Taylor, Lisa, David, & Rachel Halverson

Family Christmas Photo

2011-12-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

I'll admit that a head was photoshopped in each of these! We didn't get a single photo in which both of our children were smiling!

Book Club 2012

2011-11-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

My book club put together our reading list for 2012. I'm excited!

Sarah’s Key, Tatianade Rosnay (fiction)
Unbroken: A WWII Storyof Survival…, Laura Hillenbrand (fiction)
Choose your own culinary adventure: Pick a Josi S Kilpacknovel (fiction)
Battle Hymn of theTiger Mother, Amy Chua (non-fiction)
Founding Mothers, CokieRoberts (non-fiction)
Life Lessons Learned, DallinH. Oaks (devotional/inspirational)
The Immortal Life ofHenrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot (non-fiction)
Jane Eyre, JaneAusten (fiction)
UnnaturalSelection, MaraHvistendahl (non-fiction)

Fall Frolic

2011-11-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

That orange on his face? He wrote his name across his cheeks! :)

I wanted to get some of the leaves in our yard raked up. So it had to be a game, right?

David loved pretending that we were birds building a nest. Then he wanted to play the story line from A Blessing from Above, a children's book we have with an adoption narrative. In the book, one bird falls from its nest into the pouch of a kangaroo who has been yearning to be a mother. So sometimes, we were falling out of the nest of leaves!

He also wanted to bury Rachel in leaves. She wasn't so thrilled about that idea. That evening, leaves kept showing up as I removed her coat, changed her diapers, and so forth!

She is so pretty, isn't she?

Testing, Testing

2011-11-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

Rachel was plugging her ears today to see how it changed the way things sounded. So funny!

Brother, Sister, Friends

2011-11-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

I love it that these two are playing more and more together. It makes me feel so happy to see that! They make each other laugh with their funny sounds, faces, and tumbles.

I knew how fun cardboard boxes were to play in, too! :)

Someday we'll get real furniture for this room! I am itching to make it feel like a real part of the house. But it is fun for kids. David usually plays down here or outside if his friends are over. He and Rachel love to just run around the room. And since it's not a "real room" yet (well, it has no real design or thought or furniture -- it is fully finished, though), I don't stress about the mess -- obviously! :)

I love to see them goofing off together!

Glad there were no broken necks! They both thought it was so funny to tumble down from the top of the couch!

Autumn Glory

2011-10-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

You already know how much I love autumn. Today was a glorious day, and I got a few shots of the kids outdoors.

Rachel is wearing a dress which my mom sewed for me when I was 1. Like the retro? It goes well with her orange and black pumpkin tights! :)

This little gal is such a happy girl!

And a girl with a mission!

Like these flowers? So did I...but they were felled by a snow storm a few days later! :(

Springville's New Library!

2011-10-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

We've been excitedly awaiting the Grand Opening of our new city Library. For a month, the library was completely closed, as they transitioned from the old to the new site. It made me realize how much we already rely on the library - books on tape for me, books for the kids, library-sponsored activities, playing at the park next to the library.

Our new library is beautiful! I love how much light is in it; the old one was pretty dark, with few windows.

The Grand Opening was a lot of fun. Puppet shows, movie and story characters walking around in costume, balloons, a string quartet, and just getting the lay of the land.

At first Rachel hated having a balloon on her wrist. But she quickly got the hang of it!

David was excited to see the violins!

Only one disappointment: I guess they haven't yet raised the necessary money for the new park they plan to build next to this library. David had donated two dollars (I asked if he wanted to donate $1, and he said, "No, $2.") He has thought that he paid for the entire park. I guess the fact that they are still fundraising for it is perhaps the best way for him to realize that his $2, while a good start, wasn't yet enough! :)

One more good thing about today: as you can see, it was a beautiful fall day. Taylor managed the kids so I could work on putting our composter together. (David did help me, too.) I had really struggled with the "self-tapping screws", but a gentleman at Sunroc helped me put them into the replacement piece. Whew! After that, it went together fairly easily. Hooray!!

Costume Preview

2011-10-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Note: Since I'm back-blogging, I know that this "preview" is the only view you'll get! I forgot to take pictures on Halloween day itself! I took the kids to the "Safe Halloween" downtown (not my cup of tea: standing in line, which I hate, to get candy from vendor after vendor). Then we got home, ate a little dinner (well, David had eaten too much candy to eat any dinner, but Rachel was hungry), and Taylor took the kids out for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Photos escaped my mind!

David probably still fits his Scooby Doo costume from last year (even then, it was kind of high-water, so that wouldn't matter). But he wanted to be Spiderman. Got the cheapest costume on Amazon Prime. Many reviews complained of its poor quality, and indeed, within minutes the neckline was running. But I am not much of a seamstress these days. (Need to fix my sewing machine or buy a new one.) I'm not a supermom when it comes to costume making, despite the amazing costumes my mom made for us when we were kids (we were all Raggedy Anns or Andys one year!).

I bought a pumpkin costume for Rachel because it was cheap at Costco, but because I was a pumpkin at about this age. Fun to "match" with my little cutie pie! Can't find a digitized copy of my own pumpkin costume right now. Do you happen to have it digitized, Mom?

Goodbye, Grandma Bear

2011-10-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today my grandmother, Dorothea Katherine Willemina Henningsen Rampton, passed away. She was 103 (same birthday as Rachel!). We are sad that she is gone, but glad she gets to be with her beloved Henry, her daughter Alice, my sister Lora, and others she has loved.

Here is an email my mom sent us that evening:

As you know Grandma passed away about 5:30 pm today. She was an amazing woman andI’ll ever be grateful for the love and nurturing that she gave to your father. She was non-judgmental and always loving and kind to me. How fortunate we were to have her as the matriarch of the Rampton line these past decades.

...Love you all. Mark is doing fine. I think it was harder on him last night when he saw her withering away and having difficulty breathing. We know she is in a better place and can be with Henry and her other family members. She can see. Her shoulders don’t hurt. The sore on her foot doesn’t matternow. Her bunions aren’t bothering her anymore. Think how happy she is!

Taken a few days after this blog is back-dated.

Here is her obituary. And here are a few thoughts from others who knew her:

From Tom and Annie Sherry, serving a mission in Fiji:

Her loving faithful family is the best tribute of her life so beautifully lived she could have.

Our love to you all especially at this tender time, Annie and Tom

From Nancy Boom, her home health care nurse:

She was so sweet and gentle. It was an honor to have known her even though it was a short time. Nancy

From Averil Seely:

She was a wonderful lady. We all will miss her. I am happy she is with her husband and daughter. What a wonderful blessing the plan of happiness is in our lives. It brings us comfort and peace in difficulttimes. My love to you and your family. Averil

From the Third Ward Relief Society Email newsletter:

Our beloved sister, Dorothea Rampton passed away last evening. She left us a wonderful legacy and she will be missed. I think she must have been the oldest (103) active Visiting Teacher in the church. What an example she set for us all.

From Bob and Michelle Babbel:

Dorothea has left a legacy any woman would beproud of. A true and faithful woman whose family is continually making thisworld a better place. We will never forget her. The fruit of her labors sproutto keep her alive in our hearts. With love, Michelle and Bob

From Terri Harper:

Thank you so much for letting us know. She was such a great woman. I remember a time, many, many years ago when her ward needed tent moms at camp. She was not at all young at the time, must have been well into her seventies, but she came and slept on the ground and served her ward and her ward young women. I was pretty impressed.

Love to you and your family, Terri

From Lisa Freeman, 3rd Ward’s Relief Society President:

So sad, but gotta LOVE the plan of salvation and those heavenly reunions! She will be remembered with much fondness. Sweet is the perfect word to describe her!

