Home Again (for real!)

Soooooo, today was a very interesting day. According to my plan, I was going to be in Charleston, Illinois right now. But, . . . I am still in Orem, Utah--hooray!!! :-) I can't say I didn't try to get back to Illinois today, but it wasn't meant to be. Mom, Dad, and I left Orem this morning at about 6:00 and got up to the SLC airport by 7:00. I said my good-byes (which is hard for me), got all checked-in and went through the craziness known as the security check, found my gate, and was all set to go. It started dumping snow outside, and I asked the Southwest Airlines lady if our flight would be cancelled, and she said, "Oh, definitely not. We'll get out of here on time." Well, not so. At about 8:00 when I was supposed to start boarding, they announced that they were shutting the airport down for 45 minutes while they plowed the runways. I guess that the plane I was supposed to be on was coming from Boise and had to circle around while they plowed the runways. It started to run out of fuel, so it had to fly back to Boise to refuel, and then was going to come back to pick up the Chicago crowd. Unfortunately it took over an hour for it to get back to Boise and about two hours for it to get back. My problem was that I was planning on catching the CTA train from Midway Airport in Chicago over to Union Station to get on the 4:05 p.m. train down to Mattoon. With the flight delays, I wasn't going to get into Chicago until 4:00-ish, so that wasn't going to work with the train. The later train out of Chicago was booked, so I worked it out with the Southwest lady to get me on a flight to St. Louis tomorrow. This will work out splendidly since Greg is flying to St. Louis tomorrow too, and now he can just take me over to Charleston in his car--no more train tickets needed! It was quite the ordeal today though. One problem was that they had already put my suitcase with those going to Chicago, so the nice Southwest lady had to go out in the snow and round mine up so that it didn't head to the Windy City without me :-) Mom and Dad came back up to the airport at about 11:30 a.m. and picked me up. If only we had known--we could have slept in this morning!!

BIG NEWS!!!

Remember my New Year's resolution to get to bed earlier? Well, I think I'll wait and start on that tomorrow--because it's not going to happen tonight :-) I know it says that I'm posting this blog entry on Saturday, January 5, but in my world, it's still January 4--because I haven't gone to bed yet. I've been busy packing and thinking about the BIG night I had tonight. So, here's the news (now don't go into shock--I will explain the events of the last few days that led up to today): I am now officially engaged to marry Greg Bowles!!!! For those of you who I haven't had a chance to tell in person yet, I apologize that you're having to get the news from the blog, but it's been so crazy with getting packed to leave in the morning (actually in about four hours from now!) that I thought I'd post the big announcement here so no one would feel left out. We've even set the date, so mark your calendars for Saturday, June 7, 2008, in the Nauvoo, Illinois temple. So here's how things went this week:


On Wednesday, January 2, Greg flew into Salt Lake from St. Louis. Mom, Dad, and I went to pick him up, but poor Greg got stuck out near the gate here in Salt Lake for about an hour on the airplane while the airplane leaving the gate worked out some mechanical issues. Crazy airplanes! Mom and Dad enjoyed meeting Greg, and he meeting them, and then we all took off for the Lion House in downtown Salt Lake to have lunch with Aunt Karalie. We had a fun time there, and then headed down to Orem. Greg and I went over to see his mom, brother, and sister-in-law, and then we had a visit from the cute Relief Society presidency here at the house. After that we had dinner with my good friends Emily and Nick, and then went back to his brother's apartment to watch TV. Greg was pretty pooped by the time he finally got to bed!


