The long anticipated family vacation

WASHINGTON D.C.
I have been working on this post ever since we got home a week and a half ago! I gave much more detail in my journal, and I know that Kylee has done a very detailed and awesome job of telling about it on her blog, but I did want to say a few things about our best ever vacation. Mike and I got the idea for this trip about 2 1/2 years ago when several of our friends went and told us about how wonderful it was (Shaws, Hunts, Lamberts). Then Mikes former boss from Mesa (Robert) gave him all the information that he uses when he takes church history tour groups to Palmyra, Kirtland and Nauvoo. We started saving and planning. Along the way, I questioned whether or not it was going to be worth it. Because of saving for so long, I just felt that no trip could live up to that much anticipation! But it far exceeded my expectations, and I'm so happy we were able to do this for ourselves and mostly for our kids.

We woke up at 1:50 a.m. the morning of June 17th to get ready to be in SLC for our 6:a.m. flight. (that took a day or two to recover from!) Our first stop once we landed in Baltimore, was the Washington D.C. temple. It is so beautiful. We toured the visitors center and saw some neat pictures honoring Pres. Hinckley. We loved it. The next two days were full touring the national mall and seeing all the buildings and museums we had heard so much about. It was all so cool. We loved everything we saw. The weather couldn't have been better.
One night we walked around in downtown Alexandria (where our motel was) and saw a cool street name- well at least Cam thought so.
I was impressed with the metro system. We got around very easily, and it was so clean and nice (can't say as much for the subway system in NYC. . .)
The Arlington Cemetary was so unbelievable. It was a very reverent place which I loved.

We met up with my niece Haley Griffin one day for lunch. We hadn't seen each other for 12 years. I had to tell the boys to stop asking about "that girl" that is their COUSIN! It was good to see her and have the kids get acquainted with their cousin from the east. We were sorry we didn't hook up with Magen. We didn't find out until after we left that she works in Alexandria! I was so disappointed.
The World War II monument was very cool- as were all the monuments honoring those soldiers from the different wars.
A rare moment of rest while waiting for the boys to find a bathroom.
NEW YORK CITY

My favorite part of our 1 1/2 days in NYC was seeing "WICKED" with the girls. I love that musical! The girls loved it too. We had a nerve-wracking time getting ourselves from our motel in New Jersey to the theatre, but we did it! The boys had an exciting time driving to and attending a Yankees game in the Bronx. We crammed a lot of activities into the next day with our first stop being the empire state building, then canal street, little italy and chinatown. We then saw ground zero and wall street, then rode the staten island ferry so we could see the statue of liberty w/o having to pay to do so! We went to central park, rockefeller center, St. patricks Cathedral, and ended up at times square! What a busy, but fun day.


This is what Mike spent most of the day doing- trying to figure out which way to go next!

NEW YORK CHURCH HISTORY

We had a much needed day of rest on Sunday. We attended sacrament meeting in a branch in New Jersey (I loved it- I'm so glad we went. It was very interesting to see what it's church is like outside of Utah!) We stayed in a nice motel that night near Harmony PA, and enjoyed a few hours having fun in the pool.

The next morning we stopped for a minute to see the monument marking where the Priesthood was restored in Harmony, then drove to Fayette NY to see where the church was organized. The sister missionaries were fun to talk to and they did a great job telling us about the history there.
We then drove to Palmyra where we had lunch and an awesome tour of the Grandin printing building where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon was published. It was very interesting.

Next we went to the visitors center near the Sacred Grove. We had another awesome tour by a senior missionary couple, then went into the Sacred Grove. There are no words to describe the feeling that is in that place.

The spirit was so strong you felt like you could reach out and touch it. It was so cool. We walked around for about 1/2 hour,

then drove to the Hill Commorah and watched the Joseph Smith movie that also plays in the Joseph Smith Building in SLC. It had so much more meaning after just having been in all the places portrayed in the movie. I loved it so much. We then walked up to the top of the Hill Commorah. It was incredible imagining all that went on there- as it was in everyplace we went. So worth every penny saved.

NIAGARA FALLS

Seeing Niagara Falls is something I've always wanted to do. I'm so glad it worked out to swing by there on our way from Palmyra to Kirtland. It was so cool. We paid $82 for us all to ride the "maid of the mist" boat to get a closer look. It was so pretty. I really loved it. I love the sound of rushing water- especially the waves in the ocean.

