Non-Wedding Summer Fun

Between all the wedding festivities, we managed to fit in some other vacation-type things; meeting Liz, visiting our families, Yellowstone, and Bryce Canyon.

Dinner with the kids. Jake's a Party Pooper sometimes.

Chipper LOVES Dan. Too bad the feeling isn't mutual.

When visiting from out of town, it's always a good idea to check the Temple schedule before showing up.

When we headed to Cedar, we helped Deb with her children which included a stop in Scipio to visit a petting zoo:

Bryce was beautiful. It was fun to reacquaint Dan with the canyon I heard so much about growing up.

While in Cedar we enjoyed an evening with The Bard at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

The Green Show

Before the Performance of "The Comedy of Errors"

We joined Mom and Dad at the Cedar City Cemetery. I got to see my grandmother's new headstone that had been completed earlier in the year.

We took some of my nieces for an outing at Classic Skating. I roller-skated too, what was I thinking?!

Our time in Yellowstone was quick but great to be back in an area that played such a big part of our courtship. We saw a couple shows at the Playmill (Les Miserables and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat), we went on a hike, drove through the North entrance of Yellowstone, and visited Old Faithful at night. 

With all we did, planned and unplanned, it was tough to return to our "normal lives."

More of April

For my birthday this year, we decided to use a one of our Joint Personal Days so that we could do what we wanted to celebrate. I decided that I wanted to go for brunch at Hershey Pantry and then drive to Washington DC to attend the Temple.

Dan let me stay home that morning and sleep in. (When we don't have to cover, only one of us has to go in for the morning portion of our schedule.) He arrived and we got ready for our outing. We did a late brunch at Hershey Pantry before heading out of town. Yum Yum!

We then got on the road. Because of the craziness of our work schedule, we get to the Temple about once every six weeks. Each time we go I take a picture of the grounds since we're capturing it seasonally. It's fun to see the changes to the landscape. Even if the trees are bare, the grounds are beautiful.

This trip was not exception to our grounds picture tradition. We decided to also take a selfie in front of the Temple. As you can see, they are not our forte.

They are all about having fun, right! At least we got a good laugh at ourselves.

The most embarrassing part is that we didn't do well with the selfies we took with our work iPad even with turning the camera to the front screen so we could see what we were doing.

Guess this one will have to do:

After completing our service in the Temple, we decided to drive into DC (hoping to miss the commute home traffic) and go to the Jefferson Memorial. Unbeknownest to us, it was smack in the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festival and we were heading straight towards all the blossoms! It was G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S.!!!

We then walked around the area and the Memorial. It was a peaceful and pleasant way to celebrate my birthday; maybe even a tradition in the making.

Dan insisted that since it was my birthday I had to be the only one in the pictures. Guess that's ok since I'm usually the one behind the camera.

The following weekend was the big Cancer Care Community Walk. It was a 24-hour relay walk sponsored by the school though anyone was welcome to attend. Several students stayed the full 24-hours and a few walked over 30 miles in that time frame.

Leading up to the walk the different student homes did unique and creative fundraisers to raise money for cancer research. Some of the ideas were bake sales, sports memorabilia auction, scrap metal recycling, car washes, t-shirts, restaurant percentages, etc. With the winners receiving dinner at a popular Amish buffet, the competition ran high.

The event started on Saturday late morning with everyone doing the first ceremonial  lap together lead by cancer survivors:

The stands then began to empty:

We held a special chapel service on Sunday to close the walk after doing the final lap together. After chapel was complete, we remained in our seats to see the preliminary final count of funds raised for cancer. Can I have a drum roll please....

That's $102,417! The most amazing parts were: (1) the fundraiser was a last minute decision and we only had about 4 weeks from start to finish. (2) The students came up with the ideas and did most of the work selling, cleaning, sorting, baking, etc. (3) The students were selling to the same population for 4 weeks straight-houseparents, students, teachers, administrators, etc. It was a remarkable and Herculean effort. The goal was $100,000 and when all was said and done the final number was closer to $120,000. What an amazing experience for everyone involved!

Spring Break then onto Summer fun!

Miscellaneous Spring Related Things

Our winter was very wet and harsh to so Spring was a very welcomed change. There were so many beautiful blooming trees around campus and it seemed that they bloomed at the same time:

In order to get these beautiful flowers, rain must fall. I took a student to Walmart and noticed the clouds gathering. I hoped that we'd get in and out before the storm hit...One of us got back to the van without getting wet...

As I was driving towards campus with a student, we saw a person flying around with a parachute on a chair with a motor. (Not sure of the official name of the "sport" or equipment.)  As I was driving a few minutes later I stopped the van to take a picture or two; not great quality but you get the idea of what was being used:

Dan frequently introduces himself as "The Chosen One" or "Your Highness" to the students when they can't remember our name. One day he managed to find himself a scepter-he thinks it helps his case for his titles:

One of our day's off we headed to DC to spend some time in the Temple. The flowers and green was amazing here too:

I smile whenever I see this sign as we head to the DC Temple; it's definitely an attraction to not be missed:

With the warmer temperatures comes the need to collect delivered milk as soon as possible. At one student home we weren't sure when the 5 gallons of milk were delivered so we erred on the side of caution:

I discovered dumping 5 gallons of milk doesn't take very long. Not the best but better than drinking sour milk for several days.

