LAST DAY!!!!

Today is my last day as a career politico ... tomorrow is the first day of Operation Domestic Goddess. Woooo! It's a little surreal still that I won't have a "real" job after today - it hasn't quite sunk yet that I don't have to come back here every day anymore. But I'm excited. I don't have to leave Summer anymore, and I can CLEAN!!! Yes indeed, I'm excited about cleaning my house. It will feel GREAT to have it all scrubbed and organized again, and be able to maintain it at hours not in the middle of the night.

I hope everyone got the pictures of Summer yesterday. There's something else I'll finally be able to do - build her website. Until it's done, I'll just keep emailing pictures out as they're taken. I want to get her blog all caught up too, with backdated stuff and then keep it going at least once a week or so.

Nathan and Amanda - that's great that you're having a spring baby. I already think spring babies are about the best timing because you're not pregnant with your body temperature all out of whack during the heat of the summer. Even last September when I was in my first month, it hadn't cooled off yet and I was more than usually uncomfortable. I'm glad I didn't go through that this summer - the humidity has been WRETCHED this year. Also - if you have a girl, we'll give you the swimsuit we bought for Summer, since it obviously won't fit her anymore next year. It cost us 18 bucks, and she's worn it a grand total of about 20 minutes. Even if we take her to the pool a couple more times, I'll be surprised if she breaks an hour. And tell me again what names you're thinking of ...

Okay, off I go to do my final wrap up!!! YAY!!!

Ultrasound

Amanda had a doctor's appointment today. She went and had an ultrasound done. They determined that the baby is 10 weeks along. That is a quarter of the cooking time. The due date is set for March 29, right at the end of spring break. We got better pictures of the little bean and Amanda said that it was wiggling its arms and legs. I did not get to go because today was my first day of classes. I hope that you all are doing well and that it stops raining in New York so we can watch some live tennis. I know how important that is to all of you.

Love,
Nathan

School time

School starts tomorrow. I have a lab that I have to go to. My first real day of classes is Wednesday. I have four classes that I go to between 8 and 12:30, each an hour long. I hope that I can make it through it. This weekend we are going up to Amanda's parents' home, because we have not been there since after the reunions. Amanda is excited to get off campus, because she has been way busy with training RAs and getting ready for all of the trouble makers...I mean students to show up. I am excited to get off campus too. Hey, Emily. I spent $600 on textbooks. Some of them were used too. I feel your pain. I hope that you enjoy German class. I enjoyed Germany.

Nathan

Happy Birthday Eric! Here are the lyrics to the song we (Tawnia and Mindy) sang to you, so everyone else can enjoy them too.

Happy birthday to you,
You're now thirty-two.
You have a cute baby,
and a pretty wife too.

Happy birthday to you,
We hope you have a few
More birthdays like this one.
Happy birthday to you.


And Trina, Tawnia and I have a computer fast on Sundays because we don't have the internet at our apartment, so there is very little reason to actually turn on the computer. We should have a TV fast though, even though the only movie we watched yesterday was Veggie Tales' Jonah.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC!!!

This is great. With Trina taking a computer fast, I get to be first to wish Eric a blog of a birthday. How was your party last night? From what I saw online, the Angels won last night. What a birthday dream come true. Well, I hope that a lot of people showed up to your party last night, and that you guys ate lots of good food.

Nathan

computer fast

The Caudles are going on a computer fast for Sunday, August 27 ... I'm thinking that we are WAAAAAY too reliant on the computer for entertainment, and it's the first place we go when we're even remotely bored. Or even when we're not bored. Taking turns isn't even an issue because I use the main desktop computer, and Adam has his laptop (with all of his games loaded on both). And particularly on the Sabbath. Sure, computer time on Sunday is not bad - we could email or IM with family and friends, or read/listen to something on LDS.org, or post on the blog. But there are many other things we could be doing on Sunday too, like, oh, reading our scriptures.

