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April 25 Going Home Today's ends our Las Vegas trip. I've really enjoyed spending the last few days alone with my husband. The following is somewhat of a travel log. (not the most interesting read in the world) Mostly I'm writing for my own benefit so I can put it in my journal when I get home. It's also posted here for my parents who act interested in this mundane dribble. My next entry should (hopefully) be more interesting.
On Sunday we drove out to the Museum of Natural History. We wandered around there looking at all the animals. The dinosaur display was quite impressive. Then we went back to our hotel, had some lunch and then went to the Imax Theatre. This was also about dinosaurs. It was a 3D movie and was really quite amazing. I wasn't feeling the best so we went back to our room early and just relaxed after that.
Kevin's classes started on Monday so I had a lot of time by myself. I took my time getting up and then wandered over to the Mandalay Bay Hotel and went through the Shark Reef exhibit. It took about an hour if you weren't in a hurry. When that was over I came back to the Luxor and went on the Haunted mansion imaxride. It wasn't very crowded that time of day. In fact, there was one other couple and me. I felt kind of stupid doing everything alone but it was either that or do nothing. After the ride I got some lunch.... alone. I was really beginning to feel like a loser. I was also feeling very tired and still not the best so I opted to go back to my room for a nap. No such luck. The maid was in there cleaning. Then I decided I'd lay out by the pool. I chose one of the only chilly, windy days here to do that. There were a few brave souls out there but they were all huddled in towels. I lay there long enough to guarantee my room was empty. Once I was back in my room I managed to get my nap in. I'm so glad I did because I felt 100% better and was ready for the evening's festivities. Kevin and I went to the Excalibur hotel for the "Tournament of Kings" dinner show. It was the kind of show where they bring you a plate of food (cornish hens, roll, potatoe wedges etc..) and no utensils. You eat with your hands. We had dragons blood (tomato soup) as an appetizer and some kind of apple fritter for dessert. The show consisted of 7 kings from various countries (ours was from Russia) competing in all kinds of things. There was everything from sword fights to jousting (yes on real horses) There was a lot more to it than that with acrobats, and dances and quite a bit of pyrotechnics. It was a lot of fun and would definitely recommend it.
Tuesday was another day of Kevin's classes. This time I went to King Tut's museum here in the hotel and rode another imax ride. The Imaxride was "In search of the Obelisk". I really didn't want to sit down there and eat lunch by myself again so I came back to my room and found Kevin there. Yea!! I had a lunch date. After lunch I went out by the pool again. This time it was warm and sunny so I stayed long enough to start a sunburn but not long enough to suffer with it. I got a lot of reading done and I thought of Linda (Mitchowl) She'd be proud of me that I've found some time to read. By the time I fly home I will have finished my book! Anyway, Kevin got home a little early on Tuesday and we had a dinner date with a friend of his Blake. Blake was a friend from High school and has been a good friend of Kevin's for probably 30 years. I felt kind of bad for him last night though because he had just signed his divorce papers on his 23rd wedding anniversary. We had a nice dinner and then went to the Las Vegas LDS Temple. That is a gorgeous temple. Anyway we went through a session and then stood out in the parking lot talking. I've seen a lot of changes in Blake since the separation of him and his wife and he seemed truly humbled to me. We had a nice talk and evening with him and I hope he will be able to find happiness in his future. After talking with Blake about the last year it makes me more grateful than ever about my own marriage. It's something you should never take for granted.
Kevin and I fly home this afternoon. That means I have the morning to shop. I wrote on the schedule for the kids that at 10:30 this evening, dad and I would be flying home to find a "clean house, sleeping children and NO bad surprises". I promised them that if that were the case, there would be (good) surprises for each of them. So now the hunt for good surprises is on. I've got Chris finished and have only 4 more to go.
