From the Barrel of the Gunn

An Open Letter To My Son In Honor of His Birthday

2011-12-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Dear James,

First, welcome to the world! I wanted to take the opportunity, as your new “old man” to give you some advice.

You have my condolences that your birthday is so close to Christmas, but frankly, we doubted you'd show up at all. The pleasure of this day mostly belongs to your mother and I, regardless of whatever fun or anticipation it may mean to you in future years. To us, you're the best Christmas present either of us has ever received.

And it's gifts and receiving that my first advice to you directly concerns.

As you get older you're going to hear a lot of people say something to the tune of “tis better to give than to receive.” Maybe this is new to you since, well, everything is new to you right now, but this is an old old old old chestnut. It doesn't get much more cliché than this.

But clichés serve a purpose. Clichés become clichés because they have value and are easily accessible. Right now, and for the next several years, you feel like you're the center of the universe, the star in your own movie. And we're all extras or, at best, play supporting roles. But at some point you're going to need to realize that everyone else feels the same way about themselves, and that we're all wrong at the same time. That means that at some point, like Luke Skywalker realizing that Vader is his Father, we realize that we're all living in an illusion. Thereafter, we half expect the world to be taken down like a used up movie set and casually destroyed. Nevertheless, we tend to be more usefull and happy people when we choose to live in the world as it is, not as we wish it was. So, while “tis better to give than to receive” is anything but original, it's a solid point well taken.

But at some point, you'll need to learn, or more precisely, re-learn how to receive. It's harder than it looks sometimes. In fact, one of the things that makes you so wonderful right now is your innocence, your ability to take what you're given without question.

Receiving gets harder as you get older. Over time, as the disappointments start to pile on, you might start to get the idea that anything good that comes into your life is an accident, like finding money in the street. But you need to know that nothing good is an accident. Everything good has a loving, intelligent, omnipotent source: God.

I offer this as my first piece of advice to you because the world will try to beat this idea right out of you. If what you get isn't so good, you'll be tempted blame yourself for it. Well, don't blame yourself. The world is messed up. (I would say don't blame me, that this is pretty much how it was when I got here, but that would sound as hollow to you as it does to me when it comes from the generations that came before me.) Bad things do happen, even if we don't deserve them. The easiest reaction along the path of least resistance is to conclude that we probably deserve those bad things after all. This world view may make sense on some level, and there's a certain serenity in being able to make sense of the world. I sympathize. But in this case, this way of thinking carries a terrible, painful price. Take my word for it: it's not worth it.

The price is cynicism. The price is a loss of innocence, that quality you possess right now which is one of the things making you such a celebrity in the family

So learn to receive. Giving gifts is supposed to teach us about unselfishness. But receiving gifts is supposed to teach us things too, things worth considering, especially when your birthday comes around, followed closely by Christmas. Receiving teaches us how to be innocent again, to accept the good things that come your way without asking 'what's the catch?' It teaches us wonder and gratitude. I beg you to try to hang on to these qualities. In a world of traffic jams, Amber alerts, war, recessions, depressions, tax hikes, and other daily hassles it can be easy to miss the miracles right under your nose.

If you can keep seeing the wonder of things, well, kid, you've got life's golden ticket. Don't ever let go of it. And the people who will try to talk you out of it's value are people who wish they still had theirs. Don't listen to them.

Magic does exist. I'm proof of that. So is your mom. So is every blessing that comes into your life, from your first kiss to your first-born child.

I close, echoing the advice of a writer name Roald Dahl:

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden is the most unlikely place. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”

So believe in magic, son. This is a good time of year for it.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

Love,

Dad

James Eugene Gunn

2011-12-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

James Eugene Gunn was born Friday, December 16th at 3:38 pm. He was 8 lbs, 2 oz. and 20 inches long and held up like a real trooper through a rough delivery. We are so thrilled to have this new member of our family finally home with us. We'll add more photos and the full birth story later.

-Amy

Twiddling our thumbs

2011-12-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

As of the beginning of this week, my pregnancy was officially full term. I recognize the miracle in this and definitely don't take it for granted; I am very grateful the baby is healthy and thriving. On the other hand, I have recently come to realize just how very impatient I actually am. I've been having steady contractions since about 15 weeks along, so the fact that they've recently started feeling more powerful doesn't really feel like much of a change. I've been dilating and effacing for a few weeks now, and as of a couple days ago was dilated to 3cm and 80% effaced.

I know, I know - that's good progress. The problem is that I keep going into what appears to be heavy, active labor, and then after several hard hours, it will just up and stop. I get to be one of those lucky women who experience a lot of prodromal labor, which means that my labor isn't false because it's doing something, but then it just stops in its tracks instead of continuing to get stronger. Fun. . . or something.

I'm praying that he decides to show his head soon (so to speak). I can't wait to meet our little munchkin, and these not-quite-so-false-alarms are getting old! For all those of you who have gone to your due date and beyond with your pregnancies, I have a new sympathy for your pain. I don't know how you have survived it, but I am seriously impressed with your super powers!

-Amy

NaNoWriMo 2011

2011-11-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

Well, the month of November has officially begun. I think when most of us picture November we think of colorful falling leaves, lots of rain (at least here in the Pacific Northwest), and turkey with stuffing. But at least for Tom and me it just wouldn't be November without NaNoWriMo. This is the fourth year both of us have participated in this 30 day 50,000 word writing challenge. In spite of our nutty lives, it's always something we look forward to.

Every year on Halloween night we attend the Seattle kickoff party from about 10:00 pm to 2:00 am on November 1st at a local Denny's. This is apparently the 7th year they have had the party hosted there, and this year they had to close down the place to all other customers because there were so many of us in attendance. We filled up every chair and bench, and when more people kept coming, they ended up sitting cross-legged against every wall they could find just to be part of the event and have a place to write. The final count for this year's event was 160 people. considering the fact that the Denny's only seats about 145, it was a very full house!

They of course had the traditional countdown to midnight and then the crowd went absolutely silent except for the tapping of keyboards and scratching of pens on paper. After a few minutes, people started calling out every thousand words they had completed, but otherwise the noise stayed pretty minimal. As always, it was a good time. I'll admit this year I didn't make it anywhere near 2:00 am, though Tom and I both got that initial thousand words and then some before I dragged him out the door to go home.

In spite of the fact that I could go into labor this month, I'm determined that I'm going to finish the challenge this year. I guess that means I'd better try and finish early just in case.

Happy November, everybody!

-Amy

Ultrasound pictures from 10/06/11

2011-11-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I realize I'm about a month late posting these pictures, but we were having some trouble with our scanner until today. My ob is having me do a lot of extra ultrasounds to keep an eye on the baby's size and growth patterns. Since he's looking so big, there's a chance they'll plan to take him early, but the doctor won't make that suggestion until we get closer to the delivery date. Back on October 6th, baby was weighing in at about 3 pounds 6 ounces, though average for that week is 2-2.5 pounds. He was also measuring in the 96th percentile (length of long bones, head, etc.), and my uterus measured a full 4 weeks ahead.

I love seeing how round he's getting these days, and I think the fist at his mouth is adorable, but I'll admit I'm pretty biased.

We have another ultrasound coming up on November 14th and they'll do more measurements then. If he's still growing at that rate I'm assuming he's going to be somewhere over 6 pounds by then. I'm still hoping to naturally go into labor sometime around the first or second week of December and not have to worry about cesarian or induction, but we'll have to see how it goes. We just want to bring home a healthy baby, whatever that takes.

-Amy

Latest baby pics

2011-09-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

We got to go see our baby in a 3D ultrasound this afternoon, and that was a lot of fun. It's amazing how much bigger he is now than he was for the last couple of ultrasounds. This short video clip shows the circulation of the blood going through his heart.

Unfortunately, tech wasn't able to get any other video clips because the baby wasn't being very cooperative. Still, we at least got some fun profile shots.

Here you can see the profile of his face and his cute left chubby cheek. There on the right side of the picture is his left arm reaching up over his head, and his right arm, umbilical cord, and right leg are blocking the view of the front of his face.

Hi, Mom and Dad! He was determined to show us every angle of his hands and keep everything else covered up.

Image of the heartbeat, measuring a good and steady 144 beats per minute. The colors on the photo are like the ones in the video clip, just showing the circulation of the blood through the heart.

Sucking on his hand as we try to get him angled for the 3D shots.

Good strong leg bones getting ready for another kick

Brain activity. Once again the colors are showing the circulation of blood through the brain.

Here's another profile shot, though he's turned his head even further away from us. Notice that he's sticking out his tongue in this one.

I think the part that made me laugh the hardest during this experience was when he not only had both arms and hands, a length of umbilical cord, and his leg and foot all covering his face. For at least a few seconds we even got to see him playing with the umbilical cord with his toes. With toes like that he must be related to me, the little monkey!

-Amy

Family photo shoot

2011-09-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

One of our friends was wanting to practice her photography skills and asked us to do a maternity photo shoot. We went to a lovely place about 5 miles away from our house called Kubota Gardens. If you live anywhere near the Seattle area, I'd recommend you take some time to go check it out.

We thought this would be a good opportunity to get some family pictures as well as get some good belly shots. We usually do a couple's shoot sometime near the end of the year for our Christmas pictures, but we're assuming that this Christmas we'll be a little too distracted to think about it.

Thanks again, Kelly for an enjoyable time taking pictures and walking around the Japanese gardens.

-Amy

It's a . . .

2011-08-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

We finally had our ultrasound this past Friday, August 12th. I scheduled it for the morning, because I was sure I would go crazy waiting for an afternoon appointment.

Surprisingly, instead of getting there really early - which I was afraid we would do - we barely made it in time for our appointment. This was due in part to the fact that both of the elevators near our apartment chose that morning to be broken down. We had to get pretty creative using stairs and a third elevator that's not anywhere near us just to get down to the car.

We got to look at our beautiful baby for around half an hour. The ultrasound tech looked at all of the bones, organs, and placenta just to make sure things were looking functional and properly developed. Everything looked beautiful and she was able to get some good photos. This one below was actually to measure the placenta, and the little one just happened to have a foot right next to it, so we got a nice foot shot.

The surprise of the morning was when she got the following shot, which made the gender rather obvious:

Since Tom and I had both thought it was going to be a girl, we started laughing. This, of course, made the baby kick me more, lol. He's been a pretty active kid for quite awhile. The midwife didn't believe I had started feeling movement just before 15 weeks, but I was certain that's what I was feeling. Now in the ultrasound we came to discover that our little boy is so big he's measuring about two weeks ahead of average. It's no wonder I felt him so early! It looks like he will probably NEVER be wearing newborn size clothes, but I guess since his daddy was 10.5 pounds as a baby I shouldn't be surprised. Here's a shot that shows a little of his action:

Sometime in the next few weeks we're going to get to have a 3D ultrasound done as well (and get paid for it, how can you complain about that?). We're looking forward to seeing our little guy a little more clearly.

-Amy

Depoe Bay Trip

2011-07-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a very relaxing trip down to the Oregon coast. Tom's dad put us and his siblings up for a few days right within view of the water, and we all had a great time.

There wasn't quite enough room for all of us in his timeshare, so Tom and I stayed just up the road in a little cottage-like hotel. It was so nice to get away for a long weekend and do a whole lot of nothing.

This was the view from the condo's patio. We got to hear the waves crashing and birds calling 24/7.

John, Abby, and Merrill

All of the adults but me chose to go on a whale watching tour. I was SO very glad I had opted out. I stayed back and watched our 2 year old niece Lorena and got nauseated just when they told me about how much the boat had rocked when they'd gone out.

Jeremy, Abby, and Lorena at Agate Beach

Overlook by Beverly Beach. (Haha, I just noticed that this is the one picture of myself I posted on this blog and my baby bump is all covered up by my jacket)

Lighthouse next to Agate Beach

Lorena with her favorite uncle, John. They were inseparable - when we were getting packed up to leave, she kept making him pick her up or hold her hand, because she knew he was about to leave. It was adorable :)

panoramic view off one of the beaches in the area

Tom and Lorena. She had to keep getting on and off the bench at this lookout. She liked pushing on the bolts and pretending they were buttons. I said "beep" once when she did this, so she started going around pushing them and saying "beet!"

close ups on a squirrel and seagull. There was wildlife everywhere we went, which made for a nice soundtrack.

Beautiful sunset over the ocean. This was a great way to spend our last night in Oregon.

-Amy

Summer and Dan's wedding - 6/10/11

2011-07-07T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm horribly behind posting anything this year. My sister Summer got married to her sweetheart Daniel Gull on June 10th and I still haven't posted any of those pictures, so here we go.

They got married in the LDS Manti Temple in Utah. There were probably 30 or so people there at the ceremony, and a whole lot more at the luncheon and reception later that evening.

It was a whirlwind trip for me. Tom had finals that week so I had to make the trip by myself. It was stressful, but very nice to see all of my siblings. For the second time this year, we were all together in the same place at the same time.

We're all thrilled for them. Isn't she a beautiful bride?

Congratulations, Summer and Dan!

-Amy

Kool-Aid Party

2011-07-06T19:44:00.001-07:00

Well, now that I'm a few weeks into the second trimester, I'm thrilled to report that my morning sickness has backed off to almost nothing. Though I've had more excitement than I wanted this past few weeks, the baby is doing great. I started feeling movement a few days ago, which was pretty exciting :)

Since I've been down more than I would like lately, I've been working on several different crafts to keep my hands occupied. I always have a few knitting projects I'm working on, and I've been doing some embroidery as well, but I decided to try something new last night.

I had some natural colored ivory yarn sitting in my knitting case waiting for me to do something with it, so I decided to try my hand at yarn dying for the first time. I found some directions online for dying yarn with kool-aid, so I had Tom run to the store and grab me a bunch of packets of kool-aid to make some red and yellow dyes. It wasn't nearly as messy a process as I thought it would be, though I had to send Tom back to the store for more kool-aid when I was halfway through the process because the color just wasn't as developed as I wanted it to be.

I didn't exactly get the colors I was expecting, but I'm rather proud of my new balls of yarn. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to make out of them.

-Amy

Waiting for Fuzzyhead

2011-05-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

We've been lousy at keeping up our blog this year. Tom started back into school full time the first week of January, and he's usually the one who writes these posts. He's doing really well - got a 4.0 the first quarter. Now he has finals coming up again in another couple of weeks and it looks like he'll pull out another one. I'm such a proud wife - he's been working so hard!

In other exciting news, it's happened at last, just when we were about to content ourselves with the cold reality that it would never happen: we're having a baby. That little shadow on the upper right of the ultrasound is growing into our baby (taken a few weeks ago). It has a heartbeat, fingers, toes, and even a gender-neutral nickname: Fuzzyhead.

Our brains have just been awhirl with all the implications of this news and what it will mean in terms of changing our lives. Mostly, though, we're just flat-out excited. Appropriately, the little Gunn is due within a week of Christmas. This will be one unforgettable Christmas.

I'm nine and a half weeks along and we've had a blast telling family and friends, fantasizing about the future, pondering possible names, and even gathering up a few things to prepare. In fact we bought a stroller and car-seat travel set on Craigslist recently. Having it around our place is a regular reminder of the huge changes ahead.

Tom feels confident that it'll be a girl. I go back and forth, but we'll both be thrilled either way.

We're so blessed. We're a little scared about the changes coming, but mostly we're just grateful our family is going to grow.

-Amy

Portland Day Trip

2010-12-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got an early start. I drove down to Tacoma to pick up my old roommate Katherine (Her kids got to stay home with their dad, who is on his Christmas break from school). We loaded up into my car and then kept driving all the way down to Portland. It's not really that far, but a three hour drive in each direction can still be pretty daunting. Traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected from everyone's warnings to me, and we made it to downtown Portland ahead of schedule. I can neither deny nor confirm the rumors that I drove in a bus lane while I was trying to figure out where to park in front of the Bankcorp building.

Melissa, another of our roommates from college, left work early and came down to meet us. We spent a really nice day going to the mall, having lunch together, driving around Mel's old childhood haunts to get a tour of Portland, and then we got to meet Melissa's family. She's got four kids, which is pretty hard to believe until you're reminded of the fact that three of them are triplets. All I have to say about that is WOW. I'm amazed that she and her husband are able to manage with their 5 year old autistic son and three 2 year olds.They're all absolutely adorable and sweet, and Katherine and I enjoyed spending time around them and getting hugs and cuddles throughout the afternoon.

We left Portland in the evening and headed back up to our neck of the woods. Since it seems like it gets dark here sometime around noon in the winter, it was dark the whole way home, but the roads weren't that bad. All in all, it was a really nice day off.

-Amy

Lions and Tigers and Bears

2010-12-03T01:23:00.000-08:00

Lions and Tigers and Bears

-Oh, my.

You often hear about a month or a season going in like a lion and out like a lamb, or even the other way around. This fall, unfortunately, sort of came in like the proverbial lion, but it passed over the lamb and went straight for the tiger and bear instead. Even now that we’ve gotten through it, somehow keeping our heads afloat through the craziness of it all, the mere mention of the word November makes me want to run away screaming.

One of my old roommates from college emailed me earlier today asking me how NaNoWriMo had gone, and I started laughing out loud before admitting to her that I hadn’t quite finished this year. Here is a little bit of what we’ve had going on that’s kept us from blogging - and writing - lately.

Oct 2-3 - Tom finished the last credit he needed to get his associate’s degree. We had to chuckle when he went to talk to a counselor and discovered he only needed one more dinky little P.E. credit to finish up his degree. He had a good time in the class, which turned out to be as much psychology as P.E., and now he’s finished with all the requirements.

Oct 12 - Tom’s birthday. He turned 31 this year, and I can hardly believe it, because I’m only 6 months behind him.

