He still loves me

Yesterday, Sam and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary. We kept it pretty low key this year since I still feel like we are in vacation-recovery mode from our past month of travels. It may have been low key, but our evening out was still perfect and certainly made me recognize how much Sam still loves me.

When I first got to know Sam, one of the things I loved most about him was how he seemed so willing to do anything for me....no matter how silly or trivial (e.g. I was stressed about a roommate's hair clip I borrowed and accidentally broke so he walked multiple miles to several stores looking for a replacement.)

Our anniversary celebration certainly highlighted that aspect of his love for me as we spent more time than I care to admit returning things. Sam always gives me a hard time for my style of "buy-then-decide" shopping, but sometimes it's the only way. I'm really not as bad as he makes me sound, but in preparation for a project I was working on I did have an excessive number of things to return and had really been dreading dragging the kids around to return it all.

JoAnn's was the return I was dreading the most since I had the most items to bring back and their clerks are the most unhelpful/disdainful to returners. So as a true display of love and affection for me, he returned the whole shebang while I stayed out of embarrassment range in the car.


It wasn't all returns. We also enjoyed a delicious dinner at Carabba's, which after a large appetizer also provided for the best lunch ever today.

He loves her too. Ruby woke up super early yesterday morning with a long list of requests (ok...demands), including wanting her nails painted. I smiled when I came down to make breakfast and found Sam granting her wish. I told Sam I wanted to be next.

Sam and I a far from perfect, but I have always thought we were perfect for each other. Sam--I still love you, too.

Working Backwards

This Summer has been a whirlwind and it's all been whirling by too fast. I know it's hard to compare one year to another, but this summer might be one of my favorite so far. I have so much to record from the past month and a half and knowing where to start has been half the problem. They always say to start where you're at so that's what I'm going to do--and work backwards, because these past few weeks have too many things I don't want to forget.

Last weekend we took a quick trip up to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. I went to the pageant with my family almost 20 years ago (it was shocking to realize it was that long ago) and had been looking forward to the opportunity to take my own family.

I was looking forward to the experience, but I wasn't necessarily looking forward to a 6 hour drive two days in a row. It was a lot of driving over the two days, but the kids were good most of the time and the drive was beautiful. Sam even thought the drive was worth it was just for the gorgeous scenery.







After a late start we arrived in Palmyra just before the performance. After 6 hours I don't think the kids cared where we were, they were just happy to be out of the car. As we headed towards the outdoor amphitheater we were immediately greeted by a family of cast members.


Miraculously we got great seats even though we only arrived right before the show. Don't let Max's face mislead you. He was happy to be there, he was not happy that I asked Reed (not him) take the picture.


This is the only semi-decent picture I got of the performance, but the whole thing was so impressive--even better than I remember it. I was worried that my kids would be too young to appreciate the experience, but I was wrong. Reed loved it and Max was practically on the edge of his seat (Sam's lap actually) the whole time. Even when Ruby started to get tired, she would rest her head on my shoulder and then turn around excitedly when she recognized a name. "Where, Abinadi? Where Abinadi?"



The next morning we attended church at the Palmyra Ward along with 800 other people. Apparently we weren't the only pageant attendees who were looking for a place to attend church the next day. We knew it was going to be packed when we pulled into the parking lot next two 3 giant tour buses. It was actually really neat to see such a huge crowd. I no longer need to wonder what it would be like if they passed the sacrament at Stake Conference. They had 24 young men passing and it still took quite a while.

The Palmyra building.


After church we headed across the street to the Palmyra temple. The boys found a map of the historical sites and were determined to use it to find their way without our direction. They walked with it like a compass for while until Max got tired of having Reed lead.


The temple was beautiful. It made me miss the easy access we had to temple grounds in North Carolina.








After our walk to the temple, we figured we'd continue our stroll down to the Smith Farm and Sacred Grove. It turned out to be a little more than a stroll, but even in the heat we all survived.


I had been looking forward to our visit to the Sacred Grove as much as the performance the night before.


I appreciate that having reverence for spiritual things has always been one of Reed's strengths.


As we walked through the trails there was a wonderful feeling of peace and calm. Even though we were in the middle of a forest, it felt less like a walking path/hiking trails and much more like temple grounds.



Thanks to Sam's super awesome Google tablet that he loves we were able to quietly sing an impromptu "Oh how lovely was the morning". I hope that song has a little more meaning to the kids next time we sing it.




After the Sacred Grove we made a quick visit to the Smith Farm (with a dead camera) and were ready to pack up and go home.

Aside from the one hour I drove, I spent most of our drive like this to make room for the gigantic basket of activities I had brought for the kids.


It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but it was worth it to have the kids happy and busy for 12 hours of driving.



Some joker on Pinterest suggested punch balloons as a good activity for the road. Worst. Idea. Ever. (I'm sure they are laughing somewhere imagining the poor fool that would give it a try.) We wont make that mistake again.


After two very full days we can now officially check "Road Trip" off our summer list. It was long, a bit exhausting, but totally worth it.

Camping at the Beach

During the week of the 4th of July, we spent the week with my family (this is Sam) at a campground by the beach called El Capitan, just north of Santa Barbara.  Here's a video I made: