Early Mother's Day Gift: Farmer's Edition

For years and years I have wanted my own tiller.  After we got a rather generous tax return I decided that this was the year.  I was even willing to claim it as my Mother's Day gift!  So I did some tiller research, discovered the one I wanted on sale (!), and then dragged Lance and the kiddos (sans Josh - he was at a birthday party) down to Sears last night and bought it.

I could tell the guy who sold it to me was amused that the wife was buying a tiller.  I guess a tiller isn't a very feminine purchase.  (It totally should be.)  But I didn't care because I was so happy to be getting my tiller!  Plus, when he brought up my record of past purchases from Sears he was quite a bit more polite.  (We buy lots of our major appliances and such from Sears; we're Craftsman people.)

I woke up this morning totally excited to use my tiller!

Is that weird?

No, no it is not.

But first I had to put it together.  It really wasn't all that complicated, but I ended up having Lance help me because it was a project that really needed two sets of hands.  Plus, he's much more mechanically minded than I am.  This is why you get married: to find someone who complements you, who completes you in the areas where you lack, and who is willing to put your tiller together while your almost-two-year-old daughter rubs her hands all over the filthy cars in the garage, climbs on you, and generally just gets in the way.  That's love, people.

After that Lance was off to Menards (more on that later) and I was ready to till!

Oh man, it was so fun. Seriously, tilling with a machine you own is WAY more fun than tilling with a machine you've rented.  And my tiller did such a great job!  I didn't even mind it (much) when each of my four children tried to get me to stop for one silly reason or other - twice each.  Seriously, without fail, whenever I am using some sort of noisy machine that is kind of a pain to stop using (blender, vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, tiller, etc.) my children suddenly all need to talk to me.  Right then. Of the utmost important things like "Hey, it's 10 o'clock!" or "Cole's climbing UP the slide!" or (my personal favorite) "My arm itches".  Dang children.

My tiller made short work of my garden.  Well, shorter work than my shovel would have done.  Spencer took a picture of me to commemorate it.  I'm pretty sure my eyes are closed.  And aren't my gardening clothes/hairdo lovely?  Oy.

I really love my tiller.  (Making this pose made Josh roll his eyes at me.  Which is why I did it in the first place.)

Per my father's suggestion, I am currently in search of a name for this lovely piece of machinery.   Suggestions?

Part of the reason I wanted to till this early in the season is because I wanted to get some peas into the ground.  Which is also the reason Lance was at the hardware store on a lovely Saturday morning: he was buying the supplies to make this:

That, my friends, is a pea/pole bean pyramid.  I want my peas and pole beans to grow up it on all sides.  Why?  Because pole peas and beans apparently have higher yields.  Plus, I just think it'll look cool.

I gave Lance a rough idea of what I wanted and he went from there.  Isn't it so cool?  I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what the heck those crazy Mormons down/across the street are doing now, but oh well!  I had toyed with the idea of leaving one section open so the kids could climb in and out, but Lance talked me out of that craziness.  (At least craziness for now - maybe next year Tess will be old enough not to destroy my garden!)

I just really hope my peas grow.  I've never grown them before.

I also need to give a shout out to Santa.  Last Christmas he put these Atlas 370 Gardening Gloves in my stocking and I finally got to use them today.  They. Are. AWESOME.

Seriously, the best gardening gloves I have ever had!  (And I've had many.)  Here's why.  They fit really well.  And the nitrile coating is super-tough but super-flexible.  I could use them to till the garden, hoe the rows for my peas, and screw the unwieldy hose into the faucet; but I also wore them to actually put the pea seeds into the ground.  I could never do that with my other gardening gloves because they were too bulky and awkward.  Also.  See how the gloves are tight at the wrist and up a ways?  That means no rogue dirt can get in, which drove me nuts with my other gloves.

After using them all afternoon I'm about ready to go toss out all my old work gloves and buy a four pack of these bad boys. Love them.

Almost as much as I love my tiller.

p.s.  I just bought the four pack.  Totally worth it.

