The Seven of Us

The boys and I landed in Albany late on Friday, May 22. On Saturday morning we drove to my house, had lunch, changed, quickly cuT Isaac's hair, and went to Conor's wedding. I snapped these pictures between Warrensburg and Stony Creek, when I was still captivated by the curvy roads and green everywhere.  Growing up, going anywhere looked like this. Now I can't believe I used to live in a place this lush. And while I love visiting and taking in the scenery, I now prefer more open spaces. (Actually, I really loved the Utah mountains. In terms of scenery, they were a perfect compromise between the Something of my youth in the Adirondack Mountains and the Nothing of my adulthood on the High Plains of Colorado.) The wedding was held at a camp in Galway.  Don't be deceived--it only looks warm. In actuality, the breeze was frigid.  I kept trying to get a good look at Natalie, as if a glimpse of her would tell me all about her. (We didn't meet until after th...

During June, kids would just come over after baseball practice and play a game in the backyard. 

This is what happens when your kids become teenagers.(Isaac has his back turned to the camera and Corbin is invisible--you can just see his friend Milo's head sticking out of the cart behind Isaac. Later I took this picture and video. 

Isaac is tall . He's still eleven, and I'm guessing he's 5'6". He reaches my nose. Even though he doesn't like to hear it, he takes after my dad (and my dad's grandfather, Andrew Droddy): He's tall and slender. He may be done growing by the time he's 13. And he's obsessively clean. When I look at Isaac lately, I am reminded of the fact that he's becoming a man before my eyes.  I think I felt this way with Caleb, too, but maybe I didn't notice it right away since I hadn't been through it before. Yup, our boys become men, and while it doesn't exactly happen overnight, it happens fast.  Fast enough, in fact, that I'm thinking of Kenney Chesney's song  Don't Blink as I write this, and I'm wondering, How can you miss something when you're right there?  How has this happened so fast?  https://youtube/4f0p5KqdU9U I was organizing the office closet and I found this photo in Caleb's scrapbook. Kinda proves t...

The girls and I went to Salt Lake and Rexburg for Spring Break.  My  Uncle Den  and Aunt Susan live in Salt Lake.  I think we wore them (and me) out! Aunt Susan made amazing taco soup and homemade strawberry shortcake (including real whipped cream from heavy cream). I couldn't quite finish mine. We stayed with them a little less than 24 hours, but we were able to go to church with Aunt Sue and the girls were able to get to know them a little more. As normal, Uncle Dennis told fun stories and Aunt Susan filled us in on the family. She has a great memory and has known my parents for 45-plus years, so I often learn something new from her.  Sunday afternoon we left for Rexburg. On the way, we made an unplanned stop at the Idaho Falls temple, which was the first temple I ever visited.  In 1988 my family stopped there when we made our trip around the US (one month, lots of KOA Kampgrounds, a few Motel 6s, and about 25-30 states. I need to blog about it!...

In general, Isaac is still the kind, sensitive kiddo he's always been. I've really been able to see his sensitive side and his kindness this summer. That said, he does like to clown around.  He plays the part of an immature preteen quite well at times.  I love him regardless of how he acts, but I really, really like being around him when he checks his behavior a little. However, since he's in the clown phase, I thought I'd post these photos as evidence. Maybe sometime they'll be ancient history. 

Today I was in the tub at lunchtime. I'd run around all morning--swim lessons, errands, housework, lunch. I'd promised to take Corbin swimming, but I knew I needed a few minutes alone first. There was a knock on the bathroom door, some mumbled words, and some noise. Eventually I figured out that Corbin wanted bacon. I told him I was having some alone time and I would not unlock the bathroom door to hep him. I suggested he ask McKenna for help.  He asked me to slide a package of bacon back under the bathroom door to him, which I did (I hadn't even noticed it was there).  All was quiet again. I finished my bath, assuming Kenna was helping him. After I was done, I went downstairs to Kenna's room, where she was relaxing after having worked all morning. I was about to thank her for helping Corbin with the bacon, but he piped up and said he'd cooked it himself. WHAT? I looked to Kenna for confirmation, while saying "You didn't help him?" She  shrugged her...