The Bar, Sisyphus, and Redemption

There's a part in Dante's Purgatorio in which Sisyphus -- son of the king Aeolus of Thessaly and Enarete, and the founder and first king of Ephyra -- rolls a rock up a hill for all eternity to expiate for his sins. Actually, he rolls the rock up the hill a ways, only to see it roll back down, causing Sisyphus to start all over again.

I've felt like Sisyphus over the last few months. Studying for the bar for hours on end, and still not understanding the basics of commercial paper, was oddly akin to rolling that rock up the hill and then watching it roll away.

Well, my Sisyphean task is done. I have passed the New Mexico bar! The rock is gone, and I have entered Paradiso. It's been a long journey, and I'm eternally grateful to Demaree for shepherding me through. Hopefully, some day, Sisyphus will know the joy of casting off his rock and reaching the summit of his hill.

Translation Frustration

As many know, we are teaching Elliot our respective languages (Spanish and Italian). French will likely follow when Elliot's a little older and we find a good tutor. Our attempts notwithstanding, Elliot seems intent on not following the plan. For example, when we try to get him to say "babbo [i.e., daddy]," Elliot smiles and says either "da-dee" or "da-da." It's like he knows what to say --obviously he does because he's translating correctly -- but just wants to play with us. Little punk.

If this is how he acts now, we're going to have our hands full, in a really fun way, when he's older.

Flagstaff & Grand Canyon

We took advantage of Labor Day weekend and camped in Flagstaff, one of our favorite cities. We stayed at the KOA (bad move). It was a bit loud being right next to the road, and this made it difficult on Elliot. He woke up often; thus, we woke up often.

We attended Sacrament meeting Sunday morning, and we were amazed at how nice people were. Families were offering Elliot toys. Others kept us twenty minutes after the meeting just to talk. Them Flagstaffers got 'em some mad fellowshipping skills.

After church, we drove to the Grand Canyon. It was incredible.



At one stop, we were able to use our new favorite toy: the Sherpani kid carrier. It's essentially a kid backpack, and it worked like a charm. We descended into the canyon for quite a while, almost reaching the floor before turning around because of fog and overcast skies.




Best part about the Sherpani is Elliot loves it.


And just because the Grand Canyon was gorgeous, here's another photo.


On the way home, we stopped by the Four Corners Monument. There's really nothing to it, but you can be in four states simultaneously, so it was worth the detour, I guess.



Elliot was slightly less than impressed; however, he did find the Navajo fry bread stand and the fifty port-a-potties rather amusing.

So, while we didn't get much sleep, we had a fantastic weekend together.

Brown Look-alike Meter

Inspired by our friends Jonathan and Marni Yarrington, we decided to try the Look-alike Meter. As you can see, Elliot, who looks absolutely nothing like either of us, looks slightly less unlike me than unlike Demaree. Poor kid.

Go Alaska!

I have tried very hard not to let my political leanings (conservative, if you hadn't guessed) infiltrate our family blog. Today, such caution is thrown to the wind. John McCain has picked Sarah Palin, the governor of my home, Alaska, as his veep.

I would have rather seen McCain choose Mitt Romney or Bobby Jindal; but, as an Alaskan, I'm proud. I'm proud Alaskans threw the good ol' boys out of office and elected someone as honest and forthright as Palin. Whatever happens in this election, Palin will make Alaska proud. And I can't wait to see her beat Joe Biden like the red-headed step child he is.

And one more thing: out of the seven women living in Alaska, Palin is definitely the best looking.

Sealing Day

We were sealed as a family in the Manti, Utah Temple on Friday, August 22, 2008, at 9:45 a.m.


It was a great experience, both because of its religious import, and because so many friends and family attended.

Jared Shoemaker, my best friend, made it all the way from Vegas.

Matt and Evige Warner made it.

Denis and Lisa attended, even though they were getting sealed soon after us.

Jim Ford and Ariel Bybee came down from Salt Lake.

And here's the Clayson contingent: large as always.

And here is the Brown contingent: slightly smaller than the Clayson contingent.

Thankfully, after some searching, we found our Charmaine pictures (they were hiding out on my parents' camera). She made the long trek from eastern Nebraska to Manti, some twelve-plus hours, a feat for which we are very grateful. (If we forgot anyone, we apologize profusely.)

Nothing can fully describe the feeling of peace and satisfaction we felt being sealed for time and eternity to Elliot. After such a long process, with so many ups and downs, it was a great feeling to finally become a family in the fullest sense of the word. We thank everyone who helped us throughout this process. We love you all.

Mesa Verde/Perfect Day

Yesterday, we had what can only be described as a perfect day. We began by hiking around cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. First we descended to the long house dwelling and toured for about an hour.




This is a shot of us climbing out of the valley. Elliot was a trooper in that Baby Bjorn.

After the long house, we went over to the spruce house.



While there we met an Italian family (from Bologna -- my greeny city -- no less) there on vacation. We talked for probably fifteen minutes.

The two girls in front (Sofia on the left and Annamaria on the right) were super cute. As you can see, Annamaria had a thing for Elliot's hair.

On our way home, we stopped at this little restaurant about twenty miles outside Durango, Colorado. We had a quite good meal. We began with a roasted beat salad, and then moved on to a limoncello chicken, complete with roasted potato and fennel. For dessert, we had a buttermilk panna cotta with toasted almonds and honey. Elliot had tastes of everything, and loved it all, just like his parents.

What a fantastic, fulfilling day.