Updates, in Pictures

Just Life, ,

Time for an update from the Lymans, huh? Then feast your eyes and read on…

Well, first, lately it seems like we’ve had a lot of bad weather. It was kind of a mild “blah” winter, so in my opinion Mother Nature looked around and said, “What! Halfway into March?! I’ve gotta meet quota!” Hence the random, last-minute snow storms lately. In an attempt to speed the good weather along, I tried to make it feel welcome:

…and whether it helped or not, warm weather is here! I’m sure we’ll still have some crazy snow storm before long, but for now, we’re enjoying the warm weather. We’ve got a bumper crop of basil and cilantro (round three, and we have yet to kill a plant! Go us! I’ll add that it’s definitely the most either of us has ever grown).

The tulips have also fully blossomed outside our house, as of this weekend (no, we didn’t plant those at all, so we can’t take credit, though I did weed the flower bed on Saturday).

It’s now warm enough for Josh to ride the scooter to school again…

…and the weather was so nice today, we went for a nice long walk and afterwards enjoyed our first Otter Pops of the season.

In other news, after more than one trip to Home Depot and a lot of do-it-yourselfness, we installed a new, bigger mailbox that we’re very excited about. It’s even got a flag.

We also got a new TV. Well, new for us, old for a friend. Aren’t friends the best?

Our new TV will come in handy as we continue to enjoy Netflix. Yep, we’re hooked. This week’s movie? Mulan, special edition. Yeah, life is good.

And finally, we’ve been enjoying some delicious brownies that Mom sent (thank you, Mom!)…

…as a congratulations to Josh because–this is good–he won a scholarship! But it’s not just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill, we’ll-give-you-some-free-money scholarship. No, this is a special recognition, admired-by-your-peers-and-professors, we’ll-give-you-a-plaque-and-a-new-embroidered-bag scholarship (with some free money, too). We’re all super proud of Josh, and frankly not surprised, because this scholarship was based on helping others. And who does that better than Josh? :-)

So that’s all for us…now we’re just looking forward to this weekend, when Paige will walk the stage for graduation, the awesome Lyman family and the awesome Ellsworth parents will all be in town, and we’ll party and celebrate. Let the good times roll!

Kitchen Table + Mini Boats = $1,000,000

Other, ,

Do you ever hear about an invention or design or product so random, yet so cool, it just makes you happy to be part of the incredibly creative human race? Josh and I had one of those moments last week.

On Sunday we had some couples from our ward over for dinner; the menu consisted of baked potatoes, salad, and rolls. As we struggled to pass all the dishes, platters, and bowls around the table, I brought up the lazy susan that sits on the table in my parents house, the one I grew up with. (If you don’t know what a lazy susan is, follow the link and learn real quick.) Then one guy told us all about a table he had seen in the Philippines – a kind of different spin on a lazy susan, if you will (ha, no pun intended!). He described it as a big regular square dinner table, but with a big hole cut out of the middle and filled with a container of water. You could then place all the dishes in the water, and if someone opposite the table needed the rolls? Why, just shove them across and they’d float on over!

Awesome, huh? We all thought it was pretty cool. (So cool that I’m writing this blog post now). And I wanted to include a picture, but I couldn’t find one online (how would you Google for that, anyway? “Kitchen table water center”? Nope. “Kitchen table pass dishes water”? Nope. If you have any suggestions, let me know). Anyway, since I couldn’t find a picture, I drew one up real quick, for visual learners like me (and for you, Mom, because I know how much you love diagrams).

So here’s an isometric view:

And even an arial view:

So we hope you enjoy this awesome invention as much as we did. Whoever thought of it is a genius. Maybe we’ll even own one some day. If we do, I think we should fill the container with goldfish…um, maybe. But I could see some definite potential disasters if you combine a kitchen table filled with water and a family of kids.

Personal and Professional Development

Just Life, Other, ,

So the new job that I have is pretty much amazingly awesome and my dream job. (Well, anyone who knows me really really well – though maybe Josh is the only person who knows me this well – knows that my real dream job is to make fake food, like this stuff, but my current job is definitely right up there.) I feel so lucky to have landed such a great job so soon, and it really is great; I get to write, organize, help make an awesome product, and work with fantastic people.

Part of the awesomeness that is my new job is the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop, one of the premier writing conferences for authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults. The members of the writing department at my work are going this summer, and I’m excited! Excited and nervous… Though I can’t wait to learn more about writing and how to be a better writer, I’m a little nervous because I’ve always just considered myself a writer “wanna-be.” What if I’m way lacking in skill and experience compared to the other workshop members? What if it’s humiliating? What if all the other writers laugh at me? What if … what if … what if? But I guess I can’t keep asking myself “what if?” If I don’t take a risk, how will I ever improve? So…here’s to personal and professional development and this coming summer’s conference! I’m looking forward to it, so wish me luck!

Look Up! A Photo Adventure

Just Life, ,

We went on a real fun date this week; it was Josh’s idea. He said he was walking around campus and started looking up and noticed how many amazing things there are to see if you just look up. So we grabbed our cameras and headed to campus to look up and take some pictures. It was fun; you really do notice so many more things if you just look up. There were all sorts of ceilings and trees and things I had never noticed, and I went to BYU for four years! (But now I’m not, of course, because I’m graduated.) ;-)

Anyway, we hope you enjoy our pictures! Don’t forget to look up every once in a while!