Drew's Second Decade: Happy Birthday!

So, this kid is probably somewhere on the other side of the country 

eating more pie or cake or something to celebrate his 11th Birthday!

How is my eldest nephew 11? Today? How does he turn 11 today?

He's had quite a year. School, family, family trips, and 

especially the trip he and mom took to Washington, D.C. in the spring. 

(Thanks for the pictures Kelli via Grumpa.)

 From the temple, to the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum,

 to his first train/subway ride, and the super steep subway escalator,

 he and Mom were tuckered out by the end.

He's quite the big brother to Cannon and Sarah, 

with all the odd and conflicted dynamics that being a big sibling, particularly being a

big brother to a brother, and a big brother to a sister entails.

 On the one hand, there's teaching about FOOTBALL!

 Drew, even though they may bug you, you still have them eating out of your hands.

 On the other, I know you sometimes just want to play pretend on your own,

 but they pick up weapons skills too quickly

 and manage to hit you in the face. 

But even after some initial sibling screaming and squabbling, 

they still want to hang out and just watch you, and see what you are up to,

 even when you are trying to chill in front of the cartoons after a hard day of 5th Grade, 

basketball, Scouts, homework, and "just life."

(Sarah juuuuust had to see how close she could get to poking him in the head with her toes.)

Luckily, Drew's swinging some outside interests of his own, 

and running away from the rat race with his Dad and friends.

Which is really awesome.

But MY favorite part of the year is when we get to hang out, just the two of us (and hundreds of other people in a crowded games facility), or eat and talk, or play games with our own rules, or go hiking.

Drew, I know you were annoyed that you were 2 inches too short

 to drive the Go-Kart on your own, but soon kid ...

Too soon, TOO TOO SOON, *

you will be more than big enough to drive your own car - and then, we shall see.

Happy Birthday, Drewbie.

Why are you growing up so fast?

Stop it.

~photos from all over the place, c. his folks, Grumpa, iTouch, and iPhone

*Maybe my bruise from trying to get OUT of the Go-Kart will heal by then. Seriously, I still have a bruise - and this happened on Black Friday. MONTHS ago.

 

Happy Anniversary Mary and Max!

In honor of a very momentous year in the now, 48-year marriage of Mary and Max, I present their annual Christmas letter.

  ~ photos by me, by iTouch in August 2015, DC area

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

December 2015 finds us back in Utah after a very rich and fulfilling time in the Washington D.C. area as missionaries at the Washington, D.C. temple. Our service in the temple was very spiritual. The people we met there will be eternal friends whom we miss daily. The "hundred-things-to-see-and-do-in-the-D.C.-are" list that we received when we arrived was not completed, but we did explore some places we had not seen in our thirty plus years on the East Coast--the Baltimore Inner Harbor and Ft. McHenry; Gettysburg; Hershey, PA; Ocean City, MD; Assateague Island and the wild ponies *, to name a few. In July we got permission to go up to Palmyra, NY to see the Pageant and then to Niagara Falls, which was on my "Bucket List." I was not disappointed. [So, you can now assume that Mary is writing this.]

The temple closed August 8 for some major renovations, a month earlier than our original release date. So, we took our time coming home with detours to NC to visit relatives and a week at Topsail Island and to CT and the Cape for a week. ** (No, I cannot get the Cape sand out of my heart.) We then headed West via Interstate 90 with Moscow, Idaho as our goal to meet our newest grand daughter [Jaime]. We made it as far as Mt. Rushmore when we got a call that brought us home by September 13.

The call was to inform us that the water pipe bringing water from the street into our utility room had burst above the shut-off valve for the house. (That valve was closed). Our neighbor who walks his dog discovered water coming from under the garage door on the afternoon walk. He called our friend who had keys. She rushed over and called our son [Jed] who drove quickly from Mesquite [Nevada] and then called us as we sat enjoying Mt. Rushmore. We told him to call the insurance company and ServiceMaster was here in an hour. We got home to torn out carpet, twenty fan/heaters roaring, and major decisions to make. Three months later, new flooring throughout and a clean house. Now, to convince Max to go on another mission!