Spencer Says

Spencer is entering a pretty fun pre-teen stage.  And by fun I mean grouchy. 

I talk to other moms with boys the same age and they all claim the same thing: their once sweet, mild-mannered children have turned into surly, drama-riddled enigmas.  At least I know I'm not alone.

Yesterday Spencer was actually in a pretty good mood.  He was also in a say-funny-things-without-knowing-it mood. I love those moods.

Here are a couple of the better conversations we had:

Spencer: Where's our Meter stick?
Me: Our what now?
Spencer: Meter stick. I need it for homework.
Me: We don't have a Meter stick - we have a yard stick.
Spencer: That's dumb! How am I supposed to do my homework without a Meter stick? Why don't we have a Meter stick?
Me: Because we don't use the Metric system in the United States.
Spencer: When why am I learning about it in school?
Me: Because the Metric system is better.
Spencer: That is dumb.

Yes. Yes it is.

******
At the public library...

Me: C'mon, Spence. Let's go look in the Encyclopedia.
Spencer: The encyclo what?
Me: *sigh* The printed internet.

Despite his moods, I sure love that kid. 

"Spring" Break 2013

As you probably know, there was not much Spring in our Spring break this year.  Much of the week was spent with quite a bit of snow on the ground.  Before my L.A. trip I had planned two or three outings for the kids for when I came back; unfortunately, all of them involved being outside or travel that I didn't want to make in bad weather.

So we were stuck at home.

For the most part, the kids were really good about it.  Spencer and Josh and were in heaven because I let them play as much computer as they wanted.  Cole and Tess were in heaven because Spencer and Josh were home during the day.

But once or twice we all got a good case of cabin fever.  On the first day it struck I loaded them all into the mini van and headed out to McDonald's.  Everyone else in Lafayette had the same idea because that place was packed.  But the kids had a great time running around and getting stuff on their faces.  I even splurged and allowed Spencer and Josh to buy a couple of hot fudge sundaes - on their own.  They felt quite grown up and sauntered importantly back to our table with the ice cream and my change.

After lunch I surprised them with a trip to Toys-R-Us.

"But Maren," you ask "You HATE Toys-R-Us!  Why would you take your children there?"

"Why does Maren hate Toys-R-Us?" some other readers ask.

I'll answer you both.

1) I hate Toys-R-Us because they are quite often a) overpriced, b) understaffed, c) messy, and d) understocked.  Also, our local Toys-R-Us is right next to - and I kid you not - our local strip club Gentlemen's Club.  It's funny until you have children old enough to ask you "What's Filly's Gentlemen's Club?" when you drive by.

2) I took them because I wasn't paying for it.  They had each received a Toys-R-Us gift card from their Uncle Dane for Christmas.  Since they had each just received plenty of toys I didn't feel the need to go out and spend the money right away.

It was the perfect outing.  Well, for them - for me it was a good lesson in patience.  But that's precisely what I expected when we drove into the parking lot and I told them they each had $X amount to spend on whatever they wanted.  An hour and one bruised toddler later, we emerged from the store with our treasures.

Cole was the hardest to shop for because he didn't really care about anything - until he saw Dumbo.  That boy loves Dumbo right now.  I could honestly quote the movie to you, word-for-word, song-for-song, on que.  It's way fun.

Spencer got this Wii game, which he swears up and down that he loves, but he only played it for about 30 minutes and then went back to playing Minecraft on the computer.

Josh also got a Wii game that he only played for a little bit before going back to Minecraft.  But he also had enough money left over to buy this Puffle, whatever that is.  Some character on his Wii game.  Whatever, he luuuurrrrvvveeess it.

Tessie got a nice goose egg on her noggin' when Cole tried to move her while we were shopping and instead knocked her over and fell on top of her.  Her head made such a lovely thwacking sound as it hit the concrete floor of the store.  Sheesh.  But she also got her first My Little Pony, which she carries around and talks to.  She also got a very basic Cinderella board book, which she LOVES.  Seriously, I'm not sure why, but she does.  Perhaps loving princesses really is a gender thing because I could never (and still can't) get my boys interested at all in fairy tales.
 