KIRTLAND, OHIO

Our next stop was Kirtland. I honestly had no idea we were in store for so much there! I thought we had seen it all in Palmyra. We were able to see the Kirtland temple led by an RLDS guide. It was very interesting, which is what she said when Mike told her we were LDS after she asked us to fill out a comment card. It was so incredible to be in the places where the early saints were and where they sacrificed so much- and also to be again where the Savior appeared and other prophets. There is a lot of history in Kirtland! The church has done an outstanding job of re-creating some of the sites and purchasing some of the original homes and businesses. The NK Whitney store was formerly a bar before the church came along and purchased it. An area stake president did much to get the city council to approve a new road and eliminate the present road that went right between the Whitney home and store. It is now a quiet, peaceful area where you can feel the spirit so strongly. I'm sure that was not the case so much when you were right on top of the road in the middle of the city. We had an awesome senior couple give us a almost 2 hour personal tour and told us many more stories and answered questions we had that they aren't able to do when it's more crowded. We planned this trip perfectly as far as that goes. I'm grateful to all who made it possible for us to have this experience in Kirtland.

CEDAR POINT

The last day of our vacation, we planned to spend a day at "the roller coaster capital of the world" amusement park Cedar Point. It's located on Lake Erie and was so beautiful. We waited in a lot of long lines, had to wait 2 hours in the afternoon for a rain delay, and got rained out entirely two hours before close, but still it was a fun day. We got to ride on the coolest ride called "dragster" which takes off 0-120 mph in 3.8 seconds- the 2nd fastest roller coaster in the world. It was a rush! It was so incredible. Definately worth the hour wait for that 17 second thrill! I'll close with these less-than-flattering pictures of the kids. (although Kylee and Brody's is pretty cute) This is what kept us sane during the time spent waiting in lines, at the airport and in our van. We had a lot of laughs, learned much, and grew closer together as a family. It was definately worth the years of saving money and careful planning. We are all excited for our next adventure!

I've been tagged!

I was recently "tagged" by my sister-in-law Jessica to tell some things about myself, so after much thought and deliberation (maybe 5 mintues~) here goes: (none are in any particular order)

8 Things I'm passionate about:
1. My family: making memories, spending time together, just being a mom.
2. Exercising
3. Writing in my journal (s)
4. Baking cookies!
5. My church membership
6. Cleaning/organizing
7. Reading
8. My relationships with mine and Mike's extended family

8 Books I've read and enjoyed: (seriously? 8?)
1. Harry Potter series
2. Travelers gift (a BD gift from Lindsey)
3. Any real life survival story
4. The Mitford series
5. Church books that are history/fiction (work and glory, kingdom and crown, fire & covenant, children of the promise)
6. Athletes overcoming great odds (Lance, "into thin air")
7. All Maeve Binchys books
8. All Richard Paul Evans books
OK, OK- that's a lot more than 8 but I read a lot!

8 Words or Phrases I say often
1. Time for breakfast/lunch/dinner
2. Do you want a cookie?
3. I need some more ice in my water
4. Pick that up
5. What?
6. I'm going to Cam or Jakes football/basketball/baseball/lacrosse game
7. I'll let you know
8. I love you

8 things I want to do before I die
1. Own a house with a big bathtub, fireplace, and an island in the kitchen
2. Drive an automobile other than a van (I'm on my fourth one)
3. Travel
4. Serve a mission with Mike
5. See my kids marry and have kids and be happy and successful
6. Be really surprised by something
7. Live in the same town as Ann and Trace
8. Be a snowbird in Mesa, AZ and reconnect with our friends there

So that's it! I'd like to tag anyone who thinks this would be a fun thing to do. . . I won't put any pressure on anyone- not that I felt any on me. . .

