A Weekend of Firsts

This past General Conference weekend was quite monumental in the lives of my children.

First of all GM's parents sent some tickets to go to 2 sessions of General Conference in the Conference Center. We had 2 tickets per session so we decided to give BR first choice of going to either or both of the sessions since he's never been to conference. He was excited and wanted to go to both! (Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning).


So I took BR to the Saturday afternoon session. We drove there instead of taking the TRAX train because we also had a free parking pass. During the drive BR was counting down the minutes, literally until we were supposed to be in our seats!! Every minute he would recite to me how much time we had left and tell me his assessment of whether we'd make it there on time or not. He is SO his father's son! :) We made it there on time but getting to our seats was another story. It's mass chaos there!!!

BR was very excited to be there and had to check out everything!!! He stood up when everyone stood for the prophet's entrance but he couldn't see anything (being shorter than all the adults around us) and so he was very confused about why we were all standing so quietly until I explained to him afterward. He was also confused that the choir wasn't in their usual highly coordinated attire until, upon closer inspection, we realized that it wasn't the Tabernacle Choir at all but a choir of children; to which BR responded, "no fair!" I guess he thought that would be so cool to be in a children's choir at conference...mostly, for some reason, I think it was the chance to sit in those chairs. :)

Then he wanted to know what the strings hanging down were, if the big screens are projections or just really large TV screens, why there's a red light on the cameras that turns on and off intermittently, where all of the cameras are situated, whether they are remote controlled or just robotic cameras, and where the control station was. He had a fun time except that sitting still for 2 hours got a bit tiresome to him so he started replaying a funny mini-cartoon about aliens in his mind to which he couldn't help giggling uncontrollably (until I started threatening him). :P

In the rain at Conference

After Conference we were going to meet GM and MC downtown (they would be arriving on TRAX) at which point GM would leave MC with us and then he'd head to the Priesthood Session while we left on TRAX and he'd go back home in the car. It was a great plan except that I was in such a hurry when we parked that I had no clue what level we parked on in the parking garage!!! (I really can't use being in a rush as an excuse however because...it's a pretty common occurrence) :) I started to panic when I realized that I couldn't tell GM exactly where to find the car :/ until I asked BR if he knew what level we parked on. Of course my ever observant son saved me again!! (He's so his father's son!!!)

BR and I got to walk around Temple Square for a while after conference while we were waiting for GM to come with MC. We went to the visitor's center and explored that for a while, walked around outside (BR saw a protester with a sign as we were walking and the guy was shouting something to which BR whispered to me, "I think he's drunk") and went to a Deseret Book fair for a little while and bought a brownie to share. Around 5 we met up with the others and took TRAX out of SLC. We went to a "girls' night" party at my parents' house during priesthood with my mom, sisters and their kids (girls' night plus kids that is). The guys arrived later and we stayed partying and chatting till about midnight. (At which point we decided that trying to make it to the morning session of conference wasn't going to happen.)

Instead we sat at home an enjoyed conference all together. We sat up on our bed with our journals and watched conference while MC sat between us with her journal. She alternated between laying on my lap, drawing pictures in her journal and trying to copy what I was writing in my journal. At one point she said, "MOM, you're going way too fast!" :)


After conference the three of us were still lounging on our bed (BR was off playing legos most of the time) :) and MC pointed out her loose tooth. I convinced her to let me push on it and it was so loose that I popped it out. She had a shocked/surprised/alarmed face for two seconds and then she got all excited that she'd lost a tooth. After taking care of that tooth she hopped back up on our bed and proceeded to point out another loose tooth. This time her daddy convinced her to let him fiddle with it. He proceeded to snap a few roots on that tooth and so it was just barely hanging on but MC was alarmed enough that she didn't want him to finish. He told her that he was going to get floss to pop it out with because he didn't want her to choke on it while eating and that she had to pull it herself before he came back with the floss if she didn't want him to pull it. She did it just in the nick of time!! :) She was ecstatic! :) 2 teeth in one day!!! She showed us another loose tooth after that but wouldn't let us near it. :P

After conference I was stir-crazy and convinced my family to walk down to the lake with me. GM decided it would be a good time to also work on MC's bike riding skills so we brought her bike with us. She rode for several little segments on her own!! She could do it but she just doesn't trust herself or the bike yet, especially stopping. Instead of stopping with her brakes she just jumps off!!!! We were terrible parents and bribed bravery out of her by promising ice cream for dessert. :) Somehow she suddenly got a lot more brave though. :P

When we got back from our walk/bike ride/bribing spree MC started talking about that other loose tooth. Her terrible parents used bribery again and got her to let us pop the last tooth out!! :P So all in all MC lost 3 teeth in one day!! I told her it was a record. :) She's still quite proud of her puzzle mouth. *There are 4 holes in her smile, but only 3 are recent

Nauvoo Family Reunion (Day One and a Half)

This is another back-post from our summer.... :) So we went to a family reunion in Nauvoo, IL this past July and let me just say that we had some poor planning on my part and yet we were very blessed!!

