Flashback Friday

Thought I had given up on them, huh? Well, I have been too busy to blog lately (imagine that!) but I have a flashback for today. I have been trying for a while to scan or transcribe my mission journals and emails onto a hard drive to back them up. I really enjoy reading them because I inherited my mom's bad memory and can't remember a lot of little things about my mission. And thank goodness we were allowed to email and my family printed those off for me, because I was a very inconsistent journal keeper on my mission. Those emails have been the journal I would have kept.

Although a lot of little memories of my mission have inevitably fallen through the cracks, there are definitely some that stand out. Of course, I haven't forgotten everything, and this experience was hard to forget. It was even more memorable to me because I had only been in Russia for a week or less when this happened. Here is what I emailed home:

"The last couple of days have been wild. We had a really great first discussion with the deaf Ukrainians, Yelena and Tanya, and we were in a hurry because we were going to be late. So we grabbed a taxi (stuck out our hand) and a man stopped and we got in. He started talking to Sister Pope about our church, and then later, he said in Russian, “I don't like...” We couldn't hear the rest. Anyway, he flipped the car around really fast, like a U-turn, and it was really scary and unexpected. He stared to slowly go the other way, and Sister Pope told him to stop, and he said no. She told him again and he still said no. I got an impression that we should get out of the car. He was still going, but really slowly. I opened my door, and Sister Pope heard me do that, so she opened hers too, and we both got out and ran. We thought that he was going to turn around and come after us, but he didn't, thank goodness. It was scary. Then that night, our doorbell rang at 2:00 in the morning. Sister Pope woke me up, and we thought it might be one of our members who had been there that night and said that she wasn't going home that night (family trouble, I guess). But I knew it wasn't her. I don't think that Sister Pope would have opened the door anyway. But we decided not to open our door from 9:30 at night until we leave in the morning, unless it is the Elders. So that was kind of scary too. I have to go soon, but just some interesting things about this place: All of the ladies wear really short skirts and high heels. I swear, they're gonna regret it, because the roads here are sooo bad. Pot holes everywhere. It's a mess. And people still dress like they're going on a date or something."

Let's just say that it was an interesting first week in Russia. It did get less dramatic and action-packed.

Here we are with the cake Sister Pope made for my birthday. (These pictures are much later when I had been in Russia long enough to chub out on their yummy pastries and bread.)

My Little Helper

The other night (well, actually it was a while ago) Jonah helped me make dinner: Beef Enchiladas. I have lots of memories of asking for this meal for my birthday dinner and as I got older, helping my mom make it. Jonah thought it was a blast and was excited that he got to wear a cool apron too! He doesn't like getting messy, so I had to keep encouraging him that it was okay that his hand were getting messy. He wanted them washed the minute we were done. Funny kid!

Harry Potter Fans

What do you think?

What Happens When I Spend an Hour on the Phone

Apparently it does snow in Phoenix.

We got a new shelf for the boys' room and I left the box and Styrofoam in my room until Peter could break it down and take it outside to the recycle bin. Looks like I'm going to pay for that hour on the phone with an hour of cleaning up this mess!

Homemade Pajamas and a Photo Dump

I'll start with the photo dump, as I've heard it called. Here's what I cleaned off of my camera. (I apologize for the foggy pictures. I think my camera won't last much longer. I've had it for 5 years and it has lasted well, but it got dropped a few months ago and has been temperamental ever since. It still was working, though. But now I see that I'm going to have to break down and get a new one. By the way, any suggestions for a nice but cheapish point and shoot? I've been eyeing the Nikon CoolPix. Okay, back to the pictures.)

The other night, we had spaghetti for dinner

I didn't realize that Jonah had so many cars and trains!

The kids enjoying the presents they got from their Aunt Kira

Today I was getting ready to decorate this magnet board, but I let the kids play with it first.

