After we left Niagara Falls, we drove 2 hours east to a little town in upstate New York called Palmyra. It is here that my church believes that Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and God in a vision. In a place we call the Sacred Grove.
The Sacred Grove has a very special feeling in it. I talked to the kids about being quiet and how this is a special place. They were VERY good, and very quiet. And even though we were looking for my brother and his family (we never did catch up with him here), it was a very peaceful and spiritual time for all of us.
We walked past the Smith Farm and headed to the Palmyra Temple.
And here we met up with MusicMan’s family!
These two were thick as thieves and got everyone running.
Pretty Butterfly.
From the Temple, we went over to the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph Smith met the Angel Moroni and received the gold plates that he translated into the Book of Mormon. We went to the visitor’s center first and then hiked the hill.
The sunset was beautiful that night, and Flower was having a great time. This is not her first time being here (me either) but first for the kids.
The monument on the hill.
It was so much fun to spend time with my brother here. And for the kids to spend time with their cousins!
After a very loud and tiring dinner at McD’s, we came to the hotel room and totally crashed.
After a 5am wake up call and leaving in a big beautiful thunderstorm, we drove for hours north. We stopped about noon-ish in New York State, at the ranger station in the Allegheny Mountains. Why there? I wanted a stamp for my National Park Passport! But the station was closed on Sundays AND holidays. No stamp for me.
The stop was not unwelcome, however. There wasn’t a much eating because there were these 3 big boulders near the picnic table. Just right for climbing on!
After a few more hours in the car (and driving down TINY roads…stupid GPS), we finally made it to our destination!
And we saw the people we wanted to see!
And did what we wanted to do!
Then we piled back in the car and drove another few hundred miles to where we were going to spend the night. More tomorrow!
Safire
PS- Does the waterfall look familiar? It’s my header!
This weekend we took a short/long road trip to see my brother who was visiting Niagara Falls with his family.
This is the very first time I’ve met my nephew, Lev, who just turned a year old.
It’s also the first time all 5 of my parents grandchildren have been together!
Lev, Butterfly, Cappy, Pirate, Professor
I have a BUNCH of outtakes but I think this one is my favorite:
Lev kept trying to crawl back to his mom and she kept putting him at the end of the line. He was NOT happy about that! I like this picture because my 3 kids are worried about Lev. They are all watching him cry. But Cappy, his brother, couldn’t be bothered. Someone is used to crying!
Once I have sorted through my over 300 pictures, I will post more about our trip.
We went to church as a whole family today! It’s the first time in 3 weeks we’ve all been. And we were on time. We were on time enough to listen to the prelude music from the organ. Professor, pulled out a hymn book, opened to a page with music on it (not just writing) and proceeded to sing. With gusto.
“Ah wehh ohh doo la pu! Moooo peee!”
We had everyone around us chuckling. Until the opening song.
Then Professor really belted it out. Pirate joined him and everyone had to have their own hymn book.
Then people were visably laughing at our virtuoso. Uncle MusicMan would be so proud.
Safire
Edited to add: Another funny saying I thought of after I published this: Professor wants to be carried. Everywhere. And he doesn’t just ask to be carried, he stops dead in his tracks, gets a very worried look on his face and says, “Legs broken!”
This week’s question on the Multiples and More site is about my own memories. Yay for more memories!
What are your favorite holiday memories?
Some of my favorite holiday memories involve my brother. He and I were co-conspirators with our presents. Together, we made a small hole in the drywall in the unfinished basement to peak into the store room. (Sorry Mom.) It was through that peep hole that we saw bikes for Christmas one year.
We always got excited to see what shape of chocolate was coming out of our advent calendars together. We watched Christmas movies together. We suffered, together, through many of THESE:
Most of my Christmas memories are wound up with him.
One of my most favorite memories is our stockings. You see, Santa left our stockings in our rooms every year. I never remember them NOT being in our rooms in the morning. It was always so great to open my eyes on Christmas and see my stocking right away.
But the best part about the stocking was that my brother and I would sneak into each other’s rooms and go over our spoils in our stockings. We switched rooms every year. And we both were just as excited for each other’s presents. We went from being excited about our cool new toothbrushes together and tiny toys as little kids to taking turns listening to our new CDs as teenagers.
