Lawrence Family Blog

Young Women Fundraiser

2011-10-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Anybody out there in need of a fun, unique idea for a Christmas gift? Our Young Women in our church are selling puzzles for a fundraiser. Oh, these aren't your boring, everyday puzzles. These are puzzles containing an image YOU choose. Imagine your child putting together a puzzle that is a picture of himself/herself. The sky is the limit. You can buy puzzles of your family vacation, wedding announcements, invitation to a school dance, child's artwork. Go to BWYW.GoingToPieces.com and see how creative you can get.

2011-09-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Gosh, where has September gone? It's already the last day of September, and I'm just putting our Labor Day pictures on the blog!
We went hiking in the morning to Sunset Peak. Quinn and Zack decided to make a quick ski run.

Well, I guess that hike is just a memory now. My camera died after a few pictures. Grrrrr!! It was really beautiful. With all the rain this summer, there were wild flowers everywhere, even still in September.

Some Days my Job is just CREEPY

2011-08-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am a court reporter by profession, and some days . . . well, some days I really hate my job. I reported some depositions recently that, after being subjected to hearing such ugliness for six hours, I literally cried all the way home. Now I am having to relive it as I proofread and prepare the transcripts. I just keep praying that I can get through the next couple days quickly and that this really UGLY testimony doesn't stick in my mind for very long.

There are people out there who profess to be LDS. They put on a front for people at work that they are good LDS people, they don't smoke, they don't drink, they don't tell off-color jokes, they don't do drugs, they don't look at porn, and they are faithful to their spouses. Yet when they are in their little group of other "pretend LDS" friends, they sink to the lowest levels imaginable. How do I know this? Their cell phones were subpoenaed. I guess people think they can say anything in a text message and do anything behind closed doors, and as long as they don't get caught and their parents don't know and their wives are unsuspicious and their children don't have an inkling of what rotten fathers they are, they can still pretend to be LDS and go on living their fake lives. Did you know that deleted text messages can be retrieved from your cell phone?

I'm telling you, these men were into everything, offensive language, marijuana, ecstasy, shrooms, acid, heroin, strip clubs, paying for lap dances, meeting up with hookers, every kind of filthiness you can imagine. This one guy's poor wife had sent him a text message saying, "When can we go to the temple together?" As if her husband is worthy to go to the temple. And to top it off, these guys had no remorse. They actually looked at each other and snickered during some of the testimony. Their favorite text message acronyms were LMAO or LMFAO. To quote the Apostle Paul, they had "their conscience seared with a hot iron." Their families would be SHATTERED if they knew what their husbands/fathers were up to. In reality, their families are already shattered, and they don't even know it yet.

These pretend LDS men are perfect examples of the scripture found in Alma 47:36: Now these dissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same knowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites--drinking in with the traditions of the Lamanites; giving way to indolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their God.

It is interesting to me that a person, once having been a member of the church, after leaving the church, simply can't leave it ALONE. They have to kick at it and jab at it. They have to point at and mock the members. They have to take the Lord's name in vain. They have to look for every imperfection they can find with Joseph Smith, who was a prophet of God but yet was still a human being. They have to write anti-literature about it. They have to talk about it on radio talk shows. Kind of reminds me of Lehi's vision of the iron rod and the great and spacious building.

BUT as incomprehensible as it may seem, our Savior (and probably their mothers) still love these men and can still see the potential in them. The Savior sees the worth of every single soul as great. So while I sit there as an imperfect person, listening to this with my head down and hoping these guys one day get their come-uppens, the Savior holds his arms out to them, inviting them to come to him and be cleaned. That is amazing to me. I cannot comprehend such love, knowing the grief and agony he went through for them, and for each of us.

Yes, I am LDS, and while the members of the church are not perfect, the gospel of Jesus Christ is. I testify of it.

http://lds.org

Vacation 2011 (First half) The Key Hole and The Subway

2011-08-13T18:00:00.001-07:00

Zion National Park was our destination for the first part of our family vacation. Bruce, Janet, and Molly joined our family for vacation this summer. Bruce agreed to take us on some spectacular hikes through some slot canyons, and we were not disappointed. It's interesting that people from all over the world come to see what we've got in our own backyard. Be sure to watch the clips at the end of this post to get a better idea of our adventure.

Here we are strapped into our harnesses for Day 1 hike, The Keyhole. We're an adventurous family, and adventure is what we got.

We were in water much of the time for this hike. It was like ice. Hard to imagine we were hot before entering this slot canyon.

Michael stood at the bottom of this repel to help as we came down. The water was cold, and he got really chilled.

My 14-year-old swimmer. That's where he got those muscles.

I couldn't take many pictures. Too hard to keep my camera dry. We were down in the slot canyon for a couple hours. Oh, did the sun feel good when we emerged.

Alex had blue lips and couldn't stop shivering.

