Courtney's Fish

Courtney's poor beta fish is OLD!  The average life span (according to Google) of a beta fish is 2-3 years. Courtney's fish is about 4 1/2 years old.  He had lived a long life.  The problem was that he was holding on to life with everything he had.  It was so painful to watch because he would go into his castle to sleep and it would seem like he was dead.  So we would have to poke him to see if he was still alive.  This would really tick him off and so he would swim viciously around the bowl for a while until he calmed down and went back to floating head down or on his side of something.

Courtney had a hard time sleeping one night because she was sure he was going to die.  She made me promise to make sure he was still alive before waking her up the next morning.  When I finally promised, she was able to fall asleep.

So that's how the week of Halloween went.  I had to go in every hour and poke the fish to make sure he was still living.  By Friday it was pretty evident that he was on the downward slide of his life.  Courtney and I had a talk after school and decided that it was better to put him out of his misery than watch him float head down in the bowl.  So she said goodbye and I flushed him.

He was a good fish and was fun to interact with.  He led a good life and is now in the great fishbowl in the sky.

So Saturday we went and bought her another $4 beta fish.  He is a beautiful pink/purple fish that is very happy.  Courtney wasn't sure what to name him but she eventually figured it out.  Did you know that beta fish blow bubbles when they are happy?  So if the top of the fish bowl has a bunch of bubbles then you know the fish is happy.  This fish has blown A LOT of bubbles so his name is now Bubbles (not very manly but what do you expect?).

So that is the saga of the fish!

Halloween

The kids were able to wear their costumes to school on Halloween since it was Friday.  Ethan went as....I don't know what he was but he wore his green morph suit.

Courtney was a peacock and extremely unhappy to have her photo taken before school, in case you couldn't tell.

 This was Ethan's full costume but he couldn't wear a mask to school.

As you can tell, Courtney was in a much better mood when it came time to do the Halloween parade at the school.  One of her friends was also a peacock so they were a couple of peacocks walking around together.  After the parade all the kids went outside and they had some group line dancing things before the class parties.

Our neighborhood has traditionally had a Halloween party on Halloween night.  It was great with bounce houses, potluck and tons of fun taking to neighbors and friends.  The last couple of years the party was held on Monday which was really hard to go to because we still have work, soccer, etc.  So we didn't go to the neighborhood party Monday night this year.  Instead, a group of us got together and had a potluck on Halloween evening before the kids went trick-or-treating.  It was a lot of fun and was great to just sit and talk to everyone.  Plus, it was so much easier for the kids to meet up with their friends to make plans to trick-or-treat.

Here is sophisticated Ethan at the party. 

I didn't get pictures of Courtney because she was running all over the place.

When the party began to wind down, Courtney went out with her friends and Ethan (eventually) went out with his friends.  Ethan ended up at a neighbor's house playing games where he lost most of his candy.  Courtney came home with her haul and began sorting it all out for the Halloween Fairy to take.  (They keep 10 pieces and the rest magically turns into a toy the day...or two...after Halloween.)

Here is Courtney with her candy haul.  I couldn't believe how much chocolate she got this year and a lot of it was full sized!!  Too bad she only was able to keep 10 pieces.

 Bryan was waiting to see what he could snatch.

Bryan and I watched a movie while we waited for Ethan to come home.

Just a side note:  The Halloween Fairy finally came to our house, a couple days late.  Ethan got a pack of 100 football cards and Courtney got a frisbee painting set.  It was pretty fun!

As a second side note:  This makes me wonder what the Halloween Fairy did with all the candy because the assistant Halloween Fairy didn't get any....except what was snitched on Halloween night.  ;)  Maybe it's for the best.  There was a lot of chocolate.

Pumpkins

It has been a crazy week and we ran out of time to carve pumpkins.  The night before Halloween we decided it was finally time.  So we got out the stuff and Ethan went to town on his pumpkin.  When he was little, he hated putting his hand in the pumpkin to clean out the guts.  This year, he was excited to put his hand in and pull everything out.  He did a good job on his pumpkin.

 Courtney had her dance party so she didn't get to do her pumpkin until later but it worked out great too.  I didn't get pictures but she was happy with the end results.

Pizazz Halloween Party

October 30, 2014

Courtney had her friends decided they wanted to be peacocks for Halloween.  So we had to run across town to get her a costume.  I have to admit, it was a pretty costume.  She was so excited and happy that she had it in time for her Pizazz Halloween party the day before Halloween.

Here she is all dressed up and ready to go to dance.

Their party was really just a group practice where they could put the whole dance together but she still had a great time.

Book of Mormon Marathon

October 23-25, 2014

The Young Men and Young Women in our Ward had a combined activity where they read the Book of Mormon in 2 days!  It was crazy!!

