What a Week!

We have a new addition to the family!!! This is Mr. Benjamin Driggs Barrett, born yesterday, December 3, and weighing in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. Isn't he a cute little guy? I was lucky to get to be here to welcome Baby Ben--I flew home to Utah from Illinois on Wednesday for a visit, and two days later Ben came along! Greg had to stay home to work--I don't do stuff like that anymore :-) I live a life of leisure.

Here is Ben with Mommy Lindy. She was very brave even though Ben wasn't sure he wanted to come out into this funny world. He was quite content in Mommy's tummy! But now he likes being out of Mommy's tummy too.







When he came out, he had his loving family waiting. His three big sisters were especially excited to have a baby brother!








And here he is with Grandpa Taylor. He is such a sweetie! He loves his binky, and he has this soft little cry that is so cute. After going to the hospital to visit Ben, the girlies came and had a sleepover extravaganza with Grandpa and Grandma Taylor, Auntie Tiff, and Uncle Rich.






Today while Lindy, Nate, and Ben were recovering at the hospital, we took the kiddos up to BYU for the annual family Christmas party. It was very exciting! I remember when I was little I loved going to the BYU Christmas party. The girlies played a lot of games, went ice fishing, and we all got our picture with Cosmo. Sid wasn't too sure about Cosmo, but she decided he's pretty nice, and she was even brave enough to give him a high five.

The girls made some cool stocking lanyards--here are Grandma and Cam showing off their handiwork.









What a great day we had at BYU! Lindy and Ben were able to come home from the hospital today, so now the big sisters are at home with Little Brother. I am looking forward to the additional week-and-a-half that I get to spend with the family here in Utah!



Before leaving on Wednesday, I had gone down to Carbondale, Illinois to talk to one of Joel's classes about working (or not working) for the National Park Service :-) Leo, Eliza, and I had so much fun. Thank you, Agates, for the fun Giant City adventure, the delicious lunch, and the fun time! The Agates will get to come to Utah later this month. I love the holiday season because it is filled with food, family, and fun!

Happy Franksgiving!

Yesterday we celebrated "Franksgiving" with Sarah, Joel, Eliza, and Leo. Franksgiving is when you celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday instead of Thursday :-) We had planned to have the Agates over on Thursday, but the weather was crummy here in Illinois, so we're glad that we waited until Friday. The Agates made the journey from Carbondale to Springfield, and then we had a delicious Thanksgiving feast for lunch! I realized today that Greg and I forgot to make the stuffing--but we didn't really miss it because we had so much tasty food: turkey, ham, yams, corn pudding, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Yummy!!

Leo thought that his baby food sweet potatoes were really delicious, although he did try to swipe some of the big people food.

After lunch we headed over to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Here are the Agates and the Bowles with the Lincoln family. Eliza wasn't quite sure how she felt about the wax people.

Eliza's idea of fun was dressing up in Mrs. Lincoln's Attic! She worked very hard to prepare a Thanksgiving feast of her own using the period-style utensils in Mrs. Lincoln's Attic. She is quite the cheffer! After the museum we had some turkey sandwiches (quite possibly the best part of Thanksgiving) and made some gumdrop turkeys before the Agates headed for home. It was such a fun day! I'm glad that even though we are far away from most of our family, the Agates live out here in the middle of nowhere with us :-) It was so nice to be with them for Franksgiving.

Today Greg and I put up the Christmas tree. We're ready for the Christmas season!

Here I Have Worked . . .

. . . for one year and eight months. Today was my last day at the Lincoln Home! I am happy to not have to deal with all of the drama anymore, but I'm also kind of sad. Working at Abraham Lincoln's home was my dream job. But I guess it's a good reality check for me to realize that dream jobs aren't always everything you imagine they will be. It sounds like the perfect job--getting paid to learn about Abraham Lincoln, tell people about Lincoln, develop programs about Lincoln and the Civil War--but when you throw in all of the red tape that comes with a government job and combine it with crazy supervisors and grouchy visitors, it becomes anything but perfect. But it was a good ride while it lasted.

I was really only supposed to be there for two years anyway, as a term employee, so I really shouldn't be upset that my job has come to an end already. I guess what is the most frustrating thing is that the Lincoln Home had a chance to hire some really good people for the permanent positions--and they did hire a couple of really good people--but they also hired Kyle. Kyle gets paid more than twice what I made. He's a really nice guy, but he can't see or hear, and he talks constantly about nothing. He seriously won't stop talking--even when no one is there to listen to him. He has no regard for what time it is, so he never shows up where he's supposed to be, his tours of the home are waaaaaay too long, so he backs up our entire tour schedule, he doesn't know how to use the computers to issue tickets, and he either mumbles or talks REALLY LOUD because he can't hear. But he's the new Living History and volunteer coordinator at the Lincoln Home. (It's no surprise that Laura is the one who hired him.) It just doesn't seem fair that you can work so hard at a job and then get replaced by someone like that. It makes one feel very unappreciated. I think the best word to describe myself would be jaded.

