My romantic weekend with Carl

Carl came home for Thanksgiving! It was so great to have him here. The kids loved being able to pal around with dad for a few days. Before we came home to Idaho from picking up Carl at the SLC airport, I took Carl away for a few days. Carl's niece, Annalea, was gracious enough to watch our kiddos while we were away. Carl and I spent the first night in SLC. We ate at P.F. Changs China Bistro and saw the movie Twilight. For not reading the books, Twilight was a pretty good movie. We both had opinions about how the movie was made and the "flow" - or lack of it with some of the scenes, but overall, it was pretty good. We are anxious to now read the books to know what happens next.

The next day we went to Spanish Fork to see some of our good friends - the Spendlove's. We met them when we lived in Spanish Fork. We believe that we moved to Spanish Fork way back when just to meet them (and the Moulton's, Brimhall's, and Beckman's). We love visiting with them - they just crack us up! We are always so happy after seeing them. (I will explain more about Loni in a later post). Cody gave me some Indian corn that I am supposed to plant in my garden. I will hang onto it until I have a garden to plant it in. He said it would last for years, so I am hoping it does - since it may be that long until I have a garden space. Their oldest two weren't there, so we missed seeing them - we'll have to catch them next time. We also stopped in to see Carl's sister, Marian, and her family. We then went to Park City and ate at NYPD (the best pizza around! This is the restaurant Carl worked at when we lived in Orlando, FL) and to the Crater at the Homestead Resort in Midway, Utah (by Heber, UT). We swam in the crater's warm spring waters. It was very relaxing, romantic and fun!

We ended our romantic weekend on Sunday with a trip to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. What a glorious place it is! Carl and I always reminisce about the day we were married in that beautiful temple, and met Elder David B Haight. I am so blessed to have Carl as my eternal sweetheart!

We ended our little vacation in Utah with a Sunday gathering with Carl's family on Sunday evening. It was fun to see everyone.

It was a wonderful weekend and I really enjoyed getting to spend time alone with Carl. What a great man he is!!!

Glenn Beck & President Hinckley

I have missed seeing Glenn Beck on CNN Headline News lately. I wondered where he has gone so I googled him to see what I could find. I found out that he has accepted an offer from Fox News and will be doing a new show there in the Spring. While searching for this information, on his website I came across his touching tribute to President Hinckley the day after he passed away. I am posting it here is case you haven't seen or heard it - I know it has been almost one year, but it is always good to be reminded of something better. As most of you know I feel the same way about Pres. Hinckley and I miss him dearly - his kind smile, his gentle teachings to be kind to one another and so much more. I hope that I can become a better person by following the advice from this great man who has left us here on earth, but is still alive in heaven with his dear wife. Glenn Beck is coming to the Barnes & Noble here in Twin Falls in December, and I hope to make it there to see him.

Mysterious Food Findings

We had two strange food sightings this week. The first one was in Hailey's cereal of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch. She was minding her own business eating her morning bowl of cereal and she looked down to take her next spoonful and look!!! There is a giraffe in her cereal. The cereal formed this all on its own with no help from a human. Pretty cool huh?

We also had a double yolk egg. Pretty fun for the kids!

Visit from Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Mel

We had some visitors this past weekend! Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Mel came up from Utah; Carolyn's brother Mike was also with them. We were delighted to have family come to visit. We decided to skip out on church (yes, I know...we have already repented) to show them some sites of the town. We actually drove them up to Sun Valley. I wanted to show them the Sawtooth Mountains - which are some of the prettiest mountains I have ever seen (besides Mount Timpanogoes). So we went to Hailey, ID and Sun Valley. I forgot that to get to the real jagged Sawtooths, we had to go farther than that, but we didn't. But at least they saw some mountains. We had a delightful day of driving and scenery gawking. It was quite fun! We also took them to the Perrine Bridge here in Twin, and to Shoshone Falls. Although the falls are pretty dry this time of year, they are still a sight to see. Anytime family (or friends from Utah, Florida, or Oklahoma) want to come and visit - feel free. We would love to see you (you ladies from OK...are you reading this??)

Some notes on the pictures you'll see: Boys taking a "pit stop", a swan upside down in the water, Hailey in Hailey, ID, ski runs, a house with a truck - Hunter took this picture and he said he wanted the house because of the truck, in Twin Falls at the Perrine bridge and at Shoshone Falls (they are pretty dry right now, but come Spring and they will be overflowing with water!), and other misc pictures from our road trip to Sun Valley Idaho, November9, 2008.

Jasmine's 14th Birthday

On Wed, Nov 5th, was Jasmine's 14th birthday. This is a big one in the LDS Church. It is when she is old enough to go to stake dances. She also advances up to the Mia Maid class in Young Women. Her first stake dance was that Saturday, Nov 8th. Jasmine was able to have a party this year (we only do friend parties on their even birthdays). She chose to have a slumber party with two of her new friends - Hailey and Megan. They went to the Mall to browse the shops and eat dinner. Then we took them to see High School Musical 3 - Senior Year movie. Andrew even went with them to the show and he said that it was actually pretty good. I will wait to see it on DVD. After the movie they came home and played the Wii. Mainly Dance Dance Revolution. They also played the newest game - Outdoor Challenge. They had quite a fun time. Megan went home for the evening about 10:00 pm. She didn't spend the night, but she came back in the morning. I think Jaz had a great time.

Halloween

Halloween was a blast! The kids had so much fun dressing up - once they decided what to wear. It was a bit chilly here in Idaho, but not too bad. A light jacket was all that was needed. The next night - Saturday - was our ward Trunk-or-Treat. They had a chili cook-off and a pie contest. The chili was good, and the pies were delicious. I actually put my chili on some salad and had more of a taco salad than a bowl of chili. Instead of taking chili or a pie, I took bread sticks to share. They were gone within 5 minutes. Hailey was mad because she only got one.
Here are the pics from that night.