Oct 22 - While taking a shower, I turned and took a chunk out of my elbow with a sort of hook that hangs my razor in the shower. Tom held a hankie to the gushing wound while I tried to dry off and get dressed with my other hand - and let me tell you, that took some serious concentration. He walked me across the street to the urgent care when we couldn’t get the bleeding to stop. They weren’t able to stitch anything, because there was nothing there to stitch - it had just gotten scooped right out. Also, because of the angle it had severed the blood vessels, they wouldn’t quite clot for awhile and it was still bleeding for a few days. I never realized how important it was for me to have use of both arms with the work I do, because I started getting blood blisters on my other elbow from overusing it doing deep tissue, haha.

Oct 31 - I finished the second draft of last year’s NaNoWriMo novel (Demonsgate) with a few hours to spare before the new challenge began. This was the first complete second draft from scratch I’ve ever done (not using any of the original text from the first draft) so I was really proud to get through it.

Nov 1 - NaNoWriMo began. This is the 50,000 word novel challenge that we’ve participated in for three years now. We went to a big area write-in on the night of Oct 31, and then at midnight silence ensued and everyone began typing and scribbling away on their novels. It was a really fun event with I think about 130 people participating just at the Denny’s we were at. While we were there, Tom - who was drafting his novel by hand; yes, that means with a pen and paper - wrote about 1400 words on his novel, and I typed about 4000 words on mine. We were both off to a pretty good start.

Nov 2-5 Tom does his first dry-runs for his newspaper delivery job. It went pretty badly, but he figured it could only get better. Boy, was he wrong.

Nov 4 - Tom went in for oral surgery (after a long morning of driving one of his paper routes to try and find all of the addresses on the list). Everything went well, though he was pretty sick for a day or two afterward from the pain meds and anesthesia.

Nov 8 - Tom and I headed to the U district to try and fulfill a contract to deliver newspaper ads to a list of people. The list was generated by a computer. Even though this is supposed to be a route you never have to leave the car for, Tom and I both spent a lot of time trucking up and down the streets on foot, looking for addresses that didn’t exist. I had my first asthma attack ever while going up about ⅛ mile of stairs in the cold. That was not my best moment.

The people Tom had a contract with had no earthly clue that what they were asking of their people was impossible, and after a very long and cranky day where we each made about $2.00 an hour for our efforts, we made the decision that we would cut our losses and back out of the contract. Luckily we didn’t have to pay anything to do this; Tom just didn’t get anything for the work he had done already.

One unexpected blessing that came from this disaster was that because Tom had cancelled the contract and started looking for something else right away, he was able to get a great writing contract with an online business directory company called Patch.com. He’s now writing business listings and thoroughly enjoying what he’s doing. It’s nice for him to be doing more work that also looks good on his resume. Also, after that lousy paper delivery experience, he really appreciates being able to do what he loves to do and get paid decently for it.

Nov 14 - I got released from being a Relief Society instructor and put in with the Young Women as the Laurel advisor. This is a first for me, as I’ve spent most of my life teaching in Relief Society. Even though I feel pretty intimidated, I’m really excited for the change and the challenge. I’ve only been there a couple weeks now, but I love my Laurels and really feel like it’s the right place for me to be. It’s just one more testimony to me that church callings are placed on our shoulders just when we need them most.

Nov 16 - my dental visit. Thankfully, the dentist told me that other than the huge hole I have where two thirds of my tooth had broken off, the rest of my teeth are looking great. Root canal and crown, here I come! :P

Nov 17 - Tom visits with a UW admissions counsellor. The good news? He has the grades to get in. The bad news? He still has a couple prerequisite classes to take before he can be accepted. He scrambled, registering at Green River Community College for winter term starting in January (same place he got his associate’s degree)

Nov 18 - Devin drops by on his way home from working in Canada for the summer. He’d had a really long week of sleeping in his car, so he was pretty excited to get out of said car and hang out at our place for a few hours. He played with Legos and took a breather before starting the last leg of his journey to Utah. He was nice enough to loan us his movie projector while he was out of the country, but even though it was really nice I must admit I didn’t shed any tears at getting his equipment out of the living room.

Nov 20 - Our 6th anniversary. We went and saw a movie (Harry Potter), watched the annual tree lighting ceremony here at Renton Landing, and then came home and cooked dinner. It was a really fun super-date. On one hand, I can hardly believe we’ve been married for 6 years, and on the other hand I can hardly believe it hasn’t been longer.

Nov 22 - First snow of the season. Holy. Cow. When the forecast said it looked like snow, I figured we would be getting some light flurries that would quickly melt and turn into puddles by the time they reached the ground. I did not count on the complete and total shut down of the greater Seattle area because of the weather. We got about 4 inches of snow here by our apartment, but the plows didn’t even try to come through here for two days. It’s strange coming from Utah - where all of the roads are constantly being plowed and salted through the winter - to Seattle - where people have decided that rock salt is too environmentally unfriendly to be used on the roads, and there can’t be more than one or two plows covering each town in the region. So many of my clients couldn’t talk about anything else when they came in for massages - that is, if they were able to make it - and people were cancelling left and right because the ice got to be so bad out there. What a different world this is in the winter! At least now while I write this there is no trace of the snow left anywhere around. All is just as it should be in Seattle in November - damp, not frozen.

Nov 25 - Thanksgiving Day! We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at Janet’s house. Since the mountain passes were too snowy and icy to get through, Abby, Jeremy and Lorena weren’t able to make it over for the holiday with us, so our gathering consisted of a whole 5 people. That sounds laughable for someone coming from my background. I don’t remember a family Thanksgiving with less than about 15 people since I was a little kid; more often than not we had something like 20 to 50 people bustling around for the holiday. It was really bizarre to have only 5 of us, and all adults too, though I wouldn’t say it was a bad thing. We all enjoyed the conversation, and it was very peaceful - unlike any Thanksgiving with my family will probably ever be! Every dish was absolutely superb, and we all went away with lots of leftovers.

Nov 30 - Well, we got to the end of NaNoWriMo and for the first time in three years, neither of us finished our novels in time. We both had to look back on the crazy month we had and shake our heads. I’m grateful that we survived another month of insanity, and I’m gonna say that the 26,000 and 32,000 words respectively that we each wrote on our novels is something to be proud of.

Note: There is the slightest chance I’m trying to make myself feel less guilty for not finishing the challenge, and I do realize this, lol.

Dec 1 - I had a freakish allergic reaction to who knows what. I was home on my lunch break eating and was just about to gather my things together to go back to work when I thought my mouth felt funny. I went to the bathroom mirror to investigate, only to discover that I had big blisters forming on my lips, and they were swelling up as I watched. Soon the swelling travelled to my tongue and throat, at which point I asked Tom to run me over to the nearest pharmacy to get me some liquid benedryl. That was weird. The swelling went down about 15 minutes after I took a swig of the benedryl, and I didn’t have any other problems after that. Luckily the front desk girls at work took care of clearing the rest of my schedule, so it was okay that I zonked out and slept off the drugs for the next four hours. I’m such a sissy when it comes to drug tolerance.

Tom and I are looking forward to the coming days and weeks. We have Christmas just around the corner and then a trip to Utah in January for my brother Ryan’s wedding reception.

We hope life will quiet down a little so we can stop long enough to catch our breath, but the biggest thing we’re feeling as we come out of this end of autumn somehow still intact is gratitude. We’re so grateful that we’ve had six years together so far and look forward to many more. We’re so grateful that we have family and friends who love and look out for us. We’re grateful we live in such a great apartment so close to everything. We’re grateful for the work we do have, even when it’s not as much as we would like. We’re grateful for this beautiful city and the wonderful people we meet everywhere we go. We’re grateful for the holidays that remind us to slow down and remember the people we love and the reasons we go through life in the first place.

Thank you everyone for all that you bring into our lives. Thank you for taking the time to keep in touch and let us be a part of yours as well.

-Amy

Gunn Family Movies

2010-10-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Amy and I are about to celebrate six years of marriage next month. As I've been reflecting on our history together a lot of good warm feelings (and other feelings of a more complicated nature) have come back to me. There are certain movies that conjure up those feelings every time. Amy and I love watching movies, and the ones we like we tend to watch repeatedly. We both like a lot of movies, but there are certain titles that have a special place in our hearts: "our" movies.

We thought it would be fun to post those titles and talk about what we like about them in case you're stumped as to what to add to your Netflix queue or reserve at the library. Here's our top 10 in no particular order.

Joe Vs The Volcano

This lesser-known Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks romantic comedy is a farce, but don't let that label fool you. There's nothing sarcastic, crass, or cynical about this movie. The title character has a crappy job and worst of all, he's dying of a mysterious illness. A rich business owner needs his help saving a tiny island in the south pacific and offers Joe a chance to die a hero. All he has to do is hurl himself into an errupting volcano.

The tone is light, sweet, and purely fun. It reflects our odd-ball sense of humor and our generally optimistic outlook on life.

Soup-bone Quote: "Clothes make the man. I believe that. Now you ask me what clothes you should buy and to me that's like asking me who you are. I don't know who you are. I've spent my entire life trying to figure out who I am and I am tired, you understand?"

The Incredibles

Some of you may know that our favorite term of endearment for each other is "boss." Here's the story behind that. When Amy and I were engaged we went to go see The Incredibles. Sitting in front of us was a young family with little kids. One of the kids was anxious for the film to start. When the titles for the short began he asked one of his parents "Is this the 'credibles, boss?" We thought that was hillarious and cute and somehow the term "boss" worked its way into our vocabulary. The family of super heros has been making us laugh, cry, and cheer ever since. It also reflects our mutual love of animation and the hopes and dreams we had for our future family in the days before our marriage.

Soup-bone Quote:

Mr Incredible: "Your mother and I are always united against . . ."

Mrs. Incredible: "Pig-headedness?"

Mr. Incredible: "I don't know. I was going to to say 'evil' or something."

If The Incredibles reflects our past, Up reflects our present, and possibly our future. Within a few minutes of the curtain going up in this movie, Amy and I were in tears. While it touches on the subject of infertility, it also beautifully portrays the love and friendship between a married couple, even after one of them has passed away. Amy and I are each other's best friends, and we definitely relate.

Soup-bone Quote:

"MY NAME IS DOUG AND WE HAVE JUST MET AND I LOVE YOU."

Gentleman Broncos

Benji is a teenage sci-fi writer who's novella, Yeast Lords, is disgraced with a terrible movie adaptation and plagiarized by his hero. The writers of this movie torture this character so much it wouldn't be worth the time if the pay-off wasn't so satisfying, bizarre, and flat-out hillarious.

Soup-bone Quote:

"And finally we have a young-ling trying to penetrate the secrets of the human mind. You won't do it like that young-ling... You must use friendship. "

The Terminal

Amy and I watched this movie from the jacuzzi tub in a presidential suite at the Bellvue doubletree on the morning of Thanksgiving day 2004. It was our honeymoon. This story of a man (Tom Hanks) stuck in a foreign airport always reminds me of that day: one of the happiest of our life together.

Soup-bone Quote:

"You told me you were delayed. You never said it was for nine months!"

School of Rock

Dewey Finn (Jack Black) is a failed would-be rock star who sees an opportunity to live his dreams by posing as his friend, a substitute teacher at a prep school. On our second date Amy and I watched this movie together, at least most of it. Amy fell asleep wrapped up in a blanket cuddled up against me. I remember thinking "I could get used to this."

Soup-bone Quote:

Dewey: I've always believed that children are our future. And you can teach them well, but brother, you have got to let them lead the way. Let the childrens laughter remind us how we used to be. That's what I decided long ago.

Gabe: Isn't that a song?

Dewey: No. No it isn't.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I don't know where to begin describing this. Arthur Dent is having a bad day that begins with his home planet, Earth, being destroyed by aliens. You wouldn't expect most comedies to start this way, but this one has always kept us smiling. I especially love the two-headed, three-armed Galactic President Zaphod Beeblebrox played by Sam Rockwell. He's a combination of Elvis, Bill Clinton, and Patrick Swayze with a little dash of George W. Bush for good measure: a thoroughly watchable and entertaining character. This one reflects our love of sci-fi, quirky humor, and both of those things with a slightly british flavor.

Soup-bone Quote:

"All time is an illusion. Lunch-time, doubly, so."

Return to Me

This is one of the few romantic comedies that I find a)genuinely funny, and b) irresistably charming. I find most so-called romantic comedies to be either romantic, funny, or neither. This one is pitch-perfect and impossible not to like. Any plot synopsis would just ruin it. The acting is awesome, Bonnie Hunt and Jim Belushi are hillarious, and the old guys are a crack up. Just see it. Women, prepare to cry. Men, make sure you have a hankerchief handy for her.

Soup-bone Quote:

Kid: Awe, hell!

Jim Belushi: Did you teach him 'hell'? You taught him to say 'hell'!

Bonnie Hunt: I never say hell, you son of a bitch!

Meet The Robinsons

Amy and I saw this one to celebrate her 27th birthday. Lewis is a brilliant orphan inventor who encounters a time-traveler. They team up to stop an inept villian from destroying the future. Along the way he stumbles into a tyranasaurus rex, a neurotic robot, a pizza delivery man who thinks he's a super-hero, his destiny as an inventor, and the family he always wanted. There's something about this movie's motto "Keep moving forward" that just makes it feel like a love letter to Walt Disney, which for us is emphatically a good thing. It helps us have courage through tough times and reminds Amy and I how much we are each-other's dream come true.

Soup-bone Quote: "Then, um, I didn't choose that one because it was gonna give me pimples so I choosed, um, another scary one cause for, um, all those years that I went for halloween I wasn't scary at all... I love baseball. It's my destiny to play that game. And I don't really care about winning. Well, like, now i do, cause, like, we've lost every game and I've gotten tired of it! I'm working like so hard, all the balls are getting thrown to me, I'm trying to catch, like, every one. All of the people in the out field are all looking around, and, c'mon, lets play some baseball, ok? Not the lazy game."

Stranger Than Fiction

IRS auditor Harold Crick's life turns upside-down when a narrator's voice in his head convinces him that a) he's soon going to die and b) that he's a character in someone else's novel. This one has natural appeal to us because we're both aspiring fiction writers. It also happened to coincide with a crucial do-or-die moment in our marriage. This movie helped us choose "do" when it wasn't so easy.

Soup-bone Quote:

Harold Crick: Dave, can I pose a somewhat abstract, purely hypothetical question?

Dave: Sure

Harold Crick: If you knew you were gonna die, possibly soon, what would you do?

Dave: Wow, I don't know. Am I the richest man in the world?

Harold Crick: No, you're you.

Dave: Do I have a superpower?

Harold Crick: No, you're *you*.

Dave: I know I'm me, but do I have a superpower?

Harold Crick: No. Why would you have a superpower?

Dave: I don't know. You said it was hypothetical.

Harold Crick: Fine. Yes, you're really good at math.

Dave: That's not a power, that's a skill.

Harold Crick: Okay, you're good at math and you're invisible. And you know you're gonna die.

Dave: Okay, okay. That's easy. I'd go to space camp.

Harold Crick: Space Camp?

Dave: Yeah, it's in Alabama. It's where kids go to learn how to become astronauts. I've always wanted to go since I was nine.

Harold Crick: You're invisible and you want to go to space camp?

Dave: I didn't pick invisible. You picked invisible.

Harold Crick: Aren't you too old to go to space camp?

Dave: You're never too old to go to space camp, dude.

Does your family have special movies that everyone agrees are awesome, or have some special meaning for you?

Tanner's Visit

2010-10-26T14:52:00.001-07:00

28 August 2010

We've had a lot of excitement lately, with Amy's brother Tanner coming into town. The occasion of the visit is worth mentioning.

Most of the rest of Amy's family paid us a visit last spring. Tanner couldn't go, however, because one of his teachers wouldn't let him because her choir class more important. This would seem unjust, even if his self-important ego-driven choir teacher hadn't been the one behind it.

Anyway, since Tanner has a job he managed to save his sheckles and fly up to make up for his lost spring break opportunity.

And boy did we make up for it.

We did everything with Tanner that we had done with the rest of the family, and then some.

The centerpiece of our activities was a visit to the museum of flight. It's really amazing how much stuff there is to see there. We spent maybe three hours with Amy's family last spring and only really got an introduction to their vast collection. This time Tanner and I spent about five hours there and saw a lot more. Even after all that time, we left two entire wings of the museum untouched. Tanner especially had an interest in the space collection, which had a lot more going for it than I remembered. They have a Mars rover replica, a full-size, high fidelity replica of a module from the International Space Station, a full-size replica of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), a replica of Sputnik, a LEM simulator, and that's just a sample of what they had.

This time we made a point of not missing the actual Concord, the first 747, and the original Air Force One. We also got another good look at the WWI exhibit. I'm an aviation fanboy, I know, but if you find yourself anywhere near Seattle and can take a day, the Boeing Museum of Flight is well worth the price of admission. Their collection is as inspiring as it is complete.

I think the highlight for Tanner was probably the ferry ride in Seattle. I think he enjoyed getting a good view of the city and Amy and I enjoyed being along for the ride. Maybe one of these days we'll actually drive our car onto the ferry and see what's over there on Bainbridge.

It was a fun surprise when Devin came through town on his way to the Canadian border (again). He joined us for our activities on Sunday and left Monday.

We had a great Sunday afternoon up at Discovery Park. I was surprised how clear the traffic in Seattle was. I don't think I've ever been up there on a Sunday, but I think we might just do that again on our own.

Our trip to Seattle on Monday happened to coincide with Amy's doctor appointment up there, so we would have gone up anyway. (by the way, it looks like she has Minear's disease and the doctor prescribed a diarhettic). We spent some time on the waterfront, but most of the day we wandered Pike Place Market. We visited a cool little book store in the "down under" area run by a big gregarious Russian. He joked with customers, called all the ladies and kids "darlingks," and dispensed advice to the tourists.

Tanner walked away with a small gift for his girlfriend and Amy walked away with a new bouquet of fresh flowers from me. Every time we go up there we pledge to shop there more often.

It was a pleasure to have Tanner as our guest and get one last shot at some fun this summer. I hope we can do it again soon.

