Sneak Peek at Pictures

Here is a sneak peek at some of the wonderful pictures captured at our photo shoot (I don't even know for sure on all of these who took what since they're on various blogs--hopefully all we family members don't mind sharing!). I know there's a site that April told us about that sounds like it will work great for all of us to upload and share our pictures (thanks, April!).

But first, some candids:

Pope Great Grandkids

At the cemetery visiting Great Grandfather's grave
(April took this picture and I think it's gorgeous!)

Don't ask.

Thing 1 kissing that slimy frog

This is a candid (a candid!!) of Thing 2 captured by my cousin-in-law April Oaks -- is she talented or what? And he is a HANDSOME boy. I just love him!

I love this picture. It's another one of those times where I saw April with the camera and thought, "Brilliant! This is the kind of picture we'll always be glad that she took." This is a picture of Grandma Great's hallway wall. Is that a grandma's house or what! I love it.

Thing 1 with Maggie -- oldest and youngest grandchild on Mark's side of the family
(though #9 arrives in a couple of months). Beautiful girls!

The whole clan (well, most everyone anyway--some people were there on different days and April is taking the picture so she's not in it either)

NOW, the Photo Shoot Pictures--we are all so excited to see the real thing from the Jill's much more professional eye and equipment (be sure to check out Jill Oaks's and April Oaks's blogs to see the wonderful work they do) since these are the mere shots from our wimpy point-and-shoot digital cameras:

The brothers -- they're all so cute.
Mine is the 2nd one from the right. Yummy!

All the boys -- from Grandpa on down

Grandma and the girls (even the one in Lindsay's belly is a girl)-- amazing when you consider that Vivian has been the lone woman in the family with a husband and 6 sons!

I love this picture! I'm so glad they thought to take one like this (see, my mind doesn't think of these things but I love it when I see it!). The grandkids! Cousins! Isn't that SO CUTE?! Dang, we make cute kids.

Gary and Vivian and the grandkids


I like this picture. Something about it. They obviously weren't ready for the picture so I like the very natural, fun expressions on everyone's faces.

The original clan -- together again for the first time in over 10 years

Bill Watterson, Beware

Every summer one of the local newspaper sponsors a program where children can get a free ticket to Hershey Park if the complete a series of activities. Nearly all of them are newspaper related, like looking at a baseball box score and counting the runs, or pretending to spend money on items in the classified ads. Stacy spent a good portion of the afternoon working on all of the activities so the kids could meet the deadline, which is just one of the many things she does around here to make things nice and fun for all of us. (Thank you, Stacy for making sure we have such great things to do and enjoy around here!)

Anyway, one of the activities was to write a comic strip talking about a road trip. Thing 1, fresh off our marathon trip, was inspired to mostly mark the passing of time. Thing 2, ever the imaginative one, decided a submarine trip to Texas to see scorpions would be a great idea. Here they are. Enjoy!

Road Trip

Texas Trip

Road Trip - Part 4 (or Family Reunion)

So a big reason for the trip was to attend a family reunion hosted by Mark's 83-year-old grandmother in Vernal, UT. Mark's side of the family hadn't all been together in over 10 years. And it's pretty neat that our kids get to visit their great grandmother. So, we've really wanted to attend this and have been trying really hard to be able to do it. Not easy, but worth it. And very fun.

Since the cost of flying our family out there and getting a rental car was about the same cost (if not cheaper) as gas and hotels on a cross-country road trip, we opted for less hassle and more flexibility. We drove. Flying has become such a hassle--it seems it's only worth it for international travel anymore. We thought we might be crazy doing this big road trip, but we saw lots of people (most in RVs, but some in cars, too) who continue to road trip. It was neat to see. And it really is a lot of fun.

The family reunion was great. It's interesting--it's a very different kind of get together from what it's like with my side of the family in just about every way. And I've noticed that pretty much all of my SILs and CILs have said the same thing. There seems to be something unique about the Popes. It was so great to see everyone and it went by way too fast.

I have a TON of awesome pictures and narrowing them down for this post is a feat. I still have loads I want to share. Very soon, I'm hitting my percentage limit on here for picture uploads. Ugh. But I want to share! So here goes.

Friday

Introductions

We took some time the first day to all introduce ourselves and tell what we're up to. This was one of my favorite things we did and I was hoping we'd do it again the next day when more people joined us. It was nice to know who was who and get caught up. I've grown up in such a "Big, Fat, Portuguese" Family where everyone knows everyone that it was strange to me to see cousins who weren't sure who their cousins were, but the reunion was a good way to at least get down the family tree a bit.

Since the is the first family reunion I've been to ever, most of what I knew about these kinds of things comes from movies or reading other people's blogs. I thought there'd be some sort of contest or honorable mention for being the ones who traveled the farthest, but nope. It's actually a toss-up/tie between us and Scott and Lindsay (I think they might technically be farther mileage-wise, but they flew on frequent flier tickets and we drove and that's gotta count for something!! :P) . If I have my facts down right, most everyone else came from a less-than-one-day's-drive (UT or somewhere west of UT or at least a neighboring state).

This is Thing 1 and her cousin Patrick working on catching that poor frog. Our daughter is a tomboy. Don't let the dress fool you--she likes wearing them not because she's girly-girl (she's not), but because they're quick and easy to put on and go play! If it involves getting muddy, frogs, or sports, she's in! She played in every sport, rain or shine, joining games with adults (along with Thing 2) like nobody's business. And people thought they might be shy . . . pah!

Mark with another new niece--happy Maggie!

Look at that look of delight in holding a slimy frog!