Hike No. 2, The Subway. This is a world-class hike. Only 50 hikers a day are allowed. Each of us took shifts waiting in line all night to make sure we got tickets. We started hiking about 8:00 a.m. and finished about 5:00 p.m.

Taking a picture of Bruce taking a picture of me.

Steep drop to enter the slot canyon.

This gives you an idea of why this hike is called "The Subway."

Little poliwog/tadpoles were swimming all over.

Vacation 2011 (Second half) Lake Powell

2011-08-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

After leaving Zion National Park, we traveled three hours to Richfield, where we stayed overnight, and then drove another three hours to Bullfrog Marina the next morning. Our rental ski boat wouldn't start, and the mechanics had to work on it for a couple hours to repair it. Bummer!!

Finally we were on our way. We towed the ski boat behind the houseboat in search of the perfect beach. All the perfects spots were taken, so we settled for a nearly perfect spot.

After we got the boats "parked," we were all roasting hot and decided to cool off. The slippery slide was up on the upper deck.

The lake didn't feel crowded as it has in the past. We spent lots of time kneeboarding and skiing. I tried to slalom, but the strength in my hands is GONE. I couldn't get up. Michael heard and felt something pop in his hamstring when he attempted. Boy, getting old sucks. Bruce and Janet both skied, and Quinn, Alex, and Zack kneeboarded.

The perfect spot for jumping/diving was just around the corner from our houseboat. People driving by would stop to watch or join us. This was about 15 to 20 feet high. It looked easy until you stood on top and looked down. Alex tried to summon up his courage for three days, but he never did jump. Poor guy. I think he stood up there for an hour at one point but just couldn't do it.

Here's proof that I even jumped. Got water up my nose and halfway into my brain and eye sockets.

Our lovely home. We spent time skipping rocks, lounging around in tubes/floaties, and getting really sunburned.

The co-captain.

Temple Square

2011-07-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd throw this picture in. This is Eric's pastime in Guam. Too much free time?? He says it's his only joy. I guess there's worse ways to pass the time.

Alex looks like a "hard guy" here, but he's just goofing off. When I'm having a hard day, he comes and hugs me and says, "You're doing a great job, Mom."

Wow, Gage snapped this picture. Could be on a postcard.

Mitch's Wedding

2011-07-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Yea!! Cute, modest girls. Modest is hottest. Way to live up to your standards.

More 4th of July Fun

2011-07-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

4th of July 2011

2011-07-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Utah Symphony and fireworks at Taylorsville Dayzz. It was a great family crowd, much different than the night before.

Funnel cake. Hey family, does funnel cake remind you of our vacation in Florida, where Eric consumed funnel cakes every day???

A little spin in the Viper. (No, this is not our car.) This is in Logan, the day after the Logan fireworks. It took us an hour and a half to go from Brian and Susan's to Mom and Dad's after the fireworks. The traffic was terrible.

Back at our house and goofing off Sunday night.

On Monday Michael took the boys to Taylorsville Pool to give them a few pointers. They're both on the swim team this year. The place was nearly deserted. We had the place almost to ourselves.

Eating popsicles and waiting for fireworks.

Zack's parents were in town. They came for several days and helped Marissa and Zack do "fixes" on their house.

With the loosening of Utah laws this year regarding fireworks, I think the whole state went crazy. It literally sounded like a war zone every night for four nights. Standing in our driveway, you could see dozens of surrounding neighborhoods having firework parties. Our neighbor put on a two-hour display for a group of families, and another neighbor down the street was competing. It was great fun.

2011-06-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

We walked around Gateway Mall, where they were having the chalk art festival. It was fun to watch the artists draw on the sidewalk with chalk. The pictures looked so real.

Father's Day. We're taking care of my niece for a week. No, this isn't Marissa's or Gage's child, which some people asked. This week has been a reminder of the time it takes to care for a baby. Quinn and Alex are awesome helpers.

Gage is in Phoenix this week training for his new job, and Emily is with her family for their annual Bear Lake vacation.

Quinn pulling Maddie in a box. Eric, Marissa, and Gage used to pull Quinn in a box. Quinn just turned fourteen yesterday. How could fourteen years have gone by?

Marissa is on the countdown for her last month of school and clinicals. Whew! Almost done.

Jay and Linda celebrated their 30th anniversary and had everyone over. The fact that they had another anniversary at all is a miracle, considering what Linda has been through.

We celebrated Michael's dad's 80th birthday two days before. I got no pictures. My camera died the second I turned it on!

One more picture from Lagoon.

2011-06-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Lagoon on Stake Lagoon Day and had a great time. Michael even took the day off. Alex took his friend James, who was adopted from Ukraine a few months ago. It was fun to hear the two of them chattering away in Ukrainian/Russian. It's always a good refresher course for Alex. Quinn didn't want to take a friend this year. He said he just wanted to hang out with us. That's nice but unusual to hear from a teenager.

