The adventures of Indiana John and his intrepid sidekick Carolyn

Alternate title: The day we took the train, trax, and a bus.

So yesterday we decided to go down to Salt Lake and do a dry run of John's commute, to be sure he makes all his connections and figure out just how long it will take so he won't be late on his first day. So we left around 9:15... ~~~dissolve from shot of narration to scene of parking the car~~~
The adventurers grabed their bag and headed out for the large building near the buses. "Hi we'd like to buy tickets to the Frontrunner (the commuter train), can we do that here?"
The woman, slightly overdressed for the occasion, looked up from her papers, "Tickets are purchased from the machine at the platform." She gestured slightly in the vauge direction we had come from.
The train pulled up just as we arrived at the ticket machine, "Hurry John, they only stay at each stop for a few minutes." Quickly navigating the touch screen the heros were briefly stalled by the credit card swipper machine, which lacked any instructions about which way to face the card in the slot. At last the tickets were printed out and they were on to the platform. Pushing the "open door" button, we made ready to board quickly, but nothing happened.
"Maybe they aren't letting anyone else on 'cuz they're about to leave," John hypothosized. That would mean a 30 minute wait until the next train! "Wait!" called Carolyn, "the button isn't green but the one on that door is." Zipping over to the next door, John pushed the button and the door opened. The explorers climbed aboard and quickly secured window seats at a table.
The train pulled smoothly from the station and our heros read and played DS all the way to SaltLake without interuption.
Disembarking at the end of the line, we made our way to the Trax platform. (The street car trains) "Which trax line do we want, Sandy or University?" John queried. Consulting her growing selection of maps, Carolyn replied, "We can take either and then transfer to the university line to get to our bus stop." Just then the Sandy line pulled up and we boarded.
We transfered lines and got to our stop without complications. "Our bus stop is just down this block," Carolyn said setting off. But on our arrival our route number was no where to be found on the sign. "Well lets go to the other stop," John suggested. Back tracking and proceeding North, the adventurers spotted thier stop just past a McDonalds, pausing to consider the rumbling in their stomachs they decided a brief detour was in order.
Following lunch (which aside from the uncarbonated soda, was quite good) we made our way to the stop. Unable to locate a schedule, Carolyn called the posted phone number. "Can you tell me when the next bus is for route ..." John looked over their maps while he waited. "... I see, thank you."
Carolyn explained that the 307 was an express bus that only runs for a few hours in the mornings and evenings. But only carried passengers one way, into SLC in the mornig and out of SLC in the evenings. The exact opposite of the way they needed to travel!
Thier spirits undampened, the intrepid travelers consulted thier maps. They soon discovered another bus that would take them close to their destination. Setting off at a brisk pace we were soon riding the Trax again. "Now we just transfer to the Sandy line and we'll be at our bus stop in no time," Carolyn said confidently.
Getting off the university line they didn't wait long before a South boundtrax came along. We climbed aboard settled in and began working a Sudoku puzzle, since it would be a bit of a ride. After several stops Carolyn looked up in confusion, what were they doing at the Stadium? The Stadium was on the University line. Realizing the error we quickly got off and took the next Trax downtown. Arriving at the stop to change lines our heros paid very close attention to the arrivng trax trains before boarding again.
Spirits slightly dampened and in need of a snack, we settled in to ride to our stop. John whipped out the DS saying, "I need to kill something."
Many stops later we disembarked only to discover a 20 minute wait for our bus. Taking advantage of the cold we snuggled together while getting an update from my Mom, on how Little John was doing. Advising her of our circumstances so far we let her know not to expect us any time soon.
Soon the bus arrived and an uneventful 25 minutes later we were walking away from our stop. As far as we could tell from the bus map we were 2 blocks up and 2 blocks over from our destination, so we set off on foot eager to conclude our journey. However, it was not to be.
After 45 minutes of steady treking up and down steep, snow covered sidewalks we straggled into an Artic Circle in desperate need of a bathroom break and a pick me up. Over a hot fudge sundae, some chicken nuggets, and a soda (carbonated this time), we reevaluated our prospects.
Deciding to take a differnt route to the bus stop we stopped into the Smith's for some provisions before setting out. While at the store Carolyn decided to return a phone call she had missed, from her brother Rick.
Finishing at the checkout John asked how the call went. "Great!" Carolyn replied, "He's racing us to the bus stop and will drop us off at the trax station!" With renewed hope and energy we set out on our new route. Looking at the very small and unlabeled bus map, we had selected a more circtous path to the bus stop in the hopes that it would be more level.
After trudging through the snow in a mostly northern direction we came across a friendly mail delivery person. He pointed out on our miniscule map were we were and which way we needed to go next. Follwing his directions west at the T-interesction were were able to navigate the rest of the way to Fort Union Blvd ourselves, without further incident.
Just as we got there Rick arrived and we were soon zooming along the freeway. Rick decided to use this excuse to drive into Salt Lake (he picked us up in Cottonwood Heights) as a chance to visit his favorite German deli. We tagged along since it was right by the Trax and he bought a kinder egg for Little John. Soon we were hugging him goodbye and on the Trax back to the Frontrunner station. Once on the train we broke out the supplies and relaxed for the ride home. John struck up an interesting conversation with a fellow passenger who turned out to be an industrial engineer for the government. Before long we were back at the car and driving the last little bit home. ~~~dissolve back to narrator~~~
So we decided that John will drive the car to work at least for the first couple days. And incase anyone was worried we don't have any blisters from all that walking in damp boots.

