.03 Inches

Last year, on New Year's Eve we headed to our friend's house in Midway, after a freezing cold few runs of night skiing.  I took a blurry photo of the temperature outside.  That's negative 10!

By the time we got there, it was 17 below 0.  There was enough snow for the kids to play in a snow fort outside.

Or cozy up on our friend's sofa in long underwear.

Yesterday, at 9:30pm my car said it was 57 degrees outside.  That's bike-riding weather.  I had to take off my coat.  The wind picked up and blew all night long, rattling the windows, and blowing open the doors.  Definite drop in temperature today, but where is the white stuff?  

This December, we've had .03 inches of recorded rain/snowfall.  The previous record for the driest December is .08 inches in 1976.  The Salt Lake Tribune wrote that the winter of 1976-77 was the skimpiest ski season in memory.

Last December, we had 3.04 inches of water at the airport.  And an amazing ski season.  I do love the weather-related surprises that we see in Utah.  Snow in April, a beautiful day or two in February, a 60 degree day in December.  But goodness, the ski resorts need a good ole' storm.  And Millie really wants to play in the snow!

Christmas Medley

A cute little performance by Simon and his friend Caleb.

Makes a mom proud.  Caleb is usually playing the higher part, and Simon the lower.

Tribute to my Dad, Howard Otteson

One year ago today, my Dad died.  He was at work drilling teeth on Thursday, he fell in the parking lot of his dental office that day, and died peacefully the following Sunday. He was 80 years old.

He loved his grandchildren.  He was always kind to my mom.

He built a boat.  The whole thing from scratch.  It is still at my mom's house.  I was too young, but all my brothers helped build that boat upside down in our garage.  We had a childhood full of vacations and memories with that boat.  And lots of time watching my dad try to fix it.

He was a painter.

One year he gave each of us a brand new painting.  This is the one I was gifted and it hangs in Millie's bedroom.

He collected old cars from the 60s.  I used to be embarrassed by them when I was younger.  Whenever I took my kids to visit them in Oregon, he would bring home this beauty from the office and take the kids out for a Cold Stone ice cream.

In the summer, he would take us to Oaks Park, an historic amusement park in Portland, Oregon.

He sang with a group called The New Oregon Singers for many years.  He traveled the world with them and often took my mom.  Us kids even got to tag along on a few trips.  Some of my siblings sang with the group as well.  I love this photo of my mom and dad walking in Greece.

Cooking was one of his best hobbies.  Before the days of food network, he video-taped cooking shows and tried lots of delicious dishes.  He had several chinese stir fry's, a Chinese BBQ pork, a phyllo dough-chicken wrapped stuffing concoction, plenty of steaks and salmon, homemade chicken nuggets, and he could whip up a mean sweet 'n sour sauce out of nowhere.  The last several years, he was obsessed with making quiche.  He was good at putting anyone near the kitchen to work, and teaching them how to cut julienne sliced veggies (like he did to Brent a day or two before we were married -welcome to the Otteson family!)

Dad loved ballroom dancing.  This was the cover of a local dance magazine that featured Dad.  He always took lessons and performed in competitions.  He loved to choreograph his own routines.

Aside from the endless supply of assorted popsicles, I think my kids' next favorite thing was when he'd offer up his change.  He had a medium-sized mixing bowl full of change - not mostly pennies, but good change.  He'd have each kid hold open a ziplock baggie, then he'd do a double-hand scoop of change into each of their bags.  They loved sorting, stacking, and counting that money, which usually added up to nearly $20 each.

He invented another funny tradition. He took every grandchild, when they were around 3 years old, on a special grocery shopping trip.  He videotaped the whole thing and the grandchild picked whatever they could fit in the kid-sized shopping cart.  He'd purchase everything they chose, even if it was yucky.

There's so much more to tell.  This just barely skims the surface.

He was generous with his food, his funds, and his talents.  And he was a very gentle dentist. 

