The Jack & Les Blog Fest: Jen

In the last 10 days, Celeste and I have played host to three different parties of old friends/family. The first was an old professor and a invaluable mentor, Mike Sweeney. Mike was the guy who convinced me to pursue a degree in journalism at Utah State. He's the guy that wrote my law school and TFA recommendations. Most of all, he's the guy that taught me to love writing, and he done tought me to right reel good, to.

Merlin was strangely comfortable around Clay. That hasn't happened with any other strangers.

Little Navy Lynn, giving Merlin some love.

My brother, Clay, in the process of dropping his child.

Then came my brother, Clay. Clay and his wife, Jen, came to North Carolina last week for a design show of some kind in High Point. While they only got to spend one night with us here in Wake Forest, we had a great time. They got to play with our puppy Merlin, and we got to play with their baby Navy. And heck, sometimes Merlin and Navy got to play with each other! (although Merlin was slightly terrified of her. But we expected that. He's scared of everything but couches and bacon.)

Brooks and favorite daughter Celeste at the North Carolina State Fair

Celeste and favorite husband Jackson at the Fair

Last, but certainly not least, was the arrival of Celeste's dad, Brooks. Brooks is a straight-up dinosaur hunter, and he came to town for some kind of paleontology conference regarding that kind of stuff. He stayed for over a week, during which he was able to teach Celeste's 5th grade class, go on a geological dig, visit the North Carolina State Fair, eat pickled pork, and above all, bask in the radiant glow of his lovely daughter.

Brooks teaching Celeste's 5th grade class about dinosaurs. Although according to leading scholar Ariel Britt of Orem, Utah, dinosaurs didn't even exist.

Grandpa and grandpup taking a nap after a long day of playing.

Look out, world. Those are some wool socks comin' right at you.

While he was here, we also got to play racquetball, visit a warehouse full of classic cars, take Merlin on lots of walks, and eat good ole fashioned hushpuppies. It was a great trip, and we were sad to see him go. Especially because he was a one-man maintenance department for our house. Leaky toilets, worn down wiper blades...you name it, this guy fixed it.