KANSAS

A few months ago, my mom (even if she doesn't remember it), mentioned to Janae that it would be nice if we could all go to the KC Temple for what would have been my dad's 70th birthday. Janae called all of my siblings and arranged for everyone to come out (good job, Nae!). We only overlapped with all 12 of us there for about 20 hours but it was nice to have everyone together.

I flew in early Sunday morning and was pretty zoned out most of the day so I really don't know what we did besides go to church.

At some point (maybe on Monday), I made Spencer a birthday sandwich (I had to trick him into eating lunch somehow...)

I also go to have a quick visit with Heidi and Lori. Loved it when Heidi's daughter yelled "goodbye, friends!" over and over again when we were leaving. So cute.

Monday evening we went for a tour of the new Pharmacy building at KU (although, Dad's office still would be elsewhere - it was still fun to see). It is super nice. I wish I could go to school there. They did a really nice job with the design of it. They even have a "pharmacy garden" outside (I think that's where they grow their drugs...) They have a soda shop, a "museum", a Jayhawk, and a FEMA tornado shelter - showers, lockers, and a few comfy chairs for those lucky enough to get there first.

The Jayhawk:

Nathan and Joey at the soda shop:

Tornado shelter:

They also had a long wall with some artwork depciting the history of pharmacy. I didn't have a chance to look at all of the paintings, though I am intersted in going back, but this one caught my eye. Does it remind anyone else of King Lamoni?

Then we came home and took some pictures...

The siblings in order from oldest to youngest:

This is our pregnant woman at Target pose (only Kristine will appreciate this):

We had FHE and took a quiz about Dad that Janae had put together with help from some aunts and an uncle. Here is a sampling of questions:

1. Where did Grandma send Dad for swimming lessons?

2. What language did Dad study his senior year of high school?

3. Whose barber shop did Dad go to when he visited Layton?

4. Where did Dad have his tonsils removed?

5. What did Dad's siblings do when he brought Mom up to Layton for the first time?

6. What was Dad's Jungian psychological type?

7. What did Dad dislike taking regularly as a child to supposedly keep him healthy?

(answers at the end of the post)

And, another picture (this time with the Karpowitzes):

Then we ate cake, pie, and ice cream. Yummy.

On Tuesday, we all went and did a session at the temple. I haven't been to very many different temples (maybe 12 or 13) but, of the ones I've been in the Kansas City Temple is at least tied for first for the prettiest interior (Helsinki is up there, too). Really, it was lovely - and so big compared to the temple I'm accustomed to going to. The temple matron was kind enough to make an exception and let us see the Bride's Room which was also very lovely. It was wonderful to be there together.

More pictures for your viewing pleasure. Admit it, we're so fun to look at ;)  

Unfortunately, after lunch a few of my sisters left and that started the beginning of the end of our mini-reunion. Tuesday evening I went to Spencer's "Blast Ball" practice and Joey's baseball practice and then some of us went swimming at Mike and Laura's hotel. And, then I went home :/

In conclusion,

THE buffalo:

Oh! And the answers:

1. Lagoon, 2. Russian, 3. Bro. Terry's, 4. Dr. Tanner's kitchen table, 5. Sang, "Consider Yourself" from Oliver, 6. INFJ, 7. cod liver oil

5K

Some of the YW and YW Leaders in our ward ran a 5K on the 12th. So fun. We had been training for 3 months or so but I wasn't very diligent about it (I did run sometimes but not enough to be able to run a 5K). I ran probably a total of 2 miles and walked 1. I may have walked a little less than 1 mi. My rules for myself were that if I walked, I couldn't just walk leisurely, I had to be trying to walk quickly and then I had to run at least as far as I had walked. That kept me from walking for too long - I didn't want to have to run really far if I didn't want to :) 

My friend, Joe, filmed the start of the race. I like how I walked to the starting line (I didn't want to waste my energy!). He also did a pre-race interview but it's kind of a long video. During the interview, something hit  my calf and I looked down and it was a penny! And it landed heads-up. I picked it up and carried it the whole way for a good luck charm...because I needed luck!

