February and March

Here's a quick recap of February and March.

Krysta turned 22!

Kevin was asked to Sweethearts by this cute girl. She asked him by bringing over all the ingredients to make a milkshake with a cute saying to go with it. Even before he knew who asked him, he knew he would like her. Food does that to Kevin.

Verl submitted some of his photography to the Utah Arts Council and they selected him to be in one of their art shows. The show was in the Art Space Gallery by the Gateway.

Sanae poses by the pictures of her in her kimono. Verl had some cool shots of his family posed behind a screen.

This is Verl's former photography teacher at the U of U.
The show was a success and he ended up selling four pieces! Since my photography doesn't do justice to his, go to www.verlanceladams.com to see his work. Much of his photography explores the concepts of light and shadow, and the colors might not translate as well from a computer screen, but you'll get the idea. I especially like the faces in the gallery titled "A Matter of Perspective."

It finally snowed enough for Camille and Rachel to make a snowman. Notice the stick mohawk and the cute rock face.
Another cute snowman showed up on our doorstep in response to Kevin asking another cute girl to prom.
Kevin is handsome in a tux.
Kevin's friend's dad was able to get this Camaro on trade, so they and their dates had a sweet ride for the day. Kevin and his date had to sit in the back where they discovered that the car was designed for looks more than comfort. Anyone taller than about five feet has to sit hunched over. Well, like I always say, "beauty hurts."

Justin and Andrea got married! I didn't bring a camera since I knew it would be well documented. Krysta caught the bouquet, and we all got to enjoy the beautiful flowers for a few days.
And the Hunger Games arrived in all its midnight glory. Notice Christian's shirt and the loaf of bread. What a cute group of cousins!

Palmyra and the Sacred Grove

A few months before this vacation, I went to a Relief Society fireside where a descendant of Hyrum Smith spoke. The man and his wife were interesting to listen to and also brought along several artifacts from the Smith family history including the clothes that Hyrum was wearing when he was killed in Carthage Jail. At the time, I was actively looking at vacations in Europe. This was finally going to be my year! I could possibly put to good use the German I had taken (and mainly forgotten) in middle school. But during the fireside, I had the distinct thought that a European vacation would be frivolous at this time, and we needed to take the family to see the Church history sites in New York. When I got home I had to break the news to Curt that I thought our relaxing kid-free vacation should be replaced by a family trip--the kind of trip that you need a vacation to recover from! Curt was immediately on board and we (meaning I) began to plan. Soon, our plan to travel to Palmrya to see the Sacred Grove turned into an entire East Coast vacation. I jokingly call it the most expensive fireside ever, but I think this trip was definitely meant to be. I still have hope for Europe some day. One good thing about flying seven people cross country for ten days, is that now Europe for two actually seems affordable!

So that is how we all ended up here, in front of the Palmyra Temple on a beautiful summer Sunday.

On our Sunday morning visit to the Sacred Grove there was a youth tour reverently occupying every bench. The next morning, a week before the Hill Cumorah Pageant, we had the Sacred Grove all to ourselves. Definitely a highlight of the trip.
Other highlights included, the Peter Whitmer farm.
Grandin Printing Shop,


an original Book of Mormon,

Alvin Smith's grave,

the Martin Harris Farm,

and the Hill Cumorah.
The stage was almost set up for the pageant the next week.



We loved the Christus in the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center. This is a slightly different version by the same artist that created the one on Temple Square.

Monday morning we visited the Smith Log Home which I thought was actually roomier than it looked on the outside. Of course, it was still pretty small for a large family.

Outside the Smith Frame Home.

Lucy Mack Smith created floor coverings just like this one that she would sell to help support her family.

This is the hearth in the Smith Frame Home where the golden plates were hidden for a short time.

Before leaving on Monday, we stopped once more at the Sacred Grove. Other than the people who took our picture, we were all alone.





Better than Europe.

Christmas and New Years

What's Christmas Eve without calling for Pixie? Note the extreme enthusiasm. Actually, no one was quite ready for the tradition to die.

Pixie spent a lot of time dancing at the window. So much time that we were finally able to snap a picture. Amazing what can happen when your kids are older.

But old or not, they know that Pixie brings presents and you have to call for him to get the gifts. That's just how it works. They each got pajama bottoms and a Christmas pillowcase.

Christmas this year was an all day event due to church being at 11:00. The kids decided that they wanted to look in their stockings and open one present before church and then wait for the rest until after church. Their reasoning was that they would be less rushed and could then spend the rest of the day in their pajamas. Since they are all older, no one wanted to get up before 8:00 anyway. Yes! the advantage of teenagers. After church we still had to wait because Kevin was taking the sacrament to a few couples in the ward. We always take our time on Christmas opening presents one at a time, but this was longer than usual and I really enjoyed the slower pace.

Kevin gave Rachel the cute hat and the iTunes card.
Ahh, X-Box Kinect! Camille actually started asking for this right after we bought it. We had to feign ignorance (is it like legos? oh, you just want one of the games? what?) for a month while the kids tried to explain the whole gaming system idea to their supposedly tech-clueless parents.

After we opened gifts, Verl and his family came over for dinner. My parents were also visiting, so we had fun seeing family.
Welcome 2012! We had a great time at Kim and Shaun's rockin' New Year's Eve Party. Lots of good food and family.


I had video of the noise and excitement of New Years Eve, but for some reason I keep getting an error message so it's not posting. My only New Year's goal is to finish blogging about LAST year's vacation before this summer's vacation. (Which due to the expense of last year's vacation will consist of a pool pass and a camping trip!)