I'm also trying to think of ways to make Sunday a stand-apart day from the rest of the week, now that we're home a lot more and the days are all pretty much the same, even Sunday. Adam isn't in class very long every day - he does study at the library, but he's still home a lot more now than when he was at the Senate. And I'll be home all day every day starting next weekend - I'll be on the computer plenty with working on my medical transcription training so I can get a stay-home job. (No, I'm not done with it, but if I don't quit my regular job, I'll NEVER get done with it. I'm shooting for the end of December to finish.) Anyway, so because we're on the computer all the time anyway, even though they are mostly productive things, getting OFF the computer will be a Sabbath thing.

No, I'm not saying that all of you should do this too - I don't know what your computer habits are. I just thought I'd share.

Today, we went to the American History museum because it's closing for 2 years. They're gutting the building and remodeling everything. I hope they make the exhibits easier to get through - they're a bit of a maze right now. A lot of things were closed already, but oh well. At least we went.

Happy birthday, Stevie!

Happy first birthday to the cutest baby boy in the world! I hope you have a good day and that we get cute pictures up soon of you and your cake.

Today was my first day of class. I had one class -- German. We learned how to say "ich heisse" and say the alphabet and numbers. I did try to test out of German One, but when I took the test, it put me towards the top of German One but still in German One and since it has been seven years since I took a German class, I thought it would be best to review.

Tonight, there is also a class for the travel study students, and I am very excited about that.

Yesterday I spent $500 on text books -- those darn history classes all have multiple text books, but I am going to share my astronomy book with my roommate, Rebecca, who is in the same class.

And last night, "noon-thirty at night," as Rebecca called it, the phone started ringing. It turned out to be our landlady's daughter, and when there was no answer (she was taking a bath), she panicked and thought her mother was in insulin shock and phoned the police who came to the door. And this set the dogs off. And our landlady had just gotten out of the tub. I didn't sleep very well last night.

Stevie's birthday is going well. He has played with a ball and eaten Cheerios and laughed at the shark puppet. His mommy and daddy sang "Happy Birthday" to him while he drank a bottle of formula this morning. He is taking a nap now.

Happy Happy Birthday!

STEVIE! You are welcome to come to Utah to laugh with me anytime. I'm so glad you are a year old now. Soon you'll be walking and amazingly even more fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVIE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

To the cutest one year old, Stevie:

Dear Stephen. I would like to wish you a happy one year birthday. It was a pleasure meeting you last July, and hanging out with you and seeing your big smile. I hope that on this day of bliss you are able to eat Gerber baby food flavored like cake and ice cream – unless of course there is no such thing. Have a splendid birthday, and we are all glad that you came to earth to be with us. You are a special little guy and you aunt and uncle in Salem love you very much.

Peace baby dawg,

Uncle Nathan and Auntie Amanda

HAPPY

1 st

BIRTHDAY

STEVIE!!

We love you!! - Aunt Trina, Uncle Adam, and Cousin Summer

Hello from Virginia

Greetings, family.

This is just so you know that I have made it down here to my school -- I'm all unpacked now. I'm getting along great with my roommate, Rebecca. Right now I'm at the library, because I don't have the internet in my room. But I'll be posting as often as I can, and I'm sure I'll be up here quite a lot.

I had a pretty good time in Nashville, although there were times when it was a little hectic. I did enjoy the exhibition hall, where I collected as many pens as I possibly could. And I took Summer around the huge atrium in the hotel which had a lot of fountains and a river with a boat on it.

By the way, my post office box is now 4007. The rest of the address is the same, and in fact, it's the same box, but they renumbered the boxes. And I have my cell phone, so call any time (except when I'm in class, of course).

Talk to you all later,
Emily

Whew!!!

Last week was one long week, with everything going on ... last weekend, my friend Letta from my mission was in DC with some friends. She spent Sunday with us, and crashed on the air mattress Sunday night. Monday morning, Summer and Emily and I went to Nashville - we stayed in the fancy shmancy convention center hotel and ate at expensive restaurants and it was really just a typical conference for me. Stopping to feed Summer occasionally was the only difference, and she didn't like me keeping her out late for group dinners. So we did that only one time (and she was very fussy so we left early). The "adventure" of the trip was that for my first meeting, I was wearing pants and a blazer - 5 minutes before it started, I had Summer in the meeting room to meet a couple of people, and she had a diaper blow-out all over my sleeve. Emily and I bolted for the nearest restroom and spent 10 or 15 minutes cleaning her up enough so Emily could take her back to our room. There went my blazer for the entire conference - it was the only one I took with me. The social event was at the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was mostly all the old country stuff - I didn't see any displays for the new country music artists who I like.

