the worst party ever

I'm interrupting my Hawaii posts to say that Marc had surgery on Monday! A hernia repair, which apparently runs in the family. You're welcome, kids! Ah, the joy of genes.

The only surgery Marc had had prior to this was a corneal transplant shortly after his mission. That sounds way worse to me, but he dreaded this one more. To each his own!

I ate a bagel in the hospital cafeteria for breakfast, then did some scripture study and finished the book I was reading. 

The surgery took longer than expected, which made me a bit nervous, but all is well.

After coming out of the anesthesia, Marc was so groggy he couldn't even open his eyes for a couple of hours. I finally tricked him into opening his eyes by turning on the tv and switching channels around. We couldn't leave until he was able to get up and walk to the bathroom, so we were there all day. (Mim and Michelle were here all day, helping out and maintaining normalcy for the kids.)

Incidentally, he expressed concern about being nauseated after surgery, which is a possible side effect of general anesthesia. He is prone to carsickness, which is an indicator of anesthesia-induced nausea, so they gave him a cocktail of anti-nausea drugs in his IV, and a motion sickness patch behind his ear! That's what I call service. It was totally effective, too.

I sat at Marc's bedside, feeding him tiny pieces of crackers and sips of Coke so that he would have something in his stomach and could take his pain pills. I didn't even take a single embarrassing photo! I thought I showed great restraint.

The best part for me was when Marc confessed he had pushed himself to finish all the episodes of Friday Night Lights before his surgery, you know, in case anything happened.

Me: Hang on. In case you didn't pull through, you had to make sure you finished watching Friday Night Lights??

Marc: There's no tv in heaven.

Yep. He's such a weirdo. But he makes me laugh.

This morning when Max woke up, he was dizzy and nauseous, and unable to join Lucas and Eva on their celebratory visit to Grandma & Grandpa's. (They invited the kids over to swim and play games since Marc is still recuperating in bed and I am too tired and worn out to care about cookouts or fireworks. It's a barrel of laughs around here.)

Eva said that Max was joining the sick party. Man, that's the worst party ever.

another dream come true

In an academic world where very few people ever read the work that you agonize and toil over, Marc has always yearned to write something that would appeal to the masses.

With his photography, as well, he has dreamed of creating something with such wide appeal that he could see it on the shelves of Target someday.

In the last couple of years or so, he has been licensing some of his work to an art agency. He heard recently that there was a European company that wanted to make a few of his photos into postcards. He mentioned in passing that it would be thrilling to happen upon his postcards while in Paris.

A couple of days ago, I opened my email to find these:

Here he is, outside of a store that carries his postcards! He bought them just as the store was closing.

Hooray for dream fulfillment!
{Of course, he still wouldn't say no to a deal with Target.}

a few major things

Eva lost her first tooth!

She was annoyed by the fact that it hadn't fallen out yet. It was causing her grief when she ate or brushed her teeth. So one night, I just took a tissue like my grandma used to, put it over the tooth, and yanked. It was very loose, and it came right out. She was thrilled.

I got out of bed at midnight when I realized that I had forgotten to perform my tooth fairy duties. She was happy about the money, but disappointed that the tooth fairy took her tooth away. At school the next day, the class dentist (they all have different rotating jobs in their "town") asked if anyone had lost a tooth and she was so happy to report her big event.

Lucas got a haircut!

Not his usual trim where he negotiates about how little he can get cut off, but an actual haircut. Miss Kate, the school drama director, told him he was going to have to have a new 'do for Grease. I was shocked that he opted to comply 6 weeks in advance. Thank you, Miss Kate, thank you!

Now I am trying to give him positive feedback without making a big deal out of it (so that he will want to grow it out long again just to rebel against me). I think he looks so much like my brother when he was about the same age.

Max got his driver's license!

It was shockingly easy. We went in with a pile of documentation and they never even looked at it! He didn't have to get his picture taken because he is using the one from his permit. He didn't have to take a written or a driving test because he has a certificate that he passed them in Driver's Ed. (which they didn't even look at). They just checked his vision, I paid the fee, he received a brief lecture on being responsible and staying in good with his mother (since I paid for it, I own it until he is 18) and that was it! No waiting, even. It was certainly a different experience from when I got my license—I had to take the written and the driving test and failed the driving test the first time because when I parallel parked, I wasn't close enough to the curb. Huh.

Also, he went on his first date about a week ago! He is so shy, I wondered if it might take him years to embark on this particular milestone. He planned the whole thing, arranged a group date, and had a great time. I could not be more shocked (and happy for him).

We went to our elementary school's Fall Festival on Friday. I didn't take my camera because it was stormy. Eva was disappointed that, due to inclement weather, the ponies weren't there. She was determined to ride one this year. They did, however, have a petting zoo that she thoroughly enjoyed: a 500-lb. pig, a pot-bellied pig, a llama, a cow, a baby goat, a chicken, and a rabbit on a leash. She also went on a golf cart ride, did the duck pond and fish pond games, took a couple of turns in the bounce house (a huge hit), played bean bag toss and ring toss, tried the cake walk and the soda pop walk, and ate cotton candy. It's an enormously anticipated event.

