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!!