Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving we had the classic Thanksgiving dinner.

You know, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, etc.

But I wanted a little something more this year. Some excitement.

So we bought tickets and went to a movie.

First time ever that I have gone to a movie on Thanksgiving Day!

We picked "Skyfall".

It was, hands down, our most favorite James Bond movie we have ever seen.

So if you find yourself bored and wanting some great entertainment, go see "Skyfall".

A Very Productive Naptime

One afternoon Kalie put Isaac down for a nap in my bedroom.

The portacrib wasn't too far from our bookcase.

While in my bedroom, Isaac took advantage of the close proximity of the books.

He zipped his way through the Chronicles of Narnia, plus many other classic titles.

Oblivious to anything going on upstairs, Kalie and I happily chatted away the time.

We did hear a few bumps here and there but suspected nothing.

Finally, Kalie decided she had better check on Isaac and here is what she found:

An exceedingly happy child progidy!

Labor Day Weekend.....or a Girlie Getaway

One fine afternoon, Kalie announced that she would like to have a girl's weekend away.

I thought that sounded like a great idea.

When Kalie discovered that Alyssa had never seen "Les Miserables" she announced that we all needed to go down to Cedar City and watch this play.

So we made plans...

If we went over Labor Day Weekend, we wouldn't have to worry about a babysitter for Isaac and we would have an extra day.

Kalie and I got the go ahead from our menfolk and we made reservations.

Our tickets to Les Mis were for Saturday night, so we left Saturday around noon and drove to Cedar City.

We checked in to our hotel and then ate a pizza/pasta dinner.

Yummy!

And because we had time, we took a stroll down historic Main Street.

Alyssa met the man of her dreams, Mr. Iron County.

 

This picture still makes me laugh everytime I see it.

 

Now off to the SUU campus where Les Miserables will be performed.

 

But first, a little campus tour, complete with a ride on Old Sorrel. 

 

There is a greenshow every night before the plays begin.

This was the last greenshow of the season.

Les Miserables was very well done.

I have seen this play several times in different venues and each one has its own unique flavor, yet the integrity of the message always comes through.

We spent the night in Cedar City, got up and went to church and then headed off for Kanab...part two of our Girlie Getaway.

We decided to drive through Zion's National Park to get to Kanab. Kalie had arranged for us to stay at her MIL's home.

While in Zion's, we explored the Emerald Pools.

Kalie and Alyssa are standing close to the first Emerald Pool.

At the end of the hike next to Emerald Pool #3.

You are surrounded by cliffs. It's quite lovely.

I thought it might be ok to hike in my flip-flops.

Note to anyone who cares to listen: don't hike in flip-flops.

You mess up your body.

My knees and I just didn't see eye to eye during this experience.

Monday morning we did a bit of exploring in Kanab.

We ate breakfast at Parry's Hotel.

This is a famous hotel where many movie stars have stayed and eaten while filming movies in Kanab.

Did you know that countless movies and television series have been filmed in Kanab?

We ate breakfast here.

It was delicious.

There is also a Little Hollywood museum in Kanab with different buildings and items used in various movies.

Alyssa found herself in prison while there.

Kalie discovered a rocking chair for a really, really big person.

And Alyssa and I took a covered wagon break.

No ride. After all, there were no horses.

I couldn't resist putting this picture in this post.

I had to lighten it quite a bit to see Kalie's face, but it is priceless.

Last of all, we visited Moqui Cave just outside of Kanab.

It is a cave that was purchased and made into a bar and dance hall back in the day.

Now it is a museum full of fossils and remnants of the bar.

And with the cave tour ending, we drove back to the real world.

I had a wonderful time with two of the most delightful women I know.

They are funny, sweet and a joy to be around.

Thanks to Kathy, Kalie's MIL, for letting us stay at her beautiful home. The dinner and company was wonderful!

And the weekend was a blast!

When Best Laid Plans go Awry

Tuesday morning I woke up full of vigor and vim.

I went for a good long walk/run with a friend.

I was anticipating a fun day at Thanksgiving Point with above friend.

My morning was going like clockwork and I was going to be on time!

