the busy heart

This shot (of Sam and his brother Josh) reminds me of the one I took of Sam and his Dad at the beach. Remember that one? Perhaps someday I'll have occasion to snap one of all three of them at once. The gentlemen, front-ways. And a few of Sam solo, because I think he's handsome. Listening to a violin: Here he's standing in the doorway of the Smith barn in Palmyra, looking out at the Sacred Grove. This particular way of standing is so Sam. Hip out, weight on one foot, head tipped. On one of our first dates, when I suspected I would love him, I watched him standing like that in the parking lot. Okay, I'll be honest. I was suspicious of it. I remember thinking, "Can I love a man who stands like that?" Yes, yes I can. Now it warms the heart. Do you have anything like that with people you adore? Specific human stamps that you're suspicious of at first, but end up embodying that person?

Here is Isadora, the first grandchild on Sam's side. We attended her lovely, moving, outdoor blessing over the weekend. She's exquisite. Here she is in her heirloom blessing/baptism dress, sticking out her cute tongue. And here she is listening to a violin: With her pretty mama: And here is Sam trying to have a conversation with her. I think this was right before he told her she had bad breath and made everyone at the table fall into stunned silence. His defense, "I didn't think she spoke English." Uhhhhh. We're still working on understanding babies and how to interact with them. Here is another baby. My sister Kira's. I met Savannah when I was in Utah. We took a nap in a recliner, Savannah scrunched up on my chest, her breathing soft and sweet. As my friend Eden said, There is no better way to sleep. Anyway, here she is with my brother, Garret. (It's Garret's birthday today, yippee!) Here is Savannah in her blessing dress with my mama. I wish I ha...

I have so many pictures to post, I don't even know where to start. We're home from New York. It was a lovely trip (you'll see the pics), but we're so glad to be back with our kitties for a few days. We don't like driving that far, we've decided. And we like these cats. Several times a day we lament leaving them for a month while we're in Europe. If we could take them and not make them miserable, we would. (Gratuitous picture of the kitties. The one on the right is the baby, left is the mama. He is enormous.) (And one of Sam's kitty, Tadzio, T-Todd, etc. He's gorgeous, no? He's like a male cat model.) Anyway, before I plaster pictures, here are a few random bits of information: *The day before we left, my car stopped working. Wouldn't start. Apparently I have bought the precise make and year of a Toyota with a defective computer. All of the computers on this particular car go out sooner or later. There isn't a recall on the part. My warr...

I have all these lovely pictures to post of babies and Utah and Boston and Syracuse, but they're all trapped in my camera. Someday I'll extract them and then you shall see. In the meantime, I thought I would say that Sam and I are at a little Bed and Breakfast in Palmyra, NY. We're reading books. It's sunny out. We passed the Hill Cumorah on the way here. Tomorrow I'll go to the temple and we'll see the Sacred Grove. Then we'll head to NYC. Then we'll fly away to Paris. Life is relaxing. Life is pretty. Life is good.

You simply must make these cookies. I mean, I guess you don't must. But they're uber-yum. Go here to 101 Cookbooks for the recipe. They're cousins of the "healthy" cookies I posted awhile back, but these little babies are even better. Just incredible, and simple, and, you know, kinda healthyish. I made them for Sam and me a few weeks ago and we polished them off in a frightfully short amount of time. Just tried them out on the parental units, and they approve. Ingredients: grated carrots, oats, whole wheat flour, fresh ginger, baking powder, maple syrup, walnuts, and coconut oil. I added unsweetened coconut, and I was not sorry.

I'm in Utah for a few days, and I'm no good at telling people I'm coming (especially because I thought for awhile I was going to Cali for the week to help with my sister's new baby.), so here I am. Staying at my parents' house used to frustrate me, food-wise. They eat so dang healthy that it seemed like there was nothing to eat. I confess to making more dinner/lunch plans than strictly necessary just because potatoes and broccoli and a big green salad seemed like such a dud dinner. I was on vacation! This time? Their healthy food IS the vacation. I'm in a swoon. It feels like I'm staying in one of these vegan resorts that are cropping up--where you stay there and they make you gourmet vegan meals. Every morning when I wake up there is a gorgeous grain staying warm in their rice cooker. I have it with some barley malt powder, my mom's mix of ground nuts and seeds, a splash of soy milk, and a few juicy clementines on the side. For lunch I have some of thei...

No more teaching. Taught my last class Friday and aside from a bit of grading and a final to give on Wednesday, I'm home and I'm free. I went to a spin class this morning, and spin classes are so much more incognito than running. Even though there are other spinning souls all around, it feels like it's just me, the darkness, loud music, pouring sweat, and a bicycle that can't get run over by a car or land in a river. (I'm afraid of real bikes, which is understandable since I really did ride into a river once. Okay, okay, it was more like a stream. But still.) I also wrote today, which is nothing short of a miracle, considering how little I've done it this semester. It may be bad luck, but I can't resist sharing this bit here. It's about my wedding day and it made me happy to write it. Since we kept attendance to family, a lot of you weren't there. I hope you enjoy a peek at it. Warning: I do have two short paragraphs that take place at the...