Picking up Hyrum from BYU

Last week Hyrum - now Elder Watson - left for the MTC and eventually Pittsburgh, PA and its surroundings. Most of our summer has been spent preparing him (and us!) for this glorious two year quest of his. So let's back up!

Hyrum loved BYU. He enjoyed his first year of studies as a math major, attended lots of sports games, made friends, and generally had a blast. He also got his mission papers turned in before he turned 18. In February he got his call to the PA Pittsburgh Mission and we started preparations. April 22-23 we drove up to Provo to fetch our son back home for almost two months.

Nia took an impressive number of landscape photos from the back seat during the drive. I'm including one here. 

One fond memory was on the first day I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner. They excitedly chose KFC, which we can't typically get in town and most years only have on Dec 23 as a family tradition. On the one hand, it was delicious. Our main takeaway, however, was to never do that again in the car -- no plates or silverware makes it REALLY hard to dish out greasy chicken and sides! Lots of clothes got messy. Chaotic fun.

We made it to BYU and checked into our hotel just across the freeway from the Orem temple. It's not often (for me) you get a view of the temple from your hotel! We were there for just a few minutes when Hyrum let us know he was done with his finals and ready to receive us.

After a quick peek at his room, we drove to the tennis courts across campus so he and JT could play some tennis before leaving. J: "Didn't you also play with him?" I did for a few minutes. We grabbed a bite at the cafeteria - a much more expansive and impressive place than when I was there 25 years ago - and then spent a frenzied hour moving Hyrum's stuff out of his room and cleaning it up for an earlier-than-expected inspection. We made it! J: "Though we did miss a couple of drawers, they were okay with me cleaning them out after the inspection." What a nice Mommy! Nia was also very helpful. "Hyrum wished he hadn't needed any help. It's hard to move."

After a short walk through campus, Hyrum went to say goodbye to some friends and we went back to the hotel. Joy and I repacked some of his stuff to take up less room and chose some cleaning supplies we really didn't need to haul back to Texas with us. Even though we four had only brought a couple carry-ons, unloading an entire dorm room filled the car surprisingly well! That was Hyrum's last night at the Y for the next few years. Here is Nia at the library, the place of her soul's delight.

DisneyWorld 25-26, Day 3, 5, 6

 Wed (31) - Magic Kingdom

We spent New Year's Eve in the Magic Kingdom. Our family huddled near the exit from Tomorrowland for the fireworks at midnight. Everyone else had gone to bed. Disney sure does know how to do a good display!

This was the day John-Thomas discovered the joy of roller coasters and began going on ALL of them.

It was an odd day because we kept splitting up. Joy walked with the rest of us to Pirates, which she doesn't like, then walked back to join Steve's family for the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train. The mine train was A's favorite, so she went on it as many times as her special pass would allow, taking each of us with her 2-3 at a time. That's also why we kept getting together and splitting up again. 

We have known for a long time that Nia looks a lot like my mother.
This picture shows that JT gets his looks from her too!

I had this memory that the Autopia was "too easy" a driving experience. Maybe it is at DisneyLand, but in the Magic Kingdom it is one of the hardest cars to manuever! You have to keep jerking the wheel back and forth to stay going straight, but you can keep the wheel straight to go around curves smoothly. JT enjoyed it greatly, and you can see Nia here being very cool about it.

A and I, Grandma and JT

That night we also caught the Country Bear Jamboree, which they have updated to include a bunch of countrified Disney songs. I have to say, it was a blast! Nia and I were falling over ourselves laughing.

L and Pluto

Fri (2) - Animal Kingdom

After Give Kids the World, we spent Friday at the Animal Kingdom, where I got my newest hat: a safari pith helmet. It's very good at shade and keeping cool, but is not as good at blocking rain as I thought it would be. For some reason I think of wicker holes as being less permeable than they are. Nia says, "It was the first time I ever left a store bearing my personalized name on something. You can NEVER find those ANYWHERE if you have a unique name. It was an engraved bracelet, and only $15 or less, and I was like, MINE." Joy got a tribal drum that fits in your hand.

Nia and I had a great time during the safari. Our tour guide kept pointing out things on the trail and saying, "And we know that because...." So when we got to the Baobab tree, he explained that it actually grows that way; nobody had planted it upside down accidentally. I called out, "And we know that because....?" He didn't get what I was saying, so Nia helped. "How do we know that someone didn't sneakily plant it upside down?" That stumped the guide. He said he was going to be pondering that all day. And he referred to it again as we left.

Joy remembers really enjoying the safari ride. We got to see a lot more animals than usual, everywhere we looked. "And there was a walk through Asian architecture and animals that was really nice too. I enjoyed the bird sanctuary. I worried about getting pooped on, but they always make the bird sanctuaries so green and pretty" Nia remembers meeting up with Pop and Grandma on the walk.