-Tom

Eugene Gunn Fawcett

2010-10-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Note: This post is old. Months old. I wrote it at the time, though. Just don't let that confuse you.

Yesterday I attended the funeral for my grandfather, Eugene Gunn Fawcett. I wanted to take this opportunity to record and share some of my thoughts and memories of him. He was born in 1931 in Hoytsville, Utah to Leo Fawcett and Clairene Gunn Fawcett. He was educated at Utah State University and was sealed to his wife Lois Renee Palmer in the Logan temple.

He was a Boeing engineer and father of four, including my mother Janet. He loved his work and his family and is easily the best example of manhood I’ve had in the course of my life.

Most of what I know about him I know second-hand or from pure example. When his children were young, I’m told, he was the one who could be there when they got home from school. He always took his responsibilities as a father most seriously. He was quiet and rarely got angry except when his sons needed scolding, or when any of the children had disrespected their mother.

My personal memories of him go back to his wood shop. His degree was in industrial arts education and his love for creating things followed him to the end of his life. Even now there are projects on his work bench left unfinished.

I remember vividly the smell of the sawdust, the well-worn work stools, the mind-bending array of tools hanging on peg board, and the old wood-burning stove he used to have in there. Most of all I remember the big chest freezer that always had popsicles, vanilla ice cream, and chips ahoy cookies.

My grandfather used to say “Life is too short. Eat dessert first.”

In that shop he made beautiful things, from small toys to major pieces of furniture. Their home is filled with his creations, and each of his children have more than one item that passed through his shop. The toys he made for us were well-finished, intricately made, and always entertaining. A few that stand out in my mind are the rubber-band guns, a dinosaur bank, and a dog that walks its hind legs and sniffs the ground as you pull it along. One of my most prized posessions is a cylindrical box he made for me out of the wood from an ancient plum tree that I loved to climb and swing on as a kid.

He absolutely loved his work as a Boeing engineer, and always had an enthusiasm for aviation. He was a kid during World War II. At the funeral I learned that he hung models of fighter planes from the ceiling of his room--something I can identify with since I was hanging spaceships from my ceiling when I was the same age.

He was the first to take me to the Boeing museum of flight, one of the many experiences that’s made me fond of aviation to this day. Later this year I plan on becoming a member of the Museum of Flight so I can go as much as I want.

He loved history, particularly World War II, the Civil War, and the American revolution. I got a fascination for these subjects myself, maybe through pure osmosis. I was always amazed at the number of history books he had, and the collection of National Geographics he had collected over the years. Perusing these as a kid fueled my appetite for learning and stoked my curiosity about the world around me.

Since he was a young man he carried a handkerchief in his pocket, a practice I’ve tried to keep myself since my missionary days.

I remember his truck. It was Ford Ranger from the late 70s or early 80s. There’s something distinctive about a vehicle when a man puts personal time and effort into maintaining it. I think a bit of his personality can’t help but get into it. That truck helped neighbors in times of need, took us on rides at the beach, went on camping trips, and even served as a loaner vehicle when I was a young adult and my car was in the shop.

That truck inspired me to want a truck of my own. I once thought I wanted a Ranger like my grandpa, but since then I’ve found that my personal taste tends toward the Jeep Wrangler. I haven’t got it yet, but hardly a day goes by that I don’t look forward owning it and putting it to as much good use as grandpa did with his truck. I plan on doing as much of the maintenance myself as I possibly can.

Camping was something approaching religion in his family. In the Pacific Northwest camping means Man vs. Rain. He fabricated his own tarps back before plastic tarps were commercially available. He used army surplus and things he scrounged together to keep out the rain and keep everyone comfortable. In many ways he was “MacGyvering” stuff long before the term was invented.

He grew up in the midst of the great depression. He truly lived by the old Mormon pioneer maxim “Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” I’ve been learning the hard way the need to do this myself.

Another thing that helped me identify with my grandfather was his leg problems. His hip was injured when he was a boy and it impacted his health and mobility throughout his life. For most of my life he used a cane, something I joined him in off and on through my teens since I had serious leg injuries of my own.

My grandfather was one of the primary influences that showed me what it is to be a good man. I was fortunate to have been able to move up here to Seattle almost exactly a year before he died. Towards the end, when Amy I would stop by to visit, he almost never failed to tell us that our apartment building was built on the site of the old Boeing mock-up building, which was dedicated to building wood mock-ups of aircraft before computer aided drafting made that method obsolete. He loved local history and passed on things that he thought I would be interested in learning about. I love the fact that I live so close to the home he raised his kids in, and in which I had so many good memories of my own.

Shortly after I turned 18 years old I changed my last name from Higginson to Gunn. My mother was against it because she thought I was just lashing out at my dad. I had a lot of reasons for changing my name, and one of them was that I wanted to follow my grandfather’s example in my life.

On the day I wanted to go to the courthouse my car was in the shop, so my grandfather drove me. At the funeral my mother reminded me of that and told me that he defended my decision to her whenever the subject came up.

“Why not?” he said. “It’s a good name!”

I agree.

Now that he’s gone and I have a chance to review what he meant to me, I see how much he’s quietly influenced my life. He’s set a high standard for me to reach for. And while the challenge to live up to his example is daunting, I’m encouraged by the fact that he and I had so much in common. I’m proud to carry a name from his family, and I’ll try to think of him every time I speak it.

-Tom

Ocean Shores Beach Trip

2010-08-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

20 July 2010

We finally got out of town. It was the first time since Amy and I moved here that we pulled up stakes and got ourselves a change of scene. My Mom got us a condo to rent for several days and we shared the costs. We had a much more elaborate vacation than the camping trip we had planned on, and for even less than we had planned to spend.

There isn't much to tell. We ate junk food, played on the beach, read books, and generally did what we pleased. It feels good to just play. It's a secret to life that I think we forget or have shamed out of us at age 11 or so.

John and I had fun building Disneyland in sand. I couldn't have had a better partner since he's the only one I know who knows the park as intimately as I do. We only had the energy to build Main Street, the Castle, the Tiki Room, and the Jungle Cruise. IT was mostly recognizable and we had a lot of fun. Did I finish? No, and that's okay. Did I know it was just going to get wrecked? Of course. It's a sandcastle. After all, that's what cameras are for.

One of the highlights was having our niece Lorena around to entertain us all. She's cuter by the day, and is able to do more for herself all the time. She especially lights up around Grandma, her aunt Amy, and her uncle John. She has a sweet disposition and just loves to be part of the fun.

Amy and I decided to break away from the group on one of the days to visit Lake Quinault in the Olympic National Forest. It was only about an hour and a half away, and well worth the trip.

We went on a short nature trail through the rain forest that took us over a beautiful gorge, all under a canopy of trees that have been around since the time of Columbus. We spent some time on the shore of the lake.

The water was so clear you had to resist the temptation to bend down and take a big drink of it.

We came back yesterday rested with full health points and ready to take on our work again. Meanwhile, we'll look forward to going back while the last of the sand in our shoes slowly vanishes.In the final day we managed to stop in at the Star Wars shop in Aberdeen. It's full of previously owned collectibles in varying condition. I was pleasantly surprised to find items identical to some from my own collection in poorer condition retailing for much more than I might have thought. I resisted the temptation to walk out with a few unpackaged storm troopers, but I doubt I'll always be leaving empty-handed if I ever manage to go back.

-Tom

Amy models a wildflower found in the rainforest

This driftwood guitar was out in front of a winery on our way to Westport

These deer came to visit almost every day while we were staying in the condo.

A Touch Of The Dizzies

2010-08-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION: This post is WEEKS old! When I say "last Monday" I mean June 7th. Ya. We're slackers.

Amy's had a lot excitement these days. I suppose that's putting it kindly. She's had increasing spells of vertigo over the last few years, and we finally got her to an ENT to find out what's going on. He says it sounds like Minear's disease. If that sounds familiar to you, you might be remembering that the astronaut Allen Shephard had the same condition.

It's a building up of fluid in the inner ear that puts pressure on the ear drum. It tends to cause ringing in the ears, vertigo, dizzyness, and permanent hearing loss.

Yeah.

Scary.

We don't have an official diagnosis yet, but Amy's had a hearing test. She came out with normal hearing, so that should serve as a baseline, but we're going to get her back to the ENT to see what's next.

Meanwhile, Amy's having to stay on a low-salt diet. It's tough for her, and I try not to rub in the fact that I can eat salty things and she can't. I'm trying to support her however I can, though, and this is mainly accomplished by nagging and pestering her about keeping track of her sodium in-take. Like any diet change, she has good days and bad, but I like to think we're making a difference. Worst case scenario? She could be legally deaf in a few years. I don't see that as too likely, but it is possible. Best case scenario? She's going to live with this all her life, and we'll always have to be aware of it. It might be a while before we take another flight on an airplane.

Meanwhile, our lives go on. I'm getting a lot of freelance work, and Amy keeps getting plenty of clients at Massage Envy. We miss our nieces and nephews and think about them a lot.

Amy and I had a great date last Monday. Since we had to go to Seattle for her hearing test anyway, we made a day of it and had lunch after her test. We also stopped in at Twice-Sold Tales in the capitol hill neighborhood, a used bookstore we've both been wanting to check out. Amy had to drag me out. We both walked away with a little something at a fraction of the price it would have cost at, say Barnes and Noble.

We'll be back. I think I could have spent the whole day there, not to mention half my monthly pay.

-Tom

New Lace

2010-07-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

It's finally finished and blocked! I've been working on this latest lace project since Christmas.

I've never worked on anything this large before, so I allowed myself time to switch over to other projects to give myself a break from it time to time.

Doing the same pattern over and over for so long gets rather monotonous.

This is the first time I have ever done a knitted on border. Though I think it does add a lot, HOLY COW - it was difficult to figure out on my own.

Well, I guess I'll have to start another lace project soon to do in tandem with the half-dozen other projects I've already got on the needles. :D

-Amy

Spaulding family visit in March and other updates

2010-07-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have a confession. Tom sent me this hugely long blog several weeks ago, and because of computer issues, doctor's appointments, a busy schedule, and me just being so dead tired when I get off of work, I took this long to find photos to go with the posts so they could finally go live. Yes, I know; totally lame excuse. Hope you enjoy. I tried to post a ton of pictures here to make up for the fact that the blog has been such a disappointment.

-Amy

Our spacious 800 sq ft apartment has seen as much traffic per square foot per day as SeaTac airport. (and 97.24% of statistics are made up on the spot)

Amy’s family came to town in March, just one event in a month that’s left our heads spinning, hence the reason for our nonexistent posts.

Nearly the whole gang showed up. We played host to Amy’s parents, her brothers Jeff, Devin, Jeff’s wife and two kids, and Amy’s sister Summer.

Only Summer actually stayed with us, but everyone spent plenty of time here. We really missed Matt and his family, not to mention Tanner (who’s teacher deserves whatever she gets for not letting him come).

Anyway, I don’t think our place could have held too many more.

We had a lot of things on our itinerary, and very few things on that list went undone. We didn’t actually spend much time in the apartment.

On our first day out in the city, we went down to the waterfront. Nothing went quite according to plan, but we all had a good time. We spent some time browsing at Elliott Bay Book Store.

Kim and Becky stayed there entertaining themselves while the rest of us headed down First Avenue, stopping for a Cow Chip cookie, and browsing around at the Utilikilt store.

We even paused for a photo op in front of the totem pole in Pioneer Square.

We headed back to the cars and I picked up Kim and Becky so they could join us for lunch.

We all headed out to Discovery Park (no relation to the famed cable channel) and had a weenie roast.

Jeff and Ryan worked at impressing each other with handstands. Some of us threw the Frisbee.

The next day we were back in Seattle and we all took a ride on the Bainbridge Island ferry. Ella and Leo had fun imagining mermaids swimming in Puget Sound.

We all loved the great view of the city, and the Olympic Mountains were bold and clear to the west.

We had a great picnic lunch on the waterfront and took a look around the oddities and tchotchkes at Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. I was especially impressed by a highly detailed model of an English village made entirely of cork.

The next day, Jeff and his family, Devin, Ryan, Amy, and I went to Boeing museum of flight. It had been some time since I’ve been there, and there was more to see than we could get in. I was especially geeking out over the new World War I exhibit.

Everyone pitched in to help buy and cook meals and nobody had an excuse to go away hungry. By the end, I think everyone was exhausted, but pleasantly so.

We had a great time hosting everyone and showing off our new stomping grounds. For us, it was also a great excuse to get out of the routine and experience the beautiful place we live in.

Amy and I have been getting through life just fine. It’s been a struggle to adjust our routines and get back into the groove of things. Our efforts for fiction have been woefully neglected as a result.

We had Amy’s brothers and a friend of theirs staying for a short time while they get their work situation figured out. It was quite a fiasco for them. As for us, we just enjoyed having company around. Ryan stayed with us for a few weeks, and I must admit I especially enjoyed that. I’m used to being completely alone during the day, which is fine, but it was a nice change to have someone else in the room. I worked on my articles and Ryan worked on his manna or whatever it is they do on World of Warcraft.

To further shake things up, Amy recently changed her work schedule. She cut back a little on her hours, which she badly needed to do. Now she gets a somewhat shorter day on Thursday. She also starts earlier on Saturday and finishes at 5 pm, which is great. It’s good to see her a little more often and I think it’s working wonders for her to see daylight more often.

I’ve been getting more clients these days. When it rains, it pours. The orders seem to be coming in all at once, so they’ve been keeping my fingers flying. I guess that makes a decent, relatively plausible excuse for getting behind on the blogs. I re-repledge to do better in the future.

Bringing us to the present . . .

This weekend has been another adventure. My cousin Carrie and her new husband James have been in town for a family party. Abby and Jeremy were in town, not mention my Dad who was here to visit his new Granddaughter. You’d think it was Christmas time with all the family buzzing around here these days.

Amy had a great birthday. We went out to dinner, did a little shopping. My brother made her a great big cake and I gave her a good, long, full-body massage. The perfect gift from the husband who has no money to the wife who has no energy. We had a nice evening renting movies; Julie and Julia, and Where the Wild Things Are. We’re pretty wild and crazy people, we know, but quiet evenings suit our budget and our disposition.

-Tom

Updates From The World Of The Criminally Cute

2010-02-23T00:37:00.000-08:00

The time has come for an update on our adorable nieces and nephews. Not being able to have children of our own right now, Amy and I really especially enjoy our role as aunt and uncle in the lives of five cute little kids, so we're taking this opportunity to share what's going on with them. So here they are in no particular order.

Amy's brother Matt and his wife Deneal have two little cuties: Ashton is 6 and Tally Paix is almost a year old now.

Recently Deneal took them out on a picnic in a huge meadow. I'd love to know just where this is since I lived in that part of California for two years and never saw the like.

Anyway, Tally Paix had a blast eating grass and Deneal got off some gorgous photos of those kids.

Deneal, if you're reading, that eye and that camera could be making you some extra cash.

If I had a kid I'd chuck Sear's portait studio and just have you follow my kids around for a few hours. These photos are just incredible. And hey, there's a lot of money in kid photography. There's gold in them thar diapers. But I digress.

Ashton just turned 6 and this last year Amy and I began our tradition of sending our nieces and nephews as many dollars as they are old along with a card. He made the sweetest call to Amy, leaving a voicemail on her phone that just melted our hearts. "I hope you have a good time hearing me say that I love you . . . as much as I love you!" You just can't beat the sweet sincerity of little kids. Their complete dearth of irony is a gift in this crazy world of ours, at least Amy and I sure think so.

Amy's other brother Jeff has two kids with his wife Crystal: Leo who's also 6, and Ella who's 3.

Unfortunately Ella's had some real health problems with her kidneys. The other day Crystal was explaining to Amy over the phone how they have to keep Ella constantly hydrated to prevent infection. At the sound of the dreaded "h" word Ella shouted "NO HYDRATED!"

I don't think I've ever heard anyone under the age of 10 use that word, let alone a 3-year-old so that was hillarious. Anyway, the poor thing has to go to the bathroom constantly, so she's put herself on the fast track to complete potty training. Good on ya, kiddo. Sorry about all the grief your system's putting you through, but at least there's a silver lining there.

Elanie poses with Devin's dog, Chloe. Yes, Chloe is wearing a shirt. No, Devin didn't put it on her. It's actually a dolly shirt that Crystal put on the dog and tried to get Ella to confess. She wouldn't do it, haha.

Leo continues to be way too resourceful for his own good. While Grandma and Grandpa Spaulding were watching him recently he managed to turn down all the dials on all the refrigerators and freezers.

As a result he inadvertently defrosted a whole turkey. Guess Thanksgiving came early for them! Wish I could have been there, I love turkey.

And last, but certainly not least my Sister Abby's recently-adopted daughter Lorena continues to be cute enough to make the Gerber baby consider a career change.

Speaking of which she just cut her first teeth recently and had her first sleepover at her Grandma Fawcett's (my mom) without her mom and dad. Amy and I spent an afternoon visiting with my mom, my brother, and her. She's very well-mannered and just loves to be in on the fun. I couldn't quit thinking about how nice it was to cuddle her and play with her. We all had our turn with her. She's just a jewel.

Strangely enough Abby reports that when Lorena got home all she wanted to do was be held and play.

Wonder why. Hmmm. It's a mystery.

-Tom

Million Words Update - Day . . . Who Knows

2010-02-23T00:36:00.000-08:00

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."

-Ray Bradbury

I'm coming to the end of another long and harrowing week of hardcore writing. Both my bad and good days are resulting in higher word counts and I continue to chip away at my deficit. I've committed to reach for 25,000 words a week in an effort to close that gap as soon as possible. I haven't quite reached that this week, but I've come darn close.

I'm starting to notice what Bradbury means about staying drunk on writing. When I come away from a good string of speedy drafting sessions I feel what I can only describe as a buzz in my head. It's both exhillirating and exhausting. I've been known to take ten or fifteen minute naps between writing sprints. Sometimes the process just knocks me out.

