Happy Together

A Season of Change

Nothing brings Tiger Lily and Little Spike--who normally don't really like each other--together better than cold weather. Greg snapped this funny picture last night when I was sitting on the couch reading with the space heater blowing on me. First Little Spike, drawn to the heater, came and sat on my lap, then Lily followed. Usually Little would not like Lily sitting on top of him, but he didn't seem to mind last night--probably because she was keeping him warm. It is indeed getting colder here! It has been quite chilly out, and the temps even dropped to freezing on Saturday night.

With the colder weather comes a change in uniform for me. Here I am sporting the official National Park Service winter look. I like the uniform because it is very warm. As you can see, the winter uniform includes a tie. The other day when I was getting ready, I realized that I don't know how to tie a tie. So I asked Greg for some help, and he tried tying it on himself, but it was smaller than what he's used to, so he couldn't get it quite right. Finally he said, "Okay, lie down on the bed." I was confused, but then I realized that whenever Greg ties ties on other people, they are in a casket! :-) He did a great job tying my tie.

Unfortunately the weather isn't the only thing changing around here--we just found out at work last week that a bunch of people will lose their ranger jobs in December. Out of six term rangers (hired for one or four year terms), I am the only one they are keeping at the Lincoln Home. That isn't fair!! Everyone is very upset. It turns out that our superintendent got a little too excited about all of the extra Bicentennial funds the Lincoln Home received, and he spent three times too much money. So everyone is very sad and disheartened at the Lincoln Home. With most of the staff leaving on December 5, I am worried about this winter--I don't know how we're going to have enough people to do everything. My supervisor Laura told me that I will need to take on the jobs of the five other term rangers who are leaving. But I don't even have enough time to do my own jobs!! We'll see how that goes.

Today Congressman Aaron Schock came for a tour of the Lincoln Home. He is a Republican Congressman from Illinois who is currently the youngest member of the U. S. House of Representatives. He is a really cool guy, but all of the Democrats around here completely hate him. They can't stand that he is a young, smart, handsome REPUBLICAN!! I was really shocked and disappointed to hear reactions from some of the rangers today during lunch. They were disgusted that he came to the Lincoln Home, and they felt like it was a burden to have to show him around. Not cool. Congressman Schock's office is located in downtown Springfield. You might have heard about this on the news, but a few weeks ago a crazy guy tried to blow up the federal building in downtown Springfield (but the people who sold the guy his "explosives" were undercover FBI agents). The crazy guy's secondary target was Aaron Schock's office. As soon as people found out that the crazy guy was a Muslim and that a Republican was one of his targets, all of a sudden the news stations stopped covering the story! Grrrrrrrr. Anyway, I think Aaron Schock is cool.

Switching subjects, the poor St. Louis Cardinals blew their season on Saturday night when they lost to the Dodgers. Greg and I were especially upset because we had tickets to Game 4 of the playoffs--but since the Cards were swept in three games, there was not a Game 4!!!! :-( We were very sad--especially since the Cardinals SHOULD HAVE won their game on Thursday night. It was the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Cardinals were up 2-1. There were two outs, and the Dodgers guy hit it right to Matt Holliday in the outfield. Greg and I started to cheer--because the win would mean that there would for sure be a Game 4--and then . . . the ball hit Holliday in the chest, he dropped it, and then he fell over. Greg and I could do nothing but just stare blankly at the TV as we watched the Cardinals fall apart and lose the game. We couldn't believe it! We were really sad on Saturday night, but I think we're over it now. We are looking forward to celebrating our big ONE YEAR anniversary this weekend!!! I can't believe it's already been a year!

Archaeology Adventures

Today was probably the coolest day of work ever! In preparation for the installation of some geothermal wells in the Lincoln neighborhood, the National Park Service sent some archaeologists from the Midwest Archaeological Center in Nebraska to survey areas that will be affected by the wells. They are trying to determine where artifacts will most likely be found when another archaeological team comes back in November to do some actual excavations. So today I got to help the archaeologists!

Most of our work was focused on the vacant lot at the northwest end of the neighborhood. A widow named Ann Walters lived in a house on this lot when the Lincolns lived in the neighborhood. Our work today was especially exciting because no archaeological work has ever been done on the Walters lot. We could find anything--house foundations, a barn, a well, or . . . the outhouse! After establishing a very precisely measured grid, we got to use the ground-penetrating radar, which is an amazing piece of equipment. Here I am taking my turn with the radar.

The radar sends signals into the ground which then show up as squiggly lines on the screen when a disturbance in the soil is detected. Here is one rather big "blip" we encountered in the Walters lot. There were also quite a few squiggly lines in the back corner of the lot, which indicates that there may have been a barn or outhouse there. The archaeologists will be at the park all week. They will use some other radars and extremely high-tech metal detectors to try to pinpoint the appropriate locations to excavate. The ultimate goal is to hopefully find some building foundations, as well as some empty areas where the geothermal wells can be placed. I learned a lot today and had a great time working with the archaeologists. One of the neat things about archaeology is that it deals with the "unknown" component of history. It's kind of like researching papers that have been hidden in a library for hundreds of years. We know that the Walters lived in the lot, but we don't know what kind of food they ate, medicines they took, animals they had, or how big their house was--which is all information you can find by looking underground. The information is there--you just have to dig for it. Archaeology adds a whole new dimension to historical research. It's all quite fascinating!

