The school year has started for us with Clark in the 9th Grade and Elliot as a senior. This year also marks the beginning of early morning Seminary for Clark, so now they drive off together at 6:40 every morning. I absolutely cannot believe this is the last year we will have 2 students at Waterford….I know, a “sunrise, sunset” moment – just indulge me.
A good friend of Phillip’s, Ashley Mae Christensen, a BYU grad student, came up with the idea while driving down the freeway a year ago, looking at billboards.
“My heart felt heavy and manipulated as we whizzed past billboards flaunting liposuction, plastic surgery, chain restaurants that offer little by way of local culture and talent. I am lucky to be surrounded by artists, writers, poets, thinkers, but on that drive, I saw no notion of their words or ideas. Instead, hollow advertisements telling me I need to be thinner, prettier, richer, more hungry, loomed down at me for as far as I could see.”
She resolved to put poetry on a billboard. And she asked Phillip if he would design the set of 3 billboards.
With the help of a professor and friends, she applied for and won a Laycock Grant from Brigham Young University. She solicited poetry entries from around the state, and on Wednesday announced the winner: Derek Henderson’s poem, “Small Prayer.” Henderson is completing his Ph.D. in poetry at the University of Utah.
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Phillip also entered a poem and was a finalist in the contest. Of course, I think his would have been awesome on the billboards!
If you know anyone who needs math help…Elliot is your guy. In fact, on his business cards it says, “I’ll help you solve your problems!” He has put up a lot of signs and we are advertising on all 3 of our cars.
The best tutoring call he has received so far, was when the guy calling to hire him said, “I think I’m right behind you.”, and Elliot who was taking the call did happen to be in my car with me on the way to Costco.
Why pay someone else, if you can do it yourself? That’s what I was thinking when I decided to power wash and stain our deck. I watched someone do ours a few years ago — it didn’t look that hard, and I’ve watched a few youtube videos — I’m set right?
Now that I’ve done it, I can tell you that it was not as easy as it looked, and I’m sure it didn’t turn out as well as it might have if I had paid to have it done. Of course having said that, I have paid plenty of people to do a not so very good job, so I guess I got my “not so very good job” for free right? Actually, I think it turned out okay — it was just a tiring job for someone who thinks she is younger than she really is!
One weekend when the kids were playing Bananagrams, I suggested that they each play in their “other” language. So Tess spelled her words out in Polish, Clark used French and Elliot used Spanish. It took them a bit longer than in English, but it was fun and a good brain exercise! I am so proud of my foreign speaking children!
Bananagrams is an short easier version of scrabble without the board.