The trip has been great. The best part has been spending time alone with my husband. Now I feel "charged up" enough to go home and be a housewife and mother again. April 22 Vegas tripThis was a week I had been waiting for. Kevin had some business meetings in Las Vegas and we happened to have a companion fare for $50.00! I love it when that happens! We left on Friday. I always feel kind of bad leaving the kids home. The older kids are fine when we leave but Rachel really makes me feel guilty. She kept hugging me and telling me "I love you, Mom" and "I'm going to miss you so much". Yea, I had major guilt in leaving her. Anyway, we fly to Seattle. The plane landed and everybody is ready to get off when they come on the speaker and tell us to sit back down. Instantly I'm thinking of the plane that sat on the tarmac for 12 hours. A few minutes later three uniformed police officers got on and went to the back of the plane. They're looking for somebody but can't find them. Then we hear over the intercom, "Would Janet Clayborn (I can't remember her real name) please ring your call button." Nothing happens. Kevin and I couldn't help but laugh at this. We're thinking: Janet Clayborn, would you ring your call button so these officers can arrest you.... Did they really think she would? One of the policemen walks back down the aisle muttering, "Ok, if you want to do this the hard way..." It took several more minutes but eventually they did walk out with two women in custody. Our trip continued
We land in Vegas a few hours later. Fortunately we had our bags with us but I was still amazed at how long it took to walk across the airport, shuttle to the rental cars, wait in that line, and leave the airport. We were starving and ended up going to Ihop for some dinner (breakfast?) It was after midnight by now. We also stopped at a store to pick up some things and then drove on to our hotel. The line to check in was longer than any line we'd seen that day. Unbelievable! We're staying at the Luxor which is the hotel shaped like a pyramid. We're somewhat underwhelmed. The room prices are in the $230 -$500 a night range (Business expense) and the rooms aren't even that nice. I'm sure there are better rooms than what we have but I'm looking at the back end of the hotel where a couple of tour busses sit. I planned on using the workout room each morning and learned that it cost $25 a day just to go in there. At that price they should do the workout for me! I thought the "New York" was expensive but at least they included free spa tickets and rollercoaster coupons to their guests. Luxor doesn't comp you anything.
The hotel isn't the best but the trip has been fabulous. Kevin suprised me last night with tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. I wasn't even planning on going to a show because I just figured they were too expensive. Phantom plays at the Venetian Hotel and our tickets were for 9pm last night. I was hoping I could stay awake for them since I'm really not a night owl. We walk in the theatre and I can tell it's going to be great. Our seats had to have been the best in the house. We were sitting directly under the giant chandelier. At one point in the play the chandelier dropped and looked like it was going to fall directly on our heads. The hour and a half we were in there was a complete thrill. I've never enjoyed a theatre production as much as I did that one last night. Kevin scored big brownie points for that little surprise.
I'm not sure what we're going to do today. We may go for a drive to Hoover dam or visit the shark reef at Mandalay bay. I know my oldest daughter Jennifer is flying home today and I'm going to miss that but I'll see her in a few days. Kevin and I don't gamble and I hate all the nudy pictures and billboards we see everywhere. I guess you could say we're not typical Vegas tourists. We are having fun though and are really enjoying this little excursion. 20 years ago at this time we were planning our June wedding so I guess this is kind of a celebration of our 20 year wedding anniversary. April 19 LockdownI have reached a time in my life when all my children are old enough to go to school. I was amazed at how quiet the house was when they were all gone. It only stays quiet for a few hours and then they all start coming home again. Still, I thoroughly enjoy the time I have to get my jobs done, run errands and even do some volunteer work. I volunteer at the temple and at the school a couple days a week. The work at the temple is in the office where I mostly do paperwork and answer phones. The volunteer work I do at the school is for Rachel’s kindergarten class. Every Tuesday I go in the classroom and usually work with the children reading stories, doing an art project or drilling them with flashcards. It’s a lot of fun to be in there with the kids and I especially enjoy being able to watch the interaction between Rachel and the other kids. She enjoys having me there and always runs up and gives me a hug when she sees me. Sometimes when the kids have a special project they’re working on or when the teacher just has too many things that need to be done, she’ll have me do some jobs in the work room. This mostly involves cutting paper or making copies. I’ve even cleaned out and organized her closet cupboards before. My favorite thing to do would be to work with the kids. A while ago I was finishing up in the classroom and getting ready to leave when I heard the intercom come on. The principal said they were having a lock down drill right now. I have never been in one of these and wasn’t sure what to do. The kids had been through this many times and immediately they huddled on the floor by the coats. The