Here's Jess and me again. Oh yeah, and my father-in-law jumped in, too. ;)

These two felt quite comfortable with each other quite quickly. Here they are wrestling!

More gangsta signs? Goofy kids . . .

Such cute cousins!On top of the big rock at the playground

After a full afternoon of playing and talking, we went back to the motel and swam in the pool for a bit.

Thing 2 and Andrew

Patrick and Thing 1

Tanner and Thing 2

The brothers (well, 5 of them anyway--Scott got there the next day) hanging out poolside

Saturday

The next morning, the very first thing our kids and Patrick and Andrew did was get together to play in our hotel room. Once we all got ready, we went back to the park/playground and had breakfast.

It was very tricky getting Noah in a picture with our kids for some reason, so I'm glad he's in this one. How fun is this?

Me with my very tall sisters-in-law.
Check it out--I'm barely past their shoulders!

These three snuck off to play some Bakugon for a while!

I was really excited to spend some in-person time with the Oaks families!

Jill, April, me -- we all married into the family around the same time (Jill and April married brothers who are Mark's cousins)

All the sisters-in-law--aren't we cute?

All the brothers together catching up. I got a picture of them all out on the field playing catch, too, but it's pretty far away to see.

Grandma Pope reserved a horse and carriage for rides for the kids

Fun, eh?


I really enjoyed teaching and playing Scruble!

After a full day of playing and talking and catching up, we all went to the cemetery to visit Great Grandfather's grave. Amy the Great (as we call her) had all the children take flowers to the grave.

That evening, we went to Grandma Pope's (Amy the Great's) house for another of my favorite parts of the reunion--having Mark's side of the family together for family pictures! It was really neat to all be together taking such fun pictures. It was even a little emotional for me. I can hardly WAIT to see the pictures. Jill and April did such a good job of getting everyone together and posing us and taking charge and getting so much done before sunset and making us laugh. From what I can tell, the picture are going to be great.

Uncharacteristically, I didn't take my camera out. I took NO pictures during that time. During the photo shoot, I simply wanted to enjoy having it done without worrying about trying to get extra pictures. It was fun and kind of relaxing in a way, too, to not worry about the pictures. But I'm so glad that some of my SILs got some pics during the photo shoot, because it gives us a sneak peek into how GREAT the pictures look! I'll be sure to post them once we get them.

After the photo shoot, we took pictures with Grandma Great.

Mark's grandma, Mark, Me, Thing 1, Thing 2

With the great grands
With Mark and the kids

Back at the motel, the festivities continued into the night. Mark drove all his brothers to a local restaurant and they all got ice cream and appetizers and enjoyed having fun with one another. I'm guessing none of them took pictures of that. :P

The cousins who were still awake got together in our room for more fun and games (and when, at 11:15, it was time to break up the party, they were not excited to call it a night).

These 4 laughed and played and got along fabulously the ENTIRE time.

They played games like Bakugon and Apples to Apples Jr.

We had our own girls' party on the next bed during all of this. I love this picture! And I love late night talking! We tried to get a hold of all the other womenfolk but they were either with babies or asleep or we couldn't get a hold of them.

The next morning, we all went out to breakfast to get a little more time together (we were trying to get as much time as possible together). It was sad to all go our separate ways. We really enjoyed being with everyone--something we don't get to do very often at all, even in smaller family groups. We really do hope siblings will come visit us soon--we'd love to host them!

I have so many pictures of these 4 that I had to narrow them down and it's so hard to choose! We've got a lot of cute pictures with Maggie, Emmy, Isaac, and Noah on the other posts (Em, I had a time and a half trying to get one of Isaac, Noah, and our kids at the park that day--if you got one, can I please have a copy? Thanks!)

Cousins - nice, smiling picture

Cousins - goofy face picture

Road Trip - Part 3 (or Thursday)

Let's see. Where was I? Oh yes. Provo.

Thursday

So after a fun and relaxed breakfast with the Szymanskis in which we totally solved all parenting issues in the world (if there were a United Nations of parenting and opinions, this would have been its summit), we were off to campus. Our old stomping grounds. We drove around old apartments. We drove around campus. We drove around the dorms. We pointed out the site of our first kiss. :) The kids were kind enough to pretend to be interested.

So we decided to treat them to some good pizza and a root beer float freeze at Brick Oven Pizza.

Campus has changed. Provo has exploded (it's HUGE). Fond memories and good experiences at the college. We love our friends there. Love the restaurant choices. We don't miss the traffic. Or the land-lockedness. But it was a fun trip down memory lane.

After that, we went farther up north to spend more time with more of Mark's brothers and their families. First, we hung out at Emily's parents' house where we got to see Mark's brother Dave, his fun wife Emily, and their cute boys, Isaac (spelled correctly) and Noah as well as Mark's brother Michael (who we brought back with us to PA and is living with us for the summer). It's so fun to be meeting all the cousins and seeing everyone!

After a while, we went to play at a park--it was great for the kids to run around and play together and for us all to visit and catch up.

Not sure what's up with Thing 2 and his "gangsta signs" (as my SIL Jenny pointed out) in so many of these pictures, but apparently he's teaching them to his younger cousins.

Right when I took this picture, Mark put his arms down. All three of them were talking in that folded arm Foley stance when I turned the camera on.

An extra special treat for us that made me very grateful that I signed up for Facebook (after MUCH resistance) was seeing our friends from Nepal in Utah! I happened to check my FB account and saw that someone asked Terah how long they'd be in Utah and I about flipped my lid. I emailed her immediately and found out they were in Draper. What are the odds?? So we worked out a way to see each other, at least for a little while (not long enough!).

