Taylor at the Sperry Symposium

Taylor was one of the key speakers at this year's Sperry Symposium at BYU. His lecture was called "The Paths of Angels: A Biblical Pattern for the Role of Angels in Physical Salvation". His talk was discussed in a great article in the Church News online paper. They also featured photos, which I will steal since I didn't think to take any!

I love my amazing, brilliant, handsome, thoughtful husband!

Fear

Taylor had to fly out to Houston for a POD (Professional & Organizational Development) Conference as part of his work as a faculty consultant. He went last year, right after being offered the job (but before actually beginning it), and enjoyed the experience a lot.

But the whole trip was marred by his flight out. I am able to post this now only because he's safely home. I got a phone call from him on Wednesday. It was earlier than I expected him to have landed, but without thinking I asked, "Have you landed?" Yes, he explained, though not in Houston. They had to land in Grand Junction, Colorado after a malfunction in the air pressure. Here is his journal entry describing the frightening experience. I felt completely sick to my stomach as he told me of it, and even worse because I had just bought tickets to Oregon, and we'd just heard of our Israel flights being purchased. I no longer wanted to fly anywhere!

I looked death in the face and it was NOT pleasant. After a short morning of work I headed up to the airport for a trip to Houston.

About an hour into the flight, I could feel the plane begin to descend. This seemed a bit odd to me since we still had more than 2 hours remaining in the flight. The captain came on the loud speaker, but I didn’t hear everything. All I heard was something about “loss of cabin pressure.”

The next thing I realized was that the plane was descending rapidly, quickly, and picking up speed. There was turbulence and the oxygen masks dropped down. One of the stewardesses shouted that we needed to put them on. As we hurtled toward the ground with thick clouds all around us, making it impossible to see where we were or what was happening, I had many long moments to contemplate my life, to realize how quickly life passes, how transitory. I thought that at any moment it would be possible that I could black out. And then if I ever did gain consciousness again in this life, it may be to waking up in a hospital bed with loss of limb. I focused on staying conscious (later I realized that I was never in any real jeopardy of losing consciousness).

The dominating thought that caused me such deep heartache was contemplating Lisa’s loss, her loneliness. 55 years of her heartache and loneliness stretched before my mind. “I can’t die now!” I thought. “I can’t leave my wife husbandless and my child fatherless!” I reviewed my life, the pettiness, the wasted time, the shortness of it, the purpose of it all. I had no thoughts about whether I was ready to meet my maker or not, I only thought about how terribly sad I was that I would lose Lisa and David, and that they would lose me.

The feelings are difficult to express.

Within a few minutes we had descended from 39,000 feet to 10,000 feet and were soon thereafter rerouted to Grand Junction, Colorado (not a major thoroughfare for planes our size). Thought it took another hour to get on the ground. We were ALL so relieved to land safely and get on the ground.

As passengers we spent the next 5 hours laughing and talking through the experience as we waited for a replacement plane. I also had time to think about the experience and realize that it probably was nowhere near as dire as we all thought. The primary problem was the lack communication from the Captain. ALL of us passengers would have felt much better had he just said, “Hi folks, we lost cabin pressure. All we need to do is get ourselves down to 10,000 feet as quick as possible. So you’ll feel the plane descend quickly and rapidly and the oxygen masks will come down. This is all routine.” It would have been an entirely different experience. Instead, all the passengers were left to interpret their experience in the most plausible way possible: Our plane is out of control and we are going to crash.

We eventually did get another plan and had an uneventful flight to Houston. There I waited for 45 minutes for the airport shuttle and finally arrived to the Hyatt Regency near 2:30 am.

I can’t think of a time in my life I was so grateful to be on terra firma!

Christmas in Israel: We're On!

So our tickets to Israel have been purchased! We'll be leading a small tour consisting of one family (parents and five daughters, some of whom are close to my age), and perhaps a few stragglers. This will be our first time to Israel together, and I can't wait to return to the place that occupied so much of my mind and heart for several years.

The family wished to move the dates forward, so now we leave on December 22nd and return on January 1st. I was really disappointed to miss Christmas in Oregon, with my parents, the Fowlers, and Bobby. David will be staying with my parents while we're gone, and I'm sad to miss Christmas Day with him! Luckily he's still a little young to understand the holiday; next year I doubt we could miss such a big day with a little boy. I'm so grateful it will be my parents that he is with, however. My heart doesn't ache quite as much knowing he will be with them -- and with Pepper the Dog, who David makes me include in a bedtime song each night.

Ghoulish Grins

Tonight we carved jack-o-lanterns. Well, Taylor did all the carving, involving David so well along the way. I cleaned, oiled, salted, and roasted pumpkin seeds.










Then we had fun lighting candles within them, turning off the lights, and snapping photos. Taylor got some very cool ones where he plays with the movement of light and a long exposure. David thought it was all very exciting!










It feels like the season!

Toilet Training Techniques?

David is ready, but we are not!

Any suggestions? Books for parents to read? Books for kids to read? (We have one, but it focuses on the little potty -- and his daycare has everyone use the big potty, so we may start there.) We need to buy undies (any good brands?), and find some kind of step for at least two of our bathrooms.

