Various and Sundry

Recently, the ever-present urge to "make stuff" has been bigger than usual. I have taken more time to paint on evenings and weekends using oil paint and think it may be one of my favorite mediums. I have a few paintings I've done in the past year or two that I need to actually sign and make frames for. That is another thing that will be interesting to plan out and learn (making frames). I have also been playing with the idea of doing some professional writing. I am still learning and planning that, but I think it is something I will enjoy.

Carly, Brynn, and I sang in my parent's ward last Sunday. We used to sing in church all the time but have slowed down since we moved out. Sometimes I think that ward must be really tired of hearing us sing, we have done it so often. But every time we do sing, people always come up to thank us and ask when we're coming back. Sammie came with Brynn to watch us. She is always enraptured whenever any of us perform anything. Brynn said she winked at her while we were singing and Sammie thought that was the cat's meow. After we had finished I was just sitting down by Sammie when she cocked her head, gave me a thumbs up, and shouted, "Good job!" (She hasn't quite learned what a whisper is.)

After that we went over to my parents house for dinner once Matt and Eston and Dallin, Cathy, Jake and Christine arrived. The adults talked while the kids played. Jake and Sammie love playing together and always ask where the other is. They got a doll from the toy chest and put her to "sleep" in a room upstairs. They spent a half hour going up to check on her and then coming back down to tell us to be quiet so we wouldn't wake the baby. This continued until they had a parenting dispute on whether they should wake her up to play or let her sleep. There was a tug of war until we gave them another baby so they each had one to take care of. Jake is such a loving, nurturing boy. He's going to be a great big brother. Eston spent a lot of the time going through pictures books all by himself. He loves books and they are almost the only thing that he will sit still for. He can look at them without stopping unless he scares himself with pop-up or animal books. Christine seemed to warm up to the rest of us and showed of her standing trick.

The last item of note is my being coerced into participating in the University Hospital charity triathlon this Saturday. (And when I say coerced I mean asked.) Dr. Rockwell, the Division chief, is an avid bicyclist and continuously pesters the entire faculty and staff to enter until we have the highest department participation of the entire Hospital and School of Medicine. I have worked there for almost four years but have managed to escape the previous three triathlons. This year just may be it for me. Let's hope something comes up to get me out of it. I have been signed up to be the swimmer for one of the office teams. This means I start the race by swimming several laps in the university pool, jumping out of the water when I am done, running passed numerous observers out of the building to the bicycle starting line, and passing the timer on to my teammate. I'm not an experienced swimmer and am not extremely excited to run through crowds of athlets and co-workers dripping wet and in my swimsuit. Dr. Rockwell said I can wear a sweat suit, and because I'm so tall I can probably just walk through the water. He's also told me that when no one is looking I can duck under the lane dividers and also get someone to walk along side me on the edge of the pool and tow me with a rope. Stay tuned for a post-competition report.