Where I have been

Didn't I mention that my blog wasn't working for me anymore, so I was working on a new plan? Yeah, my new plan is much slicker and seems to be working so far. You don't get a lot of commentary and me sharing my thoughts on all kinds of ideas, but I doubt anyone misses that. That's what I have a journal for, and Sophie would be so proud of me if I would utilize it more. To get to the point, you can now find me over at Instagram: click here.

It's My Party

Let me start by just telling you how much I hate my computer. It is making me very unhappy lately, but Chloe has the day off school (which means Sophie does too), and she was nice enough to loan me her computer so I could get this post done. What a nice kid I'm raising.

Since I don't seem capable of keeping this blog up very well, I'm trying to find a new solution. I have an idea, but we'll see. I have a new phone coming today and it kind of depends on it. I need a mobile device that takes decent shots. Anyway, my point here is that I have skipped over a lot of stuff going on but rather than dragging this post out like I tend to do, I'm just hopping right to my birthday. After all, that's the most important event, right? And it's going to be plenty long as is.

So, yeah, I'm officially "old" (as some people like to tell me). Again, I have great kids who don't make me feel that way, so I'm just going to ignore those other voices. But my mother started a tradition when Shane turned 40. He got a big party, so now she has to do it for everyone. Unfortunately, I'm the black sheep of the family, and people don't exactly consider my interests fun, but you know what? I didn't care. I picked something I wanted to do. We went to the new Family Discovery Center on temple square, and learned about who we are and where we came from.

When you get there they give you an iPad that you can log into your FamilySearch account on, and then as you take it around to the different stations you dock the iPad and it pulls up your information.

Here Sophie is learning all about her name. It tells you what your name means, how many people share your name, and the origin of it.

Chloe is in this cool booth -- that basically shows pictures of your ancestors. It's also supposed to show stories, but I don't think we had any written up (mine are all downloaded, and it doesn't work with those).

This mirror was really funky. It's supposed to show how we are all connected. It has these bands in it so that you can only view your side on half the mirror, and the bands on the other side are placed so that you will see the other person on the other half. Is that making any sense? You'll just have to look at the pictures to see.

This is me looking in the mirror, with Chloe on the other side. Can you see both of us in the picture? I think it would be cool if we wore the same clothes.

When I look at this picture I totally see Sophie -- but it's just Chloe and I. I guess Soph is a good mix of the two of us.

And then this one is taken from the opposite side of the mirror, so now the parts of Chloe and I are switched.

Lark was taking all those pictures for us, and was very nervous that she can't take good pictures. So then I tried to take one of her and my dad -- you can see how much better she did. They were hard to get lined up correctly! Plus, I just didn't try very hard.

Guess where we found Brandon? Yup, playing with the kids.

We were a little concerned that my party wouldn't have much for the little ones to do, but they seemed to occupy themselves just fine.

And Chloe occupied herself with this cutie.

Archer thinks all he has to do is hold something in front of his face, and I won't take his picture. It didn't work.

And then I even caught him without hiding his face.

When we were all done we went outside to get our obligatory group shot.

Since we were just killing time outside (it was a beautiful day), I asked Sophie to do a little impromptu photo shoot of me and my husband. I don't get very many pictures of the two of us. I should fix that. Sophie freaked out about having to operate the camera, but I gave her some tips and she did great!

Then it was finally time to go eat some lunch! We went to Blue Lemon, so I could have their black bean ravioli. Yuu-um! And sweet potato fries!

{Sophie got on my computer to play, and just said, "I see why you hate your computer."}

After stuffing ourselves, there was some singing. I took this shot to remember Elsie and her enthusiastic singing. You would have thought the party was for her. And yes, she is wearing my Happy Birthday necklace. I let her keep it.