Today he woke up dry from his nap so I asked him if he wanted to go in the little potty. He did a decent job. My little baby is growing up!!

Homecoming at BYU

Today was BYU's Homecoming. David and his cousins Jimmy and Johnny ran in a 200 meter race for 1-4 year olds. Jimmy came in 3rd place (1st went to Leah Wright's son Isaac -- amazing, since his legs were badly burned only a little while back!). But David and Johnny came in dead last! (Johnny surely would have beat David, for he is 5 months older and a lot taller, but he sat down on the track and cried! David was super pleased by the strangers cheering him on along the sidelines, and by the blue ribbon all the kids were given. Very exciting, and his first race ever!

All seriousness before the big event!

Then I ran in a 5K (felt completely sick the whole time!). Afterwards we watched the Homecoming Parade and ate the free, green (supposed to be blue!) chocolate chip pancakes being passed out along the roadsides. Lots of fun!












Anna's blog has good photos and details, too!

Squirrel Bombing

Taylor saw a short piece on this in the National Geographic, which caused us to look for more on the web:

A couple set up their camera to snap their photo at Banff National Park. However, a squirrel popped up just as the camera went off, causing the photo above.

Somehow the photo became famous across the internet, and now the squirrel is popping up all over the place! This website is devoted to Squirrel Bombing. And here are my favorites from it:

Slate's 80 Over 80: Most Powerful Octogenarians in the US

http://www.slate.com/id/2232918/?GT1=38001

President Thomas S. Monson is the first. Not sure that Slate views that influence positively. But I do!

Another Neat Student

Tyson Bowerbank is another student of mine at OHSU. He's a smart and hard-working kid, and as well, a rising star in the skate world. Here is a YouTube video on him:

Halloween Fun at the Library

The Springville Library put on a fun night for families at the library. Most of the activities were too old for David, but he walked around wide-eyed at all the costumes.

Wish he would have smiled for the camera! I guess you have to take yourself seriously if you're a firefighter.

On My Mind: The Lost Painting

The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My mom suggested this book, after I reviewed Girl with a Pearl Earring and said, "Now we just need a good book written about Caravaggio! Wait, that would probably be too R-rated for me!" She asked me whether I had read The Lost Painting. I hadn't, and since it wasn't available at the Springville Library, I purchased it used for a few dollars.

This is not historical fiction, as is Girl, but history written so well that you think it must be fiction. I really like how Harr brought alive the research and restoration process surrounding "The Taking of Christ" by Caravaggio.

I knew almost nothing about Caravaggio until this past summer, when I took an Art History class at BYU. Now he is one of my favorite painters. He seemed psychologically tortured, brawling and drinking through the streets of Rome, living in relative squalor even at the time he was the highest paid painter in Rome. (The "Power of Art" series has some very dramatic portrayals of him, including one I'll try to post below. But his works of art are amazing, with canvasses that are engulfed in dark except for certain spots of light. Caravaggio had many followers, who attempted to mimic his style of tenebrism (a kind of heightened chiaroscuro). Still, within a century he was entirely forgotten, and it took a scholar's exhibition on Caravaggio in 1951 (if I'm remembering right) to bring him back into the public awareness.

Anyway, back to the book. It was not primarily about Caravaggio's life, though Harr does tell the important details. Instead, it is about a graduate student in Italy and an unknown restorer of paintings in Ireland who separately track down the painting. I loved how Harr brought the whole process to life; I felt like I was reading a mystery novel at times.

I stayed up late last night to get in the last 80 pages of the book. I now want to read Harr's award-winning A Civil Action. And I want more books about Caravaggio! <: View all my reviews >>

Old Family Friends

Tonight we had dinner at the home of Jim and Rona Jurgens. They were close family friends in Corvallis, who moved about the time I graduated from high school. Since then they've been in Texas, Germany, California, Utah, and on a mission in Central Europe. They have built a beautiful home just a few miles from our home, in a lovely part of Mapleton. The hills near Mapleton are carpeted with red right now, and are just gorgeous. I love our home and our current neighborhood, but there is a neighborhood only a stone's throw from their home which I had dubbed, after biking through it, "my favorite neighborhood of all."

I haven't seen Jim & Rona since the early '90s, so it was really fun to catch up with them. Their two youngest children and their families were there too, so Cynthia and I had to try to reconstruct our memories of flipping the Jurgens' ATV. Here's my recollection; I was 11, she was probably 8. Our families were vacationing together in Central Oregon, and we went for a ride. She drove for some time--I definitely thought of her as the expert in ATVing--but then gave me the chance to drive. I took a dip too fast, and we flipped. I was a little pinned under the handle, though I think I got out quickly, and was bleeding from the nose. She was scraped on the head but managed to run home to get my dad. My dad says that, seeing the blood which looked like it was coming from my mouth, he thought I had injuries to the brain. But we were both fine. I did faint later that night when my dad -- a doctor -- tried to gently press on my abdomen where I'd been bruised. However I came to quickly and was fine. I'm just terrified of ATVs now!