I decided I had better take my vitamins before I jumped in the shower.

I took my first few vitamins.  No problem!

I took the next few vitamins and things went wrong in a hurry.

One of the horse pills I take turned sideways just as it was going down my throat.

I felt it and thought, "oh great. I'm going to feel like I have something stuck in my throat all day."

I drank a ton of water and swallowed really hard and felt it move down.

It stopped somewhere in my lung region.

And then the fun started.

My esophagus didn't really appreciate a sideways pill being stuck inside and it began contracting heavily to get that pill to move down.

The contractions were strong waves of pain that took my breath away.

It was kinda like giving birth again. But with no baby reward.

Boyd got me a glass and told me to sip water to get that pill to dislogde.

I drank and drank and drank and was still getting violent contractions.

Sitting up didn't help. Lying down didn't help. Jumping up and down didn't help. Yelling didn't help.

All I could do was gasp and try really hard not to say naughty words.

Boyd's next idea was to get some coke and have me sip that.

Coke dissolves everything. Right?

I began sipping Coke on top of what felt like 1/2 gallon of water.

I sipped and sipped and then realized that I couldn't sip one more ounce.

I was done.

I was feeling nauseous.

All I wanted to do was throw up and be done with this ridiculous episode.

I laid down on the living room floor and quickly found that my desire was about to be fulfilled.

I threw up everything that had been in my stomach for the last hour.

Sorry for the graphic visual image.

I am guessing that somehow, somewhere in my intimate moment with the bathroom throne, that pill was forced out.

I got a few more violent contractions and then a mild one, then a violent one, then two mild ones and then...slowly but surely, they stopped.

Blessed relief.

I called my friend, told her I would be late and then got ready and went to Thanksgiving Point for the day.

It was a completely delightful day after my contracting episode.

All I could say to Boyd was, "Now I have a whole new appreciation for you and enduring those awful kidney stones."

May I never swallow a pill wrong again.

The end.

UFP's

My sister, Carolyn, gave us a challenge earlier this year to finish up some UFP's.

UFP stands for unfinished projects.

It took me several months to get the needed shot in my arm, but I finally got it!

I took Charlotte, this little bow-tie quilt, and put a binding on her and stitched it up!

The results?

Breathtaking!!

 

Then, I won this quilt top in a raffle at one of our quilt retreats several years ago.

Embarrassingly enough, I hadn't done a thing with it.

I decided to finish it up for Brock for his wedding.

As I was sewing the binding on, I ran out of fabric and, well, it took the wind out of my sails.

My delightful sister, Mary, sent me more fabric for binding (thanks tons) but it just sat there.

The same day I got my shot in the arm for Charlotte, I finished sewing the binding on this leaf quilt.

I stitched it down and WALA! It's done and with its rightful owner.

I can now proudly say that I have two less UFP's in my life than I had a few weeks ago.

Thanks Carolyn, for the motivation!

Kalie's Birthday

Kalie's birthday is at the end of July.

She called and wanted to celebrate her birthday with us on the 24th.

We were only too happy to oblige.

I decided we needed a really special dinner for her.

I had seen an episode of "Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives" and was awestruck by one of the meals featured.

It was a London Broil, marinated overnight in soy sauce, root beer, brown sugar, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

After cooking it all day, they shredded it with a fork and then served it on toasted buns with grilled onions and arugula.

I decided to replicate the recipe as closely as possible for the birthday girl.

I marinated the London Broil and then popped it into the crock pot for the day.

That afternoon while waiting for our London to Broil, Kalie, Alyssa, Isaac and I went to Sub Zero for a little ice cream treat.

Basically, Sub Zero has liquid ice cream mix in different flavors that you pick.

Then they blast it with a shot of liquid nitrogen.

The liquid nitrogen freezes the ice cream mix in seconds.

Then they serve it up to you in a waffle cone!

It was a good thing that there were three adults eating this treat. There was a lot of ice cream.

Then we came home and ate our dinner.

We served the shredded London Broil on toasted buns with your choice of toppings: grilled onions, grilled mushrooms and lettuce.

