The Best of 2008

Happy New Year's Eve! I hope that everyone has an enjoyable evening welcoming 2009. Greg and I are planning to go into Springfield to have dinner and join in some of the "First Night" festivities including an 1850s ball at the Abraham Lincoln Museum. Well it has been quite an eventful year! Here are a few highlights:

On January 4, 2008, Greg proposed to me in Salt Lake City while I was home from school for Christmas break!

Later in January, I was able to take a wonderful trip to visit my friend Angie in Pennsylvania. We visited the #1 place on my list of places to visit: Gettysburg! We also went to Hershey and Amish country. Good times!

Throughout January, February, March and April, my classmates and I worked feverishly to complete our museum exhibit at the Tarble Arts Center. We finally finished just in time for the exhibit opening at the end of April. We took our finals at the first of May and were done with all of our coursework!

Mom came out to Illinois and drove home to Utah with me. We had a great time stopping at fun sites along the way.

In June, the whole family took a wonderful trip to Nauvoo, and I was able to go to the Nauvoo Temple! It was one of the funnest weeks I have ever had. Camden, Riley, Sid, and Eliza enjoyed their pioneer adventures there.

We had a wonderful summer in Utah with everyone there--including Sarah, Joel, and Eliza who were home from South Carolina for a few months. I enjoyed working at Camp Floyd--especially when the girls would come visit.

Then in October Greg and I were married at the Provo Temple!!! It was a truly wonderful day. We then embarked on our long road trip to Illinois via Mississippi.

When I returned to Illinois, I began working at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency to finish my school internship. It was an amazing experience, but also a very sad one as I saw the agency crumble under Governor Blagojevich's budget cuts. A slight bit of good news came earlier this month when the gov. was arrested.

Greg and I got our cute kitty Tiger Lily at the end of November, bringing our number of animal children to three as she joined Big Spike and Little Spike. We had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a fun New Year's Eve!

And we can't forget the year's biggest project: the Zion National Park book!!! Thank you to everyone for your encouragement and support. Hopefully 2009 will bring big book sales?

So that's pretty much 2008 in a nutshell.

Life's Big Decisions

Hmmmmmm, life is full of big decisions. I had been hoping that the job at the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake would work out for me so that Greg and I could move back to Utah (and that would have been a really cool job), but with the current Church hiring freeze, that will not happen at this time. Unfortunately the job prospects aren't looking great anywhere, so Greg and I realize that we might need to stay here in Athens for a while since we at least have a regular income and insurance benefits. Athens is a nice place, and I wouldn't mind staying here for the time being, but after Saturday's freak storm I told Greg that if we're staying here into tornado season, we need a house with a basement. And, I have what you might call rentphobia. I realize that renting is nice because you're not tied down to a place, but I can't stand sending money each month into the black hole more commonly known as rent. So, Greg and I have been talking about the pro's and con's of buying a house. There is a cute little house here in town that Greg and I have been looking at, and I would appreciate any input that all of you wise blog readers have on the matter.


The house we're looking at belonged to Dr. William A. Mudd and was built in 1860. (It's a historic house and even has a plaque in the front yard!!!) You can see some pictures of the house by clicking here. The original structure consisted of just the two front rooms of the house--then the other parts were added on later. William Mudd's father, Dr. Henry Mudd, was friends with Abraham Lincoln and was excused from official service during the Civil War after he agreed to give medical treatment to both Confederate and Union soldiers. William followed in his father's footsteps and became a doctor. The realtor said that supposedly William Mudd was related to the infamous Dr. Samuel Mudd who was accused of helping John Wilkes Booth escape after assassinating President Lincoln, but I was checking today and couldn't find any close family relations. But with a name like Mudd, surely they must be related somehow.

The house is in good shape for being as old as it is, but it has a few problems. It has a totally ghetto paint job inside, and the floor coverings in the kitchen and bedrooms are not tacked down to the floor. It has new electrical wiring and a new roof, but there is a small leak in the roof on the newest addition to the house. There is also a little water damage (it looks like some old condensation) beneath the linoleum on the kitchen floor, and there is a little bit of black mold around the storm door in the basement. That being said, at least the house has a basement! The house also has a lot of character. The kitchen wallpaper would have to go, and the ceiling panels in the living room and master bedroom would either need to be removed or covered up, but the house has amazing insulation. Their utility bills are 1/3 of what Greg and I are currently paying, and they keep their house 10 degrees warmer than we do!