Now, I've never been drunk, but I now know for a fact that writing can make you feel drunk in a manner of speaking. I feel dizzy with the feeling of achievement, but beyond that I can feel impulses dancing across my corpus collosom in a flood of electricity that only comes from sustained creative effort. As tiring as it is, it's a feeling I think everyone should earn the privelage of experiencing in their lives.

I'm in the sunset of my current novel, trying to wrap up Act III in a barn-burning conclusion. Meanwhile I rather marvel at how this kind of sustained effort grows my writing skills. I've been interested in writing for a long time, and I've read a lot of books on the subject. In fact, I highly recommend Ray Bradbury's life-changing book called "Zen In The Art Of Writing." But no number of books on writing or classes can make up for the concrete experience of pulling pages upon pages of words down from out of the ether, putting them down forever in black and white.

I still question sometimes if this is more than I can do. The answer is always "No," at the end of the day, but I have my moments. I don't deny for a second that what I'm attempting here borders on the insane, but I have a persistent feeling inside pushing me on, telling me over and over again "It will be worth it."

Well, enough gassing on. Time to belly up to the bar again. Cheers!

-Tom

On The Road to 1,000,000 - Month 2 of 12

2010-02-13T22:29:00.001-08:00

I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten all about my goal, didn't you? I obviously didn't. Granted, it's only the second month and I'm considerably behind, but I have the whole rest of the year to make up the deficit.

I've been working hard each day. It really helps the word count to have a few projects going at the same time, but my current novel is taking up most of my word count. It's tentatively titled "Empty Beds" and I plan on having a draft done in the next week or two, certainly before the end of the month.

That'll mean one novel down, nine to go! And one of those will be NaNoWrimo, so that barely counts. It was a novel I was planning on writing anyway.

I should mention here that Amy's been charging ahead with her own writing goals herself. A million words for her this year isn't quite in reach since she doesn't also write to pay the bills like I do, but she's working every bit as hard as I am, if not harder given her circumstances.

Her goal is to finish the second draft of her novel from last NaNoWriMo by her birthday on April 25th. She's worked her fingers to the bone on a good outline and she's been drafting her fingers off at night after work. It's good to not be alone in reaching for writing goals and she's learning a ton from the experience. Amy's boldly declared that her novel, a young adult urban fantasy, will be a best-seller when it's done. She's got a great head for story, so I know she's capable.

I've often compared learning writing to my mission for the LDS church. When I first got out in the field I was eager to improve, but I got frustrated when the methods and principles taught at our training meetings weren't translating to better results. Then one day, about eight or nine months in, I realized that I was almost unconsciously doing the things they had trained us to do. I didn't even have to think about it anymore.

With each of my novels so far I've done what I know how to do, trying to push the limits of my abilities, and have found them sorely lacking. But lately, as I've been writing this novel I've realized that my story telling skills are improving dramatically. Since this novel is based on one little idea, I'm basically letting the novel take me where it wants to go, working without a net or an outline of any kind. It's like a divining rod dragging me around the story. I guess I'll soon see where it's taking me.

For the past year or so I've had faith that my skills with fiction would improve with practice. My feelings about it didn't go any further than that, however, since I wasn't working to my potential to practice it and develop my projects. Now that I'm working hard it's a lot of fun to begin to see some results.

Maybe if I keep drafting like a mad man I'll be able to draft a book one of these days, tweak a few things and correct the spelling and I'll have a bestselling page-turner on my hands.

Meanwhile I'm still working on the discipline to keep up with my weekly word count goal of 20,000 words: no easy task, but I'm getting much better.

Thanks for your support and comments.

-Tom

Gunn News

2010-02-13T22:23:00.001-08:00

We're behind folks. We've both been working our tails off on novels, I've been working on articles (as always) and doing what I can to break into magazines. These aren't excuses (if they were, they'd be lame), but they are reasons, so thanks for your patience. Each of these events probably deserve a whole post, but instead I'm just going to give you a bunch of mini-posts with photos that apply. Enjoy catching up with us.

*Massage Envy Party In The Sky

It finally came. Amy's boss Shawn warned us months ago that there would be a big formal gala at the Harbor club in Bellevue on the 25th floor. This was the company holiday party, held late to keep the clinic doors open during the holidays.

Why a big formal party?

Shawn's just cool like that. Renton Landing Massage Envy busted records for a clinic that's only been open for a year, smoking the region and most of the country in sales. It's exciting for Amy to be a part of it, and she's definitely pulled her weight there. Her massage bad-assery has earned her a significant raise and may lead to a promotion in the next year. Her work ethic is an inspiration both to me and her co-workers/future underlings.

Anyway, it was fun to get dressed up extra nice, eat some great food, meet some nice people, and watch those nice people drink free booze. Thanks, Shawn for a great evening, even though we were glad to have it over with.

*The Art of Manliness

I'm reluctant to talk about other's blogs on our own blog, but I must say this particular blog, The Art of Manliness, easily deserves attention here. From the bio it looks like it was started by an LDS guy from Oklahoma in response to the fact that most so-called men's magazines were really aimed, not at real Men, but at adolescents of all ages.

The stuff on this blog ranges from the life-transforming to the mildly interesting. But since I discovered it about ten days ago I don't think a day has gone by where I didn't look in and explore it. It's apparently a huge success with thousands of subscibers and it's easy to see why. The posts are clean, the subjects have daily relevance, and ANYONE, man or woman, can benefit from it. I'm already wondering how I ever got through life without it.

Check it out: www.artofmanliness.com

*Ryan Comes Home!

Amy's brother Ryan stepped off the plane just this week from Africa wondering how he ever managed to grow up in the massive snow drift that is rural Utah right now. He probably felt like he had just arrived on the ice planet of Hoth (sadly, without the awesome Imperial walkers).

I can only imagine what he's going through right now, but I know he's got some readjusting to do. From what I understand he's got a new appreciation for the USA and how blessed we are to live here. His return served as a good reminder that, no matter how poor I think I am, I'm Scrooge McDuck swimming in dabloons in terms of all the blessings I enjoy.

Thanks Ryan. It's good to have to back. We look forward to seeing you next month and hope you find the temperatures up here more hospitable, if only slightly.

-Tom

Christmas 2009

2010-01-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

We all seem to be living under the old Chinese curse that goes "May you live in interesting times." Amy and I have certainly been no exception. 2009 was an unusual year for a number of reasons. The United States inaugurated its first black president. Unemployment rose in record proportions. The American healthcare system changed in radical ways that even the politicians who made the change don't completely understand.

On a more personal level, Amy and I moved out of state for the first time since we've been married and I spent Christmas with my entire immediate family. The last time that happened it was still the 20th century. It was the Christmas of 1996 when my parents announced their decision to get a divorce and all five of us haven't been together for Christmas since. Through marriage or adoption that number has grown to eight of us; additions who are all warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated.

My parents have developed a cordial relationship. I was afraid that things would be awkward, but everything had an eggnog-like smoothness and sweetness. We're not drinkers, but my parent's new granddaughter seemed to serve as a good social lubricant for all of us. On Christmas Eve we sang carols together and read the Christmas story. My father played the piano for us, just as he used to when we were all much younger. Some of us voiced the opinion that we had - almost - picked up right where we had left off as a family.

Yesterday I remembered in an old place deep inside the primal joy that comes from the feel of the strong and yet fragile smoothness of wrapping paper on boxes full of treasures and delights, and the raw pleasure of tearing off the wrapping and finding surprises that may turn out to be only tokens, but give lasting satisfaction. It's strange how my parents turned out to be right about giving being a greater pleasure than getting as I've gotten older, but giving is pleasure stretched out over the month running from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The morning of Christmas is a time to receive, and it's still sweetly satisfying. Everyone managed to stay occupied and entertained throughout the day.

Amy and I had the pleasure of showing my Dad our new apartment home. We found a new appreciation for where we live, showing off the amenities of our brand new place, rediscovering each as we went. We shared the hot-tub with my sister Abby and my Dad; the first time Amy and I had ever shared it with anyone. We came out feeling as though we had just enjoyed a massage.

When we fell asleep last night we felt as though the world had a new shine on it that hadn't been there before, like an old car with it's "new car" smell restored.

Things are still imperfect. Our times will probably still continue to be interesting. I have chosen to take the liquory taste of gourmet chocolate, the warmth of a fire, the sounds of my father's piano-playing, and the smiles of my new niece as good omens for the year 2010.

-Tom

One Meeelion . . . Words!

2009-11-23T00:32:00.000-08:00

That’s right folks. I’ve set a goal for the year 2010 to write no less than 1,000,000 words.

The reason for this announcment? Accountability.

As many of you know, my wife and I have been participating in National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org) and each year we’ve announced to everyone we know that we’re doing it. This is because we need the social pressure to make sure we meet our goal of writing a 50,000 word work of fiction in a single calendar month.

This situation is no different.

You should know that not every one of those 1,000,000 words will be fiction. I also write non-fiction for my living and those words will be counted as well.

This breaks down to about 4,000 words a day, about five days a week for the whole year. At my usual pace, this works out to at least two hours of sustained drafting each day, or less when you factor in my daily work. This is very do-able for me!

I came to this resolution when I heard an unwritten rule that professional writers have to write at least 1,000,000 words before they can be truly successful. Of course there are exceptions, but I totally see the logic. It’s sort of the writer’s equivalent of the 10,000 hour-rule presented in the book Outliers.

According to some, this work is necessary to learn just how bad a writer you are, and gives you the time to work out all your demons and issues. After that, the bad writing is out of the way and you can move on to the good stuff!

I’m excited to see the results.

To help ensure success I’m committing to incremental goals that will help me get to 1,000,000. I plan on entering the L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest (www.writersofthefuture.com) every quarter. I plan on drafting 10 full-length novels in the course of next year. I’ll write for my business blog faithfully every single week.

I’m sure as I get closer and as I move through the year I’ll come up with some other incremental goals, but I think those should make for a good start.

I thank all of your for your interest, support, and (should I decide to chicken out) merciless ridicule.

To 1,000,000 words! Here I go!

-Tom

Knitting real lace

2009-11-10T00:11:00.000-08:00

So tonight I finished my first lace shawl. I call it my first, even though technically I knitted up a couple less involved and shorter lace scarves last year. I was proud when I finished those earlier projects, but when I look back at them now, I can see how simple they really were.

When you have a piece of lace that hasn't been blocked, it literally looks like a rumpled old bag; definitely nothing to be impressed with. The blocking process, however, changes that dramatically. I forgot to get any pictures of the shawl before I blocked it, but here is one of the actual blocking.

To block a piece of lace, you first have to soak the finished piece in cool water with a touch of wool wash (I just use a mild detergent, since I haven't actually gotten around to buying any wool wash). You have to completely soak it, and if the yarn is thicker it takes awhile to get completely soaked through. For this project I used a lace weight yarn (alpaca and silk blend), so I only soaked it for about ten or fifteen minutes.

After the piece is soaked through, you need to squeeze the excess water out of it. You don't want to wring it out, because it can distort or felt the lace, and that would be bad. You squeeze it gently, trying to get out what you can with your hands, and then you roll it into a towel, squeezing out as much as you can that way.

After you get the excess water out, you need to set the shape you want the lace to stay in. They recommend using a blocking board with lines and measurements printed on it so you have a guide as you're laying out your piece to block. I used a piece of foam and measuring tape. You take pins and create whatever shape you want to form with the piece, making sure you get the measurements right and spread out the pattern to show it off best. With scallops like this piece has, it doesn't take that many pins. With straight edges, however - like the scarves I did last year - you can never have enough pins. You don't want to leave any crescents in a line that's supposed to be straight.

After you set the shape the way you want it, you need to wait for the lace to dry completely. With the wool I used last year, that took quite awhile - it was at least twelve hours before I felt safe unpinning it - but with this lace weight piece I only had it set for a couple of hours before unpinning it again.

After this process, the piece of lace will hold its shape until I decide to clean it (or, I suppose, get it very wet). At that point, I'll just take the lace through the blocking process again.

I am completely blown away by the beautiful drape this shawl has; it's way better than I could have hoped for. I think I picked a great yarn, and though there are many mistakes in the piece I knit up, I am very proud to be on this end of that process. I'm looking forward to wearing this shawl this winter!

-Amy

Write or Die!

2009-11-09T01:41:00.000-08:00

Do any of you blog readers out there struggle with getting distracted when you really need to be writing instead? Do you lose your focus and log onto facebook or some other popular social networking site instead of working on hitting your 50,000 word target by the end of the month?

Okay, maybe I'm the only one out there who has this problem. I am the biggest procrastinator in the world, and I REALLY know how to waste time when I'm supposed to be writing. It's amazing how interesting my desktop background can be and how many times in a ten minute block I absolutely have to save my file and check my word count. Let's just say it's not very conducive to getting my novel written this month and leave it at that...

We were recently directed to an site here to try something called "Write or Die", which I did for my Sunday writing session. Talk about a complete changing of my ways - I hardly recognized myself after so much productivity!

If you read the "Write Or Die" blog, it explains why the program was created, but to sum it up, some of us just need to be prodded a little bit with a tangible deadline and threat of disaster in order to get creative writing done. For the full explanation, go here. There are consequences if you don't keep writing, and they run as follows:

Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.
Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.
Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself

Yes, it actually DOES start deleting your work if you don't keep writing - we tried it. Not only does it make a nasty noise, but it also flashes pink and red all over your screen until you start writing again. Remember that studies have been done all about how negative it is for teachers to use a red pen when correcting their students' homework? So how do you think that makes a person feel when their monitor suddenly starts flashing pink and then darker into red? It feels like the whole computer is about to spontaneously combust, that's how. I was so anxious the whole time I was writing that even though I told the program to give me 90 minutes to get my 2000 words written, I finished in about 35.

Holy cow, talk about an epiphany! So would I use the program again? You betcha! Will I buy the desktop version that just got released for $10? Yessir! Am I going to whup Tom's word count score one of these days? Um, I'm working on it....

-Amy

NaNoWriMo 2009

2009-11-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Well friends, here we are in November again, which of course means that NaNoWriMo is upon us again. Tom and I are plowing into our novels and enjoying the terrifying ride that is creating a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. Housework goes onto the back burner as we crank up our ipods and pretend the dishes sitting in the kitchen sink are not in fact starting to smell a bit off. Our desks are piled high with plot notes, hot chocolate mugs, and various writing tools and books.

Oh, and you can't forget our writing totems, of course - mine an excessively gaudy ring and Tom's a miniature rubber duck.

We're both doing fantasy genre novels this year - a first for Tom, at least. No, we're still not allowed to share our stories with you (it's against the rules, so don't ask until after the month is over :D), but we'd love to have your happy thoughts flowing through the ether toward us, cheering us on throughout the month as we drive to the end of the 50,000 word pool we're diving into. We probably won't be doing much blog updating, but feel free to send us emails full of guilt trips from time to time this month. It never hurts to have a guilt monkey on your shoulder when you're trying to do the impossible.

We went to our first NaNoWriMo kickoff party on Saturday night up in Bellevue. It started at 11:00 pm and let up to a countdown to writing starting at midnight. Because there are so many nano participants here in the Seattle area (we're talking a few thousand, very different from the couple hundred in the Salt Lake area!), there were about 60 people who showed up at the one we went to. Many of them - as you can see - wore their Halloween costumes for the event.

Talk about a strange silence setting over the room when midnight struck! There was a contest to see who could get their first 1000 words written the fastest, and there were prizes for everyone who got at least 1000 words done that night. We stayed until a little before 1:00 am and took away our special prizes (notebooks and stickers a kindergartener could be proud of!), but most of the group was still there going strong when we left. We hope to go to a few more write-ins before the month is out. It was great getting the chance to meet some similarly crazy people we had something in common with.

Anyone who is interested in joining in the November madness, we'd definitely encourage you to jump on in. We're only two days into the 30, and it wouldn't be too hard for you to catch up!

Happy noveling, all!

-Amy

Salmon Running Through The Library

2009-11-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

I’m writing this blog in the Renton City Library. It’s an older building constructed sometime in the 1960’s, and it shows. It’s not likely to be renovated or replaced any time soon because of where it sits. It straddles the Cedar River, site of an annual run of salmon swimming upstream from the ocean to spawn in the fresh water they were born in.

I took a little video of the salmon run here: (Don’t attempt to adjust your volume, there’s no sound.)

As I write this, countless fish are slowly moving upstream about thirty feet below where I’m sitting.

Apparently it’s quite a city event, attracting people coming and going from the library to the edge of the railing, the very spot from which this video was taken.

A few ladies were sitting at what looked like an information table laden with literature. Nobody, including me, is going to talk to them. They have a haggard look. They wear fleecy sportswear and hold their hiking sticks on their laps. I get the sense that they use those sticks every day, all day. I’m sure that, whatever they do, they’re very good at it, but only if that doesn’t involve inviting people to talk to them and dispense information. They seem out of their element, and nobody seems to want to rub it in by trying to talk to them.

As a true introvert, I’m much more content to find the information I’m looking for online . . . where I don’t have to interact with anyone to find what I’m looking for. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Anyway, chances are these ladies would want to do me physical harm if they knew what my political views were, and they’re armed. I could only hope to feebly defend myself with my Neo and my canteen full of water, but I digress.

It’s strange, but living here I seem to have so much more contact with nature than at any time when I was living in Utah. Just running errands can become a dazzling afternoon drive to see the fall colors.

I lived here before, and somehow I managed to take the wonders of this place (like the library built over a freaking river!) for granted.

I think the only thing missing here is a glass-bottomed area of the library that would allow you to look down and see the river rushing by. That’s not likely to happen, nor are any other major renovations or replacements barring a generous grant or private donation. I’m willing to bet the environmental impact study alone would cost as much as city’s monthly budget. Who knows, though. The stimulus bill has taught me to never underestimate the power of Federal pork.

I’m writing this at the next best thing to that glass-bottomed area that’s never to be. I have a window seat on the other end of the building from the entrance, allowing me to look down on the river and watch cars passing on the bridges as it stretches towards the lake, all framed with emerald, yellow, and red leaves on the trees along the bank.