From Curt and Jan Baumgartner:

Dorthea is one special lady! She has influenced so many of us over her mortal lifetime.That influence will continue. Jan and Curt

Grandma, we will miss your soft hands and even softer heart. We love you so!

Playin' the Piano

2011-10-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

Reading with Rachel

2011-10-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Back Home for Autumn

2011-10-23T18:03:00.000-07:00

My only regret about Hawaii (besides missing the kids for the whole time!!) is that it took us away from Utah during its best time of the entire year. I love October, and especially October in Utah. Next October (2012), we lead a tour to Israel for 9 days. I told Taylor, we need trips to Israel or Hawaii to fall in January, not October!

We arrived home this morning, 9 am-ish. I had been worried Rachel might forget us. I seem to remember my mom saying that Sara, who was 1 when my parents took the three oldest to Japan, didn't remember her when they got home. But Rachel ran right up to me the minute I walked in the door. Made my heart sing! I couldn't stop hugging David and Rachel, over and over again. So good to be with them again! My mom did warn me: kids don't realize you're gone until you come back! Then they get mad that you were gone. So we'll watch out for behavior issues in the next few days.

We didn't try to make our own church services (which begin at 9 am), but did attend another ward which started at 11. In the afternoon, we took a walk to our neighborhood park with Taylor's brothers Ryan (in town for the day) and TJ (who has been staying with the kids while we were gone). TJ was a lifesaver - so nice to have someone we know and trust to watch over the kids.

I love autumn! And I love being home!

Polynesian Cultural Center

2011-10-22T16:47:00.000-07:00

What an amazing place. Created to offer Polynesian students at BYU a way to fund their education and to celebrate their heritage, this center features dances, music, foods, architecture, flora, and history from the islands of Polynesia: Hawai'i, Maori New Zealand, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Marquessa, and Fiji.

Hawai'i

Tonga

Tahiti

Aotearoa (Maori New Zealand)

Samoa

Fiji

I hadn't been since I was 8; Taylor had never before been. I remembered eating poi, watching a man scale a coconut tree, and drinking coconut milk. I was excited to have poi again (but the coconut bread was much tastier!) and see the tree-scaling again (but the MC kept asking us if the climber should jump from one tree to another -- I was shouting No! at the top of my lungs!). That MC does a really funny performance about Samoan men and cooking (for which they are primarily responsible); he's also the primary fire-dancer in the "Ha" performance.

We loved it the experience, and were there for 6-7 hours on Friday (and another hour on Saturday). So much we still want to learn about the islands and their peoples. I find their sea-faring exploration and colonization especially interesting.

The Tongan performance involved audience performance - three men were great sports!

Taylor purchased great tickets. We got a tour (I don't love tours, but they would save great seats for us as we went from one program to another), a luau dinner, a boat ride, and super seats at the performance of "Ha: Breath of Life."

"Ha" was a breathtaking performance. It had dancing, drums & music,fire-breathing/waving, but also a drama or storyline that emphasized the circle of life. The main character loses his father in a battle, but shortly thereafter his wife gives birth to their first child.

When we were exiting, Taylor checked email on his smart phone and saw an email from my mom about Grandma. She has stopped eating or drinking, which will cause her kidneys to shut down and her to die within a few days. She is 103 years old, so the cause of death, in my dad's words, will be "Worn out." It made me cry, because I don’t want Grandma to go. I don’t want Dad to be an “orphan,” as Mom calls herself, and I don’t want the last of my grandparents to be gone. But on the other hand, I definitely want her to be free of pain, and with Grandpa and Alice and all the others who she loved so much. I know she has given so much to the circle of life, and she will live on – in our memories, in our genes, in all the good she gave us.

We decided to forgo the Haunted canoe ride; it didn't feel right after learning about Grandma.

Laie Temple

2011-10-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, between the Luau and Ha performance, Taylor and I went to the Temple Visitor Center. Taylor chatted with a Princeton physics professor of Russian descent much of the time. One of the guides on our bus was also a former student of his! Small world.

Today we returned to go to the temple itself. We were able to do sealings (my favorite!) for an hour or so. The sealer was of Hawaiian descent. He did well with all the names...save the long long Spanish ones! :)

A website had this to say about the Laie Temple's history. It is the 5th temple to be built in the latter days, and the first to have been built outside Utah / the Church's headquarters (Nauvoo, Kirtland). I believe that temples are sacred, and I like the way the miraculous and the Spirit function in these vignettes:

President Joseph F. Smith was in Hawaii on business in the spring of 1915 when he was moved by a spiritual impulse to dedicate a site for the Laie Hawaii Temple. The action was later ratified by the brethren and publicly sustained in the October 1915 General Conference. Construction of the Laie Hawaii Temple came to a standstill when the supply of lumber ran out. Prayers were uttered, and two days later, a freighter was discovered stranded on a nearby coral reef. The captain offered his entire cargo to the saints if they would unload it for him. His cargo? Lumber—enough to complete the temple.

It's pretty amazing to live in a day where we have 135 operating temples, with another 31 announced or under construction. Ground was just broken for one in Payson (15 miles south of us) and the burnt Provo Tabernacle will be rebuilt as a second temple in Provo (10 miles north of us).

Crazy Hawaiian Adventure

2011-10-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here is Taylor's journal entries on our fun but crazy adventure:

We had quite the adventure today!
We got up at 5:00 am and were out the door about 25 minutes later to meet with Peter Rich and his wife Paulina, and Charles and Dawn Graham at the Rich’s place at 49-836 Kamehameha highway.

Chinaman's Hat is in the distance

View from the Richs' rental

First, we went kayaking. Our destination was Chinaman’s hat (otherwise known as Mokolii Island). Lisa and I didn’t realize it, but our kayak had a hole in it and about ¾ mile from the deserted island we capsized. Luckily Lisa’s hearing aids in her ears were not damaged. But unfortunately, she has asked me to carry her spare backups in my pocket. I’m confident that they were destroyed in the salt water. Charles was kind enough to jump in the water, give Lisa his seat on his kayak with Dawn, and then Charles and I swam the 2/3 or ¾ of mile to the Island (Dawn came back to pick him up about ¼ mile off and Peter towed me in the last 1/8 mile). It was a refreshing swim and we were even hit by a rain storm for about 5 minutes. Charles and I had to laugh to be out there in the ocean at 7:15 am swimming to a deserted island.
Once on the island we were foolish enough to try to climb to the top. Charles and Peter made it. I decided to not press my luck about 15 meters from therocky top. I thought, “What will I be able to see more that I can’t already see now?”
Back at the base we resumed kayaking (we had mostly drained our kayak of water). I had insisted that I go directly to the beach and that others could tow thestill leaky kayak. So Charles and I took it to the beach, where the others met us in their kayaks. While trying to help others in and out of theirkayaks, the waves smashed the kayaks into my shins twice. OUCH!
Lisa joined me on shore and we walked the nearly 2 miles back to Peter’s place while Dawn and Paulina took one kayak and Peter and Rich another and also towed the leaky kayak. We all got back to the house at nearly the same moment.
After showering and resting we decided to head north for lunch (all of us piled into our SUV). We stopped for lunch at Quizno’s north of Laie. Whilethere we learned the news that Gaddafi was dead. Good riddance. It is hard to imagine that he is a child of God. But he brought such miseryto the world. What a psychopath.
So, Charles and Peter were checking for hikes on the internet. They found one that they claimed would only be 3 hours. It was a grueling, strenuous 6 hour,8 mile round trip hike! Wow! We all had a great time, though, being with friends, talking about many things along the way and feel a huge sense of accomplishment, but psychologically it was a tough hike with little payoff. My goodness, the waterfalls we saw at the end of the hike were only about 3 feet tall! But this certainly was the most Hawaiian hike I can imagine!