Delicious!

Kalie is not a cake lover so for dessert I decided to make mini cherry cheesecakes.

Time for the obligatory photo.

My kids indulge me in this strange tradition.

I don't know how many pictures I have of kids blowing out candles but I have a lot.

Isaac wanted a turn blowing out a candle.

After dinner we went out back to continue our celebration with sparklers and pop-its.

Kalie loves sparklers.

Isaac was intrigued with the sparklers.

They were supposed to change colors as they burned.

However, there was a dead spot in every sparkler about half way down.

Just when you thought that the sparkler was done for, it would sputter and suddenly come back to life.

The sparklers weren't the best, but they were entertaining.

Kalie is showing Isaac the glories of sparklers.

We also had a few boxes of pop-its.

Pop-its are the best toys for children ever!

Isaac loves them.

I love them.

You just throw them on the ground and hear them pop, or step on them.

Kalie is getting ready for the weird, quirky sparklers.

I have reflected on the 28 years I have been blessed to have Kalie in my life.

She is savvy, intelligent, thoughtful, musical, sensitive, happy, purposeful, smart, kind, unique, talented, creative, delightful, funny, nurturing, accomplished, beautiful, driven, dramatic, bright, positive, Christ-centered, joyful, exemplary, hard-working, studious, caring and cherished.

Twenty-eight words to describe Kalie.

Happy birthday, beautiful Kalie!

The Odd Life of Yogi Casselman

Have you seen the movie "The Odd Life of Timothy Green"?

I haven't.

But I have seen the previews.

You know. The scene where the little boy has leaves growing out of his legs.

Well, this story came to life at our house.

Yogi ran outside to go potty and saw the neighbor's dogs.

He got way over-excited and ran back and forth through the bean plants.

The result?

The Odd Life of Yogi Casselman:

This picture makes me laugh everytime I see it.

The Odd Life meets Vampire Diaries!

The last of Moab and the most terrifying of all!

Kevin had mentioned that he wanted to do a little rappelling while he was in Moab and asked if Alyssa and I were interested in going.

I thought it sounded like a grand idea.

After all, what could be more exciting than a little rappell down the side of a mountain?

Sounds easy to me!!

Kevin said that the place he wanted to go had two rappels: one that was a shorter one, about 20 feet or so, and the other one was off the top of an arch.

I thought that sounded great!

So did Alyssa!

We set off early Saturday morning and hiked in overland to where our adventure would start.

Isn't it just lovely?

Suddenly Kevin stopped and said, "here it is!"

I looked over the edge. My mouth went dry. And I realized that I had unwittingly put myself in a very scary situation.

I was going down there:

Kevin gave me and Alyssa a lesson on how to work the rope, the harness and everything else.

All I could think about was how terrified I was.

I started down the first descent and thoughts of terror filled my heart.

What the *#@ am I doing?

I went down very slowly.

When I finally got enough courage to look down, I saw that the bottom was filled with water.

You couldn't see how deep it was. It was totally black. And I was panic stricken.

I scrambled along the wall trying to get a foot hold to push myself over to the edge. After all, I didn't want to drown on this adventure.

I finally got up the nerve to put my foot in the water and discovered that it went halfway up my calf.

I was going to LIVE!

Alyssa, on the other hand, was so excited!

She couldn't wait to try this out.

She got her harness on and dropped down in no time at all.

Then Kevin came down.

There were two smaller drops in that first rappel. One that landed in the water, and then you waded over to a crack in the rock to the second drop.

I had to do it again!

All together? 90 feet! That sure ain't no twenty feet.

The bottom opened up into a large room of sorts and then led out to a small area that looked like this:

There was only two ways to get back to the condo and safety: 1. free climb back up the rappel we just did or 2. go down that arch which was a 120 foot drop.

Both choices were equally terrifying.

Alyssa said that she would go first because I just couldn't do it.

As she was getting hooked up to the rope and harness I kept hearing her say, "I'm really scared."

That didn't help me much.



Kevin had me walk over to a safe place and take pictures.

I kept praying that Alyssa would make it down safe.

Yikes!