Okay and technically they are our friends from AZ but it's so much cooler to say "our friends from Nepal." I've spoken of them before. And some of our readers have even written me on the side thanking me for telling everyone about their blog because it's so fascinating to read. They're great people and we're so glad we're friends. Terah and her kids were basically evacuated from Nepal for safety reasons and they'll be moving somewhere else in the world soon, but they don't know where yet.

Terah is a total spaz and I LOVE it! She exited her car yelling out, "Stacy! I'm so excited to see you guys, but I have to tell you!! MICHAEL JACKSON DIED!!" I think I will always remember that moment.

She really does have 4 kids--Xavier is hidden behind Terah and Sedona.
Aren't Kate and Heavah so cute?

So good to hang out and catch up! I love hanging out with Terah! And I got to pinch Asa's cheeks--something I've been ITCHING to do for months while reading their blog.

After playing at the park for a while, we went back to Highland, picked up Jess and Emmy, and then drove up to a BBQ at Jill's house. Jill Oaks is my cousin-in-law and I think she's great! I was super excited that she'd go through the time, effort, and energy to do a big family BBQ for all Foleys and Oaks in town so that we could get a jump start on the family reunion. Thank you, Jill!

It was so much fun to see everyone! I'm so grateful for blogs. I felt like I knew everyone so much better than I would've before blogs. Everyone had so much fun talking, eating, playing frisbee, playing on the swingset, making and eating S'mores (Kent was so great and patient with the kids), and simply being together!

Bloggers unite!

S'mores Chefs

S'mores Cookin'

Ah, goofy face pictures

Emmy and "Mahk . . . heheheheheh"
and Kim and Kraig (who I really enjoyed getting to know better in person)

I love this picture! How adorable are these three girls?!

After a wonderful barbecue, we and Jess and Emmy went back to her parents' house to spend the night. We got to play with Corky, their dog, which was really fun for all and a really good experience for Thing 2 who isn't the biggest fan of dogs. He likes Corky, though.

Also, the Cooks have an AWESOME house--it's the kind of house that kids and grandkids WANT to visit because they've made it so fun and hospitable for everyone to stay there. The upstairs is an entire area for kids and it's amazing!



Okay, this part was going to be all the family reunion stuff but it's taken me a few days just to get this together (since I'm doing it in snippets between yard work and errands and reading stories with the kids and playing outside and sessions with my clients and . . . ).

So again, more to come . . .

Choked me up

Remember how I said so many things are reminders? Even a Michael Jackson memorial service has them. This made me cry. Janet Jackson was about to speak when Michael's beautiful daughter asked to say something.

Road Trip - Part 2 (or Southern Utah)

So we spent the first couple of days in Cedar City with my cool breezer brother-in-law Greg, my beautiful, fellow bibliophile sister-in-law Jessica, and our adorable and delightfully fun niece Emmy.

While we enjoy the travel aspect, it's always nice to enjoy stops, too. These kids are GREAT travelers. We're very glad.

Sunday

Almost to Greg and Jessica's

Sunday night, Jessica had prepared a delicious dinner for us, which was really nice. We mostly hung out and enjoyed talking and playing with Emmy.

Monday

The next day, we got to watch Emmy while Greg and Jessica worked. What a treat!

We fed her breakfast.

And played Wii with her.

Once Jess got home and it was clear this little girl was not going to sleep, we went to Park Discovery, which Thing 2 LOVED.

That night, we cooked everyone a yummy Portuguese dinner and then we kicked back and did a little dancing in the house.

After a while, we moved our party outside for some Dodge Ball in the backyard.

Emmy took quite a liking to "Mahk . . . heheheheheh" (her words, not mine).

Dodge Ball

After that, we settled down with some stories and movies.

Tuesday

We got to watch sweet Emmy again. And then when Jess got home, we all went down to St. George and met Greg for some In-N-Out Burgers (soooooooooooo yummy!) for lunch.



After that delicious lunch, we met up with Jess's cute sister Sarah and her fun kids and splashed around at a splash pad and enjoyed snow cones!

Our kids would like to adopt these kids as more "cousins"

Pride Rock :)

That night, Jess had the brilliant idea to do boys' and girls' clubs (and the boys got Emmy). The boys went out for pizza and back home for Wii (and those pictures are on Jessica's camera). Thing 2 REALLY likes this fun idea.

We girls went out for a sushi feast! Just look at all that food! DELICIOUS! And Jess was AWESOME. She tried everything (raw included) and ate with chopsticks. I like hanging out with her for oh-so-many reasons. Thanks for such a fun night!

Thing 1? A big fan of this idea as well.

Jess and Stacy

For dessert, we took home a yummy, big, hot, doughy chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, caramel, fudge . . . I don't even remember what else for toppings. It's all a glorious blur.

Then we stayed up WAY LATE talking books, movies, politics, books, movies, gossip. SO MUCH FUN!

Wednesday

Wednesday, we went up North. We stopped at Cove Fort along the way to visit with my nieces (well, 2 of them anyway--the other 3 were elsewhere . . . 2 at camp and 1 in the MTC). It was great to see them. Such beautiful girls!

Awwwww, cousins

Cousins

After a fun visit with them, we continue northward. We grabbed lunch at a Mexican place and hung out with Jess and Emmy for a bit afterward. Then Jess and Emmy went to her parents and we got some Orem/Provo visits in with friends.

Check it out--you can see the "Y" behind us!

