hale family - party of six

hermosillo

2012-01-27T21:47:00.001-08:00

Melanie was able to take a short trip to Hermosillo, Mexico earlier this month. She was trying to sell us on a 10 day trip to Panama. I loved the idea of the trip - a work/service trip - however, the price tag was almost $2000. So when this Mexico trip came up and the price tag was $200, it was an easy sell.
This was a trip in association with Phoenix Sister Cities, an exchange program with a group of High School Students in Hermosillo who will visit Phoenix later this spring.
I know there was a lot of touring, historical sites and government centers etc, but I think Melanie enjoyed the social aspect of the trip more than anything. (Did we expect anything different from her??) She was immersed in the language and that was helpful to her bi-lingual abilities. But other than that, I'm not sure she came home with a lot of historical information in her head. There was some yummy food, and some adventurous eating.They ran across Moroni.
I think she met a couple of her "soul-mates".
There was a lot of general goofing around.

This video makes her chuckle - the walking man starts running the last few seconds before the light turns red.

Her "sister" gets to come visit us in a few weeks. Melanie has made a lot of good new friends.

snow day

2011-12-31T21:43:00.000-08:00

2011 in eleven pictures

2011-12-31T21:42:00.001-08:00

1. We paid off our Mortgage.

2. Tractor restoration - lots of pieces and parts and sanding and painting and reassembling.
3. Dave turned 50!
4. A trip to New York and Boston.
5. New roof for the house and the hut.
6. I turned 50!
7. Melanie bought her first car.
8. Roxanne has a new yard at her house, although this is a picture of the middle of the process, after the cactus and rock were out, but before the sidewalk and grass were in.
9. Rachel got her bachelors degree from ASU!
10. Brady finished his mission in Iowa.
11. Through it all, we all still kind of like each other.

overheard . . .

2011-12-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Text to Roxanne: The Vernons just brought us over some of their homemade salsa.
Roxanne: THERE BETTER BE SOME LEFT WHEN I GET THERE !

Cynthia: "Brady, can you get this next recipe started?"
Brady, reading the recipe: "You need a degree to make this! I'm not a sauteeing and whisking kind of guy. I'm more of a set the table kind of guy."
Cynthia: " . . . and yet the table is not set."
Brady: "hey, I was taking 5."
Cynthia: "Your 5 was running into about 14."
Brady: "I am still moving at the pace of the mid-west. They do everything slower there."

Rachel and Brady both tried out Mel's onion goggles: "These are sucking my eyes back into my head" Letter to Santa (just to clarify . . . kids are ages 17-25) - apology about not saving enough Muddy Buddies, and a quick explanation about the yummy, yet not so pudding-ish, figgy pudding.Christmas presents finally beginning at 11:22 a.m.
Dave: "Should we start?"
Melanie: "YES, EVERYBODY WATCH ME!"

Brady, opening a shirt: "It's soft. It's huggable. People will want to hug me."

Dave, about Rachel's jewelry holder: "You can get your mom to make little clothes for it.
"Mel: "She'll make it modest." Melanie, opening CTR Jewelry: "Good job with the righteousness, Dad."

Brady: "It's an Returned Missionary daily planner."
Melanie: "That's like missionary rehab."

Random comments:

"That is a very stiff bracelet. It's like beef jerky."

Glasses, drinking straw: That would be weird for hot chocolate - it would be like 'OWWW'!
Rachel, after opening many nail products: "We're having a nail party today. Brady's going to get his nails done!

"This is how I'll become famous, Roxanne. This will be on YouTube. I'll be on 'So You Think You Can Dance'. I'll win".

Dave got everyone nerf guns. He gave the kids about 4 nerf bullets and he packed 36 each into our ammo pack!

We love being together at Christmas. Brady was home with us again after being in Iowa for 2 years. Christmas fell on Sunday so we were able to spend the morning at church with people we love. I can't imagine a nicer Christmas . . . silly-ness and all.

hooray! Look who's home!!

2011-12-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

Party at the airport!

Lexi was even excited!
A quick stop for lunch on the way home -- the fortune cookie was already coming true.

jeff and his new bff

2011-12-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

Last month, Melanie got to babysit for this man:
(Wait, I should clarify that sentence. She babysat his KIDS . . . not him.) If you don't know who this is, you are not watching one of the best shows on TV. Brady used to watch Survivor when he was in middle school and got me hooked. Anyway, through a series of someone who is related to someone who is married to someone who thinks Melanie is awesome, called her to babysit while he was in town. She brought home a larger than normal wad of cash at the end of the evening, and this:It reads "Melanie - Fun talking Survivor! Thanks for teaching 'beat box' to the kids"
Melanie actually has some aspiring goals to be on TV herself. She can someday see herself is a role similar to this:(again, . . . if you don't know who this is, you are not watching nearly enough TV)

family night

2011-12-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

Olivia: "Could you imagine this family mixed with alcohol?" We shuddered as we pondered that thought. Could our group be any funnier? no. Could the room be filled with any louder voices? no. Could there be any sillier antics? no. Gratefully, no alcohol necessary.
A party with the Whipples brings its own level of crazyness. I've got to say, as the family was gathering, saying the hellos, hugging, setting up the food table -- it was all good manners, politely catching up on recent family events, calmly sitting in the living room and chatting over the coffee table. Then the Whipples walk in (my brother and sister in law and kids and spouses and granddaughter.) The energy and sound increases to a level that I can't mathmatically calculate. First of all, they all made Christmas Sweaters. If I understand the story correctly, they sacrificed an entire night of sleep to make sweaters together until the wee hours of the morning. I wish I could have been there to witness the crazyness of that night. The sweatshirts were decorated with full size tree ornaments and garland. Awesome!
Then the stories started - about a visit to a business where all the employees were wearing pajamas (and there was a detailed description of one particular woman wearing a too small pair of pj, and the ensuing wedgie). There was mention of streaking in the snow (ahem, Ben). There was a description of poor Addy's hair that won't lay down- "if you were to gel her hair, and let it dry and poke someone with it, there would definately be a puncture wound." She is the cutest baby and her adorable little mom hardly ever gets to attend to her as there were 18 other people in the room vying for a turn with her. Through the evening, there was drawing on our heads, there were maids-a-milking, and ladies dancing (ahem, -- Ben) . There was a beautiful spread of sweets for everyone (and Melanie still managed to sell a box full of candy bars for her soccer fundraiser to all her cousins and aunts.) And this was all on a night that at least a half dozen family members were in the middle of college or high school finals. Roxanne even took an on-line test in the middle of the party with all the laughter going on in the room.
It was a simple evening. Lauri claimed it was too, but her house was too decorated and the treats too pretty to have been simple for her. check out how pretty her house is. We had some yummy treats, and exchanged a few gifts and got home before 10 pm. Except for the fact that Melanie was feeling rotten all day, and came home tonight with a fever and can't miss school tomorrow, and I am recovering from a medical procedure this morning, and Rachel is still studying for her last final tomorrow, and Dave still needs to write up some bids tonight, and Roxanne had to borrow a car to get there because hers is broken, it was still so worth putting all our troubles aside and spending a fun night with the family. We wouldn't have missed it. I LOVE THEM !!!

happy holidays

2011-12-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

Another season of window painting is complete. Shannon and I put in 3 long hard days. I cleared 10 days on my calendar, but somehow with today's economy, businesses don't think that a cartoon reindeer and "ho ho ho" painted on their windows are a high fiscal priority. Sadly, our children rely on business' cash flow to keep them supplied with their gifts under the Christmas tree each year. In fact, that concept has worked into our sales pitch a time or two. I'm not sure how to remedy our shrinking holiday business.
One shopping center we have painted over the years was really struggling, many businesses gone or almost out of business, except for one jewelry store that seemed to be thriving. They gave us some cash to paint something fun and festive on their neighbor's business window. They said it had been a hard year for her in business and in her personal life. I thought that was very thoughtful that small businesses look out for each other.
It's always fun to hang out with Shannon. We've been friends since our kids were babies but we don't spend enough time together during the year, so it's always fun to catch up on news and family and gossip for a few days. I'm afraid her painting skills are taking over our business. I need to work on my skills so I can keep some job security.

group of 5 - no more!!

2011-12-02T21:08:00.000-08:00

I am finally changing the header picture on this blog. I am only changing it because we are going to have a new family picture very soon. We are a "Party of Six", but we have not been able to take a picture of the six of us for almost 2 years now and it has been HARD! We took some photos last winter for our Christmas cards but it just wasn't complete because there were only 5 of us in the photo. (By the way, thanks Heidi for the great photos, and for hiking up to this viewpoint with us! I loved the clouds that day and I always love the view of the city.) I absolutely adore these three girls, but again . . . there should be 4 kids! The last time they were together was 23 months ago:
Just a few more days until we are together again. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!
btw - about this photo. . . we bought Brady some beautiful ties, (what else do you buy a boy for Christmas 10 days before he leaves on his mission?) Then as a joke, Melanie and I searched through a local thrift store to buy the absolute ugliest tie that was available to purchase. Guess what he wore to the MTC?

the world is a stage

2011-12-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

The girls are performing all over town this week. I love going to Rachel's college performances. We paid our dues sitting through many grade school music programs. My parents sat through all my performances and piano recitals through grade school and Jr High but sadly, I never progressed from there. I am still stuck at my 16 year old level of musicality. Rachel broke the barrier and is graduating from ASU with a music degree next month (YAY). One of the groups she has performed with this semester is a steel band. They performed out in Scottsdale this week at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM). It's a beautiful building and there are weekly free concerts. I think I may have to head out more often. I had a good seat to hear the music, but a bad seat to see Rachel. I zoomed in at one point and you can see the top of her hair for a brief moment.

Another awesome performance was by the Young Women in our ward. They invited us to their Young Women in Excellence night. The theme was the Wizard of OZ. I wish I had my camera out all evening, it was absolutely adorable. However I did get a quick photo of Melanie, the flying monkey, apparently placing her monkey shoes on the ever protected and watched over Relief Society tablecloths (bad monkey!)Last but not least, I begged Roxanne to come sing with a group of young adults in our area for a RS program last night. She looks smart and professional even after a long day of both school and work. The rest of the weekend belongs to Dave. He completed building his float for the Electric Light Parade tomorrow night and has sat down to rest for the first time in 4 weeks tonight.
I'm looking forward to our schedules slowing down. (I can dream, can't I?)

thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T21:47:00.000-08:00

Cindi and I went hiking for a bit this morning. It was perfect weather, an hour hike, and good conversation. I don't know how she was looking so cute so early in the day. It was fun to catch up with her and her busy life. On our way back we noticed some blood on the rocks, not just in one spot but drips for about a hundred yards. Cindi innocently worried that there was an injured animal nearby and hoped it was ok. I was worried we'd see some crime scene tape.You'd think the parks would be kind of empty with everyone home making pumpkin pie, but no. By 8 a.m. every parking spot was taken with dozens of people waiting to park.
The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen. We actually all love to cook together, using every available inch of counter space. And, of course, we had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on all morning. It's not Thanksgiving without the parade. I wonder if it would be as fun to see it in person? It would be a LOT of time, money, and cold. I think I shall continue to enjoy it on TV. I tried to get some prep work done last night, chopping and dicing, but most of the cooking was done through the morning. Our local boy scout troop cooks our turkey for us (delicious deep pit, slow cooked meat), so at least the oven in not taken up with that task. A friend on facebook today called her "before" picture, the calm before the storm. Pretty True. There is also another blog I read that began today with "If you are checking blogs on Thanksgiving you probably got a really easy assignment for dinner. Be honest, you're in charge of the olives, aren't you?" haha.
We talked through our plans for Christmas. Melanie felt a need to audibly review her Christmas wish list with us all. You can see she has us on the edge of our seats with her reading.The rest of the day was just relaxing. We went for a walk, watched Wall-e, put together a puzzle (or got it started anyway, 1000 pieces is too many pieces for one evening). I have to make a confession to Suzanne. She gave us a really cool puzzle of heart shapes found in nature. It was cool because I collect heart shaped rocks in a bowl on our front porch. Anyway, I lost the unopened puzzle approximately one day after Christmas, but never confessed. She asked me once if we had ever assembled it and I had to make up a lame excuse that we were waiting for the right puzzling mood to strike us. Anyway, I found it tucked away in a really weird place last month so tonight, we enjoyed her puzzle gift from long long ago. This is my very tardy "thank you". Hope everyone had a wonderfully fun and/or relaxing day. Happy Thanksgiving! (And , as I'm watching my girls strap on their running shoes, . . . Happy Black Friday Shopping!)

los angeles

2011-11-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

Suzanne and I took a quick roadtrip to Los Angeles last weekend. We didn't even call it a vacation - just a long weekend - because I think we both put in a 40 hour work week both before and after our trip. I have to say again that Suzanne is good to travel with. I just ask how many days will we be gone? Should I take a sweater? and when should I be waiting for you on the curb? She likes planning and I always enjoy whatever she has in mind.

We were heading to do a studio tour at Warner Brothers, but got there a little early so drove down the street to eat at Bob's Big Boy. It is the oldest Big Boy still open - serving hamburgers since 1947. Bugs Bunny greeted us at Warner Brothers. We took a 2 1/2 hour tour through acres and acres of their studio. We saw where they were taping "The Mentalist", we saw Scooby Doo's van, and one of the many many General Lees that were driven in the Dukes of Hazzard. Saturday morning we went to Santa Monica and had breakfast at a trendy little place called Huckleberry's. I had a breakfast of quinoa, butternut squash, kale and eggs. A little different than the breakfasts I fix at my house, but delicious.

We planned to go walking along the beach, but got rained out after a few minutes.We spent the afternoon in downtown L.A. in the wholesale garment and fabric district. It was cool for a while, then as Suzanne says - it kind of does an overload on your senses. There is SO MUCH TO SEE!Saturday night was a concert at the awesome Pantages Theater in Hollywood. There were lots of costumes and characters, favorites "White and Nerdy" and "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi".

On Sunday, we found a church to attend in Pasadena. I researched to make sure we weren't attending a deaf ward or a Korean ward. (Dave and I showed up to church on vacation once with our 4 little kids and ended up in a Young Singles ward). Anyway, there should have been a note on the website that it was a toddler ward. SO MANY BABIES! Not that I mind babies, but I was surprised to find it hard to concentrate on the services for the noise in the chapel. Anyway, after the meetings, we took a little 2 mile hike up the mountain in Griffith Park to the Griffith Observatory. Beautiful views up there. Sunday night we had to dash back to the hotel to watch The Amazing Race. I have to admit, it was difficult for both of us to watch it without the convenience of TIVO. We couldn't rewind, or pause to comment.
Monday morning before we headed back to AZ, we made a quick stop at the Coroner's office. Why? (That's what Dave asked too.) There is a little gift shop in the lobby. It was fun to find out the the Coroner's dept has a sense of humor. There were t-shirts with body outlines, crime scene tape, BBQ aprons that said "We have Spare Ribs". You can even shop online: skeletons in the closet
Good things about traveling with Suzanne - 1.) Everything planned is fun and interesting. 2.) She is a quiet sleeper. I'm not used to that. If Dave slept that quiet, I would check his pulse. 3.) She likes to drive and I trust her driving.

