This IS the Place

Saturday was a fun filled day for our family.  After spending the morning doing my Team Meeting (had to do business) we then headed up to Salt Lake.  Jessica had been so disappointed at the end of the last school year when their field trip to This Is The Place Heritage Park got cancelled because there were not enough drivers.  So we thought it would be a good summer activity.  With one week left before school starts we figured we better get started.

We stopped at the official monuments before entering the park.  I was afraid we were in for a long afternoon when John was already pouting before we really got started.  But things did improve. 

Question of the day was is this really the same monument that was erected in 1947, or have they added to it since then.  It is so large and tall that I didn't think it could have been the original one.  But from what we've read and asked it really was what was put there in 1947 to commemorate 100 years since Bringham Young entered the valley and stopped his carriage at this spot and said "this is the RIGHT place".  Somewhere in the years the word 'right' was dropped.  And Mark had more faith in our ancestors that they could erected such a huge monument in 1947.  They've added lots of little monuments off to the side since 1947, but the big tall one is the original.

After entering the Heritage Park, we started out on Main Street where the kids got to card wool.  Then Ashley and John both enjoyed an old fashioned shave.

All the kids got to try their hand at applying ink and making an old fashioned newspaper.  Then the whole family learned the Virginia Reel.  John took this very seriously and always wanted to be the head couple.  I think it was the favorite part of most of ours day.

John's favorite part was riding the minature train.  Though he also loved the big train that takes you around the park and kept asking over and over and over again about when we could get on the train.

As we were leaving the park we ran into Rosemary from our old ward along with her daughter from Idaho, Nancy, and Nancy's daughter.  I love Rosemary and miss her dearly and should really call more often.  We worked together in the Ward ever since Rosemary moved in.  And for the last 2 1/2 years in the ward she was my right hand man as my Secretary and then my Compassionate Service Leader.  I would have never survived without her.  We think way too much alike and she always makes me laugh.  And I think Nancy and I would be best friends if we lived closer.  We always had a good time visiting when she is down and we both love her mom!

As if 4 hours in the hot sun was not enough for the day we then headed over to our friends house in Kearns for Miami Dinner.  We always have it at their house in August because it is Kearns days and their house backs up to where they light off the city fireworks.  So after good food and visiting we got our own private fireworks show.  Or at least that is how it feels when you are lounging in the backyard with just 3 families and the fireworks are literally going off over your head.

It was a long day, but we sure had a lot of fun.  This was our good bye day to summer.  Now we have to get serious about getting ready for school!

We must be doing something right

Like paying our tithing.  After the whole school uniform find just when we needed it so much I didn't feel like we could expect anymore financial rewards.  But as you saw from my post yesterday the van was going in for repair and I was expecting the worst.  It hasn't stopped fast in traffic for awhile and we thought it was leaking brake fluid.  I thought we needed new rear brakes.  Didn't want to even think about how much it was going to cost and what else they were going to find and how we were going to pay for it. But with school starting and carpool beginning I didn't want to be responsible for someone else's child in my car if my brakes were going to fail.

Sav Mor Auto just called and they said the only thing they could find a problem with was the rear brakes were out of alignment.  The only charge is a service charge, YIPEEE!!!! 

Now for the new dilema . . . how to pick up the car.  We used to live less than a block from the repair place, so I always just walked.  Now we are a mile and a half.  My mom is out of town (who is usually the go to girl for eVeRyOnE in half of Utah Valley) and incidently the reason she is already out of town.  Who knows when Mark will be home.  Yesterday he worked from 6:30 am until 1:00 am and had to be back at 6:30 am this morning for the big fundraising event they are doing.  I'm sure I could call a Visiting Teacher or neighbor and they would be happy to take me, but is it really necessary.  I had planned to be without a car the entire day.  But I did get that new gel seat for my bike yesterday, I just need to install it.  But can John make it on his itty bitty bike that far?  Could be painful, but isn't that why I got a bike, so we could have family outings.  So I guess if I'd stop stalling by blogging and getting my work done that I need to then maybe we'll bike over and pick it up. 

