Enrichment Program and nerves!

I have been unusually nervous and stressed about the enrichment program I am heading up for next week's Relief Society enrichment night. I took on the reasonably big task of putting together a program called "Sisters of Light" by Jenny Phillips. It is a really beautiful program consisting of 6 songs, and narration. Since March is the Relief Society's birthday, this program is perfect since it talks about the beginning of the RS program, and focuses on women in general. It really will be a beautiful program and I know the evening will go well, but I can't help worrying about little organizational details.

We have had a few rehearsals recently where I have been able to hear the solos, and they are all so pretty. I love how each woman singing has their own unique voice, and it just adds so much to the overall feel of the program.It really helps emphasize how we are all so different, yet we are all the same.

Anyway...I might just be dealing with a constant upset stomach until after next Wednesday. Hopefully once it is over I can relax! I am really looking forward to the evening, don't get me wrong. I guess I am just starting to feel the pressure! Ahhh!

I'm Cute, I'm Cute!

Ha! I finally found a super easy, really cute way to customize my blog! I am very happy! I love it! I hope you all enjoy it, and anyone with google reader better check it out for real to appreciate the change!

I have to thank Lindsay for asking for help on her own blog, which is where I learned what to do for mine! Thanks Linds!

Avery's 1st Birthday

I finally uploaded pictures from my camera so I can post them! I realized that I haven't taken many pictures lately. I took quite a few for Avery's birthday, but they didn't all turn out very well. I only took a few pictures of the kids in the car at the rest stop on our lovely trip through Wyoming. I never got my camera out while visiting my family! How lame is that? You know, sometimes there is just so much going on, that taking pictures is the last thing on my mind. Actually, I did take pictures with my mom's camera at the cemetary, but I am sure I will never see them. So, without further ado, let's talk about Avery's birthday!



Here is the birthday girl in her chair with her balloons and cupcake. I made banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Sadly, this girl hardly touched it! She stuck her fingers in the frosting and licked them, but wouldn't eat her cupcake. I think it is partly my fault. We ate dinner first, so she was probably full!

She is such a cute one year old. Here vocabulary these days consists of every variation of "daddy" there is...dada...da-ee, daddy, ah-da, etc. Mama has not made it into her day to day vocab yet. She has said it, but won't on a regular basis for some reason. The last few days she has started saying "uh-oh" as well. Usually in relation to dropping her binky. She has her two bottom teeth, and her four top teeth, and she is finally crawling like a normal baby, and pulls herself up on everything within reach. I think she really wants to walk, and she is starting to try, but it will probably be a while still. Logan didn't walk till he was 14 months, so if she is on a similar schedule, she has a few months to go! Logan helped Avery open all her presents, and both of them had a great time playing with them all for the evening. I think for a one year old, it was a fantastic birthday! We are so glad we have her sweet little self in our family! Happy Birthday little one!

The End-of our trip that is!

Ok, I better rap this up! It has stretched out long enough!

We left IF around 6 p.m. Sunday evening. Traveling was actually quite good, and we had no problems at all. We got really drowsy around 11 or so, and ended up stopping in Rawlins for the night. It was soooo windy! Yuck! we got a decent night's sleep, and got back on the road the next morning by around 8 a.m. Not too far outside of Rawlins, the weather turned cloudy and started to snow. I was hopeful it would only be for a bit, and that the rest of the trip wouldn't be like this! That would have been another miserable day in the car! We were lucky, and while we went throuogh the occasional snowy patch in Wyoming, once we hit Nebraska, the skies were clear as were the roads, so we made good time the rest of the day! I did have to drive for quite a while once we hit better weather. Tony needed a break, and he also had a conference call that he wanted to try to be on as long as we had cell phone coverage. After stopping for a potty break,we went through the drive-through at Wendy's, and I decided yet again, that another pick me was was required. I decided to get what I think seems to be the most popular caffeinated beverage among women anyhow...at least I knew that was what most people ordered when I worked in a restaurant...so I got a diet coke. So sorry again to all you fans. I just don't see what tastes good about it? I have decided I must really not be a cola fan at all.Sorry. I tried, I really did. It served its purpose however and kept me alert enough to keep driving!

We finally made it home around 8:30, only to walk in to the house and be greeted by a hideously high-pitched beeping, coming from all the smoke detectors in our house, it seemed. Sadly to say, we haven't changed the batteries in our alarms since we moved in, so it took some trial and error and quite a while of effort to finally figure out how to turn the horrendous noise off! I left the kids in the van in the garage, so it wouldn't hurt their ears. Once that was taken care of, the kidlets were put right to bed, and we were happy to be home, safe and sound!

