Covenants

Covenants are important for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the past year and a half, our children have reached milestones and made covenants.

Naomi was baptized a member of the church.

She had lots of loved ones around her.

 

Rachel received her endowments in the St. George Temple.

Summer received her endowments in the San Diego Temple.

We sure love our children!

Food and Other Adventures

Before and...

 

 ...after we moved all the irises and planted some new flowering bushes in the front of the house.

 

 Randall and Gina and their family came to see us on their way to a cruise. We loved visiting with them!

 One evening for FHE, we each chose something (mostly) new to try from the Asian grocery store and then ate it (mostly) all for dinner.

For our semi-annual exercise reward dinner, we went to a place where they boil seafood, then toss it in seasoning and just bring you a plastic bag with your food in it. You eat it with your hands and it is even messier than it sounds. We had crawfish, catfish (this was fried, not boiled), clams, shrimp and crab legs. It was all delicious!

 At the end of the meal they brought soapy water with dry ice in it - to wash your hands.

 

 The kids found other uses for it, too.

Summer is here while Jake is in South Korea, so we took a quick trip to the beach yesterday - everyone's favorite place.

Summer Road Trip - July 2015

Last summer, we went on a road trip. As we drove into Twin Falls, Idaho, there was a place to stop with a scenic view of the Snake River. We were entertained for a while watching skydivers jumping off the bridge.

We headed up to spend a couple nights with Randall and Gina and their kids. We were there for the fourth of July and they set off fireworks in the backyard. Pretty thrilling for the California cousins who live in a city where they are illegal.

Heather took Kelly for a ride while...

...Keaton explained things to the city cousins.

We had a wonderful time visiting with loved ones and were sad to say goodbye.

After we left, we took a half hour detour just so the kids could say they had been in Oregon. And, we bought gas where someone else pumped it and washed the very dirty windshield of the van.

Next, we headed to Nevada to see the bristlecone pines, because that is what botanists and their families do for vacation - see famous trees. We've already gone on trips to see the redwoods and sequoias. Any suggestions for our next vacation?

There was awe...

...kissing...

...life lessons...

...and five adorable siblings.

Beyond the bristlecone pine grove, there was a trail heading up to Nevada's only glacier.

There it is! See it before it's gone!

Naomi practicing her photography skills.

We started to hear thunder and decided it was time to go back. On the trail down, we first got hit with hail, which was a novelty, then rain, which was wet.

We went back to the cabin we were renting and asked the very nice owners if we could throw our wet clothing in their dryer. We had an afternoon appointment for a tour of Lehman Caves and knew we'd be too cold, underground, in damp clothes.

The caves were very cool. They used to have parties down there and all the dancers, musicians and food had to go down a rope ladder one by one.

In the little town near the caves, we saw a swallow feeding its babies.

After Great Basin National Park, we drove on to see Jeff and Teresa. I'm sad I don't have any pictures of our time with them, but I think I was afraid to take my camera on the boat. Sheena came over with her kids and Jeff took us out on Lake Mead. We had a wonderful time!

On the way to Teresa and Jeff's place, we saw a nondescript sign on the side of the road, passed it because we were too slow reacting, flipped a u-ey and stopped at the Oak Springs Trilobite Site.

We got sweaty, dusty and, yes, bloody, but we found trilobites! Smashing rocks and finding fossils were definitely favorite activities on the trip.

Cousins and Friends - July 2015

Now that I have a little more time, I thought I'd catch up on some blogging. Last July, my niece was baptized in New Mexico, so the kids and I took a road trip. It was great seeing my brother, sister-in-law, their three darling daughters and my parents. We went to Window Rock and visited the Navajo Nation Museum and Navajo Nation Zoo. I tried steamed corn for the first time. It was delicious :)

Michael and two of his cousins.

"Bob"

 

"Mo"

All the cousins. I love those smiles...

...and the bear faces. Notice the signs in the two pictures above? Yeah, well, somebody chose to ignore them and here...

...is the bear she PETTED. I am glad no one needed to have their fingers stitched back on.

On the way home, we saw a sign for a souvenir place where you could also feed the ostriches. The kids had SO MUCH FUN feeding the ostriches :)

 

I love this pictue of Gwen.

One of the other great things about this trip was getting to stay with and spend time with my BFF. 

Vegas, Baby!