Suddenly I heard her yell, "I'm down! That was completely awesome!"

I knew it was then my turn.

Here is the documentation that proves that I put my fear behind me and did something I have always wanted to do.

I am ashamed to say that all I could think of as I started down were naughty words.

About halfway down, I realized that this was kind of fun.

And the closer I got to the bottom, I started to get jubilant.

This was a BLAST!!

Here is Kevin coming on down.

He gave Alyssa and I his harnesses and he wore a harness he had made out of webbing in a method that he learned from Bear Grylls.

I couldn't believe he would be so courageous. And kind.

Here we are at the bottom. My face is a mixture of terror and exulation.

We ended up at the far end of Negro Bill's Canyon.

Kalie and Isaac were meeting us at the beginning.

We began to hoof it out of there as fast as we could. This adventure had taken longer than Kevin thought it would...mostly because of fraidy-pants me.

As we were jog-trotting to meet Kalie, Alyssa said, "Mom, that was so fun. I just prayed all the way down."

I thought to myself how pure her heart is. What does that say about me when all I did on the way down was think and say naughty words?

Kind of sobering.

After several minutes of walking as fast as humanly possible through this beautiful canyon, we ran into Kalie and Isaac.

They were having the time of their lives.

Kevin thought that Isaac should check out the stream in an up close and personal manner.

Here we are at the parking lot.

The adventure was over.

That was truly one of the most gratifying, terrifying and powerful things I have ever done.

I am woman, hear me roar!

I can't thank Kevin enough for his patience with Alyssa and me...mostly me.

He encouraged me to do something that was WWAAAAAAAYYY outside my comfort zone and I did it.

And now our trip to Moab was over.

I was a little sad because we had had so much fun.

I found my heart while I was down there, and as we were leaving, I left another little piece just so I can go back and find it again.

A Visit to Arches National Park

While we were in Moab I wanted to go to Arches National Park.

If you haven't been there, you are really missing out.

There are some of the most stunning rock formations that you have ever seen.

When you look at them, it leaves you wondering, "just how did that happen?"

Boyd, Alyssa and I decided we wanted to see two specific arches while we were there: Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch.

To see Delicate Arch requires a 2 hour, round trip hike. We started early in the morning so we wouldn't die halfway up to our destination.

This picture shows where we are going. Those tiny little specks on the rock are people.

Yep, they were a long ways away. And we had a long way to go.

Basically, you start out on a trail and then the trail turns to slick rock the rest of the way to the top.

Here is Alyssa braving the slick rock.

Really, the slick rock is much easier to hike on than the sand that was there.

As you are hiking along, you wonder if you might ever get there.

And then suddenly, you turn a corner and WOW! There it is!!

This crazy rock formation is just standing there with nothing around it. I just can't help but wonder how it was discovered...and how it got there.

Alyssa and Boyd wandered over for a Kodak moment.

That is as far as Boyd would go.

Heights make him NERVOUS!

If you are wondering why he was nervous, there is a dropoff on one side of the arch, and a toilet bowl shaped drop on the other side.

Alyssa wasn't nervous, though. She went right under the arch and posed.

Love this man.

We also decided to walk up to Landscape Arch.

As far as we know, this is the longest natural arch in the United States.

You can see how thin it is on the right hand side.

Apparently in the 90's some people heard a sound similar to thunder cracking.

The sound of thunder was really the sound of rocks cracking and breaking off.

A large chunk of rock broke off of Landscape Arch.

Tourists can no longer hike directly under the arch for fear of more rock breakage landing on them.

That is why I felt the need to see this natural spectacle before another rock chunk breaks off and there is no more arch.

Isn't it amazing?

We asked some kind person to take our picture with the arch in the background.

I look like something the cat dragged in.

Double O Arch is just beyond Landscape.

We didn't hike up there. It's too long and too scary.

I had to get a shot of Boyd standing in front of the finger formations.

So beautiful.

Sigh.

Our trip to to Arches was a complete delight. 

It is hard to believe that there are places on the earth that look like this.

Stay tuned for one more exciting and unparalleled adventure!!