I'll never forgive my advisor (Charles) for this hike! :)

We are so exhausted after such an adventurous day!

By the time we got to the waterFAIL, my legs were jelly!


During much of the final mile, you had to hold to small trees or ropes.

The next day Taylor wrote:

By the way,the Schades informed me that the area I was swimming in yesterday is home to many Tiger Sharks!! Wow, I wish I would have known that in advance. Actually, I’m glad I didn’t know because I thought it was such a fun swim at the time. I didn’t have a care in the world. (Maybe I should have).

Hanauma Bay

2011-10-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

We arrived so late that they didn't make us pay the entrance fee or watch the instructional video! Having all just scuba certified, we do know the basic rules like don't touch the coral or sea life.

I remember snorkeling here as a child. In fact, I realized that every time I imagine a "bay", I see Hanauma Bay. It was my first "bay" to remember.

The fish were huge! My favorite was the parrot fish. Huge body, huge beak-like mouth, and looks like it has bright red lipstick messily smeared all over! (The photo below doesn't show the red which I saw today.)

Presenting at ELearn

2011-10-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

This was my first professional conference presentation. I feel like I've given one before, but it's probably just because I've watched Taylor give a lot! And because, having taught high school for 10 years, an audience of grown and mature adults isn't overly scary. (Though I still got nervous!) In November, I go to Jacksonville, FL for a few days to present at the AECT Conference, too. Funny - I went to the 2005 AECT Conference, with Taylor. Well, he attended and I snuck into the conference hotel swimming pool!

In any case, I'm much indebted to Charles Graham for all his help preparing, and to Jered Borup for helping a lot with crunching stats. That was the hardest aspect of this project - I'm still only halfway through Stats 1 (and sometimes falling behind on my work...as I try to crunch stats for this research! :)

Taylor gave a fabulous presentation about learning objectives (especially the tools that BYU has to allow professors to incorporate them). But I didn't snap any photos!

We Love BYU Preschool

2011-10-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

David is loving BYU Preschool. We had worried at the shift, since he has loved Iliana's preschool too. But this seemed like a good next step, and I was eager to see him on campus on the two days I teach "Intro to Middle Eastern Studies." (I finish class at 10:50, pack bags and juggle student questions, and run to the JFSB by 11:00 to avoid the late pick-up fee!)

Today he told me, "I have so many friends at BYU Preschool." He's great at meeting new people. (I admire him tons, since I was a very shy kid myself!) I asked him how he made all his friends, and we talked about being nice, and asking people their names when you don't know them, and introducing yourself.

He has decided he will marry a little girl there named Megan. She's a cutie with brown braided pigtails. One day I watched his class through the glass observation windows. They were discussing taste buds, and the teacher had them stick out their tongues to see the bumps. He and Megan were so funny sticking out their tongues at each other. David kept sticking his tongue out for the next 5 minutes as I watched.

Here is a video-book David's classroom put together about numbers. David has been counting to 100 since he was 2 (and Taylor even went to 1000 with him about a month ago, though David was clearly bored by the 200s!!). But it's fun to see the creativity even with something basic like numbers.

Pali Highway Hike

2011-10-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

I skipped this one because my knee was hurting me (pushed it too hard last night at Ka'ena!). But the photos are gorgeous!

It was a strenuous hike, however, so I'm glad I didn't attempt it with a sore knee. Taylor is a stud! :)

Deep Sea Diving!

2011-10-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

I thought I would like the deep dive the least. But it was so fun! Firstly, when you go deep, you use up your air more quickly. Thus you can't stay down very long. That's perfect for me, since I get cold after 15 minutes in the water. We could only swim around the wreck for 15 minutes max (a little less for Taylor and me, since we both had trouble getting our ear pressure to equalize at first, and had to take longer going down. Ouch!).

Kind of eerie swimming around a wreck. This one isn't ancient - it is a Taiwanese fishing vessel sunk in 1999, as it tried to sneak in with illegal immigrants. (I believe they took the people off the boat first!) Made me think about the hopes and desires of those people, dashed. They shouldn't have been trying to enter illegally, but I'm sure they were hoping for a much better life.

Warming in the sun. Aaah.

Delights of the North Shore

2011-10-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we had a lovely drive up to the North Shore. We went to the famous Matsumoto's Shaved Ice, and have shaved ice, your choice of 3 flavors of syrup, with vanilla ice cream in the bottom. So yummy! I'm not even that big a shaved ice fan, but the ice cream was a real delight. We calculated that if you wanted to try every combination of flavor (not including with or without ice cream, with or without beans, with or without condensed milk), you would have to visit the store ~9300 times. I'm game!

Notice the line behind Jeff! This place is popular!

Then we went for a hike to Ka'ena Point. We were racing against the sun, so we booked it. The last 20 minutes were in the dark, on an unpaved (and quite bumpy) road, but luckily no one sprained anything.

Pearl Harbor

2011-10-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

After church (a beautiful service in which an amazingly eloquent family spoke and sang) we drove out to Pearl Harbor. We were prepared for long lines, but fortunately had no significant waits. We watched a film, then ferried to the USS Arizona Memorial. You can still see parts of the ship poking up through the water. All the men who died on the ship were left - the ship and the sea are their graves. Very sobering.

Then we went to the USS Missouri. This ship was not at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed (wasn't even completed by then), but was the place where the formal surrender was signed with Japan. In addition, the ship served in the Korean War and in the Gulf War.

Mustard

2011-10-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

Does this look familiar, Dad? Sara's Poop-on Mustard at a McD's along Waikiki!

Puu Pia Trail & Manoa Falls

2011-10-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Before we left for Hawaii, I told Taylor that I was actually more interested in hiking and seeing places other than Waikiki and Honolulu. Accordingly, this morning, we (with our friend Jeff) headed up into the hills around Waikiki. We found a hiking trail that ascended a high ridge and provided anoverlook of Waikiki (the Puu Pia Trail). This website describes it, and has a video, too. It states that the "trial climbs 400 feet over a 1.2 mile distance (one-way). The trail’s gentle slope leads you to top of a pu’u (hill) that offers a 360 degree view around the valley and to Honolulu."

We almost didn't get to the final view (first photo)! We weren't sure the length, and we weren't seeing the Manoa Falls that we'd thought you could see. (The website above also says they couldn't see the falls, though they could hear them.) Luckily we ran into locals who told us were were only 2 minutes from the viewpoint.

On the way back, we met a second couple coming up (those 4 were the only people on the trail other than the three of us). They asked if the black SUV was ours. It was about to be towed; we'd unwittingly parked in a no-parking zone (a corner of the narrow road, where buses needed all the room they could get). Jeff, who just finished a 58 mile run and now wants to do a crazy ultra marathon, ran back for us. (I'm slow and scared going down, especially when it's slick and muddy!) He caught the police before the car was towed, and moved it to an OK area. Whew. We are lucky to have Jeff. In addition to saving our behinds because he can run fast and far, he also helps us find where we want to be (and we did get lost today!). Using his smartphone, he navigates from the back seat and I can relax!

There was a funny sign at the start of the trail, which told us that pig hunters might be about on Wednesdays and Sundays. Glad it was a Saturday!

Silly

Stately

We had very little time to hike Manoa Falls, but were so close and decided to squeeze it in before getting back for our second dive.

LOL! It was a call from our scuba place, so important.