And now for the Homemade Pajamas, lovingly made by my mom! She even made the two big kids these adorable pillowcases. Hope you have enough material for Levi someday, Mom. He's going to feel left out! (Click on these to see them better.)

Thanks, Grandma! We LOVE them!

Wednesday Worsts

My Worst Date

Disclaimer: I understand that reading this without having been there might cause one to think that I was/am a snob or something. I'm not a snob- I just had a really bad night!

I was in college at Dixie in St. George. It was Christmas time and Michael McClean was in town performing his Forgotten Carols. The institute choir I was in was asked to sing the choral backups for the shows. We didn't sing backups for all of the songs, so we had a lot of time back stage to just sit around and quietly chat.

There was this guy who, every time we came back stage from singing, would corner me and try to engage me in conversation. I wasn't really in the mood to talk to this weird guy; I had friends there who I wanted to talk to instead. Plus I was getting the feeling this guy was hitting on me and I was not interested at all. In fact, I was trying to avoid him if I could. He was a good stalker.

This went on all night. I was so ready to get out of there. A bunch of my friends and acquaintances were going to go hang out somewhere afterward, but my family was in town and most of them were back at my aunt and uncle's house hanging out. My mom and sister had come to the concert though. I was really looking forward to seeing my family and hanging out with my cousins.

So while I was talking with my mom and sister as we left the auditorium, this guy comes running up to us and asks me to go get some dinner with him. I was flattered, I guess, but I still didn't even know his name at this point and I was anxious to get home and see my family. And here is my downfall; I said okay. Maybe I was trying not to look like a jerk in front of my mom.

Well, it was horrible. I was not excited about this guy. I hate to say it, but he was weird and I was not attracted to him at all. Besides that, he talked non stop and only about himself, which is a huge turn-off for me, especially on a date.

He took me over to Denny's South, which is where everyone goes to hang out after events. And yes, the whole institute was there, including my friends who were wondering who this guy was and what I was doing with him. I was really embarrassed.

I was not really hungry, and wanting to speed things up so I could get home, I didn't order much. But it wouldn't have mattered if I did, because this guy ordered himself the biggest breakfast they had, plus extras. And the absolute worst part was when the food arrived, he started shoveling food into his mouth and never stopped talking. I was sitting across from this guy and could see pieces of scrambled egg getting chomped to smithereens the whole time. I was totally grossed out. He paid no attention to manners or to how I might be feeling. This guy obviously cared more about his food. I wanted to go home.

Finally we left and he took me back to my aunt's. Word had gotten out about my "date" and when I told about what a disaster it was, I was teased mercilessly that evening.

Anyway, that was horrible. Maybe you had to be there, but I cringe every time I visualize sitting across from that guy eating.

Grandma Ruth Gardner Willard

Today was my paternal grandmother's funeral in St. George. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go because Peter had to be at work today.

My Grandma Willard died on December 23rd while we were in Logandale. She was 91 years old. It is strange having both of my Willard grandparents pass on. I guess I always figured that they'd never die. Since my dad is one of their youngest kids, they were already in their 60s when I came around and started having memories that involved them. They were always old to me, and I wish I had known them when they were young.

I like to think of them as younger than I ever knew them- as young kids eloping because their parents didn't really approve, or as young parents raising a bunch of boys. I imagine that my grandma was quite a spunky person. I think you have to be to raise a lot of boys.

What I do know and remember about my grandma is that she loved to visit and talk. Sometimes I would go visit her when I lived in St. George to attend college. I would always be late for work because I simply couldn't get out the door in time.

She collected thimbles from all over the world and loved to show them off. She also loved her garden. She had an amazing garden of irises in every color for years. She was a great cook and she would fix us all kinds of yummy goodies. She also cooked a lot of veggies that I had never heard of or eaten before.

I am sad that both she and Grandpa are gone from us now, but I am actually glad that she made it home in time for Christmas. I had been wondering and worrying what Christmas would be like for her all alone this year. So at least she got to be with Grandpa and all of her family.