I have no idea how I thought this was a good plan...but this was it:

Monday:
GM go to work till 2 pm
Catch our flight at 5 pm
Arrive in Chicago 9ish (accounting for time change)
Drive 4 hours to Nauvoo
Check into our hotel
Sleep (ha)
Get up and go to the temple with everybody Tuesday morning


(Well...the last three on our list weren't so well thought out) :P

We didn't get out of the airport with our rental car till around 10 and then we decided we needed some good groceries before heading to Nauvoo because we heard there wasn't a great selection there and so we finished at the Jewel-Osco around 11 pm. At this point we got on the freeway and set the GPS to take us to Nauvoo. We got stuck in a traffic jam right after entering the interstate!! What in the world?!?! How can they have a traffic jam in the middle of the night!?!? Needless to say it was a LONG night of travel, switching off driving, slapping ourselves trying to stay awake, and praying that we'd make it there alive and in good time. I must say we were definitely blessed for several reasons:

• Number one the traffic eased up after about an hour and we didn't have any more slowing after that
• Secondly we made it there without falling asleep or any harm coming to us,
• Also because there were several road closures and we heard that we'd have to find our own way to Nauvoo because of all the flooding. At the first sign we saw that indicated a road ahead being closed for flooding, we hit "detour" on the GPS and it re-routed us to a path that thankfully had no flooding or closures!!! What a blessing!!
• Finally, we made it to the hotel around 4 am and we were able to check in! (The town looked like it was asleep or deserted so we had our doubts). :P

We crashed on our beds until 10 am.

Tuesday GM and I were able to do a session and some sealings with some of his cousins while another of his cousins watched our kids!! We were very thankful for that as well. (Our kids wished they could go inside very badly, I'm excited for the temples that will be opening this next year so that we can actually take them inside a temple and show them what it's like and let them feel the amazing spirit there!!)

After the temple we had tickets for a play at the visitors' center so GM, the kids and I headed over to watch that. Then we grabbed a quick dinner and went over to the Nauvoo Pageant. The kids had fun doing the pre-show activities such as the two-man saw. They brought me a small piece of log that they sawed off together. (I was saving seats for the show). The kids really loved the Pageant!! I think it really helped bring the stories to life for them. BR's favorite part was the Scottish dancing and music. (We passed by the next day while the cast was practicing and BR was immediately spellbound....again!!) :)

These are the actors that played Hyrum and Joseph...

BR wanted to meet them as well as the "Scot" but these guys

are the only ones we could catch up with.

*Interesting note: These actors were actually brothers in real life. :)

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought this book was fascinating!!



I marvel at Markus Zusak's writing style and vivid use of words in extraordinary ways. I like that it gave the perspective of Germans in the midst of all the happenings of WWII and how it affected them (as he conveyed in very real and personal ways). I appreciate the ways in which Zusak made hard circumstances a bit lighter with his sometimes "dark" humor. I was drawn in by the cleverly written perspective of the the narrator, death, and the outside perspective of the human race.



It was one of the best books I've read in a long time! It moved me very much!!

Park City Weekend Getaway

My older sister and her husband invited us to go to a weekend getaway in Park City the last weekend of July and it was simply FANTASTIC!!! GM and I had so much fun we've decided we need to get ourselves a fancy schmancy condo with it's own hot tub on the balcony! (Simple pleasures!) :)

The first night we wandered around downtown Park City enjoying the atmosphere and looking for a place to eat. We couldn't decide on just one restaurant so we decided to restaurant hop. We ate an appetizer at a Mexican place, I think it was called Tia Rosa's (but it slips my mind). The appetizer was SUPER and it was tempting to stay and have more of their yummy food but we decided to stick with our original plan. So we moved on to a bistro place where GM and I shared a Miso trout with yummy mashed potatoes on the side and some delicious green beans.

GM had to check out the cool Ferrari! :)


At the bistro we chose because of it's menu as well as atmosphere




Then we were pretty full so we decided to fore go a sit-down restaurant for dessert (the bistro had great bread with exceptionally good oil and balsamic vinegar) but we really wanted some fudge from their local fudge shop so we headed over to see what they had. It turned out that the girls were the only ones really craving fudge so GM and my BIL headed into the bookstore that was connected to the fudge shop. We got some fudge to-go and then perused the bookstore. After a while, since our husbands were very engrossed in their selections, my sis and I sat down to talk about our dreams and aspirations. One of which turns out to be that we'd both REALLY LOVE to have a book/antique store (two of my favorite things). So we started dreaming together and talking about all the details that would make it so great.

