And We're Back

Yup, it's been a while since I was here. We were gone to Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and all parts between for two weeks - but, of course, a trip like that requires a week of hardcore preparation on one side and a week of headachey decompression on the other. So a month has passed and tomorrow is the first day of the fall semester at IVCC. Maryn and Avery started back at TGS on Friday. Somehow, hot and punishing as it was, the summer has slipped by and has seemingly headed out the back door without my noticing its exit. Weird. I'm always sort of surprised by fall -- like, "But summer can't be over yet - I mean, I'm not done yet."

Nevertheless, school is tomorrow. Suzy is teaching again this semester after dipping her toe into the pedagogical water this summer. She and I are each teaching a class out at our satellite campus in Ottawa on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. My class is at noon and Suzy's is at two and the campus is about twenty miles away, so it's going to be an odd set-up. A friend from the ward will watch Parker in Ottawa while we work. I'll teach while Suzy preps, then we'll eat lunch together, and then I'll grade and prep while Suzy teaches. When I write it like that, it sounds okay -- but the reality of it feels more rushed and chaotic. Driving to Ottawa three times a week, paying a sitter, rushing to make it back to be home when the older girls get home, etc. - it just kind of freaks me out. I like routine and simplicity. Throw an obstacle in my way and I'm like an ant from A Bug's Life - I panic and scream "I'm lost!" until someone shows me the way around the leaf that just fell across my path. Still I keep thinking that, even if it's miserable and totally inconvenient, it's just one semester and we can handle it for that period of time.

Anyway, our vacation was great. We got to do some fun things, see some pretty places, etc. Most importantly, we got to visit family and that is always the best part.

Highlights:

Seeing Moonrise Kingdom with the Piersons in Denver. Bizarre, wonderful movie and excellent company.

Logan, Utah. The scenery, the USU campus, the Creamery, the canyon, the art gallery, the Book Table, etc.

 La Tormenta with Kristen Perchon. Excellent, cheap, authentic Mexican food and such a good talk with my charming cousin.

 

Visiting Napoleon Dynamite sites in Preston, Idaho and actually meeting a King's employee who was in the movie.

My brothers and their families. Such much fun. I just really, really like each of my brothers and their wonderful wives and kids. I feel more myself, more my best self when I am around them. We had a big family dinner at the old, 30-foot table at Dave and Mel's and ate ribs and rolls and pickles and all the classics. We went to a water park. We ate at Big Jud's. We laughed a lot.

The Dark Knight Rises with the brothers. Enough said. (In fact, the less said about the popcorn incident and David's shameful treatment of the counter girl, the better.)

Our new niece, Amaya. So much beauty and sweetness in such a tiny, little package. We're glad she's here.

The nieces and nephews playing at the Climbing Mountain park. To see every Brown gathered at this park in Rigby, talking, and goofing around did my heart a lot of good. At one point, I was a bit away from everyone else (chasing Parker, I think) and I saw everyone in one big group and I thought, "Mom is so very happy right now." I was too.

Aunt Fay's house. Politics with Uncle Bob. Food from Aunt Fay. Teasing Karen and Kathie. Is there anything better?

Little America, Wyoming. Because it's like a time warp to 1956 in the middle of the desert. Toward the end of a long road trip, you appreciate a little surreality.

Anyway, we are back. Mountains and big family dinners will have to wait for a while. Freshmen and prospecti and cornfields need our attention. And blogs too. They need our attention as well. I'll try to be here more often.