Abundant Recompense Copy

I spent the week of June 15-20 in Madison, Wisconsin, a beautiful college town built on the isthmus between Lake Monona and Lake Mendota. I attended the Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents (nicknamed "Camp Edit"), put on by the National Archives, and had the opportunity to meet with folks working on papers projects for famous folks like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Edison, and cool little projects, like the WWII love letters of a Japenese-American couple. We learned about every phase of publishing a documentary edition (that is, a collection of papers related to a person or topic), from gathering documents to transcribing, annotating, indexing, and selling them. It was fun to share some of my experiences (like putting together the index) and learn from others. But don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with details of the conference. I'm going to tell you about what I did the rest of the time. Things like: -Exploring the Wisconsin ...

June has been a pretty crazy month! Mommy for one has managed to remain busy and exhausted constantly without anything to show for it most of the time. Addison, on the other hand, has turned into an official "big boy." Here's a bit of evidence. Big boy bed! We decided that since there's a little sister coming in about nine weeks, we should probably free up a place for her to sleep. We are still in the process of making the transition. It would be a lot easier if Addison's room door closed all the way. But conveniently, it doesn't. I've found him sneaking off to the playroom a couple times when he's supposed to be sleeping, so now I sit outside his door and hold it shut until he falls asleep. The very first time, I peeked in and found him fast asleep on the floor by the door holding his blankie and Bucky the Badger doll that Dad brought him from Wisconsin. Cute little guy. Last night he made it until 2 a.m. in the big boy bed and then was transferred ...

Back in March, the Joseph Smith Papers moved over to our new home, the Church History Library, which is located across the street to the north of the Church Office Building and to the east of the Conference Center in Salt Lake. It's a beautiful building, and I think it's a good symbol that the LDS Church thinks preserving its history is important. There is beautiful woodwork, handcrafted carpet and rugs, and original artwork at every turn. There's even a couple rooms kept at -4 degrees Farenheit for storing materials. This building is not where genealogy material is housed (that's over in the Family History Library), but the CHL does have over a half a million books, magazines, manuscripts, photographs, etc. in its collection. Oh yeah, and more than 3.5 million patriarchal blessings. Anyway, if you are around this weekend, there's an open house on Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13 from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. They'll even have some of the collection's tre...

I don't know which is more scary - that our son has made it 3/4 of the way to being a two-year-old, or that by the time he turns two he won't be an only child anymore. Hide me either way. Actually, Addison is so fun these days. Also maddening and bull-headed, especially when it comes to mealtime negotiations or getting him to "come here" (Bill Cosby, anyone?). But mainly just fun. It's hard to believe how quickly he learns. And he's got a sense of humor to boot. He and I went in for his 18 month check up a couple days ago and things are looking good. He's on the small side, but healthy and happy and running all over the place, so nobody other than me worries about it. He got 3 shots, but they're his last ones until kindergarten. HOORAY! And he also got a shark sticker, a grape sucker, and a tongue depressor. I'd say he came out on top. At checkups the nurse asks about 600 questions about eating and developmental milestones, and I am proud to say th...