Chelsea: Mom, what is that and why are you taking pictures of it?
Then all I see is screaming and jumping. I just happened to get this great shot.
3 Tickets to go see Carrie Underwood in Boston on October 15th.
The girls got to meet in a room in the basement and heard from a member of the temple presidency about the importance of temples. Then we walked over to the temple presidents house for breakfast. The president and his wife visited with the girls and told them the story of how the Boston Temple came to be built. It was a fun opportunity. While we were doing that, Chelsea and Dausha wandered around the temple grounds.
Inside the temple doors is a waiting room. Brianna sat there and read while I took the other girls to do baptisms. The group that we were supposed to tag onto canceled so we had to wait 1 1/2 hours for the next group. We grabbed some sandwiches from the cafeteria and went outside to all eat together and then went back inside. I was feeling all sorry for us because we had to drive 1 1/2 hr to get to the temple when I got visiting with the youth in the next group. They were from Maine and were excited that they only had to travel 4 hours to get to the temple. In years past they have had to drive to Washington DC which is another 6 hours from Boston. WOW, that's committment. It helped me put things in perspective. I was happy that I only had to drive 90 minutes back home. I also really enjoyed the drive because you can see the bright colors of fall peaking out in the trees. The bright reds, yellows, and oranges are amazing to me. I'll take some pictures when fall is at it's peak and share them with you.
Chelsea & Lianne were the only girls from our ward who went.
We learned that they have a "temple hawk" who likes to perch on top of the angel Moroni. The temple president even had some pictures that he shared with the girls. I guess he is like their mascot.
Here we are in front of the Massachutes state house. We wandered inside but didn't spend too much time in the houses.
After I took this picture, Cord wanted his own horse so Chelsea moved over. He did a good job hanging on with the girls on either side ready to catch him in case he decided he was done before the ride stopped.
Have you ever wanted to ride an elephant? Even though the ride was short, the kids enjoyed it. The elephant took a little break half way into the ride for a little snack so they got to sit on him a little longer.
After the rides we watched the parade. The kids each caught 8 strings of beads. It was fun jumping up and down to catch the attention of the people on the floats so they would throw to us.
Our perfect Sunday always includes having the missionaries over for dinner. We also had Manny (a recent convert, 15 yr old boy, who Mike picks up for church) over for dinner as well. The new Elder who replaced Amicone is Elder Koerper. He is.....tall! He is also the one who helped fix up Chelsea's guitar. They are both a couple of goof balls. We had Manny take this picture for us because transfer calls will come this week and you never know what will happen. They could both be here for awhile and either of them could be gone on Thursday. The light in the picture is placed perfectly so you can see their "heavenly glow". After dinner we had 5 newly baptized converts over for a "fireside" at our house. I guess there are lessons that are taught (like the missionary discussions) after you are baptized. He taught the first two. Then we had cake and sat around talking.
Elder Koerper entertained us with his guitar playing while Elder Overson played with Cord. We will have to be careful that he doesn't sneak Cord home in his suitcase. Elder O was so disappointed when Cord was down for a nap during dinner because he loves to play with him. I'm really going to miss having the missionaries at our house when we have to move. It has been a great part of our experience here.
This weekend Chelsea and I were fortunate enough to attend Time out for Women along with several fabulous ladies from our ward. It was held right here in Springfield. How lucky are we. There were 800 ladies there from all over New England. Some traveled pretty far to be there. It was a nice feeling to have so many LDS women gathered in one place and the Spirit was really strong throughout the 2 days. I think the highlight for me were the singers. We got to hear from Kenneth Cope throughout both days and Michael McLean Friday night. He is always a fun performer. We heard several speakers that made us laugh and cry. We were inspired to have more service in our families, to be peacemakers, to make an effort to give out at least 5 compliments a day to better our community, and to find ways to have joy in our lives by being obedient to the commandments. We were reminded over and over again how much our Heavenly Father loves us, wants us to succeed in this life, and that He never leaves us alone. We were also taught about the power of the written word and how much a simple letter can impact someones life. We were taught about the difference between men and women and how it can help our marriage relationships. 
There was a question and answer period after lunch. You could write down any question and drop it in a box. The presenters then went through the questions and decided which ones to talk about. Chelsea wrote one to the author, Jason Wright. She wanted to know when he decided he wanted to write and where he gets his inspiration for his stories. They chose her question and he said her name a couple of times. She had a big smile on her face. She is very interested in writing stories and liked what he had to say.
Chelsea and Mercedes loved talking to the singers and speakers. They got their picture taken with both singers, but on Friday night all we had was Chelsea's cell phone. That has the picture of Michael McLean on it. Here she is with Kenneth Cope. A Christmas tradition for our family is to go see Forgotten Carols in St. George and Chelsea has been telling me I had to fly her back to Utah for it in December. We compromised, bought the DVD, and then had Michael McLean autograph it. I think he liked our story. She got Kenneth to sign her CD, and she got Jason Wright (the author of Wednesday Letters and Christmas Jars) to sign her book. Chelsea also has a jacket that she is "never going to wash again" because Kenneth Cope put his arm around her and told her how special she is and how much Heavenly Father loves her. It was a great weekend.
I also love my goofy baby. He is always finding new ways to make us laugh. He found Mason's hat and gun and was walking around saying "bam, bam". I hope this doesn't mean he is going to grow up to be a ganster!
