Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sweet Pea!!
Little Alton Loves to Share His Smile. He'll be 2 Months on Monday! We are enjoying every second with Him!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Lee Elizabeth Doyle
Lee was born 11:31pm on Wednesday - 7 lbs,6oz, 20.5" - Jennifer & baby are coming home today. We are all very excited & grateful.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Firsts
I recently returned from a work trip to Hong Kong and am still suffering from a bit of jet lag. While I’ve been to Asia several times, this was my first trip to Hong Kong, which I found exciting and overwhelming at the same time.
Every business in Asia seems to have their front doors locked requiring one to be buzzed in. In Shanghai they have them, in Taipei they have them and the Nike offices in Hong Kong have them too. The receptionists working for Nike are accustomed to Americans visiting from the corporate office and upon arriving on the 26th floor of an enormous office complex I was buzzed in immediately by the receptionist. Dorothy, I think her name was, waved me in and the second I crossed the threshold she exclaimed, “We have new bad man here.” It caught me off guard and I wondered if I should be running for cover. But, she said it with such pride - the way a snooty parent might when introducing a child freshly admitted to an exclusive pre-school. I was lost. Dorothy could see this and kept repeating herself, each time a little louder. By the third time she was standing with her arms outstretched gently flapping while shouting, “bad man, bad man, you see bad man.” I could smell the fish she’d had for lunch adding to my confusion.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know ‘bad man,” I responded. I was to meet with Connie and asked if she was available.
“Connie, here. You see ‘bad man, you see bad man.”
I smiled and sat down and much, much later found out that Hong Kong is hosting the filming of the latest “Batman” production and evidently has most of the locals worked into a frenzy.
Because of the time difference one tends to feel sleepy all day and wide awake all night. The inclination is to finally fall asleep just after midnight only to wake up at 4:00 am as if it were the middle of the day. It was on one of these early morning awakenings I began considering other “firsts” associated with this trip. Here are a few.
The factories I visit like to take us to either lunch or dinner and tend to jockey for meals with the other factories. Dinner is the priority, with lunch the consolation. There are always too many factories and not enough meals to satisfy, or for me, the other way around. It was during a lunch of dim sum in Hong Kong with one of our polo factories that I experienced another first. I’ve had pretty much all the standard Chinese fare ranging from wonderful vegetable dishes and spring rolls to a plate of live baby clams covered in a light red sauce. Their shells chattered as the tiny mollusks twitched and shook and I couldn’t bring myself to try them. So I guess, technically, I didn’t experience this dish first hand. This took place in a city outside of Shanghai where we were paraded through a fish market on the ground floor and asked to choose what we’d like to eat. Most of the fish were still alive and the place smelled much like a pet store. While the locals scurried around pointing at the various tanks and plastic buckets I searched for something a bit more vegetarian. “Do you maybe have a salad,” I asked?
“Salad? We have, you choose,” answered our host pointing to something white with holes in it. It was rectangular and I think it might have been a stomach at some point in it’s past.
At my lunch in Hong Kong however, I wasn’t offered anything still breathing and the food wasn’t swimming in green, murky tanks in the basement - at least not that I saw. Mid-way through the meal a traditional Chinese soup arrived. It was a clear broth with a bit of pork, some egg, and a vegetable or two. Not far from our own chicken noodle soup, but with pork. I took a few bites and thought to myself, “Not bad. I could even enjoy this.” My thoughts continued, “We really lucked out with this lunch. Good spring rolls, dim sum with scallops, fried noodles.” I breathed a sigh of relief and looked down for another bite of soup.
It wasn’t the coarse black hair floating just beneath the surface alone that sickened me. Nor was it the thought that I’d already eaten half the bowl leaving me wondering, “were there others? Was this a singular incident or did this hair resting gently next to a hunk of pork have company? The thing that really bothered me though, was the gaggle of Chinese factory workers surrounding our table, looking on with anticipation, asking, “How soup? It delicious? You like?”
