The Professor and Mary Ann

Jeff and Saydi invited us up to Bear Lake to see them after their adventurous six months in London. We met up with them in Park City to caravan and we switched around people until we had two cars: McShums and Waylanders. Everyone behaved so nicely on the trip up -- makes me wish we could always sprinkle in a few cousins on car rides! When we arrived, as we were unpacking things and stowing food, Rob helped Emmeline conquer the spiral staircase. It is steep and metal and I thought that she would be stuck on the first floor for the duration, but she got all the way up, and Rob put one Jelly Belly on each step which was enough to motivate her back down. She had no problem with it the rest of the weekend!  That Bear Lake is almost unreal. It is clear, has a sandy bottom, incredible colors, and while we were there it was 71 degrees. In the water! Essentially a giant inflatable pool.  Maddie got to try out the new paddle board. She'd just learned how a couple of days before...

For anyone who didn't get a hard copy, this is what we sent out this year (with a bonus picture for my blog readers!): Greetings from the McFarlands! We hope this letter finds you all well and ready for a long winter’s nap. We’ve had a full year of fun and adventures, visiting Goblin Valley and Capitol Reef over spring break, leading a study abroad to Berlin and Tübingen over the summer, and jaunting out to California to see Mary Ann’s brother John marry Clarissa Lyons over Labor Day. We’re happily settling in for the holidays here, with plans of sitting by the fire and not much else. Here is what we have been doing: Maddie (13) is in her second year attending an accelerated program at the high school here. She says “Just because I’m a nerd doesn’t mean I have no social life!” She lives, eats, drinks and breathes ballroom dance. She has found her niche on the swim team, doing distance freestyle events and is close to making a state cut. She still loves Shakespeare, and got to s...

This is my favorite picture from Thanksgiving this year. It reminds me that this was a great year because of the McKids. They are all growing up so fast and Jessie is already in college, but they are so much fun together and such good kids. They are smart and witty and entertaining and kind. And we're still all quoting David's "I'll take some, coach, if it's all the same to you", though none of us has his comic timing. It was also a great year because of the food and all the family we had to help prepare it. This was the first year Rob and I got to host for the McFarland family. We had everyone but the Beans, who stayed up in Idaho. With all the other cooks, I actually did a lot less than last year, and the food was spectacular . Maddie and Rob get a special mention as our pie specialists. They have decided to take that on and have been practicing whenever they find fruit for a filling. There was a smashing lemon meringue along with the more typical pumpkin, a...

Joss "reading" his halloween card: "Which kind of candy is your favorite, and DAMMMNATION, and which kind of candy is your favorite, and DAMMMNATION, and which kind of candy is your favorite, and DAMMNATION (repeat another 4-5 times), in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Will and I had a very confusing conversation until figured out that he thought "flamboyant" meant both buoyant and flammable. Pretty understandable, but he kept talking about these flamboyant bombs floating around at sea and I just couldn't catch the vision. Joss had his Halloween party at preschool and came home with a pumpkinload of goodies. He pulled out a little rubbery skeleton and said "Mama, do you think skeletons are spooky?" I, sensing the opportunity for a little teaching, said "No, I think skeletons are great! I have a skeleton and you have a skeleton and everybody has a skeleton inside of them to help them stand up and move around. Isn't that good?" J...

This year when we got home, we found that for the first time, we were successfully growing pumpkins. And that there were exactly four. By Halloween, they were all orange and we harvested them and carved them, lit them and stuck them on the front porch. They were just as slimy as ever. Will decided that he wanted to be a BYU quid ditch player for Halloween. We had gone to D.I. (local thrift shop) and let the kids go wild finding things for their costumes a week or so before, but by the evening of the 30th, Will still just had a navy bathrobe. Rob made his awesome Firebolt broomstick with an old broom and clippings from our fruit trees. I downloaded a new varsity font, printed everything onto iron-on paper, ironed it onto white fabric and then sewed it onto the robe. [I'm messing around with all of the cool new effects on Picasa. This one is neon and is one of Will's favorites.] He was happy with the results. Phew! Launching himself into the game. Mercifully Maddie found a dress ...

Rob insisted one Saturday that we get out and see the leaves before they all turned brown and blew away. He was right -- it was well worth the time. We drove up Squaw Peak which I hadn't done in 17 years (sometimes I wonder if I actually live here, or if I just visit local schools and grocery stores). We had a picnic courtesy of In-N-Out that made everyone happy. I found the vignette feature on Picasa. Joss monkeyed around and the rest of us tried to keep him from falling off the trail. And we took a lovely walk out in the leaves. You've got to give them a good send-off since they won't be back for another 11 months.

The Skype generation discovers General Conference. Joss to Elder Richard G. Scott: Hello? . . . Hello? . . . You talk to me? . . . Hello? Maddie: Can I has scriptures? Joss: Can I do yoga? Rob: Who would you like to meet in the afterlife? Mimi? MA: Grandpa Oscar. Rob: Madeline Kahn. Will: 'Someone broke my igneous rocks.' 'I feel your pain, man. I hate it when my igneous rocks are even touched.' * Joss: Papa, can we go to the zoo? Can we go to a schloss ? Rob, giving a lecture on social class in his turn-of-the-century Vienna writing seminar: So what are some indicators that someone is of another social stratum? crickets finally somewhere out of the back: Someone uses the word 'stratum'? Rob and MA waking up. Joss comes in Mama: Joss, why don't you go out and jump on the trampoline? Papa: That's a good idea Joss. Joss, settling in, intending to go nowhere: Hey, I love you guys! Maddie: Hold still or I'm going to give you fifty lashes! Joss: I don...

Over Labor Day weekend we had a whirlwind trip out to Berkeley for John and Clarissa's wedding. It was held at the Berkeley City Club, another beautiful Julia Morgan building. It was an intimate, personal ceremony and we were glad we got to be there to see it. Aside from that, we played hard, we ate well, and we fell apart before the dancing began! Here is more of the occasion in pictures: bride and groom with nieces and nephews reading an e.e. cummings poem during the ceremony Shumway siblings McFarlands were here oooh! nice eyebrow! Joss banged it into the door of the rental car that afternoon and it would not stop bleeding. the cousins snuck off for some pictures in the courtyard flower girls dance with the bride parents of the groom give a toast during Clarissa's mother Barbara's toast Sebastian talking to Grandpa Each table was themed with a spot from Manhattan Milkshakes used for toasts (John's friend Will said the next morning: "So it really is true -- yo...