Fun things.

Prepare yourselves for a long post with lots of pictures. It's been a busy month at the Archibald residence.

On May 31st we celebrated Carter's birthday. Actually, on May 30th he had his friend party and on May 31st we had family dinner and gifts, so really it was Carter's birthday weekend. So spoiled.

The friend party went well. Only two friends out of the five showed up, and they were both girls. Did Carter care? Not a bit. Pizza, ice cream, cake, toys, presents, a water fight, and a pinata. Not bad for two hours on a Saturday.




Sunday we had spaghetti with all the fixins, more cake, more ice cream, and Carter-man got to open all his gifts from us: "Cars" games, model cars, a Nerf football, and various other little stuff. Grandma also got him an easel with markers, chalk, and paper. So far, the easel is the best gift EVER.

This last week has been crammed with summer goodness. On Wednesday, my sister-in-law Angela and her two kids Will and Chelsea picked us up and we all headed to Bear Lake to stay for a day in a condo my in-laws had reserved. It was a welcome break, and though Garden City, UT will not be deemed a metropolis anytime soon, it had all we needed: sun, water, food, and a place to sleep. We had a great time. Even Carter, my sometimes-over-cautious kiddo, looked up at me while we were playing at the beach and said, "Mom, I love Bear Lake."







On Friday, after being miserably sick with the worst. cold. ever. for about three days (It started the morning we drove to Bear Lake. Yeah.) I needed to get out of the house. I'd been promising Carter I would take him to the open house at the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple of the LDS church, so I went online, reserved some tickets, and off we went. Carter's first temple experience was at the Draper Temple open house, so he was really excited to go inside the new one. Yes, I know I'm a cheesy Mormon mom when I say I am so glad that my son loves to be in the temple.

Afterward, we took some pictures. Carter was happy to sit for them.




As long as he got to do what he really wanted to do in the first place, which was play in the fountain.

And yes, Moroni really did get struck by lightning.


Last but not least, on Saturday we connected with our inner rednecks by attending the demolition derby at the West Jordan Western Stampede. We went with Randy's twin Dave, his wife Alicia, and their boys Aiden and Evan.

As you are probably aware, Randy is obsessed with cars and he has passed on this obsession to our son. When Randy cut the ad for the derby out of the paper and showed it to Carter a few days ago, Carter was so excited he could barely stand it. He carried the ad around with him, ate breakfast with it every morning, and had every detail of it memorized by the time Saturday rolled around. He even had a running countdown, and informed everyone he met that he was "going to the demolition derby in __ days." And yet, despite all his excitement and macho toughness, the little boy in him came out in the end and he watched the entire derby like this:

I know he's my kid, but I swear he's the cutest kid this side of the Mississippi.

And thank you so much for your time.

Well, today was the big day--THE INTERVIEW. I actually wasn't very nervous going into it, probably because I've had so many other things on my mind--like the fact that today is my newspaper deadline and though I have all my research and interviews done, I've yet to write a single story. (School burnout is still plaguing me. That and the hope that my editor, Tom, does not read my blog.)

I showed up at KSL Broadcast House appropriately early. I should know by now that interviewers usually show up fashionably late. But at about 10:20, I was met by this very nice (but very accomplished and intimidating) woman.

Sheryl Worsley is the KSL news director, and she is the one who interviewed me. She very deftly wove small talk with interview questions, so much so that I now know that she is a mother of two daughters who love the Twilight series, which we agree is not well written and somewhat formulaic. (Sorry, Megan.) We also spoke about news stories that have come out of Cottonwood Heights and how print journalism and public radio--the strong points on my resume--are very different from commercial news radio. She tried very hard to make that point hit home with me. It did.

I then had to do a writing test--take three print news stories, organize them in order of importance and glean a 20-second news story out of them, in less than 10 minutes. I am pretty sure I failed miserably. My strength is quality, not speed. (Tom would agree with that wholeheartedly.)

All in all, I think I made a good impression but I would be surprised if they offered me the job. And I am OK with that. The hours would be really hard to manage with my family and other responsibilities (7:30am to 1:30pm on Saturdays and Sundays). But I'm really glad I took a chance to see what would happen. It was a positive experience and it helped me practice my job skills.

Now I'm back to square one: do I try to help out our family financially or stay home with Carter and be the best Mom I can be (which I would actually prefer)? Still looking for the answer.

It really IS the little things.

The other day I opened up the book of crosswords my friends gave me after graduation--you know, to keep my brain from shrivelling up--and this is what I found.



My first reaction was excitement at the fact that Randy was showing an interest in something I like to do. And then I actually read the words he had written. I laughed so hard that Carter thought something was wrong with me.

After all is said and done, with all the ups and downs that marriage brings, things like this are exactly why I love my husband.

Possibilities.

Those of you who know me well know that I did a two-year stint at the hoosegow lovingly referred to as Ricks College, now BYU-Idaho. Three things saved me from complete and utter apostasy from my religion during my time there--Prof. Nielsen, a few great friends (Nat, Cam, Kirsty, Jane, Kat), and my job as a radio announcer at the NPR/Classical station on campus, KRIC/KBYI, "The Voice of the Ricks College Campus." (OK, OK, maybe my family played a part in my continued activity in the church, too. Thanks for putting up with me, Mom and Dad!)

