The More Things Change,
The More Things Stay the Same


Tonight our family will gather as it has for years.

(Prunie, Kim, Lisa -- and Paul, Ringo, George & John's legs 1967-68)

We'll eat Christmas candy and open the most exciting presents, perhaps you will not receive a life-size poster of the Beatles, but whatever this year's jewel is, I'm sure it's wrapped under the tree and waiting.

Grandma Pack

By the end of the night, there will be one tired hostess


Laurie
Babies then, babies now must be kept from breaking ornaments and rearranging the tree.

1969
Grandparents will visit to see what Santa brought.

1971 Kim, Laurie, and Lisa

It will be fun times.

Merry Christmas to all

seis meses

Six months ago Scott said his good-byes

Watched his last 20 minutes of tv

Packed his bags

Checked in for his international flight to Brazil

And boarded a plane.

more Retro Thanksgiving

Thanks for the comments. I only remember the screaming wire coat hangers scene from Mommy Dearest. The movie I think reminds me of my childhood the most is Apollo 13. The first time I watched that movie I was mezmorised. The engineers were all using slide rules and pocket protectors just like my dad. And don't you think Kathleen Quinlan resembles my mom in that movie - they even stole the clock we had hanging in the kitchen. Just proves how hip and stylish my mom was when I was little (and still is).

my parents are on the left. (Do you think Scott resembles my dad?)

I like how Prunie's hair is now sporting the Twiggy look. (straight behind me - I'm the one with the roll stuffed in my mouth) ((and no, Prunie is not her real name, she's legally Laura, but it's always been Aunt Prunie to me))



Great Aprons!

What does a typical Thanksgiving table look like for my family 39 years later? Traditional setting and casual people The Perfect Mix
Looking back on these photos - is it any wonder I have an obsession with dishes, serving pieces, and table linens. I recently pulled out all of my tablecloths, refolded and arranged them -- let's just say I have a lot (easily over 50). I doubt that you would ever come to my house and be served on paper plates. I have everyday dishes, Sunday nice dishes, and china. I have enough clear glass plates to feed the whole extended Marx family. If I was in charge of a ward Christmas dinner - yeah, we'd bust out all those plates in the church kitchen for sure. (for a ward dinner you're spending over $50 in paper goods, when it takes 3 people about 20 minutes to wash all the dishes, spend the extra $ on the food...) Just a little quirky like that.

still to come: Lisa & Kim's many matching dresses, '50s and '60s nick-nacks, birthday parties.

Retro Thanksgiving

Ron & I headed out to the sand dunes for Thanksgiving. The kids had dinner with their inlaws. I lost my camera....

Lacking current Turkey day shots, I share with you Retro Thanksgiving:

Left to right around the bird: Bill (my grandfather, who we've always called by his first name), Virginia (?), Mom, Uncle Leonard, LoLo - great-grandmother, Aunt Prunie, Kim, Lisa, Grandma Pack.

Oops, we couldn't see the baby, Grandma Pack and Kim switched places.

This is my great-grandmother Laura who we called Lo-Lo and one of her 4 sisters, I believe it's Virginia, I know it's not Blanche or Anna Belle, but my mother will have to comment and correct me. This is why I love this picture:

• My mother's wedding portrait is hanging in the background
• The Chopin bust on the piano, I miss that! I totally should have requested that momento
• Grandma's piano. One day she redecorated and decided the piano should be refinished in an off-white with antiqueing look. It looked fabulous when she finished and it was always the center piece of her livingroom.
• the glasses
• the dresses
• the sweet potatoes that were eaten at this meal. Lo-Lo always made the sweet potatoes.
  

Enjoy this shot of my mother and me. I was only allowed in the livingroom for photo-ops. At first it was because just to the left of us in the picture was the big stereo cabinet usually playing a record, and when I would stomp or run through the livingroom (their words, not mine "stop running" "Don't stomp so heavy, can't you just walk?") it caused the needle to skip. As time went on numerous expensive fragile items were added to the livingroom that little girls just didn't need to run around and break.

After recovering from Thanksgiving, I am trying desperately to get the house decorated and festive looking. Something I learned from my youth:

Tune in tomorrow for a peek at Christmas from the 60s. And birthday shots. Classics.

Thanks so much to my brother who scanned all of my dad's slides into digital files!

What's been going on the last 3 weeks?

Bekah, David, and Snuggles are still squatting upstairs in the Scotty wing. David was promoted with BlueMan Group in the video department and no longer edits at chanel 13. Rebekah was hired by the school district and it's kind of complicated to explain what she does. First of all she's considered a long-term substitute since there's a hiring freeze. Secondly she's like a case worker/advocate for deaf students in the district. She visits them at their various schools, makes sure they're where they should be with grades, helps tutor in areas they need help in, and conducts IEPs.

Ron's awesome. He changed all the outside lightbulbs for me. Fixed my Kichenaid mixer that was starting to wobble. Fixed the screen door that came off the track. Installed a dining room light dimmer switch 30 minutes before our party started because I decided at the last minute I needed to be able to dim the lights. That's the short list that I can think of right off that he's taken care of in the last couple of weeks.

I guess you could add changing Jenn's brakes to that short list. Drew was trying to help, he was just getting dirty.

Charlie ***LOVES*** the dogs. Every time she's over she likes Smokey to take her for a ride. Smoking has been feeling older and older lately and mostly now she just sits on top of him as he lays on the floor. She has also mastered playing fetch with Kruger. She throws the tennis ball, he chases after it and brings it back to her.