But one more time I just have to give thanks again to the blessings of paying your tithing.

P.S.  Within 30 minutes of posting this my sweet visiting teaching companion called and said they were just leaving and she would be happy to give me a ride.  Thanks Kristin!  You no longer need to worry if John is passed out on the side of the road with his itty bitty bike.

What does this mean?

What does it mean when . . .
you are having a really bad day, nothing is going as scheduled (and for a "Thinker" personality this is a big deal), the schedule keeps changing on an hourly basis, you spend way more than you want to at the grocery store, and you know the next day is not going to be much better (because you are taking the van in for repairs that will cost who knows what) and your child brings in the mail and there waiting in the pile is a letter from the local mortuary wanting to know if you are prepared for the inevitable??  Ugh, like I needed another reason to want to crawl under a rock and hide for the day!

Breaking Dawn!!!!

As you can tell from Mark's FIRST EVER Post on my blog, I've been a little busy this weekend.  But I'm back now and recovering.  The much anticipated release of Braking Dawn has come and gone and I've finished the book.  My Dental Hygienist and friend, Summer, introduced me to the Twilight books last August, just after the 3rd book was released.  We were in the middle of moving and remodeling, so I was going to gradually read the books.  Well, once you start Twilight you can't put it down.  So within a matter of weeks I read through the first 3 books.  I just love the way Stephenie Meyer writes.  And the love story between Bella and Edward with a little bit of Jared is just incredible.  Her books are the only books I've every reread and enjoyed just as much as the first time. 

I've never done a midnight release of a book.  Not even for any of the Harry Potter books.  But because Christy and I were already going to be out late because of seeing Pride & Prejudice we figured we might as well get our hands on Breaking Dawn as soon as we could.  Being the bargainer I am I had to check out all the stores and figure out where we could get it the cheapest and easiest.  It paid off and we SCORED!  Borders had it for 40% off, but we didn't get our name on the list in time so we were going to have to wait behind everyone that had wrist bands.  Then I noticed in a Smith's Food and Drugstore ad that it was the featured book of the week and it would be 40% off.  So after the play we headed over to Smith's and there was no line at 11:15pm.  We asked around and they said we needed to wait by the customer service desk and they would bring them out at midnight.  Our friend, Jenn Z, joined us.  People quickly started joining us in line.  The ladies around us had been to both Borders and Barnes & Noble and said the places were packed.  One had a wrist band and her number was in the 600s.  She had stopped at Smith's to get something else and had overheard us asking and could not believe it.  By the time midnight rolled around there were about 40 people in line.  My receipt shows my purchase was at 12:02am and we were out of the store by 12:03 and we only paid $14.66 with tax!  I love it!  And we had a great time waiting with all the gals around us in line. When we drove by Walmart at 12:30 am the line was still out the door, across the length of the store and had started to go down the side of the building.  And they were all waiting outside! 

The next 24 hours of my life was spent reading the wonderful book.  I got a few hours of sleep in there, but why waste time.  Mark took the kids to see his parents and spent the day in Santaquin, thank you, thank you, thank you!  I was excited to go to church to discuss it with the one person I knew had finished it already.  Where were you Cara????    I loved the book and can't wait for Midnight Sun to come out.  In the meantime we'll count down to the movie release of Twilight on December 12!!!!

Pride & Prejudice: A Musical

Friday night my friend, Christy, invited me to go with her to see Pride & Prejudice: A Musical at the Scera Shell.  Christy introduced me to Pride and Prejudice this year, I know, I've been behind times in my reading.  We watched the movie, the Keira Knightley version, earlier this year.  I then had to read the book.  So I was excited when her husband didn't want to go with her to see the musical.  It was opening night at the outdoor theater.  I'd forgotten how fun it is to see plays and shows at the Shell under the stars.

And it was extra great because my cousin's wife, Jenny, was playing Mrs. Hurst.  And her three cute kids were also in the cast.  And Jenny's brother and his two kids were in the cast. And my second cousin, Michelle's, two kids were in the cast. 

