Friday Family History: Happy Birthday to my Father-in-Law

Last week was my birthday; today is my father-in-law's. I received a gift in the mail from my in-laws, and it made me smile even before I opened it. I failed to take a photo of the packaging. (When will I ever learn I need to always take pictures?) I'll attempt to give you an idea:

Yes, it appeared that I was receiving a toilet seat for my birthday.

Now, I'm a very practical person, and would not be offended at all with a gift of a toilet seat, but I was pretty sure that I would not find a toilet seat inside the box. I was also chuckling when I imagined my father-in-law suggesting the box.

John's dad loves to joke. His answer to the question, "Soup or salad?" at restaurants is always, "I don't need a super salad. A regular one will be fine."

I couldn't match his creativity when I mailed his gift to him, but I did my best by using Transformers gift wrap. Oh, by the way, my present was not a toilet seat--it was a beautiful art piece depicting a pioneer scene.

John's dad's ancestors left England in the 1800s, sailed to America, then pushed handcarts across the plains to Utah. My father-in-law demonstrates the same tenacity as those pioneers, and though he doesn't use a handcart, he enjoys hiking in the mountains of Utah.

(or, in this case, the mountains of Colorado)

Happy birthday, Dad!

Thanks for great in-laws!

Ten Things of Thankful: Autumn Edition

It's autumn time, one of my favorite times of year. I just couldn't leave this weekend as a one-post weekend.

Ten Things of Thankful: Last Two Weeks

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, as viewed from an overlook I apologize for not commenting on your blog posts this past week; John and I took a vacation to Yellowstone National Park, leaving behind our computers and, to a large extent, cell phone service. We escaped the outside world and just spent time in nature. Though we have friends near Yellowstone (who we love to visit) we made this trip just about us, so please forgive us if we were nearby and didn't stop by. The crowds were minimal (though we did mask up whenever we passed someone on the trails) and we spent our days hiking, taking photos, and watching geysers erupt. Today, we are back home and back to work, and, in the case of my computer, back to old shenanigans like not letting me import my photos. (I was able to add the above photo by using blogger on my phone, but that isn't my preferred method.) I want to write about Yellowstone and have photos I want to share, but will leave that for another

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago. I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon. (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this

Thankful Me

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