Giving Thanks

We were so blessed to be able to visit our family and friends in Utah for Thanksgiving this year. Last year we spent the holidays at home with friends, which was wonderful, but there is something truly magical about being home with your family for those special occasions.

We arrived on Monday to a much warmer Utah than I expected (thank heavens!). Tanner and Karianne graciously picked us up from the airport and then took us out for breakfast. I hope they know how wonderful that was! We had been up since 3:30 KC time and 6 hours later I was starving! 2 packets of airline peanuts were not going to cut it.

Other highlights from the week included:

• Lots of time catching up with Mom and Dad
• Cooking with my mom and sisters Thanksgiving morning
• Going out to dinner with Melissa, Zuke, Lisa and Nathan
• Black Friday shopping with Melissa, Annie and Whitney (that was fun!!)
• Getting my hair done with Natalie and Alexander at a surprisingly good salon for a surprisingly low price
• Taking Natalie shopping for new clothes for a special occasion 
• Spending 3 hours on silly little cornucopias seen on Pinterest. (it was almost a Pintrosity, but I persevered and figured it out)
• A fun photo shoot with Melanie
• Chatting with Natalie about her missionary's return
• Going out to dinner with Mom and Dad
• Hanging out with Melanie in my old college apartment (It was weird how much it was the same 7 years later! There were some things that had been in there since my time like a sunflower oven mitt and a banana chair!)
• Eating lunch with Tara and Jaclyn and catching up on the VitalSmarts gossip
• Going to Carter's homecoming talk
• Decorating the Christmas tree with Mom

I had so much fun with everyone!! I was so sad to leave, it's always a bit heartbreaking saying goodbye to my mom and dad. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful and supportive family and such loyal friends who still want to spend time with me even though I'm terrible at keeping in touch. I know there were people I didn't get to see and I wish I had! Next time I will try to see more of you so that we can catch up! :)

Fun Pics:

Natalie is hiding between the manequins

Some of the gang Thanksgiving day. I was there, just off to the Left ;)

Our beautiful Thanksgiving Pies (complete with all the Black Friday ads)

Some of our photo shoot photos :)

Melanie: doesn't she look hot?

True Foodies

In early November my BFF, Melissa, flew out to Chicago for the CMTA conference. She is an active group leader for the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (for the neuro-muscular disease both she and her daughter have). The conference was an awesome opportunity for her.

The trip was also an awesome opportunity for us to get together. It was fairly easy to justify the 9 hour drive up to Chicago when we are normally 19 hours away from each other, so on Saturday morning I jumped in the car and headed up. The weather was gorgeous! It was a sunny, warm 75 degrees and I happily wore my capris. I arrived at the hotel in time to rest a little bit before going to the CMTA recognition banquet with Melissa. It was neat getting to meet her new friends and learning more about the disease she endures.

After the conference concluded Sunday morning, we found a nice restaurant. I did a bit of research that really paid off and found Weber Grill. The food was fantastic! I had a Black Angus Meatloaf that just melted in the mouth, we some yummy mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. Seriously delicious! I also splurged on a Passionfruit Lemonade that was divine!

My Meatloaf:

Here is a pic of Melissa eating her Crab Cake (which she said was amazing):

After lunch we hit the road and headed back to Kansas City. Unfortunately,  we were following a storm line and I spent 6 hours fighting strong winds and heavy rain. I guess that's what I get for such a nice drive the day before. Despite that, we had a great 9 hour catch-up conversation. It reminded me of the good ol' days and weeks spent on a tour bus for choir tour. :)

Monday was full of random Kansas City sight-seeing. We went shopping at Crown Center and ate at our favorite restaurants. We had Chinese at Bo Ling's and we took Melissa to eat the best of KC Barbecue (in our opinion) at Fiorella's Jack Stack. Oh how I love that food! I always get the BBQ Baked Potato with burnt ends. Yum! 