Beautifulness, hooray!

So I finally figured out how to give my blog beautifulness! I have been trying for like a month to use this fabulous design I made in word, for my background. But with John's help (nad him having lots of patience with me) I finally have my beautifulness. John is a great IT guy! I just need to have more patience and then he wouldn't have such a hard time helping me.
So I did my background in jewel tones because I love the rich colors, but then I had to use light colors for all my fonts, so if you have trouble reading it please tell me and I will adjust the colors lighter or darker or change the font size. Because there is no point in giving my blog beautifulness if no reads it. I love making spiffy art type things on the computer so if you want your blog to have custom beautifulness, just tell me what kind of colors/layout/shapes you want. But if lots of people ask me at the same time it will take me a while to get them done, so first come first served. Hmmm... I have so much fun making them I wonder if I can sell them on my Etsy shop... hmmm...

John got a Job!

So we got the best present for Christmas! John got a job! He interviewed last week and they loved him. He says his knowledge of Revit (an engineering program) is what hooked their intrest. The company is in Salt Lake City (cottonwood heights really) so he is going to take the commuter train and then a bus for the last little bit. The train doesn't come all the way to Brigham yet but the nearest station is only 15-20 minutes away (depending on traffic and weather). (To all the Phonecians- the trains and street cars system here is way better done than the "PHART" and is a reasonable way to get around) The commute will take about an hour all together, but since he doesn't have to do any of the driving he's excited to read or stuff (the train has wi-fi but we Ebayed the laptop). The company that hired him is called River consulting http://www.riverconsulting.com/ and they do big industrial buildings mostly out of concrete. He is so excited because he gets to do plates and shells analysis (figuring out if concrete ceilings will crack (plates) or concrete domes will collapse (shells)), which he learned to do in collage but didn't get to use at his other job. He starts on Jan. 5th and we're going to do a dry run of the commute before then to be sure he won't be late. He says he'll be the bottom man on the totem pole (well they hired 6 bottom men), but he thinks thats good because then he has room to work up. Even though he's bottom ranked, he still gets his nice benifits: health, dental, and eyes. And this might be what I'm most excited about, because we haven't had any real health problems (colds, ear infections), but the worry that something could go wrong and we don't have health insurance (especially for Little John) has been eating away at me. But no more worries! So Merry Christmas to everybody and ours will deffinatly be a happy one!
PS. please pass this info on to anyone who knows us- that John now has a job and thank you everyone for your prayers.

Mamma Mia!

So we watched Mamma Mia today and this is the most hysterically funny movie I've ever seen. The sound track is all Abba songs, the plot is amazingly twisted. It sounded like it might be a chick flick but John loves it and my anti-musicals teenage brother loves it too! I am totally amazed about that. And even though the guys like it this is the perfect girls night in movie, where you all sing along (it has a sing along setting:D) at top volume while eatting chocolate ice cream!

I can't wait to see what Sarah thinks of it, I bet she goes nuts. Little John loves it, he "sings" and claps and laughs and dances around. It is so adorable!

This is from our family pics at Thanksgiving, I love it 'cuz he's laughing :D

Wow its cold here!

