Recent Events

That's a lame title...here's hoping the rest of the post won't be quite so boring...

A week and a half ago, we went to the Jensen Reunion (Chris's Mom's Mom's Family) in Bountiful. It was a perfect day to be outside--at least in the morning. Little toasty later on.


I had the opportunity to judge the newspaper outfit fashion show.


Who knew you could change the Statue of Liberty into the Angel Moroni with quite literally just the drop of a hat?


Janet (Chris's Mom) had surgery only two days before and wasn't able to come to the reunion. We sent her a get well card, signed by nearly everyone there.


And Megan took a nap. She's good at that.


Later that night, Chris, Jane, Megan, Brenda and I all joined a handful of family in Draper for the Draper Days fireworks.


Bill bought Mom a Diet Coke. You'll just have to believe me that it's funny.


A few obligatory fireworks shots...


and a cool picture of weeds. Weeds, yes, but still a cool picture. Good job, Christopher.


P.S. I was born right there. See that clump of trees taller than the rest? I was born in the house that used to be right under those trees. It's long gone now. Now it's a horse corral and parking lot. But I was still born there. Even if you can't actually see it because the picture is too dark.


For family home evening the next Monday, we went to Nauvoo.


Oh wait, not really. That's a float. We took the girls to the South Towne Expo Center to see the Days of '47 parade floats on display. I'm still getting used to the idea that all the LDS stakes in the valley submit their own float.

This is our stake's float:


Eh, I wasn't terribly impressed. Sorry to those who made it!

Lisa's stake's float, for which she was on the committee, was far more impressive.


My favorite, though, was this one.


The theme was "Then and Now"...get it? Then the Liahona was the guide. Now, the "Marmin" (instead of Garmin) GPS will lead you to the temple.


Jane got in a little workout, too.


For our actual celebration of Pioneer Day, we went up Millcreek Canyon with a few of Chris's cousins and other miscellaneous extended family.


The company was good, the scones were tasty, and the naps were surprisingly plentiful. At least for Megan. Again.


That evening, we had visitors.


Hooray for Logan friends! Thanks, Mark and Jess, for coming to see us and our new house. We had an unexpected side adventure along with this visit, when the power went out. We ended up cooking meat for tacos on the camp stove in the backyard. While on a walk another day, I found the power pole that was hit by a car.


If you can't see it, that is what used to be the power box next to the pole, full of burned wires. Luckily, the power did come back on (right as we sat down to eat, ironically) and Chris and Mark were able to play the inaugural game of pool on our new to us pool table.

My kids are still cute. So are Lisa's.


Jane and Dalton like doing laundry. It's especially fun for them to watch it all spin around. And I enjoy owning the nice, brand-new washer and dryer.


Jane likes playing with "Cole".


We have also instituted a chore chart for Jane. Every day, she is responsible for saying her prayers, making her bed, putting away the silverware, and wiping off the table. Sometimes she gets a little over-zealous on the table wiping, though.


When she's all done, she gets stickers. I've never seen someone so excited to get a sticker.


Finally, last night Chris and I were able to attend our stake temple night at the Salt Lake temple. Thank you, Lisa, for watching the girls. Thank you, Amy and Sarah, for helping her. We went to a chapel meeting first with President Lunt, of the temple presidency, and his wife, after which we went to an endowment session.

During that session, I had the single most amazing spiritual experience I have ever had in my life. It is much too personal and sacred to share, especially here, but suffice it to say

I am no longer worried about being a stay-at-home mom.