They all met at the Church on Friday at 4 p.m. and began reading.  Dinner was provided for them (pizza!) and they read and read and read....actually, they listened, and listened and listened.  They took breaks to run around and go to the bathroom each hour but then they went back in the room and read.  I sent Ethan with his pillow, some snacks and some water.  He wasn't too excited about it but he went.

They went on Friday until about 11:45 p.m.  Ethan was EXHAUSTED!!  He just came home and went straight to bed.

Saturday morning they were back at the Church at 7 a.m.  This time Ethan took a set of scriptures instead of reading from his iPod.  It was a lot easier to follow along that way, he said.  The Bishopric provided breakfast.  Lunch was brought in (sandwiches) by the young men's leaders.  I went up after lunch to check on them.  Actually, they had sandwiches left over so they asked me to deliver them to people in the Ward who could use them.  I didn't get to see Ethan though.  But they were plugging along and the leaders were optimistic they would be able to finish on time.

Saturday dinner was dutch oven with desserts made by women in the Ward.  Courtney and I took some treats up and checked on Ethan.  He was reading away.

On one of their breaks they had the youth clean the building (the Ward that was supposed to do it never showed up) to wake them up and then they finished reading.  They finished the entire Book of Mormon at about 10:45 p.m. on Saturday.  THEY DID IT!!  Ethan was EXHAUSTED!!

I asked Ethan how the activity was and he said, "I don't ever need to do that again."  He also commented the next morning that he was dreaming in "scripture language."  Pretty funny!  But now he recognizes things they read when we are reading as a family.  I think it was a great activity.  I think the leaders are planning to do it every 4 years so all the youth can have an opportunity to participate.

I am happy for them and think it's a great opportunity.  We have some great leaders in our Ward.

Addiction

October 25, 2014

I have a CONFESSION to make….I am addicted to free fonts!  It started about 6 years ago when I began making digital scrapbooks.  It started very innocently at first.  I just needed the scrapbook page to look just right.  But they are all so pretty and I could imagine each one on a page in the scrapbooks I made for my kids.  Now, I have almost 900 fonts on my computer.  Who needs that many fonts on their computer?! 

But I’m now prepared if I ever need a font for Disneyland, Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day, July, July, July, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Father’s Day, baseball season, Primary, or anything else in between.  I’ve got it all covered!

Orchestra Concert

October 23, 2014

Courtney has been attending early morning orchestra since the end of August.  She has always wanted to play the violin and was very excited to finally be old enough for the program.  Lava Ridge Intermediate (where Ethan goes) has a 7 a.m., five days a week, early morning orchestra program that is free.  They offer it to 4th and 5th grade students of the local elementary schools who are "cone sites" to Lava Ridge (meaning they will filter into Lava Ridge from the elementary.  Our schools are "Snow Cone" schools because we filter into Snow Canyon.  Weird, I know.)  Students need their own instrument and books but the teacher is the orchestra teacher from Lava Ridge.  This is her first year at our school and she is amazing.

Last night was their first orchestra concert and she combined the early morning orchestra concert with the regular Lava Ridge student orchestra concert.  It wasn't too long.  The early morning kids play first, then the Lava Ridge kids played and then they did a finale combined together.

They really exceeded my expectations and I was very impressed with how well they sounded.  The first song is the G Major scale but the other songs are great, especially "Twinkle, Twinkle."  Take a minute to listen to how they sound.

Courtney is on the 2nd to the last row to the left of the Exit sign.  Her hair is down and she is kind of hiding behind her music stand.  Hopefully you can find her.

G Major Scale:

Oh, Gee Down:

Folk Song Melody:

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star:

Scotland's Burning:

Song of the Wind:

Lightly Row:

Boogie with y'r Bow;

Bile 'em Cabbage Down (the finale with the older students also):

Crafts

October 19, 2014

The kids were bored so we made fake stained glass windows. It was a lot of fun!!

Blog Book

October 20, 2014

In case you are wondering why I am putting date in my posts now, it's because I printed my blog book the other day and I couldn't remember some of the dates and I didn't post them on the date they happened.  So now I am going to try (haha) to remember to write the date it happened at the top of the post so I can make the book more accurate.  I count this as my family history work because I am keeping my family's history as I blog and get it printed out.

Just for information (and my future reference), I use Book Blurb to get my book printed.  They have a program called Book Smart that will "slurp" up all the entries you want included in you book and then you have to move things around so it looks how you want it to.  But it is very easy to use and you can consolidate and make the book as small as you want.  I find it is really easy to use but it can get a bit pricier than other places I have found.  But I think the extra price is worth it because....