She won this in the soda pop walk.

Marc started repainting our main living area!

He spent all weekend prepping and painting one wall, and putting everything back into place. Now I'm not sure I love the color we selected. It doesn't look like the sample to me. It's cooler and just not what I pictured. Marc is so frustrated he can barely talk about it. I can't blame him a bit. And I'm pretty sure we will never paint again without getting a test quart.

I'm living with it for a couple of days before we decide how to proceed...

five for friday

Marc's sister Lisa was in town with her family last month and Eva was dying to have her cousin Dana over for a sleepover. Dana, never having done a sleepover, was a little hesitant, so she invited her big sister Olivia along. They came home with us on a Sunday night and stayed all day Monday, and Eva was devastated when Lisa picked them up. It's too bad they see each other so rarely!

Marc has been photographing still lifes around the house for a photography contest. At one point, he was standing on the kitchen table with his tripod, trying to get a shot. I can tell when he's scoping out potential photo ops. He is submitting some photos he took in Eva's room, vignettes of her toys in play; and she said that if he wins, it will be like she wins, too!

Eva had her friend Riley over to play and they ended up watching a movie about Golden Retrievers on Netflix. They kept clinging to each other during the "scary parts." I told them that if it was too scary, they should do something else, but they protested that that was what made it fun!

I would say that Lucas came home from Scout camp with at least a hundred mosquito bites. He is allergic to them, so they always get pretty bad (this photo doesn't really do it justice). They were clustered on his shoulders, elbows, knees, and neck, despite the fact that he was wearing pants and shirts with sleeves and had applied bug repellent! Also, one of the leaders who went with them didn't get a single bite. What the? (He's been back for almost 3 weeks and they are just now going away.)

I tried making naan. I really love naan, and since I was making Indian food one night, it seemed like the time to give it a go. I don't know that I'll do that again. It was quite a tedious process, involving a pizza stone and a spray bottle, cooking them one at a time, etc. and it still wasn't right. It seemed more like regular pita bread to me. Not worth it. Bummer.

twenty

Last Friday (June 24th), we celebrated our twentieth anniversary.

Isn't it strange that I can simultaneously feel that twenty years is an eternity and not really that long?

A lot has happened in twenty years.

And now I have been married as long as I was single. How about that?

I ran to the store first thing in the morning and got twenty balloons. Eva came with me and was delighted with the spectacle of walking around with that many balloons (and trying to stuff them into my car).

I attached a memory from our married life to each balloon. The plan was to sneak them into our bedroom before Marc woke up, but he emerged before I could execute the plan, so he came out and saw them all in the family room.

He gave me new perfume from Paris and the promise of re-painting any two rooms in our house! (Excepting the man-cave, of course.) Ooh la la!

Since Max's birthday is the same day as our anniversary, we went out the next night. Pizzeria 712 never disappoints.

And next weekend we are going to have a getaway in Salt Lake, just the two of us. Yay, us!

handyman

This is what a burned-out oven element looks like. I had no idea.

I called and got the part number for a replacement and found out that there was one on the shelf in a store in Provo. Marc stopped by to pick it up yesterday and then wowed us with his handyman skills last night. He may or may not have uttered a few choice words. (Incidentally, he remarked that it is most inopportune that the people who are least likely to have the necessary tools for a job are also those who are most in need of the necessary tools for said job. I don't know if that's true or not, but it made me laugh.)

I took the kids to Noodles & Co. on Tuesday night and then prepared a crockpot dinner on Wednesday. (It turns out, I don't really like Noodles & Co. But my kids love it. Of course, Lucas and Eva order plain, buttered noodles. But they also get root beer and cute carry-out boxes.)

Hooray for a working oven and range again! All freshly-cleaned, too.

That's just what I did – I baked bread! (cute kitchen towel a gift from my mother, obviously)

I baked cookies!

And, I made dinner on the stove. Considering that I made a big trip to Costco, taught piano and went to parent-teacher conferences, I was impressed with myself. And Marc.

Marc's 45th

Today is Marc's 45th birthday. Since we didn't get snowed in after all, he wanted to go to lunch and a movie.

We went to Pizzeria 712, which is pretty much our favorite local restaurant.


Your meal always starts with this beautiful freshly-made pita bread and hummus.

We had the butternut squash/caramelized onion/gorgonzola/rosemary pizza and the sausage fennel pizza, which I found out is Marc's favorite. (I prefer the squash one. Or the potato one, which wasn't on the menu today.) So good.

We went to see 127 Hours. It wouldn't have been my choice, but the birthday boy got to choose. I actually liked it quite a bit. James Franco did an amazing job of carrying the whole movie. It also gave me things to think about. I just don't know that I have that kind of survival instinct.

After we came home, Marc went to work on his current photography project.