Worrisome things about traveling with Suzanne, which I have never noticed before this trip. 1.) Terrible parking skills.
(This picture is not pulling into the spot, nor pulling out. This picture is our car, fully and completely parked in a parking space.) A particular attempt at parallel parking caused some shame! Sorry Suzanne, but now the world knows you are not perfect.

thankfulness

2011-11-09T09:39:00.001-08:00

My friends are writing a daily thankfulness post. Sadly, I can't commit to remember to do something like that each and every day, but I am thankful nonetheless. Here's a month worth of thankfulness:
1. I am thankful for postage stamps. I can stick a 44 cent stamp on an envelope every Tuesday morning, and someone will hand-deliver it to an apartment in DesMoines by the end of the week. Never fails.
2. I am thankful our weed eater broke. It has been working poorly for several months, but not poorly enough to warrant buying a new one. But when it broke in half - yay! I had to get a new one.
3. I am thankful for our library system. I walk in, pick up anything I want, and walk out without paying a cent.
4. I am thankful for Phoenix winters. The winter lawn in the back yard is coming in green and lush. It is pleasant to work outside.
5. I am thankful for our mailman. It's like a little mini Christmas everyday when I see him stop by our house. I have always liked getting mail. When I go through all the junk that comes in our mailbox and find a hand addressed envelope, my heart melts. I love getting letters. I love getting checks and rebates and other good things that come in the mail too, but the hand written envelopes always make me smile.
6. I am thankful for blogs. I like to read about what other people are doing, making, and cooking.
7. I am thankful for an 8 year old mini van. It squeaks in weird ways, it rattles, it has no wheel covers, and yet it faithfully gets us from point A to point B.
8. I am thankful for the local University that is educating our daughters. Rachel is graduating next month !!!
9. I am thankful for a daughter that is graduating from the University. It has not been a quick or an easy road for her. Her persistence through a lot of tough stuff is heroic. She is a strong wonderful young woman.
10. I am thankful to be a business owner. It's not easy, but the work is steady. A steady income is an enormous blessing.
11. I am thankful for good neighbors. We chat over the fence, they love our kids and watch out for them, they watch over our house when we're gone, they share stuff with us. Jack randomly handed me a light bulb the other day. He had bought a new light bulb, it didn't fit in his light fixture, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me over the fence. I went inside and replaced a bulb in our pantry that burned out that morning. Weirdly random, but just what I needed.
12. I am thankful for Draino. A couple of $5 bottles saved us the cost of a repairman.
13. I am thankful for Netflix. I subscribe to the smallest plan they have, just because once or twice a month I know I can get the most random, old, foreign, or bizarre movie I ever hear about. I just watched a 1971 foreign film from the Netherlands last night.
14. I am thankful for a wonderful husband of 26 1/2 years. His motto is just as true today as it was decades ago -- "I'm a nice guy. You'll like me!"
15. I am thankful for the local Boy Scout troop that cooks our Thanksgiving turkey for us each year. It's a deep pit, overnight slow cooked turkey. Delicious!
16. I am thankful for a new roof on our house. I know last month I was complaining because we were installing it ourselves. We are done now, and I have stopped complaining. Now I can be grateful for it.
17. I am thankful for old friends. I was telling someone today that I have been friends with Suzanne since we were young adults. I have women that I have been friends with since our adult children were babies. I have friends from Jr High and High school. You can't replace those kinds of friendships. I often take them for granted. I shouldn't.
18. I am thankful for my siblings - who are my heroes. Seriously, heroes.
19. I am thankful for our nephews and nieces. We've got a lot of them on both sides of the family. I love them all. I think Dave's goal in life is to be a favorite uncle. I think he does a pretty good job.
20. I am thankful for being able to play the piano and the organ. Actually, I'm just a fake organist ( I never use the pedals, and I hardly know what many of the stops above the keys do). I marvel at people who can really play the organ. However, I feel blessed that I can participate in Sunday services and help with funerals and other programs. Even though I was horrified at the nerdiness of taking piano lessons as a 16 year old, I'm glad my parents encouraged me to stick with the piano and some lessons on the organ before I left high school.
21. I am thankful for my CVS rewards card. I know, I know . . . it is a gimmick to get you to keep coming back to shop in their store, but when they hand me a $3.00 extra bucks receipt, I feel happy.
22. I am thankful for a palm tree in our yard. Dave is not a fan of the palm tree, but I won't let him get rid of it. How many places in the world can your kids grow up and say, We had a palm tree in our yard when I was a kid? We live in Phoenix and it's just meant to be.
23. I am thankful the orange tree is very full of fruit this year. We will have tons of oranges over the winter. I need to get a lemon tree planted, then all my citrus needs will be fulfilled.
24. I am thankful I can read. I am grateful that there is a never ending supply of books I'm looking forward to reading. I hope my eyesight holds out until I'm 99.
25. I am thankful for a truck to come twice a week to our house and hauls away all our trash. Then I can pretend it just disappears to a far away location and safely dissolves back into a natural form. We lay our tree trimmings and big items next to our curb, and a very nice man scoops it into a truck and takes it away. We also drain our dishwater from the kitchen sink and the dirty water magically disappears to some never never land. Our lives really are easy.
26. I am thankful for the internet. There is random, useless information at our fingertips at any time of the day or night. Melanie had an old song running through her head the other day. Neither one of us knew the name of the song, but she wanted to know who sang it. We typed in a phrase of the lyrics and found the song, the artist, the year it was recorded and a bio of the artist and the producer. That information wasn't available back in my day.
27. I am thankful that I can say "back in my day". I liked life "back in my day" and I'm glad we can share some things with our kids that are old, weird and quirky. "Back in my day" (in the previous century) we had 11 people in one house and we all shared the same phone. One phone for a whole household of people, can you believe it?? It sat on the end table and was connected to the wall with a cord. When you talked on the phone, you had to halt all your activities because you could only move as far and the coil cord would allow you to move. If you were sneaky and quiet, you could lift the receiver on the other phone in our parents' room and listen in on your sister and her boyfriend, because even though there were two phones, there was only one phone line. Now we have one house phone, one fax phone, and 6 cell phones because in this day and age, we can't seem to share so well anymore.
28. I am thankful for our parents. Dave and I lucked out with some good people that raised us.
29. I am thankful that our kids are growing up into nice strong wonderful adults that like each other and seem to like us too. We've had a lot of good and bad for them to deal with in all their growing up years, they seem to have weathered the storms well. I am thankful that we will all be together again soon. I have missed having the 6 of us around the dinner table. Only 5 more weeks!
30. I am thankful I have a knowledge of my Heavenly Father. He has a plan for us. He is mindful of us. That calms my heart and makes me happy.

nonsense

2011-11-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

(I framed a halloween picture of Grandpa for him to take home)
Grandpa: "I look at that face and it doesn't look like me. I don't know why. I thought I'd be better looking!"

The day Melanie bought her first car: "Now I can take you all out to dinner. Well, you'll have to pay for it . . . but I will take you. That's the point of having a car, right?"

Melanie, during homecoming - full face and body paint: "I sneezed blue and gold - that's real school spirit!"

Melanie: "Grandpa - you take all of those pills at once? Those are huge!"
Grandpa: "Well sure, can't you swallow a big pill?"
Melanie: "Not all three at once, that's like swallowing a submarine!"

Rachel, about a friend from church: "He has so much flirtatious energy, it just lands on anything female."

Grandpa "I just want to go and be with Betty, she's in a better place."
Dave: "Well, Dad, she's definitely in a good place, but what if you don't quite make it?"
Grandpa: "Well, then I'll just have to stay with you!"

Pancakes for dinner, I meant to say - "Melanie, can you cut one in half for me?", but it came out - "can you calf one for me?" She painstakingly carved a silhouette of a calf out of the remaining pancake on the serving plate and handed it to me.

halloween

2011-10-31T20:15:00.001-07:00

Me and my buddy, Cooper. What are the chances that we'd show up to the church party wearing the same costume not once, but two years in a row?? What should we wear next year?

Dave's dad is staying with us for a couple of weeks. He lives in a house way out in the country up in Idaho. Dave didn't grow up trick-or-treating. (Don't worry, he got plenty of candy at the school Halloween carnivals). I don't think Dave's dad has ever worn a halloween costume in his 89 years. This was a challenge. I emailed all his grandkids for suggestions. They had some great ideas - Mr Monopoly, an Idaho potato, a pirate, combat fatigues, a cowboy, a pirate, a lumberjack, and a barbershop singer. I headed off to the thrift store with many ideas in mind, thinking whatever piece I could find at a good price, that would be the costume. I found a pirate hat and patch right when I walked in so that was that. He has a bit of a memory problem, so each day I told him we were preparing to go to a costume party. One day he'd be horrified that he would have to wear a costume, the next day (having forgotten that we'd already talked about it) was ready to be the life of the party wearing a pink polka dot dress. Then the next day he'd be flabbergasted that anyone would bother to work on a costume for a silly party. Finally, I just handed him some clothes and told him to go change and he couldn't imagine why we would want to dress up to go to a party, then he had the time of his life. He was all "AAARRRRR" like a pirate all night.

(Can you find Waldo?)

Melanie got quite creative with the cardboard boxes and odds and ends around the house. The problem with this costume is that you can't quite function - she couldn't touch her two hands together, so she would pick up a piece of candy, then toss it to to her bucket in her other hand. Getting anything to her mouth was impossible. I think her friends started using her costume as a table to set their drinks down.

She stayed at the party for a while then off to go party hopping with her friends (her life is so wild and exciting - she left one family friendly church party, to go to another family-friendly church party)

Sunday night we celebrated Rachel's birthday. After dinner and presents and cake, we carved pumpkins which always evolves into the annual pumpkin seed fight. Kirsten and her husband Adam were able to come have some fun and make a mess with us too. The method of the pumpkins seed fight is to squeeze the slimy seed between your fingers until it flings our of your grip and flies across the table - extra points if it sticks on someone's face. In the midst of hundreds of pumpkin seeds flying around the dining room, Roxanne remained focused on her masterpiece. Dave had a unique method for carving his pumpkin. His motto - "There's a power tool for every job."

The highlight of my weekend really had nothing to do with Halloween. I spent the day planting winter grass seed and spreading manure all around the backyard - almost 20 bags of steer manure - yay! There is no possible way of getting through that project smelling good. I don't have much of a green thumb, but I'm giving our yard a good effort this month. My goal is to have the flower beds full, the trees trimmed, and the winter grass thick for a party in December. Rachel is graduating from ASU and Brady is coming home from his mission!! Party at our house!! Clear your calendar - everyone is invited! (I don't know when the party is going to be, just clear the last couple weeks of December and I'll let you know!)

random stuff going on

2011-10-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Melanie bought a new car. And I use the term "new" loosely. It is older than she is, by a longshot. She bought a 25 year old Blazer with her own hard-earned money. Paid in Full!Suzanne and I went bowling last week. I haven't done that in years. We just stopped by and bowled 2 games. I was impressed that our scores were over 100! How can you not love rental bowling shoes. And they even had a vending machine to get socks. They weren't new socks. They were rental socks, folded and for sale in the vending machine. A weird, yet ingenious, vending machine usage.There has been a lot of car repair going on the last couple of months:This is partly because of acquiring a 25 year old car and trying to get it up to par. But also because we all drive old cars. The kids have had to buy their own cars and as you can guess, that means they are not driving fresh off the factory floor models. We do a lot of work to keep them running, with a complicated system of trading cars when one or more is out of commission (and when I say "we" do a lot of work on the cars, I clearly don't mean "me") This picture features Dave working solo, which he is wonderful to help the girls with the mechanics of their cars, but he has taught them well. Rachel is good to come home, jack up her car and change the brakes, replace a bumper, fix a broken mechanical piece of a window, etc. She is very handy with the wrenches.
I came in the other day to find Melanie and her friend eating lunch in the living room and watching "Clifford, the Big Red Dog". I'm not sure what that was all about. Some things I just don't question.
Melanie and I tied a quilt on General Conference weekend. Although she has a nice comforter for her bed, she still often reached for her pink ballerina blanket that we made together when she was in 2nd or 3rd grade. While I don't have anything against pink ballerinas, this particular quilt was faded beyond recognition and was shredded and worn from many years of use. I spent the evening last night doing Brady's taxes. He worked for just a few days in 2010 before he left on his mission. He didn't owe anything so I didn't worry about taking care of them in April. We was due a whopping $6 return. If it had been a credit card, or a business that owed him money, I would have let it go. But somehow, I feel a great need to not let the IRS keep our money. So I spent a larger than prudent amount of time last night filling out the paperwork to get him his $6 back (minus the cost of a postage stamp, he nets $5.56!)
Dave is on his way back from a tractor show across the country. He recently restored one of his tractors to its original splendor. His tractor was intact one Saturday morning, and by the end of the day it was in a hundred pieces around the carport. He was swimming in a sea of orange. He went through every piece of engine, and sanded and repainted every piece of the body until it was glossy and shiny. The collectors of this particular tractor, the Allis Chalmers Model G, get together in Alabama every year, so Dave decided to meet up with them and swap tractor stories for a few days. The long road trip didn't sound very exciting to me, but he loves to drive and I think he needed a few days away to relax and get his mind off the stresses of business and life.
He has a very mechanical mind. He can take apart anything and remember how it goes back together. When I use the hose attachment on my vacuum, I can hardly remember how it goes back when I'm done. Once Brady and Dave were rebuilding the engine on the van. The engine was taken apart piece by piece. Hundreds of car parts were laying all over the carport floor. Dave had gone inside for a minute, and our Bishop walked up the driveway and saw Brady (a young teenager then) amongst all the car parts and said - "Does your Dad know you did that?"

I ran a tiller across a section of our back yard today. We've got a spot of our back yard that has always been a little high, so when the irrigation comes in, it doesn't get much water. I'm determined to even out our yard. We also have a trench across another part of our yard from a water line repair last year. It has settled and needs to be filled. Twenty minutes into my project this morning, I am realizing I may be able to rip up the back yard, but I'm not sure I have the skill set to make it as level as I envision. We have a neighbor across the street that has a velvet smooth lawn. I may have to ask for advice. Only time will tell whether I can improve the yard, or make it considerably worse.

I could be an electrophysiologist now!

2011-10-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a lucky, lucky opportunity to attend part of a Cardiology Conference. I sat in the audience as the speaker reviewed and enhanced my knowledge of dyspnes, asystole, tachycaria, fossa ovalis, ganglionic plexi and axons, paroxysmal cavotricuspid isthmus, typical atrial flutter, and thromb embolism.
Seriously? The conference could have been presented in Italian and I wouldn't have understood any less.
Suzanne needed to attend an early morning class in Flagstaff and invited me to tag along so we could go hiking afterwards. I have realized that there are areas of study that clearly have a full and rich language of their own. Rachel was sharing some charting of a musical piece she was working on a posted this photo.I've been involved with music all my life and she regularly comes up with theory that I never knew existed. Obviously, this is Webern's Op 21 mvt 1 charted out. (Oh to be a music major...)
Anyway, after my mind got kind of cluttered up with cardiological information, we headed out to do some hiking and clear our heads. We found a trail head that had several options, some too short, some too long, so we just headed out and planned to just hike for a certain time, stop and eat our lunch, then head back. I always have a hard time with that plan. I prefer to hike to a destination, or do a loop trail. I always worry that when we just randomly turn back, that I might be missing something just around the next bend, or over the next hill. I'd hate for someone to tell me "If you'd have hiked 5 more minutes, you would have been at the waterfall!". Anyway, the weather was great - long sleeves on and still just a little bit chilly. Even a little bit of snow on the ground. Perfect.
After we finished hiking we drove to Sunset Crater. As many times as I've driven by, I've never stopped. We were too pooped to walk around much, but there is a lot to see from the scenic drive and the 1/4 mile walking loop. The lava flows are fascinating - like being on another planet. There was also an display of how many volcanoes are in the area around Flagstaff. I had no idea . . . fascinating.
After that, I became a dull traveling companion, I passed out asleep in the car all the way home.

:)

2011-09-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

I'm amused by this today.

weekend

2011-09-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted today. Melanie did everything I did this weekend, plus about 80% more. She seems to still be going strong. For that reason only, I wish I could go back to 17 years old again. Friday night was her Homecoming parade, tailgate party and football game. She takes any event and turns up the excitement full volume.She left the house a little bit jealous of us though, because we got to spend the afternoon with a nail gun and roofing shingles. Dave and I rewarded our efforts with a Friday night movie. Sadly, it was kind of a cheesey movie, and we didn't have time for dinner before we left so we actually ate dinner at the concession stand at the theater. (No, not one of the new cool dinner theaters. We ordered dinner at the same counter that you buy popcorn and gummy bears.) We go to the movies a lot, but hardly ever visit the concessions. I realize they do sell some sorts of food, but it just seems like getting invited to go out to dinner at the gas station mini mart. But we were starving so . . . theater pizza for dinner.

Saturday morning we made a quick trip up north to go swimming at Fossil Springs. It was the same trip we took a month ago, but Roxanne and Dave went with us this time. We set our alarms for 4:30 am, on the road by 5:15 and had a nice picnic breakfast by the creek before 8. It's nice to get up there early, we had the place to ourselves. The bad part about being up there so early is that it was still a bit chilly. We stood with our toes in the edge of the water like this for quite a while before anyone got brave enough to actually get in. It became more pleasant for swimming later in the morning, but crowds of people started coming later in the morning too.

We got back into town at 3:30 and Rachel had to go off to teach some piano lessons, Roxanne had a whole weekend worth of homework to get done and Melanie headed off for the homecoming dance with her friends.

Then the day just got better . . . Dave and I went up on the roof and put shingles on until almost 10 pm.
On Sunday, of course we spent the morning at church, then Melanie went to a youth dance planning committee meeting, and now as I type this, Dave and Melanie went to help some friends who just had a tire blow out on the freeway. I barely have the energy to lift the foot rest on the recliner in our living room and they have energy for a tire iron and a suburban.
The weekend is ending on a good note - The Amazing Race starts up tonight. A couple of friends are coming over to watch the opening episode with us. . . can't get better than that.

I'm going to fight for union benefits on this job

2011-09-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

We needed a new roof this year. It's going on this week and guess who the hired hands are? Dave and his trusty assistants, Melanie and I.Dave called me outside to come look at something the first evening. I walked out into the backyard barefoot and he suggested maybe I shouldn't be outside without my shoes on just yet until we run the magnet through the grass a few more times. A few sweeps across the yard produced this. I wish we had a 7 year old on our block. I would have paid good money to have a kid drag a big magnet around the yard all afternoon. What kid doesn't like magnets? Oh and this project has given me lovely construction worker hands. I've also realized I have a little bit of a fear of heights. I can stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon with a rail to hold and be fine, but I'm not so comfortable on the edge of the second floor roof.

Good thing for sunny skies this week (luckily that is what is in the forecast most days of the year).

fantastic fearless focused fun fascinating fifty!

2011-09-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

I feel like I had a whole week to celebrate my birthday. It started with Suzanne announcing to the world that I was 50. (Roxanne's comment: oooooooh, you're gunna be in troooublee! You posted her age on facebook for all the world to see, haha ) We certainly got our fill of Suzanne's wonderful birthday cake. It was layer upon layer upon layer of various chocolates. Delicious!
Wednesday morning, I was getting some visitors. By 8:15 I started to see a pattern. *Friend after friend after friend stopped by to bring me a flower. I used up every vase I own and had to get out some water pitchers. Friends were still stopping by at 10:30 at night. There are over 90 flowers on my counter, along with balloons, chocolates and cards. Just to clarify, though, . . . I didn't have 90 visitors. Some brought bouquets. I actually thought it was quite optimistic of my girls to think that there would be 50 flowers, that I actually had that many friends :)

For dinner, we headed out to Organ Stop Pizza, Home of the Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ. Dave and I used to go there as young adults many decades ago and I thought it would be fun to take the girls there sometime, so that's where we went tonight. When we walked in, I had thoughts that this place might be kind of lame now - catering to retirees. But then, silly me, I realized we were dining with the Whipples. That fact alone changes any social gathering. Ben and the girls put in some musical requests for the organist - "Mr. Roboto", and "My Fair Lady". We never got to hear Mr. Roboto because we ended getting the whole rendition of a Broadway show, including the Overture, I think. Who knows every word to "I Could have Danced all Night"? Lauri does, that's who! She can rock every single word of that musical, with Dave and Debbie coming in with "On the Street Where you Live". Melanie and Ben sang all the Queen songs. You can tell what they're singing here, right? Correct! Bohemian Rhapsody.I was actually inspired with some new ideas for prelude on our church organ for this week. Why have I never thought of Phantom of the Opera on a Sunday morning? And then finish the closing hymn with a dramatic finger run all the way down the keyboard to a dramatic bass note.As if we hadn't eaten enough today, we came home to cake and presents. Brady sent home a gift for me so it seemed like he was here to celebrate with us, too. Melanie made a multi-layers red velvet, chocolate mousse cake with a nut topping. Sadly, there were so many candles burning, and the traditional birthday wishes were taking so long, that a section of nuts caught on fire. I'm choosing not to post pictures of the cake because it just looks like a dangerous ball of fire in our dining room. I almost got a sunburn from it while blowing out the candles.

Thanks everyone. It was a fun day.

*And thanks for the cake, the chocolates, the flowers and the visits - Suzanne, Holly, Sydney, Kristi, Robyn, Virginia, Dodee, Joan, Elaine, Violet, Charlie, Rana, Rebecca, Claire, Lindsey, Peggy, Cindi, Joanne, Holly, Carolyn, Lezlee, Paula, Alicia, Laurie, Leslie, Pam, Deeana, Vicki, Jennifer, Heidi, and Jana, and the mystery doorbell ringer and runner (who ran very very fast!)

I know that's risky naming names for fear I've forgotten someone.

Thanks for all the fun comments on facebook too -- I love you all!

brady's birthday

2011-09-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Brady spent his 23rd birthday in downtown Des Moines, Iowa yesterday. He is so grateful for everyone that supports him. I'm forwarding all his facebook messages to him today. Here's part of his e-mail he sent yesterday morning:

THANKS FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY WISHES!! You will have to thank every one in the ward that wrote me a card. It was awesome. There was some people that I didn't recognize, it sounds like there are a lot of new people in the ward.
I also received a surprise package from Elder Phillips and Elder Benett yesterday. Elder Phillips crocheted me a beanie and Elder Benett sent me a super cool tie. They also sent me pictures of 2 people that got baptized that Elder Phillips and I were working with. It's been a sweet birthday so far.
In the plans for today, the AP's are going to take us out to lunch pretty soon, we are going to get some awesome Des Moines pictures, better than the ones we got before, and we are going to hike to the tallest point in Iowa. There is a skyscraper downtown that is like 50 stories tall. Word on the street is that it is the tallest point in Iowa, which I believe from serving in the outside areas. The missionary record stands at the 37th floor, before security find you and kicks you out. It's a missionary legend that there is a rich mans club on the top of it, or an observation deck, or a restaurant... we are not sure but we are going to conquer the urban mountain today.
Well thank you for all the birthday wishes, I LOVE YOU ALL. -Elder Hale

in the dawn's early light

2011-09-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

My alarm went off at 4:50 the other day, an hour earlier than normal. Our normal morning gets us together for family prayer at 5:50 before Melanie leaves for school. But this particular day I wanted to do a little hiking before the excessive heat warnings went into effect (not that it helped, it was still excessively hot at 5:30 am).
Nevertheless, I crawled out of bed and found Dave already putting his work boots on to get to a job site to also beat the heat of the day. I started gathering up the girls for prayers. Melanie was already up to start getting ready for school, and I found Rachel sitting at her computer composing some music for her classes, (I'm not actually sure whether she got up early, or stayed up all night). It was strange that we were all up at an hour beginning with the number 4 ! We are not morning people. Seriously not morning people! Especially not me. But this heat just does something to you and by 2:30 in the afternoon, everyone is ready for a siesta. (Or maybe we're ready to sleep because we got up at 4 am!)
When I drove into the parking lot to go hiking, the sun had not yet come up and the parking lot was FULL! I think I took one of the last two spaces in the whole park. It surprises me to think that there is so much activity going on in the world in the pre-dawn hours. Naturally, those are the hours that I prefer to be in bed.
I headed up on the trails and over a hill and enjoyed this sight:Sometimes the views around town are just breathtaking. I think in the end, it was worth starting the day so early.

transportation

2011-09-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

There's a Monte Carlo, circa 1977, driving around our neighborhood lately. Isn't this the most awesome car you've ever seen? This is the car - even the same color - my parents had when I was first driving. I LOVED sitting behind the wheel of the ever-so-elegant Monte Carlo.

But in reality, I didn't get to drive it very often. Usually the available vehicle offered to me was a double cab, long bed pickup truck. It was HUGE! Although this picture is the size and shape of the truck I drove, ours had the lovely mid-1970's styling more like this:

It was the truck that went on Saturday river trips, and to the dump, and other various exciting destinations around Winslow.

But if I was going to be very truthful about my transportation options, this is what I was driving most days:

I got a 10 speed bicycle in 8th grade that was my transportation option 90% of the time through high school. I rode it to mutual, I rode it to piano lessons, I rode it to my friend's house. I tried to never ride it to school because I didn't want to feel like a loser (as if being a pedestrian for my entire high school career never tainted that reputation). Winslow is a pretty tiny place and I could get most anywhere pretty quick.

I got a note from my friend, Terri, the other day. "Could you all please come back so I can ride my bike to your house, play in the attic and laugh till my sides hurt?"

I look back on so many good memories growing up in Winslow. I sometimes wonder why I was so anxious to leave town when I finished high school.

So, Terri, I know we always laugh and have fun when we get together, and I do have an attic, so . . . . just say when!

Favorite bike story: Once I had to get a tooth pulled prior to orthodontics, . . . so 8th grade maybe? I was dropped off along with my bike at the dentist and I was going to ride the few blocks home afterwards. I was upset that I had to ride my bike, but looking back now, all 9 kids were still at home and mom was a limited resource to all of our needs. Anyway, apparently I was more of a bleeder than would have been expected and the cotton pad in my mouth filled to overflowing on the ride home and blood was dripping down my chin and over my shirt as I made my way across town to get home. Yeah, . . . good times!

why i am glad august is over

2011-09-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

It is finally September! Although the temperature is not one bit different than it was 3 days ago, just saying the word "September" makes me feel cooler.

But I am glad August is done because:

There was excessive heat warnings and an average monthly temperature of 107 degrees and a high for the month of 117 degrees.

Dave had a big pipe installation job during the excessive heat warning days. He was working in fiberglass insulation, in a hot attic for hours and hours each day.

We had a lot of car problems with each of our vehicles. The last hour of the month, in fact, Rachel had a dead battery and a flat tire within 45 minutes of each other.

There was an unexpected death in the family that brought some heartache.

We had some unexpected travel expenses (fogged in airport, missed connection flight, had to buy a second set of last minute airline tickets for three people).

We had to do a lot of changing of insurance - cars, truck, business. That is always a hard project.

I had a very painful (and expensive) root canal and other miscellaneous (and expensive) dental work.

Roxanne's wedding has been called off. It was a difficult decision, but seemingly the right one. Things ended on friendly terms, but still a heartbreaking thing to go through.

Brady wrote a couple of letters home and expressed some struggles. He will get through them just fine, but I sure wanted to pick up the phone and talk with him.

Here's hoping September is a little cooler and a little less expensive.

the kind of day i love

2011-09-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

We went hiking up in Oak Creek Canyon today. Suzanne was a bit worried about the possiblity of high temperatures on our hike due to the excessive heat wave across the state the past many, many weeks. (And by 'a bit worried' I mean she mentioned it every time we talked before, during and after this hike.) Luckily, we escaped the overbearing and inhumane temperatures of Phoenix and we enjoyed the cool temperatures of Oak Creek Canyon. We went up there intending to do a different trail, but asked someone for some advice of a shady trail, one that wouldn't leave us in any direct contact with the sun (because did I mention that someone was worried about it being too hot?)

Anyway, we drove up to the trailhead of the West Fork Trail in Oak Creek Canyon. We were on the trail and around the water for the next five hours and the day was perfect! The trail went right along the creek bed, crossing over it a dozen times. We packed our lunch and enjoyed eating along the banks of the creek. And not only was it a naturally shady trail, but the day was overcast! There was not one bit of sunshine! On the way back to the car, we took our shoes off and enjoyed soaking our feet in the creek for a bit.

I love Arizona!

lake trillium

2011-08-23T17:43:00.001-07:00

Early Sunday morning, the day after Kevin's memorial service, we drove about an hour out of the Portland area to a favorite spot of Kevin's - Lake Trillium. I was walking and talking with my niece as we were walking the short distance from the parking lot down to the lake. It was a narrow pathway thick with trees, then all of a sudden it opened up to this breathtaking view. And I seriously mean "breathtaking". Allison and I both stopped in mid-sentence as we saw this beautiful scene - gorgeous green hills, Mount Hood in the background (still snow covered in August) and a lake that was so still it was a mirror. This was a favorite place that Kevin liked to come and sit and enjoy the scenery. I think we'd all like to come and sit here regularly.

We spent some time here remembering Kevin. We sent some flowers out in the water and took some time just enjoying the cool air and the beautiful scene. We were there fairly early in the morning. There were a couple fishermen far off, and we saw a lone jogger, but basically had the place to ourselves. Lovely!A little later, we found a picnic table and built a fire (yes, it was cool enough for a fire . . . a foreign concept for us in AZ in the summer) and sat to visit and enjoy each other's company for an hour or two. It was fun to swap stories and memories about Kevin and his many adventures. Some I had heard before, some were new stories, all were hilarious. Dave's cousin, Karen, lives up in that area. We have enjoyed her over the years. She attended college in Phoenix years ago and has always been a favorite cousin. And of course, it's nice to spend time with Grandpa.

Kevin, you will be missed.

portland

2011-08-23T17:28:00.001-07:00

Dave's older brother passed away a week ago. We spent a couple of days up in Oregon with our sister in law, nephew and nieces. Dave's family is spread out all over the country - this little group is from Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Florida, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Illinois, Washington DC,. It was nice to have all the immediate family together. Dave's brother, Kevin, was only 56 years old. Much too young. Here is his beautiful family. They have a wonderful, loving, beautiful and smart family. I have always liked them and I wish we lived closer. I wish our kids knew their cousins better growing up, but in recent years they have all connected on Facebook and keep up on each others lives a little more now. Rachel traveled with us. She and Stephanie are the same age so it was especially nice for them to reconnect.
It's always nice for Dave and his brothers to be together. Our girls were commenting recently that Dave and his brothers don't look anything alike. The same is true for me and my siblings. Go figure. The family had a very nice, quiet, private service for Kevin at the local church. We shared stories, shared photos, sang together, prayed together and cried together.

Kevin is the first of our siblings to pass away. We never thought it would be this soon. We will miss him. Kevin was an adventurer - always moving to new locations (including back and forth to Korea on several occassions), always trying something new in his career, always traveling, and always had a great story to tell. There is something about being together with family to bring a warm and healing spirit. I was so glad we were able to be there. I love this family.

Before we left town, we drove by the new ice cream shop that this family is just getting ready to open. If you are in the Portland area, go enjoy some cool refreshment at Chill Ice Cream!

happy birthday

2011-08-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. It's odd to think that he would have been 83 this year. I can't imagine that. It's too bad our younger kids don't remember him well. I think they would have been good friends.

Grandpa and Melanie

Grandpa and Roxanne
Happy Birthday Dad. I miss you!

the last "first"

2011-08-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of 'firsts' in life - first steps, first day of school, first date. But we don't always know or recognize when the 'lasts' are - when was the last time your son held your hand when you walked? When was the last time your daughter sat on your lap?
This week I definitely recognized one of the "lasts". Melanie's "last" first day of school. (I do recognize the kids continue on with college, but the first day of school pictures going off to college is kind of silly, although sometimes I still try).
Our orange tree is the required backdrop of most milestone pictures . . . first day of school, prom dates, graduation pictures. We used to be able to gather all 4 kids before school and generally they all started on the same day. Later on, they attended different schools, and for a while different school districts with different start times, different vacation schedules etc. Crazy.

(I loved Melanie's cowlick that she's hidden from the world now for years)

We're down to one child starting school this week.

I think she's excited!

i can't believe this is arizona

2011-08-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I have an adventurous nephew. Ben talked me into going to Fossil Springs this summer when he found out I'd never been. I am always surprised to find such luschious and beautiful spots in the middle of Arizona.

"Hey stop right there, let me take a picture of you before we get all wet and sweaty . . . wait, that picture was blurry. One more time, . . . wait , blurry again (this goes on for several pictures and cameral adjustments). Oh, never mind, it's my glasses that are blurry. I've got 5 great pictures of you now - carry on!"We got to Fossil Springs about 9 am on Friday. We had the place to ourselves - a beautiful clear lagoon, a waterfall, cool green surroundings. We swam, we explored, we went behind the waterfall, then Ben began coaxing us all up on top of the waterfall. I'm sorry, Debbie, if you're reading this. I should have been a better supervising adult. Yeah, that was scary to watch.Then he coaxed me and the girls off the waterfall, too.
The temperatures were perfect and the water was crystal clear.There were several swimming holes up and down the creek. As the day progressed, it began to be crowded at the waterfall, so we went back downstream a ways and swam in another spot.

"Rachel, let me take a picture of just you with the water behind you" (This went on for about 5 shots trying to get one without Melanie somehow in the background, subtly poking her foot into the picture then full out intruding!)

The girls had a fun day with their cousin. How can you not have fun when Ben's around?

I thought missionaries had bed-times

2011-08-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

"As you know we have been working at the Nauvoo Pageant. Saturday was the last day that it was showing, so we were asked to help take everything down. 2 zones were asked to help, the Quincy zone and the Nauvoo zone. We all arrived around 8 Saturday night and started to take everything down while the pageant was going. We were stuffing semi trailers with picnic tables and benches while everything was going on. After the pageant we helped take down the chairs and load all of them into the trailers. We had to take some of them to the quarry and put into sheds and a barn. After the chairs we started to load parts of the stage into another trailer. We were in Nauvoo until 2 a.m. then a good hour drive home to Quincy. The whole zone stayed over at our apartment that night and slept for a couple of hours until they need to get up to drive back to their areas for church. I was poppin' mints all of church to stay awake. It was a crazy night. "
www.twoyearsinillinois.blogspot.com

random life

2011-07-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

There are certain joys of having a teenager in your home. For instance, this is what our front yard looked like this morning: Melanie: "Why do you assume it's one of my friends? Maybe it's one of your friends!"
Well, Miss Melanie, . . . I could to some sleuthing around and see what Lezlee was doing late last night, but I doubt I'd come up with much hard evidence against any of my friends.
Fortunately, this was a job using high quality toilet paper which didn't tear as it was pulled out of the trees. The last time this happened in our yard, there was massive amount of cheap paper over 12 feet high that stayed in the trees for much longer than our neighbors could possibly appreciate our landscaping decor.
Speaking of landscaping, Roxanne is re-working her front yard. It was full of unkept, scraggly trees and unkept cactus and gravel. She has removed it all, added a couple of trees, an irrigation system, a truckload of dirt and it's almost ready to plant a lawn. Too bad the summer temperatures aren't conducive to enjoying yardwork. This picture was taken at about 6:45 am and it was almost too hot to work already. I'll bet the neighbors loved the day the dirt was dumped. Every car for 2 blocks had a thick coat of dust on it. Hopefully, they will ultimately love having a nicer looking house on the block.In other happenings around town, my adorable niece just got home from her mission in Florida. Her family orchestrated a huge reception area outside of the security checkpoint at the airport. It was a very entertaining hour as my nephews loudly welcomed complete strangers off the various flights as we waited for Kelsie. Isn't this a happy dad? Speaking of missionaries, I got a text from an unfamiliar out of town number, and look what I got on my phone:Some friends from Idaho are working at the Nauvoo Pageant for the summer and ran into these two fine missionaries. Brady is working at the Pageant 2 nights a week this summer. Aren't they handsome?
I saw another unexpected picture of Brady this week. We pulled out some old half-used water cameras when we went to the river last week. When I developed the film, I found a picture of Brady with his sisters and cousins at the beach two years ago. Sadly he has really grown up in a world of girls. I asked him one time if his life would have been different if he had a brother. He didn't even hesitate -- "YES!!" I miss that kid. Only 5 months left !!

birthday girl

2011-07-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Melanie had a birthday a few days ago. Guess how old she is? If you don't already know, I'll give you some hints that might clue you in to her age. She asked for an Easy Bake oven for Christmas. She uses her "Bedazzler" regularly. She spent spring break at Disneyland. She had a food fight for her birthday last year. She likes to go to the neighborhood park/playground with her friends. She asked for a Robot birthday cake this year.

That's right. She's 17 !!

She wanted to go tubing down the Salt River to celebrate her birthday. I thought she was going to go with friends when she first talked about it so I didn't give it much thought. I realized a couple of days ago, she meant our family. It has been a nearly impossible week with work schedules and deadlines. On top of that Dave has to leave town again in a few days and is working day and night to get on top of his work load so he can leave. And then to make matters worse, he got sick this week and spent Thursday evening at an Urgent Care facility.

Crazy enough, one job got postponed until after his trip, and all the drugs he got at Urgent care loosened us his ability to breathe, so it freed up a few hours on Saturday morning to celebrate Melanie's birthday. I'm not sure a river trip was the best thing for Dave's health, but who can say no to a birthday party on the river?

I don't know how I've lived in the valley for 30 years and had never done this before. Fun Day.

Melanie found a cake she wanted. Luckily she was willing to help make it. I have never been known for making attractive cakes. In fact, quite the opposite. I don't know how we managed to make such a big mess for a simple little cake.

