Because you can never have too much family time....

We just got back from a week long trip to Ut. We started off our trip with a tour of BYU Provo.

This was one of our tour guides, Rhett.

He was fabulous! He knew numbers and percentages like you wouldn't believe. He was a political science major so he was personable and funny. He definitely sold us on his school. It was a great tour and we all enjoyed finding out more about BYU. By the end of the tour Kirstin said "I want to live here!"

The next day we went to BYU Idaho. Our tour guide there wasn't quite up to our standards after Rhett's awesomeness. She looked like she had rolled out of her bed and pulled on a skirt and sweater. Most of her descriptions of the buildings and the school went something like this "Yeah, so this is the Heart building. They hold class here... Yeah, so...." She was nice and perhaps she didn't usually give tours or was new at it but it was a bit of a let down. I really wanted to like BYU Idaho. I know several people that have loved going there but we all left more than a bit disappointed. The one really nice thing I can say about the campus is that the Rexburg temple is right across the street from it. It was a beautiful temple! As they all are.

That night we traveled to my sister Sheila's house. Emil was able to go on a hike with Sheila's husband Mike Brown that night. They went hiking Mount Timpanogos. They hiked a fun trail that Emil enjoyed throughly.

Friday morning Sheila, Kirstin, Heather, Sheila's daughter and I all went to the Salt Lake temple. It is so beautiful. It took 50 years to complete and the detail on everything is just amazing.

This is one of the doorknobs on the outside of the temple. This kind of detail is typical of the entire temple. When the pioneers came west the beehive was the symbol they used to identify their new state with. Deseret is the word used in the old testament for the beehive. It represents industry and being part of a great whole.

Doing baptisms there was something Kirstin had wanted to do and I'm so glad we were able to work it into our busy schedule. After our trip to the temple we left to head south to my parents in Hurricane, Ut.

We got there late afternoon and that night we had a movie night at the cabin which Mike and Sheila have bought from my parents.

The next day we went for a hike in Snow Canyon.

This picture actually shows a petrified sand dune. Isn't that cool? How a sand dune becomes petrified I have no idea.

Mattie, Mark's daughter, and Sheila, Sheila's daughter

We first went on a hike to to see the lava tubes they are caves made from when the lava came out of the ground and there were air pockets in them. They are actually pretty cool.

Little Luke, Mark's son, James and Mark

I didn't have any great pictures during this part of the reunion because my camera batteries had died so I did some pictures with my camcorder( Emil gave it to me as a early birthday present. I just got it before our trip so I was getting to know it better.)

This shows the first little ledge you have to go down to get inside the cave. It was about a 15 foot drop to the floor then you could walk around and come out another tube. The kids loved it.

This was just a shot I took of Emil M. against the sky. I loved it.

Then we went climbing Circus wall. I did this climb.

(That's actually my brother David up at top in this picture)

And some of us (Emil) were more adventurous and did this climb. If you look hard you can see a speck of white off the center of the picture to the left, that's Emil.

(Here again I wish I had had my camera. I got some fair shots but you can't really see the scope of the rock wall.)

After going out for our hikes we went back to the cabin and had a dutch oven dinner which my parents had catered. It was most tasty. Then Emil, Mike Brown and my brother Mark went off on their harrowing petrified wood jaunt on top of Smith's Mesa. To summarize. They left at 7pm and got stuck on top of the Mesa and didn't get back home until 4am. There were quite a few worried wives and mothers but they were safe and there were a few flesh wounds to Mike Brown's Jeep.

Sunday we went to church and hung out around the house. Relaxing.

Niki and Paul. (My youngest brother and his beautiful wife.)

Monday we did a picnic trip to Pine Valley. It was just this beautiful pine wooded park complete with a stream, which might not seem like a big deal but believe me in Southern Ut. it is.

Me and Sheila, my sister.

Will, Jake, West coast Noah, Alex and East coast Noah, his cousins.

These are my brother David's boys. Noah had a great time with them and Sally their Mom is the best. She happily took my Noah with them a few times. Now tell me what mom with 4 boys willingly takes one more? She's a keeper!

I just have to say that all the in-laws were great! I love spending time talking to Melissa and Sally. We are close enough in age that the trials in life are similar. They are awesome gals I wish I lived closer to. The reunion is over but it's nice to be home.

Don't Spank Me!

"There are some years in our lives that we would not want to live again. But even these years will pass away, and the lessons learned will be a future blessing."

- Marjorie Pay Hinckley

As I was out shopping this week I saw a young boy with his mother. He was crying and carring on something fierce! "Don't callllll! Don't calllllll!" He kept wailing. She was on the phone to someone, her husband, I assume.

Although you might not think it, it reminded me of Kai and made me smile. Kai was the most vocal of our children when it came to being reprimanded. Even though he was the baby and we were the most lenient with him you would have thought we were amputating a arm whenever the time came for him to get a spanking or reprimanded in any way.