The grandchildren grew and thrived while we were gone. Drew is nearly 11; his twin brother and sister are three. The Moscow kids are nearly ten, eight, and six, and Jaime is one. We did get to see her at ten months when we left the mess here for ten days. FaceTime is a farmily-connecting tool we love.

So, what do we do now? We started our service at the St. George temple December 3 and submitted our paperwork to serve for another year at the Home Storage Center the first of January. We need to be busy with enough time to explore our beautiful area, work off the weight we gained from all the missionary parties, and help our neighbors. We are grateful for all our blessings, you being one of them for enriching our lives. May 2016 be good to you.

Love, Max and Mary

~photo by me, November 2015

* Hey, that's on MY bucket list. No fair
** And, hey, I visited for a few days in August to help clear out a lot of stuff. A LOT of the stuff. A CAR FULL OF STUFF. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MANY PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING ALL THE STUFF.

Happy Birthday to Mom: Mission Edition 2015

Mom's birthday this year was so busy that we had to coordinate with her social calendar. See below:

"Thank you for being tooooo generous for my Happy Birthday, but I will enjoy choosing things from each of you. Today is a busy Sunday—choir, home teachers, correlation council, visiting teaching, church, and then a shift coordinators’ meeting at 5:00 P.M., which we think will be long.  Therefore, we will call you when we get back, if we can think by then. There is not much to eat in the house today because we are too busy for me to cook today.  Dad will have my left overs from dinner out last night with another shift coordinator couple.  I do have a birthday cake, delivered this morning by one of the single sisters from the temple.  Getting older does have its perks.  Have a great day.  It is beautiful here.  After choir over at the visitors’ center, I took pictures of the dogwoods which I will send along later.  Thanks again."

Love, Mom

Happy Birthday Busy Lady!

Last year was the big 7-0, so a bunch of us coordinated on a special present for her house. But since I never explained HOW we came up with last year's memorial present, I thought I'd share this year.

Here's my original concept art, with the caveat that I am a word-smith, NOT a graphic designer:

Friends and family were solicited for about 70 words or phrases that reminded us of special Mary moments.

 After many e-mails back and forth, with a very patient brother, here's the final concept art, 

courtesy of J - who WAS a graphic designer. 

Jed picked up the canvas for delivery.

 Dad eventually got it framed and hung,

and it was truly a family effort.

Here's the many phrases that we think remind us of Mom - but the three most important always are:

We Love You:

a true southern lady / active / aunt

beach / beloved / Boston

Broadway / Cape Cod / caring

Carnegie Deli cheesecake / charitable / chauffeur

chief cook and bottlewasher

Canal Street & Chinatown

clever / Connecticut

constantly on the go

control issues / counselor / cousin

daughter / determined / does it all

editor / expressive / extrovert

fun / generous / giving

grammarian / granddaughter / Grandma Mary

Grandmary

honest / hyper / insightful

inspiring / intelligent / intuitive

kind / loving / loyal

maternal / matriarch / mentor

mom / Mommy Maxfield

mother / musical

Nahunta / New York / niece

Norfolk / North Carolina / nurturing

observant / organized / outgoing

patient / red pen / service

oh, shoot a monkey

sister-in-law / spunky / sweet

understanding / Utah

Virginia / warm / walking

wanderlust

weeping woman of Willimantic

Wellfleet / wife

An object at rest remains at rest unless moved by an outside force /

There is beauty all around …. When there's love at home

Retroblogging: Max and Mary Merry Christmas Message c2014

Back from my trip to see the parents, but still sorting through laundry, mail, and mentally trying to wrap my head around going back to work for the first time in the New Year. Will finish up my account of the trip soon, but here's a brief look in the way-back machine to Max and Mary's Merry Christmas letter, only slightly edited.

To note: they didn't actually send this to us kids. I had to beg for one in person.