We got back Thursday night. I worked Friday, Adam had his 2nd day of orientation at school, and Emily got packed and ready to leave for SVU. We drove her down on Saturday, and that was a loooong day of Summer being in her carseat. She handled it fairly well. She had her moments, but for the most part she was fine. Yesterday, I put the living room back together (mostly - except the corner with the desk - that's still buried) and the missionaries came over for dinner ... And now I'm back in the office for 9 more work days. Next Thursday is my last day.

Eric and Laurel - Happy anniversary!!
Bryan - Happy birthday!!
Tawnia and Mindy - congrats on moving into your new place!!
Nathan and Amanda - yay for the little Bean!! Let us know when you have the due date!!
Clarissa - sorry to hear that the wedding date is postponed - I hope things are able to work out the way you want them to, and that you're happy with things.

Change in plans

The wedding date is no longer December 27. We don't know when it is. We will tell you when we do.

haha

I don't know how many of you noticed before it was asked to be returned to normal, but I will tell you what I did whether you noticed or not. When I was changing the title of my company the other day I decided to do something on the menu that I had wanted to do for a long time. I changed Emily’s name from Emily Corps to Emily Corpse. I thought it was funny. Mom saw it and told Emily, and then Mom fixed it. So if you missed it, blame Mom. Hope you guys have a good weekend. Mom and Dad went to the beach with the youth from Yamhill Ward.

Nathan

Home for a little while

Hi family,

I got home from New York yesterday. Looks like I'm going back in a few weeks though. I'll be there for 9/11 actually.

Tonight Laurel and I are celebrating our anniversary. She just got back from dropping off Stevie at Rachel's house. We're going to go out to eat and watch a movie. We haven't done that for a while.

Yes, it's been a good nine years. The last one was really good. Thanks for the congrats. Laurel says: "I worked really hard while Eric was gone. I didn't hardly watch any TV at all. That's my report."

Love,
Eric

moving moving moving

Tawnia and I are offically "moved in" although we've spent more hours moving than actually being in our apartment. Today is my other day without Maceys (not a day off, because I still have to be here at Reagan), so I'm spending the afternoon packing the rest of the stuff in the old place, and cleaning it. We still also need to move all the boxes from the garage (that we moved stuff into last weekend) in the house, and probably just store most of it in the hall closet. I'm excited to set things up and figure out where they go .. it's my favorite part.

Yes, Happy Anniversary!!!

I hope you'll have time for a real celebration when Eric gets home from his trip. When is that, anyway?

Since I had such a nice response from my last question I thought I'd try another one. What church callings have you had, and which did you enjoy the most?

Dad just got home and we need to run into town and get some groceries and such so I need to run.

Love ya,
MOM

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, ERIC AND LAUREL!!!

I just realized what day it is and it is the day to celebrate Eric and Laurel's nuptials. I am very excited for you guys and happy that Stevie has joined the ranks of Palmerhood and is a member of your family. I hope that you guys are able to go to Hawaii next year for you 10th year anniversary. I am sorry that Eric is across the country right now, or is he back? I hope that you guys get to go eat or go do something exciting. Amanda and I went to the Eiffel Tower for our anniversary, but we don’t have to talk about that, I just like to brag. Just know that we love all you guys and that we can’t wait until we get to our nine year because that is the really special one. Oh my gosh… I will be over thirty by then. Not that being over thirty is in any way bad, it is just that I will be over thirty. Well good luck, and may your next nine years bring you more happiness and children.

Love,
Nathan and Amanda and Bean

We're home

Dad and I just got back from our rather quick trip. We left Thursday morning and after nearly 2400 miles of driving, got home tonight. We enjoyed touring the Sacramento Temple, going through the Fresno one and going to the McCune Reunion in Las Vegas. We stayed with Jenny in Vegas and came home via Provo so we could visit Tawnia and Mindy and help them a little with their moving.