Happy Birthday Melanie!!

melanie-isms

2011-07-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

Song on the radio - "Is this Prince? Oh, I'm going to play this at my wedding. NO, better yet, . . . at my funeral!"
"I want someone to pose me before I get buried."
Me: "What, . . . you want someone to sit you up in your coffin as you are wheeled into the church?"
"No, just secretly pose me before I go into the ground. A dance pose so I can be resurrected and come back into the world. . . . dancing!"
________________________

"I was staring at him hardcore with my peripheral vision."
________________________

"I still have your Blue Cross/ Blue Windshield card in my wallet."
________________________

Text conversation Friday night:
Me: River trip is on for tomorrow if you want to start making plans
Melanie: WaHoo!! Okay :)
Me: Tell your sisters and tell me what to plan and take and do
Melanie: Okay. Leave at 8:15. Can we have water bottles, Fresca, baby carrots, and Ritz crackers for snacks?
Me: Yes to all. But Fresca?
Melanie: It's a drink. Just a suggestion
Me: I know it's a drink. It's just a weirdly specific request.
Melanie: haha. Well they are weirdly delicious. OOh!! & those Oatmeal pie things ;) you're the best mom.
Melanie: Also for snacks: grapes from Fresh and Easy.

(I catered to most of her list, but making an extra trip to Fresh and Easy was not going to happen. I'm still not quite sure why their grapes are different from grapes that are sold at every other store in town. But we did have weirdly delicious Fresca, generic grapes and oatmeal pie things.)
_______________________

Mothers Day notes, written on hearts and taped up all over the house:

You're the woman with the brains,
You do everything including removing all stains.

mom = bomb.com

If you died, we would all die.
But thankfully you're not dead.

When times are tough
and being a Mom is hard,
you can look at this
and pretend it's a really nice card.

camping with crazies

2011-06-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

I just spent a week up at girls' camp. I always loved camp when I was a youth. Rachel loved camp. Melanie loves camp. Roxanne . . . not so much. I think she has some of Lauri's genes in her. I went up this year as part of the staff. I was over the hiking, archery and water games.Actually, most of camp is run by the Youth Camp Leaders, YCLs. They are the girls who have been to camp for 4 years, most of them are 16 and 17 years old and they take on a major leadership role. Our stake really has a good history of youth leadership at camp. So basically, the YCL's are the ones to actually teach archery safety and technique. I'm just there to oversee that no one gets shot or overheated out in the 170 degree heat wave we were having that week. The YCLs also lead the younger girls on the hikes, I am just there to make sure they are prepared to head out and again, make sure everyone has enough water to survive the heat.Most of the forest trails were closed due to fire dangers so at the last minute we had to revise the hikes to a nearby trail and all the groups had to do the same hike, just in varying distances. It was a 3 1/2 mile loop. One group did one loop, one did 1 1/2 loops, the older group were to go twice around to do a 7 mile loop, but (dare I say) . . . wimped out and only went about 4 1/2 miles. I only say that because I was hiking with the 2nd year girls and these 8th graders were very proud to have done the longest hike of the day.
The girls all love the archery range. In previous years, they all did a mandatory loop through all the offered classes. This year, after doing their certification classes, they could choose to do any class they wanted. One girls signed up for archery for every available class time. Needless to say we are BFF's now. Among many other things, Rachel and Melanie headed up the Jazzercize class. I think as much time went into preparing their outfits as the actual routines. Awesome.
I got my aerobic exercise each night at 11 pm climbing onto the top of a bunk bed. I am way too old to be sleeping on the top of a very narrow bunk bed. I got additional exercise climbing down off the bed at 2:30 am, down the steps of the cabin, down the hill to the bathroom, then up hill, up the steps , and up a rickety ladder and into bed. I never get up to go to the bathroom in the night at home. Why at camp -- every stinkin' night???
Our overall camp theme was "SOS" (Seeking our Savior). Each cabin came up with a sub-theme relating to boats. Melanie's YCL's were pirates. Isn't this a great banner they painted? I ended up painting the banner for the staff cabin, we were lifeboats:Dave spent the week as part of the support staff too. I'm glad Melanie doesn't mind having us around. Someone asked her if she read the packing list carefully - "It didn't say to bring your parents!".
I think in the back of Dave's mind, he had visions of packing the trailer, and maybe hauling some trash out, but mostly sitting in a hammock. Sadly, there was no hammock time for him. He realized there was some major structural problems on some of the platforms we were using and he spent the majority of the week building and repairing. Dave hand-writes letters to Brady each week and illustrates his stories. I saw him drawing a picture for Brady of the platforms with big gaping holes in them and girls falling through. Brady was involved in the work project when those were built by our stake years and years ago so I'm sure he understood the work involved. Anyway, Dave should have been wearing a Superman cape all week because he certainly was a hero around camp.He is smiling for the pictures, but he wasn't smiling with the blisters, the cuts, the bruises and crawling around amongst spiders webs in the blazing heat all day every day.

Funny things I heard around camp:

One girls had not been feeling well and had been to see the nurse and was told to slow down and take it easy for the day. She didn't show up for her photography class which included a small stroll through the forest. At roll call, when she didn't answer, one of the girls said "She's not here. She's supposed to take it easy so she went to Jazzercize."

On our hike, the girls found out that the older group was altering their hike and stopping earlier than planned. One of the girls immediately questioned why we couldn't do that too and was told "Because we're not quitters, and because we're AWESOME". Heading back out on the trail she mumbled, "But I don't want to be awesome".

After the water activity, one of the girls was going from cabin to cabin asking if anyone had some dry tennis shoes she could borrow. As she came be our cabin we reminded her that everyone had wet shoes, but they would dry overnight. She then asked "Doesn't anyone care about hypothermia?" (It was 97 degrees that afternoon).

During the water games, one of the games was to untangle, and untwist one of their shirts that had been wet, bagged and tagged, and put in the freezer overnight. They were clearly not wrung out enough and were frozen solid as a rock. The winners of the game were the first to get their shirts on. There were all kinds of methods of defrosting, sitting on them, under the armpit, blowing on them, dipping them in nearby mud puddles, then some girls decided to bang them on the trees. One of the leaders watching said "It looks like an Insane Asylum". (It kind of was . . . )

The day we were leaving, the whole camp was ready to leave about 45 minutes before the bus arrived to cart the girls home. Melanie put some music on in Dave's truck and kept the girls busy with a little more dancing. Where does she get her energy? Not from me, I know that.

kitchen shenanigans

2011-06-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Melanie's been in the kitchen for years. I've shared this before:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

She's at it again!

abc's of travel

2011-06-11T01:20:00.000-07:00

A - We tried to find an art supply store. We typed one into the GPS and it erroneously took us to an Fine Arts and Frame store. We went in and told an employee what we needed asked where we might buy some art supplies. He could not come up with anything nearby and he actually said in all seriousness, "You could try New Hampshire . . ." Really? in all the whole state of Massachusetts we wouldn't be able to find some paper and chalk? ok then, we'll try New Hampshire! The funny thing was that we drove about 10 miles down the road and found a Michael's Craft store. . . in New Hampshire.
B - This photo is indicative of our life as business owners. No matter what we are doing, we still have clients to attend to. Dave is dusting off a 300 year old gravestone of his ancestor in Massachusetts while talking to a client in Arizona about a fire alarm system.
C -We followed our GPS directions to this address in New York City. Can you see a church here? We couldn't either until we saw a man in a white shirt and tie walking down the sidewalk. We followed him until we found the front door to the church. We walked in and had to take an elevator up to the chapel on the 4th floor. Cool!
D - Boston seems to be the Dunkin Donuts Capital of the World! We had a pact to not eat at any chain restaurants while on this trip. But we caved in and stopped to get a Donut before we left Boston. They were EVERYWHERE!
E - An Electrical Storm kept us in Boston for an extra two hours on our return flight home. Which makes perfect sense since we risked life and limb driving through an intense electrical storm to get to the airport on time. During our crazy drive to the airport we received a text from the airline assuring us the flight was still leaving on time.
F - Five States, Seven people, Eight days - Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Hampshire. We counted up all the states we had ever been in. We counted Connecticut even though we just drove through the corner of the state on this trip. We didn't stay there, make a purchase of any kind, or even stop to go to the bathroom. What are the rules for counting states? I don't count a state if it's just a layover on an airline flight, but we did actually see Connecticut out the window of the car. Does that count? I'm counting it. In Melanie's 16 years, she has visited 27 states. I have been in 32 states and Dave has been in 44 states. I think he needs to get to 50, but I don't know when he will ever get to Delaware or North Dakota.
G - There is a paint color named "Nantucket Grey". Benjamin Moore must make a killing on this island with that color. Madeline saw the best saying on a T-shirt: "Turn at the grey house with the white trim". haha

H - I've heard of Hyannis, the playground of the rich and summer home of the Kennedys. Now I've been there.
I - "You don't eat cows when you are on an island! You eat fish! Do you order Chinese food when you are in Mexico? No! What's wrong with you people?" Madeline tried so hard to convert the Hale clan over to a seafood diet. Dave ate fish, Melanie tried a couple of bites, I told her I would when we got to Nantucket, but in the end I disappointed her and ate chicken.

J - John Alden, an ancestor of mine 12 generations or so back, came to America on the Mayflower. He was made famous by Longfellow's poem "The Courtship of Miles Standish" (which I thought was factual history my whole life but sadly later found out the story was a bit fictionalized), but the most awesome thing about him? His claim to fame is now a gift shop that is open and thriving across the street from the Mayflower Ship.
K - "KaKah! KaKaaah!" The international call for lost people in a crowd.
L - Licking the Statue of Liberty. Why? I cannot answer that. There was also a high five to Miss Liberty.
M - The Mayflower - I thought it would be bigger. It was pretty small to be carrying so many people. All I could think of was the potential stink of 102 passengers, 25 crew members and 66 days. Brave, brave people indeed.N - What could be better than a day in Nantucket - the Whale museum, exploring, shopping, swimming at the beach, great restaurants, and a little more shopping.
O - We walked part of Boston's Freedom Trail and toured the Old North Church, "One if by Land and Two if by Sea". Dave has memorized the whole poem "Paul Revere's Ride". It's pretty long so that is an amazing feat. I also recently found out that this poem has been generally accepted as factual history, but that darned Longfellow somewhat fictionalized this story too.
P - Photographotical
Pho-to-gra-pho-ti-cal [Fo-tah'-gra-fah'-ti-cul] -adjective
1. the act of successfully pointing a camera
2. being the successful subject of said camera
3. camera skillz
This was one of many comical words used traveling with three funny teenage girls.

Q - (Surprisingly I have 2 entries for the letter Q!)

"At some point, cobblestone streets are not so quaint anymore"- Madeline, after awkwardly and sometimes painfully walking over the uneven rocky paths all day in Nantucket.

Quincy Market, downtown Boston- a seemingly mile long food court. We ate there three times.

R - "Recalculating" - Seriously, this word spoken over and over and over, gives me anxiety. I feel like eventually the voice on the GPS will start yelling at us to just follow the directions she gave us already!
S - Suburban - Joe had some mad driving skills to take a big full size Suburban through downtown New York City, Brooklyn and Boston. He was doing U-turns in parking garages, parallel parking, and zipping through traffic like a native New Yorker! Awesome.

T - Trolleys, Tolls and Tickets (fortunately just event tickets, not traffic tickets). I didn't carry much cash on this trip, and was wiped out quickly by the never ending toll booths. I should have remembered this. It was the one unexpected expense on our last road trip together years ago that dwindled our cash supply then too.
U - USS Constitution - Didn't tour it, but we saw it. A big wooden ship from the war of 1812 in the Boston Harbor.

V - Vanishing Dave - A little impatient with group planning decisions, we would often find Dave missing. He'd just walk ahead and move on with his day while we were deciding where to go or what to eat. Making decisions with 7 people is not easy. This was not our most organized or pre-planned vacation.

W - The Nantucket Whaling Museum. We made the girls get some history/culture before they were excused to head toward shopping or the beach. We sat through a presentation on the chase, capture, killing and eventual processing of whales in years past. Gory, yet kind of fascinating. As we listened we sat beneath a 46 foot whale skeleton.
X - (I am impressed that I have two entries for the letter X, too!) Our flight out was later than we originally thought so we had a couple of hours to spare. We stopped at a theater near the airport and hoped something of interest would be playing at exactly 2:45 pm. It was X-Men. Not my favorite genre of movies, but seemed to be enjoyed by the rest of the group. Then we dashed to the airport. Dave and I carefully packed our carry-on bag that morning with airport security in mind. Then both of us slipped in a full 16 ounce drink at some point during the day and both of us forgot about them. Both our bags got pulled off the conveyor belt for inspection. Oops. I got through security easily. Dave had to be X-rayed, but Melanie won the jackpot. She got a pat-down on her hiney. Yay!

Y - Yarmouth - I've never heard of this town, but it is down the street from the ferry to Nantucket and has a very nice hotel called the Ambassador Inn. Highly recommend.

Z - Zzzzzz's - I am kind of amazed at how many places teenage girls could sleep. On the trolley, in the museum, in a suburban, on the beach, and surprisingly a little bit at the hotel at night. I was worried about lack of sleep the first night when we could hear them in the room next door laughing together long into the night hours.

someone had a birthday!!

2011-05-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

random stuff going on

2011-05-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

I spent a lovely afternoon downtown this week learning how to collect and pay sales tax for our business. Can you think of anything more fun than that?

I am so fortunate that Roxanne has wonderfully creative aunts and cousins and sisters. We started planning her wedding reception last night and the ideas were flying! It will be beautiful and I'm excited. Let the money begin to flow!

I found out I'm normal. (Dave is questioning the findings). After three rounds of extensive bloodwork, two ultrasounds, a biopsy, $300 out of our pocket, and lots of worry, the latest lab results for my liver function came back absolutely normal. Strangely, I was a little bit disappointed. After all that effort and worry, I kind of wanted a diagnosis (but the kind of diagnosis that could be easily treated by taking a simple little pill for a week, not the kind you have chemo for).

I am enjoying fresh tomatoes out of our garden this week.
I read some signs recently that kind of bug me. A poorly placed decimal point makes for some very expensive gas.
And what exactly does this one mean?
The brake lights on my van did a weird thing last night. They came on and they stayed on - when the brake pedal was pushed, when the braked pedal was not pushed, when the car was on, when the car was off. When I got home, Dave squirmed upside down under the dashboard, looked around for all of 60 seconds, went and found a magnet, got under the dashboard for 60 seconds more and the brake lights went back to normal. Sometimes I am amazed and impressed at what that man can do (well, always I am amazed and impressed!)

All 4 of our kids have a blog now. Melanie needs to write on hers more often though. I'm keeping up on Brady's missionary blog. I guarantee when he gets home, no one will hear from him again.

Dave is turning 50 this month. I've been looking up quotes to post on the wall for his birthday party. "The years between 50 and 70 are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down."
"Forty is the old age of youth. Fifty is the youth of old age."
Anyone have any good ones?

big news !!!

2011-04-25T22:55:00.001-07:00

Guess who is getting married ???

Yep, Billy popped the question, and apparently Roxanne said yes because she is wearing a beautiful diamond on her finger!

Everyone is excited!

easter

2011-04-25T22:01:00.001-07:00

Our family is getting too old for Easter. On Saturday Melanie asked me about hunting for Easter eggs and the look on my face gave away the fact that I was not prepared with plastic Easter eggs filled with jelly beans ready for the great Easter Eggs Hunt of 2011. She shook her head in despair and walked away ashamed of her mom.
I actually was sort of ready for Easter. I sent an awesome package to Brady and his companion earlier this week. I had odds and ends ready to fill some Easter baskets for the very few people that would actually be home for Easter. (I have received comments like "If you happen to be talking to the Easter Bunny this week, could you tell him I need some new mascara?"), so yes, the Easter Bunny and I and Walgreens have been communicating.
But here is where things went sour. We had a ward campout on Friday and Saturday, we had been in Utah the previous weekend, and we had an extremely busy workweek. So Sunday we got home from church and kind of relaxed into oblivion for the afternoon. Rachel, who gets home from her church at 4:30, announced that she had to be somewhere at 5 and so we had a 15 minute window to have Easter dinner together. My afternoon nap accidentally consumed all the food prep time and the table was empty at 4:30. Dave and Melanie and I had a very simple Easter dinner at 6, Rachel had leftovers at 8. (Roxanne and Billy are out of town for the weekend.) The beautiful tulips are compliments of Dave. I've got a great husband!Melanie patiently waited for Rachel to get home before she looked for her basket. The Easter Bunny usually leaves an elaborate scavenger hunt for everyone to go on. He must have been exhausted or just simply too old this year because the scavenger hunt lasted approximately 1 and 3/4 minutes. Then fortunately we found some plastic eggs to hide in the backyard so Melanie wouldn't have to run away from home to a new family that loved her more. It was 9 o'clock at night and the backyard was dark and the lawn had not been mowed for a significant amount of time so the lush winter lawn was a winter jungle. We could have tossed the basket of eggs out the back door and they would have all been hidden randomly across the lawn. Instead, we supplied everyone with flashlights and had a night hunt.Rachel has issues about Easter egg hunts and pinata games. She says she spent a lifetime of Brady outdoing her in candy gathering games. She thought she'd have an advantage with him gone, but Melanie outdid everyone 3 to 1. So we made Melanie hide the eggs the second time and Rachel barely out-gathered her mom and dad, although I've got to say Dave turned it into a game of tackle and steal. I've never been thrown to the ground before playing with plastic Easter eggs. There's never a dull moment with Dave.

Looking at the pictures above, I realize that Tivo is in the background of one picture and Facebook is in the background of another picture. Although our day did involve Tivo, it also involved going to church together. We had a wonderful worship service. The talks were great, Dave and I sang with the choir which I think went quite well. Dave directed the primary children in singing a selection of songs which included a couple of the young boys singing solos, and duets and the older girls taking on a harmony. It was beautiful. He loves those kids and they adore him.

