A Whirlwind Week in the Big City

Here we go again...the annual U of U Drug and Alcohol Conference week, where Dad simmers in meetings while me and the kids go off and play all day.
We enjoyed a nice Father's Day dinner and visiting with the extended family before heading to our SLC hotel. This was our 3rd year staying at this particular hotel, and while we love all of its' amenities--like the free breakfast and the hot tub,  it does seem to be situated smack in the middle of a thriving homeless community. As always, those wanting our money were the first to greet us on our trip.  This time, a fairly attractive young lady approached and explained that her car broke down...something about needing to get to her son....could we just help out with $40???  Brandon immediately refused her to the shock of our tender-hearted children.  He identified her as a typical "meth" mom with a bogus story. The gobs of makeup to hide the deteriorating effects of drug use...the car that broke down in some vague far away location...  See, you just can't fool a therapist. Especially one that is heading off to a week of boot camp.
And so began our exciting week in the big city:
DAY ONE:  Shopping at the Gateway

 You can tell the girls are getting older when shopping replaces the zoo as the #1 city attraction.

The fountains were a welcome relief on a hot day!

We spent the afternoon back at the hotel pool, then drove Brynn to provo for gymnastics camp, got snow cones for the way home. We finished the day with some spicy Indian takeout and some more hotel swimming. 

DAY 2:  MillCreek Canyon 

 We met my sister, niece, and her little kids for this jaunt up memory lane. From my neighborhood growing up, we had a beautiful view of majestic Mt. Olympus looming up from all the other mountain peaks.  All these years we thought we were hiking  Mt. Olympus when my mom took us on this trail. That is what she called it after all. It wasn't until many years later that I found out hiking Mt. Olympus was much more involved than a 3 hr. event. Nonetheless it felt like we climbed the whole mountain and the view from the top was spectacular,so the tradition continues...

We found this "peace" shrine along the way and added our own trinket of happiness, a Disney ticket leftover from our trip to Epcot in March. There's Mickey right above the fairy door. 

Along the trail, our fellow hiking companions started dropping off like flies and heading back to the car. It was hot and moderately steep for little legs. Kate and I booked it as fast as we could up the trail and were rewarded with this grand view of the whole Salt Lake Valley. We did it! We hiked Mt. Olympus! The serenity of being on top of a mountain and overlooking God's world is something so peaceful I could have stayed up there for hours.  But Kate and I had to meet the others eventually. We ran almost the whole way down and joined the rest of the crew for a picnic at the trailhead.. 

Once again, we were glad to have a pool to come home to as well as fresh towels and clean sheets! We ended the day with pizza and swimming. 

DAY 3: Goodbye Kate, Hello Brynn and sore legs from yesterday's hike.

 I did a LOT of driving this day. Dropped the youngers off at my niece Annie's, took Kate to the airport, went downtown to meet them for lunch at the bakery, drove to Provo to pick up Brynn from gymnastics and back  downtown to pick up Brandon and over to the East side for dinner at Annie's.

 We sent Kate on an airplane for a "Cousin Exchange" program for 2 weeks in Seattle, WA. We hope she will get to know some of her faraway cousins better and have fun exploring a new place. Later this summer, our WA cousins will get to visit us for the same experience!

In between dropping off Kate and picking up Brynn we had lunch, or dessert rather, at the most fabulous bakery on 3rd and 3rd in SLC, "Gourmandise."  Adrie chose a raspberry mousse cake, Cannon some cookies, and I enjoyed a delectable slice of marzipan cake.  My mom has definitely passed on her love for the finer confections in life. 

As if Annie hadn't already exceeded the bounds of generosity by watching my younger 2 all day, she invited us all over to dinner! She is so like that! We had a wonderful evening with her good cooking and lots of happy visiting. 

DAY 4: Hogle Zoo, Iceberg, Silver Lake

 We met Annie and her cuties again for a morning at the zoo.  We saw elephants, learned the difference between seals and sea lions, and had a picnic by the Primate house.  The best thing of all was the weather!!--didn't even get to 80 degrees and a cool breeze blew down from the canyons.

What a treat! After the zoo we headed over to our old friend, "ICEBERG" for the world's best shakes. These things don't come small. Brynn and I shared my classic favorite "peanut butter oreo" which you will gain 15 lbs. just by saying aloud.  

We still had energy after all that so we joined my sister Rayanne and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to her friends cabin for an afternoon/evening of mountain reverie.

 Our plans for an outdoor picnic at the cabin were interrupted when I turned the corner and found a MOOSE! We slowly retreated indoors and let the moose be.

 Walked the trail around beautiful Silver Lake

Our husbands joined us in the evening for tin foil dinners deluxe. We made it back to the hotel before dark but the windy canyon road had an ill-effect on Brynn. She lost what looked to be 3 whole meals in the parking lot.  The rest of us went to the hot tub.

DAY 5: Air Sports, Trumbolt

Our final day of city life we packed up and picked up Dad from his last session at the U. got lunch and did a little more shopping. 

Dad and I would have liked to spend the afternoon relaxing at the movies but the kids won and we ended up here.