We stopped to see some very good friends from Medical School, the Szymanskis, and that was SO SO SO SO SO fun. We love hanging out with them! The kids totally hit it off. We had so much fun catching up and laughing (that REALLY good kind of laughing that just FEELS heart healthy, it hurts so much). We all really wanted to spend more time together so they told us again that we were welcome to stay over and we agreed (not that it took much persuasion--this sounded good to all of us!). Their hospitatilty was really amazing seeing as they just moved in a couple of weeks ago and are still unpacking. Nonetheless, they had us over, we enjoyed REALLY good food, good conversation, good games, we slept well, showered in SOFT water :), talked some more. It was great. (Rachelle, I like this!) *Thumbs up* It went by WAY too fast.

Before settling in at the Szymanskis, we quickly dropped by the Gessels for a quick visit and that was nice to see them and catch up. They are good friends.


We had so much fun at Jared and Rachelle's house. It flew by. I believe the plan is to do some beach/historical vacations together. As soon as they can get out here, they're visiting and we're so excited to host them!

These 2 used to play together as toddlers. They hit it off like long lost friends.

These two knew each other as babies. They totally hit it off, too. So much so that I think they might be the ones responsible for breaking up the sleepover party with their mischief! Good times.

Talking stories and books

Good friends

Let's get this party started!

Meanwhile, this was the scene upstairs . . . after some DELICIOUSLY spicy Indian Food, we enjoyed some Settlers of Catan (and more laughs).
(*Thumbs up* Stacy likes this!)

More to come . . .

(Seriously, thank you so much to everyone who put us up, fed us, and generally let us disrupt your schedules--we felt like nomads and hate putting people out, but loved every minute of visiting with you all! Thank you!)

Road Trip - Part 1 (or Kansas is a hole)

I think that many people have forgotten the joy of road tripping. I think it might be a lost art or at least a forgotten pastime.

Flying is quicker but no less expensive and it's become such a big hassle over the years. Driving gives you the flexibility to go off the beaten path (Ahem, Kansas) and see more things (or not . . . Ahem, Kansas).

Here is a little chronicle of our road trip across the country to attend Mark's grandmother's family reunion. It's the first time Mark's side of the family has been together in over 10 years.

We were going to road trip via Albuquerque, NM and Phoenix/Prescott, AZ, and both Southern and Northern CA, but we opted for spending more time with family in UT since a 1.5 day family reunion just isn't long enough when you've been apart for so long.

We had so much fun with this road trip (have we mentioned that we love the flexibility of having our own business--love sticking it to the man!) that we're up for more. On our radar is a trip through Canada and New England (once we get our passports updated) since Toronto is only 6 hours from here and another cross-country road trip via the south and up the West coast.

Not any time soon, though. We're beat. We've driven to Florida, Massachusetts, and Utah within the past 5 months to visit family. We're ready to have family come to us now and play --we're good hosts. :)

Here's our recap:


Day 1
From Central Pennsylvania to St. Louis, Missouri
States Visited: PA, WV, OH, IN, IL, MO

Some thoughts:

- Driving in torrential downpours of rain so bad that you can't see the white lines or the car in front of you is pretty terrifying.
- It was really hot when we stopped for dinner.
- Getting to St. Louis and seeing the Arch lit up at night was very cool.
- GPS is so cool and very helpful in getting a decent deal on a hotel.
- Playing the license plate game, singing rounds, listening to Harry Potter on tape, listening to the radio, pretending, talking, eating . . . all fun things to do on a road trip.
- Driving in rain? Not fun.
- We drove one whole time zone that day.
- We drove about 12.5 hours that day.

Day 2
From St. Louis, Missouri to Colby, Kansas
States Visited: MO, KS

St. Louis is a very clean and nice city.
Beautiful park at The Arch.

I love this picture.

View from the top.

At the top.

So glad to be back on the ground and out of that tram!

Some thoughts:

- Didn't know you could climb the arch. Glad my FIL told us that. However, he said it was like taking an elevator. Didn't mention how creaky and claustrophobic the little "tram" (not elevator) would be. The heights didn't scare me. The claustrophobic tram did.
- Saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir there. Didn't know it was them, but knew it was a big choir. We were more concerned with racing ahead of whatever group it was to get the earlier tram tickets.
- Scary trams!
- The Mississippi River is really dirty but it's always cool to cross it.
- Kansas is an interminable state! It went on and on and on and there were no people. Not even in Topeka. And we know, because we drove around that most desolate capital. Where do people in KS live?? I'm guessing Witchita?
- Yuck. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Not a fan of Kansas.
- Oh wait, I forgot about Kansas City, KS. Worst drivers we saw on the trip.
- Going 70 mph and getting off the freeway onto a dirt road? Dirt road! No thanks.
- The goal was to get to CO but rain deterred us again and we were dealing with a bit of PTSD from the day before.
- Then we hoped to at least cross the time zone (in KS) but we stopped just shy of that.
- We got the best Mexican food that we've had in a long time in a hotel in KS. Go figure.
- But other than that, KS was NOT a highlight of our trip. I was so dumbstruck and annoyed by its vast emptiness that I forgot to take pictures.
- According to the signs along the freeway, a lot of famous people come from Kansas, including astronauts. I bet they didn't care where that spaceship took them so long as it was out of Kansas!
- We drove about 9 hours that day not counting driving around deserted Topeka waiting for another storm to pass (stupid rain)
- Saw the Brown vs. the Board of Education site

Day 3
From Colby, Kansas to Cedar City, Utah
States Visited: KS, CO, UT

Some thoughts:

- So glad to be out of Kansas
- Couldn't get out of there fast enough
- No offense to our readers from KS (maybe you can tell us something redeeming that we missed)
- Colorado is a gorgeous state.
- Not a fan of mountain driving but boy was it gorgeous!
- My Dad would have LOVED the scenery.
- We climbed summits as high as 12,000+ feet (that's a lot of climbing and that's a lot of descending).
- We did something totally tacky: run into a restaurant and use the facilities without buying anything. We don't normally do that, but we were desperate.
- Utah has landscapes reminiscent of planets in Star Wars and our kids can name all of them.
- It was sooooooooooooo good to get to Greg and Jessica's house. So good.
- We drove about 12. 5 hours that day.