Last Thursday, Claire and her boys had a layover in LAX, so Michael, Naomi and I drove over to see them for a little while. It was so wonderful to get hugs from them all and to sit and chat. The kids all ignored each other until I said the magic L-word, Lego, which broke the ice. Theo and Luc showed Michael the Lego sets they got for the trip and the other stuff they brought for the plane.

After we got home from the airport, I took a nap because I had a six hour drive ahead of me Thursday evening. Heather turns 16 in just over two weeks and so she and I took off as soon as school was out. My sister Sara took Summer to NYC for her sixteenth birthday and Rachel to San Fransisco for hers, but now she has a husband and other vacation plans (one of which includes coming to see us this summer - yay, we can't wait!) so I told Heather I would take her on a road trip.

Heather is interested in aerial circus performances, so she chose going to a Cirque du Soliel show in Las Vegas. We headed up to Southern Utah first to see Grandma Spencer, the Craigs and the Bangs. Heather, Cynthia, Mother and I went shopping on Friday, I took nap and helped make dinner. Then, the surprise for Heather showed up! Summer, Rachel, and their boyfriendscame down from Provo. It was so great to see them, even for a little while. We had dinner, cake and ice cream for Heather and watched Frozen Friday night.

Saturday morning, Cynthia, Nikki and Jake made us a big, delicious breakfast and then we used some of the calories up hiking to look at some petroglyphs not far from their house. Here are Cynthia and I chatting away in the sunshine.

Will and Jake checking out the goat family.

Heather and Tristan with the Craig's adorable little dog Ryah (total guess on the spelling).

Saturday after lunch, Heather and I reluctantly left our loved ones behind and headed to Vegas, slowly getting excited as the time passed for our big night out. After agonizing way too long over the price, we finally decided to bite the bullet and eat at the buffet the hotel clerk recommended. Even though it was expensive, for a once in a lifetime trip, it was totally worth it. Almost all the food was delicious and it was so much fun being able to eat so many different things!

Here is my (first) plate - 

1. California roll
2. spring roll
3. cocktail sauce
4. fried calamari
5. crab legs (I went back for seconds!)
6. steamed clams (my favorite food as a kid - I ate at least a dozen)
7. heart of palm (I had never had this before - delicious!)
8. crayfish
9. Brussels sprout (trying to eat my vegetables)
10. mussels
11. fresh pineapple (with an antennae)
12. clarified butter
13. sweet potato casserole
14. white truffle cheesy potatoes (amazing)
15. lamb with mint jelly (Heather thought that was gross, but I told her that is how we always had it when I was a kid)
16. lemons (obviously)
17. oyster on the half shell (I kept the shell for a souvenir)

Whew! Do you know when the next Shellfish Anonymous meeting is?

Here is my beautiful, fascinating almost 16 year old date for dinner in her new birthday shirt :)

We stuffed ourselves and then went to the dessert bar. Big mistake. We should have saved more room. That didn't stop us from choosing, yes, fifteen desserts between the two of us. It is a good thing the portions were tiny. Smart buffet people! We tasted each others' stuff and reluctantly, didn't finish every last bite, but oh my, they were good. My favorites were the sorbets and souffle. Mmmmmmm!

Here's the lineup - 

1. hazelnut chocolate cup
2. cheesecake
3. canolis
4. coconut macaroon
5. meringues
6. cookie dough gelato
7. raspberry sorbet
8. mango sorbet
9. coconut sorbet
10. bread pudding
11. chocolate souffle
12. chocolate marshmallow bark
13. flan
14. raspberry pistachio cup
15. mint chocolate chip gelato

We wobbled out of there and booked it over to our show. We saw Mystere. It was supposed to be the most family friendly Cirque show, and it pretty much was, except for when the clown gave the ringmaster the bird. Oh well.

The performers were absolutely amazing! There were balancing acts, trapeze artists, a woman on aerial silks that took my breath away, these two incredibly strong men that contorted and balanced on each other, people climbing up poles (one guy did it with just his hands touching the pole and his body held out away from it) and sliding down headfirst, then stopping just in time, flipping, dancing, twisting, and flying everywhere! It was so fun!

We collapsed in our hotel room, slept a while, then woke up this morning, ate a quick breakfast, stopped by at a nearby sacrament meeting and headed home. 

It was a wonderful trip and I am so glad I could spend time with Heather. Happy early birthday, Darling!