Trip to Zion National Park

Earlier this month we took a trip to Zion National Park. We were headed down to Las Vegas for the weekend anyway to see Joel's cousin Liz give her farewell missionary talk, so we left a day early and had some family time together. We had so much fun! Joel had Friday off, so as soon as I was done with work we packed a lunch and drove down. We stopped at a gas station at Cove Fort for lunch (that's a shout-out to my bro-in-law, Dan!) and the whole place was CHARRED from the fires last summer. We should have taken it as a bad omen, because unfortunately Joel had a great idea for the kids to race among the construction barrels and loose gravel and Lincoln got a HUGE chunk ripped right out of his knee when he fell. Needless to say, that little blunder disqualified Lincoln from the competition.
We arrived at Zion in the afternoon and readied ourselves for some sweet hiking.Our first was up to the three Emerald Pools. It was fun and I was able to keep up only because Joel had Clara in the backpack and the boys are still kids.

This was my favorite of our hikes. We enjoyed breezy weather, cool destinations and the kids were all in the best spirits.
Interestingly we saw a polygamist family on the trail - one man, three wives and about twenty kids, all in pioneer get-up. One of the wives, when she saw our gang, remarked, "You guys are almost as ambitious as we are!" My question about them is: Who decides what they can and can't wear? The girls all wore hoodie sweatshirt jackets over their long dresses and open-toe sandals. Why is it that they can buy sandals but not sneakers?
Hey, we got some family pictures taken, thanks to several volunteer photographers on the trail! And, look, we even saw real deer!

For dinner we found a Thai restaurant (Joel's and my gastronomic weakness) that was pricey but the curry was awesome!
Back at the hotel we played in the pool for about two hours: Joel and I would stand in the pool while Lincoln, Asher and Clara would jump into our arms over and over and over again. Then we enjoyed the luxury of a heart-shaped tub in our room! Somehow the romance of it all was lost on Joel and I, and I think it was mainly due to the three kids that bathed in there with us.
Saturday morning we ate at the hotel's surprisingly good continental breakfast and then headed back to the park for more hiking! Our first hike for the day was Canyon Overlook, which was easy and fun and really beautiful. Normally Asher could care less about whether the camera is pointed at him or not, but on this trip over and over he would turn around and call out for me to take his picture.
It was the perfect time of year to go: the weather was so mild and we didn't have to fight swarms of people in the parking lots or on the trails. It was really relaxing and enjoyable.We had plans to hike Pa'rus Trail, but our kids were pooped and after Lincoln had a breakdown of sorts, we regrouped and hiked to Weeping Rock, instead. After that we passed our park pass onto my little sister and her husband, who had also just driven down for the weekend, and we headed to Vegas to spend time with Joel's family. What a fun trip! I love doing things with our kids. It is so satisfying to me!

But, I was also pooped! It took a couple of days after we got home before I felt recovered from the lack of sleep and extra exertion. Viva la Zion!

I can't wait for our next family trip!

This Video Reminds Me of Someone

Here is a video I really enjoyed watching.



About twenty seconds into viewing these sweet jedi moves an uncomfortable feeling crept over me. And I realized I was watching my oldest son, 10 years in the future. I mean, I hope it's not, but it may be.

Recently we let our kids watch Star Wars and now they pretend Star Wars all the time. It never stops. They sleep with their light sabers, wear capes all day, and even bring Clara into the mix by giving her a weapon and crowning her Princess Leia. (She's pretty good at killing her brothers.) Out on the front lawn they layer camping cots and snow tubes on top of each other for their base camp. In their room they don all their Jedi accessories, real or improvised and become Luke, Darth, Obi Wan, or Quaigon. They sleep with their weapons (as all good Jedi do) and spend a lot of time on the trampoline sequencing fighting moves and simulating training sessions. And while Asher feels content to stick to established Star Wars characters - Luke, Yoda, and on, Lincoln can only refer to his Jedi alter ego as "Force of the Green."

That's powerful.
As parents we mostly just enjoy the show, but at times I wonder how long and far their pretending should go on. At what point (12, 14 years old?) do I say "Please DON'T post your Jedi moves on YouTube"?I mean, the other night after a heartfelt discussion about spirits Asher announced he was the bad Emporer from the Return of the Jedi. And it kind of spooked Joel out what with Asher forming his hands into claws and hissing, like he was killing Luke with his lightning powers right there.

Star Wars is the newest incarnation of fighting warriors around here.

Before Star Wars we beheld the terrors of Cap'n Jack Sparrow and his band of pirates.

Last summer we witnessed the daring adventures of every superhero known!

A year ago we could only watch in awe as Luchadore's frequented our house, entertaining us with killer wrestling moves, eagle powers, and amazing skills in the ring.

And before that underpants warriors, who remained unnamed, lurked in the shadows of our humble home, fighting who knows who or what.

Amazing, huh? We love all the heroic dramatics. We're mostly content to allow these theatrics to continue until they've outgrown them. However, if you EVER see one of them displaying these antics when they're WAY past the "cute" stage, please, help me and help them by simply removing the light sabre from their hands and walking away.

P.S. I realize Clara is shirtless in the video, but she takes after her Aunt Megan in her love of tube tops. I only wish this were a video of Clara mowing the lawn.

I'm in Love...with Improv Comedy, that is!

I met this guy last night.

(I've read his blog a couple of times and he has some funny posts, my favorite one here.)

I had a girl's night out with me sisters and mom and went to see Thrillionaires at the new Covey Arts Center.

The tickets were $10 each (a bit pricey, I thought) but it was a quality show. It was an improvisational comedy show where they take suggestions from the audience to build their story around. For the first 45 minutes they acted out a play about a husband and wife having marriage problems. The husband is a garbage collector (my suggestion) who built their house and provides all their furnishings via his job. The wife is someone who pretends to be sick to get attention (also my suggestion - remember our conversations, Marilyn) Another character works at a bank while trying to hide his obsession with his roller skate collection (my suggestion, again) and his co-worker was a compulsive liar. It was great!

The second half of the show (another 45 min) they acted out another play, this time a musical, all according to audience suggestions and the music provided by Mr. Strong Man (above). The story line included an inventor who wants a robot girlfriend, a human girl who can hear with her eyes who also is on a love rebound and a technology company trying to get new techy technology.

It was a really intimate, casual show with great story lines, impromptu! It was way better than seeing a movie and a change of pace from Joel and my usual dinner date.

Go see them! It was awesome!

It was so much fun! Joel and I are planning a future date there. It was great! I highly recommend it to anyone planning a special date or a fun night out.

Marilyn & Sam: A Tribute Album

Marilyn and I have been friends since them awkward days down to the PHS running Cross Country together. At first all I thought was she was this girl with the name of a grandma who wore those coffee-talk style glasses where the stems (what goes behind your ears) connected to the MIDDLE/BOTTOM of her lenses (I can't remember, exactly)

But then I realized she was really cool! She was really funny and we spent a lot of time together in high school hanging out.

I've always marveled at the surprising similarities and extreme differences between us. Like, both of our dads are disabled in some way (her with the effects of polio, mine with what he just can't see) but my dad is a mechanic while her dad is a physics professor. She's the only girl in her family and her brothers were nice to her, while I've got loads of sisters and only remember the brutal torture I endured at the hands of my brothers.

She's the greatest girl - awesome cook, accomplished and gifted writer, Hinckley Scholar, concert pianist, book worm, natural birth wonder, devout runner, and really fun. Mostly, I'm just happy that we share a friendship. Happy that we exchange emails full of with sarcasm, nerdy quips, and general communion and understanding of each other. I feel grateful to be able to enjoy her awesome personality and to mooch off her good baking.

I have low expectations for friendships. It's a stupid marvel to me when I realize that someone enjoyed my company. But I feel lucky to have Marilyn for a friend. I look up to her a lot. And whenever I've felt I've helped her in some way or whenever we've had a great time together, it has brought me unmeasured satisfaction and feelings of self-worth. (I have self-esteem issues in being "friends" with people, feeling like I never quite learned how to do it) Still to this day, I'll find myself saying in my mind "Why is she friends with ME?"