Brianna wanted to take up piano again. She has lessons for a short time in kindergarten but wasn't to interested then. We found her a teacher in our ward and we moved the keyboard into her room so she can practice without the help of her little brother. I often hear her plucking away at her songs. She is progressing quite quickly. We also found a dance studio for her. She is taking ballet and jazz with a friend from school. She is a busy little girl.
In Longmeadow, the fourth graders get the opportunity to learn a musical instrument in band or orchestra. I was surprised when Mason came home and was all excited about learning the violin. I tried to steer him toward a band instrument but he was quite adamant. He was so excited the first day he brought home his violin. They get out of their class once a week to meet and learn their instrument. I hope it sticks! He even likes to practice. We have heard "Hot Cross Buns" too many times to count this week.
So Thursdays are our busy musical day. Mason has to remember to take his violin to school. Then right after school we head over to Chelsea's violin lesson. I drop her off and head over to Brianna's piano lesson 10 minutes away. After I drop Brianna off I go back to pick up Chelsea. Then it's back to get Brianna. This whole process takes about 2 hours from the point of pick up at school until we get home. Today we put a movie in the car for the boys because they have to tag along. Last week I tried to do homework with Mason in the car but that didn't work out to well. Cord is pretty good to sit in the car seat during all this traveling.
This is not a great pic. I was trying to be sneaky. I mean - who wants to take a picture of a guy mowing the lawn? I didn't want him to think I'm a wierdo!
Do you remember when I was doing day shifts for orientation and I was talking about having to catch a bus to the hospital? Well, they are tearing down part of the old hospital to build up a new cardiac tower and long story made short, they gave our covered parking terrace to the doctors and now all day shift and night shift get to park a mile away and catch a bus to the hospital. (The above pic is the bus in the parking lot, the below one is where they drop us off).
The funeral was beautiful. Each of the 8 children spent 5-10 min sharing their memories and thoughts. I was asked to be part of a group that sang the song "No Empty Chairs". It was one of grandpa's favorites but it's really hard to sing if you really think about the words. I knew I would get up there and just cry, but my dad said if I didn't sing then I would have to find my own way home. (j/k). So we got up there and made it through by just looking at the music instead of the audience and not thinking about what you were really singing. One highlight at the funeral was being able to hear the testimony of my grandpa, in his own voice. My aunt Darlene taped both my grandparents bearing their testimonies and played them for us. It was powerful to hear his voice testifying to us one more time. Almost every time we saw him he would tell us to live the commandments, follow the prophet, and stay out of debt. Then he would ask us if we had gained weight because we were looking a little fat. :)
The handsome man on the end with the sun glasses is my daddy. He is the oldest brother and really seemed to take charge of pulling the large family together. Out of the 8 children there are 52 grandchildren and 107 great grandchildren. We filled up most of the church with just family. What was an unexpected surprise was that most of my cousins did the same things that I did, came without their families. I got to sit and visit with cousins that I haven't seen or been able to sit and talk with for quite awhile. I almost felt like a kid at thanksgiving, running around with my cousins. Even though I really missed having my children with me, it was nice not to have to worry about where they were or chasing Cord around.
My grandpa grew up on the Arizona strip and truly loved that area. He would have love to have been buried there, but instead he was buried in St. George where they had already purchased a space. To try and make up for it, my Aunt Darlene brought a bucket of dirt from the strip. We all got to take turns shoveling the special dirt in the space under the casket. That way grandpa will at least get to rest on the part of the land that was so special to him. Grandma got to lay down the first spoonful. Kennedy was kind enough to drip a spoonful of dirt for each of my kids. She is so thoughtful.
Even though my time in St. George was short, I loved getting to spend it with my two beautiful sisters. Maria (on left) had just moved to San Diego and brought her family up for the occasion. Amber (right) is lucky enough to be there in St. George and keeps my parents from going completely crazy with the family spreading out. When I look at the relationship that we all share now, I have hope that my girls will one day be best friends. Things weren't so rosy when we were growing up, but we all love being together now. I'm sorry that I didn't have time to connect with my friends and I hope that you'll forgive me if I didn't stop and see you. I only had 2 days and most of that was time spent with family.
I truly love my grandma and my heart goes out to her. It's really hard to see her without grandpa by her side. They have been together for 68 years. You just don't see love like what they shared much anymore. They were always together at every family function that they could get to. She is a strong lady but I know things will be hard without her beloved companion.
Because my dad worked for Skywest, I grew up on an airplane. I had grandparents in SLC. Every summer we would each get our own special week with them. My parents would put us on the plane in St. George, and they would be there in SLC to pick us up. My love for flying continued with almost 4 years flying fixed wing with Life Flight. 
So Cord and I have been able to hang out the last couple of days. We have had fun together and the house has been so quiet. I have to turn on the radio just for some background noise. But I have got a lot done. Now it's Cord's first day back to MaryPat's house since I worked last night. He just loves it over there. He went straight in and started playing with the toys and kids. I didn't even get a good-bye hug. It's nice to know he's happy there and it makes it easier to leave. Now I know I'm addicted to blogging because I had to post this before I go to bed. How pathetic is that? 
The report from the other kids on their first day of school goes as follows:
