One Step Ahead . . .

Lately that has been my goal, just try and stay one step ahead. Mostly it has worked, though as you may have noticed our blog has suffered. The last few weeks have been busy. We've had lots of doctor appointments, three birthdays over the past three months, work, school, and just all of the changes that Hannah starting school has brought. It really has taken an adjustment.

My day doesn't really get started until about 10 am, though I'm up at 5:30. I get up and do some scripture study and then Hannah gets up at 5:50. The other two kids follow her pretty quickly and then it's hurry and get ready. I get her on the bus and the other two kids and I go for a walk. I walk about 5 miles while Jonathan runs around with his friends, Ben and William. We get home between 8:30 and 9 and then by the time I shower and feel ready to go out if need be it's usually 10. It means my days go by really fast when lunch gets here and then naps and then the bus and then dinner and bedtime.

I find I'm not getting as much done as usual but I still feel really good about things. The kids are happy and learning a lot as we work on things at home. Charlotte is so happy and easy going. It's hard to believe my baby is 1. It's even harder to believe that in April #4 will be joining us. Life is fun and crazy all at once.


I have lot's of sewing to do between now and Christmas and then packing and planning and preparing for all the changes that April and May will bring with a new baby and graduation. I have a feeling these next 6 months are going to fly.


Hannah is doing great at school. Her reading has made amazing strides the last few weeks. She now tries to read just about anything she sees. It is so exciting. Jonathan is just loving being the man of the house. It kind of cramps his style when Hannah is home from school. He is a great kid and makes us laugh a lot. Charlotte is super sweet. She is an explorer and adventurous but will give anyone a hug that will give her one. She loves to laugh and the other day tried to run after Jonathan. I don't know if I'm ready for another climber though.


What blessings the Lord has given us. I am so thankful for our family and friends. I promise, you are all on our thoughts and in our hearts.

What I've been working on

[Caution: this is something of a technical post.  Feel free to ignore it if wish.]

For the last several years I've been working on the development of Apache Subversion, a version control system tool primarily intended for use in developing software.  While it isn't the only such system out there, Subversion manages to strike a balance between power and usability which works for many people, even those working on non-software projects.  I use it personally to manage source code, financial data, my personal journal and lots of other content.

Subversion also has the nice property of being open source software, meaning that anybody can look at and edit the source code.  In fact, that's how I first got involved in the project, as I started fixing bugs which concerned me a few years ago.  Since then, I've spent the past few year doing consulting or working for companies which provide Subversion services and products.  It's given me a lot of freedom to do interesting stuff, while continuing to pursue my PhD and other activities.

My primary Subversion-related work over the past couple of years has been working on the next release: Subversion 1.7.  It's been a long road, but I'm happy to announce that we've finally gotten there: Apache Subversion 1.7.0 was released earlier this week.  I'm sure there will be further improvements in the next few weeks as we find and fix bugs, but this is a big milestone for the project, and elicits a certain sense of professional and personal accomplishment.

So if you're into this kind of thing, feel free to download the new Subversion, give it a spin, and let me know what you think.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Today

I haven't been very diligent in posting so I decided I would try to do better. I also decided to apply the common axiom, "There's no time like the present."

I wish I had some pictures from today but alas, the camera didn't make it in my bags. It all started at about 4:30 when Charlotte started fussing. It was only intermittent and I was able to ignore her until 5:30 when I had set my alarm to go ff anyway. I got up and gave her a bottle and put her back to bed. I jumped in the shower only to hear a tapping on the door about two minutes later, Hannah. Needless to say everyone was up by about 5:45 this morning.

We got ready for the day and headed off to San Antonio following a brief hello to Hyrum. What was in San Antonio? Well we had a ward temple trip planned and there was babysitting at a church building nearby. With our family growing and all of our friends' families growing as well, it has become increasingly difficult to ask someone to watch the kids for 6 hours so Hyrum and I jump at whatever chance we get to attend the temple.

I dropped the kids off and proceeded to the temple where I participated in some work there. It was a good experience and it was so nice to be able to pick my kids up after an hour and a half instead of 6. I went to pick them up and we all ate our lunch and headed down the road to see some friends from my BYU days.

A little sidebar--It rained on and off all day. It was lovely. The kids were a little sad they were in nice clothes because they so wanted to jump in puddles when we got home. Thankfully this was one time they decided to obey me.

After getting a little lost and turned around--apparently Mapquest and Google both have yet to figure out the right way to Joe and Sally's house--we finally got there, only to find them away. I was kicking myself for not calling and telling them we were coming. Jonathan was almost hysterical which is kind of comic because he was only 14 months the last time we saw them. Lucky for him, as we were just finishing up passing provisions around for the ride home, who should pull up but Joe and Sally.

It was so fun to visit with them. I am always amazed at how there are some people I can meet up with again after ages and we don't seem to miss a beat. Caleb is one of my new best friends and I think Jonathan was quite happy we got to see our friends. Poor Ella was so tired and didn't quite know what to do with us. Hopefully we'll get to see them again soon. We got home late and just in time for dinner, baths, and into bed.

What a day but it was a good one.