Memorial Day

We had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Although, it dawned on me that I completely forgot to do our family history spotlight.  We might have to switch that because I hate to skip it!

Saturday was all about working in the yard.  That seems like that is mostly what our Saturdays are like.  Which I am not complaining (too much).  I actually really enjoy working in the yard but we have so many projects going on it seems like there is never enough time.  

Sunday we went to church and then decided to drive over to Soda Springs to visit the cemetery.  My Papa Joe and Aunt Brenda are buried there and it was sweet to be able to visit them and to talk to the kiddos about what Memorial Day is.  I am really glad we took the time to do that.  We also made a quick stop at my cousin's house to drop something off for her and then went and visited my Grandma Dixie for a little bit.  It was fun to talk with her and it never gets old to me to watch my kids play with the same toys I remember so fondly at her home.  

That night we also had a bit of a surprise when we learned that Daniel and Teresa and their family were in town.  They came over late that night to talk and play games.  It's so fun to spend time with their family.  

Monday was another WORK day!  I was hoping it would just be a morning project (and I felt the project gremlins laugh at me) and it ended up taking the ENTIRE day.  That was a bit of a bummer but I love how it turned out.  I desperately needed a check mark on my to-do list - and I got one!  I painted our front door - and FIVE coats later - it is done!  It looks so good (or at least I think so) and I was so happy to get that done.  

Also, I know my flower pots look pretty sad - it finally got warn enough last week that I thought I could plant them but they definitely haven't taken off yet!

When I was finally rinsing out my brushes at 5 o'clock I was definitely not up for making dinner.  Plus, we have decided that we need to eat out a little more because we've hardly been to any of the eating places around town (mostly because they are only open for the summer and we hate the crowds).  So we packed up the kids and went and tried a new place.  It was good food but we probably won't go back ($10 kid meals are not our thing).  

We are so grateful for the men and women that have bravely fought for our freedoms.  

T-Ball

So I've been feeling a pull to put Jacob into some activities.  I found out that they were doing a little T-Ball Camp for the kiddos at our city park and thought that would be perfect to get his feet wet.  This was really good for Jacob.  Jacob has a hard time inserting himself into social situations.  He loves to be around people but is just unsure about how to "do it".  We are trying to help him out with this.  We love this boy.  

We are hoping to do more baseball fun with him throughout this summer!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  The beginning of the day was very normal and I taught the lesson in young womens.  It was fun to see the cute gifts the kiddos made in Primary for me - especially the questionnaire they each filled out! 

We came home, had lunch and put Sarah and Benjamin down for a nap and then I went to lay down in bed too.  It felt so nice to just lay in bed and relax.  I enjoyed it so much - I never left!  Once I heard the kiddos getting up, I turned to Mark and told him what I had planned for dinner and he went off to take care of kids and make dinner.  I felt a little guilty but, if I am being honest, it also felt pretty great!  It was nice to have an afternoon off and just do absolutely nothing.  

Mark made a yummy dinner and we both had an equally good laugh at his rolls (for some reason they didn't rise at all and looked quite sad).  It was a low-key relaxing kind of day.  

I am so grateful to be a mother.  It has always been my dream job and it still is.  These children are apart of who I am and I would be lost without them.  I love them forever and am so grateful that I get to spend my days learning and growing with them.  

This year, the Church released a video about being "just a Mom".  I loved it.  As what seems to be the world we live in, I know there were some that didn't appreciate it or didn't agree with what it was saying or portraying.  But I loved it.  I've actually had people get upset when I respond that I am "just a Mom" saying that I am more than that.  And I appreciate and understand what they are saying.  But I've also always had a really strong testimony of what motherhood is.  Being a mom truly is all I've ever wanted to be.  I've told Mark that if my obituary only comments on me being a mother and wife I would be okay with that.  I believe that role to be divine and I love being "just a Mom" because I have always known that that title means a lot.  I felt like that video spotlighted that.  I love being a Mom. 

I am grateful for the many amazing women in my life.  I would't know how impactful mothers could be if I didn't have an incredible one to learn from.  My mother is kind, selfless, creative, faithful, strong and supportive.  I have an amazing second mother that teaches and guides me.  I am blessed to have wonderful women surround me and am so grateful.  

Elder's Quorum Secretary

Last month, Mark was released as the Ward Mission Leader and two weeks ago was called to be the new Elder's Quorum Secretary in our ward.  He gets to work with some truly amazing men and is grateful to learn and serve the men and families in our ward.  

