Posted by Mom on Jan 27, 2012 in
Mom 
I’m assembling a Family History Book for my Dad. It contains photos and histories of his four-generations. On the title page of each generation, I have photos of where my grandparents came from. Right now I’m working on the title page for Martin Slack Sr. and Eliza Ann Jeffries. They are my great-great-grandparents and emigrated from England to the United States in 1855. They were both born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. As I was looking for photos on the Internet, I saw a photo with the description “Oak located in Sherwood Forest (Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England).”
My memory immediately traveled back to August 1997 when Dad and I were vacationing in England. We were driving north to Scotland from London. As we were driving on the highway, I saw a sign that read “Sherwood Forest.” “Hey,” I said, “Let’s stop and see Sherwood Forest.” Of course I was thinking of the Robin Hood folklore. But Dad didn’t want any of it. He was on a mission to reach northern England by nightfall, so we continued on our journey.
So basically I drove past the town that my ancestors are from, not even realizing it. My whole life I have wanted to visit the birthplaces of my ancestors and I unwittingly drove right past one of them! Are you serious?!
Posted by Mom on Jan 16, 2012 in
Home,
Sis Oh, Holy Night is Sis’s Pointe number for her dance recital: “What Christmas Means to Me.” She has progressed nicely over the past few years on Pointe.
Posted by Mom on Jan 16, 2012 in
Sis This was a cute Lyrical number from Sis’s Christmas dance recital. It was the final number for the recital and led into the finale. “City of Silver Dreams.”
Posted by Mom on Jan 16, 2012 in
Sis This was Sis’s Turns dance number for her dance studio’s Christmas dance recital: “What Christmas Means to Me.” It’s a very cute dance number. One of my favorites.
Posted by Mom on Jan 16, 2012 in
Little Sis This was Little Sis’s Jazz 1 dance number for her dance studio’s Christmas recital: “What Christmas Means to Me.” There are times where it seems that no one quite knows what they’re supposed to be doing.
Posted by Mom on Jan 10, 2012 in
Mom Junior has attended college for one semester and came home for a three-week vacation during the holidays. We got used to him being home again and almost took it for granted that he would eventually go back to school. A week or so ago as we were all sitting around the family room watching TV and playing Words with Friends–and other addictive iPhone apps–the realization hit me that he would be leaving us again and a wave of sadness swept over me.
Junior will be leaving for his two-year mission sometime next summer. Since I was once a missionary, I have always felt that I won’t be a blubbering mother come the day he enters the MTC. But after the feeling I had the other day, I’m not so sure anymore. Even though I know what it’s like for him to attend college away from home, and even though I know what it’s like to serve a mission, I guess that–in the end–I’m still a mother. I will be a blubbering fool with red, swollen eyes along with all the other red, swollen-eyed mothers dropping their children off at the MTC curb. Sigh.
Tags: children, college, leaving home, mission
Posted by Mom on Jan 5, 2012 in
Mom So far we have had an unprecedented winter with little to no moisture. In the month of December we had .1 inches of snow. The average snowfall for the month of December is 12 inches. We broke the record of .3 inches that was set back in 1962. These past few weeks have been generally warm and clear. This week alone has been beautiful. The days are sunny and clear with mild haze and real feel temps in the low 50′s. A jacket is all you need when venturing outside.
Either we will experience a terrible drought this year, or we’ll eventually pay for lack of snow…which is usually the case (i.e. snow in May). Of course we don’t want the former because we rely on snowpack for our water.
But when I saw today that snow is forecast for Saturday, I was a little disappointed. Even though my rational mind tells me that we need the moisture, my emotional mind yearns for the sun and the warmth. It lifts my spirit. Silly fickle humans we are.
Tags: snow, weather, winter
Posted by Mom on Jan 4, 2012 in
Mom The gifts get more extravagant every year.
Tags: christmas, gift exchange, girl's night, party
Posted by Mom on Dec 13, 2011 in
Bud And Bud and his high school Acapella Choir would like to wish you a Merry Christmas as well.
Tags: choir, christmas, hallelujah chorus, high school
Posted by Mom on Dec 13, 2011 in
Sis Sis and her junior high Concert Singers would like to wish you a Merry Christmas.
Tags: carol of the bells, christmas, concert, junior high
Posted by Mom on Dec 13, 2011 in
Mom Is it just me, or is the weather report becoming high drama? It’s always been something that you can’t count on, but lately it’s been taking on a dramatic flair. When I was about 16, we experienced a bad inversion in the valley that lasted at least two months. When I say bad, I mean bad. We had no moisture for those two or more months. The inversion was so bad that everything–the trees, the grass, the buildings–had ice crystals all over them. We lived on the mountain bench and could usually see the entire valley across to the lake, but that year, we couldn’t see past a few blocks below us. Driving on the roads and the freeway any time of the day was like driving in a fog bank. It was bad.
