Families Can Be Together Forever

Sometimes you get a spiritual insight at just the oddest places and times and one of those happened to me at the San Francisco zoo. Since some of you were there, but all of you can relate to it, I thought I would share. We had stopped for lunch at a big cafeteria. As it was lunch time, the place was packed with families and kids. I finished eating and went to the restroom. As I returned, I stood on the edge of the giant room filled with talking people (and some unhappy little ones) and looked for my family. I found them and stood for just a moment watching them. They were all laughing at something and looked to very happy to be together. At that moment, it came to me that that is just like it will be when we cross over the veil. We, too, will look for our family and we can all be together, talking and laughing. I have been so struck with that wonderful image, I wanted you all to share. How blessed we are to know the way that families can be together forever!

I've Been Tagged

Aranne has tagged me for my favorite "Eights." So here goes:

(This picture has nothing to do with this, but it is a scrapbook store in Salisbury, England)






* Eight Things I am Passionate About:
The Gospel
My Husband
My wonderful children and their phenomenal spouses
My cutie-pie grandchildren
Scrapbooking
The Beach (OK, I really like it)
Shopping (not passionate, but I do like to!)

*Eight Things Words or Phrases I Say Way Too Often
A-MAZE-ING!
Everyone sit down so we can get started.
In the News today...
Oh, my!
Oh, really????
No way!!!!!
Cool!
OK, get your things together and you may go.
(Yes, these are pretty much my "teacher words")

*Eight Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
Go to Europe again (and again!)
Sit at the Beach for lots of days
Work in the Temple
Be a better friend
Be a better cook
Get back into sewing
Clean my closets
See New England in the fall

*Eight Things I Have Learned from my Past:
Patience with children of all ages
How to forgive
Not to judge people so much by appearance
Laughter is the best thing in so many situations
Childhood goes way too fast
Age really is just a number
There is a lesson to learn in every situation
Adversity comes to us all, just in different ways

*Eight Places I Would Love to See:
The British Museum
The Louvre
The Pyramids and Sphinx
The Holy Land
Southwestern England and Wales
New York City
Prague and more of Eastern Europe
The Netherlands and Belgium

*Eight Things I Currently Need or Want:
A day off work to scrapbook
More bookshelves
A new stove
A new microwave
A backrub
More time in the day
More ideas for my school classes
Flowers to plant

*Eight people I tag:
OK, I can't think of 8 so how about:
Maile
Dan
Amy
Steve

California Details

OK, Dad wrote for the family blog, so I thought I would add a few details to his narrative. First of all, Ellie has the most VIVID imagination I have ever encountered. Spending a lot of time with her meant that one moment I was the circus announcer and then I was Megan AND Max (in Ellie's world you can be many people all at once.) We had a great time stamping and doing art together, and constantly imagining.

Now, a detail Dad did not share with everyone else: on the other blog, the photo that shows us on the beach near the Golden Gate Bridge, the beach doesn't look too crowded. Well, there is a reason! We were walking along on the wet sand to get closer to the bridge, when we suddenly realized that there were a number of naked men there...WHOA! Time to turn around and walk the other way! No warnings and no signs. A slice of life I (fortunately) am unfamiliar with!

Fun on Jet Skis

Yes, that’s us on one of Dan and Aranne’s jet skis, right under Hoover Dam. What a FUN time! Holly even drove the jet ski for awhile. The water was choppy due to some wind, which also provided us at one point to become officially “initiated” when we leaned just a little too much and both of us ended up in the water. (Good thing for the attached power plug pulling out to stop the motor.)
A great weekend was had by all with the girls doing some afternoon shopping, while the boys did guy stuff. We also went to a baseball game Saturday evening as part of their adoption group activity to see the Las Vegas 51s. (can you guess where they got their name?)
Mike can’t wait to get back on the lake. Fun to spend time with Dan and Aranne.

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse Fan!

Yes, I have joined the club and today finished Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer. I am with Maile. Although I cannot see allowing yourself to be almost swallowed up by another and I cannot see giving up the opportunity to be a mother, I do have to say her writing is beyond compelling and I had to make myself not pick up her books just so I could get something else done. I even had dreams about running through green wet forests. So, yup, I too will be waiting for #4 with big excitement, too!

Yellowstone

As you all know, we went to Yellowstone for five days with Grandma and Grandpa. They were so excited about going! We headed out, towing their little car behind. We stopped in to see John and Elaine Wilker and told Steve it was the primo opportunity to gossip all about him (not really, but it was fun to catch up with them.) Yellowstone itself was gorgeous. Since we were there so early in the season there were many animals, most memorably a buffalo who jumped right up on the boardwalk and briefly trapped about ten tourists along with us there at a dead end over a boiling pool of water. Fortunately, he didn't feel like charging us, so after a bit, he jumped off and headed away from us. We were there so early in the season that the Canyonlands visitor center had been open for exactly 10 minutes into the year when we arrived! After a stop at the Grand Tetons, we headed home. In all a great trip and a fine time had by all.

