Taste Test

Cyndi brought these delightful new treats to work today for us to try . . . . Pringles Stix. I love Pringles and was excited to try these. I just learned about the mini Pringles a few weeks ago and used them in a church handout. Now another new product . . . what will they think of next? One bite of these little sticks and I was in love! We sampled the honey butter flavor, and oh my, are they good. A box has 10 packs and the next time I am in the grocery store, they are going in my basket. The next taste test . . . the pizza and vanilla flavors. I was afraid to look at the side of the box because they were so good, but the best part, they are baked . . . so no guilt. It's a 90 calorie little treat. Give them a try. - Julie

Mud Football '08

An annual young women/young men activity is mud football in the backyard of the Young Men's President's home. It takes several hours ahead of time and a couple of hoses to create a wet, muddy playground. The girls definitely held their own this year . . . Meagan (on the left) even took her sister down with some hair pulling. Kalie (on the right) sent me this fun photo of us from the summer. Love these girls!

What Women Want This?

Julie and I ventured into the land of Shade t-shirts and tiny women driving large SUV's to go to the What Women Want Expo today, and I left feeling kind of angry, slightly flummoxed and wondering who these women are who want these things. We started off wandering by the booths selling sunglasses, jewels and bedazzled jeans. There were some fun things, and we thought we were going to find a lot of great stuff. Oh how wrong we were...

We're minding our own business walking along and see this very bright light being emitted from one of the booths. Upon closer inspection, we found that a bunch of women were getting their teeth whitened by some turbo charged machine. In the middle of the South Towne Expo Center! I don't know about you, but I would think that this should be done by a licensed and certified dentist. So I'm still reeling from this when we come up to the Elase "medical spa" booth. I turn the corner and see a bunch of women with needles sticking out of their foreheads. Sure enough, they were getting Botox injections! Are you kidding me? Since when is it okay to get a potentially debillitating medical procedure in the same place that you can buy a pair of knockoff Chanel earrings and rhinestone covered True Religion jeans? I'm thinking that you might want to do some research into the credentials of the person injecting a strain of Botulism into your bloodstream, but what do I know?

Overall, it was a good show, but this woman wants an ice cold Dr. Pepper with lime, a hot meal at a fair price, and when I get my Bbotox in 10 years, I want it done in a real doctor's office!

I Bow to iTunes' Genius

I looove music.  I listen to music all day at work, and so I'm always looking for new stuff.  Lucky for me, iTunes has debuted a little something called Genius with its 8.0 release.  

Now all I have to do is click on any song in my library, click the little genius button, and iTunes will make me a playlist with similar songs!  So now I can quickly create playlists based on whatever my mood might be that day.  Genius!  

I also love to look around for new music.  By clicking on any song in my library, iTunes will suggest similar songs that I don't have, right there in my library.  So I don't have to waste click going to the iTunes store and looking up ten different songs separately.  Instead, I can quickly scan through these recommendations by listening to samples and putting them right in my cart.  So far, the recommendations have been pretty good, and according to iTunes they'll only get better as they gather more information from Genius-happy users like me. I don't know how it works, iTunes, but keep it coming. 

Favorite Sites

A friend asked me to share some of my favorite websites, so I thought it would be a fun blog topic. Along with my need to know stuff, I am always perusing the internet for information about various things. In fact, I have a nice categorized list of bookmarked websites, and these are some of my favorites from that list.

Family:
For quick family home evening, home organization and ideas of things to do around town
Family Home Evening In A Snap
My Heart & Home, LLC | Getting Organized One Step at a Time
Go City Kids - Salt Lake City - Kids & Family Activities, Salt Lake City Entertainment & Events

Crafts:
I've been addicted to the DJ Inkers computer clip art since it's inception. I love the pre-done coloring and game pages available through Crayola (Sesame Street also has fun ones for kids). And the Goody Blog has my philosophy of things I "must have right now"
D.J. Inkers - Scrapbooking supplies, Clip Art, Stickers, Stamps
Free Coloring Pages & Sheets for Kids @ Crayola.com - Official Site
GoodyBlog - Must See, Must Do, Must Have Right Now