Next year Melanie and I committed to making Easter dresses - although I told her if I was going to make a dress for her, it had to be a pastel floral with a big white lace edged collar. We also are going to grow wheat grass in our baskets, actually dye Easter eggs (we didn't quite get to that this year), and have actual candy in the plastic eggs for the egg hunt, although she said if I didn't have candy, cash would be acceptable too. I think I will commit to that for her last year at home. So . . . question to other parents of adult children - when do (did) Easter baskets stop? I'm thinking I should have stopped in 6th grade? 9th grade? High school graduation? College graduation is coming up next semester . . . should I warn everyone that Santa Claus and the Easter bunny stop coming after a bachelor's degree? I think I already may have missed my window of opportunity.

prom

2011-04-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

Melanie went off to the "Mormon" prom the other night. She and Rachel went dateless. Proms are so different than they were way back in the previous century when I went. They were so stuffy back in the 70's. . . . or was it just my perception? There was so much pressure to have a date. It's cool that they can go and enjoy a whole group of friends and have fun. These girls have fun wherever they go, I must say.

I was a bit of a lame mom this year. I begged out of shopping for a dress with Melanie, although I was a consultant through text messages and pictures sent back and forth from dressing rooms all over town. I am grateful for Jennifer and Vicki to alter dresses, curl hair, help with make-up and accessorize so beautifully.

grand canyon

2011-04-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

We drove up to Williams Friday night and got a couple of hotel rooms so we could get an early start up to the canyon on Saturday morning. (I love Priceline bids for hotel rooms. We got rooms at Days Inn for a $50 bid. Love it!) The kids took advantage of the indoor swimming pool and jacuzzi and I was a party pooper and just went to bed.
We got an early start on the road in the morning, made a stop at the infamous Bedrock City, then up to the Grand Canyon. The National Parks offer free entry a few days each year. This is the second time I've been to the canyon this year and hit a free day both times. Yay!
We parked at the visitor's center then walked 2 1/2 miles on the path along the rim to the village and stopped for a delicious lunch. After lunch we took the shuttle back to the car.

I went to the canyon with people ages 16-24. You'd think I wouldn't have to warn anyone about the dangers of a canyon. But look at how many photos feature this little group off the path and veering toward their death at the canyon's edge. I felt like I needed some of those child leashes. I told them all ahead of time I had phobias that would cause me sleeplessness for days to come if they teetered on the edge. They didn't seem to care about my fitful nights of sleep.
Melanie thought the wildlife was adorable. I had to show her that the signage explains that her finger will get nipped off by the cute little squirrel.
The weather was absolutely perfect. I didn't know if we would need to pack jackets or not. As we were hiking along we realized it was almost too warm for even a sweatshirt.

It was a fun morning, but left us with a long 8 hour drive to Lehi, coupled with a daylight savings time change that also put us back an hour. I seem to have a mental challenge with time changes, I had planned on gaining, not losing an hour as we crossed into Utah. That was disappointing to realize I calculated wrong. It's certainly not the first time I've driven across a state line, but I always seem to get the time change wrong. We pulled in to my cousin's house at about 11 pm.

I am surprised how many people have lived in Arizona for years and have never visited the Grand Canyon. Now I can say I've taken all my kids to the Canyon (well, Brady was only 4 when he went, but still . . . we took him.) I'm checking it off my list of things a parent should do.

road trip

2011-04-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

We took a quick little road trip up to Utah last weekend. We planned to make a stop at the Grand Canyon on the way up. Halfway between Williams and the canyon, there is a little tourist "photo op" stop - Bedrock City. It was deserted, we had the place to ourselves. It was a good thing too because we were all way too old for this place. It might be a fun place for a 7 year old, but then what 7 year old has ever watched the old Flintstone cartoons and would get why you would slide down a dinosaur tail, or have rocks in the cash register drawer? Nevertheless, we had to take some photos to document our waste of money.

spring break

2011-04-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

Melanie talked me into a quick little trip to the coast. I'm glad my 16 year old daughter doesn't mind hanging around with her mom. My "other" daughter, Rachel (sorry Cindi, but we kind of claim her, too) also went with us. Those two girls are CRAZY. Tuesday morning, we drove straight to the beach. We got there an hour later than we planned. A truck full of hay bales tipped over on the freeway and we were going about 4 mph for about an hour. (I know, bales of hay on the Los Angeles Freeway??) My aunt Vicki met us at the beach. If you ever are looking for a nice little beach in California, head to Seal Beach. There are some streets full of cute little shops just off the pier. The girls splashed in the water a bit (although it was too cold and windy for me to get wet), made the mandatory sand castle, collected some stinky sea shells, then we strolled around the shops then went out to dinner with Con and Vicki. It was a nice evening. Melanie said, "I didn't know Aunt Vicki was so funny and so cool!" The girls stayed up until who knows when braiding each other's hair. Quite interesting hairdos. Wednesday morning we got in the gates of Disneyland at 9:05 and bolted for the Indiana Jones ride, then on to the Jungle Cruise. That is still an awesome ride. Most of the pictures the girls took on that ride were taken of a man sitting across from us wearing a tank top who was obviously very proud of his back hair. I will spare you those photos. (You're welcome).Then we wandered around and went on several rides. Melanie insisted we explore Tom Sawyer's Island. She needed a picture of herself in the monkey cage of Casey Jr's Circus Train. Rachel discovered the "Fast Pass" system of taking pictures with the Disney Characters. Surprisingly we didn't deal with long lines for the most part - about 20 minutes for a couple of the big rides, and we used the fast pass system a couple of times. The longest lines of the day were for the Submarine ride and Peter Pan's Adventure. You'd think all three of us were too old for either one of those rides. But if you thought that, you would be wrong. I loved, loved, loved the submarine ride when I was in first grade. And what could be more magical than flying in a ship over Neverland. I've got to admit, neither ride had quite the same magic anymore, but we were determined to have a full and complete Disney experience. We split up for a chunk of the afternoon. I strolled along Main Street and did some window shopping and went to see "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" (funny thing, no lines to get into that program). There was air conditioning and comfortable seats for a while. That's when I realized I might be getting too old for Disneyland. But later in the evening, the girls were starting to wear out and I was still going strong, I was glad I had taken a little break from the roller coasters and had spent a little time resting in Lincolnland.During the evening's light and water show, we ran into our Stake President and his family. What a coincidence. At 11:30 p.m. we thought we could fit 2 more rides in. We went on the Matterhorn and Space Mountain. I forgot the Matterhorn was such a rough ride and it weirded out my stomach a little. Then Space Mountain about did me in. I had forgotten that I don't like that ride. The minute it started, I remembered how dark the whole ride was and the movement and the dark really did something to my innards. I couldn't shake the wooziness or nausea or whatever until about 2 a.m. Yuck. Goodbye Mickey -- it's been fun.

We started back to Arizona Thursday morning. We made a few necessary stops on the way home -- Brighton Jewelry at the Outlet Mall, Hadley's Orchards Market, and the infamous dinosaurs. Good Times.

It couldn't have been a better trip.

a pleasant sunday evening

2011-04-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Kyle. Enjoy your World's Largest Gummy Bear!

Grandpa's heading back to Idaho. It's been a fun month.

We'll miss you !!

Bryce

2011-04-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

I love Bryce Canyon. Isn't it gorgeous? I stopped on the way to Provo and hiked 2 miles into the park, then a 3 mile loop inside Bryce Canyon National Park then hiked 2 miles back to the car. I only saw about 4 groups of people all day. It was exhilarating having the place to myself. I was afraid it would be too snowy or slick for me to be able to get into the park, but although there was snow on the trail, it was traveled enough in recent days to be packed down and warm enough to be a bit slushy and not slick at all. I did run into some muddy spots though. Notice how sunny it was? It was so beautiful and sunny I was surprised by a late afternoon snow storm. I am such a desert rat, I wasn't very prepared for snow. Had it started an hour earlier, I would have been at a place far enough from the car that the trail would have been covered by snow and I would have been one of those unprepared people having to spend the night in the forest with a light coat on and a handful of sunflower seeds to survive on. I'd been on the trail before, and luckily it was a pretty straight trail out to the little town of Tropic where I parked my car. And luckily, the snow wasn't sticking and covering the path much. I began to think through the safety of my day though. I told Dave where I would be hiking before I left, but honestly except for hearing Bryce Canyon, I doubt he listened to the details of where I would be. So before I got out of the car, I left a detailed message on our home phone where I would be and what trails I would hike on all day. As it began to snow and I was still a 45 minute hike from the car, I thought through that great idea. I don't think there is one single person in our family besides me that has ever checked messages on our home phone. I'm not sure anyone even remembers how to retrieve messages. So basically I was on my own to trudge through the blizzard and hope to survive. Ok, a little dramatic, but I suppose I should plan more for my own safety in the future.

random thoughts on a roadtrip

2011-04-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

I dressed a little too casual for travelling. I stopped by Wal-Mart on my way out of town and I looked around and realized I pretty much fit in with the masses. Yikes.

Does anyone have a mathematical explanation for why 2 lanes of traffic traveling at 65 mph on the highway has to slow to 12 mph for a 3 mile stretch to merge into one lane. Slowing, yes. Slowing to a near stop, I don't get it.

When I'm at home in my office and near the phone, fax and computer, no one will return my calls. When I am driving across northern Arizona and can't access the computer or even a pen and paper, everyone calls me - clients, doctors, suppliers . . . everyone.

Despite the fact that I despise eating alone, Strombolli's Fine Italian Cuisine in Page serves a delicious pizza. Great leftovers for breakfast too.

I'm listening to an Audiobook, "Shantaram". It starts out dark, but has parts that had me laughing out loud. Sadly it downloaded onto my MP3 out of order (disc 1 chapter 1, disc 2 chapter 1, disc 3 chapter 1, etc) It has 10 minute chapters and I can't be distracted that often while driving to skip around to follow the chapter sequence. So I finally ended up listening to the beginning, the middle and the end alternately.

I wanted to get a cheap little hotel near Bryce Canyon. I think all the small towns in central Utah shut down during the off season. Ghost towns.

Cheapest motel ever - $35 including tax in Kanab. It was old, yes, but clean and surprisingly full of extra features - breakfast, internet, cable, microwave, refrigerator. I think I deserve a prize for finding that.

I am sad that the dinosaur at the entrance Moqui Cave is gone. I know it's been gone for years, but it's still sad.

There was a police apparently trying to slow traffic . . . I think. Flapping one arm up and down like a bird is the universal symbol for what??

10 hours of driving to stay in Provo for 38 hours and then 10 more hours of driving is too short of a trip. We're going again for a quick turn around trip in two weeks. I'm tired already.

this week's hikes

2011-03-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Flagstaff, AZ - Fatman's Loop Trail

Page, AZ - Lake Powell

Tropic, UT - Bryce Canyon

a whole bunch of cellos

2011-03-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is my friend, Janice.The photo was taken a little while ago when we were all just little girls in Winslow, Arizona, but Janice is still playing her cello and is still just as happy. I get to go see her this Saturday. She is putting on an awesome community event in Orem, Utah, "A Celebration of Cellos-My Cello Dream". What is so cool about it, is that she has dreamed of this event since high school and now (a few years later) it is actually happening. She put the whole event together. I have been excited about it since I first heard about it a year and a half ago. You can read about how it started here . Go ahead, click on the link and read about it. I'll wait . . . .

Isn't that a great idea? And isn't it cool that she is making a dream of hers happen? I've been telling my friends about it and someone asked - what does she do? does she work for a school? Nope, she just went out into the community and to the schools and gathered up some amazing talent and tapped into some great resourses for sound, lighting, photography etc. I'm excited for her. It seems to be all coming together with a lot of support all through the community.

I needed to get up to Utah this spring and I was hoping I could get there the same weekend as her concert. It all worked out and I get to attend. I'm taking my cousin's little daughter to the concert with me, I hope she will enjoy it too.

Janice had a radio interview recently which you can also hear here . There is a play button right under the photos. The first few minutes is similar to the story on her blog, then the interview goes through some awesome experiences of making this happen and the ups and downs of having a dream and making it a reality. It's an inspiring piece no matter what your dream is.

Way to go Janice - see you this weekend!

a great saturday

2011-03-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

I ended last Saturday realizing I had a great day.

Melanie and I headed out to the temple for a service project. It was our stake's turn to clean the temple grounds. That is one of the most pleasant assignments to join in on. It reminds me that I could do a little more to make my own yard pretty. Well, in all honesty, I don't do much with our yard, but it makes me wish I did.

After we finished a couple of hours of work there, Melanie got a ride home, and I drove farther east to the Apache Junction Tractor Show. I don't know how going to a Tractor Show added to an overall great day, but it was kind of fun. (Don't tell Dave that or he might get me a pair of overalls and want me to attend all of them.) I was expecting a small gathering, like a local club . . . but no. There were hundreds of people from far and wide displaying and driving their tractors and farm equipment and implements - old, new, rusty, restored, refitted, etc. Most of the interest was centered around the machinery that was perfectly restored, or the machines that were the most rusty. And there was also a lot of interest in the exceptionally large/tall machines and the cute little miniature ones.

I realized there was a dress code that I missed on the information flyer. Apparently you should wear suspenders or overalls. I'm not entirely sure the requirement would be to wear suspenders, or if it is just required to have a big tummy, thus needing suspenders. Either way, lots of big hefty suspenders. The women's requirement would be fanny packs. I showed up with neither. Next time I'll know.

I hope these didn't sell. I would hate to think there are men out there wearing John Deere tighty-whities.

But I did find that there are men willing to drive around sitting on a toilet selling drinks out of a bathtub.

I don't know what this was, but it was kind of like a Segway . . . balancing on 2 wheels as it drove around. Kind of cool.

It was a long way from nowhere so we were limited to the food for sale on site for lunch. We settled for a sausage on a bun loaded with onions, saurkraut and mustard. You need a plate and a table for food like that. Our food was wrapped in a napkin and we were eating out of the palms of our hands. All three of us had mustard stains down the front of our shirts at the end of lunch. But it was delicious. Dave had two of his tractors out there and he and his dad drove them in the parade. (Yes, there was a tractor parade - awesome!)

Then back at home, I had been dreading some yardwork that needed to be done in our backyard. But I realized today that I simply don't have the right tools to make it an easier job. I stopped and got a few hand tools and then enjoyed the cool afternoon temperatures and worked until after dark and the garden is starting to look lovely again. I can't imagine why these delicate little flowers survived the freezing temperatures last month, but this big hearty bush died through and through. Go figure.

It was such a good backdrop for photos of our girls and their boys . . . we don't have many good photo backgrounds in our yard. I hate to lose a good one. I've got to get something planted again right away.

The only thing that went wrong today is that I accidentally gave away all our irrigation water. I didn't read the schedule correctly and my neighbor a couple doors down got a nice yard full of water that she didn't order. Dave had the garden all tilled and leveled waiting for a deep watering from the irrigation today. Oops.

I spent the late evening printing up a quick reminder flyer for some activities in RS and got to bed before midnight.

It was a busy day, but I went to bed happy. Life is good.

probably t.m.i.

2011-03-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

I was told the other day that my liver wasn't working quite right. I was questioned about alcohol consumption on the night before my blood work was done. I had to tell them I have no good stories to tell because I don't drink. Before the week was over, I was asked 3 more times about my drinking habits. I finally said - can you make a note in my medical file that I don't drink? Never have. Not ever. Not even once. She laughed and made a note on my file. The next day someone asked me if I drank any alcohol before my blood work was done. I asked, would you mind getting a highlighter and circling the note on my file about the fact that I have never touched alcohol in all of my living days? (is that so unusual?)

Anyway, I had to go get an ultrasound done so they could get a few snapshots of my insides. I was told to go fasting, but to drink 32 oz of water one hour before the test. I learned something about myself. I don't have a 32 oz bladder. I was kept in the waiting room for an additional 10 minutes and by the time the ultrasound started I had to have a conversation with the cute young ultrasound technician that we were about to have a medical emergency on our hands (well, maybe not a medical emergency, but a very real emergency nonetheless). He promised he would hurry. My definition of hurrying would be to quickly get the work done. His definition of hurrying entailed pressing directly on my bladder for extended periods of time. I don't think I have ever been in such a precarious predicament in all my adult life. He finally let me take a bathroom break before he inspected the rest of my innards. I had to ask him "when you were in grade school, did you ever dream that one day you would look at people's spleens?" He laughed and admitted that it never crossed his mind.

Apparently my spleen is in excellent condition. He said my liver looked fine too. That's good to know.

last saturday

2011-02-14T18:36:00.000-08:00

Our stake RS had a great service event last week. There were 101 choices of service projects to sit down and work on, big and small and at all levels of talents and interest. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I still get uncomfortable in big crowds. I used to hate to go to events that were crowded, wedding receptions, big parties etc. It doesn't bother me so much anymore, but I still find I feel more comfortable finding a spot with a few friends and staying put rather than milling around. Someday I should try to get over that. We spent a couple hours coloring alphabet books. Very theraputic.
Sadly, every time I saw the poster advertising the event, I read it to say "Our Hands ate His Hands".After the service project, Suzanne and I had planned a hike back out in the Cave Creek area. I invited a few other women at the last minute, but no takers. Probably for the best since it wasn't one of our best navigational trips.The creek was pleasant, the views were gorgeous, and the weather was perfect. We headed off on a trail that was about a 6 mile loop, we were hoping for about a 3 hour hike. The first third was a wide horse path, easy and smooth. The 2nd third was significantly more primitive. It narrowed and seemed to go uphill for longer than I cared for and very rocky and uneven, but again . . . great views, very green and pleasant for a wintery February day.
Our friend Jet and his dog Scooter was with us. He was a ways ahead of us and Suzanne and I took a wrong turn and headed up into a ravine for a ways. Well, in actuality, Suzanne didn't take a wrong turn. I did, and she dutifully followed. We probably spent an extra 15 minutes before we got back on the right trail. Clearly we weren't the only one to have done that. It was a well traveled mistaken path. Anyway, we found our way and found Jet waiting for us a ways down the trail. We then found a spring that was shown on the map. We know we are half way around the loop and we know we are still on the right trail. But we were so focused on seeing the spring, we missed the sharp turn a few feet before the spring and somehow we all lose the trail again. We wandered farther than we should have when we realized we were off the beaten path. We knew we had to be parallel to where the trail was but just couldn't see it. We talked about going forward until we found it again, but Scooter got into some cactus, my arm got scratched and was bleeding, Suzanne slips and takes a bit of a fall and we realized we've got to go back to the spring and find out where we went wrong. It was surprisingly hard to even backtrack our path and find the spring again. For a few minutes I was starting to wonder if we were needing to worry about our time frame and if it would be getting dark before we got back to the car. We certainly didn't want to be on a narrow, primitive path in a remote area as it was getting dark. We finally found the spring, found where we went wrong, and went the rest of the distance with no further problems. It was still a very rocky and uneven path, so we weren't moving terribly fast, but we were steadily getting back to civilization. Suzanne kept humming the theme from Gilligan's Island, about how they set off for a "three hour tour". It was getting dusky, but we finished the loop in 4 hours and got back before dark. And it had been a great afternoon after all. I don't think Jet ever wants to go back, but I think it was a learning curve for us and I would try it again. It's a pretty area....and all's well that ends well. This little rock marker looks like it had been added to be every hiker that passed. There were a couple of visitors in the parking lot when we got back. Scooter wanted to be a little more friendly than the three of us. I wished my camera snapped faster, they were nose to nose a second earlier.

does something look out of place in this picture?