You can go through www.sharedbook.com and it is really easy to use.  You log into a free account and tell it what dates you want included from your blog.  It will then bring all those entries in, fill in the pages with your text and photos, and in about 15 minutes your book is ready.  The drawback is that you can't edit it very much.  My book ended up being huge because I couldn't move things around and so I didn't like it.  I played with it for a few days but couldn't really get things looking how I wanted and it was a pain.  So I gave it up.

You could go through www.lulu.com and make your book but it becomes a huge process.  It doesn't use an online program.  Rather, you have to use Word and a template you download from their site to make a pdf file that you then upload to lulu.  The nice thing is that your book looks exactly like you want it to with text changes, etc.  But it is a pain because you have to be really good at using Word, styles and then they add all kinds of pages at the beginning (dedication, etc.) that can be deleted but then throw everything off.  I played with it for about 4 hours and it was a pain.  You have to cut and paste each entry individually and then bring in the pictures, resize them and then make sure each entry has the correct style attached to it.  It seemed like it would take way too much time.  But if you started doing it at the beginning of your blogging then it wouldn't be too bad but I just didn't want to mess with it.

So I am sticking with Book Blurb for now.  I just had our family 2012 book printed and I am working on 2013.  Yes, I am a bit behind on printing them but at least I am working on them.  I was inspired when my cousin, Kristina, asked me questions about how to use Book Blurb.  So I have her to thank!!

Wedding Carnival

October 17, 2014

Our neighbor's son, McKaye, was getting married on Saturday.  Instead of doing a family luncheon where people don't really get to to mingle and know each other very well, they decided to have a carnival the night before the wedding.  I thought that was a great idea.  She asked me for ideas on who in the neighborhood would have different items and I gave her suggestions.  We were invited to the reception but didn't hear any more about the carnival.

Tuesday at carpool her son asked if we were going.  I told him that I thought it was for family since it was taking the place of the family dinner.  He told me no and that I needed to talk to his mom.  The next day his mom called to make sure we knew we were invited.  So we went!

They had carnival games, prizes, a kissing booth (guess the amount of Hershey's kisses in a container), popcorn, "Worlds Best Corndogs", lemonade, cotton candy, snow cones, bounce house and dinner.  It was great!  Bryan was only 4 off on the kissing booth but someone else was closer so he didn't win.  But the kids got to play games.  We can now say we have eaten the worlds best corndogs.  And we had a fun time with some other neighbors who were there.

My kids have decided they now want to have carnivals the night before they get married instead of the wedding luncheon.  We'll have to wait and see how that goes over with their future spouses.

Another neighbor, who has a cotton candy machine, was there to make the cotton candy for everyone.  Courtney loves the people and is over at their house all the time.  Can you tell they love her too?  Check out the size of the cotton candy they gave her!

The ok thing about cotton candy (that I found out) is that it take 1 cup of sugar to make 15-20 cotton candy things.  So there really isn't as much sugar in them as you think.  That's only about 3 teaspoons per cotton candy.  So compared to a sucker it's actually less sugar.  Except Courtney got a huge one so it's probably not that impressive.

Go Giants!

October 16, 2014

Bryan is a huge San Francisco Giants fan.  He was listening to the game on his phone and watching the app that tells him what is going on.  The app on his phone is about 20 seconds ahead of the radio feed.  He usually knows what is going on before he hears it because of the lag.

Thursday night he suddenly jumped up and began running around.  Then he stopped, unplugged his ear phones and as still as a statue.  All he knew what that a run had scored but he didn't know what had happened.  We then heard the play and it was a home run!

The Giants are in the play offs and Bryan is one happy guy!

This was the best photo I could get of him because he was dancing around too much.  Go Giants!!!

Temple Week

October 16, 2014

Leigh Ann was in town to do Gary's temple work.  Ethan did the baptism for Gary and for some other family names she had brought. So Ethan got ready and we went to the Temple.  Mom and Courtney stayed outside while Dad, Leigh Ann, Ethan and I went in so he could do the baptisms.  When we got in the Temple it was packed.  A lot of youth were there for Fall Break to do baptisms and they told us it would be about 1 1/2 hours before Ethan would be baptized.  I didn't want to wait inside that entire time so I went out and found Courtney and Mom.  We watched a movie in the Visitors Center and then walked around.

After about 45 minutes Leigh Ann came running in telling us that we had to go in immediately and that we now had to have our write clothes to be able to watch the baptism.  I knew that wasn't correct so we just went back into the Temple to see where Ethan was.  We were given white socks to wear and taken into the baptistery to wait.  He was a bit nervous because he wasn't sure if they would have the names and how they would know the names were for him.  I told him just to ask them when he got in the font but he didn't have to.  They just asked his last name and if he had brought family names. When he told them his name and that he had brought names, they found them on their table and things were good.

