It's been a while since . . .

I've posted videos! The first video is acceptable teasing of Maya, and the second video is Maya demonstating her newest trick. All your girls miss you now you're back at work, Ammon.

The Taste of Summer

As I approach the completion of another summer break, I do so with some trepidation. Perhaps not trepidation, but certainly some disequilibrium akin to trepidation. Maybe this is because I've grown accustomed to the nicety of staying up late, sleeping in late, and lately, spending good time with my best friends Erin, India, and Maya.

I've also had some time this summer to spend some time with me. Is that strange? I don't know. I do know that it is necessary to get to know oneself once in a while. That getting to know, for want of a better word, could come in some of the most expected of cliche ways like climbing Everest I'm sure. I don't even like climbing stairs. Or I'm sure running a marathon could do it, but look at me -- I'm not really running any marathons.

For me, that meeting occurred when I recently connected with the milieu that is summer food. One food. No, one bite of one meal struck a resonant chord, and I was instantly connected with the essence of summer break in a way that I haven't experienced in a long time. We tried, with limited success to grow a garden last year. This year, our success was much greater. We were able to grow tomatoes. I know what you're thinking "any idiot can grow tomatoes." But it was tough for me so BACK OFF. So anyway, we did. We are proud of ourselves. So, for the first time since the last summer on Cherry Street [that's in Illinois where I grew up] I made my favorite summer treat.

For some people the taste of summer may be snow cones on the corner, corn dogs at the fair, or kool-aid on the back porch. For me, the taste that brought back memories of summer was a tomato and cucumber sandwich on toasted bread spread lightly with mayonnaise. Simple right? That's the beauty. The memory fits that simplicity. Summer used to be that. Remember if you can.

We used to wake up in the morning when we wanted to, and in the afternoon if we didn't. Only, in those days, we usually wanted to. We would watch cartoons and eat cereal on the couch. After not too long, we would call some friends and ride our bikes to the pool. Sometimes we stopped at the park. Usually, we didn't. We swam for hours. Actually, we sat for hours watching others watching others watching one or two people actually swimming. It was some kind of a strange merry-go-round of people watching people.

Eventually, we succumbed to the only force great enough to tear us from that primal force which makes us stare -- hunger. We hopped back on our bikes peddled as fast as the heat of the day would allow, and arrived home to find nothing to eat. After looking in the same refrigerator several times, coming just short of resigning ourselves to death by starvation, someone -- instinctively I'm sure-- remembered the garden. Maybe there was something there. It was always the same, cucumbers and tomatoes. Simply put -- the taste of summer.

I connected to that forgotten memory of me, and it was good. Perhaps, that is what I needed this summer -- to mingle with the memory of what life used to be. What life used to mean. It was simple. And it was good.

Dessert Night

Maya enjoyed her first red vine with lots of friends and neighbors.

And here is the cake recipe that Ammon made - thanks Royers for introducing us to the best chocolate cake EVER!

1 pkg chocolate cake mix (without pudding in the mix)

4 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sour cream

1/2 cups liquid hazelnut coffee creamer

1 small pkg instant (regular flavored, not milk or white) chocolate pudding

6 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips until smooth. Add chocolate chips and pour into a sprayed bundt cake pan. Bake 1 hour until done at 350. Top with anything you like.

Girls

Our Maya-girl is adorable. Just adorable. And in the last month she has finally turned into a person. So let me introduce you to Maya. Maya crawled "for real" at 6 1/2 months. At 7 months she started pulling herself to standing, which now makes her India's official partner in crime during naptime. They goof off and refuse to sleep because they're having way too much fun. Maya's two bottom teeth have just poked through. Like India, Maya is a GOOD baby. However, she mostly only wants me just all of the time. Lucky me. Maya is not a crybaby, but she is emotional and sensitive to Ammon and India's teasing, pretend-yelling/mad, and scaring. (No wonder she wants me all the time - I'm the culprit that turned her into a mommy's girl by being nice to her). Maya will sometimes give open-mouth kisses. She teases India by pulling her hair and teases me by pulling my glasses. Maya shakes her head no. Maya plays laughing games with all of us and pretends to hide. She will sit and play with toys. She will even let me read books to her! Finally, Maya will eat everything in sight, including garbage.

I love this stage!

India is just getting so darn big. She has graduated to Barbie dolls whose names are Belle and Aunt Brittany (who is a nurse Barbie). When she's not teasing Maya, she is taking such good care of her. India is so teachable right now. She has decided we sing a hymn every time before we read scriptures. And she sings them too! India prays to go to school every day. Every morning she asks if we are going on a run or a walk. Finally, we are teaching her about earning, saving, and paying tithing, so she divides up her earned money every Saturday.

Finally

she crashed.

#6

Ammon, we did it again. Happy 6th Anniversary (yesterday)! It was more of an accomplishment than a celebration this year, so good on us for doing hard things! I had a lovely time swimming at the Scera Pool with our girls for our family birthday, watching the lightening on the porch, shopping for "old people stuff", and having a delicious kid-free lunch (as in getting a babysitter --- not devouring children).

I love you.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Free Book

Colum McCann's new novel, Let the Great World Spin, is free to download through Wednesday, August 5th! You have sign up to become a member to oprah.com, (Ammon - don't panic, I'm not converting to Oprah-worship) and that's free too!