Abundant Recompense Copy

Like any good story, this one is about chickens. Several weeks ago, we came home from running errands after dark, and when I went out to check on the chickens I discovered the coop door was closed and two of the chickens were still out in the yard. While Michelle went upstairs to bathe kids, I went out to hunt down the resident poultry. As we've already learned, when it gets dark and the chickens can't make their way back into the coop, they take to the tree right behind the house . This night was no exception - there, way up above my head, a Rhode Island Red and a White Leghorn were roosting on a branch. Being from southern Utah, I tend to think anything below 60 degrees is life-threateningly cold, and I worried that if I left these chickens out they would be popsicles by morning (it actually WAS pretty cold that night). So I went out to the shed, grabbed a garden rake, and came back to coax the chickens down. The White Leghorn latched onto the handle pretty quickly, but as I ...

Michelle keeps reminding me of a couple blog posts I need to write. The first is about a new opportunity I have this year to teach a college writing course. Through one of my Michelle's friends I found out that one of the small colleges in town, Broadview University, was looking for composition instructors. I applied, went in for an interview and to teach a sample class, and got offered the job. I'm scrambling a bit this quarter to develop lesson plans and figure out what works and what doesn't, but so far I'm really enjoying it. The schedule works out well - I leave work a bit early on Tuesdays and Thursdays and teach from 4:00 to 5:45, and since I have to drive those days, make it home about 6:30. To be honest, I was a bit wary of throwing my hat in with a for-profit, or "proprietary," university, because they don't always have the best reputation. But Broadview seems to be doing it right. They're up-front about the fact that it costs a lot for stude...

Five stockings this year! We had such a great Christmas! Addison and Bryn loved everything about it (except the waiting). They were excited all month long and loved helping decorate the tree and the house and seeing Christmas lights everywhere. They did a lot of pretending in the days before Christmas. Pretending to be Rudolph A wise man Santa Claus himself I love dressing the kids up all Christmasy on the last Sunday before the 25th. Random cuteness. Addison loves this baby. I turned one year older and wiser too on the 24th and felt the love in a big way from family and friends. (Can you say homemade jambalaya delivered in a snowstorm?) Nate is ashamed of this cake. But let me tell you, I think it is beautiful and it was stinkin' good. Not one speck went to waste. Just to my hips instead. Christmas Eve evening was spent just the five of us in the kitchen cooking and baking a special dinner. It was a big highlight for me and Nate. The kids really enjoyed helping with the dinner, an...

A couple weeks before Christmas, we hosted the party of the century at our house! All of my side of the family that's in the area: Beck, Ben, Trevor, Megan, Sam, and Bri, came up (and down) and spent the weekend, and we had so much fun. Here are a few of the highlights, in no particular order. A 500 piece puzzle. Classic Megan and Leah We all ate a ridiculous amount. I put the guests in charge of snacks and desserts, and wow. They provided quite the spread. Our whole family came together to put together a second volume of Around the Kitchen Table this year. It's a collection of stories (80 of them, this time around!) with subjects ranging from growing up to falling in love to wetting your pants to gaining a testimony. Definitely a major highlight to our Christmas this year. Nate and I do the design (okay mainly it's Nate, but I get to watch.) Anyway, we kept it all pretty hush hush, but decided that that big a group of our family doesn't come together too often, so we ...

Addison's birthday party was on the morning of his birthday, and we had our own little family party that night with birthday supper (you guessed it, cream tuna) cake (he picked lemon) and a few presents. The cake was very simple. I figured enough brain power had been employed on the cupcakes that morning.  In fact it was only half a cake, because we used half the batter for cupcakes for the party. He didn't seem to even notice, though. A big smile for the long-distance well-wishers. Our "big" present was a perplexus, which is a game where you have to guide a little ball through an insane maze. Nate got one from his folks when he turned 30 and Addison  is fascinated by it, so we got him a smaller version. Definite win. He's beaten it like 10 times. Daddy-Addison bonding time. Addison at five: - Smart and very inquisitive. He's fascinated by science - weather, blood vessels, bugs, you name it. He is doing well with his reading, but he doesn't like to do it. ...