Okay, so, the potato doesn't look particularly good, but it really is. Trust me!

On Tuesday we finished up our tour with some good ol' American cuisine at BRGR. If you go you MUST try the white truffle tator tots and the onion straws. They aren't messing around there. The strawberry shake wasn't half bad either. ;)

Mine is on the right and is called a Mangia burger, complete with Parmesan crisp

White Truffle Tator Tots, Onion Straws, and Classic Fries

Melissa enjoyed a chocolate Oreo and I had Strawberry :)

Thanks Melissa for visiting us and giving us an excuse to go on a "best of KC foodie tour".  We loved having you visit and hope you come again soon! We'll even let your husband come with you this time ;).

To all the rest of you, consider this an open invitation. We have a guest bed waiting and some gourmet food to share.  :)

Halloweeny

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love being able to dress up and decorate things to be just a little bit spooky.

This year we had a ward trunk-or-treat and chili cook-off. Alexander and I enjoy having a theme to our costumes so this year we took our cue from an old Disney movie, "The Sword in the Stone". If you've seen this movie it's probably been awhile, however, it's one of Alexander's favorite movies. He dressed up as Merlin and I dressed up as his nemesis, Madam Mim. Very few people knew who I was, but I had fun with it anyway. :)

Merlin without his scratchy white beard:

The Marvelous, Mad, Madam Mim!

I also dressed up at work. However, as I would be flying solo on this one, I dressed as Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice. I got a lot of good comments about my nose.

We also hosted a little Halloween shin-dig for anyone who didn't have plans but wanted something to do. I had a lot of fun decorating for this party. We had a good little turn-out and our friends dressed up in some awesome costumes :)

The Friends:

Sara and Ellie

Steve and Ellie

Jon & Caitlin

Joe & Kathy

The Decor:

I had a bit too much fun with the cheese cloth ;)

and All Play

Once August was over, I felt like I could finally breathe again. We have taken full advantage of every non-scheduled moment and played. Labor Day weekend was a great way to start the fun. On Friday, Aug 31, despite a torrential downpour of rain, we suited up and went to the Irish Festival, which has become an annual tradition for us. It was at the Irish Fest 2 years ago that I finally felt like I might be able to survive living here in KC, and enjoy it. We had a blast! Due to the rain, there were not many people there but music was playing and vendors were selling Scotch Eggs and Meat Pasties. We found a dry place to sit under a big tent and revelled in the moment of relaxation and happiness (while sipping freshly squeezed lemonade, of course).

                   This is the best I could get in the dark:

On Labor Day, Sept 3, we went to the annual Pops in the Park concert. It's a free concert put on by the Kansas City Symphony. The weather wasn't too hot and the symphony played some of our favorite pieces. It was a perfect night!

Last weekend we kept the fun up by going to the Renaissance Festival. We spent 5 hours wandering through the huge village, partaking of medieval chamber music, people watching (people really have too much fun dressing up!) , trying on masks, watching jousting duels (to the death!) and learning how to shoot a crossbow. A seriously awesome way to spend the day!

Check out the royalty:

This is no little pansy fair, this is a real treat. The village is a permanent fixture with buildings, pavilions, gardens, fountains of running water all situated on meandering paths between tall trees. You can almost make yourself believe that you are really 600 years in the past, except that it's too clean and doesn't stink. But don't worry, they make up for that inside the bathrooms. No expense is spared to make sure you have an authentic experience. Nothing like the smell of roughage and sewer run-off and stepping over who-knows-what to really convince you that you are in a medieval village. ;)

Alexander had fun playing the carnival games, even winning me some "champion beads" in a crossbow game. I wore them proudly the rest of the day. His longbow skills need a little work though. ;)

                   Winning me some champion beads :)

                   A serious longbow for a serious archer

                   Check out the burly man with his Thor's hammer

                   Training with a real weapon

                   The Victorious Crossbow Champion!

All Work

I think I spent all of August being exhausted. I had the two family weddings, Tanner & Karianne's and Bryce & BreeAnna's (sorry, I left my camera home so I have to get pics from my mom). I spent the majority of my time in Utah working my tail-end off. We flew for Tanner's but drove for Bryce's and when I got home, still dreary eyed from the 19 hr drive, everyone asked how my vacation was. I unashamedly announced that I had had no vacation.

The next week on August 28, I undertook my first real Relief Society activity since getting the calling to RS 2nd counselor. We conducted a Sisterly Swap, where sisters donated stuff they no longer needed and took stuff that they did need. For refreshments I created a Popcorn Bar complete with 5 different flavors of popcorn: regular Butter & Salt, Cinnamon & Sugar, Kettle Corn, Masala Curry, and Rosemary Parmesan. It looked and tasted amazing! (PS, I'm addicted to popcorn!)

The very next night, on August 29 & 30, I presented a training course entitled "Intro to Becoming an Event Planner". I spent 6 hours discussing the ins and outs of the business and found myself absurdly missing it. Successfully presenting that course was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life, by the way. It was another reminder that I can do hard things and that I did actually know what I was doing when I was planning events. The entire time I felt the Holy Ghost there, reminding me of experiences, tips and details that I had forgotten in the years since running my business. I only had 21 slides and no notes. The attendees gave me flying colors and are planning on enrolling in my next course, "Successful Event Planning". It will be 16 hours of intense details and will be held in October. To be honest, despite my previous success, I'm terrified.

The course description I was given:

Thankfully, August is over :)

Tanner & Karianne's Wedding

I was thrilled to be able to travel out to Utah for the wedding of my little brother, Tanner, and his beautiful bride Karianne. Honestly though, I spent the entire time working. I found myself catering and decorating both the luncheon and reception, which was nothing short of crazy. When I finally arrived home last night at 3am (our flight was majorly delayed) I was completely and totally exhausted.

The entire wedding was beautiful though. The temple sealing was spiritual and I cried throughout the entire ceremony. The bride and groom were gorgeous and joyful, the decorations were lovely, the food was great, and the company was heaven. I loved the entire thing.

To see pictures of the decor, go over to my Wedding Decor Blog.

Following are some pics of my amazing family who worked hard along-side me the entire time making sure that everything got done. I love them all so much and I couldn't have done any of this without them. :) (I have no idea how I didn't get a picture of Jen and Zac, I'm sorry! If anyone has a picture of them in all their cuteness, send it my way.)

Tanner & Karianne:

Mom & Dad:

Bryce & BreeAnna:

Denise & Hallie:

Alexander & McKay:

Melanie:

Natalie:

McKay:

Hallie:

Dad & Hallie:

Melanie catching the bouquet:

'Sup World?

Day #14 - Write your impressions of world events and other important happenings

This is an interesting year for Mormons around the country as we watch Mitt Romney go into battle for the highest office in the United States. I think that he is well-qualified for the job and that he could do a lot of good if given the opportunity. I am not sure the country would be kind to Mormons if he screws up though...

We have been watching the news between Syria and Turkey. It is an old war to those familiar with cold war politics. It terrifies me that we might be just a few bombs away from nuclear war.

I'm am thrilled to have the opportunity to watch the people of the world gather together for the Olympics. I am excited for London (as I really love that city) and it will be fun looking for familiar sights. I also think it will make Alexander really hungry for fish n' chips. Me? I'll have my bangers and mash, if you please. We are having a low-key family gathering around the TV to watch the opening ceremonies. British provisions may be needed.

In tragic news, this morning we learned of the shooting in Colorado at The Dark Knight midnight showing. The ladies in our department were shocked, stunned, and depressed as we kept an eye on the news of the victims. I hope this doesn't lead to copy-cat crimes and other horrible events.

For the Love of Books

Day #13 - Think of a book you've read and explain why it has made a difference in your life.

I have probably read thousands of books in my life. As a teenager, I devoured them and borrowed huge stacks from the library. I have read so many books that it would be almost impossible to nail down how each one has affected my life or influenced the way I think. However, there are a few books that stand out better in my memory than others.

For example, as a 12 year old, I loved the Lord of the Rings series so much that when I finished reading The Hobbit, I sat down at the piano and wrote a song portraying my interpretation of how the battle at the end of the book felt. This was the first time I consciously realized that I was really inspired by another work of art to create something of my own.

Later, as an adult, I read a fictional novel about Sarah, the wife of Abraham. The book touched and communicated with a part of me that was really struggling. I felt like I was the only one who was dealing with infertility but this book unexpectedly allowed me a window into how another person dealt with this pain. I had read the book for enjoyment, with no intention of using it as a self-help book, but it opened the way toward me being able to discuss this broken part of me with other women and the beginning of learning how to deal with my feelings in a healthy way.

I am a strong advocate for the power of reading and it continues to be one of my favorite leisure activities of all time. Just hand me a bowl of popcorn and a good book and I am set for a happy evening. :)

$$$

Day #12 - Write about what you'd do if you were given a million dollars.

I would pay off debt first, including my mortgage and then put the rest into savings to accumulate into something more for when I am older and need retirement funds. :)

I might also take a small fraction of it and do something fun, like travel to some cool places I've never been before such as a Mediterranian cruise to Italy, Greece, etc. I love traveling :)

Heroes

Day #11 - Pick someone who is a hero in your life and write about him or her.

My parents are my heroes. I know this may sound cliche, but they really are my heroes. I don't know what I'd do without them. They have always been there for me and I have always known that if I ever needed anything they would do anything they could to help me out. For the past 30 years they have devoted themselves to their family and worked tirelessly to provide for all of us kids. Even now that I am an adult I still find myself needing my parents all the time.

For example, last month my parents came out and visited me. They knew I was lonely and needed a pick-me-up and they drove all the way to spend time with me and Alexander. While they were here, my dad made sure he fixed all the little things that were broken around my house, like the bathroom door that came off its hinge and replacing the dryer cord.

My mom is amazing too. She is always willing to listen when I need someone to talk to, whether I'm venting or excited or just lonely. She always makes me feel special and important and has always told me that I was given great gifts to use for a great purpose, which makes me feel better when I'm feeling worthless.

I am so thankful for the continued examples of faith, endurance, courage, and love that they radiate on a daily basis. I hope I can someday be a parent as cool as they are. :)

I Am With You

D&C 100:12 - Therefore, continue your journey and let your hearts rejoice; for behold, and lo, I am with you even unto the end.

Day #10 - Tell about your last truly spiritual experience and how it affected you.

I very recently had an experience where I clearly felt the love of my Heavenly Father. It was like a little moment out of time where he reminded me that I was important and that he was watching over me. It was a needed reprieve from a world that is constantly telling me I'm not good enough.

I am thankful for frequent reminders such as this that help me to remember the important things in life and continue on in faith.

Oh Baby!

Day #9 - Tell a story your mom or dad has told you about when you were a baby.

Once upon a time, long long ago, there lived a really young, cute couple named Mel and Doree. When they were still just younglings of 20 yrs old, they had a cute little baby they named Anna. Doree was the first of her friends to have a baby and so they gave her lots of adorable baby clothes to dress her in. Anna was also the first grandchild on Mel's side and the first granddaughter on Doree's side, so she was especially spoiled.  Doree says that having Anna was just like having a little baby doll to play with and dress up in all the cute clothes.

Anna did a pretty good job staying out trouble until she could walk, at which time all havoc broke loose around the place. When she was still a toddler, Anna once escaped the house and ran down the road buck naked as fast as she could. Another time, in the middle of the night Anna was found outside sleep-walking (apparently my parents needed to get a better lock on the door!).

When Anna was just 16 months old, she got a little sister whom she called Jenny. Once Jenny came Anna always had someone to get into trouble with and to blame things on (which happened frequently).  Anna and Jenny went on to have exciting toddler adventures and creating all sorts of mischief including bringing snakes in the house, playing in the flour, and chasing puppies around the house. :)

Besties

Day #8 - Describe your best friend. Tell why this person is your best friend.

I have many wonderful "best friends". I will tell you about a few who came into my life at a time when I desperately needed them.

I have one best friend who has been friends with me since the beginning of time (aka 3rd grade). We met and were instantly inseparable. She helped shape many of my thought patterns and influenced the books I read, the shows I watched and the music I listened to. She was always (and still is) a head taller than me, with long slender legs and I would run around on my short chubby ones trying to keep up. Truth be told, she introduced me to a love of the "old country", of the British Isles. I have her to thank for a fondness of British television shows and Monty Python humor that gave me common ground with a cute boy I met who had family in England (and who I later married).

I have another best friend who I found during my freshman year of high school. We were assigned to sit next to each other on a long bus ride and quickly found we enjoyed many of the same things and had the same quirky sense of humor. We became fast friends and stuck by each other through a slew of weird boyfriends, college drama, and marriage. This was a girl who dyed my hair any number of colors, created elaborate dating schemes for me, shared flying pizzas with me after college classes, and still gets excited when I come home to Utah. Her family is my family and we have a blast when we are all together.

Lastly (but not least), is the best friend that I dated and married. He came into my life at the perfect time and immediately felt like family. The best decision of my life was to marry him and continue my life with him by my side. I couldn't have asked for a more charming, gentle, loving husband. He helps me to become a better person every day and I love him so much. Besides all the mushy love stuff, we genuinely love spending time together. He is really funny and makes me laugh all the time. He can do all these adorable accents and remember amazing amounts of information. He also has a crazy silly streak that I adore. :)

I have been blessed with many more friends who I love and have greatly enriched my life. Hopefully someday I will have time to write about each of them. :)

Family Traditions

Day #7 - List some of your family traditions. Which ones are your favorite and why?

I grew up with lots of fun traditions in my family. We try and do something fun every holiday and make it special.

Birthdays a big deal in my family. It is the one day a year when we got singled out from the bunch and got spoiled. Our parents never had a lot of money so they would give us lots of little gifts, things like our favorite candy bar, drink or gum. All the siblings would try and find something little at the grocery store or dollar store to give and we would gather together for a homemade cake in our favorite flavor decorated in some fun way. Mom was also adamant about having our birthday dinner which consisted of our very favorite meal.

My birthday was fun cause it was in the middle of the summer. That meant that my meal could consist of things the other kids couldn't get like watermelon and corn on the cob. The entree was always a bacon and tomato sandwich on toast, hold the lettuce. Always. :)

Another of my favorite family traditions include singing together as a family on Christmas Eve. We gather at my Grandma Dorothy's house and we sing in 4 part harmony our favorite songs like "White Christmas", "Silent Night", etc.  When we were younger we would gather around Grandma or my Mom who would play the piano, but in later years we got pretty good without the piano.

Our traditions are special because they involve gathering our large brood together and having the time of our lives on a shoe-string budget. Nothing will ever replace the fun we had during our midnight conversations around the kitchen table, the kids running to the piano whenever Mom sat down to play, the BBQ's on Memorial Day, and annual camping trip.

As I grow older and have my own  little family, I hope that we can keep the magic of those traditions alive for our own children so that they too can delight in the laughter and love that comes with siblings and cousins.

Change

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies - author unknown

Day #6 - If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

This the trickiest question of all time. I can never answer this question and feel truly confident of my answer. However, I think that regardless of the additional difficulties this would add to my life, I would change the fact that I don't have kids. I would like to have kids. I know that someday I will have kids, but it so hard to wait for someday!

(Someday when I am chasing around a load of rowdy kids I will look at this post and laugh.)