 Lowe's Extreme Air Sports in Provo where Cannon flipped into a giant foam pit

 Adrie scaled the climbing wall

 and Brynn did a dozen dizzying back handsprings in a row.

We joined Brandon's family for the end of the trip with a barbeque at Trumbolt in beautiful Santaquin Canyon.

A fun filled week for sure and almost free thanks to Brandon's work!   I sure do love our time visiting family,  experiencing the serenity of the mountains and going back to the city I used to call home!

Summer Hair

It was Brynn's turn to choose an activity for the week.   She came up with this: Hairstyles from the local Beauty College. Little Brother wanted no part and happily went to a friend's house.  $3/each hairstyle and some quiet reading time for me was a pretty sweet summer deal!

Meanest Mom on the Block

Kids have been out of school for a week and lest they thought the words "summer" and "vacation" were synonymous, I formulated a plan.  The plan involves chores, practicing, reading and some field trips.  All of it rings with an air of order, discipline, edification, and it has earned me the dubious title,  "Meanest Mom on the Block "

If only my kids knew I am capable of so much more...
We could form a family Bluegrass band * Label all the items in the house and only speak Spanish to each other * Read Anne of Green Gables together under the sun.
 Like a tea party set with stuffed animals and plastic vittles, those are the things I will be doing with my imaginary children.

Last Day of School 

 With my real children, I have taken them to the park, the library, the bakery, and really just let them run like riff-raff through the neighborhood on their bikes, roller-blades, and those rip-stick things that I can't ride for the life of me.  It's summer--just a different kind of crazy--but I love it.

3 Beaches and a Wedding

What could be happier than a beautiful couple getting married in a beautiful place for all eternity??

  My niece got married! It was a great reason to take a road trip to visit family and spend some time at yep, my favorite place in the whole world...the beach!!

 We drove extra speedy like so we could spend the afternoon here at Laguna Beach.  We relived favorite memories with Nana, like visiting the Candy Baron, and sharing nachos at Las Brisas.  One thing is for sure, a lot of people here were talking to themselves--and they weren't using wireless headphones...

  The next day we visited our most favoritist beach of all Crescent Bay. Sun, sand, waves, tidepools, frisbee--surely there was not a lovelier day --and a more stark contrast from fighting and biting on the car ride over!!! . I do believe I have thought of the BEST Mother's DAy present EVER?!! It's not too late is it?? a DVD player installed in the van.

Kate must have some animal attraction.  In Florida it was manatees. Here, it was a seal, bobbing it's sleek head and swimming right in her vicinity not 5 minutes after she swam out to sea.  So fun!  We explored the tidepools and found starfish, urchins, anenomes,  California blue mussels, gooseneck mussels, sand crabs, hermit crabs, sculpins, and yes, I am a real beach NERD who also loves to boogie board. 

 We played until we had sand in every crevice and then called it a day! I can pat myself on the back for remembering everything from beach chairs, boogie boards, even People magazine, and of course sunscreen, but OOps! forgot to APPLY it on that winter white skin.   We were totally fried for the next day's special event... (where the slightest Pat on the back would have all of us screaming in pain.)

The wedding at the lovely Newport Beach Temple....

 Our girls were asked to be the Flower Girls for the event, a title they have been waiting their WHOLE LIVES to fill.

 And here is the lovely couple after being married for TIME and ALL ETERNITY. Aren't they smashing?!

 The bride's family, which is my family--sister, nieces and nephews. I love these guys.

 Flower girl duties included handing out wedding mints and flitting around. The reception was a beautiful backyard celebration in Mission Viejo. There was great food, a DJ, and some late night dancing. Dancing is FUN! we should do it  more often.  . The whole reception was perfect. There was the cutting of the cake, the bouquet toss, and the garter toss and there was no line. Gotta love that!  We wished the couple adieu with bubbles and off they went on a honeymoon that was so top secret even the bride didn't know where it was. Ooh la la!

So, yay. What a happy great time. But, wait a sec, here we are at the end and  I know you're thinking "Hey??  what about the 3rd beach, we've only covered two so far???"   Good job! That is where our family  went BETWEEN the temple and the reception because we had 1 1/2 hours to chill.

Here we are at DANA POINT, still in our Sunday best.   We're having our own ooh la la moment because it's the BEACH--romantic, fun, and will always be my favorite place in the whole world!

Life in a Pit-house

I took the younger batch to the Fremont Indian State Park

 We toured the museum and exhibits and learned about the Natives that used to live in these parts. Yes, as always the creepy lady was there--a life sized replica of a Fremont indian woman inside a glass cubicle with a recorded voice that tells about her life. Cannon hid behind the safety of my legs until I told him she was not real.  "Wait, did she just say, 'I'm going to get you Cannon' ..."
We ran over to the children's zone where they had a model of a pit-house for us to play in. Also there was  a nice selection of children's books about Indian folktales. The kids warmed my heart with, "Mom read us a story in the pithouse!"  This is why the younger batch is so fun. Adrie served us some berries and ground up corn-meal and Cannon shot a deer that we roasted over our pretend fire. Then it was off to the great outdoors.

