Spring Vacation

We recently got back from a great vacation. First, the kids and I drove home to Arizona (Nathan joined us 5 days later). We spent a week getting aquainted with new baby Lily (so cute!), shopping at vintage stores, eating at our favorite places, and just plain old relaxing. We welcomed the warmer weather after all the snow we got before we left Utah.

Gillian took these pictures. I have no idea why I didn't get my camera out - this little face was difinitely worth a photo shoot!

Easter weekend was the icing on the cake. We dyed Easter eggs with the Jacksons on Saturday and spent Sunday with the Beutlers.

Easter Sunday was sunny and beautiful, as it should be. After church, we went out in Nana's backyard to enjoy the sunshine. Henry was in this weird Kung Fu mood (maybe it was the open shirt.

Time to tuck the shirt in for pictures -

When it was time to leave AZ, instead of heading back up to Utah, we headed west and surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland. Turned out, the girls had already figured it out - thanks to my dorky family with their suspicious comments followed by alot of eye-winking.

We spent three days at Disneyland. This trip was funner than most, because it was our first Disney vacation without a stroller. What a difference! The kids were also tall enough to ride almost everything. Henry hadn't been since he was a baby, so it was fun to see his reactions to some of the rides. The only ride he wouldn't go on twice was Tower of Terror. I don't blame him.

I think Henry would love to live in Tomorrowland. His favorite attractions were Space Mountain, Star Tours (big surprise) and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We went on each of those multiple times. Everytime he got off the Space Mountain ride he said "That's AWESOME!"

Tomorrowland also had a thing called Jedi Training Academy. We had to watch the show twice before Henry was chosen from the audience. We tried one more time to see if Elliot would get picked, but we didn't luck out. I could explain how cool the Academy was (especially for a Star Wars fanatic like Henry), but it's easier to just show the video.

I was so excited for Henry that he got to do this. I can't even imagine what a rush he must have felt to see a very realistic Darth Maul coming towards him like that swinging his dual-bladed lightsaber! He still talks about how defeated Darth Maul!

This trip was a little different this time now that the kids were older. We didn't waste our time in the long line for the Dumbo ride. In fact, we kind of skipped Fantasyland altogether! Well, we did have to ride the Teacups.

I think we have a video of every teacup ride we've taken over the years!

We also spent half the time we usually do in Toon Town. The girls are too old, and the boys don't really have an interest in the Disney Characters or the little kid type stuff. Although, Henry took a real liking to Pluto. He kept telling us how soft he was.

Elliot's favorite ride was Indiana Jones, so Nathan took him on it one last time just before midnight on our last night in the park. I took the rest of the kids on one last Space Mountain ride instead. "Awesome!"

Oh, yeah! We couldn't go to California without going to the beach! We took the kids to Newport Beach one evening to walk on the shore and put their feet in the water. Well, with four kids, the odds are at least one of them is going to end up with more than wet feet.

It's a good thing I had him take his dry jacket off mere seconds before he took a nose dive in a wave.

Only a water resources engineer would appreciate this!

Fun vacation!

Draper Temple

People around here have been pretty excited (and busy) with the opening of the Draper Temple. Let's start at the beginning:

When we moved here last March, it took us a week or so to notice that there was a temple being built on the hill south of our house. One day, we were on the freeway, and I looked up and said, "What is that huge thing being built on the mountain? That's pretty large to be a catholic church!" So we went home and looked on the internet and learned that it was actually a temple! (The Draper Temple had been announced in 2004, but I guess I wasn't paying attention.) Next we were pleased to discover that we have the perfect view of the temple from our living room window!

March 2008

One year later, the Draper Temple is complete. Nathan and I took the kids to the Temple Open House the last week of February. The temple is very beautiful. The temple designers choose dark woods and modern furniture - which I appreciated. Afterwards, we walked over to the reception in the Stake Center next door. Since it was the middle of winter, there was a heated tunnel built to connect the temple to the Stake Center. That might of been Henry's favorite part! At the reception, we were served cookies and we looked at all of the artwork that was set up around the cultural hall. Then we hopped on the shuttle bus and headed back down the mountain.

One week before the dedication, Nathan and I had the opportunity to work at the Open House for a few hours. We were both assigned to work in the reception area. Nathan's job was bringing in cases of water bottles and getting them ready to serve to open house guests. My first job was to place cookies on platters. I did that for about two hours and then I got a broom and dustpan and headed to the cultural hall and spent two more hours collecting all the crumbs that fell from all those cookies I served. Our jobs weren't exactly glamorous, but I enjoyed serving and having a part in the Open House.

