Whew

Six psych evals, eleven therapy sessions, three treatment summaries, one UPA pamphlet, billing to two agencies, and innumerable phone calls in the past three days. I am not used to working so hard. The last time I remember feeling like this (not enough time to sleep) was the second term of my doctoral program, when I thought I was superwoman and took 23 credit hours. Then it was in the service of my calling and career--this time it's in the service of 16 days holiday in the UK. John had to make all the arrangements--I'm just hoping to have time to do my laundry before we go. Oh yeah, and five more therapy sessions tomorrow, call my visiting teachees, make reservations for our Cedar City trip when we get back, set up Skype on our computers so we can talk to Chris while we're gone, pack, pay the household bills, vacuum, and cut the guys' hair.

But watch this site! Once I'm over sleep deprivation and jet lag, I'll post photos of beautiful Dorset. Or, London, Dorchester, Weymouth, London, Ipswich (or somewhere in the east fen country), Cambridge, and London again.

Maybe I'll rest when I get home.

News of the Week 7/20/08

The summer is flying by. Amy and Jamison moved into his mom Debbie's new house in Lindon this week, and we were sad to see them go. They will be able to stretch out a little there, I think, and more easily visit with Jamison's brothers from back east who are here on holiday. It was great to get to know Jamison better, and he certainly saw us at our normal condition, whatever that is (bathrobes, messy house, kitty crises, and all). Amy's working hard on the Chicago move. We're both so busy that we don't see or talk to each other much--I'm really going to miss her when she leaves next month.

Chris bought a used PlayStation and Guitar Hero III, and he so far hasn't done anything else this week. He says he's getting tired of it and might trade it back at GameStop at the mall for the money minus 20 percent. His way-cool pedal came, but he's still waiting impatiently for the guitar and amp to show up. He has to make up a foods class online before school starts (August 18), but he just growls at me when I mention it. Actually I think it would be fun. He is a good cook and interested in eating well. Maybe after he trades in Guitar Hero... I made him a copy of the car key, which he carries around on his belt loop, and uses to start the car if I leave him alone in it for a second. He is excited for drivers ed. I tried to warn him

but he doesn't listen.

John spent the end of the week at the Green Jacket ranch, cowsitting for Liz and Alan. He said it's still beautiful and green, because of the slow start to the season. He came back sunburned and tired, and said it was harder than he thought but he enjoyed it. I shouldn't complain about our little garden--what a huge job the Mitchell's have!

Chris and I missed the Vernon reunion last night, mostly because I am trying to finish the six psych evals I must send off before we leave for London on Friday. At least I've already done all the testing. I only have two more feedback sessions and then the writeups--oh, and a collatoral phone interview tomorrow with a family member for one of them. Five of the evals are for Voc Rehab and one is for the care center in Lindon. I am a slow report writer. Any kind of writing is a nervous business for me. I bite my cuticles and jiggle my feet and get up and pace and am very easily distracted away from actual work.

Dave and Devon sent photos around of their new loft in Philadelphia, where they will move on Sept 1. Maybe since Dave doesn't have a family blog, I will have to post the pictures here:

Dave is starting up a law practice and (as he said in his last message) blogging as the immigration specialist at this site beginning next month. Pretty exciting.

Rob and Nicolle are still deciding what exactly to do, I think. Last time I spoke on the phone with Rob, Nicolle was working at Tocanos in SLC, but I'm not sure how permanent that will be. Rob helped me build a new web site, Karla Bennion PhD, which is still sort of in the beta-phase until I get some photos and more text.

Next thing on my tech list is to invite J.Lynn over for lunch and have him help me order a new desktop, as my poor little 6-year-old Dell Inspiron laptop is totally outdated. The monitor went out, and I have it hooked up to a $10 used monitor from DI. My 2" by 4 and 1/2" external hard drive has more storage space than my main computer. (But the ASUS is sure fun. I took it to my office the other day and got onto somebody's unsecured wireless--should I feel guilty about that? is it dangerous? I take my 2 gb data stick with me and have every text file I've ever written in my life with 99% of the room to spare.)

Well, speaking of text files, I'd better get to the psych reports. My RS lesson went well today--this time I only had four questions and by pushing it a little got to three of them before the meeting was over. We do have a talkative congregation, which is good of course. Makes my job easier.

Grandpa's Birthday Party

We went down to the farm Friday afternoon to have a hotdog roast at the pavilion for Grandpa's birthday. It was a typical July day, so everybody was OK that we were a little late and waited into the cool of the evening to begin. Grandpa keeps the grass watered throughout the summer, and Pesi found the most relaxing place to be. Grandma enjoyed the party.
James shows how it is done--stick cooking is always better after the coals form.Damien and Teane relax after dinner.J.Lynn shows off his new motorcycle, a match to Tana's new scooter. They're following your lead, B&B.


Here's the honoree--76 years old and going strong. He says his knee hurts, but I didn't notice that it hindered him much.

We now have another July birthday to celebrate (besides Grandpa's and Colette's)--July 19 is Jessica's birthday.
On a geek note--I downloaded the photos and entered this blog post on my new ASUS. The only trouble is getting used to the littler keyboard and slightly different location of the keys. So I guess it's going to work for traveling. I'm so excited for our trip to England next week--I can send all the photos I'd like without lugging around a giant laptop and spending all my money at Internet cafes. As long as I can find free wireless access!

The Great Salt Lake

We had a fun time in the water. The lake wasn't any stronger smelling than the ocean, and the smell was not really noticable at all--maybe because we were out in the middle, on Antelope Island, and there's not much living out there but creatures adapted to salt water--brine flies and brine shrimp--whereas closer to the edges, the freshwater creatures are dying when they come in contact with the lake. The sun was getting lower, the day was hot and still, the water a comfortable temperature even for the babies.


Johnathan models the latest swimwear,

John floats,

(as do B&B),

and Chris impersonates Neptune, or a water sprite:

Colette in the Great Salt Lake

Warm and deep as a bathtub, absolutely still, soft, smooth bottom beneath your feet, tiny brine shrimp (that don't bite), interesting tastes and smells--what's not for a three-year old to like?

More Antelope Island

We set up camp on the northwest shore, and it was absolutely silent except for voices of the campers and an occasional cry of a seagull. If I listened closely, I thought I could hear a very faint undertone of traffic from very far away, and after dark we could see lights to the north, but otherwise we seemed far from civilization.

John cooked chicken tacos
while we set up tents.Everyone was hungry.Brett and Betsy like their tent.


Sunset on the Great Salt Lake.

Antelope Island

Brett and Betsy arranged an overnight car-camping trip to Antelope Island State Park on the Great Salt Lake. Rob and Nicolle and the babes went too. It's a beautiful, desolate, silent, haunting place, just a few miles from the suburbs of SLC. John, Chris, and Rob rode their bicycles, with the babies in Rob's cart,

while the rest of us were motorized. Colette and Johnathan wished they could ride Betsy's motocycle.

We saw antelope and buffalo.

Here we are watching the buffalo:
And here is a cool video of them running around--I think the bulls were chasing a heifer.