Again, except for the unknown feed-readers.

• Ratio of readers to followers: 10 to 1.

• Ratio of post-readers to commenters: 50 to 1 (or something like that.  I'm totally making these numbers up).

• And, at least once a week someone types in "ponytail chopped off" or something similar in Google, and winds up at this post.  I'm glad, because donating hair is awesome and I would totally do it again.  If I had hair, that is.  But right now, am just jealous of those of you with long gorgeous hair.  DANI.

When in doubt, just have more kids

The story goes that for years, my mother's mother was never happy to hear that she would be having more grandkids.
My parents would take her out to dinner, butter her up, let her down gently with the news of a baby on the way - and she would be furious.  Mostly with my dad.  He had no right, she told him, to do that to my mom and to their children.
(As if it wasn't her choice too!)

Well.

My parents more than held up their side of the family (with twelve children!).  My mother's other siblings, however, have all had smaller families; some struggled with infertility which even left them childless.  I vividly remember the day when, years ago, we were piled in the van leaving my grandparents' house.  My dear Grandma came to the open window and asked Mom, "Couldn't you just have one more?"


This cracks me up, and for many reasons.  I wonder how I will feel about the decisions that I am making 30, 40, and 50 years from now?

I don't presume to tell people how to live their reproductive lives (ha!); nor do I adhere to any Quiverfull Movement weirdness.  But (if you recall) I am fascinated by demography - and I do wonder what influences people most as they make their family planning decisions.   Money? Time? Culture? Career? Standard of Living?
And do these factors change over lifetimes? Generations?

And since we're on the subject ... what do you think about spacing siblings?   Heaven knows we can't control it completely, but if you could, what would your ideal family look like?  Kids right in a row, or three years apart? Six?  Please tell.