When we got home there was a message from Joy that she just got a new little grandson. I'll give her a call tomorrow because I didn't want to call her at midnight, her time, to ask his name.

Love you all,
MOM

the temp must die

The last day of getting ready for a work trip is typically pretty hectic, but this time, I was way ahead of the game (because both bosses panicked with my being gone on maternity leave, and had most things done when I got back to work). Once my shipment of all my copies was gone on Fri. the 4th, I didn't have much to do all this past week - a very easy, quiet week. Until Friday. When the housing coordinator in our main office in Denver called me to ask about the hotel reservations for some of my speakers. Their registration forms also had the housing requests, including personal credit card numbers and the temp had screwed them ALL UP!!! He had the same credit card number on 3 forms. He had forms filled in that the speaker was paying for his own hotel AND we were paying it - for the same speaker. I spent a good majority of Friday cleaning up the hotel mess, and this was after he did NOT give any of them complimentary registration (so I've been fielding phone calls for the last 3 weeks - "Why did I get a bill?" "Because we messed up, and didn't catch it until the bills had already been sent. Disregard.") So yeah. It's a good thing he was already gone because I would have smacked him a good one.

We're leaving tomorrow morning for Nashville - we'll see how things go at the airport but I'm trying to be ready by packing very specifically. We'll be back Thursday night - the conference doesn't end until the weekend, but I'm done Thursday morning so we're coming home and I'll go to the office on Friday and get started on my wrap up at the office.

my (crazy) life

This week I worked 32 hours. Pretty normal really, and I only had to start moving on one of those days that I worked. Next week though, I have to start going back to Reagan in the mornings, and continue going to Maceys in the evenings. Here is a schedule of next week for me.

Monday: 9AM - 1PM @ Reagan, 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys
Tuesday: 9AM - 1PM @ Reagan, entire afternoon spent moving, 7:30PM Tap
Wednesday: 9AM - 3PM @ Reagan, 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys
Thursday: 9AM - 1PM @ Reagan, 8:30PM Ballet
Friday: 9AM? - 1PM? @ Reagan, 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys
Saturday: 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys

Aside from all the spiritual uplifting, I love Sundays because I know I don't have to work either job, and it gives me a break from everything. I will still try and post occasionally, with any exciting news that happens when I'm not work (like when we finally get to move).

Hello

Those are cute pictures of Bryan at his party, and the cake was cool. I thought he was going to have an eye-patch and a hat. Anyways, thank you for sharing those with us. I also wanted to thank Mindy for specifying in her drawing that I was a baby sleeping. I did not want others thinking that I was an adult wearing a diaper. And sucking on a pacifier. Thank you, Mindy.

Nathan

Bryan's Birthday

Hey Jared, Those are cool pictures of Bryan's Birthday party. Thanks for letting me see them first, since I was talking to you on the phone when you put them on the site. I have been following the mantra that Jared advised me to use while driving. I get in the car, and when someone does something stupid I clench my teeth and say, "I am a leaf on the wind! Watch me soar!" Or something to that effect.

Today Mindy and I actually started moving things closer to our new apartment. We now have a bunch of stuff in one of the garages behind our new apartment building. They are cleaning the carpets there on Monday and we should be able to move in either Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon. We are very excited about that.

I am also very excited about Nate and Manda's news! Yay!

I'm still really stressed about most things in my life, but now that I'm actually getting to move, and I should actually get to go into my classroom soon... it's helping my nerves calm a bit. I also got a very kind e-mail from the parent of a child I will have in class this next year. She said that her daughter was excited about school for the first year, because she is going to have me as her teacher. That made me feel really good and made me actually get excited about school starting. I teach because of the kids... and that really is the only reason. They make my job worth all of the stress that I go through.

Anyway, I hope everyone else is doing well.

Love,
Tawnia

The word is out

Just so everyone knows . . . everyone knows

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!

It has begun...

