First Days of School

Keeping with the tradition, everyone took pictures of their first days of school (2014).

Only Glo was home, and since I was in Utah with Hannie, it was John taking the picture.

Glo: beginning of her sophomore year in high school.
Only Glo was home, and since I was in Utah with Hannie, it was John taking the picture. I can see in Glo's face that she's thinking, "C;mon, Daddy! We're running late already. Take the stupid picture!"

Rebecca: starting her second (and final) year in her MPA program at BYU
Ethan: starting his senior year at BYU
You can tell how thrilled they are to be starting school again :-)

Mark: starting his sophomore year at Michigan.
This is his first day of school after a two-year hiatus in Russia on his mission.

Hannie: a freshman at BYU
Oh my goodness, I was more nervous for Hannie than anyone else. My baby girl starting COLL-EGE? On a SCHALASHIP?? It can't be!

Me: my first day of attending early morning seminary
Little did I know that this smile wouldn't last for long....

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The Quest for Birkenstocks

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Like Dominos....

It all began with glare. Simple, obnoxious, I-can't-stand-it-anymore glare. Our 60" rear projection TV in the family room was basically unviewable except after 10 o'clock at night. The glare from the windows was making it impossible to see anything during my 10 minute lunch break each day, and something had to change. Too, the TV didn't fit in the entertainment center from Germany. John, wanting bigger and better, hadn't considered that the space is only 40" wide. For the past five years, I have been nagged by 6" of overhang on both sides of the TV stand. I went to Lowe's to price blinds. $1,043 for five blinds, and that was at 20% off. I figured a new TV would be cheaper than that. I was right, even with the state-of-the-art receiver and new HDMI cables that sly salesman told us we needed to have. But where to put the old TV? It just needed a quiet, dark place to retire. Glo's bedroom. Her TV was a relic from the paleoneoneand...

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