So neat to show the kids the Rocky Mountains.

Beautiful drive. We ARE Planet Earth.

More to come . . .

Father's Day

I'm not really sure what came over me. We were on our cross-country road trip having a wonderful time. It was a clear blue day (the best kind for driving) and we were getting to Greg and Jessica's that night. We were so excited and happy to be getting there.

The DJ on the radio mentioned that it was Father's Day. Even on the road, I'd had the kids make Father's Day cards for Mark. Since we were on the road, that was about the extent of our celebrations for now. But when the DJ mentioned it, I got to thinking about my own Dad.

My eyes started to sting. The tears came. It had been a while since I felt like that, since I'd cried like that. So many thoughts went through my head, many of which I've already expressed on here. But a few new ones as well. I wrote them down and vowed to myself that I'd do a post as an honor to my Dad.

My Dad is perfect . . . for me. He was not a perfect person, but he is the perfect Dad for me. I'm so lucky to be able to say that, to have that. I sincerely wouldn't change a single thing about him, his easy manner with me. Not one. Who can say that??

I also wondered, as I thought about him that morning, was it scary for him to leave me? Was it hard to for him to leave knowing he wouldn't be around to help protect me, look out for me, care for me, his little girl that he'd always loved, cared for, and protected? Was leaving all of us the hardest part of letting go of this life? For a parent, I would think that must have been excruciatingly difficult. And he couldn't even talk about it. He was unable to speak. So I don't know. There's so much I've had to intuit and that's been difficult.

It's frustrating. Beyond words, it's frustrating. Knowing that I can't just go up there and visit. I can't feel the weight of his hand on my shoulder as he dances with me, sits by me, hugs me. I miss him so much that it hurts. It physically hurts.

Grieving is hard. It creeps up unexpectedly at times. Like that morning driving out of Kansas as the DJ mentioned what day it was. The wave of grief, of missing him, washed over me and caught me so off guard. It set a bit of an emotional foundation for the family reunion. Everything was precious to me--our kids visiting with their sweet great grandmother, seeing Jessica's mild-mannered Dad enjoy his sweet granddaughter, having Mark's side of the family all together again after over 10 years. So many things reminders. So many things to not take for granted.

I count myself a lucky, lucky girl to have such a wonderful father. I'm also lucky to have such a wonderful husband and father of our children. I think that my Dad's leaving this life was made just a little bit easier by his knowledge of Mark's love for me and our children.

How I can feel so lucky and so mournful at the same time, I don't know. I miss my Daddy. I miss him so much. And it often seems terribly unfair. Grieving my Father's death has had very unexpected effects on my life, deeply personal and deeply felt. It has shaken me, it has affected my perspective on things, it has drastically altered my belief system.

Things have changed for me quite a bit over the past year and a half. This year has brought more peace than the one before, just not in the way I would've thought. There is so much we don't know and I'm learning, uncomfortably at times and wondrously at others, to find peace in the uncertainty. Spirituality runs deep for me and mourning my Father's death has had a profound impact on my religious and spiritual self. It has changed me. It has surprised me. It has strengthened me.

I'm learning to have the courage to listen to my self, to follow my heart, and to focus on the big picture and what really matters without being distracted by the inconsequential and irrelevant. I believe in God. I believe that we are all collectively part of something bigger than ourselves, that we, our selves, our hearts, our energies, are part of a oneness that unites us all together. I believe that as I learn to listen to my heart and trust myself that I am much more in tune with that unity and greatness than when I get distracted by minutiae that just don't matter. And that when I focus on all of that and distance myself from the minutiae, that I have more peace. And for my sanity and my family and my life, I have to go with that.

That being said, I still miss him very, very much.

A 50th Anniversary Celebration

May 30, 2009 is my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. We were going to throw them a big party at a restaurant and invite family and friends.

Well, ever since my Dad died a little over a year ago, my Mom has sort of been dreading the day. And I've been unsure what to do to recognize the day and make it nice.

We knew we didn't want my Mom to be alone, so we devised a plan and proposed it to her. We thought it would take some convincing but she jumped at it. We went up to MA, spent a few days doing some fun things, and brought my Mom back with us to PA.

We arranged a day of fun. My Dad would want her to enjoy herself. So we spent the entire day having fun doing various activities with lots of friends.

We planned several things, invited everyone to everything or however much of it they wanted to attend, and people chose what worked for them and came and had fun!

We had 25 people get together in one form or another from 11:30 to 9:30 and my Mom really had a great day. She kept talking about how much she really enjoyed it and appreciated everyone coming out.

And we do, too. We don't have any extended family around here, so we count our friends as our extended family here and that's how it felt that day--like loving family members helping to make it special. I'm really, really grateful.

First we met together at our house. Pat and Judy brought a really beautiful bouquet of flowers. It has really brightened our kitchen these past weeks! Peggy brought a sweet card and a jar of delicious jam.


My Mom felt up to it (I wouldn't have done it otherwise), so we all watched a brief DVD of my Mom and Dad telling stories of the old country that Mark put together years ago. It was really neat and bittersweet to watch.

Then we presented my Mom with her gift. We had a really nice hardback picture book made called "A celebration of 50 Years" with their wedding picture on the cover. The book is full of mostly pictures and some words celebrating their marriage through the years.

