Happy Canada Day!

What better way to celebrate than to go to a good old fashioned (American) rodeo tonight?

*Editor's note: I'm adding a picture to this post instead of creating an entirely new one. The girls who posted these on facebook was kind enough to crop my crotch shot out of the photo before she introduced them to the world.




Scott and I have had a busy summer so far. Lynne, Rick, Margy, and Oliver came to town for a wedding, and we had a great time having everyone all together. I'm excited because we get to see them again in just a few more weeks when we head to Vancouver for John's wedding. Scott's parents are so generous, and made sure to stock us up with a feast of Trader Joe's goods. We stayed up at my parents' house, and it was kind of fun to be living under my old roof again. It was so nice of my parents to let us all invade their home. The second I walk in their house the volume level triples, I think. By the way, I don't know if I ever noted that Scott found deep psychological meaning in our initials. I said to him one day, "L-A-H. Scott, my initials spell LAH... how appropriate! (followed by an operatic LAAAAAAAAH)" He looked at me and said, "Yeah. And to add to the irony, my initials are S-H, as in Shhhhh..." I don't think there could be a better way to sum up our relationship than our initials. The Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid summed it up pretty well:

URSULA
What I want from you is - your voice.

ARIEL
But without my voice, how can I-

URSULA
You'll have your looks, your pretty face.
And don't underestimate the importance of body language, ha!
The men up there don't like a lot of blabber
They think a girl who gossips is a bore!
Yet on land it's much prefered for ladies not to say a word
And after all dear, what is idle babble for?
Come on, they're not all that impressed with conversation
True gentlemen avoid it when they can
But they dote and swoon and fawn
On a lady who's withdrawn
It's she who holds her tongue who get's a man

With how much I talk, I'm lucky I bagged Scotty in the first place.

I've also spent a lot of time this past week with the nephews. I was with them last Thursday at the Dinosaur Museum, Saturday I stopped by to hang with Ben and Sarajane, Monday I kidnapped the kids (I was the Kinder Van for the day) and brought Andrew and Ben down to SLC to play, and Tuesday I went up and watched all three while Kirsten went to girls' camp! We've been able to swim, wash my car, watch shows, play pirates, make creepy potato head creatures, and lucky SJ got to take like twelve naps a day. These little dudes and the little dudette make my day. I'm so glad I've been able to spend so much time with them lately. I have so much fun seeing Kirsten's little family grow.



(These are Donald Duck's nephews... not mine. But there are a lot of similar qualities... destructive being the one that first comes to mind.)

On Thursday we went to the temple. We really made a night of it, and that was really fun for me. I always feel guilty and incomplete when we are rushing to make the session and I'm still catching my breath a half hour into the session. It was so nice to get there with time to spare, sit together in the temple, and really be able to express my gratitude, share thoughts and feelings with Scotty, and communicate with my Heavenly Father. I really heard him talk back when I prayed. It felt incredible, and I want to do my best to have that experience more often.

Last Saturday we made a trip to the Instacare in Bountiful (we were hanging out at John and Jana's) to take care of a weird ear infection I developed. I haven't had one since I was a kid when I used to pull the fluff off my blanket and shove it in my ears to make my ear stop hurting (then I'd fall asleep and forget about it). When my mom took me to my pediatrician, he pulled out so much cotton, he couldn't figure out how it all got there! He told me that I shouldn't use ear swabs without my mom's supervision. I didn't tell my mom until this weekend that the cotton in my ear was not from an ear swab, but my blanket. I was weird then. I'm weird now. I've got some anti-biotics, and I'm hoping the whole thing clears up before getting to the ranch because I won't let anything stand in the way of my ranch time (it only come around once a year)!



It's going to be so weird to be up at the ranch, away from Scott for so long. I'm nervous about it. I've never had a problem with being homesick. I was 12 when I first when to the ranch for two weeks and I don't think I ever felt homesick while up in the Tetons. But I'm sad to think of my hard-working husband at home while I have a transformational experience in the mountains. I owe him big time for encouraging me to go. Scott is always thinking of me and what will make me happy, and I'm ridiculously lucky to have him! I've never met someone so humble and filled with gratitude. I feel like being away from him for a week in June helped me realize how badly I want to be more like him. As I think about leaving for the ranch, I feel like I know the lesson I'm going to learn before I even learn it. But the ranch never fails to knock me over the head with many lessons I never expected. Dick never fails to enlighten me with his conversation; Sue never fails to inspire me with her example; and the landscape reminds me what this life is all about... that God abounds and is the center of everything in this life. All things testify of Christ: that He lives and that this is His work. How can anyone look at the gorgeous creation of this Earth and not wonder about its Creator?



Just getting the last minute things together. I wish I could make two weeks' worth of lunches and put them in the fridge for Scott, but I think Day 12's jam and almond butter sandwich might get soggy.