This is one of my favorite action shots:

 The end of the race - finally! Not an awesome time but 4:38 less than my goal time of 45:00. And, actually, it took me 19 seconds to cross the starting line so my time was really 40:03 (but who's counting?)

Anthony showed up about 4 times during the race with this sign. It was fun because I never knew when he'd show up again and I felt guilty if I wasn't running so I'd run again if I had been walking.

I was very impressed with all of the girls and leaders - they all did a great job. Maybe we'll do it again...

once upon a january...

Okay, I said I'd blog about that place on the map snapshot I posted quite a while back. On my first day in Vilnius, we went to find a girl named Kristina whose address we had. My companion had served in Vilnius for 2 weeks total but it had been about a month since she had been there so she didn't know the city very well. It was dark when we went and we walked around for what seemed like two hours looking for this address. It was cold, snowy and a little bit scary.

There was a nice, icy hill we had to walk down at one point and we finally just turned around and went back up the hill, crossed the railroad tracks and went into a neighborhood (hoping to find a bus stop). We asked someone for directions and they told us how to get to the bus stop and mentioned that we shouldn't go "that way" (pointing to the way we came from) because there were lots of bad people that way. Nice. We got home that evening and during our nightly call from the district leader (a distant relative), he said, "By the way, here are some areas to avoid at night" and listed the neighborhood we had been in.  We avoided it at night after that.

The next morning, we went back and foudn this little village:

Behind me is a little hill with more little houses and more pine trees. It was really pretty all covered in snow. We never did meet Kristina.

Most of my time in Vilnius, the city was covered in snow. And the streets were covered with ice. I think I only fell 3 times, though. There were lots of little paths through the snow that everyone would walk on. One day (okay, so it probably took a week or so), the snow melted and we discovered that the snow paths we were using weren't actually where the sidewalks were, they were just the most direct paths from one place to the other. And, we discovered some ancient ruins underneath all of the snow (or at least some Soviet ruins...):

for janae

Today, it is raining. It also rained yesterday but that's okay because we got to see this:It's a double rainbow. But what does it mean?

Love you, Nae!

I'll blog about my experiences in this place another day. This is just a teaser:

View Larger Map

tonight

Tonight we watched "17 Miracles" for Mutual and it was awesome. I found myself not wanting the movie to end because I loved the feeling I felt during it. The stories about the Martin/Willie handcart companies have always been some of my favorite.

This is one of my favorite quotes ever (preceded by an introduction from Pres. Hinckley):

...a group in Cedar City were talking about [those] who were in those ill-fated companies. Members of the group spoke critically of the Church and its leaders because the company of converts had been permitted to start so late in the season. I now quote from a manuscript which I have:

“One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it. Then he arose and said things that no person who heard will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

“He said in substance, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. A mistake to send the handcart company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited was there too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church because every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities.’” (Manuscript in my possession.)

The quote was by Francis Webster.

Here's another quote from lds.org about it...I'm not sure if this is also Francis Webster. It's in "Our Heritage" and the movie quoted Levi Savage as saying part of it so I'm not sure:

“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it. … I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.”

The pioneers were amazing. After mutual I went running with Kenzie. Okay, so today it was definitely a jog and not a run. It was more like "shuffling." But, we ran .64 miles without stopping. I know this isn't very far but for me, it is like a 10K :) The most we'd run before was .3 miles so this was nice. I just kept thinking about the pioneers :) It also helped that Kenzie tricked me into running to the corner instead of the lamp post I had decided to stop at. What a good friend. I think I just had a random burst of energy. I'm still wired so hopefully I'll be able to go to sleep tonight.

thanksgiving trip

I went out West for a few days to visit Cheryl and Becca for Thanksgiving. I love my family. And, I'm glad Matthew and Stephanie came out for Thanksgiving, too! I got to meet this cute girl:

We had dinner with Becca's family on Wednesday night and came up with some great Thanksgiving names for Heather to name her baby: Grace, Thankful, Cranberry, Gladys, Cornucopia, Harvest, Autumn, Wishbone, Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Plymouth, Mayflower, Ginger. She even picked one of our suggestions! Okay, so maybe she had already decided on the name.

Thanksgiving was lots of fun with lots of great food and way too much pie.

