Less is more

Sometimes, you go to Library Lego Day and you spend three seconds with your limited three year old building ability and create a race car. Then you go to race your car against all the other kids (even some older kids), you win. Most of them probably thought it was just a fluke but then you win again. And again. And again. Never mind that your tiny car busted apart at the end of the track every.single.time. Forget that there were kids with bigger, better cars. You were just happy with your tiny, propellers on both ends car. I was happy to watch you win and the surprise on your face every time.

Jane

 

Preparation for the Wax Museum began when Mc started to try and decide who she wanted to represent. We looked through hundreds of "Who was...." books on Amazon. Men, women, politicians, musicians, artists, actors. When she saw Jane Goodall, she immediately decided that was who she wanted to be. From that moment, she began immersing herself in research (perfect mirroring of Jane). She got multiple books from the library and found a National Geographic special to watch. The best part, she watched the special and totally cried when a baby monkey passed away- so emotional she even wrote in her journal about it. We started collecting stuffed monkeys from all our neighbors, bought some khaki shorts and she was ready. It also helps that her ponytail was spot on.

They had to memorize a 30 second "sketch" about the person's life and she was PERFECT ("She contributed to many girls wanting to be scientists."). Her poster had pictures of Jane and her monkeys and little drawings of monkeys and Jane that Mc contributed.  She tried her best to have a British accent and held character the entire time. Such a special kid. Sure love her.

15 Years a Williamson

15 years. F I F T E E N! Blows my mind what we have been through thus far in our marriage. We have moved, remodeled, had 3 kids, moved again, moved again, started another remodel, vacationed, struggled, loved, cried, and holidayed. Mark truly is my better half- the only person I would want to navigate this life with. He puts up with me and all my crazy. He is an ideal father. He is patient. He is trustworthy. He is such a hard worker (currently working two jobs). He loves me no matter what.

We spent our anniversary at Fleming's, walked the Gateway (mainly to find the sign above), had delicious Gourmandise for dessert and talked about the past, the present and future. Love me some Mr Williamson.

The Mount of the Lord

Families Can Be Together Forever

One of my favorite things to do with my family is to walk through the new LDS temples before they are dedicated. The Jordan River Temple Open House was so great, and close to my heart. I spent lots of time as a youth doing baptisms in that temple, took my endowments out there and helped lots of YW from my old ward find a love for the temple there too.

One special memory I have being YW president is taking one of my youth (Destiny Martinez) to do baptisms. She had just had back surgery and was in a wheel chair and had just turned 12 and was SUPER excited to go. As we got to the baptistry, I became very aware that being in a wheelchair would be very difficult and restricting. It took three men to lower her to the font and everyone had to help her dress/change/shower/change again. As we were getting ready to leave (after much difficulty) the Matron for the Baptistry came and told us that because of  Destiny they were going to make some changes to the temple when it was redone (that was the first time I was hearing about potential changes).The new baptistry was beautiful and HUGE- wheelchair accessible for sure. It made me remember that special day with Destiny and how grateful I am for that.

Every detail in the temple is perfection. I love the art. I love the feeling. I love taking my family through to remind us that we can be together forever. I love temples.

Grandma Cookie and Grandpa Donut

Temple Kids (how much longer do I have being able to dress the boys alike?)

3rd Grade Egg Drop

We had a vision of a little Popsicle stick house and the Up House came to life. Mc did such a great job helping us glue the sticks and she painted the entire house by herself. Mark was the king of logistics (maximum egg safety) and we (Mc & I) were on decor. I think it turned out absolutely adorable. Mc was the only one that had a "theme". There were lots of eggs attached to balloons but hers was THE cutest.

Mrs Birch (to the left) holding her head as we all watched the Up House make it's maiden (and final) voyage from the school roof.

The tiny house didn't survive but the egg was safe, and unbroken inside. WIN.

Couples Cali Trip 2018

We had talked about taking a trip with my USU roomie Sarah and her husband Brett for a while now. We talked cruises, Hawaii, beaches- we ultimately decided that California is 1) cheap 2) close to a beach 3) Harry Potter. Mark and I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Harry Potter World at Universal and decided a birthday/anniversary trip was the perfect excuse (that and the weather in Utah was snowy and crappy).

We found cheap flights, some Air BNB's and left our kiddies with Mary Ann and Brittnee for a few days. We had an absolutely amazing time. The last time we went to Universal Studios, Dave and Aish still lived in Cali and Dave was still in dental school. We had no kids and it rained the entire time but we have fond memories for sure. This time, NO KIDS and the weather was amazing. Amusement parks are a 100% different experience without kids.