Check it out!

-Tom

Happy 30th Birthday, Tom!

2009-10-16T22:28:00.001-07:00

Well, just like my subject line declares, Tom turned 30 on Monday. It was great that it turned out to be on my day off, so we got to spend the whole day together. While we didn't get very many pictures to catalog the day, the ones we got have the bonus of being full of fall colors.

Tom really wanted to eat at Ivar's for his birthday, so we headed over to our usual haunt (Lake Washington, where else?) picked him up some fish and chips, and had our lunch out on the pier.

This is actually the only picture I got with Tom in it. Not much of a 30th birthday commemoration photo, but at least it's proof that Tom really did get to eat seafood that day. This is the part where I admit that I'm not much of a seafood fan. I do like Ivar's fish and chips (sometimes, and only then the halibut ones), but I grabbed takeout from Panda Express before we went to the lake.

The trees are turning all sorts of crazy colors that I have never seen before. The pictures just don't do the colors justice; I swear there were a dozen different colors of red, yellow, orange, and coral there at the park.

After lunch, we went to a Toy Story 3D double feature. It was really cool to see the original movies in 3D. You could see a bigger difference in the technology development between the two movies because the first one had pretty 2-D backgrounds while the backgrounds in the second movie really came alive. We're looking forward to seeing the third movie when it comes out in another few months.

After the movie we relaxed and did a little cleaning at home before meeting Janet and John over at Hong's Garden Chinese restaurant for dinner. Talk about a crazy eating out day! The food was good, and afterward the four of us came back to our place where we sang happy birthday to Tom and had some cake and ice cream. It was about this point where I realized I had left the camera in the car I had meant to bring in for real birthday pictures, but none of us felt like making the trek downstairs to grab it. Oh, well.

One thing we've realized in getting closer to this age landmark is what little difference the passing of a year makes. Many things have changed for us this past twelve months, but we don't really feel any older.

-Amy

Discovering "Discovery"

2009-10-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the afternoon at Discovery Park in Seattle. It was beautiful! We've been meaning to explore some of the greener wilder places we have around here. The recent Ken Burns documentary about the national parks reminded me that we have two national parks right here in our backyard. In fact, on a clear day you can see both of them. Today was such a day.

It's hard to see in this picture, but Mt. Rainier is rising just above the convergence of the two hills. The Olympic mountains were even more visible in the other direction. We didn't have the time or the funds to get out to either of those magnificent national parks, but we found a gem of a park right near Seattle. In fact it's five minutes from downtown, and only twenty minutes from our home in Renton. You can't be out in nature and be any closer to the city.

Discovery park is on a little peninsula on the north side of town and is covered with various wooded trails and is edged with pleasant beaches.

Most of these were taken on such a beach. Amy even managed to find a few stones for her hot stone massage set.

We didn't even begin to see everything. There's apparently a lighthouse and a little historic town that used to be where the park now stands. We spent most of our time hiking the trails and just seeing what there might be to see. I doubt we even got a look at a tenth of it. We must have hiked at least five miles today.

The whole place is a reminder of what Seattle once was before Americans arrived. It's not hard to imagine native fishermen out in the sound or preparing their expeditions on the shore.
We found this arrangement of driftwood which was kind of disturbing. Sorta looks like a grave, doesn't it? I doubt it is, but there is actually a cemetary nearby come to think of it.
It's hard to believe that I lived here as long as I did and never saw or even knew about some of the natural treasures around here. I'm hoping in the next few years Amy and I can rectify that.
The whole day I was thinking how fun it would be to bring Amy's family here whenever it is they can manage to visit. There's so much to see and do around here, we feel very luck that we'll have some time to take it all in. It was a good workout and a day off well spent. I had some work to do before we left and it took longer than I thought, so we left the house a little flustered. We both had a long week and this trip was exactly what we needed. The air under the canopy of the trees seems so rich and fresh. Spending a few hours in it was extremely relaxing, in spite of the traffic on the ride home.

In any case, we'll definitely be coming back soon.

-Tom

The Knittery - my knitting haven.

2009-09-29T12:38:00.001-07:00

So I'm trying to knit a nice lace shawl from one of the patterns in this book and I'm learning how difficult lace can be. Don't get me wrong - I'm enjoying myself (mostly) - but I've never struggled so much while trying to knit anything else. This is what it will look like when it is finished (I hope), though I'm making it out of a plum-colored yarn instead of this sage green.

I got the alpaca/silk yarn I'm using at a local knitting shop about a mile away from our place. They have all sorts of lovely yarn out of just about any material you can think of, and there's a nice old lady that runs the place and welcomes any questions. I went in yesterday and got some help and I was really impressed that she would sit down with me for ten minutes just to answer some questions and watch me knit.

So I'm giving her business a shameless plug. This is her website, where you can order products or get help with tricky patterns.

-Amy

Hot Stone Training

2009-09-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got to go to a two-day course to get certified in hot stone massage. I figured it would be pretty relaxing, but what I didn't expect was to learn so much about injury treatment and triggerpoint therapy. Oh, and who knew that you can freeze stones and do cold stone therapy sessions as well?

As with any massage course, we got to do a lot of hours of trades on each other (after each lecture and demo), so I probably received about five hours of massage while I was there. That's a pretty good bargain for the money I paid for the class, and I of course also get the continuing education credits and the opportunity to do hot stone sessions at work and get paid a bit more per session.

For those of you who are not familiar with hot stone massage, I'll answer some questions you may be having right about now. Yes, we really do stick hot rocks between your toes like the picture above. No, we do not actually leave hot rocks just lying on your bare back like you see in every ad depicting hot stone massage; we have to keep many towels around to wrap hot stones in for that purpose. We do, however, use the stones to rub the oil into our clients. The heat helps melt the sticky points in fascia and muscle so the massage can get really deep with much less effort on the therapist's part. The ice helps set the newly-relaxed muscles in their stretched out state so the treatment lasts for much longer than a normal massage session.

Anyway, that was way more information that I'm sure any of you ever wanted to learn about rocks or massage, but as you can tell I'm feeling excited about learning a new modality. I had a good but exhausting weekend, and I'm SO glad I have a day off tomorrow so I can catch up on my sleep.

--Amy

A “Church Home” For Books

2009-09-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

Last week Amy and I tried to find a good bookstore. Let me explain what I mean by that. When most Christians relocate they have to find a new church, a new “church home” they call it, where they can feel comfortable worshipping, socializing, and being preached to.

I guess if you follow the analogy through it's like we kinda worship books. We don't really, though we have a healthy fetish for them. To be clear, our fetish is more for the contents of books, not the objects themselves. We’re pretty conservative about how many books we buy and keep in the house.

Mainly, we love to browse, scope out the reading market, or just soak up the literary vibes while we work on our writing projects.

The Salt Lake City Borders store was our favorite haunt in Utah, but the one here turned out to be pretty different.

When I lived here before I used to spend a lot of time at the Borders. There, books were King. The coffee shop was nice with live music on Friday nights. The CDs and DVDs were tucked away under the mezzanine, and the store itself was set apart from the mall and the teeny-bopper crowd.

Not anymore.

The store’s been relocated to the heart of the mall, recently rennovated and expanded. Everything is now catered to the teeny-boppers with over-priced DVDs and swimsuit calenders everywhere you turn.

To coin a phrase, it sucked.

The nearby Barnes and Noble was okay, but only just. Set apart from the mall, it felt a lot better in there, but we’re still searching for the best place to go.

Seattle is a reading town with plenty of hole-in-the-wall places to check out, so we’ll see how it goes as we explore some of our other options.

-Tom.

Visit With Lorena

2009-09-01T12:48:00.001-07:00

These pictures were actually taken about 2 weeks ago when Jeremy and Abby came into town for a visit, but I hadn't gotten the chance to post them yet. Lorena is getting big and doing great. We love to hold her when we get the chance; there's just something about the smell of a baby...

It always makes me giggle when I see Lorena's smile in this picture. Abby got a great shot!

-Amy

Living at the mall and other updates...

2009-08-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

We've now been here in our new place for three weeks today, and we've been enjoying it much more than we expected. For those of you we haven't been good about updating about our situation here, I'll give you a little rundown...

My massage license went through just a few days after we got here, so we had just enough time to pull the household into some semblance of order before I started work on August 11th. Adjusting to my new commute time wasn't difficult in the least - it literally took me two minutes to get from our front door to the front door of the Massage Envy across the street (Some days it takes me a few minutes longer than that if the elevator or traffic light make me wait).

My boss told me to expect to be booked only about 50% for the first two weeks, but it's been more like 80-90%, and I just finished my second week. They keep me very busy and I love working there. I'm scheduled from 2-10pm Tuesday-Friday and 12-8pm on Saturdays. This schedule is about as different from our Utah schedule as we could get (the whole getting up at 4:30 in the morning thing REALLY wasn't my cup of tea, let me tell you!), but it's working well for us. Tom and I both are getting better sleep than we have in years!

Mid-day during the week we can be found at the gym downstairs enjoying the facilities and getting out our wiggles. They have really nice equipment as well as a hearty supply of freshly laundered towels and cold, filtered water. I've only accidentally stolen a towel once... but I took it back the next day. It really does feel like we live at a hotel! The pool should be finished any day now - just in time for it to close for the season, if we were still in Utah.

It's strange to be virtually living at the mall. We've walked around the shops here taking care of business and just checking things out, and it's certainly a different experience. There are always people around to observe and interesting things to see. We walked over to Lake Washington for the first time this past Monday as a day off treat. We kicked ourselves after we realized we had forgotten to bring the camera. It was a really nice day, and we felt grateful to be living here in such a beautiful place.

We got our new cell phone numbers this past week. If you would like those numbers or our new mailing address, just email me at amysgunn@gmail.com and I'd be happy to give them to you.

-Amy

Getting Comfortable 8/5/09

2009-08-13T00:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the place is finally starting to look like a home. Our efforts at unpacking have turned the crushing mountain of boxes into inconvenient little islands of them.

Meanwhile, Amy and I have been loving where we live. I've told Amy we better plan on buying our own place next time we move. This brand new apartment is spoiling us, and I don't think we'll be able to rent another place again.

We've had the chance to try a few of the touted amenities. They have these great carts in the parking garage to help you get cargo from your car to your front door. Check it out!

The pool isn't open, but they're clearly working on it.

The gym is great! All the equipment works, the towels are fresh and plentiful, the water is cool and clean, and the sanitary wipes keep the whole experience from being disgusting.

The free Starbucks coffee is good, I'm sure, if the hot chocolate is any indication.

We rented a video from the leasing office the other day; a movie called Radio. Their selection was decent, but we're glad they're rotating it. The bottom line is we got to watch something we didn't own, and all it cost us was a trip down the hall.

Speaking of trips down the hall, taking out the garbage is a cinch. The room in the photo below is about ten feet down the hall from our front door.

I finally got my very own key fob for the elevators, making an incident like the other night less likely. The weather has finally cooled considerably, and Amy and I took a refreshing stroll last night to pick up a few things up at Target. It really is amazing how close everything is. The reality of our new pedestrian arrangement is still setting in.

The courtyard our place looks out on is very nice. Ours is the first apartment on the second floor on the building on the right. See, there's our fountain on the porch.

After much travail and struggle with Qwest tech support, I finally got the Internet up and running, which means I'm returning to work tomorrow.

Amy's received word today that everything is coming together for her massage license, so she should be working before the end of the month. What a relief!

All the puzzle pieces of our new lives here are falling into place, and the picture taking shape is looking better every day.

-Tom

Controlled Access 8/3/09

2009-08-13T00:56:00.000-07:00

Living in a big building is certainly a new and interesting adventure. As we were moving in, my cousin Dave said the long empty hallways lined with doors reminded him of a Stanley Kubrik picture. My adventures getting lost (and worse) have made me feel like I'm in a bizarre movie myself.

The leasing office has a rotating library of DVDs which residents can check out. Not sure if the office had closed yet, I went over that way to look into it. I had to get in an elevator to get up to the office, but I soon found myself virtually trapped inside it. The office being closed, the elevator wouldn't take me up there. With access to residential areas being controlled, I couldn't get off the elevator either. I could only go down to the parking level, which was also controlled and kept me from getting to our car, or the elevator that would take me to our floor.

The parking area I ended up in has a keypad by the elevator that allows you to call a resident you're visiting to unlock elevator. The number it calls is actually my cell phone number . . . which was locked in the car.

I soon found myself outside the building, locked out, with no recourse but to ask a stranger for the use of their cell phone. I found a security guard on patrol. I explained my predicament, and borrowed his phone. It took several panicked tries, but I finally reached Amy, who has the only entry fob. She came out and rescued me.

On the bright side, we now know just how tough it is to get into this place if you don't belong here, or even if you do. Compared to our place in Midvale, it's sure a nice change, as long as I can avoid getting locked out again.

-Tom

A Moving Adventure 8/2/09

2009-08-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

We're here!

That sentence sums up nicely how glad we are to finally have our move over with. We've been dreaming of living here in the Pacific Northwest almost since we were first married, and this last weekend, that slice of our dreams finally came true.

It felt like it would never happen. With so many hassles with Amy's massage license (which still aren't resolved), and so many other concerns and obstacles that got in our way, the whole thing sometimes felt like a pipe dream.

With faith, determination, and heroic assistance from both sides of the family, we made it.

Amy's packing superpowers combined with the brawny efforts of the Spaulding boys got our rented truck packed tighter than an Italian sausage. The drive was long and lonely as we had to go slow, and Amy had to drive the car behind me in a little convoy. Borrowed walkie-talkies helped keep us together and sane, but it was a long slog.

There's nothing like the feeling of coasting down a hill in one of those trucks with every earthly possession directly behind you, and only a thin layer of inflated vulcanized rubber between you and destruction. Mad, really, but I guess people do it every day.

We had a relaxing stop in Tri-Cities, WA to see our new niece Lorena and visit my sister Abby and her husband. Thanks to my Dad for the hotel points! That was a lifesaver.

When we arrived the next day, my brother John, my mom, and my cousins Dave and Steve all helped immensely. Seattle's been suffering record heat, but everyone pitched in to help anyway with little or no complaint. In fact, Dave and Steve had a ball pushing each other down the hallways on the furniture dolly. Not only did they help with their muscles, they lightened the mood and kept us all laughing.

Thanks to everyone for their kind support, time, and hard work in helping us get here.

-Tom

Goodbye, Utah!

2009-07-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we're finally doing it after eight months of waiting. This Thursday we will be loading up our moving truck and then staying the night at Jeff and Crystal's place in Salt Lake. We will be getting up super early on Friday morning (probably in the neighborhood of 4 or 5 am) and getting on the road from there. We plan on spending the night in the Tri-Cities area on Friday night (eastern Washington). That way we can get cleaned up and - we hope - drop by to see our newest niece on Friday night before we shove off again early Saturday morning and make the rest of the trip to Renton.

Needless to say, we're extremely excited and anxious. We figured we wouldn't know when we were moving for sure until the last minute, but this was closer to the last minute than we thought it would be. We'll be packing a lot of boxes and doing a lot of organizing over the next couple of days, and Tuesday will be my last day working with Life Path.

We will probably be getting new phone numbers this week. We will try to get out an email blast as soon as we know what those numbers are (we already have our new address, but I don't especially want to post it here online where everybody can see - just call me paranoid).

We heard the Spaulding reunion was a big hit this week and were sorry we weren't able to attend. We plan on being there for the next reunion in two years for those of you who have asked.

I want to give a special thanks to my family who have let us stay with them for longer than any of us originally planned, and for all their help in seeing us off this week. I also want to thank Tom's family in advance for planning to help us on the other end. Thanks to all of you who hired me for last minute massages - it was great seeing you again, and every penny helps with a big move like this looming on the horizon.

-Amy

Lorena Maria Kidd - Welcome to the family!

2009-07-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

Tom's sister Abby and her husband Jeremy are officially the parents of a new baby girl. We are thrilled to have another niece and look forward to spoiling her rotten once we get up to Washington!

They are planning to name her Lorena Maria Kidd. Although the papers are all signed and sealed, apparently it will be a week and a half before the birth parents can file the petition to terminate rights. Lorena is going to need to stay in the hospital another week or two since she was born so early, but she is doing well.

Both parents are deliriously happy, even if Abby's smile looks a little forced here!

Business and Pleasure

2009-07-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

Tom and I made it up to Washington okay on Tuesday night. We had a nice relaxing day yesterday playing games and just hanging out with John and Janet, and I scoped out the area of my first interview while we were out for lunch. We went over to visit Grandma and Grandpa Fawcett at their not-so-new-but-new-to-us home here in Renton. They've lived there for about 3 1/2 years and we've never gone over to see them in their home for one reason or another. We stayed with them for a few hours and had a nice visit.

Today's interview was for the Massage Envy in Renton Landing.

The interview went really well and they offered me a job by the end. I'm extremely impressed with the owner and the way he operates his business - very different than other franchise locations. Whatever happens with my other interviews in Lacey and Woodinville tomorrow, I am thrilled to have a job if I choose to take it. This was a very successful trip, no matter how you look at it.

One of the wonderful things about Renton Landing is that it's an urban community complete with a Target, Fry's Electronics, many restaurants, shops and cell phone stores, banks, and of course the luxury apartments (which are by the way literally right across the street from the Massage Envy there). So we set up an appointment to visit the apartments today after my interview.

To put it lightly, I have NEVER IN MY LIFE seen such a fantastic apartment building. We certainly never thought we would be entertaining the idea of living in such a luxury setting, but the rent is not even that much more than we were paying in Midvale for our dump there. Here are some photos of the apartments - which come with a clubhouse, pool, hot tub with outdoor showers, no less than three or four free wi-fi spots, free coffee, tea and cocoa, a 24-hour workout room with fantastic equipment, etc., etc., etc...