More playing on Friday (we just like to play and have fun). We went to the library and found the best book: Matthew A.B.C. We had a good laugh reading that one.

On Saturday, we went to the temple and then stopped at the Distribution Center and Deseret Book. I got some Christmas shopping done and that was a relief. I had lunch with one of my BYU roommates, Katy, and it was fun to see her. Overall a good trip. I like just hanging out with my family. Thanks, Cheryl and Becca, for feeding me and driving me around so I could see everyone.

A little side note: Andrew doesn't cry when I say "hi" to him anymore. I feel so loved now :) Okay, in his defense, he was 1 and 2 and every time I saw him was when he was on a trip and out of his comfort zone and there were 50 other new people around.

Oh, and we got to listen to a lot of Joy School songs. So fun.

Here are some pictures of the kiddos:
And Cheryl:
And a picture I forgot in my last post:

summer/fall

I'm still alive. here are some pictures to prove it:
From top left: some of my many amazing friends at the YSA conference, the next three pictures are my party rock outfit for the dance at the YSA conference (I don't want to talk about how many hours I spent on it), and the last picture more amazing friends at the pumpkin patch.

Here is where I give a "shout out" to my friends. I have been extremely blessed to have very generous, fun, talented and patient friends. This has been a ridiculous year and I have definitely been more of a "taker" than a "giver" and I am thankful for everyone's kindness.



On Sunday nights, I have dinner with some of my friends and then we play a game or two. One night we played Bible Pictionary. Here is just one of the many wonderful pictures. I thought my picture was good... ;)


This summer, Janae came to visit!!! I didn't actually have any pictures of her so I stole one that Anthony put on Facebook. We mostly just "hung out". Let's see...we watched movies, went to Mooresville (please note the picture of the massive rosemary bush that we saw), drove around random places in Alabama, went to the temple, went to Cullman to see Cynthia and Chad and flew kites with them (well, Chad flew a kite), and played Celestial Pursuit. I always beat her at that game :)

I went to Texas to visit Erik and Tiff for Labor Day and that was lots of fun. They took me to the beach and I got to go swimming in the ocean for the first time (we didn't stay long because it was really windy). I also saw dolphins and a "shipwreck" while we were on the ferry. That was awesome. It was fun to get to know their family a little better and to just relax with people I love. Thanks, guys!

second try

In May, a few of us when to a painting class and here is my mostly finished product (there is a reason I am not an artist...it was a really fun class, though):

I went home to Kansas to have surgery after the tornadoes. Thanks, Mom, for coming out here, driving home, driving back, putting up with me, taking care of me, etc. You are the best!

My first day back, Nathan bought us all Sonic. We enjoyed eating/drinking it on the front porch (except for Caleb...) Thanks, Nathan!

Another Colorado picture:

And here's the picture of the snake (can you see it???):

colorado

Blogger is not being kind to me today. There are 3 more pictures I wanted to post but, it's not cooperating. I went to CO last week to visit Becca and Cheryl. I like that place. The company was excellent, too :)

We went hiking in Castlewood Canyon on Memorial Day - beautiful weather and a beautiful place. Before the hike, my brother-in-law told one of my nephews that we wouldn't see any snakes. About 2 minutes down the trail, guess what we saw. Yep, a snake. Soon after we passed the snake my nephew turned to my brother and said, "You said we wouldn't see any snakes!"


On Friday night, the girls went out for a girls' night. Dinner (Rumbi Island Grill is awesome!), shopping, and ice cream. I don't know how Lexie feels about this ensemble. I was trying to distract her from seeing what her mom was buying and she wasn't amused.

On Saturday we went to Becca's and chilled (and ate chocolate cake!). Oh, and there was some karaoke...luckily Jacob can carry a tune because I can't.
We went on a couple of walks. On one walk, we walked to where the sidewalk ends. Yes, we wear pajamas when we go walking (really, I was wearing my PJ's too...I think Cheryl was the only one who wasn't). We also went on a walk by the reservoir and that was really fun.

There was more game playing, some more good food (including lots of homemade strawberry frosting), playing "pioneers", and lots of talking. Thanks everyone for a fun trip!

Hopefully tomorrow Blogger will let me post my other pictures.