Action shot - & rare, since I don't like running downhill!

Scuba Day 2

2011-10-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Jeff purchased photos taken by our dive guide, then graciously shared them with us! So fun to have this record of our dives today!

Some nature photos that I especially liked:

Rock Fish

And some "Best of" photos which our guide had taken in the past:

Banded coral shrimp

This was my favorite fish of all. A male trunkfish. Lovely colors!

Our guide did find a baby octopus. Exciting!

Scuba Day 1

2011-10-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Honolulu yesterday. We're staying right along Waikiki Beach. It's fun how a 5 minute rainstorm hits, all warm, then the sun is out again.

Today we went for our first real scuba dive! We had a 2-tank boat dive. It's nice, because they provide all the equipment, including tanks, wetsuits, BCDs, etc. We did buy our own fins, snorkels, and masks.

Before diving, I told Taylor and his friend and colleague Jeff Fox, with whom Taylor certified, that I was nervous but not scared. I hyperventilated a bit upon hitting the water (I do the same when I start any open-water swim in a triathlon), but soon calmed.

It was fun! It's not going to be my greatest love, but it sure beats diving in the Crater (Midway UT, 96 degrees!!) or the local pool. However, I do get cold quickly. Even with the wetsuit, after 15 minutes, I'm shivering!

My favorite things underwater were the sea turtles. Above water (at least our view of them), it was exciting to see a group of dolphins.

10th Anniversary Early

2011-10-13T07:58:00.000-07:00

A while back Taylor and I said it would be fun to go to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary. He has never been, and I haven't been since I was an 8 or 9 (while my dad was in the army, we could fly anywhere in the world for $20 roundtrip, though sometimes it meant flying via cargo planes in seats used only for soldiers during wartime! so we went to Japan once and Hawaii twice).

Turns out, there is a conference (E-Learn) being held in Hawaii this year, and Taylor will be presenting at it on behalf of the Center for Teaching and Learning at BYU. I will present as well, some of the research I've done for Dr. Graham on asynchronous video usage at online program for Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

So we're off to Hawaii for 9 days! The kids will stay at home. TJ, Taylor's brother, will stay with them, and Michele, who watches the Jensen kids across the street, will watch the kids when TJ works. I am already missing them, but it is nice to have a real live vacation with Taylor!

Rachel's First Doll

2011-10-12T22:34:00.000-07:00

Rachel has had several stuffed animals (in fact, her crib is quite crowded these days!). But it hit me that we hadn't yet bought her a doll. A doll seems like something good for developing nurturing skills. (We bought David a doll when Rachel was born, so he could feed it while I fed Rachel. At the time, Rachel Doll was bigger than our real Rachel!)

I love Amazon Prime, and two days later, a lovely doll had arrived! (David calls it Megan, since it looks like his friend/crush from BYU Preschool.) Rachel loved it!

And in our home, men can hug dolls too! :)

Biggest Eater Here!

2011-10-01T22:24:00.000-07:00

Rachel loves to eat! Especially: grapes, raisins, green beans, watermelon, turkey & ham slices, corn, and pasta (including mac & cheese, which she will eat an entire high-chair-tray full of). If she sees something on our plates that isn't on hers (or she doesn't recognize that it is on her plate, just chopped much smaller), she gets mad. She is one growing girl!

Sweet & Silly

2011-09-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Cub Soccer

2011-09-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

For the past month, David has been participating in a local cub soccer team. They don't have practices - just let the kids get out there and kick the ball. David mostly just runs around (he is one of the younger and smaller kids), but he loves it because they always get lots of treats at the end! And he has a really nice "coach". And he plays on the same team as the daughter of our neighbor and ward Primary chorister ("Sister Lowe"), whom David loves.

It was trickier than I had anticipated to work with Rachel during soccer games. I thought, "Oh, she'll just have a ball playing on the grass." But the fields were packed in, with only a few feet between fields, so she didn't have a lot of wiggle room. If I kept her in her stroller (see below), she got antsy, of course. But if I took her out, I spent the entire hour running after her as she ran from one field to another. I'm sure she wished she could be playing soccer, not just watching it! In any case, though these aren't the greatest photos in the world, notice her darling curls!! I love them!

Park City & Bridal Veil Falls

2011-09-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

Had a gorgeous drive thtrough Provo Canyon and a nice walk around Park City today. We just love Utah's fall colors!

Public Speaker!

2011-09-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Today David gave a 2 minute talk in front of our entire congregation (~200 people present). He was the first child to speak as part of the annual Primary Program, and the youngest one on the program to give a full-fledged talk (there was someone about his age who recited a scripture).

We worked long and hard on the speech, and then had to cut 2/3s of it for time, and because the primary leaders wished for him to be able to give the talk without my prompting.

However, since I hadn't known that was the goal until the day before (after he'd memorized the longer version), we had gone for completion (thus lengthier) rather than independence. And though David could either remember or read the talk, still he got flustered as they wanted me not by his side, but down below the pulpit. In the end it was much more obvious that I was helping him as I stretched upward to whisper a word or point to the words on his paper. I should have just stood by his side.

But regardless, he did a wonderful job. Taylor and I had come up with an outline, but David had filled in a lot of the details. He spoke clearly. His performance reinforced to me what Kausik once told me: Mormons are good public speakers, because we start at it so young!

People congratulated him over and over again afterwards, and I encouraged him to say, "Thank you" with each compliment. He is such a cutie!

I'll put the abbreviated text of his talk below:

The scriptures are the Word of God. In them, God lets us know of His love and teachings,and of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

Because the scriptures are the word of God, weshould read them with our families. WhenI get bigger, I will read them all by myself.

Because the scriptures are the word of God, weshould do the things they teach. I learnfrom the stories of Jesus that I should be kind to my little sister.

I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and am gladthey gave us Their words in the scriptures.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our Little Virtuoso

2011-09-04T23:50:00.000-07:00

David starts violin this coming Tuesday. He is excited, primarily because his older cousin Macy (TJ's daughter), plays.

But I broke a string! I was trying to tune it, and I don't know a thing about tuning violins. They are a lot more fickle than guitars, I have realized. Poor David was really sad. I have to get it fixed by Tuesday!

What I Did For Love

2011-09-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Last spring, Taylor decided he wanted to get scuba certified. With the kids, we couldn't do it in the same session (six nights of 4-5 hour sessions). So he jumped in, got a friend to take the class with him, and had a blast. I kept pushing my session back. Finally I had to take the course by August or lose the money we put down.

I've always been afraid of the bends. I don't really like hooking myself up to heavy equipment and feeling like I may suffocate. I don't like swimming in water too hot or too cold (and the water at the "Crater" in Midway, where we did our open-water dives, was in the mid 90s -- enough to get hypErthermia!). I don't like swimming close to strangers (and our pool dives and open-water dives were both in places where a dozen - or more - people were swimming in an area a few yards by a few yards). And I have a hearing loss, so instruction in the water, with my hearing aids out and ears full of water, is kind of the pits. One guy asked me why I was doing this and I explained it was all for The Man!

But I did it! Taylor and I are going to Hawaii in October, so we hope to scuba there. As well, Taylor is leading a Book of Mormon cruise to Mexico, Honduras, and Belize at Christmastime, and the whole family gets to go. Hopefully we'll be able to dive there, too.

I may just like this sport once there are pretty fish to look at!

Doo Doo

2011-09-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

Gross, right? Why is Lisa making us look at this? Well, why did some dog make me look at this? I was happily spraying weeds in our front lawn when I came across this. Sick-o.

