The Harkers

This morning a little before eight o’clock, Elijah climbed into bed with us. After he’d snuggled up to me for a few minutes, he said softly (with his eyes still closed), “Can you see me?”

And I was so grateful. That I could see him. And hold his warm little body. And smell his little boy smell. And kiss his soft little cheeks.

The Huish family’s battle with Sadie’s brain tumor ended this week. And they’ve lost their sweet little six-year-old girl for a time. I’m grateful for the faith we share that they will be with her again. Their family has been amazing through the long months since her diagnosis and I’ve been grateful for their willingness to share their heartbreaking journey with all of us. They have reminded me to hold my little one a little bit tighter and speak a little more kindly to him. I’m grateful for every second I have with him.

You can read about the Huish family and funeral information at their blog. Please keep them in your prayers.

Update: Sadie’s obituary can be seen on the Deseret News website.

Jim and I were still dating when we were interrupted at my favorite Provo Mexican restaurant by a fan.

“Excuse me,” the guy addressed Jim, “weren’t you in Elizabethan Quiche?”

Jim lived in an apartment full of comedians. Seriously, they had neighbors who would just come hang out in their apartment to hear the ongoing, 24/7 comedy act. One of his roommates was in BYU’s comedy troupe Divine Comedy. He frequently incorporated their conversations into his skits. One of their friends was a film major at BYU and they collaborated on the following film masterpiece. Which apparently had a small cult following at BYU. Who knew?

So without further ado, here is Jim in his acting debut. Isn’t he cute?

Elizabethan Quiche from Colleen Harker on Vimeo.

I’m enjoying a victory high after just finding out that I am the lucky winner of a $25 gift certificate to Spark, courtesy of The Jet Set. Wooo! I was just thinking recently that I haven’t won anything in awhile, but I’m back on top, baby.

Other cool stuff I’ve won:

1. A color TV at my all-night HS graduation party. I walked in, looked at the prizes, pointed at the TV and said, “I’m going home with that.” And then laughed maniacally when I actually did.

2. A $50 gift certificate to Market Street Grill. Seafood heaven. Okay, maybe Jim won that one, technically. But I totally reaped the benefits.

3. My scooter, Stella. Oh how I miss her. I won her from 101.9 The End when I was seven months pregnant. Jim totally doubted me. I was one of like 100 finalists and had to pick a key and try to start her up. Jim didn’t even want to go,  but the look on his face when I actually won was priceless. And then we sold her so we could start building our basement. And I sigh wistfully anytime I see one like her.

But I think my $25 Spark gift certificate might be just what I need to move on.

And a new scooter, someday.

And no, I am definitely not 7 months pregnant in this photo

- by Jim

Keep in mind he was singing this in a sweet, airy kid voice.

Yes, it’s true.

It doesn’t matter if you have an eye booger.

It’s very important that you clean your eye boogers.

Yes it’s very true.

It’s important, but it’s not important.

I always love to hear about great deals, so now I’m passing one on to you guys! I originally heard about the Community Food Co-op from Kristen and now I am totally hooked! Here are a few lines from their website that explain a little bit about them:

IT’S A SIMPLE IDEA, REALLY - provide quality, healthy food at a substantial savings through cooperative purchasing; and build a sense of community by bringing people together and promoting volunteer service.

You can buy quality, healthy food for up to 50% off retail from the Community Food Co-op. Each month, we select about 15 items that you’re most likely to buy at the grocery store — mostly fresh fruit, vegetables, staple items and frozen meat. Then through collective purchasing, we order mass quantities of these items at very low prices. Our food will come from the same wholesalers that supply your local grocery store, so you can expect the same quality. The food will NEVER be donated, out-dated, or damaged.

So here’s how it works. Once a month (I wish it were more often!) you make your order. The first order has to be over the phone or by mail, but once you’re a “member” you can order online. All you have to do to become a member is make an order and donate a suggested $5 donation. You specify which pickup location you want (mine is only a few blocks from home, awesome) and then log your service hours before you pick up your food. It can be any kind of service, church, whatever. They just encourage community service.

The best thing about the Co-op is the prices. Last month’s haul (below) only cost me $16.30. Not pictured is a bunch of radishes that I left there because what the heck am I going to do with radishes? The produce is fantastic, mostly local and very fresh.

Here’s this month’s order form, so you can see the great deals: Order Form

Happy shopping and thanks again to Kristen for the recommendation!

My super-talented Photo 101 teacher, Nicole Hill, has posted a request for before and after shots - one before taking her class, one after - to show our improvement. I loved her class and felt like it helped me learn a TON about how to use a “real” camera. And I certainly never got offers for paid jobs before her class!

