Katie's Famous!

and getting blog buzz....here!
and apparently she has a new site she hasn't been telling us about.

The Newest American!

For those of you curious as to exactly what Mom swore to yesterday...

“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Woah.

Other thoughts I had during the ceremony...

• They said it would start at 9:00am, but it didn't actually start until 10:00am...
• There was a woman from the local chapter of the DAR, who said that english was the offical language of the US...the US doesn't have an official language. I thought that was annoying.
• The presiding district judge was, himself, a naturalized citizen (originally from Mexico). Cool.
• There were 199 people who were naturalized that day, and apparently it happens monthly.
• The two countries that had the most people present: Mexico and Bosnia.
• There were 2 women (they were wearing hajibs's so I assume they were muslim) from Iraq.
• There was one man, originally from Uganda, who was already in the military, and was leaving in 4 months to serve in Iraq.

It was a really interesting experience. And we had a BBQ that night at my house with all kinds of american foods (ie. hamburgers, chips, and potato salad) and american flag cake (complete with sparklers) for desert. Nancy has all the pictures, so she'll have to post them.

They lived in the basement...

A couple of you were wanting to know what Amanda's Blog was, so I thought I'd post a link here. And for those of you who don't know Amanda, feel free to go to her site anyway, because she's a funny writer.

Belated Happy Birthdays Part 2, The Pictures

These are the pictures of Austin, Angela, and Aaron that were supposed to be on last weeks' blog, but which I had to wait for Angela to come and put them on because after trying to load them myself, it said I had made error 400 or somesuch. Anyways, I thought they were all cute pictures and so wanted to share them with you. Pam

Oath of Citizenship

For those of you who were unable to make it today, we are here in the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake City, awaiting the induction of Pamela R. Craig, i.e. Mom, into U.S. Citizenship. I don't know how often they do this kind of thing, but they've filled the theater. There is a video called "Faces of America" they keep playing, with pictures of Ellis Island, American Flags, and various patriotic quotes from naturalized citizens, all accompanied by some rousing John Phillips Souza marching music.
They are sure taking their time. We've been waiting for the ceremony to start for almost an hour. They brought the flags out in a very nonchallant manner. Shouldn't they have had some Boy Scouts plant those flags in some orderly fashion? They were just brought out by some guy with a headset and keys jangling from his hip.
I guess there are some people missing, that's why they're taking so long.
Oh, they just took the flags back, I guess they will make that part of the ceremony.
This must be what parents feel like when their kids graduate. You almost want to point out you soon-to-be American to the people next to you. "Yup, that's her, right on the second row, on the far left. Yes, we are very proud." Hopefully nobody will blare an air horn like people did at my graduation.
There are some U.S. Marshalls standing in the wings. I don't think anything is going to happen where we would need their services. These people like America.
We were talking about what to do afterwards. We figured some kind of meal was in order. Maybe McDonalds (can't get much more American than that). But strangely I think we're more likely to end up at the International House of Pancakes.
I'll give a full rundown after the ceremony. Till then, for the Craig Family News Network, this is Austin Craig, reporting.

Sweet land of liberty

Pam, congratulations on your impending U.S. citizenship! We think it is pretty cool that after all these years, you will be a Yankee! We expect you to vote, and get our government whipped into shape! Watch your mailbox for a little token from the Arizona Craigs. Hopefully, you will be able to put it to good use and feel patriotic doing so. We love you!

Belated Happy Birthdays

Belated Happy Birthday to Austin, Angela, and Aaron

I really do have some great, cute pictures of Austin and Angela when they were little. And I have a couple of great pictures of Aaron from when he came to visit us in the Canary Islands. But as all of you know, I am electronically challenged. I did manage to scan the pictures, but when I tried to load them, the little loader image flashed around for a long time and then it said I had made error number 400 or something like that so I gave up and waited for somebody to help me. But Nancy was in a hurry to fly off to Florida and I didn't think it would be fair to make Austin do his own birthday greeting so consequently it didn't get done. So please forgive me and know that we were thinking about you and wanted to post the cute pictures for all to see. We had a fun dinner and celebration here with Austin and Angela and know that Aaron had a fun time for his birthday at home. Maybe his parents took him to the Police concert. Wouldn't that have been a blast. Anyways, Happy Birthday to all of you. Love, Mom and Dad/ Grandma and Grandpa.

Pam and Laurie Vacations

This is the gathering of the Craig grandchildren on the ocassion of Jacob's baptism. Notice that the girls are all sweet, smart and pretty like their grandmother, and that the boys are all handsome, buff and spiritual like their grandfather.

These are the two baptizees. They were both ready and anxious to become members of the Church. They were each baptized and confirmed by their respective dads. Fast forward this picture 11 years and there will be a couple of farewells for two of the greatest missionaries ever! What if they both get called to the same mission- wow!


This is the gravestone of Mary Louisa Carpenter Craig, who along with her husband, William Albert Craig, was the first of the Craig clan to join the Church. But for her and her husband, life would be very different for the rest of us who are her posterity. Her husband died in El Dorado Arkansas and is buried there. She then went west to live with her two daughters who had migrated to Arizona. She was living with her daughter Hallie in Mesa, Arizona when she died on 9 February 1941, just 3 years before I was born. She was born in 1860 before the Civil War commenced. That kind of puts things in perspective - ancient history does not look so ancient.

