The Patina Was My Favorite Thing

Gorgeous colors!
Emma's boyfriend taught us that the seat back rolls forward or back, so you can change the direction you are facing. Roxie liked shoveling coal (soft, not the real thing) in the tender.
Sam moved a switch that changed the tracks outside.
John really wanted to ride the train to Paradise through Intercourse, PA. We passed the Red Caboose Motel where we had honeymoon reservations.


Suzanna with serious face pose. (Great background!)

The Night Before

This is one of my favorite pictures from this past year, retouched and colored by brother David.
Tommorrow is a big celebration for us. We waited for each other. 21 years ago we had a picnic family dinner at Grandma Carlson's house in Springville. John got sick. He drove me home anyway. We said goodnight without kissing. We never kissed as an engaged couple (weird, I know). The big day at the temple would be tomorrow, when our family and friends would gather around us and witness our marriage inside the LDS Salt Lake Temple. Beautiful place. Peaceful place. Full of love and joy and goodness. After the wonderful wedding brunch at the Lion House we took off for a bed and breakfast in Manti, and then camping at Zion's National Park. We did come back for a reception three days later. I think those reception pictures I look a little smug, happily knowing, glowing. I don't have those scanned in, or I would prove it to you.

Fogging Up Car Windows

(pictures taken outside of health club, rainy day. It didn't take long for the windows to fog up as we tried to get our faces just right in the mirror!) (less color. My #2 favorite this week's worth of couple photos!)

(more color. My #1 favorite this week!)

My college roommate, Ellen, had a truck. She was WAY more generous than she should have been (did I ever pay for gas?).

After a date with John, we were TALKING and eating KFC in the parking lot in front of his dorm, and we got a "Tap, TAP" on the glass. Campus police, making sure our clothes were on. Embarrassing. But it made us laugh. I think John offered the officer a piece of chicken.

The morning I almost wore PJs to Seminary

I've been doing so well, waking up on time without an alarm. This morning 20 minutes before class John gently told me the time. Quick couple prayer. SCRAMBLE! I got downstairs dressed and with lipstick and shoes on (my personal criteria for being fully dressed) and thankful that I had over-prepared material for yesterday. The kids staggered in. We sang with only 5 of them. More came. And kept coming. That part was good.

Today we have to take the Honda in to check the mysterious noise under the front passenger seat (hopefully only a really cheap 50 cent bolt is missing). More applications. Lunch together. That has been my favorite part of having John home, many lunch dates in our own dinning room!

Our picture for the day:
This mirror was an as-is IKEA clear glass door. I painted the words backwards on the back of the glass with glow in the dark and red paint. Then used "Mirror" finish spray paint over everything. It hung in our tomato red bedroom for years, and fits above the front door now. Note reflections on ceiling. I buy a lot of mirrors at thrift stores-not for vanity, but for the light they reflect. Mirrors are little windows, and I don't think you can ever have too many. Glow-in-the-dark stuff and mirrors, two of my favorite things!