Cross country trip: Day One

What do camels, over a foot of hail, a detour and the Virgin Mary all have in common? If you were us , it would describe yesterday. We got off to a great start and were on the road by 6:15 am. All went smoothly until we hit Laramie. The sign over the highway said to turn back to Laramie, I-80 is closed. What??? We tuned in to our local am station 1610 to get more info. Not much help. So Officer Friendly that was directing the turnabout said that there was over a foot of hail at the summit pass between here & Cheyenne, many crashes, of would be at least a couple of hours to open up again. So we turned to our good friend, Gina the GPS. Between her & the atlas, we charted a new route that only took us an hour put of our way down into Fort Collins, CO. The weather stayed non-hail-y and we got down, flipped around and back on our route. As we crossed the CO/WY borders, there was this interesting little establishment on the side of the road. Among other oddities they offered, camel rides were included. Thanks, but no thanks. We've had our fill. As we moseyed on over tbe border of NE, we spotted an unusual sign directing us to a shrine. Even though we were beyond curious, we had to keep going. Little did we know that we didn't miss out, by a looong shot. On the right side of the interstate was a huge two story tall Virgin Mary. Wow, what can one say. Have we seen it all? You'll just have to stay tuned for more events. We pushed on to North Platte, NE and arrived 14 1/2 hours after leaving Rexburg.

The kids in the packed and ready car.

The hail/snow that kept us from our original route.

Grant in flight

Karate Kid, anyone?

The beautiful Nebraska skyline (from the rest stop, soooo.)

Sunday Quotations

So sorry that I've let this tradition fall silent for a while. It just occurred to me that I hadn't posted and that I could do something Sunday-ish. (it is so a word) I was reading through some old Ensigns and stumbled across this article about charity. And this poem was at the beginning.

Six humans trapped by happenstance … in bleak and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood, or so the story’s told.
Their dying fire in need of logs, the first man held his back,
For of the faces round the fire, he noticed one was black.

The next man looking cross the way, saw one not of his church,
And couldn’t bring himself to give the fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes; he gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use to warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned from the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man’s face bespoke revenge as the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood was a chance to spite the white.

The last man of this forlorn group did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death’s still hand was proof of human sin,
They didn’t die from the cold without. They died from the cold within.

By James Kenny



Just something to think about.

Furnishing a home

When we are overseas, our apartments are furnished. We are now going to be back in the States for an extended period of time, long enough so that we need to furnish our new digs. What, you say? Furnish a house? After 10 years of marriage and you still don't have any furniture? Sadly, yes. When we were first married, we had nothing. Slowly, a random chair or table was donated to our cause. We eventually transitioned from an air mattress to a real bed. A $20 couch from D.I. lasted us 5 1/2 years. But when we moved to Egypt, we basically had nothing and that wasn't a problem.

The furnishings were great, everything we needed and some we didn't. A sideboard buffet, couches of every size, bookcases, etc. So in surveying what I have, we haven't advanced much since we were only married for a handful of years. But here comes the fun part, shopping! Although I have had to group my findings into "Reality Furnishings" and "Yeah-right-in-your-dreams" categories, it still is enjoyable. Take this sofa, for instance. I. Love. It.
The only problem? It's too wide for normal doorways. The saleslady was kind enough to inform me of this vital info. I was drooling when she walked up and asked how I was doing. It was obvious I was in love, so we began talking price. (yes I started bartering. with this economy, everyone's willing to make a deal) She said the only caveat about this piece was that you needed french doors or a sliding door to get it in your house. Nuts and double nuts. A previous client of hers still had it sitting in her garage for that very reason. But she loved it too much to return it. Hmmmm. No. Nope, I'm looking at practical, can-use-now furniture.

The next dilemma is which kind of furniture. I could order from Overstock.com, get $2.95 shipping on a sofa, but then have to put it together. I want a sofa that comes together and stays together. I know those two options aren't always mutually exclusive, but it would be nice. I'm really in love with this particular sofa. And this love seat. Oooh, and something completely frivolous, but very pretty. I'm trying to stay away from any white or cream. The kids will destroy it. And talk about the mother of all sofas. This one has two recliners and a pull-out queen bed! I don't really like the color, but then again, will I really get this?

Ikea is where I will get many wonderful things to keep my house in order. The larger furniture will come from a myriad of other places. But when all is said and done, we will hopefully have a furnished place to call home for the next year.

Coincidence?

I think not. Let's backtrack a couple of weeks to when we were flying from D.C. to Idaho. We arrived at the airport, checked baggage, found our terminal and gate and settled in to wait. This was at about 6am, so I was perfectly comfortable doing that. Children, on the other hand, aren't. So Spence and I took turns taking the kids for "Adventures". Basically it's a walk around our area of the terminal, but that sounds too boring. Adventures is a better title for selling the idea. Spencer took the first shift of Adventurers. When they all came back, Spencer seemed a bit more smiley that needed at this hour of the morning.

"Ok, it's your turn for Adventure. And make sure you go past the Five Guys restaurant."

"Why?"

"Just do it. You won't be disappointed."

So we made our way through the terminal to the Five Guys, Burgers & Fries establishment and looked around. Nothing really astonishing. It's a burger and fries place. Whoop-de-doo. Definitely not it the mood for that first thing in the morning. I stood there just long enough for the employees to start milling around the cash register and counter, wondering if this lady was gonna freakin' order something already. Then I spotted this little checkered sign to the left of the window where they shoved out overflowing bags full of those golden, crispy fries.

"Today's Potatoes are from: Rexburg, Idaho"

Well I'll be darned, Rexburg. What are the odds?

A Happy Boy

Grant has discovered his Nirvana. Legos. You know what he's been doing alldayeveryday? Legos. What does he talk about nonstop? Legos. What are we getting him for his birthday? You guessed it. Legos.

Hallelujah!!

What I thought was not possible, has finally come to pass. You remember back in February when I was hooked on a song that I couldn't download? I found this song, Ensemble, as the background music for this YouTube video I saw. I had to have that song! I looked on iTunes, Amazon, and every other legal means I could find and no such luck. I could stream it and listen on the artist's website, so I just bookmarked the address and went to it when I felt like listening. But it's just not the same. Until now. I was nonchalantly browsing through my old music mixes and I remembered Ensemble. So I searched "Ensemble" by Coeur de Pirate and up it popped. i couldn't believe my eyes!! I did the search again and, like magic, reappeared on my screen! I clicked that "Buy Song" button so fast, the mouse was a blur! It felt like the longest download in the world. But finally, that magic green bar filled and told me that magic had entered my music library. I transferred it to my iPod so I could go cycling with it. And listen to it. Anytime. I. want. Period.



This song is about this girl breaking up with a guy, they had a great story, she misses him and how he should miss her. I just love the tune! ;)

**p.s.** this is the smallest that a youtube video will go. grrrr, irritations. just overlook the sloppiness of it!

Beauties

Or what I wish were everyday beauties for me! Being here in the Bitterroot has been wonderful. My sister has a gorgeous setup. It's all about location, location, location. I just don't have enough time, or gigs on my memory stick, to absorb it all. We also had a great time playing Guitar Hero, picking out flowers and just being.