Cross-Country Excursion

To infinity and beyond...!!!

That's what came to mind when sitting down to write this post. Perhaps it is because of Ben's Buzz Lightyear Halloween costume.

Perhaps it is because of the thousands of never-ending miles we traveled. Either way, here goes...

Glen had planned a little trip for us which included 11 states (only 10 states for me) and 5,222 miles (1,100 less miles for me) in 12 days. Some people called us crazy! Other people just thought it!

Most people thought it was an awful lot of tempting fate with that many potential-of-coming-into-contact-with-an-animal-on-the-road miles. Mercifully, we dodged all animals and the car arrived back home unscathed.

As usual, Glen consulted the stars (the BYU football game schedule) to see what our future (vacations) might have in store for us. Lo and behold--there were two away football games he thought would be fun to attend. He looked into his crystal ball (google maps) and devised a plan for getting his wife to go along with his idea to attend both of them during the same trip.

(Excuse all the references to Toy Story characters, fortune tellers, etc. It's Halloween and I have seen lots of crazy characters out there today causing my mind to wander into areas it usually doesn't ordinarily venture.)

With strategic stops along the way, Glen was sure he could sweet talk his way into convincing his traveling companion it was all going to be such a fun trip. Of course in the end, whatever Glen wants, Glen gets (when it comes to athletic events).  So over the river and through the woods to grandchildren's house we went!!!!

First stop--Omaha! Aren't these grandkids adorable? They all loved playing a dot connecting game on our ipad. It was Logan's turn and he didn't want to look up for a picture. Emma thought she would help out by holding his head. Not the happy face I had hoped to get.

Glen, Jacob and Jacob's friend had left the day before to drive to South Bend, Indiana. They were so excited to go to the football game at Notre Dame. I happily stayed behind to spend time with Laurie and the kids. It didn't make me sad at all to miss out on those extra 1,100 miles Glen spent in the car making that little side trip to Indiana and back.

We went to lunch at Schlotzsky's. Sarah is probably jealous seeing this because it used to be one of her favorite places to eat--before babies that is. Now that life is more complicated, she'll just have to live vicariously through us.

Schlotzsky's was my treat for surviving a shopping spree at Justice--Natalie's FAVORITE place to shop.

The guys drove straight home after the game and were home in time to go to church. Here are the girls all dressed up in our Sunday finery.

The kids loved playing games--board game and ipad game.

 Natalie and Emma had a good time texting family members while waiting for a turn on the ipad.

 Jacob even got a chance to try his skill at the dot game.

Next day Glen fixed french toast for the kids for breakfast before they went off to school.

 A few hours later we joined the girls at school for lunch. Natalie's lunch is first.

Then right as Natalie leaves, Emma's class enters the lunchroom. It took two lunch periods for Luke and Logan to finish their lunches.

Luke needed to get his lunch eaten so we could take him to preschool immediately following school lunch. That was the point where we kissed and hugged everyone good-bye because we had to get back on the road.

Our afternoon drive took us from Omaha to Kansas City, Missouri, to the home of our good friends Carl and Sherrie Dahlquist.

 They now live in a different house than the one in the neighborhood where we used to live.

For some reason, we could not remember ever having stayed at this new home. Ryan confirmed what Sherrie was telling us that we had definitely stayed in this home. He could remember what we had done and said he even had pictures of us in his photo album to prove it.

What could we do but agree with him when he had picture proof of our Thanksgiving visit one year.

Ryan is going to walk in his father's footsteps and become a dentist and take over Carl's practice. They were so cute posing together for a picture when Carl got home from work.

We got to meet Ryan's new wife Ashley. They live in Carl and Sherrie's basement.

The Dahlquists picked a fine restaurant for us to go to that evening--Hereford House. After our steak dinner, we settled in to watch the presidential debate for our evening's entertainment. I would have preferred more visiting time, but that's just me. Election coverage wins out!

Dahlquists were kind enough to let us sleep at their home that evening. Sherrie had to get up early the next morning to be at the temple for her work shift. Carl cooked us breakfast and then we were on our way to the Kansas City Temple. I was able to see Sherrie both before and after our session.We love those people and were glad we had planned to stop there and spend some time with them.