So yesterday at church Little John had one heck of a poopy diaper durring sacrament meeting. So I fish all through the diaper bag and find a diaper but no wipes, then I remember seeing them in the car. So I ask Sarah to run out to the car and grab them and I'll meet her at the bathroom with Little John (it takes 2 people if we have to use the cold fold out of the wall changing thing). So she hurries in and I strip off the diaper and she's over there struggling to get out a wipe. I'm like his tush is hanging out here hurry it up a bit and she tells me the wipes are frozen! I try to get one and she's right- its a solid block of frozen wipes. So she makes me some "wipes" with warm water and paper towels (not the first time I've had to resort to that sadly) and we get the whole thing taken care of. We opened the wipes again after church and found that at least some of them had thawed out. Man , I thought they were made with rubbing alcohol. I didn't think that stuff could freeze. This would never happen in Arizona. In AZ I would have opened the box and probably found that they were all dry from the heat LOL.

Cause for hysteria LOL

So my youngest brother joined the army national guard months ago and since he's a senior this year he hasn't been to basic yet but he still does his "one weekend a month". So today they were supposed to do first aid stuff but instead they did "how to clear a room like SWAT". They were given a five minute shpeel about if you stand in this order these people check this part of the room and be sure to crouch down . Then they were sent on training scenarios. Usually they have 4 man squads but the numbers didn't workout so Ben was in a six man squad. So they do their thing and five minutes later everybody was killed by the "terrorists". Reset: it takes longer but the "terrorists" win again.
Take three: They do much better checking things and find 2 of the 3 "terrorists" so they split up and most of the squad takes in the prisoners leaving Ben and a guy to keep watch I guess (he was vague on these details). So they hear a noise and go in to check it out and see a very skinny cabinet is open so they check it out- empty. So Ben turns around and sees that his buddy (who is tall) is a hostage to the last "terrorist" Cadet Mowers (who is short and has the hostage bent over backwards into a headlock threatening him with a cardboard knife, the squads use unloaded m-16's and shout "bang!" to fire them). Mowers backs away using the guy as a shield all the way down the stairs (the guys feet thump down every step) while shouting in Arabic (made up gibberish really). And then the two of them disappear into the bathroom. Ben (who is also really tall) crouches down and follows them hoping for a chance to fire but hesitates outside the bathroom because the door opens into the hall and he worries about being ambushed. He finally goes in and sees no one. He checks under the stalls and sees only one pair of feet- hmm his buddy's or the "terrorist's"? So he sneaks over and gently pushes the door with the gun- locked. So he sneaks into the stall next door, climbs up on the seat, pops up over the top and...
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The poor Staff Sargent (who is not part of the maneuvers at all) has the poop scared right out of him. He yells all sorts of things and Ben ducks back down. He leaves his stall and is "killed" by the laughing "terrorist" who had "killed" his buddy (who is also laughing) before Ben came in. The staff Sargent gives Ben a cussing out and a bunch of push ups, but Mowers (the "terrorist") defends him, so Ben only has to do 50. Poor kid, he will never live this down.
When he told us we all laughed so hard we were crying and I could barely breathe. Little John thought that was great so he starts laughing and shrieking and waving his arms all over which only makes us laugh harder. In Ben's defense: they really shouldn't let people wander into active scenarios if they aren't involved.

Tempe Friends

Dear Tempe friends,
So recently John's cousin (and her husband) moved to Texas from Washington. And they drove all the way. They have been staying with family all the way down because most hotels don't take cats even if they'll take dogs (they tell me its because people don't usually travel with a filled cat box for obvious reasons). When they got to Phoenix the plan was to stay with family again but after the fighting between their cat and John's parents cats they weren't sure they wanted to risk that again, so I looked online for a hotel that wasn't too far from the freeway that would take cats. And I found one (just south of the baesline and priest intersection), luckily. But I told them that if we couldn't find one that I knew lots of very nice people in the area that could probably take a cat overnight. So I just wanted to let you know that you all have a wonderful rep with some people you haven't even met :D
And since they came down with the fluas they got there I totally planned on calling anyone of you if they decided they needed a blessing or anything, 'cuz I know you guys would come through for them.
Missing you tons,
Carol

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy birthday Mom!
You are such a wonderful generous person. You are a great example of what family is and how they should treat each other. I'm sorry you didn't have the best day, but I hope you enjoyed as much as you could.
Love,
Carolyn

Elder Hizer arises from the internet

So I experienced a small miracle today. (If I had been checking my email daily I would have had this miracle on Monday. I get emailed when anyone comments on my blog.) I got a comment from a guy in Wamego, KS, where Elder Hizer is serving right now. This guy's family have a dinner apointment with Nathan tonight! And they wanted to make him feel at home, so they googled for him and found my blog. They asked what his favorite foods were. (You can read the comment on my post "Ode to Elder Hizer" in Oct)
I am so excited. I told the guy what Nathan likes to eat and asked him to email me a pic of him and his companion. How awesome is all of this?! Next time I feed missionaries I'm going to have to google them, who knows what can happen. I knew God worked in mysterious ways, but I never realized that could mean google.