I do have to say that it's pretty fun to go into a toy store and let your kids pick out pretty much whatever they want.  They were SO happy!

By Friday we were all ready for another diversion.  I decided to practice a little democracy and allowed the kids to vote for where we ate lunch.  (McDonald's was not allowed - I'm nice but not that nice.)  Surprisingly, they all wanted Sam's Club.  Well, except for Cole, who cried and tantrummed all the way in until he got his hot dog.  I fed all 5 of us (including my surprisingly tasty pre-made Spinach Harvest Salad) for under $9.  You gotta love Sam's!  (I'm still praying for a Costco, though.)  ((Okay, not I'm not.  But I'm really, really hoping for one!))

I also promised them a treat after lunch, but we were all so full that we decided to go after Tess's nap.  The treat?  A trip to the newly-opened Pink Walrus frozen yogurt place.  It's basically a frozen yogurt buffet where you get as many flavors and toppings as you want and then pay by the weight.  The kids were in heaven.  I supervised the amount of yogurt they got but let them go to town on the toppings.

As you can see, Cole approved.

So did Tess, even though she had to share with me. She kept picking off all the toppings with her grubby little hands.  (Note to self: make Tess share with Lance the next time we go.)

Josh, my ardent buffet lover, was blissfully happy.  I think his eyes were a bit bigger than his stomach, but to his credit he finished everything!

Spencer declared it even better than Igloo Frozen Custard.  I don't know about that - it's kinda hard for any frozen yogurt to beat custard - but it was pretty good.

Not the most exciting Spring Break ever, but I don't think the kids felt too picked on.  Hopefully the weather will be nice (read: not too hot) after school is out and we'll be able to make up for some of our missed trips!

Easter

Easter kinda snuck up on me.  Again.  Seriously, what's up with the whole lunar calendar thing determining when Easter is?  Why can't we just way it's always the 2nd Sunday in April or something?  As a Christian I would be totally and completely fine with this.

But that is neither here nor there.  Easter came and we enjoyed it.

On Saturday the Easter Bunny left lots and lots of eggs around the house.  This is the first year that every Madsen child got in on the action.  I was actually pretty impressed with how well Tess caught on.  That didn't stop her from opening every other egg she found to eat the candy, but still.  Progress.

Spencer and Josh looking into their Easter bags.  They were quite pleased with the shirts and jammies and other sundry items.  (It wasn't until last night that I realized I had forgotten to put some books that I had ordered in those bags.  Dang it!!!)

I'm pretty sure Spencer knows what's up with the Easter Bunny, but he's good natured about it and doesn't let on to his younger siblings.  I think Josh is on the fence - he was asking some pretty hard core questions about Santa last Christmas.  I'm trying extra hard to help him believe, because you're only in Kindergarten once and Kindergarten and magic go hand-in-hand.

Tess was wild for the sunglasses she got.  I think she kinda looks like Elton John.  It's a good look, Tess.

Everyone got these little flashing light thingies that I randomly got thinking that they probably wouldn't like them that much.  I was wrong - they loved them!

Cole reaching for some Easter eggs.

More egg hunting action.

I told you we had a lot of eggs.  But when you have a lot of kids you need a lot of eggs.

They weren't all full of candy, though.  I used an idea I found on Pinterest and filled lots of the eggs with these little coupons that the kids could "eggs-change" (hahaha!) for certain privileges.  A few of the favorites included dinner dates with Daddy or me, getting to buy school lunch twice in one week, or choosing what we have for dinner one night.  Spencer and Josh were SUPER excited about these!  We will definitely be doing this again.

On Sunday I felt only a small twinge of guilt for not getting anything new for the boys to wear for church.  But then I remembered last year's super cute bow ties that I had made that the boys hated for no good reason and my guilt disappeared.  Dang boys.

