High in the Autum Sky

The perfect time for a ride on the Alpine Slide. Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa and a doctor Grandma works with, we had this beautiful view - twice.

In the photo above Eliza was chanting, "Here I am at the slide, with my yellow leaf." Rather than saying "cheese" in every photo, Eliza and Mona think up captions. After much time and dozens of photos with their mouths contorted for many other sounds, Mommy explained the significance of "cheese."I didn't even notice Eliza doing that when I took the photo. She said it wasn't what it looks like... ???

BFF Playdate

We did some catching up with Jamie & Kate (who's so grown up)!

General Conference

Tom flew in to Utah and the next day we enjoyed hearing Grandma & Grandpa Andersen relate experiences and share inspiring messages at the Donetsk, Ukraine mission reunion in Orem. As Grandpa spoke, Eliza turned to Grandma and said, "He's a good talker."

Ahhh, General Conference. We attended within the Conference Center on Saturday. This year Eliza played General Conference Bingo. She was quite determined - I had to smile when she said, "Mona, we're trying to listen to Conference," and "I can't hear what the prophet is saying."Grandma took us to Mimi's Saturday evening. Eliza was anxiously calling for macaroni and cheese when the waitress surprised her by bringing it from the direction opposite that which she was expecting. I've missed being part of a girls night during the Priesthood session(8-10PM is probably too late anyway:)).

We were up Provo Canyon near Aspen Grove long enough to catch as many glimpses as we could of the fall scenery (and get rather cold). Thanks to DJ & Julia, who brought delicious warm sandwiches which they kept heated with a brick.

Eliza with Aunt Annie, who we rarely get to see.

Bridal Veil Falls

Mona bowling with Grandpa at BYU.

Grilled Smores

Because she loves them.Grandma & Mona Burrito

Small Town Country Fair

Strawberry and lemon smoothies, pony rides, and plenty of animals to pet. It was an idyllic afternoon for the girls.

Just my size!

"MY DEAR WORMWOOD,"

boomed a voice.* "JENNYYYY," exploded/warned/threatened Tom, the first to jolt to reality. After a moment I realized that instead of buzzing at 6AM, the alarm had played the beginning of the last CD we listened to, The Screwtape Letters. These first three words of the book not only struck terror in Tom's already pounding heart, but concluded my own rather strange dream that included a round of golf with my maternal Grandfather (???). The reading was loud enough to shock a restful sleeper; thus it's understandable that Tom, already in a state of alarm (he immediately recalled being in the midst of a futile escape), was scared stiff when the stranger in our room bellowed to his nephew.

*Note: I wanted to tell this story from Tom's point of view, but when I requested that he retell his nightmare he said, "Negatory. It's not something I want to remember. The devil shouting 'WORMWOOD' is enough."

SCHOOL

• First week: great!
• Second week: absent with colds, including coughing with Eliza's every utterance. We did drive Daddy to the bus stop and drop the class snacks off at school.
• Third week (today): preceded by prayer that Eliza would be able to attend school. Eliza was much better. En route, on Tuesday at 8:40AM, Mona lost her hastily eaten breakfast. The car smelled of apples and cinnamon. Was she carsick from eating too quickly, too early, and driving for 50 minutes? Did she pick up a virus in nursery Sunday morning? We dropped the snacks off at school and headed home. She has been keeping food down and running around, and talking as usual (not that sickness ever stopped this girl). Maybe it was carsickness?
  

UPDATE

I had hopes to often record moments here, evidently it is months. As you may infer from the above, Eliza is now in school. We decided after we moved that since we couldn't be a part of the awesome preschool group we were in last year, K4 is a good alternative. (We moved in May.)

Tom's parents came shortly after to help us get settled in and celebrate with us as Tom walked. (I made him walk because he was timing contractions during BYU commencement four years ago.) We went to Tom's swearing-in ceremony in Richmond after he passed the VA Bar (YAY TOM!). Early this summer, we visited close to home with many dear relatives we haven't seen in a long time at a family reunion in D.C., and my parents visited Dave and Kimi before and stayed a bit longer after to be with us in our new place.

On July 4th we went to a patriotic concert in the National Cathedral and saw the spectacular Mall fireworks. We drove to Saratoga Springs in July where Tom took the NY bar (since he only had to take the state portion and is CRAZY about studying - we're not moving to NY), and visited Valley Forge and Philadelphia on the way. During that trip Tom and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Hattie's too - where we sampled the fried chicken made even more famous by victory in a Bobby Flay Throwdown. This summer we've also become addicted to Pottery Barn Outlet, where we've found, significantly discounted, almost everything on our new-home-wishlist.

RECENT QUOTES

8/3/2009
Tom, Eliza and Mona were casually watching "Truth in 24" an Audi car-racing documentary. A German engineer was explaining the function of the engine he designed, and concluded with the statement in a German accent, "you see, it's really very simple." With a pointed finger, Mona rose up in disagreement, "NO! NOT SIMPLE!!!"

8/7/2009
Arkansas Cheese - In the car on the way to Leesburg, Eliza and Mona were eating lunch. Eliza said, "Mommy! Look at my Arkansas cheese!" Mommy stopped at the traffic light and turned around to see a minuscule Arkansas shape bitten out of her slice of provolone.

8/29/2009
Mommy: "Those are some big eyes you have, Mona."
Mona: "My daddy gave me my big eyes. Thank you, Daddy!!!!!" [She ran over and gave Daddy a huge Mona-hug.]

8/29/2009
Mona: "Mommy, I want mango. Mango does body good. Jesus said, 'Eat mango.'"

8/30/2009
Daddy: "Mona, do you ever stop talking?"
Eliza: "No, she's always go talking."

9/2/2009
Mommy: [While teaching Mona to say "God's covenant with Abraham"] "Do you want to say 'with Abraham?'"
Mona: "No, I want to say, 'creation fall in the garden the flood tower of Babel!'"
[Mommy & Liza burst into laughter.]

9/11/2009
Eliza: "I want to go to Kentucky!"
Mona: "No! Kentucky has sakes!!!"
Eliza: "No, Kentucky doesn't have snakes, Nevada has snakes!"
Mona: "Oh."

9/15/2009
Eliza: "Your last name is Andersen, your first name is Mommy, and your middle name is Jen."