Erin's Sing Along Blog

Flashback Friday: Meeting the Captain

2012-02-03T09:00:00.003-07:00

In July of 2011, I was sent to San Diego on a TDY trip (business trip). On my return trip, I had a layover in the Phoenix Airport. I found my gate, and sat down near the terminal.

A few minutes later, a man sat next to me. I didn't want to stare, so I took a couple of sly pictures with my phone and studied those pictures to make sure the person I thought it was really was sitting next to me.

The people on the other side of me looked at me VERY STRANGELY wondering why I was taking pictures of a random man. Haha!

Let me pause here to tell you about my complete obsession. I am COMPLETELY 100% obsessed with The Deadliest Catch. I own every season on DVD and I watch it religiously when the new TV seasons start. I also follow the boats on blogs to make sure everyone returned home safely after their fishing season. This obsession is so weird for me because I am completely opposite from these crab fishermen. But the stories are so compelling and the danger is so real, that I cannot get enough of this show!

Now the rest of the story...

I texted Kelli that she would NEVER believe who I was sitting next to at the PHOENIX airport! Johnathan Hillstrand! She was like "NO WAY!" I can't find our text conversation, or I would transcribe it for you, but it was pretty funny.

Then my flight began boarding and I knew it was now or never for me to talk to him. I was SO NERVOUS!! I could barely breath and my hands were shaking SO HARD! I felt like I was going to faint, but I somehow got up the nerve to ask:

Me: In a very weak voice because for some reason I couldn't talk louder than that, I was so nervous, "Are you Johnathan Hillstrand?"

Him: Very politely, "No..."

Me: I almost passed out from embarrassment

Him: "... I'm his brother Andy."

Me: Wide eyed and embarrassed..."Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry I mixed up your names. I am such a huge fan of the show, though it probably doesn't show because I called you your brother's name. I just love the Time Bandit and all the fun you guys have."

When I mentioned his boat, his eyes lit up and he finally knew I was a fan of the show. I asked if I could take a picture with him and he seemed very pleased to do so. I gave my camera to a guy sitting across from us, and he took a picture, but it seemed like he was having trouble. After a little while, he gave the camera back to me to see if he got a picture. I saw on the little screen what seemed to be a picture, so I thanked the picture taker, and I thanked Captain Andy, said goodbye and boarded my plane.

It took me HOURS to calm down from that experience. My heart would NOT slow down. And I felt very light headed. I still think it's weird I reacted to that experience the way I did. So funny. So odd.

Many months later I finally took the pictures off my camera and the picture with Captain Andy and I was NOT ON MY CAMERA! I was so upset! Then I realized, it is possible that the man was struggling to take the picture because he was actually taking a video instead.

Yep, that's what happened! Here is my very own Harry Potter-style photo with Captain Andy:

Hahah! Anyone have a program to be able to take a frame from this video so I can have a picture?

Holy Cow!

2012-01-30T10:32:00.004-07:00

I was on my way to work one morning when I passed a little ditch right behind my house and saw this:

This is NOT a typical scene around my neighborhood. I was very confused how three cows could be anywhere near my house, but there they were.

And of course I had to stop and take pictures.

And talk to the cows because they looked very concerned with me standing so near them taking pictures with my phone. It was pretty funny and I had to laugh at myself for talking to cows.

Flashback Friday: My first 5K

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

I ran my first 5K race on November 19, 2011. I did the Couch to 5k program to train for this event. Actually, I've been doing that program for over a year, off and on, but this time I decided to sign up for a Saturday 5K so that I had a goal to work towards.

This 5k race was called "How the West was Run". We ran around the West End of Sierra Vista. When I arrived to sign in, the ladies asked if I was walking the course. I said, "NO! I am running. I've been training for months." They looked really surprised that a 200+ pound person would run the whole 3.2 miles. But I was determined. And they seemed very happy that I would try it.

Before the Race -- I am SUPER excited! And nervous.

My mom came with me to take pictures and cheer me on. It was fun to have someone there to support me, because I was running the race by myself.

Listening to the final instructions before the race began

There were a lot of people running the race, but there were also a lot of people walking the 5K. There were some very serious 5K racers, and then there were a lot of people like me who were there to challenge themselves to get healthier. I didn't feel like the odd man out at all.

And we're off.

This was the First Annual West End Run. They had teenagers with red vests at every turn directing us to where to go. It was a pretty nice course. My goal was the run the entire course, but during the 3rd mile, there were this little hill that looked like a steep mountain. I was already extremely exhausted and I didn't think I could make it up there, so I walked it. And then I couldn't get myself to start running again for about 1/2 mile. At that time, I was fairly close to the finish line, so I took every ounce of energy I had left, and forced myself to run the last 1/4 mile.

I finished at 41 minutes. My second goal was to run it in under 45 minutes, so I was very pleased with my time. And I wasn't even the last runner to cross the finish line. There were still two people behind me!

Now I have a time-to-beat when I run my next 5K. And I will run another one (or two) in 2012!

Embarrassing Moment

2012-01-15T12:55:00.003-07:00

On Friday, I went to a farewell party of a German federal employee who has worked here a year and is now returning back to Germany. We were at his German Liason officer's house and they made us the most wonderful dinner! I really love German food and man, oh man! did I indulge!

During the course of the evening, the other members of the group drank wine, beer, and then they got out the harder stuff. They each tried a shot of something I'd never heard of, but as they were pouring the drink, our host set each shot glass on fire before passing them out. It was weird, but it was funny to watch the people taste this drink.

I didn't want to be rude and just leave, especially since it wasn't a rowdy or rambunctious party. It a nice dinner party to say farewell to our German co-worker.

I started feeling really tired about 10:30PM and finally asked for my coat to leave. Our host stuck out his hand, so I took it and shook it while saying...to our host... in his house... "Thank you for coming, um...I mean, thank you for letting me come." What did I just say?! He was probably thinking "Are you sure you didn't drink?" Haha! I was so tired I didn't even know what was coming out of my mouth. I guess I get drunk by proximity because everyone else there seemed to hold their liquor quite well.

Haha! That was embarrassing, but I always seem to do something like that. Makes life more entertaining. :)

Flashback Friday: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

2012-01-13T09:00:00.011-07:00

This is my first Flashback Friday. I thought this post was appropriate for Friday the 13th!

Welcome to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Enter Hogsmeade with Kelli and I...

See the Hogwarts express...

Walk the street of Hogsmeade...

Look through the windows of Honeydukes....

(Buy lots and lots of chocolate frogs for your friends and family)

Look in Zonkos Joke Shop...

(This Puking Pastilles display was pretty gross...the girl was continuously puking that blue shiny stuff)

Play around with all the fun stuff...

Continue window shopping at the Owl Post...

And at the Book Shop...

The pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart really moved, like in the books and movies. Pretty cool!

Withdraw some gold from the Gringott's ATM...

But be on the lookout for Sirus Black!

Choose your wand in Olivander's...

(Kelli got the Elder Wand and I got Hermione's wand)

And meet Mr. Olivander himself...

Try out a couple of spells along the way...

Eat lunch at the Three Broomsticks...

And try your first cup of Butterbeer...

YUM!!
It tastes like butterscotch and short bread cookies. Very, very yummy! We had to go back and get seconds later in the day. :) There are two kinds, cold and frozen. I recommend the frozen. It's more like a butterscotch slushy with froth on top!

Finally, enter Hogwarts and walk through the coolest queue you have ever experienced!

Unfortunately I did not bring my camera inside the castle, but it really was a cool line into the ride. The ride itself was very innovative, but it made me really motion sick, so I didn't really pay attention to it because I was trying to keep myself from being really sick. But the queue! The queue was just amazing. Let me try to explain...

You first enter the queue out in the gardens. Then you enter the castle through the dungeons. You pass Snape's office and classrooms. You meander through the great hall and the moving staircase area with portraits floor to ceiling that talk to each other. You walk into Dumbledore's office where he is talking to his visitors (and it looks like he is actually there...no animatronics, it's more like a life size hologram). Then you pass by the fat lady portrait while she tries to break glass with her voice and enter into the Gryffindor's common room where a life size Harry, Hermione, and Ron are making plans and mischief (same hologram effect). Ron even makes it snow on everyone by doing a spell gone wrong. Finally you pass the sorting hat that explains the ride a bit and then you enter the ride itself.

We went when there wasn't a long line (they opened that part of the park an hour early for people who stayed on property, so we were able to avoid the main crowd), so we basically ran through the castle with no wait to get into the ride. I bet if we had to wait, it wouldn't feel very long with all the detail and things to look at and be entertained by along the way. I liked the queue way more than the ride itself, can you tell?

If you EVER get a chance to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter inside the Orlando Island of Adventure theme park, DO IT!! It was tons of fun and the goodies we bought there were just as amazing as you would imagine.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-08T09:00:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year! It is unbelievable how fast 2011 came and went. It was a year full of events, both big and small, but for some reason I had a hard time finding my way to this blog to tell you about the happenings in my life. I took the pictures, but I never made the time to upload them. I will try to fix that this year. I also want to try to catch up with things from years gone by, so I have a record of them somewhere, therefore I am going to start a new thing called "Flashback Fridays" where I will write about something from the past couple of years and post them on Fridays.

I am excited about 2012. It seems like it will be a good year and with a new year comes the sense of starting over again and being hopeful for things to come. In the past, I've made some grand resolutions that I had a hard time keeping. Most of them fell by the wayside. This year I thought I would resolve to things that would help me achieve my end goals. So instead of saying, I will lose two dress sizes, I am resolving to exercise 150 minutes a week. I ran a 5K last November and I want to run another one this Spring, so this 150-minutes-of-exercise-a-week resolution will help me achieve that end goal as well.

Another resolution I have is to get to work before 8am every day. With exercising in the mornings, it is sometimes difficult to get ready for and arrive at work before 8am, but I am resolved to do it this year. I hope by having this resolution I will have better time management and the end goal of being able to keep up with my house, or being able to keep up with my church calling, or being able to finally complete the many unfinished projects I have in my closet will be easier with having an extra hour after work to accomplish things.

So there you have it. This year I WILL be successful! The first week is over and I already can say so far so good. These resolutions are going to be pretty easy to keep. I am excited for the rewards and benefits by sticking to them. Bring it on, 2012!

Our favorite rides in Disney World

2011-10-01T14:53:00.001-07:00

We have several favorite rides in the four Disney parks and we always make it a point to go on most of these rides multiple times.

In the Animal Kingdom:

Expedition Everest (though we have to limit riding this roller coaster to 3 times back to back because it starts to make us a bit sick, especially the part where train goes backward).
Kilimanjaro Safaris (We always go on this safari first thing in the morning because the animals are usually up. We saw everything this time. And we took plenty of pictures which I will post later.)

In Disney's Hollywood Studios:

Toy Story Mania! (this is a fairly new ride, but loads of fun. It is very popular; hence it was our longest wait of the week when we road it in the afternoon for our 3rd time that day. Ride it first thing for only 20 minute waits.)
The Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror (our all time favorite. We have probably been dropped in this elevator nearly 100 times counting all our visits to this park, as well as to the one in California. Love it, Love it, Love it!). Here's a picture to prove how much we love it:

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith: (This ride seems to be going through its annual or bi annual refurbishment when we go, but this time it was open. It is fun because you are riding in a huge limo, and because you go from standstill to high speeds in just a few seconds. Very fast and very fun).

In the Magic Kingdom:

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (This ride is a bit more fun in California because the guns are not attached to the car, but it is still a great ride. We are SO SERIOUS when we ride this ride, trying to get as many points as possible as we shoot at the targets.) By the way, this is the only picture we DIDN'T pose for.

Space Mountain (This is just a very nostalgic ride. Another thing we love to do is pose for the pictures. I bet you couldn't guess. :) This one cracks me up!)

The Haunted Mansion (Another very nostalgic ride. The Hitchhiking Ghosts were a bit different this time too. Instead of just sitting in our pod with us, they actually took our heads off (well, pictures of our heads that is) and bounced them around a bit. It was very funny. We even found and bought Jim Shore figurines of the Hitchhiking Ghosts at one of the parks. Love it!)

In Epcot:
We only went on these rides once each since this is a very large park with A LOT to see and do. This is our longest day of the week by far, but it is also probably one of my favorite parks in Disney.

Soarin' (very peaceful ride)
Ellen's Energy Adventure (Funny and educational show/ride with Ellen DeGeneres)
Test Track (Fun and fast ride where you are a part of testing cars for road readiness)
The World Showcase, that feature pavilions from Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada.

I love exploring all of the countries in Epcot! And it's fun because I've visited more than half of the countries in person, so I enjoy seeing the different landmarks and how Epcot interprets them. The only one that bugs me a little is in Italy because the Doges Palace is on the wrong side of the two columns of the Piazzetta di San Marco. And I would have thought the leaning tower of Pisa would be a more recognizable landmark than the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica, but that's just me. I still love going to visit the pavilion, so I guess it really doesn't matter anyway. :)

We went to Disney World!

2011-09-27T13:26:00.009-07:00

Kelli and I enjoyed a week long adventure to Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando. Six parks in six days. The first four days at Disney World and the last two days at Universal Studios. I know...we are ambitious, but this time of year the lines are extremely short so we can do everything we want, and ride our favorites multiple times, while still getting back to the hotel before dinner (that is, except the day we went to Epcot. That is a very large park, plus we made reservations to eat dinner in the Italy Pavilion). Most of the wait for the rides were 15 minutes or under. Often we just walked onto the ride. The longest line we experienced was for Toy Story Mania. We waited 40 minutes...but even that is not too bad. And the queue itself is very entertaining (which is typical of all the rides in DisneyWorld and Universal Studios Orlando) so the wait did not feel too long. Check out some of the pictures of the queue (this is when the line wasn't too long):

Mr. Potato Head talked to the people in the queue, sang songs, and posed for pictures. It was really funny to watch.

I love all the detail of the toys, like this Lincoln Log house, the Scrabble board roof, the tinker toys, the Lego supports for the room, the monkeys, etc. So much fun!

This is our fourth or fifth time going to Disney World and Universal Studios together. We absolutely LOVE it! This time we were even brave enough to use the new Disney Photo Pass system. There are A LOT of photographers around each park and you can have them take your picture at different photo stop spots. They then scan those pictures to a very convenient card you can carry and use at every Disney park. Then at the end of your vacation, or when you return home, you can view them online. Here are the best ones from around the parks. We started these on Day 2 so we don't have any Photo Pass Pictures from the Animal Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Epcot

Stay tuned for more posts about our trip...

Red Light Ticket

2011-04-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

I had a nice surprise in the mail in February. Apparently, I ran a red light in Tucson (Kolb and Speedway) in December and I was served with a Red Light ticket two months later. I don't remember running a red light, but there was my ugly mug right there captured on the ticket. My first ticket ever (well not including the one for 5mph over that really didn't count for much).

I did some research about tickets you receive in the mail, and everywhere I read said to not do anything about it because it is not a legal ticket if an government official (aka Policeman) did not personally hand you the ticket. Online advice said to take a chance that no one would come and serve you a ticket, that the court would forget about it, so that is what I did...nothing.

It was about two weeks before my court date when there was a knock at my door at 9pm. I opened the door and there was a man there to serve me the ticket. Ugh! I gambled and I lost! I had to scramble and go the court house in Tucson (I took off early from work to go, and got pretty lost in downtown Tucson...what a crazy area!!). I had to get my court date extended so I had time to go to Defensive Driving School. I had to pay a fine for the man to come to my house. And I had to pay a fine to get my court date extended. What an expensive gamble to have lost. My ticket was over $300, so I didn't want to pay that. With the fines and the admission fee for driving school, I still saved about $100 from the ticket.

On April 30, I went to the boring Defensive Driving school. I learned a lot, and I fulfilled my obligation and the ticket points did not go on my insurance. The most important thing I learned was that you cannot enter the intersection and stop to wait for oncoming traffic when turning left. You have to wait at the white line and then make a full turn. If you are stopped in the middle of the intersection, you are a hazard. Everyone does that, I've noticed...especially in Arizona. Now I will wait at the white line until the coast is clear and I can make my turn safely, even if it means people behind me honk at me.

I will also now try to avoid red light cameras. :) However, I just read that Sierra Vista is about to get four cameras in the near future. Yuck!

What I learned from this experience...don't trust the online advice about these tickets. I would have saved about $100 if I had just done what the ticket asked me to do in the first place. Lesson learned.

Ghost Town Adventure - Millville, AZ

2011-03-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

In continuing with our quest to visit local ghost towns, we hiked to Millville, AZ, which is located between Tombstone and Sierra Vista on Charleston Road.

Millville, along with Charleston across the San Pedro River, both sprung up in 1879 in response to the discovery of silver in Tombstone. The rich ore-bearing rock was processed with stamp mills. There were two stamp mills in Millville, the Corbin Mill and the Gird Mill.

There are still quite of few stone foundations and rock walls of the buildings in the town, though no complete structure is still standing. There are also the back walls of a couple of the mills still standing.

It was a nice hike and a beautiful day. Here are some of the pictures:

Along the trail to Millville:

A horse back rider is seen beside the ruins of the Corbin Mill:

One of the structures left in Millville:

The foundation of the Gird House with the Gird Mill behind it:

Another view of the Gird Mill:

The trail took us to two petroglyph sites located within the Millville Ghost town. Here are a couple of pictures of the drawings on the rocks left by the Hohokam Indians.

Interfaith Choir Festival

2011-02-26T19:00:00.004-07:00

For the first time, the LDS Stake Choir was invited to an Interfaith Choir Festival. This festival comprised of eight different churches, consisting of Methodist, Lutheran, Christian, Presbyterian, and LDS faiths. Before we came together, each choir was supposed to rehearse the four songs we would all sing together, plus the one or two songs each choir would sing by themselves. The four songs were not supposed to be perfect. We just needed to be familiar with them so when we showed up for a combined rehearsal on Saturday morning, we would not be totally lost.