It was a good day to go to Lagoon. The lines were relatively short, and the weather wasn't too hot. In fact, about 5:00 p.m., it started to rain, then downpour. There was a mad dash of several hundred people to their cars. We were ready to leave anyway, and it was a perfect way to get James out of there. I think he would have been happy staying till midnight.

Goofing off at Day Break.

Still wearing jackets in mid-June. (As of today, June 22, still haven't turned on the air conditioning.)

Quinn nervously waiting to leave for his piano competition. He didn't place in the competition, but he did SO WELL. I'm so proud of him.

Let's Get This Summer Started

2011-06-02T09:20:00.001-07:00

Last night a bunch of kids and adults from our ward and neighborhood went shooting west of Utah Lake. I went along for the ride and to make sure all my boys came home alive. Gage isn't officially a member of our ward any longer, but if there is shooting to be had, he's on board. I think we should have named him Gauge instead of Gage. His knowledge of guns is amazing. He and Michael are helping the boys through a merit badge. They did the classroom stuff last week, and this week they did the "field trip." Does he look happy or what?

Sorry, Quinn. Bad picture

We stayed out way too long, but what the heck. Today is the last day of school, so let the fun begin.

Pictures of Grandpa's birthday celebration

2011-05-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Dad's 85th birthday on May 28. We followed tradition and met at the Jordan River Temple for a session and then all went to dinner afterwards.

Here's the birthday boy looking very forlorn.

Catch-up post

2011-05-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

The Lawrence clan got together for Dustin's baptism in April. Here are a few pictures of the family.

Here's the newly-baptized boy. He didn't delay changing out of his Sunday clothes.

Macy got in the font when no one was looking. Things like that make special days memorable, that's for sure.

We went to Music and the Spoke Word several weeks ago. One of my favorite Sunday things to do.

Farewell picture of our red truck. We only kept it for TEN years.

I was at Jordan River Temple last week and couldn't resist snapping a picture of the flowers. This was a brief moment of sunshine, as it rained the entire month.

Pajama Sunday

2011-04-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, we woke up on Pajama Sunday (General Conference) to this weather. I must say, however, that I'm sitting in my office looking out the window today, Thursday, and it doesn't even look like the same continent. Green grass that already needs to be mowed and not one trace of snow. You know what they say about Utah. If you don't like the current weather, wait an hour.

These pictures don't coincide, but oh, well. This is my cute little niece, six months old.

Meanwhile back at the ranch (Pajama Sunday). We watched the most wonderful sessions of General Conference. For those reading this who aren't LDS, twice a month we hear from the prophet and apostles and other general authorities. They give us instruction and counsel on how to be better people and prepare for what's ahead. http://www.lds.org/ This General Conference was stupendous. Michael said the Preisthood Session was the best he could ever remember.

We celebrated Marissa's birthday (23) afterwards. It's pretty ridiculous that I didn't get a picture of the birthday girl. Oh, brother. Sorry, Riss.

Here is the gourmet chef at work. I wonder if Adidas would be willing to pay us for all the advertising they get on my blog.

Another Adidas commercial.

Zack made a snowman. (He grew up in Arizona. What can I say?)

Here are my children singing a little dittie around the piano. Put on your earplugs.

2011-04-03T08:19:00.001-07:00

Well, this IS the Lawrence family blog, I'm part of the Lawrence family so I'm adding a post! Utah is always good to offer a huge dump of snow in the most inappropriate of times. This is the gigantic, hideous, awful, ridiculous, disaster tree that is in the yard of our new home. Needless to say, it is SO outta here! As soon as possible this eyesore will be gone. These pictures from this morning are proof of how preposterous this tree is!

Another Sunday

2011-03-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Another Sunday. We woke up to snow this morning, but it was gone by the time church started. We went to Gage and Emily's ward first because it's their last Sunday there and they had to speak. Emily woke up with a splitting migraine, so Gage gave her talk first. (She had it all written out for weeks.) Then there was a musical number, and Gage got up and gave his talk! He did a really good job.

Gage and Emily bought a home and are moving in this week. It was a short sale, but it wasn't a short process. I think they put the offer on the home four or five months ago. Anyway, it finally closed last week, and they are very excited to be moving to their own home. We'll post more pictures later.

Here's Alex and Quinn going to our own Sacrament Meeting. I was so proud of them. Not one complaint for having to go to two churches today.
Sunday after church we all get together for dinner. Today we had baked salmon, grilled chicken, rice, spinach salad, and homemade bread. Usually I cook, but today Michael cooked. It was DELICIOUS! It was a celebration of Zack's birthday, and since he LOVES salmon, we splurged.

Marissa and Zack also bought a home and have been in for about a month. It was a bank-owned home. We feel so fortunate that our children were able to buy homes at such young ages. Both Marissa and Gage nearly "stole" their homes, but it's hard to think about all those unfortunate souls that are losing their homes. We'll post pictures of their home later also.

Yes, Eric, our family is just as goofy as usual. These pictures are proof.

