Scary Potter

This morning when I left for work, the sun was shining in the east, and it looked a little gray to the west--but nothing serious. We were supposed to get rain today, but little did I know what was in store. . . . So I was driving to work listening to the radio, when they said that a severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for Sangamon and Menard Counties (Springfield is in Sangamon Co. and Athens is in Menard). I wondered where said thunderstorm was since the sun was still shining, and the sky did not look the least bit threatening. Well, about five minutes later I looked back to the west, and I said out loud, "Ooooooooh, there it is." It seriously looked like something out of a freaking Harry Potter movie. It was this huge black/brown/green cloud speeding toward me. I have never seen clouds move that fast. As I arrived in downtown Springfield, all I could think about was beating the storm to work. I was probably driving 40 miles per hour, but the black clouds started zooming overhead. It looked SO spooky! I seriously felt like Voldemort must be coming to town. I turned north on 9th Street, and the wind and rain started picking up. Then the traffic lights went out and it started to hail. Since we can't park in our parking lot, I had to park a few blocks away, and by this time I was kind of starting to panic. I did not want to be out in the storm--it didn't help that on the radio they were saying, "Take cover now!" I couldn't believe how much the weather had changed in just ten minutes--it had gone from sunny to pitch black outside. It seriously looked like it was 9:30 at night. So I parked the car, tried to calm my nerves, donned my ranger rain gear, and took off. I literally sprinted the four blocks to work. The thunder and lightning overhead sparked my adrenalin enough to help me run really fast, but the problem was that I was running right into 70 mph winds--so I felt like I wasn't moving anywhere! By the time I made it to work, I was exhausted (but relieved to be inside). The storm continued to gain strength and lasted for another 30 or 40 minutes. It was crazy! And then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone. The sun came out and it was a perfectly nice day.

After arriving at work, I went straight to our regional volunteer training meetings. Our park superintendent (the one who made the rule that we can't park in our parking lot) said a few words at the beginning of the meeting. Trying to be funny, he began by saying, "Wow, I weathered the storm to get here today--literally." He laughed at his joke--but he was the only one. The rest of us who were drenched and out of breath from running against the 70 mph winds just looked at him like, "Are you kidding?" (The superintendent gets to park right by the Lincoln Home, and he was neither drenched nor out of breath.) But anyway, it made for an exciting morning.

This evening Greg and I had a fun time at the Springfield Sliders baseball game with our friends David and Teal. David is also a ranger at the Lincoln Home, and he and Teal just got engaged last week! They are really nice, and even though the Sliders lost 13-2 (ouch), we had a great time together.

Lily's First Walk

Happy Birthday Rich!!! We wish we could be at home to party with you, but we know you'll have a good time with everyone there. Thanks for being the best brother in the whole world!

Speaking of birthdays, since Tiger Lily will be turning the big #1 later this month, Greg and I thought we would get her an early birthday present: a kitty leash. Her favorite thing to do is look out the window, and she always seems a bit jealous when the doggies get to go outside, so we figured she might like exploring a little bit. We started out nice and easy--just in the front yard--and she was very intrigued with all of the new sights and sounds. Here is what Lily thought of her first walk:

"Ooozy doozy, Mom and Dad. This place is kinda scawy when der no screen in fronta me."








"What wuz dat big scawy thing dat make so much noisy? Dat wut you brought me in when I wuz baby cat?" (She's very leery of cars.)







"Hmmmm, der sho' a lot to see out here."



"What you call these? Fowlers? Mmmmmm, dey smells nummy. I luv dem."


"I luv it out here. I can stick out my tongue at de little birds who teez me when I'z stuck inside."





After a little while outside she really seemed to enjoy it. But now she is pooped--too much excitement for one day! She has spent the evening just lounging around the house. Earlier today Lily and I took a nap on the bed, and it was sooooo cute: she put her paw in my hand and held my hand the whole time! She is such a sweet kitty.

Zion!

Hooray for dry heat! It's amazing how much cooler heat feels when you don't have 110% humidity to go along with it. Greg and I spent an absolutely wonderful vacation in Arizona and Utah. On Wednesday, July 22, we flew from Peoria to Phoenix. It was probably 110 degrees outside, but it actually felt pretty nice. Greg's parents live in Gilbert, Arizona, and we had a nice time visiting them. On Thursday the four of us took a trip up to Sedona. It was so beautiful there!

Can you believe that Greg took this cool picture of the Arizona countryside from a moving vehicle? Nice shot, Greg--cacti and all. It really is pretty there. And warm. And dry.

On Friday, Greg and I left early in the morning to head up to my favorite place on earth: Springdale, Utah, where we met up with the Taylor/Barrett/Agate families. It was so wonderful to see everyone! We were just missing Rich--but we're glad he had a good weekend at home. The first matter of business once everyone arrived in town was, of course, swimming. Here are Sid and Gramma at the pool.