Dad's e-mail to us:

Kids: Auntie Nettie reminded us after being here for a little while and looking at all the Xmax cards cards on the door that you all didn’t get the 2014 version of the Christmas letter.

Please find attached the 2014 Christmas letter.

Now who can beat this for getting information out too late.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

December 2014

Dear Family and Friends All Over the Place:

This holiday season finds us back on the East Coast in Kensington, Maryland on a temple mission at the Washington D.C. Temple. Last year we indicated our paperwork was in, and after some delays due to housing availability, we arrived on September 22. Because this was our temple for twenty of the thirty years we lived in Connecticut, we feel right at home and have not stopped since we got here. We work at the temple five days a week, help out at the Visitors’ Center, fill positions in our ward of only temple workers, and try to keep up with all the social activities planned for our group. Naps during the day are a thing of the past. Nevertheless, we are very grateful for this blessing of being able to serve in the House of the Lord and grow spiritually.

 In thinking about writing this annual Christmas letter, I had to read over my sketchy journal to see what we did “Before Mission,” and noted many of the entries had to do with preparing for the mission. There are so many details which have to be considered when leaving home for a year. There were entries about traveling to Logan to visit the aunts, visits from friends and relatives to the [M&M] B&B, trips to California to see the Fresno relatives and for a bittersweet funeral, Amber’s baptism in Moscow, Idaho in February, the Idaho [crew] coming to St. George in July and us going there later in the month to babysit while Mom went to girls’ camp, exploration of the Oregon Coast after that Moscow, Idaho visit, Drew coming over from Mesquite to kayak with Grumpa, and watching Sarah and Cannon grow from babies to toddlers with unique personalities (They are two now.). Because of Facetime, we can still enjoy the grandchildren’s personalities and achievements. And, we might get [Auntie Nettie] down to visit from New York City in January. Our lives are full and rich and just exciting enough! Since I started this letter, Jaime Alice joined the Idaho ... family on December 6, 7#4oz. 21 inches, healthy and exhibiting a strong personality!

Grumpa Max is feeling older as we came out of one day a week work cycle to the Tuesday through Saturday work-week. After working from 12:30 PM to 7 PM the body and mind are looking forward to a quick dinner and off to dream land. We have not seen the sites in the area yet but are planning to use more of our Mondays to explore. Or at least Mary hopes to! We will see what next year’s letter has for a list of happenings.

As we all come to this holiday time of the year again and in anticipation of a New Year, may we all count our blessings and find the good in each other as well as the world. We think of each of you often and count our association with you as a great blessing.

Mary and Max

Updates on Temple Model

Sure ... NOW it's open.

Model of Washington D. C. Temple on Public Display http://t.co/MLE1bYzuXK #LDS #Mormon #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/RbsiyCxn9j
— Mormon Newsroom (@MormonNewsroom) January 11, 2015

The link has video from the event, as well as more pictures in a slideshow.
Hopefully Pop will take pictures too.



If the link doesn't open, it is: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/model-washington-d-c--temple-on-public-display?adbid=554095191938715648&adbpl=tw&adbpr=10047382&cid=social_20150111_38595217

Thursday: Tending to Your Temple

Last night/yesterday's post took so long to type out on the iTouch and then to choke through the internet wifi that it was early Thursday morning before I tried to go to sleep.

Tried. Tired. Anagrams.

My brain wouldn't shut off, but when it finally did, something triggered a coughing jag of epic proportions. I am slowly getting over this flu, but am still hacking, sneezing, tired, wheezing, and nursing sore abdominals. I don't know when I finally dozed off, propped up and swaddled in blankets, but it was late enough to hear the winds roaring  and feel the temps dropping.

When I finally emerged in the morning, something  told me that I wasn't the only one NOT feeling our plan to head into the City-center to be tourists. I think my first words weren't "Good morning," but: "I'm a wimp, I don't want to be out in the cold today."

No one debated.  It was all of 10 degrees when I made my pronouncement. And 10 was warm compared to the rest of the country.