They did a great job for opening night.  There were a few technical problems, but I really enjoyed the production.  It is playing through Aug 16, so go see it and enjoy.

Yes she is still with us

OK Mark here.  I feel obligated to post for all of those who have grown accustomed to my wife's blogging addiction and daily post.  Just in case you were wondering she is still with us.  Although she has only been sighted once or twice in the last 24 hours, she just needed some alone time with Edward.  I guess I better clarify before anyone gets the wrong idea.  The only thing recently that Christine has been more obsessed with than blogging, chocolate, or coupons is the impending release of Stephenie Meyer's new book Breaking Dawn. 

She was one of the brave throng of fans who ventured out last night at midnight for the release of the book.  I know she read until at least 4:30 in the morning and has come up for air at least once or twice.  Last time I saw her she was just past half way through.  What does this mean to each of you you might ask.  Well, until she is done you can assume there won't be any regular posts, and she may not even make it to church tomorrow (just kidding).  She is so amazing the rest of the time I guess we can put up with one or two days -of neglect ;-) Happy reading to all of you fans and I am sure things will return to normal again soon.

Mark

Cul-de-sac of . . .

Our kids had been looking forward to last Saturday night for months.  Ever since they found out our Ward does a Cul-de-sac of Fire.  Everyone is invited to one of the neighborhoods and they have treats and music.  Saturday was already a full day with Mark's Family Reunion, but the kids were excited to know we would be home in time for the evening party.  So we bought our fireworks and made our homemade ice cream and fudge sauce.

The Primary decided to add to the fun by decorating bikes and having a parade.  We have a small Primary, but it is still a task getting that many kids down the block at once.  Who is the boy in the red bike helmet in the front?  Is that Ben?  I think we somehow made it home with his helmet, oops.  John had a slight problem with his noise maker and ended up at the end of the pack.  And there is our sweet Primary Pres helping a little girl down the street.

As if decorating bikes and having a parade wasn't enough, they added in letting all the kids make visors.  It was a day of foam crafts for our kids.  Here the girls are sporting both their glasses made earlier in the day and their visors made that night.

There was lots of ice cream and toppings along with some yummy watermelon.  They had a DJ come and play music and do karoke.  I could not resist John when he came and asked me if I would dance with him.  It was so sweet.

And just as the sun went down the dark clouds that had been off in the distance blew in and it started to down pour.  We haven't had that much rain in such a short period of time all summer.  We kept thinking it would just blow over, but after about an hour of gusting wind it was obvious it would not go away.  We felt really bad when a basketball standard blew over and shattered someone's windshield.  I think that was about the time it was decided to end the event.  So the Cul-de-sac of Fire turned into the Cul-de-sac of Chaos.  That was confirmed when we realized the next morning that Mark's eye glasses were missing.  A trip down the street confirmed they had been dropped at some point in the night.  A little bent and dirty, but they did survive after a trip to the store to get straightened.

When we realized Sunday night was the last night you could legally set off fireworks in Utah, we gave in and had our own little family party setting off the small pack of fireworks we had gotten.  All in all, the event was fun, just not what was planned!

I've Been Tagged

I was tagged twice yesterday, so I guess I'd better keep it going.  I was tagged by a great neighbor and friend, Becca.  Then I was also tagged by one of my awesome Pampered Chef Hosts, Christine.  They were similiar tags, but because Becca's is a little more detailed I'm going to go with her format.

How to play this game. Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5-6 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.


3 Joys:

1. My Family -- I have the most awesome husband who helps out so much and is very kind and caring usually (except for Saturday during the water fight!)  And my three beautiful children bring so much joy into my life.
2. Membership in my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Having the Gospel in my life really helps to ground me and teach me so many things on a continual basis.
3. Friendships -- I have some of the greatest friends.  And it is always nice to add friends to my circle.

3 Fears:

1. Having Mark die.  I guess that comes from having my Dad die when I was 13, but I'm always worried something will happen to Mark and I will lose him too.
2. Camping.  I really don't enjoy getting dirty and sleeping on the ground.
3. People not liking me.  Deep down don't we all fear that.
   

