St. George Temple Trip

A small group of youth made a trip over to St. George to participate in baptisms for the dead. Read more about why we do that in our church here.

Thankful

I have so many things to be thankful for. I have a handsome husband that is my best friend and loves me even with all my many flaws. We have four amazing sons that are each unique and talented righteous young men. My parents and siblings are some of the coolest people I know, and I get to see them on a fairly regular basis. I have so many wonderful friends near and far. I have had so many great education and career opportunities. I live in one of the most beautiful locales in the whole world. I am blessed to be a citizen of the greatest nation in the world that affords me all of the opportunity I can dream of. Best of all, I have my faith. I have been so blessed to have been raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so thankful that my husband is an honorable priesthood holder and that he is setting the example for our boys. Of course, there are bumps along the way, but my faith sustains me. It gives me hope. Thanks be to God!

I Heart New York

So in mid-October, I had run my course as a sub at the middle school. The first guy that I had partnered with ended up leaving very suddenly in September, and then they found another inexperienced person to work the afternoon. This second person was a young lady who again was not a teacher, but she certainly made up for it in enthusiasm. After she had been there a few weeks, I felt confident she could take over the whole day. I left without any feelings of guilt or abandonment at all. I was so relieved to be done. I also had the opportunity to present several times at both meetings and once at a conference attended by Navajo Nation big wigs. I am still working on a more permanent job situation.

Since I am in between jobs and fairly footloose, my sister Kim and I made plans to take a trip together. Kim has been working for Steve's bank for a while in the marketing department which affords her lots of chances to travel. We worked around her schedule to meet up in New York, and it was fantastic! We are well suited travel buddies.

We started out by catching a red eye flight from our respective cities. We figured this gave us a whole extra day in the city without getting a hotel. A friend of mine hooked us up with a great insider rate at a very nice hotel, and our trip had begun.

First on our itinerary was a visit to the Statue of Liberty. We did the budget trip riding the Staten Island Ferry. Next we hit the 9/11 Memorial. This is something I have wanted to do since the last time I was in New York back in 2007. At that time, the whole area was fenced off to the public as they cleaned up from 9/11 and then began building the memorial. After a nap in our hotel (remember we took a red eye) we had dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory and took in Times Square.

Day two we hit Canal St. and Brooklyn for the first half of the day. Kim was a boss getting us around on the subway. I have to mention that a Broadway show was on our to do list, but we hadn't bought tickets for a show. Rather, we kept going to the lottery for Wicked. You are allowed to put your name in a drawing and then if you are picked, you get to purchase front row seats dirt cheap!! That afternoon, we went back to the lottery for the fourth time, and Kim was drawn!

To kill time before the show, we decided to go eat an early dinner. In all of our back and forth to the theater, we kept seeing a diner that had a really long line outside. However, once we got our tickets to Wicked, we noted that the line had diminished. We figured we would try it out since it was close and seemed popular. The Stardust Diner turned out to be one of the funnest parts of our trip! It was full of singing dancing waiters. And man could they sing! It was awesome!

Wicked was nothing short of phenomenal. I am so glad we held out for that show since it was my top choice. And then to get front row bargain tickets was the icing! Fantastic!!

Day three was a rainy day in Rockefeller Center, Central Park and at the Met. We actually hooked up with my friend Otis from Page for lunch at the Shake Shack since he happened to be in town. Fun! Later in the day we checked out of our downtown hotel and moved out to a place Kim's work was footing the bill for since she would be working the following day. While we were traveling, I got a message from an old college friend who had seen some of my posts on Instagram. She was in New York too! We made plans to get together at Serendipity for dinner It was so much fun seeing someone I haven't seen in literally 20 years and feeling like we could pick up right where we left off. That is the best kind of friend!

The next morning, Kim dropped me at the airport and headed off to work while I winged my way home to Arizona. What a whilrwind it was. Until next time, I heart NYC!

