The Simonson Scoop: July 2010

Saturday, July 17, 2010

speaking of...

Ok, so that last post reminded me of some funny parts in my brother's last letter. He is serving in Detroit and encounters a lot of interesting people! Here are some of the sections:

"Oh that reminds me, I noticed it's way easier to speak in Ebonics. I've gotten good at it over the past few months. Last week, we were teaching and we had a (white) member present during the lesson. As I was introducing the Book of Mormon, I noticed the white member's face as he was noticing all my errors in my speech.

I said something like: "While da Bible was bein' wrote in da middle eas', da book o' da Mo'mon was bein' wrote right here. Da las' guy to write in dis book here dug a hole and stuck it in da groun' cuz dey ain't no one lef' to keep writin' in it. But he don't be writin' it on paper, he wrote in in a book with gold pages. See da picture? Dat way we can steel read what he wrote after 2,000 years. But he wrote in a language dat nobody speak no mo'. But wit da Gif' an' power o' God, Joseph Smiff could read it and den translate it, an now we gots it in English."

Back when I was with Elder Phinney, we would talk in Ebonics to each other in the apartment. Sometimes we do it with Elder Nelson. I noticed that Elder Nelson prays like a white boy from Utah, so when people in Detroit want a prayer circle, they pray, I pray like them, then Elder Nelson prays, and then they look at him weird because he prays different.

Here's a typical Detroit prayer: "Father God, we come before you today, thankin' ya for da many blessin's we receive from you, Lor'. You are an amazin' God, Lor'. You are so great ("Yes, Lord"[muttered by somebody else nearby]) We love you, and know that you love us all da time ("Yes, Lord") even when we backslide ("Yes, Lord") Lor', we ax you now in da name o' Jesus to bless us O Lor'. ("Yes, Lord") Bless our babies ("Yes, Lord") bless us financially ('Yes, Please Lord'). Father we ax dat all da evil in da worl' to stop ("yes, Lord") dat all da voilent people will receive what they got commin'! ("Mm!") Father God, bless these 2 young boys here wit us ("Yes, Lord" - this time muttered by the Elders) bless them as they go out, 2 by 2, doin da work o' da Lor' dat dey be safe from all dem evil people ("Yes Lord") Lord, We ax you these things in unwaverin' fafe. We pray! In da name o' JESUS! Amen!" So we don't normally go this extreme, but we find a happy medium when we pray with people."

hee hee. Just wanted to share. He is a great missionary.

Happy list

Thanks to Emily, I will try to regularly post a list of things that make me happy.

library reserve system. I can read any book I want, as long as I'm ok to wait for it
The way Hannah says, "Noooo" with her lips pursed so cutely (is that a word?)
Cuddling with the girls before they go to bed, one at a time
air conditioning
the fact that Mark just finished his memo for his externship
being able to get ready for the day without interruptions (when Mark has the kids downstairs). I am SO FAST all alone.
Alpine Valley honey whole wheat bread. It's my new breakfast.
looking forward to the fall/holidays/cooler weather
My brother Devin's letters

action shots

I was playing around with a slow shutter speed and moving the camera while the kids ran. It resulted in some fun action shots.

Then Natalie pulled Hannah's pants off.

Ah, sisters.

Our garden

We got a garden back in April. Isn't it lovely? I know what you're thinking. But it doesn't look like a normal garden! It's called a bucket garden. You can read more on the site if you want, but basically a man named Ted Hallett who has grown all the organic produce for the major local grocery stores for the past 38 years has taken his growing system and adapted it for the home gardener. He feels it's his mission in life to help everyone become a successful gardener.

I first heard about it when I went to a stake workshop on square foot gardening, and they talked about the bucket garden instead. There is a process to get one that includes volunteering at others' garden installations before you can get yours. It helps you learn about it before you actually begin, and it makes the process go lots faster.

We had lots of volunteers. Some we knew, some we didn't. The installation took about half an hour.

Some volunteers learning how to install the irrigation system. It waters 4 times daily for one minute each time.

And look! Stuff is growing. This is cantaloupe and...spinach? You may notice that the planting medium is sand. Yep, just like at the playground. But not. It's actually bedding sand which has a certain percentage of clay which holds the water all day. The bags also have holes in the sides which provide oxygen to the roots.

Carrots. We've had a few issues along the way, but we are getting there. I keep telling myself that gardening is a skill that takes practice, just like anything else. Next step-try to pollenate the blossoms myself! I don't think the bees are doing their job...the blossoms keep dying. I really want to actually harvest something!

Go D-backs!

Mark and I went to a Diamondbacks game a couple of weeks ago with Mark's mom, sister, and sister's boyfriend. It was fun and we had great seats! We even saw ourselves on TV the next day when we watched the DVR'd game. hee hee.

We got a kick out of this chef shirking his duties to watch the game.

Great seats

The mascot was right in front of us for a few minutes. Good thing our girls weren't there. They would have been terrified.

Gila Valley Temple

Last month our family went to tour the Gila Valley Temple open house. It was a couple hours of a drive, but so worth it! It was really special to be inside a new beautiful temple with our girls and point out the reverent feeling we had there. Natalie and Hannah both loved the beautiful light fixtures the best. It was a fun little day trip for our family!