2011-01-27T20:44:00.001-08:00

There's water in the desert. Weird huh? I found out that Cave Creek got its name because there's actually a creek out there. Who knew?It was a pleasant morning. And now that we know where Spur Cross Conservation Area is we have plans to go back and explore some more trails. Suzanne is even trying to talk me into going horseback riding out there. We'll see.

lake havasu city

2011-01-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

Dave and I decided to take a quick trip over to Lake Havasu City to see the Hot Air Balloon Festival. We aren't the best at trip planning apparently. We got caught up with business issues Friday morning and left town 3 hours late so we missed the opening, the sky divers etc. We got into town late afternoon. Our GPS was broken, we didn't mapquest anything and Lake Havasu is a bigger city than I thought. We had to call the hotel to get direction and the hotel employee spoke a dialect of English that I did not recognize so we wandered around for a bit. We finally found the hotel, dumped our bags in the room then went to find a restaurant and wandered for a bit to find that too. We had a nice dinner, but we took a little too long before we left for the Festival. The event info suggested bringing a flashlight as the parking would be at an off site location with no lights. I did pack a flashlight, but left it at the hotel, so we tripped and slipped trying to get out of the parking area in the dark. Our hats and gloves were in our suitcase at the hotel too and it was nippy out. So then after a little hike from the parking lot, we arrived for the Balloon Night Glow event. Here is a picture of what we would have seen had we arrived on time. But instead we were told "Oh yeah, they were all lit up a while ago and were so pretty". Although the event was supposed to go until 9 pm, many of the vendors were shutting down so we rode on the Ferris Wheel and called it a night. Oh, and Dave spotted some antique tractors on display. He is a tractor magnet -- did you ever have any idea that tractors are displayed in so many places? I didn't. He even found an Allis Chalmers just like his.We booked a very inexpensive hotel room. Although it had some nice amenities, the one thing it didn't have was a decent bed. The mattress had the same amount of spring and cushion as the floor. We both had hip and neck kinks by morning.

We vowed to make Saturday a little better. We got up bright and early, stopped by the front office of the hotel for the free continental breakfast which consisted of coffee, pre-packed danishes, a loaf of white bread and a toaster, and packages of craisins. We filled up on craisins and off we went. We arrived on time to see the flag raising ceremony. The first balloon took up a huge flag with the National Anthem playing. Cool. Then there was a mass ascension - balloons going up every few minutes. Cool.There were some old cars displayed. I was enjoying the colors and shapes. I think Dave was enjoying the engines.
After we had our fill of festival events we went over to see the famous London Bridge, had some lunch and headed home. It was a poorly planned yet fun little get-away.

a fun snow day . . . except for the part where we almost died.

2011-01-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

We always think we are going to go play in the snow each winter. Then we let our calendar get in the way. We'll go when we have a "free" Saturday sometime. (What family ever has a free Saturday??) So this year we just put it on the calendar and hoped there would be snow. We collected the kids, a couple of their friends and headed up toward the Heber and Forest Lakes area. We got off the highway and saw some awesome spots to go sledding, but we also saw that the cars that stopped to play were being ticketed, so we drove on looking for our own cozy spot. We were driving along a dirt logging road looking for a place. The road started curving back and forth into a valley (note - there were death defying drops at the side of the road) but had some potential for some good places to play if we got to the bottom. Then 5 minutes later the car just starts skidding BADLY like we were on ice. Fortunately we had been slowing at the bottom of the hill and we just went "DOINK" gently into a snow bank. We couldn't back up and so we got out and couldn't figure out why we had skid. There was no ice on that area of the road. Then we noticed the two front tires were pointing in completely different directions. Whatever it is that holds the steering mechanism in place was unattached, broken, bent and protruding in places where it's not supposed to be protruding. The steering broke! Have you ever heard of the steering of a car suddenly breaking?? Minutes earlier we were driving 25 miles an hour around narrow curves of a mountainous cliff. (ok, I don't know how fast we were driving, but we were going around scary curves on a logging road with scary drop offs that I would describe as death defying, perhaps.)Anyway - a couple of pickup trucks full of boy scouts stopped and loaned us some tools, Dave figured out how to 'band-aid' fix it to drive it back up the hill to civilization, then my parents came and put the van on their trailer and hauled it to Heber for us, not exactly how they planned to spend their Saturday, but THANK YOU ! Dave got to the store, bought a couple of parts and fixed it in about 10 minutes. He truly is SuperDave. If I had been dealing with a problem like that, it would have been a 3 day ordeal getting the car into a repair shop and getting back to the valley. Dave saved the day. We definitely were being watched over. (Thanks for that little blessing)

But the fact that we could have died did not stop us from having a little fun in the snow. (Jennifer, I stole some of your photos. Most of yours were better than most of mine.)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

P.S. On an unrelated, but important note . . . Rachel's boyfriend, Kyle, just got his mission call today. He's going to the Domincan Republic. YAY !

melanie-isms

2011-01-08T19:48:00.001-08:00

"I wish you could breath through your ears to clean them out."

"I don't stutter and I have excellent vocabulary. I use my verbolity very well."

Dave, eating an angel food cake: "This cake is very spongy"
Melanie: "I feel like I'm eating Sponge Bob".

"Whew! I almost had a heart attack. Seriously, my heart almost attacked!"

Rachel: "What are you doing, child?"
Melanie: "I'm beat-boxing and humming at the same time."
Rachel: "It doesn't sound like you're beat-boxing, it sounds like you're from Africa."
Mom: "And it sounds like you're humming a Jewish song."
Melanie: "Hey, it's the best I can do."

Melanie: "We're leaving to go buy a light bulb for my Easy Bake Oven.
Rachel: "One of my piano students got an Easy Bake for Christmas. I told her 'My sister got one for Christmas too, but she's 10 years older than you'."
Melanie: "I'll bet I'm 10 times more excited than she is!"

"We're not making cookies. We're making Cookie."

52 weeks ago . . .

2011-01-03T12:24:00.001-08:00

This week is the one year mark of Brady's mission. One year ago this week, we were sobbing on the curb of the MTC as he happily left on his adventure. And he's had quite an adventure. His weekly letters are posted at www.twoyearsinillinois.blogspot.com . If you'd like to leave a quick hello to help him celebrate the halfway point of his mission, please leave a comment here, or on his blog, or e-mail me, or leave a message on my facebook, or his facebook. I'll forward all your well wishes to him this week.
THANKS!! -- Cynthia

a peek at 2010

2010-12-29T21:26:00.001-08:00

Our year in 10 photos:

We started out year sending Brady off to Iowa. Can you believe he's already at the halfway point of his mission? Turns out he is a tremendous missionary. We love him and miss him.

We've continued our family tradition of continuously re-building our 60 year old house. This was the year of the attic. We have a very usable walk-in space now with new dormers and windows to add light to the room.Dave and I reached our 25th wedding anniversary this summer. We celebrated in Europe! Three weeks, six countries.

We are glad to live near family and have many opportunities to see them and celebrate family events with them. The best thing about this picture is my nephew Ben in the background. He is definitely related. There is no such thing as a serious picture with this group. (Garry, Lauri, Me and Curtis)

I had a rare opportunity to take a road trip all by myself for a few days. I drove to Utah and visited family, high school and college friends, and got a chance to do a little hiking. Roxanne bought a house this year. Although I don't have an adequate picture of her and her house, this picture of yard work is indicative of being a new home owner.

There were a WHOLE lot of boys hanging around our house this year!Dave and I were the "Ma" and "Pa" on a Pioneer Trek with our stake this summer. (Melanie went too, but was assigned to a different family.) Many hours were spent making aprons and bonnets. We spent 3 fun-filled days with these kids in the rain and mud.

Dave continues to enjoy his tractors. He built and entered a float in the Electric Light Parade in Phoenix again this year. Although it is lighted to look like a train, there is a 60 year old antique tractor there, pulling the float. Our family has lost a combined total of 220 pounds over the past 3 years. We all feel stronger and healthier. Everyone contributed to that number except Roxanne who continuously stays thin and petite.

(It was hard to take a family photo this year without Brady)

As the year closes, we find that we still like each other and are so blessed to be surrounded by wonderful and supportive friends and family.

south mountain

2010-12-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite hikes (and two of my favorite people).

discrepancies

2010-12-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

Suzanne and I headed out to the McDowell Mountains the other day. We'd never been out there before so we just picked a random loop trail on the map and off we went. It was a perfect hike for us. Before we ended our little adventure out there though, I found I was getting ticked at a few discrepancies I noticed. Scottsdale isn't terribly far away. This mountain preserve is only about 30 minutes from our house. You can easily see the McDowell Mountains from the Phoenix Mountains, and vice versa. So I'm not talking about a land far, far away. This is just the next mountain range over. Yet . . . somehow the good people of Scottsdale are being provided certain amenities above and beyond what the people of Phoenix get.

First of all, the view of the valley was better than any view I've ever seen hiking around Phoenix. (Ok, Scottsdale doesn't actually "provide" a better view, it's just that it had rained all night and there was no smog anywhere in the valley that morning. It's rare to see clear across the valley with no smog in sight.)

There is a doggie water fountain. (We didn't actually have dogs with us, but if we did . . . they could totally enjoy the water fountain.)

The trails have crisp clean edges, smooth, level . . . practically paved!

If you should get lost or hurt, there is an emergency marker to guide you and find your place on the map.

The buildings are architectually pleasing. There are 3D topographical maps of the mountain ranges. There is plenty of parking. Even the trash cans are styled and designed.

But this is what REALLY bugs me. The bathrooms have mirrors. There is soap at the sinks. And there are doors on the bathroom stalls. DOORS !!!!

Why would this seem unusual?? Because down the street at the Phoenix Mountain Park where I hike, this is what the bathrooms look like:No doors. (And yes, that is a padlock on the toilet paper.)
The trail markers have a sort of arrow shape painted on the posts. Many of them are faded beyond recognition.

And these are the fancy Phoenix trash cans you see around the park. Don't they just blend in? (and there's a mangy cactus under the picnic table)

BUT . . . all was redeemed the next day. Up on a mountain, just after sunrise, looking toward Camelback Mountain in PHOENIX. . . . was this stunning view:

Breathtaking, I tell you!
(Scottsdale has nothing on us after all!)

conversations at christmas

2010-12-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

Random comments heard around our house on Christmas:

Billy: "Does it concern you that your daughters can break into houses in multiple ways, but don't know how to hem a pair of pants?"

Rachel: "My boyfriend has some mad balloon animal making skills!"

Billy's skills, not so much:"I made a tadpole!"

On my package: "The most lovely lady on the block. The one and only beautiful Hott Mama"

To Rachel, a Gift card to Barnes and Noble:

Roxanne: "I couldn't find the book you wanted, so I got you a gift card."

Billy: "I fell asleep at that Barnes and Noble so I hope the card means something special to you."

Gift tag from Melanie: To Kyle the Tile "I tried to make it sound cool, but nothing really rhymes with Kyle" His gift, a remote control police car: "I'm going to pull someone over with this!"

Melanie's favorite gift, a Bedazzler: "I have been dreaming about this FOREVER! I'm going to bedazzle everything !" Everyone else: "You can bedazzle your easy bake oven!" "Nobody leave your shoes out!" "I'm afraid to go to sleep now!"

New bag of Potpourri: "You know how our bowl of potpourri is dusty? Now we have a new scent. We can bedazzle it. It will be pretty and smell good"

Roxanne: "Billy knows just what I like." Billy: "That's because I told her - here is $20, walk around the mall and if you find something, buy it."

Dave gave the girls some HUGE illustrated storybooks. Melanie: "Roxanne, now you can be a 2nd grade teacher!"

Melanie, opening a video: "I've never seen the Three Stooges. I think this will finish up my education!"

Dave gave Rachel a gift that included a LONG letter listing all the reasons he loves her, which included: "I love you because you know what a groove reducing coupling is."

(It was a box that scrolled out a long letter, (a LONG letter) then scrolled out into a string of money-all $2 bills)

Dave got everyone wooden 3D puzzles.

Melanie: "I got a wasp, no . . . a cicada."

Roxanne: "What's a cicada?"

Melanie: "It's those bugs you don't want to see floating in your pool."

Rachel: "Mine's the best, I got the Eagle."
Cynthia: "It says for ages 6+, so there's a bit of a buffer there."

Billy: "My dinosaur will eat your motorcycle"

Kyle: "But my motorcycle is cross country so it will chase your dinosaur."

Billy: "But your motorcycle will need some fuel sometime and my dinosaur will be waiting at the gas station."

Billy, opening a Charger's t-shirt from Roxanne: "Now we can go to the Charger's games in style . . . well, once Roxy buys us both some Chargers tickets."

Melanie got some barbie clothes and stuffed them with money for Rachel to get a new outfit. Imagining taking these to the store with her: "I know you don't take checks, but do you accept "doll"ars?"

We ended the day with a messy house, our bellies full of Christmas goodness and a lot of this silliness:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

the facts of christmas

2010-12-25T12:38:00.001-08:00

FACT #1
There still has to be a letter to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, even though the youngest person in the house is 16 years old.

"Dear Santa,
Please help yourself to our plethora of treats. They are all most divine and filling. Mrs. Clause might even be jealous of our dessert skillz.
I believe the Hale unit has been 100% good this year so no coal would be necessary.
I hope you travel safe tonight and stay warm. . . Get Brady something RAD! He deserves the best !!
--Melanie, Roxanne, Billy, Rachel and Kyle

FACT #2
There were a lot of children's gifts/toys/movies given around here even though the youngest person in the house is 16 years old.

FACT #3
Dave enjoyed shopping so much this year, there were many presents under the tree for him. (yes, that means from Dave, to Dave)

FACT #4
I am glad that there is a lot of candy and holiday food available to snack on all day long. I am glad no one is truly hungry. I forgot to put the meat in the crockpot and our main dish for dinner this afternoon is not going to happen. We will subsist on Muddy Buddies, Divinity, Sugar Cookies and Eggnog.

FACT #5
I didn't get enough sleep last night. A nap is definitely in order this afternoon.

FACT #6
Forty Five minutes is NOT enough time to visit with our favorite missionary who we haven't seen for 353 days.

Saturday

2010-12-23T23:37:00.000-08:00

The day started with some dramatic lights as the sun came up in the nearby hills.

My little phone camera made it look just a wee bit more dramatic than it really was, but it was a nice sunrise nonetheless and a great early morning hike. Then the day ended with some dramatic lighting of a different kind. We spent the evening out at the temple. Not only a great evening of lights, but Dave's chorus sang for the evening performance. It was an awesome performance, so good in fact that I was so enthralled with the music I didn't get my camera out the rest of the evening . . . until we were leaving and I snapped a couple of blurry pictures of the lights, but no pictures of my husband. Just know that he was dashingly handsome, and performed wonderfully. Everyone loved them and they've already been invited to come back and perform again next year. Yeah, they're that good.

fa la la la la, la la la la

2010-12-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of December, and the leaves are finally turning colors of yellow and gold. Autumn has arrived in Arizona. And we all know what that means . . . IT'S TIME TO GO CHRISTMAS CAROLING with the family !!
And now for your viewing pleasure, here is our family's skit for the ward party which involved a dramatic reading and a dancing present. Don't ask what the point of it was. There was no point, except that Melanie wanted to dress as a present.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

just random stuff

2010-12-05T21:57:00.000-08:00

Apparently it was Lexi's birthday today. There was a big white board in our living room today with this message on it. Melanie said she remembered about it yesterday, but didn't want to write anything about it until today because she didn't want Lexi to read it and spoil the surprise.

Lexi didn't seem to be too excited about the birthday wishes.

Other stuff going on around here -- we had a lovely Thanksgiving. Our group was small. We are missing Brady during the holidays this year. It is the first time our family won't be intact through the holidays. Not only were we missing Brady, but Rachel drove up to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend. She had a great weekend, but it made me very nervous for her to be on the roads with so many storms blowing through. Fortunately, she had no problems in traveling. Roxanne's boyfriend spent the day with us and we invited a couple of families over later in the day to have pie and we sat out by the fire pit for the evening.

Brady got transferred last week. He didn't know where he was being sent when he last e-mailed us, so it has been making me anxious not knowing where he is living for a few days. He could be in Iowa, Illinois or Missouri tonight. I don't know why that makes me unsettled. I'll hear from him tomorrow morning and then I'll feel better. We get to talk to him in less than 3 weeks YAY!