Stay tuned for another travel adventure next month! Tony's parents got their mission call to Ghana, and so we will be heading out to Utah for the farewell in just a few more weeks. We will be flying this time into SLC, and then renting a car to drive the rest of the way. Fun times, fun times!

I will be sure to finally get my pictures from my camera, so i can post about Avery's birthday! Poor thing, getting pushed to the side by more important travel reports!

Part 2- Funeral

So, to continue my week-end adventure, we get to my brother's house close to 9:30 on Friday night. Avery was a pill, and continued to be one the entire week-end! She screamed and cried at everyone who even looked at her. My SIL, who is deemed "the baby whisperer" didn't even cut it. She only wanted me. I was so frustrated with her! I was really excited to have her meet the family now that she is a bigger girl, and she wouldn't even go to any of them. My dad managed to woo her for a bit, and she ended up falling asleep on him, so they had a nice nap together. But once she woke up, she was yelling like a banshee again!

Logan on the other hand, didn't take long to warm up, and before I knew it he was running around playing with his cousins, having a grand old time!

The funeral was Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. Since the viewing was cancelled the night before, a lot more people came through before the funeral. We didn't get the actual funeral started until almost 11:45! My aunts did a really nice job telling the life sketch, and there were some musical numbers, and my dad spoke about my grandpa being his hero. That made me teary. My dad always does a good job giving talks I think.

On a side note, I felt really bad for my parents this week-end. My dad had worked really hard all last year to earn a trip to the Bahamas for work. They left Sat. Feb 2 to go to the Cove Atlantis.Their trip was to last a week. They were to fly back home the next Saturday, the 9th. My grandpa passed away early in the morning of Tuesday the 5th. I know that the passing of a loved one never comes at a convenient time, but I was really hoping that he would hold on until my parents got back from their trip. My aunts and uncle went ahead and scheduled the funeral for Saturday, knowing that my parents were out of the country, and making the assumption that they could get back easily. It wasn't easy for them to arrange to leave their trip early. I feel bad that besides the grief that came with the news, it was an added stress and burden for them to have to figure out how to arrange to get home earlier than planned.I wish it could have worked out to let them stay for the full trip, and have the funeral a few days later. But oh well. They were able to make a flight home, where they got in about midnight Thursday night, and immediately hopped in their car to drive to Cedar City to meet my brother and his family, and then carpool with them to IF. They weren't able to get much sleep over the course of about 3 days.I was so sad for them, even if it was nice to see them.

My grandpa served in World War II. He was a sniper, I knew that growing up, but he rarely talked about it. I remember a few times where he would show us his "treasures" that he got while in Germany...a hand carved wooden box, a gold ring, coins, medals, etc. A lot of things I think he got from pilfering abandoned buildings. I know he wasn't too proud of that fact.I am sure the memories of the war haunted him throughout his life. I am sure he has told bits and pieces to various kids and grandkids, but never the whole story to anyone. We kept trying to get him to write his "memoirs", "life story" etc, or at least get stuff on videotape. I don't think he ever did. He griped and complained about it everytime it was mentioned. It was just this past week-end that I heard for the first time (at least that I remember) that he served in the 63rd infantry division. Also known as the "Blood and Fire" division. He helped liberate concentration camps.I am truly proud of my grandpa. I wish I had known these things about him sooner.He was very humble, though, which is why he never made a big deal about his service in the war.What a hero he was to many people, and my dad reiterated that in his talk...that he was my dad's hero. My dad was born after my grandpa had been drafted. I think he saw my dad when he was about 2 months old or so, and then not again until the war was over, and my dad was over 2 years old. My dad has memories of walking through the streets of Salt Lake City following his dad, in uniform, dragging a duffle bag when he got home. My dad has always had memories of things from when he was really little! That was our favorite thing when we were young... to have my dad tell us stories about when he was a little boy.

They did have military rites at the gravesite, with a 21 gun salute. They presented the flag they had on the coffin to my dad, since he was the oldest child. I know that meant a lot to my dad.

I went with my sister to the cemetary, and left Tony and the kids back at the church. Logan fell asleep at the end of the funeral, and was sleeping on the couch in the foyer. It was cold and snowy outside too, so it was better to leave them inside.

