Cancun, Mexico

Earlier this year John decided that we all needed to go to Mexico for a vacation. So, we did!
We arrived in hot and humid Cancun on Sunday, June 6th and stayed in a condo just outside of Playa del Carmen.
It was a relaxing vacation with just a couple of trips to the tourist attractions, and lots of time spent walking from our rooms to the pool and back again.
We visited Xaret and floated down their underground river. I think the idea was that we would snorkel down the river, which we did some of, but it was more fun to be above water and listen to the kids laughing and teasing each other. We saw quail chicks hatch, went into a bat cave (which freaked Savanah out), watched dolphins play, saw sea turtles, a jaguar, leopard, and all sorts of animals.
The highlight of the day was a show that featured 'native' ball games being played. One of them was kind of like hockey with a flaming ball instead of a puck. The other was played on the same style of court you see in the ruins like Chichen Itza. The players in the second game could only use their hips to move the ball. It was very interesting to watch.
We also went to Chichen Itza to look at the ruins one day. It was miserably hot and muggy! (John and I had been there before, but there weren't vendors everywhere like there were this trip.) We also weren't allowed to climb the pyramid where we could before. Anyway, it is an incredible display of history. I would have liked to taken a tour and heard more about what the buildings were used for, but I don't think the rest of my family has the patience....
Great trip and as always, it felt wonderful to be on American soil. We arrived back home on June 13th, our 24th anniversary. Happy anniversary to the whole family!

Knitting: the Story for Another Day

I started knitting when Ben was about two...and stopped after my first project: a sweater for him. It was an adorable forest green and ecru striped number; long sleeves and a crew neck.

Three years ago I got the crazy idea to start knitting mittens. They were made of wool and I felted (or shrank) them to make them a little more weather resistant. Not being one to do anything half-hearted, I made them for friends for Christmas (about12 pairs - One of my friends uses them as hotpads. That works!), Missionaries (3), and family members (5). Yup, three years later I'm still 'Mitting Nittens'! If you have not been a recipient and would like to be, please email me...

Fast forward to Girls Camp (this will be year 17 for me, not including my five years as a youth). This year I'll be hiking with the fourth level girls for three days and two nights. At our regular camp we thought we'd have to be sleeping in tents because we have so many young women attending this year. The Stake Camp Director asked me to come up with a way to make it easier on the 4th level to have to sleep in tents, and I came up with a brilliant idea: knit hats for all of them. (I had a pattern I was dieing to try!)

The fact that there are 25 girls in this level this year was only a small negative: I'd get help! I enlisted four friends, three of whom didn't know how to knit. So, I taught them! Tracy was really motivated and made four hats. (She actually made one had twice because she was so unhappy with the finished product. She spent hours and hours working to get the stitches just right.) Julie was a natural and got four hats done quickly. Carol already knew how to knit and was going to treatment sessions with her husband every other day. I got a hat from her after each treatment; nine in total. Jessica picked things up pretty rapidly. I had to start her over a couple of times. She had enough yarn for twohats, although I tried to take the second ball from her because she was busy doing other things and not knitting...I ended up finishing the second hat this week; the week before camp!

I couldn't leave it at 25; one for each girl! We had to do one for each leader, including the certification leader (4), and one for each YCL (3), and two for the dad's who are hiking with us! Total: 35. (If you are counting, you'll notice there is one extra hat. What if we have another girl show up at the last minute?) Whew! I'm glad that project is finished!

Speaking of Pictures...

One last thought before I'm done for the day...

In my last post, I talked about the seemingly inherent ability of young people to shoot pictures of themselves. I asked someone to take pictures for me during our family dinner before Dad and Carol got married, and this is my favorite by far:

It's my favorite, because I've done the exact same thing before, so I can really relate to the picure-taker! Love you, Lori! =)

Mothering

During Spring Break, we were at a cabin in Utah with some friends. Savanah and I were laying on the floor one day just giggling together, and we started taking pictures of ourselves. I know that she (Savanah) and her friends have a great sense of how to aim the camera the get faces just right. I, unfortunately, don't have that same sense so it takes a bit for me to hit faces just right.

We were taking pictures of funny faces (yes, I'm going to publish one against my better judgement). After this one, Savanah told me that's the face I should use when I'm 'mothering' her. She's getting to the age that she doesn't want me to 'help' her with some things. I keep telling her that it's my job to mother her, and I can't stop after 13 years.

I am trying to relax a little and let her do for herself when she can. (Funny thing is, she wants the help when she's on the couch and doesn't want to get up. I'm usually dead-dog tired at those times!)

Okay, so here's the 'mothering ' face. It makes me laugh everytime I see it, and I thought I should let you see it too! Here's to faces!

Artichokes, four for $1.00

When I was little, (okay, we were living in Hyrum, so I must have been at least 9) I remember Uncle Lorin coming to our house and telling a joke about a headline that read 'Arti Chokes 4 for $1.00'. He found it so humorous that it left an impression on me.

To this day, I cannot see artichokes on sale without wondering when they were ever that cheap, and thinking about Uncle Lorin and his joke! I found some last week that were $.79 each and thought I'd found a deal!

Being the ever-experimenter that I am, a couple of years ago, I thought I'd try to grow my own artichokes! I planted a few plants and watched them die through the summer. As I was planting last Spring, I found one lone plant and transplanted it to an out-of-the-way bed. I watched it through the year as the lower leaves turned yellow and died, then new leaves would sprout and the whole process would start all over again.

Instead of pulling the whole plant out (as was my inclination) I cut off the old stuff and kept watering it. This Spring, it looked really good! I glanced at it last week on my way to the chicken coop and to my surprise, I found a very small artichoke growing at the top of the plant!

So, today I am documenting the event. Not only one, but three artichokes are growing! That's just one fruit for each year I've been trying...not good odds, and I wish I knew what the difference was this year. Maybe it was all the chicken sh... I've been spreading around the garden this winter? Who knows? I'll keep it up this next year and see what happens!

Friends

I've been doing a bunch of different things today: taught a friend to knit (that's a story for another time...I'll write something when it's over.), did a great workout, took Savanah to a babysitting job at the church tonight (14 Young Women are babysitting 42 kids tonight to earn money for camp!)

I just got home and found Ben and Michael swimming! It's been a beautiful sunny day amidst gray and rainy ones and the temperature is only 72, but there they were, in the pool. They said it was cold. (Yeah, I'll bet!) I guess they went long-boarding and got hot, so they thought they'd take a dip! I can't remember the last time I saw Ben swim in our pool.

Anyway, I thought I'd share...fond memories of young, active boys. Now they're young, active men! :)