We love to see the Temple!

On Saturday, we were in Idaho to go to the open house of the new Twin Falls Idaho Temple. I grew up in the small town of Buhl, about 20 minutes from Twin and I KNEW that I HAD to go see this temple! The kids were enthralled by the beauty of the temple and it was so neat. After the temple, Mike and I and our kids and my folks drove over to Shoshone Falls to see the water going over. It was supposed to be at full capacity, but I honestly have seen those falls fuller. It was kind of a disappointment, but my kids were still impressed.

Imagine the water going over the falls all the way around (left to right) the same or more as the amount going over on the left side in the above picture. That is what I remember.

We had a BBQ at my sister's house, and just generally "hung out" the rest of the time. That's what you want from a weekend vacation, right?

UGH!

Yesterday we thought we would take the kids down to Temple Square for FHE, since we have never taken them there before, and WOW we don't have to drive even because the new FrontRunner train is having its grand opening and you can ride for free! I guess everyone else in Utah had the same idea, because we were not the only ones on it. We left our house at 3 pm and caught the 3:30 train from the Clearfield station. We had to stand until the next stop and then a few seats opened up and we were all able to sit down. It wasn't crowded, so I had high hopes for the return trip home. (this picture is from when we were boarding in Clearfield)

Temple Square was great and the kids thoroughly loved it! Jonathan especially loved seeing the "old building where they do conference". He was all excited and making the Sister Missionaries laugh! All the kids thought the reflecting pool was pretty cool and we went up inside the visitors center and listened to the narration (in English and Spanish) about Christ as we looked at the beautiful Christus statue. Rachel loved that part the best. Then we started walking back to find somewhere to eat and decided that JB's would work just fine for us. The service left much to be desired, but the food was good and they all enjoyed it. Jenny said she wanted to come there for her birthday since they give a bowl of ice cream with the kids meals. :)

We went over the the Trax stop and waited and waited for a trax train to come. Which is weird because they are supposed to come by every 5 minutes. That should have been our first clue that the rest of the night would NOT go as we planned. Finally after 15 minutes of waiting it came and we rode over to the hub where the Front Runner leaves from. The Train was there and we ran over to get in the VERY LARGE line. As we neared closer to the doors, we could see that there was NO ROOM. And yet more and more people kept squishing on. It was insane. We pulled our little family circus over to the side and said we would wait for the next train that maybe would not be so full and should be there in 15 minutes. UH Huh.

We waited for over 45 minutes and then happened to hear one of the orange-vested UTA people saying to someone that it would be 2 more minutes. After 10 minutes, he came over and told her that it would be 3 more minutes. By this time it was just comical.

Then the train pulled up and we lined up on the sides of the door to allow people to get off. Then we were first in line and we climbed aboard and hurried and GOT SEATS! Hooray! And the the people started squishing in more and more and more. Like big people's bums were in our faces, it was that crowded. But hey, we had seats, right?? After sitting there for 10 minutes wondering why the train had not gone, another train comes and people board on it and then it leaves! What?? And I have to change Sidney's diaper because she soaked through, and we had this "super helpful ultra friendly" lady standing by us who "helped". :( Then 10 more minutes goes by and the announcer comes over the intercom and says we need to exit the train and go get on yet another one that has just pulled in. UGH! So we grabbed the kids and push and shove to get over there and of course there are NO SEATS! So we are stuck in the little platform at the top of the stairs with our 4 bigger kids, a baby stroller, one unhappy and tired baby and the two of us. And we get to then stand there for another 10 minutes before the train starts to move.

By now it is after 8:00, which is bedtime for our kids. Jenny and Rachel's ADHD meds have worn off and they are hyper and ornery. Sidney is hungry, but has already drank her bottle. Fun, huh? The good thing is that most of the people were understanding because their kids were tired and hungry too. The best thing I heard during all of this was from this nice-ish guy next to us that we kind of talked to. He said, "Screw the environment! Next time I will just drive". Everyone wants to encourage mass transit as a great alternative, but it isn't great when there are crazy delays and it is a horrible experience. We did get to see some of our neighbors and friends as they got off the train at the Layton station. (Hey Chris and Amy! Sure was fun, huh???)

We got home 3 hours after we got to the train hub. It is supposed to be a one hour trip on FrontRunner from Salt Lake all the way to Ogden. And we didn't even go all the way to Ogden. Remember, we got on and off at Clearfield, which is only about half of the way into the trip.

It will be a while before we try riding the train again. At least something good came of it though. Meghan said she is going to write "all about the stupid train ride" in her journal. It makes a mother proud.

New York, New York!!

Oh my gosh! It was so fun! We snuck away on Wednesday. Well, we didn't really sneak, everyone knew we were going, I just didn't post it on here when I would be leaving. We had a blast! Our hotel was right on Broadway smack dab in the middle of Times Square. It was great to walk out of our hotel and into another world. Or at least for me, it was like a different world.

We saw three shows. We saw Phantom of the Opera on Wednesday, Wicked on Thursday, and Legally Blonde on Friday. So fun! My favorite was Wicked! My kids were so jealous of us, they wanted to know if we had videoed it for them. We told them that you can't do that and they are clearly disappointed. I guess when it comes to Salt Lake next year we will be taking them! We took tons of pictures! Mike told me that I was a freaky tourist because I kept taking pictures of everything! I just didn't want to miss anything that I might want to remember later...We ate yummy food. Oh yeah! We got cheesecake from Juniors Bakery which is famous for their cheesecake, and we ate lunch one day at the Popover Cafe. We went to the Manhattan Temple. It was so beautiful! I just kept thinking what a wonderful blessing for the people of New York City to have their own temple in the midst of all that hustle and bustle. Definitely a refuge from the world. The Statue of Liberty was magnificent! I absolutely loved it! I took about a bazillion pictures of and around the statue. It was a bummer that you can't go clear up into the statue anymore. I'm not sure that I would've made it anyway. Walking up the five flights of stairs just to get as high as we COULD go was enough for me. We walked everywhere! Or we took the Subway, which was super fun! The taxis left much to be desired...like SAFETY!! We made an observation that there are NO speed limit signs anywhere. So apparently, that means "go as fast as you can without killing yourself". It was crazy!

I missed my kids tons; they were constantly on my mind. I kept thinking, "Oh, Rachel would love this", or "Jonathan would think this is neato". Someday we may take them there to see the sights, but not until they are older!

9 Freakin' Good Years!

Mike texted me this morning and said "hey, wanna do lunch? I know we have to take kids with us, but still..." I said, "sure!" S0 here we are enjoying our Anniversary lunch complete with Jenny, Jonathan, and Sidney in tow at Marie Callendars. YUM! Then Mike gave me my present. HOLY CRAP!! He is taking me to NEW YORK CITY! (or as Jenny says to Yew Nork) We go in a couple of weeks and I am SO EXCITED! Check out the pictures of the things we are going to do and see while there.....Phantom of the Opera!
Legally Blonde, the Musical!
The New York Temple!
Wicked!!!

And the Statue of Liberty (or the Statue of Liverty, according to Jonathan)!!

Do I have a keeper or what?