Here's the outside of the building:
This is the floorplan we're looking at. It only has one bedroom, but everything is very open:
This is part of the clubhouse; one of the areas with free wi-fi. What a great place for Tom to do some writing if he has to get out of the apartment!

Another part of the clubhouse, also with free wi-fi. You'll notice the area in the back there is a full kitchen that residents can use, and invite guests as well:

Bedroom/bathroom. All of the walls have two-tone paint, so none of this boring white only stuff. The bathroom has a soaking tub, which is HUGE!

This is the gym, which is open 24-hours:
All of the units have a washer/dryer included in the unit:

I've got two more interviews tomorrow, and I'll post some sort of update afterward.

Tallinn - Latest Photo

2009-07-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist pulling this photo off of Matt and Deneal's family blog. This is our niece Tallinn, who is almost four months old now. Every time I see this picture I am blown away at how adorable she is. Matt and Deneal are in for a tough time, I think. How could they ever resist saying no to that face?

Changes

2009-07-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Since Tom and I first got married, we knew we probably wouldn't stay in Utah for the long term. As most of you know, we decided to make this year the time for moving on and moving away. There are many more opportunities for both of our careers in Washington state (and being close to most of Tom's family and the beach doesn't hurt either!), so we've been trying to get everything worked out so we can get up there. My massage license is taking much longer to process than I was originally told it would (I haven't been in school for 10 years, why would it have occurred to me that May would find the health department crammed with new graduates' licensing applications?), but the plan is still to get up there as soon as we can. Many of you have asked about our timeline, so here it is to our closest estimation:

July 8-12: We will be heading up to Washington for some massage interviews and spending a bit of time with family there. We aren't actually moving at this time, just making a quick trip to take care of business.

July 17: This will PROBABLY be my last day at work here in Utah, as long as the new estimate from the health department is correct and I am licensed and legal by then. My boss is being great and extremely flexible with me. She's letting me work as long as I can, so I'll get the chance to train the new therapist they just hired before I go.

July 17-25: We're hoping to be moving to Washington somewhere in here. We will probably be somewhere within an hour or so of Seattle, but until the job situation is settled, we're not even sure about that.

We're really excited about this change in our lives, although we will miss our friends and family here in Utah. We will keep everyone updated with our new address and phone numbers when we get them (yes, I'm actually going to change the phone number I've had for about 15 years!). I hope that after we finally get settled into our new place we can get back into the rhythm of keeping up our blog and living normal lives (okay, I don't think we EVER come too close to normal, but you know what I mean).

-Amy

Summer Graduates

2009-06-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

Summer graduated from North Sanpete High on May 22. We sat up near the top of the bleachers where there was virtually no air flow as we watched the ceremony. Luckily the proceedings were pretty short so nobody went away with heat stroke

Summer will start school at SUU in Cedar City this August (where she has scholarships that will cover everything but her housing). She's planning to go into English/Drama teaching at a high school level. We're all very proud of her and hope her grand plans don't wear her out too much :P

Elanie Cosette turns 3

2009-06-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

Ella had her third birthday on May 9. There were a lot of friends and family there, and Ella was thrilled to be the center of everyone's attention. She planned her own party and picked out most of the supplies, complete with the "congratulations graduate" balloons that decorated the pavilion. Of course it was a princess party, and all of the little girls had to have tiaras and magic wands.

Talk about getting spoiled! This photo doesn't even show all of the presents she got. All the little girls there thought they had won the lottery and there was a bit of cat fighting when Ella realized they wanted to take turns with her new things as well.

Here's some of the family resting after the morning rush to get ready for the party.

Ella poses with her dad, grandpa and of course a princess party favor.

Leo mostly kept to himself during the party, but when Ella opened her pack of miniature Disney Princess dolls he decided to fight her for them. The poor kid couldn't figure out why Ella was getting all of the toys, but he was pretty patient with everything going on anyway.

John graduates

2009-06-06T23:35:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: as you can probably tell at this point, I went to upload pictures from the camera tonight and realized how behind I've gotten with the blog.

As you can probably tell at this point, I went to upload pictures from the camera tonight and realized how behind I've gotten with the blog.

On April 24, Tom's brother John graduated from BYU with his computer science degree. We really enjoyed spending time with the family while they were in town and are looking forward to spending more time with them in the near future as we get up to Washington. Congrats John!

Let's get sad...

2009-06-06T23:12:00.003-07:00

Okay, this post is really long in coming. Way back on April 4th Tom, John and I went to a Damien Jurado concert in Provo. The venue was small with great ambience, complete with weird modern art (flying babies and all). I must confess that this was the first concert I had ever been to, and I really enjoyed it.

In the middle of the concert after one of Damien's rare upbeat songs, he was talking to the audience animatedly (okay, as animated as he ever gets) and then suddenly said "Okay, now let's get sad" as he tried to get back into his typically dour frame of mind.

This was a song he wrote just a few hours before the concert, and we were actually standing right by the person who took this video.

Floatin' Babies

2009-06-06T23:12:00.001-07:00

While performing his song "Letters and Drawings", he got distracted by the lights and blanked out and sang about the aforementioned "floating babies." Listen through to the end of the song to catch that part.

Fan-Boy Gets His Wish

2009-05-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

First, there's just one item of business I'd like to clear up:

I'm a Trekkie.

I know what you think of me.

And I don't care.

I'm in too good a mood to be sensitive about it, because this weekend I got my wish.

I grew up with the original Star Trek series. To me it evokes Sunday afternoons watching reruns, enraptured by massive ships zipping through space, brave, interesting characters, and unapologetic camp. Sure, for a while there I was taken with The Next Generation and the follow-up series' and films. Since I've grown, though, my affection for the original series has only grown with me. Frankly, I love the uniforms trimmed with gold lammee. I love Shatner's physicality (affectionately known at our house as "Kirk Fu"), DeForrest Kelley's cantankerousness, and Spock's cool professionalism.

Well, folks, I have seen the rebirth of Star Trek, and I have my wish; IT'S BACK.

And people, like it!

The new cast and writers build on what went before without destroying it, and often improve on what's been done. Chekov is younger, chirpier, more brilliant, and more endearing. Uhura is smarter, stronger, and delightfully stubborn. Scotty is funnier, brighter, and much less buffoonish. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are each well played, not allowing their performances to devolve into impersonations.

Beyond writing and casting, "Star Trek" sports fantastic sound design, partaking of the drifting "sonar" beeps on the bridge, the eerie singing of the transporter, the whiz-bang fun of firing phasers and retools them all for an audience ranging from the seasoned fan to the disinterested outsider. The Enterprise herself is gorgeous; plausibly futuristic for today's audience and authentic enough to be indistiguishable from the original at a distance, right down to the swirly lights in the nacelles and the deflector dish defiantly protruding from the drive section.

Best of all, the brightly-colored uniforms are back, both updated and unafraid of their 60's roots. Both the costume designer and the writers did their research, referencing not only the origial series, but the latest series called Enterprise through a line mentioning "Admiral Archer" and making the primary command uniforms blue in a recent flashback. You fans will know what I'm talking about. Good, good stuff.

My hope is that this will draw fresh blood into the ranks of Trekkies, an infusion of new enthusiasm the franchise has long needed. Lately, Star Trek fandom has become a stiffling echo-chamber filled with knit-picking dweebs, incurably cynical toward new ideas, suspicious of fresh blood, and all myopically staring at the back of the cave watching the shadows outside pass them by. Well, turn around you guys, and scoot over. There's room in here for everybody!

-Tom

Ash--2006-2009

2009-03-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ash was killed by a car yesterday on Highway 89 near our home in Indianola. It appeared that she was killed instantly and didn’t suffer at all. Our pack is a little smaller and a lot sadder today.

What follows are a few of our more fond memories, along with a few photos and videos of her.

Ash used to love watching me cook in the kitchen. One day I was cooking and in the course of what I was doing I opened the oven. For some reason it got her attention. I wondered why. I asked her as a joke “You wanna get in the oven?” At this she jumped with excitement, like I was offering her the most incredible adventure imaginable. For days afterward, the question induced the same excitement. It was so funny. When we told John about it he taunted her with it for months with the same joke.

Ash relished food so much that it was a joy to save little treats for her when we’d eat out. We’d take home fries, or even a cheeseburger. She didn’t exactly savor it, horking it down before we could finish saying “go for it.” I can’t help but think she just relished the anticipation.

In spite of her love for scraps and human food, she had a rather sensitive system. Once we made the mistake of buying a huge Costco bag of food for her. We accidentally bought the weight control formula, which was high in fiber. After only a day of eating it, she had terrible diarrhea.

Ash with diarrhea felt a little like feeding an infant late at night. We’d wake up in the dead of the night to her insistent, urgent whines. I’d get up, muttering, slip on my robe and slippers to take her out, wondering all the while if it’s really my turn or if Amy should do it this time. Instead of following her around while she searched for a spot to go, like normal, I just let her off her leash. She'd run off across the grass, sniffing furiously for a suitable spot, take care of business, and come right back when I called, even if that call was only a whisper.

We ended up giving the food away on Craigslist. We had to stick with Purina One or nothing. Of course, she had to have expensive taste. She always had a little bit of a princess in her.

Her name suited her. She was named for a dog in a book called Deerskin by Robin McKinley. She comforts the heroine of the book through difficult times. Ash did that for both of us.

When Amy found Ash, our marriage was in real trouble. We had been right on the brink of divorce right around that time. Ash gave us something to love and work on together, training her and enjoying her little personality in our lives. Amy says during that time she would hold Ash on her lap and just cry. She was always so affectionate and sensitive to our needs. Even when I was angry or upset about something she didn’t get scared; she’d come over to me and put her chin on my lap and look at me with those irresistible eyes of hers. She helped bring us back together by helping us see in each other the things that made us want to get married in the first place.

Ash was a peaceful, loving influence in our home, and that’s what we will miss the most. It’ll be impossible to completely replace her. She was one of a kind.

In loving memory,

2006-2009

-Tom

The Bread Box Bakery Grand Opening

2009-03-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

Mom had the grand opening for her bakery in Fairview today. She's been working at getting it ready to open for a few months now, so she was thrilled to finally open her doors to the public. She sold out of all of her bread, cookies, cinnamon rolls, spudnuts, and other baked goods before closing time, so all of the food was a hit. We went over there right after closing time to take a look and help straighten up a little bit, and even then people were showing up every few minutes to check the place out and see what she had to sell. We hope for her sake that business will keep up and she can keep up with business. Congratulations, Mom!

-Amy

New Website Launches

2009-03-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tom's freelance writing business kicked into high gear today with the launch of his new website. Feel free to check it out and keep him in mind the next time you have content that needs to be written, revised, or looked over.

Kudos to Jeff Spaulding for a great job with the site design! We'd recommend his services to anyone who has need of a designer in the future.

See you at tgunnwriter.com!

Rednecks Find Luck On St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-24T08:43:00.001-07:00

The rednecks were indeed lucky: lucky they didn't get kicked out of the place: lucky nobody called animal control: lucky alcohol wasn't being served or they would have been lucky nobody ended up arrested or in the emergency room.

Such was our night at Chateau Brickyard's St. Patrick's Day family dinner. Grandpa's been doing well since he moved in there. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. These two strengths became weaknesses last Tuesday.

Grandpa's French-themed assisted living facility likes to roll out the red carpet for the families of their residents, especially on holidays. The only reason I can fathom they do this is to keep the monthly checks rolling in from the people that are probably at least helping to pay the rent.

Christmas was quite an affair. The dinner was hearty and well prepared. The place was decorated like a department store. They even offered valet parking. Since this was a St. Patrick's day dinner, everything accordingly was less lavish. Instead of about a dozen different desserts to choose from there were two, and one of them involved a certain crunchy rice cereal with generous amounts of green food coloring.

Don't get me wrong. It's great that they encourage visits from residents' families. We probably don't see Grandpa as often as we should, but a free meal never hurts.

We apparently weren't the only ones who thought so. Two of the residents' guest groups made up about ninety percent of the people there. They dominated huge swaths of the room, including the one in which we were sitting. Leprechaun-sized redneck larvae in green light-up necklaces and green hair dye ran among the tables while their parents ordered free adult-sized meals for them. It's a wonder they didn't run out of food.

What took the cake for me was when a woman who came in holding a blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms turned out to be carrying a baby goat.

Bottom line; at least two families got a massive family reunion fully catered for free, complete with table service. Good thing they didn't have a see-ment pond or the kids might have been defecating in it.

Shortly after we finished eating, Grandpa invited us upstairs to chat with him for a while. We went up and had a nice chat (he's doing great, by the way). In spite of missing a raffle, I was glad for his suggestion. It was getting pretty loud and unpleasant in the dining room.

Other people thought so too, apparently. On our way out I heard a resident venting her frustrations on the bewildered manager who had recently found himself and his senior staff playing nanny to the horde of bratty kids. It was a circus complete with a petting zoo.

It's nice to visit grandpa. It's nice to get a free meal. Next time we'll do it on a really special occasion . . . like Flag Day.

The Newest Addition to the Spaulding Clan

2009-03-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

Our niece Tallinn Paix Spaulding was born early Tuesday morning in Virginia. We're happy for Matt and Deneal and hope Ashton is adjusting to his new little sister. For more pictures and details, go here. Congrats big brother! :)

Happy March!

2009-03-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

Holy cow - I lost another month!!

Well, our plans have started to solidify this past couple of weeks. It's funny how one decision can change the path of your whole life. I guess that's how we've been living this past few months. I didn't get the job in Moab, but I'm doing okay with that. About two weeks ago, I started feeling like I wouldn't get the position. Apparently around that same time one of the spa's former employees contacted them and asked if they had any open positions. Of course it made more sense for them to take someone they had already trained, so after hearing this I'm not surprised by the way things turned out. I'm really not upset about it. I have the slight feeling of letdown, but I think it's mostly because we were getting anxious to have some change in our lives coming so soon.

So what does this mean for us? We are going back to the plan we had before we looked into the Moab job. We hope to be moving up to Washington (Olympia or Seattle areas) by late spring or early summer. We're still going to be staying with my parents until then and saving our money. We're not going to make it to the Spaulding family reunion in July, but it looks like we'll make it to the Fawcett family beach trip in August.

We are so grateful for your thoughts and prayers; we know they are helping us get where we need to be. Thanks again for everything!

-Amy

Coming Out of Hibernation and Listening to the Spirit

2009-02-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finally February. We're seeing more sun than gloom, and every week the snow line moves back a little further from the road. I'm loving every minute of it!

Tom's freelance work is busier than ever, and he even just got paid from his first private client a few days ago. That was definitely cause for celebration! He got this private work at the perfect time, since the company he gets most of his freelance work through is changing their business model and for now doesn't have a lot of writing work in the pipeline.

I'm still working for Life Path Hospice up in Salt Lake, though the commute is really getting to me (90 miles each way, who can blame me?). I don't know how my dad has been doing the same commute for almost 14 years. I've been getting a lot of new patients lately, which is nice after losing so many through the winter. I'm keeping busy enough that it looks like I'll have to permanently book some of what was previously time off. (Was that English?)

It's been really nice to stay at Spaulding Manor and see more of my family. We're excited about how much we're able to save by living here and look forward to our next step, whether it be moving to Moab or going somewhere in Washington or California. Who knows--maybe God wants us to go to Ireland next..? Okay, so we're pretty sure that's not in our cards for the year. We're really trying to listen to the Spirit and go where we're supposed to go. It's often a frustrating way to travel, but it's been interesting. Each time we've taken a step toward our goals, we've felt like the next step is illuminated for us.

Ash has a new doggie buddy, since we gave Tanner a puppy for his birthday. She does not like him. He likes to taunt her by coming up behind her and tapping her either with his nose or his paws. She barks like crazy and acts all offended when this happens. I'll have to try to get a video and post it soon, because it makes me laugh. Here's a picture of the cute puppy, anyway. Tanner named him Choncho.

Grandma Ricks (who lives with my family) never liked Ash very much, but since Choncho came around she raves about how much she loves Ash and how good and well-trained she is. Choncho is. . . a handful. He's in the "I have to chew on everything I can get my jaws on, even if it's your Achilles tendon" phase, and it really freaks Grandma out. He's doing better, though I wish Ash were willing to help out with that. Too bad she thinks she's a kitty.

Sorrel River Ranch

2009-01-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the Ranch where I interviewed for the job, as well as some of the surrounding area. Talk about beautiful; these pictures hardly do the area justice! We're looking forward to going wherever it may be we're going next.

Road Trips and Job Interviews

2009-01-25T16:52:00.000-08:00

Tom and I got to take a little road trip down to Moab this week for a job interview. I guess we've finally decided that since we're not tied down to any one spot, we might as well have some adventures before we leave Utah. I interviewed for a job at a spa at Sorrel River Ranch just southeast of Arches National Park. We would be able to save a little more in going down there than we already are, and besides--who wouldn't want to work in a beautiful paradise overlooking the Colorado River?

The interview went well and my prospects look good (the spa manager's biggest concern seemed to be that Tom and I might decide we didn't want to move to Moab), but since there were a couple more applicants still to be interviewed I won't get a sure up or down until at least mid-February. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as we start looking at prospective rentals down in the area.

Time Flying and New Year's Resolutions

2008-12-30T22:24:00.000-08:00

Wow--is it just me, or did a month just come and go without me noticing?

Holy cow has this ever been a crazy month for us! We didn't end up making it to Seattle like we had planned for Christmas since the weather was so rotten both here and there, but we had a nice time here with my family. We got to talk to Ryan on the phone on Christmas Eve from Mozambique, which was a highlight of the week. It's funny, because most of our gifts ended up getting sent up to Seattle initially, so we're still getting things trickling in every day or two. It feels like we got married all over again, lol.

We're planning on spending a quiet evening doing a whole lot of nothing but being lazy for New Year's Eve tomorrow, and that should be really enjoyable. My first goal for the new year will be to get a short story I'm working on finished up this week and submit it to a magazine. We'll see how that goes; I've been recording audio notes via my mp3 player (thanks Janet and Grandma Fawcett, that's where the b-day money you sent me went to!) and I'm trying to do the drafting in the evenings when I get home, but it's proving more time-consuming than I would have expected to knock out a 7500 word story. Oh, well.