Ward Christmas Party

So I don't know if I ever mentioned it but John and I were called to be on the ward activities commitee. So we had the Christmas party breakfast yesteday. We do a beakfast early in the month to keep from interfering with people's holiday plans (for the most part). John helped flip pancakes and I ran the skit. The plan was that I'd do the "voice from off stage" but people had things come up and/or got sick so I did a part and sound effects, John did a part, and Ben did lights. And I rounded up a guy from the audience for the "voice". It went well though.
If you've been to Seagull book lately you might have seen the book "A stranger for Christmas" well there is a skit version online(http://www.theideadoor.com/Skits/a_stranger_for_christmas%20skit.htm).
Of course I picked a few characters to do parts and the version we did isn't the same one that's scripted. Our version turned out to be a little more of a comedy when "Florence" decided she was a bitter old scrooge complete with insertions of "humbug!". The original script (and book) was a bit more pionant and heartwarming when "Florence" was just a sad lonely lady. But we got a lot of compliments about it and it was never expected to be a Broadway preformance anyway since we only had one rehersal with an incomplete cast.
And everyone had a good time, even the sweethearts who filled in at the last minute.

What goes around, and around, and around...

So the flu has gone all around our house. John came down with it just before Thanksgiving and since then everyone has gotten it. And sadly recovering seems to be complicated by a nasty cold, but maybe its part of the flu too. Fortunatly I got it mild, you couldn't take me too far from a nap or a bathroom, but at least I never threw-up. Everyone is mostly better but Little John seems to be lingering on forever. I might take him in to the doctor tomarrow. Aside from the germs, laundry, and dishes that pile up when people are sick- I am way behind on Christmas! So for everyone who reads this your Christmas cards are coming but they'll probably get there on Christmas Eve 'cuz I'm so behind.

Coming soon to a computer near you!

Coming soon to a computer near you: my Etsy shop!
This is the other reason I'm behind in my blogging, I'm opening an Etsy shop. For those with no idea what I'm talking about, don't feel bad I'd never heard of it either. An Etsy shop is like amazon.com crossed with ebay, but for homemade stuff. My mom and I are going to do it together. She makes quilts (and some other things) as her stress relief, and as a 3rd grade teacher she has a lot of stress. And I make tons of stuff. There is something I'm on a big kick of making right now but since at least one person who reads this blog is getting that for Christmas I can't tell you any more about it. But since I'm busy making Christmas right now it will probably be after Christmas that I get my shop really up and running. So when I do I will blog it with a link and everybody can check it out. We had a bussness lunch and voted John as our accountant and ceo/bussiness manager, but we may have to rethink that since he got an email today asking him to set up a time for a job interview :D We are so excited, but don't want to get our hopes up. So pray for John! Thank you!

Thanksgiving part 2

So this is my abreviated list of things I'm Thankful for. It's abreviated because it would be so long otherwise that no one would want to read it.

My list:

John, Little John, Mom, Sarah, Ben, Heather, Rick, the rest of my family (this is part of the abreviating), my in-laws, my friends, the church, the military, my savior, lots of good food, laughing, a warm dry house, books, crafts, email, blogging, relief society, that John got over the flu in time for Thanksgiving, and lots, lots more things I won't try to fit here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving part 1

Well its all over now and most of the leftovers have been eaten. Yesterday I disected the rest of the turkeys (we had 3) and froze a lot of it. And tonight I will use up pretty much everything else to make Thanksgiving pizza (recipe at bottom).
But our Thanksgiving was great! We had 22 people (hence the 3 turkeys) and we managed to fit them all in the living room to eat together. We hauled the piano out to the garage and fit 2 long folding tables in the length of the living room. (By the way if anyone knows some one in the Brigham area who wants to buy a piano message me!)
We ate and then took down a table and people broke up in little groups to visit and play games. And of course there were leftovers and plenty of pie and other desserts for munching. We all had a great time.
John's parents, brother and his wife came since Nathan's on his mission and their usual plans were disrupted. Heather came and announced her engagement to Evan Smith (who came and his familly too). I was nice to meet everyone, we like them all, and he is really nice and sweet to her. And of course Sarah came up from school. And Rick came. And my uncle Mike. And Grandma Earl (my great-grandma).
It was great to have every one and it was so nice just hanging out talking and playing games and things.
And before you freak out about the cooking involved, we did: pies, turkeys, rolls, stuffing, taters, and veggie tray. Everyone else brought potluck drinks, side dises, and desserts. So we didn't do all the cooking (thank goodness!)