I'll share just one story.

I remember distinctly walking out of sacrament meeting one Sunday soon after Emil had been called as Bishop in Elizabeth City. I was really struggling with getting Kai and Noah to behave. Kai was only 3 and Noah only 7. They were so rowdy! I could not get them to sit still to save my life and as was typical Kai was the instigator. I'd get them settled and then Kai would stick his tongue out at Noah and the gauntlet had been thrown down, Noah would jab Kai and round and round it went.

Sundays were so hard as a young mother! I had warned Kai endless times that if he didn't straighten up he and I were going out for an attitude adjustment so finally we did. All the way from the front row of the chapel to the door he wailed,

"DON'T SPANK ME! DON'T SPANK ME!"

It's one of those things I can look at now and laugh about but then I wished I could be swallowed up in a black hole.

I miss my son but I am so thankful for the time, love and joy we had together in this life, even the trying times. I wouldn't trade this mortal experience for the anything in the world. In it,

I have learned so much.

"Think about your particular assignment at this time in your life. It may be to get an education, it may be to rear children, it may be to be a grandparent, it may be to care for an relieve the suffering of someone you love, it may be to do a job in the most excellent way possible, it may be to support someone who has a difficult assignment of their own. Our assignments are varied and they change from time to time. Don't take them lightly. Give them your full heart and energy. Do them with enthusiasm. Do whatever you have to do this week with your whole heart and soul. To do less than this will leave you with an empty feeling."

- Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Where I Didn't Die of Boredom

Thanks to all my blog followers that provided ideas for what I could do during the EOG's. I ended up starting a baby blanket for our church's humanitarian project. I even finished it last week! For the next two days of proctoring I crocheted and the time went much faster and I didn't mind going in at all. Thank heaven for small blessings. Maybe they should teach knitting or crocheting in prison. I think it would definitely help with stress levels. You should look into that Dad.

Last Tuesday we got to go to the High School's Underclassmen Academic Awards Ceremony. Emil Michael received certificates for Outstanding Achievement in Art, Creative Writting and Chemistry of all things. (Who knew?) It was nice to celebrate these achievements with him.

Wednesday night we had a farewell party for my niece, Amber at Maple Park. It was nice. I think she is definitely ready to move to Utah and start that new chapter of her life with college. She's a good girl and will do great at BYU I'm sure. I'm glad she has this opportunity. She'll be staying with my other sister Sheila and so she'll be well looked out for.

Saturday Emil and the scouts went on a 10 mile hike down at a park in Virginia Beach. It actually ended up being a 13 mile hike since they got a bit turned around but they had a good time. Emil M. skipped out on it since he had already qualified for this part of the hiking merit badge. It was a toasty day and they were all worn out by the time they got home Saturday night at 5. It actually took Emil a day to recover. After church on Sunday he slept most of the day waking for dinner then sacking back out for the rest of the night. Poor guy doesn't even know I took this picture! Hee Hee Hee

Monday we had a day of projects. Emil constructed my rain barrel and composer for me! Now I can use the rain water to water my plants. With as much rain as we get here it should work very well. I'm excited to use it.

The compost is something we've done for a long time but never in a barrel so I'm hoping that it works even better than just throwing it in a pile in the garden. At least now we don't have to worry about Blaze trying to dig holes around the fence to eat it. What a nutty dog!

As Emil was working on those things the kids and I were digging a trench in our back yard to drop a line for electricity out to our shed. It was about 30 feet long and 18 inches deep. We were all so exhausted by the end!

I am so proud of my kids. They worked HARD! We finished it in about 3-4 hours. We were all just done in for and I told Emil that the plans he had for us digging more trenches further out was just not going to happen. Kirstin was raring to go!

We went to play in the pool at our neighbors the Corbos and the Crosses. Our neighbors are so good to always invite us to swim. We are lucky to have them right next door. Then Emil took us out to eat Mexican for dinner! Yeah, because I wasn't cooking!

Yesterday I went out with 2 of my HSA officers to plant Knockout roses at Noah's school. That was what we decided to use some of our money earned for. It looks so nice. I just hope the heat doesn't kill them. After the work on Monday I really didn't want to do it but I'm glad we did and I'm done now.

The hydrangea bushes are in bloom and while I'm not a fan of the bush I do love the flowers cut. My neighbor Rick has a bush he lets me cut from and I have one I planted last year that is blooming but so far all I have is one flower! This picture is one of his flowers, mine are bright pink. They say the color of the flower depends on your soil and the mineral content. I just remember the blue ones I would see all over as a kid. They always remind me of little old ladies. I'm not sure why.

Next week we leave for our Utah Trip! I'm so excited. This week, we pack....