My Mom loved it and cried when she saw it. In fact, everyone cried a little bit. The company from which we bought it actually sent us 2 and let us keep them so we all shared looking through them and telling stories.



Then our crew went to our local Japanese Restaurant for a wonderful lunch. YUM!

We all went to our local old-fashioned ice cream shoppe next and a couple more families joined us there for ice cream and more visiting!

Then we met yet more friends for mini golf!

Afterward, as we stood in the parking lot talking, I noticed this sign out front. When we called the place about our group attending, they wanted to know what kind of party it was. We didn't tell them the whole story, we just said "anniversary." I guess they wanted to know for the sign. So we went over and took a picture by it while the kids played (well, Thing 1 took the picture). I'm glad Mark's in this picture because he did most of the picture taking that day (thanks, Sweetie).


After our outings, we all went back to our backyard/patio to hang out, eat snacks, visit, talk, and enjoy one another. If you look closely, you can get some sneak peaks at the book we had made.

Yet more friends showed up with flowers . . .

fun and conversation and even some really cool magic tricks . . .

live music . . .

laughter . . .

and stories . . .

This of course inspired the kids to put on a magic show of their own!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. I'm grateful for good friends who would be so sweet to come out and help us celebrate the special day.

And I'm grateful for good, loving parents and a celebration of 50 years.

Vavo Wiis

That doesn't sound so good. We've introduced my mother to the Wii! She likes bowling (which I figured she would) but she wasn't so keen on MarioKart. Here's one of her attempts to drive (read: attempt to stay on the track at all):




I had no idea that you could mow grass when you're off the track . . .

A Day in Boston

I LOVE Boston! It's one of my very favorite cities. Some cities have a "feel" about them. Boston is one of those cities.

I love the people, I love the feel of it, I love all there is to do.
I love the geeky Harvard stuff.
I love the Boston sports stuff. I love the crazy Boston sports fans.
I love the historical stuff.
I love how it's right by the ocean.
I love the metro system.
I love the restaurants.
I love the TV stuff (Cheers).
I love that it's not terribly far from Plymouth, Newport, Lexington, Concord, or even NYC or DC or Philly.
I love how it has different parts with different feels, much like New York, but a more intimate feel.
I love the Boston accent (yes, mine shows through at times).
I love that people say "wicked good" and "wicked awww-some."
I love that I used to hang out there with my friends growing up.
I love that Boston hosts a "Scooper Bowl" every July that boasts a HUGE tent of over 40 different ice cream vendors--pay a small fee, go in, and scarf on ice cream and drink lots of water (I've met Ben and Jerry there!).
I love that I know my way around there fairly well.
I love that I grew up right near there.
I LOVE that I get to share it with my East Coast-loving husband and kids!

Riding the T


This is half the fun of visiting cities for kids


Eating at The Border Cafe
in Harvard Square

I LOVE taking my family here to eat! GREAT food. GREAT prices. And our server was an awesome Brazilian woman who spoke to us in Portuguese the entire time.


Visiting Harvard

Because why not? It's fun.
It's a gorgeous campus.


Doing the Freedom Trail

This was really fun and goes along with our study of American History. The kids also got to do the Junior Ranger program as part of it -- that's why they're holding booklets.

See the brick trail?

Visiting the Old South Meeting House

Then the cold got to us (yes, cold. In May. I know, but it's Boston, so what do you expect?) so Mark and I bought ourselves sweatshirts from a street vendor and the kids wore them to stay warm (the adult shirts cost a couple of dollars more than the kids' shirts and kids outgrow them so easily, so . . . )

In front of the Old State House -- also the site of the Boston Massacre
(did you know that started with a thrown snowball?)

Following the Freedom Trail

In front of Faneuil Hall and the statue of Samuel Adams

Inside Faneuil Hall is a working post office, numerous shops, and you can also go upstairs to the room where they'd have important meetings that lead to America's independence from the British, and the 4th floor has all kinds of artillery memorabilia.

We stopped in to see the shops and found a little something for Mark:


And a little something for me:


We then watched some CRAZY funny street performers-that was a lot of fun (though we've done a lot of reminding since then -- "Remember how they said NOT to try that at home?") outside of Quincy Market (another AWESOME place to browse--one of my favorites since it involves lots and lots of FOOD)

Walking the Freedom Trail

Mark and kids in front of Boston Garden
(in the background)

Our family visiting Paul Revere's House

The kids in front of Paul Revere's House-
I seriously love Boston.
This is also right near Little Italy, so we stopped at Mike's Pastry for some of their famous cannoli, too!

Paul Revere Statue
(and behind it is the Old North Church, but it's a bit overcast)
Mark and I have a picture of us here when we were freshmen in college

This was a really cool memorial set up on the grounds near
The Old North Church -- very moving

The Old North Church is still a place of worship today (can you imagine attending there? Getting married there??) and is reallllllly beautiful inside. This is a picture of a "3rd lantern" that still burns. Gerald Ford lit it in 1975 to represent America's 3rd century of freedom.

We RAN (boy did we run) back to the visitor's center (there was some misinformation - we thought we could do this at the Old North Church, but no) and the kids got sworn in as Junior Rangers (the college co-ed ranger was already out of uniform getting ready for her next job). The kids got badges and certificates. At 4:59 PM. Did I mention that we ran?

Delicious Cannolis


Tired, happy kids goofing around together

Living Near History

I'm thinking I've mentioned, at least once or twice, how much we love where we live? Yeah, thought so. If you missed the memo, we love it.

One of my favorite aspects of where we live is location, location, location. Locally, totally. But also on a bigger scale, too. We are within 2 hours of Washington, D.C., New York City, Philly, Baltimore, and the beach. And we're also close to New England, too!