And Camden trying out the slide.

Eliza thought the pool was pretty great too.

And Sid even tried the slide with Daddy Nate.

Riley and Camden were loving the slide.

I had to leave the swimming fun to go down the street to Sundancer Books where I had my first of two book signings. I really like the people there at Sundancer and was excited to hear that they have sold 101 copies of the book since November! We didn't have a huge crowd there, but it was fun nonetheless.

There is no better place to celebrate Pioneer Day than small town southern Utah. We had a wonderful evening over in Rockville at the annual Pioneer Day Picnic. It was so much fun!

Sid even tried her hand at feeding Cousin Eliza. The girls especially enjoyed the snow cones and candy cannon.

Saturday morning started out with a beautiful sunrise on West Temple! We had a yummy breakfast in our family suite at Zion Park Motel, and then we all took off for the canyon.

Eliza was ready for a fun adventure.

And so was Sid.

Camden, Riley, Gramma, and Grampa were ready to go too!

Because of another book signing, "Uncle Greggy" and I had to head back early, but we still enjoyed the scenery.

After their hike, the rest of the gang came and met up with us at the Zion Visitor Center. We sold quite a few more books there than at Sundancer, but a lot of people looked a little skeptical--like they didn't think I looked old enough to have written a book (a visitor at the Lincoln Home told me the other day that I look like I'm 12). It was a lot of fun though. After the book signing and hiking, some took naps and others went searching for cool rocks at the Springdale rock shop, and we found some delicious treats at the Springfield Fruit Company.

Then it was time for more swimming!!! It was fun and very refreshing. That evening we had a delicious family dinner at Pioneer Lodge, and then we enjoyed walking around downtown Springdale--just like when we Taylor kids were younger. Springdale has changed a lot since we first started taking family trips there--but one thing hasn't changed: it is still a wonderful place to be together as a family. We have so many happy memories there.

On Sunday we went over to the town of Virgin for church and then had a fun family picnic out behind the church before everyone headed out. It was so sad to leave--but happy because we'd had such a wonderful time together.

The Barretts and Agates had visited Grandma Farnsworth and Grandpa Dick before heading to Zion, so they took off for home while Mom, Dad, Greg, and I went over to St. George to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It was, as always, wonderful to see them! We had a fun visit, and then, unfortunately, it was time to go. I was sad to leave but once again happy that we'd had such a good time.

Greg and I drove back to Arizona and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We made a stop at another of our favorite national parks: Pipe Spring National Monument--which was originally built by great great great great grandpa Anson Perry Winsor. We enjoyed one more evening with Greg's parents before heading back to the Phoenix airport early on Monday morning. As is always the case when one returns from vacation, it was hard to get back to reality, but we were glad to see our animal children (and they were glad to see us too). Lily has been extra cuddly ever since we got home. Poor Big Spike has been a little sick, but he and Greg went to the vet today, so he's feeling a bit better. Things have been crazier than ever at work this week, but luckily I only had three days before reaching my weekend!

A Royal Trip

Before I write about our latest trip to Arizona/Utah, I need to do a bit of catch-up on our trip to Kansas City! Things were so hectic between our two trips that I didn't have a chance to tell you about our fun adventures. On Friday, July 17, Greg and I headed out for Kansas City, Missouri. We of course had to stop in Hannibal, Missouri--home of Mark Twain. We didn't stay there long, but we got a picture in front of Samuel Clemens' boyhood home. I absolutely love Hannibal.

Our next stop was the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site in Lexington, Missouri. Mom, Dad, and I first discovered this site back in 2004 when we were visiting the area, and it was here that I first learned about a man named Sterling Price. Little did I know that he would become the obsession of my senior year of college. Sterling Price was heavily involved in the 1838 Mormon persecutions in Missouri, and his later life as a Confederate general is absolutely facinating. His own commander-in-chief Jefferson Davis even hated him. He is quite the interesting (and evil) man!

The battlefield is really neat--you can even still see some trenches that were dug by Union troops. This picture was taken in front of the haunted Anderson House--right smack in the middle of the battlefield. The home was used as a hospital for both the Union and Confederate Armies. Unfortunately Sterling Price and his Confederates were victorious at this early Civil War battle.

Our next stop was the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri. His house there is so beautiful! We found it funny that the NPS visitor center is located five blocks from the actual house. They must lose a lot of visitors--because we have a hard enough time getting people from the Lincoln Home visitor center down a half block to the home! The house is so cool, and we enjoyed our tour--except for the fact that our ranger guide kept dropping jabs at George Bush, which was not cool. Rangers are not supposed to discuss their political opinions with visitors. But anyway, it was really neat to see Harry Truman's house. He was one of the few good Democratic Presidents :-) That was quite the bold and brave thing he did in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. Of course that was a controversial move, but many lives were saved by putting an abrupt end to the war.