After the funeral and luncheon, we went back to my brother's house to relax for a bit. My long-time (since we were 1 year old!) friend Heidi happened to be heading back to SLC from Rexburg, and was able to stop by for a short visit. It was so nice to see her, if only for a few minutes. After that, we headed up to Rexburg to meet my sister and her family at Bahio's for dinner. Yum. I love that place. I wish they had one here. Then we spent the night at her house in St. Anthony. Logan had so much fun playing with his cousin Brynn. She is only 4 months older than him, so they get
along really well. I wish we could see them more often.

Sunday was the Rexburg Temple dedication, so I stayed and watched my niece and nephew while my sister and BIL went to their session. Tony wasn't feeling well, so he took a 3 hour nap while I entertained children, and made lunch. After lunch,and after they got back, we all went back down to my brother's house to visit a bit more with my parents and other brother before they left to drive back to Cedar City. My mom passed out our souvenirs from their trip, and some Valentine's for the kids. Tony decided we should also head out Sunday evening to avoid some bad weather that was expected across Wyoming. We got on the road around 6 p.m. to head back.

I HATE Wyoming...and other such tales part 1

Let me begin my post by saying I HATE Wyoming. I LOATHE Wyoming, and I will always have bitter, unhappy, horrible thoughts of Wyoming. No offense Ginger.I am sure the part of Wyoming you are from is much more desireable and much less a part of the State of the Devil than the part I drove through. What part are you from again? Anyway...now on to the story.

We left our humble abode around 5 p.m. Thursday evening to drive to Idaho for my grandpa's funeral.I was a bit tired from my day of preparations, and since Tony needed to be on his laptop doing some work, I had to drive. I did something I don't normally do. I purchased mysef a caffeineated beverage to perk me up a bit. Since I am unfamiliar with the caffeineated beverage world, I opted for a drink that sounded like it would have a fun flavor to it. I got a diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper. Not very good. I really and truly think that caffeineated soft drinks have WAY more carbonation in them than normal sodas. I couldn't taste a thing for all the bubbles. I know why I am not a pop drinker.Anyway...about 2 hours after starting my beverage, I had to go to the bathroom soooooo bad I couldn't stand it! (please excuse my potty talk)I was really and truly so close to wetting my pants, and you better believe my relief when a rest stop was spotted! After this initial situation,traveling was fine,the weather was fine, the roads were fine, but around 11 p.m. MST, we had become weary, and stopped in a lovely Nebraska town called Ogalalla for the night.

After a not so great night of sleep, due to the children, we were on the road again by 7 a.m. I didn't learn my lesson the first time, and decided I needed some assistance in the alert department again, and purchased another caffeineated beverage. I remember my friend Christy talking about her beverage of choice being Wild Cherry Pepsi. I decided to see what all the fuss was about. Absolutely nothing! It was horrible! I couldn't even drink it all. I am sorry to all of you devoted fans out there, but I do not get it.It was blech! And I still had to stop frequently for potty breaks!Traveling was decent, the weather was decent with the exception being the wind. I think I saw at least 4 or 5 truck trailors that had blown over on the side of the road. Scary! Along with the wind, came snow blowing across the road as well, which did make it slower going than normal, but altogether not too horrible.

We pulled off the road at a rest stop just a short ways outside of Rawlins. When we pulled off, we noticed a semi had jack-knifed right across the on ramp back to I-80. What???? How on earth were we supposed to get back on the freeway? Well, we took turns running like mad through the wind to use the restrooms, and when it was my turn, I met a lady who was from Cedar City, and we were talking when a man came into the building. He informed us that I-80 was closed from Rawlins all the way to the Utah state line. Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no! How on earth was I supposed to get to Idaho now, and what were we going to do? Were we going to have to hang out at this rest stop until the road opened again? Who knew how long that would be? I ran back to the car and informed Tony of the latest development. We did have his laptop, but couldn't get a signal to get online, so we called Tony's dad and he called us back later after he had looked at some possible options. In the end, we decided to take a detour, and head off from Rawlins on 287 up to Muddy Gap, then over almost to Lander, where we cut off on 28 down through South Pass and Farson.

It was windy and the snow would blow across the road in patches, but traveling went well. I was calling my brother Scott in Idaho back and forth when my cell phone had service to let him know how things were going, and get updated info from him about our route. When we first turned onto 28 to start heading back down, my brother informed me that 30, which was the route we were supposed to be heading for to take us into Idaho, was closed. Arrghh! We were going to have to head BACK down to I-80 since they had re-opened some of it, and head through Evanston into Utah, and THEN back up I-15 to Idaho! Are you kidding me???? He told me to call a number when I got to Farson to talk to a person who could tell me about the road closures, etc. We kept on trucking. At several points on 28, the snow was blowing so much across the road and all around, that I felt as if we were driving through the clouds! If I wasn't scared out of my mind, I would have liked to stop and take a picture. That is if we could see the road to pull over on. I certainly didn't want to end up off the road in this blasted state!