Glen could hardly contain himself with excitement thinking about getting to eat at Gates Bar-B-Q. It was one of his most favorite places to eat lunch. The second a person steps into the restaurant, the workers yell, "Hi, may I help you?" They shout it over and over and over again with every single person. It's crazy!

This is what got my husband salivating at the mouth--anticipation of taking a bite into all that meat.

In case anyone out there is wondering about Glen's palate--read the sign: Gates voted "best bar-b-q sauce on the planet." That's quite the claim!!!

We drove across the state of Missouri from Kansas City to St. Louis where we went to the temple there.

We had such wonderful weather the whole time we were gone and we enjoyed some beautiful scenery with the leaves changing. This is the view from the back of the temple. Glen kept reminding me to enjoy this display of nature because it was what I was supposed to have seen last year when I went on that New England states cruise with my parents and my sister.

 It was dark when we finished our session. Time to call it another day.

And time for me to call it a day. More to come later.

Quotes of the Week

"Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly.  Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that makes you smile."
-- Mark Twain


"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..."
-- Dr. Seuss


"Why you? Because there's no one better. Why now? Because tomorrow isn't soon enough."
-- Donna Brazile

Quotes of the Week

"Just because I laugh a lot, doesn't mean my life is easy.  Just because I have a smile on my face every day, doesn't mean that something is not bothering me. I just choose to move on, and not dwell on all the negatives in my life. Every new moment gives me the chance to renew anew. I choose to be
that."
-- Author Unknown

"Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
-- G.K. Chesterton

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly."
-- Siddhartha Gautama

Quotes of the Week

"Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."
-- John Maxwell


"You have to accept things in order to be happy. One of the biggest things you have to accept is that if you're not happy, it doesn't have to be that way... but you, and only you, have the power to change your life for the better."
-- Doe Zantamata

 "Speak little; do much. Well done is better than well said."
-- Benjamin Franklin

General Conference Weekend

It seems general conference is the perfect time for our kids to descend upon us in all their glory...which actually means with hungry tummies wanting their parents to feed them (and feed their families).

In keeping with general conference tradition, we served ebelskivers for Sunday breakfast.

Brooke obediently took her dishes to the sink when she had finished her breakfast.

In between sessions there was lots of playing going on. Caroline made herself a little chair to sit on.

A big car/coaster/cookie cutter/toy train was formed on the family room floor.

 Luckily no one took offense when Eli thought it would be a fun idea to wreck up the long train.

Ben and Haley put together a puzzle and decided to move it to another location when the little people started to arrive.

This news just in: Ben now has a clean-shaven face. Since he had a skin graft on his lower front gum a couple of weeks ago, he got a medical release from shaving until that area healed a bit. I'm glad he's now fully in compliance with the BYU honor code.

Rebecca got other people hooked on her favorite puzzle fill-ins.

Of course we had our usual roast beef, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy Sunday dinner.

Caroline loved the raspberries.

We topped off the meal with some delicious homemade ice cream. Ben decided to use chocolate milk instead of regular milk and Haley added big chunks of Oreos.

Caroline declared it not as yummy as the plain vanilla kind.

We probably didn't hear as much of conference as we did the day before, but we sure had a great family gathering.

Quotes of the Week

"The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests."
-- Epictetus


"Don't prepare. Begin. Our enemy is not lack of preparation.  The enemy is resistance, our chattering brain producing excuses. Start before you are ready."
-- Steven Pressfield

"Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well."
-- Josh Billings

The Perks of Working For G&K

When I started hearing talk of a G&K managers-and-their-spouses-romantic-get-away trip, I very eagerly awaited news of which weekend it would be. As it got closer and closer to football season, I got extremely nervous because pretty much every single weekend "we" are busy (meaning one of us is busy) spending every entire Saturday going to a football game.

Finally we heard the trip had been planned for the one weekend BYU played on Thursday night and our weekend would be free. Hallelujah!!!! My lucky day--or should I say weekend!!!!