Phoenix Temple Open House

Bowen and Rex had a cross-country meet down in Phoenix and it happened to be at the same time that the open house for the new Phoenix temple was running. Lisa had tagged along for the weekend to go visit Bri and to watch the boys. Before we left for home, we took in the open house. It was actually the very last evening on the very last day that it would be open before dedication. I am so glad we made the extra effort to go. It was beautiful. Lisa asked us lots of questions especially about the sealing rooms. We were glad to share that occasion with her. Good times indeed.

Homecoming Blindside

So Drake has been over the legal dating age for quite a while. We have encouraged him again and again to take the leap and go out with a young lady, to no avail.

With Homecoming season upon us, we had been trying to gear Drake up quite a while in advance to ask someone to the dance. We thought he might be willing to go with longtime friend Noah who was also feeling apprehensive to jump into the dating pool. Come to find out, Noah was going to be gone on a golf trip over Homecoming weekend, so we had kind of dropped the pressure on Drake to go since we wanted him to have the security of a group for his first dating adventure.

The day of Homecoming arrived, and Theo, Drake and I attended the city parade together. The other boys were in the parade with the cross-country teams. While we were watching, we told Drake that he had to at least go to the football game. Drake tends to like to hang around at home most of the time. Since this is his senior year, we felt like we had to get more aggressive in getting him to participate in social activities. He fussed, but finally said he would go to the game.

Once we were home, I settled in for a quiet night of TV and Theo was chatting on the phone with someone. Minutes before the game was scheduled to start, Drake approached me and asked if he could take the Jeep to the game. I told him that he would have to ask his dad. Since Theo was on the phone, Drake continued to press me on the issue. Getting a little exasperated, I asked Drake why it was such a big deal if he took the Jeep rather than the old truck he usually drives. With a slight grin on his face, he quietly told me that he "forgot" to tell me that he had a date that night! I literally screamed, "WHAT"? Drake hastily explained that he had asked someone and that he had made plans to pick her up for the game and that he would be late if he didn't get going soon. That little snake knew he was going to the game all along! I don't know if he would have even told me about his date if he hadn't needed to ask for the car! In utter shock, I sent him on his way.

Theo finally got off the phone so I could relate the sudden jarring turn of events. We were both stunned. I quickly gathered my wits and called the parents of the said date (we are good friends). We had quite the interesting conversation as each of us pieced together how this all came about. Apparently Drake had asked her just a day before via Facebook message! Oh Mylanta! I asked her mother if she even had a dress. She assured me that she could wear one that had belonged to a cousin. Normally they wouldn't allow her to go on a single date, but since they have known each other basically since the second grade and there was no romantic anything, they relented. Her dad even made the comment, "It's just Drake. She could take him".

When Drake returned from the game, there was more grilling from us since the initial shock had worn off. Drake actually ran to the store to purchase himself a dress shirt since he didn't want to wear one of his usual white ones. While he was out, I got some flowers for his lovely date knowing that he had no clue in these matters. I also got the green light from his date's mom to come over and get pictures at their house before they left for the dance. It all happened so fast.

We told Drake that he should probably make some plans if the dance wasn't that great. He has been to lots of church dances and we were sure the contrast between those and a school dance would be stark. He brushed it off and went to collect his date. After some akward pictures, they were off.

At about 11:30 Drake returned looking tired but happy. He said the night went well, but the dance was not great (as we had warned). They ended up talking outside with some friends and then going for a drive. Finally, they decided to call it an early night. All in all it was a success.

I swear, I am never going to figure out that kid. He is always a mystery! But a handsome man of mystery if I do say so myself!

General Conference

We got to take these four up to General Conference in the Conference Center. What a wonderful experience to be able to be so close to hear the words of our modern prophet and the apostles. Awesome!

Jacked Up Jeep

Back in March, Theo got a new Jeep as a sort of turning 40, graduating from PT school, every birthday and Christmas forever and ever present. He chose a basic basic model with the intention of fixing it up just the way he wanted. After much deliberation and effort, he took it up to Salt Lake to have some buddies of John G. trick it out. Theo is a pretty happy man!