My President

This land is your land.

This land is my land.

From California...to the New York island.

From the Redwood Forest...to the Gulf Stream waters,

This land was made for you and me.

I am heartened. I am hopeful. I am humbled. I am happy.

Barack Obama has shown us that we still live in a meritocracy. Not because of the color of your skin and not in spite of it, but through diligence, sacrifice and preparation, you can achieve anything. Anything.

I heard a saying that I love: Rosa sat so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so WE could all fly.

"We" is us, regardless of race. We the People. The world will never again be so black and white as it once was, and that's a milestone my generation has waited a long time for. It's a milestone a Chinese girl in a white family won't have to fight for. When I told Freestone that Obama won, he asked me if Obama was the one with the really short hair or the one with the crazy hair. To clarify, he asked if Obama was the one with the fatter face. He didn't ask about black and white. He didn't have to, because the world he'll grow up in is multicultural and richer for it.

Tomorrow, it will be about the economy and the war and Wall Street and where to go from here. But tonight, it's about history being made. It's about who we are as a people. It's about us.

Araceli for President

Twenty cousins, two birthday cakes, countless aunts and uncles and plenty of Election Day Chili made Araceli's birthday party a success. She's seven years old! Exit polls showed that Democrats had 59% more fun than Republicans, and that kids ten and under had 90% more fun than grown-ups.

First, the kids came and played games, had a flag-designing contest and opened presents without the adults. They even got to eat cake before their dinner. Well, it had fruit on it...? There is a "6" on the cake because it's the only candle we have. Everybody gets the six on their birthday. Details...

We had a mini civics lesson where the kids taught me that we live in "the state of America" and I taught them that mavericks should not be running our country. Ha ha...don't worry, there was plenty of influence from the other side of the aisle, too! It was all in good fun.

When the parents arrived, we ate chili and lit up a second cake. The writing on the cake, "Araceli for President," cracked me up. She is definitely Commander-in-Chief material!

Today, the 4th, is Ari's real birthday. Golda got up early and made birthday pancakes. Scott checked her out of school for lunch and took her to Pepperbelly's. I got two pictures of them sent to my phone and a call saying how much fun they were having. At ballet later, Ari gets to give each of her classmates a headband and some hair clips. Then Coco and Bill will take her (and probably her new doll) out for ice cream. It's a special day for a pretty amazing girl. Happy Birthday, Araceli!

Birds and Bees

My girls and I had a little girls' night out at Lagoon tonight. It was the last night of the season, and we couldn't just NOT GO! On the way home with my four girls, I thought I'd do a little bonding. I said, "Girls, I hope I've prepared you to go out into the world. If there's ever anything you want to talk to me about, you can. Do you have any questions about the birds and the bees or anything?"

Araceli said, "Yes."

I thought, "OK, I'll be honest and straightforward, whatever she wants to know."

Ari asked, "How do bees make honey?"

Ah, yes, the age-old question. Golda and Ruby cracked up and we spent the rest of the ride talking about actual bees, how they make honey and why they sting. I also found out that Ari knows all about where babies come from. Sometimes they come from China and sometimes they come from someplace that rhymes with China. It just depends. So I think we're good on the birds and the bees. A little hazy on the human end of things, but we have time. Plenty of time.

Halloweentown

Marie Antoinette said it was the best Halloween party yet. Darth Vader slept right through it. A ladybug gave me her wink of approval. Babies grew beards. Werewolves (shape shifters?) howled, boys dressed as doggies, dogs dressed as lobsters and the whole lot of them got pelted with candy at the end. The root beer was spooky and delicious, and not a drop spilled in the house. Only one piece of pizza was left from the 336 we started with. Our yard, once covered with candy, is now completely devoid of sweetness. The witch next door went a little crazy, but who wouldn't? It was awesome, thanks to everyone who came!

Speaking of shape shifters, we had several wardrobe changes today. Ari went to the pumpkin patch with Ellison dressed as a ballet dancer and morphed into a bride for the party. Well, sometimes dancers do get married. Ruby experienced a brief stint as Queen Elizabeth before fast-forwarding to the '50's in a poodle skirt to match Bentley's. Freestone surprised nobody by going as his standard Fantastic Four guy. Trick-or-treating tonight, he claimed he was "Fantastic Caveman" so he could justify carrying a giant stick. Xanthe started out as a cute little mouse and ended up 12 hours later as a little girl with mouse pants wild hair. Only Golda stuck with her original plan, sporting a Sally-from-Nightmare-Before-Christmas dress and make-up that she and Coco have been working on for weeks. It turned out perfect. Thanks, Ms. Witch!

Xanthe was so funny trick-or-treating. She quickly cut right to the chase. When the door opened, she'd shout, "Where the candy?!" When the person offered her candy, she'd say, "Is it chocolate?" If it was, she took it. Smart girl. Toward the end, I told her we were going to Ginger's house for a hot dog. At every house after that, when the door opened, she said, "I want a hot dog." At one house, she walked in, snuggled up on the couch with the mom and took her shoes off. She looked like she could have stayed there all night, but we had more doorbells to ring and more chocolate to collect. Halloween will change from year to year as our kids get older, and that will be fun. This year, 5 little kids and twice as many little costumes was just right.

Will Work For Candy

There are no child labor laws in place around here! Retirement doesn't get you off the hook, either. Even babies have to pull their own weight, which in some cases isn't a whole lot of weight! The perks are nice...sneaking candy as you put it in bags, hanging out at the pumpkin patch...