Emily and the Book of Mormon

Several of you know of Emily, a very sweet, but very needy girl in my homeroom this year. She does love history and so aced my class and also worked as my self-appointed teacher assistant. For some months I have been worried about her; her family loves her and seems very wonderful, but yet she is often lonely and seems to just have a hole in her life. Over a month ago the thought came to me that I should give her a copy of the Book of Mormon. I really debated this as I felt like her parents might be angry and certainly I would not do that while she was my student. Well, I had a copy of the Doubleday version of the Book of Mormon here which doesn't have all the references at the bottom. I felt that since that was a version sold in bookstores, if here parents happened on it, it would seem less offensive. I wrote her a message inside and gave it to her this week after the last day. She seemed very touched and even stopped by this week to let me know she has begun reading it. I gave her the lds.org website to go to if she has questions that she wants answered besides asking me. I hold great hope that somewhere, somehow, this will make a difference in her life.

School is almost done!

OK, I will be SO glad that school will be out, but I hate the last bit here. You can't teach any more because grades are closed. Parents of kids who are still failing get all full of drama and bluster (like it is the teacher's fault at this late date?) The classroom is depressing without the stuff on the walls and there is just a lot of chaos which I don't handle well. On the upside, I had a very tough homeroom this year full of big, dorky kids. All year the joke has been "well, at least you will win tug-of-war." So today was field day and of course, we won tug-of-war. I told all my teammates that I want the quiet, sweet good class next year even if they are all short and scrawny. The year-long putting up with big trouble-making kids is not worth the little traveling tug-of-war trophy in my book.

Slovenia link up

At a ward get-together last week, we were sitting with a new young couple in our ward along with some people we knew. Mike was wearing his Ljubljana T-shirt he bought while we were in Slovenia a few years ago. The young husband said to Mike excitedly, "Where did you get that shirt?" When Mike said he got it while we were there, this guy was just thrilled. He served a mission there about six years ago and he had never met anyone else who had been there. We had so much to talk about that we invited them over for dinner and swapped stories and shared pictures. I think we made his week and we were thrilled to hear that they are building a chapel in Ljubljana that will be dedicated next fall. While he was over, he even translated the words on our wooden plate that we bought from a roadside vendor there. The vendor couldn't translate it for us as he spoke no English, so we just hoped it didn't say something inappropriate. Well, we got our answer; our plate says, "Happy 60th Birthday!" I guess we are safe on that count!

Death Valley

While Aranne, Maile, Ellie and I were enjoying time together, the Mikes set off for "lovely" Death Valley. They met Mike's friends from school there. Here's Mike A's description:

My weeks-long cough was still very much of a bother, but I figured if I was to die, it might as well be in 'Death' Valley. A long drive to Wildrose campground to meet up with his group of 3 friends. We checked out the charcoal kilns further up the road, and there was actually snow under the trees! (Not what I expected for Death Valley.) Another long drive (things are far apart in this big National Park) to Badwater, the lowest point at -282 feet below sea level, which is the lowest point not only in the U.S., but the entire western hemisphere! On the cliff right next to this point was a sign about 300 ft up that said "Sea Level".

The plan was to camp that night at the sand dunes at the north end of the park. But the washboard dirt road caused one of the cars to have a tire blow out, and another the front strut fluid to leak. Mike's car was the only one spared. Being dark already, we made camp by the side of the road. The stars were BEAUTIFUL, and Mike even had his small telescope to see more.

Next morning Ubehebe (u-bee hee-bee) Crater, an ash crater 500ft deep about a 1/2 mile wide, created only 2000 years ago. Mike B walked down to the bottom; Dad was content to enjoy from the top. Then Scotty's Castle: quite the home built in the late 1800's. Mike & Mike did the tours; very nice. Mesquite Springs campground nearby for another beautiful night.

Last day: a quick stop at the visitors center for a passport stamp, then Zabrieski Point, before heading back to Dan & Aranne's. A very nice trip, cough drops and syrup aside.

Pride of Peoria

On St. Patrick's Day, I had quite a wonderful surprise, when in the middle of teaching, the Public Relations person from the district walked in with a video camera followed by my principal with flowers and the people I teach with. I had been named a Pride of Peoria winner! This is the most coveted award in the district as you are nominated by your co-workers. Never had I imagined this! I was given a portfolio of all the nominating letters received on my behalf. Then last Thursday night was the awards dinner. Twenty teachers and twenty support staff were honored. It was truly amazing! I think it was the most memorable event in my career. I wanted to share with you all!

Las Vegas

Mike and I returned Wednesday night from a great week in Las Vegas with Dan and Aranne. Mike had a morning of conference to finish up on Thursday. Not a problem! I went shopping! How lovely to have a bus from the hotel to the mall. That night we met Dan and Aranne at Claim Jumper as it was also Mike's birthday.

On Friday we checked out Planet Hollywood and then headed over to their house. That night was card class at Robbie's which is always so fun. While Aranne and I were there, Mike, Maile, and Ellie arrived. How great to see them, especially our girl, Ellie.

Saturday we went to Springs Preserve which is pretty new. We learned a lot about Las Vegas, its history, animals and water management. I never knew that there once had been free flowing springs there. Ellie liked the animal the best I think.

Sunday we went to church and had Easter with everyone including Al and Robbie. So fun!

Monday, the Mikes went to Death Valley to meet some of Mike B.'s friends and to camp. The girls had a great time visiting, going to the scrapbook store and the bookstore, and just hanging out. Dan came home each night to a house full of women, but he cheerfully took us to see the Mystic Falls show at Sam's Town one night and to the marina to feed the fish another.

It is always so hard to leave, but we do have some terrific memories. Thank you one and all!