Art Institute

Uggg...I am SO behind in blogging!  

AND I realized that I never finished writing about our trip to Chicago!

Our last day in Chicago was more laid back-ish which was good because we were tired.  We slept in, or Mark slept in (the children have destroyed my ability to sleep in apparently), grabbed some breakfast and then walked over to the Art Institute of Chicago.  This place was amazing!  And ENORMOUS!  I felt like a kid in a candy store.

We immediately were overwhelmed with how much there was to see but I knew our first stop HAD to be the Impressionism section.  I have been obsessed with impressionism art ever since I can remember.  I love how it makes me feel.  I was so excited to see everything.  It did not disappoint.  We saw Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte - 1884.  It was so interesting to see close up - and HUGE! 

And they had an entire room dedicated to Claude Monet who is my all-time favorite artist ever.  I was in heaven.  We saw several paintings from is water lilies series (which are my favorite) as well as his Stacks of Wheat. 

We definitely took our time in this section and we have no regrets about that.  We then went in search of some other must-sees in the museum. 

Next we headed over to the European Painting and Sculpture section, and most notably saw El Greco's The Assumption of the Virgin.  This was also a very large piece and was very interesting to learn more about. 

We went and looked at some of the medieval armor which was really interesting.  They had it displayed so cool and I definitely learned a lot. 

The Ando Gallery was...different.  This was one of those things that I know I was not getting (I struggle with contemporary art).  But we saw it, took it in, and moved on. 

We then walked through the Asian Art section and saw the Buddha Shakyamuni Seated in Meditation.  It is so fascinating to see art from all corners of the world and time.  Their current exhibit was about China - specifically their bronzes.  This went really well with the exhibit we had just seen the day before at the Field Museum. 

Next up was the American Art exhibit.  This was a bit of a downer.  We were really hoping to see the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood (you know the one with the man and woman farmer with the pitchfork).  But, sadly, it was on loan to another museum so we didn't get to see it.  We did see Archibald John Motley, Jr.'s Nightlife painting.  It was interesting to see his colors and style. 

We were definitely getting worn down at this point.  We had packed a TON into this weekend and I think we were just tired.  We grabbed some lunch to refuel and we kept going!

We stopped and looked at Marc Chagall's American Windows which were multiple stained glass windows that were really interesting to look at.  Who doesn't love stained glass?!

Last up was modern and contemporary art.  Guys, I want to like and understand this art.  But I just don't get it.  I really don't.  I don't know how you can go from pretty much any other art period of the world and then look at contemporary and modern art and have the same feeling.  I think it will be forever ingrained in my memory an experience I had while I was on an AP Art History trip in San Francisco my senior year of high school.  We were in a museum in the contemporary section and there was this huge canvas that was entirely blank but had a giant red dot in the circle.  And there was someone sitting in front of it...crying...because they were so moved by it.  I remember standing in front of it trying to understand and I just can't get there.  Anyway, that was a tangent.  BACK TO CHICAGO.   Also, if I have offended anyone with my opinions of modern art, I apologize.  Teach me.  

We did get to see quite a few Pablo Picasso paintings, most notably his The Old Guitarist.  Mark and I tried really hard to get some feeling from Joan Mitchell's City Landscape and I think we just concluded that we are country loving people.  They also had a couple of Andy Warhol prints.  

Long day but SO good.  The museum was incredible.  We then went back to our hotel and grabbed our bags and hopped on the train back to the airport.  We landed in Salt Lake at about 9:30 that night and headed back up to Garden City.  A BIG "thank you" to my parents for watching our kiddos for us so that we could enjoy this amazing weekend.  It was amazing to spend some time together and especially to watch John Williams.  It was definitely a once in a lifetime thing for me (and second for Mark ;)).  

John Williams

Mark has a deep appreciation for music.  I remember smiling to myself after getting in his car on our first date and he was playing music from the soundtrack of Star Wars and wondering what I had gotten myself into.  It still makes me smile just to think of it.  As Mark and I's relationship progressed so did my knowledge of another man, John Williams.  I must admit, I had never heard of John Williams before, but I definitely had heard his music before.  As I am sure pretty much every other person on the planet has...truly.  This man is a creative genius and although I don't have quite the love affair that Mark has with him, I admire him for what he does.  He's composed the music for Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T., the Indiana Jones series, Home Alone, Jurassic Park, and the first three Harry Potter movies - and so many others.  