Our first day we went to Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. The weather was absolutely celestial. We walked the boardwalk, ate $1 churros that were pretty nasty, people watched and soaked up the sunshine.

Beach Butterflies

Universal Studios is NOTHING like I remember. There were SO many new rides and of course, Harry Potter. We saw them filming an E News special with Mario Lopez right when we got to the park- hello 1,000 pounds of make up. The park was D E A D. We took surveys right when we got into the park and got some fast passes that we didn't even have to use-we walked onto EVERY ride (even the Harry Potter Castle Ride) and rode as many times as we wanted. Frozen butterbeer changed my life, bought WAY too many chocolate frogs and rode every single ride without anyone whining we had to wait in line.

Had my friend's mom make me two Harry Potter shirts for the trip- here is "Riddikulous".

Had lunch at the Three Broomsticks

Mark and Ihmhotep- our favorite character from the Mummy Ride (also an excellent coaster)- really the only ride we remember from when we came with Dave and Aish.

Highlight of my trip for sure. There was no wait- just a darling little Hello Kitty just standing there waiting for me. 

Of course there was a chance for rain the day following our first day of Universal. We didn't really want to spend the day tromping around getting soaked (we had done that before) so we decided that we (Mark and I) wanted to do the Warner Brother Studios tour. It was kind of spendy, but being on a bus meant that we could still have things even though the weather was bad. Brett decided to come with us and Sarah napped in the car at a local park. It was SO cool! There are two other studios we hope to tour some day (Paramount and Sony). We got to see real movie props, clothing, scripts, hold a real life Oscar, learn about sound editing, saw the Friends set, and saw them setting up to film "American Ninja Warrior". The coolest stuff was all the Harry Potter Memorabilia (for me) and the DC comic book stuff (for Mark). Our tour guide was like any failed actor turned tour guide and was super entertaining- except he did get a little mad when the bus left without Mark and I and had to come back and get us. Oops.

Mermaid's Egg & the TriWizard Cup & the Golden Snitch

Adorable Dobby

Getting sorted. The lady that was "sorting" us was pretty stingy with the Gryffindors. I am pretty sure NO ONE was sorted into that house the whole time we were there. I was a HufflePuff and when I whined she said, "their house is closest to the kitchen and they are the best kind of friends"- I guess I can live with that. Mark was a Ravenclaw.

We decided thanks to the rain that we would head to our beach house for the last few days of trip and then hit Universal for the morning on Sunday before we flew home. The Air BNB beach house was NOTHING like the pictures, the lady kept telling us she had a "family emergency" so we weren't able to rent the bikes or beach chairs but the three step walk to the beach made up for it. We had superb street tacos, went and saw 'Black Panther", slept in, walked the beach and walked passed multi-million dollar beach houses.

We really had an excellent time. Brett and Sarah were fun travel partners and were up to sit and do nothing or explore the town. It was SUCH a wonderful break and a low key vacation. We are grateful for the Johnsons. Sarah and I have been friends for a LONG time and it's fun to still connect after all our crazy times at Utah State almost 20 years ago.

Southern Utah is always calling

 The HurriCastle is one of our favorite weekend getaways and we always accept the invitation to spend a weekend with G & Chris. Nick, G & Mark went down early to do a job in Cedar City so all the ladies made the caravan down. We woke up early Saturday morning for the balloon festival in Mesquite and it was amazing! I have ALWAYS wanted to ride in an hot air balloon (someday). The kids thought it was awesome too (except Enzo who said it was too loud once they started filling them up). We watched them unload the balloons, fill them and send them off one at a time. Super cool. Then a delicious breakfast after in the Rio buffet where the kids were in heaven because they could have ice cream at 10 AM.

Later that evening they light the balloons up and have a party but we didn't feel like making the hour long drive again so we stayed at the house. It was good too because Mom and Dad had come down so we went to dinner with them and then hung out in the heated pool and hot tub.

Right as they started filling all the balloons.

Me and Miss Mc

The weather was SO nice that we decided to check out the gardens and do a little red rock hiking. The kids loved being outside, I loved not wearing a coat. The boys hopped around on the rocks and threw things. Mc LOVED all things cactus (my Arizona baby for life) and Enzo loved the dinosaur tracks.

Always SO hard to come home to the snow and smog after a weekend trip. It was especially hard to do the drive with just me and the kids but we did get DVD's from the library this time (a first) and will be doing that again. They were pretty well behaved but we were all really ready to get out of the car when we got home. 

Grandma Chris and her grand babies.

On top of the world.

St George Williamsons