The year that he was in Arizona on his mission for our church, was a hard one for me. The stocking just wasn’t as magical as it had been in years past. It was great again when we got to do one last year before I got married.
I can only hope that my kids enjoy Christmas with each other as much as my brother and I did.
Today (and yesterday) is our church’s Semi-Annual General Conference. We’ve spent the day in our pjs (a rare treat nowadays!) and just enjoyed the talks, the music, and each other.
A highlight of yesterday:
It’s my brother! (Fourth from the left.) I love love love seeing him on TV doing what I know he loves to do. Plus it’s pretty cute to hear all the kids start yelling “Unca! Unca!” whenever the music starts. They love looking for him too.
To hear one of many good songs he sang in yesterday and today:
[a picture of the kids and Flower outside the National Aquarium Downtown]
And then there was:
[a totally awesome picture of a sea horse]
[a picture of the kids in front of the viewing area for the 'roars' aka the alligators]
And after there was:
[a picture of the Washington Monument with dark storm clouds]
And then there was:
[a picture of Butterfly standing in the rain deluge]
And once we got home, wet, (after a very awful metro ride with rude people who swore at me) there was no power in the house.
Until 4am.
And!! I’m an aunt again! Congrats to my brother and SIL on their new addition born today, a 9lb baby brother for Cappy. No internet name yet. 9 lbs!
What a day.
Safire
PS- I have no pictures because I ran out of the uploads for flickr this month and I’m too tired to invest time in turning pro. More pictures on July 1st when I can upload again.
This year’s Easter was very low key. We spent the day in our pjs listening to General Conference and eating candy. The big fun in the morning was the Easter baskets though! When Butterfly was the boys’ age, I think I gave her a handful of jelly beans and a few toys/books. The boys got significantly more candy that she did. Juice was not happy with the slobbering sticky chocolaty mess. But I figured it was a win because they almost didn’t fight over the candy. Each kid got 2 toys and I ended up using 2 bags of candy between the 3 of them. I think that was enough. Butterfly got sidewalk chalk (something I know we will need for the summer and hopefully use up before the summer is over) and a bunny Mr. Potato head. This is our family’s first Mr. Potato Head. I bought another generic Mr. Potato Head in advance to ward of fighting. A good call. Besides the jelly beans and the robin’s eggs (which no one in our family likes…who knew?) she got some pink Peeps and a chocolate bunny.Pirate got bubble solution (also something we will use up before the summer is over) and a pair of sunglasses. They are green. They are funky. They were a dollar. He also got jelly beans, robin’s eggs (which he ate for about 2 minutes and then started to spit out, much to Juice’s dismay), purple peeps and a chocolate bunny. The bunny’s ears were eaten and then he carried it around like a doll for about an hour. By the time Juice wrestled it away from him, it was hairy, melted and dirty. Pirate screamed, Juice huffed about it and I just smiled. Crazy kid! Professor also got bubble solution (we go through a lot of bubbles here…it’s one of the words that they both will say) and another pair of those sunglasses. The sunglasses are a bit big for him. But he loves them. He calls them ‘eyes’. He also got jelly beans, robin’s eggs (ate one, wouldn’t touch the rest), yellow peeps and a chocolate bunny. He ate his bunny as best he could, starting with the face. Once it fell apart on him (the horror!), we took the rest of the pieces away and he cried.
Bubbles and sidewalk chalk outside in our pjs fixed every one’s mood.
Also Conference fixed every one’s mood. And looking for my brother, Uncle MusicMan who sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It’s pretty cool to hear all three kids cheer and clap when I point out their Uncle. Here, you can cheer and clap too.
Watch about 4:16 on the video and he’s in the back in the middle. One great Easter here!