Here is a list of pro's and con's for buying the house:

Pro's

• It has a basement
• Utility bills are 1/3 as much as we are paying right now
• Our monthly payments on the house loan would be less than what we are currently paying for rent
• We could build up equity in the home
• It is a historic house
• It is a brick home and is very well insulated
• We would have an additional bedroom
• It would be our house
• We could make money when we sell it in the future
• It has a big bathroom
• We could have a little garden in the yard
• It comes with all of its appliances
• Did I mention that it has a brick-lined basement--good for taking shelter during tornadoes?
• It would be fun (though a lot of work) to fix up

Con's

• Owning it would tie us to Athens, and if we were to move in the near future, we would have to sell it
• It is old and could, at any time, have any number of problems
• Its furnace is kind of old and might need to be replaced in a few years
• It would need to be repainted and have the floor coverings fixed
• The mold problem around the door in the basement would need to be fixed
• We would need to make sure that the panels in the ceiling do not contain asbestos
• It doesn't have a garage
• It doesn't have a lot of closet space

What do you think?

Tornadoes in December

You've heard of Christmas in July, but how about tornadoes in December? Yesterday it was below freezing here, and today it got up to 65 degrees. With severe temperature change comes severe weather, and we got a load of that today. When Greg and I got back to Athens after our morning errands in Springfield, we heard on the radio that there was a bad storm headed our way. We walked outside and saw these crazy black clouds heading towards us. Why, you may ask, did we remain outside and take pictures when we should have been taking cover? That is a good question, and I don't have a good answer except that it was so fascinatingly scary that we couldn't help but stand there and snap photos. We saw the black clouds coming at us from the west, but then we looked on the northeast side of the house and saw this crazy downdraft. It wasn't actually a tornado, but it might as well have been. (Don't worry--we went inside at this point!) An 80 mile per hour wind gust then knocked out our power for a couple of hours. After the power came back on, I turned on my computer and found out that the storm that went over us turned into a tornado about 20 miles northeast of us. It was heading towards Champaign. Crazy weather! I think we need a house with a basement. Tonight it's supposed to get down below freezing again.

Merry Christmas!

We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! Lily was the first one to wake up yesterday morning. She was very excited for her first Christmas. She got some kitty treats and a fun new fuzzy pink toy which she absolutely loves. Her favorite part of Christmas, however, was batting mini Snickers, balls of wrapping paper, and ribbons around on the floor. It was the happiest day of her life. Big Spike also got some treats as well as a squeaky hedgehog. Little Spike is in Iowa with Greg's parents for the next few days, so he'll have to wait to play with the Christmas toys. We received some nice presents from Mom and Dad and from Greg's parents--thank you for everything! Greg gave me a heated blanket (which I am using right now), "The Office" and "Bones" DVDs, the new "Narnia" movie, and some beautiful earrings; and I gave him some Xbox games and a new shirt and tie.

Here is the Christmas aftermath. We enjoyed a leisurely day of playing Xbox and relaxing, then we went and had dinner with the Henning family (Greg's boss). The Hennings are so nice, and we had a wonderful time with them.

I heard that Richard was finally able to sleep in on Christmas morning this year! He didn't have his sisters around claiming that present opening should begin at 5:00 a.m. :-) It sounds very, very snowy in Utah, and I hope that everyone is staying warm. (I am confident that Sarah, Joel, and Eliza are warm in South Carolina.) The weather here is really weird. It is still just cold and icy outside today, but tomorrow it's going to get up to 60 degrees and we're supposed to have bad thunderstorms! But I'll take thunderstorms any day over freezing rain. This was my first Christmas away from home, and I miss all of my friends and family, but Greg and I have had a nice holiday here.

All of my hopes for getting the curatorial position at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake were dashed by the Church's new hiring freeze. They are not going to be hiring anyone for a few months at least--including at the Church schools. I am sad, but at least the Church isn't going to lay people off. Unfortunately these are tough economic times--and I have a feeling that things will only get worse over the next four years. Speaking of which, did you all hear the ridiculous news that Barack Obama is going to be sworn in as President using the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used? Blaaaaaaaaah! All I can say is that he'd better be wearing some white cotton archive gloves so that his greasy hands don't ruin the Bible.

The Night Befo' Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve! We hope that you all have had a wonderful day and will have a Merry Christmas tomorrow. It sounds like Utah is getting a whole lot o' Christmas snow! The ground is white here in Illinois, but it's not really covered with snow--it's more like a few layers of ice and slush: yucky. This evening Greg and I went and had dinner with the Andreasen family. They are a wonderful family in our ward, and they have always been so kind to us. They cooked a turkey that had been grown at a local farm, and it was certainly the LARGEST turkey I've ever seen. It was 40 POUNDS!!!! I guess they had quite the adventures cooking it. We were also able to participate in the Andreasen Christmas Pageant as Mary and Joseph. We had a wonderful time and hope that all of our friends and family are having a nice evening. Now it's off to bed so that Santa can come!

Birthdays, Books, Blizzards, Branches, Bodies, and Brrrrrrrrr

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It's cold in Illinois. Actually, it's frigid. It is three degrees outside . . . but it feels like -17! According to the current Wind Chill Advisory, tonight it could feel like 25 below zerooooooo. Ouch, that's cold. I wore multiple layers of warm clothes to church today, but there comes a point when no matter how many clothes you have on, you're still going to be cold. Right after we arrived at church this morning, Greg got a phone call that someone had died and needed to be picked up in Springfield. So, Greg drove back to Athens to get the "Van of Death" and pick up Mrs. Baum at the hospital while I went to sacrament meeting and taught our Sunday School class--then we were going to drive back to Athens together (church is about 35 miles from our house). The kids in class were terribly amused that my husband was going to be picking me up after class in a van carrying a dead body. I was a little creeped out when I got into the van. The last time I rode in the Van of Death with someone besides Greg was just after Thanksgiving 2007 when he and Mrs. Castle picked me up at the train station in Mattoon. Mrs. Castle had been transported on an airplane and was already embalmed and in a pine box in the back--which for some reason isn't as creepy as someone who hasn't been embalmed yet. Riding with Mrs. Baum was the first time I've ever ridden with a body that has not yet been embalmed. I can't really explain why it creeped me out, but it did. Poor Mrs. Baum.

But anyway, on Friday I returned from a wonderful trip to Utah!!! It was so fun to see family and friends--especially to be out there during Mom's and Sidney's birthdays. I flew home on Thursday, December 11, then on Friday Mom and I drove to St. George. It was great to see Grandma F.T. and Grandpa Dick, and they fed us some yummy chicken noodle soup they had made. Saturday was Mom's birthday! We all had a tasty brunch at the Bear Paw--home of the world's best quiche. The quiche wasn't quite as fantastic as the last time we had it, but it was still very, very good. That afternoon, Mom and I went over to the mall and I had my first-ever book signing at Barnes & Noble. A few people stopped by, but I think most of them were scared of me. The ones who did stop by were surprised because they thought I looked too young to have written a book, but they were very nice and interested. That evening Mom and I went to see the movie "Four Christmases," which was quite hilarious.

On Sunday we had a nice time at church with Grandma and Grandpa, then Mom and I headed over to Springdale. We were glad we went over on Sunday instead of Monday, because on Monday morning it started to snow like CRAZY!!! I had never ever seen snow like this in southern Utah. Though it made driving up the canyon difficult, it was beautiful.

We had dinner on Sunday and breakfast on Monday at our favorite Zion restaurant: Oscar's. For breakfast we even had some pumpkin pancakes! On Monday evening, I signed books at Sundancer Books in Springdale. We thought no one would come, but a surprising number of people showed up. I guess that when something like that is going on in a small town like Springdale, it becomes a social event for everyone. Once again, the best way to describe people there was surprised. They thought I looked like a high school student :-) But the feedback on the book was very positive, so that was good.

Mom and I were a little worried about the weather on Tuesday, but when we left Springdale in the morning, the sun was peeking through the clouds. It was all good until we got past Toquerville. All of a sudden, it was like you couldn't see anything--we were surrounded by thick, white clouds. As we approached the freeway entrance, we saw some semi trucks piled up and some Highway Patrol cars. They closed the entrance to the freeway, so before we knew what was happening, we were heading south on I-15 instead of north. It was clear to the south and when we got to the Hurricane exit, we wondered if we should just keep going to St. George. I convinced Mom that we should try to go north (we learned from Lindy that the freeway entrance closure was due to a truck accident, not the weather). But just when we passed the last exit before the Toquerville exit, Aunt Karalie called and said that on udot.com they were predicting three hour delays because of the accident. That would have been a serious problem, but luckily the cars on the freeway kept moving. We inched along for a while, but that was okay because we wouldn't have wanted to drive fast in the scary snow. It was really, really snowing when we finally got to Cedar City, but luckily the snow let up a bit after that.

We made it home just in time for the book signing at the BYU Bookstore on Tuesday afternoon. The best part of the whole thing was the GIGANTIC "Tiffany Taylor" sign they had hanging from the ceiling! It was so funny. They have the "Education" section of the bookstore, the "Science" section, . . . and the "Tiffany Taylor" section :-) Thank you to all of the friends and family (and even a few people I didn't know) who stopped by to see me!