It was another 45 minutes before it was his turn to be baptized (so we could have stayed out a while longer) but he was able to do Gary's name and 4 other family names.  Ethan changed into a dry jumpsuit and was confirmed for the names.  Then he got changed and we left. Courtney was happy to see us because it had taken quite a while.

October 17, 2014

Leigh Ann had some more names she wanted Ethan to be baptized for so we were at the Temple again on Friday morning.  Ethan needed some incentive so they offered to buy breakfast.  This time it wasn't so crowded and only took about an hour.  Ethan was confirmed for some temple names while we waited his turn in the baptistery.  Then he was baptized for 5 family names, changed into another jumpsuit, was confirmed for those names, and then he changed into his regular clothes.

I am very grateful to have a worthy son who is willing to go to the Temple and do baptisms.  He was a pro the second time around.

October 18, 2014

After setting up a bit for the funeral, I ran home, grabbed Bryan and we were off to the Temple for Leigh Ann's sealing to Gary.  When we got there and showed them our recommends I noticed Bryan's name on a slip of paper on the counter.  I asked Bryan "Why is your name here" and the Temple workers jumped into action.  One lady grabbed his arm in a death grip and told him to "come with me."  Apparently we were supposed to be there a lot earlier because Bryan was a witness but all he had to do was sign a piece of paper.

The ladies were acting like Bryan was doing something big in the sealing so I finally said, "Why do you need him?  He isn't a proxy just the witness."  One woman looked like she was going to drag him off but another one said that yes, he was a witness and that we needed to get dressed then meet in the Chapel to the right of the men's dressing room area.

After we were dressed we went to the Chapel to wait.  We still had 5 minutes to spare.  A worker came in and called our name so Bryan could sign the certificate and then we were told to wait some more.  When it was time, they took us up through the Celestial Room to a small sealing room.  The sealing was nice with Dad as a proxy for Gary.  The sealer did a great job and was a really nice man.

We changed clothes, took some photos and were off to the funeral.

Congratulations to Leigh Ann!!

Fall Break - Snow Canyon Camping

October 15, 2014

Wednesday night we had a reservation to camp at Snow Canyon.  It ended up being a crazy day with the death of the little girl and then Ethan had scouts where they were biking in Snow Canyon and then I almost had a meeting with the Bishopric (luckily we took care of it on Tuesday night so I didn't have to worry about it).  Bryan loaded up the van while I was on the phone making arrangements.  He and Ethan left at 6 p.m. to meet up with the other boys to go on their bike ride.  Courtney and I went to Snow Canyon to set up camp and wait for the boys.

We girls did a great job setting up the tent (which smelled like mold) but when we were putting things in the tent we realized a sleeping bag was missing and I had forgotten to grab the lantern.  We weren't very prepared for this camp out and I had been thrown so things were done as well as they should have been.  So Courtney and I got back in the truck and went back home to grab those things.  When we got home the boys were waiting for us so we gave them a ride back to the van and then we all went to our campsite.  By now it was pretty dark but we had the lantern!  So we made dinner (hot dogs) and had some s'mores.

Ethan went to bed while Courtney, Bryan and I sat around the camp fire.  When we were all tired we got in the tent and went to sleep.  The next morning we made breakfast (which ended up being a mess because our griddle wasn't level so the eggs spilled all over the ground) and then went home so Bryan could get ready for work. The kids had Fall Break but Bryan still had to work.

It was fun to get away for a little bit and I was glad it was close but Courtney said it wasn't a good camp out because it was too quick and we weren't well prepared.  Bryan told her she could plan the next one we go on.

Rough Week in the Neighborhood

October 15, 2014

Wednesday morning I was on my way home from grocery shopping (actually, I was only a few blocks away) when I got a phone call from a neighbor.  She was pretty hysterical but calmed down enough to tell me there had been a horrible accident in our neighborhood -- a little girl had been struck by a car.  She had already called the Bishop, who was on his way to the hospital, and she told me the EMT had told her that it looked "really bad" and to call the Bishop and Relief Society President.

When I pulled into my driveway I had a bunch of neighbors run over to ask me what had happened.  I didn't have any details other than the name of the little girl and that they were on their way to the hospital.  I sent a text to the Bishop and he told me he would let me know of the situation when he could.

I immediately sent a text and email to all the women in the ward asking them to stop and say a little prayer for the family.  Then we all waited.  At about noon I received a text from Bishop telling me that Natalie Petersen had passed away and the funeral would be on Saturday.  He asked me to send a text and email out informing everyone of her death.  I don't like that part of my calling.  I really don't like being the one to give people bad news.  It has happened too often for my liking.