Anyone who owns a dog should be fined big time for something like this. I don't leave my daughter's poops on anyone else's lawn. That is what diapers and plastic bags are for. Plastic bags are for scooping your dog's poop, too.

Ugh. The only dog in the world I really like is Pepper, my parents' black standard poodle. And even Pepper better not stick her nose in my crotch. I don't own a gun, but plenty of my neighbors do. Perhaps I could borrow a rifle...maybe even one in pink.

Happy 4th, David Dear!

2011-08-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Our sweet David turned 4 years old! Now he says he will do everything himself. We'll see how that goes, since he loves to be "Team Two" with Mom so I'll help him with PJs, bed-making, and other chores.

Let me say a few words about what I love about David. He is so much fun! He is cheerful and helpful, and is getting better at playing with Rachel (she's more fun now that she walks!). He tells me "I love you!" multiple times every day, making my heart sing. He is smart and curious, and Taylor and I sometimes look at each other and say, "We're having this conversation with a four year old!" He is gregarious and friendly to all (though he can get possessive and obsessive about toys!). He says the sweetest prayers (and is working hard to make them unique, not just "Thank you for this day. Thank you for my soft bed. Amen"). He loves to read in bed each night (and usually falls asleep with the light on). I love reading to him, too. And singing, each and every night.

My neighbor, who teaches a class of Primary kids, says that David is the sweetheart of Junior Primary. She says that every time he makes a comment, everyone oohs and aahs and says how cute. Not sure he needs that much attention! They did ask him to give a talk (1-2 minutes) in the upcoming Primary Program. Guess I've got something to start working on with him!

I tell him, "You made me a Mommy. Before you came, I was 'Lisa,' but I was not 'Mommy.' Thank you for being our miracle, David!"

Happy Birthday, Cutie! We sure love you!

More Discovery Museum

2011-08-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

I took the kids up to the Discovery Museum in SLC again (and renewed our membership for another 6 months). Rachel now counts as a paying visitor! Well, I think she got her money's worth -- she had a blast.

Kids at Play

2011-08-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

The new funnest thing in our house are our old mattresses. I think every Rampton child slept on these two mattresses at one point in their growing up. We inherited them, along with a really nice set of two handcrafted twin beds, a desk with bookshelf, and a chest of drawers, from my parents. But I felt guilty hearing David say, in almost every bedtime prayer: "Thank you for my soft bed." His bed was not soft, and it was something like 25 years old!

Costco had a good sale on twin mattresses, so I purchased two. Now the old mattresses are used as a slide down the stairs. David loves it, and Rachel will even try to climb the slide herself. She likes to slide down as well.

So Tired

2011-08-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Guess we needed to put her down for her nap a little earlier than we did! Sorry about this, Rachel!

Love Notes

2011-08-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

I woke up to these sticky notes on the counter/cupboard. Is it any surprise I'm smitten?!

Our Growing Garden

2011-08-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Our garden (and our grass) look really good this year. Amazing what water will do in the desert! (We didn't water enough last year, in part because we were discouraged after learning that we have no top soil layer.)

It's been fun to grab cilantro, lettuce, sweet peas, and beans to eat from the garden. Flowers are starting to bloom, too. Corn, tomatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkin, and red pepper will come before long. Yum!

David helped put many of the seeds in, and sometimes helps with weeding (see below), so it's fun for him now to reap the benefits. He just sat amongst the sweet peas and ate and ate -- and loved it!

Camping Out

2011-08-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

We had promised David we would camp out one of these nights. So last night, after Rachel was down, Taylor and David spent an hour setting up tents and sleeping bags. We have a 2-person tent for Taylor and me, and David has a play tent (we later realized you need the real thing!).

We stayed up late watching Indian in the Cupboard, and finally went outside very late at night.

And then we couldn't sleep! Well, David did fall right asleep. But Taylor and I couldn't sleep. There was so much wind coming in from the canyon, and the tents were flapping all over the place. I did doze off for a while, but Taylor did not. At 1 am, we were both awake and I said, "That's it!" I packed up, bringing David in to sleep in the piano room.

In the morning, he wasn't bothered (our big fear). He fell asleep outside, which was the big thing for him. He wants to do this on every birthday. I don't think Taylor and I are up for that!

Rachel is One!

2011-08-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Rachel turned one yesterday! We feel so much gratitude that she has blessed our lives for the past year. She adds so much our family, and we love her so much!

But apparently I didn't give her enough nap time this morning. This is how she arrived at her birthday picnic:

We tried to transport her car seat to the picnic spot without waking her, but were unsuccessful (I almost never am able to keep her asleep through such a move!). So she began her party a little grumpily.

David was excited to help her unwrap the presents, blow out the candle, and so forth. Glad that he still gets such joy when the presents aren't his!

Rachel's birth mother sent a package with a lovely card and gifts. One was a lion, because we had told her that Rachel likes to growl. Rachel loved it! Another gift was an alphabet photo book, with photos from Rachel as a newborn in the hospital. We will cherish it always.

David and I had decided to make snickerdoodle cookies (our first time ever) for Rachel's party. We did that in the afternoon. Rachel went a little crazy about the cookies! She burst into tears when she saw the container but didn't yet have a cookie.

The tears stopped once she got a cookie...and another one...and another one...and another. She manhandled most of the dozen cookies I brought, except for 2 I hid behind my back for Taylor and me.

However, then she saw Taylor try to sneak a bite of his cookie...

We're calling Rachel the "food hog" these days. She is happy nearly all the time...except when she's eating. She loves to eat, but she spends most of her time fussing if she sees anyone eating something she doesn't get (a raw carrot was a big problem of late). We hope she grows out of this phase before school -- can you just picture her walking around the cafeteria demanding everyone else's food?! :)

In the end, all the cookies got to her tummy. We had put her to bed and were watching Indian in the Cupboard with David (staying up way too late). She woke and wouldn't stop fussing. When I checked on her, she had vomited all over herself -- too much of a good thing, I guess!

On My Mind: Room

2011-08-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

Room by Emma Donoghue

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really liked this book. I think what was most meaningful to me was Jack's comment that parents on Outside don't seem to like their kids. They call them "sweetie" and "hon" but don't appear to enjoy actually being with them. That was a great reminder to me to enjoy my time with my kids, and let them see that. Our world is so frantic, that it's easy to want to rush to this and that. I was amazed at all Ma thought to do to engage Jack's mind, in a space of 11 X 11. I would lose my mind. And it clearly was insanely hard on Ma, too. But out of love for Jack she made Room a place of love and learning.

I also just liked Jack's narration. At first I thought the absence of articles (the/a/an) was poor writing - what 5 year old doesn't use those? But then I realized the situation: there was only Room, and Rug, and Watch. There were not multiple objects to distinguish. More than that, I loved getting Jack's view of the world.

We talked about this book in my book club last night, and it was a great one for discussion.

View all my reviews

Family Photos

2011-08-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of snapshots from this week. Rachel has started to toddle!

And Taylor imitating a chipmunk, with grapes:

Chores: Getting Dressed

2011-08-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

David is in this funny between stage. On the one hand, he wants to do lots of things himself, and can do more and more things. Yet on the other hand, he wants me to oversee or help him along half the time. Some days it takes him 30+ minutes to get dressed. This can drive me cuckoo! :)

I'm trying to make dressing more fun. He isn't yet at the stage where he always wants to choose his clothes (though some days he does insist, and he is quite good at matching colors, fortunately). Sometimes I'll lay out his clothes on the floor. I switch the heads around: sometimes it's a drawing of David that he and I made; sometimes it's Cinderbritches, the pinata head he made at preschool last summer; most recently I used the paper bag hippo that he made in Primary (with the line: "If I can say 'hippopotamus,' I can say 'I'm sorry.'"