Food and Recipes:
I can't resist a good cookbook, and along with that I love to clip and collect recipes. I am always on the hunt for something new to try. Allrecipes.com is my all-time favorite site. I love the reviews and the ingredient search capability where I can type in ingredients I have on hand and a recipe to try will appear. Also Kelsey Nixon, who was on the Next Food Network Star, has her recipes posted from her TV show. My new favorite cooking class instructor at Thanksgiving Point, Brooke Carn, is also a regular on several radio and local TV shows and her recipes are listed as well. Her recipes are tried and true - and so yummy too!
All Recipes – complete resource for recipes, cooking tips and food
Hostess with the Mostess™ - Fabulous Finds for Contemporary Entertaining
Kelsey's Kitchen
Kraft Foods - Great Recipes and Food Ideas
KUTV Recipes
FM100 Brooke Carn Recipes

Young Women Church Calling:
My go-to sources for lesson expansion ideas and object lessons to help drive the point home.
YW Connection
Mormon Share :: Swap Clipart, Activity Ideas, Object Lessons, Lesson Helps, Talks & more! - Leadership Help for YW, RS, Seminary, Primary, and FHE
SugarDoodle.net - Where you'll find oodles and oodles of ideas!

Church:
I am addicted to the church's website. I absolutely love all the information I can get from there . . . everything from a ward list to past magazines from the last 30 years. Today I saw that the scripture picture books are online as well. It's chock full of great things and I am continually finding more resources added to the site.
LDS Coloring Pages
LDSSplash.com - A fun site full of great ideas and games for the LDS family!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Vinyl Lettering:
If I could stick vinyl on every wall I have, I would . . . if nothing else, I like to look at the ideas.
Uppercase Living™
WORDS ANYWHERE - Decorative Wall Lettering That You Can Apply – Words Appear Painted On!

Entertainment:
I am an admitted reality TV and pop-culture junkie and like to stay on top of the "news"
People.com : The #1 Celebrity Site on the Web
Entertainment Weekly's EW.com | Entertainment News | TV News | TV Shows | Movie, Music and DVD Reviews
Reality TV World - News, information, episode summaries, message boards, chat and games for unscripted television programs

That seems like enough for now . . . . I don't want to scare you. I'll add on to this list later with my other categories. -Julie

Five, Six, Seven, Eight!

I have to start by saying that I have always thought I could dance. I know I'm not very good at it, but much like Sarah Jessica Parker in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, I love to dance. I've never met a shimmy or booty shake that I didn't like. So imagine my delight when the TV show, So You Think You Can Dance, came on the air. As a matter of fact, I do think I can dance! While I would never try out, I do enjoy watching my fellow dancers do me proud on the dance floor.

This year, the SYTYCD tour came to Utah, and yes, I'm admitting that I attended this event! So last night, Julie, Kristen and Lilli and I braved the 12 year olds, and groups of women out on a GNO to go see our favorite dancers in person. And we loved it!

These pictures were taken before I lost approximately 38% of my hearing, courtesy of our 8 year old neighbors who literally screamed the entire time. While I appreciate a nice amount of enthusiam, I felt like an old biddy as I was forced to cover my ears to save what little hearing I had left. I'm sure they were wondering who let the old lady in front of them covering her ears in the building. But we had a great time, and can't wait to get a seat on the Hot Tamale train next year.

I Have Become My Father

It's official . . .I have become my father . . . I watch gas prices . . . ugghh!!! Dad always knows where the cheapest gas is at any given time. It seemed to us that he would drive anywhere for a discount of a few cents. Granted, he always had a lot of cars around that he generously kept filled with gas. I normally don't care about a small difference between stations if a Chevron is convenient to me (it's always Chevron for me). However, since I have moved to this far away land, I have experienced the gas prices creeping up slowly at first and then faster earlier this year. My gas bill lately has looked more like a car payment. It has caused me to keep an eye on where I can get a better deal for gas so I don't have to take out a small loan just to keep my car going. I've discovered a little gem in the Draper Chevron by my work on 12300 South and about 200 West. They used to be quite high, but now they are one of the lowest around - as evidenced by all the other cars that have seemed to figure it out too. And now, I can put that Chevron credit card of mine to use by also getting an additional 5 cents off per gallon. This is the only location I've noticed that little discount at - so I'm happy to patronize them. Not to mention there is a Subway in the store too. So not only do I get cheaper gas, but a $5 footlong as well. Ahhh . . . the crazy single life!