Day #2, January 3, was another full day of visiting. First we went up to BYU and saw Dr. Anderson and Jeanne from my old Winter Quarters Project days, and then we went over to Sister Black's house for a visit. She was so excited to find out that Greg likes genealogy, and he even got invited to enter the room of all rooms: Sister Black's personal library filled with all of the books she's written! We had a fun visit with her, and when we told her of our June plans, she checked her calendar, and as fate would have it, she is leading a tour to Nauvoo during the weekend we are planning to get married, and she said she'll be able to make it to the wedding! Hooray! After stopping at Sister Black's, we went and saw "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets," my new favorite movie. Then we went over to Springville and had a nice visit with Grandpa T. and Grandma Cathy. After Springville, we came back home to have dinner with Mom, Dad, Lindy, Nate, Camden, Riley, Sidney, Sister Bowles (Greg's mom), Scott and Laura (Greg's brother and sister-in-law). It was a full-fledged party! We had a great time together, and the little girls were so funny. As you can see from the picture above, by the end of the evening Sidney and Riley had had enough. They were ready for bed and refused to smile for the picture :-) After dinner, Greg and I went up to visit a friend of the Bowles family, Blake Roney, who just so happens to be the founder of Nu Skin. President Roney asked me a lot of questions and decided he liked me, so he took Greg and me downstairs to see "THE collection." I have never seen quite so many cool artifacts all together in one place! He is quite the collector, and he let me hold an original copy of the LDS hymn book (from the 1830s), an original copy of the Book of Commandments, and an original copy of the Book of Mormon. President Roney also has one of Joseph Smith's hunting guns and a shackle that was around Joseph Smith at Liberty Jail. He even has an original Abraham Lincoln photograph taken in 1860!!! Wow--I was in history heaven and felt like I needed to be wearing cotton gloves to handle all of those cool things.


Day #3, January 4, Greg, Sister Bowles, Scott, and I went shopping at the mall and then had lunch together. I came back and packed for a while, then Greg came and picked me up to go to dinner in Salt Lake. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, so I was quite surprised when we stepped into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and he took me up to the Roof restaurant. It is the coolest place ever, and the food there was delicious. We had a perfect view out over the Salt Lake Temple, and we got an extra special treat with fireworks over the state capitol building. They were celebrating the dedication of the newly renovated capitol today, and had an amazing fireworks display that looked really neat from our viewpoint in the restaurant. It was already the perfect evening, but it got even better! Greg and I went outside and took a little walk around the temple (you can see from the above photo that it was a little windy and just starting to rain a bit), and then we started heading back towards the car. We were just walking past all of the fountains and reflecting pools when we decided to try to take some pictures of ourselves. We took some with Greg's camera and mine, and then when comparing how each turned out, Greg said, "Hmmm, something is missing in my picture." I was thinking to myself, "Um, no, they look exactly the same." :-) Then he pulled out a box and said, "I think that this is what is missing!" Then I realized what was happening and got very excited. He asked me to marry him right then and there, and of course I said yes. He truly is a wonderful man, and I feel so very fortunate to have ended up in Illinois where I could meet him. I love him very much and am looking forward to June!


In the meantime, I'll have to get back to the grindstone at school :-( I am scheduled to leave first thing in the morning to fly back to Chicago, where I'll meet Alyson, and we'll take the train back to Mattoon together. Sister Stowell will pick us up there to take us back to Charleston, and I am very much hoping that my car will still start after sitting for three and a half weeks. It is going to be really, really, really hard to go back to Illinois and school after having such a fun break and spending all of this wonderful time with my family, but like Dad says, the sooner I get started with the semester, the sooner it will be finished. And, since this is my last semester of classes for my degree, the end is already in sight, so I can do it! It's supposed to snow quite a lot here in Utah this weekend, so maybe my flight will be cancelled? :-) I wouldn't mind another day here. Today was a great day, and besides the fact that school starts on Monday and I have to leave my family for now, I am so happy (and I'm grateful that Greg will be back in Illinois)!

New Year's Resolutions

I used to write really long, elaborate lists of New Year's resolutions, but I think this year I can only handle about two. Okay, here goes:

1. Get more sleep (aka go to bed earlier at night)
2. Exercise more

By doing these two things, I think I could reverse the vicious cycle of exhaustion that plagued me last semester. You see, if I went to bed earlier and got more sleep, then I wouldn't be so tired in the afternoons, so I would have energy to finish my homework and go running before going to bed at a reasonable time. Then, I would have a better sleep because I always sleep better after I go running. So, this is my plan. It will probably only last for about the first week of classes, but I'll try to make it last longer than that. Hopefully if I got more sleep I wouldn't be so apt to fall asleep during my classes too! (Although, in Mr. Riccio's classes, it wouldn't matter if someone had gotten 3 or 13 hours of sleep--when he starts talking about light bulbs, you might as well just turn out the lights and get everyone a pillow.)

