Thursday, July 29, 2010

Quick Trip to Palmyra

After thinking about doing it for 10 years, we finally decided to attempt the trip to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant! I have to admit to being the one who held back for so long....I really did not want to make the trip with the kids because I hated travelling with little ones. But we are now well beyond little ones, and our kids are really quite good travelers (well, except for Savannah who seems to need to go to the bathroom anytime she is tired of sitting in the car!) so we took off at 6:30 pm on a Friday night for New York. We got to our hotel about 2:00 am and slept in late the next morning, then spent some time in the pool (because we all know that is the favorite part of the trip!) Then we spent the day sight-seeing in Palmyra before going to the pageant..... Here are the kids with Wicked King Noah

Acting crazy at the Printing Shop where the Book of Mormon was originally typeset and printed LETTER BY LETTER! It really made me appreciate the technology we have nowadays!

Joshua in the Sacred Grove

Savannah walking in the Sacred Grove

Our family at the Sacred Grove (Joshua was the photographer)

Savannah at the large Smith Family home

On the Smith Farm looking back at the Palmyra Temple

The small Smith Family Home where Joseph Smith first saw the Angel Moroni and was told about the gold plates in his upstairs bedroom. I believe they said there were actually 11 people living in this house!
We had a great time and were so glad we went. However, we made one fatal error and that was not lining up a hotel room for Saturday night. (Chris was debating whether or not to go on up to Niagra Falls so the kids could see it, so we hadn't arranged for a room) By the time we started searching for a room at 11:00 pm we were unable to find anything available. We decided to start driving towards home and kept calling hotels along the way only to find that everything was booked! Somewhere around 2:00 am, we realized that we were going to be driving ALL NIGHT! I fell asleep and Chris took over till 5:30 am, then I drove till 7:30 while he slept....it was ALL I could handle! So he took over and brought us the rest of the way home where we promptly crashed into our beds!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Yes, I am 40 and NO, I AM NOT A COW!!!!

Friday was my 40th birthday!
With Chris and Caleb gone to scout camp, Joshua spending the morning at a friend's house and Shelby gone out to breakfast with a friend, I was left with 2 kids to fix breakfast for. That was when I made my plan to not cook on my birthday. I scrounged around through our coupon drawer and found 3 coupons for free chicken mini's and Chick-fil-A, so off we went! Once we got there, we discovered it was "Dress Like a Cow" day and everyone who came in dressed like a cow got a free meal. I realized we could have Chick-fil-A for breakfast AND lunch FOR FREE and my "no cooking day" was looking better and better! We spent the morning at the pool, then after we got Joshua and Shelby back home, we went to work on our costumes. Shelby initially refused to dress like a cow....even my threats of "well you'll have to cook your own food" wouldn't sway her.....but then Aunt Rachel called to wish me a happy birthday and the bribing began! Needless to say, Shelby can't say no to money!
Here we are in all our bovine glory!




I would have to say it was probably one of my best birthday meals ever!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

It All Started With a Piano.....

A few months ago, my youngest sister, Rachel, surprised us all when she called to say she was moving out of the country. Not that she doesn't move, mind you....she moves enough that her blog's address is actually "didwemoveagain"! But out of the country??? Well, that was different than just across the country (which she HAS done TWICE!). Anyway, she has had a baby grand piano that she has moved with her on all her many moves, but this time it was not going. She called me and offerred to send it to my house if we could pay to move it here. My kids have progressed so far at the piano, that it was time for me to step up from the spinet that we were blessed to get for $200 8 years ago. And the prospect of a baby grand for the cost of moving (which wasn't cheap by any means, but was still cheaper than buying a new piano) was too good to pass up. Soooooo....somehow that got the ball rolling and Chris and I decided to replace the disgustingly nasty white carpet that we have lived with for 3 1/2 years because it would be a lot harder to do once we had a baby grand piano in the living room. And well, then that turned into "perhaps we should repaint the living room" which encouraged "I think the dining room needs a new coat of paint" which then morphed into "wow, the foyer paint has a hideous green hue....we better repaint that too"! So.....
FOUR months, one major remodel, and $4500 later, my husband can tease me that this is the most expensive free piano we were ever given! Oh, and the foyer is still waiting to be repainted....
And I am hearing beautiful music from my living room! I love it! Thank you Rachel, we will take good care of your "baby".