Should I Be Scared? Pt. 2

I went to a movie at the Broadway Theaters downtown yesterday. If you haven't been to the Broadway recently, don't worry - it still looks the same. I went to use the restrooms (which still have the old Cineplex Odeon logo, as seen at left), and it was quite the adventure. The ladies restroom had probably 10 stalls in it, which I thought was rather ambitious, seeing that that's the same number of people who were actually in the theaters.

One of the stalls had a missing door. So some creative theater manger had provided a homemade solution by stringing up a curtain in place of the door! If you're wondering, the answer is yes - you could see right into the stall through the side of the curtain. I selected a non-curtained stall, and was greeted with a sign taped to the door that said "Please pull the handle UP to flush." Believe me, this was a moment I wished I had a camera! Nonetheless, the instructions were helpful, and I made it out alive and went on to enjoy my movie-going experience.

Should I Be Scared?

I noticed this label on one of my sweaters as I was doing laundry yesterday.  I guess now I know not to wear it the next time I'm roasting 'mallows...

I Am Obsessed

My name is Melinda, and I'm addicted to Red Mango. It is honestly so delightful, and I find myself craving it multiple times a week. Betsy is my Red Mango buddy, and sadly, we have each had weeks where we have gone there four times. Pathetic, right? And the really sad thing is that they are not cheap! But for me, it is so very worth it to drop $4.53 for a delicious frozen treat. However Red Mango Managment team, a punch card would be a nice option so that I can receive a free frozen treat on my tenth visit after purchasing nine. I'm just saying.

The weird thing is that this is not something that I would usually enjoy. I have sugar and chocolate pumping through my veins, and don't normally drift toward treats that are tart and contain fruit. As an aside, when we were little, and it was our turn to get the treat for Family Home Evening, I would always get something gooey and chocolatey, and Brian and dad would always get a frozen fruit bar. Which I never ate. Oh how the tables have turned.

Now this part is important, so listen up. The Spoon Me frozen yogurt is NOT the same, and you must not try it, even though it is a wickedly clever name. Betsy and I sadly went there one day thinking it would be the similar, and it was absolutely not. The yogurt tasted what I imagine feet would taste like, and the chocolate chips were the WF, waxy, non-chocolate version. Gross.

I am planning on sponsoring either a 5k Melinda Bird-Pay for my froyo-Pro am-Memorial Race, or a cake walk to help pay for my addiction, so please save your pennies. I promise to donate some of the money to "Science" on a really big check.

Inspired Read

I am not a big book reader. I much prefer the lighter, shallow, escape fare that magazines offer. However, while we were on vacation and shopping at Costco . . . always a first stop . . . I picked up The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I had seen parts of his lecture online and had heard good things about this book and wanted to give it a try for an easy beach read. Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and given a short time to live. This book and his last lecture don't focus on his diagnosis, but rather on how he really did live and used the time that he had - up until he passed away this July - to the fullest. I loved it and found it completely inspiring and came away with a desire to be more positive and happy about life. After I was done, Dad read it too, and I would highly recommend it. -Julie

Some of my take-aways from the book are . . .

. . . . "We cannot change the cards we are dealt just how we play the hand."

. . . . "The brick walls are there for a reason, The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

. . . ."I have never found anger to make any situation better"

. . . ."Loyalty is a two-way street, be good at something, it makes you valuable."

. . . . "You know, life is a gift, again, it sounds trite, but if you wait long enough, other people will show you their good side. If there's anything I've learned that is absolutely true. Sometimes it takes a lot longer than you might like. But the onus is on you to keep the hope and keep waiting."

. . . .Watch what they Do, Not what they say:
"I'm aware that Chloe (his 18 month old daughter) may have no memory of me at all. But I want her to grow up knowing that I was the first man ever to fall in love with her. I'd always thought the father/daughter thing was overstated. But I can tell you, sometimes, she looks at me and I just become a puddle." On Dating: "when it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it's really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do."

. . . ."Lead your life the right way, and karma will take care of itself"

. . . . "Go out and do for others what somebody did for you".

I've Got the Pink Eye!!

It's apparently not just for 5-year olds: I've got pinkeye! My eye woke me up at 3:00 this morning and it was way painful. After getting hopped up on asprin, I was able to go back to sleep, but it kept bothering me all day. Props to my coworker, mom of three (and regular reader of this blog) Jolene for promptly diagnosing me as I walked into the office after lunch. The local Instacare confirmed the diagnosis, and now I can enjoy a leisurely evening of sequestering myself with my eyedrops, some TV, and the People magazine I bought.  