. . .more to come
Every business in Asia seems to have their front doors locked requiring one to be buzzed in. In Shanghai they have them, in Taipei they have them and the Nike offices in Hong Kong have them too. The receptionists working for Nike are accustomed to Americans visiting from the corporate office and upon arriving on the 26th floor of an enormous office complex I was buzzed in immediately by the receptionist. Dorothy, I think her name was, waved me in and the second I crossed the threshold she exclaimed, “We have new bad man here.” It caught me off guard and I wondered if I should be running for cover. But, she said it with such pride - the way a snooty parent might when introducing a child freshly admitted to an exclusive pre-school. I was lost. Dorothy could see this and kept repeating herself, each time a little louder. By the third time she was standing with her arms outstretched gently flapping while shouting, “bad man, bad man, you see bad man.” I could smell the fish she’d had for lunch adding to my confusion.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know ‘bad man,” I responded. I was to meet with Connie and asked if she was available.
“Connie, here. You see ‘bad man, you see bad man.”
I smiled and sat down and much, much later found out that Hong Kong is hosting the filming of the latest “Batman” production and evidently has most of the locals worked into a frenzy.
Because of the time difference one tends to feel sleepy all day and wide awake all night. The inclination is to finally fall asleep just after midnight only to wake up at 4:00 am as if it were the middle of the day. It was on one of these early morning awakenings I began considering other “firsts” associated with this trip. Here are a few.
The factories I visit like to take us to either lunch or dinner and tend to jockey for meals with the other factories. Dinner is the priority, with lunch the consolation. There are always too many factories and not enough meals to satisfy, or for me, the other way around. It was during a lunch of dim sum in Hong Kong with one of our polo factories that I experienced another first. I’ve had pretty much all the standard Chinese fare ranging from wonderful vegetable dishes and spring rolls to a plate of live baby clams covered in a light red sauce. Their shells chattered as the tiny mollusks twitched and shook and I couldn’t bring myself to try them. So I guess, technically, I didn’t experience this dish first hand. This took place in a city outside of Shanghai where we were paraded through a fish market on the ground floor and asked to choose what we’d like to eat. Most of the fish were still alive and the place smelled much like a pet store. While the locals scurried around pointing at the various tanks and plastic buckets I searched for something a bit more vegetarian. “Do you maybe have a salad,” I asked?
“Salad? We have, you choose,” answered our host pointing to something white with holes in it. It was rectangular and I think it might have been a stomach at some point in it’s past.
At my lunch in Hong Kong however, I wasn’t offered anything still breathing and the food wasn’t swimming in green, murky tanks in the basement - at least not that I saw. Mid-way through the meal a traditional Chinese soup arrived. It was a clear broth with a bit of pork, some egg, and a vegetable or two. Not far from our own chicken noodle soup, but with pork. I took a few bites and thought to myself, “Not bad. I could even enjoy this.” My thoughts continued, “We really lucked out with this lunch. Good spring rolls, dim sum with scallops, fried noodles.” I breathed a sigh of relief and looked down for another bite of soup.
It wasn’t the coarse black hair floating just beneath the surface alone that sickened me. Nor was it the thought that I’d already eaten half the bowl leaving me wondering, “were there others? Was this a singular incident or did this hair resting gently next to a hunk of pork have company? The thing that really bothered me though, was the gaggle of Chinese factory workers surrounding our table, looking on with anticipation, asking, “How soup? It delicious? You like?”