Working at the Lincoln Home really has been a good experience for me, and it used to be a really fun place to work (before the dictatorship of Jason Boyd). I met some of my favorite friends while working there, and I took some wonderful visitors through the house. I must admit that I'm sick of eighth graders, but most people who visit the Lincoln Home genuinely want to learn more about Lincoln. I feel really bad for all of the unappreciated people who have worked and/or still work at the Lincoln Home. But maybe someday things will get better there. I know that people are working to make it a better place. I still love Abraham Lincoln, even though I don't read books about him for fun as much as I used to, and I feel really close to the whole Lincoln family after spending so much time in their home. I am honored to have worked at Abraham Lincoln's home and, of course, to have once again been a National Park Service ranger. Being a ranger was a childhood dream of mine. I'm grateful for the friends I've made at the Lincoln Home, the experiences I've had there, and the knowledge I've gained there. To borrow a phrase from Lincoln, I now bid the Lincoln Home an affectionate [although somewhat agitated] farewell. Now it's onward and upward from here!

Nothing to Lose

I didn't realize how long it had been since I wrote on the blog! I suppose that not too much exciting stuff has been happening around here lately--until today. Things can get interesting when you have nothing to lose :-) I am speaking, of course, of the Lincoln Home. Today was my second-to-last day of work. My Lincoln Home superiors "ran out of money," so they "have to" let me go. I think it's more that they "mismanage" money, but I'll write more about all of this after my last day tomorrow. So, back to today.

Yesterday I found out that Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the amazing book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, was going to be visiting the Lincoln Home today. I wasn't really supposed to know she was coming, but I brought my copy of her book this morning--just in case. Our "wonderful" Chief of Interpretation, Laura, was the acting Superintendent today, since our real Superintendent is out of town. She and our curator Susan (thank goodness Susan was the one actually giving the tour--Laura doesn't know anything about Lincoln) were going to take "a special VIP group" through the Lincoln Home at 9:30 today, but Laura refused to tell anyone who the VIP was. Laura was acting really strange and kept pacing around the Visitor Center. I told Ranger Bill, who was in charge of our schedule today, that the VIP was Doris Kearns Goodwin and that I really wanted to meet her, so he scheduled me to be in the Visitor Center at 9:30.

When Doris Kearns Goodwin arrived, she had an entourage which included actor Daniel Day-Lewis! It turns out that Doris Kearns Goodwin is a consultant for the upcoming Steven Spielberg movie, "Lincoln," and Daniel Day-Lewis will play Lincoln! (It was supposed to be Liam Neeson, but he dropped out.) So they were visiting the Lincoln Home today so that Daniel Day-Lewis could start to get a feel for his new character. (He looked pretty scruffy--we'll have to try to imagine him without the flowing hair and the earrings--then maybe he'll look like Lincoln. And he needs a beard.) When the VIP entourage arrived, they were in the Visitor Center for about 30 seconds before Laura whisked them off to the Lincoln Home. I didn't have a chance to even smile at any of the VIPs, although Doris Kearns Goodwin did wave to us lowly rangers stationed behind the information desk.

When Ranger Bill returned to the Visitor Center, I dejectedly told him that I didn't even have a chance to talk to Doris Kearns Goodwin, let alone get her to sign my book. (He was mad at Laura for not telling him who the VIPs were--or even that they were coming today.) He looked at me and said, "Tiffany, I think you should take your book and a pen, march down to the house, stand in the backyard, and when the group comes out of the house, you get Doris Kearns Goodwin to sign your book. What will Laura do, fire you?" I realized he was right--I had nothing to lose! So I did just that: marched down to the house, stood in the backyard, and waited.

When the group emerged from the house and Laura saw me out there, she gave me the stink eye. But I just stood off to the side, out-of-the-way, and didn't do anything to interrupt Laura's moment of glory. Doris Kearns Goodwin, however, saw me, smiled, pulled a pen out of her purse, and right in the middle of one of Laura's sentences, walked right over to me. She said, "Would you like me to sign that? I saw you standing over here, and you looked cold." I told her that I would be honored if she signed my book and thanked her for all of the excellent work she has done. She was SO NICE!!! I didn't have a chance to meet handsome Daniel Day-Lewis, but at least I got to see him :-) Victory was mine! I ran into Laura later, and she asked very harshly, "Did you get your autograph?" I just smiled and said, "Yes I did." She said, "The reason I didn't want anyone to know about this was that I didn't want the media to find out or anything." What, did she think we would call the local newspaper if we found out who was coming? She doesn't trust any of us, or appreciate any of the work we do. But I don't care because I got to go out in a blaze of Doris Kearns Goodwin glory today! And, this was all very timely because today was the 147th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and today was the day of the official announcement that Daniel Day-Lewis will indeed be Abraham Lincoln in the upcoming "Lincoln" movie! It was a good day.

A Meowy Scawy Howloween!

We had a meowy scawy Howloween around here today! Lily dressed in her Howloween best to celebrate the big day.





And Little Spike enjoyed being a little football again--he loves his football outfit! Here he is with his "Little Toot" book, which was a gift from my friend Susan. Little Spike is known as "Little Toot" to all of the Lincoln Home rangers because of his infamous tooting incident involving poor David Bell.


And, making his Howloween debut was Squirrel Spike! His favorite part of the costume is the giant acorn which doubles as a chew toy or a pillow.








We thought about going trick-or-treating in hopes of finding some kitty or doggy treats, but everyone is a little too under the weather around here. Maybe next year? We wish you all a meowy scawy Howloween!