The 133 participants of this mass choir arrived on February 26 at 8:30 at the Sierra Vista Methodist church. Dr Elizabeth Schauer, Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Arizona and director of St. Mark’s United Methodist Chancel and Cantorei choirs, was the guest director. She did a FABULOUS job of going through and perfecting each of the songs, working with each vocal part, and giving all of us lessons in singing in a choir. I learned so much from her and her techniques as director. I also learned different tips of how to use my voice and how to sing better. I completely and thoroughly enjoyed the 3 hour choir rehearsal.

A couple of pictures of the combined choirs practicing in the morning. In the second picture, you can sort of see me. Dr. Schauer looks like she is squeezing my head between her hands. Haha!

These pictures were sent to me in an email. It is a fun reminder of the day.

Then we had a short 1 hour break for lunch. I ran to pick up my mom and bring her back for the afternoon concert. During lunch, each choir had an opportunity to practice their own choir piece before the concert. We ran through our song once and then waited the rest of the time before the 2:00 concert. We had a little more instruction and practice in another building, then we were seated for the concert.

Five of the eight choirs sang their individual songs first. It was very well organized: the first choir were on the risers with the next choir in the choir room and waiting to come into the chapel. The other choirs were seated in sectioned off areas in the audience. Then when the first choir finished singing, the third choir in line got up to wait in the choir room while the 2nd choir walked to the risers and prepared to sing, and the 1st choir took the vacated seats in the sectioned off areas. We rotated like that until every choir had a chance to sing. Then we all got up on the risers to sing the four combined pieces.

All of the choirs were good. Some were a lot of fun to listen to. Dr. Schauer's choir sang a really fun and rousing song and we all clapped our hands with the beat. What a different experience from music in the LDS church!

The LDS Stake Choir sang second. We sang a song called "Come Home" that was published in a recent Ensign. It is a very pretty song with a great message. Only 18 members of our choir participated in this festival, but even with this small number, our sound was incredible! And the spirit was so strong! I had chills up and down my body as I sang! I really believe we had heavenly angels singing with us. When we finished the last note, there was an audible gasp in the very full chapel. Some people even dropped their jaw and mouthed "Wow!". It was an incredible experience. Later, my mom told me that she believed my dad was singing right along with us!

The rest of the concert was a lot of fun. The four songs we performed as a combined choir were challenging because a couple of them were so different than anything we sing in our church, but it was a great experience to venture to something completely different. The concert ended on a grand note when audience, all choirs, three trumpets, and the organ sang Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune”. We were already fairly familiar with this song because we actually have part of that song in our hymn book (#242 Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow). I had never heard the complete song, and with the trumpets, it was probably my favorite of the four combined pieces.

After the concert was over, we got SO MANY compliments about the LDS choir. Even Dr. Schauer herself gave us a great compliment about our sound. She was so hard on the combined choir all day to produce the correct sound. Coming from her as a perfectionist, it was a huge compliment!

Another funny tidbit....our choir was the ONLY choir not to be in choir robes. We stood out a bit because of that. :o)

This experience was exactly what I needed. I've been feeling very down lately because of some stress at work. I've been really missing my dad and I've really wished I could talk to him about what to do. I've needed his advice...this is the first time I'll go through a major employment change without my dad's encouraging words and knowledge. The experience with the Interfaith Choir really helped buoy me back up and knowing that my dad was there really helped me. I almost passed up the opportunity to participate because I was just feeling so low and sorry for myself. But I am so grateful I stepped outside myself and joined my voice with these wonderful choirs! It is an experience I will not soon forget. It was a great missionary opportunity, and it was a great healing experience for me.

Winter Ball Fun

2011-02-20T20:00:00.008-07:00

Every year, the Stake Young Men/Young Women presidencies sponsor a youth dance for youth ages 14-18. We called it the Winter Ball. This dance is more than just a typical monthly youth dance. It starts with dinner where the young women are escorted into the cultural hall by a member of the stake presidency and seated at a table. Both young men and young women are dressed in semi-formal attire (anything from formal down to better-than-Sunday-dress). The dinner is served to them (this year by members of each ward young men presidencies and high counselor members). The dinner itself is usually extra special (this year it was pulled pork slow cooked buried in a smoldering pit, baked potatoes, salad, and bread. Dessert was strawberry cheesecake.) The cultural hall is transformed from its usual basketball court look to something more special, half of which is the dining area and half is the dance floor. It takes a lot of planning, publicity, and manual labor to pull it off. But it is usually the highlight of the year and one of the best attended dances too.

This year we added another element...entertainment. About a week before the dance, I was asked to put together a trio to sing to the youth. We also found a couple in our stake to show them some ballroom dancing. Several years ago, me and two other ladies formed a trio and sang two years in a row at the Army Signal Ball for generals, foreign dignitaries, soldiers, and their family members. I took out a couple of songs we sang back then, dusted them off, and asked one of the ladies if she would be willing to do it again for the Winter Ball. Unfortunately, I was not able to ask both ladies, because one of them moved to New York. :o( I still miss her terribly! However, I did find two other sweet and willing women to fill in. One practiced "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and the other practiced "A Salute to America". Both had sung their respective songs before, so it wasn't too hard to learn them again in a week.

I also needed to make a practice CD, but I am without the piano playing talent. I did the next best thing. I bought a notation program for the computer called NoteWorthy and created the accompaniment and voice parts (one note at at time) for both pieces. It took me HOURS to do, but it was well worth it. I was able to burn a CD that had everything we needed to relearn our parts (individual parts, the three parts together, the parts with the accompaniment, a slowed down version of the parts, and the accompaniment alone).

The week leading up to the Winter Ball was busy in itself with many different activities, but we were able to fit one practice in on Friday. Then I spent all Saturday morning helping decorate the gym for the dance. We embraced the winter theme and decorated with snowflakes, white lights, white trees, and accents of black and silver. I took a picture from the stage with my phone when the youth were being seated for dinner. You can kind of get an idea of the decorations:

Dinner started at 7pm. The dance at 8pm. I met with my trios and practiced from 8:15 to nearly 9pm, working out last minute bugs. I thought our performance would be at 9:30, but I was wrong. It was at 9:00. I had a few things to do before the performance, so I ran and did them. Once I took my place to perform (which they had to wait a minute for me), I was out of breath. I had to sing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy that way. It was hard to keep breath support and project the low alto notes while trying to catch my breath, but it is only a 2 and a half minute song, so it was over quickly. I had someone film the performance with my phone camera..but the music was too loud and you can't really hear us, so I'm not putting it on this blog. We got a lot of support and cheers from the youth during and after the performance, so it turned out well. We had fun doing it, and that's the most important part. :o)

Then the ballroom dancers performed their dance and I had time to breath. Then my next trio performed A Salute to America (a medley of Grand Ol' Flag, Yankee Doodle Dandy, America the Beautiful, and Star Spangled Banner). It was a lot of fun as well. That one I was more confident with. It also has close harmonies, but it is an easier and slower song than Boogie Woogie.

(This was the same song as the Talent Show we did a few years ago. You can see that performance here.)

Overall, we had a BLAST with the entertainment. I was stressed that it would pull together in under a week, but it worked out. The ladies were all so willing to sing and we had a really fun time doing it. :o)

The rest of the dance went well. I was back at my post at the DJ table, which keeps me busy so the dance went pretty fast after that. Once the dance ended at 11pm, we had to clean up the decorations, which took another hour. I didn't get home until after midnight, and then we had to wake up early for an 8am Ward Conference. It was a very busy, but fulfilling week! I am glad I have a bit of a breather though and the next few weeks won't be as busy.

Scared Silly at the Mail Box

2011-02-16T16:25:00.001-07:00

I stopped at the mailbox (we have one community mailbox with P.O. box like slots for each house) on my way home from work. There was a large truck right behind my car as we were driving into the neighborhood. When I stopped at the mailbox, I saw the truck continue onward and turn around in my cul-de-sac. I didn't really think anything of it and I didn't hear the truck stop right next to my car in the street.

I got my mail (which was a lot because I hadn't picked it up in a couple of weeks) and when I turned around, a tall man was standing right behind me. I didn't hear him walk up behind me, so I was not expecting him. I SQUEALED like a little girl and jumped one leg at a time (like I was hurdling over something) as I squealed (I'm not sure where that reaction came from). Then I just started LAUGHING, while I sort of yelled/laughed at the guy that he SCARED me! He looked at me like I was CRA-AZY and said "I get that all the time, especially with my large truck." Haha!

Mistaken Age, Part 2

2011-02-08T20:00:00.003-07:00

It happened again. Last time was at the Priest/Laurel Conference a few weeks ago. This time it was at Walmart.

I was buying OTC medication and the clerk asked to see my ID. As I was fishing for my drivers license, I told her I was 33 years old. She kind of smirked and nodded, like she did not believe me.

Then I showed her my license and her eyes lit up. She said "You are very well preserved." Haha!

I don't know what age she thought I was, but she didn't think I was old enough to buy OTC medication. I don't know what I am doing right now that makes people think I am way younger than I am, but I like it! Haha!

Ghost Town Adventure - Fairbank, AZ

2011-02-05T18:00:00.009-07:00

We have enjoyed our New Years Eve tradition so much, we decided to step it up a bit and go Ghost Town exploring every first Saturday of the month. For February, we went to Fairbank, AZ and hiked the path that took us to the Fairbank Cemetery and the old Grand Central Mill. It was a beautiful clear day and not too cold (after the severe cold that came through here recently, it is warming up nicely in the afternoons now)...perfect for hiking.

Here are pictures of our adventure, starting with Fairbank:

The Mercantile Building. The oldest surviving building in Fairbank, dating to 1882. Within its walls were a store, saloon, and post office.

Fairbank was family town, a center of local activity and commerce; sedate compared to the rowdiness of the mill towns of Millville, Contention, and Charleston. This town lived on after those mill towns died and the Tombstone mines flooded in the late 1880s. It made it through the 1887 earthquake and held on through the 1890 and 1894 floods. It remained a transportation hub until after World War I, when the price of copper dropped and both mines and the railroads decreased operations. The school closed in 1944. The number of railroad workers in town dwindled until the 1960s, when the Southern Pacific Railroad abandoned the Fairbank Station. The Depot was torn down in 1967. The last residents left in the mid 1970s.

Since it was only recently abandoned, many structures still remain today. I have another post with additional Fairbank pictures (at the end of the blog), so I will not post any more pictures of the town here.

Now on to the Cemetery and Grand Central Mill:

Part of the trail to the cemetery and Grand Central Mill.

The land around Fairbank.

The following pictures are of what's left of the Grand Central Mill. It was a typical silver processing stamp mill. Huge pistons crushed the rock, working day and night. Then the crushed ore was processed with mercury in amalgamating pans to bind the silver. Imagine the health effect of the toxic mercury on the mill workers. Their lives were short. (info taken from a pamphlet we got at Fairbank)

The back side of the mill is the only structure that survived.

A closeup of the back walls.

A hole in the wall.

Jessica examining the hole in the wall.

The next pictures are of the old cemetery. The cemetery is approximately 1/2 mile from the townsite. The graves are most likely town residents, but only three graves have names. Based on artifacts found there, this hilltop has been used by humans for centuries.

There are also great views of the San Pedro River Valley from the top of cemetery hill.

Climbing the switchback trail to cemetery hill.

Unmarked graves.

This grave had more modern tokens on it, including a full utensil set (fork, knife, spoon) and a stuffed sheep. I'm not sure what that means, but it was interesting to see.

One of the marked graves, though this cross had fallen and shattered.

The view of the San Pedro River Valley from cemetery hill.

Unexpected "Snow" Day

2011-02-04T18:00:00.001-07:00

On Friday, 4 Feb, we had a "snow" day! There was actually no snow (it was sunny, clear, and dry), but it got so cold here from the blast of Arctic air that the Gas company had to turn off about 1/2 the towns natural gas because of a gas shortage. Also, a lot of pipes burst and people had to turn off their water and wait for the plumbers to come and fix them (if they couldn't fix it themselves). Many thousands of people were without heat and water for several days. Luckily, I wasn't one of those affected. My area wasn't "chosen" to have their gas shut off. And my pipes luckily did not break.

I read later that the lowest recorded reading was 3 degrees. That broke the all time coldest record for Sierra Vista. The old record was 7 degrees and it was set in 1912. Sierra Vista just doesn't see single digits very often and when we do, it's a major event!!

Because of all the heat and water issues, the post commanders decided to shut down Fort Huachuca for a day. Kelli found out about it about 5pm on Thursday (she was called by her supervisor and told not to come to work the next day). I wasn't called until 10pm that night! Then I had to call my team members (I woke one of them up out of a dead sleep) to tell them the message. Once he found out why I called so late, he stopped being angry with me. :o) I wonder why my company waited for so long to start calling us. Oh well.

The post set all the thermostats to 50 degrees to help cut down on heating needs to help prevent the whole area from having a complete natural gas outage. Schools and city government offices in Sierra Vista were shut down on Friday as well. Many, many people in town had an unexpected day off from school or work.

I tried to run some errands that day (I had to go to both Walmart and Target), but I think everyone and their dog decided to run errands at the same time. I've never seen those stores so busy on a regular day (Black Friday not included). It was funny to see.

When I was out and about, I got a text from my sister Jessica. She is in town because her birthday is this weekend. She told me the water was off at my mom's house (my mom works in the Gila Valley Temple every Friday, so she was not there to see what was happening). Then later another text to say that they found the problem and Kelli was over there helping. I decided to go see what was going on.

Apparently, one of my mom's pipes burst and her neighbor shut off the main water when he saw the backyard under water. It was a faucet built with PVC pipe in the backyard that burst. The top near the metal faucet head had ruptured and blew the pieces several yards.

When I arrived, Kelli and Jesse were sawing the pipe down below the crack. They were going to try to cap the pipe and wait for someone else to fix it. Because I had helped my dad put together PVC pipe before, I knew what to do to rebuild the faucet. Kelli and I headed to Lowes and Jesse looked in the shed to see what supplies we already had. She found a PVC pipe cutter, which was a whole lot easier to use than a saw.

Kelli and I arrived at Lowes and it seemed everyone in the store was congregating in the plumbing aisle. A worker asked us what we were looking for and we were able to get everything we needed fighting through all the people. The worker knew where everything was and was able to get each item very quickly. We headed back to the house and were able to build the faucet with ease. It was actually pretty fun to do.

We had to let the glue dry for 24 hours, and I didn't want my mom and Jesse to be without water all that time. I went searching for the water line to the back yard and was able to shut that section off. We were able to turn the water main back on (with the help of her kind neighbor) and everything came back on in the house just fine.

My mom was really blessed that only the outside pipe burst...and a very easy one to fix! There were other people in town that were not so lucky. I've heard of several stories where ceilings fell in because water pipes in the ceiling burst. Or walls were blown out because of pipes bursting inside the walls. There was a lot of damage that happened around town just because it got severely cold for the area.

I know the whole country was affected by cold weather and other places got it a lot worse than us (including snow and ice). There are a lot of stories of this storm, and this is just one of them.

It was definitely an adventure! It was a productive day off, even if I have to make up that time before the pay period ends. It was still fun to have a "snow" day. I haven't experienced one for years!

My first attempt at canning

2011-01-29T16:00:00.006-07:00

I do Bountiful Baskets because it seems to save me a lot of money for fruits and vegetables. However, I get so many wonderful fruits and veggies, I am not able to eat them all during the two week period before I pick up my next boutiful basket. I don't like wasting food, so I decided it was high time I learn to can.

I've been receiving a hole bunch of apples and pears lately, so as I get apples, I would put them through my Pampered Chef Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer and then freeze them. I didn't know what to do with them after that, so I bought a water bath pot, jars, the Ball Canning book, and the canning kit, and I was ready to go.

Here is what I did:

STEP 1: Get out equipment and fruit to can.

I used both my frozen sliced apples and a bag of fresh apples.

All my frozen apple slices, I made into apple sauce. They started getting brown when they thawed out, but the apple sauce still tastes wonderful!

STEP 2: Put the washed jars in the water bath (2/3 full) to heat the jars. Put the lids in a separate pot to heat as well.

STEP 3: Slice the fresh apples and put them in lemon water to keep from browning. I used the Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer, which makes fast and easy work out of cutting the apples.

STEP 4: Boil the frozen apples in water until tender.

STEP 5: Boil the freshly sliced apples in syrup (I made Ultra Light syrup) for 5 minutes to warm through. Meanwhile, let the frozen apples cool slightly.

STEP 6: Blend the frozen apples into sauce. Add lemon juice.

STEP 7: Take the first jar from the water bath. Dump out all water into the pot.

STEP 8: Working one jar at a time, fill the warm jar with either sliced apples and syrup or apple sauce. Be sure to remove any air bubbles. Leave 1/2 inch room on top.

STEP 9: Get a warm lid and center it on the jar. Screw the band on the jar until tight (but not overly tight).

STEP 10: Put the jar back into the water bath. Repeat steps until all fruit is used (or all jars are used).

STEP 11: After all jars are ready, fill the pot with more water until all the jars are under water with 1 inch over the tops. Bring to a rapid boil. Once the rapid boil starts, start the timer for 20 minutes. Leave alone.

STEP 12: After the 20 minutes are over, remove the lid of the water bath and turn off the stove burner. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Do not move the jars.

STEP 13: Remove the jars one at a time being sure not to tip the jars. Do not remove water from the tops. Let them sit for 24 hours in a non-draft area.

STEP 14: Enjoy your homemade goods!

I never knew how easy canning actually is. It takes time, but it is SO SIMPLE! I repeated this process with my pears the next day. I only had enough to make 4 jars of pears, but that's fine! It only took me about 2 hours to do that whole process with my pear slices. I think I like canning in small amounts. That way I still have time to do other things as well.