In the past several months, we've been to Philly, DC, NYC, and Boston. We've also visited 11 of the 13 original colonies (as well as Florida).

And it's extra cool because we've been studying American History. We live near the coolest stuff!! And we love that we homeschool and can VISIT these places as part of our learning. We really, really love it.

We've already blogged about our trip to NYC, our trip to DC, and our trip to Philly. Now here's a bit about our trip to Plymouth and Boston:

We've got library cards through my Mom in MA. The library system there has an AWESOME museum pass system. From here (in PA), we can reserve the museum pass cards, pick them up, and visit all kinds of cool places (museums, zoos, historical sites) for SO MUCH CHEAPER!! For example, instead of paying $118 to visit Plimoth Planation, we got in for $42 for all 5 of us! Awesome.

Plimoth Plantation


There are SO many pictures I want to post. I'll try to restrain myself.

Visiting here with my husband and kids was surreal--this was one of my childhood field trips when I was a little girl! It was fun to have Vavo along, too. She loved it.


SO lush!

Too bad it's blurry--this is a cool picture

So, first we visited the Native People's village (Wampanoag Homesite):





You get to see how they lived and interact with them and ask them questions and visit their homes and gardens. It's very, very cool. Here we are near a mishoon, or dugout canoe.

We then walked to the 1627 English Village. This is especially cool because the people stay in character and time period. It's as if you've gotten there via time machine. They speak just like the colonists did and they live just like they did, too. You see them cook, work the land, etc. And you can ask them any questions you want (this is strongly encouraged) and get such a feel for what it was like then.



This guy was awesome. He was the acting minister but he wasn't ordained so he couldn't administer the sacrament.



So cool how you can see the Atlantic Ocean RIGHT there.

I LOVE OUR KIDS!!

This is John Alden caring for the cattle. Priscilla was at home.


This area is a big hit.

Visiting another home


They have a cute children's museum where we warmed up and played old-fashioned colonial games.


Plymouth Rock

The rock is housed inside that columned area

When you look down, you see the (slowly-eroding) Plymouth Rock

Out for some yummy seafood on the coast


The Mayflower

This guy was AWESOME (video to follow). He didn't miss a beat, stayed totally in character, and was really funny to boot. He had a lot to say about women on the boat (apparently they were trouble). It took the Mayflower over 2 months to get TO Plymouth (where it had to "dock" a mile off shore) but took less than 4 weeks to get back.



This guy was below deck and was a total gossip. He had a lot to say about all of the passengers on the Mayflower. He told of swindlers and said that he felt that many Christians made better performers than practitioners.




The kids had a lot of fun playing with this exhibit near the boat--all the different tools that helped them measure speed and direction

In front of the Mayflower

(Something neat about the Mayflower -
my Dad did carpentry work on the Mayflower gift shop)

Catching up

Well, we've obviously been away from the computer a lot. While I *love* the computer and enjoy blogging very much, I love that being away from it so much generally means we're doings lots of neat stuff and simply enjoying life.

And as the weather improves, we're definitely outside more. I tend to be a bit of a reclusive hermit in the wintertime, but summer? Let me at it!

So here is a brief run down of some of what we've been up to over the past couple of months (you know, besides Idol):

Thing 1's Birthday
(Aside from Harry Potter reveling)

Breakfast in bed

A REALLY fun game for a sweet girl from a sweet brother


Opening a very special gift from grandparents
(Sorry it's taken me so long to get it up here).

Thing 1 immediately called her friends down the street and had them come over with their dolls and they proceeded to play dolls all afternoon

We also went out for sushi and had donuts and candles (we're not much into cake so the birthday person chooses whatever they want for the placement of candles---donuts, pie, a mound of cookie dough, etc.)


Easter

We attended a Catholic Easter Mass. It had been so many years since I'd attended one and it was Mark and the kids' first time. It was very heavy in ritual--many sights, sounds, smells.

We also did an Easter lesson here at home that we do every year--12 eggs (that we hide and find) have symbols in them of the story of Easter and we share that together.
We also colored eggs.

We also hid lots of eggs filled with chocolate to find all over our yard. VERY fun!


Playdates, Learning, and BIRDS

Thing 2 and his really good Lego buddy--they build Legos together every week.

They also play games together.

A morning of learning

Another morning of learning -- she's looking so grown up to me.

Making homemade bird feeders using cookie cutters, peanut butter, and seed

Digging up a melon mound

Using more of our yard for growing vegetables and fruits

Mark teaching Physics Class

A field trip to the courthouse

We are having SUCH fun with our bird feeders--we watch them right outside the windows while we eat (and throughout the day in general)--we have a fabulous view!

Here is the male cardinal. We also get:

Cardinals
Bluejays
Mourning Doves
Robins
Sparrows
Finches
Golden Finches
House Finches (Red)
Crows
Starlings
And so many more!

We also have lots of squirrels and bunnies.

Spring is great. I have a whole other post about blossoms! Never mind--here they are:

These were taken several weeks ago. Springtime is gorgeous here. It's a sea of white and pink blossoms. Gorgeous.

And these are in our backyard by our carriage house:

More pics:

Husband and Wife Cardinal
(bright red on the feeder is male and lighter one on the branch is female)

The male cardinal eating on our patio

Bluejay on ground, female cardinal on suet, finch on stones.
The bluejay is HUGE!

This crazy squirrel also visits often.

The kids (especially Thing 2) are constantly checking our bird book and looking stuff up and researching birds, habitats, and habits. It's a lot of fun. We LOVE watching them.

Earth Day

It was a bit chilly for my liking (global warming, my foot) but it was a fun day at the Park with many from our homeschool group

Everyone traced and filled out a hand writing on each finger what they're doing to save the earth.