Quinn and Alex had their boys' choir concert last week. Alex LOVES to sing but can't carry a tune in a bucket. Oh, well. We don't tell him this, yet anyway.

Update on Eric: He has about three months left in Guam and then will be transferred to Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Yea! At least he'll be back in the U.S., and even on the western half. So close, but yet so far. We miss you, Eric.

More Pictures from Tani's House

2011-02-07T06:42:00.001-08:00

Don't know how I missed these. Here are a couple more pictures at Tani's house.

Logan and Riverton (In One Day)

2011-02-03T08:20:00.001-08:00

Brian blessed this sweet little Maddie in January. These are pictures of the family gathering afterwards at Brian and Susan's home.

Then we traveled to Tani and Don's home in Riverton for a Lawrence end-of-the-holidays gathering. We love seeing family.

Eric, this friend of Tara's served in your same mission. He just got home.

Newest member of the family, Mitch's fiancee on the right

Quinn and Jiu Jitsu

2011-01-04T09:01:00.001-08:00

I forgot to mention that Quinn was awarded his orange belt in Jiu Jitsu about a month ago. Jiu Jitsu is different from Karate where you can earn your black belt in a couple years. I'm told it takes ten years to earn a black belt in Jiu Jitsu. This orange belt represents two and a half years of training. Here is one of his instructors, Tony, saying some really nice things about Quinn, one of them being that Quinn is skilled but not arrogant. That's true. Quinn is a humble sort of kid. Congratulations, Quinn.

2011-01-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

We had a great (stressful but great) Christmas this year. I don't know why I let Christmas stress me, but it does. I wish I could learn to enjoy it more. I'm worried that my children will be unhappy on Christmas morning, that my house isn't clean enough, that my decorations are 25 years old, that I didn't get my neighbor gifts done, etc. etc. The neighborhood agreed to donate money to the Food Bank instead of doing neighbor gifts, so why my doorbell rang constantly the entire week of Christmas with yummy, fattening goodies from neighbors, I have no idea. Now I owe everybody in the neighborhood, I suppose. But I really do have great, kind neighbors that are always doing nice things for us. I really am so grateful for them.

We got to spend time with my side of the family on Christmas Day. We had about 35 people at our house for dinner, and we had a good time visiting and eating.

Here's Quinn's creative way of washing dishes.

My sis doesn't like her picture taken, but I was sneaky.

My brother's family. They added that cute little girl to their family this year.

My cute hubby and my Mom and Dad

Mom and Dad brought all their old Christmas decorations to give away to any takers. Through the years my Mom has painted, crocheted, glued, sewed so many Christmas decorations, they decided to declutter this year.

My brother's family

My sis's family

My niece and her little boy

Alex playing his DS. He got a game called Scribblenauts that has entertained the family for hours. This is a good game for Alex because he has to SPELL the name of the objects he needs to work his way up the levels. He is constantly asking me how to spell a word, and it's a sneaky way to get some learning in while having fun. BTW, we had NO melt-downs the entire Christmas holiday. We still have eating and touching issues, but we're making progress. We got home from Ukraine with him Christmas Eve of 2009, so we have now passed our year mark. It's hard to comprehend the magnitude of what he's learned this year. (And what we've learned.) Notice how his GIGANTIC overbite has calmed down in this picture. We're on about the third month of his orthodontic treatment, and his mouth is full of bolts and metal arms that are pulling his lower jaw out and making room in his upper jaw to receive his lower jaw etc. I'm not even sure what all they are doing to his mouth. And we thought we had reached the end of our adoption expenses? But it's all worth it. We watched Despicable Me the other night, and it prompted Alex to have a dream that night. He dreamed we told him he had to go back to Ukraine. In his dream he was crying and pleading with members of the family to let him stay. When he woke up his pillow was wet. How sad! I asked him, "You mean you don't want to go back to Ukraine? I thought maybe you would want to go back." He said, "No, not really." Doesn't he look American in this picture?

But I digress. Back to our family party.

Little update on Eric: Eric passed his half-way mark of his four-year obligation to the United States Air Force. He's expecting to be transferred this spring from Guam back to the States, maybe the western part of the U.S. (We hope and pray.)

Only one more Christmas to go in the military, Eric!!! We hope you got your package by now. We love you and miss you.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir/David Archuleta

2010-12-19T06:47:00.001-08:00

One of our annual Christmas traditions is to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert, if we can get in. For those of you reading this from another state or country or are not familiar with this tradition, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sponsors this unbelievably fantastic, wonderful concert every year for four days (including Music and the Spoken Word broadcast on Sunday), and it's absolutely free to the public. The tricky part is getting tickets. They are given through a lottery system on line. We were told by a choir member that 1.5 million people requested tickets this year. Of course, the guest singer this year was David Archuleta, which really added to the frenzy of attempts to get tickets. The Conference Center seats about 21,000, so about 80,000 lucky people get to go into the Conference Center to see the concert firsthand.