I will definitely be doing more canning in the future. I almost can't wait to see what I get in the next Bountiful Basket. What will I be able to can next?

Back to the Teen Years

2011-01-24T20:00:00.003-07:00

January 22 I was asked to help chaperon 400 priests/laurels (16-18 year old young men and young women) at a combined stake priest/laurel conference in Tucson. My presidency split up the duties and two of us took the morning shift and two of us took the afternoon/evening shift. I had the later shift. We arrived at 3PM at the University of Arizona Institute building when the kids just had started their service project. In the morning they attended four different workshops, which I heard were really good, and had a tour of the U of A.

Eloise and I checked in and were given a colored lanyard to wear around our necks with the schedule, a small tablet, and a small pencil in a plastic sleeve. I didn't think anything of it. I just put it on and went to find things to do to help.

The conference was very well organized and the youth looked they they were really enjoying themselves. During the time we were there, they did several service projects, including sorting, cleaning, and packaging eye glasses, writing Valentines for soldiers, and writing children's books for a child from each of the eight stakes involved in this conference. They were all really cool projects, but I have to say the books were my favorite. I got to help laminate the pages at the end of the night and I saw the finished products. They were all so creative and the art was so good. There are some mighty talented people out there!

The youth also got to listen to the President of University of Arizona, Dr. Shelton. He had just hosted President Barack Obama at the U of A for a Memorial Service for the victims of the shooting a few weeks ago. It was neat to see him interact and talk with these kids. He really likes LDS kids. During the question and answer session, one young man asked if they got a scholarship from U of A and went on a mission, will they have the scholarship when they return? Dr. Shelton, without hesitating, stated "Guaranteed". That brought on cheers. He also talked about the university experience (whichever university you choose) and how a good sense of self and belief in a value system will really help you in college because when you are challenged (and you will be challenged) you can reach into your inner reservoir and overcome those challenges. He said that with growing up in our church, we have that sense of self and value system. We also have support from our community so we are more prepared for college life than other kids who did not grow up with those things. It was very interesting to listen to him and to hear what he has to say.

Then we heard from Bishop Brian Manwaring, the Sierra Vista Seminary Principal. He is such a fun and great speaker. He had a fun talk about the importance of following the Lord's plan when it comes to dating. He urged those in a serious, 1 on 1 relationship to break up. It is not the time (as a priest or a laurel) to steady date. That time will come later. It is the time to group date and have fun with a bunch of different individuals. He said the plan goes like this: Beehives and Deacons are usually kept separate from one another (because deacons like to poke fires with a stick and people are afraid they will start poking Beehives with a stick if they get together. Haha!). When you turn 14 and become Teachers or Miamaids, you are allowed to start going to stake dances and other activities. Now is the time to start making friends and interacting with the opposite sex. When you turn 16 and become Priests and Laurels, you are allowed to start dating, but group dating is what is encouraged. Single dating will come later. It's line upon line and we have steps we need to take. If you think you are an exception to the plan and do things your own way, you will not be happy in the long run. Follow the Lord's Plan and he will never lead you astray.

Of course, Bishop Manwaring made it a lot more fun than I can put in a few sentences, but this is the jist of his comments. I thought he was so great and I really thought it was awesome how he just came out and told the young couples to break up. He said it with love and concern for their well-being. I saw some of the kids let go of hands, but I saw others hold on tighter. I'm not sure what will be the outcome from his talk, but it was so important for those teenagers to hear!

Back to the color lanyard. Apparently, the leaders got red-white-and-blue lanyards, but they were all out by the time I got there. So during the service project, before the evening speakers, during dinner, and at the dance, some of the teenagers kept asking me if I was having a fun time, or how I was enjoying the day, or things to find out more about me (like hobbies, etc). At first I was just thinking they were being nice, but then it started to dawn on me that they thought I was one of the teenagers!! One girl was talking with me for a long time while we sat in the auditorium waiting for the speakers to start. Finally she asked me if I was a leader or a youth. She said I had the youth lanyard on so it confused her. Haha! I guess I look young enough to pull off being 18 years old. That totally made my day. I am almost twice their age!! I have not been confused for a teenager for a long time. Haha!

And before you ask...I didn't get asked to dance by any teenage boys. I didn't stay in the dance room long enough (plus I don't think they would have asked me anyway....I'm not their type [not cute and small and flirty]). I stayed in a side classroom helping to laminate the pages of the childrens' books that were created during the service project.

But overall, I think the whole Priest/Laurel Conference was a HUGE success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and learn a lot in the process. It was a long, but good day for all!

2011 Ward Conferences

2011-01-16T14:52:00.009-07:00

It's that time of year again when ward conferences start up again and I become less active in my own ward. Sunday was the first of the ward conferences (4th ward).

As a Stake Young Women presidency, we give the young women lesson during these Sundays. We split up the time and give a 5 to 7 minute part, leaving about 5 to 10 minutes for the member of the stake presidency to give some comments at the end. This time we decided to give our lesson based on President Monson's talk "The Three R's of Choice". He gave this talk during the Priesthood session of the October 2010 conference. The three R's are the right of choice, the responsibility of choice, and the results of choice. My part is the responsibility of choice.

As I was thinking about and writing my part of the lesson, I kept thinking about the law of chastity and I knew I had to step WAY OUT of my comfort zone and talk about that sacred law. In our Auxiliary training meeting last October, we made sure to emphasize to NOT skip or skirt around the chastity lessons because the young women are getting their fill of it from the opposite view and they need the lessons from Heavenly Father's perspective. Face the lessons head on! It's amazing how many leaders don't give the lessons because it's just too uncomfortable, so these beehives don't know the difference between chastity and charity (true story!).

I knew it was my time to step up (even though I am still very naive about the whole thing). As I was typing my talk, I was shaking and sweating and my heart was POUNDING! I was completely NERVOUS! We wanted to go through the lesson during our last presidency meeting before the first ward conference. My part wasn't completely done, but the majority of it was there. I said what I had so fast I had to repeat some stuff. But the rest of the presidency told me I didn't cross any lines and I said what needed to be said.

During the next two weeks, I refined and rearranged the words some more. Finally, I did all I could with my 6 minute part. And this last Sunday we gave our lesson for the first time. I thought it went really well!!!

Eloise Clawson started us out with the Right of Choice. Then I gave my part, the Responsibility of Choice. I prayed I would give it with confidence and I felt I did. Next, Debbie Burden talked about the Results of Choice. Pam Smith tied it all together and then talked about the responsibility of dating. She quoted Elder Bednar, "A strong dating relationship is built on the foundation of men honoring their priesthood and women reverencing their womanhood." President Haws took the rest of the time with some comments. He said if the young women would always live the word of wisdom and the law of chastity, they will be happy and have peace. The lesson was well received and the young women seemed to really be listening. Everyone of them made eye contact with us!

Now I can take a deep sigh of relief! I've gotten over one hurdle and I know I can step out of my comfort zone for all the other ward conferences with no problems.

One down and seven more to go! 1st ward is next.

If you are interested, here is my part:

*******************************

Next, with the right of choice comes the responsibility of choice. We are on an eternal journey and there are limitless choices ahead of us. We CANNOT be neutral; there is no middle ground.

Who knows the story of Alice in Wonderland? At one point in the story, Alice comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each in opposite directions? She is then confronted by the Cheshire cat, and she asks, “Which path shall I follow?” The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”

Unlike Alice, we all know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for by choosing our path, we choose our destination.

But it is not always easy is it? On our path we may see many attractively painted road signs that may distract us. Have you seen them? They may be very enticing and alluring! They may read like this:

“Just this once won’t matter.”
“Don’t worry; no one will know.”
“You can stop smoking or drinking or taking drugs any time you want.”
“Everybody’s doing it, so it can’t be that bad.”

Let’s see if you can find Lucifer’s Road Sign in this true story. One of my best’s friends recently shared an email with me. It is from her dad who is the executive secretary at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT. He wrote this email out of concern for his children as they raise their children in this increasingly wicked world. It is about problems facing missionaries and potential missionaries, especially when it comes to the law chastity and how many try to rationalize away their behavior. He tells his children that every missionary sent home for transgression were because of sexual sin. During one confession, one elder said, “I have done every sexual thing you can do, without breaking the law of chastity.”

Did you hear it? This is the pretty big road sign Lucifer wants you to believe is true. You can’t do “every sexual thing” and not break the law of chastity! You can’t even do one sexual thing and not break the law of chastity! Satan has managed to distort this missionary’s understanding of this sacred law. If it can happen to a missionary, it can happen to anyone. So let’s look at the For the Strength of Youth book to find out how our church leaders have defined Sexual Purity.

Before marriage, do not do anything to arouse the powerful emotions that must be expressed only in marriage. Do not participate in passionate kissing, lie on top of another person, or touch the private, sacred parts of another person’s body, with or without clothing. Do not allow anyone to do that with you. Do not arouse those emotions in your own body.

If you are tempted to commit sexual transgressions, seek help from your parents, your bishop, and friends you can trust. Pray to the Lord, who will help you resist temptation and overcome inappropriate thoughts and feelings.

Just like I used the For the Strength of Youth Book for guidance, Heavenly Father has given us multiple sources we can turn to when we have questions; we have prayer, scriptures, prophets, priesthoods leaders, parents, young women leaders, etc. He also has his own beautiful road signs. Here are some of them.

“Stand of Truth and Righteousness”
“Choose the Right”
“Be grateful, be smart, be clean, be true, be humble, and be prayerful.”
“I love to see the temple. I’ll go inside someday.”
“I am a child of God.”

Our Heavenly Father did not launch us on our eternal journey without providing means of help. We are not alone and we never will be.

Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed—the courage to say no, the courage to say yes. Decisions do determine destiny.

I close my part with the pleading of President Monson. He says:

I plead with you to make a determination right here, right now, not to deviate from the path which will lead to our goal: eternal life with our Father in Heaven.

I echo this plea and say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Wicked and Truly Evil

2011-01-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

WICKED!!! We saw it in London and immediately we wanted to see it again. It is such a great musical...very family friendly, fun, engaging, uplifting, and inspiring. Last August, I happened to see that it was coming to Tucson, so I convinced Kelli and my mom (it wasn't very hard!) to buy season tickets to Broadway in Tucson so we would be SURE to have tickets to this AWESOME musical! We also saw Beauty and the Beast last Thanksgiving weekend. We missed the first musical though (The Color Purple), because we were either sick or didn't really want to go. We'll see Burn the Floor in April. Not sure what that is, but I'm excited.

But back to WICKED! Our tickets were for January 8 at 2PM. So we left Sierra Vista at 11:45 and headed to University of Arizona's Centennial Hall. We made good time and arrived at the parking garage about an hour before the show was about to start. That is when we got the first text message.

From my sister, Jessica:

"Hey Erin, Congresswoman Giffords was just shot here in Tucson about an hour ago. I don't know how this will affect your plans. Plan for traffic."

I read that and my jaw dropped open. I read it to Kelli and my mom and we were shocked to the core. Then Jesse wrote again.

"It was in NW Tucson. She was shot in the head, but it's unclear whether she died or survived. Others were shot too."

Wow! Jessica sent us texts as she found out more information from the Internet. I also wrote my friend Danny to find out more information. He told us Congresswoman Giffords was in surgery at University Medical Center. And that the nut job was out to kill. He said the news was very confusing. No one knew what was going on, but they did catch the guy who shot her.

It didn't seem like a lot of people at the theater knew what had happened. People around us were talking about this and that, but not about the shooting. Then doors opened and we were able to find our seats. I got a little more information from Danny, but not a lot. Still, there were very few people in the theater who seemed to be talking about the event.

While we waited for the show to begin, we took a picture of ourselves in our seats.

Then the orchestra started and the lights dimmed. The show must go on!

And what a show to see during such a confusing and sad time! Like I said before, it is a really uplifting and engaging show, so I could really transport myself to Oz and be there instead of in Tucson. I was right with Elphaba and Galinda as they attended Dear Old Shiz and as they transitioned from loathing each other to helping each other to becoming best friends. I sang along with Galinda as she taught Elphaba how to be popular, with Elphaba as she defied gravity, with both Glinda and Elphaba as they realized that knowing each other has changed each one for good.

Of course, there was the intermission where we had to come back to reality. And it seemed everyone around us knew about the shooting now. We sat and listened as one group of people said CNN reported Gabby Giffords died, but they had to retract the story. Other groups talked about how the shooting happened at an event at a Safeway. I texted Danny again to see if he knew anything new. He said a 9-year old girl had died. She was the first death we knew about. Later we found out five others had died at the scene. She was the sixth death. Danny also said that Gabby came out of surgery and she was showing signs of progress. The doctors are hopeful, but of course since she was shot in the head, they have to monitor brain swelling. Yikes!

We were able to have one more reprieve from reality by watching Act II. I have to say the actors in this performance were better than the actors in London. Their voices were clearer and their annunciation were much better (but that may be because of the UK accents. Haha!). And we had the backup Elphaba perform for our matinee show. But she was just as good as the original Broadway star! Awesome, awesome voice!! So good!! It gives me chills just thinking about it now!! I was a little worried when Glinda came out in her bubble in the opening scene and sang her high notes off pitch, but she recovered and sang very well the rest of the play. I can't give enough good compliments about this play and it's actors! Brilliant!

I am glad we saw this play again. It is just unfortunate it happened to be at the same time as the truly evil event that happened in Tucson. But I would jump at the chance to see this play again. Anytime, anywhere!

New Year's Day Tradition

2011-01-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

For the past three years, my mom and sisters have made a New Year's Day tradition of going hiking to a Ghost Town. We live in Southern Arizona....aka The Wild West. The town of Tombstone is only 15 minutes from my house. There are dozens (if not hundreds) of old and deserted towns in this area that are fun to explore, and most you have to hike to. It's been a fun tradition so far. The first year we went to the Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate. Last year we went to Fort Bowie (I guess I didn't blog about that. I will have to do a FLASHBACK to tell you about that trip).

This year, we decided to go back to Fort Bowie since Kelli didn't get to go with us. She just bought a new camera and there are a lot of great photo opportunities on this hike. There is a lot of history in those mountains too....a lot dealing with the conflict between the American military and the Apache Indians. It's pretty fascinating stuff, but I'll let you research it.

Side note...on Wednesday (December 29, 2010) Southern Arizona got a pretty big winter storm. Sierra Vista got some snow, but nothing really stuck. There is snow on the Huachuca Mountains though.

When we left for our day of hiking, we didn't really think anything of the storm that had blown through here. I guess we should have thought about it a bit more, especially since we were traveling up to some mountains.

So there we were, we had just drove the hour and a half to the turn off to Fort Bowie. This eight mile dirt road was just a little wet when we turned onto it, but as we traveled onward, and got about four miles into it, it became pretty scary without a 4-wheel drive truck. My CR-V kept fishtailing and sliding over the mud and ice and snow. We passed a sign that said "Fort Bowie in 4 miles". I didn't think my car (or my nerves) could take another 4 miles of this, so I found a semi-dry place and we turned around. We made it off the dirt road and decided to try the Chiricahuas. We used to hike around these beautiful rock formations when we were kids and we were only about 15 miles away from it.

When we arrived, I went into the visitors center to pay for the pass. However, the ranger said the roads were all closed because of the snow. The trail starting at the visitors center is about 7 miles one way to the rock formations. It was already 2PM, so there was no way to hike in the snow over there and back before it got dark. But the ranger suggested we hike up the road to the first rock formations (The Organ Pipes). They are not the biggest formations, but they are her favorites. The road was closed to cars, but we could hike it. She just warned us to move out of the way of the plows and other vehicles cleaning the roads if we should see them.

So that is what we did. It was about a mile and a half round trip to the Organ Pipes. And there was a lot of snow. Even with all the disappointment of the day, we still had a fun time hiking in the snow and seeing the beautiful sites that Heavenly Father has created for us to enjoy on this earth! It ended up being a very enjoyable day!

Here are some pictures of our adventure:

See...it does snow in Southern Arizona! It's a Winter Wonderland!!

Notice the animal tracks in the snow. We think it's deer tracks.

Some fun rock formations. Can you find Winnie the Pooh?

Where did 2010 go?!

2011-01-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Where did the year go? Why was I so lazy and let the year slip by me? Why did I procrastinate so many things? Why was it so hard for me to blog and finish UK trip in a more timely manner? (BTW...I am doing a huge SIGH for finishing those finally!) Those blogs were hard for me to write since they were so long and took a lot of time to type and to find the pictures. They were probably hard for you all to read as well....especially since they were LO-ONG!! I probably lost a lot of readers (if I had "a lot" to begin with anyway) because of those novel-length posts. Nobody commented, so I am not sure how many people even read them.

I apologize for those journal entries of my trip. I wanted to type all that out so I could convert it into one of those books, but maybe I went about it the wrong way. I promise this year I will be better at posting normal size posts and more of the day-to-day things I do this year.

And I'll have to do some FLASHBACK posts to catch up on some things I missed from last year, like Girl's Camp, Family Reunions, and my Sedona trip.

Happy Birthday Kelli!!!

2010-10-07T06:46:00.006-07:00

It's Kelli's Birthday! Shout Horray!

In honor of this special day, enjoy some pictures of Kelli and I in Ireland.

The Joys of Being a Government Contractor

2010-09-30T14:45:00.001-07:00

I interrupt my UK vacation posts to tell you about my current employment situation and the joys of being a government contractor.

Let me back up a few months...

We all knew the current contract was going to end on 28 September 2010, but a lot of tasks under the contract were going to roll over into the extension contract. However, there were quite of few tasks that were ending completely, though (thanks to President Obama's new "insourcing" mandate for government work. Less contractors, more government employees...and those of us without government preference points (who's never been in the military or had not worked for the government in the past or are not disabled veterans) find it next to impossible to become a government employee, even though we have the experience and are the most qualified to do that job...can you tell I'm bitter?).

