Marathon Summer Vacation: Part 2

After spending only a few hours at home after getting home from Utah, my parents and I got on the road to get started on our big vacation. We went to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and a little bit of Colorado. My dad is way into genealogy and has been writing histories of our different family branches for years. This trip was partially a genealogy trip (which means lots of cemeteries filled with enormous bugs) and partially a sight seeing trip. It was absolutely filled with amazing things. Here are some highlights:

Arizona:
Our first stop in Arizona was the Mesa Temple. My grandparents on my mom's side were married there in 1941. We had never seen this temple before and it was a wonderful experience to be able to do a session there.

We also got to visit Tombstone, Arizona where we visited the OK Corral, the Birdcage Theatre, and got to explore "the Town Too Tough to Die".While walking the streets of Tombstone, I got to take a picture with Wyatt Earp and his arch enemy Ike Clanton (they look pretty good for a couple of dead guys, eh?)We also got to visit Boothill.

On the way home, we visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was my first time at the Grand Canyon since I was two years old, and I was definitely not disappointed.



New Mexico:
When my dad was little my grandpa was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, so their family lived nearby in Tularosa, NM. We got to visit one of the houses they lived in, while there and we got to see the white sand that they used to go out and play in. It's as white as snow and you can even go sledding in it! Way cool and simply beautiful!

The next place we went was to Capitan to see Smokey the Bear's museum and grave.

After that, we headed over to Lincoln County to see the courthouse where Billy the Kid made his very last escape! My dad visited this place with his family when he was a kid and he was very excited to show my mom and me all the cool stuff there. It's fun to see my dad acting like a kid in a candy shop!

And of course, we went to Roswell and went through a museum that displayed information about the famous crash. We figured it would be kind of a tourist trap, and we were right, but it was fun to look around.

I have always wanted to see the Carlsbad Caverns and finally got to. Sadly, the pictures cannot do them justice. I was really glad that we decided to walk, rather than take the elevator down; we got to see some amazing things along the way!


On the way back home, we got to go by the Albuquerque Temple. It was Sunday, so it was closed, but we got to take some pictures on the outside.



Texas
We went to San Antonio and visited the Alamo; we had planned on going to the Riverwalk that evening, but we were just too tired after a long day of travel.

That night, I decided to drive by the San Antonio Temple and then we went to walk around the grounds the next morning. It is a very, very beautiful temple.Here I am in front of the temple......and here are my cute parents!

Later, we headed up to Austin to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Museum and Library. This is the fifth presidential library I have visited (the others are: Nixon, Reagan, Truman, and Eisenhower) and it was, by far, the lamest. They had a few interesting displays and it was still cool...just not quite what I was expecting.

Dealy Plaza, however, turned out to be much more interesting than I thought it would be. We went to Dallas and saw the place where JFK was assassinated and even got to tour a museum on the 6th floor of the old Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald hid out and then shot JFK from a window.This is the School Book Depository.
The "X" behind me marks the spot where JFK suffered a fatal shot to the head.

That same evening, my mom and I got to attend a session in the Dallas Temple; my dad wasn't feeling well.

Oklahoma
My grandpa grew up in Oklahoma and we went to visit some of the places that he lived and visited. The first place we went was to the site of the B & O Cash Store, which was basically a huge store where you could buy almost anything you needed. My grandpa had lots of memories of shopping at this store in Temple, Oklahoma. The mural is painted on the side of the building that actually housed the store.It was humbling to walk the streets where my grandpa walked as a child. It allowed me to witness, firsthand, his meager beginnings and made me even more in awe of what my grandpa made of himself and the sacrifices that were made to bring my family where it is today. I'm so glad that I got to visit some of the sites he lived in (among them were Temple, Hastings, Comanche, and a couple of others).

Colorado
On the way back toward home, we decided to stop at Mesa Verde. I was SO excited. I minored in anthropology and specialized in the cultures of the southwest...including the Ancestral Pueblo Peoples, which included the Anasazi, who built the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. I have wanted to see these ruins for a long time now and finally got to. I was in awe and nearly beside myself with excitement. We took two of the tours: Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace. The pictures can't do it justice, but here are a couple of shots:Here are my parents overlooking Cliff Palace just before we hiked down to it.Here I am at Cliff Palace...it was amazing!Here's my dad and me down by the ruins of Cliff Palace. It doesn't show any of the ruins, but I love this picture because I actually convinced my dad to smile for the camera! : )

So...there it is. Just a couple days short of a full month on the road and a million memories later, I can safely say that I had an amazing summer vacation with my parents AND that I am ready for the longest nap. Ever. : )

Marathon Summer Vacation: Part 1

This summer has been crazy full of good things! My last day of work for the school year was Friday, June 11th. Immediately after work I went home, threw my bags in my car and headed off to St. George, Utah for my cousin's wedding in Zion's Canyon the next morning. My parents, Daniel, and Tyisa also went, but we rode separately so that I could have my own little vacation after they went home. I beat them there by about an hour and a half and deided to go walk around the St. George Temple grounds.It was SO beautiful. Saturday morning we woke up really early and did a session in the temple. It was awesome!