Dan received the following in the mail this spring:

I found it very funny for some reason, maybe because my card is still so far away. The thing that was strange though is that he could have joined at 50, two years ago! Guess needs to update their mailings a bit.

My cooking skills have been put to the test with this new job.Not only am I cooking for at least 14 but I have tried more new recipes in the last year than I think I have in previous years put together! I've even tackled coconut shrimp.

While we were shopping for our new couch, we saw this small plaque and Dan thought we should take our picture with it...The things we do to humor each other...

Fall Colors, Our Car Brutally Attacked, A Funfilled Return Home

The fall colors in our area were B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. It was so wonderful to drive around and see the leaves change; they even seemed to last late into the season which added to the enjoyment. I took several snapshots around town to try and capture the beauty of the season.

The colors weren't just in our area either. We took a trip to the Washington DC Temple and captured colorful pictures there as well:

Earlier in the summer I noticed bird doo doo on the doors and scratches on our outside rear-view mirrors and windows. We couldn't figure it out for the longest time. One day I was upstairs and happened to look out and see a male cardinal flitting about on edge of our window attacking the competition he saw in the rear-view mirror! It was such a funny site. As time went on we caught the cardinal on the car but as I pulled out my camera, it would fly away. Finally my patience paid off and I was able to catch the bird in action by still shot and video:

We'd even try putting our car in slightly different places and it still came and attacked. We even saw it on our neighbor's vehicles a time or two. Now we have to try and figure out a way to keep the bird from breaking it's beak and our window or mirror next year. But at least we have proof for the insurance company, if the need arises.

As Thanksgiving drew closer we looked forward to having the whole break off. Since it was time for another Horrocks Thanksgiving, we purchased tickets and flew home for a visit. We spent a couple days with my sister, Lynette, and her family. One of the days the girls kept themselves busy with our camera and our iPad taking pictures of each other. As a result I have lots, I mean LOTS, of pictures similar to these:

Then there are the goofy ones we took and they took, playing around with Photo Booth on the iPad; LOTS of those as well:

While there we met a new niece, had a violin & dance performances, and saw a cutie run pose for her modeling shoot,

 

After our time with them, which included a quick trip up from the southern part of the state by my parents and lunch with my Grandma B, we headed up to Amanda & Jake's for a couple days. Sid came down for our time there and we spent our time purchasing gifts, opening a few, visiting, "befriending" Amanda & Jake's dog Chipper, helping Amanda decorate for Christmas, and a little traditional Mario Kart competition:

The gift we opened from Amanda & Jake-tickets to a Weber State/Utah State basketball game.

Chipper loved Dan, as you can see, the feeling wasn't mutual.

Ideas and help Sid and I gave Amanda for this wall.

 

Our time with Amanda & Jake quickly came to a close. Dan, Sid, & I headed up to Pocatello for Thanksgiving with Dan's siblings and their families. Dan joined Sid for part of the trip and they picked up "tarts" along the way. Then we met about half way and I joined Sid in his car and Dan finished driving our rental to Pocatello. As I was in the car alone, I had stopped for a Dr. Pepper and decided to open it as I drove; that wasn't a very good idea. I managed to spill it, all over, the rental car:

After having the same challenge driving to Girl's Camp a couple years ago you would think I learned my lesson, but no, I had to do it again and do it worse!

 

All of Dan's siblings & siblings-in-law were in attendance for Thanksgiving, as were the nieces and nephews not on missions, in Hawaii, or with in-laws. It was great to be together. There were some fun memories made playing a game of football Thanksgiving day, capturing an Idaho sunrise, playing games, visiting, watching movies, planning black Friday shopping, puzzle putting together, and eating, eating, and eating some more. So good to be together again!

 

 

 

 

So, Dan & Sid's "tarts..." The morning we left for Pocatello we all had breakfast together. As we were visiting about our food assignment, desserts, Jake suggested that we should take pies from McDonald's. The more Dan & Sid thought about it, the more they liked the idea. So as they drove up from Ogden, they stopped at 2-3 McDonald's along the way to purchase 22 of their pies (so long as they were ok with the price). In the mean time, I was at Costco purchasing REAL desserts.

 

Along with the presentation was the desire to keep talking up these fabulous "tarts" they were going to make. With a few minutes to themselves, they quickly opened all the boxes and got the set out on a cookie sheet to reheat them. Good thing the Horrocks are known for humor, everyone got a good laugh at their contribution to the Thanksgiving dessert choices. What a couple of wingnuts!

 

 

Quick as the trip was it was great to see so many loved ones. We loved our time together and look forward to the next gathering!