Over the years I have been told by my children that I tend to repeat myself. I am realizing that that is true, and trying to not do it - although I wouldn't repeat myself if, . . . . never mind, let's just move on.
My original point of this post is that I know I have put the following video on here before, but I just love it so much, I have to repeat myself and put it on again. I think of this video every Easter, and it is especially going through my mind right now as I am preparing a lesson for the teenage girls for tomorrow. In fact, this is just an excerpt of the talk. The whole talk can be accessed at lds.org and is more than worth listening to.
For Julia's birthday Addy and I made her a present to go along with the movie we had just watched: "Mickey & the Beanstalk". I planned on us planting flower seeds but they were so tiny and looked just like the soil - not very exciting. So we grabbed a handful of dried white beans and planted them as well. Wow did they grow fast! Below is the day we planted them and then the pot exactly one week later. Fascinating!
One reason I like the show "The Middle" is because, even though it does it exaggeratingly, I feel like I can relate to it. For example, when their appliances break they don't run out and buy another one - they get creative until a great solution comes along. Right now our water heater is broken. Sears cannot come out and look at it for 9 more days! Reggie has been looking things up, seeing if it is something he can fix. In the mean time we are boiling lots of water. I have the dishwasher cycle memorized so I can tell the sound of it filling up with water. I hurry and disconnect it from the tap and open the door, throw boiling water all over the dishes, close it up and let it run it's course. It seems to be working. I feel so innovative!
Sometimes planning a trip is half the fun. Reggie and I spent some time looking up lodgings in Monterey. Expedia had some good deals. We were intrigued however, at the "mystery" hotel deals they offered. For a great discount you could choose what kind of room you wanted at any 3.5 star, boutique style hotel in the area, for the dates you chose, with one catch - you wouldn't know which hotel you were staying at until you booked the room. So we looked at every 3.5 star hotel they had to offer on our dates, decided we were fine with any of them, and rolled the dice. We were given the Hotel Pacific:
We requested and got a basic King sized room. It was interesting because they didn't call it a suite or anything, but besides having the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in, there was a nice separate sitting area with a couch, fireplace, desk, and a little kitchen. It had an old mission style decor which was interesting, and there was renovation going on in a lot of the rooms which got a bit noisy by 10 in the morning. But all in all it was great.
Twenty eight years ago, however, we stayed in a much nicer place right on Cannery row called the Spindrift. We were satisfied to just walk past it and into the lobby this time, and get a little reminiscent of where 28 years of marriage has taken us. We then sat by the water enjoying the scenery before we headed on our way.
We stopped at a couple of places along the coast on our trip to and from Monterey. Anyone who is a fan of the t.v. series Avonlea can appreciate these pictures:
The Ritz Carlton looks like the White Sands Hotel
Gus Pike would have appreciated having a little cottage attached to his lighthouse.
For our 28th anniversary Reggie and I left Julia to hold down the fort, again, and we took off to Monterey for one night. The first thing on the agenda was a whale watching boat trip. It was amazing!
Reggie was a wonderful photographer while I did my best to handle my seasickness. It was a 3 hour
trip and we figure they took us at least 20 miles into open water. Our guide, as in the one talking
and explaining everything was wonderful. At first she thought we had about 300 dolphins
following along side the boat, but they just kept coming and even she was surprised at how many there were - she estimated we saw about 1,000!
Then we went into a feeding area for humpback whales. We paused/stayed there
for quite some time and did see several. Of course we also saw many sea lions, otters
and interesting birds. Whale watching was definitely something on my
bucket list and we are both so happy that we did this.
All went well - Andrew and Hillary are the happy parents of a new baby girl that they have named Hannah! She and Hillary left the hospital today and I CAN'T WAIT TO VISIT and hold that baby girl!
I wish so much that I was in Utah right now to give Hillary one big hug, and then pace the hospital waiting room while she and Andrew welcome their new baby into the world. Or I wish I could be at their apartment playing with and cuddling Audrey while waiting for the news of her little sister. But Mariah & Ross have that under control, so all of us here in California will wait by the phone together for the big news. So excited! Here is a song for the occasion.
p.s. There is one other Alison Krauss song that I so much wanted to put on here but the only place I can find it is on I-Tunes - shockingly it's not on youtube. So Hillary and Andrew, and anybody else that wants to hear another sweet baby song, go to I-Tunes and look up "Blessed Be" from the album "Country Goes Raffi".
The Disney movies for this month are : Fun & Fancy Free, Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad, and then because WWII was over and they were able to go back to spending time and money on full length movies - Cinderella. My favorite of this month is Fun & Fancy Free because it includes Mickey & The Beanstalk - I've always liked that one, especially because of the following song:
I don't know who is responsible, but each week the staff bathroom at my school has humorous clippings taped to the wall. I got a kick out of these ones today.
My doctor asked if any members of my family suffered from insanity. I replied "no, we all seem to enjoy it".
AND
Next time someone rings your home phone test their intellect by replying "Hey, I'm driving - can I call you right back?"
Ha! Ha! I'm going to try the second one as soon as I can.
This week I saw on a family Facebook group that my Aunt Dove was slipping away. Her children were at her bedside all week long as she went in and out of consciousness. One of her children posted a picture of a statue that is a funeral home in St. George Utah. It is a picture that has brought much comfort.
"The 'Come Unto Me' bronze sculpture portrays the spiritual journey from mortality to immortality. It is a portrayal of an aged woman's body, returning to its symbolic prime, and back to the arms of our Saviour."
And then today my Aunt Dove "knocked" as one of her children put it. She peacefully passed away and passed through the door, where the Savior and her husband were waiting for her. Today also happens to be her 94th birthday. A lot of the cousins are commenting on what a birthday party she must be having, and how all her sisters must be thrilled to have her in heaven with them. She is the 11th of 12 children in her family to pass away. There were (and still are) 6 girls and 6 boys in the family. One of her daughters posted a picture of Aunt Dove and Uncle Leland on their wedding day, during WWII - both in their military uniforms, as he was a soldier and she was an army nurse. It is a fascinating story and a beautiful picture. They were all part of an amazing generation. (I want so much to steal the picture from Facebook and put it here, but I don't know if I should do that without my cousin's permission. But my Aunt Dove was such a beauty!)
So now my Uncle Homer is the last - I blogged recently about his 90th birthday party. I can't imagine how he is feeling tonight. His original family is all on the other side, but his wife and children and grandchildren are all still here.
Another thing about the above picture. Ten of the 12 kids in my Dad's family lived to adulthood and married. Three of the spouses are left. My mom is one of them. She is doing great - a healthy, thriving 80something year old. She is enjoying her time going through my Dad's things, helping get his autobiographical life story printed for all of us, etc. I know that seeing a loved one through to the other side, in such a peaceful way like my cousins did today is a wonderful blessing. I know how lucky I was to be standing by my Mom's side as my Dad took his last breath. But I can't bear the thought of it being her turn to go someday. I know I'll have to accept that someday, but I'm really glad it's not right now. I'm so happy she's still here.
And you know me, there is almost always a special song for every occasion in my mind. Here is one I heard again this morning as I was driving to the temple. I played it for my mom a year or so ago and she chuckled at the last verse.