Immediately there were tons of texts back asking me for detail but I didn't know any.  A little bit later one of the sisters in our ward sent me a link to an online news article that explained that Natalie was accidentally run over by her dad and had died of the injuries.

Bishop called me and talked over what needed to be done for the family.  They would be staying with some family in town and so we set up meal to be taken to them at that home.  I also began working on the luncheon.  I am always amazed (and I shouldn't be by now) at how absolutely wonderful our neighborhood and ward are.  Within 30 minutes of the text saying Natalie had passed away, the family's house was being cleaned (by a neighbor not of our faith), the dogs were being cared for, the younger children in the family were being watched, and dozen of offers had come in to help with their older children.  It was amazing! 

But it didn't stop there..

October 16, 2014

I woke up on Thursday with a ton of emails and texts from women in the ward wanting to do something. A bunch of the mom's friends had begun putting pink ribbons around the neighborhood to honor Natalie.  They asked if I would get the word out that they would be putting more ribbons up that afternoon.  When Courtney and I arrived to help (it was Fall Break so the kids were all out of school), there were about 20-25 women/girls/boys helping to cut ribbons and tie them on anything and everything in the neighborhood.

While we were tying up ribbons the Bishop called me to let me know that the mortuary had donated the entire funeral, down to the casket.  I was amazed.  When I hung up from talking to him I got a call from a casket maker in Orderville asking if they could donate the casket for the family.  I told them it had already been taken care of but thanked them for their offer.

When I had hung up from talking to them I got a text from the Bishop telling me that Hurst (a local hardware store) had donated 600 pink light bulbs for the neighborhood so we could show our support for the family.  I quickly sent out an email and a text letting the members know they could pick up the pink light bulbs that night and to spread the word.  That night our neighborhood looked amazing.

 October 17, 2014

I worked on the funeral luncheon and getting women to sign up to bring salads, desserts and funeral potatoes.  I also asked for volunteers to serve and help setup and clean up.  It was amazing how many people signed up.  I use Google Docs for my sign up sheets and usually when all the lines are filled people just say "oh well, I'll try next time to help."  This time when the lines were filled people made new lines  So we ended up with a lot of food but it was good because we would just send it home with the family.

We drove by the Church that night and saw people setting up for the funeral so we stopped to help.  All the women in the ward who were friends with the family were setting up pictures, toys, and other things to help honor Natalie.  The mom was so distraught and her friends wanted to have a nice funeral for her so she could say goodbye to her daughter.  They did an amazing job decorating and putting pictures of the family everywhere.  I stayed for a while but there were so many people to help that I felt in the way.  They were there until around midnight getting things ready.


October 18, 2014

It was a crazy day.  I got a call at 8 a.m. asking where I was because there were women ready to set up.  I had asked them to show up at 8:30 but I hurried and finished getting ready and ran to the Church.  Bryan had loaded the van with what I needed while I got ready and so, at the Church, we unloaded the van and did what we could to get ready.  I had to run to the Temple for Leigh Ann's sealing so I left things in capable hands.

We finished up and were back to the Church at 10:30.  The viewing was from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. and it was still really packed when we showed up.  The mom was having a really hard time (as could be expected) so the line was taking a long time.  Our kids saved us seats while we waited in line.  The funeral was supposed to start at 11 a.m. but the line was so long and they took their time closing the casket so the family could say goodbye, so the funeral started a little over an hour late.  But it was a very good funeral with a lot of good stories of her and hope from the family.  Funerals are always hard but much more so when it's a child or an unexpected death.

When the funeral finished and the family had gone to the cemetery a ton of people from the Ward stayed and helped get things ready for the luncheon.  I am really Type A so I have checklists for people to follow so they know what needs to be done and what has already been done.  That way I don't have to answer a ton of questions.  I also leave a lot of things up to the discretion of people who are helping.  For example, one woman put the plastic ware in cups so people could just grab a fork when they went by.  Another sister thought that was too unsanitary so she asked if she could just lay them down on a plate.  I told her that I didn't care and she could do what she wanted...and I really didn't care.  I was just happy that someone had put out the plastic ware.  I think I shock some people because they expect me to have an\ strong opinion but I really don't mind if we do it differently because I appreciate the help and want them to know that I value them.  I have been in the situation where I have volunteered to help and felt like everything I did was wrong.  So I don't want to make people feel that way.

The luncheon went really well with the family all very appreciative of the work the Ward had put into it.  We had about 10-12 dozen cookies left over, 3 funeral potato dishes, 2 huge salads, 3 dozen rolls and a bunch of ham.  So we sent it all home with the family so they wouldn't have to worry about food for a while.

Then we all cleaned up, I washed the table cloths and now I just have to get the dishes back to people.  It was a rough week.