Tess, on the other hand, fully appreciated her new Easter dress that Grandma Susie and Grandpa ElRay so kindly provided for her.  Not enough to really hold still for a picture, but trust me, she liked the dress.

I love the shoes, mainly because I love polka dots.  Her hair was in two pigtails and I made felt flower clips that matched.  Not that she let me take a picture of them.

Look!  A missed Easter egg!  Good eye, Tess.

She was darling.  As were all the other little girls at church.  Seriously, so cute, Lafayette 3rd ward!

I foolishly tried to get a picture of all four kids.  Miraculously, it wasn't Cole giving us a hard time this time - it was Tess.  She was offended about something and refused to stop pouting.  That girl is a serious pouter; I have pictures and video to prove it, and if I ever have any free time ever again (small chance) I might just blog about it.

Spencer was laughing so hard at her that he was in tears.  Which, you know, made him also look great for the pictures.

Oh, my brood.  How cute you are!

And here's a random shot of me that I honestly don't recall putting into my queue to be uploaded.  But here you go.  I'm really trying to wear my hair curly as much as possible now, mainly because I'm tired of fighting the curl all day.  It's hard getting used to having big hair all the time.  (At least, it feels big.)  I really need to get it cut to help accentuate the curls, but I want to grow it out a bit more first.  I'm sure you really wanted to know all of this.  Anywho, I'll probably now be known as "that chic with the wild hair".  And I'm okay with that.  (No I'm not.  That's why I'm trying to tame the curl.)

We had what will probably be a last holiday feast with our Hoosier family, the Souths.  *SOB* Paul graduated and is going to do a post-doc in Illinois.  I am still in denial about this.  I had grand plans of us all taking some pictures together, but this is the only shot I got.  The entire evening.  Because I'm awesome like that.

Not that we could ever replace the Souths, but now we're gonna need another Hoosier family.  Anyone want to apply?  Requirements: must be willing to come to our house on random holidays and eat food.  (Sense of humor and wild children to play with our wild children are a plus.)

Finally, a few of our Easter eggs from this year.  I tried to do an ombre effect on some and it kinda worked.  (I suspect the very low quality dye had more to do with it than anything.)  I totally copied that chick from Pinterest.  Josh totally tried to copy mine, but it turned more into a scary clown chick.  I love it.

Mom Spring Break 2013 - Los Angeles (Part 4 - Going Home... Kinda))

Sunday morning was nice and laid back.  Dad and Susie left the hotel pretty early because they were driving back to Provo, so I had the room to myself for a couple hours.  I took a long shower, took my time getting ready, and had a leisurely breakfast.  I even thought to take a quick picture of the inside of the hotel as I was leaving.

It was actually really large and kind of dizzying.  Every time I got into the elevator I thought of Tess and her mortal fear of elevators.  She would would have FREAKED OUT in those!


Anywho, I eventually took the shuttle over to LAX, waited for my plane, got on my plane, and flew to Dallas.

This is where the fun began.

So as we were taxiing to the gate, the flight attendant read all of the connecting flights' gate numbers.  My boarding pass said C-19, but she said C-7.  I figured it must have changed or something, but no big deal, I'd just check when I got off the plane.

To my surprise, my flight wasn't listed on the departures screen.  In fact, no flights to Indy were listed on any departure screen.

Odd.

To be honest, at first I was a bit ticked off with American Airlines.  I figured they had made some sort of mistake.  See, I haven't flown with American Airlines since the summer of 1998 when they decided they wanted to strand me in Tel Aviv. (I was doing semester abroad at the BYU Jerusalem Center.  Most awesome trip of my life.)  Okay, so I don't remember all of the minor details because it was a long time ago and I'm too lazy to go hunt down my journal.  Long story short:
-We were at the end of the semester and were going to spend the last two weeks in Egypt.
-Instead, the Egyptians decided to start causing trouble, bombing the US embassy and doing all sorts of stupid things.
-Americans were politely told to GET THE HECK OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST.  NOW.
-I had flown separately from the group using my dad's frequent flier miles.  I was told to go to Tel Aviv and get it easily sorted out.
-Despite having told me and my parents that it would only cost a couple hundred dollars to change my flight, when I got to the American Airlines office they told me it would cost something like $2000.  In cash.  Right now.
-We eventually got it all sorted out, but I have never, ever forgiven American Airlines and vowed to never fly with them again.  Take that, American Airlines!

