Last hurrah in Utah. Destination: Fairview

After packing up our apartment and sending our belongings to Oklahoma in three little U-Haul storage containers, we took a trip to Fairview to hang out at the Anderson cabin and see the demolition derby.

Alvin, according to Laura: The Fairview Demolition Derby is probably the best in the state. Have you ever seen a bunch of old, windowless cars drive around in a dirt arena, crashing into each other, trying to be the last vehicle that can move? If you haven't, then you haven't lived. The hot sun nearly blinds your view, and the deafening revving engines muffle all conversation, but this is the time of your life. Only 5 heats before a winner is declared? Too bad, but the fireworks after the show will be amazing, too.

Laura: The kettle corn is good, but how much longer until I can unplug my ears and go home to bed? I can't believe this thing is sold out. Did you see that booth selling fried pickles, fried cookie dough, and fried Oreos?

Miles: Cars crash de-mo-li-shun der-bee! In dirt! Ta-tees (tractors) come take cars away!

Being at the cabin was lovely - not too hot, fields of summer flowers, and even a little snow left over from winter. Miles' cousins had so much fun entertaining him that I got to finish my book, Born to Run. Great read - I'd never even wanted to run a marathon before, but now I'm convinced I could put "run an ultra" on my list of life goals.

Yeah, we moved to Oklahoma

This is the snippet I wrote for the Anderson family annual newsletter:

Alvin and Laura Anderson Family News

August 2011

This year has brought big changes for our family.

The beginning of the year found us living in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Alvin, the geologist, worked at TerraTek, an oil service company in Salt Lake City. Laura, the mom, hung out with Miles, the train-loving two-year-old, and worked part-time from home as an actuary. Alvin spent several months applying to schools across the county in hopes of returning to academia, obtaining his Ph.D. in geology and becoming a university professor. Alvin visited graduate schools in Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Indiana, while the real application-filler-outer stayed home with Miles.

Late one night while Alvin was desperately trying to decide which, if any, school to attend, he found and filled out an application for a geologist job in industry. Well, he got the job and decided to take it, and we just arrived in Oklahoma City, where we will be living for the next few years. Alvin’s working at Chesapeake Energy, an oil and natural gas company. Miles and Laura are trying to survive the record heat (it’s been in the 100’s since June) and wishing we had some mountains to escape to.

We’re all looking forward to an exciting Christmas present this year – a baby boy! Any ideas for his name??

Unstable air

So Miles thinks he has a baby in his tummy, too.

This week I was riding the airplane with him to Oklahoma City when we hit some turbulence. After a big drop, Miles grabbed the chair with a surprised look on his face. I said, "That was the airplane going up and down. Did you feel it in your tummy?"

With eyes wide, he nodded and, pointing to his tummy, said, "Baby sad!"

It's a . . .

Looks like we're getting a baby boy for Christmas this year!

Redwood Forests

You know that lovely picture of a misty forest that’s been tucked away at the bottom of our blog for ages? Alvin took that on his trip to Redwood National Park about 5 years ago. Last week I finally got to see the trees in person. Amazing and beautiful.

Alvin and I spent 4 days in California near the border of Oregon touring the state and national parks that boast 300-plus-foot redwood giants. The temperature was ideal – between 55 and 65 night and day. We hiked through the trees, did scenic drives, relaxed at bed and breakfasts, read, and played at the beach.

My sister Amber was gracious enough to stay home with Miles for the 4 days. This was my first trip without him since he was born! Okay, so I was worried about being gone for so long, and by day 3 I wished we were on our way home to see him. But he really was fine. (But for a few days when we go back, he seemed to have forgotten who is the boss.) About a month ago, I started telling Miles bedtime stories about how me and dad were going to fly in the airplane to California and Amber was going to stay at our house and take Miles to nursery. I think it helped! When Amber asked him where we were, he said, “California.” And she wore him out with fun activities – riding the train at the zoo, playing at the park, and meet boyfriends’ nieces and nephews. (Yes, I meant to put the apostrophe after the ‘s.’)

Here's a picture of Alvin climbing the massive roots of a fallen tree:

The trip wasn’t completely without child because . . . I am with child. (Hee, hee.) You can see a 4-month bump in the picture below. Pregnancy really takes a toll on my energy level - we did an easy 6-mile ramble through the woods on the first day, and the rest of the trip I could barely get one foot in front of the other!

This is Miles camping in Fairview Canyon. Alvin took him overnight up to the cabin for the 4th of July, and they loved it! Alvin came home and said, "And when it was time for bed, Miles said, 'Okay, Dad,' and went right to sleep." I asked what time that would have been. "Oh, ten or ten-thirty," Alvin admitted. No wonder he slept well!

Red-letter Day

Miles loves trains. He
points out the tank cars, hopper cars, and "hmoke" in train picture books,
spends hours laying on the floor moving his engine, car, and caboose along their tracks,
knows where to spot train bridges when we drive down the freeway,
watches library DVDs about trains,
asks me to sing train songs (I know 3 and will make up more on request),
asks me to build trains in the sand and draw them on the sidewalk, and
rides TRAX and goes with Alvin to watch freight trains.

I get the biggest kick when Miles asks to color. That means he wants to hand me markers and tell me to draw the engine, cars, wheels, "cup-lahs" (couplers), and caboose. Then he carries the completed illustration around - in the car, to bed, next to his plate at the table.

How can we help but feed his fascination by finding iPod apps with trains, taking him to play with the train toys at Grandma's house, and ...
visiting Golden Spike National Historic Site? The two-hour drive was worth it - he saw two old steam engines coming down the tracks, whistling, clanging their bells, and puffing steam and smoke.
Miles clings to his souvenir postcards, and he even found a page in a library book featuring one of the trains we saw. He points it out with great pride.
On the way home from Promontory Point, we stopped at the International Peace Gardens at Jordan Park. Miles found a little house just his size in the Swiss garden, and he wasted no time hopping around plants and bushes to make his way up the little stairs.

You'll Never Know, Dear . . .

Alvin has been putting Miles to bed lately. Lucky Miles gets a good long bedtime routine:

• brush teeth
  
• practice sitting on the potty
  
• diaper and jammies on
  
• story
  
• recite the First Article of Faith
  
• prayer
  
• song
  

Miles asked Alvin to sing the train song, which Alvin doesn't know, so he made one up: You Are My Sunshine with a few key words like train, coming down the tracks, and honk. I love listening to Alvin improvise! This is the best part of my day.

Last night, Alvin went to the grocery store to pick up some things for his Ragnar Relay this weekend. (Good luck on those 15 uphill miles!) So I put Miles to bed. When it came time to sing a song, I told him I'd sing the train song. He asked for something, and had to repeat it four or five times before I finally understood: "Train Sunshine." He wanted me to sing Alvin's Train Sunshine song! I had a great time trying to make up my own version.