sworn in

Matthias is finally official in this state, and now has three states in his bar repertoire. 

The judge was pretty great to the kids and invited them back into his "chamber of secrets," as he called it, where he showed his escape door and bags of candy, his very own fridge and huge desk. They loved his black robe and thought he was pretty awesome. 

It conjured up a memory that has been stored in the back of my mind. A time when I was really little. I must have only been 4 or 5 because I wasn't in school. My grandpa Jones, a retired judge, took me to work with him to pick something up from his office. As we walked in, and went up the elevator, and through the hallways, several people greeted him saying, Hello your Honor. I thought to myself, Grandpa is important, Grandpa is cool! He introduced me to several people and then he showed me his office, or "chambers." I remember a curious contraption sitting on top of his desk. It had several metal balls suspended on cords and when you pulled on the outside ball, it started a chain reaction of the balls bouncing out and clicking in. This Judge that we met today had the same contraption on his desk. Good memory.

filling in the gap

Between Indiana and Sheridan, Ty, Bex and I lived with my parents in Utah while Matthias was working and seeking employment in DC. Although it was a very challenging time, actually, probably the hardest experience we as a family have ever gone through, being with family in Utah made it a little more bearable. My parents and Matthias' parents were our greatest supporters and really helped us get through those months of being apart. Spending time with cousins lifted the boys spirits. 

One day the boys begged to take a bubble in Nana's jet tub. After she filled the tub with the right bubble/water ratio, she turned the jets on and the bubbles grew, grew, and grew!  The boys loved it! She had to turn the jets off to keep the bubbles from overflowing.

We were in Utah for Ty's 6th birthday. Luckily, Matthias came to town for his birthday. We had a family party at classic skating where all the cousins came and both grandparents had little parties with a cake and candles. He loved celebrating his birthday with cousins! 

We went to a climbing gym while we were there, and Ty went to a climbing class. We weren't there long enough to get into it, but Ty was hooked. We went another time with a friend of mine who competed internationally in climbing and she showed us a great time. Ty really is a great climber. He got all the way to the top - I couldn't even do that! 

We love our families for so many reasons - thank you for taking care of us those 3 months in Utah!

christmas pageant

The last time I attended a church Christmas Pageant was at age 14, when I was in the Young Women program. I was suckered into playing the role of Mary. I remember being quite uncomfortable stuffing a pillow in the bath robe I was made to wear (which was one of my youth leader's, eeew) to make myself look pregnant. I felt extremely silly when I had to turn away from the audience to throw out the pillow and replace it with a baby doll in my arms. To make it worse, I had to sit next to one of the grody Young Men, who played Joseph. I was quite immature at that age, and still thought boys had cooties. I felt I had sinned playing that role. ;)

The primary put on a cute little play of the Nativity at our Ward Christmas party this year. Ty was such a ham and was more interested in flapping his arms in his over-sized robe than singing Christmas songs. We loved having Matthias with us. It was such a sweet time for us.

Ty is still holding on to the belief that Santa is real, even though some of his friends insist it is all a hoax. Just to be sure Santa was the real deal, Ty asked Santa if he could pull his beard. Santa was kind enough to acquiesce. Real he was.

shucks

Mmmmmmm, this corn is so scrumptious! Is it hand-schucked? -Bob Wiley

I love shucking corn. It reminds me of quiet, sunny, summer evenings growing up. My mom would shuck corn on our tiny back deck. She would sit on a chair with a brown paper grocery bag in front of her and shuck away. Later, my younger brother and I assumed the job of corn shucking. Whether it was an assigned job or our eager willingness to help, I don't know. But I do remember getting super frustrated at the end of shucking each ear when the last yellow strings were almost impossible to pull off, and my mom reassuring me that a few strings were fine. Having the company of my younger brother or my mom while working on the corn was always fun. I remember having good conversations while shucking. (Shuck is such an odd sounding word, don't you think?) Now, I sit on my front cement slab of a porch and shuck corn while I watch the kids play. I haven't yet asked for the kids help, as I like shucking quite a lot. I don't want to share the job if I don't have to - yet. I've got it down to a four step process: I split the top tuft into two, pull one half all the way down, pull the other half down, and snap the cob out of the base. Simple, fun, it's therapeutic for me.

This year, Indiana's corn in practically non-existant. We've had too much rain. The only corn I have found has been imported from Georgia from the local grocer. There is a family who sells corn at the Farmer's Market. Everybody in B-town knows who I'm talking about, right? They always have a constant line of about 15 people waiting to get their corn. No corn profit for them this year yet. I've only seen them sell new potatoes and some greens. My heart goes out to them. I have really enjoyed their corn in previous years. Shucks.

And my last tidbit on corn. . . Ty's corn allergy has seemed to subside. His rashy reaction has slowly disappeared! We are pretty excited to have a summer full of corn on the cob - that is, if Indiana can start growing some corn here soon.