Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Our Valentine's Day celebrations began on Saturday when Greg and I went out to Olive Garden for dinner. We had hoped to avoid the Valentine's rush by going out before it was actually Valentine's Day, but it was still pretty busy there. It was also very delicious! Then on Sunday after church we made white chocolate cherry Valentine's cookies (Grandma F.T.'s pudding cookie recipe--the best cookie recipe in the world) and took them to our friends the Atkins. The Atkins then invited us over for Family Home Evening last night, which was SO MUCH fun. Their kids are really cute, and we had a nice lesson about friendship, followed by a fun activity of making valentines. It also snowed yesterday, which was kind of exciting since we've been a little short on snow this year (but I'm not going to complain about that). Today Greg and I both had the day off, so we slept in, had lunch at Smashburger (their sweet potato fries are divine), and then tonight we are going to watch the Valentine's Day episode of NCIS while eating our Papa Murphy's "Heartbaker" (heart-shaped) pizza. Sounds like the perfect Valentine's Day to me!

Super Weekend

This has been a great weekend; in fact it has been SUPER! It all began on Thursday when Greg and I celebrated his birthday with presents and eating out, since we were going to be otherwise occupied on Saturday, his real birthday. So Thursday was a fun day, and then on Saturday we got up bright and early and headed to Nauvoo where I gave a presentation about the history of tourism in Nauvoo at the Untold Nauvoo Stories Symposium.

As you can see, it was kind of a gray, misty, rainy, foggy day. It was really neat to be in Nauvoo on February 4, since it was February 4, 1846, when the pioneers left Nauvoo on their exodus to the Utah. February 4, 2012 was much warmer than it was in 1846 when the pioneers crossed the FROZEN Mississippi River! They wouldn't have made it very far on the ice yesterday, since there was no ice. I enjoyed reflecting back on a day when the river was nearly frozen over, February 4, 2003, when I was in Nauvoo for the semester with BYU Travel Study. That morning we attended a special ceremony at the river commemorating the pioneers' exodus from the city. I had on my warm hat, my down coat, and numerous layers of clothes, but I was still SO COLD. I couldn't imagine having to endure those kinds of temperatures, not knowing when you would ever be warm again.

So yesterday we reflected on the sacrifices of our pioneer ancestors and thought about that momentous day in 1846 when the Saints had to leave their beautiful city that they had worked so hard to build. As always, the temple looked beautiful from Parley Street, especially with all of the mist in the air. This was the last view the pioneers had of the temple before they crossed the river. One of my favorite quotes from that day is by Wilford Woodruff who said, "I looked upon the Temple and City of Nauvoo as I retired from it and felt to ask the Lord to preserve it as a monument of the sacrifice of His saints."

The river looked really pretty with the fog hanging over it. The fog was so dense to our south that you couldn't see very far down the river. Even though the frozen river in 1846 meant that the temperatures were unbearably cold, at least the ice allowed the pioneers to cross the river. I think it would have been pretty hard to get everyone across the river, with all of the covered wagons, on a day like yesterday . . . and then they would have had a big mud problem as well. But I just can't imagine how cold they must have been. I am grateful for their courage!

Greg and I spotted a beautiful bald eagle out in the middle of the river. He was SO PRETTY!!






After watching us watch him for a few minutes, he took off, flew down river a bit . . .






. . . and landed back at his nest! If you look down by his feet, you can see Mom Bald Eagle sitting on the eggs. It was so cool to watch them! But I think they were both glad when we left. After our eagle watching, we went to the symposium, which went well. It was especially fun because our friends the Andreasens were there--Bishop Andreasen was giving a presentation as well. After my presentation about the history of Nauvoo's tourism industry, a lady in the back of the room raised her hand. She said, "A few of us who work at local businesses here have a joke that goes like this: Mormons bring two things with them when they come to Nauvoo--ten dollar bills and the ten commandments. And they won't break either one of them!" Ha. That made everyone laugh :-)

The temple looked really pretty with the lights on that evening! Greg and I had a wonderful day there.









Then today after church we continued the celebrations with our Super Bowl party! Our tasty snacks included Thai shrimp spring rolls, jalapeno poppers, and two varieties of lil smokie pigs in a blanket. Everything was really delicious. We have many leftovers.