My favorite fun fact about Baobab trees is that in German they are
Monkey-Bread-Trees.

We love breakfasting at the Tusker House. It's a character buffet with both traditional Mickey breakfast items plus a number of African specialities. Joy says, "It seems there was some yummy whip cream thinger that they were serving that was really good."

Hyrum was sick starting today. He hadn't been feeling too well at Give Kids the World, but today he was really down. He hoped to rejoin us when Pop and Grandma did at lunch, but he still wasn't up to it. So he spent all day at the hotel.

L at the Yak & Yeti

Nia and JT loved the Mt Everest roller coaster. My stomach can still just manage it and the seats are ever so much more comfortable than the Matterhorn at Disneyland. 

We watched the Nemo play. Joy says, "I think that was my favorite play." L and A enjoy the plays and bring us along. "It was cute and fun and worth watching." And of course we love our dinosaurs. We managed to catch one of the last showings of the new Zootopia 3D show that replaced A Bug's Life. I had pointed out the holes in the seats to JT, telling him about how little bugs would poke you during the previous show, and there they were again in the new one! 

Dinner was at the Yak and Yeti, which we hadn't ever tried. It was one of my favorite dinners. We also got their souvenier mugs of Buddha's head, which turned into a .. well, not a running gag, but we sure did buy a lot of souvenier mugs this trip! Nia enjoyed some shopping with Grandma. At one point the ladies tried to sneak away to do some shopping, but the menfolk had no other instructions, so we picked a direction and started walking ... right behind them. They got about 2 minutes of uninterrupted shopping. Sorry, ladies!

We usually get through the Animal Kingdom in half a day, but this time it took the full day! The park was spectacularly crowded. I had expected worse crowds on the 31st, but they came out in force once the New Year started!

Sat - Hollywood Studios

Joy, Nia, and JT got up extra early in the hopes of catching Rise of the Resistance before the line got long. I stayed with Hyrum for a bit, but he urged me to get to the park and enjoy myself. I caught up to them at the Resistance, but Joy had left the line to find breakfast. She was too late for the breakfast and then missed us in line too! A very disappointing start to her day. Nia and JT waited for Joy at the end of the line and convinced the cast members to let her in all the way to the start. Joy had many worries for her children, "But none of my worries happened, and it was nice."

I remember being very disappointed about Rise of the Resistance. It's one of my absolute favorites, but for whatever reason they opted to have the line skip all of the cool interactive stuff, like Rey inviting you to join and BB-8 and all that. Nia says, "I think they were down, out of order ... which is funny because it's the First Order, so maybe that's why they were down." The ride didn't quite break down while we waited for it to start, but it was a long delay. Some of the props hadn't been cleaned in a while, it seemed. It just felt like an older ride than it is! Star Tours was great, though!

The Little Mermaid play left something to be desired. There's, like, only one human actress (Arial of course). Everyone else is either a muppet or CGI. "Even Eric was a muppet!" Joy agrees. Eric and Arial don't even kiss at the end! But it is a good review of the excellent songs, with just enough plot to tie them together. The effects are good.

JT with his new lightsaber

Hyrum joined us with Pop after lunch while we were in line for Toy Story Mania. I gave up my scooter so he could sit, but as a merely-17-yr-old he wasn't allowed to drive. So I manned the controls and walked alongside it in line. I won the Toy Story Mania for our car.

We eventually decided between the rain and him and JT not feeling well that I would take them back to the hotel for a nap before dinner while the others headed to the Rock n' Roller Coaster for our last chance to ride it before it is upgraded. Unfortunately, it took us so long to get to the hotel, that it was already time to leave for dinner! So we just traveled for a couple hours, arriving last to the dinosaur restaurant in Disney Springs. Think of a Jurassic Rainforest Cafe and you've got it. We sat in front of the T-Rex. Every 20-30 minutes, the meteor strikes as the lights change color and all the dinosaurs scream for their lives. Joy says, "That was one of my favorites. It had a lot of atmosphere. It wasn't just a place with some decorated walls - it was a different world! That made it fun."

Most everyone went home after dinner, but Joy, Nia in her wheelchair, and I tried to find a particular souvenier. We got caught in one of the most torrential downpours! We took cover in a surf shop for 15 minutes while I found a couple ponchos. Nia remembers the hard time she had picking a souvenier at the many parks. She eventually chose an Eiffel Tower from EPCOT "to be my special little souvenier."

One of these days, no memory which one, Joy and I grabbed a deep fried Hawaiian roll and some corn dogs on the Boardwalk. That deep fried roll was surprisingly good! "Tasted like a really good cinamon roll," Joy says. 