We attended the Draper Temple Dedication on March 22nd. It was the first dedication for Samantha and Gillian. They liked it, but both of them mentioned that they felt a little silly when they were waving their white handerkerchiefs during the Hosanna Shout. I think its cool!

My favorite part of having a new temple so close is the neat opportunities I have for temple service. Last Thursday, I had the unique experience of going to the temple after it closed for the night. I was part of the temple cleaning crew, along with about twenty other members of my stake. We all put white jumpsuits on over our clothes and worked until after midnight washing windows, dusting, vacuuming, and yes, cleaning toilets. I actually felt lucky to be cleaning toilets in the temple, especially when one of them was in the Temple President's private bathroom. I also felt priviledged to be the one to make all the glass on the front door of the temple sparkle. Next time, I'll request to be assigned upstairs. I would love to vacuum and dust the Celestial Room and the sealing rooms! Being involved in the maintainance of the temple made me feel close to the Lord because I had literally cleaned His house. I really feel blessed to have so many temples right in my reach. I feel it when I see the Draper Temple nestled in the foothills of South Mountain every morning when I open the front blinds. I feel it when I drive west towards WalMart every friday and I can see both the Jordan River Temple and the nearly completed Oquirrh Mountain Temple through my windshield. And I feel it when we travel around the valleys in Utah and pass by multiple temples as we go. When we drive on the freeway and I know a temple will come into view, I search for it to make sure I get a glimpse before we pass. There is no where else in this planet where a person can stand in one spot and see three - sometimes four - temples just be merely turning their head. I do not take the bounty of temples here in Utah for granted.

Samantha also has the opportunity to feel connected to the new temple. She gets to be a part of a 25-stake temple celebration with the 19,000 youth in the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain Temple Districts. She will perform in front of the Prophet at the Conference Center on May 29-30. She's really excited and it proves to be a once in a lifetime experience for her.

Soccer Update

Henry finally scored his first soccer goal during his last indoor soccer game last week. I wasn't there, but Nathan says he looked surprised when the ball rolled into the goal. After that, Henry couldn't concentrate on the game - he chased his teammates around the court to ask, "Did you see my goal?"
Elliot also scored his first goal! The teams in his soccer league play two seasons together, so he's been playing with the same boys since last fall. They've had about 10 games total and Elliot was the only one on his team who hadn't scored a goal in a game. Well, last week, Josh was dribbling the ball towards the goal when he saw Elliot run up next to him. Josh stepped away from the ball and Elliot took over and took the shot. Gooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllll!
Way to go guys!
I have to mention, Elliot's team is still undefeated. Henry has started outdoor soccer as well - there's been two games and two practices so far, but because of SNOW, he hasn't even been able to put on his cool red and white uniform. Bummer.

Catch Up

Blogging has been one of those things that keeps nagging at me to get done, so since Elliot is home sick today (and we can't leave the house because it's been snowing all day - this is after a 75 degree week), I thought I would take the opportunity to get caught up. Here goes........

*Henry started indoor soccer in January. His team is full of his ward neighbors and playmates, so he really likes it. He hasn't scored a goal like he wants. Goals are actually hard to make in indoor soccer - without grass to slow down the ball, it just keeps rolling after it gets kicked. So, basically we watch ten little boys chase a ball around the court in one big herd. Kinds funny. His last game is this Wednesday. It will be a relief since Elliot has already started his outdoor soccer practices on the same night as Henry's games - also the same night as Nathan's scout activities and Samantha's Young Women activities. Can you say hectic? Wait a second....Henry is starting outdoor soccer too (same teammates) and his first practice is right after his last indoor game. I guess there's no breathing quite yet! These pictures are from Henry's first game. The lighting was really yellow and gross, but I don't feel like fixing them in Photoshop. So, enjoy!

Coach Summerhays and Assistant Coach Beutler

*Samantha attended her first dance in February. The sixth graders had a Valentine's Dance during school the day before Valentine's Day. They had spent the few weeks prior learning some dances, like the waltz and the swing. When I picked her up from school that day of the dance, she wouldn't give many details, but I found out later that she was asked to dance many times - in fact, she was asked by the same boy six different times! Ooh la la!

*Nathan took us to a bird sanctuary a few Saturdays ago. His buddy at work, who is a wildlife photographer, told him that there were bald eagles that were nesting in the sanctuary and we decided to go have a look. The sanctuary was about 45 minutes away, near Farmington, close to Lagoon. The sanctuary was a beautiful backdrop for photos since it had just snowed, giving the whole area a wintery marshy feel. But, because of my lack of a telephoto lens, we didn't get any close-ups of the bald eagles. We ran into John, Nathan's co-worker, who had been there all morning getting some great shots. (We always run into John when we go check out the cool places he recommends!) Here are my pics:

I bet John got some awesome pics - take a look.

http://tetontrailphotography.com/

*We went to Gillian's 5th Grade performance a couple of weeks ago. The theme was American History and immigration. The songs were cute and each child had a speaking part about one of their own ancestors. Gillian spoke about Grandpa Mortensen and how he was there when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. Good job Gilly!

*Here's Samantha at her St. Patrick's Young Women's activity. I made broccoli soup and green jello like I always do.

Also, on St. Patrick's Day, I got a call from my cousin Amber. Her family was in town visiting other relatives and wanted to see us too. So, we all spent the next day in Salt Lake City at Temple Square. We saw the Joseph Smith movie in the JS Memorial Building, where we also had lunch. We stopped at the distribution center and the old Tabernacle before taking a tour of the Conference Center. These were all things that I've seen, but was happy to see them again with Amber's family, who hadn't. Bella never let go of my hand and I was glad to have such a cute little buddy for the day. It was nice to see them all and spend a nice 70 degree spring day together.

*Lastly, we were fortunate to get free tickets to the Real Salt Lake soccer game on Saturday. Our friend, Greg Summerhays, got tickets for a suite and gave them to us and another family in our ward. It was super cool. We hadn't been to the brand new Rio Tinto Soccer Stadium yet. The suite was awesome. The kids couldn't get enough of the endless hot wings, nachos, popcorn, soda and cookies. The best part was the dessert cart that came by and we all got to pick what we wanted from ice cream, cakes, candy and the biggest caramel apples I've ever seen. The suite was nice, but the weather outside was even nicer, so most of us sat outside on the balcony. I've never been to a professional soccer game (all the soccer I see involves little guys ages 7 and under) and it was was fun! Thanks Greg!

Final score: Real Salt Lake 3, Austin Aztecs 1

There - all done!

Happy Anniversary

Honeymoon

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. We celebrated on Saturday by having some friends in the ward take our kids for the day. We decided to spend the day in Salt Lake City shopping at vintage and consignment stores (my favorite thing to do - thanks Nate!) We started at the Deseret Industries in SugarHouse, thinking there would be lots of things donated by the people who lived in those neat old houses in that area. We were way wrong. A garage sale in South Phoenix would have had a better selection! We browsed through a few more shops in the area before we got hungry for lunch. We ate at the Blue Plate Diner, which was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives recently. As we were waiting for our table, Nathan leaned over to me and said, "I love places like this." I knew what he meant. The century-old diner was packed (probably most of them locals and loyal customers). Memorabilia covered the walls and we could tell that the employees actually enjoyed working in the busy diner on a Saturday afternoon. We left the diner stuffed and ready to do some more shopping. The funnest thing about looking through vintage shops is getting glimpses of all of the dishes, Tupperware, lamps and kitchen chairs that we saw in our mother's and grandmother's cupboards, kitchens and living rooms when we were growing up. There aren't as many vintage shops in Salt Lake (especially modern vintage like I prefer) as there is in Phoenix, but there were enough to keep us busy for an afternoon. We even happened across the strangest furniture store we've ever seen. It was a huge warehouse stuffed to the rafters with old and dusty chairs, desks, piano benches, dressers, end tables.....anything made out of wood. Almost everything was broken and piled on top of each other so that we couldn't even tell what anything was. The only words Nathan and I could find to describe the place was a furniture graveyard. It felt eerie and haunted, so we couldn't get out of there fast enough - but not before we got the whole story from the only human we could find in the building. Apparently, every piece of wood in that warehouse had been collecting dust for the last 50 years in Liverpool, England until it was brought across the ocean to Salt Lake City. I don't know what they're going to do with all of it...probably not sell it! After all of our shopping, we stopped at a chocolate shop for a treat, saved the Russians* and then took a drive through the Avenues to see all of the old cool houses. I saw quite a few homes built in the 1960's that I would kill to live in. We finished the evening at Rodizio Brazilian Grill for grilled meats and pineapple and the best lemonade on the planet. It was the best day ever and I'm glad Nathan and I got to spend it together. Love you Nathan!








* We ran into some Russian women who were having some car trouble. They were late for something, so Nathan gave them a ride while I waited in a cafe' (there wasn't room for me in the car). They were so grateful that they gave him some Russian chocolate. Sweet!

I Know

I know, I know that I need to update my blog. I'm not busy, I just haven't felt like it lately. Hopefully, I'll get motivated soon!