Except I did fly with them again because I used my credit card miles for this trip and they had the best times slots.  Dang my forgiving nature!!!

Meanwhile, back in Dallas...

I eventually found a ticket agent who told me that due to the huge snow storm in Indy, all flights going in had been cancelled.  What the what?  I had no clue there was a big storm.  The NBC affiliate with the awful Sunday morning news anchors had failed to mention that as I watched them that morning.  Curses!

I had two options: spend the night in the terminal or get the distressed passenger discounted rate and stay at the Hyatt Regency for only $95.  Either way I probably wouldn't be able to get my luggage because, well, American Airlines is stupid.

Look, there comes a point in your life when you realize that, yes, there are a lot of other things you'd rather spend $100 on instead of a brief overnight stay in a luxurious hotel.  New shoes.  Some new clothes.  A great meal out with friends.  But then you realize that there is no way in heck that you'd ever get any sleep in an airport terminal and that this could possibly be the most well-spent $100 of your life. 

I decided to take them up on the Hyatt.

As I walked to the Skylink monorail (because Dallas/Fort Worth is that big) I called Lance to let him know what was going on.  I kept apologizing, although now I'm not sure why. It's not like I planned or even willed this to happen.  I had really looked forward to being home!  Lance was a little stressed about it; either because he really needed to get back to work or because 4 days at home with the kids was getting to him.  Probably a bit of both.

But there was nothing to be done!  So I hopped on the the Skylink and rode to the Hyatt.  I walked up to the desk and told them I was stranded and that I would like a room.  I think I probably sounded a bit distressed and tired.  That's because I was feeling a bit distressed and tired.  The attendant was soooooo very friendly and helpful!  She set me up quick as a flash and then asked if I needed anything else. 

Well, actually, yes.  All I had with me was my purse, and while I was smart enough to keep my meds and a few other things in there, I hadn't thought pack any toiletries.  No problemo.  She whipped out a very nice complementary toiletry kit, complete with toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, and make-up remover.

Did I need anything else? 

Well, actually, yes.  I had accidentally left my phone charger in Pasadena.  Was there anywhere I could rent or buy one?  No worries!  We let people borrow them here!  We'll have housekeeping bring one up that you can use for the night.

Let me just say this: the Hyatt knows how to treat customers and gain loyalty.  (Unlike stupid airlines I know...)  In fact, I only had one complaint with my entire stay, and that was that none of the employees had Texan accents.  But this was something I could completely forgive.

As I rode up the elevator I was starting to feel quite a bit better.  When I walked into my room I felt all the way better!

As I opened the door the shades on the giant window wall started opening automatically.

The TV was on and playing some very soothing music.  And - it knew my name!  Thank you, TV, I do feel rather welcomed!

I sank onto the rather plush king sized bed and looked around, realizing that this was probably one of the nicest hotels I had ever stayed that.  On top of that - I was there by myself.  No snoring dads.  No sharing a room with brothers. No kids to have to deal with!  They would have LOVED this part of the trip, but too bad.  I loved it more without them!  (Sorry kiddos.  Momma loves you.  But she loves you even more when she's been away for a while.)  Mom's Spring Break had just gotten an unexpected bonus.

Sure, I didn't have any extra clothes, but then again that didn't really matter.  All of the clothes in my luggage were dirty anyway.  I didn't have any pajamas, but that didn't really matter since I had a room to myself.

I got up and had a look around.  Everything in the room and bathroom was controlled by touchscreen buttons.

The bathroom had a swanky glass shower

and a separate bathtub!  (Plus more needed toiletries!)