teacher locked the door and turned out the lights and asked me to draw all the shades. The kids knew they were supposed to be very quiet so nobody said a word. Rachel climbed on my lap and started hugging me. After about 5 minutes I could hear someone wiggling the door handle and then walking on. A couple of minutes later and it was over. I couldn’t help but feel just a little sad that we have to have our children go through drills like this because there are evil people in the world that would do them harm. I asked at the front office how many drills the kids go through in a year and they told me they go through 3 drills every month; Fire drill, Earthquake drill and lockdown. I remember fire drills growing up. Earthquake drills were new to me when I moved to Alaska. Lockdown drills are more recent. I can hardly believe anyone could be so evil as to go into a school like that and harm those children and yet we see that very thing recently happen in Virginia. My heart just goes out to all the families of those who were involved. Their hearts must be breaking. As I sat on the floor in the classroom that morning, holding my daughter, I secretly wished that if anything bad did happen then I would be with her so she wouldn’t have to go through something like that alone. April 13 Ugly stage Several years ago My Mom and sisters started tole painting. I don't live very close to them but when I visited I "caught the fever" and wanted to learn how to do it as well. I remember sitting down with them to learn the basics. Some of the early projects I worked on were looking so terrible. I remember saying how I just wasn't any good at that and maybe painting was something I just shouldn't attempt. My Mom then told me something that I will always remember. She told me to just stick it out because right now it was just in the ugly stage. It has to go through that "ugly stage" before it can become beautiful. I did stick it out and was amazed at the results. It looked very much like a beginner paint job but it wasn't really as terrible as I thought it would. In fact I thought it looked pretty good. She was right. I just had to endure the ugly stage so it could become beautiful.
March and April have be be the UGLIEST time of the year in Alaska. The summers here are beautiful. Everything is green. Flowers grow everywhere. I think I even heard that Anchorage was the hanging (flower) basket capital of the world. Wild flowers and purple fireweed grow along side the roads. The drive along cook inlet is one of the most beautiful in the country. I've driven along there and seen dall sheep on the cliffs on one side and beluga whales on the other side. The fall here is quite beautiful as well. It happens fast. One week you're enjoying summer, the next two weeks the leaves all fall off and before you know it it's snowing. Even the snow in the winter has it's beauty. Everything is so white and clean. One of things the city does in the winter is encourages Christmas lights all winter long. They call it the "city of lights". The lights and the snow really do make the city brighter and more cheerful during the long dark winter months. We also enjoy the Northern lights in the winter. Those are best seen away from the city of lights however.
Then we come to Spring. The winter is trying hard to be over sometime around March and April. The snow starts to melt. All of the piled snow starts showing the sand and gravel that was put on the roads all winter long. It looks like big piles of black snow everywhere. The roads become wet from the snow melting and that dirty water is splashed everywhere while people are driving. Every car in Anchorage looks the same, dirty gray. Most people's lawns are still covered with the dirty snow and it will take awhile for it to melt and dry out enough to rake. It still freezes at night so it's too early for hanging baskets. The drive along Cook Inlet is quite beautiful on the mountain side. The frozen waterfalls are starting to melt and the snow on the mountains is still white. The Inlet side is not so pretty. It is interesting however. All winter long as the tide comes in and out, you end up with massive dirty ice chunks everywhere. It reminds me of "craters of the moon" park.
Even though it is the ugliest time of year, I can't help but be excited. The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer and I know that Spring will come soon. The words of my Mother remind me that I just need to hold on and endure through the "ugly stage" so it can become beautiful. April 10 Easter 2007The day started out at 4am. I was out of town for April Fools day and felt bad that I didn't have a chance to pull any pranks on my family. I don't know what possessed me but I woke up at 4am and slipped quietly out of bed. I could hear my husband Kevin snoring away in a very deep sleep. I took the flashlight and fingernail polish that I hid the night before and walked to his side of the bed. Ever so gently I proceeded to paint his toenails red with just a hint of pearly pink. I could do this because he rarely sleeps under the covers. I finished up, slipped back into bed and couldn't help but smile at the reaction I knew I'd get in the morning.
I woke up a few hours later and came into the office. A little while later Kevin gets out of bed and staggers into the bathroom as he tries to wake up. About 2 minutes later I hear him saying "All right, who did this? I suppose the Easter bunny did it!" He spent the next 10 minutes searching for the acetone as I sat innocently working on the computer. I should have made him go through the day with pretty toenails but his will was too strong and I finally relented and told him where it was.