After singing I opened some gifts. My mom had suggested that everyone give me 40 of something:

• Jason gave me 40 wildflower seeds.
• Lark gave me 40 parsley seeds.
• Dallas gave me a list of 40 adjectives that describe me.
• Ross gave me a framed collage of "40 Things we Love About Candi."
• Brandon gave me 40 kisses (but I think that was supposed to be a secret. Sorry B!)
• Chloe gave me 40 chocolate covered cherries.
• Sophie gave me 40 junior mints (or what was 40 before they melted into one).
• Dad gave me 40 peas from his garden and 40 peanuts.
• Mom went a little overboard (as usual) and gave me 40 essential oils (including a few other Doterra products).

Thanks everyone for such a fun day!

Randomness

Just a few random things I don't want to forget:

Brandon's project this summer has turned to the yard. I took over the garden (to give him a break), but I haven't done very well. He has been taking down fences. First, he did the one in the back that runs along the canal, but he left the posts so we could run wire for the grapes to grow on. Now he's been working on the front fence that separated the yard from the field. We have no use for it, since we don't have animals, and this will open up the yard to help with our "master plan."

This is Sophie helping to dig out a fence post. We now have them all out, just need to figure out how to break up the concrete so we can dispose of them.

Sophie's foremost wish for her birthday this year was a giant stuffed bear. No way was I getting it for her. My mom wanted to get it for her, but she is well aware of the state of Sophie's room, so she thought about it but in the end went with something else. Lark got her a shirt, that turned out to be too small so she said she would exchange it. Well, after a few weeks Sophie got an email from her that said, "your gift is on its way, I hope it's not too small" (or something to that effect). Well, her package arrived, and it was not too small. We've actually not received confirmation that it was from Lark, but that's our best guess. She is one happy girl. She hasn't come up with a name for it yet, though. I told her to name it Reba (but unfortunately it's a boy), and Brandon calls it Pineapple. She doesn't care for that, but I think it's going to stick. Especially since she's been gone for so long, and that's the name we call him.

Sophie took off for Indiana the same day as the StudioC season 6 kickoff party, so she missed out. I still got to take Chloe, and we had a great time. They played a game of bubble soccer with 8 fans who had previously been chosen (we did not enter that contest), there was a short Q&A session, followed by throwing out some prizes (t-shirts, bracelets, water bottles -- that kind of stuff), and then we got to watch the full first episode on the giant screens -- 2 whole days before it was aired on TV.

I should also mention that I am now working in the young women program. I was called to be the first counselor, which puts me over the Mia Maids (14 & 15 year olds). I think it's a little hard for Chloe to have me there, but it will be alright. One of our first activities I'm in there directing the girls to do something, and I could see both Chloe & Sophie looking at me like, "Mom, what are you doing telling these kids what to do?" They're getting used to it! I have an adviser who teaches all the Sunday lessons, and my Mia Maid president (the girls get mad at me for calling her mine) is so on top of all the weekly activities that I don't have to do anything. It's great! Our first presidency meeting I sat down with her, she opened up a notebook and said, "OK, I've got a bunch of ideas," so we just started filling in the calendar. Her first request -- drumroll, please... was to do family history. I knew from that moment on we were going to get along great (OK, honestly, I already knew I liked her because she is friends with my kids). But then her second request was to learn photography, and have me take some pictures of them for the board in the YW room. When I went back to report to the YW president, she was shocked we had every activity planned till the end of the year. Oh, and when I told them about our family history idea they all wanted to join in, so we made it a combined activity, but then I went to schedule the library and we couldn't get the date we wanted so we'll just have to wait until January.

I'm sure everyone knows about Ross, but for my journaling purposes, here's the story. He went to the doctor for a fever that wouldn't go away and found out that he had an infection in his blood. They put him in the ICU, and as soon as he was feeling better he went home. He didn't feel better for long, though, and went back to the hospital. They ended up sending him to Murray where he could get better care. He was in the ICU there for several days, and then they moved him to a regular room to monitor him. I don't know how long he was there, but because of his heart condition we were all pretty worried about him. Sure enough, the infection spread to his heart, so he had to have open heart surgery to replace his pulmonary valve. He's been in the hospital recovering for almost a week now, but will hopefully get to go home soon (where he'll have a 6 week recovery period).