I've started updating the Pure Chaos page now.  I redid all the menu items to stuff that seems to make a little more sense (at least in my head) and put in the pictures from the CD that Mom and Dad sent.  Don't worry, I backed up most of what I had previously done, so pretty much everything should be able to be restored if desired.

So I ask again, if you haven't already, go look around and see what you can contribute.  Particularly personal bio sheets (with your acting experience), character backstories, movie reviews, and pictures.

Memories

I know that it has only been a month but I miss everyone being around and hanging out with all of you guys. For the last several weeks I have had reminders of some of the things that we did. In our home we have two recycle bins. When they get full, I empty them into bigger barrels in the buildings recycle room. One of the barrels is for paper. Because the students are not here yet, they do not bet emptied often. On the top of the paper barrel is a piece of paper folded in half. Written on it is a list of items that were necessary for the show to go on: Walkie-Talkies, Orange Poncho, and Water Guns. Each item has an exclamation mark after it. On the inside of the folded paper is a short paragraph about how the Sweet-potato is sometimes mistakenly called the yam, and how yams are actually found in specialty stores. Oh the memories. I am reminded of how Adam beat us at Cities and Knights and Jared beat me at Dominoes. Eric, and even Laurel I think, beat me at HORSE or just H. It was fun playing with Brooke and Bryan and how Bryan picked up on the Hot Dog and Brooke gave a fierce high-five. Driving down to Salem with Mindy and Tawnia and having to wait in for 20 minutes or so at construction at midnight was fun too in its own little way. Emily was such a good sport about us being in her sleeping area until way passed her couch time. Anyways, I had a good time, and I remembered all of this because of a little piece of paper in a recycle bin that has been there for a few weeks. I love you all and hope that you are healthy.

Nathan

More travels

Tomorrow morning Dad and I are leaving town once again. We're going to the McCune Reunion in Las Vegas. I answered that smelly question - It's on my page. Just thought you might want to know. I keep checking to see if there are any other updates. It sure would be nice to have more pictures of my grandkids. *hint hint*

Love ya,
MOM

websitey stuff

Hey folks, it's that time again.  Time to update the "Pure Chaos" website.  Since the movie is now finished, I don't see any reason we can't finish the website.  I really don't mind doing it, as long as you don't mind me taking my own sweet time at it.  So here's my request for all of you.  Go into the website.  Look around.  See what I did last year (I haven't touched it since January).  If you have anything you want to contibute - character backstories, pictures from the "making of", personal bios, or anything else - email them to me and I'll include them on the site.  Anything you don't send, I'll just make it up myself.

3 months

Today is Summer's 3 month birthday. She's doing great!! She's a generally happy baby and very smiley. Adam brought her into my office yesterday and she was well-behaved with getting passed around to everyone. We've pretty much figured out that she has 3 different cries - if something is wrong (hungry, stomach ache, or diaper change - you have to go through the list sometimes to pin it down), if she's tired, or if she just wants attention. She's starting to get adjusted to an 8 pm bedtime but I apparently need to work on a nap schedule when I start staying home next month. She's good at church - if I can get her used to the pattern that we did this past Sunday, it would be great!! She was quiet through sacrament meeting, and I played the piano for the opening of Primary. Then I fed her during the first Sharing Time, she was quiet during singing time, I finished feeding her during the second Sharing Time, and gave her to Adam for the end of church so I could play for the end of Primary. It worked for me!

I have 17 work days left, and a trip to Nashville next week for the big summer conference. Emily and Summer are going with me. Adam has 5 work days left, and has orientation for school next week. He starts class on the 21st. We're taking Emily to school on Sat. the 19th, and then won't see her until at least spring break. More big changes coming!!

Moving Frustrations

So Mindy and I were hoping to move this week.... but who knows if that is happening or not. I'm really, really annoyed that it isn't happening yet. Granted we can stay in our current apartment until August 18th, but I have to start working everyday on August 14th and Mindy will have two jobs starting on the 14th... so we really wanted to move THIS week so we could be at least somewhat settled before the 14th. It is really, really, really annoying!! The reason we can't move in now... is something about the bathroom floor having problems... so they ripped it out. Grrrr.... Plus I'm annoyed with some things at work... to the point that I'm ready to just get in my car and drive far, far away from all of this. Trina... do you want a live in nanny?? Eric? Jared?? Okay, fine... I'll just stay here and deal with all of this crud.