Our family never even requested tickets because there's eight of us, and only four tickets are given to each lucky lottery winner. We have always had good luck getting in through the standby line, but we knew this year would be different because of the overwhelming interest in David Archuleta.

With little hope of ever getting in, we headed downtown about 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, parked at the KSL Building, and walked to Temple Square to get in the standby line a little before 5:00. There were already about thirty people in line. We had a two-hour wait ahead of us before they would even think about letting anybody from the standby line in.

Here we are patiently waiting in line, drinking hot chocolate, playing games on the iPod Touch, and just generally having a good time on Temple Square. Gradually the line in front of us got smaller and smaller as passers-by with extra tickets handed them off. By about 6:30, we started getting tickets handed to us, two at a time. Marissa and Zack went in first, then Gage and Emily, and finally Quinn, Alex, Michael, and I had tickets in our hands!!!!!

Here's the view from our seats. Sorry, but no pictures of the choir or David. We were asked to turn off all electronics after this point. All I can say about the concert is: Oh, my goodness!!! it was so good. The decorations, the dancers, the choir, everything was magical. David Archuleta was so charming, and let's face it. That boy can sing!!!! To me, nothing brings the spirit faster than Christmas music, especially sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Jazz Game

2010-12-02T09:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon our next-door neighbor called to see if we wanted four Jazz tickets in the lower bowl. My answer? "Heck yeah." She said she didn't know where the seats were, only that they were in the lower bowl. (Their son-in-law works for the Jazz.) So we proceeded downtown to see the Jazz game, only to encounter a wreck on the freeway, which delayed us 45 minutes. We arrived just at the end of the first quarter, and here we are on the NINTH row!

I almost had as much fun watching the Jazz Bear as Michael did watching the game.

Incidentally, the Jazz solidly whipped the Indiana Pacers.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

2010-12-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday of November

2010-11-29T12:18:00.001-08:00

Sunday morning we awoke to more snow. We kicked Quinn and Alex outside to start shoveling.

Michael joined in for a few minutes before dashing off to his meetings.

Quinn has become my dishwasher. He says he's bored, and besides, the hot water feels good!

Later on after church, we shoveled again. Then again!! It just kept snowing.

Monday morning we awoke only to shovel once more. It's nippy outside, but at least the sun is shining.

Barbies

2010-11-24T14:13:00.000-08:00

I came up from dowstairs a couple Sundays ago, after reading with Alex, and found Marissa and Emily playing with Barbies. Yes, Marissa had dragged out the Barbies and all the paraphernalia, and there the two of them sat on the floor dressing the Barbies, and even the Ken, in various outfits. Wow, I hadn't seen that stuff for MANY years. Now, remember that Marissa and Emily are 22 and 19 years of age. They must have sat there for over an hour, and I joined them for a while, reminiscing about my childhood and remembering playing with most of those very same Barbie clothes that have now been handed down to Marissa. My mom had the patience to do that kind of thing, make clothes for our Barbie dolls. Imagine the hours. I guess one day those clothes will be played with by Marissa's daughter.

Weather

2010-11-23T10:09:00.001-08:00

We woke up to a frozen white world Sunday morning. Our trees were bent over in agony, but we were lucky to only lose three branches in our entire yard. Others had entire trees down or trees split down the middle. Our neighborhood looked like it had a mini tornado go through.

We went out and knocked snow off every branch we could reach before the trees gave way. So many of our trees still have their leaves on, which is why so much snow collected in them.

Apparently, however, this is only a preview of what's about to hit us. We're supposed to get a 100-year storm this afternoon/evening, meaning the worst winter storm Utah has been hit with in the last 100 years. I'm headed out to stock up on groceries. Let's hope the weather people are wrong. I'm feeling especially thankful today for a home, lots of food downstairs, and a family to hunker down with.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

2010-11-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

Here's another great reminder of everything we have to be grateful for.

Thanksgiving Daily

2010-11-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

Save A Child Hosting Program 2010

2010-11-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

This video was shown at the Save a Child benefit concert held a couple days ago. Alex was excited to see his face on the screen for one-tenth of a second. Yes, it was definitely because of Save a Child that we started down this path and brought Alex home, even though we hosted him in Arizona. We also saw a glimpse of Bogdan, the boy we hosted in 2008 and tried unsuccessfully to adopt. Seeing him makes my heart start to ache all over again.

2010-11-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't blogged for a while. After our crazy, busy summer, things seem a little boring around here. It's amazing the boys are into their second quarter in 7th grade. The adjustment from grade school to junior high was a piece of cake. They both got excellent grades for first term. Quinn was a little bothered that Alex got almost as good of grades as he (Quinn) did. I had to remind him that he (Quinn) has honors classes that require more work and that the teachers are probably going a little easy on Alex, considering he's been in the USA for only ten months.