The good news from all of this is that I got to spend a day watching these two critters (see below). Chloe was so anxious to get home from school so she could help out. She had a fun time playing with Nigel, and I got lots of sweet cuddles from Alfie.

Mackinaw

It was Sophie's turn to choose our vacation this year. She initially wanted to go on a cruise, but I have yet to discover where these great deals are that everyone claims cruises to be. Every time she tried to make a decision a problem would arise. So she kept going back to the idea of Mackinac Island. That was truthfully her first choice, but we learned early on that staying on the island is not practical (to stay in a cottage they require a 30 day "lease," and simple hotel rooms were over $700 a night!) If we couldn't stay on the island she didn't want to go, so a cruise it was.

Then the cruise idea didn't pan out, so I tried to convince her that staying near Mackinac Island would still be a fun option. I got on Air B&B and tried to find a fun place to rent, but we couldn't find anything there either. We did find some fun homes on Tybee Island (Savannah, GA), of course. Even though I was just there I told her I wouldn't mind going back, but somehow along the line her heart softened to staying in a hotel in Michigan.

Sophie is awesome with money. She has learned at a young age to be smart with it, and how to save, and how to bargain shop. She found us a pretty cheap hotel in Mackinaw City. I told her it was OK to spend a little more to get a nicer hotel, but the hotel ended up not being as bad as I had imagined. It was right on the beach, where we spent much of our time.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, again. We left on Friday (the 28th) -- yes, Chloe missed a week of school, but I'm used to planning vacations during the off season and we're not afraid to skip out on a few days of school -- and that day was spent in an airport or on a plane. Our flight took us to Baltimore, and when Sophie realized that she kind of freaked out. I was just happy that she knew her geography enough to know that didn't make the most sense in getting us to Michigan. She made friends with the flight attendant, Stan. He was kind of mean to her at first, but she charmed him. When she asked for a root beer he thought she had said "beer," and I think he would have given it to her.

We flew in to Grand Rapids, and with such a late flight we just stayed in a hotel near the airport, then drove up to Mackinaw the next day. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive, so I took along the new Hank Smith CD (Fighting For, and Not With Your Family). That was good to listen to while we had the children trapped in a car . Brandon got pulled over just outside of Grayling for speeding (78 in a 55). Broke his record -- first time ever being pulled over. But the cop was very nice, and he didn't even get a ticket.

We had XM radio in the rental car, so we were flipping through the different stations, trying out new music. Our kids haven't been exposed to Elvis much. We found the Elvis station, and we had a good time laughing our heads off. The Hank Smith CD worked! Well, between him and Elvis -- gotta give them both some credit.

We had to make a pit stop in Gaylord at the nearest Walmart to Mackinaw (they're a little more rare in Michigan). We stocked up on food we would need for the Sabbath, as well as snacks for the week. Brandon suggested someone needs to create an employees of Walmart page (to go along with the people of Walmart). Man, did we have a nut for a checker! We didn't buy a whole lot, so I just had it all in a little basket. I put the basket up on the counter, but she did not want to ring us up until that basket had been emptied. She sat and took each item out, placed it on the counter, and then would scan it. Crazy lady! Oh, her name was Marie -- in case you ever see her on a website.

We did in fact make it to Mackinaw on Saturday evening. After checking into our hotel we went to dinner at an Italian place called Nonna Lisa's, and then went for a short walk on the beach.

Sunday was our day of rest. We spent it in the hotel pool, hanging out on the beach, and exploring/walking around town just a bit.

Monday we were ready to hit the island -- except that Chloe picked up a cold at her school that she was passing around to us all. Sophie had it for a day, and then was over it. Now it was mine and Brandon's turn.