I LOVED my job on the radio. And I think I was pretty good at it, too, which is always nice. For these reasons, I have--perhaps foolishly--applied to be a part-time weekend news anchor/reporter on KSL Newsradio 102.7 here in Salt Lake.

And they have--perhaps also foolishly--asked me to come in for an interview on Wednesday.*

Nervous? Yes. Out of my league? Probably. Unsure if this is even what I want to do right now? Totally. Worried about how it will impact my family? Uh, yeah! But I thought I had to at least give it a shot.

See, there's this feeling I get when I'm supposed to do something. It usually comes when I am looking for an answer to a problem I'm wrestling with and then, unexpectedly, some weird solution that I'd never even dreamed of falls out of the blue and hits me up side the head. It's just so improbable, impossible even, that I know I'm meant to go for it. That's what happened when I applied to work at KRIC, and 15 years later it's happened again.

It may turn out that they don't want me. Or that I don't want them. Or that I need to go through this process for some completely unknown reason. Either way, it can't hurt to at least try.

So, ready or not, here we go. Stay tuned.

*UPDATE: They called me today and changed the interview to Monday June 22.

Marriage is what brings us together...today.

Today, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8.

This is where my dad/mom/family are cringing over what I--the most liberal member of our family--could possibly have to say about Prop 8.

I'm not going to lie. I struggled with Prop 8 and the rabid frenzy with which some conservative members of the LDS church (and other churches, too) used it as a way to villify people who live with same-sex attraction. I thought the way people on both sides of the issue treated each other was horrendous. I was particularly disappointed when Tom Hanks called me and all the members of my church "un-American." Seriously, Tom?!

Here's the heart of the matter for me: I believe in a certain ideal of what a marriage and family should be, and I have a right to that ideal. However, many others don't have the same belief. There are gay people who have built a life and a family together, and they should be able to take care of their families in the same ways everyone else is allowed to. (Can you imagine a frightened child in the hospital who is not allowed to have a visit from one of their parents? Can you imagine that same child being sent to foster care instead of the care of their other parent after the biological parent dies?)

And, guess what? The LDS church feels the same way. From a news release in November: "The Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians. Even more, the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches."

I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, and therefore I am pleased with the California Supreme Court decision. But we (is anyone from our JOKE of a Utah Legislature listening?? Anyone heard of the Common Ground Initiative?) also need to make sure that families--and especially children--who don't fall under that category are taken care of, too.

Milestone

Carter has a big day coming up next week. He will be turning four. For months--ok, pretty much since he turned three--he's been looking forward to this birthday and telling everyone who will listen that he's "almost four."

He hasn't had a "friend" birthday party before, so I decided this was the year to take the plunge. A month or two ago, he was convinced that every day was the day of his party. This went on for about a week, much to my horror, as I had to explain to everyone he talked to (the stylist at Sports Clips, the cashier at Target, random kids in the grocery store) that today was actually not his birthday, that we didn't have 19 kids coming over to party later on, and that no, I'm sorry, we don't invite strangers to our birthday parties.

I am trying to get invitations out this weekend, so this morning I sat down with Carter to make a list of everyone he wants to invite to his party. This is what he came up with:

Katie (the little girl across the street)
Cole (a friend from daycare)
Cecily (Cole's older sister--she's like 12)
Daddy (obviously)
Me (glad I even made the list)
Carter (I LOVE that he saw the need to make sure his own name is on the list.)
"My Backpack" (It's new. He filled it with Hot Wheels and his stuffed pelican from Grandma and has carried it everywhere since I bought it for him two days ago.)
Lauren...and Amber, Amy, Jake, Austin and Steve(the ENTIRE family next door)
Carter (very worried about being left out)
"The Girls" (all of the Young Women I teach at church. There are like 25 of them.)
Dominick (friend from daycare)
Cooper (friend from daycare)
Kimmie (Carter's babysitter, mom of Cole and Cecily. Her name is actually Kim, but he's called her Kimmie ever since he started going there.)
Sister Sperry and Sister Gliattli (his primary teachers from church.)
Brendan and Camryn (his brother and sister)

I was so proud of myself for keeping a straight face during the list-making. But even more than that, I was so happy that Carter loves and feels loved by so many people (and things. I'm talking to you, Backpack). However, I can pretty much guarantee that only five of those people on the list are getting invites since that's all I think I can manage this first time around.

PS--Since this is my first kids' birthday party, does anyone have any ideas for games?

I did it!

I graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of Utah on Friday! The culmination of all the hard work of the last 2 and 1/2 years (plus that brutal year in Americorps way back when)! Mom and Dad and Randy and Carter were there to cheer me on, and the commencement ceremony was amazing. David McCullough (author of 1776 and John Adams) gave the commencement address, and if you have a chance you should check out the transcript here. Absolutely inspiring.

Yes, I LOVED school, but it is done with (for now) and I have come to grips with the fact and I'm ready to move on. I will miss the good friends, the amazing professors, and the stimulating discussions. But I'm just so grateful to have had the opportunity to reach my goal in such an enjoyable way.

Steph to Randy: "Hey baby, doesn't this graduation cap look hot?!" (By the way, no.)

Steph thinking,"Hmmm. WHAT am I going to do with all that free time?!"