On Wednesday Mom and I had lunch with our wonderful friend Yevon, then we went and got our nails done. Then we got to have dinner with the Barretts! It was so fun to see them, and we had a good time running around the house with Camden, Riley, and Sid. Then on Thursday we went to cousin Breanna's wedding at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. After the wedding, I made a birthday cake for Mom, and everyone came over that evening to eat Wallaby's tasty BBQ meat and celebrate Mom's birthday (since we were in St. George on her actual birthday). We were also in St. George during Sidney's birthday, but Sid had a fun Pirate Party on Monday.

Here's the birthday couple--only one more month until Dad's birthday!

I asked Camden, Riley, and Sid to make funny faces, and this was the result:

It was so nice to be with everyone before Christmas, and I was sad to leave, but it's been good to be back with Greg and our animal children. Getting back here was quite tricky. First of all, Dad, Mom, Rich and I were getting off the freeway at the Pleasant Grove exit to take Rich to work when we got rear-ended by a guy in a Dodge Durango who was talking on his cell phone and not paying attention. The back bumper of the Camry got a little crunched, but luckily it was Durango's fault, so he'll have to pay for the repairs. Then when we got to Salt Lake it started to snow like crazy. Mom and Dad dropped me off at the airport, and I got all checked-in and boarded the airplane, but then they closed the airport, and we had to get off the plane. We waited around for a couple of hours, then they let us back onto the plane. Then we had to get de-iced. I fell asleep for a while, then we took off. It seems funny to me that Greg left Athens just after I left Salt Lake, and I made it to St. Louis before he did :-)

Little Lily was glad to see me :-) It was so cute yesterday--she and both of the doggies all fell sound asleep together on the couch. Yesterday I had to take Big Spike to the vet while Greg was taking care of a funeral. Big had some seriously nasty poops, and we found out that he had a bacterial infection. He got a shot and some pills, and he seems to be doing much better. Last night Greg and I were watching the Las Vegas Bowl (a sad, sad game), and we heard a big KABOOM outside! It sounded like the house was blowing up. We went outside and saw that a huge branch from the neighbor's tree had come crashing down onto our roof and then it fell in front of our front door. Luckily the house seems to be okay, but it sounded pretty scary. Lily's has a new fascination with the aquarium screensaver on my computer. She thinks that all of those little bright fish look so yummy, but they're just beyond her reach. Greg's parents are coming tomorrow for a couple of days, then he and I will go over to the Andreasen's house on Christmas Eve and have Christmas here together the next day. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas week!

Like Looking in a Mirror . . .

I know I just posted a whole bunch of stuff, but I wanted to quickly point out the many things Obama has in common with Blago:

1. They both frown when they're trying to look serious
2. They are both Democrats
3. They are both high-ranking politicians from Illinois
4. They both live in Chicago
5. They both have no morals

They're like twins!

Reason to Rejoice

The state of Illinois is in a state of rejoicing today. Businesses have been putting signs in their windows and everyone has been talking about yesterday's events with a smile on their face. "Finally!" is the word most commonly used in conversation. The allegations against him have been piling up--even the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service are waiting in line to take a swing at him. I'd like to think that I'm not typically a vengeful person, but after seeing what Blago has done to the people and history of this state . . . well, let's just say that I was VERY happy yesterday. I was beginning to fear that the man was invincible and that there really was no justice in the world, but an early morning raid on the governor's house changed my whole outlook on the situation. All of Illinois is breathing a collective sigh of relief. Last I heard, Blago's approval rating was at 6%--but isn't that usually the margin of error? I think the only person who approved of him was himself--and his wife (who will probably also be arrested in the near future).

It's funny to see Barack Obama scrambling like crazy to distance himself from Blago, but, hmmmmm, they look pretty chummy to me. What do you think?





On the news they've been talking about how corruption has been a mark of Illinois governors since the 1920s--but it actually goes clear back to the 1840s: Thomas Ford. My favorite comment I saw yesterday on the news stories was: "Hey Rod, 1982 called and they want their hairstyle back." :-)

But anyway, it is FREEZING here! Last night when I left the library board meeting, there was a freezing rain storm outside. There was a sheet of ice covering my car, and the problem with freezing rain is that it pelts and stings you while you're trying to dig out a hole from which to see through your windshield. Then by the time you've scraped off your windows, another layer of ice has formed where you started. The board meeting was very funny. My competitor didn't show up, but I know it's not Stanley Thayne because they said it is a girl. The thing my competition has going for her is that everyone knows her and she's lived in Athens for a few years, so we'll see what the board decides. They told me that they would let me buy the spot on the board--like Obama's senate seat :-)

Tomorrow I get to go home for a few days!!!! I can't wait to see everyone. I'll be doing three book signings:

• Saturday, December 13, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Barnes & Noble, 1770 Red Cliffs Drive, St. George, Utah
• Monday, December 15, 5:00-7:00 p.m., Sundancer Books, Springdale, Utah
• Tuesday, December 16, 4:00-7:00 p.m., Brigham Young University Bookstore, Provo, Utah

BOO-YA!!!!!!!!!