We’ve had an inversion for about two weeks straight this month. Last night the news reported an upcoming story: The Inversion of 2011! Are you kidding me? It hasn’t even been that bad. When you drive about, you can still see several miles away. When you’re on a mountain bench, you can still see quite a ways out into the valleys. Silly. Then, we have been warned that this inversion will stay for at least a few more weeks. There will be no moisture! We need the moisture! Guess what we woke up to this morning? A snow storm. Uh huh.
Last winter they touted The Blizzard of 2010! That was the most ridiculous hype we have experienced in a while. We were supposed to experience this horrible blizzard that would keep us all indoors and wreak havoc on the roads. There was nothing. There was some blustery wind, but there wasn’t even any snow. There was one area that experienced some snow and high winds. That was it. We were all so unimpressed. It was a joke.
The media has become so high drama, so reality-TV based, that I find it hard to stomach anymore. Please, just give me the facts. That’s all I want. Leave the dramatization to Hollywood.
Tags: blizzard, inversion, media, weather
Posted by Mom on Dec 12, 2011 in
Mom Everyone has their physical weaknesses, and one of mine has always been my skin. I have always longed for lovely, creamy, unblemished skin. But I got just the opposite. I was blessed with moles, freckles, and large oily pores, which come with their own set of problems: acne. As a result, I’ve always focused on keeping my skin clear and covered. I tanned way too much in my youth to hide my flaws, which caused problems with my moles later in my life. So now, although my acne has cleared up (through drastic measures, by the way), I have scars all over my body where I’ve had pre-cancerous moles removed. Add to that the regular scars that you accrue throughout your life, and you end up with skin that you would prefer to just keep out of sight.
So I’m perplexed when I see women–usually in their twenties–with beautiful, creamy, unmarred skin sporting tattoos up and down their arms and all over their backs and chests. And who knows where else. Why? Why are they marking up a wonderful gift that they have been given? Do they not know that those tattoos are forever, and that even if they choose to have them “removed” in the future, their skin will not be what it was? It will show scars of previous tattoos.
If I had beautiful skin like these women do, I would slather it with sunscreen, I would moisturize it, I would show it off. I would protect it. I wouldn’t be embarrassed about wearing a sleeveless top or short skirt, let alone a swimsuit. I would totally appreciate my skin and take good care of it. But I guess that’s the lesson here. We never appreciate what we have, unless we lose it.
Tags: fad, skin, tattoos
Posted by Mom on Dec 1, 2011 in
Mom 
After listening to my daughter’s latest vent about the latest teenage girl drama that she is dealing with, I came to this sad conclusion: teenage drama doesn’t end. In fact, teenage drama doesn’t even exist. Female drama exists. Female drama starts before girls even enter elementary school, and female drama continues until wrinkles cover every inch of a woman’s body. We females can’t get away from it. We can’t live without it. We breathe it. It is our very essence.
So what advice do you give your daughter who is in the throes of another high-drama incident? I wish I knew what to tell her to make her feel better. Unfortunately, what I tell her doesn’t really calm her. It starts with: be patient; be kind; be the nice friend; give her the benefit of the doubt; remember that hormones control females. Those phrases evolve to: being kind doesn’t mean you have to be her friend. That phrase evolves to: she won’t change; stay away from her; find new friends. And finally, out of desperation the cold, hard fact comes out: it never changes. The drama today will be there tomorrow and next week and next month and next year. The faces will change, but the drama will stay the same. Sigh.
Tags: drama, females, friends
Posted by Mom on Nov 28, 2011 in
Mom 
I got into the very, very bad habit of drinking Diet Coke. What was once an uncommon occurrence became a daily occurrence. I always knew that the carbonation and caffeine weren’t good for me, but what I didn’t realize was how poisonous Aspartame is. Yes, yes, I know that there is controversy that swirls around Aspartame and that the FDA swears that it is safe. Yet at the same time, it’s hard to not question their assertion when you experience symptoms that other people claim to suffer by drinking large amounts of a drink that contains the sugary, unnatural stuff.
I have tried to get off Diet Coke once before, about a year ago. After thirty days of increased food consumption and gained weight, I got mad and went back to drinking it because—face it—Diet Coke is a good appetite suppressant. But my addiction grew and I was consuming it on a daily basis.
Last week an acquaintance told me that she got off the poison and has been off for three months. She feels great! Her headaches are gone, she doesn’t experience heart palpitations anymore, she has more energy, she sleeps better… Hmmm, it all sounded too familiar.