On the bright side... I'm still alive today... see my post on the sisters blog for more information on that.

Tawnia

Mount Vernon

Yesterday and today, they were redoing the computers at Adam's work, so he had the day off. That meant I had the day off. On Monday, I saw Ford's Theater and the Library of Congress.

Today, I went to Mount Vernon. It took two hours to get there via the Metro and buses, but I got there. I took a tour of the mansion first thing when the lines were nonexistent. In fact, for a while, I was on my own. They have tour guides in the different rooms of the mansion. It is beautiful. And then I looked around at the other buildings. There were two walking tours -- one about the landscapes and gardens (which were beautiful) and one on the slaves' lives.

After lunch, I went to the wreath laying ceremony at Washington's tomb. They have volunteers lead the pledge of allegiance (in this case a group of girl scouts), then someone places the wreath on a metal stand in the tomb (usually a member of the military), and then someone reads a prayer that George Washington wrote. I did that.

I also saw a farm with a sixteen-sided threshing barn, livestock, and gardens. It was very interesting. Washington was a brilliant farmer and a stickler for detail.

And now I'm thinking that I might apply for a summer internship at Mount Vernon and similar locations.

The Senator's pool

Yesterday, a friend of Trina and Adam's who works for a Senator invited us to go swimming in the Senator's pool (which he has permission to use when she is out of town). But first we had to get Summer swim diapers, along with a bikini top and a hat. Pictures will be posted later. The house was REALLY nice, and the pool was huge and about fifteen feet deep at one end. Summer was only in the water for a few minutes, but she seemed to like it. And we swam around and played some games. It was fun.

promotion

I got a promotion today from Staff Assistant to Professional Staff. To give you an idea of how important Staff Assistants are at the Hill, the Assistant part is usually abbreviated into a three-letter profanity. Although I'm only there for two more weeks, the Chief Counsel/Staff Director to give me the promotion (which I asked to take place as I was leaving) to be effective immidiately. I think that it will include a pay raise for the next few weeks. Also, I found out that I have 17 days of unused leave, which I will probably be paid for. So it's about an extra paycheck and a half or so that we weren't planning on. How was your day?

smells from childhood (in no particular order)

1. The smell of the ocean, first thing in the morning as the sun is just peeking above the horizon.
2. Fresh cut grass on a lazy (early) summer afternoon.
3. Hot asphalt from a really hot August day.
4. That crisp, cold smell right before it snows when everything is about to be buried under a blanket of white.
5. The smell of rain in the last hour or so before a really big thunderstorm hits.
6. That weird amalagation of smells at the farmer's market as you pass by the dry veggies and the fresh fruit and the potatoes.
7. The smell of musty old books.
8. Lots of wood smoke.

Adam

Smells, Weather, and Plane Tickets

Smells that remind me of childhood -- I thought first of the smells of Christmas, the smell of pine needles (when we got real trees), cookies baking, and candles. It's always been my favorite holiday.

The weather here is very, very hot. I've been sitting around the apartment with Summer, trying to keep cool. Good thing we can the air conditioner fixed.

And I bought my plane tickets for Christmas. I'll be flying out of Roanoke on December 16th and flying back on January 9th early in the morning (really early -- the flight leaves at seven).

from Jared

I guess it has been a little while since we've given an update.  Our computer has been down for a month now (and we haven't gotten it running again yet...) so that's my excuse.

I'm still busy at work.  In addition to the regular production, I'm helping coordinate the new ESD protection for the department, and I'm reverse-engineering a test module that someone hand-built a few years ago without writing down the design specs.  So I've got plenty to do.

Since Bryan's 4th birthday is coming up, we're planning a party for him.  If anyone wants to drop by on Saturday the 12th from 2 to 4 pm, be ready for a swashbuckling good time.  Brooke will start first grade the week after that, I believe on the 16th.