Chores: Making the Bed

2011-08-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to encourage David to make his bed each morning. I spread out the big comforter, which is unwieldy for him, and then he decorates the bed with animals, blankets, books, whatever. Each day he has a different configuration. I love it!

Unofficial 20th: Brunch at Trina's

2011-08-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Some of my close friends from high school gathered for Sunday brunch yesterday morning. We weren't able to stay for the whole thing -- we squeezed it in between church and last-minute packing. But it was great to be with them, and David and Rachel loved all the fun things to explore in Trina's yard: a trampoline, a dog, chickens (David threw all the feed to them!), a playset. Very fun!

Jen Nash

Tonya Rawie

Hostess Trina Jarvis McGaughy

Amy Trueba Knudson

Sweet David

2011-08-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

By Tutu and Gumpa's barn

20th Reunion: Cloud 9

2011-07-31T21:08:00.000-07:00

Me, Cisca, Chanira

The last official event for our 20th reunion was held at the bistro/bar "Cloud 9" in Corvallis. First time I've been. Unlike Friday night at the 101, we had the place to ourselves until 10:30 or so. Once again, super loud, but still fun to catch up with people.

Chanira, Cisca, Kristine

Heather Wray __, me, Erika Lassen Neyt

Date Night with my Love

2011-07-31T21:03:00.000-07:00

Mom took some nice photos of Taylor and me before we left for the last reunion event. This dress was a birthday gift from Taylor, one of the Shabby Apple dresses. I love the style and color, though the frayed flower worries me, a lot. (A different dress from has fabric that frayed to the seam, making a tear. Argh!!)

20th Reunion: We Rock!

2011-07-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

My high school (Crescent Valley) had a smart way of deferring graffiti: they put a huge rock near the entrance to the school parking lot -- a spot everyone would see each day -- and allowed us to spray paint that. I know there was still some graffiti, but I do think that cut back. If you wanted to blaze some message before the world, you painted the rock. I painted it twice in high school: once, on "official business" with Kelly Davis, painting it to look like the yearbook cover so we could photograph it and then have that on the cover page of the yearbook; and another time in the middle of the night with my good friend Matt Sherry. Matt, what were we writing on it? Why can't I remember?

The rock grew in the 20 years since we graduated. I think it was my brother Marcus's class who dumped a bunch of cement onto the rock, doubling (and angularizing - is that a word?) its size.

Well as Cisca and Kristine drove me home from the Moks', we passed by the rock. Cisca said, "Why don't we paint it?" My smile was HUGE, I'm told. My parents had spray paint, so off we went.

A sheriff's car passed by twice. We felt very naughty, and I even threw the spray paint can the 2nd time he came by (trying to be innocent). We got the giggles thinking of being arrested, in our late 30s, in broad daylight, for painting "CV 1991" on the Rock. Luckily it still is allowed, so we didn't have to talk to the nice policeman.

It was a hoot. I plan to do this every time I go home for a high school reunion!

20th Reunion: The Moks

2011-07-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

After the BBQ, Taylor took the kids home so Rachel could nap. I went with Cisca Mok and Kristine Penn to Cisca's home. Chanira (Reang) and her family joined us, too. It was nice to sit on their deck with all the beautiful trees around us and catch up.

Cisca and I had lots of classes together. She was particularly critical in Algebra II/Trigonometry sophomore year. That year I was overworked, and my 1st period was Chem (dull) and my 2nd period was math (I had loved math till that point, but this teacher kind of was a "boys club" guy, and it turned me off). I was so sleepy that I would fall asleep every day in class, in the back of the room. Not like the teacher couldn't see me or anything. Cisca would wake me every day when the bell rang so I could get up and go to my next class! What are good friends for?

I pulled an 89.4% in that class, and no, the teacher would not round up. Would you? Would I, having taught high school for 10 years? Nope. Still, we didn't have + or - -- and 89.4 was a B. Shucks!

20th Reunion: BBQ

2011-07-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

I'm super happy that the organizers planned a family-oriented aspect to our 20th year high school reunion. We had a BBQ at Avery Park, with the train (always there, though David's first time seeing it) and some rented blow-up jumping toys.

Cisca with Chanira's kids. She's so much fun with them!

Tia Brown Barth and her three kids. She was our senior class president,

and we both went to Stanford together. A dear friend!

20th Reunion: 101

2011-07-29T23:35:00.000-07:00

I almost bailed on the first event of my 20th year high school reunion. I am not one who avoided the reunion completely, or thought it would be lame. I was excited to see people again. High school was fun, and though I don't want to go relive the glory days, it's good to see the people you spent lots of your waking hours with.

But this event was held at a bar, and I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to sloshed people. So I almost chickened out. Luckily most of the people kept their wits about them. Acoustics are of course terrible, but I managed. I thought we'd stay 30-60 minutes, and instead we stayed 3 hours.

Some people who meant a lot to me I've just lost contact with, and seeing them again was really fun. I also just enjoyed chatting with people who were more acquaintances than friends - it's fun to be adults and not worry about who is cool and who is in what clique and so forth. IDK - perhaps some people still were worrying about that, but it felt like everyone was just glad to see everyone.

Didn't take any photos here, however.

Grandma Dorothea

2011-07-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

Since I'm still catching up on old blogs, I'm actually writing this two days after my grandma turned 103! (She and Rachel share the same birthday.) She is a beautiful, sweet, loving woman. I'm sure lucky she is my grandma!

I got teary-eyed at the end of my visit to her. Presently we don't have another visit scheduled to Oregon (two within two weeks of each other was a lot!), and I fear I may not get to see her again alive. That makes me really sad, especially since she is my last living grandparent. I don't want my dad to be an orphan! But on the other hand, her body is so weak, and since I do believe in an afterlife, and the reunion of families there, I want her to be able to see her husband, my Grandpa Bear; her daughter Alice who died at age 16 in a car accident; my little sister Lora; her own parents; all her long-gone friends and family.

Grandma was amazingly strong for so very long. In her mid-80s, she and Grandpa (nearly 90) visited me in Jerusalem. The tour guide mistook them for young 60- or 70-somethings and ran them into the ground. I think it took about 3 weeks of R&R to recoup once they got home. But they loved their visit. Good genes and lots of homemade (Grandma) and homegrown (Grandpa) food must account for it.

My Amazing Mom

2011-07-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a neat blog article about my mom, from a series known as "The Real Housewives of Benton County."

In Her Place

2011-07-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

A conversation with David a few days ago. We had heard from his Sunday School teacher that, when talking about the temple in Sunbeams, David had announced that he was planning to marry Rachel. We were trying to explain that he would find someone else to love and cherish:

Lisa: You will find someone beautiful and marry her.
Taylor: And if she’s not beautiful?
David: If she’s not beautiful then I will put her back in her place.

We haven't laughed that hard in a looong time!

So Behind!

2011-07-24T21:18:00.001-07:00

I'm incredibly behind on blogging. I haven't even posted pictures of our lovely painted walls (thanks to Dixie), which we've been enjoying for 2 months now.

I'll start back-posting. Progress may be slow! :)

Bobby & Jessica's Oregon Reception

2011-07-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

Except for the photo above, which Anna took, all of these photos were taken by Stephanie Zahlmann of 50 Toes Photography. Stephanie, is it OK for me to post these here? You posted them on Facebook, but I'll take them down if need be. You took fabulous shots!! If you're in Corvallis and need a fantastic photographer, contact Stephanie (szahlmann@gmail.com).

