Trip to Provo

Last month, the five younger kids and I went to Provo for a couple of weeks to spend time with Rachel and Summer to keep them company while their husbands were gone, to send Gwen and Kelly to EFY, and for Summer and me to take a knife making class.

It was great to be together with all seven kids. We all missed having Stan with us, who stayed home to hold down the fort.

Naomi visited Mars, well, the Mars diorama at the Clark Planetarium.

 

Summer, also at the planetarium, tested the plasma ball with her nose.

We hiked up to Stewart's Falls, seeing pretty flowers on the way.

 

 

Can you find Rachel, Heather, Michael, Gwen and Naomi?

I have never done woodworking before, but...

Summer and I had SO MUCH FUN making knives and other tools.

Here are the three knives, two lifers, spatula and folder I made.

Here is Summer camouflaged by her dress on the big sleeping bag Rachel let the kids use while we were there.

It was a wonderful trip! 

Happy anniversary Rachel and Jason!!!!!

Another short post on another long and wonderful two days. Oh my, I am so happy for Jason and Rachel! They got married a year ago today.

Their wedding colors were coral and navy - so gorgeous! The goldfish centerpieces were fun.

Rachel decorated the wedding cake with fresh flowers.

They had lots of different cakes, fruits and sauces. It was hard to wait for all that deliciousness!

There were silly siblings...

 

...best friends...

 

 ...and lots of smiles.

Especially on the bride and groom's faces - they were excited to get married the next day...

...in the Los Angeles Temple.

Aren't they a good looking couple? 

This picture just makes me smile :)

Michael was impressed with Rachel's gorgeous bouquet.

The blushing bride with her bridesmaids, from left to right - Jillian, Summer, McKenna and Lily.

Seeing all seen of my kids together just makes me happy.

Being with my daughter in the temple and seeing her marry the love of her life makes me happy, too!

We love you Rachel and Jason!!!

I really miss this blog.

So, while Kelly and her sisters made dinner, I emptied the camera and curated, just for you, an exhibit of our lives from the last few weeks. 

Naomi had a birthday.

Michael raced in the pinewood derby. He came in 2nd for his age group and 3rd overall.

After all these years of taking kids on their turn for the homeschooling whale watching trip, I took my last two kids. It is hard to believe how everyone is growing up. This past week was Michael and Naomi's turn. It was a great trip. 

We saw a great blue heron looking for lunch...

...and lots of cormorants with a few pelicans mixed in...

...California sea lions lounging around...

...and from my view on the upper deck, a couple of cute kids.

Of course, what we were all most excited about was the opportunity to see some cetaceans!

The captain was able to find a bottlenose dolphin willing to surf the waves in front of the boat and we got a close up view. I learned something new on this trip. Bottlenose dolphin mothers name their offspring with a unique whistle that the dolphins then introduce themselves to other dolphins with for the rest of their lives.

We also saw more whales (all gray whales) on this trip than any other - seven in all! It was amazing :)

Here are two swimming together...

...and the tail of one diving.

The kids had some ocean science instruction on the trip back.

On to other exciting news - Naomi let her Dad pull a tooth.

Finally, some pretty pictures. I took the plunge and, in spite of my black thumb, bought some new house plants. I plan on hanging them in the window when I get around to it, but until then, they have a home on the kitchen counter. They are tillandsias, or air plants and they don't need dirt. I just soak them in a bowl of water every few days. Fun, huh?

I think they are really nifty...

...and was especially thrilled when one bloomed!

Heather's Photography

Trip East

A few weekends ago, Kelly and I flew to PA to visit my parents and sister, Sara. Each kid gets a turn to fly east with me when they are 7 or 8ish and this time it was Kelly's turn to go. Here she is waiting to take off!

We got to my parents late Thursday night and it took us a while to get going Friday morning (afternoon?). We went to the Central Market in Lancaster and bought some whole cumin and fresh apple cider, which I miss from my childhood in New Hampshire.

We also went to Lititz and bought a hot pretzel at the pretzel factory (we were going to take a tour, but the man at the front register warned us that the place was crawling with middle-schoolers {scary!} and suggested we just stay away).

We HAD to stop by Wilber Chocolate.

We also went to the Lititz Museum. The two parquet clocks were my favorite exhibits.

Friday night, Sara and I went for a sisters' dinner out and my parents took Kelly to a huge buffet place. She ate a lot of meat and dessert.

We all met back at the house for more dessert and board/card games with Sara's boyfriend Greg. It was great to meet someone I've heard so much about and I really liked him. We ended the evening watching Dr. Who. I have loved that show since I was a young teenager staying up too late to watch it on PBS and it is one of my guilty pleasures.

Saturday, my dad, Sara, Kelly and I headed to Philadelphia.

There was a man playing a dulcimer in the Independence Visitor Center. We stopped to listen for a bit.

Then we headed over to see the Liberty Bell where I made Kelly stand in front of it for about five too many pictures. Poor girl!

There was scaffolding on Independence Hall, but they tried to make up for it with a giant picture.

Here is the Assembly Room where both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed...

...and the chair George Washington sat in.

We also stopped by the American Philosophical Society and made some pressed flower art. Here is Sara's -

Sunday we went to church and then drove to Maryland to visit with Mark, Cathy, their six red headed kids, Dot and Karen. We have known Cathy and her family since we lived on Staten Island. Cathy mentioned that their ward only met for an hour because the water main broke in the building. They went ahead with Sacrament Meeting because it was a missionary farewell. I really enjoyed visiting with the whole family.

After Cathy's house, we took my dad to the airport and checked into a hotel in Alexandria, Va, near where Stan and I lived for a couple of years around when Heather was born. Kelly and I went to visit another family I knew then. They have five girls and Kelly enjoyed Grace the most because they are the same age. Here is a picture Jen painted of Grace. Isn't it beautiful? Jen takes portrait commissions, if you are interested...

While I was visiting with Jen, she told me about the missionary farewell in another state that she went to earlier, where everyone had to go home after an hour because a pipe broke and there was a family with six adorable redheaded children. What Jen couldn't understand was how a brunette mother (who was actually Karen, their aunt) could have all redheads. I was able to clear up that mystery, but we were still left in awe of what a small world it is.

Monday, my mom, Sara, Kelly and I went on a tour of the Library of Congress. It was lovely and inspiring.

There were quotes, mosaics, painting and sculptures everywhere. This one made me think of my two oldest daughters :)

Monday was also Kelly's birthday. I told the flight attendant and she and her coworkers made this "cake" for Kelly with whatever they had available. I guess there were clean out of cake mixes up there :)

Her t.p. cake was kind of fun, but later they did something REALLY fun. About five minutes before we landed, they asked everyone to close their window shades. I thought that was a little strange, but then it got weirder when they asked everyone to turn off their reading lights and the plane was plunged into darkness. Then, they asked everyone to turn on their flight attendant call lights, which were about the size of twinkle lights and looked like rows of BIRTHDAY CANDLES all down the plane. They told Kelly that this was her very own giant cake and then everyone sang her "Happy Birthday". It was VERY COOL!