Mwwwaaaahahahahahaaaaa! FINALLY, some justice! The big news this morning--not just in Illinois, but all over the country--is that Governor Blagojevich was arrested by FBI officials this morning. Hallelujah! Hooooooooray! They finally built up enough evidence to bust him. The funniest thing is that the final straw for him was trying to sell Barack Obama's senate seat. So, they've got him on trying to sell the senate seat, taking campaign money in return for political appointments, and doing some under-the-table dealing with the Chicago Tribune which declared bankruptcy yesterday. I'm watching CNN right now, and they're talking about how the former governor of Illinois is currently in prison--and now this. The reporter said, "What's going on in Illinois?" Hello!!! Corruption!! And people elected someone from this state to be President? But anyway, the FBI people snuck into Blago's house in Chicago this morning and arrested him. Hahahahahaha. His web of corruption is ridiculously complex, and hopefully everything will start coming out now. Unfortunately this is just a few weeks too late to stop the closure of the historic sites, but maybe, hopefully, things can get cleaned up. This is definitely the best news to come out of Illinois for a very long time.

Pet Parenthood

Just like people children, pet children sometimes need to go to the doctor. I am slightly traumatized after our first vet visit with Lily today (Lily is too). Just like most people children, most pet children do not enjoy doctor visits--especially shots. Lily has been sneezing a lot, and she started shooting out these rather large discolored boogies. So, it was off to the vet this morning. Luckily Greg was able to take us! Lily cried all the way to the vet, then she got really mad when the vet assistant stuck a thermometer up her bum to take her temperature (you can't blame her for being mad about that one). It turns out that she has an upper respiratory infection and a fever, so she got two shots (she did not like that part either), and the vet gave us some antibiotics to give her for the next few days. So that was traumatic enough, but then there was this cute little dog sitting in the front of the vet's office. She was shaking and looked very scared, and she looked at Greg and me with her huge doggie eyes. Her owners were petting her, but she was obviously quite distraught. I said, "Oh it's okay sweetie. Don't be scared." Turns out she had reason to be scared. She looked like she'd had quite a rough time--she'd had a stroke and had probably been hit by a car. When the lady owner took off the doggie's collar and the man owner who looked like he had been crying said, "I guess she won't be needing that anymore," Greg and I knew that the doggie was going to be put to sleep :-( It was so sad!!! I am now a totally traumatized pet parent.

Luckily Lily survived the scary vet visit, but she cried all the way home. I think she was afraid that we were taking her to some new strange place since the last time she was in the car was when we brought her home from the APL. So she seemed quite relieved when we got home. We were afraid that she would be mad at us, but she has actually been as cute and cuddly as ever. She likes to curl up right next to my face when I'm on the bed, and she'll lick my nose. She already seems to be feeling a little better. As you can see from the picture above, she's back to her old tricks like trying to climb the Christmas tree and open the presents.

The Spikes were very worried about their little kitty sister when we got home. I took her into our bedroom and shut the door, but Big Spike was outside of the door whining. So I let him in, and he jumped up on the bed and was sniffing Lily all over. Then he started to lick her face, and he's been playing with her all evening. The children are all curled up watching Monday Night Football right now.

I found out yesterday that I'm going to have some competition for the spot on the Athens library board of trustees! I guess that there is only one vacant spot, and someone else besides me was nominated for it. So, tomorrow I have to go to the Athens library board of trustees meeting and try to charm them with my love of books. The competitor is going to be there too, and after the board members meet both of us, they will choose between us. I think it's terribly funny that I am involved in this! I didn't try to be involved--it just kind of fell into my lap :-) I've decided that if my competition is someone really nice, like a cute older lady, I will tell them that they can just have the spot. But if it is someone like Stanley Thayne (maybe it will be Stanley Thayne? Since he seems to enjoy beating me at everything?), I will fight to the death for the spot :-) I have a feeling that tomorrow's library board meeting will be pretty funny, so I'll be sure to tell you all about it.