There are three ferries that go to the island. Two of them are the same price, and the other is much cheaper. We purchased discount tickets from our hotel, and they were able to tell us why Arnold was cheaper. They don't go fast. So, you can pay more money and get there quicker, or less money and enjoy a leisurely boat ride. We like leisure. It was kind of gloomy going over the lake. It always felt really cloudy, but then you'd get out and it was sunny.

When we got to the island we were greeted by tons of bikes, a horse-drawn carriage (no cars allowed!), and even more people. It was a tad more crowded than I remember from the last time we were there. We spent some time just walking around, stopping every time we felt out of energy. Then we came back and headed up to the fort (Fort Mackinac). That was a bit of a hike for weak-feeling people, but once at the top it wasn't too hard to walk around through all the different rooms.

After we had seen all of the fort there was to see (or we cared to see), we went back to town. Sophie planned this trip with one thing in mind: Mackinac is famous for their fudge, so fudge we must get. I don't think their fudge is any different from any other fudge shop you may come across, but when in Mackinac.... I think there's a fudge shop about every 4 stores, Brandon says it's closer. Whatever. You can just go visit to find out which of us is correct. We went in 3 shops before we chose which one we wanted. Joann's it was. Brandon and I had Ryba's the last time we were there, so we wanted to try something different (Chloe kind of liked the idea of sticking to tradition). After getting our fudge (9 different flavors! and we all agree the sea salt caramel was the best), we had to hunt down our souvenir shirts. Chloe had already picked hers out at the Walmart in Gaylord, but Sophie and I waited till we got to the island. I haven't seen Sophie in hers yet, but I'll have to get a picture -- it say's "Got Fudge?"

Tuesday we had thought about visiting the lighthouse and Colonial Michilimackinac, but that cold decided we better just lay low. We just spent the day on the beach and swimming (I opted for a soak in the hot tub -- awww!).

Wednesday was time for us to leave. We packed up and headed back to Grand Rapids, but we had one stop to make on the way. I heard about this Jim Crow museum at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. We had planned to stop on our way up, but then found out they changed their hours and were no longer open on Saturdays, so we just moved our schedule around a bit. There's a Panera right across the street from the University, so we got to eat there (twice!). The museum has a collection of racial memorabilia. It's an interesting thing to see. The most educational part (I thought), though, was at the end. There was a group of African Americans who were walking around the museum alongside us. We conversed a bit, and it was interesting listening to their perspective as they discussed the relics. So, we thought we were done and on our way out, but the guy working at the museum invited us all to sit down and have a discussion. That's how I believe in teaching/learning. We sat and talked to these people, heard their stories, we got to share our perspective. I hope my kids got something out of it. Even though this was a beach vacation, I had to squeeze a little education in :)

Then we made it to our last hotel -- with an outdoor pool. The girls were so hyper, they just had a ball. Oh, and this hotel not only serves breakfast, but they also had dinner going when we got there. I wouldn't expect too much from a hotel free meal, but they did have a salad so we all grabbed some of that. Then it was back to the airport for our return trip. Luckily, it was pretty uneventful. Oh, we did have a short layover in Denver and just happened to run into our backyard neighbors. That was kind of fun. They were on their way to Nebraska for the BYU game, and we had just come from Michigan who was playing the U that weekend. I thought it was strange that we were still seeing a lot of Michigan t-shirts even after we got back to Utah.

It was late Thursday afternoon when we finally make it home. I had enough time to do some laundry, grocery shopping, and repack before Sophie left for Indiana early Saturday morning. My parents came down Friday night, and then I took them all to the airport Saturday. Sophie got to go with them to babysit while D&J went to Europe. Brandon has no desire to go to Europe, so I'll probably never make it. I'll just live vicariously through my family. But next year is Brandon's turn to choose our vacation, and I'm expecting quite an adventure!