So do any of you out there have any new year's resolutions you want to share? Feel free to comment.

Getting settled and ready to party!

2008-11-26T17:10:00.000-08:00

Moving was rather a fiasco, but we're finally here trying to get settled in. We couldn't seem to clean anything at the apartment good enough for management (although most of it was cleaner than when we found it), so we're going to end up paying for it, but it just got to the point where we don't even care. We're really glad to get out of there and not have to deal with the management anymore. Just as a quick public announcement, don't ever live in Brighton Place Apartments in Midvale. They're old and rundown, which means things are breaking all the time. We were able to paint our place up and make it look nice, but living in a third-world crime-filled neighborhood was a little less than preferable. We had people trying to break into our third floor apartment at least once that we know of, and there are always people around casing the buildings out. Over the last couple of months alone a bunch of apartments were destroyed in a fire, the swat team had to come break someone's door down, and there were a few of what appeared to be drug busts in the neighborhood. Fun times....

Anyway, we have a pretty sweet setup now, especially for being at my folks' house. We have a little kitchenette in our bedroom and part of a family room and library as well. Ash is having a great time running up and down the stairs all day (don't ask me why, but she loves it!). Most of our stuff is in storage for now up in Salt Lake. When we're ready to head up to the Northwest in a handful of months, we'll probably do a u-pack and have all our stuff just shipped up there for us (I really don't want to be driving a U-Haul truck through the Cascades; feel free to call me a chicken).

Jeff and Crystal and their kids are due here in the next couple of hours, and since it's Leo's birthday we're going to have a little party (complete with gluten-free cake for him). We're really looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow. I hope we can locate the camera to get some pics up of both that and Leo's party :P.

Thanks to those of you who helped us with the move, even though it took longer than we hoped it would. Thank you to all of you friends and family for your love and support. Thank you for helping us reach for our dreams.

The joys of moving

2008-11-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well, we're getting ready to close out our apartment on Saturday. We're really looking forward to getting out of this complex--the crime has really gone up this past few months. Ash will be happy to get to run around at Spaulding Manor for a few months while we stay with the fam as we get ready to move up to Washington (hopefully in June--keeping our fingers crossed!).

We're looking forward to having Thanksgiving with my family this year down in Sanpete. Merrill and John are going to join us down there along with the family, so a good time should be had by all. Thank goodness for the holidays!!

Indiana Jones and the Dissappointing Audio Book

2008-11-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

This was pretty disappointing. I got the audio book, reasoning that it might be fun to able to listen to the movie for road trips and the like. I really enjoyed the movie, but this is one of the weakest adaptations I've read, and I've read a few. Ok, not they're usually all that great. This is competently written, but the author really fails to communicate the spirit of the film, which is what I was going for.

It starts promising enough, showing a scene with Oreana that wasn't in the film and a different opening sequence. I suppose it's interesting enough and sets up the relationship better between Mac and Indy.

The actor sounds kind of ludicrous, like he belongs on a silly Saturday morning cartoon. Sadly, he kind of makes it feel like a silly Saturday morning cartoon. Rollin's cheezy additions to some of the chase scenes don't help either. It's actually kind of embarrassing.

I guess what I learned from this one is how much Harrison Ford's roughed up, aging, reliable image did for that film. The movie works because they remade Indy in the image of his hat and jacket. They fit better now than they ever did. But you won't find that Indy in this book. Save your money and just enjoy the DVD.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, I realize I'm really late in getting this up, but with how busy we've been lately I'm pleased I'm only about 3 weeks behind. :S

Here are some pictures from Jon and Jenny Cuevas' party on November 1. The face paint got really old, but we all had a good time.

Star Wars themed costumes for us, of course :D

Jenny posing for the camera :P

Rosa as a fairy

Tom Stafford and Terry Fawsom

My first freelance article (Amy)

2008-10-31T23:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Autumn and Halloween!

First of all, I have to vent a little. I got accepted to write informational articles for a freelance writing site. Tom's been doing this for awhile, but it's all new to me. I just finished my first article yesterday. It was pretty stressful, but also exciting to be writing for pay :D. I was waiting today to see if the article got accepted, and just got a reply that they wanted revisions. Now that's nothing unusual in this business (I've learned from seeing Tom go through the learning curve), but the thing this client wanted from me was MORE KEYWORDS throughout the article. I took the time to write the article carefully so it would be informative and make the reader want to read it. It was much better than anything written on the rest of this client's website, and yet they didn't care because it didn't have a high enough percentage of the total article in keywords. Why do people like this bother to pay someone to write their articles, when they could just as well use the 550 keywords they sent me in a list to use for a 850 word article and get the same effect? I'm not exaggerating. The list of words they sent was 64% as long as the total article they wanted. If I had used all of the keywords they wanted--many of which are spelled incorrectly on purpose--I wouldn't have been able to use complete sentences.

Today's lesson, for all of you future entrepreneurs out there, is that if you inundate your web copy with keywords just to get people to find you in a google search and click on the ads on your web page, you will get the opposite effect. Google will not bring up your article in their search field if it is made up completely of keywords. It will red flag their system as a spam site and will not be recommended to people. If your overpaid publicist is telling you that this is the way to get people to your site, you should fire them and find someone else who actually knows what they are talking about!

Okay, I think I've finished my vent. I added an additional bunch of keywords to that article--another 10% of the total. I'm still not sure it's going to be enough for my client. My article is now less informative and more clumsy, but there you have it.

On a lighter note, we're looking forward to going to a party tomorrow night at Jenny and Jonny's house down in Spanish Fork. Tom and I both have Star Wars themed costumes. I'll try to get some pictures of the party up in the next couple of days.

In other news, Tom starts his NaNoWriMo tomorrow (or really he started it about 45 minutes ago, since we're sitting a bit after midnight now). If you don't know what this is, here's the site. http://www.nanowrimo.org/ We're all cheering him on--GO TOM!!

PRESENTS!!

2008-10-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Did I mention I'm looking forward to Christmas vacation? I seem to mention it every five minutes these days. I think I'm making Amy crazy with it.

Amy and I just solidified our plans with my brother John. We're carpooling up to Seattle for the week of Christmas.

This should be a great Christmas. It's been five years since I really spent the holidays with my immediate family. I'm sick of white Christmas. I want wet Christmas. We don't sing "Walkin in a winter wonderland" up there. We sing "Walkin in the rain and the fog." Sounds good.

I won't be ringing the bell for Salvation Army this year. They won't take me since I won't be available for the days leading right up to Christmas, and we'll be living far from any kettle location anyway. I thought about doing it on a volunteer basis this year for a day or something. I really rather enjoyed it, but out move down to Spaulding Manor sort of precludes that.

So in spite of Thanksgiving being the holiday I usually look forward to the most, this year I'm really excited to get out of town for Christmas.

Acobox - Mixed Results from Image Provider

2008-10-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

Blogging is a jungle. In this weird competitive niche of writing, attention is like gold. And nothing grabs and holds reader attention than the right pictures. Finding images for blogs can be a tedious and fruitless process. I’ve often found that my own photos are more than adequate for garnishing my ramblings. Sometimes though, it’s clear that my own photos often won’t do the job of holding the reader’s attention.

The search begins. I do the standard image searches and scroll through picture after picture. It’s a struggle to find anything even remotely relevant, let alone images that look good.

Acobox provides a modest array of sharp, clear images for use on blogs. Their home page is stark, but inviting. The designers seem content to let the images do the talking: they’re slick, professional, and full of eye-popping color. Selection is somewhat limited. There are fourteen categories of photos, and some of those only have between five and seven images in each.

The images are easy to transfer. You just select the size you want, and copy and paste the URL. The buttons in the image tool are only compatible with Internet Explorer. As a Firefox user, I found this annoying.

While the images are of the highest quality and flexibility in terms of sizing, I find the relevance of the images to be tenuous. I can’t begrudge Acobox this weakness. Blogging covers such an array of subjects that finding the most relevant images for all blog users is impossible.

In spite of the weaknesses of Acobox, I’m willing to keep my eye on them. The images are so well done that they almost have an “ooh, pretty” hypnotic effect. Find an excuse to use them in your blog and you’ll get replies from people asking where you got them.

Strawberry Days 2008

2008-09-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

So my mom decided a few years ago that she needed to start up some new family traditions. One of those she wanted to start was an annual "Strawberry Days" celebration. She planted loads of strawberry plants intending the whole family to get together and pick them sometime in August every year. Well, there have never been many strawberries to pick, either because they don't grow fast enough because it's too cold, or the deer eat most of the plants. This year, she decided she had to have SOMETHING there that had to do with strawberries, so this was what she came up with...

Ella REALLY loved the chocolate strawberries. She kept picking up new ones just to lick the chocolate off.

Mostly Strawberry Days means getting together and hanging out doing a whole lot of nothing. I wish we had gotten a picture of everyone on their respective laptops, it was pretty funny. I think we figured out there were no less than eight laptops in the house while we were all there.

The latest Spaulding family photo. Take a close look at Ella's face--she looks like she's mad at the camera. Leo has the right idea, he decided to hide in the shadows to protect his eyes.

Matt and Deneal had a big announcement. They had Ashton unzip his hoodie with a big reveal... Deneal is due in March :D

A bunch of us went over into Blackhawk to do some shooting on Labor Day. Tom and I finally got to shoot a muzzle loader. Isn't that smoke cool?

We took Devin's projector outside and watched a movie on the side of the house. The movie wasn't one any of us will probably ever see again, but it was a lot of fun being out there. The next morning, the kids took all the pillows and blankets we had taken outside and piled them up to jump in. Ella especially loved playing with Ashton; they got along really well.

Here are Ashton and Ella feeding one of Mom's baby goats. You can't see it so much in this picture, but Ashton is a bit nervous of the goat, almost as much as he is with dogs. He keeps backing away like it's going to bite off a finger or something.

FINALLY FINISHED!!!

2008-08-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

I feel like throwing a party tonight. I just finished the basic first draft of my book. I hit 52,948 words, which got me a bit farther than I expected to be. Now I have the rest of the week to take this at a slower pace and go back and add to the scenes I flew through in my rush to finish the draft.

There's still a long way to go before this will even be remotely readable, but mostly I'm just pleased I survived without having any complete breakdowns.

Thanks to those of you who have been offering me encouragement through this. Don't be offended if you try to get ahold of me and I don't get right back. I think I'm going to be catching up on my sleep in celebration! I'm hoping to have another draft of this story finished by the end of September so I can start passing it out and getting feedback from friends and family.

Attempting the Utterly Ridiculous!

2008-08-03T17:46:00.001-07:00

So Tom and I have been trying to find the best ways for each of us to get some serious writing done. We've been looking into books on writing and editing, and what it seems the universe has been trying to tell us is that the book in a month style is just right for us. I'll try to keep this ticker updated as to my progress, but my goal this month is to finish the first draft of a 50,000 word novel. It will be far from a completed work, but it's a start. Next month Tom will get to try this and I'll pick up the household chores and meals. We're not exactly the normal couple, I realize. I'd appreciate any encouragement getting through this!

As of right now, I have 9,042 words out of the 50,000.

I'm a rotten blogger!

2008-07-27T20:26:00.003-07:00

Holy cow--I sure didn't realize it had been so very long since we posted on our blog. Pretty sad, really. Our life has been going crazy (as per usual, I suppose). Tom and I are both trying to work more on our writing. Tom is getting to write full time from home--mostly copywriting for companies trying to get their websites up--which has been fantastic. We're enjoying seeing more of each other and spending less on gas. Good time for it, lol. We're both working on some freelance short stories and also novels. It's been really fun to make writing a higher priority in our lives, although I admit I still have a hard time just seriously writing when we're in the same room together. I'm too much of a talker I guess, *blush*. We'll try to keep you updated as these projects progress.

Ash has been pretty sick. We had to change her dogfood from what she was on for awhile. She's lost a lot of weight and is shedding like never before. This is saying something, since she has always been a crazy shedder.

It's like she has a litter of puppies every couple of days. Pretty gross, huh? Hopefully this will slow down to normal shedding soon :P

Well, I'll really try to be better at this. Have a great day!

Ella's Birthday party

2008-05-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, for now I'm just going to put up a bunch of photos we took at Ella's birthday party last weekend. I'll come by and talk about them all later, but I figure if I put them on here I'm more likely to get it done. Enjoy!!

Amy's Birthday Party

2008-04-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, we're getting the super cheesy pictures over with first. Here are Tom and myself posing as we were getting ready for our company to come over. I took most of the pictures, so this is the only one I'm actually in, lol. Tom was a really good sport and decorated and really got the house cleaned up. It was nice, because I had a Relief Society lesson I needed to work on.

Now this was the coolest cake I have ever had. My friend Kelsey made it for me, and if you have ever played games with us, you probably recognize the theme she's got going here. It was great! There's no better theme for me than board games, and as Settlers of Catan is one of my favorites, it was perfect for me. You can't see it well in this picture, but there are even little number tokens and settlements and roads all around the cake. Way to go, Kelsey! I was totally impressed. All of the hexes are hand-painted with food coloring on fondant (rolled out icing).

Here are Jeff and Crystal with their kids. Jeff looks like a demon with his red eye. I tried to fix it but because they're so very red it just kept blacking out half of the photo. What a cute family, though!

More Leo and Ella huggy pictures. They were so cute all night, going from lap to lap getting their loves and hugging everyone. Here they are with Uncle Devin.

Here is Rosa. Didn't get much of a smile there :S. Not sure what Leo is trying to get into here, but he was constantly intrigued by everything around him that he wasn't supposed to have. He kept stealing Doritos off of people's plates because he likes them so much, but he can't have some of the ingredients in them so we kept having to take them away. At least we had some special ice cream there he could have, and that distracted him most of the time.

How could anyone resist this face? I don't think I could say no if she asked me anything!

We played Harry Potter Scene It and Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit. Devin was kind enough to lend us his movie projector, so we had a huge-sized screen to watch it all on. We all enjoyed ourselves, and the teams were neck and neck the whole time.

There's Summer's cute head in the foreground here and Tom in the back having a drink.

Ella wrapping Grandpa around her little finger. There are Kelsey and Sam eating in the background.

These are the nice flowers Tom picked out for me. I think he did a good job :D

--Amy

Amy's Birthday

2008-04-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

I really had a nice birthday this year (though I guess the partying isn't over yet). Tom took the day off today, and I only worked a few hours. We got to sleep in, and then after I got off of work and he finished some errands (which included picking up a really nice vase of flowers and balloons from a local flower shop--way to go, Tom!), we went out to lunch at Marie Calendars. After that, Tom let me drag him around town to do some shopping I wanted to do. Thank goodness he had his MP3 player with him, he was able to listen to his favorite talk radio podcasts while I looked through scrapbook supplies at a craft store. Not his favorite place to be--I think he likes me ;D

After all of the shopping, Tom took me to a movie called Penelope. If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it. Very cute--it's definitely acceptable for families, and it had a good theme. It was very much a make you feel good sort of movie. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store for some snack foods (had to be well stocked for my party tomorrow).

Okay, I don't really know why I just gave you an intensive travel log. I think I must be tired.
I just thought I'd put up a quickie post to thank you all for being in our lives. We love your friendships and look forward to many more years of the same. Thanks for all of your calls and messages, it's always nice to hear from you. I'll put up some photos of the party we're having tomorrow night (I guess it's tonight now since it's past midnight already).

--Amy

Tom's Toon of the Month April 08

2008-04-18T07:38:00.001-07:00

This month we take a look at the Haunted House starring your favorite character and mine, Mickey Mouse.

This particular toon is a great example of Mickey's early inspiration from Charlie Chaplain. Disney worshiped Chaplain and I suspect Ub Iwerks admired him too. For good reason. Chaplain was a genious. He embodied comedy in Hollywood's halcyon days. He could be a foil for a gag, but you still liked him. You still rooted for him, even if he looked foolish sometimes. Mickey is here in this role. His roundness, his diminuitive size, and his vulnerability make him easy to identify with.

What stands out to me about this cartoon is that deep down inside, I find it genuinely scary. When I was a little kid I used to have nightmares that played out a lot like this cartoon does. The intimidating hooded figure, the horrifying revelation of walking dead, the nature of Mickey's predicament trapped and enslaved all add up to my worst childhood fears. This is all juxtaposed with goofy gags with dancing skeletons. There aren't a lot of belly laughs in this one, but there's the usual attention to quality and detail. The movements are fluid, weighty, and dimensional. I especially enjoy watching Mickey pump the pedals on that organ. The lighting effects are awesome. The scene where Mickey lights a match in the hallway is breath-taking to me.

For all this, Roy's cost-cutting measures are also evident. Some of the animation of the skeleton dances are directly recycled from a Silly Symphony entitled "The Skeleton Dance," a title I'll be featuring at a later date.

In classic Disney fashion, the nightmare ends and Mickey not only survives, but gets away. Mickey's fear seems to walk a line between the comic and the sympathetic. Whether we laugh at his fear, or share in it, we identify with it. That's the genius of Mickey Mouse as a character.

-Tom

Spring update

2008-04-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

Things are going much the same here at the Gunn household. I feel bad we haven't been very good at updating the blog, so mostly I'm writing to let you know we really are still alive. We got to go to Tom's mission reunion last weekend, and of course we forgot to bring along our camera. Really smart, that... We had a really nice time. Tom got to see people he hasn't seen since his mission, and we finally caught up with friends we've had the good intention of inviting over but never do. Tom's phone died about the time we moved up here to Midvale, so he didn't have any phone numbers or contact information for many of these people. We're looking forward to spending time with these friends in the near future (and already have dates set, or it wouldn't happen, lol).

