Oh hey!

It is an excellent Easter Sunday-- sunny and warm. We had some lovely talks in church from the bishopric.
So, I got home from Turkey yesterday (which was awesome. Best month of my life). I will tell you all about it later when I am less jet-lagged.
Here are some exciting prospects for me in the near future:
1: Pants-Off Dance-Off! Me and Mackenzie are going for a whole month without wearing pants (including during sleep and at the gym. I'm really excited about it.
2: Spoon Foods and Movies: I'm going to have a party where we eat spoon foods (mashed potatoes, cereal, ice cream, sauces, peanut butter, gravies, brownie batter and cookie dough) and watch really good movies. Perhaps all Disney? I'm not sure.
3: Daddy's birthday! He's turning 30.
4: A few environmental items: I am saying so long to the dryer and the hot shower. I don't need them. Also, March 29 at 8:00 pm is earth hour, and everybody needs to turn their lights off for an hour.
5: I think I'm going to dye my hair.
Right now Moses and Cecily are outside watering some flowers (I had to teach them how to share the watering can) and I'm realizing how much I missed being a pseudomama to them. Mom got me a lovely Easter dress, and the wardies (who I bet missed me more than they let on) all loved it. I love the warm weather, and am excited to increase the amount of sundresses that I wear.
And I'm gonna start cleaning the kitchen again. Awesome.

First post...

Hm. I don't really know what tone to take here, because there are only like 3 people who can read this and in reality only mom will, probably. And it's not like I haven't already told mom all of this stuff... But I will just go for it.
I've been working thirty hour weeks at Lon's Cookin' Shack along with school, which has been crazy, but a refreshing change from the stagnant pool of life without friends. I can't wait for the Turkey people to get home, but at the same time I wish they could hold off so that I would have time to do something fantastic before they got back. I always think I'm going to do something fantastic, but I can never seem to get around to it.
I am working on a project for my Senior Portfolio, and not working nearly enough on the cook book I am writing right now. I am wondering right now what it would be like to sew paper for a skirt I am making for one of my "pieces". I put "pieces" in quotations because it is not even close to conceptualized enough to be a real thing--it is about as close to what it is going to end up as as it was a week ago when I thought I was going to put together a poetry portfolio for my project. But I think that if I folded the seams and used paper, the effect would be a lot better than the cloth skirt I am in the process of making right now. I just don't know if the paper will rip.
I will post pics when I finish something, even though everyone reading this will probably be sick of me asking their opinions, and will have seen basically every step in the process and understand what I am doing just as much if not more than I will.
Sometimes I wonder if I would prefer to scrap book. sometimes I watch those PBS shows about scrap booking where they use "embossing tools" and make tagging stencils, except they are just called stencils and instead of using spray paint they use "airbrushing tools" and they have "tools" for everything you could ever imagine and all you have to do to be a proficient scrap booker is take pictures and buy their "tools".
You know?
I really do think scrap booking is cool. And I think embossing things is probably the best thing I've ever done in my life.
Also, I am reading Catch 22 right now, and I think it is one of the funniest books I have ever read, but also very poignant. I would like to draw a comparison to Superbad, but I have a feeling that might offend some people.
Anyhow.
That is what I have to say right now. Sorry this ended up so long.
Love you all.
Eva

Family Posts

Dear Family,

Please post and check in regularly! I love, love, love, to read anything and everything you write. In the next year, with people going off to college and such, I thought this would be a great way to keep in touch, and also a good way to record our lives. You guys are the most fabulous people I know.

xxoo,

Mom

March Break

With all of our divergent schedules, none of us are able to take spring break together. This week I'm on break from the U, and I had planned to plow through my three four-inch thick folders of grading to do, but have so far only gotten through one half-inch of papers. Teachers get spring fever just like their students. I just keep gazing out the window and thinking about daffodils, and hoping it will be warm enough for an Easter picnic this Sunday while not grading. The kids are in school (though Eva is only quasi in school, since she's on "intercession" at Walden, meaning that things are on hold until the Turkey trip people return), Ingrid is in Turkey, Christian is in school, and I'm home puttering around, cooking a lot and doing a lot of laundry, which is very enjoyable after the break-neck pace I've been keeping all year. I guess my point is that I'm longing for some kind of a change.

Alice and Jim visited for a few days this week, and it was wonderful. It was almost like a vacation for me just to have some great friends to spend time with, to cook with, to talk to. They were so great with the kids, who adored having them here, and are really sad they're gone. Alice taught Lula how to fold paper cranes and make lucky stars. Jim spent a lot of time pushing Cecily on the swing, and Christian loved spending time showing him around Provo and talking music. Eva had some good talks with Alice about art and growing up, and just absorbed her wisdom. Alice inspired me to get healthier in my cooking, and also with some new ideas for dishes to make. It's difficult to keep inspired when you're cooking every day for seven people. I'm finally going to learn to make her marinated tofu, which I've always loved. Ingrid will be so happy about that. We bought the Clifford Family Farm's delicious eggs and Alice made Korean pancakes and kim chee. She and the little girls watched Korean drama in my room during my Writing about Food Class that met here on Tuesday night.

Dave brought Noelle, Lily and Bonnie up for their spring break to ski. Dave is a great dad, and you could tell the girls were having a fabulous time, though Lula of course didn't have enough time with the girls. The Candlands gave Moses some garden tools for his birthday and poor Dave had to keep going outside with Moses to help him dig afterwards. David spent time with my class talking about the restaurant business and his travels in Mexico. His talk was very moving, suriprisingly. It wasn't surprising that I was moved by people getting all touchy-feely about food prep, but I guess I was surprised that Dave felt so strongly about it. He's not an annoying foodie like me, so I never really know how he feels about it, but he spoke eloquently about the woman he made Mole Negro with in Oaxaca, and now I'm itching to try grinding thirty five ingridients on a metate and cooking them up.

This is a banner week because the whole family is healthy all at the same time. Cheers!