The pink lights are staying up until Natalie's birthday on November 11th.  Every year our neighborhood is going to put up the pink lights on November 11th to remember her.  I am so grateful for where we live and the wonderful people in our community!

Sunday - SF, Ship Tours and Flying Home

Since it was Fleet Week there were ships in SF that were free for tours.  So we packed everything, checked out of the hotel and took BART back into SF.  We parked at a different BART station because the Raiders had a game at 1 p.m. and they were already setting up tailgates at 8 a.m.  So we decided to stay away.

We walked from the Embarcadero all the way to Pier 31-33 trying to find the USS America which was the one we wanted to tour.  Unfortunately, SF has a weird way of numbering the piers so the odds are to the left and the evens are to the right.  USS America was at an even pier so we had gone the wrong way.  But it was okay because there were still some ships to tour and the lines weren't too long.  So we went on a tour of the USS Chosin which is based in Hawaii.

They took us around to stations with Navy personnel who explained what they did.  This is a picture of the big gun that was on the front.  There was also one on back.

If they have to get onto another ship, this is the team they send and here are their weapons, ladders, hooks, first aid kits, etc.  I took this picture for Ethan.

The man giving the tour wouldn't tell us what these were but he said they worked and went a long way.

 These are the missile hatches that were in the back.  Again, the ship is a mirror image of itself so there are some in the front and the back.  There was also a helicopter on the back of the ship which was cool.  But we couldn't get near it.

When we finished the tour, we went to Pier 39 to buy some souvenirs and get lunch at Chowders which has the best clam chowder and sour dough bread bowl ever!

We then went to the BART station and headed back to the car.  After filling up with gas, we took the car back and caught a shuttle for the airport.  Our plane was delayed but we got home in good time to pick up the kids and say thanks to mom and dad.

It was a fun trip!!

Saturday in San Ramon - Temple, Traffic and Friends

Saturday morning we woke up early and made our way to the Oakland Temple.  We had to get into an early session to make everything work that day.  I hadn't been inside the Oakland Temple before so I was lost but the workers were really nice and showed us where to go.  The endowment room was tiny but beautiful and I was so awed by the celestial room.  It was so beautiful.  I was very glad we had taken the time to go while we were there.

After the Temple, we headed back to the hotel to change.  The traffic at 11 a.m. was horrible.  It was stop and go for quite a while and took us a long time to get from point A to point B.  It reminded us why we live in a small town!

We made it in plenty of time to change and get to lunch.  Some of Bryan's friends from the San Ramon 2nd Ward were getting together before the reunion.  We met at Erica Holladay's house (I can't remember married names so I'm going with maiden names so people know who they are better) and ate lunch/talked for 4 hours!  It was fun to hear all the stories from when they were growing up and to hear all the teasing.  Ben McEvoy, Aamey Stephens, Erica, Rebecca Davies and Bryan told all the dirt and caught up on each other's lives.  It really was fun and I was glad to meet them.  They didn't have any dirt on Bryan but they had plenty on Ben....although Kim knew it all which was even more hilarious!

Then it was time to get ready for the reunion.  Bryan had told them all not to be surprised if we didn't stay long because there were only two other people he wanted to say hi to.  The main people he had wanted to see were those at lunch.

We drove to Handles Gastropub in Pleasanton and it was all decked out.  There was music playing from the early 90s and they had signs all over with catch phrases from the day.  They did a good job.

I got a name tag saying I was with Bryan and he got a button with his senior picture on it and then we mingled. He found the two guys he had wanted to see and had a good time catching up with them. And then we left...mission accomplished.

We ordered dinner online from Chilis, picked it up and then went back to our hotel.  It was a fun day!

Friday in San Ramon and San Francisco

Bryan's 20th year class reunion was last weekend and we decided to go.  We woke up really early on Friday and drove to Las Vegas to catch a flight to Oakland Airport.  My parents took care of the kids while we were gone.  The plane had a little mechanical problem so we left Vegas late but arrived safely in Oakland.  We flew through the fog when we were coming in for a landing and it looked like the sky was covered in quilt batting.  It was crazy.

We had a rental car waiting for us that we had prepaid for through the travel club we use.  It was really cheap.  But the problem with prepaying for things is that you can very easily talk yourself into an upgrade because it is only going to cost $15 to get a....green mustang.  Yes, Bryan drove a green mustang while we were in San Francisco!  Ethan was pretty jealous!

