My Beef with Bagging

Dear Grocery store checker person,

Your job is not easy, I know. It's a delicate balancing act centered around keeping the customer happy. It's about knowing who wants to chat and who doesn't, who wants you to be meticulous and slow and who wants you to hurry like the dickens. You've got a few minutes one-on-one with each customer to make or break their experience in the store. You may be the only employee they talk to, and that may be after they've waited in a long line! On top of that you've got to be on your game with all the money passing through your hands. Be careful not to short the customer, or the store, as that tends to make people cranky. Oh and please have the customer charmed and on their way 4 minutes or less too!

I understand you've got plenty on your plate, I was once among your ranks. But while you're doing all you have to do for me, could please pay a bit more attention to my stuff? I'm getting tired of finding things like bananas covered with apple inflicted bruises, hamburger buns squished to pancakes between boxes of instant potatoes, or what have you. Today, while unpacking my purchases, I found my son's brand-new, formerly white t-shirt, now blood-red and gooey after sharing a sack with my ground beef! I don't mind saying I'm a little irritated about that!

Please, dear checker, think about the shape and weight of all my items, and bag them accordingly. And in the future when you pick up my freshly weighed and scanned kiwi, pause for just a moment and consider this: My little Kiwi fruit has undergone a calculated ripening process, traveled hundreds or thousands of miles, passed through dozens of hands, all working feverishly to preserve it's quality and texture. Not to mention I just spent 20 minutes picking through every kiwi on the stand to find this particular fruit, which is at this moment in pristine condition. Please, instead of slapping it down between my cans of spaghettios, help me pack it the last 50 feet to my car in relatively good shape!

In a perfect world criteria for bagging would include: items grouped together according to form and function, bags wouldn't be extremely heavy or cumbersome, weight would be distributed evenly, and space would be used efficiently. I know I'm picky. I know that's probably too much to ask for. So for now I'd settle for my eggs riding under my bread.

Thanks for your kind attention.
Your devoted customer,
Lyn Bardwell

Kids Sure Do Say the Darndest Things

Last Sunday at church Smarty coughed/sneezed one very juicy cough/sneeze. He then turned to me and from under the goo he mumbled, "Mom, I have a booger mustache."

Just thought I'd share that with y'all. Have a good one!

One Busy Day

Saturday started early with my brother Dave and I running the Ogden Marathon 5K, which was good fun. (in the above picture Dave's in the yellow shirt, and I'm beside him) I didn't get my best time, but it was far from my worst, and not bad considering I didn't run once during the week before, due to the boys and I having croup.

We had some great cheer leaders: (Ben's behind the camera)

The day started a little too early for Sweety, but Grandma R didn't seam to mind a little snuggling!

I think Smarty is doing a dance for this "cool" motorcycle

Then Smarty and I ran the Kids 1K, and he did great! He started off in a dead sprint, and after about 200 yards he sat down on the curb and wanted no more. Only the promise of a prize waiting for him at the end motivated him to keep moving. :) I was afraid I would have to carry him at some point, but he stuck it out and did the whole thing by himself, running about half of it! Not bad for a four-year-old, eh?

After that we rushed to Smarty's Joyschool graduation party.

(He's not actually graduating this year)

He and his classmates did a great job reciting the pledge and singing.

My contribution was the hats, which didn't stay on heads very long, but I thought they turned out pretty cute.

We ended the day at the elder's quorum barbecue, which Ben was in charge of. The highlight of the evening was watching the grown men turn into a bunch of 9-year-olds when Ben got out his father's rocket launcher. Most everyone had a great time designing and building newspaper and duct tape rockets which were launched hundreds of feet into the air before line driving back into the ground. (sorry I didn't get pictures of that; wish I would'a) Then my exhausted boys and I abandoned Dad to clean up and went home to bed.

All in all, a very good day.

Our Great New Swing Set

Bonnie's hubby gave us some discarded conduit, and wha-la, Ben whipped us up a swing set that will stand the test of time.


It's galvanized steal (don't worry, Ben took appropriate safety measures durring welding), and painted in almost pure zinc. The legs un-screw from the top so it will move easily when we do, and even though it dwarfs our tiny back yard, it's tall enough that we can bury it when we move somewhere semi-permanent.

We're looking forward to hours of fun to come. Thanks Dad, we love it!

The following is on my rotating quotes list (to the right). I wanted to call attention to it, because I think it's spot-on. I've seen the proof in my life already.

"Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly."— C.S. Lewis

Easter Pictures

It's a little late for Easter pics, right? Eh, what the heck.

Ben's mom works for the Utah State Extension office in Weber County, and they put on the best celebration and egg hunt. Most everyone comes away with arms and bellies full of goodies. Here are my favorite pics of my kids and their cousins:

My kids didn't want anything to do with paint on their faces. Here are some other cute, and not so cute, painted faces

On with the hunt!
Sweety's one conquest

Hurry, hurry, hurry!



or... don't. *giggle*

My kids are lucky to have cousins that always fill up their bags for them.

Two of the sweetest girls in the world

The bootie!




It was very loud and crowded inside while we were checking out everyone's spoils. For a little while BigD got stuck outside, unable to get anyone's attention. So cute!

Smarty loves running around with the big boys

Sweety loves his auntie!

Thanks for letting us in on a great tradition, Grandma B!

Here's some of the eggs we did at home. We colored designs in crayon then dyed them. We didn't get very creative this year. In years past my favorites are crayoned rainbows or flowers dyed in blue. I'll show you next year.

Big Trains, Little Boys

After Grandma B's Easter party we went to the Union Station museum and climbed all over the trains. They have a fantastic collection of old engines (diesel and steam) and cars. If you're ever in Ogden Utah, it's a must-see!

Re-Falling In Love With My Violin

I've recently begun playing my violin again. Years have passed since I last picked up my beautiful violin. It has been almost a decade since I last studied or played in a formalized group of any kind. That's disgusting; I know. Shame on me. But I'm having a much different experience this time around.

I have no high school teachers depending on me to bring attention to their under-funded programs, no jury of college professors to impress in order to make the right grade, no button-busting parents to please (don't worry mom, I now know that was all me. I now know that you'd have been my biggest fan no matter what I chose to do or not do), no required daily 60min. practice sessions to push through, no contests to win or benchmarks & accolades to acquire.

It's true that I've lost a significant portion of the skill I once had. Sometimes it's almost painful to listen to myself, but it's nice to be playing simple songs again. It gives me the opportunity to focus on the basics like I've never done, because I'm more patient with myself than I was a decade ago, and because I can't play very complicated pieces right now. If I keep playing, I believe I will be much better this time around.

I realize that I probably brought upon myself most of the pressure I used to feel. My teachers and professors really weren't vultures pushing their own agendas. I'm sure they wanted me to succeed for myself. But either way that pressure is gone now! It's just me and my violin. I play when I want to and stop when I feel like it. And for the first time in maybe 15 years or so, I'm enjoying a deep sense of satisfaction. Which is as great as anything my violin and I have ever achieved.