Hui . . . Hui . . .

We are back from a relaxing and fun trip to Oahu at the Marriott Ko Olina Resort. We love it there because it is away from the busy congestion of Honolulu and Waikiki. This is a self-portrait of how we got busy during the week . . .

You didn't think you would get a swimsuit shot from us?!

Dad's favorite part of the trip was going to the temple . . .something he had been wanting to do. It has been a fun thing as we travel to go together.

One of Melinda's favorite things is searching for Malasadas. We discovered them on our last visit . . . a yummy Portuguese doughnut which is basically a doughnut with no hole, so you get to enjoy all the yummy goodness. You can choose to have them rolled in sugar or a cinnamon/sugar blend. Or you can have them "puffed" and filled with vanilla, coconut or chocolate custard. Of course, we stopped there about three times and had to get samples of all of them. To save you the time it took us to track down this hidden gem if you are ever in the area, take Exit 7 and head to the shopping center on the right . . . Leonard Jr's will treat you right every time!

Kristen is a great little tour guide and we always need her help and expertise on our last day. We are so "lucky" to only have a packed red-eye flight back to Salt Lake that doesn't leave until after 9:00 p.m. What to do when you have to check out of your hotel at 10:00 a.m.? These have actually been some of our best days. This time, Kristen discovered the Kualoa Ranch where we had a great tour going to another side of the island sightseeing film and TV locations that were filmed there . . . everything from 50 First Dates, Godzilla, Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor and Mighty Joe Young to Kristen and Melinda's favorite TV show, Lost. It was a lot of fun. Then, after a lunch break (a must for anyone who knows us!), we were on to our next adventure . . . a jungle tour through another part of the ranch in these little six-wheeled rigs that could go up and over just about everything. We had our own little tour and our guide, Tyrone, took us through the back-country where we got to sample guava/strawberries, which Kristen loved, and he even picked us girls white ginger flowers from a river bed. We love a guy who gives us flowers and he was quickly voted the best tour guide ever!
After we were done with the tour, Tyrone kept his high status by recommending a local macadamia nut farm that was just down the street. We were thrilled to find it open and had fun taste testing the different flavors . . . from honey roasted and coconut to garlic and cinnamon. They were delicious! We ended up with several bags . . . and couldn't leave without also snatching up some chocolate-covered macadamias as well . . . yummm!!

All in all we ate lots, read a bunch, enjoyed lots of local activities and had a great time together. After unpacking, catching up on some sleep and doing the laundry . . . I'm ready to do it again! -Julie

Aloha!

See you in a week!

Why I Like Skirts

I only own two - no, three - dresses, and I haven't worn any of them in over a year. Today I realized why. I have a cute polka dot brown dress that I decided I was in the mood to wear. I got the dress out of my closet and threw it on headfirst, arms second. Or at least that's how it was supposed to go. I couldn't get my arms in through the arm holes. So I took it off and tried the arms first, head second method. This was even more of a struggle, and now I was caught, my arms inside the armholes but my head smooshed inside the chest of the dress with no way to come out. Did I remember to unzip the side? Yes, I did. Have I gained that much weight since I last wore it? I tried to hope not. I peeled it off, and by this time my hair was a frizzy mess. I decided to try the "step into the dress" method. But this was no good either! My darn hips were too much for the narrow waist of the dress. Exhausted, but determined (mostly because I didn't have a backup outfit), I decided to try the headfirst method again. I experienced the same problems as before. All of a sudden a thought occured to me. The sash in the middle of the dress, while undone, was still cinched tightly enough that I couldn't get my head and arms through. It was the sash all along! The relief that I could fit into the dress was almost overwhelming - especially since the seam by the zipper had been torn a bit by my struggle. Everything was cool until I caught a glimpse of myself in the door window leaving my house for church - turns out the buttons were placed low enough that at certain angles I was giving everyone a free show. Up the stairs I went to peel off the dress once again and put on an underpinning, then put the dress back on. This went much smoother this time. I think I've got this dress thing down pat!

Landscaping is In!

I have two years to get my landscaping completed around my house according to my HOA. This is year two . . . so it had to be done. Last year I had some rock work done and this year I had the grass, sprinklers, and curbing all completed. Next year, hopefully trees, plants and flowers. My favorite thing is the curbing all around my house. It's like a little golf course. Hmm . . .maybe I'll have to try that. - Julie

MESA-Licious

I got my first letter to the editor published in the Deseret News this last month. In my job, I'm on an advisory board for MESA/STEP, which encourages minorities and females to enter technological fields. So when someone wrote a letter to the editor saying MESA was not effective, it fell to me to write a response.

Funnily enough, I'd just read a letter to the editor complaining that when she wrote in using her title as a board member of some organization (can't remember what), they'd print anything she wrote; but now that she was off the committe and writing as a regular person, she couldn't get any of her letters printed. Using this logic, I entered my title of "Chair" of the board, and sure enough, it worked. The best part? They changed it to "Chairwoman." I feel so oddly...powerful and official. If only they knew I was just a fun-loving 26-year old gal with hardly any leadership experience and a weakness for dancing reality shows. I feel like I'm taking part in an elaborate charade!

I Have No Words

Okay, maybe I have a few words. The first random was taken while I was minding my own business in the Provo, and this fella rode up beside us like it's totally normal to wear white spandex biking shorts. That's right folks, these are white spandex. I'll say it for you...Ew. Only in the 'Vo.

And this baby was taken on Foothill Drive, and I made everyone in the car turn around so I could take it. I think I scared the people in the background because I took it several times, so I think they thought I was a narc. But if anyone can tell me exactly what hooka accessories are, I'll give you $.42.

Rendezvous in Ole' Nauvoo

Here is part II of our Nauvoo wrap up session. Like Kristen, I wasn't horribly interested in Church history prior to this trip. And I was even less excited about spending many hours on a bus, and in seedy hotels with my fellow ward members. But it turns out that I quite enjoyed learning about all of the history, and I only wanted to throw a few people off the bus, which was a personal victory for me! So here are my high and lowlights, also in no particular order.

TRAVEL AND FOOD: We were on a bus (or coach as British Kristen likes to call it) supplied by Arrow Stage Lines, and our driver, Mike, was fantastic! He ate all of our meals with us, and on day 1, he wrote down all of our names, and was able to call us by name whenever he saw us afterward. Should you need to book a bus/tour in the future, please contact Arrow Stage Lines and ask for Mike. On a more somber note, I was only able to eat one good meal out of twelve possible meals. For anyone who knows me, this does not equal a happy Melinda. The first night, we ate at a lovely place right off the freeway entitled Ma and Pa's Kettle. Sounds kind of warm and cozy, right? Not so much. I have included pictures of our food that night. Please note my salad with the hearty chunks of roast beef on top. But my worst meal of the trip was courtesy of the Plum Street Supper Club. I'm sorry, but any restaurant that has "Supper Club" in the title is bound to be sketchy. We were offered three selections of either half of a fried chicken, chicken Oriental, or Veggie alfredo. I tried to pick the safest option, and went with the Asian delight. Which consisted of a Lean Cuisine meal that had been lovingly placed in the microwave, and drowned in a neon orange sweet and sour sauce. My stomach is churning as I type this. But it all turned around as we ate one of our last meals near Mt. Pisgah, courtesy of the United Methodist church. Those cute little ladies cooked up a storm for us! They informed us that our new friend, Bob Brown, arranged for them to cook for "the Mormons" about 6 times a year, and boy howdy, was it delightful. I wanted to pack all of those gals in my pocket! As well as some biscuits. And Bob's hot son, MATT Brown. But I digress.

TEMPLE: I can't even describe how much I loved the Nauvoo Temple. It was absolutely gorgeous, and they had restored it beautifully. We got to hear some behind the scenes stories, and learned how it almost wasn't built due to the excessively high costs. It cost $40 million alone to fortify the foundation as it is built on swampland. Being there so made me appreciate all of the sacrifices that the Pioneers put into building it, and I didn't want to leave! I have decided that it should be mandatory for all Church members to see in their lifetime. So there.

NAUVOO: I also loved the town of Nauvoo. They have re-created all of the old shops, and have scoured the earth to find the cutest couple missionaries to serve there. As the Sisters would tell us the stories of the Pioneers, they would all invariably tear up, despite having told the stories hundreds of times. Sister Sherfly was our first host, and I want to track her down and hang out with her when she is released. The missionaries also work incredibly hard. They start their days around 5:30, and get to bed at 10:30 some nights. That seems rather late, wouldn't you say? Well, the reason they are up so late two nights of the week is that they are required to participate in the singing and dancing spectacular that is Rendezvous! This is basically a giant roadshow, but it was one of the highlights for me. The Sisters were telling us that most groups didn't really clap or cheer during the show, because well, it's pretty cheesy. So we decided we were going to hoot and holler for them, and it was a nice send off for us.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: The Fudge Shop there is real good. I never want to see another Taco Bell, McDonald's or Hardee's ever again. As Kristen so eloquently put it, do not stay at the Super 8 in Omaha! We wish we had saved the $12.99 nightly fee and slept on the bus. Or the ground.

Overall, it was a grand time, I was happy as a lark there, and I will happily return with anyone who wants to go.

Summer is Over

On Monday we went to a Labor Day Luau at Thanksgiving Point. This has become a fun thing that we have gone to the last few years as a family. This year we had everyone, except Melinda and Kristen, who were in Nauvoo. (When are we getting some details and pictures, by the way?!? Brooke, maybe you need to be a guest blogger). And we added some of Lisa's family who were down from Idaho . . . the more the merrier.

You are greeted with a flower lei and then wind your way through the garden area and the tiki torches to the buffet feast. Delicious fruits, the plate lunch special macaroni salad, teriyaki chicken and pulled pork among other yummy things topped our plates. The big finish was a soft, thick coconut macaroon washed down with some orange guava juice. Yummy! I think Aiden and Maia downed just a few of those cookies. Then we waited for the show to start. The kids were getting a little restless and entertained themselves rolling in blankets and going down the tiered grassy hill. When the show started, the dancers went all through the 7 different polynesian areas with our personal favorite being New Zealand, where Dad/Grandpa served his mission. We grew up with Dad teaching us the warrior chant, Haka, and the big finish of the tongue sticking out. Maia is pretty good at it, I must say. The luau finale is always the fire dancers, which are always fun to watch.

We didn't even know if the luau was going to happen earlier in the day because it had rained so hard - but by dinner time the sun was shining. We all had brought jackets because it was a little windy and chilly when we started. By the end of the evening, it was FREEZING. We were all bundled up in blankets, jackets and whatever we had and didn't know if we would last through the program. Two days before I was burning up at Swiss Days and now I am a human popsicle . . . what's up! The next day I heard that the temperature dipped into the 30's and 40's . . . and we felt it! When the program ended, I cranked the heat in my car and turned on my fireplace at home to try and thaw out. It's official . . . summer has ended. The only comfort is that this time next week, it will be 80 degree weather and we will be partaking in an official luau . . . can't wait! -Julie

Fun in "The Voo"

Melinda and I, along with 80 other singles ward friends, just returned from a whirlwind tour of the LDS church history sites in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. I found myself – gasp – actually interested in church history! Loved the whole tour, would recommend it to anyone. Melinda and I will be sharing our trip report in two posts. Here are a couple of my highlights (and lowlights):

COMMUNITY OF CHRIST
So apparently all the Community of Christ church (formerly the Reorganized LDS church) wants to do is spread peace to the world. We took a tour of their temple, and were greeted with a hearty “shalom” by their emeritus (!) prophet via video. It was fascinating to me as we toured the temple and talked to our tour guide, how different our two churches really are now. There are some pretty significant doctrinal differences, which is interesting given we both started off in the same place. Also, this church owns some major LDS church history sites. They own all Joseph Smith's residences in Nauvoo; Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma's gravesites, and of course, the Kirtland Temple. That's some big stuff! They're good people, but there's just a different feeling that you get in their sites. Nowhere was that more apparent than in their temple, compared to when we went through the Nauvoo temple. NO comparison.

HOTELS
If you ever find yourself in Omaha – first, I'm sorry. Second, I DO NOT recommend the Super 8 there. It is shifty!!! How bad could it be? The hallways smelled strongly of smoke, our room smelled like urine, there were stains on the sheets, and take a look at the picture to see the big clump of hair we found greeting us in the shower!
However, I can heartily recommend the Super 8 in Cameron, Missouri (pronounced “Mizurrah”). We got a deluxe three bed suite complete with a Lay-Z-Boy! And the TV remote worked, which was not the case in some of our other hotels. Plus, there is a Wal-Mart down the road where you can stock up on provisions (aka food) when the tour guides delay/cut out lunch to stay on schedule.