My task was safe. It was funded and my company even had the money in hand. Everything was set. My team would stay in tact and we would continue through til June when the contract would be up for re-compete. No worries.

Or so we thought...

Then the carpet was pulled out from under us. On August 31, I was notified that my task was pulled. Upon further inquiry, I discovered a higher-up that really doesn't know what goes on below him and who is in a disagreement with another higher-up pulled our task for whatever political maneuver. My company had to give the money back. There was no saving us, though our task is pretty vital for the Army (we sustain the process behind logging people into government computers using common access cards...pretty important, right?). The only good news they gave us was we were promised we would all still have jobs. I think the exact words were: "You are losing your jobs, but not your employment." They said they would find positions on other tasks for us and place us there after the contract ends.

And to top it all off, I learned of the demise of my task the day before I was to leave for three days to attend my grandmother's funeral. What a kick in the gut!

I left for those three days with a lot on my mind. Should I look for a new job? Should I ride it out and see where they would place me? Should I just leave it all and find a job oversees? In Kuwait? In Iraq? Or should I play it safer and go to Germany? But I didn't like the three year commitment for Germany. I started leaning more towards one year in the Middle East. But I also wanted to ride it out and see where my company would place me. If I didn't like it, I could always get another job. My mind has been spinning non-stop for a month!

Nothing happened for nearly two weeks after I returned from Utah. Then finally last week, the other three members of my team were placed on other tasks and a new charge code was uploaded to their online time cards in preparation for them to move to those teams.

For me...I caused a bit of a problem. They penciled me in for a team, but I did not feel comfortable working with the person they had as team lead. I've witnessed a few things, and I was afraid if I worked with him, there might be sexual harassment issues. I let my company know of my concerns, so they discussed where else they could place me.

A few more days go by without any word.

Then I talked with a friend who suggested I ask to be put on the team that shares the same office where I sit (Retina/REM). I've seen a lot what they do; I already have a professional relationship with them; I already do similar things so there would not be a huge learning curve; I already know and work well with the government team lead; etc. Plus, I wouldn't have to move my desk!! I thought that was a great idea, so I presented it to my company.

The next day, my NCI supervisor, David, called the team lead on the Retina/REM team, Adam. David told Adam they wanted to move him to another team and backfill his position with me. When Adam got off the phone, he jokingly said, "Erin, you just stole my job!". Then over the next few hours, Adam and Tony (one of my team members) went back and forth about how you have to watch out for the quiet ones, how I have the ear of NCI and can get any position, how I backstab (Et tu, Erin? was said at one point), how Tony shouldn't be too excited about his new position, or I would turn around and take it from him. Of course, all this was said in jest and we had a really good laugh. My stomach was hurting from laughing so much.

Later that day, David called Adam back and said his new position could allow him to stay with the Retina/REM team for a while. That started another bit of laughter and jokes about how Adam checkmated me and thwarted my attempts at taking over his job. It was a pretty funny day.

But all the while, I never received a phone call or an email from David telling me the plans. I just went off the conversations and information from Adam. Finally, on Friday the 24th (remember, my job was ending on Tuesday the 28th) I emailed David. He told me to be patient. Actually, his exact words were: "The dominos have not started to fall. [The contracting officer] needs to tell us if Adam is moving. If he does, then you take his position.... I will tell you Monday".

So I patiently waited until Monday. Still no word.

Tuesday the 28th came. Still no word. I emailed David to ask what's happening. He said he had a meeting at 10am with the contracting officer and he will let me know after that. I waited. Luckily, we had a team farewell potluck during that time, so my mind was on other things.

By 4pm, I still hadn't heard. So I emailed again. David said he needed to email my resume to the contracting officer so I can be promoted into the System Engineering Senior slot (no monetary promotion...job title only). I sent him my updated resume. And went home.

Wednesday, I woke up with a bad headache and a stomach ache. When I wake up like this, I usually go to work anyway, because it will pass sometime or another, but that morning, I didn't feel like fighting through the aches and pains just to sit at my desk and wonder what team I would be on. So I called in sick!

I vegged all day and I am glad I did! It was fun to take some ME time. I hardly ever do that!

Today, I came to work hoping for an email to let me know where I would be. I should know how things work (or don't work) by now....no email.

Today is the last day of the pay period, so I needed to sign my time card. I didn't know what code to charge to so I had to call the NCI office. For nearly ten minutes, they went through list after list trying to find where I finally ended up. They could not find my name. I felt like I slipped through the cracks. I just sat on the phone and waited for her to find out what's going on with my position. She kept finding old lists with the first position I turned down, or the other one they were thinking about placing me on. But she couldn't find the current list. I just kept thinking, I'm glad I took a personal day yesterday!

Finally, they found the current list, which said I was team lead of the Retina/REM team, but it still didn't sound official. But she did upload the charge code of that team to my time card so I could get that signed and finalized.

So now, I *think* I will be on the Retina/REM team. All signs point that way, but being around government work for over a decade, I know things can change quickly. But fingers crossed, I will keep this position and I can keep my desk as is, without having to move!

Just to give my company credit....they did have to place nearly 100 people into different positions with all the contract changes and tasks not rolling over into the extension contract. They were super dooper busy, but they were able to keep everyone affected by these changes. No one was let go! NCI is a great company to work for! They really do have your back and try everything in their power to keep their employees. They are usually very good at getting information to their people, but this was a special circumstance. They had trouble getting information from the government, so of course they could not give out information they did not have.

It's been chaotic, hectic, stressful, and the worst contract change over I've experienced in my 11 years in the business, but I am still employed and am still under the same government team lead, who I really like working with. So, I feel blessed in the long run. Now, let's see if I like the work. Maybe Kuwait still sounds appealing!

Getting back to it

2010-09-08T12:43:00.003-07:00

This summer has just flown by and I don't think I am caught up to it yet. I can't believe it's already September...I think my mind is still in June or July. Oh well... Now I have to try to catch up with everything, including this blog. I have so much to blog about. I just hope I can remember it all. :o)

Here is a sneak peek at some upcoming blog entries:

Day to Day info about my trip to the UK
Young Women Summer Camp
Callahan Family Reunion
Walton Reunion and my grandmother's funeral
Exciting new changes in my life that I have the opportunity to make :o)

Check back soon!!

The Gila Valley Temple, Part 5: The Dedication

2010-06-21T15:00:00.003-07:00

I don't know why this blog post was so hard to write. Sorry for the delay in getting it posted.

Sunday morning (23 May 2010), we were asked to be at the church building next to the temple at 10:30. My mom and I had a leisurely morning in the hotel, then we got ready and headed to the temple grounds.

The choir met in the chapel and did our warm ups and worked on a few trouble spots in the music before heading over to the temple. My mom and sister, Kelli, met in the chapel also. They listened to us practice, then they headed to the temple when we did. The choir had our pictures taken in front of the temple before going inside. While we were taking pictures, Kelli and my mom got through the long line and were escorted to their seats. Kelli sat with another choir member's 80+ year old mother (who was really cute and funny) in a room near the celestial room. My mom, with her white ticket, was escorted into the celestial room.

The choir lined up to get booties put on over our shoes, then headed inside. When I walked passed the celestial room, I saw my mom in the FRONT ROW!! She was right next to the glass art wall separating the celestial room from the room where the choir would be sitting and there was nobody sitting next to her (she was the only person in that row). That could only mean one thing...she would be sitting by family members of the Brethren! I later found out my mom was seated next to Elder Holland's wife. How cool is that!!

I actually got to sit next to my mom too, kind of, though I was on the other side of the glass wall. I sort of saw her dress print through the glass. But I thought it was really neat how close we ended up being to each other.

We waited reverently in our seats for about 30 minutes before the session began. Then we saw (distortedly) through the glass wall the people in the celestial room stand up for the prophet. My heart started pounding. I was trying to make out the people walking in, but I couldn't see much. Once they sat down, the TV switched from prerecorded music and pictures of temples to a live shot at the ceiling of the celestial room, with organ music (played by our choir organist) streaming through. The shot went down to show the magnificent chandelier and continued until it was pointing at the podium. The Brethren were dressed in white and sitting reverently in their seats in the front. Then President Eyring got up to conduct the meeting.

Cue the choir members.

We got up from our seats and lined up in the hallway. As we were lining up up, all I could do was mouth the words "WOW" to one of my friends. It was really happening. Once President Eyring said a specific phrase, we were told to start walking in to line up where we practiced the day before. My heart was pounding SO HARD. It was almost overflowing! When I walked into the celestial room and saw my mom, the prophet and an apostle sitting there and President Eyring standing at the podium, I could barely keep the emotions in check. I had to take a lot of deep breaths to contain myself to get ready to sing the first song. When we lined up, I was actually over the left shoulder of President Eyring and very visible in the camera. (Side note: my sister Jessica later asked me why I was making faces at President Eyring. I told her I was just trying to keep from crying! Haha!)

The first song we sang was "The Morning Breaks". That was my most difficult song, but miraculously, we sang it flawlessly. It was the best we sounded. I sang the right parts and didn't mix up any words. I felt really blessed, because I had never made it through that song without some kind of flub! Once we were done singing and the opening prayer was said by our old stake President and Patriarch, President Haymore, the choir turned and walked back to our seats in an orderly single file line.

The meeting continued with talks by a member of the Temple Presidency's wife, Elder Claudio Costa of the Presidency of the Seventy, President Eyring, and President Monson. Somewhere in the process, the choir sang our second song, "Oh, Come Thou King of Kings". I was so overwhelmed, and I didn't take notes (shame on me...I really should have), that I can't remember when we sang next. But once again, it was awesome! I love that hymn now; It has become one of my favorites. People said they could hear more than 20 voices singing. Someone even had to recount the choir members, because he couldn't believe there were only 20 of us.

At one point, when we were not scheduled to sing, President Eyring accidentally announced "The choir will now sing..." We all started looking at each other. We were still in our seats and not lined up ready to go in, we had already sang our second song, and we were not supposed to sing our last song until after the dedicatory prayer. Then, President Eyring caught himself and said we would not be hearing from the choir just yet, but from President Monson, who is better than the choir. Then he caught himself and said, not that the choir isn't good. It was funny. We all laughed, maybe a little too loud. :o)

While the choir was sitting in our room, we had the opportunity to watch the teleprompter guys in action. They would make sure each written talk was right on target with where the speaker was. Every speaker stayed on script, except for President Monson. He was very emotional during this session (I heard he was playful and funny during the first dedication session). President Monson was very reflective and paid a lot of tribute to President Spencer W. Kimball. There were several times, President Monson veered off the teleprompter and talked for a few moments from the heart. At one point he sang to us, like he did the night before, except this time it wasn't in Spanish and it wasn't as lighthearted. It was cute he sang again (he kept telling us that his wife and daughter would not like him to sing, but he did it anyway. His wife was still recovering from her fall a few months ago, so she was unable to come to the dedication, but his only daughter, Ann Dibb (and second counselor in the General Young Women Presidency) came with him. She was there during the cultural event as well.) Once President Monson neared the end of his written talk, he veered off the teleprompter for about 15 minutes. It was funny to see the teleprompter guys look at each other, then watch to see when the prophet would get back to his written words, so they could re-sync him with the teleprompter. But the last 15 minutes were all from the heart and as the spirit directed. It was amazing to see, hear, and feel.

President Monson then dedicated the temple. From the LDS Church News, we can read these excerpts from the dedicatory prayer, which President Monson read in all three dedicatory sessions:

"We are grateful for this sacred and hallowed structure. We are grateful for the purposes for which it has been built. We thank Thee for the faithful Saints who will use it," President Monson prayed.

Further, he petitioned, "Wilt Thou accept this edifice as a gift of Thy people to Thee. It has come of their consecration and love. Wilt Thou hallow this house and sanctify it. May Thy presence be felt here, and may Thy Holy Spirit abide constantly within its walls. May all who enter feel of that Spirit. …"

After this beautiful prayer, the choir was invited into the celestial room one final time to sing "The Hosanna Anthem" immediate following the Hosanna Shout. As we entered the room, President Monson turned around just as I entered, looked me straight in the eyes, and said "Beautiful choir!". It was neat to be looked directly in the eyes by a prophet. That's the second time in my life that happened. The first was with President Howard W. Hunter when he came to the Tucson Regional Conference in the mid 1990s. I will always remember his crystal blue eyes. But I digress...

Elder Holland lead us all in the Hosanna Shout, then the choir began our closing song. Wow! What an experience. I do not have words to describe what occurred. I think all of heaven joined in singing to shout hosanna for this beautiful temple.

One of the audience members in the celestial room told a choir member later that once our choir started singing "Hosanna" (the first word of the song), President Monson and President Eyring looked at each other and nodded, as if to say "This is right...this is good!"

Once we started "The Spirit of God" part of the song, I was so overcome, I just cried and could not sing anymore. For the full first verse and chorus, I was just mouthing the words, with tears streaming down my face.

The Spirit of God Like a Fire is burning!
The latter-day glory begins to come forth;
The visions and blessings of old are returning,
And angels are coming to visit the earth.

We'll Sing and We'll Shout with the armies of heaven,
Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb!
Let glory to them in the highest be given,
Henceforth and forever, Amen and amen!

The choir supported the congregation as we sang a descant over the normal verses and chorus. But hearing both together and IN THE CELESTIAL ROOM was something beyond this world alone. The angels were truly "coming to visit the earth" and we sang and shouted "with the armies of heaven". I didn't personally feel my dad and my grandma, but I KNOW they would not have missed the opportunity to join in and sing with us that day, to be a part these armies of heaven.

I pulled myself together for the second verse because I didn't want to miss that opportunity to sing this song in the temple.

The Lord is extending the Saints' understanding,
Restoring their judges and all as at first.
The knowledge and power of God are expanding;
The veil o'er the earth is beginning to burst.

We'll Sing and We'll Shout with the armies of heaven,
Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb!
Let glory to them in the highest be given,
Henceforth and forever, Amen and amen!

What a glorious experience! After our song, the last note echoed in the room (and in our hearts). I think I'll always remember this experience, especially this song.

The closing prayer was said, and the brethren got up and slowly left the room. They didn't shake the choirs' hands, but that's okay. I got to be in the celestial room of this BEAUTIFUL temple with them, and that is enough.

Once the brethren left the room, the choir went back to our seats. We didn't want to leave the room. We watched as everyone on that side of the building walked through the hallway on their way out of the temple. Some choir members left when they saw their spouse or family members walking by. The ones who remained just sat and watched until the line was completely gone. Then we hugged and cried and reminisced. We didn't want the experience to be over. We lingered in the temple for as long as we could. Then it was time to leave. I didn't want to go. But I wanted to find my mom and sister to hear about their experience.

We met each other outside in the courtyard. Someone offered to take our picture (which I haven't gotten yet, or I would have included in this blog). We talked and laughed and cried and shared our experiences. We talked to our friends. Such remarkable experiences everyone had. It was so personal in every way.

I couldn't even talk very much as my mom and I drove home. I was reflective the whole ride home.

A few days after the dedication, the choir members sent emails to each other. Actually it started as one, then one by one people replied to all until everyone responded. What a GREAT keepsake. For my response, I wrote:

I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and feelings about our recent experience at the temple! I am glad to know I am not the only one who wondered why I was chosen to be a part of such a wonderful choir, though I am eternally grateful for this opportunity. Meeting new friends, reconnecting with old friends, learning these beautiful songs, having these spiritual experiences, and singing in the celestial room with a prophet of God present are all things I will treasure forever!

Thank you, everyone, for making this such an enjoyable experience! I appreciate everyone's hard work and willingness to do whatever was asked of them. I apologize for missing two full practices (and I struggled a little because of it!). Most of all, thank you, Sis. Clark and Sis. Fenn, for your sweet spirits, and for all your blood, sweat, and tears in leading the way for our little choir to be so successful and to have had such everlasting experiences! You are both truly amazing!

Listening to the first choir in the celestial room on Saturday during our rehearsal blew me away. I knew this experience would be so much more than I could have even imagined. Then walking into the celestial room for the opening song on Sunday and seeing President Eyring, Elder Holland, and our dear prophet sitting there was almost overwhelming. What a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

I am grateful for all I learned during this journey. I, too, am a different person because of it. My co-worker (who is not a member of our church) told me today that for the past week, I've had this glow about me. I was really shocked when she told me this, but maybe this glow is residual from our experience at the temple. I need to return there often so I will not forget!

There have been several people who have told me we were not the only ones singing during that session. I know a Heavenly choir joined us, and I would like to think my dad and grandma were right there among them. Both loved to sing, and I don't think my dad would have missed the opportunity to join in the celebration of this new temple. He loved this area and knew a temple would some day be close by.

Thank you again for allowing me this opportunity! I will never forget it and all of you will always have a special place in my heart! Til we meet again!

I have such a strong testimony of the temple and the importance it has on our eternal salvation. My testimony is even stronger now after these experiences this weekend. I know President Monson is the prophet of God on this earth at this time. He leads and guides this church as the mouthpiece for the Lord. This gospel is TRUE! The Savior LIVES! Our families can be together forever if we keep the commandments, keep our covenants, and endure to the end. I will take advantage of the proximity of this temple and return their often so I can always remember the things I felt and learned this weekend.

The Gila Valley Temple, Part 4: The Temple Cultural Celebration

2010-06-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

Before I tell you about the temple cultural celebration, I want to tell you about some other small things that happened during the day on Saturday, 22 May. The culmination of these small things lead to a tender mercy that was really meaningful to me and my mom.

When I picked up my mom in the morning before heading off to Thatcher, she was distressed because her phone had dropped out of her pocket onto the tile and now would not turn on properly. The phone was unusable. I tried to reboot it and do a little troubleshooting, but nothing would make it work again. She needed a new phone, but we didn't have time to get one today. She would have to wait until Monday. But, as I told my mom, if a broken phone is the worst that happens this weekend, we are doing pretty good. :o)

Then, when we arrived in Thatcher, my phone had absolutely no service. When I dropped my mom off at the EA Stadium, we had to go old school and set up a time and place to meet after my dress rehearsal. It's amazing how much we rely on cell phones now-a-days! It's hard to remember the days before this mobile technology.

