Steve Ebert, You're an Ironman!

14 hours 10 minutes. That's all it took for Steve to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles. "At the beginning of the bike race, riding up those steep hills, I didn't think I'd make it," Steve said, but make it he did.

We watched for a glimpse of Steve riding his bike past Coral Canyon at 9 a.m. We snapped photos of Steve's fellow bikers, but we caught sight of Steve early enough to wave but too late to snap a picture.

Dave and Steve's parents were at the "transition point" when Steve traded his bike for marathon shoes. He also gave Camille a call.

We watched and waited at the finish line and then afterwards, as Steve was checked in and was given a slice of pizza, some grapes, and a silver paper blanket to keep off the chilly night air.

Steve arrived a little after 9 p.m., and the announcer intoned, "Steve Evert, you're an Ironman!" As with the bikers, I got great photos of other runners emerging from the arch...

but couldn't quite get Steve (there he is, running through the arch, but just out of focus). At Steve's next Ironman race, I'll be ready.

We celebrated Sunday at the Texas Roadhouse with Steve, Al and Marilyn Ebert, and Steve's and Camille's good friends, Matt and Ruth Perkins.

Essence of the West

I flew to Boise April 28 for my Idaho Skills legal seminar, required of all new Idaho lawyers. The classes were mundane...

but after the schooling was over, I spent a few lovely hours at the World Center for Birds of Prey, outside the city.

This is where peregrine falcons were bred and released from the time there were only 30 left in the wild, until now, when they have been taken off the Endangered Species list.

This peregrine falcon was born nearly blind and so lives at the center.

The bird now targeted for breeding and release is the California condor. I got up close and personal with a bald eagle and other beautiful birds.

The most memorable part of the afternoon, though, was watching a storm come in, against the backdrop of mountains, wood fence, sagebrush, grasslands, and lonely road. It was the essence of the West.

As I arrived in the Salt Lake Airport, friends and family gathered to welcome missing members home.

I hurried towards Northland Drive for my own welcome.

Celebration of Endings and Beginnings

April 26 and April 28, 2009 were the days Grandpa Spendlove and Grandma Calder died, just one year ago. Pam Johnson planted daffodils by our front door in memory of our parents, and they bloomed this week, bright and dazzlingly alive! This was also the week we welcomed Nicholas Spendlove's fiancee, Jessica, into the Spendlove family with a wedding shower. The contrast of future and past, happiness and bittersweet memory, was the theme of the week.

The world was filled, for us, with celebrations of both weddings and deaths.

Dave and I attended a temple session on Saturday afternoon, where we both thought of our dear, missing parents. We also watched the many spring brides celebrating their new beginnings with fancy dresses, photographs, flowers, and doting attendants.

Jessica's shower was festive and happy, as we all put aside past and recent losses.

On Monday, April 26, Dave and I stopped by the Wasatch Lawn cemetery to be there at 4:19, the same moment that both Dave's dad and my mom died, two days apart.

Mt. Olympus presided over the cemetery, as lovely and unchanging as it presided over Calder and Spendlove lives, for the many years we and our parents lived in its shadow.

Spring in New England

Thanksgiving was the last time I saw Camille's kids. The high point of my trip to Boston, April 8-12, was checking out things like Ezra's Batman boots, Sophia's dance costume, and how well Mia can sit up and hold a bottle!

My first morning in Boston, I drove with Camille to pick up Sophia at Sunny Hill Preschool, run by a local church.

Sophia is a willing model!

Steve was out of town, so Camille and I packed the six kids into the van and off we went, every night, on a different adventure. On Friday night, we ate pizza and popsicles at Sudbury Pizza.

We then watched the 3-D film, "Planet You," at the Museum of Science. It told about the ticks, mites, and lice that live on us.

The kids also tried experiments, such as measuring how long their arms are, compared to their legs...

and watching a computer program that showed how much older they'd look if they ate unhealthy foods!

On Saturday afternoon, I took Annelise, Sophia, and Emilie on separate birthday shopping trips. Annelise bought clothes at The Gap and then modeled them for me.

She also bought two new pairs of shoes.

Sophia bought "Kayla," an American girl doll.

She then chose her favorite flavor of cheesecake (peanut butter) at Cheesecake Factory.

Emilie, the straight A student, had a list in her head and, through careful planning, bought a silver necklace, fingernail polish, shorts and shirt, a book and two pairs of flip flops, all with her birthday money!

And then we had cheesecake.

Saturday night we stopped at the library for all the kids to get books...

and then we headed for Boston's Chinatown, the third largest Chinatown in the U.S.

We stopped at a Chinese grocery with strange produce like kohlrabi, long beans, and ?

Emilie explored an aisle full of Asian sauces.

We ate supper at the China Pearl, with the kids practicing their chopstick skills.

Back home, we broke out Grandma's gifts from Italy, such as Toblerones for each family member and these Murano beads from Venice for the three older girls.

I took a walk Sunday morning and saw the earth come back to life both in Sudbury's gardens and in its swamps. I remember reading, in a book about Paul Revere, how some of the colonial patriots were delayed in getting to Concord by Sudbury's swamps!

After Church, we headed for the North End for pasta at La Contes and gelato afterwards at Mike's Pastry.

We then hung out in a park near Faneuil Hall, enjoying the sun and the gorgeous Boston buildings.

When we got home, we cleaned out the car and Annelise posed with all the junk that accumulated there in just three days!