But, alas! The news was short-lived because that weekend turned out to be when the entire company had its reward trip and one of the managers here had qualified to attend that trip. Conflict of interest. Ugh!! Any alternative weekend would then make "us" (meaning one of us) have a conflict of interest (a football game.) Double UGH!!!!

Sure enough--the following weekend was chosen and it conflicted with a Friday night BYU football game. I was so sad. We wouldn't be able to go on the trip. The ball game is more important. That's it. End of conversation. Period. Or so I thought...

Glen (bless his heart) devised a way for "us" (this time I mean both of us) to participate in the get-away weekend and actually spend BOTH nights away from home. How could that possibly be?

Well this is how it happened. "We" (meaning both of us because Glen had me working in the plant that day) left work a little early on Friday. We drove to Midway--a few miles beyond Park City--and got settled in our room at the Zermatt Resort.

 We didn't linger long because "we" (meaning just the two of us--without Kenny because he wasn't feeling well) had a very important Friday night date--at the BYU football stadium.

Glen was thinking about what to do for dinner and said, "I think we'll eat at the ball park." I asked if that meant ball park franks. We chose the BBQ pork sandwich option instead.

He chose chips to compliment his dinner and I chose ice cream to compliment mine. YUM!!

We got to our seats just as the opening prayer was being said. Glen was happy our route through Midway caused us to bypass all the heavy ball game traffic going south on I-15 and we weren't late.

I was happy we got to see the band take the field and form itself into a big Y in the center of the field and then reposition itself near the end zone to welcome the players out onto the field.

It was a lovely evening with the temperature just right for sitting outside. We were on the shady side of the stadium and it was an absolutely perfect setting for watching a football game.

And for watching halftime--my favorite part of the game. Look at that full moon shining above the stadium. Glen sure knows how to pour on the romance!!

Nothing more I could wish for than a full moon, my husband's arm around me and his other hand clutching tightly to his radio with an earplug stuck in his ear (he left the other ear unplugged just because I was there). Ladies--am I right?? He hit the romance equation right on the spot, didn't he??!!??

At least it was a winning game with BYU scoring multiple touchdowns. That meant I would be going back to the resort with a happy man. Rah rah, rah rah rah!!!! Yay for me!!!!

Saturday a group went off golfing and the rest of us were offered a spa voucher to use any way we wanted. I chose a massage and then I walked all around the resort.

This is the view from our window looking down on a carousel and a pond where fish were making ripples in the water and sometimes even jumping up out of the water.

These pictures are taken from the path going around the back side of the resort

Robyn and I met in the relaxation room where we visited for a few minutes before her spa appointment. She is such a good person. We enjoy talking to each other. I love her so much.

Dinner was at Z Chop Haus right there at the resort.

First course: salad and bread which included freshly baked pretzels hanging on a hook stand on the bread board. So cute and so tasty!

The steaks were very tender and delicious.

 Sitting at our dining table were Craig and Kathy,

Jenny and Jeremy with their baby,

 Robyn and Bob,

and us.

At the other table there were Angie, Danny, Jason, Christine, Jeff and Karen.

Steve's wife left dinner early and Glen volunteered to be in the picture with Steve so he wouldn't be all alone. I'm pretty sure he would rather it had been Cindy, but the rest of us enjoyed watching the men posing together.

There was a wonderful piano player making beautiful music during the whole entire evening. He plays by ear and makes up music right on the spot. He was quite amazing as he's only been playing for the last 4 years and taught himself everything he knows.

And the pièce de résistance--apple strudel with cinnamon ice cream. Divine!

Glen chose plain vanilla ice cream.

We could definitely say after our 3-hour dinner experience--it was fine dining at its best!

Some of the group went home after dinner. Even though "we" (meaning me) had a pre-church commitment (practicing with the soloist) and other church commitments (organist, solo accompanist, YW presidency teaching assignment and ward choir substitute pianist--WHEW, feeling overwhelmed reliving all of it...!!!!), we decided to spend the night and get up early and go home the next morning.

It was a good choice. We had another relaxing night at the resort and when we left the following morning, we felt like it had been a true get-away weekend.

Our trip ended perfectly--watching the sunrise together on our way out of town. Now that's romantic!!