I really gained an intense appreciation for what the pioneers went through, since we were awfully close to Martin's Cove, and we drove through South Pass where the wagon trains crossed. I can only imagine their horrified thoughts about where they were, and why on earth they were there! I certainly felt that way and I was in a well-heated, comfortable mini van with lots of food and water, blankets, pillows, a cell phone (ok, no coverage), a laptop (again, no coverage), a DVD player, an Mp3 player, and plenty of magazines to keep me entertained. I cannot for the life of me imagine being outside walking in that horrid wind and snow, in freezing temperatures with the land having nothing to shelter them from it.It makes it even worse to imagine trying to protect my children from that as well! I was scared to death of sliding, being blown, or simply running off the road and being stuck in my well heated, comfortable mini van with lots of food and water (see above)with my children and not knowing the outcome.I would have probably had to wait a few hours for help. How long did the pioneers have to wait for help? Weeks? I can't even begin to comprehend!

Anyway...we finally made it to Farson where I called the number my brother gave me. The lady told me that 30 was open, and I-80 was now open in both directions again. Nice! So, from here I took over the driving. I continued down 28, and things seemed to go fairly well, with the occasional patch of blowing snow, but so far so good. It was after I had turned onto 372 heading towards 189, that things got bad. They got very, very bad.I drove into a big black wall of clouds, and with the blowing snow, and the darkness all around me, I could barely see a few feet in front of me, and I was scared out of my mind! I was seriously so terrified! I kept praying and praying that the road would at least clear enough for me to see where I was going. I could handle that. I could really handle any of it, as long as I had breaks in the wind, and had the road be clear for me to keep going.By the time I came to the intersection of 189 where we were to turn to head down to Kemmerer where we would hit 30, the weather had cleared a bit, and Tony got out to switch with me. As soon as I sat down in the passenger seat, I was shaking pretty bad, and felt the urge to throw up, pass out, and cry all at once. It took a while for my pulse to slow back down, and for me to feel calm again. Tony had some yuck to drive in too, but it didn't seem as bad as what I had driven through.I was very surprised they had reopened that road.

These pictures are some I got off the internet, since I was too terrified to let go of the "oh shoot" handle to climb in the back of the van to get my camera. These are pretty darn close to what it looked like for most of our driving on Friday afternoon. The one picture of the landscape without the road was even better than what I experienced.Meaning better conditions. I couldn't even see the land at all under the billowing, blowing clouds...I mean snow.








The rest of the drive went a lot smoother. We did get some snow once we got into Idaho and went through Montpelier and Soda Springs, but once we hit I-15, it was a breeze! We were anticipating getting there around 6-ish, and ended up getting there after 9! The viewing was supposed to be at 7 p.m., but it ended up being cancelled due to the roads around the church building. I guess I lucked out that I didn't miss that!

Needless to day that after being in the car for over 13 hours in not ideal conditons, we were exhausted when we got there, and went straight to my brother Scott's house instead of driving the extra 45 minutes to my sister's house. We just couldn't stand being in the car any longer! It was pretty funny. When we first got to the outskirts of Idaho Falls, we saw a billboard that said something like this:

Idaho Falls

You made it! Wasn't it worth the wait?

And there were pictures of people jumping in the air. It was hilarious!But I sure felt that way after our trip!

Update

I have so much to post about, and no time right now. I even had a post all written and ready to go on Monday, but events have come to pass that ar more important right now.

My Grandpa passed away early Tuesday morning. I knew it was coming, but it is still sad when it does. He is with my grandma and my brother now, and that is wonderful. I know he is so happy, and at peace, and free from the complications that come with an old, worn-out, sick body. My grandpa was so special. There is no one like him, and I have so many wonderful memories of him throughout my life.

I am making arrangements to drive out to Idaho for the funeral. It will be a fast trip, which I am sad about. If there was a way that I could stay longer to visit my family, I would love it!17 1/2 hours of driving with kids, in the middle of winter across I-80 is not exactly the most pleasant sounding trip, and it does worry me a bit. All I can do is pray things will go smoothly, so we can get there safely.

Hopefully when I get back I will be able to post about Avery's birthday from last Saturday. She is a big one-year old now!I can't believe how time flies!