I have been given many blessings in this life that I wouldn't change for the world. I was blessed with a wonderfully large family that is loud, sarcastic, hilarious and musically talented. I have the best husband I could have ever asked for. I live in a nice little home with a cute dog. I am in a city far from my hometown but I am learning and growing and experiencing new things. I have many wonderful friends who keep my spirits up and my life full. Truly, it seems almost sinful to wish for anything to change. :)

Forget Me Not

Day # 5 - How do you want people to remember you? Why?

I think that we always want people to remember the best about us and forget the bad. Wouldn't it be great to be able to live your life in such a way that people really did only remember the good stuff? I want to live my life like that. I still have a long way to go in some areas but it's good to realize where we need to improve so that we can work on becoming better in those areas.

So, what kind of person do I want to be? I want people to remember that I was quick to help out and to give service and that I didn't complain about it. I want to always have something good to say about a person and never say negative things. I want to be happy, generous, friendly, and the type of friend you like to have around.

Finally, I want people to remember the good times we've had togerther and the happy memories of our laughter and time well-spent.

Juxtaposition

Juxtapose: put side by side: to place two or more things together, especially in order to suggest a link between them or emphasize the contrast between them

Day #4 - Write about a time when you were so happy and a time when you were so sad. Did you learn anything from those experiences?

Irreputably, the happiest day of my life was when I finally married the love of my life. Despite everything that went wrong that day (my car broke down, two of my sister's went off the road in the snow, etc) we had made it to the temple to start our little family. I felt so much relief knowing that if anything happened we were now sealed and could be together again. I married my best friend and I'm still so thankful to have him in my life every day.

I learned that there is a reason why God gave men and women each other. We need each other and when both partners are working together in love and faith with mutual respect they help each other to grow and mature in ways that are impossible to learn alone. I learned that God loves us and wants us to be happy and to have lives filled with joy and has allowed us a way to continue that joy long after we have left this earth.

My Best Friend:

Sad Experience... The hardest day of my life was Aug 17, 2010, the day we packed the Uhaul and drove away from my family, friends and cute little home toward Missouri. I was miserable and would have done anything to change our plans and stay. I honestly don't think I would have finished packing had my family not been there dumping things into boxes. I didn't want to leave and I would have stretched it out as long as possible. I cried for hours on end that day. I knew it was the ending to a near perfect life. I was comfortable, happy and successful and I was being ripped away from all that. I was homesick before I had even left.

I learned a lot of things about myself when I forced myself to leave my comfort zone and start over somewhere new. I learned that I can do hard things and that I am never truely alone. I was the beneficiary of dozens, if not hundreds, of little miracles that allowed me to know that the Lord loves me and was watching out for me and my family.

This is my sister, Melanie, showing off the moving truck on moving day:


 I am grateful for both of these experiences in my life and the way they have influenced the person I have become. Though different, these experiences both represent the Lord's hand in my life and His watchful care over my happiness and growth. I know that the Lord sees a picture much bigger than the portion I can see and when I trust in Him, He will make my life even greater.

My Family in KC!

I was so blessed to be able to have  my parents and McKay in town for a week last month. It was better than Christmas! I found out just a few weeks beforehand and I was so excited! They drove long and hard to get here and I was impressed with how quickly they made it.

We had such a blast with them here, hopefully they enjoyed it too. They arrived on Thursday June 7 around 5:00pm. I made them a chicken enchilada dinner that was ready for them when they arrived. We spent that evening just relaxing and catching up. I was still in shock that they were here.

Friday morning I went into work for an hour while they caught up on the sleep they had lost during the drive. We then decided to spend the day seeing the church history sites. We took them to Independence first to see the Visitor's Center and the temple site. We then traveled a few miles over to Liberty Jail.

