July 2009 California

Jarrod and I went to San Fran CA for a work related Conference Jarrod needed to attend in July 2009. I was glad to tag along, without the kids.

I wrote the following letter to my sister while I was there.

 It's cold here in San Fran, I left all my shorts and short sleeves at home. So far, I've had a nice time. I'm just resting, eating, shopping, and resting some more. Jarrod and I went to the Wicked Lottery this evening, and did not get tickets. We will try again the next three evenings. Hopefully we'll get to go see it up close! Tomorrow (Wed.) I'm going to a day spa. A few weeks ago, I was feeling the need for some pampering and I knew this trip was coming up. I asked Jarrod if we could financially afford for me to do a day spa, and if he could research for it. He said he already had! I was shocked, and did a double take, who was this man that just said this to me? I was very impressed and grateful to the wonderful man I married!

This cool building was down the street from our hotel. I liked it so I had to take a picture!

We were staying in the shopping district and there were lots and lots of street performers. I loved it, and I loved this guy, he had a lot of energy and spunk!

So remember how I said it was very cold in California in July!? Well the first day there I bought the green jacket and I wore it every day since I was so cold! Anyway, this is a picture of Jarrod and I at the theatre trying to get tickets to Wicked the first night we were there.

San Francisco is the city of brotherly love!

This was in Chinatown. Jarrod loved this sign and so had to take a picture with it!

This is at the highest point in the city overlooking the beautiful panoramic bay.

We took a tour of Alcatraz. It was way more entertaining than I thought. I am "listening" to the tour in front of the jail cells.

Jarrod was afraid I would leave him there! I thought about it, then decided it wouldn't be a good idea!

 After the third attempt at getting the tickets at the "lottery", we  got 2 tickets to see the show for $25 each!!

 I'm just a little excited about this opportunity!

 All dressed up and ready for the show!  It was a great show, and a great vacation away from the kids!

My cousin Thomas is home from his mission, but I have not seen him yet. I'll see him when I get home on Monday 8/3. My niece Gabi will be blessed on 8/2, and I'm so excited to see Paundrea and Jonas!
I've had lots of great missionary experiences. A couple of experiences I had this last week with Missionary work. We are all reading the Book of Mormon, separately in our family. The kids are reading on there own. Grace's friend Marissa was spending time with us, and she had to wait until all the kids were done reading to talk and play. She said, "So what is the Book of Mormon about anyway!" I told her it is full of stories of people and what happened to them when they were righteous and what happened when they were not. I told her how it starts with the story of Lehi and his family and then goes from there. I told her it is similar to the Bible, but has different stories from other prophets. When I took her home, I explained to her parents how she had to wait until we were done reading the scriptures. The father, Art, was very impressed that our children were actually reading the scriptures by themselves. Then he started asking about our family history and the church. I briefly told him about our fathers conversations. It was a really great missionary experience. A few days later, Sis. Turley a older member in our ward, and a patient of Art (he's a physical therapist) came over and told me that Art thinks the world of me. That every time she sees him, he brags on what a wonderful mother, person, and Christian I am. Anyway, she told me that he is very curious about our beliefs. The Morvai family (Marissa's family) are devout Christians. When Christ comes again, they will be here to witness that. They do not feel that they are missing anything in there life. So I don't push the invitation to learn about the gospel. But over the last 3 years I have had many opportunities to share things about our beliefs that are different or similar to other Christian beliefs while planting seeds of curiosity. Sis. Turley told me that what ever I am doing, is working with him, because he is interested and curious. It might be time to invite them over for a discussion! :)
At our Pioneer Day Activity a "guest" came to our Activity, one I kind of knew through mutual friends. He is a professor of psychology at UK. He read 1st Nephi in the Book of Mormon, so I marched right up to him and asked him what he thought of it. We then had a great 20 min. conversation about the Book of Mormon and gospel truths. I felt really good about that conversation and felt like I had planted some seeds of curiosity! I don't know why the Lord is allowing me these wonderful experiences, but I love missionary work. I have been blessed to be able to share easily and hope that one day, I'll be able to bring people to the waters of baptism. If not then these experiences also help to build my own testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Not much is happening right now. Just waiting for school to start back again! Yeah, Waveney is going to SCAPA! Austin is going to middle school and has already mastered the "locks" on the lockers! Oh, Austin has decided to take piano again, starting in Sept. He'll also be joining percussion in band in Middle school. I'm excited and nervous to see how this year will turn out for the kids! Grace has learned to borrow while subtracting and has learned the concept of multiplication and has learned how to figure out her multiplication facts from 0-5!
Wave wrote an awesome poem about being in the triathlon.