Halloween can't be over already. Boy, our neighborhood was kind of dead this year, and that is not a play on words. We had hardly any trick-or-treaters. Where are all the little kids? I guess they grew up along with my own children. Maybe it was the rain that scared everyone away. We have so much trick-or-treat candy left over, we'll be eating it for weeks. Well, maybe a week. Well, maybe a few days.

Marissa had to dress up for work. She was an Egyptian princess.

Going out for trick-or-treating. Marissa and Zack accompanied the boys. Zack was the umbrella-carrying cowboy/clown, Marissa was Marissa, Alex was a vampire, and Quinn was a nerd. (His trick-or-treat bag was a briefcase.) So the very first neighbor said, "Aren't you boys a little old for trick-or-treating?" Hello? Hello? Did she forget that this was Alex's first and probably last year for trick-or-treating? I mean seriously, folks. The kid has never been trick-or-treating in his life. Give us a break. Well, I took more pictures of the boys in their costumes. Somehow they have mysteriously disappeared from my camera.

Save a Child Foundation brought 43 orphans over from Ukraine this year for the hosting program. Alex has had a few opportunities to be an interpreter for the host families so they can communicate with their hosted children. It has been good for Alex and a quick refresher course in Ukrainian. Last night we attended the benefit concert, which was a huge success. The organizers need to give themselves a huge pat on the back. The work that goes into everything during the two and a half weeks is amazing. Alex got to see himself in the slide show as one of the previously adopted children, and Quinn loved, loved, loved watching Jon Schmidt perform. (See the clip below.)

Trip to Phoenix

2010-09-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Marissa and Zack's open house was in the Phoenix/Mesa area a couple weekends ago. Zack grew up in Arizona, so we made a quick trip to Arizona and stayed at Zack's mom and dad's house a couple of nights. Before we left Utah, we arranged to meet with some families in Phoenix that adopted from Ukraine also. Alex was excited to see his friend Dima (now Donovan), who was in the same orphanage. We thought they would go crazy talking about old times and speaking Ukrainian. As is typical with these adopted kids, they hardly conversed, and what little they did converse was in English! Alex tried to speak Ukrainian to Dima, and Dima didn't understand a word he was saying. But they did have fun playing arcade games.

This is Marie. She and her husband were in Ukraine the same time we were. We went to dinner with them in Ukraine and were going through the process almost simultaneously with them. They adopted a young boy. Marie's twin sister (Rose) hosted Alex for the first few days in Phoenix until we took him back with us to Utah.

Then later that day, we hung out at the church and helped prepare for the open house for Marissa and Zack.

Zack's mom had the cute idea of putting up giant pictures of their wedding day and some engagement photos.

Alex said he wanted this picture afterwards, so he rolled it up and took it back home to Utah. It now hangs on the wall by his bed. If he wakes up in the night, he'll have this GINOURMOUS picture of Zack and Marissa gazing down at him. Too funny.

How great that the Allreds have an honest-to-goodness chef in the family who oversaw the food aspect.

Aunts and cousins showed and spent hours in preparation. Great family support.

These look like balloons, but they're really lanterns with lights inside. It was a nice effect when the lights were dimmed.

The boys looking bored before the guests arrived. Quinn and Alex were the "table clearers."

Quinn was an awesome table clearer. He stuck to the job till the bitter end.

Zack's mom and dad.

Our great friends, Dan and Debbie. We got to go to lunch with them too! It was so nice actually knowing some people that came to the open house.

I thought this was a great idea. Zack's brother-in-law is a graphic design artist and put this design on the entrance into the open house.

It was a fun weekend. We got enourmous amounts of reading and homework done while traveling the eleven hours each way. Everything went off without a hitch, and it was nice to get to know Zack's family a little better.

Eric Gone (Again)

2010-09-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

I wonder if we will ever get used to saying good-bye to Eric. He returned to Guam yesterday, and it was a sad, melancholy day. The whole family felt it. I think almost all of us shed a few tears the last couple days. Where is Eric now? Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean after spending last night on the floor of the Houston Airport. He will arrive in Guam Friday evening. Yuck. That journey is even worse than the journey going to Ukraine! It was great to have him home for almost a month, and just when we were all getting used to having him around again, it was time for him to leave.

2010-09-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

We hiked to Timpanogos on Labor Day. It was a bit nippy in the morning but beautiful. We didn't prepay for tickets to go through the cave. When we got there at 9:15 a.m., the cave tour time available was a three-hour wait, so we decided to hike up just for the heck of it. We'll have to show Alex the cave another day.

Spelling Woes

2010-09-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

Alex has become a good, even great reader in the last eight months. He is on his seventh or eighth Boxcar Children book and reads much of the time independently. His comprehension is good. When reading scriptures with the family, he can read many verses in the Book of Mormon with no help at all. His SPELLING, however, is a different story.

In spite of studying spelling lists all summer, Alex asked me last night how to spell "how" and "where," and other words that he has read literally THOUSANDS of times. When he asked me how to spell "how," I asked him how he thinks it's spelled. He said H-E-A. I wrote HEA down and asked him to read it to me. He could see immediately it did not say "how." He then guessed H-O-U, a much better guess but still wrong.