Greg and I had lunch at a fun little place that Mom, Dad, and I discovered back in 2004 called Dave's Deli. I had some awesome sweet potato fries covered in cinnamon and sugar! Then we went to Clinton's Soda Fountain--the place where Harry Truman got his first job. It is a cool little place, and Greg and I had some divine blackberry cobbler ice cream. They had a map on the wall where people are supposed to stick a pin indicating where in the country they are from. There is an unusually high concentration of pins in Utah :-)

Next it was off to our totally awesome hotel: the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex. Our room was really nice, and the best part was that we got to stay there for free (courtesy of my Citi travel rewards card)! The hotel is very close to both Arrowhead Stadium (home of the KC Chiefs) and Kauffman Stadium (home of the KC Royals). Our destination was Kauffman Stadium where I went to my first Royals game. Greg's favorite team is the Royals, and he is always a good sport to take me to Cardinals games--so it was fun to finally go to a Royals game. Our seats were freaking awesome! We were on the second row right by first base. When there is a sign right in front of your seats telling you to watch for bats and balls leaving the field, you know you're close to the action.

Before the actual game, they had a Hall of Fame game featuring some of the Kansas City greats including George Brett. The game was really fun to watch, and all of the players had a good time joking around with each other. At one point, a player from Cuba was up to bat, and one of the others on the field (they all had microphones) said, "Let's sing the Cuban national anthem: 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat." :-) It was really fun to watch.

Then the big game started. It was an absolutely perfect evening for baseball. It was about 75 degrees, sunny, and beautiful outside. The Royals were playing the Tampa Bay Rays.

We were totally close to the action! Unfortunately the Royals lost, but it was really close (8-7). We got to see some great plays including a three-run homer by Mike Jacobs.

An added bonus was Fireworks Friday. They had a great fireworks display at the stadium.

On Saturday, July 18, Greg and I drove over to Kansas to see his old stomping grounds. We even got to stop at another Civil War-related site: the Battle of Blackjack Battlefield and Nature Park. John Brown and some of his anti-slavery followers fought with some pro-slavery Kansans here on June 2, 1856. This was part of the "Bleeding Kansas" ordeal which really got things rolling toward the Civil War.

That afternoon we met up with some of Greg's friends from high school and went back to Kansas City to see the WWI museum. Unfortunately we were a little late to tour the museum, but we enjoyed walking around the astonishing monument they have there. And we at least had time to hit the gift shop before the museum closed. We'll have to go back another time.

There was also a really nice view of Kansas City from the WWI monument observation area. We then went down to Union Station (the big building in the middle of this picture) and explored until it was time for Greg and me to head to his 10 year high school reunion. The reunion was a lot of fun, and Greg had a good time catching up with some of his high school buddies. We drove home that night and had time for just a few hours of sleep before I went back to work the next day. What a fun mini road trip we had!

Coveralls for Cannonballs

A new adventure has begun at the Lincoln Home! I have officially become one of the "presenters." Each day at 2:00 in the Visitor Center, we have a special Bicentennial program done by one of the rangers. I volunteered to do a program about Illinois in the Civil War (I researched this topic while I was at BYU) if they ever needed a substitute, and my boss Mike loved the idea. I ended up even finding who from the Lincolns' neighborhood served in the Civil War--something that no one has researched before! A couple of the regular presenter rangers were gone this week, so my program, "Trading Coveralls for Cannonballs: Illinois in the Civil War," debuted on Monday afternoon. It was a big hit! Even the Superintendent came to the program and said he enjoyed it, so that made me feel good (and relieved). I did the program again today, and they are thinking to put me on the official calendar of events for August--so I would give the presentation every Monday afternoon. As I have done more research on the topic, I have found some really remarkable stories about different soldiers in the Civil War.

This is how I end the program:

Those Illinois farmers who traded their coveralls for cannonballs dedicated themselves wholly to the betterment of their country. Their toil fortified Illinois’s cornfields, and their bravery consecrated America’s battlefields.

In museums, movies, books, and reenactments, Civil War soldiers are remembered for participating in one of the most defining moments in American history. Though we can never truly understand the extent of their sacrifices, we can be inspired by their courage.

Working on this project has been a lot of fun. I am happy, however, to have a break from the Lincoln Home for a couple of days :-) Tomorrow Greg and I are heading to Kansas City to go to a Royals game and then attend Greg's 10 year high school reunion on Saturday. We are both really looking forward to a mini road trip!