After my time at the temple, I headed back to the stadium. The youth where having one final dress rehearsal before the big performance that evening. The day was extremely hot and still. There was no breeze to keep them cool. By the time I got there, the practice had been going on for two hours, and they were only about half way through the program. I felt bad for the youth...they were sunburned, sweat drenched, and exhausted. But all of them were so cheerful, ready to do what they practiced, and all were excited to see the prophet. Especially the youth of the Sierra Vista stake. I heard that the SV stake was the model stake for everyone else to follow. The youth knew all the dances, they didn't bother bringing their cell phones or iPods, they were always where they were supposed to be, and they were never disruptive. The cultural event leaders were really appreciative of our stake. What a great compliment!

While I was looking for my mom, I saw tents where the youth of my stake were trying to get some shade while waiting for their turn on the field. I chatted with a few of the leaders for a bit. Then, I happened to mention to my friend (and bishop's wife) about my mom's phone dropping and that I had no cell service, so I had to look for my mom the old fashioned way by asking around. Another friend from SV overheard me and told us that her parents also had Sprint and they had to set their phone to allow roaming. So I reconfigured my phone and found I now had some service. But because my plan charges for roaming, I didn't really want to use my phone for anything other than an emergency.

I really do have a point by telling you about our phone troubles. Bear with me... :o)

I finally met up with my mom and Cindy Pearce and we went for lunch and a little shopping. Then we explored the small town by just driving around. We found the Safford High School and saw that our stake youth were there resting after their practice. All of them camped out in the gym the night before. We went inside and visited them for a while as some boys played basketball (I don't know where they got the energy after the draining practice earlier), some took naps, and others were getting ready for that evening. Then we headed to our hotel room, took a short nap ourselves, and got ready for the evening.

When my mom and I arrived again at the stadium by 6pm, they were not seating the audience yet. We stood in line for about 30 minutes before we were allowed in. Our tickets were for seats in the yellow section, which ended up being on the side lines. They weren't the best seats, but it was still fun to watch the show live.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the youth on the field waiting for the prophet to arrive, and of the area where the prophet would sit. After I took these two pictures, I was told we were not allow to photograph anything, so I had to put my camera away for the rest of the show.

The area where the prophet would sit is a little hard to see. It is below the main stadium seating and before the temporary field lights. If you enlarge the picture, you can see it better. It has cushy seats and blue gift bags on each seat.

Now on with the show...

More than 1,600 youth participated in the Temple Cultural Celebration. All of the youth were out on the field when the prophet arrived and was escorted to his seat in a golf cart. After he stepped out of the cart, he talked for about 15 minutes before heading to his seat. It was really neat to see how much our prophet loves the youth and how much he wanted to spend time with them. President Monson stopped on his way into the stadium to address the crowd. "I love these big events," he said. "No one in the First Presidency or the Twelve advocate these big events more than Tom Monson." President Eyring publicly agreed with him.

Then the show started with an opening song and an invocation. President Monson talked a little more to the youth, then improvised and sang a little song with President Eyring. It was so much fun to see our prophet and first counselor letting their hair down and having fun. When he proclaimed "On with the show!", the youth ran off the field and set up for the opening act.

The youths retold — through song, dance and spoken word — the rich cultural history of eastern Arizona. In the final moments of the show, they themselves became the foundation stones of the temple, standing close together wearing white. The Angel Moroni statue, common on most LDS temples — including the Gila Valley Temple — completed the scene as it rose above the man-made foundation.

This is the program for the production, titled "The Place Which God For Us Prepared":

Grand Processional -- All Stakes
Mormon Battalion -- All Priests and Elite Young Men Dancers
Honeymoon Trail -- All Priests and Laurels
Taming the Land -- Duncan and Pima Stakes
St. Joseph Stake Academy/EAC -- Thatcher Stake
Hispanic Heritage -- Sierra Vista Stake
Spencer W. Kimball Tribute -- Elite Young Women Dancers
Patriotic Tribute -- St. David Stake
Mining History -- Safford and Silver City Stakes
Lengthen Our Stride -- All Stakes
Grand Finale -- All Stakes

They also had interviews from youth of the different stakes which were shown between the acts as the next stake was setting up. Some interviews were very funny, others were very cute, and others were very articulate and meaningful. There are some awesome youth with very bright futures ahead of them.

It was a great show and the youth did an outstanding job. Everything came together perfectly.

Here is an article from the church news about the Youth Celebration, including lots of pictures:

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59380/Youth-celebration-depicts-cultural-history-of-eastern-Arizona.html

Here are two videos from YouTube recorded by EA Courier:

All in all, it was a great evening with the youth. After the show ended, President Monson did not want to leave. He talked to the people around him, he shook hands of the youth and audience members, he wiggled his ears for the children, he took hats off people and put them on his own head, he played and joked and laughed, and he sung a little more. It must have taken about 30 minutes or more for him to leave the stadium. What a great opportunity for the youth to be so close to their prophet. It was a great evening.

My mom and I waited for a long time to leave, to try to allow the traffic to clear up a little. As were were waiting, we talked with quite a few people who participated. It was neat to hear about their unique experiences.

We finally headed to my car, but when we got there, there was still a long line of traffic waiting to leave. We waited in the car for a few minutes, then my phone started ringing. I picked it up and saw an unknown number. I normally don't answer my phone if I am not familiar with the phone number, and I didn't really want to get charged for the call since it was roaming. But something pushed me on to answer it. It was my bishop. He wanted to know if we had left yet. I told him we were still in the parking lot. Then he said the stake president wanted to talk with my mom. I handed the phone to her, then I watched as her face lit up and then she told me President Goates had one ticket for a seat in the celestial room at tomorrow's dedication. I strongly suggested she should take it, and she accepted the ticket. I ran back to the field to get the ticket from President Goates. It was about 10:30 PM at this time.

We were truly blessed this day to experience so many great things. Some things could have been disastrous, but they all worked out the best way possible.

Next Post: The Dedication

The Gila Valley Temple, Part 3: The Dress Rehearsal

2010-06-01T14:30:00.001-07:00

We were asked to be at the temple for our only dress rehearsal at 9:45 AM. That meant I needed to leave my house by 7:30. My mom came with me, but I dropped her off at the Eastern Arizona College stadium before heading for the temple. She was meeting Cindy Pearce at the Temple Cultural Celebration practice. On the two hour drive to the Gila Valley, I practiced the three songs and tried to do some last minute memorization. I was really struggling with "The Morning Breaks" because I put that song off to the last minute to memorize. My procrastination sometimes gets me into trouble.

All four choirs were at the temple at the same time. While we were waiting, I saw a few people I knew from my years at EA. It was exciting to see people I haven't seen for a long time. However, most people don't remember me because I was a little overshadowed by my more popular roommates. I don't tell you that to feel sorry for me...I actually do the same thing...I don't remember some people who were in the background, just like me. But I tell you that to set up the next scene. My choir-mate, Billie, who also went to EA during the same time I did, ran up to me and asked, "What is the name of that girl?" When I looked up to see who she was talking about, that same girl looked at me, and with a huge smile, ran up to me and gave me a HUGE bear hug! Her name was Stephanie Herring (now Hoopes). She wanted to know all about me since EA (everything within the last 13 years). It was like I was a long lost BEST friend. I was actually really surprised she remembered my name. She is an awesome and very outgoing person. She was probably one of the most popular girls during those years at EA. I always thought she was the coolest person, but I never thought she would remember me. I was definitely proven wrong. I asked about her. She said she married a guy from this area and they now own Casa Manana! Casa freakin' Manana!!!! The best Mexican food around and one of the most popular restaurants in that area! That is so fitting for Stephanie to own that place! It was a lot of fun to reconnect with her again!

Back to the dress rehearsal...

The three inside choirs listened while the larger outside choir from Thatcher/Safford/Pima sang their two songs next to the cornerstone. Then we all entered the temple (putting on booties over our shoes before stepping inside) and were lead to the celestial room. We all took a seat in the folding chairs that had already been set up for the dedication the next day. We were given a little instruction from the general temple committee member and then from Bro. Harris, the brother called to be over all the music for the dedication.

Then the choir for the first dedication session (from Thatcher/Safford/Pima) was asked to line up behind the podium and run through their three songs (two of the three songs were different than ours. The only song all three choirs sang was" The Hosanna Anthem"). When they started singing, I was COMPLETELY taken aback! The acoustics in the celestial room are AMAZING. They sounded like angels were singing with them already. I could have sat and listened for hours. When they practiced the "Hosanna Anthem", and the other choirs sang "The Spirit of God" with them, there was not one dry eye in the room. The spirit was SO STRONG!

Next it was our turn to practice, since we are the choir for the second dedication session. What an AMAZING experience. It felt like my whole soul was lifted up. I had no care in the world! Though, I did mess up a little in "The Morning Breaks" and we all had a little bobble with the "Hosanna Anthem", because at first it was too slow, so in the middle of "The Spirit of God" section, Bro. Harris asked Sis. Clark to speed it up. Then for a few measures, the choir and the congregation were completely off, but once we figured out the speed, we got back together and it sounded great! Working out these issues during practices are what rehearsals are all about, right?

We sat down and the third choir got up and practiced. This choir is from the Silver City, New Mexico and the Duncan, AZ stakes. Once again, it was AMAZING! Though this time I was more prepared for the "Hosanna Anthem", so I didn't cry...as much.

Since the Duncan/Silver City choir were already standing up, they became the guinea pigs for practicing the entry/exit from the celestial room. They left and came back several times in several different arrangements. Finally, we all decided on the best arrangement. Then they sat down, and my choir lined up to practice our entry/exit. As we exited single file, we were escorted to the room we would be sitting in during most of the dedication. It was the small room between the veil room and the celestial room. It had 20 chairs in two rows lined up single file (it kind of reminded me of how airplane seats are configured...if in single rows). One row was right next to the curtain, and the other row was on the other side of the glass wall dividing the room in two. It was also near the glass wall/door leading to the celestial room (of course this side door was blocked with chairs for the dedication). We sat in the order we stood when we sang.

We just had to remember which chair was ours for the next day's events. So with our chairs assigned, we were escorted back into the celestial room for the last choir to run through the enter/exit practice. Once everyone knew what they were supposed to do, we were excused. My choir was asked to be in the chapel next door to the temple at 10:30 the next day for warm ups and further practice.

It was really happening! I got so nervous and excited at the same time! Tomorrow we would sing for a prophet, one of his counselors, and one of my favorite apostles (I know we are not supposed to have favorites, but I absolutely love Elder Holland!!).

It was only noon when we were excused. I went back to my car and grabbed my camera. I took some pictures of the temple, and of the guys putting the cap on the cornerstone in preparation for it being sealed the next day. Here are a few pictures:

At this point, I felt completely fulfilled! If singing in the celestial room today was the only thing we worked hard for all these months and the only thing we got to experience, I was perfectly happy. It was a marvelous experience. I didn't know how anything could get better than that. But I was really excited and nervous for the dedication. I knew I would experience great things. I just didn't know how great.

Next Post: The Temple Cultural Celebration

The Gila Valley Temple, Part 2: The Temple Choir

2010-05-30T17:00:00.002-07:00

One Sunday in January before Sacrament Meeting, President Gore asked if he could talk to me after the block. All through church, I had to stew about what he was going to ask me to do... if he was going to release me from my current stake calling, or call me to something else, or... I had NO IDEA why a member of the Stake Presidency wanted to talk with me and I was very nervous! When I finally was able to meet with him, he asked if I was scared, and I said a little. Then he told me this would not change my world, but it would change me life! I was very confused and a little more nervous. Then he proceeded to call me into the choir. I was humbled, honored, and more than a little amazed that he called ME to this once-in-a-lifetime choir. He asked me not to say anything to anyone (except my family), so I had to keep it quiet for many months. Of course, word got out anyway, but I tried not to perpetuate it.

I had to wait about two weeks before the first choir practice and for me to see who else I would be singing with. When the first practice finally arrived, I was really excited and very nervous. There were ten people from the Sierra Vista Stake and ten people from the St. David Stake that made up our 20 person choir. They called three sopranos, three altos, two tenors, and two basses from each stake.

From the Sierra Vista Stake:

Soprano: Kellie Braun, Marlee (Haymore) Forsberg, and me
Alto: Marnie Goulding, Debi Urkov, and MaryBeth Harper
Tenor: Rick Harper and Rick Holden
Bass: Ron Curtis and Tom Goulding
Chorister: Pam Clark

A couple weeks into the rehearsals, Bro. Holden was deployed to Iraq, so he was not able to continue with the choir. Tim Smith was called in his place. I was really happy for Tim, but devastated for Rick.

I didn't know too many from the St. David Stake. I did know a girl from 13 years ago at Eastern Arizona College (Billie [Palmer] Bright), and a man who used to live in Sierra Vista with his family in the early 90s (Bro. Kempton). That was fun to reconnect with them.

The organist was from St. David, and they also called a backup chorister from St. David and a backup organist from Sierra Vista (Genevieve Kovacs). They wanted to cover ALL their bases.

We were assigned to sing three songs: The Morning Breaks (from the choir book), Come, Oh Thou King of Kings (from the hymnal), and The Hosanna Anthem (from the choir book). We were asked to memorize these songs. We practiced every week for several months. We switched off between the Sierra Vista Stake Center and the St. David Stake Center in Pomerene. I loved going each Sunday and practicing these beautiful songs, and during the weekdays, trying to memorize the words.

Bro. George Harris from The Gila Valley was called to be over all the music at the Temple Dedication. He would travel to the four participating choirs every week to make sure everything was as it should be. He also gave us a lot of words of encouragement and words from the general temple committee. He also bore his testimony and promised us if we prepared now, we would have a pentecostal experience at the dedication. Wow! I was blown away when he said that!

We were all asked to put this choir above anything else. If there was a conflict, the choir always came first. Luckily, I didn't have too many conflicts. However, I had to make sure my UK vacation wouldn't be a problem. Kelli and I reserved this vacation way back in October before any dates surrounding the temple dedication were announced. Because of that, everyone was really supportive of me leaving and being gone for two practices. It was a little challenging to come back from vacation and get back into the swing of things, because I only had one more practice before the big dress rehearsal. I had to really focus at home to finish memorizing and perfecting the songs, but I was still not very confident with myself. I was mixing up words, accidentally singing when only the altos sang and the sopranos rested, and singing the wrong section at the wrong time during the challenging Hosanna Anthem. I was trying so hard, but it didn't seem to be coming together for me. But I prayed hard, and knew I would be blessed for my efforts.

That brings us to this weekend's events. But this post is already too long, so you can read about the dress rehearsal in my next entry:

Next Post: The Dress Rehearsal

But first, here is a little blurb from an announcement about the Temple Dedication. This part was specifically about the choirs:

Choirs are rehearsing in preparation for the Dedication and Cornerstone Ceremony. A 60-voice choir, directed by Bruce Bishop and accompanied by Ramona Lines, will perform at the Cornerstone Ceremony. Three different 20-voice choirs will perform at the Dedication Sessions, one from the Safford, Thatcher, and Pima stakes directed by Michael Bradley, accompanied by Janice Holladay; one from the Duncan and Silver City stakes directed by Larry Martin, accompanied by Marie Stailey; and one from the St. David and Sierra Vista stakes directed by Pamela Clark, accompanied by Carrie Fenn.

The Gila Valley Temple, Part 1: The Open House

2010-05-29T17:00:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was the dedication of The Gila Valley Temple. What a magnificent event! I want to tell you about my experiences, but I will split them up in different posts so I won't bore you with a super duper long post. :o)

Part 1: The Open House

Kelli, my mom, and I were able to go through the temple during the Open House on Wednesday, May 12. The Open House was from April 24 to May 15. Two of those three weeks, Kelli and I were in the UK, so we didn't have a lot of time after we got back to go see it. I invited one of my co-workers, Lynda Hickey, to go with us. It was fun to bring someone to the temple who had never seen one before. I think she really enjoyed it.

I personally LOVED it! There were so many take-your-breath-away moments while walking through this remarkable building!

It really is a beautiful temple. It is not the smallest temple, but it is a smaller temple. We were told that they spared no expense during the building of it; they wanted this temple to be a tribute to President Spencer W. Kimball, who lived a lot of his life in this valley. They even named it "The Gila Valley Temple" to honor President Kimball's memory. This is one of two temples with "The" in the title (besides The Hague, but that is the name of the city, so it's a little different). President Kimball always referred to "The Valley" as the Gila Valley, even while living in the Salt Lake valley. "The Valley" to him was never in Utah.

There is a lot of beautiful glass art walls, marble floors and baseboards, crystal chandeliers and sconces, original paintings and murals, and hand sculpted carpet. The Celestial room has the most beautiful chandelier. Here is an excerpt from an email that was forwarded to me. It was written by Mark Smith Bryce, the Coordinator on the New Temple Committee:

In the last minutes just before the closing of the Open House, I decided to take one last walk through the temple, by myself. It was quiet. Once again I walked through the array of oil paintings, marveled at the majestic mural in instruction room one, and delighted in the fine furnishings of the beautiful House of the Lord. I entered the colorful, joyous celestial room. Then, although I had passed this way many times before during tours and visits, I saw two perspectives of the massive, crystal chandelier which I had never observed: the reflection of the chandelier in the art glass which forms the towering south wall of the celestial room, with prisms of color reflecting and glistening in glorious brilliance. And then, by standing across the room from the huge mirror of the west wall of the celestial room, I could see that the massive, brilliant chandelier was not just one beautiful formation of crystals, but a series of crowns, one above the other, rising up toward the hand-painted colors, designs, and gold leaf of the towering ceiling: crown upon crown, upon crown, as if to ascend infinitely into the highest Heaven. And I thought, "this is a beautiful symbol of Light, of Glory, and Honor, and Eternal Lives."