Wow, am I expecting too much that Alex should be able to spell "how" after reading it for the last eight months and writing it maybe dozens of times? I feel frustrated. After reading Wendy's blog about doing home school IN school, I e-mailed Alex's ESL teacher to see if I could sneakily incorporate spelling lists into the teacher's curriculum. (Alex accepts teachers' challenges and homework much better than he accepts his parents' challenges and homework. Sad, huh?) We will see what his ESL teacher thinks.

Alex was also placed into pre-Algebra this year because his sixth grade teacher thought he could handle it. No way am I going to tackle pre-Algebra this year with Alex when we have the English/spelling/reading/comprehension hurdles. I know our limits. (His sixth grade teacher needed to come and observe homework time at our house. She had no idea how it went down.)

Anybody else out there been there, done that with the spelling difficulties? We've started a "dictionary" like Wendy has done with her Alex. I obviously need to be more obstinate in not spelling words for him and making him look them up. Then he would have incentive to remember them the next time, right?

2010-09-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

Marissa and Zack were married September 3, 2010. These are some photos taken on my little camera. The "professional" photos will appear soon. Stay posted!

Bridal photo shoot. I forgot to get my camera out until the very end.

Endowment day at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Zack's brother Caleb (on the left) entered the MTC the next day.

Family wedding dinner hosted by Zack's parents. Delicious!

The big day finally arrived. Not a cloud in the sky. Pictures at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

The wedding reception was in our back yard. Marissa always said she wanted it here. We prayed for good weather, and our prayers were answered. The tempterature was perfect, the decorations were beautiful, the flower gardens survived the hail storm five days before, and our wonderful family and friends OVERWHELMED us with their love and support on Labor Day Weekend.

Family photos before the reception

The cake arrived and was magically assembled before our eyes.

The boquet was beautiful.

The chocolate fountains arrived.

The last-minute scramble in my kitchen.

Family members wait for the guests to arrive.

One of my kitchen helpers. My ward friends are wonderful.

The guests begin to arrive.

Overhead lights were strung from the porch to the trees at the back of the yard.

Candles were hung in the tree over Marissa and Zack's heads.

Cutting the cake. The sun was just setting.

It was Marissa's idea to show the video on a screen on the side of our shed. It worked beautifully. Zack's dad handled the technology. Whew!

I got there too late to catch the boquet throwing.

These cute girls from the neighborhood cleared tables for us. All the kitchen help wore red, orange, or yellow aprons.

Marissa and Zack went in the house to change clothes to leave on their honeymoon. She asked me to come help her get out of her wedding dress. I said, "Uh, I think your husband can handle it."

"Oh, yeah. I'm married now!"

I guess old habits die hard.

The send off. About a hundred people lined up on the driveway and blew bubbles.

2010-08-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

Vacation 2010 with Marissa, Quinn, and Alex.

In the lazy river at WorldMark, Las Vegas.

This is how we entertained ourselves in the car driving to Las Vegas.

The walk to and from Disneyland.

In line for Thunder Mountain.

Thunder Mountain

It's a Small World

Indiana Jones line

California Adventure

My goofy children.

Waiting in line for Indiana Jones.

Day at the ocean.

Home, the Happiest Place on Earth?

2010-08-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Alex got lost in Disneyland last night. Yup. He wanted to play "futuristic games" in the Innoventions building. We said to wait at the exit at 9:00 p.m. "Do not leave if we're not right there. Wait until we come." So what did he do? He left EARLIER than 9:00 and walked around Disneyland while I panicked for 45 minutes looking for him. My cell phone rang, and his voice said, "Mom, this is Alex." I wanted to strangle him. Another long lecture.

I awoke this morning to Alex asking me if we're going home today. I said yes. He asked if it was a day earlier than expected. I said yes. I thought he would be sad and disappointed. Instead he said, "I'm so excited to go home and sleep in my own bed. I think home is the happiest place on earth." A pleasant surprise.

Disneyland, the Not-So-Happiest Place on Earth

2010-08-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

The five of us -- Michael, I, Marissa, Quinn, and Alex -- are on vacation in Anaheim, California, but, alas, I forgot my camera cord to download pictures into the laptop. I'll have to do that when we get back home and post our fun pictures. Yes, even after seven months, we are still having some post-adoption issues. Here is my diagnosis of the problem. Feel free to comment. We tell Alex we're going to Disneyland for vacation this summer. We tell him how fun it's going to be. We do a little assignment in "Mom" school about Walt Disney and what a creative genius he is. We look on a map to see where we'll be driving and how long it will take. We talk about the fun rides and tell him it's way better than Lagoon, etc. etc. etc.

Fast forward to Day 1 in Disneyland. There is unhappiness, ungratefulness, poutiness, feel-sorry-for yourself periods, etc. The problem continues the second day at church and the next day at California Adventures. We are all getting really tired of it, I give him a huge lecture, he pulls out of it, and the rest of the vacation has been fun.