Oh, and the smells question.  It would probably be bad form to bring up the strong odor of wet sheets emanating from younger siblings' bedrooms that I would complain about when I was a teenager.  I used to sniff apples at the grocery store to help Mom pick out the good ones.  I also remember the tree smells - the cedars in the yard, and the Christmas tree bonfires and campouts with the Scouts.

That's all the news I can think of right at the moment.  If anyone has any other questions, well, our phones still work!

smells

Like Trina, the first thing I thought of was Christmas smells. All the cookie smells and warmth, the fireplace, a real tree. Because my birthday is Christmas in July, a friend of mine got me a really cute Santa decoration for my birthday last week, so I was thinking about Christmas anyway.

Another odd smell that reminds me of childhood is gasoline. Whenever I'm at a gas station, it reminds me of being on vacation, and waking up in the van (the sound of the door opening usually woke me up), and smelling the gas. The smell wasn't as pungent during the day, or at least not in my memories. It was always night, and I was always waking up.

On Sunday I made some pelmeni. Pelmeni is a Russian stuffed pasta (like ravioli or dumplings). It was my first time making it since actually being in Russia, and although it didn't smell as strong as it did then, the familiar smell was there. It made me think back to the tiny apartment kitchen with wood floors, and the clear green glass plates we would eat off of.

Smell

Laurel and I went walking in the park Saturday (Stevie was there, but he wasn't walking). The dirt trail and the smells of the trees and grass in the damp morning air reminded me of mornings at Scout Camp: lining up for the flag raising or gathering for a merit badge session. It didn't help that we passed an archery range.

I thought I'd share that in response to your question.

car goodbyes

Tawnia, may I offer my condolences. I know how you feel about the demise of Hank. I was very sad when we said goodbye to Zippy in February - my Toyota Echo that I drove back and forth to California more than once, to Utah a couple of times, to Montana and all over there, and my solo cross-country journey to DC. But now I'm not so sad, because it's horrifically hot outside and Zippy did not have air conditioning (or a tape deck or power windows or even power steering either, like Hank). Our new car, Zippy's cousin Speedy (another Toyota, but upgraded to a Corolla), has air conditioning which is pretty much a necessity right now. Speedy also has 4 doors, which Zippy did not, which is necessary to get Summer's carrier in and out of the car.

If you want to read about our latest conversations about traveling, check out the sisters' blog. In the last 24 hours, we've started talking about a couple of different ideas that would be SO AWESOME!!!

I also remember the smell of fresh-cut grass ... but the first thing that came to mind when I read the question was all the smells of Christmas from the tree and baking. I also remember the smell of the cedar trees at the end of the house that we used to climb (and the ones we played under that are no longer there), and we'd get pitch all over our hands and clothes. And I remember the smell of the warm fresh flour when Mom would use the wheat-grinder and bake bread. Mmmmmm!!! And I remember the smell of fruit when we would can peaches and pears at the end of the summer. This is making me nostalgic ...

Smelly

I think the smells I remember most from my childhood are the smell of rain, and the smell of freshly cut grass. I love the smell of the air right after it rains. It reminds me of home and those afternoons when you just sat inside reading, and listening to the rain fall on the roof. The smell of freshly cut grass reminds me of Dad mowing the lawn. I remember watching him when I was little. I would run from one window to the next to watch. He probably doesn't even know that I did that.


My old car, Hank, has finally gone to his final resting place, State Street Auto Wrecking. I took them the title last Wednesday and they finally picked him up sometime yesterday. He was a good car. We had many great adventures together. I drove that car from Oregon to Utah, from Utah to Texas, from Texas to Oregon, from Oregon to Idaho and back, and then from Oregon to Utah. I remember that one time I left the lights on for three or four days (this was during my first week at EFY) and then finally realized it. I got in and he started right up as if nothing had happened. Not long after I got Hank, Trina invited me to come down to Monmouth to spend the night. So I had my first experience driving Hank in the rain at night... all by myself. It was a little scary, but I made it. Hank was great. He didn't have much of a liking for hills... but going down hill he did amazingly. I didn't have air conditioning, power windows, or a tape deck... but he was great. I loved that car. So everyone please have a moment of silence and think of what a great car I once had... even if you never met him.

-T