Blessings

Today we became grandparents. See this great post. I kind of wander around trying to do my Saturday stuff, but I keep coming back to the computer to gaze at the photos of KC and Emily's TRIPLETS! What a miracle we have witnessed. I can't stop the tears of happiness.

Janice and the very good very long day

I've been very busy these last few weeks getting ready for the New Graduate Student Info Fair and Dinner. Preparing emails to be sent, inviting 27 booth participants, gathering donated prizes (we had 120 this year!), shopping for stuff, setting up the RSVP, etc. We had an overwhelming number of people tell us they wanted to come - 1240 this year! That is a lot of folks to feed...tables to set... name tags to print...name tags to be picked up. With 11 years experience under my belt and fantastic students and staff in Graduate studies we managed to have two great events. We learn something every year and try to improve in little ways. This year we added the Museum of People and Cultures - did you know they sponsor a date night in the Museum twice a month? And host FHE? cool. The favorite giveaway was the holographic drink cup by Dining Services! We ran out of small T-shirts by 2 pm. I had to wake the person hosting the Statistics consultation booth - he was sound asleep and 2 students came back to us and said they could not get his stamp because he was asleep! I had to nudge his feet under the table to wake him. Ha Ha.
We had 400+ students come to the fair and we talked to every one of them! They get so excited that they are getting more chances at the three tuition prizes by visiting the booths.
There are lot of details to remember and I always blank out on something. This time I got my evening outfit from the car, and changed in the restroom around 5 pm. I handed my bag of clothing and make up to a student and told her where to find my car - just to get one thing out of the way that I would not have to haul out later. 5 minutes later she called to say she could not find the car, so I explained where it was once again. OK she said, I see it. Another call 10 minutes later and she Still could not find the car. OH. My. gosh - I NOW recalled that Clyde was picking up the car at 5:15 to go home and change! OOPS! I felt pretty silly. Thank goodness my student worker was not mad...
We started on time, had plenty of seats, even for those who did not RSVP and had a delicious meal with a new dessert: chocolate molten lava cake. Dining Services out did themselves this year. We were done by 7:55 pm, cleaned up by 8:30 and I was home and in my pjs by 8:55. Clyde gave me a sort of foot massage (can anyone teach him to a do a real massage?) After the very long day my feet hurt! This year Dustin and Alicia got to come and I found out they are in the ward of the VP over Graduate Studies.
I wish I could take a long break, but there are two more huge projects that are overdue and ready to take my time. Onward. My goal is to have these done before Emily and KC have the triplets!!! Hang on Emily and grow those babies.
Photos maybe later - or not.

Still as a statue

Hello all!
My 93 year old father and my brother are visiting for the 4th. They wanted to see the place where I work so we stopped by at noon on Saturday. I was startled when I saw what looked like an ugly owl stuffed figure on the wood furniture under the Calf picture. It did not belong and I thought someone was playing a JOKE! My brother always has his camera with him and he looked at it with a zoom and said, "IT'S ALIVE..." We were sure it was alive when I noticed a few spots on the wall paper that looked like it had hit the wall. I finally gathered my senses and called security and they promised to send someone over. We continued our tour and the owl did not move from it's spot and we walked very carefully through to the dining room and upstairs.
The officer arrived about 12:15 and noted that we were upstairs. He made noise and the frightened OWL flew around the living room a bit, until the officer was able to scoop it up in his hands and send him out the door. He said it was just a baby and did not seem to be injured.

There are 15 spots on the walls and ceiling that the owl hit and left marks as he tried to get out. He also left bird POOP ( gross!) on four pieces of furniture. I placed pink sticky notes where we saw the poop, but I'm not sure we saw it all. there are a few owl feathers around too.

How did the owl arrive inside the house? I am pretty sure he came in through the chimney flue. There is a knob there and the directions on the fireplace state to turn clockwise to open. The knob seems to be turned to the open position!!
I don't know how to upload this to link to picasa, so try this.
for more..
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkrobinson2/OwlVisitsFormerPresidentsHome?authkey=Gv1sRgCKry96329sPVpQE#

Hilarious

Quite a few years ago Clyde purchased a used car for KC to use while going to school. It was a good car, a good buy, and it was purchased from a young couple in Salt Lake City. Clyde mentioned that he was a BYU professor and when he showed up to pick up the car, the man's mother had included a long red umbrella from her workplace - the University of Utah. Clyde accepted graciously and that long tall umbrella has been in our coat closet ever since. It looked like it was a huge umbrella with a U of U logo - something we'd feel uncomfortable taking to BYU campus on a rainy day, but it's always good to have extra umbrellas around the house. You never know when Michelle and her buddies might have wanted to wanted to play out in the rain and puddles. Fast forward to Saturday, June 20, 2009. Clyde had just purchased a new BBQ grill and it was RAINING a lot! So Michelle and Cisco offered to put the new cover on the grill, but first they had to dry it off a bit. Michelle looked for a large umbrella and could only find this red one.

Take a look at what we found when we opened the umbrella! We had this hilarious thing at our house for so long and never knew!HA! A helmet umbrella! Hilarious.

Cozy and Growing

It's been 1 week and a day since I discovered the birds nest with three growing babies just off our deck. We check every day to see if the mother robin is there and several times we have seen the baby birds with mouths wide open as she is feeding them. How quickly they are growing! If you click on the picture and let it fill your screen, you can see just how much they have grown in 8 days. Amazing. I think of Emily and KC's little darlings growing cozily too.

In the Leafy Treetops

Today I worked with Clyde on testing all the sprinklers, which meant I had to turn on a station, come to the back yard and deck to see if all the heads worked, several times. Look what I spotted in the tree next to our deck! Not like last year when all I saw was the left overs. Baby birds! If you click on the picture and let it fill your screen you can see one little eye peeking out. I think there are three! Stay tuned.

I'm thinking about three babies all the time - growing strong, nurtured by Emily and KC loved by all. Read their story here. Fills me with gratitude, hope, love, and excitement.

New York

We had a great time in New York two weeks ago. Some photos for you.
Our hotel was right on Times Square and it was quite the happening place, with tons of tourists, lots of lights, and traffic.If you look closely, you can see the ball that drops and 2009 on top of the building. That building is empty and makes all it's money by having all those lighted billboards on it. Every building in Times Square must have 35% of their building covered in billboards!KC and Emily came up for a short visit and we saw some great sights. The view from the Top of the Rock ( Rockefeller Center) was spectacular. Here is one with KC and Emily and the Empire State building in the background.
We spent some time admiring the Statue of Liberty up close - she is very impressive!
Here's some details on her specs.
Clyde and I took a night time 2 hour bus tour all around the lower Manhattan and Brooklyn sites. We learned a lot!