So I decided right then to get off Diet Coke again. I haven’t had a drop of the poisonous elixir for nine days. And I am feeling the pain. I wondered if there is Diet Coke detox effects, and sure enough, after Googling it, I found a website with some very interesting comments from other people about the health effects they are facing through diet drink detoxification. Notice I didn’t specify Diet Coke. Nope, it’s any diet drink that uses the common ingredient of Aspartame.
I don’t care what the FDA and their studies say. If there are many people out there experiencing the same problems by using the same product, then there is something wrong with that product. And anyways, wasn’t it the U.S. government that included tobacco in their military rations to servicemen during WWI? I rest my case.
Update: After three weeks off the poison, my stomach is flatter, my love handles are smaller, and my headaches are not constant.
Tags: aspartame, diet coke, FDA
Posted by Dallen on Nov 23, 2011 in
Junior Now on the silver screen, the new movie from the critically acclaimed Mockboarders! This daring trio has one goal and one goal only, to mock all those who ride under the Razor Crusader banner. Filmed onsite at Utah State University. Enjoy.
Enjoy our trip to the “suburbs” in Stanley, Idaho for the Baldwin Family 2011 Reunion. The sped up video, lens flare, and stills all convey my memories of this event. Enjoy.
Posted by Dallen on Nov 23, 2011 in
Bud,
Junior Feeling a bit of nostalgia I felt the need to make a movie about our fun times in Moab this past summer. Love the lens flare, love the music, love the Priest’s Quorum and its leaders. Enjoy
Posted by Dallen on Nov 23, 2011 in
Junior A little adventure I had with some new friends the Saturday after EFY 2011. This same day I dislocated my shoulder on the longboard. Oh for the love of the sport.
Also, take into consideration that I stretched out 2 minutes of raw footage (so roughly 1 minute of actual footage) into 3 and a half minutes of movie time. Enjoy
Posted by Dallen on Nov 23, 2011 in
Junior The semi-productive, injury-ful adventure shared by Junior and his social brother, Davis. Enjoy.
Posted by Mom on Nov 19, 2011 in
Mom It snowed last night and this morning there is enough snow on the ground that Little Sis wants to make a snowman. As she starts to gather her winter clothing she realizes one snafu…no winter boots. We gave those away last Spring because she had grown out of them. So now we have to buy her some new winter boots. I have bought her a pair of boots that she can wear to school on snowy days; but those are not designed for playing in the snow. I also bought her a new coat this year—because she’s growing out of her old one—and some new gloves. Luckily she can still manage to wear her snow pants this year.
When we lived in Arizona we didn’t worry about any of this. Sure the kids had “jackets,” but jackets are much different than coats, and much less expensive. I didn’t have to buy them boots, gloves, hats or scarves. And when children are small it’s very expensive, because every year they grow significantly. Then there’s the warm clothes to wear at school in a cold climate. The kids in AZ easily wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts throughout the year. They’ll wear long pants for a few months, usually about December through February, but then it’s back to shorts. Our school shopping consisted of buying the summer sale items when visiting up north every summer. We never participated in “Back to School” shopping. Why?
The above pictures show the few days after we moved in to our new home in February 2003. I think we had bought Sis’s coat when we came up north for Christmas the year before. Notice that Junior and Bud are wearing their jackets and all the kids are wearing their hiking boots. We bought the snow shovels right when we moved in.
Above left: this is what we had just come from in February 2003. Above right: Little Sis’s outfit will eventually have to be replaced 100%. Some of the items once a year.
Then there’s the heating bill. Sure, the air conditioner was on pretty much 24/7 through the hot months in AZ, but it’s no different here. I go from having the heater on to having the air conditioner on in one day. For a month or so I go back and forth between the two on an almost daily basis. In AZ, once it turns cooler, the air—hot or cold—is off for good. I hardly ever turned on the heat. On January nights we opened the windows.
Snowblowers, snow shovels, snow tires, SUV’s so you can get up your hill in the winter—oh, and if you ski or snowboard, “Ouch” is all I can say—two lawnmowers, major Spring cleanup in the yard every year, annual replacement of plants thanks to deer, annual golf passes that can only be used for six months versus 12 months, cars that get dirty the day after washing them, house windows that get dirty the day after washing them… After living in both climates the results are in: warm weather climates are the way to go.
Tags: climates, weather, winter
I’m assembling a Family History Book for my Dad. It contains photos and histories of his four-generations. On the title page of each generation, I have photos of where my grandparents came from. Right now I’m working on the title page for Martin Slack Sr. and Eliza Ann Jeffries. They are my great-great-grandparents and emigrated from England to the United States in 1855. They were both born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. As I was looking for photos on the Internet, I saw a photo with the description “Oak located in Sherwood Forest (Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England).”
