Tell You [a] Little Story

I like it when siblings get married, because each new spouse brings with her/him an entire little village of people that I get to know and see at family celebrations, and usually the two-degrees-of-separation people are all exceptionally cool. At least that's how it has worked with all the spouses my siblings and Steve's siblings have chosen thus far. (Pressure's on for you, Austin , to marry a girl with fantastic people.) Lots and lots of happening people--yea, bloggers-- that I encounter just happen to be sisters-in-law of sisters-in-law, or something like that. I love it! If I weren't such a lazy blogger, I would link to many of them. But I'm lazy, so I'll just mention a few. There's NieNie, whom I like to think about when crazy people I know try to tell me that my children will not be normal if I raise them in Provo. Hello!? Nie Nie grew up there and is beyond normal! There's her best friend Reachel, who is the nicest and most fashionably lovely girl...

Mary Sue -- A second mom to my husband in his adolescence, and one of the most lovely women on the planet. To know her is to love her and to want to eat her homemade cookies and sit on her couch and talk with her. Courtney -- I'm not joking when I say that more than a few people, immediately upon hearing my news that I am moving to Provo, said to me, "You'll hang out with cjane all the time, be her best friend. . . ." The first words out of their respective mouths! Okay, maybe the second, but still! This girl makes quite the impression. Attention, Universe: I find it wildly amusing and somewhat frightening that three weeks ago (I cannot be held responsible for inexact references to time) I filled out an application on Lending Tree for a mortgage; two weeks and six days ago I talked on the phone at length with Dude from First Magnus who tried with all his might to convince me to forego a conventional loan in favor of an interest only loan (red flag -- why would he do...

Young? You think we looked young when we got married ? I don't think we've changed a bit.

Heaven is having the UPS man ring your doorbell, being fully dressed, and opening the door to find the most delicious of surprise packages awaiting. Heaven is a whole box of Godiva chocolates, each one a work of art, and a work of lovely decadence. From your best friend, who's also your sister-in-law, and from your brother, too, because he signed the card by default. Because you told her you'd never had them before. And because she's happy for you that your husband got a new job, even though it will take you far away from her. And because she wants to celebrate your happiness with you in being married for ten years. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Thank you, ever so much, Diana and Neil , for the deliciousness of your love and your chocolate offering. Both are fantastically sweet and incomparable. {WARNING: DO NOT, under any circumstances, play the YouTube video you will find when you link to Diana and Neil's blog. I repeat, do not play the video. Insanity will ensue. You ha...

Thanks for marrying me, Steve. I love you.

Norah's 9 month photos from, uh, June. Norah, now. Walking! She's such a superstar. I love this girl so much.

I've been taking fenugreek for its galactagogic benefits. Galactagogue is one of my new all-time favorite words. Fenugreek makes me smell like maple syrup. As Steve commented, "[Fenugreek] helps with milk production and keeps Norah coming back for more with that winning maple syrup taste." Steve is so great. One week from today will mark our tenth anniversary. I thought then and I think now that I am the luckiest girl to ever live to have won such a grand prize as my husband. One week ago today Steve was offered a job that will take him far away from the "law firm" life. He has been floating around, all cloud-nine-like, with a perma-grin ever since. His new job is at BYU. We are excited, but in our family, I tend to be the one who makes arrangements and does all things money. I'm nervous about whether our house will ever sell because every which way I turn all I hear about is Dow Jones down two hundred points, subprime market falling out, jumbo mortgage rat...

Dear Tracy, I had fun talking to you at Christen's baby shower tonight. You looked smashing, as you always do, in your green shirt and cute necklace. I always enjoy seeing what you have on. Your sense of style has always been keen, but I think you've taken fashion in a new direction lately, ever since you had Ethan, maybe. Do you think having so many boys compels you to be uber-feminine in your wardrobe? I know I dress more femininely now than I used to, but that's not saying much, because I used to go straight to the boys' half of The Gap to buy my clothes. I think I've come a long way. Anyway, you looked cute. Tell Jacob I'm sorry I haven't been over yet to initiate him into the big, bad world of cub scouts. I keep thinking about him, but Steve has been out of town this week, so I haven't ventured too many places with all the kids. I'm glad he's excited about scouts. The eight-year-old boys are the best! If you ever get called to be the Wolf De...

I woke up this morning to a big puddle on the kitchen floor and an unfrozen freezer-ful of food. It took me a long while to clean out the freezer (melted popsicle juice dripping from the top shelf, anyone?), then I just had time to bathe and feed Norah and put her back down for a nap when the doorbell rang. It was Elliot's friend from school coming to play. That's great! We had invited him for 10 AM and he was right on time. It was also Elliot's friend from school's two parents , whom I had met very casually before, at the door, waiting to be invited in . Oh, okay, come in! Can I offer you a drink? Let's visit for a while. Excuse my pajamas , you see, we had a disaster with the freezer this morning and I'm getting a late start. I didn't mention that none of us had had a morsel of breakfast yet. So we sat and chatted. . .and chatted. . .and chatted. I dropped a subtle hint or two that I would be happy to drop their son off in a few hours if they wanted to ge...

Well, since I'm on a YouTube/hymn/slideshow kick, I thought I'd post this fantastic rendition of one of my favorite hymns. We recently got the BYU Humanities Dept. mag they send out to all their alumni, and in it was a piece about Elvis' rendition of this song, and how the half-hearted Mormon congregational version doesn't quite measure up. I'm not sure how that article ended -- I only made it through half before I was called away, but I am quite in agreement about the assessment of the first half of the article. I'm not an Elvis fan, but this rocks.

Emily Anne linked to BYU Combined Choir singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, which led me to this. Youtube also has video of Sufjan singing it, but this was shorter, and kind of randomly cool.