Thanksgiving pizza
1 Grease a cookie sheet and cover it with a thin layer of roll dough. This can be leftover frozen dough or comes in a can dough or make your favorite rolls dough. I usually use canned cresent rolls dough.
2 Pre-heat the oven to whatever you cook the rolls at.
3 Cover the dough with leftover mashed potatos or if those are all gone whip up some instant.
4 Cover that with the leftover gravy
5 Sprinkle generously with leftover stuffing or whip up some stovetop
6 Top with little bits of leftover turkey.
If you'd rather you can put the gravey on last. And you can add anything else you'd like or skip anything your kids won't eat. (But I wouldn't skip the gravy 'cuz things dry out in the oven)
7 Now bake the whole thing for as long as you would bake the rolls. Check if the potatoes and turkey are warm. If not pop it back in the oven for another 5 or so minutes. Serve and enjoy. And even though its called pizza it eats better with a fork.

Is there a Santa Claus?

So this is Little John's first Christmas that he'll remember (he was only 2 and 1/2 months old last year) and I've started thinking about the whole Santa Claus thing. I really want to teach him the nativity story and go from there with something along the lines of "and just like the kings gave baby Jesus presents we give each other presents, because we love each other and to remember his birth" and then I want to go farther with the story of St. Nicholas- the nice old guy who gave kids toys to play with and coal to keep warm. And then to go on from there with thats why there's all the nice stories/movies about santa, but he's just a nice make belive name we use to give present with out saying who gave them like a secret suprise. And then to bring it back to love and family and Christ.
But... I don't want to squash the magic of the suprises from santa, and I don't want to be the mom of the kid who goes around crushing other kids dreams by saying there is no Santa.
But... I don't want him to get all into the "Santa will get me anything I ask for" and thus get caught up in the "gimmes" at Christmas and miss the truth of it all.
Maybe its too soon to worry about this, but you set patterns early on and whatever we do with Little John we'll have to do with the rest of them. Any ideas from the other parents out there?

Christmas is coming!

So I've gotten behind again. But its for a great reason. Santa's workshop has reopened in our basement. I believe in a homemade Christmas. I have lots of reasons and since my blog can be my soap box, I'm going to share them with you.
1 It's often more bugdet friendly (which really matters right now!)
2 If you're going to spend that much time/effort you're going to make something that person really wants, instead of getting just "something"
3 While you're working on the gift you're generally thinking about the person it's for and how much they'll like it
4 There's a lot less going out in the crazed crowds of shoppers
5 You're usually working in your comfy home where you can play Christmas music/movies and really get into the feeling of the season
6 Everybody can work together on same/different projects (providing it doesn't spoil any suprises) and get in some extra family togetherness
7 Kids rarely have money to go shopping and grandma really would rather have the fingerpaint picture than whatever they can get at the dollar store with thier small allowance or the thing you picked and put the kids name on
8 I love getting homemade things,
9 I just love having a project to work on!
10 It get us away from all the comercialism and back to the real meaning of Christmas.
11 It spares other people from the obnoxious talking/beeping/musical toys I could have bought

Wow bees!

This paper wasps nest is in a tree at my mom's school. Its about the size of a basket ball. Now that the leaves are gone you can see it really well.

My own private zoo

So on Monday I walked past a window in the basement and discovered that I had been transported to my own private zoo exhibit. There was a little fat mouse scurrying around in there! Of course since our lot backs up to a field its not too big a suprise. The good news is that he was a fat little mouse with a healthy coat (like you'd see on a well groomed houstcat) so I doubt he was diseased. The better news was that when I came by a few hours later he was gone. :D

Ode to Sarah

So Sarah hasn't come home from college for weeks, mostly due to homework, and she was going to come home this last weekend, but she couldn't get a ride. And she had lots of homework. Well she has these research papers she has to start working on so I volunteered to help her out. So I googled her topics and then sorted through the results and sent her a list of websites that actually have relevant, usable information. That gives her like a 3 hour headstart on her papers. Well 'cuz I'd spent so much time thinking about her while doing that, I got all depressed that I wasn't going to see her again till Thanksgiving break so I decided I was going to drive down to Ephruim. Google maps says that should take 3 hours and 1 minutes, but that doesn't factor in rush hour traffic in Provo (where the freeway becomes a parking lot).

