Category Ordinary Life
Weekend Update
It’s Sunday night and, as I review my weekend activities for blog material, I’m feeling uninspired. Which is kind of unfortunate, because it was a perfectly good weekend. The problem is that I’ve been battling a headache all day, and I really just want to go to bed. I blame it on the surprise pre-General Conference Fast Sunday. First, though, here’s […]
Teya’s Texts
I called Ashley to chat for a few minutes as I walked to the grocery store today after work. Shortly after we hung up, Ashley sent this text: Teya just told me “You were NOT talking to Uncle Jason! You need to go to his house and tell him sorry for calling him!” Ha! I […]
Back to normal
Heather left early on Wednesday morning, and I spent the rest of the week trying to get back to normal. Except for a few “down” weeks (when I worked 16 hour days), I have been hosting house guests or traveling (for work or vacation) since early June. It’s made for a fun-filled summer and many […]
A room with a view
After four years of working at a purportedly awesome address, I finally have visual proof of such awesomeness before my eyes. Behold the view from my new office: That’s the view down Pennsylvania Avenue to the left. The Capitol Building is just barely out of sight, but the big grey thing with the tower is […]
I can do hard things
Back in 2006 Elaine Dalton gave a talk that has stuck with me more than any other talk I’ve heard. Well, to be honest, the whole talk didn’t stick with me, just one line: Somebody, for some reason, adopted the phrase “I can do hard things” as their motto. I quickly forgot the context and […]
July 4, or every kind of day
I hope my American readers had a good Independence Day! I received text messages from the parental units saying that they did another 5K race this morning and were looking forward to 100+ F weather in Las Vegas. I skyped (while driving!) with Teya and Ammon, who told me about their plans to watch fireworks over the […]
The Weekend
I learned a long time ago that so much of leading an interesting life lies in how you tell the story rather than what you actually do. On my mission, in particular, I remember listening to a companion of mine tell someone about a day that had seemed totally ordinary and unremarkable to me — […]
Teya’s Texts
One of the things that I love most in the world is when Ashley or Heather tells me about how their kids think or talk of me when I’m not around. Sometimes they tell me over the phone, but more often I’ll just get a text during the day letting me know how “Uncle Jason” […]
Errand Impediments
DC is a city that loves (LOVES) traffic-disrupting, high-crowd events. It makes for a vibrant city; there’s almost always something going on during any given weekend. But it also makes for surprises when yours truly forgets to check the happenings calendar before driving into town. For example, yesterday I needed to drop off some dress-shoes for […]
Garden Consulting
Danya, a friend of mine, has a cute little condo in one of DC’s cooler neighborhoods. She’s on the ground floor and has a great patio in the back, with a small square of unplanted ground. When she heard of my adventures in balcony gardening, she asked if I would be her gardening consultant for […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 