Da Vinci Days: Corvallis' Arts & Science Festival

2011-07-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Three Musketeers

I actually missed attending a lot of what is pictured here (Rachel needed a nap, and by the time we caught up with the group, the parade and a lot of exploring was over). Corvallis is the coolest town ever for having a festival like this! Don't you think Springville, which calls itself the "Arts City," should have a similar arts and science festival every fall? I sure do!

Rampton Reunion: Photo Shoot

2011-07-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

For a year or so my family has been planning to have a reunion this July. However, then Bobby and Jessica got married, so the reunion also became a second reception for them. It was a busy weekend, but fun to see everyone!

Highlights include having the Aquatic Center to ourselves Thursday night, going to DaVinci Days, cousin time, family photo shoot, pizza at American Dream, and the reception itself. It was also nice to have Meta and Becca give me advice on several Shabby Apple dresses I had ordered (no sales tax if delivered to Oregon!); I wanted to keep a few but not the 10 I had delivered!! I'm back-blogging, so I'm going to date this to the evening it occurred, though I'm writing the text much later.

Here I'll post photos from our family photo shoot (well, not the high quality ones taken by Holly Peterson of Ball Studio, but some we snapped with our own cameras):

The "Quints" (cousins born 2007):

Family Swim Night

2011-07-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

My parents reserved the Aquatic Center for all of the family to enjoy. It was a blast! And I even swam a few laps, since "Tutu" (my mom) took care of David the whole time. Wow!

Hiking the Y

2011-07-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

Tonight we hiked the Y with my brother Bobby, his new wife Jessica, two of Jess's sisters, and her mom. I should clarify and say that Bobby hiked the Y with Rachel in the Ergo carrier, and usually either David or Jess's youngest sister on his shoulders. That's an extra 52 pounds at least, not including the backpack he was hauling. He's one strong man!

I had said I'd carry Rachel, but that Y hike is steep!

Despite the fact that David was carried a decent portion of the walk, I was proud of him. We had always said we'd do a big hike when he was 5 (Sara, I know we're lame compared to the Egberts!), so I lavished him with praise for doing this hike as a 3 year old. Tonight as he prayed, he paused mid-prayer to tell me: "Mom, God is saying 'Wow!' because I hiked the Y." Taylor and I bust up laughing!

Vancouver, BC

2011-07-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

We had a fun trip up to Vancouver. It started out chaotically (I'll post Taylor's email to our fam at the bottom), but settled down thereafter. It was our first time trying to vacation with two kids (trips to relatives' homes don't count, because you have extra help!), and it was a learning curve. One day we didn't even leave the hotel till after 12 noon because Rachel needed an early nap.

And my desire to "just walk the streets" didn't work so well with two kids in tow and Taylor at his conference, especially since I parked in a spot I had to move from only 50 minutes later...and didn't see the time till everything/one was out of the car. Or David wished to walk like this:

Still, it was a lot of fun! Here are highlights:

Sunday: Whistler. Taylor and I ended up being too frugal to spend $100 on the lift. But we really liked the pedestrian mall area of Whistler (ice cream!), and enjoyed seeing dirt bikers speed down the mountain.

Dum, da-dum, dum, DUMB!

Garden of Eden?

Monday: Capilano Dam & Salmon Hatchery; Maplewood Farm

Tuesday & Wednesday: Granville Island; attempted to visit Telus World of Science (but it was closing in 20 minutes)

Thursday: Vancouver Aquarium: This was a lot of fun. Rachel went crazy seeing the fish swim around. David especially liked the dolphin show.

Friday: Bainbridge Island, where we saw Julia & Victor Cheng and their three adorable girls. Julia was in Larkin Dorm freshman year with me, so it was really fun to catch up. Bainbridge Island is beautiful, and they were so warm and welcoming!
Saturday: Ferry from Bainbridge back to Seattle, fly home

If you want to know of the adventure at the start, here is Taylor's description of our first 24 hours:

Sunday, June 26, 2011. Vancouver, British Columbia

Well, Saturday was quite the day. Anyone who says that they love to travel has probably never travelled.

As we prepared to leave yesterday, Lisa and I had a “disagreement” about David wearing sandals and the potential for his feet to get stinky and then we’d have to drive in a stinky car. It was a rather silly dispute that it led to us leaving the house for the airport 30 minutes later than we had planned. We had planned to leave at 2:30 pm for a 5:00 pm flight out of SLC, but didn’t pull away until 3:00 pm. Well, we had to drop off a movie and then books at the library. And then we were significantly delayed by an accident north of University Parkway on I-15. By that point, I knew we were going to miss our flight. So I called Delta from the road. It took about 30 minutes of being on the phone, but the agent was able to rebook all 3 of us together on the next flight out (at 7:58 pm).

We decided to go to the Discovery Museum in Salt Lake with the extra time (3 hours) that we now had on hand. We spent a bit over an hour there, and then decided to get dinner at Wendy’s. While I was ordering, Lisa took Rachel to a grassy area to change Rachel’s diaper. After dinner, I asked Lisa where the car keys were, which I had given her so that she could get diaper items for Rachel. We couldn’t find them anywhere! The car was locked and I was confident that they were inside. It was about 6:15 pm and we had to be checked in at the airport in 30 minutes. At this point I said, “Well, we may just miss this flight as well!” I started to call AAA to see if we could get a locksmith out. But a moment later, Lisa found the keys buried in the grass. Relief! I started to laugh that the Delta agent was not going to appreciate me calling back and asking for a change of ticket a second time for 3 people and to expect to not get charged the $50 per ticket (he didn’t charge us the potential $150 the first time).

So we drove to the airport, parked in long-term parking, took the bus to the Delta Terminal and proceeded to get checked in. It was a lot of work to get ourselves on and off the bus and to the check in. For the two adults travelling (Lisa and me) we had a total of eleven (!) additional items to be worried about, two of those being small human beings. We had David, Rachel, two large suitcases, Lisa’s backpack, Taylor’s computer bag, Rachel’s diaper bag, a small suitcase, two car seats, and a stroller. When I got on the bus and after we had crowded out nearly every other human being, because of our belongings, I exclaimed loudly, “Oh shoot! We forgot something!” I gave a short pause and then said, “the kitchen sink!”

The two large suitcases cost us an extra $50 because I forgot that each checked bag is $25. While checking in, the agent told me to put the car seat on the conveyer belt to get sent to the plane. I wasn’t paying attention to the specific instructions. I put Rachel’s car seat on the belt before it was ticketed (which means that there was no way for bag handlers to know where to send it!). The agent had been referring to David’s car seat. The Delta agent then had to run into the back, after getting us checked in, to see if she could route the untagged car seat to our final destination.

After we made it through security, I noticed I missed two phones calls. It was from the baggage area asking where they should send Rachel’s car seat (we did have identifying information, such as my phone number, on the car seat). While trying to reach them on the phone, and wanting to go to the bathroom, I wasn’t paying attention and walked into the Women’s bathroom. I was all the way in there, oblivious to my circumstances when I heard Lisa’s name calling me, with concern, from outside the bathroom. Being the dutiful husband, I went back out of the bathroom (still on the phone waiting for someone in baggage to pick up) and she informed that I had gone into the wrong bathroom, just as several women walked in, looking at me funny (which is typical in most circumstances).

We finally boarded a very full flight. We’re thankful to the older lady who switched seats with us so that we could all sit in one row. She was probably grateful to not have to sit next to two little kids and me. Once settled in, we realized that we had brought absolutely nothing for David to do! Lisa was trying to get research in for her work with Charles Graham. So I tried to keep Rachel entertained while engaging David with invented games ("Open the Delta magazine and find the number '17'. Now find the world 'Delta.' How many people are in that picture? What are they doing?” etc.).