. . .more to come
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Food Storage
Family--I just wanted to let you know that the price of wheat is expected to go up considerably after December. There are estimates that it will double, so if you need some for your storage, this would be the month to get it. You can usually walk in and do a canning session. If anyone needs me to go and work for them, let me know. Love you, Mom
Monday, November 5, 2007
Recollections
Hopefully you all will enjoy this exercise as much as I did. I am working on extending my memory. Here are some of my earlier memories from California:
My teacher leans over my shoulder as I kneel on my desk and manipulate my hands so that I can learn to tie shoes. She kindly tells me about two bunny ears and how they cross and then voila, I have a pair of tied shoes. It was frozen bliss there in Canada. On the other hand, my first day in California kindergarten was a rude awakening to the hard gang culture that was already bubbling up at such an early age. The year was 1975. Bell bottoms were the rage. Apparently, for my kindergarten teacher, eating was the rage also. This enormous fat lady walks in and begins to explain to the class, remember, it is my first day but everyone else is halfway through the year with this same teacher. We moved in February, I think. So in she walks, and begins to explain that the class has been misbehaving too much. The next one to misbehave, she says, will wear diapers and drink a bottle in front of the entire class. I am sufficiently cowed to not say a word. The next day, Rene, a rowdy boy of questionable English skills, must have misbehaved. My memory doesn't extend to what he did to enrage the teacher. I was certain that the teacher was going to pull his pants down in front of the entire class to apply his diaper. Quite frankly, I was mortified by the loose morals the California culture was presenting to me at such a young age. Instead, the teacher decided to save my impressionable mind and applied Rene's diaper on top of his pants. She then held him and forced him to drink a bottle in front of all of us. Rene never recovered. Even in tenth grade, I, and I am sure all of my classmates from that fateful day, would look at him and see him wearing diapers. Luckily, I never wore diapers and must have made it through the rest of the year with minimal problems because I don't remember a bit of it. Although, maybe I am repressing something. Wouldn't you?
First grade and I am the only blond headed child in a class of thirty. My parents, aiming for a well rounded education but not quite understanding the code words of political correctness that even then were invading the educational system, enrolled me in a bilingual class. Their impression was that I would walk out of the class speaking not just English, but perfect Spanish as well. Ole? The real purpose of the class was to teach thirty or so migrant children how to speak English, not so that one lonely Canadian with misguided parents could learn Spanish. Needless to say, I did learn many Spanish words. The majority of them would have earned me a serious spanking had I chosen to use them around my parents. Maybe, I would even have had diapers applied. Even though they didn't speak Spanish, I am sure they would have had a fairly good idea what the words meant. And they didn't mean, Hi, how are you? The family rumor is that by the end of the year, I was speaking fluent Spanish. I think, in reality, by the end of the year I was just blabbing words that I had made up because I had just spent an entire year with no one to speak to.
The one exception was my wonderful teacher Mrs. Obeso. She obviously could speak Spanish. I was her favorite. Maybe because I was scared she might put diapers on me also. I was unused to being surrounded by people who wanted to diaper me up. Later, several years later, I realized she was actually an extremely nice person. She always spoke highly of me to my parents and soon they were convinced they had an Einstein on their hands. Can you imagine the pressure? Where was there to go from this high pedestal? Although, well meaning, Mrs. Obeso put me in a bad place. She spoke highly of me because I did well on all my tests and in all the class assignments. I did better than all of my classmates, I firmly believe, because none of them could even understand what was being assigned. It is easy to excel when the competition no habla.
My teacher leans over my shoulder as I kneel on my desk and manipulate my hands so that I can learn to tie shoes. She kindly tells me about two bunny ears and how they cross and then voila, I have a pair of tied shoes. It was frozen bliss there in Canada. On the other hand, my first day in California kindergarten was a rude awakening to the hard gang culture that was already bubbling up at such an early age. The year was 1975. Bell bottoms were the rage. Apparently, for my kindergarten teacher, eating was the rage also. This enormous fat lady walks in and begins to explain to the class, remember, it is my first day but everyone else is halfway through the year with this same teacher. We moved in February, I think. So in she walks, and begins to explain that the class has been misbehaving too much. The next one to misbehave, she says, will wear diapers and drink a bottle in front of the entire class. I am sufficiently cowed to not say a word. The next day, Rene, a rowdy boy of questionable English skills, must have misbehaved. My memory doesn't extend to what he did to enrage the teacher. I was certain that the teacher was going to pull his pants down in front of the entire class to apply his diaper. Quite frankly, I was mortified by the loose morals the California culture was presenting to me at such a young age. Instead, the teacher decided to save my impressionable mind and applied Rene's diaper on top of his pants. She then held him and forced him to drink a bottle in front of all of us. Rene never recovered. Even in tenth grade, I, and I am sure all of my classmates from that fateful day, would look at him and see him wearing diapers. Luckily, I never wore diapers and must have made it through the rest of the year with minimal problems because I don't remember a bit of it. Although, maybe I am repressing something. Wouldn't you?
