Sketch on an iPad

Neil got an iPad and brought it over yesterday. Mary Ellen, with her finger, drew the sketch on the left. I think she is totally amazing with what she can do.

She just finished the winter semester at BYU and got all A's. I am so very proud of how she is doing.

Grabbing a quick minute

It is weird for me to have a free minute, but the rest of the week was so crammed I guess there was bound to be a spare moment somewhere! Actually, I have never actually posted a blog, but Eric coached me through it (so far so good!).

This semester at BYU I am taking fewer classes and enjoying it much more. The example on this page is one of my illustration assignments. VERY FUN to do.

I am sure winter will never end. We are trying to see the beauty in it and being grateful that we are not in Haiti or Chile. but it still seems endless!

We took this photo on our way home from school.

October Ferrin Family Birthday Party

Today was the monthly birthday party for the family. The cousins really look forward to the monthly event. Several of the kids decided to forgo eating in order to play with their cousins for a longer time. Since October is Halloween, most of the kids dressed up for the event.



Fortunately it was a beautiful day outside - about 70 degrees and no clouds at all. The kids played inside and outside. They carved Jack O Lanterns. They played football. They ate chili and pumpkin pie. We took a number of pictures available here.

Summer Trip to Logan and Bear Lake

Between Summer Term and Fall Semester, Mary Ellen and I took the opportunity to get away for a couple of days and travel up to Logan and Bear Lake. It was after the public schools had started so we were pretty much alone at the normally crowded vacations spots. We stayed at the Anniversary Inn in Logan, in the Ice Cave room (I think the name is something else but that is what it reminded me of). Considering it was 90 outside, the room felt cool. We also attended a session at the Logan Temple (smaller than I was expecting), ate at two of the local Logan dives (American and Chinese, both pretty good), had a raspberry milkshake at Bear Lake, and enjoyed the drive up Logan and Sardine canyons.

The only problem was that we forgot our camera. That seems to be a theme for the summer, as I have rarely remembered it on any of our trips or family outings. I think that I may be a "impulsive camera shooter", as I seem to remember the camera only when I have a strong desire to take pictures, something that only happens every few weeks. I really enjoy taking pictures, but since I don't really like my picture taken, I project that on everyone else so I have a hard time taking other people's pictures too. But I know that pictures are what memories are made of. So I take them anyway...

So without a camera, I used the camera on my phone. Daylight pictures were a challenge to hold the camera steady enough. But I tried to take a picture at night. The first ones were really bad. The best is posted below along with other memory shots.

New Season, New Semester, New Classes

Mary Ellen has started the Fall semester at BYU and she continues to love it. She is taking another Watercolor class, a Figure Drawing Illustration class, another Art History class, and a Marriage class. She also has a mandatory Art Seminar that I usually attend with her. Her marriage class is taught by an ex- State College -ite, Kent Brooks, who was a former institute director there mucho years ago. It is a VERY popular class, with people sitting on the floor most days. It is also one of the few classes that I can help Mary Ellen with, as the others are "Art" classes, and my abilities in Art are usually surpassed by my 4 year old granddaughters and grandson.

It is quite exciting to be at campus. Mary Ellen loves the classes, the students, and especially the learning. She is still doing really well - all A's and B's (mostly A's). She even got an A in her technology class this summer. It turns out that the instructor was Eric & Sarah's home teacher.

The weather in Utah this summer has been cool for the most part. Cool is a relative term. We have spent most of July and August in the 90s. But usually we have a few weeks of 100s (I think normal is 15 days or so - last summer was 43 days). This year we have had one or two. But September hasn't cooled off much, with 90s until last week and 80s forecast for the next week. Very dry though with hardly any rain for the last three months. Needless to stay, no snow yet.

Our usual routine is school Monday thru Thursday. Friday is "my" day. Mary Ellen and I spend it doing things together and getting away from the normal routine. Last week we went art supply shopping in Salt Lake, bought a couple of chairs and a table for the bedroom we are working on (see below), bought a Sunday dress for Mary Ellen, and had a wonderful dinner of unlimited shrimp at Red Lobster. On Saturday, Mary Ellen generally spends the entire day working on homework, with a little housework thrown in. Sunday is the Lord's day, along with seeing family. We went to Eric & Sarah's Primary program last week, and then saw Rachel & kids and met with Neil & LeAnn when we got home with a brief visit from Josh. Fun but tiring.

We have been redoing one of the upstairs bedrooms. It had an "orange" accent wall and was decorated with "Halloween" colors (my opinion, not necessarily shared by others). We changed the accent wall to light blue. Also changed the bedding and some of the pieces in the room. We are still working on the wall decorations. I think I have a "before" picture somewhere and will post the before and after when we are about done with this.

The hardest part of the routine is that Mary Ellen has 8am classes every day. I am NOT a morning person. I really like to stay up until past 11pm, but that will have to be limited to weekends for the next few months. Maybe in the winter she won't start classes until 10?? :}