We also had Greg's birthday/Super Bowl cake! It is a little tricky to make his cake of choice, German chocolate, look like a football, but we managed to do it. To top things off, the Super Bowl was very exciting. I think you could say that we have had a super weekend!

Temple Pictures

Mom is working on a project, so I've uploaded these pictures of the Mt. Timpanogos Temple so she can see them. The titles are their file names.

Window Focus Original









Window Focus Light Best









Window Focus Blue Windows









Window Focus Gray with Color









Fire Branch









Fire Branch with Blue Window









Fire Tree









Fire Tree with Blue Window









Blue Sky with Spire









Sunrise

Fun Trip to Utah!

This last Thursday, January 19, I returned from a WONDERFUL trip to Utah! Greg stayed behind, but he and I had some crazy adventures getting to the airport in St. Louis on Thursday, January 12. We got up at 3:30 a.m. and left Springfield at 4:30. Of course we hadn't had snow all winter, and it chose that morning to start snowing! The drive was pretty scary since the snow was blowing over the road, and you couldn't see any of the lines. When we got to St. Louis, not only were the roads horrible, but so was the traffic. There were people sliding off the road, and everything was so backed up that all we could do was creep along with the rest of the cars. We were going so slow that at one point our GPS unit asked us if we wanted to switch to "Pedestrian Mode"--it thought we must be walking instead of driving! Miraculously we made it to the airport in time for my flight, and everything went smoothly from there. When I arrived in Salt Lake, Mom picked me up at the airport, and we went and had a fun late lunch with Aunt Karalie at our favorite place: Left Fork Grill. They have the most delicious pies in the world! That evening we were able to visit the Barretts and then went to see Grandma at her fun new place which is very close to where Mom, Dad, and Rich live.

On Friday Mom and I ran some errands and had lunch at Brick Oven with our good friend Yevon. It was so great to see her and to catch up on everything. Mom and I then had some delicious Coney's Custard and picked up KFC for the big sleepover with the Barrett girls that evening.


Here I am with my nieces Sidney, Camden, and Riley--we are all ready for the big sleepover! As you can see, the movie of the evening was "Enchanted"--always a big hit. We got to watch the movie in Mom, Dad, and Rich’s cool theater room.






When we woke up the next morning, it was Dad's (aka Grandpa's) birthday!! Happy Birthday, Dad! I was so happy to be home for his birthday. He is a wonderful dad, and I feel so bad about all of the health challenges he has had over the last two years. But he is recovering well from his last surgery, and hopefully he is on the mend for good now! Dad had to fix his own birthday pancakes, but no one makes pancakes quite as delicious as Dad's :-) Here is the chef hard at work.

And here is the rest of the crew ready for a fun Birthday Breakfast. We had a great morning playing games, having fashion shows, watching movies, and just enjoying being together.




Later that day Mom and I went over to see Grandma and had a fun time enjoying dinner with her. After dinner we watched the movie "The Help" with Dad, which was a really good movie. And then when Rich returned home from work, Dad opened his birthday presents. It was such a wonderful day of celebrating Dad!

On Sunday morning I was getting ready for church, and I noticed that the blinds on the windows had a pink glow coming through them. I peeked through the blinds, and this is what I saw--it was SO beautiful!! I've got to say that next to being near my family, the mountains are one of the things I miss the most about living in Utah. Mom, Dad, and Rich live in such a beautiful setting, with Mt. Timpanogos right outside the window.


We had a nice time at church, and then a relaxing afternoon at home. Then we headed over to the Barrett's for dinner and a continuation of Dad's birthday party. Mr. Ben is always up for a good party!



Lindy made some really tasty ribs for dinner, and then we had birthday cake and birthday pie--yummmmm. Here is Dad getting a little help from the girls in blowing out all of the candles.



We thought we'd take a picture of the kids with Mom and Dad for the birthday party. We're just missing Sarah, but she, Joel, and the kiddos will be visiting Utah in February. I'm sorry that I will have just missed them by a couple of weeks!