Flat Stanley

Cousin Andrew sent us Flat Stanley and we got to take him on a PA adventure. Here are the kids with Flat Stanley on the Chocolate World ride. We also took him out to eat at Fire Alley (which looks like an alley with graffiti and cool designs) and watched Bedtime Stories with him, too. He got to take some treats home with him, too!


Theater Class

Announcement of parts at .31 scoop night


May Day

Playing violin with Suzuki Strings

Going around the maypole - one of our favorite annual traditions.
Welcome Spring!


Home Projects

This doesn't even begin to show what we've done. This is just the playroom. That border HAD to go. It was hideous and so so so so so so not us. We also painted the exercise room and moved the schoolroom to the den and turned the old schoolroom into a LOVELY library/sitting room/meditation sanctuary/reading room (more pictures to follow in another post probably). Two of the rooms had borders. The borders took about 8-10 hours to remove. The rooms took about 2 hours to paint (both coats). Borders suck.

But the playroom/guest room is really pretty now:





Oh! Oh! We did get pictures of the schoolroom/den:




We pretty much do school wherever inside and outside so it's handy having all this downstairs where we spend a lot of time anyway.

And wait! Here are the pictures of the library:





Baking and Games

Bread, pretzels, cookies, you name it. We're so proud of ourselves.
We're good at cooking. We haven't baked quite as much. Until recently (cough-Kitchenaid-cough).

Making an American Revolution Board Game

Quest for Liberty!


Hawk Mountain

Our homeschool group went hiking at this beautiful place for .75 Fridays!


Sibling Love

Some nights they're snuggling in the top bunk . . .

. . . and some nights they're snuggling in the bottom bunk.

Every so often they do this.
We love when we go to bed and see them like this. So sweet.


Memorial Day Parade

Our small town is big on this parade. It's one of the biggest in PA! They throw candy at the crowd and the kids go crazy. It's really fun. We got to enjoy it with friends. As we walked to the grass to sit down before the parade (we can walk from our house), Mark got a big shout out on the microphone from one of his patients! That was kind of neat.

Hamburger Cookies



They don't taste so great in case you're wondering.

Tribute to a Good Friend

I started this post A LONG time ago, but somehow life got in the way of me finishing. I mention that our guest "arrives tomorrow night." Well, he actually left almost a month ago obviously I dropped the ball on this one. I'll just post what I started and then post about our trip, now that it's passed.

* * * * * * * * * *

I've been meaning to get this up sooner, but for some strange reason (house projects, house projects, and more projects) have hindered me a bit. I'd better finish the post today, though, since our guest arrives tomorrow night.

I have a friend, Peter, who I've known since we were about 10. He and his family moved into our town in California when his father, a Japanese professor, started to teach at UC Berkley. Our parents were the same age, we are both the oldest children, and we even have birthdays within 2 weeks of each other. He attended a private school in Berkley while I finished up elementary school in town. When we both started Middle School we ended up seeing a lot of each other. Plus, we lived less than a mile apart. We ended up in a lot of the same classes and were both in the band. He played the clarinet and I played the trumpet. Over the years we became great friends and our "separate circles" began to overlap a lot.

He moved away just before we both turned 16, when his father accepted his ultimate position as a Japanese professor at BYU. Even though he'd moved, we still managed to keep in pretty good touch, which is nothing short of a miracle since we are both terrible with this kind of thing. He even engineered a West Coast tour for his high school choir, including a stop at our high school. Through the years we've stayed in touch (inconsistently) and he's been a great listening ear along the way. We're pretty lucky that he'll be able to come out and visit for the rest of the week. Stacy has been trying to find a way to get the two of us together for a while now, and all the pieces finally fell into place. I'm really looking forward to seeing Peter and catching up, although the Google Chat has made that even easier lately.

Here is a quick list of memories, just for old times' sake. Some are obvious and others are apparent only to the participants. All could be pretty good conversation starters, though.

* Suspension for stink bombs on the bus
* Way too many band reviews to even count
* Late night D&D games, or Car Wars, or whatever role-playing game we were playing at the time
* Band camp at Silver Lake, even after you'd moved
* Scout camp with some crazy fathers
* The Miner Special on the way to the camp (Two hamburger patties, topped with chili and cheese, followed by a week enclosed in tents--do the math.)
* "Oh Sweet Pete"
* Family dinners on Sunday
* Holiday get-togethers

They say that a healthy approach to life is to have a number of acquaintances with a few close friends. I've been fortunate enough to have a close friend like Peter for most of my life. Thanks, Peter for being "that friend."

* * * * * * * * * *

Peter's visit was great. We ate some great food (are you really surprised by that?), made a trip to Philadelphia, visited Amish country, and even got in a rounds party. Once again, life with guests is usually far busier than our actual day-to-day life, but we really love to host and entertain so it's all worth it. Peter kept Mountain time and I scheduled my patients on Eastern time so by the time I was done working for the morning, Peter was ready to play. The kids loved showing him games on the Wii, stories, gymnastics, drawings, and anything else they show everyone who comes to visit. All in all, it was a very fun few days.

A fantastic Portuguese meal, Pork with Little necks. Not every guest is so lucky.




Outside the pretzel factory in the heart of Amish Country.




The kids enjoyed the Amish rockers.

Cheesesteaks, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. Not bad for an afternoon.




Standing in front of Independence Hall.




Our kids make friends everywhere. Here's Thing 1 with her new friend

.


Sitting outside the Vistors' Center.




Together right before Peter had to leave (we were enjoying brunch at some friends' house). Thanks for a great trip!