I Am Thankful for Camping!

It's not been often enough, but sometimes we go camping as a whole family. I guess technically we "camp" much of the time when we go visit family. Last summer we went on a one-night cabin camp out.


Stewart and Steve have been room-mates before this year.


Daycamps, too. Most of the time, our camp outs have been tied to Scouting activities.


I am often impressed with the willingness of the boys to get out and do things in all kinds of crummy weather. This was the camp that we set up in the rain.


Our boys have grown up camping. I hope they have enjoyed it as much as I have.



This is always what the car looks like on the way home. Exhausted campers.


I don't often have the chance to appreciate how beautiful the world is, but camping takes us away from many of the things that make us so busy. I am grateful for the perspective.


The photo I used for my blogger portrait was from a camp in New York a few years ago. It was an amazing sunset.


I was glad this year to go on a few camps with all three boys. I'm not sure when the next time that will happen.

I'm Thankful for Church

Today I am thankful that it is early in the morning. We are the only congregation that meets in our building (some places in the world, as many as 5 different congregations will share the same facility, staggering their meeting start times from 7am to late in the evening), and that makes some people wish we started a little later.

Not me! I am glad to have the rest of Sunday to meet with family, to do things. Although I am glad we live 8 minutes away...

I'm thankful to teach and to be taught.

I'm thankful for friends to greet and be greeted by.

I'm glad my children have responsibilities at church, things they are expected to do.

When we travel, we go to church wherever we end up on a Sunday. Usually, that is with family. But occasionally, that has been in strange places. The habit matters to me, and I am glad that Jenni and I both feel the same way about it.

I am thankful for the freedom to worship, for a country that takes that freedom seriously.

The "G" in "Gmail" Stands for "Grateful"

I suppose this is sort of a product endorsement.

I am grateful for gmail.

I am grateful to the online friend that gave me an invite when it was still in beta-testing so I could early-adopt my lastname at gmaildotcom address. And then I could invite my kids in, too.

I'm grateful for the online calendar that we can all see, all update, all reference for upcoming events and scheduling. When the orthodontist gives me a little reminder card of the next appointment, I just it put on the google calendar and throw it away. When I pay a bill online, I make an entry on the google calendar with the amount and confirmation number on the date it will process.

I'm grateful for Blogger's accessibility that allows me to do this. And to see my kids' pictures/posts from BYU.

I'm grateful for the online doc of family info that is easily updated by every member of the family, so I can always find their new address or cell phone number quickly. We use it often when sending things to Emma and Stewart at BYU this semester.

I sort of vaccilate about using google maps (because there are other online map sources that work as well). But I've used google maps a lot, and I am grateful for them. Even some of the streetview funnies I have seen.


Technology is frustrating, wonderful, time-saving, time-wasting, useful (or not). I'm grateful for the ways it unites us.

Grateful for Schoolhouse Rock

*These* are the reason I watched Saturday Morning Cartoons as a youth. It infused my young mind/heart with a love for clever rhymes, an appreciation of many music styles, and the wonder of learning through singing. Taught me the preamble!



You can sing the 3 times table pausing just so, right?

Three, six, nine
twelve, fifteen, eighteen
twenty-one, twenty-four, twenty-seven
Thirty!



It's funny going back and watching them now, how culturally irrelevant some have become. The "melting pot" metaphor has been long-abandoned as a way of describing America. And I am sure it makes some people cringe to hear the expansion of the US territory described as a "meant to be ... manifest destiny."

But I treasure my memories of the songs. I am glad my kids have gotten to experience them (thanks Uncle Michael!) on DVD.

Grateful for Art

You know that credit card commercial that asks, "What's in your wallet?" How about, "What's on your wall?"

I am surrounded by beautiful, interesting, functional space. The ceilings, the walls, windows, doors, sometimes even the floors are part of the aesthetic. I live with an artist, which often makes life a little scary. I came home the other day and the kitchen smelled...a little strange. Two HUGE pots of water were heating up on the stove. The air was tinged with the smell of something acidic.

"Jenni?" I called out querilously. "In here!" she called from the bathroom.

"What are you doing?"

"Dying fabric!"

"This is probably what it feels like to be married to a mad scientist. Except without the explosions and reanimation, and with a lot more pretty colors."


It is a running in-joke that the furniture might be in a different place the next time you come to visit. The wall might be a different color. There might be different paintings/quilts/murals/ on the wall. We have have more pianos than the last time you visited.


Pay attention to your surroundings. Make them beautiful. Don't trip over the new chair. Take off your shoes and feel the new rug. Pause and ponder the message in the sign language, or brail, or the subtle words painted into the background.


The world is wondrous. Making your spaces equally compelling is one way to demonstrate reverence.

I am grateful for everything glorious in the world, but am especially grateful for the hard work and aesthetic talent Mrs. L brings to my home.

Grateful for Sunrises

Growing up, my Dad would often stop and point out the beauty of sunsets. Going out to eat at Gabler's once when I was a lad, I rememeber Dad stopping on the way there and making us all take in the setting sky, how it lit the sky, for just a moment.

After graduating from High School, I spent a few days at the beach. My friends all thought I was a doofus for wanting to, but I woke up at dark:thirty to watch the sun rise over the ocean.

Ever since, it has been a personal delight to take in the sunrise. There are many great things about seminary being taught in our home, but one I am especially grateful for is that I get to see the sunrise nearly every morning. I love seeing the world first and new. Sunrise was when we had to do Roxie Jane's baptism, too (in order to accomodate a host of scheduling demands). What a wonderful time, having the world nearly all to yourself.



Whenever Jennilyn and I go on a trip, if we can, we get up to watch the sunrise together.




Here's a shot from our reunion trip when Jenni went on a walk with her Mom and sister. To watch the sunrise!

Grateful for Trips

I love going places. Love anticipating going there, it's exciting. Looking back on having been there, it's the sharp, sweet sting of nostalgic longing.

Jenni and I go to the temple a lot. We go to temples when we travel

And when we are home. We try for once a month.

We go places to take awesome pictures (here at the sunflower fields a few weeks ago).

And take pictures when we go awesome places (here are Stewart and Emma waiting for the shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral).

Sometime the kids go places without us, and send us pictures (I love the Russian hat, the Texas shirt, while on a tour of mainland China).

Sometimes we visit somewhere close to home (we've missed Kilgore Falls since moving to southern Harford County).

We are grateful for friends with pools we can take trips to visit during the summer.

And we are grateful for the memories we make when me take trips as a family.

I love the winter, love the snow, but I look forward to going to the beach again next year.

I want to take Jenni to Europe, to Paris. I want to spend some time on a tropical island somewhere (the Maldives, maybe, before they disappear when the oceans rise?).

As long as I can travel with loved ones, or at least return home to them, I will enjoy the trip.