It was Fleet Week in San Francisco so I was really excited to get to the Golden Gate Bridge to see the parade of ships.  But our plane was late so we knew we would miss it.  We drove from the airport to the nearest BART station which happened to be the Oakland Coliseum. It was a bit sketchy and we were nervous parking a nice, bright green mustang in this dumpy lot.  We got out to get out stuff ready to go on BART when I looked to the car next to us.  All it's windows were smashed out.  Bryan and I looked at each other and he decided to move the car so the cameras would be focused right on it.  Great idea!  But as I walked around to meet him I noticed that a lot of the parking spaces had glass around them.  We decided it was okay because we had bought the $5 extra insurance.

We parked, walked to the BART station, bought our tickets and were off to San Francisco.  We were meeting up with Ben and Kim McEvoy to do some sight seeing.  Bryan was texting Ben and found out they had rented bikes.  I wasn't dressed (or prepared) to ride bikes but I could tell that Bryan really wanted to do it.  So we rented some bikes at the Embarcadero and began to ride.

Now, I'm not going to lie.  I wasn't happy with the bike riding at all, at first.  I grew up where there aren't any sidewalks and we don't have stop signs.  Traffic is a tractor driving down the road and we never had to move out of the way of cars because there really weren't any around.  So riding a bike on a city street in heavy San Francisco traffic gave me a panic attack.  I didn't see a thing on our ride because I had to focus on where I was going to hard and that made me frustrated because I wanted to see all the ships.  After what seemed to take forever, we made it to a dedicated bike path in a park and I was okay.  Then it started to be really fun to ride a bike around.

This is the ship that Bryan got to spend the night on with his 6th grade class.

We biked to Crissy Field but we didn't feel like going up the huge hill to get to the Golden Gate Bridge, and it looked pretty crowded, so we waited for the McEvoys near the water.  When we met up we decided to find something to eat for lunch.  I got clam chowder in a bread bowl (the best stuff to eat in SF) and Bryan got fried shrimp and fries.  We all sat on benches in a little park to eat.  The seagulls were crazy there and actually bombed one girl making her drop her food.  The food was gone in about 10 second!

While we were biking we saw the airplanes rehearsing for the airshow that would be held on Saturday and Sunday.  We didn't get to see the Blue Angels practice but the planes we did see were pretty amazing.  They would fly really close to the water at high speeds.  We also saw a helicopter rescue that, I'm sure, wasn't planned.

Wasn't it a beautiful day?!

We returned the bikes and rode BART back to the car...wondering if it would be intact or not. It was just fine and just waiting for us.  We drove to our hotel in Pleasanton and got ready to go to Cal High.  There was an alumni reception before the Homecoming Game but we didn't want to pay the extra money for some finger food so we just picked up our alumni football tickets and wandered around campus.  It reminded me of a college campus.  Bryan and Ben talked about which buildings had been there when they were (only a few) and what changes had been made.  We really wished they would have opened the school up so we could have seen more.

There was a special alumni section for seating at the football game but it was in the south end zone on folding chairs so we skipped that and sat on the bleachers.  Cal High was going all out for the game.  After the "Star Spangled Banner" they let off some fireworks.  They introduced each starting player one-by-one while they ran out.  And there were a lot of people there!  It was really fun.  After introducing the Homecoming Royalty and crowning the King and Queen at halftime, there was a fireworks show that lasted quite a while.  

Cal High won the game!!!  They played really well.  So it was a fun night.

I can't do anything right...

In 1988 my  mom graduated from CEU as the Valedictorian of her class.  It had taken her 4 years of going to school part time, working full time and being a mom to get her degree.  So she got a red Honda CRX-si for her graduation present.  Somehow (and I wonder how my stuff always ends up in Courtney's room) I ended up with the car when I went to college and again after my mission.  When I was pregnant with Ethan we sold the CRX to his parents for his brother to use as Ricks (BYU-I now).  Now that they don't need it we were able to get it back (THANK YOU!).  I was so excited.

I called the DMV to find out how we could legally drive the car to St. George and was told how to get a temporary tag and where to put it.  I debated getting one because, although the tags from Colorado had expired in August, David had been driving the car around without being pulled over.  But...this is me....and I get in trouble even when I'm not doing anything wrong, so I didn't want to take a chance.  I got the temporary tag and put it in the driver's side back window just as they told me to do.

After the morning session of Conference we loaded up and drove off.  Ethan wanted to ride in the CRX with me so he was my co-pilot and we took off.  But the slider for the air conditioner/heater was stuck (it was sliding when we got in that morning but we turned it off and couldn't get it to move again) so we had the windows down and the front tires were bald so I couldn't drive over 65 mph without the steering wheel shaking and losing control.  I was having fun it until...yes, I got pulled over!