Today was a fun day. I got a lot of stuff done that I've been needing to do for a while, and Mom and I made some holiday visits to some of our friends. We went and took a gift to the Henrichsen family, with whom we have been friends ever since the beginning of time (at least since the beginning of my lifetime, but probably before that too). Their daughter Kallie and I were best friends all through grade school, Jr. high, and high school, and I can't believe that she's married and has a baby now! :-) It's crazy how quickly everyone grows up. It seems like just yesterday that she was talking in her sleep at one of our many sleepovers in the Henrichsen's backyard. (She talked in her sleep a lot.)

I also had to go get another little haircut today! I know that I just got one, but it was so weird because on Sunday, it was like all of a sudden my hair was super long again. It was the weirdest thing! It was nearly driving me nuts today because it was sticking straight down in the back and then curling up and out on the sides, and I had that crazy curl in front that makes me look like the little dentist guy in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." So I got another little trim, and it feels much better. I am getting very excited because tomorrow is the big day that Greg arrives in town!

2007 in Review

I can't believe it is already New Year's Eve!! Where has 2007 gone? In some ways it seems like it was just barely New Year's Eve 2006; yet, in other ways, when I think about all that has happened this year, it does feel like quite an eventful 12 months. Let's see, what all has happened?

• Baby Eliza was born in March
• I took an archaeology class at BYU and decided that anthropology wasn't the field for me
• Mom and I drove to Mississippi in April (getting stuck for a few days in Moriarty, NM)
• I lived at Routhland and worked at the Natchez National Historical Park during the summer
• Camden graduated from preschool and started kindergarten
• Riley started preschool
• Sarah, Joel, and Eliza moved to South Carolina and started their doctoral programs at Clemson
• I moved to Illinois and started graduate school at Eastern Illinois University
• I met and started dating Greg Bowles
• I was Tilford Dudley for Halloween
• Mom, Dad, Rich, and I spent Thanksgiving with Sarah, Joel, and Eliza in South Carolina
• Sidney turned one-year-old
• I survived a crazy semester of school and got to come home for Christmas break

Whew! It's been a busy year. This coming year will surely be very eventful as well. We'll see if I live to tell about it after this coming semester of school! :-) I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Zion Adventures

All of our fun at Zion National Park started with breakfast at Oscar's . . . . Sorry that I haven't written on my blog for a few days--it has been a busy and fun weekend, and there has been no time! Mom and I just got back from the most fun and productive trip to Zion of all time. Last Thursday Mom and I took Grandpa and Grandma F.T. back to St. George after their Christmas stay in Sandy. We had a fun trip with them, and we made it all right despite the frequent snow storms we kept encountering along the way. After taking them home, Mom and I went on over to Springdale to kick off our Zion National Park book research extravaganza. Even though we were there to do work, we still had a lot of fun. On Thursday night we ate at the Spotted Dog Cafe which is part of Flanigan's Inn--right across the street from Aunt Elsa's old house. It was quite the fancy restaurant, and we sat by the fire and had some especially delicious tomato basil soup--which warmed us up since it was FREEZING there!! Few are the times when I have been to Zion and have had to wear a coat; but I had on my fleece, my coat, my hat, and my gloves this time! Mom and I stayed at the Pioneer Lodge, which I have always thought of as being the same as it was when I was younger and we would go over there to swim in their pool when we were down staying at the cabin. So I expected it to be a little old and run-down, but they have recently renovated everything, and I was pleasantly surprised by how very nice it was there.

On Friday morning, Mom and I went over to try breakfast at this restaurant we've always wanted to try: Oscar's. It is in a funny little house just off of the main drag through Springdale, and we had the most delicious eggs, potatoes, sausage, oj, and hot chocolate of all time there! It was a great start to a great day. On our way to breakfast, Mom and I walked past the Zion Park Motel and looked at the little waterfall they've always had out front. I remembered that there used to be huge goldfish in the little pond there, but thought that surely with it being so cold the fish would not be in there. But nope! There were all of the goldfish in the frozen pond! It looked like they were all dead, and it kind of grossed Mom and me out, but when we went by again later, some of the water under the top layer of ice had thawed a bit, and several fish were swimming around. It was so weird! We were sure they had been dead, but then they just popped back to life.

