From the cruise

Just thought ya'll might want to see this ...

I never would have guessed from this photo that Dad would come to love Sudoku. Hmmm. Go figure.

*Please click on the photo . . . it's classic.

Kitchen rug, please

I wanted to interview mom today but she was determined to go buy a rug for under the sink. And I said, "Where?" and she said, "There are a couple of good places just around the corner."
I said, "Name them."
And she said, "Well, there's a fabric store and a dry goods store."
"Okay," I said. "But you need a rug."
"I'll find something" she said. And then she packed up her purse and said, "I'll see you in a few minutes.

Mom read at the Bean Museum today. Van and I go with her every Wednesday. Today she was calm and beautiful. Have you ever looked at Mom? She's beautiful. She was wearing black capri pants and a black blouse that has red and yellow and orange squares on it. The best part about that blouse was when she made all the kids raise their hands to the sky . . . as high as they could . . . higher than hers . . . when she had them do that, her garments showed.
But she didn't care.
She made them clap.
Make a funny face.
Stomp their feet.
Swish their legs.
And sing the ABCs along with her.
It felt good to be there. I admit sometimes I get nervous for her because some of the kids don't listen or sometimes they start pulling each others' hair. I try to make them listen by laughing really loud at the story.
I've even made a few comments like, "That's really scary" when she showed a picture of an alligator. A few of the kids gave me a "duh" face or maybe it was a "why do you keep talking face" and I realized that I didn't need to worry about Mom. She was in control.
Today this kid named George got really excited because there was a Giraffe named George in the story. "Hey, my name is George," he said. Mom smiled and said, "Goody goody." And then he said, "My dad's named George and my grandpa is named George." Mom listened very carefully and then said, "Well, you've got a famous name" and then kept on reading.
After she finished, three kids asked their Mom's why story time was over. "I want to hear more stories," they said.
"I know," she replied. "We'll have to come on time next week so we can hear more."
Mom smiled and said, "I'm so glad you could come."

Mom always says, "you don't have to pick me up. It's so far." And it's true, sometimes we have to rush out the door after Van's nap and my hair looks like a fur ball (but that's nothing new) and maybe Van's clothes have banana on them, but it's always worth it when we get there. If you guys can, you should come. It's Wednesdays at 11:00 at the Bean Museum. Afterwards you can look at stuffed dead animals.

Katy really is the best

If we had a family survivor, she would win. If we had a family Amazing Race, she would win. If we had a family Next Top Model, she would win. Come on guys - let's all face it. Ann Dee

Dad

Dad was ordained as Stake Patriarch on Sunday, July 8th. Van was fussy. That made me sad because I couldn't concentrate. It feel weird to have Dad be a patriarch. Weird, but like everyone said at the ordination, right.

• Dad used to sing really loud to wake me up in the mornings. I don't remember the song. Something like "Oh what a beautiful morning" and it would make me really mad. REALLY mad.

• He also drove me and In-Ping, and Kim to Freshman basketball practice at 5:30 in the morning. He'd ask me all kinds of questions about what I was going to do that day and if I was excited for practice. I know I barked at him . . . a lot . . . in front of my friends. I'm sorry. But it was 5:30 a.m.

• The other morning-Dad stories all involve breakfast. When most you were still sleeping, I'd get up with Dad and watch him make oatmeal or pancakes or cracked wheat. I also would BEG him to go buy chocolate milk and doughnuts. He relented about 5% of the time and we'd drive down to the BYU cougareat bakery and I'd get to choose.
  

• Dad went to all my games. He thought I should've started Varsity when I was still in Junior High. He also bought me the best basketball shoes in the world. I loved going to BYU games with him even though sometimes I'd make a hole with my fingers so that I could only see the basket. I'd watch the whole second half like that. He never said it bugged him.
  

• Dad also let me ride on the top of the station wagon when we were up in the mountains. Katy and I would lay on our bellies and get a whole lot of dirt in our face but it felt like we were being soooo adventurous.
  

• Sometimes he'd give us money to buy a candy bar from the vending machines at the Eyring Science Center and we always had to play the violin for his classes. I remember feeling like we were in a dungeon.
  

• Dad promised that one day we'd have a waterslide coming down the hill into our yard at oak lane and we'd have a sports court and one day he'd buy the whole hill and everyone would have a house and it'd be called Knight Hill. I wonder if that'll still happen. Maybe we could have Knight Wells Fargo building.
  

• Dad brought those mugs back from Germany. And those tennis shoes back from Korea. And I think the rainbow bright bowling jacket was from Korea too. I told all my friends that my dad was a world class physicist. They asked what that was and I said I didn't know but it had to do with lasers and liquid nitrogen.

• Sometimes Dad fell asleep on the stand when he was in the bishopbric of the 2nd ward. Mom would get mad at him about it and he said he was just thinking with his eyes closed.
  

• Dad went walking every morning. He used to run marathons but I don't think I was born when that happened. But he always told me I could do anything I wanted. I was good enough, smart enough and dog gone it, people liked me. He is the best dad. He is the smartest dad. He is the nicest dad. He is the funniest dad. He is the kindest dad. He is the dad I know I was meant to have and I'm so glad he's going to be able to bless so many people.
  

1460 Apple Avenue

377-9083 How many of you remember that phone number? That's our old Oak lane phone number. But, how many of you remember the Apple avenue number? 377-2629.

What else do I remember about the apple ave house? Here's my list:

• cool laundry chute from upstairs
• game carpet downstairs
• weird iron fence with gate around the staircase (with the special feature of being able to slam the gate latch through Joe's door if Sandy got mad enough at him).
• funky metallic-blue pull down blinds on all the west-side upstairs windows
• a weird front door that seemed like it was on the side of the house
• back yard had pretty good baseball dimensions

Things that happened there that i remember:

• Deer jumped over the fence and didn't know how to get out
• i remember when dad went through a photography phase and took some cool shots of baby katy on the tramp with a chalk board-thing background
• Rhiny (sp?) Leichty deer meat neighborhood stew eating that was pretty nasty but very memorable
• feeding his horses
• throwing snowballs at cars from the balcony
• Lots of "Dice" rehearsals downstairs (Joe played bass)
• 1 awesome "Dice" concert in the back yard with bottle rockets and everything
• Tito lived there for a little while until, according to mom, he "went to live with a farmer on a big ranch where he could run around more." (I believed this until I was about 25 when I finally figured it out.)

Dan, it says you have permission to post. I'll call you. ALSO, I guess we all forgot the fast Sunday tradition of getting together at a park. Cam and I and Van and I were sitting there for HOURS.
Hmmmm.
It's hot.
I am trying to get the Wells Fargo conference room set up for the big PARTAY.
Is anyone doing the other stuff? Lava Hot Springs?

Speaking of Lava Hot Springs, today is the official release date for my book . . . usually people have big parties and stuff, but it's Sunday so, yeah.

But there is going to be a release party at Shelby's store on July 21st.