After dinner in town we grabbed some groceries so we could cook ourselves a fabulous breakfast in the morning in the condo and then we all went out to the hot tub on the back patio. We just couldn't get over how cool it was to have our own hot tub! :)

The next morning we used the lovely kitchen to cook some yummy omelets (but we were all quite perplexed that this nice "fully stocked" kitchen had such a glaring lack of any knives let alone nice knives like the four of us are used to. We got over it, thanks to my always prepared husband who happened to have two great knives we could use). :)

We spent most of the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine, playing in the pool and talking about the power of positive thinking. We enjoy having good discussions with like minded people.



The pool had a slide that was really meant for smaller people than GM and my BIL but they loved it despite the cramped conditions and crazy way it spewed them out the end :)




After the pool we met up with my youngest sister and her hubbie. We all went to dinner at a place called "Bandits" that does great ribs and such (most of us got the ribs, that's how we know). :)


For our evening entertainment we headed over to Kamas to see what being a true red-neck was all about. We went to a "Demolition Derby". It was a new experience for GM and me, and it was pretty entertaining, but I'm not sure I could ever convince GM to go back up on those tiny, overcrowded bleachers....he felt quite claustrophobic up there. It started to rain just as we got there so GM grabbed a big denim quilt that we keep in our car and some of us huddled under it while watching the derby. In the end my sisters and I were so cold that we had the quilt wrapped clear down over our heads like a little tent and we couldn't see a thing. GM convinced the other guys that we should leave after that. :)

While waiting for the derby to start we hid behind a random car seeking shelter from the rain




My sis her husband and her BIL (whom we met up with there) watching the derby


Thanks to the rain there was a beautiful backdrop to the derby


I took several videos of the derby because I knew that BR would just LOVE to watch them (BTW: I was right) :)

I'll spare you the rest, unlike BR, I doubt you'd dig soaking in every second of every video. ;)

We spent the rest of the evening watching movies in the condo...after some shuffling about, it ended up being the three girls in one bedroom watching "A League of Their Own" and the three boys out in the living room watching an old Die Hard movie. In the morning our little sis and her husband left to go fishing and the rest of us went to get brunch and then headed home. It was such a perfect, fun, relaxing vacation!! Thanks A&A for letting us tag along!

Family Night 28 July 2008

For family night we decided to try our hands at kayaking again. This time we went a little more prepared: We brought towels (to sit on in the car), we wore swimsuits, GM didn't wear any of his "gear" that can rust or get in the way :P, and all who didn't wear sandals last time did this time. We also brought workout gloves in hopes we wouldn't get blisters this time (GM and I). It worked for GM, for me I got a tiny blister anyway and my hands turned orange from the orange dye in my leather work-out gloves. :P "No vale la pena!"











After kayaking we went to a nearby park for the kids to play for a while. Then we went to the pool for a quick swim and then returned home for family night treat.

Happy 4th of July Camping Trip: The last day

On our last morning, we had a simple breakfast, a leisurely clean-up and pack-up the following morning, but we were by no means ready to head home...well most of us that is (GM is usually ready to head home from trips a bit sooner than the rest of us, he's more of a home-body). The majority prevailed and we went out for one more adventure.









After some debate about what our last adventure would be, we went looking for one last hike. We wanted a cool, shady one. And we wanted one that stayed near water again. We found the perfect one. It followed along a small river and some of its tributaries however pretty soon it wanted to lead us up and away from the water but we wanted none of that; especially MC and I who both had on shoes that were optimal for getting wet. MC started meandering out into a tributary and with BR close behind hopping from rock to rock. (He had on pants and hiking shoes.)




GM preferred to stay on the trail most of the time, with a few little adventurings out among the wetlands. Pretty soon we made it over to the main part of the river. MC and BR wanted to experience sitting down in the river (since I'd been regaling them with stories of my days as a camp counselor and how we'd take our girls "bum-sliding" in the river).









However, after getting into the river, they didn't want to get out. We hiked back along the shallow tributary for a while, but it eventually dumped itself into the river at which point we had to make a decision. I could hardly resist BR and MC's enthusiasm for the adventure of traversing the river and soon we were making our way through the mossy rocks. We went under branches, around boulders, and through eddies for quite a ways with GM following along the trail. At one point we crossed to the other side, got out and forged a path through the forest until we found another place we could re-enter the river and finish our journey. We finally exited just before the trail ended at the parking lot, with BR and MC declaring it the “funnest hike ever!!”





(GM just shook his head and laughed at us...holding up a blanket for us to have a little privacy while we stripped out of our soggy clothes).

At last, all dry and happy, we grabbed some snacks from the back of the car and relinquished our vacation.