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If you missed it, last year we moved our blog to http://ok.lyonmania.com - follow us there!

Change of Web Address

We've moved our blog over to be on http://ok.lyonmania.com.

We hope you'll continue following us over there, when you have time.

Mother's Day

As her mother's day wish, Missy wanted us to do some work getting our yard, particularly the front flower beds, in ship-shape. It was wonderful. Everyone pitched in to some extent. One thing all the kids helped with was to dig the deep holes for the two rose bushes in front of the garage windows. Here are some pictures since I realize you probably want to see them. We added the roses and the yellow flower in the middle to the area by the garage and Missy planted a ton of small plants in the center, island spot, along with a couple larger purple flowers.







It really was a great time and I think we all enjoyed it. At one point, I had finished the holes for the rose bushes and came over to the island to see what Missy needed me to do next. I was a little snippy that she had just shoveled dirt out onto the cement around the island instead of taking care of it as she dug (like I had). A little later, after I had apologized and we were back to working contentedly,

Missy: I notice you've been taking all that dirt to the back yard. I'm curious- where are you putting it?

Dave: Well, I put one load over on the south end by the bush the rest all in the flat empty space at the other end of the yard.

Missy: Oh.... You mean the spot I pulled all the weeds out of, planted seeds in, and have been watering for weeks?

Awkward pause...

Dave: That's the place.

Missy: So I guess we've both been a little disappointed. Are we even?

Dave: No, I think you've got me beat.

:)

As we started I realized we didn't have a wheelbarrow to cart away all the red Oklahoma dirt-clay we'd be pulling out. We didn't even have an empty bucket. So the best I could do was the container we had all the little yard things in.



Unfortunately, it was big enough that if I filled it up I could barely move it. Tricky. As I scanned the back yard looking for a place to dump the soil, my eyes fell upon this remarkable product of American industry. OK, probably not made in the US, but thought up here?



You may be shaking your head, but it could hardly have worked better. I just sat the container on top of the cart and balanced things as I pushed it along. I was surprised but it held up without a hitch. Kind of puts into perspective how much punishment toddler toys are intended to take.

As I shuttled dirt back and forth I thought about how sometimes we don't feel up to what we have to do, especially in callings. It's as if the Lord were looking for a wheelbarrow and his eyes falls on us, the little shopping cart. We protest- "I'm not up to this!" But he smiles and says "You'll do just fine." We may not think we can pull the load required. But we can. He knows it before he places the load there.

When we were kids, our parents had us memorize some poems including this one (which was my favorite because it involved swords):

This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream:
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle's edge,
And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel
That blue blade that the king's son bears, but this
Blunt thing!" he snapped and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.

- Edward Rowland Sill

It's sad that we often think of ourselves as the useless, blunt instrument, ill-equipped to accomplish anything. But the King's Son knows better.

Sorry if I got too philosophical. Manual labor leaves my mind free to contemplate things like that.

Here's a thought: Endowment and Dowry

Today I looked up definitions and roots of the word endowment. It can be either the gift or the process by which the gift is given. A couple things that stood out were some synonyms of one definition which stemmed from the idea of it being a talent or personal ability: capacity and qualification. As in who the Lord calls.

I hadn't even connected the words dowry and endowment which share the common latin root which means the wife's portion. Particularly striking when you think of all the times in scripture the Lord compares himself to a bridegroom and Israel/the Church as the bride. Just something to think about.

I Would Vote for Him

Because I love his website. I know. It's a horrible criteria to use, but his site looks really nice and I love his opening jab at his opponent. Of course I neither live in Salt Lake County nor do I know what he stands for, but as the clerk for the county I would (I think rightly) be most concerned with what he says on the main page- he gets the information together and to who needs it as quickly as possible.

Take a look.

I also agree on the term limits angle. I think people that spend that long in public office (20 years) completely lose touch with the people. I'm to the point that I think I would just vote against any incumbent. Think of the money and time that would be saved if you could only serve for one term in any position. For those that say that the representatives would never have the right contacts to get their constituents anything, I say that you don't understand the way our government is supposed to work.

Father-Daughter Field Trip to Sam Noble Museum

Nina and I had an awesome time last Thursday. I signed up to be a chaperone for her class, dreading that that would mean several kids to chase after. It turned out it meant I got to go with just Nina!

The museum was interesting, and our picnic lunch was great. The bus ride to and from wasn't even that bad!

Camping! Can you believe it?

Yes! We actually went camping for real last weekend! It was a very easy beginner camping trip to Arcadia Lake only 20 minutes from our house, but it was a big milestone for us. In the past 5 years our tent has never made it out of the living room. The kids were so excited and their enthusiasm was the thing that made the trip great. Dave and I both have memories of camping as a kid- and the experience is much different from the parent side. It is a lot more work. We arrived at our campsite late and even with rushing to get everything set up and ready we were still eating our hot dogs and roasting our marshmallows in the dark. Who knows how many bugs were sticking to our smores as we shoveled them in our mouths?

One thing was the same though, everything sounds creepier at night. As soon as everyone was all snuggled in and the kids were beginning to drift off to sleep. . . Dave and I heard footsteps outside our tent. And then a big CRUNCH. I guess when we cleaned up after our dinner in the dark we missed something- most likely a peanut or chip- and we had some visitors clean up the rest for us. It sure scared me for a while and Dave couldn’t even lay back down for a long time. When we got up in the morning Dave was telling the kids about the animal that we heard eating our leftovers at night and all the kids were guessing what kind of animal it might have been. “Raccoon, squirrel” suggested Grant. “”Skunk, beaver” suggested Nina. “Or a Hippo!” suggested Rachel. Yup, gotta watch out for those wild chip-eating Oklahoman hippos!

Our second wildlife experience occurred when Grant saw a baby lizard on the ground. Everybody gathered around it to see- it actually took a while before any of us realized that it was a plastic toy.

All in all, it was a pretty good experience. Nothing bad happened. Most things went smoothly, what more can you ask for in a camping trip?