Besides the toenail incidident, it was Easter. We celebrate the true meaning of Easter but we also enjoy the secular traditions of the Easter bunny and candy etc... The Easter bunny around our house is pretty conservative though. Each of the kids got candy, chocolate bunny and a book in their basket. My 16 year old daughter Marie acted a bit dissappointed as she looked right at me and said, "Doesn't the Easter bunny know we don't read?!" I told her that maybe he was giving her a message that she should start. I told that to my other daughter Jennifer, who is at college right now. She had little sympathy since she didn't get anything at all. Jennifer will be getting home in 12 days!!
Rachel had a new Easter dress for church and got chocolate all over the front. She had to change right before church and put another dress on. Half way to church I look back and see that she has chocolate all over her 2nd dress. I gave up.
Easter Sunday was also the first day we had church in the High school since our church was on fire. It was very interesting. It was kind of a different set up but I thought the reverence level was actually better. We had a beautiful musical program and an excellent talk on the Savior and His sacrifice for us. After Sacrament meeting we went to our other classes. We had maps of the school so we could find our them. I was in the primary room and the children were great. The Bishop said that they are getting ready to construct another church. It had been approved before the fire so that wasn't new but they are now going to build it at an accelerated pace so hopefully we'll be in a new building in one year.
This week I've had my really good friend Carol and her family up here visiting from Utah. She moved from Alaska about 8 months ago and came back for a visit. We ended our easter with Carol and her family at another friends house for dinner. The food was great and it was wonderful to be around so many close friends.
This Easter was different than any other. It started out kind of silly. There were a lot of "firsts" this year with the school-church building and with my daughter being away at college. We were around more friends than usual. I hope that each of you had as good of an Easter as we did. April 04 Alaskan MooseOne unique part of living in Alaska is the moose. Up here there are hundreds of them and they just wander around the city and do pretty much what they want. When my children were little I remember them coming in the house and telling me there was a moose in the yard. I didn't believe them but thought I should check it out to be sure. Sure enough there was a moose wandering through the yard. He stopped to eat my raspberry plants, leave a few moose droppings and then went to the next yard. I nearly hit one a couple of months ago as it jumped onto the road right in front of me and trotted across the street. I slammed on the brakes and turned enough to avoid the moose without losing control. I see them on my way to the kids school, or to the store or to church. Basically they're everywhere. They warn the children during school if there is a moose on the nearby trails or yards by the school and tell them to take an alternate route when walking home. Moose are very mild mannered and would not go after anyone (Imagine a 400 pound cow with antlers) however they can kill you by stomping if they feel threatened or cornerered. A few years ago there was a moose near the local university. Most people were walking around it and giving it a wide berth. One older man tried to walk around the moose to go inside the building. What he didn't know was that some teenagers had been teasing the moose by throwing snowballs at it. The moose was highly agitated and ended up knocking the unsuspecting man to the ground and stomping him to death. Anyway, the point is they are still wild animals and should be treated with respect.
I was driving home from my friends cabin last weekend and noticed a mother and baby moose walking across a frozen lake. Yes, we do still have frozen lakes and snow on the ground. This week is about the first time all winter it's gotten warm enough (40's) to start melting the snow. I thought it was pretty cute but I was kind of worried that the ice would break and they'd fall in. My daughter wants to drive all over taking pictures of the moose so she can enter a contest for the local newspaper. My son is nicknamed Moosie. We used to have a freezer full of moose and prefered that over beef.
I enjoy living in the land of the moose. I've lived here a total of 15 years and I still think it's neat to see them while I'm driving around. The question is, what do you do when one drops dead in your yard? My very good friend wrote about her experience with that and I thought it was quite entertaining. For a fabulous blog, check it out at: http://www.orienfamily.com/ April 02 Caramelized Pecan PieCaramelized Pecan Pie
15 oz bag of caramels 1/2 cup butter
6 oz can evaporated milk 1 cup chopped pecans
16 oz pkgs cream cheese 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla
1 10 inch unbaked pie crust
In small saucepan melt together caramels, butter and evap.mik. Stir until smooth. Place pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie crust. Top with all but 1 cup of the caramel mixture and lightly spread over the pecans. Soften the cream cheese with a mixer until fluffy. Add sugar, eggs and the vanilla. Pour batter over the caramel-pecan layer. Bake at 350 degrees until pie is set in the center, about 35 to 40 minutes. Set aside to cool. Top with the reserved caramel and garnish with a sprinkle of pecans in the middle of the pie.
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