And the payoff is enormous: Standing with a hundred of your closest friends, all of you with open treat bags, candy raining down on your heads and into your already bulging bags. Heaven!

This Is Why I Love Scott

7:00 AM is too early for a conversation, but sometimes it happens. As Scott was leaving this morning, I said, "I'm going to have home made root beer at the Halloween party." See, 7:00 is too early to be coherent. I'm not sure why I blurted out that useless piece of information.

Scott's reply was, "No, no, no, no, no. That would be a big, sticky mess."

"No it wouldn't. It's going to be outside."

"You just want to do it because it would look really cool and spooky, like a witches' brew."

"Exactly. It's a Halloween party."

"The doors will all be wide open, a hundred kids will be running in and out, and they'll all be spilling root beer everywhere."

Dang, Scott is so pragmatic. So in touch with reality. I promised him nobody would spill root beer anywhere, so I think I'll type up a waiver and pass them out to the kids to sign. "I promise I will not get a big cup of spooky, cool root beer and take it directly in the house and spill it because I can't see out of my Darth Vader mask." Or "I promise I will not get my cool, spooky root beer kicked out of my hands by a Zac Efron look-alike doing dance moves."

I'm pretty sure the waiver idea is going to work. If it doesn't, it won't matter because all the frosting on the floor will absorb any cool, spooky root beer that might happen to spill. What? No, of course the kids won't be decorating cookies with candy and frosting in the house.

Better make that two waivers.

Pumpkins Under the Wire

Hey, I suddenly noticed it's the last week of October and I haven't even disemboweled any pumpkins. Yikes! I think we made up for lost time yesterday with three trips to pumpkin patches and an end result of six softly glowing masterpieces sitting on our porch. Pumpkin mission accomplished. Oh, and we had a lot of fun, too!

Birthday Blessings

If you want your 37th birthday to look like this, you have to plan waaaaaaaay in advance. It starts before you're even born, when you're a little cherub floating on the clouds. Look down and choose your parents wisely. Choose people who look generous and fun. If they seem to celebrate birthdays and holidays to excess, choose them. (Trust me, when they hire two ponies and a covered wagon for your first birthday and invite 30 kids, you won't be sorry.)

The planning continues before you even enter the public school system and lasts throughout high school. The friends you choose in pre-ballet or in Mrs. Manning's third grade class could be the ones ringing your doorbell on your birthday 30 years later, so make sure you choose friends who are kind and loyal. Once you find them, take very good care of them because they are irreplaceable.

Another very important part of planning your 37th birthday is to choose the right spouse. You have to find someone who is a good shopper, who loves to give gifts, and who has an extremely fun-loving and giving family. If you choose someone who hates parties or doesn't get you a gift because you told him not to, you're doomed.

Then, if you have chosen your friends and family well, all you have to do to have a great birthday is invite them to stuff. They'll come. And they'll bring gifts. I've been opening presents since a couple weeks ago when the Dopp family celebrated the October birthdays at Lagoon and the Kings/Bazails gathered at our house for October birthdays. Thanks, everybody! Wednesday, Emily invited me to yoga, which was a great kick-off to a long birthday weekend. Thursday, a bunch of sisters-in-law and friends met me for a late movie at the best movie theater in the world. Jen paid for my ticket and Audrey bought my treats. Thanks, guys! See, that's why you make new friends, even when the old ones still work fine. More is better when it comes to friends.

Friday, my "real" birthday, (which I share with my nephew, Caden!) I was showered with cellophane-wrapped goodies at lunch with some of my oldest stand-by-me friends, Sarah, Tiffany and Michelle. Boy, did I luck out when I chose them in kindergarten! Thanks, girls. Michelle is one of the few people in my grade in school who are younger than I am, but only by one day. We have always had fun sharing a birthday.

Later, Trajan met Ruby, Free and me for another lunch between guitar lessons. I came home from lessons to find gifts from Tricia and Jim and a delicious tort from Michelle Dopp. Wow! Not to mention a whole pile of carefully shopped-for presents from Scott and my parents. I also scored a big bag of candy from Jennie, whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday!

Tonight, we rocked the ward Fall party, and I still get to go to the opera with my girls tomorrow and continue partying right into Halloween. If you choose the right people to travel the road with, every day is a celebration. And really, why shouldn't every day be a celebration? Which reminds me...Our house, Halloween, 4:00-5:00. Bring candy. You're all invited. Yes, you. You know that, right? Thanks, all of you, for being my blessings.

My Best Friend

Happy Birthday, Circe! I love being married to my best friend. Anyone who knows Circe knows how amazing she is as a friend, mom, sister, daughter and writer. Happily, only I know how wonderful she is as a wife. It took us a long time and many heart wrenching years before we finally got together (Thanks B!) but everything happened for a reason and now look what we have created. Thank you for molding our children into amazing people. Thanks for trying to mold me into a good husband and person. I love you! Happy Birthday!

Sisters

This is what is great about having four girls. Golda, at age 11, can teach Xanthe so much by just having fun with her. Golda has a lot going on, so it's nice to see that she still has time to curl Xanthe's hair and teach her how to glam it up. I hope the sister bond never falls by the wayside as the girls grow up and away. I hope the teenagers see the value in driving the little ones to their lessons and talking to them about grade school, even when that part of their lives is over and seems trivial. I hope they are there at each others' weddings, graduations, baby blessings, heartbreaks and joys, so that someday when their lives are full and rich, there will be someone to share it with who knows the road they travelled to get there. Someone who knows where they came from and where they hope to go. Someone who can help them get there and celebrate when they do. Girls, that is why sisters are important. Treasure each other.