We were at the on ramp at University when a police truck came onto the freeway.  He pushed his way between Bryan and I and sat there.  I knew I was in trouble so I gave Ethan a bit of a heads up.  I told him "Bud, there is a policeman behind me so I'm probably going to be pulled over."  He said "okay."   Soon enough the lights on his truck went on and I pulled over.  I got the paperwork all ready and tried to figure out what he was pulling me over for.  Maybe I had a tail light out or something.  But when he approached he told me my tags were expired and that is why he was pulling me over.  He hadn't noticed the tag until he walked up to the car.  He was probably 3 feet above me in his truck, how did he not see the sticker?!  Anyway, I gave him the paperwork, he lectured me about still having the license plate on the CRX, asked where I was going and then let us go.  Even when everything is done correctly, I still get in trouble.  Ugh!

Anyway, we continued on until about an hour later when Ethan wanted air conditioning and asked if he could get in the van with Bryan.  So we pulled over and Courtney came with me.  She was excited to be in the CRX but fell asleep about 10 minutes later and napped for over an hour.  Yeah!!  When she woke up she wanted to go back to the van where there was air conditioning. So I drove the rest of the way by myself in the little hot rod going 65 mph.

We got home safely!  It took a while longer but no one complained.

After school on Monday Ethan decided he wanted to clean/detail the CRX.  Who was I to stop him?!  So I pulled it up to the door of the garage so the vacuum would reach and Ethan climbed in the CRX to vacuum it.  He had a great time.  After the vacuum, we put the trunk back together, cleaned things out, shined the dashboard with Armor-all, and threw things out.

 Ethan kept asking if he could just drive it around the block...uh....NO!

It looked great all cleaned up!  The only problems with it are what I call "incidents of old age."  There are just things that wear out because it's old.  And it's an old car! So I am planning on eventually getting car seat covers, fix the air conditioning/heating slider, buy new insides of the doors, etc. Things that just wear out with regular use and/or sunshine.  But the engine runs really well.

I filled the windshield wiper fluid, got the oil changed, new front tires and a teeny-tiny light bulb replaced on a rear light (seriously, it was tiny).  Then I took it for the inspection and it passed with flying colors!  I took all the paperwork on Wednesday to the DMV in Hurricane to get the license plates. So we now have license plates on the CRX (thanks Dad!) and it goes 80 mph without shaking (it is an 75 mph zone between Washington City and the Hurricane exit on the freeway and I had to test out the new tires).

Ethan is already dreaming of the day when he can drive this to school. ;)

Sunday Conference

Sunday morning we went to Andrew and Jessica's for breakfast and then to watch the morning Conference session.  We didn't want to stay too long because we had a long drive but we didn't want to miss out on family time.

Courtney loved sitting next to Grandma Pack.

 There was a message chair that everyone loved and Courtney was no exception.

After the morning session, we made lunches for ourselves and started home.  Thank you to everyone for the wonderful weekend!!

Conference Saturday

We woke up early Saturday morning to get ready to go to Conference in Salt Lake City.  Bryan left early to get cereal and milk while I was going to get ready.  He came back quickly to tell me that the van wouldn't start.  It was cold and our little van likes the warmer weather.  Bryan called AAA and the tow truck guy came out and gave us a jump.  The van started fine after that, thank you!

We got ready and went to meet up at Andrew and Jessica's house.  Then we all went to Salt Lake to the Tabernacle to watch the morning session of Conference.  We parked in a parking tower where we had a pass and it took FOREVER to get in there!  But we were able to make it before the opening talk of the session.  The Tabernacle wasn't very full so it we didn't have to worry about finding a place to sit with everyone.

After the session, Grandma, Grandpa, Andrew, Jessica and us went to lunch and then went to Temple Square until it was time for the girls to go to the afternoon session of Conference.

 Andrew and Courtney playing around while we waited.

When it was time to go to the Conference Center, we had to split up because David and Jenny hadn't arrived yet and we had her ticket.  So Jessica waited outside for Jenny to get there so they could go in together.  Courtney was very excited for her first Conference session in the Conference Center!  We were sitting next to a couple of girls from Snow College and one was a recent convert.  They weren't afraid to ask me what things meant, why we were standing up before it began, and which "old guy" was President Monson.  It was fun to talk to them and see how excited they were to get tickets.

Jessica and Jenny made it before the first speaker and we were all able to listen together.  I enjoyed hearing the talk given in Spanish because I was able to hear the Spanish and read the translation that was on the screen.  There were a few times when it wasn't translated exactly right and it was funnier or made more sense in Spanish.

After the session, we met up with the guys, ate dinner together, and then they went off to the Priesthood session...Ethan's first one!  He was excited to be going with his dad, grandpa and uncles.  I was so happy for him.

The girls drove back to Provo, changed clothes and then went shopping at Deseret Book and Smith's.  When the boys got back, we had dessert then went to David and Jenny's to bed.  It was a great day!