Thanksgiving in Utah

Last week Eli and I got home after being in Utah for two weeks.  We traveled from one end of the state to the other, and picked up Josh along the way.  We spent the first week down in St. George at my parents' home, and then we traveled up to Spencer and Mindy's home in Layton where Josh met us.  We had a nice Thanksgiving together with a lot of my family. 

Eli loved playing with his cousin Sophee.  He proposed to her while he was there :-), and yesterday in church there was a little girl in his nursery class whom he kept calling Sophee.  Needless to say, I think he misses her.

We went to the Hill Air Force Museum.  Eli was appropriately dressed in his aviator jacket.

We visited Temple Square where we got to see the lights, fight the crowds, and freeze to death.  Eli commented that he would much rather be in Houston than Salt Lake due to the cold.  We are definitely a warm-blooded family now, and I marvel that I lived there for three years and survived the cold.  Yet I remember I loved living in Salt Lake.  It was fun to show Eli where Mommy and Daddy used to live and work and go to school.  I'm not sure he appreciated it in quite the same way, but it was still a fun walk down memory lane. 

I also had a flood of memories when we traveled up to Logan with my parents the day after Thanksgiving.  Since Josh had never seen where I grew up, my dad gave him the tour--the cache valley cheese factory, USU, the temple, the cemetery where my grandparents are buried, the apartment I grew up in, the farm out in Trenton.  I myself hadn't seen many of the places for years, and I found it interesting how smaller everything looked to me.  Every time I go to St. George, the growth amazes me, so I was expecting to be shocked when I went to Logan.  Though there was some growth, I was surprised that it was still relatively the same place I remember as a little girl.

This is the apartment building where we lived for about 5 years while my dad was attending USU.

This was my Grandpa and Grandma Grant's home.  You can see the barn where they milked the cows behind the house.

This is where I lived for about the first four years of my life.

 We were able to squeeze in some time with Matt and Megan while we were there.  They live in Farmington, and we got to see their beautiful home and spend two evenings with them before Megan so graciously took us to the airport for an early morning flight.  For Family Home Evening, we went to the Boondocks (I think that was what it was called) and enjoyed an evening of play.  We had a great time!  Eli loved the games as well as his prize from redeeming the tickets--a light saber.      

This picture cracks me up.  Do you see the look of sheer delight on Matt's face?

A Construction Crew for Halloween

Until this year, we've been fortunate enough to have had all of Eli's Halloween costumes handed down to him.  So, this is the first year he got to choose what he wanted to be (and really the first year he could make the decision anyway).  For those who truly know Eli, it should come as no surprise that he chose to be a construction worker.  The bonus of that is knowing that he will continue using the costume until he grows out of it.  Even before Halloween day, he was dressing up in it so that he could "build" and "dig" things.

Of course, Josh insisted that we dress up too (despite my protests), so thanks to the thrift and craft stores, we became a construction crew--Eli and I as construction workers and Josh as a construction cone.

During the week, we made Halloween shaped cookies--both sugar and peanut butter.  On the Wednesday before Halloween, we had a Halloween party for playgroup.  We made spider deviled eggs, and even though I don't like deviled eggs and never make them for Josh who loves them, I had fun making these ones.

On Halloween we went to the annual trunk-or-treat at the church, which is always fun.  We also decided to hit up some houses afterwards since Eli had never done that.  Unfortunately, he discovered that not all costumes are like the ones they allow at the trunk-or-treat.  He took one look at some of the scary costumes that trick or treaters were wearing and refused to go near them, saying, "I want to go home."  I didn't mind since we have PLENTY of candy.  Eli has been so excited about all the treats!

The black "spider" is just a cut-up olive.

This is the trick-or-treat bag I made for him.  If I had used a pattern and was a better seamstress, it probably would have turned out better, but he still loved his primitive digger bag.

 

Sleeping before the festivities.  It was that time of day when we were picking up Daddy from school and driving to the trunk-or-treat.  Eli is phasing out of naps now and frequently gets tired around 5 o'clock.  He was up really quick though when we arrived at the church.

The Whole Crew

St. Louis, MO & Nauvoo, IL

Last week we enjoyed a little vacation to America's heartland.  Josh presented some of his research at a conference held in St. Louis, so Eli and I decided to tag along.  Since St. Louis is the closest major airport to Nauvoo, IL, we wanted to take advantage of being so close.  We spent Wednesday evening through Saturday afternoon in St. Louis, and then we drove up to Nauvoo and spent Saturday evening through Tuesday afternoon there.  We were also able to convince Josh's mom and Grandma Rosie to join us, so we had a great time.

While Josh was at his conference, we went to Grant's Farm in St. Louis.  That's where Ulysses S. Grant had a home, cabin, and farm for a while.  There were many different animals, some of which Eli was able to feed.

