Almost famous...

After four years out of Utah, I had the opportunity to return for a writer's workshop at BYU. We didn't talk about Stephenie Meyer much...not more than ten times a day, anyway. The bag of apples they gave us were bruised, but they made a great photo op.

Memorize these faces. This is the future of young adult chic lit.

Each morning we had a workshop with author, Janette Rallison. Okay, so I look terrible, but isn't Janette cute?

Here is where Seth and I met so long ago.

I love BYU's campus and the mountains. I enjoyed learning, visiting old friends and making new friends-it was a great week.

Nate's birthday-aargh.

When I told Kylie I needed to put Nate's birthday pictures on our blog she said, "What? His birthday was a month ago!" Observant, isn't she?

Anyway, for those of you who know me well, I never have the patience to do desserts like the one seen above. However, my good friend, Megan, was willing to help the cake-decorating-impaired person that I am.

We had his party at Spring Creek Park. My kids always want their parties here so they can play in the sand, water or on the playground. It's a beautiful park and we will miss it when we move.

The wee Miss Kaitlyn Grace. Don't be fooled by that sweet face, she'll make you walk the plank.

The birthday boy. Please note the pirate pinata. After Kaitlyn's Jedi party, all my kids need pinata's now.

Nate, Lucy (who he either hugs or fights with), Kaitlyn, and cousin Dani.

Our neighbor Jonny, cousin Ben (the spy), Kylie and cousin Natalie (ice skater extraordinaire)

Seth and our little ninja. Nate loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and has picked up their moves-watch out!

Craig, Seth and Trisha

Everyone who comes to State College has to get their photo with the Nittany Lion...it's a law. We are so grateful we could have this day with the Oceanside Dixons.

Hats off to Dr. Dixon!

Today Seth received his PhD after years of hard work and we were lucky enough to be surrounded by our family. I love this photo of Nate.

Craig & Trisha's family is here with us and we are excited to spend time with them this week.




The cousins have had a great time playing together. They made a huge mess and loved it.


The elusive Ben Dixon. Apparently he wants to be a spy and is working on his computer skills.


The hooding. Seth's adviser, Deryck Holdsworth, sat with him and walked across the stage with him as well. I liked the symbolism of him staying with Seth until the end.


When crossing the stage, Seth was handed the 'real' certificate of graduation.


I love this photo too. Deryck has been fantastic. We are so grateful for his intelligence and wisdom. Congratulations, Seth!

Life is a beach

We met my sister, Chrissy & her husband, Tom, at the beach house on Topsail Beach. My parents drove down with us and we had adventures like Nate throwing up in his car seat.

But we're here and loving every minute of it. Nate has been asking for the beach since we left here last year-I'm glad we can finally give him what he wants.

Seth is the best beach dad because he loves doing all the same things the kids do. From this small beginning came a huge sand castle.

My happy boy

The dunes

I'm not quite as fun at the beach, but I do enjoy burying the children. They thought it was fun too.
The intercoastal waterway runs behind our beach house and we have a dock. We tempted the crabs with pepperoni and were able to catch a few. Kylie was terrified of them to begin with but eventually stopped running away:)

The Little Red Hen

This year, Kylie's class performed two separate plays so everyone could perform. Kylie was in "The Little Red Hen" as a chick.
The little boy next to Kylie in this photo is the Little Red Hen-what's with that? Next they'll have a white Othello.

This is my chick.

Kylie had a great line that she repeated, "We'll help you, Mama." She's good at that at home too.

The Wrong Trousers

Nathan had a Wallace & Gromit (which he calls"Gomace and Hammus") moment this morning after using the potty. We told him to put his pants on and, seeing a pair of pants on our bed, assumed they were his. The look on his face was so cute when he realized he had the wrong trousers. We decided to see how Daddy's would fit. Here is the result.

Great Expectations

I've realized our children do not have great expectations. A number of small incidents have accumulated over the course of the week that have led me to this conclusion. Today, for example, we took a ride and admired the agricultural land outside of State College. We saw calves and they were cute, despite the smell. Then "it" happened.

Kylie saw the ugliest, more dilapidated trailer that man put on earth, about fifty years ago, and gasped. "Oh Mommy! Look! It's a trailer!" She loves trailers. I don't mean the spacious, nice ones they make now. I mean the ones you find in the woods. The uglier, the better. She does not get this from me, nor does she get it from Seth.

We were almost home when I said, "I hope you get a job, Seth". Then Kylie interjected, "You should be a cable guy!"

I honestly have nothing against cable guys...unless they happen to have PhD's. So now I'm sitting back imagining Kylie's life in fifteen years. I see an ugly but homely trailer. I see her husband sitting on the couch in his cable-guy uniform with his arm around her, watching all the free cable his job entitles him to.