Abundant Recompense Copy

After spending a really big chunk of January in bed, Nate has basically no vacation or sick days. Especially when you figure that he'll have another surgery in a couple months and that we're having a baby the following month. So this past three-day weekend was pure bliss. We got a ton done in the yard, began un-pimping our car, and took some time to just chill together as a little family. One of the best parts was Memorial Day morning, when we got up early and headed out to Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake for a hike. The view, including a 27-week tummy A friend of ours lent us her annual pass so we didn't have to pay the $9 entry fee, the weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and we brought doughnuts. Can't get much better if you ask me. We saw all sorts of wildflowers and heard beautiful songbirds and had the trail to ourselves the whole time. Addison did great. This might've been the most enjoyable hike we've had since he's b...

Here's a quick glimpse of what we've been up to for the past little bit. Nate's Mom came up for about a week and spoiled us rotten, as always. She took us to the zoo the day before Mother's Day. It was Addison's first time and he loved it! Not only were there tons of animals, but there was a train too! More interested in the choo choo than in the camera Riding the poison dart frog on the carousel with Dad I think this picture is hilarious. We made smores one night, and while attempting to stir up the coals a little bit she made a pretty darn good replica of a cigar. You can even see the smoke. We've also been working very hard on our first garden. We had to do a lot of shoveling and raking to get the ground ready, but hopefully it'll pay off. We've planted tomatoes, beans, yellow squash, cantaloupe, carrots, marigolds, and a cherry tomato plant so far. We still want to do potatoes, green peppers, pumpkins, and a couple more kinds of squash. And by some m...

I'm reading a fascinating book called How We Decide , by Johah Lehrer (his blog about neuroscience is here ). More than anything, it's been about why we consistently make bad decisions, and he offers example after example of experiments that demonstrate how we're wired and what that makes us do. I just finished the chapter about making moral decisions. Though he explains it all from the perspective of synapses firing and chemical compounds, he describes what motivates us to act in what I would call a Christlike manner: in the results of a survey, scientists found that "people who showed more brain activity in their sympathetic regions were also much more likely to exhibit altruistic behavior. Because they intensely imagined the feelings of other people, they wanted to make other people feel better, even it came at personal expense" (183). That's why it feels good to help other people. Call it a chemical reaction, call it the Holy Ghost, call it whatever, we ar...

Our ward here takes such good care of us. Babysitting, lending a truck, fixing the car, meals when Nate was in the hospital, the list goes on and on. My visiting teachers in particular are amazing. For example, yesterday afternoon, one of them showed up unannounced with her husband around 4:00, and stayed until 7:30 doing numerous repairs on our lawnmower, cutting grass, and weeding. For no reason except that they are amazingly wonderful people and our yard is in serious need of assistance. And if I'm as agile as they are at age 60ish I'll be one happy camper. So with two thirds of our yard looking immaculate thanks to the kindness of their hearts, Nate and I set out to tackle the rest of it this evening. Nate and Addison started at our garden plot shoveling gravel while I ran to Maverick to get some gas for the lawnmower. I came home, filled the two-gallon tank to the brim, and got ready to mow the field of hay to the south of our house. We have a big yard, and by divine inter...

Sometimes life is boring when you hang around with the same person all day long and you mainly clean the house. This is why little boys have daddies.

Nate here. Despite the fact that none of the doors close right and one of the bathrooms has a brown sink, toilet, and tub, we sure love our old house. And since we moved in, Michelle has had her eye on the loft. For many months, it served as storage, and was an absolute wreck. Luckily we don't have any pictures of those dark times. But here's what it looked like, partially cleaned up. Before Mom and Abbey came up in February and helped paint, and since then, Michelle has worked like a woman possessed to make it the coolest playroom on the planet. And I'm sure you'll agree she's succeeded. After Thanks for the modeling help, son. Addison likes to stand on the chair and look for buses out the skylight. Chalkboard paint. $8 at your local Wal-Mart. Yeah, the chairs are girly. But the Finding Nemo table is the bomb. Now if only we could figure out how to cool it off up there, without having to install another A/C system...

This is another plea for help. Thanks so much for those of you who confirmed my fears about the tomato plants so I could get on with my life. We're just going to buy the seedlings now, by the way. I got called as our church's choir director a few weeks ago. I'm really excited. However, last time I was choir director, we had a music library like you would not believe. I think it started back in the 1930s or something. This time we have absolutely nothing. Not one shred of choir music anywhere. Apparently they've never had a budget for it. That little problem has been taken care of and there's now a modest budget for me to use to start building up a library. So that's where you come in. I'd like to know just one or two or 25 of your favorite choir pieces (church-appropriate, obviously) that you've heard or sung or conducted. If you know the composer, great, if not that's fine too. I'm just looking for ideas so I can get started with planning. Thank...