At the temple site in front of the Community of Christ "temple"

After that my dad said he would really like to go to Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. We stopped for a quick pick-me-up snack and then headed up across the farmland of Missouri. We had a great time chatting and remarking about the peculiar things along the way. After an hour's drive, we made it to Far West which is just a lovely garden in the middle of nowhere now. There is a tall metal gate surrounding the temple site where the four cornerstones of the temple still sit in each corner with gorgeous flower gardens in between. We had the place to ourselves which was nice for some quiet contemplation. As we were getting ready to leave, an old rickety bus pulled up with Idaho plates and out piled about 20 kids and 5 adult men. The girls were outfitted in pioneer style dresses which made us think they were LDS kids on some kind of trek. We then heard the kids yelling each other's names (Moroni, Helaman, etc) and quickly realized that they were in fact polygamous FLDS which was an interesting inclusion to our day.

We left Far West and headed north to Adam-ondi-Ahman on some country back roads. It had been 11 years since I had last been and I didn't actually remember much about it. I didn't realize that it was a huge valley with multiple rims around it. We drove around to the two accessible sites. Once again we had the place mostly to ourselves and we had fun seeing deer and pondering the history and future of the place. We were there close to sunset, which I swear the the perfect time of day to go. Absolutely gorgeous!



Adam-ondi-Ahman - over looking the valley



Adam-ondi-Ahman - over looking the valley



McKay is so GQ!

We then headed back home stopping on our way at the new Kansas City temple to take pictures.

Can you believe these two love-birds have been married for 30 years?

Two of my favorite guys :)

He's my favorite youngest brother!

Saturday was more of a lazy day. We slept in and ran some errands. We went up to Crown City but there wasn't much to see there. We did take a few pictures by the fountains.

Sunday we went to church and I cooked a turkey dinner. We rested, talked and just overall enjoyed each other's company. On Monday went over to the Federal Reserve to the Money Museum. It's a free museum that shows every coin of the United States since 1777. There are also lots of videos, facts and statistics, as well as fun things for kids to do. We aren't kids, but we had fun playing anyway. There was a place for us to take pictures of our faces in money so we took full advantage of that.



Alexander's face is priceless here

We now have fair warning to not vote McKay in as president but Dad looks respectable ;)

Trying to redeem himself with a "Vote for Me" smile

That's some good lookin' money right there

We also created our own dollar bills on a computer. We could choose our pictures, motto and it even took our pictures.

We played with rubbing stencils to create bills as well. As a souvenir they gave us a bag of shredded money that looks like expensive confetti. We had a blast :).

Our monies

We then went across the street to the Liberty Memorial. It's the National World War 1 Monument. Dad was upset that they didn't have the names of the soldiers there like they do at the other monuments. He was looking forward to seeing the name of his grandfather listed, but alas it wasn't there. We did see a great view of the city and looking down Dad decided he would like to go to Union Station. 



Liberty Memorial looking at the city

The exhibits are usually closed on Mondays but while we were looking at the architecture, on of the employees mentioned to my Dad that for some reason the Titanic exhibit was open and it was half off today only. I thought my Dad would die of excitement. We had been talking about the exhibit on Saturday but that it was too expensive to go. He has loved the Titanic story since he was a kid, so this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We had one hour before it closed and it was exactly enough time. Half price seemed fair for a once in a lifetime opportunity. Mom wasn't thrilled, she thought it would be morbid, but it turned out to be really well done and a really neat experience. I thought that maybe this was a tender mercy for my Dad as he had wanted to see it so badly.

Doesn't his face just show his excitement? lol...

Solemn faces in respect of the dead

Tuesday morning came way too soon. My family had to leave to drive back and I was heartbroken to see them go. Godiva was also heartbroken as she adores my Dad and McKay. She moped for two days after they left. It just didn't seem fair that we have to be so far apart and not see each other very often. I know that they made some heavy sacrifices to come out and visit us and I am so thankful they did. I have amazing parents and siblings and I love them all so much! Now I hope to see all my other siblings out here soon too! :)