From there, we caravanned to Lynell's wedding. It was outdoors and there was thunder and lightning throughout the ceremony.Fortunately, the rain held until we got inside for the reception. It was nice to see the cousins on that side of the family again; it had been quite awhile.Here's the bride with all but one of her sisters. After the reception, my parents and Daniel headed back to St. George for the night and then let the following morning. I drove up to Salt Lake and stayed the week with my sister, Diane.There had been thunderstorms all the way up on the road and it had just stopped when I got to Salt Lake, so I decided to go for a walk. Here's what I saw:Breathtaking! The storm-sewpt sky added to he beauty of the scene.

The next day was Sunday and I went with my sister to her ward, where I met lots of nice people and then my sister and I just hung out for the evening and went to Temple Square and the Church History Museum. Monday, I did a morning session in he Provo Temple (it's one of the few that's open on Mondays).
Afterward, I met with my grandpa's sister, whom I had not seen in almost 8 years and I got the chance to interview her about her life growing up and ask her some questions about my grandpa (I'm workig on writing his life history). It was pretty awesome! That evening, Diane and I went to dinner at the home of an elderly couple in her ward. They had invited everal of the young single adult girls from the ward over for dinner. I was nervous because I didn't know any of them, but I ended up having a great time!

On Tuesday, I went to the Planetarium in Salt Lake City and saw the Hubble IMAX 3D show; I highly recommend it!I got to walk on the Moon! That night, Diane and I did a session in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a good day!

Wednesday was busy! I started out by going to the Mount Timpanogos Temple: Then, I went to the Draper Temple: When Diane got home from work, we drove to Lehi to meet up with Aunt Sue for dinner (Uncle Rich couldn't make it). We ate at Rumbi's and then went to Lehi City Cemetary to see Grandma and Grandpa Merrell's grave. Afterwards, we went to Uncle Rich and Aunt Sue's house in Eagle Mountain and talked for a bit.

Thursday was a driving day. I drove up to Logan to go to the Logan Temple and then meet Miles.
We hung out for awhile and then went to Brigham City for dinner at the Maddox Lodge. Delish!

Friday was a laid back day. I slept in and then went down to temple square. In the evening Diane and I went to her ward BBQ and then stopped at 7-11 to get Farmville Slurpee cups that I had wanted for a LONG time! This is the look of victory!

Satuday, Diane and I ran errands and Sunday (Father's Day), we went to church and then I packed my car and drove to St. George for the night. It was nice to have a relaxing night alone after suc an eventful week! On Monday, I decided to do a little sightseeing in St. George since I usually jut drive through it. I stopped by the temple visitor center an then toured Brigham Young's Winter Home: Afer that I toured Jacob Hamblin's home: didn't even really know who Jacob Hamblin was until my dad told me I should go visit his house. I learned that he was an amazing man who, I now think, is too often forgotten. I'll probably read his life story at some point...he lived a fascinating life.

Then, I drove the rest of the way home where my whole family was waiting for me! I missed them SO much and was so happy to see them when I walked in the door!

My Heavenly Father Loves Me!

Recently, I was able to attend church with my sister and her ward's Relief Society was singing "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" as their practice hymn. This is among my very favorite primary songs (it's probably second only to "He Sent His Son"...LOVE that song!)

Here are the words to the song, as I had learned it in primary:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heav'nly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart;
I thank Him reverently
For all His creations of which I'm a part.
Yes, I know Heav'nly Father loves me.

As if this song weren't amazing enough as it is, a third verse was recently added to it.

Here it is:

Whenever I think of the Savior's hands
In prayer at Gethsemane,
Whenever I picture Him healing the lame
Or making the blind man see,
Whenever I think how he willingly gave
His perfect life for me,
I marvel as gratitude swells in my heart,
For I know Heav'nly Father loves me.

The words of the song have always touched my heart and have helped me to remember just how blessed I am to have a loving Heavenly Father, who sent his Son to atone and die for me, that I might be whole. He sent our Savior, Jesus Christ, to experience all of the emotions (good and bad) as well as all of the trials that we could ever have while here on the earth, just so that He would know how to comfort us and give us peace. That is just amazing to me and I am grateful for it!