It was around 3 or 4 in the afternoon.  I can't really remember now.  I stretched out on the bed and played with my phone for a while and then read.  No one interrupted me.  No one needed feeding or changing or attention.  I didn't have to be anywhere any time soon.  (Well, I had to be back at the airport at 4am. But still, I had time.)

Eventually I got hungry.  Rather than wander around in the hotel's restaurants, I decided to do something I had never done before: order room service.  I knew it would cost a bit more, but by then I didn't care.  In for a penny, in for a pound!  So I ordered it - through the TV - and sat back to watch "My Big Fat Gypsy American Wedding" reruns, which were new to me since I had never even heard of the show.  (Turns out, pretty interesting.  Gypsies be crazy.)

Dinner came up and it was delicious!  (Yeah, I wasn't in a salad mood.)

Weren't the little condiments cute?  I like little things.

Even a flower!  The Hyatt has a customer for life.  Assuming I can afford it.

So I spent the evening watching more Gypsy weddings, taking a bath, and then making myself go to bed, since I had to get up so stinkin' early. One nice thing about not having my luggage?  You can get ready in the morning pretty quickly. 

So the American Airlines lady I had talked to the day before had been adamant that I be at the airport by 4am.  So I was - only to find out that TSA doesn't open until 4:30am.  Thanks a lot, random American Airlines ticket lady. Sheesh.

But eventually I got through security with enough time to frantically buy an orange juice before I got on the plane.  I was disappointed to find out that I was in the very back (read: very noisy) of the plane.  But I got over this disappointment very quickly when I realized I had the whole row to myself!  Score!

I spent the flight reading, dozing, and foraging for snacks in my purse.  (I found a few - I was starving!)

The first thing I did when I got my bag from baggage claim was pull out my parka and put on some different shoes.  (I had been wearing some silver ballet flats - not exactly snow-friendly.)  I took the shuttle out to the long-term parking and found my car.

*sigh*  I looked at the car and then looked down at my shoes.

Yeah, these ones were only slightly better than the ballet flats.  But, there was nothing to be done, so I got out the car scraper and got to work.  Twenty minutes later and the car was finally de-iced and de-snowed.  It took a good five minutes before the feeling in my hands and feet returned so that I could drive!

The roads going back home were pretty bad.  I stopped counting cars that had slid off the road after I got to 15.  And I saw at least 3 semis on the side of the road, one which had fallen over!  Needless to say, it was very slow going.  My hands hurt from white-knuckling it the whole way!

But eventually I made it home, where the children somewhat acknowledged my presence, especially when I got out a few gifts I had brought them.

In spite of - nay, because of - my unexpected layover, a very good Mom Spring Break!

Mom Spring Break 2013 - Los Angeles (Part 3)

Saturday was the wedding.  Even though we didn't have to be at the L.A. Temple until 10am, we had to leave, at the very latest, at 9am.  Gotta love that L.A. traffic.

Wait, no you don't.

So, random side note: this was my uncle Dale's second marriage.  His first wife, Janice, died a few months before my mom did.  Even though Dale is my mom's older brother, he actually got married quite a bit later than my mom.  I was around 7 or 8 at the time, so I actually remember some of his wedding.  I remember the reception and getting a new red dress for the occasion.

But what I remember most is baby Kevin (probably 18 months or 2 years old at the time) locking himself in the bathroom at the hotel.

This was way back in the day when The Hotel Utah was still around in Salt Lake City.  (It's now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, in case you're wondering.)  My grandparents had gotten a suite for grandma to rest in between wedding activities.  Good ol' Kevin somehow locked himself into the bathroom and wouldn't open the door.  I vividly remember him flushing the potty a million times, while my frantically tried to get him away from the potty because she was worried he'd fall in and drown.  "Kevin!  Don't play with the potty!  DON'T TOUCH THAT POTTY!!"  This happened while my dad called and called down to the main desk to get someone to come up and unlock the door.  No one ever came, so he finally picked the lock, where they found Kevin perfectly fine and happy and not drowned, sitting in a rather large pile of toilet paper that he had unwound.