Mark had gone to a John Williams concert previously in California but has talked about going to another one pretty much ever since we got married.  Seeing as John is 86 years old, we knew he could "retire" anytime and so when Mark approached me last fall about going to this concert I knew we had to go.  This is what brought us to Chicago!

Sunday morning we got up and going early and walked over to The Field Museum.  This museum was incredible and probably the most amazing museum I've ever been too.  It became immediately apparent that we could spend days here and we only had about two to three hours.  

Isn't the building amazing?!

We spent a good chunk of our time looking at The Ancient Americas exhibit.  It was so interesting to see that area from the time of the Ice Ago to present day.  We learned about the Aztec empire and the city of Tenochtitlan.  It was fascinating.  

We also spent some time looking at the Cyrus Tang Hall of China which was really interesting.  They had lots of rubbings, bronzes and ceramics and it was neat to learn more about their culture.  

Mark was pretty bummed because "Sue" was not up.  Sue is the largest, most extensive and best preserved tyrannosaurus rex ever found and lives at The Field.  But they are building a new area for her and so are still putting her back together.  We were able to see them working on her but that was it.  I guess we will just have to go back!

The highlight here was probably seeing the mummy exhibit.  This is a special exhibit they have right now and it was so fascinating.  They had fourteen mummies and I don't think I have ever seen one before.  And oddly, or maybe not oddly, it made me feel a little weird or insensitive.  It felt strange looking at someone that had lived thousands of years ago.  I also had no idea that people in Peru have been mummifying people long before Egyptians.  It was interesting to learn the different ways they did it and why.  

In Egypt, most mummies were embalmed and their organs removed.  They were layed flat on their backs with their legs extended outward and were encased in wood coffins and stone sarcophaguses.  And were usually buried in secure tombs.  In Egypt, they mummified people to help their spirits live on in the next world.  In Peru though, they weren't embalmed and their organs were left inside.  They sat in a crouched position with their legs drawn up against their chests.  They were buried in fabric, clothed and given a false head.  And they were buried in accessible underground pits.  In Peru, they mummified people to allow the living to remain connected with the dead.  Interesting.  

Peruvian Mummies

On the right, is a mother and child.  

Replica of the pits they were buried in

Egyptian Mummy

They created these miniature servants to be buried with them to serve them in the after life

I love learning. 

We then grabbed some lunch at the museum and then walked over to the Shedd Aquarium.  This was a-mazing!  Again, we felt like we were so rushed but it was amazing to see what we saw.  We both loved how they organized their aquarium, which seems silly but it was just awesome.  Everything was in these large floor to ceiling tanks so you could see everything.  It was so cool.  

They had dolphins which we saw from a distance but didn't have time to watch the show.  But my favorite was watching the belugas!  They had five (maybe six - I can't remember) and they were so much fun to watch.  I loved them.  

We then made the walk over to the Chicago Symphony Hall.  We were able to attend a Q&A before and hear from the other conductor (who would be conducting the first half of the concert) and one of the individuals playing the trumpet.  It was fun to hear what they had to say.  

The concert was incredible.  The venue was beautiful.  The players were amazing and definitely artists in their own right.  But there was something incredible though about John Williams.  I teased Mark that I just wanted to watch HIM watch the concert but promised that I wouldn't (I contained myself to just a few glances).  It is amazing to watch someone you love, love something so much.  

Here is what they played...I thought it was a little Star Wars heavy...but I was in the minority I think. ;)  Either way, it was amazing.  

Richard Kaufman conducted the first half:

- Overture to The Cowboys

- Suite from Jane Eyre

- The Adventures of Mutt from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

- A New Beginning from Minority Report

- Adventures on Earth from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Intermission

John Williams conducted the second half and the encore:

- Flight to Neverland from Hook

- A Child's Tale: Suite from The BFG

- Out to Sea and Shark Cage Fugue from Jaws

- With Malice Towards None from Lincoln

- The Rebellion is Reborn from Star Wars: The Last Jedi

- Rey's Theme from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

- The Throne Room and End Title from  Star Wars: A New Hope

Encore

- Marion's Theme from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark

- March from Superman

- The Imperial March from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

After the concert we headed to dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe and it was so yummy.  

It was a great day.