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!

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. 

Our Mothers

Stan and I have wonderful mothers. I thought for today (Mother's Day) I'd write a little about what we've learned from them. It would take forever to write all the wonderful things they are to us, so this isn't everything. Just a taste, a smidgen, a whiff, a dash, to remember, and to say, "Thanks!"

 

Here is my beautiful mother, Dorothy May Thompson Chadwick (that's me in the blue dress).  She was a ton of fun to have as a mom. My parents first baby, my sister Heather, died when she was eight months old and my parents made a conscious decision to be careful to not be too overprotective of me and my younger siblings. It must have worked because I remember a childhood filled with adventure. She let me run around naked as a toddler in the park, wander through the woods by our house in New Hampshire, ride the NYC subway to high school on my own, and visit Israel when I was a senior in high school.

 

My mom always believed in me. She pointed out good qualities that I didn't realize I had and made me feel talented, smart, interesting and beautiful, even in my awkwardest phases (some of which I haven't outgrown yet!). She made me the most beautiful clothes - prom dresses, swimsuits, wool skirts, PE clothes, school clothes, church clothes and an adorable mauve pantsuit (it was the 70's) that I loved. She patiently tried to teach me to sew, which I didn't appreciate until I had kids of my own to sew for. I still call and ask her for cooking, sewing and life advice.

  

 Something that I always appreciated as a kid, that I am grateful for even more in retrospect, was how quickly my mother was to forgive. One time I burned my favorite polyester (70's!) dress while I was ironing it to get ready for a piano recital. My mom responded with sympathy and reassurance even though I probably ruined the iron in addition to the dress. That pantsuit I mentioned above - the first day I wore it to school I felt so chic until I fell and ripped the knee out. She didn't get mad, just kissed it better. One time, I thought she was my brother, following me out to the garage and surprising me. I got so mad at "him" that I whirled around and clobbered her right on the chest. After she caught her breath, she laughed it off. I always felt safe, encouraged and loved at home, which made it easier to face the world.

She is my heroine, a wonderful friend and the person I want to share my thoughts with. When the bishop asked me to be Relief Society president, I called home to cry on her shoulder because I knew she would understand how overwhelmed I felt. I relish telling her about my kids because she gives her grandchildren the same acceptance, encouragement and love. She is the best!

 

 

Here is Stan's beautiful mother, Melva Cox Spencer. I'll turn it over to Stan to write some memories. 

When I think of my mother, two things come to mind: love of family, and dedication to the Lord.

She came from pioneer ancestors, and she could have walked across the plains herself, with faith in every footstep. She loves the Church and she loves her Savior. And she taught--and still teaches by example--her children to put the Lord first in life, to keep the Sabbath, to pray, to read the scriptures daily, to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every important decision.

She seems to have always had a sensitivity to spiritual things. She would tell us stories of angels and devils, and of the immense love of God for us. She is a descendent of Joseph Millet and seems to have inherited some of his ability to see what most of us do not.

She has always dedicated her life to her family. When we were all piled into the station wagon--two parents and 8 kids--on vacation or just around town., people would see us all and comment on what a lot of kids we were. Mother would say, "Yes, and we sure love them." 

To her siblings, nieces, and nephews, she has always been the friend and counselor they could always call. Now she extends that love and concern to her grandchildren and great grandchildren as well.

Thanks, Mother. You're beautiful, and the best mother for me!

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!

Weekend in PA

Michael and I flew to Pennsylvania a few weeks ago to see my parents. I was talking to my mom about it and she said, "Why don't you come the weekend of the farm show"?

Wow, I'm glad we did!

First, I want to say, the whole weekend was wonderful. It is always great to spend time with my parents. I enjoy both of them so much. I wish I lived closer. It was also fun to see my sister, Sara, brothers Toby and Matt, sister-in-law Steph, Matt and Steph's three girls, Ruby, Coral and Opal, Sara's boyfriend Greg and my good friend Cathy, with her son Daniel. I was having so much fun eating good food (including Sara's chocolate birthday tower of delights that had a layer of brownie, layer of chocolate cheesecake, two layers of chocolate cake and chocolate frosting, all made by my dad), playing board games, touring the Herr's Potato chip factory, shopping and chatting that I didn't take any pictures, except at the farm show, so if it seems that is all I have to tell you about the weekend is farm stuff, it is because that is all the visuals I have to offer.

So, on to the 96th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show! Here's the blurb from their website - Pennsylvania is proud to host the largest indoor agricultural exposition in the country, with nearly 6,000 animals, 10,000 competitive exhibits and 300 commercial exhibits.

I got ready before we left home by painting my toes in John Deere colors :)

Coincidentally, here is the first exhibit we stopped at. Michael and my dad were both excited for the day.


Next we, went to the cow barn. The noise was deafening! There were some moos, lots of talking, footsteps, public announcement system fuzziness, but that didn't explain it.

I couldn't figure it out for a minute. There was along line for the cow showers (cow wash?), but that wasn't all of it.

Oh, that was it! Hundreds of cows getting BLOWN DRY all at once! They had to look pretty for the judging in a couple of hours :)

Or maybe they were looking pretty to attract potential customers...

I am always impressed with the longhorns.

Then, it was on to the pigs, sheep and goats. If I told you it was much quieter in this barn, you can get an idea of how noisy cow beauty parlors can be.

This pig was really enjoying the scratching.

Here is the grand prize winner.

My dad wanted to get there early so that we could park close and not have to take the shuttle from the far parking lot. We were there by about 7:30 and, even though we were inside, it was chilly when we got there. The goats and sheared sheep were all wearing jackets. I thought this one had a sweet face. He (she?) was probably thinking my camera strap looked liked breakfast.

There were fun chickens and...

...fat rabbits.

We watched chicks hatching...

...and ducklings being oppressed.



There was a high school and middle school rodeo. I couldn't believe the twelve year old 7th graders riding full sized bulls! I was too tense wondering if they would die a gory death to take pictures. All I got were the rodeo princesses at the start. I miss riding a horse that I know well and can appreciate. If I believed in reincarnation, I would want to come back as a rodeo princess.

It is a fuzzy picure, but look at all that glitter!

There were all kinds of competitions on display, including floral arrangements, mushroom dioramas...

...cookies, pies, cakes, honey...

...apples, vegetables, wine (we met the grape princess) maple syrup...

...and the famous butter sculpture!


Michael's favorite part of the whole shebang was the butterfly house. We each got a q tip dipped in gatorade to feed the butterflies.

There were lots of them, mostly monarchs, but also swallowtails, painted ladies and buckeyes.

Guess which chrysalis is about to hatch.



Sara, with some hitchhikers.

Michael went through the butterfly house with me, my dad and Sara and then again with his aunt, uncle and cousins. Matt and Steph and the girls came from the D.C. area and met us after we had been there a couple of hours. Michael was so happy to have cousins to hang out with. At one point, we were separated from them in the crowd and it was all I could do to keep him from running off helter skelter to find them. Maybe that is why I don't have any pictures of Michael with his cousins. I was too busy hanging on to his collar to hold my camera. So I stole some pictures from their blog...

Coral, Ruby and Michael

Opal

Coral

Michael and Ruby, who is being idolized.

Can you see how happy he was to be with his cousins?