Birthday season has hit our house. Last week it was my Dad’s birthday. Today is my brother’s birthday. In 2 weeks, it’s my nephew Cappy’s birthday. Then my Mom’s birthday is a few days after that. Then 2 weeks after that is Juice’s birthday. 3 weeks later, the boys’ birthday. And 3 weeks after that, Butterfly’s birthday. Whew! Talk about packing them in. I switched my calender over yesterday and almost every single day this month someone in our family is celebrating something. (Birthdays or anniversaries for my cousins, aunts, uncles, Juice’s family, etc)
Since today is my brother’s birthday (Happy Birthday Bro!) I thought I’d share a story about him, MusicMan. I’ve been trying to think of my earliest memories with him. I vividly remember running after his back at my first elementary school. So I must have been in 1st grade maybe. We were at the bus stop (which was a park) and we were running for the bus.
I remember playing Voltron in our basement. He always made me be the pink girl but I wanted to be the blue boy. My parents had a big folding extra bed that we used to climb into and that was Voltron’s cave. It was a favorite hiding place. Also in the basement, I remember the storage room being locked near Christmas time. We tried to plan out ways to pick the lock or look through the wall some how because we were sure our presents were in there. (We were right, the year we got bikes we saw them. Sorry Mom.)
As we got older, I remember playing a lot of Nintendo with him. Well, I did a lot of watching. He was very good at Nintendo. Especially Final Fantasy. I can still vividly see him fighting those three sisters over and over. They were hard!(Us in 1989 with our dog.)
In 1990 in the Mountains in Colorado.
When I was about 10, on Easter Sunday, MusicMan and I were alone in the pew at church. Both of my parents were singing in the choir and were on the stand. So MusicMan and I were alone for that hour (or so) of service. He was about 12. About half way through, he and I were fighting over a hymn book. A full out fight (as much as you can in church) with lots of hip checking and trying to rip the book out of each others’ hands. I looked up at my mom for some support and she gave me “the look of death”. You know, the one you got when you were in trouble and your parent can’t yell at you. Then I glanced at my Dad and I could see him glowering at us too. So I poked MusicMan and pointed up at our parents. We both stopped fighting and smiled angelically up at them. We weren’t fighting! No! MusicMan even had the dramatic flair and put his arm around my shoulders to show that we were friends. That satisfied both my parents and they looked away.
That’s when he swooped in with the attack. He swung his hand around my shoulders at my face and caught me right on the nose. Which then started to bleed. Badly. I was no stranger to nose bleeds as a kid but I didn’t want to get blood on my dress. I remember getting up and trying to get out to the bathroom as fast as possible. MusicMan saw what I was doing and followed me out of the chapel with his arm around my shoulders again.
(Us again in 1991. These are all Christmas time pictures.)
My mom said she knew something was wrong when we walked out like that. And then the Relief Society president followed us out as well and followed me into the bathroom to make sure I was okay. I was fine a few minutes later and no blood on my dress.
I do remember getting into a lot of trouble for fighting in church that day. But probably not as much trouble as MusicMan got into for hitting me in church.
As teenagers, he was ALWAYS late. He was also my ride to school. His first period was drama. No one cared if he was late. By my first period was English. And I was late every day for almost a month. I got detention at least 4 times that year because of tardiness. Which was totally not my fault! I even resorted to pouring cold water on him in the mornings to wake him up. Seriously didn’t phase him.
Even with all the trouble that we got into with each other, we’ve always been good friends. I never worried about being bored at family things because I knew that MusicMan would always be there to talk to or hide out with. Vacations were fun with him. I knew what he liked and he knew what I liked.
I wished we lived closer so that we could be closer but such is life. He is my only sibling and I know that we will always have a connection. I’m glad he’s my brother!
Take a look at this sweet picture of Butterfly. This costume of Butterfly’s is something my mom made for me when I was 5. See?
Isn’t it fun to recycle costumes?! I remember being so proud of that papoose on my back. It was my favorite part of the costume. I think it was Butterfly’s favorite part too. She said the moccasins made her feet hot but I made her wear it with shoes since we were at the pumpkin patch and it rained on Halloween night.
Just for kicks here is me from the front and with my brother, MusicMan. He was a masked bandit this year (I think?) so I get my themed costume ideas from my mom. This is the only picture I have of all 3 of them together this year. As the boys get older it gets crazier!
I remember being so proud of that papoose on my back. It was my favorite part of the costume. I think it was Butterfly’s favorite part too. She said the moccasins made her feet hot but I made her wear it with shoes since we were at the pumpkin patch and it rained on Halloween night.
