Storms

Almost every day this past week, we've seen mother nature flexing her muscles and we've stood in awe at the remarkable power that comes from the sky.  


This past Wednesday a storm hit around 2:30 that had our windows rattling from the thunder.  Along with the thunder, lightening is a pretty scary thing here.  "In the United States, cloud-to-ground lightning strikes occur approximately 30 million times each year, most often in Florida and along the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico".  (wonder.cdc.gov)
We've learned to head for cover if we even hear thunder, because Florida storms don't mess around. 


After the storm on Wednesday, we headed out to run some errands, and found this 1.5 miles from our home. 

 

Apparently, a tree was hit by lightening, and was blocking the road. 
An ambulance was nearby as we detoured through a nearby church parking lot.  I looked over and saw the attendant pulling out a chain saw.  My jaw sort of dropped!  
As we continued on our way, we saw lots of trees down, littering the roadways.  
I was grateful we'd been inside with a roof over our heads during that storm.   

Lane and Aubree, Sisters, Family, Music and the spoken word

Here's my brother and sister in law as they exited the temple after being sealed to each other:
All of the sisters and inlaws (except for the new girl - maybe we'll photo shop her in)

The immediate family members who were at the wedding

We stopped by Gossner's for some yummy root beer milk (and mango and banana and strawberry and vanilla - we love their flavored milk and cheese curds)

On Sunday morning we went back to temple square and attended Music and the Spoken Word.  An inspirational weekly broadcast that has been ongoing for 83 years!
The tabernacle choir sang, and we were uplifted.  It was gorgeous! 

 

The Christus, City Creek Malls, Logan LDS Temple

We saw the Christus in the north visitor's center at temple square


We took a break from temple square and headed across the street to City Creek Mall where our girls tried on almost every shoe in the mall.
It was an outdoor mall, and it even boasts a Tiffanys.  Quite Posh as my friend Heather would say.
While I wanted a little blue bag or box, I don't think I'm high enough maintenance for that place. 

We spent the evening with my husband's family and siblings - pizza and games, it was really nice.
On Saturday we drove up to Logan, Utah where my youngest brother was sealed to his sweetheart for time and eternity in the LDS Logan temple.

We waited around for a while, waiting for them to come out afterwards...and my husband took some shots
Here's my brother (just younger than me) and his wife.  

My youngest sister (whose husband and kids didn't make it and we really missed)

My grandmother

Family shot

 

Temple Square - Salt Lake City, Utah

While at temple square in Salt Lake City, Utah, our oldest daughter had the opportunity to enter the Salt Lake Temple and perform baptisms for the dead with her cousin who met us there.
Here's a link with information on why Mormons do baptisms for the dead
http://mormon.org/faq/baptism-for-the-dead/?gclid=CM-mk-yPybACFQSxnQodckXNYw

 

 

We spent time on Temple Square, and enjoyed visiting the Family History Center/Genealogical library.
Later we took a tour of the Church History Library.  There, we found information on some of our ancestors and learned some things we didn't previously know.  If only we'd had more time - we could have spent a week in there!  We will definitely be going back.

Idaho Falls Temple & skipping rocks

After getting our fill of West Yellowstone and Island Park (and rain and snow and cold)
We decided to head south for some warmer weather and wedding celebrations.
Since our kids don't get out much (West at least anymore), we decided to stop in Idaho Falls and see the LDS Idaho Falls temple.
My husband stuck our daughter in a tree
 

We had a cranky kid on the way home (all of the cousins were suddenly gone and her 'in car' entertainment disappeared).
We pulled off for a breather and to skip some rocks.
FYI, Florida has no rocks.  If you see some, they were purchased.  Skipping rocks is something we miss, so we had our fill.  We threw a stick out and worked on target practice.


After arriving at grandmas and getting in a good night's sleep, we headed to temple square in Salt Lake City.  The following pic was taken by our youngest daughter - maybe it was her height that gives this photo such a cool view  

 

Mammoth, Rainbow and buffalo

Mammoth Spring

Our daughter who was somehow cajoled into actually nicely posing for this photo - a rare phenomenon indeed. 

And another rainbow (after we got caught in a down pour (and this isn't a warm Florida downpour))
Pretty erratic weather.   

Finally, the bison who was pacing our car

 

Yellowstone Falls, Mountain passes, Bears, Mammoth

We hiked  down to the top of Yellowstone Falls (the drop off point) and were rewarded with this vista and rainbow.
What grandeur and beauty


We drove over some mountain passes, and through some cloud bursts, and through some snow storms (really I don't like cold weather - I was miserable)

We saw a sleeping bear.
We let him lie
(Sorry I couldn't resist)

We hiked around Mammoth Springs which, right here was the best it ever got, despite the endless pathways and stairs leading us on towards barren wastelands with nothing to show but steam and unimpressive land masses (which were probably really cool at one time, but seriously they needed a sign letting us know this was as good as it would get - not to waste our effort.)  

 

A Big Springs Love Story

Really, these are confused seagulls.
They have adapted however, and have learned to imitate ducks - in case the tourists don't know the difference and might possibly throw them some food.
This is Big Spring.  The water is SO clear and beautiful. 

We all stood on a bridge and took pictures of the view, and threw bread to the sgucks (seagull ducks).
Grandma took pictures, and then, leaned over a little too far.

She dropped her address book (with all wedding addresses) into the spring and we all watched as it sadly floated down the river.
Then....dah dum..
Granpa sprang into action.
He hustled down river and while we'd hoped it would go over towards the side, it didn't.  He waded out to retrieve her address book.
Parts of it were still dry!

That's the big spring love story.  

Yellowstone May 2012

Old Faithful finally went off!


While trekking along a boardwalk to see something that was hot and steamy (and not much more) that herd of bison decided to cross the board walk in single file.  Thus they parted the seas of people as we all waited for the great bison migration.

 

My sister said I looked like a hobbit (I guess I'd been wearing my hood since it was so cold)

Below are the three muskateer cousins who hung out in our backseat for 4 days of driving fun.  They didn't notice much other than the great amount of fun they had. 

 

Yellowstone May 2012

Here are pictures from our trip to West Yellowstone last month
Bison


Waiting in the cold, and snow (I really hate the cold and the snow) for Old Faithful.  Two of my brothers and our daughter - who could also be mistaken for a splash zone citizen misplaced from Florida.

My sister and brother in law sharing a joke while waiting


My youngest brother and his fiancee (now wife)

 

Harry Potter Birthday Party

Over the past year, my husband read all of the Harry Potter books to our daughter.  She loved them and decided that she wanted a Harry Potter themed birthday party this year.
We started her party with the "Sorting Hat".  Using a cell phone on speaker located inside the hat, everyone was sorted into their respective "houses".

(if you look closely, you can see the floating tapers in the dining room)

The kids made candles on the back porch.  Dipping a wick into a vat of hot wax, then into ice water repeated a hundred times.  Once they got the system down, things began to flow... and they ended up with cute knobby lavender scented tapers.

For lunch we served Cornish pasties, (made from Cornwall's official recipe), pumpkin juice & seeds, and various fruits and veggies. 

The kids headed back outside for 'hide the snitch' (our landlocked form of quidditch), 'herbology' - transplanting flowers into the girls' own pots to take home, and "potions" - involving mentos and coke.

Afterwards they came back in for some "snitch" cake, and gifts.