So what is going on in his head? Have we built Disneyland and family vacation up so big in his mind that the reality, when compared to the anticipation of how it will be, is always disappointing? I have decided in the future that we will not talk beforehand about fun things coming up. We can never live up to his expectations, I suppose.

The next fun thing coming up? Eric is coming home to visit and be here for Marissa's wedding. Alex has not yet met Eric. (Eric is in the Air Force and has been in Guam and Iraq for the last year and a half.) We can tell from things Alex has said that Eric has become, in Alex's mind, this "larger than life" member of our family. He talks about how Eric is going to play with him, Eric will do fun things with him, so on, so on. Oh, dear. I don't really think this is how it will be, and we're heading for some more melt-downs. But just the same, we really are SOOOO excited to see Eric a week from today (on Gage's birthday).

Anyway, just wanted to comment for my "adoptive friends" that the big, fun days always seem to be the worst days for Alex. I hope we can get by this issue in the future.

Yesterday we went to Disneyland again, and today we spent several hours at the beach playing in the sand and water, and things have gone a lot more smoothly. This is our last vacation with Marissa as a single woman. She said good-bye to Zack for ten days to spend time with us. Nice, huh? I'm trying not to think too much about how boring vacations will be without her and how boring our house is going to be now. Not quite ready to let my mind go there.

Gage, Emily, and Zack are home KEEPING OUR LAWN GREEN AND OUR FLOWERS WATERED. We have a wedding reception coming up, and I'm starting to feel stressed out but at the same time trying to enjoy the ride.

Well, we're going to Disneyland one more time tomorrow, and then we'll be on our way to Las Vegas tomorrow night, then home on Friday, one day early. We're kind of Disneylanded out. Anybody interested in our last unused day of Disneyland tickets?

2010-07-18T19:40:00.003-07:00

We're taking care of our little nephew for four days. Here we are at the pool. At first he was very clingy and wouldn't let go of me.

Then he got braver . . .

and braver . . .

and braver.

After a little while, he was floating independently with a smile on his face.

The Primary parade was Saturday. Brayden and Alex didn't want to be in the parade, but they made good spectators.

Quinn on his RipStik.

2010-07-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Michael, Quinn, and Alex went on a grueling overnight Scout Camp last weekend. The hike was a five-hour uphill trek with backpacks. This is part of a requirement for a merit badge, and Michael was truly concerned that Alex might quit in the middle. Michael kept asking me, "What will I do when Alex refuses to continue?" But the worry was all for nothing. His 70-pound body carried that backpack up the mountain, and Michael said both boys did just fine. (I'm sure I would never have made it myself.)

Alex has been loving reading lately. This is quite a turnaround from the Alex we've known. He started reading The Boxcar Children last week and couldn't put it down. Maybe it's because it's the story of four orphan children. Alex could probably relate to the children. He read for two hours today (Sunday), and started in on the second book. I told him there are over 150 Boxcar Children books, and he's excited about it. He's been observing Quinn devour the Ranger's Apprentice books, and hopefully the love of reading is catching on. He's reading independently for the first time, and I am encouraged that we are making good progress.

When Marissa told me a few months ago that she wants her wedding reception in our back yard, I knew it would mean lots of yard work this summer. The labor is starting to pay off. Hopefully we can keep the yard looking good for a couple more months.

Quinn is doing swim team for the third summer in a row. By the time the summer is over, he's dark brown with ripped muscles.

I put Alex in Level 4 swimming, and he made amazing progress in the two weeks. The first day of the lesson, he was trying to swim with his head out of the water. He's now not a bad swimmer and is doing another session in Level 5.

Quinn diving.

Taylorsville Days was not bad at all. The celebration gets a little bigger each year. Here Alex is learning how to operate this miniature shovel.

Our usual trip to Logan for the fireworks.

A string of firecrackers. I can't imagine who could have lit these illegal noise makers!!!! The day after we lit fireworks in our driveway, Alex gathered unspent firecrackers, and we caught him behind a locked door in his bedroom trying to make a "bomb." I proceeded to show him pictures of kids' blown-up hands and missing fingers on the internet. He also got the door removed from his bedroom. Yes, the WHOLE door. He loses his privacy for two weeks.

Marissa and Zack are having fun planning their wedding, but the stress of school and work is a bit much at times. Here is a sample of one of their engagement pictures (one they're not using). Just a little peek of coming attractions.

I do school with Alex every morning for two hours. Quinn is also doing it. It's the only way to be fair. We do reading comprehension, spelling, writing, cursive, and lots of math: decimals, fractions, percentages, radius, diameter, circumference, area, volume, etc. I feel really good about what we're accomplishing, and most days go pretty smoothly. Some days have been a real headache, however. The good days DO outnumber the bad.

Quinn and Alex played organized soccer this spring. They were on a winning team this time.