The local news station sent some reporters over to the park to find out about the project, and even though I wasn't actually interviewed, I did show up in the background when they featured the story on the 6:00 news this evening :-)

Night at New Salem

What says "October" better than candles, a full moon, apple cider, and Abraham Lincoln? Last night while Greg was at church for the Priesthood meeting, I went with some of my ranger friends to New Salem for the annual Candlelight Tour. It was really cool--they had all of the houses open with people in 1830s dress playing music, telling stories, and serving apple cider. The only light in the village came from candles and the warm, cozy fires burning in each home. It was so cool! It was totally like going back in time. Greg and I really enjoy hanging out with the Lincoln Home rangers. On Friday night we went over to David and Teal's house for a Beatles Rock Band party which was very fun. And before I left for Utah a couple of weeks ago, we had a bunch of the rangers over to our house for a hot dog/marshmallow roast. They are very nice people. Today we are enjoying a nice relaxing day listening to General Conference, and I am looking forward to tomorrow's archaeology adventure. I get to help the Midwest Region NPS Archaeologist map out one of the vacant lots in the Lincoln neighborhood for some archaeological excavations they are going to do. It should be really fun!

Family, Friends, Fairies, Fall Leaves, and FUN!

Last night I returned from the most fun trip ever!! I needed a break from work, and I was missing everyone in Utah, so I took a trip home for a few days. Greg stayed behind with the animal children to hold down the fort here in Illinois. Tiger Lily was sad when I was packing my suitcase. She kept climbing in and looking at me like, "Mommy, you takes me withs you?" I left on Thursday morning and flew from Springfield to Chicago, then to Salt Lake.
It was so fun to see my family!!! Mom and I had a delicious lunch with Aunt Karalie at Takashi, a yummy Japanese restaurant in SLC. Then we went to visit the girls--who are growing up so fast! Mom and I then grabbed a tasty dinner at Marley's (located in the Harley Davidson building) and had a fun "Bones" party together (just like old times!). We also went for a walk and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather. (I didn't get to see Dad and Rich that evening because I was sooooo pooped and fell asleep kind of early.)

On Friday I saw Dad and Rich! Then Mom and I had a fun day going for walks, hanging out, and having lunch at Macaroni Grill. That evening it was time for the much-anticipated sleepover. The girls enjoyed the BAM BAM OBAMA punching bag I brought home :-) Nothing feels better than taking a swing at him! We had a fun evening playing outside and watching "Nacho Libre." Then we had a fun slumber party in the family room. One of the cutest things was when Sid stood up at about 10:30 p.m. and said, "I'm schtarving (starving)!"

On Saturday we had a fun breakfast with the girls, and then after they went home, Mom, Dad, and I took a trip over to Camp Floyd. It was beautiful there. They were having a Boy Scout Adventure Camp while we were having our picnic, and it made me especially grateful that I was having a break from work :-)

We even got to see my Civil War generals exhibit panel in real-life which, I must say, was pretty cool.

On Sunday we went over to Lindy and Nate's ward for the girls' Primary program. They did such a good job!! Lindy also did a great job playing the piano. They had some quotes from the Primary kids in the Sunday program, and one of my favorites was from Riley. They asked her what her dad's job is. She said, "Sometimes he kind of cleans up our messes after we go to bed." :-)

We then went to the home ward, and it was really great to see all of my friends there. We even got to hear Elder Loveless' talk--he just returned from the Illinois Peoria mission. I actually saw him a couple of times while I was going to EIU--it's a small world. That evening the Barretts came over for more fun outside and a yummy dinner. Playing outside is so much fun! We also had a good game of hide-and-seek inside the house. Once again it was a perfect fall evening.

On Monday Mom and I had a fun lunch with our friends Susan and Yevon. It was so great to catch up with them. We then went to BYU to enjoy the spectacular fall leaves (pictures don't do it justice) and shop at my favorite store: the BYU Bookstore.

Then we went over to the Barretts to see the girls once more and so I could tell them good bye. Sid and Riles wanted to give us a preview of their fairy princess Halloween costumes. Sidney was quite excited about her fairy dress. There is also a chance that she will be Peter Pan for Halloween, but she seemed to quite enjoy the fairy look.

What beautiful fairies! I have a funny video of Sid doing a fairy dance which I'll have to post one of these days. She kept running around saying, "Get those wings up and fly!"

The fall leaves on Timpanogos looked amazing!

That evening, Mom, Dad, Rich and I went over to Grandpa T. and Grandma Cathy's for a visit. I always love a chance to see them. We had fun fall treats: root beer floats and pumpkin bread.

On Tuesday my vacation came to an end :-( Mom and I needed to take a picture of ourselves! Then we headed up to Salt Lake where I flew back to Chicago and then to Springfield.

The view from the plane when landing in Chicago was pretty awesome. Once again, the camera doesn't do it justice. We flew way out over Lake Michigan, circled around, and came back over the city. It's good to be back in Illinois with Greg and the animal children (Lily has been extra cuddly), but it's always hard when a vacation--especially such a FUN vacation--comes to an end. Unfortunately, as soon as I left Utah, the temperature dropped almost 30 degrees and it got really cold there! Hopefully everyone can stay warm, and I'm sure we'll be next with the cold weather. Thank you everyone for the fun time, and Greg and I are looking forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving!!