Easter Weekend

Sam got home from BYU on Friday, so on Saturday we had everyone together for an outing. We chose the Udvar-Hazy Hangar of the Air and Space Museum out by Dulles Airport.  It was a lot of fun, including seeing some serious flying machines, an IMAX film about fighter pilots and lots of time to just hang out.

Everyone at the balcony of the hangar overlooking the
mighty SR-71 Supersonic Recon Aircraft, seen in the
next photo. 

This aircraft really is amazing. On its last flight,
from LA to Washington DC, it set a record
by flying that distance in just a little over
 an hour. That's almost 2200 mph. If it needed
to evade a missile, it just accelerated. 

A rare photograph that includes me. In front of a real
space shuttle orbiter. 

The brothers being matchy. 

Sara and Evan squinting into the sun
so I could get a photo. 

I like this sculpture at the Udvar-Hazy
Center. I think it is called Ascent.  

This is one of the Concorde aircraft.
Eric was fortunate to be able to fly
in one of these, a British Airways
version, before they were retired. It was a
fun  experience for someone who used
to help design aircraft.

Sunday we had a lovely day of remembering Easter in all its religious and cultural splendor.  The Easter Bunny switched things up and made an egg hunt for the kids to find some treats, and everyone good-naturedly participated in the fun. My kids are just heroic that way-always participating in traditions and family fun even when they are probably too old for it. I appreciate that about them.

There is an egg perched between the side mirror and the
the car window. Evan can't see it. Everyone else can but
it is one of his so they can't claim it. 

He still doesn't see it. 

Finally, when everyone came and stood right by it,
he figured it out.

Church was wonderful, full of reminders of why I do what I do every day.  Eric spoke in Sacrament mtg. and I gave a lesson to all the teenaged girls. I think it went well. I made these brownies as a sort of object lesson about appreciating your own unique talents and they really are amazing-a delicious, fudgy, dark chocolate treat-those usually make the best object lessons. You should totally try them.

Our holiday dinner went off without a hitch-traditional with all the trimmings-Ham, scalloped potatoes, artichokes, asparagus, homemade rolls, deviled eggs, yum.

I hope that you had a delightful Easter with your family and friends and that even if you don't celebrate the spiritual side, that you are feeling the joy of springtime and are considering the wonderful reality of having a fresh start.

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Listening for Those Trucks

For the most part, the shopping is done. I still have a few things yet to be delivered, wrapped up, and, in some cases, mailed out again. I tried shipping things directly, but some things couldn't be gift-wrapped or the additional cost of gift-wrapping plus sending to separate addresses was just too much. So, I thrill now to the sound of a big truck in my neighborhood. I know their routes, so I can usually tell by what street they're on and what direction they're going whether or not they will come down my street or not. Tomorrow I have all day during school planned to watch Christmas movies and get everything done that I possibly can. It will be very fun and festive, at least in my mind's eye. I'm actually not stressing that my Christmas cards have not been delivered yet, and am bravely facing the fact that said cards will likely arrive at their various destinations after Christmas. My resolve to stay in the joy of the season is sticking and I'm determined to enjoy the process.

In other news, Evan is feeling better and is going to try wrestling at tomorrow's meet. Today the doctor pronounced him free of strep or other bacterial infections, so now we wait for his body to do the work of healing. In addition to listening for delivery trucks, I'm counting down the days till my kids get home and praying for them to do well on their finals.  I'm in the home stretch of actually finishing a book in one read rather than giving up halfway as has happened with the last three or four books I've tried to read. I feel good about that.  I talked to my sister today and it is starting to feel real that we'll have family in the house for the holiday. We got all the sleeping arrangements figured out and I can't wait for them to get here. Another sister may come for a visit after Christmas, which would just be the icing on the cake.

I'm starting to feel that very particular sense of anticipation mixed with busyness mixed with excitement that makes this season feel different from other times of the year. Time and space seem to compress and the familiarity of tradition keeps me centered in the rush of this year's list. I like that feeling. I like it when I catch myself humming to the Christmas carols or just stopping to look at the lights of the tree. I'm not even sure what I'm feeling at those moments-memories? security? satisfaction? Maybe a combination of all of those and more.

So c'mon UPS and Fedex and my own good old postman that I've had for 15 years, bring that goodness to my door so I can wrap it up and share the love.

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Another Tradition Upheld and Another Art Assignment

We have a few traditions that are as constant as the tides. This past weekend was one of them. It involves  food, special people, and an entire weekend of learning by listening to uplifting speeches from the leaders of my church. If you're curious what I mean by that, here is one you can listen to to get a taste.  We get to experience quite a few of these speeches over the course of the weekend and it is an important opportunity for me to take refuge from the hustle and bustle and re-focus on what I value most.

The food is legendary, a version of a spectacular breakfast that my mom started hosting over 40 years ago. I think it has always included homemade cinnamon rolls along with a few other things. It has come full circle for me, which is the part of the story with the special people and actually makes me weepy. In the early 1970's my parents had just moved 2500 miles from home and found themselves without family nearby so they invited friends to celebrate our faith by watching the conference and eating. Isn't that how it usually is? Faith and food? Anyway, families like the Muciarones and the Shipleys became part of my adopted extended family.  Over the years as our family grew, the breakfast became mostly a gathering of relatives: more and more kids, then spouses, then grandchildren. At its peak, we sometimes had 25 people all living nearby, all family.

Now it's the Nusses on the other end of the 2500 mile move (my folks just retired to Arizona this summer) and we are endeavoring to gather round us our adopted family here in Maryland and keep the traditions going. It feels right, and I hope that the  memories will continue to be warm and full of love and laughter. I also hope that the gathering will grow and change the way my parents' did. 

On another note, in case I forget tomorrow, here is this week's art assignment.  It was about complementary colors. Meaning my entire palette had to come from just two colors that are directly across on the color wheel. I chose orange and blue. I had to mix up my own orange, so I technically I started with three paints-red, yellow and blue. From there I came up with a basic palette of 6 colors and I couldn't actually use red red. I could only use forms of orange.  When you mix complementary colors, they dull each other out, which is the opposite of what happens when they just sit next to each other, when they make each other vibrate and look brighter. I do love all this color exploration. My little painting is simple enough, but it is amazing that all the colors I used were mixed from just two colors.

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