On Monday, Mom and I realized that we were wearing the same clothes--just reverse colors! It was so funny. Great minds do think alike :-) Mom, Dad, and I had a nice visit to see Grandpa Taylor in Springville that morning, then we had a fun lunch at Cracker Barrel. That afternoon we and Rich went to see the movie "Warhorse," which was awesome! That evening we had a fun time playing games together.


I realized that I didn't take any pictures on Tuesday because we were too busy having fun! Mom and I made some quiche and went to the Relief Society luncheon at the church that morning/afternoon, and then ran quite a few errands. That evening we made Pad Thai noodles and watched movies with Dad. Here is a picture of Mom on Wednesday at J Dawgs--one of the most fun places to eat right by BYU! Our J Dawgs were so delicious.



We then went to the BYU campus and ran into Dad at the Bookstore. We also visited my friends Shauna and Jeanne who work in Dad's college. I worked with them for a couple of years on the Winter Quarters Project while I was at BYU. Then Mom and I went to see our other friend Susan Black, and it was certainly nice to catch up with her.

That evening we met Dad over at Grandma's for dinner and had such a nice time with her. It's wonderful that she can be so close to family, and I am happy because now I can see her every time I'm home.






After dinner we went to visit the Barretts one more time before I left. We played a really fun game called Hedbanz. The girls were so cute and funny with the game!




The kids also did some serious dancing while we were there. Ben is growing up so fast--not only is he walking/running all over the place, but he is also a dancing man! We had a great evening together, and then on Thursday morning Mom and Dad took me up to the airport. Luckily the weather was a lot better in Utah than it had been in St. Louis the week before. Thank you, everyone, for the WONDERFUL week! It is always hard to return to reality after a fun time in Utah (especially getting up for work the next morning), but it was fun to see Greg and the animal children. Greg and I had a fun evening in St. Louis after he picked me up. We went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries and visited our favorite baseball card shop. It was a great week!

2011

Today on the last day of 2011, I've been thinking about what a year it has been. It has had its good and its bad times. Unfortunately this year has brought more surgeries for Dad, but hopefully he is on the road to recovery for 2012! Greg's grandpa and my step grandpa both passed away this year, along with Auntie Reah and our good friend Harvey Black. Several of our friends moved away from the Springfield area this year, which made us sad. I have applied for 34 jobs this year, and the only job I got was one I didn't apply for, but I am getting some good experience at the Illinois State Military Museum. We did have several opportunities to see our families thoughout the year, which was nice. And one thing that is definitely better about this year than last year--we are not having tornadoes here in Illinois on New Year's Eve Day. In fact, it is quite nice outside. So we'll focus on the good things that happened in 2011. Some of the highlights include:

In February, Greg turned 30. In April, Greg and I traveled to Atlanta to attend our friends David and Teal's wedding. Also that month we attended our first Cubs game in Chicago. In May I got to go home to Utah for three weeks, and it was wonderful to get to spend all of that time with my family! Later in the month I got my job at the museum, and Greg and I got to sit in the St. Louis Cardinals dugout for a few minutes when we attended our first Cardinals game of the season. In June I turned 27. In July we drove through ten states on our two week trip extravaganza to see our families in Arizona and Utah, and I was called to be the first counselor in our ward Young Women organization. In September our Gettysburg friends the Atkinsons came to visit, and we had a wonderful time with them. In October we celebrated our #3 wedding anniversary, and we got to attend our first baseball playoff game. We also got to attend a WORLD SERIES game, and while I was at home in Utah at the end of the month, the Cardinals won the World Series! In November I got a new car, and now it is the end of December.

I think we can all agree that the most exciting moment of the year was on Thursday, October 27, when the Cardinals and Rangers were playing Game 6 of the World Series. Twice the Cardinals were only one strike away from losing the World Series, but twice they came back, which paved the way for this, the greatest sports moment of the year:



I loved watching Game 6 with Mom, Dad, and Rich in Utah! And we got to see Game 7 in St. George with Grandma the next evening. Now that the Cardinals have lost Albert Pujols, I think it will be hard for them to ever have another year like this one. But we certainly enjoyed it while it lasted. 2011 has had both its good and bad moments, but it's fun to reflect on the good things that happened and look forward to more fun adventures in 2012!