popsicles

(taken through the screen door...i snuck up on them.)

i'm enjoying the summer so far, are you? when m. first got out of school i was worried and stressed, i thought, "how am i going to keep both of them entertained all day long?" but things have worked out quite well. we've had a few craft days, we've been to the zoo, we've gone to park day, the library, and we went to the river to feed the ducks a couple of times. but mostly things have been really laid back. kiddie pools in the backyard, swimsuits all day long, and popsicles. lots and lots of popsicles.

guest post on the exponent

my good friend D'Arcy asked me to do a guest post for her on a blog for mormon women that she contributes to called the exponent. she asked me to write about mormon women and depression and i wrote about my personal experiences with it. i tried to be as honest as possible. if you want to read it, go here.

new (really old) piano

ever since i had a home of my own to put one in, i've wanted a piano. i remember hours upon hours of forced practicing from my own childhood, but also hearing my mom play hymns on sunday morning, learning to play a "famous" piece and feeling so proud of myself, and eventually teaching beginning students myself.
so when we found this oldie at a campus sale, and the price was right, we got our piano. the piano tuner came this week and told us our piano was made in 1907 in new york city. just imagining the different places this piano has been, all the different people who played it and stood around it singing... it made it through the roaring twenties, the great depression, both world wars, and traveled across the united states. that in and of itself makes it worth the money to me.
but the fact that now i have a piano to teach my kids to play on, to play primary songs with them, to re-teach myself some of my old favorites, to have music, our own plunked-out music in my house, now that's just priceless.

yes, those are my son's fingers inside that goat's mouth

the boy has no fear