Science Fair, Derbys and Books--oh my!

Another fun and busy week is behind us.

Dan was in charge of the pinewood derby for Scouts on Thursday, which meant, among other things, both of us working on Andrew's car less than two hours before it was supposed to be there for the derby. Andrew came up with the design and then left us to the grunt work. Dan had cut the car into shape and sprayed it black earlier in the week; I put masking tape over all the black areas and Dan sprayed it gold. It was supposed to look as if flames were coming up the side and back, but the gold smudged more than expected. Andrew got 15th of 16th place with it, but he was pretty philosophical about it (which was good, because if he'd complained he might find himself in sole charge of the car next year. He still might).

Poor Dan hardly had time to breathe between the end of the derby and Science Fair the next day at SUU, something he's spent weeks helping with (luckily, he was not in charge). I think it went well: he came home with two boxes of pizza (they had LOTS of leftovers) just in time for me me to get picked up by my friend Elaine and I headed north for a writing conference in Provo. I got to meet lots of cool Utah-based writers and even learn a few things (including new things to worry about in publishing!). Mostly, it was fun to connect with other writers and remember why I love writing and the terrific writing community in the state. I also got to meet up with three of my agency sisters!

While I was gone, Dan and the kids did yard work and then went swimming and apparently didn't miss me at all--though Oliver was very excited to see me at 3 am after he'd spent the better part of an hour trying to attract one or the other of us (he didn't seem particularly upset or hurt, which is why we let him go so long).

Evelyn continues with near daily rehearsals for her play, which she luckily still seems to enjoy.

I had both book group and writer's group this week, which only added to the craziness. For book group, we read Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See, which is a lovely WWII-era book about basically good people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. And because it was set in France, we got to enjoy fondue, chocolate, and toasted bread and cheese before we discussed.

I'm sorry this is so scrambled--that's a bit how my brain feels at the end of all of this! Here's hoping our readers had equally enjoyable and productive weeks.