Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. I always thought it was cool that my dad's birthday is exactly 2 weeks after mine. In fact I remember thinking as a child that it was too bad that my brother's birthday was on the 2nd instead of the first because then we could have birthdays exactly 2 weeks apart during the whole month of April.

My dad grew up in Richfield. He has 1 older sister and 3 younger brothers. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to California in 1965-67.


He attended Utah State University and got a degree in Business in 1970. He met my mom as a student. They were both in the square dance club. I wish I had a picture of them in their costumes. They were married in the Manti, UT Temple in 1968.

Got drafted into the army and went to Vietnam. He was there for 6 months, while my mom stayed home and wrote him a letter a day (following counsel from the prophet) with 2 children.

My parents like to travel. After a trip early on in their marriage, they decided that it was faster and cheaper to drive all day and all night. No stopping for hotels. Only stopping for car repairs, some meals, and neat tourist attractions. Dad says he likes it because during the night, you don't have fights in the backseat because the children are all sleeping. I've gone from Layton, UT to Aurora, NY several times; it takes 32 hours when you drive straight through. Since I've been married, I have marveled that my parents could drive all night. I usually fall asleep at 10:30 pm when in a car.

I remember bits of stories that my dad would tell at bedtime. They always had a little girl named Malauna in them. I also remember him being the tickle monster. And every Saturday morning, he would chase us through the house with the vacuum cleaner. We'd have to have the floors picked up before he got to us. Fun times.

My dad got me my first job. I was a directional at the Delta Center (now the Energy Solutions Arena) from Jul. 1993 to Dec. 1996. My dad is an usher there. Has been since it opened in 1991. It was fun to get to commute with him and 2 of my sisters for the Jazz games, concerts, Golden Eagles and later Grizzlies games, circus shows, Amway conventions, and Disney on Ice shows. I joked with him this morning that the Utah Jazz gave him a birthday present by losing in LA, so that he wouldn't have to have such a sad game to watch on his birthday. It is amazing how sad the air is in the Delta Center after the final loss of a round of the play-offs.

My dad has helped us when we've moved. He drove with Ryan in the Penske truck 10 years ago from BYU to Boise and unloaded it. When we moved to our current house 4 years ago, he came up and built shelving in the closets in the kids' rooms, hall closet (for food storage!), and craft area in the laundry room.

Now that my children are older than babies, they've all taken a liking to Grandpa C. That first year of life, though, they'd all scream if I had him hold them...

Last year we got to celebrate with my dad the week of his birthday. He was nice enough to let Roderic blow out his candles.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Word of the Day: Occultation

6:11 a.m. MDT

Occultation: (noun) Astronomy. the passage of one celestial body in front of another, thus hiding the other from view: applied esp. to the moon's coming between an observer and a star or planet.

Ryan has recently (6 or so months ago) discovered Jack Horkheimer's Stargazer Episodes on the internet. If you've never seen one, your missing out. Mr. Horkheimer loves all things celestial and talks excitedly all the time. Well, the other week, we learned about an occult occurance. The crescent moon travelling directly in front of Venus blocking it from view. Ryan figured out what time we'd have to get up in order to see this using this website. 6 am. This time of day comes really early when you retire past midnight, in case you're wondering. As it turns out, it was beautiful and totally worth the loss of sleep. We even woke up Sabrina and set up her brand-new-for-her-birthday telescope to see it. She is now way too excited to return to sleep, which is a good thing because she has part of a project due today.

6:19 a.m. MDT

6:21 a.m. MDT

6:24 a.m. MDT

6:26 a.m. MDT

East

But as I lay back in Neddy's lap, my eyes idly fell on some breeches of min that Mother was just beginning to work on. There was a great ugly tear in the backside that I had gotten sliding down a small waterfall earlier in the day. My near drowning at the bottom of the waterfall had left me more subdued and tired than usual. I closed my eyes sleepily, drawn into Neddy's description of Thor swinging his mighty hammer as he crossed the rainbow bridge. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that the rip in my breeches had disappeared.

I sat up, wide awake. It was magic.

It might be thought odd that I had never noticed Mother sewing up a hole before, but usually she saved her mending for later in the evening, the peaceful time of day when I was asleep.

I was by her side in a flash, all trace of sleepiness gone, the Bifrost bridge forgotten.

"Do it again," I demanded.

"Do what?" she asked, bewildered.

"Make a hole go away."

She smiled and picked up another piece of mending. She showed me how to thread the needle, then neatly stitched up a small tear in Sonja's smock.

I watched, avidly, and then said with conviction, "I want to."

This is the excerpt from East by Edith Pattou that completely got me hooked. I mean, come on, sewing is magical! Any book that admits it, has to be good. This book is a retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." If you enjoy reading fairy tales, I believe you will enjoy this book.

Happy Easter

I hope you all enjoyed a splendid Easter Sunday. I directed the Ward Choir in several numbers this morning in Sacrament Meeting. I could have only had us perform 1 song, but really, there are so many Easter season songs to be sung, so we sang 6. My absolute favorite was "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" from the Hymnal Plus book - the purple one. Our organist rocks! My second favorite was "Behold the Saviour" with lyrics by Samuel Wesley. In doing some research on this song, I discovered that it was published in the "Manchester Hymnal" in 1840. We sang these beautiful lyrics with a haunting tune in a minor key (it never resolved!):

Behold the Savior of mankind
Nailed to the shameful tree!
How vast the love that Him inclined
To bleed and die for thee!

Hark, how He groans, while nature shakes,
And earth’s strong pillars bend;
The temple’s veil in sunder breaks,
The solid marbles rend.

“’Tis done!” The precious ransom’s paid,
“Receive My soul,” He cries!
See where He bows His sacred head!
He bows His head, and dies!

But soon He’ll break death’s envious chain,
And in full glory shine:
O Lamb of God! was ever pain,
Was ever love, like Thine?

We also sang "Let the Mountains Shout for Joy", "That Easter Morn", "Canon in D" by Pachabel, with lyrics by Noel Goemanne, and "Come, Jesus Holy Son of God" by Handel. It was heavenly music. I am truly blessed to work with such a wonderful choir.

This week, I made ties for Roderic and Hyrum to wear that matched the dress I made for Sabrina. We headed down to the Boise Depot for some pictures at dusk. I just had to show off my handiwork.

Happy Birthday Sabrina!

10 years of Sabrina E Gibby! My life has never been better. What a darling girl she is.