Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: A couple of summers ago, my cousin and her family were visiting D.C. and I took them to the National Gallery of Art. In the lobby of the modern art wing there was an installation that consisted of piles of rocks, arranged in beehive shapes, about three feet tall. Some were cleverly arranged so that they were split in half by the glass wall between the lobby and the outside patio. I'm sure it had a name like "Industrial Inertia" or "Pileage #48" but I can't remember. So, picture this: big piles of highly-climbable-looking rocks + three kids between the ages of 1 and 5. This is a set-up, right? Now add two grumpy-looking security guards whose entire job, all day, every day, is to say, "Please don't touch the art." "Don't climb on the art." " Ma'am , please keep your children off the art." Everybody in this scenario has been set up to fail. Denounement. Nothing happened -- the kids were tempted, but r...

Lisa's mom watched an old movie about the life of President David O. McKay and writes about attending his funeral in January 1970: Roy and I and thousands of others encircled the SLC City wooden boardwalk around the New Church Office Building, under construction, the first January after we were married. It was raining. Roy poked my eye with the umbrella and my contact popped out. I could see well with one eye to said my farewells to our handsome, tall, Prophet who returned home January 18th 1970.

Lisa's sister Christi wrote on Facebook from Samoa: Boy, you really hit the ground running around here! The clinic is nicer than I expected, but the mouths are much worse. The dentist just spends all day pulling teeth and I spend all day digging "coral" out to find teeth. It's amazing how tough these people are, even the little kids. We have no pain meds to even give them. There was a 9 year old boy here this morning that walked half way across the island with his 80 year grandma. He had an abscessed tooth the size of Samoa! He patiently sat here for 3 hours before it was his turn. He was just all smiles and "thank you's." His tooth was too infected to even get numb, so he just squeezed the rugby ball I brought while he had it extracted...he never even flinched! And, he just kept thanking us. It's very humbling to say the least. It just makes you wish there was more you could do.

Lisa's sister Christi writes: Made it to my first stop...will head to Samoa tonight. Love ya, Me Christi is on her way to Samoa to clean teeth for a week as part of a service program.

Lisa writes: I just found all of these pictures that, I think, my mom sent me from her phone. Apparently she's been to Utah and Washington State, there were some birthday parties, a trip to the cemetery, and a new dog.

Lisa's nephew Christian writes (to his mom, as he's visiting his dad in North Carolina): My cat had kittens.  Mom can we keep them?  The peanut gallery here in Virginia is doubtful...

Lisa's niece Madison writes: Good luck to my mom in Samoa! Good luck to my brother in Mexico and North Carolina, and good luck to me in West Virginia! Who can come back with the best story? Go!

Lisa writes: My Aunt Joyce just sent my mom a link to an article about her father's last name. It's kind of an odd last name. I've, actually, never run across anyone who wasn't related to us with this name: Catmull. Here's what the article says about it. First found in Suffolk, where they held a family seat from the Middle Ages. ... The ancestry of the name Catmull dates from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It comes from when the family lived in Catermole in Norfolk, a place lost to modern maps. The name is first recorded in Suffolk, just to the south of Norfolk, and probably appeared there first because local surnames were often acquired by families after leaving the place they are named after. A surname like "de Catermole" would not serve to distinguish you from your neighbors in Catermole, but it may be appropriate if you had just arrived in a new town after leaving Catermole. ... Spelling variations: Cattermole, Cakyrmoll, Catermoll, Cac...

Lisa's speedy sister Lori writes:  Won 2nd place women's division and 3rd over all (only one guy and girl beat me) in  5k run around Chambers Bay golf course... killer hill at the end.  Dave ran too and did great (he would rather be biking).