Here is another excerpt:

Over 90,800 attended the Open House of The Gila Valley Arizona Temple!

On the last evening of the Open House, this thought came to me: "Is there any object, person, or event which would bring over 90,000 persons to The Gila Valley? We are located hours from any major metropolitan area. If we brought the Hope Diamond? Would they come? If the monarchies of Europe came for a visit and to be greeted? If we held a major sporting event, such as a prize fight, basketball or football game?" Would this many come? The the answer it "No." There is nothing on Earth which would bring 90,000 visitors to this obscure, mountain valley in the desert of Arizona. Then why did they come? Was it to see a building, or outstanding art? No-- we have witnessed a miracle.

The definition of a miracle is: an event that occurs that has no explanation based on logic, science, or the laws of nature, an event in which the God of Heaven has intervened in the lives of us on this planet and blessed us, beyond our ability to comprehend. Without a doubt, we have been part of a miracle. The Spirit of the Lord brought many thousands of choice souls to The Gila Valley.

This temple is truly an miracle. People have been and will be blessed to have this temple in our midst. This temple was one of the fastest to be built and dedicated. Everything went smoothly: choosing the temple site, zoning and planning, getting the plans passed through the city government, ground breaking, construction, landscaping, the open house, and finally the dedication. All in all, it took only 15 months. That is truly remarkable!

I found this article about the construction of the temple from the contractors point of view:

http://arizonabeehive.com/showstory.php?article=1

Also, here is a video of the Media tour through the temple.

I am grateful for this temple and am excited to have many opportunities to go more often than I have ever been able to go before.

Next post: The Temple Choir

UK There and Back

2010-05-18T11:59:00.008-07:00

Our vacation came and went in a blur! We were afraid we were not going to be able to go because of the volcano in Iceland that grounded all air traffic in the UK for six days. But a few days before our scheduled departure, the ash cloud moved off, air traffic resumed, and Heathrow airport was reopened. We had no problems getting to London, even though it was an extremely busy and full flight. They even had to have added security at the terminal to make sure all re-routed passengers and those wanting desperately to get home would remain calm in the line and peace would remain. There were no incidents, and everyone was very grateful to finally have tickets and be moving again, instead of spending their days and nights at the airport.

We were not as lucky on the way back. We were seated on the very full and hot plane hour late, and as soon as the doors were closed, the pilot came on and said the new ash cloud (a straight stream from Iceland to Spain) was causing delays. Every plane in Northern Europe heading west had to be re-routed to go through a narrow air lane above Iceland. Because of all the coordination between all European airports, we were stuck waiting for our window. The estimated time was 2 1/2 hours to wait. They moved the plane to a temporary holding area, and we waited about 3 hours. Then the pilot said it was our turn to leave, but our engine #3 would not start, so we had to go back to the terminal and get engineering to fix the engine. We did that, and had to wait another hour for it to be fixed and the paperwork to be finished. Finally, they were able to put our plane back in the queue to wait for another window. Luckily, we had an advantage, because the crew could only work so long, and we had an 11 hour flight ahead of us. We only had to wait another hour before we were on our way. Once we took off, there were no more issues. I was so glad to be off that plane! Over sixteen hours in a hot, stuffy plane is just too long!

But this return trip will soon be forgot, because I can focus on all the great and wonderful things we saw and did while exploring many cities and towns in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Some of the most memorable: going on a river cruise on the River Thames at night, visiting Windsor Castle while the Queen was in residence, walking around Stratford-upon-Avon, exploring the Royal Mile (and it's underground) in Edinburgh, Scotland, eating Haggis at a Traditional Scottish Evening, seeing the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, watching Kelli dance on stage with a cute Irish guy during a Traditional Irish Evening (the "Let's Dance" Wii Game really gave her an advantage!), driving around the Ring of Kerry (breathtakingly beautiful area in Ireland), kissing the Blarney Stone (actually I had to do it twice to actually kiss it. The first time I missed it...kissing a random stone on the Blarney Castle wall...and I didn't want to have to buy the T-Shirt that said "I Missed the Blarney Stone"), getting proposed to on a Jaunting Buggy in Killarney (the buggy driver wore me down until I agreed. He was very convincing :), having dinner in the Cardiff Castle (Wales), seeing the odd, but intriguing Stonehenge, exploring the Roman Baths in Bath, England, and finally seeing WICKED on The West End (Britain's version of Broadway). I loved, loved, loved Wicked. If you ever get a chance to see it, GO!! You will not be sorry and you will be singing the songs for weeks after.

Overall, this tour did not disappoint! I loved every minute of it. I seriously did not want to come back and face reality. It took me a week to recover from it and have any type of desire to do anything. I did have to go to work, but I was only there in body.

I took over 1400 pictures (that is not including the pictures Kelli took), and have been trying to go through them so I can start posting pictures for you. I will probably post a few different entries, split up per country, or maybe even per leg of the tour. I haven't decided yet. Just know, I haven't forgotten you. I am just slow at getting organized. I hope to have the first entry by the end of this week. I'll post pictures as soon and as often as I can, so you can get a taste of the wonders and beauty that Kelli and I experienced.

Stay tuned!

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Sixteen

2010-05-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry for Day 16 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

Today is our last day in the UK (I'm a poet!). This trip has been an adventure in wonderland! We have seen so much and had so many wonderful once-in-a-lifetime opportunities! I am so glad we took the opportunity to come on this tour.

We had to stomach one more English Breakfast before we left the country, but we managed to find some things we would still eat. Sixteen days of the same food (even it is good food) is really hard to manage. Now I sound like I should be on http://whitewhine.tumblr.com. Haha!

Fortunately, we were able to see some of our tour members around the hotel lobby while we were checking our email for the final time (and letting our mom know we were getting ready to leave for the airport). We were able to say goodbye to our favorite Australians again before checking out of our room and waiting in the lobby for our coach. Another American couple from our tour were returning home today as well and were being taken to the airport at the same time as us. We were able to sit and visit with them as we waited for our transport bus. Finally it came and there were about five other couples on the small bus. We were the last to be picked up, and it was off to the airport.

All the couples were dropped off at different terminals and Kelli and I were the last on the coach. Our terminal was away from the main airport and it took about 10 more minutes to get there. We finally arrived and were dropped off, but we were too early to check in. We had to wait for about 30 minutes in the airport lobby before the big screen told us we could check in. Then we made our way through security (which was a bit of a wait, but wasn't bad, since we were super early...we didn't feel that stressed). We then proceeded to go customs so Kelli could turn in her paperwork for her diamond claddagh ring she bought so she could get the VAT tax refunded (it saved her about $200). Then we wasted more time by going through the airport stores to try to use up the rest of our UK pounds. We really got too much money out of the ATMs and now it felt like we had a shopping spree where you had to use it or lose it. We bought a bunch of cookies and chocolate and a few more souvenirs to take back as gifts. Then we had a nice sit-down lunch in an airport pub. We still had about 15 pounds each that we just could not spend. We were so sick of shopping; we were done. We just decided to keep those pounds for next time. :o)

We found our gate and waited to board the plane. We waited and waited. Finally, about an hour late, we boarded. The line was long and we had to climb aboard and be crammed onto buses to be taken to our plane, but after that process, we were finally seated and ready to go.

But nothing really ever goes as planned, especially with an active volcano not too far away.

Our pilot came on the loud speaker and told us there is a long line to leave today....about a three hour wait. The Iceland volcano is spewing ash into the Atlantic from Iceland to Spain. It is a solid wall of ash. Every airport in Europe who is sending planes westward has to coordinate with each other to send each plane through a tiny window to the north of Iceland. In other words, all of Europe had to use the same air traffic path above the volcano, so on a first come first serve basis, every plane got in a virtual line and waited their turn to fly through it. What a mess for the air traffic controllers! What a mess for us already boarded on the plane! When the pilot gave us that BAD NEWS, one obnoxious man sitting next to Kelli on the opposite aisle seat gave a loud groan while slamming his legs into the seat in front of him and forcefully pushing his chair back into the person behind him. He was acting like a child and he continued acting that way for the rest of our time together (which was a substantial amount of time). The old man who almost took the seat back to his face was a good sport, though. He and his wife would look over at Kelli and I and we would chuckle or smile when the man would do something else during our long wait.

And wait we did...We watched several movies (luckily British Airways has a wide selection and you can individually choose what you want to watch...each person has their own screen in front of them.) Right after the pilot talked to us the first time, he moved the plane to a place on the tarmac to wait until our turn to leave. There we sat for three solid hours.

Finally, the pilot got on the loud speaker again and told us he had good new and bad news. The good news was it was our turn to leave. The bad news was that when he tried to turn back on the engines, our Number 3 engine would not start. We would have to return to the gate where maintenance would fix the engine and once that is fixed, he would put our plane back in line to leave. More groans and tantrums from our childish "friend" on the opposite aisle.

One hour later, our engine was repaired. Our pilot told us he put us back in line, but because we had an 11 hour plane ride ahead of us, and the clock was running out on the time the crew was allowed to work, we should have special privileges to be bumped to a higher standing in the line. We waited one more hour, and then we were air born! Hallelujah!

Our 11 hour plane ride was uneventful. We headed north over Iceland, then over Nova Scotia, New York, and across the US until we landed in Phoenix. Because we were six hours later than we were supposed to be, mom was pretty worried. We couldn't tell her we were delayed because were were stuck on the plane with no cell service or wifi. But once we landed, we were able to call her and everything was fine. Now we just needed to drive home and it was already 10PM. Three more hour trip home. Yuck! What a LONG day. What with traveling back over time zones, I think we had about a 32-hour day, or something like that. It was longer than the normal 24 anyway.

Poor Kelli! She had to drive the whole way home. I crashed pretty much as soon as we got in the car. I helped navigate her to I-10, but after that, I was a goner. I know she was just as tired as me, but I could not stay awake even if my life depended on it. I had hit a wall and that was it. But she was a trooper and we made it home safely!

We both decided to stay home from work on Monday, since we didn't get home until after 1PM on Monday morning. A day of waiting, jet lag and 16 hours on a plane would do that to anyone!

It's good to be home but it's good to have a lot of awesome memories of our spectacular adventure to the United Kingdom!

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Fifteen

2010-05-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures added) for Day 15 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

We were greeted this morning with a fire alarm in the hotel. Luckily, it didn't last long and we were not required to leave the building.

Other than that, we had a normal morning with normal hours of getting up, breakfasting, and getting on the coach. This is our last official day on the tour, and it was filled with very historic sites.

First, we crossed back into England over the Severn Bridge. We then drove through the original town of Pennsylvania and we stopped at the elegant Georgian city of Bath, famous for its Roman baths. We paid the entrance fee and toured through these ancient structures and marveled at the wonders of Roman architecture.

The entrance into the Roman Baths

The Bath Abbey

The Great Bath

The Bath Abbey as seem from the Great Bath

The Sacred Spring. Notice the steam rising from the water.

Another view of the Great Bath from a lower angle

What the whole compound looked like during Roman times

What's left of the temple pediment. The next picture shows what the complete pediment would have looked like.

A image was projected over the top of the real stones

Rooms in the Bath houses

Spring Overflow

Bath is also has the home of Jane Austen, but we didn't get to see it. We had to pick and choose, and we chose to see the Roman baths. I am glad we chose to see these baths, because this was one of my favorite places on this trip...though I say that about a lot of things from this trip.

We boarded the coach and continued eastward, stopping again at Stonehenge. What an intriguing mystery! We had 30 minutes there, so Kelli and I paid the entrance fee and ran around the monuments listening to the audio tour wands. It was SO COLD today! Probably the coldest yet. And being outside in the open hills with the seriously chilly wind did not help matters. Needless to say, we didn't stay long outside. We saw the site, took tons of pictures, then went back to the coach to thaw out.

Surrounding Stonehenge are hundreds of burial mounds.

After Stonehenge, we stopped in Salisbury for lunch. This cathedral in this city has the tallest medieval stone spire in the world. We didn't go over to see the cathedral, so I don't have any pictures. We had some lunch at a pub, walked around an outside market, then went back to the coach.

We ended our tour in London. We were dropped off at a VERY LARGE hotel were we said goodbye to our tour group. Some members were going to different hotels so they could start their next tours (some of the Australians were taking multiple tours back to back, since they have so much vacation time). We said our goodbyes to Christina and our bus driver.

Then we checked in to our room and had an early night. We are leaving back to the states tomorrow, so we have repacking and stuff to do. We also went to the nearby tube station for a quick bite to eat and a little more shopping trying to get rid of our UK pounds. We still have some more to get rid of...hopefully the airport shops will have things we want to buy.

This tour has been tons of fun....but I am extremely tired. I am ready to go home. Hopefully the Iceland ash cloud will not affect our flight home, but we shall see tomorrow.

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Fourteen

2010-05-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures added) for Day 14 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

Christina had warned us and we knew it was coming, but this super early morning was really hard. We were up by 5am and boarded the coach by 6.

We drove to the ferry port at Rosslare and waited to board the boat that would cross the St. George's Channel to South Wales.

Once it was our turn and they directed us to the area they wanted us to park, we disembarked the coach, and then we tried to find a place to sit on the boat. This ferry is smaller than the first. Plus, there were more areas for premiere members so us lowly folk were forced to sit along the side near the bathrooms and the store. But it was still a nice ride. Because I stayed seated almost the whole way, I didn't get as motion sick as I did on the way over. This trip was 4 hours long and we passed the time watching the election results come in. This was the first time in history (or for a really long time anyway) that they had a hung parliament and there was no majority winner. The closest winners will have to figure something out so the country will know who their new prime minister will be.

Goodbye Ireland!

We arrived in Wales, boarded the coach and disembarked the ferry in Pembroke.

Our first views of South Wales.

Disembarking the ferry

We traveled through South Wales on our way to Cardiff. We saw Richard Burton's house in Port Talbot (from a distance). It's kind of hard to miss because it's a very 70's style in a very old and "European"-style area. It's kind of an eye sore, but he loved it.

Richard Burton's house in the hills of Port Talbot

South Wales seemed to be much more industrial than North Wales. There is a steel mine still in operation in Port Talbot, in fact.

South Wales was also big into coal mining. They have since closed all those mines (the last one was closed in 2008).

We arrived in Cardiff, which is the capital city of Wales. It is also the most cosmopolitan city in the UK.

We stopped for one hour to walk around the stores near the castle. However, at this point, we were pretty tired of shopping. It really wasn't that interesting. We just walked around and wasted time before we were to be picked up again.

Outside the walls of Cardiff Castle

The Cardiff City Hall

The Welsh Dragon on the top of the City Hall

Streets of Cardiff

A pretty Garden Square

On the coach, we drove around a bit to see some of the city. We saw the huge rugby stadium called the Millennium Stadium. Kelli was a bit disappointed we didn't get to see the Wall of Water, which has some reference to the BBC shows Dr. Who and Torchwood.

The Millennium Stadium

We thought this was funny, but it is actually a brewery. Who would have thought!

We were dropped off at our hotel and had a little time to get ready for our last "Traditional Evening". This one was the Traditional Welsh Evening and it was held in the Cardiff Castle. We first had a short tour of the castle.

Funny story about these inside pictures: The tour director was nice and let us take picture IF and ONLY IF we didn't use a flash. Everyone turned off their flashes and away we went. Then we entered a new room, cameras were turned back on, and pictures were taken WITH flashes. Whoops! Apparently once some cameras are turned off, the flash setting is reset to auto. After a few rooms, the lady asked us to stop taking pictures. I continued to sneak these pictures with my flash OFF.

Then we were lead into the dungeons, which were converted into a large dining hall. We had a four course meal consisting of traditional welsh food (lamb stew, salad, other).

They sang to us and entertaining us with music, comedy, and group participating. It didn't seem as organized as the other countries traditional evenings, but it was still a lot of fun.

On the way back to our hotel, we once again had a sing-a-long on the coach. This time it was to Tom Jones songs, since he is from Wales (probably one of the most famous and timeless singers from this country). Of course, most of our group had a bit too much to drink so they were a little extra animated while singing again. :o)

Tomorrow we return to England and explore the city of Bath and the historic and perplexing Stonehenge.

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Thirteen

2010-05-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures and video added) for Day 13 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

This morning was a late morning. Our breakfast was scheduled for 8am and our coach left at 9am. That's a full hour of sleeping in! :o)

Our typical English Breakfast (though this doesn't show it all). We got really tired of this after a while.

We traveled across the Kerry mountains and into County Cork. We stopped in Blarney for a few hours. They gave us plenty of time to explore, shop, and have lunch.

Kelli and I made a B-line to the Blarney Castle. We paid the hefty entrance fee and walked the beautiful grounds to the castle. Our first view of the blarney stone was from the bottom of the tower. Wow! The tower seemed to go up forever! It was a lot taller that I expected.

I zoomed my lens the farthest it would go to get this shot of the underside of the Blarney Stone. Soon we would be back-bending over this hole to kiss the opposite castle stone.

Kelli and I walked through the entrance, through the ruined rooms, and up the spiral stone staircase to the top. We stopped along the way to explore more rooms and take a little breather. The steps were STEEP and LONG!

Nearer the top of the staircase, it got really narrow. But nothing was going to stop us!

Once we got up to the top, we got in line and watched as the people in front of us kissed the blarney stone. I was SO EXCITED!! I didn't think about the height, the danger, or the germs! I just wanted that experience! :o)

While we waited, we took some pictures from the top of the tower.

It was my turn first. Kelli took pictures as I laid on my back, grabbed the hand rails, did a back bend down the tower wall, and kissed a stone. The old man there helped me back up.