So, it was a lazy, stay local, kind of day.

Eventually we all got showered, dressed, read, putzed around and eventually headed over to "the pickle deli." Because what you do when you are from NYC the Land of the Jewish deli is come to DC, to go to a Jewish deli. Totally makes sense, right? But these Mormons down here, they love them this local hangout they've nicknamed the "pickle deli" because of the free pickled item buffet you can browse while waiting for your meal. www.theparkwaydeli.com on Grubb Street. I'm not kidding, Grubb Street.

And the pickling is adventuresome: 1st sampler by dad: sandwich sweets, beets, jalapeño, some krauts, and a pickle

Beets, good. Sandwich sweets, good. LOVED the jalapeño. The pickle was okay, but soured with continual bites. Also, I learned, at almost 43, I DO NOT LIKE KRAUT.

Sampler 2, by Mom: more beets, usual dill diner pickle, sandwich pickles, and deli spear, more jalapeños, and a test to see if I would eat the hot pepper

Those jalapeños were so good, and of course I ate the hot pepper. Just hot enough.

When at a Jewish deli you order a,

Turkey burger and fries, right?

Mom did.

Or a turkey BLT pannini with fries, right?

Dad did, which is weird because he used to be a pastrami or corned beef guy. I don't like either of those flavor profiles.

I am a brisket lady.

A warm brisket on rye lady with a side of onion rings dame

When in a Jewish deli...don't get a falafel wrap, I always think.

Maybe I should have gotten the matzoh ball soup and the brisket, but no. I am living pleasantly in my state of denial at least a few more days. (Plus, pounds equals insulation right now. Hello? It is cold!) As it was I had to defend my right to my precious rings. My preccccccciouuuses.

At least we didn't order any of the hammenstaten, or cheesecake, or fritters, or pie, or rugelach, or eclairs or cannoli  (!!!????) we saw in the cases on the way in and out.

Then it was a quick swing by the temple grounds and the visitors center to see some of the places Mom and Dad see everyday.

Hazy afternoon suns make for silhouette shots of the temple

I am trying to remember exactly, but I think it has been 25 years since I have been here. Unlike when you are small and then you revisit as an adult and everything is smaller, this place is actually bigger now, at least on the inside. Renovations, new technology, and underground expansions will do that.

Being greeted by this Christus hasn't changed, which is lovely.

Displays include:

Explanations of Old Testament temples, like Solomon's here

And how they relate to modern Mormon temples.

There are lots of theater and screens showing various clips, presentations, and inviting you to view the new feature film: Meet the Mormons.

Sit in the booth and find out about the Book of Mormon in a variety of languages.

I do remember seeing older films in smaller rooms like this one.

There are new displays about the Church's many varied international and national humanitarian efforts.

Not to mention a new homey setting where the Church's genealogical offerings are available to start people on ancestry research.

It actually a good thing we didn't go to DC, as it turned out the Center would be closed for the rest of my trip.

That would have put a shadow on things, for sure.

One of the displays still being installed is a very large display of the temple itself, with an open cross section of the interior, so visitors can get more of a sense of what goes on inside. Visitors can ONLY visit the Visitors Center, not the interior of the temple, so pictures, displays, and models are helpful. It is NOT like a cathedral or the Vatican, or even some of the big synagogues or mosques abroad. No tours. Ever. Except during open houses after they are built or remodeled and then, only before dedications. So visitors centers like this are important, especially in DC with so many international visitors and opportunities for religious diplomacy.

Rest of the day was pretty quiet. Mom and I did venture out for a quick walk up the block to visit the old church bookstore I remembered from early trips down to this complex to see Grandma Ollie though now in a new location/new management. We also ducked into some local shops, but quickly returned home.

It was cold enough to make Dad check on the truck,

The local "crick" to freeze,

And for Mom to burrow back under the covers again while others of us read.

We (Mom and I) keep saying we ARE going into DC tomorrow (really later today) ....

but... It's 1am NOW.

I should at least try and post this today.

~ post and photos by iTouch