The first leg of our vacations took us to Vancouver, Washington where we arrived just in time for Walker's third birthday party. It had an athletic theme so Walker has on his BYU football helmet. As the Couger's first string can attest, it is a little hard to suck your thumb when you are waring your football helmet.

The second leg of our journey took us to the Southland to visit Genia and other relatives in the South. We had to brave a blizzard in Colorado on May 23, but Mom just put it in 4x4 and went right on trucking. You know those Canadians know all about driving in the snow. This is a goat herd dog down in the Louisiana bayou country. He had rounded up his goats onto a little dirt mound and was carefully watchin them. We saw tons of antelope on the way to Lousiana in the southern part of Colorado and in the Texas panhandle.

We spent a week with Genia. I installed a new faucet in her kitchen and hung some vertical blinds for her in her kitchen over a sliding glass door. On Memorial day we went down to Nachitoches, Louisiana where the movie Steel Magnolias was made. I had never seen the movie, but my cousin Tom Craig who lives in Shreveport went with us and pointed out all of the sights from the movie. When we got to Nancy's we rented the movie and sure enough there it all was. This is Genia, myself and Tom (Mom took the picture) eating at an outdoor restaurant on the bank of the Cane River (it is where they had the Easter egg hunt in the movie). We enjoyed several Louisiana delagacies, including fried crawdads (crayfish) and some catfish. We found they had friend everything, including a deep fried dill pickle (we did not try it). Although the historic plantation homes where closed for the holiday, it was fun to drive by and see them on the outside and to see their grounds. It gave me some new appreciation for my southern heritage. Genia seems to be doing very well - her life these days revloves around Church where she works a couple of days a week in the Family History Library and being a visiting teaching supervisor plus being just the girl Friday to get anything else done in connection with Ward activities. She has a very active singles group that does Family Home Evenings and other activities that gives her a happy and busy social life.


When we got to Arizona it ws time for another birthday- this time the fifth birtday of Dallas. He got to take all of his friends to the pizza hut in the day and play archade games, and then in he evening, it was time for aunts, uncles and cousins, complete with the spider man cake made by his mom and grandmom. When asked what his favortie part of his birthday parties was, he responded : "Well actually, getting presents." I am happy to report he is normal.

When we went over to Becky's for the second part of our stay in Arizona she was harvesting in her garden. It had lots of weeds, but the fruit was even more bountiful. She had all kinds of tomatoes (several varieties) as well as peppers and squash. Mom and I have started a garden her in Utah in the old tactor tire that used to be a sand pile in our back yard. Well, I think that is it for my first attempt at blogging. I love you all. We have Nancy and Travis with us for a few days and then we will watch Dallas and Hallie for them while they go to Florida for Travis' annual convention. Mom and Nancy made a dress for it while we were in Arizona. Love, Dad

Bats

Our neighbors' chimney is full of bats. I knew they were there, but I didn't know how many were there till I watched them flood out at dusk this evening. One of them dive-bombed my roommate Dave Peterson once when he was playing his guitar on the front lawn, flew right between the necks of Dave and his guitar. He hates bats. Anyway, there are easily over a hundred bats in there, and at sundown, let me tell you, it is a sight to behold. I'll film it I think.

Win money

Katie and Ben, here's a contest for you.

You sunk my laptop!

I asked Sam what he was doing. He replied, "I'm working on my 'puter"

Holes in your Pants on Dallas' birthday

We had a fun family party last night for Dallas' big 5. He's really much older now, because five-year-olds can do so much more than four-year-olds. It's so funny how much that age means to you when you are little. I wonder what 30 year olds can do that 29 year olds can't. I need something to look forward to with this aging process. Anyway I wanted Mom to make Indian Fried bread because I loved it when she would make it for us as kids (Mom: "I never made Indian Fried bread when you were a kid." Me: "Yes you did!") Who can back me up on that one? Becky said she remembers. Anyway she made it, and it was yummy. She also did some fancy "holes in your pants" fried bread. She said that's the way Mrs. Magoosh made it when she was a kid, and that's what she called it. Maybe one of us should write a series of children's books with little Pammie and Mrs. Magoosh, anyone up for it?

Oh (sigh) Canada

I just wanted to let everyone know that Mom will officially be welcomed into the country as a naturalized US citizen on June 26th, at 9:00am in Salt Lake. Because living in the US for 40 years and not becoming a citizen is down right un-American. And just in time for the 4th, too! Congratulations Mom! Everyone should come, and we'll have a party!

Artemis: the Goddess of Hunting

My wife the archer...

Anchoring

Just thought I'd let everybody know how anchoring is going for the BYU Daily News. They normally have me co-anchor on Fridays at 4:30, but yesterday they asked me to sub in for somebody, so I left work a little early (it's always slow in the afternoon anyway) and went in to host the show. Then they called me to come in again today. I felt bad leaving work two days in a row, so I told them I wouldn't be able to make it, but man, they love me there. Anchoring is great, if you ever get the chance, it's a lot of fun, and much much easier than field reporting.

One of these days I'll digitize all the VHS tapes of our show and post them on here. I'll put in a highlite reel and a blooper reel. Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion.