Oh How Lovely was the Morning

After the hustle and bustle of NYC, we were all excited to go upstate to beautiful Palmyra, NY. I must say I am a small town girl at heart and the lush foliage and home town atmosphere was delightful. As we drove from NYC to Palmrya, rain poured down from the sky. We reached our hotel and hurriedly ran inside as the steady beat of the rain pelted the ground. Then we ate a quick dinner and headed to the outdoor Hill Cumorah Pageant. This may seem like a highly illogical thing to do, but I grew up hearing about the miracle of The Hill Cumorah Pageant, and I believe life isn't always about logic. My grandma often told us about her long ago trip to The Hill Cumorah Pageant, and how it began to rain the morning of the pageant. As she voiced her concerns aloud about the rain, a lady from the town spoke up, "Oh don't worry about the rain. I don't know what those Mormons have got, but it always stops raining for the pageant." Grandma said it made her proud to be a Mormon and sure enough that night the rain stopped. Well, we were all ready for our own little miracle, but while we knew it would stop raining when the pageant started, we knew there was a long time of rain until the pageant started. So we took out our umbrellas, and dutifully sat for about an hour and a half as rain ping ponged off them. Shortly before the pageant, we went to the refreshment stand for some popcorn, and there we also picked up some ponchos. We slipped them on and began to munch on our popcorn. My brother looked up at my poncho and shared with me the news that there were actually arm holes in the poncho. And so just after the opening prayer, I took off my poncho in search of the arm holes. I was twisting and turning the poncho, when the actors came on stage, the music began and. . . . . . the rain stopped. Perhaps a highly unlikely thing to happen at that moment, but not when miracles are concerned. I put my poncho on the ground and stayed dry the whole night. That night I was reminded of the beauty that miracles are everywhere. It seems we spend our lives searching for something miraculous, when the truth is tender mercies and blessings are occurring all around us. We only need to open our eyes to see them. This set the tone for the rest of our trip to Palmyra, as we visited places where truly miraculous things happened, things that logic cannot explain.


Here we are before the pageant waiting for the rain to stop.



The beautiful rainless pageant.



The Hill Cumorah pageant was so good, we went a second night. This time there wasn't a rain cloud in sight.



The next day we went to all of the LDS church history sites. It was amazing to walk in the places so important to the restoration of the LDS church, places where the Prophet Joseph Smith walked. Here we are at the Smith Family home.



Then we walked down to their second home and looked out upon their farm.



As we walked back from the Smith family farm, we were able to see a beacon of hope: The Palmyra Temple.



Later, we walked up the path to the Hill Cumorah where the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. was given the golden plates by the Angel Moroni. Being in these places, gave me the chance to gain a stronger testimony of the events that took place there.



The beautiful promise from The Book of Mormon.



Our family walked, pondered, and felt the love of our Heavenly Father in The Sacred Grove. The minute we walked in we felt an overwhelming feeling of peace. I know that this is truly a miraculous place, a place where the Prophet Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. It is a place of prayer, of power, and of love.



The Sacred Grove left me singing "Oh How Lovely was the Morning"and meaning every word of it, because it is truly a place of peace and miracles.

The Big Apple

Ahhhh. . .. The Big Apple. How could I resist a trip there with my parents and brother? And so, after a red eye flight, we rubbed our red eyes and put on big smiles for The Today Show, then jumped on a double decker bus for a delightful narration of the city. We hopped off in China Town to bargain for t-shirts, bags, and hats, took pictures of ground zero, St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Wall Street, Radio City Music Hall, and pretty much every tourist site available.


Next, we made our way to Rockefeller center to go to the Top of the Rock. It was beautiful to look out on the city. We timed it just as dusk was approaching, so we could see the city at day and night.



Of course, Broadway left us "dancing through life" with nothing but "happy talk" for these amazing musicals.


Since I haven't made it to Egypt yet, we were lucky to visit the amazing Egyptian exhibit at the Met.


Ah. . . . . life on a double decker bus.


How could we not get a picture of the"Big" piano at FAO Schwartz?


My friend Rustin hooked us up with all of the latest and greatest places to eat. This is a picture of the huge cookies he raved about, although we brought my parents back hard,little, dry ones from the supermarket for a little fun. My dad groaned at the thought of us paying $4 for each small, dry bit of gunk. My poor mom tried to be extra positive about them, but she was fighting a losing battle. We were all grateful to pull out the huge, chunkers of delight.




It is pretty evident in New York who is a tourist, but why not make things even easier. We all donned on these fabuolous I love NY shirts, that my mom and I thought would be darling for a family photo. (And do they not look great?) My dad and brother gave in, and we smiled as our little tour group roamed around the fascinating Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.


Our shirts were so moving that this street performer played a song just for us, New York, New York.


You meet all kinds of people in New York. Which means we shouldn't have been surprised when Bartholdi the sculptor of The Statue of Liberty plopped down at our table to visit. Unfortunately, I got the giggles and ended up with a stomachache from laughing so hard. I would tell you what was so funny, but as with most hilarious events I'm not sure the hilarity of the situation can be adequately expressed.



Of course, I had to get a picture with my fame. I even threw caution to the wind and bought a necklace there. Mind you it was up on the third floor, the one floor which only causes small gasps at the price, rather than fainting.




A visit to New York would not be complete without a trip to Central Park. I love the sanctuary away from all the busyness. Central Park is beautiful and huge, although it is only the 3rd largest park in New York. (Those tour buses help get all the facts for you.) We spent a whole morning there and were grateful for a small sprinkling and slightly cooler temperature, compared to the heat wave of 100 degrees with humidity that New York happened to have while we were there.


Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at night was a must.

Finally, we threw our hands up and said goodbye to New York City and headed to upper state New York, which is another story for another day.

Don't Judge a Home by its Flower Pot

People say, "Don't judge a book by its cover." I say, "Don't judge a home by its flower pot." You see, I have been working really hard to give my house a little personality. However, we've had some minor problems. For example, a friend offered to hook up my new DVD player and TV. He ended up tripping on the cord, landing on the DVD player, and completely breaking it. The other cord broke off in the TV, and yep, it broke the TV. Next, he tried to help hang a picture, he drilled incorrectly into the wall and the picture leaned, so he drilled just below it to fix it. Both holes then converged into one huge hole that still did not work. After that, I put away all tools and decided to work on something that couldn't be messed up, Flowers. You put them in a pot, water, and beauty, or so I thought.
Well, I looked all around until I found these beautiful flowers.

I brought them home and planted them delighted with the beauty surrounding my house. I was also relieved that nothing had gone wrong. After looking at their beauty, I decided to buy some more. Just as I was running out, a cold, dark storm began to blow in. I hurriedly ran to the store but was soon confused. Where my once beautiful flowers had been, I only saw weeds. However, on closer inspection, I noticed the weeds were actually my beautiful flowers closed up from lack of sun. 'Oh no!' I thought and ran home to see this

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" I cried. "Not again." My roommate came home to find me sitting on the front step in dismay. She took a look at the flowers, "Oh, hmmmm, those are . . " "the most beautiful flowers." I finished. She stared. "Seriously, they are beautiful." She continued to stare. "I mean it, when the sun is out they are beautiful." She didn't believe me, so I waited until the next day when the sun came out, and pulled her outside. My roommate was shocked. "Oh my goodness," she exclaimed. "They really are beautiful, but you would never know it when the sun is gone. Wait, a minute" she smiled, "You can give a lesson on this in Relief Society. You can talk all about the beauty inside, and how you really need to get to know someone to see them for who they truly are just like your flowers." I stopped her, "But nobody is going to see the beauty inside these flowers, because nobody ever comes over in the daytime."I argued. And with that encouraging thought, I can't decide whether or not to keep these beautiful to me, but ugly to everyone else flowers. However, I think we've all learned a good lesson: if you ever see a home with ugly flowers outside, don't judge too quickly because inside they really may be beautiful.

Unfriended

Facebook Profile Picture #5

I'm not a very good facebook friend, nor am I a very interesting facebook friend. (Which is why this is my fifth profile picture in 3 years.) I'm not on facebook a lot, so I don't make a lot of comments to others, and I don't comment a lot about myself. However, this semester I found myself writing extremely long papers that required many breaks, and so I soon found myself frequenting the lives of all of my friends on facebook. There is something hopeful about knowing that even though you may be writing an examination of curriculum today, someone else is happily eating M&M's, watching their favorite T.V. show, or getting married. Soon I began to get sucked into the political, sporty, random, and awkward posts and pictures of friends. During finals week, I found myself writing a lot more and checking the lives of everyone else a lot more. It was during that time, I noticed one of my huge political friends hadn't had a lot to say in a while, which was pretty weird. It was then that I decided to take a look at his profile and see what was going on. That is when I noticed that I no longer had a friend by that name. Slightly stunned, I assumed what any nice friend would assume, he had quit facebook. Now I was about to let it go, but I've always been a curious person, and so just to prove my theory correct I checked on a mutual friend's friend list. And that is where I found him. Shocked, I began to check out other friends and there he was in all of their friend columns. Which made me wonder how we were no longer friends. Had we had a big fight, a misunderstanding, some name calling? Nope, I hadn't talked to him since he asked to be my friend, and we visited like the old friends we were. Which makes me ask the questions, "Who unfriends friends they asked to be friends with? What makes you unfriend a friend?" And the big question, "Are you an unfriender?" (Although, unfriend is not a real word, it just seems to fit.) And so as I write this post, it occurs to me that I may have been unfriended by others who have purposely hit the delete button on my profile picture. However, I guess when I settle down and think a little more rationally, I realize that really anyone who I don't know is gone, and anyone who wants me gone, probably doesn't deserve to be in my friend column anyway.

The Couch Analogy

Analogies are on the end of the year test, so I'm use to helping young people make sense of seemingly baffling comparisons. However, it has been a while since a completely random stranger has tried to give me an analogy to happiness in my life. Which I suppose is the cue for the random furniture owner's couch analogy story:
You see I found myself the proud owner of a beautiful new home. A beautiful new home however, that had no beautiful new couch. (Or other furniture, but this story is about the couch.) I searched high and low, and yet I still couldn't find the couch I wanted. Trying to sell the fun of sitting on the floor to my roommate wasn't working well, and so the pressure was on to either find my perfect couch or pick up a loaner from D.I soon.
The afternoon after I moved in, my parents and I drove off in quest for this couch. We happened upon a new store, which we quickly scoured with no luck, until our eyes lighted on a couch that made both my mother and I say, "Hmmm." (Which was much better than most couches were getting.) Next, we began the intricate couch testing process. We sat, took the pillows to the windows, sat, searched the store for throws and other pillows to bring out different colors on the couch, sat, looked at it from every angle, sat, discussed every selling point and every flaw, and then, of course, we sat. 45 minutes after all of this testing, I took one last picture and told the owner we might be back.
He and my dad who had been visiting like old friends during our couch testing looked at me, "Why wouldn't you want this couch?" I looked up at him, "Well I like this couch, but I don't know if I love this couch, so I want to keep looking." This caused him to smile big and say, "Dear, can I ask you another question?" Well I have dealt with a lot of salesman lately, so I thought I had heard every question. I smiled back, "Sure," Then he began, "Are you married?" Like I said, I "thought" I had heard every question. Not figuring out how couches and marriage correlated, I assumed he had a rich, handsome son he wanted to set me up with because he was so taken with my couch testing skills. I smiled, "No." "Well dear, let me just give you a piece of advice. You see buying a couch is an awful lot like finding a husband. Eventually, you just have to make a choice and choose one. Dear, there is no perfect couch. Just like there is no perfect guy. We are all broken. (Which I really hoped the couch was not.) The trick is to just choose a couch or a guy you like bring him home and break him in." He finished and smiled real big. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to this cheering sales pitch on couches and husbands, so I just stared ahead. My dad, a real big shopper, smiled, "That's right, I like this couch. Let's get it." I looked at them both and smiled, "If I'm buying a couch, I'm buying a couch I really love, so we're going to keep looking."
My dad sighed, and we were off to the next store, a store I had looked in several times. However, today as I was walking over to the tables, I was stopped in my tracks at the sight of the perfect couch, MY PERFECT COUCH. That's right, a couch with the color, texture and style I had envisioned. After cheering out loud, I looked at my mother and smiled. "We have to go back to the other furniture store."My mom looked perplexed. "Why?" "Because, I want to go back to Mr. There is no Perfect Couch/Husband and have a few words with him. (I got up on my soap box.) I'm going to tell him how glad I am that I didn't settle for his okay couch because I found my perfect couch. And I'm going to tell him that sometimes when you're looking for a couch or husband it might just take a little more time, patience, and work." Yeah, I was on a roll. And I may have gone back, except this other store actually had two slightly different styles of my perfect couch. Which caused me to walk back and forth between them for an hour and a half. My mom exhausted exclaimed, "I sure hope you never fall in love with two perfect guys because you'll never be able to choose."
However, I did choose a couch, and I love it. Although, I must admit Mr. Couch Analogy was in part right, it wasn't exactly perfect. That's why I've spent weeks looking for new pillows. And I guess it's true nobody is perfect either, which is why I still smile at nice guy's unfunny jokes because maybe they are the perfect couch, they just need new pillows.

The Clay Aiken Fan Club Reunites

It's true long, long ago my girls and I were shameless Clay Aiken fans. We voted for him every night, hung his picture on our door, (and others' doors), raced to buy his first CD, and swooned at his concert. With a bond like this we knew we would be friends forever. And so, we decided when we turned 30 we would all reunite. We decided our happy reunion would be at the Oprah show in Chicago. Well, we were off by a year, and Oprah didn't comply with tickets. However, our heart was set on Chicago and so off we went.
.

Some of you might know that March in Chicago is pretty cold. However, we weren't intimidated, and so we donned our coats, parkas, scarves, gloves, and hats and set out on our adventure.


And here it is. . . . . . beautiful Chicago from Navy Pier. Back in 1871, the great fire of Chicago burned almost 1/3 of the city down. However, those Chicagoans are known for their "I will" spirit and immediately began rebuilding. Because of the fire, and the requirement to build from something other than wood, great architects thought outside the box and created these unique and amazing buildings. (I always love a good story about the places I visit.)


See this big smile, it comes from the friendly people of Chicago. It's true, we found nice people at every turn.


We had a big list of tourist sights to see, and one of our favorite picture spots was Cloud Gate or otherwise known as "The Bean."


Ahhhhhhh! So much fun, so many pictures.


We couldn't resist a chance to practice our old dance moves.


We had to get a view of the city from The Sears (Willis) Tower. It was amazing. Those who were more brave also got a view from "The Ledge," glass bottom balconies looking straight down 103 floors to your death. Needless to say, I got woozy just watching people standing on them, and so this was my best picture.

We had to do a little Ferris Bueller pondering at The Art Institute. Loved it!!!


Of course, our trip revolved a lot around eating. Here we are graffiting our names forever into Gino's East's wall. Well at least for a few days until someone else covers them over. However, the memory of the delicious food of Chicago will at least be etched in our minds forever.


While shopping our noses detected the most deliciously, intoxicating smell of caramel popcorn. Garrett's Popcorn became a favorite.


They take their hot dogs very seriously in Chicago and that means no ketchup. However, some people love their ketchup so much, they couldn't be stopped. Although, as you can see, I tried. The traditional Chicago dog has onions, peppers, tomato wedges, mustard, a dill pickle, relish, and celery salt. It was delicious.


What could be more fun then shopping on the Magnificent Mile? Stores at every turn.


You didn't think we would go all the way to Chicago without getting near to Oprah did you? Here we are outside her studio with O hoodies on.


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Can't get enough of the O. (Sitting on her old studio chair, coincidence that we are both wearing pink at this moment? I think not.)


Well just like back in the day, we are still pretty crazy. Yep, we got these shimmering rays of fun to light up our night on the town at the theater, which was fabulous. Our hair had me humming "Me and my friends are Jem girls the whole night." Yep, pretty crazy.


One last picture on the train to the airport and our reunion was over. And although, we haven't listened to Clay for a long time, we had a wonderful time remembering the time when we did and an even more wonderful time creating new memories. Because the best part of this trip wasn't Chicago, it was the Clay Aiken Fan Club reunited again.

The Life of a Celebrity

If you have ever wanted to be a celebrity, I highly recommend becoming a teacher. It is true, suddenly, everyone in the whole community knows you and all about you. (Okay, money wise teaching is nothing like being a celebrity, but fame, oh the fame) Seriously, kids watch you, copy you, and tell their families about everything you do, everything you wear, and everything you say. Trust me I know, I'm a teacher. Even normal, seemingly random things that you don't ever think about, suddenly are the latest rage. For example, just the other day one of my students commented, "Miss R, I just love the way you point." "I'm sorry, what?" I replied. "You know, the way you point. It's so cool." She gushed. Uh. . . .soon after, everyone was practicing the way I point. Craziness, I've even started to have emphathy (well kind of) for the scrutinity of real celebrities. You see last year I moved close by my school. Now not only do kids watch my every move at school, but every store I go to I hear voices calling, "Miss R, Oh my gosh there she is. Look she's buying candy. Look her hair is in pigtails." It's a little much, and so I sometimes find myself driving farther away to avoid run ins. (It's just like those horrible pictures of celebrities in the tabloids. You never know when you are going to see someone you taught.)
Well to add to this craziness, somehow I found myself out with another celebrity, Mr. Favorite Middle School Teacher. It all seemed pretty harmless and fun at first. However, for some reason I didn't realize that this was much bigger than us. Soon, I found my inbox full of emails from former students, I was attacked daily by Middle Schoolers in search of gossip, my boards were filled with mushy notes from former students, and somehow parents and faculty started pulling me aside with sly winks. One parent who had a student in my class this year and last, popped in one afternoon, "Now I really need to talk to you about Paul, but first let's talk about more important things like Mr. Celebrity." "Ummm. . ." I stammered. "Yep, those girls found out where you guys were going for dinner the other night, and they wanted us to drive them there. Of course, I told them they would never get a table and they said, "Oh we don't want a table, we just want to look in through the windows." I stared. "Ummmm. . . . " "Now don't you worry, we didn't take them, but I just wanted to tell you how big this is." "Ummm. . . " And so, suddenly, there was a lot of pressure for this to work out. (Poor celebrites) It continued with girls wanting to become my bridesmaids, and Valentines given to me with our initails on them. Did I mention that somehow this got out of control?
A few weeks later, at parent teacher conferences, just as I was beginning to talk with my next student, a former mother rushed in."Sorry, sorry for interrupting but I just had to come in and say, "Oh my goodness!. I'm so excited for you and Mr. Celebrity. He is so cute, and you are so cute. We just love him, and we just love you. I just wanted to tell you everyone at the middle school and elementary loves you guys and talks of nothing else." Mortified, I smiled and in between her gushing, wondered if I should tell her it was over. But then I looked at the hopeful smile of the kids and the excited parents, and I decided I just couldn't crush their hopes. So, I just continued to smile and nod. I decided I'd just let myself go off track, and let things simmer down. Perhaps, I could hire a spokesperson to tell everyone like real celebrities do, and while they're at it they could take my freezing cold winter recess duty. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I could find someone who will work for apples, Tootsie Rolls and hand drawn pictures. And so, if you are thinking of becoming a teacher (celebrity) remember you may never be able to shop at the store without looking over your shoulder again, and your life may be the next big story on the students' tabloid page. However, I must admit, it's worth it for those hand drawn pictures, Tootsie Rolls, apples and your crazy fans, the students.