We've had a long, harsh winter here in Utah, as a lot of you would attest. For awhile there, it seemed like Spring would never decide to grace us with her presence. It seems however, that she is finally here to stay (Okay, I realize that means it could snow tomorrow, but I'm finding the silver lining here!). We just had the most beautiful weather this weekend, it was in the 60's and 70's the whole time, and we actually had our windows open all day Sunday.

Ash was sick during the week, so she needed us to run her down our three flights of stairs about every hour for a full day so she could do her business outside. I'm so grateful she's so well-trained! This could have meant some pretty serious scrubbing, but she never once in her illness had an accident. She's feeling much better now, and is back to her old antics of begging for any scrap of food she thinks she has a chance at getting. We love having her around, and I'm enjoying taking longer walks with her now that the weather is getting nicer. She loves any excuse to be outside, especially if it involves being with us, her pack.

We love you all and wish you the best! We'll at least be posting more photos for my birthday soon, and I'll try to be better at updates.

-Amy

Tom's 'Toon of the Month March 08

2008-03-27T08:46:00.001-07:00

Disney Silly Symphony - Flowers And Trees

My apologies to those who loyally read TTOTM for my complete no-show last month! I hope you enjoy this month’s toon twice as much.

Flowers and Trees was the first Technicolor cartoon ever produced. Color films had been created before, and even a few using the patented Technicolor process, but this was the first cartoon. Flowers and Trees started life as another in the long series of Walt Disney Studios Cartoons under the banner of Silly Symphonies. It wasn’t until very late in production that Walt decided to make Flowers and Trees a Technicolor picture. The ink and paint girls had to clean the black and white paint from the back of the cells and completely repaint them.

Few films had been produced using the new Technicolor process because it was so expensive. Much to the chagrin of his brother, and business partner Roy, Walt signed a long-term contract with Technicolor to have shorts filmed using this new, expensive process years and years into the future. The studio, though nationally known and successful at this time, was always strapped for cash. Throughout both of their careers in show business, Walt seemed to come up with new ways to spend money in the name of quality pictures as easily as Roy found ways to cut costs in the name of keeping the studio financially solvent. To put it another way, it was often said that Walt dreamed things up, and Roy dreamed up ways to pay for them. It wasn’t just the filming and developing process that was expensive. The studio had to completely re-tool, replacing their black, white, and gray paints with a whole spectrum of colors. In spite of all this, Walt believed in the future of color in movies generally, and was convinced that the Technicolor process resulted in the best colors. Walt aspired to be the King of Animation, and believed his pictures deserved nothing but the best.

This short is the forerunner of the celebrated Disney features in several ways. This early experiment in Technicolor was an essential achievement to the production of a first-class color feature, Snow White. The Disney animators also learned lessons in combining artistic excellence with crowd-pleasing gags; a cocktail that remains the signature of Disney features. In the case of Flowers and Trees, the whole tone of the film is akin to an ancient myth or fable. It feels like it could be based on the work of Virgil, Aesop, or Homer. Yet, the gags are frankly expressed and elegantly executed. My personal favorite is the flower dragging himself up to perch on the chest of the defeated villain-tree. The emotion is unmistakable. Every plant or animal in this short is alive somehow. Nothing is used merely as a moving prop. The details pass quickly, but the care, devotion, and attention are on every frame, right down to the leafy “hair styles” of the tree protagonists.

Walt was right about the future of color in motion pictures. His perfectionism also paid off. Flowers and Trees won the Oscar for Best Animated Short that year. In fact, Flowers and Trees invented the category.

--Tom

Master Ron Heimberger

2008-03-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Ronny Layne Heimberger Obituary:

So far, the life of Ronny Layne Heimberger has been filled with vision and purpose. He set out to become a great student, but continued on to become a great teacher. One of the quotes he embodies was penned by Tzu-kung who said, "Not to tire of learning is wisdom; not to weary of teaching is benevolence." Once he realized that the foundation he laid for his work in mortality was strong enough to be perpetuated by others, he was allowed to move on. He got up on the morning of March 9th, got dressed and said he "had to go." Soon thereafter, he was called away by his Heavenly Father and continues his eternal work in the Celestial Realm.

Ronny was born on March 7, 1956 in Nampa, Idaho to William Charles Heimberger (deceased) and Lucy Elaine VanSickle-Heimberger of Richmond, Utah. Not many years after his birth, he received three siblings, Chrystal Hallam of Las Vegas, NV; Gwyn Hammer of Lewiston, UT and Adam Heimberger of Logan, UT.

He met Lisa Dee McGoldrick in Idaho and married her on April 30, 1980. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Idaho Falls Temple on May 19, 1983. Ronny admires Lisa for her work as a midwife and herbalist. He and Lisa have five children: Nicole S. Heimberger of Phoeniz, AZ, Chantel Heimberger-Hilsmann, Cody Heimberger, Garrette Heimberger and Aubrey Heimberger all of St. George, UT.
Ronny served in the Army National Guard, fulfilled his callings in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, traveled the world, and speaks several languages. He is widely loved, and most well-known throughout the world, for his work as founder and director of the world-wide Wing Chun Kung Fu Council. He is, to countless of his loyal students, simply known as "Sifu," their mentor and guide. To read Ronny's memorial or find out more about his work visit www.wckfc.com.

Viewings for Ronny will be held this Friday evening on the 14th of March from 6-7 p.m. at The Spilsbury Mortuary and on Saturday morning the 15th from 9-10:30 a.m. at the St.George Fifth Ward chapel on 85 S. 400 E. in St. George, UT. Services will commence at 11:00 a.m. A short grave-side service with bagpipes and military honors will immediately follow at the Tonaquint Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff Street, St. George, Utah.

"Wherever the Superior Man passes through, people are transformed; the place where he tarried is spiritualized and Heaven and Earth blend harmoniously. How could you say 'he is gone'?" - Mencius

Sifu with his Sifu, Grand Master Ip Ching

Sifu playing the blues with Si Heng Carlos

Sifu dancing in the hay after a Kung Fu training camp. This was the side of him most people never got to see.

Sifu presenting me with a camp certificate

Sifu, you will be missed by all who had the chance to know and learn from you. Thank you for touching our lives!

--Amy

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

2008-02-26T22:54:00.001-08:00

We don't know this little girl, but found the vid on youtube. Couldn't resist sharing.

The title says it all... Enjoy!

A week in Utopia

2008-02-20T22:52:00.000-08:00

Now my head is just crammed with Disneyland and it's all just busting out at the seams. I even had dreams of it last night. I dreamt that we won a full tour of Disneyland from Walt himself. He said, "Yeah, I know I'm dead but this is my park and this is your dream."

I marveled at the control that the park exercises on its guests. Waiting on Tom Sawyer Island for a ferry, the crowds got restless because one of the ferries broke down and there were a lot of people waiting under the glare of the sun for the return ferry. To help mollify the crowds, they sent Captain Jack Sparrow down to the dock and everybody walked away smiling. Ya gotta love it. I would feel a lot more cynical about it if it didn't actually work. But it really works. That's the magic of that park. It feels completely safe because it is completely safe. There aren't armed security guards on every corner to spoil the show. If they are needed, of course, they'll appear in force. But they aren't ever needed. Kim was marveling at how secure the strollers are outside attractions. One can just park it there and one's possessions are relatively safe. Again, just because the security measures aren't totally apparent, doesn't mean they aren't there.

There is nothing of the present at Disneyland. At the California Adventure park I saw someone reading a newspaper. Amy pointed out to me that maybe they were just annual pass holders waiting while their kids stood in a particularly long line but I said to Amy "If I had my way, reading a newspaper would be grounds for immediate expulsion from the park." When I lived in that area as a teenager, I saw such a thing unfold one night while my family was visiting the park. In this case I would not have been so lenient, but I took a lot of comfort in what happened. Around that time the Goth kids were a fixture of high-school life; black-wearing, perennially depressed strongsads starving for attention (who took their introspection to such an extreme that even I found them off-putting). It became ironic and cool for them to hang out at the Happiest Place on Earth. This particular group simply stood in clustered together at the statue of Walt and Mickey at the end of Main Street USA just looking sad, and even a little threatening. My family was near by when they over-heard a security guard come out of the woodwork and approach them, letting them know that if they didn't ride any rides they would be asked to leave. They were not going to be permitted to disturb the other guests, passively or otherwise. I'm willing to bet they wound up discussing existentialism at an all-night diner somewhere, bad-mouthing the corporate machine of Disneyland. They're probably all CPAs now.

As Amy mentioned, we took my Dad along on a special tour of the park. Along the way, we learned some things about Disneyland you may not have heard. Disneyland is the home of a private dining club called Club 33 (named for it's address in New Orleans Square) where Walt used to entertain visiting VIPs away from the tourists. The formal club still exists and still boasts VIPs, including Johnny Dep. We had the privilege of seeing the foyer of the club that features a replica of an incredible antique elevator that really works. The Haunted Mansion didn't always used to have a ride in it. Walt had it built along with New Orleans Square. It had originally been intended to go on Main Street, but Walt, and company realized it would be out of place there. It stood for years with no apparent purpose while guests speculated. Was it actually haunted, or maybe even cursed? Had somebody died there? The stories abounded. Walt took that and ran with it, claiming that they were preparing the mansion for ghostly guests from all over the world. Nine hundred and ninety-nine actually showed up. But there's always room for one more. Any volunteers? MWAHAHAHAHAHA!! We also spotted a special caboose car exclusively for Club 33 members and their friends called the Lillybell (for Walt's wife Lillian). One last thing: there's a lamp in the window of the firehouse on Main Street that is always on. The Firehouse contained Walt's personal apartment at the park. Every time he came to visit, he would come in and turn that light on. The light became a code for the staff to be on their best behavior because the boss was on the premises. It's been lit ever since Walt died; a symbol of Walt's continued presence in the park.

Anyway, the appeal of Disneyland for me is simple; Disneyland is a reminder of Zion; that shining city on a hill the pilgrims came for and failed to build. The reason this Zion works is because the only man who ever lived there, Walt Disney, is now dead. The point is not to live there, but to visit; to see what's possible. That's why I came, and that's what I found. I felt such a ubiquitous and reliable sense of control that, like so many visitors, it was very difficult to leave. As we walked towards the exit of the park, I turned and blew a final kiss to Main Street USA. After we had walked through the turnstile, Amy said there was a woman behind us who was in tears. Contemplating the unpredictable, fickle, and threatening nature of the world we were about to re-enter, I think I know why she was crying. We've already started planning our next pilgrimage

--Tom

Disneyland trip February 2008--Amy's travel log

2008-02-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know I've been awful at updating the blog. Now you have to suffer through a huge post talking all about our trip to California last week :D. I'll try to add photos throughout so it's not quite so boring....

On the Saturday night before our trip (February 9th), Tom and I took Ash up to board with Jeff and Crystal in Logan. Their kids were really excited to get to play with her. They love dogs, but she's not so sure she enjoys their love, lol. Of course, Murphy's law caught us when we realized Ash was in full heat and bleeding everywhere the day we were going to take her up there. Great timing, Ash! Poor girl, she had to wear little boys underpants throughout her already uncomfortable stay with the kids. It was hard to leave her there. When we were getting ready to go out to the car, she started freaking out and shaking like she was terrified. I don't know how it is, but dogs really seem to have a deep sense of everything that's going on around them. When Tom went to take our stuff out to the car, she bolted out the door and ran the half-block to the car. She waited there for Tom to arrive, like she was saying "Please take me with you! I'll never be naughty again." (Like we'd ever believe that, lol). Tom had to pick her up and carry her back into the house, and we left her in her carrier so she wouldn't escape again. I called later to see how she was doing, and apparently she was playing with the kids and enjoying getting so much attention. Silly doggy!

We left our place in Midvale about 5:45 am on the 12th. Tom hadn't gotten home from work the night before until about 11:00 pm, and of course there was a lot of last-minute packing and panicking to do. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep that night. We packed some caffeine in the cooler with our sandwiches, and boy we were grateful for it! We stopped in Nephi so my parents, Devin, Summer and Tanner could meet us there and caravan. It turned out it was really unfortunate we had gotten up so early, because they finally showed up about an hour after we did. I was glad we had some blankets in the car. We just laid back and took a nap while we waited for them. In fact, I was pretty boring and dozed most of the way down. I couldn't even stay awake long enough to relieve Tom as the driver. It was really funny. (boring for him, though).

That night we all went out to dinner and met Merrill (Tom's dad). After dinner we all went over to Downtown Disney, where there are a lot of fun shops. Among these is the Lego Store. This is one of our favorites, hehehe. We always get a little something lego whenever we go to California. Since we've gotten Tanner hooked on legos, we had to take him to visit the store. He wasn't disappointed. Besides the fact that it's an entire store devoted to legos and lego products, there are cool huge models all over the place, some even life-sized.

Our hotel was only about two blocks away from the entrance to the park, so Tom and I were able to walk over there every day. Disneyland was tons of fun. My favorite part was seeing how much fun my family was having, since this was their first visit to the park. I know Dad was concerned it would just be an overpriced Lagoon trip, but it did my heart good when every time I looked over at him he was grinning. Both he and my mom had sick spells and he even had to stay at the hotel for a whole day before he was feeling well enough to get out again, but everyone had a great time.

Deneal and Ashton met us at the park our first day. Ashton kept talking about how excited he was about going on the "Caterpillar ride", since that was the only thing he remembered from his previous visit a year or so ago. We ran across several Disney characters in costume. Some of them he really wanted to meet, even though he made funny faces whenever we took a picture.

It was the perfect time to take newbies to Disneyland, because there was no wait for anything that first couple of days. I have NEVER seen the lines so short when I've been there before. Most of the major rides had less than a five minute wait, and most of that was just walking through the line. We all got to go on whatever major rides we wanted to go on, so even that first day was pretty full.

Since this is the "Year of a Million Dreams" at Disneyland, the cast members around the park go around and give away random dreams and prizes that money can't buy. One of these was even a night's stay in the "dream suite"--an apartment in New Orleans square above the Pirate's of the Caribbean ride that was created from a design Walt Disney planned to use before he passed away in the 60's. We saw people with special "Year of a Million Dreams" Mickey Mouse ears that they had won, and other people had special fast pass cards that let them get onto every major ride in the park without having to wait. On our first day at the park, Tom and I were grabbing lunch and we noticed a nice table right near the counter that had a "reserved" sign on it. It had a nice white tablecloth, cloth napkins, nice flatware, and even gourmet condiments. It's difficult to get a table in this area of the park, so it was a great surprise when the cast member helping Tom told us that we had just won that table for our meal. She had us go sit down, and she brought out our drinks in tall glasses, and our burgers on nice plates, instead of having disposables. It was a silly little thing, but it was so much fun that she kept coming out to check on us, fill our drinks, and make sure everything was okay. We got the best table in the whole area!

For Valentine's Day, Tom got us reservations at Blue Bayou, an upscale park restaurant that you can actually see from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We were lucky to get our reservations, even though we ended up having to get them for the day after Valentine's day. They apparently get booked weeks in advance. It's got fun ambiance--it feels just like you are outside at night next to the water. The ceiling is too high to see in the dim lighting, so if you went in for lunch, you would forget it wasn't dark out. There are candles at every table, and little Chinese lanterns hang overhead. You can hear the friendly sounds of crickets and water lapping nearby, and every few minutes when a new boat on the ride is launched, you hear a new set of soft voices over the water. Every once in awhile you can hear screaming as a boat plunges down the first waterfall in the ride, but somehow this still doesn't bring you out of the calm fantasy this restaurant radiates. The food was excellent, although Tom was much more wildly ecstatic about this than I was (To me, meat is pretty much just meat. So call me crazy!). It was a pricey meal, but very fun for a special occasion.

On Saturday the 16th Tom, Merrill and myself went on the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" tour at Disneyland. I sort of went to humor Tom since I knew he loves Disney history and would really enjoy the tour, but I really loved it as well! They take you all around the park and talk all about Walt Disney's contributions to everything and all sorts of history of the park and company.

So basically, we had lots of fun at Disneyland and California Adventure. Obviously :D.

On Sunday, Merrill took us out to the beach and then over the Long Beach where we saw the Queen Mary, an old WWII troop ship that later was used as an upper-class cruise ship. We didn't take the tour, although looking back we wished we had planned the time (and money) for it. It's supposed to be haunted, and the tour talks all about its history (Maybe my history-obsessed husband is finally rubbing off on me since historic tours are sounding fun these days).

We left to come back up to Utah that evening, and just took turns driving through the night. We got back here Monday morning (the 18th), and then went up to Logan to pick up Ash yesterday.

We and my parents had gone in together on some Mr. Potato Heads for Leo and Ella at one of the toy stores at Disneyland, and we brought them up to the kids. Boy, they sure loved those things. It was funny what different pieces we were able to get--Ariel hair (from little mermaid); Mickey Mouse ears, gloves, and even a Mickey shaped ice cream bar; Sleeping Beauty crown; glass slippers, and you name it. They sell Potato Head pieces separately--you just fill a box as full as you can, and as long as it closes you pay just a flat rate for whatever you fit in there. I was proud of the box I filled--no rattling when we shook it, lol. I couldn't believe how much was stuffed in there when it got dumped out. Leo was nervous Ella would take some of his pieces, so he took his into the kitchen to work on while Ella stayed here in the living room. I wish I had gotten a good picture of the "tato" he had created... It had "Incredibles" arms and pants, Pirate boots, a Peter Pan hat, a big red nose and a mustache. It was hilarious! Ella was putting things like bows, hair, and pretty shoes on her "tato". It's funny how early our male and female traits start to show up.

Ash is being so very good today. I think she's worried that we're going to send her back to the kids for more hugs if she does anything remotely bad. She's enjoying being back home, and I'm liking having my shadow again. I miss her when she's not here to keep me company while Tom's working.

Well, I guess that pretty well sums it up. I know Tom's planning to do his version of the trip on here as well, so you're going to be overloaded with Disney, hehehe. To those of you who have expressed interest, the new 'toon of the month ought to be up this week as well.