First grade and I am the only blond headed child in a class of thirty. My parents, aiming for a well rounded education but not quite understanding the code words of political correctness that even then were invading the educational system, enrolled me in a bilingual class. Their impression was that I would walk out of the class speaking not just English, but perfect Spanish as well. Ole? The real purpose of the class was to teach thirty or so migrant children how to speak English, not so that one lonely Canadian with misguided parents could learn Spanish. Needless to say, I did learn many Spanish words. The majority of them would have earned me a serious spanking had I chosen to use them around my parents. Maybe, I would even have had diapers applied. Even though they didn't speak Spanish, I am sure they would have had a fairly good idea what the words meant. And they didn't mean, Hi, how are you? The family rumor is that by the end of the year, I was speaking fluent Spanish. I think, in reality, by the end of the year I was just blabbing words that I had made up because I had just spent an entire year with no one to speak to.
The one exception was my wonderful teacher Mrs. Obeso. She obviously could speak Spanish. I was her favorite. Maybe because I was scared she might put diapers on me also. I was unused to being surrounded by people who wanted to diaper me up. Later, several years later, I realized she was actually an extremely nice person. She always spoke highly of me to my parents and soon they were convinced they had an Einstein on their hands. Can you imagine the pressure? Where was there to go from this high pedestal? Although, well meaning, Mrs. Obeso put me in a bad place. She spoke highly of me because I did well on all my tests and in all the class assignments. I did better than all of my classmates, I firmly believe, because none of them could even understand what was being assigned. It is easy to excel when the competition no habla.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Chancho!
Msaon Ord started calling me Chancho several months ago (Nacho Libre for the non Jack Black Aficionados). Anyway while walking through downtown Austin a few weeks ago I saw the mask, and knew what I needed to do. I ended up staying up till midnight making the cape on 10/30. It has been a while since I have dressed up for Halloween, but had a great time. Viva Chancho!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!
Hope everyone loaded up. Gabrielle chose the lady bug costume even though I pushed for Axl Rose.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Kyle Broke his Arm
Kyle broke his arm this past Saturday while playing football in the Church Gym. He made the interception, but tripped over a tricycle he did not see and ended up in the ER for several hours. Today he had the bone set, an extremely painful experience since it had moved, and now has a full arm cast.
Halloween
Hope you are all getting ready. Thought I would share a few pictures from our Ward Party and FHE this week.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
California Darby's & fires
As you all know Cameron and his family are in the middle of the burning inferno. Please continue to remember them in your prayers--as of tonight the military base fire is only 10 percent contained--and this is very close to their home.
Darby's know how to pray and how to get answers.
Thank you my righteous children. ~Mom
Darby's know how to pray and how to get answers.
Thank you my righteous children. ~Mom
Monday, October 22, 2007
Christmas 2007 Exchange List
Here it is!
Cameron has Mic
Melissa has Wade
Christian has Devri
Linda has Stephanie
Jennifer has Graham
Mark has Christian
Stephanie has Mark
Wade Has Melissa
Megan has Jennifer
Mic has Linda
Graham has Megan
Devri has Cameron
Cameron has Mic
Melissa has Wade
Christian has Devri
Linda has Stephanie
Jennifer has Graham
Mark has Christian
Stephanie has Mark
Wade Has Melissa
Megan has Jennifer
Mic has Linda
Graham has Megan
Devri has Cameron
72 Hour Kits
Just a little update for this time of year--light sticks are readily available now--replace your old ones in your 72 hr kit with new and use your old for Halloween. Also remember to put in your winter clothes and recyle the food that lasts only 6 mo to a year. Love you~Mom
Friday, October 19, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Henry's first trip
We had a great time visiting Mic's grandparents, Bev and Bud. It was fun to be back in small-town America. Some of our favorite comments of the trip were:
Well how do?
That's some good eatin'.
