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...

Even before his baptism, Sebi had a big weekend. The day before Rob took him down to the pool to try out for the UVRays swim team. He has desperately wanted to get onto it for a couple of years, after watching Maddie and Will and attending their swim camp. He had all kinds of support from coaches, siblings, parents, and friends and he dominated in the pool. Hooray for our newest Sunray! Then Sebi's baptism was the day before Easter. The grandparents all came and many friends and family too. Maddie gave a smashing talk, and he was baptized with Ryan from our ward too, so the chapel was packed with friends, teachers, and neighbors. Brother Olsen told everyone some of Sebastian's favorite things, and also that Sebi wanted to be a muffin when he grew up (Brother Olsen's son wanted to be a stop sign when he was a boy, which gives me great hope -- the Olsens are sharp ). He was baptized in one try (fish that he is), and then Rob gave him a very thoughtful and personal confi...

 On Sebi's birthday, we had such a packed day that the kids convinced us (the normally fun-inhibiting parents) that we needed to open the presents in the morning. So Sebi got to open everything before breakfast. When he had opened the lego Star Wars and things, we dragged out a cage from behind the couch. Sebi squealed "You mean I'm a hamster owner now?!"  We'd been thinking about getting Sebi a pet since Christmas. Back then he had wanted a turtle, which seemed like a good sort of pet for him. But then his friend Tomas got a teeny tiny spring-loaded hamster and Sebi decided that he really wanted one of those instead. When Rob and I went to the pet store, we got talked out of all the dwarf hamsters and talked into a good old traditional teddy bear. They looked monstrous there in the pet shop. But once we got him home, he seemed much smaller and we were glad that we'd started with a big basic rodent. The hamster is still really skittish and if he thin...

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 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 ...

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...