Change of Season

It's been going from hot to cold and back again. Apparently, that was enough to make me come down with a cold. Again. Two weeks after I got over the last one! I was pretty miserable with my foot injury, sore neck, sore arm from a flu shot and some work...unrest...going on. I still took some time out to have a little fun though come Friday night. Amy Felix came up to Salt Lake and we went to Wingers and then Hatch's for dessert. We met up with Lori and Cody afterward at the Nightmare on 13th street Haunted House. I had to go through at the head of the line. Apparently I turn into a ninja when threatened because I walked through the whole way in a crouch with my arms up ready to hi-ya if necessary. I did manage to slow down in just the right places though so that Amy would get scared the best in each room...

 

The first hot chocolate of the season!

The cupcakes made for Bailey's early bday party.



Heber Honeyz

Lori and Cody have made an arrangement where they each get one night off a week while the other one watches Ari. Cody will be going for bike rides on his. Lori and I went to a movie Monday night for hers. I think I'll like this deal! :-)

 

Jenny and Brett have gone to Disneyland, without the kids, to celebrate their 20th anniversary. So on Wednesday, I started driving to Heber after work to watch them overnight each night while they were gone. Each of the boys had a night they were supposed to do the cooking, they take turns doing dishes, and are all-around pretty cute boys! Saturday when we had a little more time, we had a nice breakfast, went to play racquetball, got ice cream from McDonald's, went to Midway to feed the ducks, went for a drive to see the houses in the area, then picked up pizza on the way home. Jenny and Brett got home late that night and I chatted with them a bit before Brett took the older boys down to Orem to watch the BYU game.

 

 

 

I made the mistake of getting low enough that I could be piled on!

 

Birthday Celebrations

My birthday fell on a Sunday this year. I realized that exactly half my life ago, I had the goal of being the first person sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple (it was dedicated the year I turned 18). I may have gone a different path since then... Lori made a very nice dinner for me with my favorite dessert. Grandma and Kevin came up for it too.

 

I accidentally overbooked with people for racquetball on Monday so I went and played two hours worth, an hour with each person. Surprisingly, I had energy for both! Surprising especially since I had to work off a big lunch from the Olive Garden that I went to w/lots of my work friends for my bday. Tuesday was another lunch with a work friend as was Wednesday, both followed by racquetball nights. I like long bdays! Wednesday after racquetball, I ran home for a quick shower as Sarah then came by and gave me a massage. She has her own table now and is going to classes to become a masseur through Massage Envy. I decided to stop doing my eyelashes and get massages through Sarah since I'd rather help her financially then somebody else.

Thursday I did the United Way Day of Caring with my work friend, MaryAnn Falk (she's the one I'm going to England with next year!). We worked in the stables of a non-profit camp for disabled kids. I'm thinking all my racquetball helped me to not be sore afterward because we did HOURS of raking, shoveling, and sweeping which used the same back and arm muscles. I did somehow bruise a joint in my foot and hobbled for days afterward though.

Starting the day out with breakfast at the Gateway Mall.

We laughed pretty hard about how teeny tiny she looks in
this picture. She 'claims' I was standing on a hill. Right...

Friday I went to dinner with the Felix's and watched a movie for my bday. Saturday grandma and I also went to lunch for my bday. The Wingers in American Fork has closed to my utter sadness so we drove to the Orem one instead. After dropping grandma off, I went to a movie with Karen and then over to redeem a birthday coupon at Cold Stone with her so we could have plenty of time to chat.

Fresno and the Parentals

After my last trip travel day lasting 38.5 hours only a week ago, it was a little hard to pack up a bag again and climb onto an airplane. Fortunately, the end result was worth it! And, it turned out an hour and a half flight is a piece of cake after a 16 hour one. I was still asleep when we were already landing!

 

I met up with mom and dad and it was good to see them! It feels like forever since I'd seen them, and then once there, feels like no time had passed at all. A conundrum you might say. We stopped at the Fresno California Temple on the way to Merced and also got to see all the almond groves along the road and the grape vineyards. They're everywhere! We had to hurry to get back to the apartment and eat so we could make it to the FHE mom and dad had planned with an inactive member and her three kids. I had brought the movie we were going to watch, Johnny Lingo, because dad had found out that was her favorite LDS show when she was little. We started out with a song and prayer, their dog even howled along with us for the song, and then watched the video. We played a game which the two boys loved...the girl not so much as I got her wet... It was colors. Yep, I reverted back to the old days and got in to throwing my spoonful of water around. Then we had rice crispy treats for the dessert that mom had brought. It was nice jumping right in to missionary work with mom and dad!

 



The next day we drove out to the Yosemite Valley. The fires didn't affect us at all except in the afternoon some smoke had drifted our way. There were lots of high, towering rock walls that were pretty amazing. Nothing different from what you see at Lake Powell though with the red cliffs. And it was HOT! Quite a bit of a difference from South Africa's winter.

 

Smoke from the big fire starting to fill up the valley.

We got to drive through this tunnel upon entering the park.

That's right, I'm the driver!

These old house were just falling apart
and barely hanging on the mountainside.

 

Saturday we got in the pool and mom and I had our exercise time (dad walks early in the morning before we even thought about getting up). Later in the day, mom and dad went over the list of ward members, inactive and active, investigators, and contacts to decide who they thought needed a visit and a personal invite to Church. I put on a dress and we headed out. Mom seemed like she felt bad that we didn't have much success finding people at home, but it seemed just like my mission to me! Sunday I went to the English ward's Sacrament meeting while mom and dad went to their own meetings. I went and spoke with the new Fresno California Temple president who was in that ward. Then I joined the Spanish ward's block of meetings and was called on several times in Sunday School so I had to really brush off my Spanish, then mom gave the lesson in Relief Society, and then I shared my testimony in Spanish during Sacrament meeting. It really does come back to you! The Spanish I mean...though the mission stuff does too. :-)  I had to speak quite a bit more than usual.

 

Monday we headed back out to Yosemite again. This time we went to the Mariposa side so we could really see the giant sequoias. We took the tram which was an 1 1/2 hour open air ride through some great forest area. It was breathtaking and was great fun. We were also much higher on the mountain so the temperature was perfect and shaded so dad didn't suffer from the heat so much. Lovely day!

 

What's happening here? That's right, I caught mom
'tucking' her cell phone away in a 'safe' spot.

Yeah, we got a good laugh out of it.

The open-air tram we took.

Pictures just don't do justice to the size of these trees!

Not the pine cone of a sequoia tree but rather
the cone from the California pine tree.

The giant Grizzly sequoia.

Our lunch stop on the way back to Merced from Mariposa.

We had a good time together!

 

Tuesday we went swimming again. Well mom and I did; dad did missionary work by going to their zone meeting. When he got back, we headed to Fresno and hit the Cheesecake Factory for my farewell/birthday dinner. When we got to the airport, mom came in with me while I printed my boarding pass and dad circled the airport in the car. It's been a long time since I've really had someone come in to see me off. A good visit seeing the parentals! Now to get caught back up at work...