Many family members told me that this was one of the things they remembered most from the wedding.  Good one, Kev.

We thought about reenacting that magical story in our own hotel room, but decided to just take a few pictures instead.

Don't touch that potty, Kevin!!!

Doesn't he look like a sneaky toddler?

Kyle didn't care if Kevin locked himself into the bathroom this time.

Another random side note: we were staying in a pretty nice hotel, but I really had to fight Kevin to wear shoes when we went down to another over-priced breakfast that we, of course, charged to Dad.  (Thanks, Dad!)  Seriously, Kevin.  Mom would've rolled over in her grave if you hadn't worn shoes.  Wearing shoes meant he couldn't wear his capri-length pajama pants (otherwise known as "normal" length on those of us who are not so vertically enhanced.)  I was the mean sister, but oh well.  I was all dressed up for the wedding and didn't want to look like I was eating with a hobo.

So, back to the wedding.  Yes.  Even though it was only just over 20 miles away it took us a good hour to get there.  L.A. traffic be crazy.  I kinda liked driving around, mainly because I wasn't the one driving.  (Thanks for being my chauffeur, Doug!)

We got to the temple and wandered a bit since we were a little early.  I had forgotten just how BIG that temple is.  Seriously, it's up on a hill and is huge and white and really stands out.  I loved it.  I loved it so much that I didn't take a picture of it.  But I stole this nice one from the interwebs.

The sealing was seriously one of the best I had ever been to.  The temple president (who had been Dale's Stake President) spoke and performed the sealing.  He spoke a lot about the blessings we receive from temple ordinances and how they relate to the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Having all of my immediate family there and feeling the spirit so strongly made me feel so happy!  I was so glad to be able to be a part of it.  (To my non-LDS friends: you've probably heard about LDS temples before and wonder about what goes on inside them.  What we do is not secret - just very sacred.  Which is why I can't go into detail.  But trust me, it's nothing weird or uncomfortable.  On the contrary - I LOVE going to the temple! Curious to learn more?  Check out this site.)


After the wedding we waited and waited and waited outside for the bride and groom to make their appearance.  (There were a lot of weddings that day!)  While we waited we took a few pictures.

Here's the Roper faction of the Burgoyne Family.  So how do we relate to the Burgoynes?  My mom was the older Burgoyne daughter.  Dad was the first Burgoyne in-law.  (Or, as we lovingly call them, the out-laws. :)  Susie is now somehow related to the clan through marriage... maybe a step-daughter-in-law... is that a thing?  Well, we love Susie, so now it's a thing.  Kyle, Kevin, and I are the oldest Burgoyne grandchildren.  As of now I'm the only Burgoyne grandchild that has married and had kids.  Get to work on that, Kyle and Kevin!  Chop chop!

The Roper kids.  Yes, those are my two "little" brothers.

We kinda all have the same smile, don't we?

Everyone got pretty corsages or boutonnieres.   I really liked those little grape-berry thingies!

Here's Kevin and I.  Since Lance couldn't come and Kyle had Sarah Beth with him, I called Kevin my "Plus One".  He's a pretty good date, even if he doesn't like wearing shoes.

It's hard for Kevin and I to behave when we're together.  Especially at churchy things.  My mom used to have to separate us at church - even when we were adults.  You don't want to know.

Here are the Burgoyne girl cousins.  (Well, almost all - Megan is on a mission in NY and Sarah was on some school trip in Orlando.)  (Lucky Sarah, right?)

So, from left to right: Ali Chipman (youngest of Lisa and Dave), Jillian Weitzel (youngest of Heidi and Doug), me (oldest of Wendy and ElRay), Natalie Burgoyne (3rd of Gary and Leslie), and Elsie (youngest of Neil and Leslie.)  Aren't my cousins so very cute?!

Finally the happy couple came out!  Isn't Susan's bouquet so cool?  I've never seen one like that, but I really liked it!