I am still surprised that people pay us to paint this silliness on their store windows. Shannon and I realized that we've been doing this for 17 years. It is our guilt-free Christmas spending money. Most clients ask us to stay away from anything other than the generic "Season's Greetings". So it is surprising to have someone ask us to paint "Peace on Earth" and for the 2nd time in 17 years, we painted a nativity scene.

Melanie tried out for soccer this year and is on the varsity team. Games start this week. It will be fun to see how she does. This is her first go at team sports.

Dave made a float for the annual Electric Light Parade here in Phoenix. It's a fun event and he loves the whole process - designing, building, painting, driving, waving to his fans etc. He and his brothers used to make floats for the parades in his hometown so this is something that ties to his family and hometown memories. And if Dave is not busy enough, his chorus Spirit of Phoenix has 3 big performances coming up. One of the performances is out at the Temple Lights in Mesa later this month. They are really, really good.In more embarrassing family doings (embarrassing to me, but apparently not to anyone else), Melanie participated in a self-imposed event called "No Shave November". There didn't seem to be a purpose, but she was glad for the morning of December 1st to come.

Dave did a major smash up job on his fingers at work recently and had two very black fingernails. He told Melanie he didn't want his fingernails to look so ugly so he talked her into painting his two fingernails. (Ugly? or Goofy? what's worse, I don't know.)

We've had a wonderfully quiet Sunday afternoon. On days like this, I sure see the wisdom of the Sabbath being a day of rest. The last six days have been over-scheduled and stressful for everyone in this house. I will be glad for the semester to end. Rachel has a split personality -- her "I'm so stressed out, will graduation never come???" personality, and her "Winter break, Spring break and Summer break" personality. It is surprising what is required in the upper level classes at the University. It is almost not humanly possible for her to get everything done and keep up with work too. If she can survive 8 more days, we will see her calm and delightful personality return.

It's nearly midnight and the craziness of another week begins in about 6 hours. I'd better get to bed.

missionary monday

2010-11-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

Some excerpts from some recent e-mails from Brady:

Before I go on too far, I need to tell you that I shook the hand of an apostle on Saturday!! Elder Nelson came to stake conference here in the area, but on Saturday there was that World Wide Leadership broadcast. President Jergensen wanted all of the district leaders in the area to go to it, so we traveled to Ames. He was there, so after the broadcast Elder Noel fullbacked his way to the front of the chapel, while I was the running back behind him. We hit the gap between the elderly and hurtled our way over a wheelchair, only to put a spin move on bishop, (you know how crowed a chapel can be after a long meeting, every one has to mingle). We finally made our way over to him and we both were able to shake his hand!

The Trunk-or-Treat was really fun and I got some pictures of that stuff and my costume. I forgot to tell you that a couple of weeks before the Trunk-or-Treat, the Primary had a activity and they invited the missionaries to come teach them about how to talk to their friends about the gospel. So we went and taught them then we practiced how to do it. At the end of the activity I promised the kids that if they would bring a friend to the Trunk-or-Treat the missionaries would have a prize for them. Then this little girl runs up to me and she said "I don't want candy, I want a cantaloupe!" I was like OK, what ever you want, you just have to bring a friend. So Friday comes around and she comes running up to me right at the start of the Trunk-or-Treat and says "where is my cantaloupe? I brought my cousin and she doesn't go to church!" I was like, oh boy she really did it. So at church on Sunday I brought that little girl a cantaloupe, every one thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen.

I want to thank you for the information about Jonathan H. Hale and Elijah Thomas. When we went to Winter Quarters, we were able to go on a tour of the visitors center. After we went through the temple, as we started the tour, the sister missionary started going on about how much the saints struggled and the pain and suffering that they had to bear. She then compared that struggle to the struggle of missionaries today then compared it to our own missionary struggle. Then the sister missionary took us over to the "look out" where it overlooked the temple and the graves. She then asked us why we were on a mission I got a little choked up, just a little bit, then told a small portion of my conversion and how I had got there. We then went on through the whole tour and still having our missionary struggle compared to the saints' struggles. And then you sent the stories of our families and what sacrifices they had gone through to build God's kingdom once again. It was truly amazing to realize that I am serving in the same area where my family served, still building God's kingdom. I put those stories right next to my patriarchal blessing in my mission folder.

playing hooky

2010-11-16T08:59:00.000-08:00

Suzanne was on vacation last week and enticed me away from my desk for a couple of days to go play with her. We put in a lot of miles and traveled around the state.

On Wednesday, we drove down to Tucson and visited the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum . I'm not sure why is is called a "museum", it is actually a cross between the botanical gardens and a zoo. It was a pleasant walk through, and where else would you see a bunch of Javelinas?

There were also big horn sheep, a bear, wolves, coyotes, ocelots, snakes, racoons etc. Suzanne has some cool pictures of our day here . We also enjoyed sitting in the hummingbird aviary.

After the museum, we went to the Saguaro National Park. We asked a park ranger to suggest a hiking trail and told him we had 2 to 3 hours. He gave us an idea and we set out. We had some absolutely breathtaking views, but only after a relentless uphill hike for over an hour straight. I don't mind uphill, but I would much prefer some ups and some downs.

I saw this book in the park's visitor center. "Lizards of the American Southwest, a Photographic Field Guide". Here's the thing - it is over 500 PAGES LONG !!!!Anyway, fun day. Favorite quote of the day from Suzanne: "Hummingbirds have so much energy. They are the Chihuahuas of the Bird World!"

The next day, we took off early in the morning again and drove north. We got to the Grand Canyon by 10 a.m. and bundled up against the cold and headed out to explore a little bit. We went into the visitor's center to look at the maps and decide where we wanted to go. We headed out to the nearest overlook and started snapping pictures. We basically spent the whole day doing this:

We took the rim trail which goes, obviously, right along the rim. So we walked for hours with breathtaking views right at our side.

I have to post this picture, because Suzanne bought the most awesome lizard shirt. Isn't it cool?
At the end of the day, we added up the sections of trail we walked and calculated about 4.5 miles. I would have guessed more, but still not a bad day for exercise. All in all, she and I walked about 25 miles in the last 6 days.

Favorite Suzanne quote of the day: In the Visitor's Center before we started out: "Now we need to find the rim trail. I'm pretty sure it's not in here, let's go outside."

a little walk around town

2010-11-06T22:02:00.001-07:00

Suzanne planned a little walk across town today. Clear across town! South Mountain to North Mountain (15 1/2 miles). We've done this once before, but Melanie had a little injury before we finished so we thought we'd try it again for her benefit. We all made it the whole way today with no notable injuries. We started down at South Mountain at 7am, and started walking north down Central Avenue. We walked and walked and walked and walked, well . . . you get the idea. We started off with myself, Melanie, Suzanne and her friend Jet (well our friend Jet. You can't spend 15 miles together and not be friends at the end of the day). Then at lunch, we met up with Penny and Nicki and they walked with us the last 4 or 5 miles. Here is a picture of what we saw most of the day - you can see Melanie and Jet just ahead of us. Then in the next picture they're WAY down the road. Their pace was a bit quicker than ours. I'm glad they enjoyed each other's company because every time we started off together, they were 10 yards ahead of Suzanne and I in about 30 seconds.

I wish we would have taken some pictures of our lunch. We stopped at Postino's, just north of Camelback. I'd never been there before. Melanie and I shared a plate of bruschetta. Delicious and photo worthy!

Finally, we could see North Mountain as we got near Dunlap. We could see the "S" on the Mountain near Sunnyslope HS, and North Mountain is right behind it. We realized we were going to make it after all. We walked from 7am until just after 2pm, which includes a few little stops to rest and a leisurely lunch hour. The weather was great - just a little too warm right at the end, but mostly perfect. Melanie got home, cleaned up and bounded out the door to go barbeque-ing with some friends. I, on the other hand, landed in a comfortable chair and rested my tired feet for a while. A long while. Actually, I'm still resting them.

october

2010-10-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a stressful couple of weeks -- business deadlines, business problems, business paperwork, long workdays, etc. But I looked at how many times I got out my camera this week and I realized we had a little bit of fun, too.
Last Sunday, the weather was perfect, the winter lawn is up, and we enjoyed a long leisurely dinner in the back yard AND it was Rachel's birthday. Happy Birthday favorite daughter!! (Don't tell your sisters I said that.)Monday gave us one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. The horizon was blood red for about 15 minutes. The picture doesn't do it justice. Saturday was the trunk-or-treat party. I wore a costume for the first time in about 15 years. Then when we got to the party, I found my twin.Isn't this the funniest game for kids? Throwing rolls of toilet paper into a toilet. I thought it was funny.Melanie's Young Womens group did the haunted house. It was over-the-top and awesome! They worked on it forever and worked in it all night.
We missed seeing Roxanne on Halloween. She was having her own festivities across town.
The three musketeers headed off to a party across town and as usual had a great time and stayed out way too late.So, I am going to ignore the stress of this past week, and just pretend it was a pleasant week after all.

chiricahua mountains

2010-10-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this is Arizona??

Suzanne invited me to go hiking with her in the Chiricahua Mountains on Friday. I was completely unfamiliar with the area, but Suzanne always plans such great trips, I just said yes, cleared my day and planned to hop in her car and go where ever she was going. I actually had to look on a map Thursday night to see really where we were heading. The Chiricahuas are situated down in the southeast corner of Arizona, almost a 4 hour drive from Phoenix. We headed out at 5 am, hiked for almost 6 hours, stopped for dinner in Willcox and back home before bedtime.

I guess I was expecting a desert hike, but I was wrong. It was high elevation and beautiful pleasant temperatures. The scenery was gorgeous, you could see for miles.

Doesn't it look a lot like Bryce Canyon up in Utah . . . only grey instead of red?

crazy arizona weather

2010-10-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is the corner of 7th Street and Mountain View. North Mountain stands right on the other side of this intersection. I suppose it is still there, but I sure couldn't see it this afternoon. I made some new friends though, when we were all stuck in the lobby of the Post Office. The rain and hail started up so quickly and so violently, nobody wanted to go out the door, so we stood and watched the crazy storm for 10 minutes or so. One couple had walked from their apartment down the block. They waited out the storm, then left when they thought the worst of it was over. The minute they got to the sidewalk, a truck drove by and the splash of rain water from the gutter that hit them could have been on "America's Funniest Home Videos". It wasn't really funny, but the splash was huge, and their screams were classic. I couldn't not laugh. Mostly because I was glad it wasn't me. The rain stopped quickly, but the sky looked ominous all afternoon. For some reason, Melanie decided it was a day to play outside -- soaked through and through in less than 3 minutes.
Our plumbing trench that we filled in over the weekend sunk in from the water and we have a little lazy river water feature across our backyard today. The weirdest event of the day was that something brushed against the back of my head while I was fixing dinner. I thought Dave had tossed a towel or something at me. I turned around and there was a frightened bird flying around our kitchen. Then suddenly there was not just a frightened bird, but a frightened family too. What exactly are you supposed to do when a bird is flying around your kitchen? We had the doors open to enjoy the cool stormy air and I guess the bird wanted to escape the storm. Surprisingly, Melanie caught it quite easily on the windowsill and was able to get it outdoors. She wanted a picture, but it jumped out of her hand before the shutter would snap.

the lawn is always greener . . .

2010-10-02T22:25:00.000-07:00

Some people have problems with their kitchen sink drains, so they call a plumber, write a check and go on with their lives. We have a problem with our kitchen drain and we spend a weekend doing this.

We have been having problems with our drain - the water from our kitchen sink goes through some piping directly under the center of our house. There is no basement, no crawl space, our house is built directly on a big slab of concrete so there is no access to repair anything under it. After having problems for years, the original 1948 drain pipe finally broke and we had no alternative than to run a new drain line from the kitchen wall, under the driveway, around the side of the house, across the entire back yard and hook into the sewer line. Yay!!

Actually, the pipe broke a couple of months ago, but we simply didn't have the time or energy to fix it right at the moment. So Dave, being the ingenious man that he is, took one of his fire hoses, hooked it to the drain line outside our kitchen wall, and ran it out to the flower bed in the back yard so our sink would drain until we could get to the repair. Wouldn't you think that a little oatmeal rinsed from a bowl down the sink, or maybe a little tomato soup or whatnot that gets rinsed off our dishes would be good for a garden? It's just water from the kitchen sink. Shouldn't be too bad, right? If that is what you think, you would be wrong. We we ended up with an unexpected toxic situation with a smell that defies explanation. I don't know what happens to oatmeal when it travels 60 feet through a hose, but it comes out NASTY! We lost a handful of plants in our garden, and we have a mud pit that no one can go near for the smell. I may have to let nature run it's course and do what it has to do for a couple of weeks while it dries out before I can weed the area and replant it and get it back to normal.

Dave came in at the end of the day exhausted, dehydrated, and sore. But I have some photographic evidence that he pulled a little "Tom Sawyer" trickery on Melanie. "Really, Melanie . . . it's FUN! Just come try it!" (Actually it was a cool little machine, we probably could have got many kids from the neighborhood to come do some of the digging if we had thought it through better.)

Don't think for one second that if you show up to our house on a workday afternoon wearing a shirt and tie, that you will be excused from ditch digging duty. (Sorry Missionaries - glad to have you come to lunch, but I should have warned to to wear your work shoes)

Or if you are a teenager and coming to our house to hang out with our kids, nope . . . you are not excused either.

So what used to be a nice green lawn yesterday morning, is now not so nice or green today. But hey, -- I should show you a picture of how nicely our kitchen sink drains now!

aravaipa

2010-10-02T22:14:00.001-07:00

Suzanne and I have been hiking in the Aravaipa area a couple of times before. It's a gorgeous canyon southeast of Superior. We went with a larger group this time, a really fun day.

We saw a little bit of wildlife, most of which zipped into the brush faster than we could get our cameras pointed. We saw a javelina, frogs, a snake (which I will not post a picture of for Katie's sake), butterflies galore, fish, tent catepillars (hundreds of catepillars in a nest-like thing in a tree), and a coatamundi - which I honestly thought Suzanne made that name up. How do you have a name like that on the tip of your tongue when you see an animal dash quickly by in the distance?? (I actually did look up the name when I got home, and what do you know, it's a real animal! although we have had some discussions as to whether that is what we actually saw, or maybe something even more rare/exotic). Anyway, we also saw a centepede. The perspective of this photo doesn't really show how big it is -- but it's crawling on the stick and it was a good 8 inches long! Melanie was like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. Her bedazzled headband was our beacon if anyone got lost.It is such a pretty canyon. There has been some discussion of a trip next spring - hiking all the way through to the other end of the canyon -- 11 miles. That would be cool.

a very big band-aid

2010-09-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

I went to surgery this morning with a growth this size: And came out with a bandage this size:

Overkill you think?

roadtrip

2010-09-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

I went on a road trip up to Utah last week. I was going up to see my nephew and help my sister. But along the way, I planned a few little side trips. It would drive Dave crazy to leave Phoenix and already be stopping by the time we got to Flagstaff. When he gets in the car he wants to go go go as far as he can before he stops. Since I was on my own, I stopped all along the way. I hiked for about 1 1/2 hours on Sandy's Canyon Trail near Flagstaff.
I spent the next morning in Bryce Canyon. Suzanne gave me some info to hike into the park from the back roads -- no Park Entrance fees, no buses, crowds or tourists to battle, yay! So I hiked in from the town of Tropic and then toured around the Navajo Trail Loop and back out. It was gorgeous. I was a little nervous being alone, but once I got on the trail and found my way, I realized it was easy to navigate and there were no worries.

Friday morning was the "Y" on the mountain above BYU. Everyone said it was a short but steep trail. I wasn't so sure it was short. It looks like it is WAY up on the mountain, but when I got to the trail head parking lot, I realized it starts quite a long ways up the mountain already:
The actual "Y" was not so impressive, but the views of the valley were.

Friday evening was a pleasant walk along the Provo River Walk Trail. A very pleasant shady walk.

Saturday morning was a couple of hours on the Rock Canyon Trail in Provo.
For the drive back home to Phoenix, I stopped at the Coral Pink Sand Dunes Arch near Kanab. It wasn't actually in the State Park, but just outside of it. There was a whole write-up on the internet about a nice place to stop and see "a natural wonder" on the way to the park. Um . . no, a bit disappointing. I hope the actual state park is a little more impressive.

Then a stop at the horseshoe bend overlook near Page. This is an absolutely gorgeous site. It is worth the walk (about 3/4 mile from the parking lot). There is a small sign on the highway, but it is easily overlooked. The parking lot is between mile markers 544 and 545 just south of Page. One warning though. It is a death defying cliff overlook with no guardrails or safety features. (This is good to know just in case you let your kids walk ahead of you which we did once years ago. When Dave and I got out there, our young grade school kids were WAY to close to the edge and I had nightmares about it for days. )
From Page to Phoenix, I made several other stops, but no cameras were necessary on these stops. I got a wee bit of food poisoning from lunch earlier in the day and I stopped every 40 minutes or so all the way home to litter the Arizona highways with my lunch. Then I had a massive headache for the next 24 hours. I've never had anything like that happen before. A sad ending to a very nice road trip.

Besides all the wonderful hiking in the cool Utah weather, I also met up with a college room-mate that I had lost touch with, had lunch with a good high school friend that I recently caught up with on facebook, stayed with a cousin and their kids who were so adorable I could hardly stand it,and I went out to dinner and out to listen to a couple of bands with my cousin. Actually, it was like two Relief Society ladies trying very hard to fit in at a nightclub type atmosphere and just laughing and having fun at the fact that we SO did not fit in.