The beer is free. (said by Aunt Kay at her daughter's wedding)
Where do ya "git" your lumber?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
OZZIE
It's true - we got a dog. He's a shih-poo and his name is Ozzie. We're all very excited and because of the mix, he seems to be allergy-free.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Havasupai
Kyle and I had a great time this summer with the teachers and Priests in the SC 6th Ward on our High Adventure Trip. Thought you might enjoy a couple of pictures.
Mighty Fisherman?
Where is the mighty fisherman? Have you been lately. Wondering what you are doing to take advantage of the natural beauty and resources you are surrounded by? How about the rest of the Utahan's
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Charleston
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Tunes
Can anyone beat my drive home - Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry followed by Def Leppard's Hysteria? And is anyone else reminded of the Darby boys' 'Scout' photo when they look at this Def Leppard classic?
Monday, October 8, 2007
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving
Those were the uncomplicated days of leaves, pumpkins and Thanksgiving at the "end" of the harvest--Yeah for October and the Canadian's in our lives.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Squamous
I don’t enjoy being cut open and am comfortable knowing most people share my distaste. It’s more than the fear of needles, or the smell of hospitals - neither bother me in the slightest. Needles leave tiny holes compared to the slice of the blade and only the weakest get wobbly knees from hospital smells. But the idea of being cut open is nauseating. Worse still is knowing you’ll be cut open again in the near future. In the same spot.
When my cell phone rang this afternoon displaying the number of my dermatologist I got that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The kind you get when the seminary teacher calls and asks to speak with your mother. Two days ago as I left his office he was very clear, “I’ll only call you if the biopsies I took today come back positive. No news is good news.”
Apparently I’ve been diagnosed with cancer and will require additional surgery to rid my body of its harmful effects. “Squamous Cell Carcinoma is the second most common form of Skin cancer,” the nurse assured me. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“But it is cancer we’re talking about, right?”
“Well, yes but there are lots of types of cancer and this one’s not serious. Besides, the doctor got most of it and will only need to take a small portion more. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Small portion? This is a term I use when dishing up food or doling out allowance and in my book should not be used when referring to taking a chunk out of my forearm. I’m scheduled to go under the knife next Thursday, October 11th at 3:00pm and am considering having Linda attend the procedure with a video camera. I’ve got a documentary approach in mind but if anyone is interested in a more artistic perspective, please let me know before next Tuesday. Apparently I may need to provide a one-day advance notice to my Dermatologist for legal reasons.
Wish me luck on this painful journey,
Christian
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Benjamin's Baptism
Benjamin's baptism is on Saturday 10/13 at 9am in Provo. For those of you in town, we would love to have you there. They start in the chapel, and then split off by ward. Some sort of food after at our house. This picture is unrelated to Benjamin's baptism (it's when I was at the great wall last year) but I wanted to learn how to post a photo. So, there you go.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Just a phone call away
Hello fellow members of DarbyNation!
(great name by the way)
I feel as though I have been out of touch a little bit due to a few techinical/malfunctions with my cell phone. As a few of you know I just havn't had a cell phone for a few weeks. Two weeks ago I couldn't find my cell phone for a few days. I just figured that the battery had died and I would find it sooner or later. But much to my dismay, after soaking a load of whites in the washer for aproximately 4 hours I found my cell phone at the bottom of the washer. It had been in the pocket of my white sweatshirt. I had officially ruined it, and thought there is no way that I will ever bring it back to life again! Yes again!!
One month prior to washing it I was at the shoe store with Noah (who is newly potty trained, no kids in diapers!) and of course he had to go to the bathroom. As I swung my purse over my back to help him finish up, my cell phone slid down my back and right into the toilet. Luckily it was flushed. As Samuel is yelling at me, ("what are you doing Mom"), I frantically put my hand in the toilet and grap the cell phone. It took one hot August day to dry out in my car. It continued to work, although the battery life lasted all of twenty minutes. I loved this phone. It was a gift from our favorite babysitter Amanda! I had bought one off of ebay and it didn't work and so I had to send it back. A little nervous about using ebay again, my babsitter saved the day with her old one.