MT PISGAH
Or, Mt. Pig-sah, as I accidentally called it the entire trip. We all agreed this was the most pleasant surprise of the entire trip! Mt Pisgah was a way-station for the saints on their journey west. The land is now owned by a Mr. Bob Brown, who is our new favorite person in all of Iowa. He's not a member of the church, but he gives (unadvertised) tours of his land. He gave us an awesome tour of the land on his tractor (driven by his ruggedly handsome son Mike (or Matt – I can't remember). He's mapped out his entire land using wires to find depressions in the earth 18” or deeper. I was a skeptic - and then I tried it for myself. My two wires would cross when I walked over a disturbance under the earth – then they straightened out when I'd passed it. If your wires stay crossed for about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide? You're standing over a grave. He's used wires to find not only where graves are, but where cabins and lean-tos were, and even how many wagons wide the Mormon trail was (because it was so muddy that year the wheels sunk more than 18 inches into the ground). If that weren't enough, he even arranged for us to have some good home cookin' at his Methodist church! (Tag to Melinda to tell you about it). Thanks, Bob Brown, for making Mt. Pisgah one of my fave places on the trip!

RANDOM THOUGHTS
Raise your hand if you knew any of the following: that there is a temple at Winter Quarters? That there are cornerstones for a temple in Independence, but we no longer own the land? That the terms “uppercase” and “lowercase” letters come from old printing shops, because they kept capital letters in the “upper case”? That Liberty Jail is INSIDE a visitors center? That every town, no matter how small, in the midwest has a KFC and a Hardees? That tons of tourists on Harleys come through Nauvoo every year? Don't worry, I didn't know either!

The Super 8 in Omaha. DO NOT STAY HERE.

Melinda and I in Farr West.















The Community of Christ temple in Independence, MO. Looks a bit like something out of the Wizard of Oz.


















Rain and humidity may have destroyed my hair but not my spirits at Adam-ondi-Ahman.













This little clump of hair greeted us in the shower at the Super 8.














Me, Brooke, Melinda, and Alli after our tractor tour at Mt. Pigsah. Sadly, hot son Matt/Mike was camera-shy.

I Heart Swiss Days

My favorite rite of passage from summer to fall is the Friday and Saturday before Labor Day. Since I was a wee child I have LOVED going to Swiss Days in Midway for a mega craft fair. I am a serious shopper that takes the day off on Friday to get there first thing in the morning to check out all the good stuff before it gets too crowded. One year I made the mistake of going on Saturday and some of the best stuff was already sold out! Another time, we had gotten there a little later in the morning, and I saw a lady walk out with a wooden bird wall hanging that was adorable and a “must have” for me. Dad hurried over to find out where she got it. When we made it over to the booth, sure enough, they were sold out. But, luckily, they were taking orders so Dad arranged for it to be ordered and shipped in time for a surprise birthday present. (Isn’t he the best?!) If we had gotten to Swiss Days any later, I would have never seen that little treasure walk off and known about it . . . how sad would that have been. Since then I accept nothing less than being there first thing in the morning. It’s a fun thing that Mom, Dad and I would do together.

The last few years, we would head to Swiss Days then continue on down to St. George for the last weekend of Tuacahn shows. It was a fun tradition. As it became harder for Mom to get around, we tried to get her situated underneath a shady tree while Dad and I shopped. But by the time we came back to her, there were so many other people seated around her now that it was hard to get her out! When I see that big thick tree on the Town Square grounds, I still think of her sitting under there - surrounded by men on lawn chairs waiting for their wives to return . . . it was pretty funny. After shopping, Dad and I always stand in line for Ham and Cheese sandwich . . . it’s quite fancy . . . you get a pickle, chips, cookie AND a drink. Dad is never too happy with the “yellow gunk” (or mustard to the rest of us) that they try and stick on his sandwich.

This year, I still took the day off, but went to work a booth for my friend, Stacy, who has a craft business, The Ivy Twines. The booth was busy from the get go and was steady throughout the show. I got to spend lots of time with Stacy’s cute Mom, Linda, who was in town from California to help. We had to get there early to accommodate shoppers like me who arrive early! And then were there until the last shoppers after sunset. Long days and lots of work! Her Mom and I decided that the next time we see each other we are going out to dinner and to a spa. And next year, I’ll be back to being a shopper . . . eating my Ham and Cheese sandwich . . . and then getting out of there before all of the strollers arrive!