Then it was Kelli's turn. Before she laid down, she asked where she was supposed to kiss (that's the difference between Kelli and I...I just charge in and do it, while Kelli asks the details and makes sure it's done right). The old man pointed to a stone lower than where I kissed. She proceeded to do her backbend and she kissed the correct stone. I took pictures along the way.

Kelli starting her back bend on her way to kiss the Blarney Stone.

Kissing the Blarney Stone...correctly.

There were a bunch of students behind us and I didn't want to make anyone wait, so we started leaving. But it kept nagging me that I didn't actually kiss the blarney stone -- just some random stone on the Blarney Castle. I turned around and saw the students grouped together to take a picture, so (with the urging of Kelli) I went back and asked if I could try again. The two old men were very nice and showed me exactly what I needed to do and where I needed to kiss. The stone was so low and I really needed to stretch, but I was successful the second time. YAY!! I seriously didn't want to have to buy the t-shirt that said:

I MISSED THE BLARNEY STONE (with the K crossed out and the M placed above it).

There was another man taking professional pictures, so we knew we had the option to buy those pictures at the castle exit. Kelli and I took the opportunity to explore the rest of the castle.

The spiral staircase down as wider than the one up.

Disinfecting my mouth after kissing the much slobbered-on stone.

We then ended up at the little shop and photo counter. We saw our pictures and decided we wanted to buy ours (I actually bought both of my pictures...the one with me kissing the real blarney stone, and the one of my coming back up).

Kissing the correct Blarney Stone

Here is a aerial picture of the Blarney Castle

While we were standing at the counter, I saw a few t-shirts and souvenirs but I knew there was a larger store at the entrance/exit of the castle grounds. I tried to ask the shop lady if we could buy the t-shirts down in the larger shop, but it came out:

"Do they have the same...um...um...that thing (pointing to shirt)...(Kelli steps in: 'T-shirt?')...YES! T-SHIRT! Do they sell the same t-shirts down in the other shop?"

The lady looked at me like I was CRAZY!! She said the Blarney Stone must have worked in reverse on me! Haha! So much for receiving the gift of eloquence.

Kelli and I walked the grounds a little before we had to leave to find some lunch. We tried to find another house we saw from the tower, but we couldn't seem to find it and we turned around after a while. We saw some cool trees and old stone structures.

Yeah....I'm not sure what I am doing here.

We also saw a poison garden with a lot of poisonous plants.

Finally we arrived in the exit shop did a little souvenir shopping. We bought the correct "I KISSED THE BLARNEY STONE" t-shirt and a few other things.

This is a store somewhere between the Blarney Castle and the warehouse shopping center. I had to get a picture of it. :o)

We headed for lunch at a big warehouse shopping center. The cafeteria style restaurant was very busy. It had a long long wrapped around the wall to the back of the building. While we were waiting in line, I tried to read the sign listing the specials. For the sandwiches, I read

"Cheese for your filligan from the fudge"
AND
"Cheese your head"

Huh? I think my eyes are starting to go bad. :o) I had to leave the line to move closer to be able to read the sign correctly:

"Choose your fillings from the fridge:
AND
"Choose your bread"

Funny stuff. Kelli and I had a good laugh and that.

After lunch, Kelli and I ran through the warehouse stores. We didn't have a lot of time left before the coach was scheduled to leave and we were pretty shopped out, so we were just racing through not really interested in anything we saw.....UNTIL....we stopped in the Waterford Crystal store. The Waterford Crystal Factory went bankrupt recently (about a year ago), so it closed down. It will never be able to reopen again because the kilns are most likely cracked and broken from not being used on a regular basis. The stuff in this store are some of the last stuff made from the factory. (UPDATE: I found out later that Waterford Crystal is still being produced in Germany and Czech Republic.) I've always wanted nice fluted glasses and I found a pair on sale for 19.99 Euros. We both bought a candy dish and Kelli bought a nice flower vase. They had a special where they would ship everything to our houses in the U.S. for free if we bought over 100 Euro worth of stuff. So we combined our purchases and had everything sent to Kelli's. We should expect that in about a month. At least we didn't have to figure out a way to take the fragile stuff on the plane safely. :o)

After our time in Blarney was up, we boarded the coach and headed east to Tramore.

We passed through Cork City, which has one of the steepest streets in Ireland (like in San Francisco). We also saw Cork's version of beer => Murphy's Beer.

We saw Cobh port where most immigrants left on their way to America or other places. That was also the last port of leave of the Titanic.

One interesting thing we learned is this: Most Irish immigrants informed the American officials they were from County Cork because that was the last place they left from. There are a lot of records stating home counties are Cork, but that may not necessarily be true. I know my dad has told me our ancestors were from County Cork. I wonder if that is still true. I need to do some research to find that out.

Some pretty landscape on our way to Tramore.

We arrived in Tramore and got situated in our hotel.

The beautiful beach of Tramore. You can almost see this view from our hotel room.

The optional excursion for the evening was an evening at a pub. We traveled a little way to Dunmore East and toured the city a little before heading to the pub. We stopped at a small port and took some pictures. Actually, this harbor is one of the five designated National Fishery Harbors in Ireland.

A memorial to those from this area who have been lost at sea.

Repairing a thatched roof...This wasn't at the port, but it was on our way to the pub. I thought it was interesting and wanted to include it.

Then continued to the pub. We had two "free" drinks (Kelli and I had sodas...I thought I needed to clarify. Ha!) and listened to a man sing and play his guitar. It was a neat way to get the pub experience. It was pretty fun too. And our tour members got EXTREMELY drunk! Of course there was more singing on the coach ride back to the hotel.

Today's ride back was the funniest one yet. We didn't sing along with a CD...no...Christina lead us in songs we knew. She had the microphone and suggested some songs, then started singing them. We started with "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean", first in soprano, then in bass. Basically we sang the first verse really high and the second verse really low. Then we say "Danny Boy", but no one remembered all the words, so we "la, la'ed" most of the song. Hahah! We sang a few more that way. Christina has a really HORRIBLE singing voice, but she sang the songs with all her drunk heart. Kelli got one of the songs on video again. But I think Danny Boy has a new meaning for me now after this trip. :o)

We had dinner at the hotel and had an early night. We were warned about our extremely early morning tomorrow, so Christina gave us an early night. Nice of her, right?

We have to be up at 5am to be out by 6am. We have to catch the ferry early, so that is why the super early morning.

Tomorrow we leave the Emerald Isle. I have really enjoyed myself here; I'm glad we came.

The only thing I am a little disappointed about is the lack of the Callahan name. I found more souvenirs with my name in Scotland than I did here. And I waited to buy that sort of thing for Ireland because I was so sure it would be here. Oh well.

I still got to experience SO MUCH!! From the Cliffs of Moher, to the Ring of Kerry, to kissing the Blarney Stone. All are great memories.

Tomorrow we head back to Wales and stay in Cardiff for the night.

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Twelve

2010-05-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures and video added) for Day 12 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

This morning we left Ennis and traveled south towards County Kerry. We stopped for a real quick photo op in Adare, a village known for its prized winning thatched cottages.

Thatched Cottages of Adare

A church in Adare

The highlight of the day was the Ring of Kerry. This 100-mile coastal panoramic drive was full of vastly different landscapes and scenery. It followed a road around the southwest corner of the island.

The day was a little foggy, so we didn't see all we could have on our trip around the Ring of Kerry, but what we did see was extremely breathtaking.

Some of the landscapes we saw include:

- Sparkling seascapes

- Beautiful lakes

- Mountains and hills dotted with farm houses

- Hills of heather and broom (yellow bushes in bloom)

- Windy lanes and stone bridges

Most of the time we enjoyed this beautiful scenery from the windows of the bus. A few times were were able to get out for photo stops. We took pictures of Dingle Bay,

the magnificent Lakes of Killarney (viewed from Ladies View),

and Waterville coast where a statue of Charlie Chaplin is displayed because this town was a favorite vacation spot for the actor,

plus Daniel O'Connell's birth home (which is now in ruins). O'Connell lived in the 19th Century. He is known as the liberator of Ireland. There are statues and monuments of him in almost every city in Ireland.

At one point, we stopped for a comfort stop at a store in the town of Killarney. There, Kelli bought herself a beautiful diamond ring and a Celtic knot necklace. The diamond ring is a Claddagh ring, one of Ireland's best known symbols. I am glad she was brave enough to buy her ring even though it was pretty expensive (I started feeling buyer's remorse for her, but she never did.) I bought a puffy scarf there...nothing too extravagant, but still fun.

We continued on the Ring of Kerry, then stopped for a quick lunch at a thatched cottage. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but it was still very nice.

Close up look at a thatched roof

We passed the vast peat bogs which is used as fuel (once it is cut into bricks and dried). These bogs are naturally formed in the wetlands by a deposit of dead plant material. There is an industry for peat harvesting. Most of the time individual farmers cut peat for their own use, so there were a lot of bricks laid out for drying on different farms. It was an interesting place to see.

The Ring of Kerry started in Killarney and circled back to end in Killarney as well. Once we arrived back in this town, we were dropped off in the town center where Kelli and I participated in the optional excursion to ride the Jaunting Cars (horse and buggies). There were several cars waiting for our group to arrive. This seemed to be a popular excursion. I kept singing the song from the Disney movie, The Gnome Mobile as we were getting ready to ride these cars. Haha!

The charming Irish drivers were true Kerry men, who could charm the socks off of anyone and would not take no for an answer. In fact, I was even "proposed" to by our driver. He even jumped out of the moving cart, picked a blue bell in the forest, ran back and put it behind my ear. I saved the flower in my journal. My fiance's name is Billy. :o)

We were on the Jaunting Car for an hour and traveled through forests, next to lakes, near the Killarney Horse Race track, and to a castle. What is interesting about the race track is there is part of an 18-hole golf course in the middle of the track. Pretty funny!

A neat looking Methodist Church in Killarney

Golf course in the middle of the Horse Race Track

Two of our favorite Australians! These ladies were so much fun, were always making us laugh, and always kept us entertained. We enjoyed traveling with them!

We also saw a lot of wild life, such as deer and birds.

We stopped at the ruins of Ross Castle near a lake. We were able to get out and explore for 20 minutes.

Finally we traveled back to the town center where our coach was waiting to take us to our hotel. We ate dinner at the hotel and had a fairly early night.

I had to get a picture of this store. It is in the Killarney Town Center.

Our hotel in Killarney

Tomorrow we are finishing our tour through Ireland by kissing the Blarney Stone. This is something I've always wanted to do, so I am super excited!

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Eleven

2010-05-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures and videos added) for Day 11 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

This morning on Breakfast with the BBC they said all Ireland airports are shutdown and planes are grounded because of the Iceland volcano ash cloud. I hope we will be able to get around the cloud when it is time for us to go home.

Today we headed to the west coast of the Emerald Isle. We passed over the River Shannon near Athlone (the geographic center of Ireland), where we had a short comfort stop.

One example of the vast types of landscapes found in Ireland: Heather and the yellow flowers of Broom.

We continued onward and stopped in Galway for lunch. Galway is a vibrant city on the west coast. We were give 1 1/2 hours to eat and walk around. Of course, we used the time for shopping. :o) We found a tie for Jared and some rugby caps for the kids (caps are easier than t-shirts because you don't need to know sizes). For lunch, we decided to have the pub experience so we picked a random pub and went in for lunch. We both ordered toasted ham and cheese. The pub was small and there were not a lot of people in it at that time, but it was fun. The people were nice, but we didn't talk very much. Pubs in Ireland are more like community centers. That's where people go to hang out, find out the local gossip, have fun with friends, etc. People don't necessarily go there to drink, but that's a big part of the culture too. It's a different experience than American bars (believe me...I would know :).

A small town on the way to Galway. Interesting tidbit...Ireland is fairly new to paved roads and speed signs. Their speed limit signs are pretty funny because they are usually too high. For example, notice the 80 KPH through this small town. We also saw 100 KPH over curvy mountain passes. Haha!

A street in Galway

When we got back to the coach, a couple of fellow tour members, Allison and Kristin from AUS, gave Kelli a Dr. Pepper. Kelli had mentioned she was having trouble finding DP in Ireland (they are all over in England). These sweet ladies found one and were so excited to give it to Kelli. No nice!

Next we stopped for a photo op at Galway Bay. There are a lot of songs and cultural references to Galway Bay. It is a beautiful area with picturesque landscapes.

Galway Bay

Then we traveled through The Burren. This unique landscape has very rocky terrain. There is just limestone rocks for miles. The vegetation grows between cracks on the stone. It's a really interesting place.

The narrow street we traveled through the Burren

The Burren

We traveled through County Clare were we saw even different landscape: hilly, very green, smaller farms, sheep and cows, rock walls to divide the farms, and many 15th Century ruins of tower houses. These tower houses were in random places, but they were pretty cool to find. I tried taking drive-by pictures, but only a few turned out.

Landscape of County Clare

Ruins of Tower Houses

Finally we arrived at the place I think I most anticipated in Ireland...the Cliffs of Moher. I think I've wanted to see them ever since Matt Lauer went there one year during his "Where in the world is Matt Lauer" week for the Today Show. Haha! They looked so impressive on TV. In real life...they took my breath away!

These cliffs were also used in the movies The Princess Bride and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Arriving at the Cliffs of Moher. This is the entrance to the main gift shop.

Kelli and I walked up the path, which took is to the center of the cliffs, and chose the right side to view first. We walked up the stairs and along the path, all the while taking pictures as we went.

The path to the cliffs from the parking lot. Once we got to the cliff, we chose the pathway to the right.

Our first view of the cliffs (and of the path to the left).

Starting our ascent on the pathway to the Lighthouse.

The Cliffs of Moher

Looking past the cliffs at a nearby town.

There were tons of stairs along that path, but we continued onward so we could get to the end to see the best view of the cliffs and to see the lighthouse/tower house at the top. Inside the lighthouse was a small gift shop where Kelli bought a hat. I didn't buy anything there because I wanted to see more of the cliffs.

The Lighthouse/Tower House

Looking down the cliffs at the top of the pathway past the lighthouse.

From the top of the path, looking down into Galway Bay and at the Aran Islands

We headed back down towards the other side of the cliffs, but we were starting to run short on time, so I ran ahead to take some pictures from that angle.

Headed back down the path.

Once I got to the end of the path, there were tons of people jumping over the wall and walking a path un-obscured by walls or fences. There were huge NO TRESPASSING signs, but everyone was ignoring them. Being the rebel that I am (ha!), I decided to follow suit and hop the wall. Once I got near the cliff, it was pretty scary. I went down the trodden path a little ways, making sure I stayed as far from the edge as possible. I didn't have a lot of time left during this break to go very far, so I stopped being a lemming, took a couple of pictures from that vantage point, turned around, jumped back over the wall, and ran back to meet Kelli.

The warning sign.

My picture from beyond the no trespassing zone. I didn't go too far down the forbidden path. Just far enough. :o)

Looking back down the path at Kelli as I was running to meet up with her again.

We only had one hour at the cliffs and we took the whole time running around taking in the beautiful scenery. We didn't have time to go inside the main shop, so I didn't get any souvenirs. I kind of feel bad about that. Kelli got the hat from the lighthouse store, but that was about it. If I have one complaint so far about the tour...I wish we had more time at the Cliffs of Moher. Oh well. I'll just have to go back there sometime!! :o)

After our bus left, we headed towards Ennis, our next stop for the night.

On our way to Ennis

A house with a random Red Telephone Box in its yard

Another Irish Famine Memorial. This one shows a little orphan boy at the door of a workhouse trying not to starve.

Once in Ennis, Kelli and I opted to go on the evening's excursion: A Traditional Irish Evening. We headed to a small folk town near the Bunratty Castle. This folk village is a replica of what would have been in the past.

We were taken into the village barn where it was set up for dinner and entertainment.

We entered and they were giving away free (alcoholic) drinks. Kelli and I almost got one to give to some of our tour members, but they had sodas there too, so we took one of those instead. We didn't know if this was our only drink for the evening, so we opted for soda. The soda ended up being disgusting and there was plenty of water and juice on the table. We should have made someone happy and got extra booze for them. Oh well!

For dinner, they served salad, lamb stew and boiled potatoes, and apple pie. I though apple pie was an American thing, but I guess it was in Irish thing first. The pie was not served in triangle pieces, but square ones. The traditional meal was very good (though I am not especially keen on lamb meat, while everyone else was going ga-ga over it. I've had it in several different countries and prepared in several different ways, but to me, it's always "meh"!); I liked the food better in Scotland, but this was a really good experience, nonetheless.

Our server was one of the dancers. Everyone pulled a double duty that night.

While we ate, we were serenaded by an Irish tenor. He had an incredible voice! I really, really love tenor voices, and his was swoon-worthy!

Between courses, the servers would get on stage and dance, sing, tell stories, and play instruments for us. It was a lot of fun and very entertaining. The dancers were much better than in Scotland, especially the main guy. And he was really cute too!! His feet could fly and he played this kind of drum (hand-held)...it was so cool. The entertainment was amazing. I took a lot of pictures and movies to capture a little of the evening.

The players (minus one dancer and one singer)

Our MC opening the show

The dancers

A short taste of the dancing

The band.

Playing the hand-held drum. I think I was too memorized to get a video. It was absolutely amazing how fast he was going on that drum!

But the best part of the entertainment was when Kelli was called out of the audience to join the dancers on stage. The male dancer had done a traditional dance with a broom earlier in the evening and the MC asked Kelli to re-create the dance. Kelli started by sweeping an area on the stage to the beat of the music they were playing. Then she did a real quick Irish jig (which I happened to capture on film! HA!). It was really fun and she was such a good sport! For her efforts, the MC gave her a book of Irish folk songs.

The original broom dance

Kelli's version of the broom dance. Don't blink at the 1:05 mark.

