Back in red

Aspen went to see my friend Kristin again (she does hair). And she came back looking super cute! And since Aspen likes it, I like it. I especially love that she isn't afraid to try new things even with her hair.

Temple Square is one of my favorite places. I love visiting. I think that every time we go to Utah I take my children to Temple Square. And I think we see different things every time.

This trip we saw the exhibit about the temple. There was an 8 foot model of the Salt Lake Temple. It was cut away to show some of the rooms inside. They were even decorated the same. Pretty cool.

We also went to the Conference Center.

We tried to get in to hear Music and the Spoken Word. But we couldn't find a parking space. Then Maddy broke her heel on her shoes and somehow started bleeding so we had to find the first aid station.

Then I didn't realize that children under 8 aren't allowed in to hear Music and the Spoken Word because it is a live recording performance. So we had to go to another theater. We sat down just in time to hear the last half of the last song. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Afterwards, we toured the Conference Center. It had some cool art,

nice kaleidoscope skylight, fountains, and observation decks. So we had a good time.

16

Today is our anniversary. 16 years ago we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. It still doesn't seem like that long ago. We've come a long way.

• Two degrees
• Four children
• Four dogs, three birds, numerous crabs, and fish
• 11 addresses: 7 apartments, 1 rental house, 3 houses, (we've lived here the longest: 6 years)
• 10 jobs ( I think) in 16 years (both of us combined)
• 5 cars: a VW Rabbit, Hyundai, Ford Escort, Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Durango (we've had our current two (Escort and Durango) for 8 years and 12 years)
• 6 surgeries
• too many church callings to count
• 9 vacations to the beach
• lots of trips cross country (185K miles on my car to prove it)
• Three vacations outside of the country (that we took together)
• and everything in between

But the best is yet to come! I love you Nate.

Hiking the "Y"

One night in Utah we took all the kids to Provo to hike the "Y". It's one of the things I loved to do when I was at BYU. (Amazingly, Erika had never done this.) I did kind of forget just exactly how steep the hike was. And it was a first hike for some of the kids. Kind of a trial by fire. But they were troopers and everyone made it on their own (for the most part). We were trying to get up to the Y for the sunset. We didn't make the sunset, but it was still a fabulous view.