Saturday, September 18, 2010

Baby boys!

It's been a busy few months for my friends--six of them had baby boys since summer started and it's awesome. Welcome to the world James Laurence, Oliver Alexander, Lucas Q, Royce Gregory, Alexander Daniel & Robert Kimball :) I have no idea where are all the girl babies are!

I'm loving all of the classic names coming back these days--if you've known me long you know I've always been a name freak, er, onomastic enthusiast so I tend to notice things like naming trends. I never thought I'd choose names that were considered classic for my kids, but I married a man who likes a good, solid name so the compromising happened. I am happy with my children's names, but I spent a lot of years with other ideas in mind and while my fantasy naming preferences are still along the lines of Galileo & Horatio or Kelena and Khrysanthya I tend to think more conservatively overall. Have your tastes in names changed from those teenage lists with your high school sweetheart's last name tacked on the end of each combination? Do you still harbor secret favorites you'll never have the guts to use?

Monday, September 6, 2010

It's been a year...

But I think I'm back to blogging for good. I shouldn't promise though I suppose, given my track record. What's happened in the last year?

Bear and Princess are 3 and 7, respectively. I love it and it freaks me out. They're awesome children and I still love being their mama. We had a science party and a robot party!

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary! We're relaxing and had a nice brunch with scrambled eggs made of leftover smoked salmon from my sister's wedding reception and fresh basil from the garden (okay, the garden is really a series of pots in the driveway this year). I am more in love with my adorable husband than ever before and I'm looking forward to the next 14 :)

I closed the 8pizza eBay business in July. I found it was taking way too much time away from the people and things I really love and really feel a calling to be taking care of--my family & my writing to name just the top two. I was a little sad but not much. To say I was ready for the change would be an understatement.

I got my baby sister married off this summer--I'm so proud of her beauty, strength and tenacity and I'm glad to have her husband as part of our family. She had a beautiful, very small ceremony aboard the M.V. Lotus and a delightful gathering at her home a month later.

We spent Christmas 2009 in Idaho with my mom and grandmother, and returned in May for a Memorial Day picnic but other than that we really haven't travelled much except up to British Columbia a couple times since the new temple opened in April.

Princess just started ballet again and we'll be entering 2nd grade tomorrow. We're still homeschooling and my husband and I will be taking the "official" certification class which will "qualify" us to home school our children in Washington state, starting on Wednesday at the local community college. It will be 3 1/2 hours, 3 times a week for 2 weeks and we're so grateful for amazing friends who are playing with the kids while we do this.

I'm currently still working with our Night Writers writing group and we put together volume 2 of Night Writers' Ink in the spring. I'm writing most days, working on poetry, novels and fan fiction depending on how I feel. I'm the Assistant Poetry Editor at Segullah Journal, although I've been mostly useless to them up to this point, which I plan to change. Next month I'll be teaching a poetry class called Fabulous Free Verse at the ANWA Northwest Writer's Retreat at Rosario Beach. This will be my third year at the retreat and I'm really excited about the new venue we'll be visiting.

Well, that's a little bit of an update--more soon :) Maybe even pictures!