2014, April: Silence and a Blood Moon

I stayed up until 2am on April 15 to watch the lunar eclipse. I'd never seen one before, and the sky above our house is just so incredible (there are more stars and fewer clouds in Idaho, in case you didn't know) that I knew I'd get a great view. My original plan was to pop outside every 20-30 minutes during the eclipse to snap a photo, but I ended up enjoying the experience so much that I was outside for close to two hours. It was freezing, but the real dark and absolute silence (except for some goat noises) of the country combined with the spectacle of the eclipse kept me hooked. I was using Christian's fancy schmancy camera since I knew my iPhone wouldn't cut it, and despite lengthy instructions from him on the phone (he's out of town), it still took me until almost-full-eclipse to get all the buttons/dials/switches figured out for the perfect shot. (See all the photos on Flickr).

The moon was red as a result of all the light from sunsets and sunrises around the rim of the Earth. Even more exciting is that this is the first of four consecutive total eclipses (known as a Tetrad) that will occur over the next two years. The next one is October 8 and once again Idaho is in the best viewing zone. I love living here.

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2016, January: Who Should Pay for the Arts

Working for a small nonprofit after the Goliath that is the Smithsonian has been an eye-opening experience. We're constantly doing - as my boss likes to call it - "the hustle." A great deal of time, energy, and resources is spent (and stress, sleepless nights, and several tears are experienced) while chasing funding instead of working on the mission, while the mission remains crucial to bringing in the money as well as being the reason we're all here. It's difficult to maintain that balance while keeping the organization afloat and the staff (mostly) sane. It's made me think a great deal about who should pay for what we do. I believe the arts are critically important and I am incredibly proud that a town the size of Idaho Falls (serving a population of around 100,000 in the city and surrounding rural areas) has art galleries, a large, historic theater that brings in nationally touring productions, and the-first-of-its-kind interactive art and technology cent...

2015, September: Plagiocephaly, aka Declander the Amazing Helmet Boy

Declan started wearing a helmet last Friday. We knew he had a wonky head - for the first four months of his life he always slept in the exact same position - but we were hoping he would grow out of it. I knew I was supposed to be doing something about it (wedging him to sleep on the other side somehow), but it was enough of a celebration just to get the kid to sleep that I couldn't deal with anything else. At four months old he started rolling and would sleep in a variety of positions, but unfortunately the damage had been done. At his four month check-up the pediatrician said it wasn't too bad and that we should just keep an eye on it. At six months, however, a different pediatrician said "hmmm. We should probably have a specialist take a look." The specialist came from Salt Lake City and said that Declan had a moderate case of plagiocephaly (wonky head) due to slight torticollis (weak neck muscles on one side). Now that he's holding his head up fine and sitt...

A Successful Trip!

I turn 40 this week. Yellowstone National Park is one of my favorite places in the world, so I decided we should go spend the weekend in the park for my birthday. As we got closer, I discovered I wasn’t really looking forward to it. Both kids are exhausting at the moment, and Ophelia especially does not do well in the car. Or in the cold. Or in any situation where her indecipherable needs are not being met. When I saw that thunderstorms were forecast all weekend, I almost canceled. But we’d paid a deposit on the cabin so we decided to take a chance and see what happened. Well. The weather worked out almost perfectly and the kids were amazing! They handled all the time in the car, they hiked, they even (mostly) behaved themselves in a fancy restaurant. Ah. Maze. Zing. On day one, we headed up to West Yellowstone and had our usual giant pancake lunch before venturing into the park. Then we drove down to West Thumb geyser basin, where both children managed to a) n...

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