Nicole is currently living in San Francisco, but you can get info about her courses (online classes available soon!) here.

Without further ado:

Before: Not terrible, After: Now THAT'S a photo!

This was a book club pick and I was less than enthusiastic about it, I’ll admit. I would have been even less so if I had known Glenn Beck has been promoting it. But despite myself, I really enjoyed it. It is surprisingly readable given its subject matter, and pretty compact as well.

Skousen outlines 28 principles that the Founding Fathers promoted and integrated into the Constitution. As I have been pretty apathetic and willfully uninformed about politics for a long time now, I found it to be an excellent review of how our Constitution meant for our government to look and function. The title refers to the remarkable surge of progress that took place in the 200 years following the independence of America, more than had been recorded in the previous 5,000 years.

Great book, I highly recommend it.

I was talking to a friend recently about what flaky teenagers we were and I mentioned that I was thinking about copying a page from my journal onto the blog. Nothing like a little old-fashioned humiliation, right? For the record, I blush just reading this stuff. I was SUCH a dork.

Prepare to be amazed. And appalled.

3/26/95

Wow! This past weekend has been the weirdest/coolest ever! Okay. First Timille, Katie, and I went to Farmington. No plans, really, just to hang out. We were walking around the mall, complaining about the lack of guys, when we saw C___! The most gorgeous guy in school! (Next to T___, of course.) Then we were walking into Musicland, and I almost dropped my gum. (For the 2nd time.) M___ was right on the next row of music. My music! The alternative, cool stuff! Of course we had to go look at music for-e-ver! Next we ran into K___. I didn’t almost drop my gum this time. I talked to him for awhile, until I got distracted by C___ walking by again. K___ left without even saying goodbye! The mall was ready to close, so we went to Fun Factory. (A video arcade.) That was a great move! C___ was to my left, M___ to my right! Whoa! By this time, M___ noticed me. (We’ve met.) He didn’t say anything, and neither did I, but we were aware of each other. He is so gorgeous! We stayed at Fun Factory awhile, playing Skee Ball and watching C___ and M___, and then we left.

We drove around, went to Hastings, and then looked for someplace to eat. Most people go to McDonald’s or Taco Bell, so we drove past there. As we drove past Taco Bell, I screamed. C___ and company were in Taco Bell! (Timille almost died. I scared her.) So we just happened to end up in Taco Bell. As we walked by the group C___ was with, I heard someone say, “They’re following us.” and then a reply, “No, they’re following YOU!” What a silly idea! When we were leaving, C___ opened the door for us, not saying a word! He is so gorgeous! Did I ever mention he writes poetry? Isn’t that the coolest thing! Anyways… As we were driving away, I looked back and C___ was standing outside. Eye contact. It was awesome. As we drove home, we marveled at our good luck. We had seen two of the most gorgeous guys ever, in one night! Katie remarked, “Tonight would have been perfect if we’d seen T___!” I definitely agreed! But wait! The weekend wasn’t over yet!

Saturday night was a seminary ice cream social. We ate ice cream and played volleyball. And hung around with Brent and Mikey. After it was over, the guys started playing basketball. I started to tell Katie something when I almost dropped my gum for the 3rd time and gasped. T___ had just walked in! Seeing me, he smiled and said hi. (YES!!!) They stayed for about 3 minutes. Not long enough to get up the guts to go talk to him. I think he’s on to us. He caught me watching him and smiled the most gorgeous 1,000,000 megawatt smile in the world! He knows we think he’s gorgeous. As he and B___ left, Katie went outside. When they drove away, we waved forlornly and pretended to cry on each other’s shoulders. Mikey and Brent thought we were stupid. No stupider than their cheerleader fixation!

Angela (not present for the above events), me, Timille, & Katie

-by Jim

It seems as though Elijah is not cut out for the medical profession.

Here is an exchange we had this morning as I was pretending to be his patient.

Elijah asked, “OK, which leg is hurt. Right or left?”

“Right,” I replied.

“OK I’m going to x-ray it with this panda bear.”

“OK.”

“Hmmmm. OK the x-ray is over. It looks like we’re going to have to chainsaw your neck.”

“How is that going to help my leg, doctor?”

“Just hold still.”

- by Jim

When I was in sixth grade they would post flags in the hallways of school to let you know if you were supposed to go outside or stay inside for recess. A green flag meant an outside day, red meant inside.

One day I thought it would be clever to take a flag and put it in the toilet. The execution of this plan was flawless.

I was surprised when only 2 hours after my crime I was called into the principal’s office. How did they know it was me?

I was the only kid in the whole school tall enough to reach the flags.