My sister Cate was sealed to her husband, Tyler and son, Ian this weekend. I was able to fly up last weekend to be with her. I might normally take time to complain about the 50 degree temperature difference, but it was all worth the experience. Cate put me to work once I got out there and I came back exhausted. The night before the sealing, I was up till 2:00 am cutting up fruit. I need a vacation for my vacation. When I looked at how much work she put into everything I told her that when I got married I was going to elope. She didn't like that idea so much and she said, "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO ELOPE! I am going to be there to help you." Is it just me, or was she sounding a little like my mother? ;) Ian is getting to be quite the little man. He has learned to walk and dance. When he dances he doesn't bounce like most kids, he taps his feet to the beat of the music. I love that kid to death. Congrats to you! Here is some proof of Ian's dancing.
Don’t leave valuables in your car! Over the weekend someone got into my car and probably took everything out of my car that didn’t have much value. I don’t really understand what the thieves were thinking but in my mind the things that I thought they would go for remained intact. It was almost like they were trying to do me a favor and clean all the junk out of my car. Things like my stereo, new car vacuum, new air compressor and rollerblades. They seemed to browse my CDs and probably take one or two of them. They took some reusable Harmon’s grocery bags, sunglasses, sunglasses holder, some pamphlets and my sun shade. They seemed to be searching for cash because they took out my ash tray and cup holder and didn’t quite put them back right. Then they left the $2 in quarters that I had in a compartment that they must not have checked.
I should probably feel really violated but after it all I am just grateful that I don’t have to replace anything that is going to cost much to replace. Everything I need to replace is probably going to cost me $45 or so. Not bad considering the last time my car was broken into it was $300 to get the car fixed, $200 for a new stereo, and $100 in CDs. In comparison this is quite pleasant really. Tonight I will be removing those things from my car that I deem valuable.
Should we start with the bad news? The bad news is that the cruise to the Mediterranean has been cancelled. It looks like it is going to be a while before I get back to Croatia. I had a cabin reserved with my roommate Heather and she had to cancel because she had a work conflict. Someday I am going to make it back. Hopefully before I have forgotten everything I learned over there. The good news, or maybe I should say the GREAT news is that Cate and Tyler are going to get sealed in the St. Paul Temple at the end of this month. I am flying out there for that. Now for the funny, for Brooke’s birthday we went cross country skiing at Wasatch Park in Heber. We decided to try and jump 180s with our skis on. I never quite made it 180 degrees, but maybe 150. You should try it sometime. Here are some pictures of Brooke and me giving it a try. Brooke is just great at getting really goofy pictures, like shake faces.
“We tend to believe that if we were somewhere else – on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance – somehow we would be happier and more content. We wouldn’t! The truth is, if you have destructive mental habits – If you get annoyed and bothered easily, if you feel angry and frustrated a great deal of the time, or if you are constantly wishing things were different, these identical tendencies will follow you, wherever you go.”
I know that I just told everyone where they could go to get a pair of glasses for $8, but I found something else that I really like now. I went to see about getting Lasik at the end of last year and I wasn’t the best candidate. My corneas were below average thickness. Not to mention the fact that I really didn’t want to pay $3,800 for the procedure. There was also the whole not wearing contacts a month before and no make-up and no eye rubbing. I just didn’t sound like such a great option for me. I looked into CRT lenses. That is corneal refractive therapy. They are contacts that you sleep with them in at night and then you take them out in the morning and you can see. It is pretty slick. They are hard, gas permeable lenses that are between the size of hard and soft lenses. The whole thing was about $950 which is 25% of the cost of Lasik. You might want to check it out if you are tired of wearing glasses.
Last night I went to see the new Temple in Draper. It was gorgeous. If you are endowed you could wait until it is dedicated to go but last night I realized that if you have any non-member friends or unendowed little ones you NEED to take them to see it. The church does a fabulous job making these events very professional. You start out at a nearby chapel where you watch a short video about temples around the world and it talks specifically about the Draper Temple. Then you are bused to the temple site where they have a heated walkway to the temple. Then you walk through the temple. WOW! There is a short message in the sealing room about how families are eternal. Then afterwards you go to the stake center across the way where they have missionaries to answer your questions, water and cookies. The gymnasium is hardly recognizable as it is very nicely decorated. I hope you all get a chance to see it soon! You are supposed to have a ticket to go but they aren’t checking anyone’s tickets. I do have a reservation for 4 on Saturday march 14th at 10:00. They will go to the first person who requests them.
Cate put me to work once I got out there and I came back exhausted. The night before the sealing, I was up till 2:00 am cutting up fruit. I need a vacation for my vacation. When I looked at how much work she put into everything I told her that when I got married I was going to elope. She didn't like that idea so much and she said, "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO ELOPE! I am going to be there to help you." Is it just me, or was she sounding a little like my mother? ;)
Ian is getting to be quite the little man. He has learned to walk and dance. When he dances he doesn't bounce like most kids, he taps his feet to the beat of the music. I love that kid to death. 
Congrats to you! Here is some proof of Ian's dancing.