After breakfast at Oscar's, Mom and I went up into the park. Unfortunately the park museum was closed, which I had been hoping to visit to gather information, but as you will soon read, we found many other sources of info. Since the museum was closed, Mom and I went to the visitor center and then went up through the Zion tunnel. We were in search of a particular park ranger, Valerie, who is a friend of my good friends Nathan and Kate down in Natchez. They told me that their friend Val works at Zion, and when we asked the rangers there, they said she was up monitoring the tunnel. So we drove up there and found Val at the east entrance to the tunnel. She is super nice, and she even says some of the same words I do such as "That rocks!" and "Right on!" (Maybe that is ranger language?)

After driving through the tunnel, we went up to the head of the Narrows trail and walked back to see the beautiful frozen waterfall you see pictured at the top. It was so pretty! The waterfall that usually comes down the mountain was totally frozen, and then there was ice on the little waterfall there in the river. The river was crystal clear, and there were deer all over the place. It was nice and quiet up in the park, and the snow on the mountains looked beautiful!!! As you can see from the other scenic photo there at the top, West Temple received a light dusting of snow earlier in the week. Mom and I took a picture of ourselves out in front of the Zion Lodge, which is the third picture you see up there.

After going up the canyon, we went to meet with Della Higley, the cutest, nicest lady I've ever met! She is 94 years old, and we went to speak with her about old photographs of the park and her memories of growing up in Springdale. She gave us some great pictures and a lot of good information. While we were there, Mom and I heard a noise out in front of the house, and then we heard a loud "POP," and then a geyser of water erupted right in front of Della's window. Her back was to the window, and she didn't hear the pipe break, but Mom and I certainly noticed it! We pointed it out to her, and then I went outside looking for the valve to turn off the water. Della called her son in law who lives right behind her and then came out and found where the water valve was located. We finally got the water turned off, but it had been coming out with such force that even though it was only erupting for a few minutes, there was already water clear down her driveway and almost up to the front porch of the house. It's a good thing we noticed it and stopped it as soon as we did! The broken pipe was laying there in her flower bed, and her son in law found a giant chunck of ice that had blown out of the pipe. It was about an inch in diameter and about four inches long--quite an ice bullet that shot out of there! Luckily the son in law said he'd fix the problem, so hopefully Della will be okay. She is such a sweet lady, and we had a good time visiting with her.

For lunch Mom and I went back to Oscar's to try the sweet potato fries we had heard about. I decided when I was in Mississippi that sweet potato fries are my favorite food, and Oscar's were awesome! What I can't figure out is, why aren't all French fries sweet potato fries? Sweet potato fries are so much better than regular French fries, so why don't they just make all fries with sweet potatoes? Anyway, after our tasty lunch, Mom and I went over to another lady's house. Her name is Nellie Ballard, and she lives in Rockville. She didn't think she would have much information that would help me, but her house ended up being the gold mine--the Zion jackpot! She had all kinds of great pictures and information. She seemed a little reserved at first, like she didn't trust Mom and me with her information and pictures, but as soon as we said that Elsa Ruesch was my dad's aunt and my great aunt, we were Nellie's new best friends. She thought the world of Aunt Elsa and was more than happy to lend us anything we needed. So we took a stack of pictures back to the hotel and scanned all evening.

Today we started out at Oscar's again with granola pancakes (yum), and then we met with another cute lady, Flora Ruesch, and scanned some of her photos of the early days of the park. She had some great ones too, and I feel like my book is really starting to come together. Now I just have to find time to gather the last few photos I need and to write the text! Maybe I can write the text during my pretend free time that I am theoretically supposed to have in the evenings once school starts again. :-)

After meeting with Flora, Mom and I had a delicious Navajo taco for lunch at the Pioneer Restaurant. Then we started heading home. After leaving Springdale, we took Nellie's pictures back to her house in Rockville. (She was gone to a funeral but left a note telling us to leave the pictures inside the front door, which we did.) After Rockville, we stopped at this funny little book store in Virgin City, which has always looked kind of intriguing, but a little scary, too. We had planned on maybe just going as far as Beaver tonight because there was supposed to be a nasty snowstorm around Fillmore; but when we got to Beaver, all was clear in the sky, so we got our usual ice cream at the cheese factory, and drove on. The weather ended up being fine until we got into Utah Valley and it started to snow. Luckily we beat the bad weather. Well, I'm tired and am going to sleep now, but will write more tomorrow.