All in a Day's Work...

It's SUMMER!!! And THAT is fantastic! In honor of the end of the school year, I thought I'd post just a couple of pics that show just exactly what it is that I do at work! Here they are:

This picture was taken on field day for the Kindergarteners. When we went to set up for the different activities, we discovered that the kiddies had built a lovely nest...so I sat in it!
This one shows me at my table with the magical orange drawer thingy behind me. On long days, the kids would leave and this is what I would do! My co-worker thought it was funny and captured it for me!
Here's one more...
So, I kinda work in the ghetto, which is okay, but sometimes you see interesting things. For example, my friend/co-worker and I were driving down the street to go to lunch and we found this amazing tower. It was taken with a phone, so it's not the clearest, but it says "Rancho Guadalupe" on a large tin can/bucket thing... Amazing! ; )


Well...that's pretty much it! : )

Crazy Wheeler Par-tay Weekend: San Francisco Style

It's taken me forever to blog about this, but I think that it was an experience well-worth remembering. On May 1st my cousin, Jed, got married in Vallejo, which is up in the Bay area. So, my parents, Daniel, and I planned on driving up there for the weekend and then coming home...no biggie. As it got closer to the date, Nancy, and David, Wiss, Joey, Aaron, and Cy decided to go too. We were way excited that SO many family members would be there. Then, Diane decided to fly in to be with the rest of the family too. Awesome! It was amazing that the whole family got to be there. Lots of cousins were there too, which made it even cooler! We all stayed in the Beverly Heritage hotel, which was...interesting and it was an overall great weekend!

The wedding was Saturday afternoon outside of the Vallejo Community Center... followed by lots of family pictures:Awwww! I love my family! It's ALL of us together!
My nephews with my cousin, Kristi's kids
And then there was the reception...Here's a shot of my siblings and me

And here's what happens when a bunch of Wheelers try to take a cousin picture:

HAHA!!! We may be crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way! : )

Another amazing aspect of this wedding? THE KILTS!!!This is the groom in his kilt with my brother and nephew. When it was time to exchange rings during the ceremony, my cousin opened up that pouch and dug 'em out. It was awesome!
This is my cousin, Brad, and Uncle Richard (in our very own Campbell plaid) having a duel...

Then there were THE DAGGERS:
I would also like to add that you haven't truly seen a wedding cake (or in this case a tiered wedding brownie...yum!)be cut until you have seen the groom pull a sheathed dagger out of his sock to cut it with. True story.

After the reception, we drove around Vallejo a little bit to see the neighborhood that my dad lived in when he was a little kid, which was cool, and then we headed to San Francisco. We got to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge (my 1st time ever!) and it was way more impressive that I thought it was on my last trip to San Fran.
Look closely at this next picture. Notice the crisis counseling phone on the left side of the picture:...and for the record, there WAS a jumper holding on to the side of the bridge as we drove across. Fortunately, a nice policeman was helping him out.

Next we went to Golden Gate Park, where we saw some cool stuff, a seagull tried to kill me, and where we used the world's grossest bathroom...good times! hahaHere I am hiding from said seagull
The family chillin'
The bison...we actually saw 3 of them
This is where we ate dinner. I refer to it as "7 raviolis for $15". Afterward, we went to Boudin's Bistro and got some delish fresh sourdough bread. Then, we called it a night and went back to the hotel, since we would have to wake up super early the next morning to come back and go to Alcatraz.
Aaron said he was too tired to walk and asked me to give him a ride, so I did. Here we're waiting in line to get on the boat.
The ferry ride over to the island was pretty cool and we got an awesome view of the city an the island, both, from out in the water. 3 of my favorite little men and me
Finally on Alcatraz
Behind bars...I look like like a thug, right?

My family together on AlcatrazThis was truly an amazing vacation. Short, but awesome! I love my family so much and could not have asked for a better one!

Teach a Girl to Fish...

I have been wanting to learn how to fish for quite a while now, but just haven't had the opportunity. Bummer. However, next week, my brother's family will be moving to a place in Victorville that is just across the street from a huge lake, which is stocked with fish! So, tonight was the night and I went to Bass Pro Shop with my sister, Nancy, and I bought my very own fishing pole!

It was on sale, which was awesome, and it's super cute! I also got a little tackle box and some hooks. I'll get bait later.




I was amazingly excited and my giddiness seemed to be quite amusing to the guys working there, but in the end I got my pole and was one happy girl!