You see in January I was at swimming lessons and with the new year trying to drink as much water as possible I had my handy-dandy water bottle with me. What I didn't know was that the lid was not snapped on and it had poured out all over my purse, ruining my cell phone. I wasn't up for a new cell phone because just 6 months prior to that, I had gotten a new one after Noah had taken mine into the pool.
Yes I have had a few cell phone woes. I recently bought my second phone off of ebay for 10 dollars, which the verizon agent said it was so old he had never seen one of these models. It does work and now --- I am just a phone call way.
P.S. I have lost all of my numbers, would you mind emailing me your numbers!
(great name by the way)
I feel as though I have been out of touch a little bit due to a few techinical/malfunctions with my cell phone. As a few of you know I just havn't had a cell phone for a few weeks. Two weeks ago I couldn't find my cell phone for a few days. I just figured that the battery had died and I would find it sooner or later. But much to my dismay, after soaking a load of whites in the washer for aproximately 4 hours I found my cell phone at the bottom of the washer. It had been in the pocket of my white sweatshirt. I had officially ruined it, and thought there is no way that I will ever bring it back to life again! Yes again!!
One month prior to washing it I was at the shoe store with Noah (who is newly potty trained, no kids in diapers!) and of course he had to go to the bathroom. As I swung my purse over my back to help him finish up, my cell phone slid down my back and right into the toilet. Luckily it was flushed. As Samuel is yelling at me, ("what are you doing Mom"), I frantically put my hand in the toilet and grap the cell phone. It took one hot August day to dry out in my car. It continued to work, although the battery life lasted all of twenty minutes. I loved this phone. It was a gift from our favorite babysitter Amanda! I had bought one off of ebay and it didn't work and so I had to send it back. A little nervous about using ebay again, my babsitter saved the day with her old one.
You see in January I was at swimming lessons and with the new year trying to drink as much water as possible I had my handy-dandy water bottle with me. What I didn't know was that the lid was not snapped on and it had poured out all over my purse, ruining my cell phone. I wasn't up for a new cell phone because just 6 months prior to that, I had gotten a new one after Noah had taken mine into the pool.
Yes I have had a few cell phone woes. I recently bought my second phone off of ebay for 10 dollars, which the verizon agent said it was so old he had never seen one of these models. It does work and now --- I am just a phone call way.
P.S. I have lost all of my numbers, would you mind emailing me your numbers!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Nuts and Bolts
OK, I'm blogging on for a little Q&A and some help along the way. First you need to click on the 'Sign In' link at the top right of the page.
Muno and company, if you're interested in responding to an existing 'Post' click on the "comments" link at the bottom of that particular post.
If on the other hand you're interested in beginning a fresh and new dialogue, click on the link at the very top right hand of the entire 'DarbyNation' site titled "New Post." This will open a new window with a box to post your new blog. You can add a title and if you're interested, pictures. Add pictures once you've begun a 'New Post' by clicking on the little picture icon next to the "spell check" icon above the text box.
This may seem tricky but it's really not. Once you click on the 'New Post' link I think everything will be made clear.
Christian
Muno and company, if you're interested in responding to an existing 'Post' click on the "comments" link at the bottom of that particular post.
If on the other hand you're interested in beginning a fresh and new dialogue, click on the link at the very top right hand of the entire 'DarbyNation' site titled "New Post." This will open a new window with a box to post your new blog. You can add a title and if you're interested, pictures. Add pictures once you've begun a 'New Post' by clicking on the little picture icon next to the "spell check" icon above the text box.
This may seem tricky but it's really not. Once you click on the 'New Post' link I think everything will be made clear.
Christian
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Technology, it's just not that scary
Welcome to the new 'DarbyNation' blog. I know some of you might be thinking, "How can I get up to speed with this blog thing," or "I just don't know if I can handle the pace of technology these days." But you're in good company. Momo is scared to death and won't come near the computer now that we've got DarbyNation up and running. It's easy, though. You can respond to existing blogs or post a new one. Add pictures, whatever you want. Go crazy.
Pictures that are added to original postings will be placed as a fixed size. If you click on the picture, it'll load as a full size photo. I'm working on getting us set up to be able to post one photo that'll link to entire albums that anyone can download, print, etc.
Christian
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