Millions of Monkeys, Drumming on Drums

This is my attempt to revive this sad, poor blog: an update on our family. I felt like I should post something because we missed the Nielson family reunion yesterday.

We're loving our new house and neighborhood. We bought bikes and it has been fun going on rides as a family. Our other favorite activity has been going to the new swimming pool down the street---it only takes a couple minutes to walk there and it's free, so our boys have wrinkly fingers and toes more often these days. We're in the process of putting in our back yard, but it's going slower than it ought to. We hired landscapers to take care of the most back-breaking work, but we went with the guys who gave us the lowest bid. Now that we're getting what we paid for, we're thinking we should have just swallowed the difference: a poorly graded yard, the wrong kinds of sprinklers installed on one side, and a mountain of dirt that's been sitting on our front lawn for weeks while they stall on finishing things up. Still, I think it's going to look great when we're all done with everything.

I'm still working as a concept lead at Avalanche, and things have been pretty good there. I get frustrated with my team sometimes and the workload has been pretty stressful, but it's also a lot of fun. I'm going to teach a digital painting class this fall at BYU also. I'm excited, but I have no idea whether I'll make a good teacher or not, so I'm sort of nervous.

Marilyn was called as the ward organist here, so she's been spending a lot of time practicing at the church. Apparently the organ is a very different instrument than the piano---I always assumed they were similar enough that transferring skills wouldn't be a big deal. She's also been having fun writing the occasional random article for the Spanish Fork News. Oh yeah, and she has a new blog that she doesn't want you to know about (too shy, or embarrassed?). She created it to give herself an opportunity to write more often, and I think her commentary on life makes a pretty entertaining read.

Abe will be starting Kindergarten in a week or so. They're just finishing construction on his school now, it's a big new elementary within walking distance of our house. He loves his bear "Honey," is becoming very helpful around the house, and is getting smarter all the time. He just memorized a talk for Primary last week and gave a flawless delivery.

Sebastian is such a funny boy. His favorite activity is to pretend he's a windmill, or a carwash, or a washer/dryer. In fact, we got him a working toy washer for his birthday a couple weeks ago, and he loves it. But most of all, he loves his Monkey, a poor, dirty, beat up stuffed monkey he's had since he was a baby (pictures in the link above). Only problem is, he keeps leaving Monkey places. We're worried he's going to lose him one of these days, and then what will we do? Pull out Backup Monkey, that's what. He doesn't know Backup Monkey exists, but it's really better that way so we can pull off the switch if Monkey goes the way of all the fluffballs. My only fear is that Seb will recognize the discrepancy in grime-matted-fur levels between the two monkeys. We might have to drag Backup Monkey behind the car for a few miles before handing him over.

Malachi is getting bigger, even though he is still very small. He has two teeth, chews (and chokes on) Cheerios; stands on the edges of couches, shelves, and spinning chairs (always short-lived); says "da-da!" and "ma-ma!" but doesn't give any sign that he knows what either means, and smiles at everyone and everything.

I think that's all, or at least I'm tired of typing. We'd love to hear from any of you, if you don't mind posting a family report as well.