happy belated BD/welcome back

Much time has past since my last post and that's because we've been gone for 10 days on the best family vacation ever, and before that, I was busy getting ready. Before I write about the trip, I wanted to tell about mine and Jessica's birthday on June 13th. I started the day off with an early morning walk and pilates class. What could be better than that? Jessica got home from LTC (tri-stake laurel camp) right when I got home. Our cute neighbor Mikell (Jessica's age) surprised us with a decorated front porch and cars!
Jessica hurried to shower and we went for pedicures. Jessica's first ever. She quite liked it.
We then met Stacie and Freda for lunch at Chilis. Jessica hung out with Cale the rest of the day. I ran errands, then went to Cam's baseball game, then out to Costa Vita with Mike. The Ericksons, Weyerts, and Hatchs came over for presents and pazzukis. Fun! On the 16th, I went to lunch with Mom, Ann, Carol, Jamie and Sara at Hamiltons. That place has such great food. We had a fun visit. Then Ann, Sara and I had a hot but fun 1 1/2 hour walk along the Logan River. So Jessica is now 18, and I'm inching ever closer to 50!!! AH!

Be sure and check out Kylee's blog for great details and pictures from our trip. She's done an awesome job of giving way more details than I plan to.

brown or blonde?

I recently got my hair colored by Stacie. She did it quite a bit lighter than I've had for awhile. Surprisingly, less people have commented on it than I would have thought (in fact, I had to point it out to Mike- but then again he's never been a real observant guy). So let me have your opinion about it. . . do you like me better with brown or blonde hair- or change with the seasons? BEFORE

AFTER

my passion for journal writing

My passion for journal writing began in 1976 when I was 15 years old. At the suggestion of my sister Ann, I started writing in a journal, and have been a faithful writer ever since. I have fluxuated from writing daily, weekly, or monthly (during pregnancies), but since Cam has been born, I have something recorded from every day. Not that I'm writing every day however. I usually just take notes then write when I have time (like at work, during a ball game, in the car, during Relief Society- whatever it takes) I love going back and reading my old journals. I learn so much about myself and remember much that I've forgotten. I like to note the prices of things, and write every few months about each child individually. I have a list of my favorite things, and things I don't love. I keep a list of books I read on the last page of each journal- with the number of pages in the book so I can know how many pages I read per year. I encourage the kids to write in their journals, and they do so when told to, but not on their own- except for Kylee who kept a great journal during high school and until she got married. I hope she's still keeping a good record of her early married years. I also have journals for:

~what I do for exercise

~gifts given/received

~funny things the kids have said when they were little

~favorite quotes and thoughts

~the boys sports stats

I encourage anyone who is not a journal writer to consider getting a small journal and making an attempt! You won't regret it!

Jessica's graduation

Jessica's graduation from Logan High School was this last week. We had some fun family activities leading up to Thursdays graduation. Monday night the Weyerts, Raymonds and Nelsons came over for a graduation party. We had fun eating, playing "who knows Jessica best." Besides Kylee who got all 10 questions right, and Mike who got 9 right Freda came out as the winner with 9/10 right and Teresa a close second with 7 right. Impressive! We then opened gifts and watched Jessica's DVD of pictures throughout the years set to music that Kylee created (with Jessica's help scanning all the pictures). It was a great evening. Wednesday night was the traditional "candlelight" where there is a speaker in the LHS auditorium, then the seniors go around to four different places around the outside of the school and have 4 short seniors share some memories. They all have a candle to light their way as it was dark by then. It's a cool tradition. The parents/families just trail along- visiting with each other mostly and not listening to the talks. . . then there are lots of opportunities for pictures since there aren't really any after graduation the next night because they have to turn in their caps and gowns immediately after it's over.

On graduation day, we had a repeat party with a different cast. This time the Ericksons, Gary, Ann, Searles, Jamie, Ryan and Millie, and Sara and boys joined us for the same festivities that we did on Monday night! Aren't two parties always funner than one, then there's no MIXING- my pet peeve- as you all know. We had a great time with everyone who came. Mike, Jessica, Cale (who joined in the party too) and I all left for the 2 hour graduation at the Kent Concert Hall at USU.
This is the T-shirt quilt I made her with shirts she's worn over the years- mostly in high school. I had the depressing realization that all the t-shirts I had been saving since 1st grade had somehow vanished, so I had to go with what she had in her drawers--- very upsetting. It was a great week, and we're so proud of Jessica for this milestone in her life. Way to go Jess!
Once again my minimal skills on the computer are prohibiting me from figuring out how to turn this quilt right side up. Sorry!