Goals:

1. To earn a Top Performance Cluster ring with Pampered Chef.  Most of my PC friends have one of these and I haven't gotten mine yet.  You have to work really hard during a one year period of time.  You either have to sell $55,000 from June - May or sign and qualify 15 new consultants during that same period of time.  Anyone want to join up?
2. Get a new car for Mark.  He is currently driving the 1993 Toyota Camry I bought brand new when I was single.  Back then I paid off the car in 18 months.  It has been a great car, but I think it is time to move on.
3. Be healthier -- I know I will never be a size 4, but I know I should treat my body better and be healthier.  After pulling weeds for two hours on Monday and going on a bike ride with the kids yesterday my legs are pretty sore.  I know I should exercise more and eat better.
   

3 Current Obsessions/collections:

1. Chocolate -- I know that negates the last goal
2. Reading -- Specifically Stephenie Meyer books.  Friday at midnight cannot come fast enough so I can get my copy of Breaking Dawn!
3. Blogging -- You are probably sick of hearing from me, but I just love posting and reading everyone else's posts.  Google Reader is the best thing ever!

3 Random Facts:

1. I have funny toes.  I have two toes that are slightly webbed together thanks to my Dad's genes.  And I have a toe on each foot that curls under the toe before it.  They tried to straighten it out, but it still curls a little.
2. If I didn't color my hair I'd probably look about 60 years old thanks to my Mom's gene of going grey at a young age.
3. I look just like my Mom.  I've even had strangers come up to me thinking I was her because they hadn't seen her for about 20 years.
   

Okay--I tag: Lisa R (because I know she wants to post, but needs a reason to), Cynthia (because I know you have a cute blog, now it just needs a post!), Eden (because I love EVERYTHING you write), Lori S (because you are the best artist I know), Laura J (because I love team teaching with you), Kim my sister (because you need to share more about you)

Family Reunion

Today was Mark's Family Reunion at Salem Pond.  We were sad that several members could not make it this year.  We especially hope Jean is feeling better soon.  Here are some of the highlights for those who were and were not in attendance.

 Kris brought crafting supplies to make sunglasses.  I think the adults had as much fun as the children!  Grandpa Jim was especially proud of his pink glasses.
 

Grandma Neva showing off her creation!

Only the children were brave enough to go swimming in Salem Pond

Ashley and JaCee Jo very excited for their glasses.

Glen's glasses were 3-D with multi layering.  You would never know he just got staples in his head the night before after falling off a truck!

Wes & Paige -- Best Cousins

What starts as an innocent game of water balloons . . .

Quickly turns into a fierce water fight.  Cory going all out after Paige.

Mark may look innocent, but he is just waiting for his chance to get Robert!

And what would be a family get together without prizes from Grandma Neva.

And somehow Kris' prize matched her glasses perfectly.  Thanks for planning a great get together and getting the bathrooms unlocked Kris!

Did I Rob the Store?

I just returned from my local Sears Grand store and I feel like I robbed the store. You all know I'm a bargain hunter and will drive across town to save $10. Well, 2 1/2 weeks ago my friend, Rynele, told me Sears was clearancing last year's School Uniforms brand, TKS, because they are selling Dockers brand School Uniforms this year.  So I went and stocked up on what they had for Jessica and John.  There wasn't much in Ashley's size but she got a couple of shirts.  They wore this brand all last year and they were great.  So I was excited to get them at about $6 an item for pants and $3.49 for shirts.

Jump to today --  She e-mailed me to tell me they were now all ringing up at .49 cents a piece and if I brought in my receipt they would do a price adjustment since it had been less than 30 days.  So I finally made it over there tonight and surprise, they were  now another 40% off, so they were now just .29 cents a piece.  So I got $90 back from my original transaction and cleared the racks of anything they might wear in the next two years.  They even let me keep the hangers!  I spent another whopping $11.  That was for 9 pants, 8 shirts and a pair of swim trunks that were $5.99!

I felt just like this lady on the Ikea Commercial!