But I did finnaly get there and it took so long everyone called Sarah to see if I was there yet (which spoiled the surprise, but I felt loved to know they were so worried) and I got there about 20 minutes later. Her boyfriend came over and we had pizza and hung out. And after Tyson left we stayed up late being all giggly. The next morning we spent being giggly and folding laundry before breakfast.

This is Sarah being silly.

And this is us on the beanbag in the living room (it came with the apartment).

And this is Sarah doing some of that homework. While she worked I read her the Illiad outloud, she has to read it for some class she's taking and decided she could listen and do calculus at the same time. I don't think I could manage that but kudos to her.

This is her roomate's (illegal) pet mouse, it's named cow. They keep it in a cage, bathe it regularly and it rides on her shoulder in the car. Personally I think mice are mostly gross, but I've never seen a cow spotted one before.

Sarah gave me a tour of campus and the town. Campus took 5 minutes and the town took 10 because we drove from one end to the other and back. This is me in front of a neat looking building.

This is Sarah in front of the front of that building.

This is the boat in the yard near her apartment. People who've been in it say the room in the stern is full height and there's a smaller room in the bow. How cool is that!

Sarah in the Malt shop.

Me by the Malt Shop's jukebox. I took Sarah to lunch before I had to leave. And if you're ever in Ephraim this is the place to stop. The food is great and the prices are decent. And for when the weather is nice there are picnic tables and a swing set outback.

It's a cute little town with lots of historic buildings, and little shops on an old fashioned kind of main street. Snow is a nice small college too. Sarah really likes it there and I had a great time visiting her, I just wish it wasn't such a long drive. But it's a pretty drive (except for Provo traffic) and I had radio to sing along with nearly all the way there.

And I didn't miss Little John too bad even though it was my first night way from him, and boy was he happy to see me when I got back :D.

Halloween

So I know it took me a long time but here are our Halloween pics.

A friend gave me this hood, but we already had a costume for him. Its too big anyway, but he had fun wearing it around.

This is the costume I made him, he's the ace of hearts. He didn't like getting stuffed into it though.

John and I were the King and Queen of hearts. Little John's was out of fabric but it was easier to do ours out of garbage sacks using sharpies.

This is all of us. I tried to talk my brother into coming with us as the Jack, so we could be a royal flush, but he went to a Halo-ween party instead.

But this one is my masterpeice: Hogwart's portait of the Fat Lady. (Click on the picture to see it bigger) If we'd have been in Phoenix I would have worn it too the Harry Potter party. Instead my mom wore it to school and the kids loved it. It took me a couple weeks because everything has to dry before I can do the next part. I painted it on part of a giant cardboard box, because I didn't feel like getting foamcore, but foam core probably wouldn't have curled as it dried. If anyone wants more details so they can make their own just leave me a comment.

Lagoon

OK so if I stayed up to date on blogging these wouldn't be so late or all out of order.

Anyway Saturday of UEA weekend (umm, Oct 18 I think) we were all set to have an adventure driving up to see my Aunt Debbie and then we find out that they're going to be in Twin Falls all day. So this left us adventureless and we're all geared up for some fun, so we tracked down some discount tickets and went to Frightmares at Lagoon. For those unfamiliar with Lagoon it rivals Disneyland in cost but doesn't have the characters or the seamless "magic" atmosphere. However it does have lots of roller coasters if you don't mind the lines. (Another thing they should barrow from Disney would be FastPasses) So we spent the day and in the evening they have all this haunted stuff (hence the Frightmares part). Me and Mom took Little John on his first rides while Ben and John did they're own thing. Then while the little guy and Mom had a nap I went with the guys. I love and hate thrill rides. I like the "whee" part but I hate the way the stomach-falling-out feeling gets so intense I can't feel my arms to clutch at things for dear life. And by the end of the night our feet were killing us, but it was SO worth it. We had a blast.

Everyone by a pumpkin sculpture naer the entrance.

Ben, John, and I on Rattlesnake Rapids, Its cold here so I wore a ponch because you get off the ride SOAKED.