I drive by this place on Grand Teton all the time that sells produce and eggs. I read an article about them in our newspaper and decided to take the kids to look at pumpkins and turkeys.Good thing Matt came with me, I was too busy with Charlie to notice Drew's head got stuck. Matt must have prior head unsticking experience because he knew just how to twist and tip Drew's head to get it unstuck. Glad the turkeys didn't try to eat him, that might have been tramatic.
One Sunday evening, I had strawberries and koolwhip and was going to get shortcake on Saturday, but never made it to the store. So just before Sunday dinner, I remembered the dipping chocolates I had. Drew had a great time making dessert and was so proud of his final product.

We hosted a High Priest Group social at our house. On the menu: mashed potato bar, little weenies wrapped in bacon cooked in brown sugar, swedish meatballs, crab rangoons, chips and dip, and stuffed mushrooms. It was a lot of fun. I got the game for the evening from HERE. I think that's what made the evening. I thought people would only pass it around once, but the box of questions went around the room several times. It was a fun way to get to know everybody.

That's my update.

I hope this happens...

12:23 p.m.
(4:23 p.m. - Brazilian time)


hey mom i know you look forward to my letters as much as i look forword to yours but today was zone pday and not much time to write but im alive i love you and the family and we should have baptizm this week the work is great

i love you and the letter next week will be better
tchau

8:03 a.m.

aka Oh, Scotty where art thou?

IT happened. For the first time in 19 weeks it happened.

It's P-day. But I.....forgot. Well, I didn't really forget, but for the first time since June 11th, I just got up and started my day as normal. Then I looked up at the clock, it was 8:03. That's when the panic hit me. It's WEDNESDAY. I've missed Scott's email.

I hurried to the computer. 17 messages were downloading. Out of the 17, 1 from RS pres, 2 from meridian magazine, 14 things I'll delete because I'm not interested in perscriptions, shopping at Kohls, JC Penneys, current catelogue, pottery barn, williams-sanoma, or any of the other various stores that email me. (they are all trying ever so hard for my holiday dollars, which is looking more like holiday cents, but that's another post)

BUT NOTHING FROM ELDER MARX

What? I spent a few minutes of panic and guilt because I didn't wake up at 6 a.m. and come running to the computer to find his email and NOTHING?

That's o.k. It could be interviews, conferences, obscure brazilian holiday, the laundry is taking a little longer today, who knows.

Here's to both of our new normals. I'm not gut-wrenchingly miserable, clinging to every tick of the clock. He's busy and will write when he can.

Don't worry, I'm not a heartless mom. I bought him a pocket hymnal yesterday for Christmas, and when I looked down at the gold print that spelled Elder Marx, I cried.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

Let me start this post with a LITTLE explanation. July 1st I'm driving along and the A/C goes out in the truck. Not good. Ron being the handy guy that he is figured out that it was the blower unit, the condenser was still making cold air, it just wasn't blowing through the vents. He ordered the part, and in the parking lot at Wahweap Marina he put in the new blower. BUT then there was a slight problem...the new blower was blowing very cold air, but all of a sudden there was no power windows or radio. We've replaced all of the fuses, big fuse breaker things, we've tried everything. Electrical problems are not Ron's forte. He thought, hey, you've got cold air, small price to pay not to have windows or radio.

I thought I would never survive. I LOVE listening to the radio, flipping through the stations, and listening to CDs. After a while I started driving around with my iPod. Two problems with this. I can't see very well, so if I'm driving, I can't manage to change any songs. AND I haven't uploaded much in the last year, so all my songs and playlists are old.

This all explains why I haven't hardly heard anything on the radio for the last 3 1/2 months.

Today I needed to run an errand after Ron got home. As I'm leaving he offers his truck, "It has a radio..." So I took his keys. As I turned from Jones on to 215, they were talking about how J.T. was going to 'retire' I'm Bringing Sexy Back. You've got to be kidding me. I was going to blog about this mistake of his. Who does he think he is? Would you go to a concert and not expect to hear Celine Dion sing My Heart Will Go On, or the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations. What about Journey w/out playing....wait, Journey doesn't tour with Steve Perry...not even worth going to see them. What about Usher - You'd never go to an Usher concert and not expect to hear Yeah. What does J.T. think he's doing? He's not in their league. Maybe it's just a publicity thing.

Well, all this thinking is running through my head as I drove along. Now I'm turing from 215 to the 95, and what do my ears hear???

USHER IS IN CONCERT NOVEMBER 21. HERE. IN LAS VEGAS.

My world is suddenly feeling complete. I know what I want for Christmas. Two Tickets. It's the least he could do for making me drive around without a radio, don't you think?

In the meantime...For your viewing pleasure, I present some of Usher's greatest hits. Which is your favorite?







Take that, rewind it back....

Anyone wanna go with??

Weeks and Weeks In Review

Charlie is getting so grown up. She gets this look of joy on her face in my office just before she swipes a whole pile of papers off onto the ground.

BIG SURPRISE. Kara & Hallie came into town for a visit. They came over Sunday night to visit with the family and play with cousins.

Hallie & Grandpa were doing great until I tried to take a picture and called Hallie "Charlie". She didn't appreciate that at all.
The group Sunday night
Bekah & Hallie

Lunch with the girls

anything dipped in ketchup is good
Hallie loved her nuggets

Drew's birthdaymaking batman capes for Drew's 4th birthday party.

Drew was having so much fun with his friends, it was easier to get a picture of Charlie

Sunday at Grandma's house
Legos, for Drew.....and matt