Fossil Rim

Most summers we like to get season tickets for somewhere interesting and really enjoy it. One year (21-22) we did Fossil Rim, the safari park near Glen Rose, TX. We visited often and enjoyed each trip, but one thing we never seemed to manage was to get there first thing in the morning. This year, someone - I think it was the alumni association - paid for all faculty and staff at Tarleton to get free access for a couple weeks. So shortly before graduations, we drove down and really enjoyed seeing much more active animals than we would find in the mid- or late-afternoon in the Texas heat. (Go figure!)

One of our best encounters was the first and also the last. An ostrich came over, feeling very aggressive, to demand our food pellets. It attacked Joy through the window and tried to eat the toy giraffe hanging there by its neck. Joy tried to protect herself ... using the bag of food pellets! She quickly realized how counterproductive that was and closed the window. When we left the park again, the ostrich came to dance for us and snuggle with the van. 

Joy: I think the ostrich was trying to open the window so it could get to me.

Joy: Everyone that wanted to had personal encounters with the giraffe.

D: Often there is a long line of cars for the giraffes. They are quite adept at welcoming themselves inside in a gentle, non-threatening way (unlike the ostrich!) It was nice to have this one to ourselves for a while.

Turns out, 2021-22 when we had season passes was the last time we went to Fossil Rim. Joy took the kids to Fossil Rim a number of times while I had to work. Given that I wasn't blogging that year, here are some pictures from a couple of those trips too, below the fold:

Falliage

 We enjoyed driving through the Stephenville foliage after church. No, it's not upstate New York foliage, but it's nice in its own way. One of our favorite trees was ours. Here are pictures of each of us trying to climb our tree. Happy autumn!

Smiles from Apr-May

Random pictures of the kids and life from mid-April to the end of May. In one of his last soccer games of the season, Superstar managed to kick in three goals - all his team scored. This was the third of them. HOORAY for SUPERSTAR!

I am a Jedi, like my father before me.
(JT hits HARD)

April zoo pictures

In April we invested in some Dallas Zoo tickets, hoping we would regularly attend over the summer. Turns out "regularly" meant twice. We're going to go again this coming Saturday, though, so that will make three. The Dallas Zoo is really nice - looks nice, good collection of animals, fun dinosaur statues all over the place, great kids' area. Here are some animal pictures and videos we liked:

Smiles inspired by nature from Mar-Apr

In writing an introduction to herself, my daughter wrote that she wants to be an economist when she grows up. *cue warm fuzzies*

Sunrises after seminary

 Looky looky who I caught a picture of!

She happened to be building a fort out of gym squares
when Elder Rasband spoke about building a fortress of faith.

Between sessions of General Conference,
we go walking along the Bosque River Trail

We got tickets for the Dallas Zoo this year. We didn't end up going as often during the summer as we expected, but we've had fun the few times we did manage to go. Here are pictures of children and statues and a little video of our three monkeys. (This is my circus!)

Nov-Dec 2018 - End of being a faculty fellow

Time to do some catch up!
JT's school wanted to remind their students at Thanksgiving to be "Thankful 4" by writing the things they were thankful for on a number four.

Enjoying the fall colors

To Light the World, we continued our tradition of inviting the kids to donate
most of their toys. (Why most? Because we've had a hard time keeping them
clean and organized, and they don't play with the vast majority anyway.)

The farewell dinner for Beth and me

This year was my last as a Faculty Fellow at Tarleton. This was a tragically sad thing. I love(d) working with Jim, Kelly, and the other Fellows. Faculty Fellows are involved in teacher development programs to increase faculty's teaching, research, and service abilities. It got me involved in the broader Tarleton community while working with some of the greatest, friendliest, funniest professors anybody could know. Oh, sure, we still see each other now and then; but when Jim, Kelly, and I had "the talk" about how I was about to come to the end of my days, I was depressed. I felt like I'd been to a funeral!

Dec '18 Graduation - the colleges of business and education.

A new tie from one of my seminary students

The sunrise from our home one morning - one the benefits
of teaching seminary.

We had a lot of fun making caramel/chocolate apples
 for my mother for Christmas.

We practiced telling gospel stories with felt pieces
I ... can't tell what story Princess was telling here.

The boys, helping us get ready for Christmas with my parents.

Hi, buds

Yesterday, the barest few buds were on the tree. Today, 1/4 of the tree has leaves. After this week's rain it should be looking pretty good!

In South African restaurant, meals eat you

After the safari, petting the tiger, and wandering through the more zoo-ish part of the zoo (skipping completely their reptile house and children's playground), we thought it was high time we got some lunch. Very nice sandwiches - some of the best grilled cheese any of us ever had and my Dagwood sandwich lived up to its namesake. But the thing to remember isn't the food, it's sitting next to taxidermy that's ready to eat you:

And then there's the life-size elephant sculptures outside with a ladder so you can climb up and take pictures.