Mostly, it was nice to be with my sister, my nephew and his fiance who are dealing with some tough issues. They are my heroes and I was glad to get to spend some time with all three of them.

spits and spots

2010-09-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

As we were going through customs, an agent was being very business like - checking our passports, no chit chat whatsoever. Then without looking up from his papers - "How did you find London?" That question stumped me. I basically found it because I happen to know where it is on the map. And then I bought a plane ticket and the airplane brought me right to it. What do you mean - how did I find it??
Anyway, it took me a few seconds to realize he was making conversation and was asking "How did you like London?" (Well then, why didn't you say that . . . )
There were many words, phrases and signs that made me wonder or sometimes laugh.
"Did it rain here yesterday?" "Oh, just spits and spots."
I love one word in particular and I am trying to phase it into my everyday speech. Whildst. As in : "If you should become ill whildst traveling . . . "
Traffic signs were full of wonder and misunderstanding for us.
steile taluds ! (I don't know what that means, but there is an exclamation point included on the sign, so I suppose it was important. We obviously did not obey this traffic sign.)

Good fart . . . . (giggle, giggle) I'm not sure why tanks have a different speed limit than trucks . . .
I couldn't wrap my head around the fact the the speedometer needle was pointing to 135!
We enjoyed the labels in the grocery stores too.Potato chip flavors:Pork Scratchings, Worcester Sauce, American Cheeseburger, Prawn Cocktail

Sandwiches: Cheese Crunch, Chicken Sweetcorn

If this was available in America, it would become my favorite soda flavor simply because it is fun to pronounce:

And Dave loved the little baby milk jugs.
We only had one disasterous food issue ordering off a menu. And poor Kasia got the bad lunch. Bologna Salad. It had the possibilities of being a regular salad. You would expect in Germany that Bologna would be a different variety than the standard Oscar Meyer rounds in the American grocery store. But poor Kasia got a full plate piled high with what looked like sliced grocery story bologna with a couple chunks of cheese whatnot mixed in and a dressing poured over the top. It was very unsettling. I wish we had snapped a picture because it surprised all 3 of us when it was put on the table.
The English translations on sign were sometimes humorous.

"Discretion Please - Stay Behind the Yellow Line" I wasn't sure why discretion was required because it was just a line to buy tour tickets to a castle. But we complied and tried to be discretionary whildst waiting in line. A sign with random information on the sign, then: "Thank you for giving attention to this point"

Dave waited in the tractor zone to no avail. No tractors to be seen.

In Strausburg, we were searching all over town for an internet cafe or something where Kasia could get some service for her laptop. We saw some prominent signs that said WiFi Garage. It even had an internet looking symbol on it too. Although that seemed odd to have WiFi in a parking garage, we thought maybe it was a clever idea for commuters. We followed the signs quite a distance and drove into the garage only to be disappointed that WiFi is the name of a school (pronounced WeeFee) and we were parked in the school's parking garage.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that this wasn't a regular port-a-john, and it wasn't set up for the ladies' use. Gross!

We became well versed on the names of the restrooms in each country. First of all, no one calls them restrooms. Apparently in Europe, they are not for resting. They are simply called toilets. One sign was prominently posted on the bathroom wall. It read "No Eating or Drinking in the Toilets". Now I get that the purpose of the sign is that there should be no eating or drinking in the bathroom, not the actual porcelain toilet, but either way . . . does there need to be a rule about that? Really?

It is possible that during our trip one or the other of us may or may not have used the wrong gender bathroom once on accident, but so as not to cause embarassment I will not point out who it might have been, except to say that it was not me.

i see london, i see france

2010-09-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

Dave woke up on the last full day of our stay in Paris and announced "this is the day of the French Pastry". I liked that idea. It's not like we had been limiting our intake up to that point, but apparently we hadn't been focusing on the pastry concept quite enough. The previous day we enjoyed macaroons from Laduree's . We searched the town for this bakery/restaurant. (Thank you for the info, Hailey ) We couldn't afford to eat a meal there, but we enjoyed a little box of macaroons. I got scolded by the management for taking this picture. Hailey also told us we had to get some hot chocolate from Angelina's. Hailey and Craig visited Paris in the winter. We were there in the hot muggy summer. We weren't sure Hot Chocolate was the ticket. However, the chocolate gods were looking down on us and when we got caught in an unexpected downpour, caught without umbrellas, got soaking wet, standing under the covering of a little street vendor, we spotted Angelina's. Shivering cold and soaking wet, we went in and drank the absolutely most divine cup of hot chocolate on earth. I seriously think they melted chocolate bars right into the cup. And if that wasn't enough sugar, we also ordered a dessert to go with the chocolate. That's a complete meal, right?
Speaking of food, our favorite meal of our whole trip was sitting on the steps of Notre Dame eating crepes from a street vendor. Dave had his with ham and cheese, but I am not ashamed to admit I had Nutella and bananas on mine. It was divine.
Our worst food related purchase was this big mug of soda. We were thirsty for the whole 3 weeks we were traveling. We asked for water and got either A) a teeny tiny expensive bottle of water or B) a small cup of lukewarm water - even if we asked for ice or C) carbonated water - yuck. We finally gave in and Dave ordered "the biggest soda you have!" Although soda isn't quite as thirst quenching as water, it sort of did the trick, but Dave laughed and said "This will probably cost me $8 - haha!" Then we got the bill - 15 euros (about $19.00!!!)
However, on this announced "Day of the French Pastry", we actually forgot to look for pastries until near the end of the day. We saw a little bakery at about 4:30 in the afternoon and went in an we each picked out the most delectable treat. As we were making our selection, they were filling up another bag with several other pastries and treats. There were no other customers in the shop so we tried to tell them we only wanted one each. We don't speak French, and they spoke very little English, and I was worried that we were telling them something that we weren't really telling them. They charged us the $ for 2 pastries and handed us the extra bag for free. They were closing up shop and getting rid of the extras. So it truly was "the Day of the French Pastry". We were near Notre Dame and were contemplating walking or riding the bus back to the Louvre. While eating a bag of pastries, we thought it best to walk. Lest anyone think we don't understand the calorie in/calorie out concept, we do realize that walking a mile and a half on city streets does not equal a bag of baked goods, I will let you know that we did some additional walking in Paris.
These are the stairs up the Arc de Triumph. There are a lot of them. 284 of them to be exact. There are spectacular views from the top. This round-about is around the Arc de Triumph. I think I've seen it in a lot of movies. There is a crazy traffic pattern. There seem to be multiple lanes, but not any lane lines. I would guess there is a driving pattern, but as I watched it for a while, I couldn't quite figure it out. All I know is that I would never drive in it. Luckily there was an underground tunnel for pedestrians to cross under rather than cross through the traffic.
Then we walked up the 674 steps of the Eiffel Tower, which by the way only takes you to the second platform which is not even half way up, but that is as far as the public can take the stairs. You have to buy a lift ticket for the rest of the way. We saved 4 euros each by taking the 674 steps and then getting on the lift instead of taking the lift from the ground. That $4 savings really seemed to motivate us. It was a fun evening though. We stayed up at the top and watched the sun go down.

We also walked up the 225 steps to the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur, we walked about 2 or 3 miles from the Louve to the Eiffel Tower and walked the 3 miles from the Eiffel tower to our bed and breakfast. It was really only about 2 miles, but the batteries on the GPS ran out half way there and we immediately got lost and wandered for a bit. We were walking at midnight to our host's home without a GPS, without a phone, and without any good common sense apparently.
One of our favorite stops was the Paris Opera House. Rachel was anxious for us to go there and tell her all about it. It was fun to hear all the myths and stories about the Phantom of the Opera. This is lobby where you could go to buy popcorn during intermission, I guess. It's a little fancier than the AMC movie theater we usually frequent on a Friday night.
We were there on July 14th which is Bastille Day. We hoped to get to the center of downtown and watch the parade, however the bus system was altered because of the parade and they dumped us off the bus at an unfamiliar part of town and we had to hike the rest of the way. We came to the river and all pedestrian crossings across the river to the parade route were closed. And when I say closed, I mean closed! They were guarded by armed military. And they didn't want to chit chat with Americans about how to get to the parade, they just told us to back off the bridge. (well, alrighty then!) We tried walking down a half mile and trying the next bridge, then the next. We missed most of the parade until we found a place to cross the river. There seemed to be a whole section of town that was secured for dignitaries and a place secured for parachuters to land at one point in the parade. So this is mostly what we enjoyed of the parade, just the overhead show. Which was kind of cool - about 20 minutes of different airplane formations.

Then we tried to go see the Louvre. It was raining. RAINING!!!! We had to buy umbrellas, but the rain was coming down hard and at an angle. We couldn't stay dry. We got in line in the rain, but then calculated how slow the line was moving and how far back in line we were and finally when we were totally soaked and after waiting probably too long in the rain, we gave up and never saw the inside of the Louvre Museum.

It was sad to see our vacation come to an end. I hope we will see Europe again someday. There are lots of places we would like to go back and visit, but many other new countries and places we would like to visit. On the other hand, I'd like to see more of the U.S. Will there ever be enough time or money to see everything we want to see or go where we want to go? I suppose not.

Happy Birthday Elder Brady!

2010-09-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

We're missing you today, but we're

having a birthday cake in your

honor to help us feel better!

www.twoyearsinillinois.blogspot.com

happy anniversary

2010-09-06T01:17:00.001-07:00

When Tom was living in Arizona at age 17, his mom and brother were coming from Holland to visit him. He planned the most awesome trip for them - attentive to every detail on their schedule. I forgot how good he was at trip planning until he told us what he had in store for us while we were visiting this summer. He gave us a run down of many things to do and also said he had a surprise planned for us. He made arrangements for us to stay in a beautiful farm converted to a bed and breakfast. It was an anniversary gift for us. Not only did we stay in a gorgeous historical farmhouse, but he arranged for us to have dinner at a wonderful nearby restaurant and made sure there was someone on staff who spoke English and could help us with the menu. He arranged for the hosts at the farmhouse to loan us some bikes and who gave us a quick little tour of the area and then we enjoyed riding around the countryside for a couple hours. Then we spent over 2 hours at the restaurant enjoying course after course of deliciousness. We had the best dessert I have probably ever had in my life. While we were riding around, Dave spotted some 'striped' cows and I don't know what these animals are, they look like a cross between a llama and a teddy bear.

Thank you Tom and Karen for a wonderful Anniversary gift. It was a fun surprise and it was the perfect getaway for us.

Happy Anniversary Dave - it has been an amazing journey with you for the past 25 years. I LOVE YOU!!

amsterdam

2010-09-06T01:16:00.001-07:00

I had to do some mathmatical calculations to figure out how big Holland really is. Arizona is 113,000 square miles, Holland is 16,039 square miles. At least I think it is, if I converted kilometers to miles correctly. It helps me to have a sense of space to know where I am and where we're traveling. The country is really called the Netherlands and Holland is just a portion of the northern part of the country, but the whole country is often called Holland.
Tom took us on a couple of day trips to the northern parts of Holland. We were going to drive up to Amsterdam, but on the way (well it wasn't really on the way, but thanks for going out of the way for us, Tom) we stopped to see the LDS Temple, in Zoetermeer near the Hague city center. We found that there really aren't many members in the southern parts of Holland. There wasn't a ward or branch to attend church within an hour and a half of Someran. But farther north is the beautiful temple. Although we didn't plan to attend, it was nice to see it and snap some pictures and enjoy a stroll around the grounds.

Having a Fine Arts Degree and having taken more than my share of art history classes in college, I should have known more about Van Gogh, but touring the Van Gogh Museum was a good art history lesson for me. This is a country of bicycles. They are everywhere and are a significant part of the traffic patterns on the roads. It's estimated that there are 16 million bicycles in the country. Basically, one per person in the country.

We toured the Anne Frank House (very touching) and enjoyed seeing the downtown areas and canals and city sights.
Tom also took us to the Zaanse Schans Museum, kind of like a little pioneer village with a wooden shoe factory, cheese factory, working windmills, a river cruise. It was a fun morning. We ended our tour there with a lunch of Dutch pancakes - nothing like American maple-syrup type pancakes. They are kind of a cross between a crepe and a pancake. And they are HUGE. They served them with ham and cheese or fruit and whip cream.Tom began to describe the many wonderful aspects of Dutch culture. Most questions or observations we had were answered by him saying it's "Typical Dutch". Even as we were eating lunch and a little family of ducks came waddling by, Dave commented on how cute they were. Tom answered "Typical Dutch". So now everything impressive, pretty, interesting, or awesome is "Typical Dutch".
Good friends, fun day, good traveling -- "Typical Dutch"!

holland

2010-09-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here is my favorite family in all of Europe. Tom, Karen, Fay and Saar.

Have you ever seen any two girls cuter than these two?

And there is no nicer group of people than this family. This is Tom, his mother Mirjam, his brother Hans and his girlfriend Kim. (clarification: that's Hans' girlfriend, not Tom's. Tom already has a wife who is adorable. See above) Tom lived with us in Phoenix as an exchange student long, long ago. There are some fun memories of those days posted here and here. Tom and Karen live in the southern part of Holland. Their house is gorgeous. I wish I had taken more pictures - beautiful inside and out. Here is the view out the bedroom window. Where else would you glance out the window and see beautiful scenery like this which happens to include a windmill? Tom has been asking us for years and years if we were ever going to come to Holland. Well, we finally made it and I've got to say that heading to Holland was the part of the trip that I was looking forward to the most. It's nice being so far from home and staying in a home so inviting and with people so charming. This was the first time we met Karen. She is delightful. She is the kind of person I would love to have for a next door neighbor and be good friends with. Tom showed us a good time around town. There was a local carnival going on. Tom was part of the opening ceremony for the fair. There was also an event called Kennedy Mars Someran. Apparently President Kennedy said once that every man should be able to walk 50 miles. So they do! Karen had done the walk a couple years earlier. I liked her even more when I heard her survival stories of that hike. Whew!! She's my hero. So, participants walked 50 miles within 18 hours. They started at 9 pm the previous evening and walk through the night and most of the next day. We went down to the finish line the next afternoon and watched the end of the march. There were local bands, lots of vendors and food, booths and guess what Dave found . . . an antique tractor display. Go figure. He was surprised that we took an obligatory look at all the tractors and moved on. He would have spent the rest of the day with the tractors.

Besides the tractors, there were bands and of course . . . sheep shearing demonstrations! (Notice the wooden shoes.)
This was the only part of our trip that was away from the big cities, away from the tourist crowd and a peek into real life. Loved it!

Tom is an extraordinary planner. He planned to have these events going on while we were in town: a carnival, a 50 mile walk, the Tour de France (which began nearby in Belgium and was televised everywhere), and of course . . . . . . SOCCER!!! And he arranged for Holland to be one of the top 2 teams in the world. Thank you Tom.

The entire country was going CRAZY -- I've never seen so much orange in my life. Tom planned to take us to a nearby restaraunt that was hosting a viewing party. Everyone rode their bikes to attend. Seriously, there were about 5 cars and 200 bikes! I've never seen anything like it. There were large screens up everywhere, drinks served, games for the smaller kids, it was a big fun excited crowd. I didn't have an orange shirt, but Karen hooked me up with a little orange so I would blend in.

You would not believe the excitement of the win against Brazil. The crowd went crazy! It was awesome. We were able to follow the remaining games of the tournament through the rest of our travels, but this game was the best to be in Holland for a winning game.

are we too old for pinatas?

2010-08-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Roxanne!!!

london

2010-08-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I am writing about our vacation out of order, but we originally flew in to London. We had 2 1/2 days to run through everything we wanted to do there. And we weren't sure what we wanted to do, so we took a bus tour to get an overview of all that London had to offer.
We enjoyed London. We actually did figure out the underground pretty easily, again thanks Lezlee, for your instruction. We crammed a lot into 2 days. We spent several frustrating hours at a couple of wireless stores. We left 3 children behind in Arizona, one of which was in the middle of buying a home and needed advice and help, one of which was running our business in our absence, and one . . . well, she was just off having her own fun vacation on the beach with her girl scout troop. Anyway, it was imperative that we stay in contact with the girls. Our phone company gave us some very bad advice to wait until we got to Europe to activate the phone and internet service. We wasted so much time trying to get something done that we should have been able to do at home. We never ended up with a good phone system, and had to find a computer every evening to e-mail the girls, and catch up with our business clients. Rachel was amazing running the business and there really was very little business for us to have to deal with the whole time we were gone. Thank you Rachel - you are awesome! Fortunately we had computer access in almost every hotel and even had access to 'Skype' a couple of times.
Anyway - we saw the Prince Albert Monument, St Thomas Park, Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard, a short river trip on the Thames, Big Ben, walked around Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, the National Portrait Gallery, Green Park, St James Park, Herrods for lunch, Victoria Theater to see "Billy Elliot"(loved it).
After we went to the theater, we decided to just go walking around town and see the night life. At nearly 1 am, we thought we better head back to the hotel clear across town (because we are cheap and searched for the cheapest hotel in all of England which of course was not convenient to the airport or any of the places we wanted to visit, but we saved a couple dollars which we spent many times over in subway costs, but that's beside the point. The point is, we saved a couple of dollars on a hotel room.) Anyway, we then realized the subway shuts down at 12:30 am. It was our last night and we had plenty of money on our subway card, but almost no cash. We spent the last of our money on late night ice cream cones because tomorrow we would need Euros and not Pounds so we spent every last little coin. So we are in downtown London at 1 am, with no money in our pockets, looking at the locked subway gates. We were worried for a bit and had to make some phone calls to figure out if there really was a late night bus (like there is in Harry Potter). Luckily there is, and the bus takes the same card as the subway and we arrived safely at the hotel at 2 am. Quite an adventure.

I thought the taxi "Supernanny" drives around in was some specialty car, but no - that is the regular taxi around town. Same with the red double decker buses. They are everywhere!

We saw the changing of the guard. It took quite an effort to take a picture that looked like this:Because we were taking many more pictures that looked like this:
There really were a lot of summer tourist crowds, but most places never really felt crowded.