Later in the program, Kelli was called up again and danced a line/square dance with the male dancer and the two female dancers to show how to do it for another group that was about to get up there. She did a good job and once again, I captured it on video for all to see. Actually, I recorded it on my camera and took still pictures with Kelli's camera at the same time. I was pretty talented too. Hehe!

Kelli dancing the Irish square dance

Another member of our group was called to dance the square dance right after Kelli.

All-in-all, it was a very fun evening! I was glad for the Irish experience with the food and entertainment.

After the Irish Evening was over, we boarded the coach and headed back to Ennis. Once again, everyone sang along with the Irish folk songs playing over the speakers. I didn't know a lot of the songs, which made me want to find a CD and sheet music to learn some of these beautiful songs and sing them at home.

Our hotel in Ennis

Tomorrow we leave Ennis, travel the Ring of Kerry, and enjoy the town of Killarney.

Some of the fun facts we learned during our long drives include:

The west coast of Ireland rains more than the east.
The area between Athlone and Galway is used to raise racing horses.
Ireland's national symbol is a harp. Music is a big part of their culture.

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Ten

2010-05-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures added) for Day 10 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

Today is Bank Holiday, so a lot of the stores, cafes and attractions are closed.

We started the day with a short bus tour around the city. We saw the sites around Eire's capital, which included the statue lined O'Connell Street, the elegant Georgian Squares, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and other interesting buildings.

Christina telling us about Dublin.

The Custom House

Trinity College Chapel

Grafton Street and the Molly Malone Statue
Molly Malone is the girl featured in Dublin's unofficial anthem...In Dublin's Fair City. There is even a Molly Malone day on June 13.

Government buildings on Merrion Street

Some of the famous Doors of Dublin.

Fitzwilliam Square West

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Flowers on the grounds of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral

My only picture of the Dublin Castle (but it's only a corner)

Wellington Monument

National Museum of Ireland

Along the River Liffey

Supreme Court of Ireland

St. Ann's Church -- The church in the heart of the city

We were dropped off down town and left to explore Dublin at our leisure. We walked to Saint Stephen's Green Park, the largest garden/park in Dublin. We walked around there for a while, as it was very beautiful and very peaceful.

The inscription of this statue says "With gratitude for the help given to German children by the Irish people after World War II". Signed Roman Herzog, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, 3/23/1997

After we left St. Stephan's Green, we found some shops (and we bought some cute hats there. I can't wait for winter to return so I can wear my new hat!) We decided to walk back to our hotel instead of wait for the bus. We walked through the streets of Dublin, around Trinity College (Ireland's oldest college), back to O'Connell Street to take better pictures of some of the statues, and continued down the River Liffey to our hotel.

Trinity College (where the Book of Kells is displayed. This illustrated Gospels book in Latin is widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure. We didn't go see the book because the entrance fee was really expensive, but we did take a picture of the outside of the building)

Church of St. Andrew with the Pearse Street Train Station next door

D'Oiler Street and Hawkins Street

The building between Pearse Street and Townsend St. I find these corner buildings fascinating.

Crossing over the River Liffey

O'Connell Street (Europe's widest street) with the Spire of Dublin (the world's tallest sculpture)

A better picture of the Custom House. Notice the bicycles in the foreground. Dublin has a great system to rent bicycles. These areas are all over the city. It seems very convenient.

On the river is an awesome piece of art to commemorate the Irish Famine. There are several statues of people and a dog walking along the river toward the docks. These people are starving and look frail and thin. It is incredible to look at. I took several pictures from different angles, but pictures do not do it justice.

Apparently, there are several memorials about the great famine around Ireland. This is just one of them.

We couldn't do a lot of the touristy things because they were closed today (UPDATE: We found out after we left Dublin that the Dublin Castle was open. Too bad...I would have loved to tour that castle!!)

We returned to our hotel in the early afternoon and rested until dinner. We didn't do the optional excursion to the Guinness Factory, so we were on our own pretty much the whole day and night.

The morning we put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on our hotel room door (since our laundry was hung up around our room). When we arrived back, there was one towel and a bag of coffee/tea refill items waiting for us by the door. Our other towels were being used or were on the floor, so we needed one more towel for our showers the next morning. We decided to ask for another towel later.

We rested, napped, watched TV, and caught up in our journals for most of the afternoon. At dinnertime, we headed back out to try our luck at a local restaurant. In the hotel hallway, a door was open to the maid's closet. There was a stack of towels in there. We looked up and down the hallway and I ran in, grabbed a towel, and ran out again. We raced back to our room to deposit our "stolen" item (it certainly felt like we stole the towel, even if it stayed within the walls of the hotel). However, we were almost caught when Christina (our tour director) walked out of her room. Luckily, she was walking away from us and didn't see what we were doing. :)

After our little brush with "danger", we finally left the hotel in search of a restaurant. We found an Italian restaurant (not the one I fell by yesterday) called Milano's. It's about a block from the hotel, so we didn't have to walk far. Yesterday it was jammed full of concert goers; today it was practically empty. We had really good meals...Kelli had cantaloni and I had a veggie pizza. The pizza had the middle cut out and a salad placed in the hole. I thought it was a great idea!!

We took it easy the rest of the evening and made it an early night. We were both exhausted.

Both Kelli and I have been most anticipating Ireland. Just seeing Dublin, we are a little let down so far. Dublin is not our favorite city on this tour so far (that honor goes to Edinburgh). Tomorrow we leave the city to start our tour around the country. We will experience a lot, so there is still high hopes for Ireland. One of the places I've been most looking forward to is the Cliffs of Moher. We will see it tomorrow....I can't wait!

One thing of note: Today was the coldest day yet. We've enjoyed very nice weather the whole trip so far. It's rained a couple of times, but always while we were inside the bus or a hotel. But of the time it's been sunny and beautiful.

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Nine

2010-05-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures added) for Day 9 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

Today we had a scenic drive through North Wales. We first stopped for a photo opportunity at the bridge at Llangollen. The bridge is one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. It is the first stone bridge to be built over the River Dee. Llangollen (pronounced Clan-gloflin) is the home of the annual national competition for poets and musicians.

The River Dee.

The Llangolen Railway Station. As "preserved railway", it is a railway run by volunteers for tourists.

We continued through more beautiful scenery.

During our morning drives, Christina, our tour director, usually talks to us about the culture, history, and interesting tidbits of the countries, cities, and counties we are visiting that day. While she was talking today, she suddenly stopped, stared out the window, and then pointed at buffalo in a corral. I guess it is an odd sight in Wales.

One of the things Christina talked about today was the history of the Welsh flag. It is a flag with a red dragon on a green and white background. The dragon is significant in this country and has come to be synonymous with all things Welsh. The story of the red dragon is said to be a prophecy of the coming of King Arthur, and of course the story features Merlin as well. In the story the red dragon fights the invading white dragon and ultimately wins. Because of this, Henry Tudor (Henry VII) flew the red dragon as his banner, overlaid on a green and white field representing the house of Tudor, on his way to Bosworth Field (the penultimate battle in the War of the Roses in the 15th Century and the start of the Tudor dynasty in England). After that battle, the flag was taken to St. Paul's Cathedral to be blessed. It has been the Welsh flag ever since. One more interesting tidbit about this flag, it is the only national flag NOT represented on the Union Jack flag.

We stopped for a shopping and comfort stop in Betws-y-Coed. This small town didn't have much, but it was in a beautiful area.

During today's drive, it was Kelli's and my turn to sit in front of the coach (we have to rotate our seats every day). It's a different experience sitting up front on a bus tour. What a day to do it! Beautiful scenery and perfect weather!

Next we stopped for a quick photo op of Mt. Snowdon, the tallest peak in Wales. The area around the mountain is called Snowdonia.

Mt. Snowdon in the distance

Our group taking pictures of Mt. Snowdon

An interesting farm across the lake at our photo stop.

The Ugly House in Snowdonia. This house is said to be built by outlaw brothers in 1475. After that, it was a house used squatters.

Holyhead to London stage coach outside the Ty'n y Coed Hotel, north Wales

We continued our drive over spectacular Llanberis Pass (sounds like Clanberis) around windy and narrow lanes with amazing views of Snowdonia.

Backpackers hike this Pass too. You can see a hiking trail through the middle of the hill above. Also, cars have the share the road with hikers. I think it would be scary walking around these narrow lanes.

Notice the biker traveling up the Pass. These lanes are so narrow, cars have to wait for the opportunity to pass. It still trips me out looking at the cars on the opposite side of the road.

Notice the Heather on the rocky mountains.

The above pictures are to illustrate how narrow these lanes are and how good the bus drivers have to be. I have my camera smashed to the window on the second picture, but I still do not see asphalt.

An interesting mine in Snowdonia at the bottom of the Llanberis Pass.

We then crossed the Britannia Bridge (originally completed in 1850, re-built after a fire in 1970) to the Isle of Anglesey. The Isle of Anglesey is an island and county off the northwest coast of Wales. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges spanning the Menai Strait: the original Menai Suspension Bridge, which carries the A5, completed in 1826; and the more recently constructed Britannia Bridge; which carries the A55 and the North Wales Coast Railway Line.

Crossing the Britannia Bridge

A view from the bridge.

A view of the Menai Bridge

We stopped for lunch at a small town with the longest name in the Europe and the second longest name in the world. Ready for this? Here it is:

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

No kidding!! I don't know how to pronounce it, but there you go!!

After lunch, we continued on to Holyhead and boarded the ferry to Ireland. We drove right onto the boat, bus and all. Then we disembarked the coach and found a sitting area on the ferry. We stayed there for the three hour ferry ride to Dublin.

Our first view of the ferry

Driving onto MS Ulysses

The ferry is called the MS Ulysses, the flagship of Irish Ferries. It is the world's largest car ferry. It has three miles of parking spaces for 1,342 cars or 240 trucks. I tried walking around a little, but I got pretty motion sick, so I slept for most of the ride over.

Goodbye Wales!

Onward to Ireland

Land Ahoy!!

Our first look at Ireland

Coming into port

Driving off the ferry

Last look at MS Ulysses

We finally arrived in Dublin and drove the few minutes to our hotel. It is pretty near the port. Once we settled into our room (we are here for two nights), Kelli and I went out to find an ATM. Ireland uses Euros so the English pound will not work here. It was really busy around the hotel because the Black Eyed Peas is having a concert at the 02 Concert Hall just down the street from our hotel.

We found the ATM, got out our money, and then went to find a restaurant. This was one of the few nights without an excursion or a dinner at the hotel, so we pretty much had the night to ourselves.

We found an Italian restaurant without a huge crowd waiting outside, but when we walked closer, we saw the chairs were really close together and it didn't appear there were any empty seats. We decided not to eat there. As we turned to leave...

WARNING....MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT ALERT

...I didn't see a step in the walk way and lost my footing. My attempt to run to catch my balance failed and I dived into the pavement, stomach first. I scrapped up my hands a little, but my stomach caught the brunt of my fall. I stayed on the ground for a while trying to figure out what had happened and if I was hurt. My brain was not processing anything at the moment, so I did not move or make a sound. I was SO CONFUSED! Kelli finally came over to help me up when she both got over her initial shock. At first she made sure I was okay, but then she couldn't contain her laughter. No one else in the square came to help, but the people in the restaurant all looked over as I fell and the people waiting at the trolley station clapped. I had to bow when I stood back up.

Kelli lead me away from from that spot, but I was still in shock. I could either laugh hysterically or start crying. I would switch between those emotions so quickly. The fall knocked the wind out of me so I was having trouble breathing, but there didn't seem to be any other injury. Kelli told me later I was pretty graceful when I fell. A lovely swan dive with my arms at my side, my hands up, my back arched, and my head back. It is amazing I didn't hit my face to the sidewalk, which I'm really glad I didn't. Though, I can't lay on my stomach as I write this tonight; it hurts pretty badly now. I bet I have some deep internal bruising. But I am still laughing about it, so that is good.

We sat in the square (on the opposite side from where I fell) for a little while for me to compose myself and to catch my breath again. Then we continued our quest for dinner. We stopped at a few more restaurants, but all tables would not be available for an hour or two. So we decided to go back to our hotel and wait for the concert to start so all the crowds would be gone from the restaurants. We also had to do a bit of laundry (by hand...in the tub. Groan!), so it gave us a good opportunity to do that before it got too late.

After a couple of hours, we were able to go get something to eat (we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant). Then we returned to our room to finish our laundry and get ready for bed.

Our hotel in Dublin

Tomorrow should be pretty laid back. We have about an hour and a half tour through Dublin, then the rest of the day is ours. We don't want to do the excursion that is offered (a tour through the Guinness Factory) so we will do our own thing and have a fairly relaxing day. This is the middle of the tour, and we've been going, going, going non-stop, so it should be good to have some down time to rejuvenate us for the rest of the trip. Plus, tomorrow is the UK's Bank Holiday, so it should be pretty quiet and not very crowded.

INTERESTING TIDBIT: During our short stay in North Wales, I noticed that every road sign or the signs inside hotels were in both English and Welsh. Look at the difference between the two languages. Very interesting:

The Best of Britain and Ireland -- Day Eight

2010-05-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

The following is my journal entry (with pictures added) for Day 8 of my vacation to Britain and Ireland.

Happy May Day!

Today we headed south back into England and into Wales. We drove through Moffat and saw the narrowest hotel (Star Hotel) in the world, a mere 20 ft (6 m) wide.

Image stolen from the official web site. We drove by too fast for me to get a picture of my own.

We stopped in Gretna Green where young couples would come to elope. Gretna's famous runaway marriages began in 1753 when an Act of Parliament was passed in England, which stated that if both parties to a marriage were not at least 21 years old, then consent to the marriage had to be given by the parents. This Act did not apply in Scotland, where it was possible for boys to get married at 14 and girls at 12 years old with or without parental consent. The local blacksmith married most of the young runaway brides and grooms. Scottish law allowed for 'irregular marriages', meaning that if a declaration was made before two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct the marriage ceremony. The blacksmiths in Gretna became known as 'anvil priests'.

We had a comfort and shopping stop here, so we didn't have a lot of time to explore. We couldn't go inside the blacksmith shop, because a wedding was taking place, but we did get plenty of pictures outside.

We took some time to shop for more gifts for family members; however, when we were ready to check out, we got behind a group of Japanese tourists in line. They had TONS of merchandise, and most of their credit cards were rejected. It was very chaotic and took us about 30 minutes to get through the line. There were several in our group who got stuck and we were about 10 minutes late to the coach for our departure time. Whoops! Kelli and I were not the last ones, though. :o)

We traveled through the beautifully scenic Lake District, considered to be the finest of England's national parks. We drove through the back roads so we got to see a lot of very beautiful landscapes from up close and personal. I tried to take drive-by pictures, but because it was raining that day, not a lot turned out. It was interesting...it only rained when we were inside our coach. It never rained on us when we stopped and got out to explore towns or for photo ops.

I had to get a picture of the Shetland Ponies.

We stopped in Grasmere for our lunch break. This town is famous because of two people: the poet, William Wordsworth and author Beatrix Potter.

We ate at a little cookery. Then we walked around the town a little. We stopped at the local chapel and took pictures of Wordsworth's grave. However, since there are so many Wordsworths buried there, I am not sure which is the grave of the poet.

Inside the graveyard, there was a man dressed in stripes and looked like an escaped prisoner. Kelli went on one side of him, yelled to me to pose for a picture, and then proceeded to take a picture of the prisoner. Haha!

We walked around the very cool graveyard taking other pictures of old graves. I am mesmorized by old grave yards. I don't know why. But I am going to use some of my pictures for Halloween decorations.

We then went to their famous gingerbread store. This little store is very well known. They have their own, very unique, recipe for gingerbread. It is now a trade secret, though some people try to imitate it. I really liked this gingerbread, and I don't really like gingerbread very much. It is very different than what you usually think of. It doesn't have a very strong ginger flavor, and it has a lemon flavor...or maybe it's cream of tarter...but whatever it is, the mixture is beautiful (as our Australian companions would say).

As we were walking back to the coach, we went through the graveyard again. Two kids ran passed us. They saw the prisoner and yelled "See a robber, catch him!" or "See a robba, cetch heem!". :o) The robber (what we thought was a prisoner) ran away while the kids chased him around the church. Kelli and I looked at each other quizzically, but continued onward. I asked Christina (our tour director) what that was, but she didn't know. She thought it might be a May Day tradition.

We drove through (or followed the shores of) Windermere, the largest lake in England.

I took lots of pictures of the lake, but this one is the only one that really turned out.

This odd building is a one room home over a small river. Very interesting.

Then we stopped in Chester, the historic county town on the River Dee. We had a quick walking tour through the Roman remains, black and white half-timbered buildings, and the two tiered shopping arcades called the "Rows". Chester, like York, is also a walled city.

Chester was founded in the 1st century. Today, one of Prince Charles' names, besides the Prince of Wales or the Duke of York (to name only a couple) is the Earl of Chester.

After our walking tour, we were let go to explore on our own for an hour and a half. We walked the outer wall for a while (taking pictures of things along the way, such as one of the wall towers, a garden of a house along the wall, and the canal that runs around Chester).

We also peeked in some stores, had a gelato on this cold day, and took pictures of the cathedral,

the Rows,

the Roman column,

the Cross (where the town crier gave announcements...there still is a town crier today),

the East Gate Clock,

the Blue Coat Hospital,

and the town hall with the English flag (not the well known UK flag).

After Chester, we crossed the border into Wales and we finished our day's journey at Wrexham.

Tomorrow we are heading across the channel and into Ireland. We'll spend two days in Dublin before heading west.

Interesting tidbit: Our tour group consisted of mostly Australian travelers. Of the 37 people in our group, six were American (including Kelli and I), four were Canadian, two were South African, one's from Mumbai, and the rest were from all over Australia. Australians get minimum four weeks of vacation time, so if they save their time over two years, they can take a two month holiday. Most of these travelers did two back to back tours. It was fun to spend time with them. They are a very entertaining bunch of people!