Devon's New Book

I skyped with Dave and Devon yesterday, and they showed me her new book. And her next book, based on her dissertation, will be finished by the 1st of September and published next year. Dave said he'd bring us a copy when he comes to visit at the end of the month.

Dave Family History

I miss Dave and Devon. Here are pix that Cindy gave me at Christmas--from 27 years ago. He was (is) such a sweetie.

We Went to Philadelphia.

We visited Dave and Devon (and Roxanne, on the table, above).

We also visited Piedrich*, the evil basement cat of the house, who is dominant to everyone but (apparently) John. *New name for Pierre, the One Cat to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them

We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and did not take a photo of the Rocky statue. Devon did allow this one photo from safely behind Dave.

We had lunch--John and I had Philly cheesesteaks--at the Reading Terminal Market. And cookies.

We visited the campuses of Penn and Drexel. Above is the Drexel mascot, Morton or Merwin or something.

We visited Dave's office on Arch Street downtown.

Doesn't he look professional?

We went downtown again to a chamber orchestra concert at Kimmel Hall.


On Monday when D&D had to go to work, John and I visited the historic district.

Here is where the Declaration was signed, and where the Constitution was hammered out. John and I both had a renewal of patriotic fervor, remembering the American ideals of 8th grade civics class--honorable even when not attained.

We had a great time. Devon made cornmeal muffins and quiche to die for. We ate lots of good Asian food. Thanks D&D! And thanks to Rob too, for providing the partner airline passes so the cost was minimal.

Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we went to Rob and Nicolle's house and then down to Temple Square to see the lights. It was very cold, and our trip didn't last long.
On Christmas Day we waited for Rob and family to come after Rob was off work, and we waited for Brett, Betsy, and Ethan to come after spending the morning with Brett's family. We didn't open presents until after 3 pm. How things change when the youngest at home is 16 years old.

Ethan and Brett:
What a stack of loot!
We were so glad to have Dave and Devon here for Christmas:
Grandpa and Johnathan cuddle Babar from Grandma Gene:
Watchers Rob, Colette, Nicolle, and Nicolle's sister Michelle (on couch), Betsy as photographer:
Johnathan Elephant and Colette Pony. Nicolle invented the elephant mask.

An Action Figure You Can Believe In

Dave and Devon's Christmas present to us:

Happy Birthday Devon!

To our beautiful daughter-in-law, who is cooler than anybody in the family except maybe Pesi, and who makes Dave happy:
P.S. You see here why we are not ever asked to perform on TV.

Goodbye Dave

We drove Dave to Salt Lake Tuesday night so he could be on the plane the next morning. We visited with Rob & Nicolle and Brett & Betsy (everyone had their eyes shut in the picture of B&B), then came home fairly early because it was a school night. We miss you Dave! We were so glad to see you.

News of the Week 8/31/08

Things were quiet at our house until Friday, when Rob and Colette arrived for the Labor Day weekend. Nicolle and Johnathan are visiting her family in Texas (we miss them dreadfully) and Rob was lonely in Salt Lake, as well as having gigs in Provo, so it worked out well. I took a lot of photos of Colette at the Scera park in Orem while Rob played at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, but it is very hard to catch her on camera--she's a speedy girl who doesn't stop to pose for photos--that's why it's a little out of focus. She climbed the highest slide at the playground about 45 times. "I did it, I did it!" she chanted.

Our garden is still lovely, if a little exuberant. There are squash and pumpkin blossoms, for example, in the peach trees and roses, and on top of the grape arbor. Our neat little knot garden that is so tidy in the winter time looks like this by the end of August. What's that extra large tomato with the bucket--oh, sorry, that's Chris.I told him he looks like a dahlia. I eat about five tomatoes per meal, and we have buckets and buckets of table grapes. Soon it will be time to make purple grape juice. Here are some more photos of the roses. When it cools down just a little, as it has, the roses put out another flush of blossoms.
Dave called tonight and said he and Devon are in their Philadelphia apartment, within a half mile of the Mint, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. Dave has a part-time blogging job, and is looking at other options, including private practice. Devon's classes don't start for a few weeks.

Amy and Jamison are settled in their new place in Chicago. I can't wait until they send more photos. She enjoys her classes and will be painting by Friday--she meets with her advisor on Tuesday. We look forward to our visit in February.

We haven't heard much from Betsy and Brett--I think they are in full-out school mode. We'll see them tomorrow at our Labor Day Barbeque, and hopefully have more pictures then. Chris is doing well in all his classes (two weeks into the school year), and John starts teaching on Tuesday. I feel sort of left out not to be doing anything with school. I'll survive it though. I bumble along with my work, still trying to figure out how to be an effective businesswoman. I'm grateful for help from Betsy and Rob. I'm also glad that the BYU swimming pool will be open again this week--I really miss swimming. I do OK riding my exercise bike, but swimming is more fun and more of a workout.

We're happy to hear from Tena of the new little (or not so little) Mo'unga baby Elias. We're sad to hear of Justin's accident and pray for his recovery.

News of the Week 8/24/08

A lot of changes this past week. Last Sunday Amy headed off to Chicago in the moving van with Anna and Eric, friends who are going to graduate school at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. She has been staying with friends of Jamison in Hyde Park near the University of Chicago, and found an apartment nearby. She has been painting and fixing it up, and Jamison flies out tomorrow early--I know she has missed him and will be glad to see him. She sent some photos of the place, but I think she'll have to send more with the paint job, new blinds, and the little bit of furniture they have. It's pretty exciting. And now that she has a place to live, she can start to think about school. Several years ago John and I were at a conference in Chicago and visited Trent, a former student at the Art Institute. We saw the building where the art students have classes and their working studios. And we plan to visit A&J in February when John has another conference in Chicago. But it's still a long time away from them. Thank goodness for inexpensive cell phone calls.

Dave and Devon are planning to move into their new place in Philadelphia on Labor Day. I think they're both pretty busy. He's planning a quick trip out in September--just a few days, but some is better than none. We wish Devon could come, but she'll just be starting her new classes.

Chris started school last Tuesday. Brett and Betsy start school this week. John goes to his faculty meetings this week and starts teaching again after Labor Day. My life goes on the same with therapy clients and testing. I'm trying to get back into writing (vampire story) more regularly. Basically I think age has slowed me down. Or maybe laziness.

It's always great to have Rob and Nicolle and the babies visit, as they did this weekend. This time I was sick with some kind of 24 hour bug, and after Friday night just stayed in bed and slept. I'm hoping I didn't give the bug to anybody else. Before I got sick, though, we took the babies out for pizza and spaghetti alfredo while Rob was at a gig and Nicolle at her cousin's wedding. Here are photos of Spaghetti Girl doing her thing, serious Johnathan, and Chris. We sat outside on the patio. It was fun.