When she married Sam I was a little disappointed. Not because Sam was sub-par in any way, but because it meant I'd have to give up my dreams of being able to say that my good friend Marilyn was a Rhodes Scholar studying at Oxford. (Here's a picture of the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford. Marilyn and I did a research paper on the dude who did something to make this camera come to be - ah, my memory serves me so well! Poor Marilyn! I don't know how she endured my 3rd grade reading and writing skills, or how she could belly up to the sub-100% we got on the paper! Sorry!)But, I'm mostly over that now. Luckily, Sam is as cool as Marilyn. He encourages Marilyn's quirks in their activities together, and they're super-fun to hang out with. What I guess I never appreciated about Sam was that he's an artist. Like, a real artist. I don't know what I THOUGHT he was before, but I wasn't expecting this quality!

I've been working on this little Christmas painting for about three months now and I HONESTLY started thinking there wasn't much to this art stuff. Then I woke up to Sam's art. He's works for Disney developing concept art for video games or something arty/techy like that. (you lika my jargon-speak?) When I started going through his blog, it BLEW ME AWAY! Wow, Sam! You are absolutely amazing! Let's highlight some of your posts here:

(This is a painting of their new baby, Malachi)

Sweet, huh? So, pretty much their a power couple in several ways (art ways, music ways, English-writing ways, baking ways, etc.). I didn't know Sam was as talented as Marilyn (albeit in different ways), I just knew I liked them together. Now ya'll know it, too.

The best was, the last time we hung out with them, afterwards Joel was talking to me about how impressive they each, and together, are, and he said, "It makes me think, 'Why are they friends with US?'"

No kidding.

Compassion-Less Service Leader

Foremost in my mind today is what I did this morning for "service" and the problems I've always had with rendering "service."
Here's the schpeal: I'm generally selfish, judgmental and lacking in compassion. It's just part of my personality. I feel a little justified because it's a common personality thread among my siblings and I. Occasionally, I'll have this charitable buzz about me where I'm excited to lend an ear, hand, or plate of brownies to someone. This is usually ONLY when I really like the person.
My compassion-less attitude wouldn't be such a terrible thing, except that I'm the Compassionate Service Leader in the ward. Theoretically I lead/support/provide opportunities for the ward to render only the compassion-est of service. I often joke that I have the calling not because I'm compassionate, but because that's what I need to LEARN about.
But seriously, and here's where I could use your advice: I can count off several experiences since being a Leader where I gave of my time, talents, money or food when internally I was really ticked off about it.
Sometimes I feel mad/frustrated because I think the person is using the ward undeservedly. I have internal anxiety about these instances because I know I should love the other person, that I'M the one that has the problem of selfish pride, whatever their motivations are. I mean, Pres. Monson said the greatest joy can only be achieved through serving others (not a direct quote).
This morning I signed up to "help" somebody at their house for a couple of hours. I don't know if the lady didn't really want the help and we all just didn't know it, but it was rough. In the end my overbearing, opinionated self offended her sensibilities and I got yelled at a couple of times (really) and her house is in basically the same state as it was before, despite 6 volunteers and hours of time spent there.
I came home crying afterwards because I'm so hormonal and because I'm upset by my uncompassionate-ness. My frustrations just kept mounting as we were "working" all while nothing was getting done.
Why couldn't I just love the person? Why do I have to be such a jerk in my head about these situations? I know there's something I need to learn from this. I've had several of these experiences, so I know there's a lesson I need to learn.
I'm NOT looking for ya'll to comment how compassionate I am. Just because I'm nice to people who are cute, funny, engaging, well-dressed, admirable and/or clever doesn't make me compassionate.
I'm not looking for patronage. I'm looking for advice. What am I supposed to learn? How can I overcome this ugly beast in my psyche? I don't want to be a jerk (in my head and otherwise) anymore!

What d’you name your baby Chance for?

You know what I forgot to include in my post about baby names? A story from when I was pregnant with Asher.
I was down to the Family Dollar with my then-only child Lincoln in the cart. In walks a woman that I guessed was in some way not “normal” with her care-taker. She walked over to me, and in the highest, most cartoonish voice said, “What d’you name your baby Chance for?!” I said, smiling, “His name is Lincoln.” Again she said, “What kind of a name is Chance? What d’you name your baby Chance for?” Her caretaker said then said to her, “Her baby isn’t named Chance. YOUR grandbaby is named Chance.” It was really awesome. To this day, that phrase rings through my brain at least once a month, whether I hear somebody say the name Chance or whatever. “What d’you name you baby Chance for?”

Cool, huh?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love is In the Air!

I wish I had digital files of pictures from when we were dating. It would make this post much more entertaining. Anyway, here's a little more than you ever wanted to know about Joel's and my courtship:

1. Where did you meet?

Who knows? We went to the same elementary, junior high and high school. He was a snobby A-tracker and I was a regular, salt-of-the-earth, blue-collar C-tracker. Needless to say, our paths didn’t readily cross. The first time we noticed each other was in our senior year of high school on Halloween night 1996, at the seminary council party at Warren Robison’s house.

2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met?

I thought he was really cute.

3. Do you remember what he was wearing?

He was dressed as Indiana Jones. We lovingly refer to him as IJLC, which is his favorite movie (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) – for many years this movie contained the only lines he could quote from a movie and the only actors he knew by name (Harrison Ford and Sean Connery). Thanks to Nacho Libre, his pop culture knowledge has nearly doubled in the last two years. It is the Beyst.

4. Where was the first time you kissed this person?

After a double date with Ammon and my friend Amy, we dropped Amy off at her house. Ammon and Joel drove me home to my sister’s house and Ammon waited in Grandpa Rass’s Lincoln for an HOUR while Joel and I had a heart-to-heart that finally ended in a kiss. (Honestly, we owe just about everything to Ammon for helping to get us together, to keep us together after Joel's mission, and to prod us toward marriage)

5. How did he/she ask you out?

He called me on the phone.

6. Where did you go for your first date?
We went to the dollar movies and watched ‘That Thing You Do’ with a bunch of his friends. I remember thinking that even though he was in the seat next to me, he was absolutely as far away from me as he could possibly be without sitting in the laps of the people on the other side of him…he was a little shy.

7.How long did you know this person before you became a couple?

We met in October 1996, but didn’t become a couple until May 1997.

8. Has this person ever proposed to you?

We done it. On May 24, 2000 down to the Provo Temple after we’d gotten in our first fight.

9. Do you and this person have kids together?

We have too many for me to adequately cope with, honestly. Each time I get pregnant I think I was so STUPID to think I could handle it!

10. Have you ever broken the law with this person?
Never. However, I have broken the law several times without him.

11. When was the first time you realized that you liked this person?

The first day I met him.

12. Do you get along with any of the ex's of your partner?
Ha ha! He has NO ex’s. Bless him. I married the most honest, innocent, moral person that has ever lived. Now you can feel sorry for him that he married me!

13. What’s the most expensive thing this person has given you?

You might think it would be my wedding ring, but it’s actually my digital camera.

14. What is one thing he/she does that gets on your nerves?

He doesn’t usually clean up after himself if he makes food for himself and the kids.

15. What is the thing you do that gets on his/her nerves?

I’m so high strung. He tires of my impatience.

16. Where do you see each other in 15 years from now?
If I haven’t gone on a real vacation alone with him by then (something that includes an airplane, the hot sun and a swimming pool for us to relax by) it will probably be because my kids have pushed me over the edge and I’ve been committed to the state mental hospital…clue in on that, Joel.

So, you know how when you read about the pure love of Christ in the scriptures and it says you have to be long-suffering, patient, kind, doing good to all men, etc. That’s Joel. He puts up with so much in me. When I’m pregnant, I cry everyday. I’m always exhausted and hormonal, and Joel gets the brunt of it, usually, right before bed. But he loves me, anyway, and has really helped me overcome a lot of my ‘issues’ in the last 7 ½ years. He’s the perfect match for me and just about everyday I can’t believe how well we get along together, how much peace is in our home, and how good looking he still is. Plus, he just emailed me and asked me if I would join him in his quarters this night for a toast (of sparkling cider, that is). I'm pretty sure I'm going to, even if it makes me look like a floosy.