Oh, and he built a house, built furniture, fixed cars, planted a garden, and so much more!  I'm sure he's a busy man up there in Heaven.  I'm not sure how so many talents got bottled-up into one human body.

I love ya' Dad.  I've been thinking about you all day.  

Pumpkins

Brent has a talent.  Find a nice photo like this.

Do a little cropping and change to black and white.

Print, color in some shading, think about what stays and what goes, and make some lines and notes.

Get to carving and scraping.  Wonder the whole time if it's gonna' work or if you'll have to turn it into a full moon pumpkin.  Doesn't look too impressive yet.

Light it up, and poof - it's like magic.  

You can also see Millie's pineapple and owl, Jane's Obama profile, and Oli's utensils.

Oli carved a cat and unicorn. Simon gets credit for the clever saxophone.

I used a pattern and all my patience for this little haunted house scene.

Simon freehanded a random geometric design.

Happy Halloween! 

The Blink of an Eye

We dropped in at our friend's house in Midway last New Year's Eve.  Our friend is a film maker and sometimes goes nuts with taking film and photos.  He was on a roll that night, and took a bunch of photos of Millie and Simon.

A couple of days ago, he sent Brent a link to a commercial he had made and told him to watch for something he'd like.  Brent watched it about 4 times and couldn't figure out the puzzle.  He had to e-mail film-maker-friend back to get a tip.  He said there was a picture of Millie in it.  Well, Brent found the 1 second shot and forgot to tell me about it.

After conference, we didn't get the TVs turned off right away, and suddenly Brent started freaking out saying watch, watch, watch, it's SteveO's commercial, then hollered, "There's Millie."  I missed it.  Didn't see her.  But thanks to youtube, we can see it all we want.

Millie is at exactly 14 seconds.  She's with the blue stuffed animals.  At 15 seconds, she's gone.  You'll miss her if you blink.

Marching

I don't think I ever truly appreciated the work and effort that goes into a marching band.  And I guess I always thought the uniforms were, well, unfashionable.  That is until my own son put one on.  Handsome as can be.  I love him in that uniform.

Summer band practice was several weeks at the school from 7:30am until noon.  This was in preparation for summer parades.

I was surprised when Simon decided to join Fall Marching Band.  This is commitment.  Two solid weeks, every day from 8am until 4pm in the scorching hot August weather, in a big field with zero shade.  Then after-school practices once school started.  Still hot outside.

But the result is impressive.  This was their 1st performance just for families.

Way to go 120 kids in Timpview Marching Band

Fruits and Flies

This time of year, I frequent the Spanish Fork Farmers Market most Saturdays.  Along with my purchases come the pesky fruit flies.  They say to keep your produce in the refrigerator to eliminate them.  But peaches and pears ripen nicely on the counter, not in the fridge.  You can buy fruit fly traps online, but this little gadget works perfectly and costs nothing.  Two-cup jar, chunks of fruit, scrap paper, and tape.  Those flies go down the paper cone, then they try to get out up the sides of the jar.  But it is sealed shut with tape.

I keep two of these going.  One is in the freezer killing flies (humanely as possible), and the other is on the counter catching them.  I swap them out 2 or 3 times before cleaning out the jars, getting fresh fruit, and making new paper cones.

A side note about farmers markets.  I've tried to support the Provo farmers market.  But I don't like the parking, I don't like the crowds, and I don't really like all the craft booths.

Spanish Fork is just the right size and just the right kind of stuff - some local honey, homemade bread, and all the rest is produce.  I have gone to the BYU Stadium farmers market a couple of times - Thursdays 3-8pm.  It is a good midweek option and has good parking.  There are a few craft booths, but it is so small, that getting my produce is quick and easy.

Back before we turned our lives upside down with the bike shop, Brent and I used to go to Spanish Fork together almost every Saturday.  The kids were still sleeping, and it was just our little outing.  Maybe those memories keep me going back there.  Alone.