And isn't she so pretty?!  I only got to talk to Susan a little the whole time we were there, but I really like her.  She seems pretty great - and of course she would be for Dale to marry her!  I'm excited to have her in the family now!

Here's one with all of the immediate family. (Bride's on the left, groom's on the right.)  So the Burgoyne family has some rather unique interesting relations.  You're probably not so interested in them, but I want to record them so my kids know what was going on. Okay, they probably won't care too much, either, but too bad.

The man in the wheel chair is my maternal grandfather, John Burgoyne.  (Side note: Grandpa has early-staged Parkinson's disease.  Plus, he had a bad fall a few months ago.  We were all so happy that Susie and Kevin were willing to help him and Nancy make it to the wedding!)  Grandpa was/is married to Regina Heaton, my maternal grandmother.  Regina died when I was around 10, so around 25 years ago.  Grandpa John remarried to Nancy, who is in the picture above.  (I can't remember Nancy's other last name - she's just always been Grandma Nancy to me!)

So, John and Regina had six children: Dale, Wendy (my mom), Neil, Heidi, Gary, and Lisa.  As I mentioned before, Dale was/is married to Janice (and now Susuan).  Dale and Janice adopted Chris and Ben, who are the two handsome and very happy teenage boys in the picture.  (I only mentioned the adoption thing in case you were wondering where Ben got his good looks from. ;)

Wendy married ElRay and had three of the most wonderful kids in the world. *ahem*  After my mom died my dad married my wonderfully un-wicked step-mother, Susie.

Heidi married Doug Weitzel, and they had David, Peter, and Jillian.  Nothing so out-of-the-ordinary with them, other than that both of their boys served/are serving missions in Germany.  Then again, with a last name like Weitzel that is probably not so weird.

Neil was a bachelor for quite a while.  We'll get back to him.

Gary married Leslie.  They had three children: Sarah, Zach, and Natalie.  Gary died several months before my mother did.  (We had three funerals within 6 months - it was a rough time for the Burgoyne family!)  A few years later Leslie and my uncle Neil got married.  This might seem strange at first glance, but it really isn't.  I think it's worked out really well for everyone!  Neil and Leslie had Elsie, who is FULL of energy!  (I really had fun talking to her - she mentioned several times how she was going to go to Disney Land. Lucky girl!)

Finally Lisa married Dave Chipman and they had Megan, Stephen, and Alison.  They also don't have anything too strange about their family - as far as I know. :)

Here are my three aunts: Leslie, Lisa, and Heidi.

After close to 10 million pictures - because that's what you do at weddings, you take pictures - we finally headed back to Pasadena for the wedding lunch.  This was being held at a nice Italian restaurant called Villa Sorriso.  Once again, no pictures except those that I stole from the internet.  Oh, and in my internet searches I discovered that this is the place that hosted Michael Jackson's Burial Reception.  You know, in case you're interested in that sort of thing.

The wedding lunch was packed with family and friends - probably 200 of us in total.  This meant it took quite a while for everyone to order and get their food, but that's okay because it gave us all plenty of time to visit.  Poor Kevin had to leave before he got his meal because he had to fly home with Grandpa John and Grandma Nancy.  His meal came literally three minutes after he left - uncle Doug graciously took care of that for him.

We finally finished with the wedding lunch.  I had planned on going to the Griffith Observatory with Heidi and Doug, but ended up going shopping and out to dinner with Dad, Susie, Kyle and Sarah Beth.  (That's okay - I was really pretty tired and don't know if I would've appreciated the observatory as much.)

So dinner was interesting because we went to Little Thailand in Hollywood.  The place we went to was called Ruen Pair.  (See 360 degree tour here.)  It was in this non-descript little strip mall with about 8 other Thai places.  The food was EXCELLENT.  (One of the few things I do miss about California - the excellent ethnic food.)  Even better?  The bill for 5 adults was only around $42 - can you believe that?!  Amazing.

After dinner, Dad, Susie and I headed back to L.A. to our hotel.  Once again I was on the couch, but once again I didn't mind in the least.