Treasure Found

We have had the most wonderful time in Utah so far. The time is going way too fast, and I'm not sure we're going to fit everything in that we want to do, but we're giving it a go!

When we first arrived, Katrina had a fantastic spread waiting for us. After eating pb&j's and eating out for the previous three days, it was like heaven to see fresh fruit and homemade hamburgers ready to eat. Too, there was a birthday cake for Mark (complete with 17 NEW candles :-)), and we had fun singing many different renditions of Happy Birthday to him while he waited to blow out his candles. Then, when I went to pick up Micaela Clark at her grandparents' house, we were asked to perform, so we sang the birthday rap to some stranger who was also having a birthday (certainly NOT Elisabeth's idea of us performing for her family, but it was the best we could do for spur of the moment!) I dropped everybody off at the BYU Young Musicians Summer Festival and hoped for the best.

We are currently staying at the home of a good friend that our family knew in Dayton. Turns out that she and her girls were leaving for vacation the exact day we were coming, and she's coming back the day we are leaving. She needed someone to watch her animals, so here we are. It's sad that we don't get to see them, but it's fantastic that we have a house all to ourselves, complete with big screen TV and Dish Network (Ethan and I are especially happy so that we can catch the NBA finals and see some of the World Cup). Probably the best part about her house, however, is Joey, their sneaky, two-faced schnauzer. When we walked in the door, our hearts melted. He is so cute and cuddly and friendly and calm--attributes not used often on our dogs by strangers :-) He sleeps with somebody in the house every night, loves to go on walks with me and watches whatever we are watching on TV, curled up on the couch with us. Cathy had left pages of directions for us with him, but seriously he's the easiest dog. One thing she left off, however, was that he runs away any chance he gets. Having Australian Shepherds aka "Velcro dogs", we are used to our dogs sticking to us everywhere--no leashes required on walks, no worries about them running away. Well, when we were bringing in luggage, he walked out into the garage. I didn't think much of it until I called him, and he didn't come back. Grrrr.... Ethan and Johannah proceeded to chase him for 20 minutes through the neighborhood. Literally, they had to corner him and pin him down to catch him. Ethan split his foot open and sprained a toe in the process. Through all of this though, we can't help but love him, and believe me, we don't let him get near the door now.

On Monday, it was so fun for Ethan and me to pick up Rachel and head out to the mall to buy Ethan's missionary clothes. She is a smart, darling girl. Too me, it always looks like she has some secret she's keeping, but not telling anyone. She'll have a sly grin when she looks at you, but when you ask her about it, she SAYS it's nothing. I don't believe her :-)

Ashley ended up getting first chair flute in the band. Yay for her! Too, she's playing in what sounds like an awesome flute ensemble. Mark got 1st chair horn, assistant in the orchestra. Basically, he and the first chair trade off playing the first chair horn music. He wanted first chair, but hey, my goal for him was to make it into the orchestra. Sitting co-chair for first chair in the orchestra is just fine with me. He tells me too that the horn ensemble music is cr-zazy fun, so I'm excited to hear it.

Yesterday was fantastically crazy. We got up early, took Joey for his walk and headed to Seven Peaks Water park. I remembered it from when we lived here eons ago, but I had forgotten how fun it really is. We met Katrina and Co. there and spent the better part of the morning and afternoon sliding down slides and playing in the wave pool. Honestly, I didn't see the big kids at all--they were off with their Triple Tubes riding everything, I think. Ethan and I had a blast taking John and Josh down the slides and out into the wave pool. It was a trip for me to be at the waterpark, surrounded by glorious mountains--we don't see that on the East Coast, ever. We came home with only a little bit of sunburn.

At 5:00, I headed back to BYU to pick up Ashley and Mark from the festival so that we could all go to the temple together and do baptisms for the Kennedy family. Finding them was easy, forging Katrina's signature so that I could sign out Ashley was even easier, and the five minute drive to the temple was the easiest. Katrina had called beforehand to make sure that we could actually do the work for all 100 names (yes ONE HUNDRED names), but when we got there, we were told each child could do five each. We were disappointed, BUT Katrina kept us all in a positive mind set and we gleaned all the happiness we could out of a tricky situation.

When we were getting dressed to leave, I could hear the girls talking to each other in the dressing room. Ashley said (and I paraphrase), "The best part of today was having Ethan baptize all of us." Yes, my darling boy didn't look much like a boy anymore, baptizing everybody in the temple instead of being one of the many being baptized. Thinking about it, Ashley has known Ethan since they were fairly little. I suspect she feels some of what I do--can Ethan really be this grown up now? Then, from another dressing room I hear, "Really, you think that was the most special? I thought it was baptizing names for our own family." Talk about melting my heart! All that work I had done to get names ready, the kids only got to do five names each, and it's appreciated? A golden moment for me, for sure. I think for both Katrina and me, seeing the beautiful, righteous cousins in the temple together, doing baptisms for their own family was the best moment of the experience. I say this with complete bias, but I really couldn't imagine more beautiful children sitting in the temple together, laughing (quietly) about some of the corny articles in The New Era while they waited, dressed in white and doing God's work, literally. The icing on the cake? Ending the evening at Dairy Queen.

You know, having very little extended family (and having no siblings or nieces or nephews from my side of the family), I've never really had much vested interest in any family but my own. However, being here with Mike and Katrina and their kids, I have experienced some very happy moments--unexpected feelings for sure! It's hard for me to process at times that they would be willing to take my kids for a day, or night, with no expectations in return. Too, it feels natural to take their kids with me, shopping, driving, or swimming in the wave pool with no expectations. I know that most people probably think I'm crazy only realizing this now, but it's a new sensation for me. I think maybe this is love, and I'm so grateful to have found so much of it on this vacation.