We had a nice flight with beautiful views of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. David did really well (especially loved having a full glass of orange juice and two packages of biscoff cookies). Rachel fell asleep in my arms for about an hour (she needed the nap).

At the Seattle airport, we were pleased to find both the car seats at the baggage claim. But then we discovered that David’s car seat had been broken during the travel. So we spent about 30 minutes in the claims area getting that resolved and getting a new, functioning car seat issued to us. It was now 9:30 pm and we still had to drive to Vancouver for the night!

We then took about 25 minutes getting transferred to Advantage Rent a Car and another 30 minutes to secure and pack the car. It was 10:30 pm local time before we finally got on the road for Vancouver. And yes, we still had more than 3 hours of driving in front of us. Lisa asked why we hadn’t thought to rent a hotel room in Seattle! Well, we hadn’t thought to miss our original flight and have broken car seats and, etc.

Because I had been hoping to pack lighter and didn’t want glass jars of baby food to break, we had planned to stop at a store along the way to stock up. And we made this plan when we assumed we’d arrive in Seattle by 6 pm with plenty of time to shop and leisurely make our way to Vancouver. Not knowing the area at all, it took us three tries of blind-guess exiting along the I-5 before we found a store AND it was open. Shopping took nearly 30 minutes and then we were on the road again. Who knows what time it was at that point!

We finally made it to the US/Canada border crossing, perhaps near 1:15 am. At the border crossing, we had two problems. When we stopped, I had opened the trunk to get our passports. We then discovered that the $200 charge to rent the car apparently didn’t include a functioning trunk. It wouldn’t shut! However, one car stopped to help us out and then several border patrol agents came over as well. After about 15 minutes they created a temporary fix. When we attempted to officially pass the border, however, we learned that we would not be allowed to do so because we didn’t have a birth certificate for Rachel. Though the adoption was finalized 4 months ago, the state has still NOT sent us the birth certificate. Without it, you can’t get a social security card and so during tax season we couldn’t even claim Rachel because we had no tax-official way to identify her as a dependent (she’ll owes us big time after she graduates from college…and finds a job…and pays off her other debts). So, we were required to all pile out of the car (yes and wake our two sleeping kids who have now been tortured by insane parents for nearly 12 hours straight, it was about 1:30 am at this point, 2:30 am Springville time), head into the office and try to get things sorted out. The agent there, after taking to us for a bit, asked if we were Mormon. “Yes” was the reply. With a few phone calls to the US border agents to see if they would accept an adoption decree (in place of a birth certificate) on our future reentry, the agent let us through, having received confirmation that the US would not give us a problem when we sought reentry. I not sure why the agent knew we were Mormon and how that affected her decision making. All we know is that the agent had lived in St. George for a while.

Back on the road in Canada we headed for the hotel. By the time we got to the Ramada on Hastings street, got totally unloaded and situated it was 3:30 am (4:30 am Springville time!). I joked with the hotelier when we checked in, “Hey, can we get the prorated rate for tonight?” He actually said “The prorated rate?” He didn’t know what I was talking about and we didn’t get a discount (except on the number of hours I got to sleep last night). I lay down to sleep a bit after 3:30 am. Rachel woke up 30 minutes later wanting a diaper change and a bottle. She was up again at 7:30 am for good. Nothing like being an early riser!

I hope that the rest of our travels are not so exciting.

Anyone who says that they love to travel must certainly be completely innocent of what travelling really entails.

PS: Why am I up until past 11:00 pm recording this?? Because Rachel still won’t fall asleep. Not only has she tortured me with sleep deprivation today, as I write this, she is torturing me by pulling my leg hairs! What are kids learning these days in the premortal world??? Something has got to change. Perhaps I could get the federal government to institute a program.

More Crazy Sleeping

2011-06-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

I've blogged before about David's crazy sleep patterns. Here are a few more photographs to show you his style!

The last one is from Vancouver. We decided to stay one extra night, but, being the night before Canada Day, all the double rooms were booked and we had to leave the one we'd stayed in. In our new room, with just one bed, we told David he was going to get to be a bear sleeping in a cave. In the closet space, we layered up several thick blankets; he said it was really cozy!

Nothing is Safe Anymore!

2011-06-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

Rachel is getting increasingly mobile. Her latest stunt is to climb into the drawers of the train table (or onto the top of the table itself). She just loves to move.

She is fearless, too. She threw herself off the bed at our hotel the other night. Taylor was right there next to her, but before he could grab her she had catapulted off the bed. That did scare her (hopefully she won't do it again!), though she wasn't hurt.

She does often have little scrapes on her forehead these days, though. So much activity, and not enough coordination yet! :)

Thank You, Dixie!

2011-06-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Finally, the eye shadow compact look is gone from our walls. Dixie Hall, who is like an aunt to me, did a fabulous job painting our walls. David adored her, and loved gabbing with her as she painted. He was excited to learn Dixie had had a horse named Sunny when she was a girl. (Spirit is his favorite movie right now.)

I can't remember if there was ever a time in my life when I didn't know Dixie, and her roommate Judy Norman. Judy was friends with my parents when my dad was in med school, and at some point Judy and Dixie met and became good friends. Judy just retired from the Social Work department at BYU. Dixie is an artist, painter, and wood-restoration expert (is there a simpler title?). They live in SLC very close to the U of U campus, in a home that Dixie has restored and made really beautiful.

Dixie and Judy would sing "I Love You, A Bushel and a Peck" to us. Now I sing that to David and Rachel. They both came to our sealing to Rachel, too. Thanks for being there with us!

Coming Soon: Vancouver!

2011-06-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

still need time to go through lots of photos!

Food Faces

2011-06-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

Rachel makes the funniest faces when trying new foods. She is a good eater (one friend says she "eats like an elephant") and gets excited when she gets to eat what we are eating.

But she also usually grimaces if it's a new taste. We went out to Gloria's Italian in Provo for our anniversary (yesterday). We ordered mint gelato, and this is Rachel's reaction.

By the way: Gloria has the best ever lentil soup. If I knew how to make it, I think I would eat that every single day.

We Love Books!

2011-06-17T22:17:00.000-07:00

Catch that Ball!

2011-06-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Carnival

2011-06-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

David also went on a ferris wheel for the first time. I thought we had photos of those but will have to look more.

Lots of fun, and then we listened to about 30 minutes of a concert in the Art City Park. I love dancing so danced all around with David and Rachel. I probably embarrass my husband, but I can't help dancing when the music if fun!

Beautiful Colorado

2011-06-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Wow. Colorado is so lovely. I love the green, especially as it contrasts with the red rock. I'm a member of SNOB (Society of Native Oregon Born) -- Oregon is the best state in the nation, IMHO. However, after driving through Colorado, I felt like I could move to Colorado Springs in a heartbeat.

Just a few shots from our return from Bobby and Jessica's wedding. Our lens wasn't working so we used Taylor's cell phone - not quite the quality, but they still capture the beauty and color.

In the shot below, you see us at the top of Pike's Peak. The plaque in the left side of the photo is of the lyrics to "America the Beautiful." Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the lyrics:

"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward.
Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, Pikes Peak, first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical The Congregationalist in 1895. At that time, the poem was titled America for publication.

Ward had originally written the music, Materna, for the 19th century hymn O Mother dear, Jerusalem in 1882. Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled America the Beautiful.

The song is one of the most beloved and popular of the many American patriotic songs.^[1] From time to time it has been proposed as a replacement for The Star-Spangled Banner as the National Anthem...