Cynthia and her family live in West Mountain, and Adam and his family live with Rona and Jim. Cynthia is also a book worm so I enjoyed chatting with her about books. She also loves John Adams by David McCullough. I don't often read a book twice (unless I have to teach it!), but that is one I should read again! I suggested that she would enjoy Team of Rivals. Now I haven't finished it myself (about page 550 of 750 total), but since I had to buy it from the library (melted crayon), the urgency waned and I'm working on some titles that do have due dates. But it's a fabulous book, and has made my esteem for Lincoln grow exponentially (and it was already quite high!).

I made a "Cinnomon Crumb-Topped Apple Pie", one that Brenda Smith first introduced me to in the Stanford Ward. I thought she said it was a Martha Stewart recipe, but I see that Brenda noted another source. Cynthia asked that I post the recipe on my blog, so here it is: (I'm not a great cook these days, so don't expect more recipes from me. Sigh!)

PIE:
6 cups sliced peeled Golden Delicious apples
1 9 inch unbaked deep-dish pie shell in pie pan
1.25 cups sugar
3 tbsps cornstarch
4tbsps unsalted butter melted and cooled
3 large egg yolks, beaten
0.5 cup heavy cream
0.25 cup milk
2tbsps lemon juice

CRUMB TOPPING:
11 tbsps unsalted butter softened
0.5 cup packed brown sugar
1.66 cup flour
1.5 tsps ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the pie: Place the apples in the pie shell. In a large bowl or food processor, combine the sugar, cornstarch, butter and egg yolks. Process until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cream, milk and lemon juice and process several seconds , until smooth. Set the filling aside.

To make the crumb topping: Put the butter and brown sugar in the workbowl or the food processor and process until well blended. Add the flour and cinnamon and process until the mixture forms medium size crumbs.

Pour the filling over the apples in the pie shell, then sprinkle the pie shell, the sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet (it will overflow) and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes until the crumbs are golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack to room temperature to allow the custard to set. The pie will still be soupy but no one will notice.

Original source: "The 7-Day Menu Planner" by Cynthia Hizer Jubera.

"My Favorite Neighborhood of All!"

We live close to the beautiful Hobble Creek Canyon. I really love our neighborhood, and Taylor and I often comment on how fortunate we feel to be living here. (Nothing compares to Corvallis, but this is pretty darn good.)




Still I have discovered my favorite neighborhood of all, a few miles away in Mapleton. I first came across it on a morning bike ride, and the sun was gorgeous upon the mountains. Today we biked by it, and a few days back we drove there so I could show Taylor the striking red trees.




Too bad homes are probably priced starting at $1.5 million!!

On My Mind: Here Lies the Librarian

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I saw one of you recommend this recently, so grabbed it on book on tape. I loved it. All the female characters are unique and headstrong, from PeeWee (Eleanor) to Irene to Grace to Aunt Hat.

It's hilarious in many parts, as PeeWee and Jake lives are turned upside down by the arrival of four library school beauties to make over the abandoned library in town. Jake, who with PeeWee's help has been trying to get his auto mechanic shop off the ground, falls for two of the young women, but one wins his heart when her background in autos (her father is a car dealer in Indianapolis) sets him at ease. PeeWee is befriended by the other of the two, and realizes that being a girl isn't completely bad.

It was fun to be brought back to Indiana, where we lived for 3 years. (They even mentioned Bean Blossom; I taught in the Richland-Bean Blossom school district.) We never did get ourselves out to a car race, though it was a major attraction in the area.

I haven't read anything else by Richard Peck, but will have to look up his work now. Any other suggestions?

View all my reviews >>

Vineyard Pumpkin Patch

Anna invited David and I to join her and Johnny on an MBA-Spouses field trip to the Vineyard Pumpkin Patch in Orem. Wow! We had access to a petting zoo, corn maze, swingsets, and endless pumpkin patches -- all for $1! We purchased three more pumpkins, at only a buck a piece. What a lot of fun!




We were greeted early on by friendly Farmer (name?).






We put our faces through this funny painting:




David and Johnny had some great smiles...but not at the same time! I don't yet know how to photo shop a smile from one photo onto another, so here are my favorites:








Sometimes David just looks at the camera, no smile in sight. Here were some attempts today to get the perfect photo:

This was what I got when I tried to indicate turning up his mouth in a smile!

This is how David says "Cheese!"


So I cheated and tickled him!

David and Johnny loved the time together,










And I loved the time with my sister, Anna (though I was required to check my work Blackberry a lot to respond to student chaos over a big writing assignment.) Anna is amazing, but she has felt down of late, due to a really rough first trimester. Even now, into her 2nd trimester, she feels like barfing much of the time and had to ask James and Taylor to eat their pizza in the yard, so she wouldn't smell the garlic. But mornings are better for her, and she was beautiful and in high spirits all morning.




Finally, Anna thought Mom and Dad might want additional ideas for decorating their yard at Halloween. Mom, Dad? Now that you live in the boondocks, will you still go all out on Halloween? What if you have no trick-or-treaters to make cry with your jumping gorillas and moving ghosts? See an old blog about my parents' craziness over this holiday!