These were some very hungry goats.  Eli thought they were going to suck his hand off, and they chewed a hole through my mother-in-law's sweater.

I wanted this picture because of the name, but as you may be able to tell from the logo (I wouldn't have been able to until I went there), Anheuser-Busch owns the farm.  Josh jokingly accused me of teaching our son about beer.

This is the Ulysses S. Grant home.

Of course, we couldn't go to St. Louis without visiting the Gateway Arch.  You can travel to the top, but we were advised that it's a little scary for people who are afraid of heights.  Josh was the only one who was game to go, but since the line was too long, we all stayed on the ground.  We found out that it's America's tallest monument, and we enjoyed looking around the museum inside the arch. 

This is the contraption we would have gone to the top in.  It was the 1960's (when the arch was built) depiction of the future.  There are enough seats for five people.  Apparently they believed nobody would have claustrophobia.

The figures in the Arch museum moved and talked and were very cool.  Eli was mesmerized, though he was freaked out at first until I told him they were robots (a term he understands well).

Nauvoo was appropriately named.  It was beautiful, though certainly chilly.  We went from 90 degree weather in Houston to 55 degree weather on one of our days in Nauvoo.  Fortunately, we brought sweaters and jackets, but we still had to bundle up in quilts that they provided. 

This is the Orson Hyde home, one of Eli's namesakes.  You can see the quilt I'm wrapped up in.

I went to Nauvoo about twelve years ago with my dad on my way up to Wisconsin to go to school (hard to believe it's been that long since I was a junior in college).  At the time, they were just preparing to do the groundbreaking of the temple that President Hinckley had announced.  Since then, I have always wanted to go back and see the temple.  Fortunately, I not only got to see it, but I got to go inside thanks to my mother-in-law and Grandma Rosie who watched Eli for us.  It was a great experience.

We also enjoyed touring the different sites where the early saints lived and worked, and of course, Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith was martyred.  If you call Eli on the phone and ask him about Carthage or Joseph Smith, he will tell you all about it.  He will probably also tell you about the fun things he got to do, like make a rope, watch a play, ride in two wagons (one led by horses and the other by oxen), watch people make bricks and horseshoes, and a number of other interesting things.  We loved it!

This is Eli trying on his prairie diamond ring to get the perfect fit.

This is how one makes a rope.

Eli specifically requested a "cowboy" rope, so they made a special one with a lasso for him.

Eli's other namesake.

It's hard to believe the early saints crossed the Mississippi River on this.  The river was huge and freezing.

This is the window where Joseph Smith fell from when he was shot in Carthage Jail.

...And We're Back

Back in Houston.  Back online.  ALMOST back in the swing of things.  The past month has been busy and crazy.

Josh had his last day at the Albuquerque Veterans Hospital on the 12th of August, and we left Albuquerque on the 15th.  Moving out went smoothly this time.  Instead of being three days behind schedule, we were only three hours behind.  After what happened trying to get out of Houston and move to Albuquerque, I count that a great success.  Not only that, but we left with a graduate who had a diploma on its way in the mail.  Finally!  It's funny how an 11 x 14 piece of paper can bring such relief.  Congratulations, Josh!  Now we're looking forward to that other piece of paper that we hope to get by the end of the school year.

Though he didn't walk, here's the official grad picture.

The diploma was too large for the scanner, so this is only some of it.

We took a different route back to Houston.  We went down through Carlsbad and then on over through San Antonio.  Though we've been to San Antonio several times, we had never been to Carlsbad, so we took the opportunity to see the caverns.  They were amazing.  We really enjoyed seeing them.  Eli was so quiet and subdued while we went through the main room.  He whispered the entire time because he didn't want to disturb the sleeping bats.  He wanted to see some, but we were only there in the morning, and we had to explain how they sleep during the day and come out at night.

Unfortunately, though our move-out went smoothly, our move-in did not.  That's why it's taken me this long to blog about the experience.  We just got our internet installed on Friday night.  It took three weeks for them to come and install it; it's never taken that long before.  In the meantime, we had problem after problem with repairs and cleaning, etc., but I won't bore myself  (or you ;-) ) with the details.  Needless to say, I hope I don't have to move for a while...at least nine months. :-)

I had a birthday somewhere in between all of this. :-)

 As for the verdict of whether it's great to be back in Houston or not...well, besides the issues we had with moving in (and moving out for that matter), it is good to be back.  We're in the same ward, and though it's crazy how much it's changed in just four months, it's nice to know so many people.  We live in a different area, but the places are still the same.  Though I've heard many negative comments about Houston over the years, it's been a great home...humidity, hurricanes, and all...well, maybe not the cockroaches. :-)  Having said that, however, we really did like Albuquerque (especially having a house and garage), and I'm sure I would have felt the same way about it after living there for six years.  So, as cliche as it is, I guess home truly is where the heart is...and for me, that's with my husband and my son.