Everyone but Mom rode the log flume, I think it scared Little John but he didn't cry.

He loved the train.

He liked the boats 'cuz he loves water.

This was his first ride and he didn't know what to think.

And for Halloween they had all of these put your face through things so I made us use them.

Me and John

Little John

And Ben, gotta love the face.

So I've been busy

I've been busy crafting. I made a dog sweater for the dog using those knifty knitter rings and right now I'm makeing a people sweater for a birthday present. Well I was between projects and me and little John were using the rings for crowns when he pulled on it and it got stuck around his neck. We had to grease his head to get it off! I kept my head however and made John take a picture real quick before we rescued him. Look at that sad face!

This was that same day it snowed but I only now got the pictures off the camaera so here they are.

UEA adventures

So UEA hosts a teacher confrence every fall and there's lots of booths that are fun to see and lots of free pens and notepads and other small tidbits to collect. But the best part is the 4 day weekend. We went down to UEA with Mom and looked around at everything Thursday. It was fun. The not so fun part was when we stayed overnight in Salt Lake so we could get there early before the convention got crowded.


We stayed at a nice hotel at a good rate because they were doing a dicsount if you were with UEA. So since there were 4 of us and the baby- Mom booked a 2 room suite. Well it turns out to be just one room with a king size bed. However, do not despair! Despite my love of adventure and "winging it" when we couldn't verify via room description if the couch was a pullout bed we brought the air matress and some sleeping bags. And of course thr porta-crib.


As a perk the room had a jacuzi tub, which Little John and I enjoyed since the pool was freezing and the hot tub was out of the question for him. He loved the jets. Alas the jacuzi tub is not in the bathroom, it ocupies a coner of the main space. For those of you who have not attempted to sleep 2 people on an air mattress, you spend all night rolling into each other because it dips into the center. So we got a roll-away bed from the front desk. But because of the jacuzi tub there is barely room to walk and no room for the porta-crib. So it ends up like this: John, Little John and I in the king size bed, Mom on the queen size air mattress, and Ben my 6 foot plus tall brother on the roll-away bed.


I don't think anyone got any sleep. Little John had an ear infection from his cold and had just started antiboitics that day. He was up 3 times that night and even when sleeping took up a lot of the bed squirming. Ben might as well have been sleeping on rocks there were so many springs in his mattress. John and I where hot. Mom and Ben were cold.


So after the provided breakfast which was actually really good, we check out. And Mom explains about expecting 2 rooms and only getting 1 and they finally determine that a jacuzi suite and a 2 room suite are the same price and the recently hired employee who handled the reservation booked it on price not description. So thanks to the mixup no charge for the roll-away bed.


A few few days latter and after some decent sleep we think this was quite a funny thing. But we definately learned a few things. 1 travelling with sick children is a dumb idea. 2 double check all reservations before you leave. 3 if there is a reservation problem fix it before bedtime or right at check in if possible. and we relearned the importance of this last one 4 if you can't fix it, laugh and enjoy it or you only make yourself more miserable.


But we didn't let lack of sleep keep us from having a good time at UEA the next day. And The Mayan (areaaly cool theamed resturant that can be seen in the movie The RM) was across from the convention center so we had lunch there. All the boys LOVED it.

Loading the car

This is where a picture of the over stuffed hotel room should go but I was to frustrated to take a pic at the time.

In front of the Mayan

In the lobby

By our table

Colds

So I hate playing musical colds. Sarah and her friend come visit from college for confrence weekend and bring a cold with them. A Little John catches it. And now John and I catch it and man I am miserable. I don't think AZ colds were this bad (of course the flu there is terrible). I didn't think colds were sopossed to leave you exhausted just from going up and down the stairs carrying the baby. Of course he does weigh 21 pounds.
On the other hand today is cold. It's snowing but not sticking and so we started up the fireplace. I sort of wish it was a "put on another log" fireplace 'cuz I love the smell. But mostly I'm really glad its a gas fireplace. No going out to the cold for more firewood, no messy firewood, no popping sap to set the baby/dog/carpet on fire, no ashes to scoop, and a very stable glass and metal screen to keep Little John out.

Ode to Elder Hizer

So Wednesday we took John's brother Nathan to the MTC. His poor Mom was just loosing it right and left and then its the part where the missionaries go out one side and the families go out the other side and suddenly we're all crying. I'm gonna miss that punk. (And I mean punk in the I-love-him-like-a-brother-and-sometimes-hes-as-annoying-as-my-real-ones sense) But I know he's going to do great. He's going to the Independance, Moissouri mission which, as it turns out, covers most of Kansas and very little of Missouri. We took pictures of course and he told me its my job to be sure that Little John remembers him when he gets home. They have a very smooth streamlined process for dropping off your missionary. Everything from parking to luggage to tissue boxes every twenty feet, its all arranged for. I was very impressed. On the drive home everyone was missing him and sad so I was trying to cheer peolpe up with jokes. They were pretty cheesy, but I will share my favorite with you. (This joke is because Nathan is such a ladies' man)


You know how when you stop dating a person, people start telling you "well there are lots of fish in the sea". Well missionaries aren't sopposed to date, do you think thats why they go to the empty sea? (empty sea=MT C, get it?)


Yeah, nobody else really got it either. But you know you think I'm funny. (That's what Sarah says when we don't laugh at her jokes)

L to R: John, Mom/Pat, Nathan, Dad/John, Kevin
Front: Little John, Carol

Mom putting his nametag on him

Hurray for Elder Hizer

Picnics

OK so I promised a blog about picnics and here it is. Apparently picnics are an endangered species. Most of you reading this might be surprised by this news, I certainly was. While driving to Utah when we moved, we pulled off for gas and lunch. Anyone who has traveled with a small child in a car seat for more than 2 hours understands the need to let them out for a pit stop. So any time we road trip we picnic when possible (weather permitting). We just expect that's what we'll do.
So we get our sub sandwiches, haul our picnic blanket out of the trunk, and eat outside the restaurant on the grass. (For anyone road tripping I highly recommend this: you get some fresh air and kids can run and squirm and yell and nobody cares)
Well, we're there enjoying ourselves and these 2 guys come up and ask to take our picture. They are doing a research project/presentation about the decline of family values (or something very similar) for a college class. They are just gushing about how they can't believe people still have picnics and how this will get them an A for sure. We let them take our picture and if I had been thinking I would have asked them to take one with my camera too.
We just thought the whole thing was so random and funny, but apparently we are an anomaly in the world because we picnic. So since most of my readers are in AZ and this time of year is the best weather I invite you to picnic. It is an extinct tradition worthy of a "strange and peculiar people".

Little John's birthday

So we had Litlle John's birthday party. And it was so fun. He liked the ballons best, followed shortly by cake. He did so good opening his presents and I couldn't belive it but he even read the card :D I have tons of pictures but I'll keep it limited to the best ones for posting. The whole thing wore him out so he and G'ma had a nap after we cleaned up.

The RS Broadcast

So the broadcast was fantastic and I enjoyed the speakers so much I decided to share my favorite things each of them had to say (I promise to keep it short).

Sis. Beck (RS Pres)
RS was created way back then because God knew we would need it so bad now and we had to have everything established well in advance so it could fullfill it's potential now.

Sis. Allred (1st councillor)
Reinspired me to attend the temple and do many ordinances often.

Sis. Thompson (2nd councillor)
Described us as a righteous army armed with: love, compassion, service and faith.
(And its odd to think of those as weapons but just try to resist someone who truely loves you and serves you and you'll realize thats a formidable force.)

Pres. Uchtdorf
Aknowledges that our trials are trying and gave 2 ways to survive them: 1) creating beauty and helpfulness brings satisfaction and 2) giving compassion bouys us up and helps others.
(I loved his talk so much I want to post it somewhere to read every day, maybe on the barthroom mirror. I was going to post a link but its not on LDS.org yet.)

If you missed the broadcast I hope you can find it online, it was wonderful.

Autum leaves

So we've been driving past these beautiful fall leaves in the canyon all week and then I read some blog posts about how Phoenix has no fall and so for all of you who are missing fall this is for you.

We decided to go hiking and took a picnic lunch (I am planning a whole blog about picnics so watch for it)

Little John and the dog were so excited. All the pics are of Little john 'cuz I took the dog to run through the hills (we were at a campground)

He dragged John all over exploring and getting messy

and eating as much nature as he could get his hands on

And while I was off with the dog I collected a sack full of leaves which I'm going to laminate (thanks H.) and for a limited time special offer: if you leave me a comment asking, I will mail you some. I still have my PP RS directory and I will share the wealth. And because kids love to get mail I can address it to them if you want. You can link to this if you think someone reads your blog and not mine and might want some.

Happy Fall!!!!