Our first time on this particular trail, we saw enough evidence to rename it the 100 Dingleberries trail.  Cave was cool though, and actually had Indian handprints on the walls, just not actually 100 of them. 

Cannon spotted a squirrel and several lizards darted across the trail.  We made Indian names for each other. Adrie was Jewel Eyes,  Cannon decided he liked Silly Squirrel, and Adrie named me not Running Deer or Majestic Eagle but Blue Badger.  I bought her rock candy anyway.

Internationals in the Mix

"If you can't travel the world, bring the world to you"

That was my mom's philosophy and the reason we always had international exchange students and other visitors in our home growing up. We hosted a girl from Italy, 3 boys from Spain, a doctor from China, to name a few.   I can only imagine the dull and tranquil life we might have had if my mom had not spiced things up with "set an extra 10 plates for Thanksgiving dinner. I found some Bosnian refugees!"  

I can say that next to music lessons, hosting internationals was the best educational experience my parents gave me. Because we invited people to our house, they invited us to theirs.  The summer after my Junior year of High school, my mom and I spent an awesome summer in Spain. My Spanish classes proved useful. I really learned Spanish, which helped later with job and school opportunities. My point is, it was a life changing experience that really shaped who I am.

So I've been wondering....how could I give my kids the same opportunity? 

I don't exactly live in an international hub. But recently I happened to reconnect (yes, Facebook has benefits) with an old friend from Study Abroad days who of all things is now an International Coordinator. That means she works hard to make exchange students' dreams come true by finding families to host them for a school year in America. Would I too want to join her non-profit foundation, making lifetime friends from all over the world???!  Heck yeah! Sign me up pronto!

That is how it all started. As an International Coordinator,  I now spend a lot of time sharing my passion for hosting international exchange students!  It is quite the roller coaster of thrills from the joy of hearing the word "YES, we would love to host a student" and matching them up with the cutest kid ever from  to the lows of finding out that family couldn't pass the background criminal history check (Yep, true story) and then starting all over again! Best job ever. 

I think of it as giving birth to a teenager. It's about as much work, but when you do find the perfect family and the perfect student? The joy makes it all worth it. 

These teens are top notch kids. 

Take Alessandro from Italy, for example. This kid is a great soccer player and would love to cook Italian food for your family. Want to host him and make his dreams come true? Give me a call! I can totally arrange that. 

The next time you see me I may just be hangin' with my muchachas doing quintessential American activities like sipping Root Beer at the local greasy spoon or picking out a dress for Prom. Just making some dreams come true. That's my new job. 

Auf Wiedersehen.

Conference Gleanings

Last weekend was the hundred and somethingeth General Conference which we relish as a good time for spiritual and literal feasting and a few projects.

Can you match each family member with which special treat they chose for the event? 

answers below

Project #1:  Food Insurance for Six

Project  #2:  Assembly Required.  Raising a new generation of trampoline lovers.

 Most exciting of all was this:  Kate's 6th Grade Basketball Traveling Team placed 3rd in the Region. Aren't they cool?!

In and around and between all that we listened to the Good Word.  The literate ones in the family wrote down a few tidbits according to age.

A:  Jesus is real * You need to get baptized * You can be healed *  Healing comes when you move away from darkness. 

B: "True things from Conference":  You should be kind and honest * God is our loving forgiving father * Jesus rose from the dead * Jesus began teaching by inviting * Jesus taught if ye love me Keep My Commandments * Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself * The lamb of God redeemed us by his blood*  Jesus is Jehovah. 

K: No force can stop the work of God * Be an instrument * Take away your guilty feeling * Pray for others * Share gospel * Forgive people * Give to poor and needy * give generously to needy * Fast offerings help the hungry * 300,000 hours of service were given to help people during Hurricane Sandy

Oh yes, there was nail decorating (courtesy of Jamberry Nails) 

My own conference gleanings: 

Faith is a real power    Few things are more powerful than the prayers of a righteous mother  Procreative and Priesthood power are shared by men and women. 

 Cedar City is getting a temple!  Peace = abiding deep happiness and spiritual contentment. The Gospel is peace.  14, 722, 000 members of the church.  The Gospel teaches us  what we must  KNOW, DO, and BE.   As we draw near to God, He draws near to us.  Missionaries are in 189/224 countries in the world. Pray to open areas not available.  Sharing faith online is a part of our daily lives   Everyone has the power to increase a child's confidence and faith with the words they speak and write.  Marriage is humility, repentance, respect, transparency, love.  Be fiercely loyal.  Obedience to the law is liberty.  Next to life itself free agency is God's greatest gift.   Be not afraid, only believe.   To contend you need two people and I will not be one of them.  Humbly and quietly trust in the Lord--He will help us in every challenge.  Go about doing good--helping, defending truth, alleviating suffering. 

WE BELIEVE

treat answers: BD--beef jerky, ME--Flipz, K--orange sticks, B--Andes mints, A--Goldfish, C--Animal cookies