I made the frosting(s) for his cake and started dinner. We had what is possibly my favorite meal (fortunately, he really likes it, too!):

zesty lemon chicken (if you only try one of the recipes on my recipe blog, I think it should be this one)
broccoli with blue cheese (loooove it)
jasmine rice
artisan bread
chocolate peanut butter cake

Gifts received: Paul Smith London cologne, new workout shorts, local Amano chocolate, and a carpet cleaning scheduled for Tuesday.

Eva made a 45 sign for his cake since I told her we couldn't have 45 candles. This cake is so so rich, I don't know if I can have another piece!

While I was putting Eva to bed and doing the dishes, Marc and Max had a Battlestar Galactica marathon.

I hope Marc had a great day. And it's almost like he didn't get a year older, since he thought he was turning 45 last year!

Creative Friday

Last Friday, Marc was home because it was Dad Day at school (also Dinosaur Day) and he had made plans to take Eva to lunch before school. He was in fine form and made us laugh quite a bit. I can't remember what it was about, but I enjoyed Jill's laughter. (I also enjoyed not having to take Eva or pick up the kids afterwards! 2 fewer trips that day!)

I had no makings of a good lunch, so I proposed Cafe Rio. Neither of us had had it for weeks, and it always sounds good. The one near me has pretty bad service, though, I've never been there without a mix-up of some kind.

Sure enough, they didn't have our order ready when we got there. Oh well, at least we could laugh about it together and we did get to enjoy our tasty tostadas in the end!

Jill made and wrote many of her genius photo cards.

I felt like I had too many things hanging over me, so I tackled an advertising email for my mom's business (I do her ads), finished a blog post,

bound this book for Max (the last assignment for his electronic high school geography class),

mended Lucas's lizard (that has been sitting in a corner of the living room for, oh, months),

I finally sewed the ears on the kitty I knitted for Eva ages and ages ago. She has been most patient. I don't know if I did it right, though, because I think they look like mouse ears. Fortunately, she is an easy audience.

I was telling Jill that I looked everywhere for the tail and couldn't find it. I couldn't imagine where it could be. Did Jack chew it up? What in the world? I just didn't want to make a new tail.

Then I turned the kitty over. The tail is already sewn on. That's how long it's been since I picked up this project! Good grief.

Jill pointed out that our C.F. conversation really runs the gamut. We talk about our families, our neuroses, our epiphanies, Project Runway, Survivor, our struggles, our victories, the gospel... pretty much everything under the sun. At one point, I went to get the last Conference Ensign to tell Jill about an article I read last week. I love that we can share so much of ourselves.

Max came home and got right to work posting and commenting on his Honor's English class blog. I love it. (Except when I want to use the computer.) His teacher established some blog rules. We agreed that this was probably a good idea.

sun-dappled self-portrait

fun Friday and Fall Festival

Jill came over for Creative Friday yesterday and brought Ashley with her, to Eva's great delight. (Eva was counting down the minutes until they got here, but when they finally did arrive, she was too busy brushing her hair to even say hello! What the?)

These two got along beautifully, coloring, playing outside, playing with the Barbie castle, and who knows what else. They were having such a great time, I could hardly bear to tear Eva away to take her to school. So I asked her if she wanted to stay home, and she answered with a resounding yes. (I just hope she knows this was a one-time deal!)

She did the happy happy, joy joy song and dance.

Jill brought some of her wonderful cookies. I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to homemade cookies.

After Jill and Ashley left, we got ready to go to the annual Fall Festival at the elementary school.

Eva decorated this bottle of 7up for the soda walk. She became quite attached to it and had difficulty letting it go to the cause.

This year they had a space theme.

We visited Eva's bottle among the many, many others!

I was glad it wasn't my child crying over a dropped snow cone.

Lucas was helping out at the rocket launch, scoring some free tickets along the way. I barely saw him all night! (Max opted to stay home, I guess he's too old for the Fall Festival now.)

Eva spent a long time drawing on her rocket. She didn't seem to notice or care that it didn't go very far.

She really, really wanted to go on a pony ride...

but even with Dad's reassuring arm around her, she decided that it was too wobbly and unsafe-feeling up there.

She already has plans to try again next year!

Eva did the cake walk, but didn't win a cake.

They had Jedi training on the stage. I thought this was a brilliant idea and it was quite entertaining to watch.

She made a button pin and bracelet and won a silly band at the fish pond.

She had her face painted, and felt so fancy (despite the orange soda mustache). In fact, she asked me if I saw anything about her that wasn't beautiful, and when I said that I did not, she replied, "I knew it!"

Lucas surprised us by coming home with 3 cakes he won in the cake walk!

R2D2!

It wasn't until this morning that I realized how funny it was that he was so excited about them – he doesn't even like cake! He wants to invite some friends over for cake and games. I guess it doesn't take make much to make a party.

I wish I'd taken some establishing shots to show the scope of the festival, it is a huge undertaking. At the end of the night, Marc looked at me and said, "I'm glad this is only once a year!" I'm sure the event planners would agree, but the kids think it's the best night ever.