the Graham Cracker House

The Lord said to Noah…

- Sunday, August 14, 2011

...You’re gonna have an awesome time at Camp!

I’ll admit: I was a teeny eensy bit worried. Not being a YW leader, but just invited along for the ride because….. I’m not even sure. I wasn’t involved in a lot of the planning for this years girls camp. But having been to camp last year for a couple days, and knowing the youth like I do, I wasn’t completely clueless or scared.

Our ward (and the whole stake) is a little unique, compared to what I’m used to. We do camp as a stake at the awesome little camping “resort” up a canyon past Park City. We camp in tents and eat and do most activities with our ward. For us, that meant 3 girls, and 3 leaders (except for the day 2 more leaders came up with another girl). Our young un’s are oh-so-cute! And our “yuckle” is slowly but surely learning how to be a leader. We spent a lot of time together and really got to know one another. We battled homesickness and made scrambled eggs together, we paddled canoes and rode ziplines into the water. We sang songs (my favorite part) and performed skits. We decorated journals and survived thunderstorms. We learned about Palmyra and how to start fires. Best of all, we shared testimonies. Stories of Pioneers from long ago and current prompted more and more spiritual thoughts and stories from girls and leaders alike. It was a night to remember! I love how the light of the campfire provides a perfect circle of comfort for us to share our thoughts and feelings. I am grateful to have been a part of this experience for the girls of our ward.

730 days of marriage

The last weekend in July, Bjorn planned a spectacular, yet simple anniversary getaway in downtown Salt Lake. We got a king suite with a hot tub, enjoyed dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant (the Pagoda), and took a carriage ride around temple square and city creek. I have always wanted to take this carriage ride and was so happy to finally get to go! It was a wonderful way to slow down. Just moving slower than all the other cars, trains, and people caused my mind to stop speeding ahead and trying to figure out everything I need to do and how I need to do it. I was able to completely relax and focus on what’s really important: my husband and me. Our marriage.

The next morning we walked to the farmers market and appreciated the slightly cooler weather, making it enjoyable for Bjorn AND me. My favorite booth was the free books! I came away with as many as my arms could carry! After a swim in the pool we had delicious gelatto for lunch, and LOVED it. We are definitely going back to this café.

a couple pictures from the last year together

Overall, though we were able to relax and focus on each other for the weekend, thoughts about buying a house were consuming both of us! Yes, the time has come, we have been house hunting. We are very excited and nervous. We found something that just might work out perfectly! But as of this writing, things fell through and we are still on the hunt again. I am discouraged, but we'll keep at it. Our goal is to have a home of our own by our next Anniversary. We both hope it doesn’t take that long.

Yes, we do spend time with Bjorn's family sometimes

- Friday, August 5, 2011

A happy Sunday in July found us at the home of Bjorn's cousin- the only family he has in Utah (besides me and my gather-ment). A broter of this particular cousin was passing through Utah on their way to new adventures, and between their wives and kids we had a whole household of fun! The kids outnumbered the adults! (just barely) I loved it! I played with cute 2 year old twins, and spirited little boys. The BBQ was deeeeeelicious and the company great. Of course we ended the night with games, as that is how all Graham gatherings go. I was in heaven to be surrounded by so many great people and some super fun kids!

Chaperone? Me? Why Sure!

Once upon a time, a long time ago the "teenage" Clawson cousins had a reunion. I was on my mission at the time and heard a wonderful report of the event. Naturally, when the occasion rose to have the next group of teenagers reunite, I volunteered to help "chaparone" the event. I use the term "chaperone" loosely because we all know that went to play and have fun, BUT, I do have a reputation for bringing order amidst chaos, thus I became officially useful.

I flew to San Diego July 6th and arrived just in the time for the second batch of relatives to be shuttled up to Laguna Beach. The teenagers and 8 Gallands who lived there were enjoying themselves thoroughly (water, sand, video games, playground, you name it.... actually, I don't know exactly what they were doing, but I assume it was fun). Without too much delay we changed into nice clothes, loaded up the van (again), and somehow managed to find the Ahmanson Theater in downtown LA (a feat. let me tell you.) The production of Les Miserables was spectacular! A few of the cousins had read the book in school, and one in particular had fallen in love and begged to see the play all summer (thus, it was included at "cousin camp"). It was my second time seeing Les Miz (professional) and it was very well done. Just as much fun as watching it was watching all the kids get excited for it and enjoy it, and showing off my knowledge of the pit orchestra.

building bricks to start San Diego

The next day was "Down town San Diego". We were down to about 9 kids at this point. Which, you'd think, would make it easier for us 3 adults to keep track of. In the hot sun we toured the old streets, ate fresh tortillas and then ice cream, and in an air conditioned building we learned about the Mormon Battalion (an awesome visitors center! a must see!). The boys sailed on a world famous sailboat while the girls SHOPPED at Seaport Village. We did the Maritime tour together, discovering what life was like on a submarine or 1900 iron sailboat. I found it, intriguing. I also found some motherly skills surfacing as I counted heads every 5 minutes and kept asking for people to pose as I clicked away.

The day finished with In&Out burgers, pool time, and you tube videos.

the girls posing as "sailboats"

This ship was used in Master and Commander and Pirates IV

i love their smiles in this one!

too cool

the greedy seals were great fun to throw/hand fish to

Friday we met Shamu!! SeaWorld was awesome! We got there pretty early and stayed until the park closed at 11. We ran around watching the animals and trainers and acrobats perform, eating food (Grandma got everyone the all-day meal pass, which we put to good use), getting splashed on Shipwreck rapids, saving Atlantis, finding arctic animals, feeding seals, and wandering around construction. We only lost 2 kids! And they both found us later on, so I consider the day a success. Fireworks and a dance party finished off the exausting day. I think the boys would say the Atlantis Dance Club was the best part (with those Australian girls who came over to dance with them as soon as the girl cousins left). It was hilarious!

Moral of the story is: I love teenagers. I can't say this has always been true. Usually babies and toddlers are my favorite. I love all kids, but seem to prefer the little ones. After this weekend I have found the joy in teenagers. They are smart. They are funny. They are willing to make mistakes and learn from them. They are trying to be kind and think of others first. They are very opinionated about music. They are friends. They are my cousins.

Happiest Cruise On Earth

- Tuesday, July 12, 2011

We have been counting down to this trip for over 6 months! It finally came, and is now, sadly, over. We had an incredible time on our Disney Cruise with the Murray family. The memories are sure to last a lifetime. I did a lot of behind the scenes “travel agent” work for all 15 of us, and I admit I enjoyed it. Perhaps I’ll have a budding career in tourism, or maybe I’ll just get to plan every family reunion.

DAY 0: Fly to Orlando! Arrived in Orlando in at midnight, pizza delivered to our hotel, adjusted to the time change, and tried to sleep.

DAY 1: Boarded the Disney Dream! Our shuttle picked all the family from our various hotels and airports, and we happily bounced along to Port Canaveral. Disney Cruise Line has it’s own terminal there, they even have couches and show Disney cartoons in the waiting lounge. Very nice, family oriented. Once on board we….. I don’t remember exactly but I’m pretty sure we toured the ship. Oh wait, we ate lunch first. Yes. Lunch at Cabanas (the everything you can imagine buffet). It was great! We all had a pretty hard time finding each other and finding where things were at first. A comedy/juggling show finished off the evening (though the 8 year old volunteer ran back to the audience after being told they would juggle bowling balls above him while he laid on the floor).

me and Mums (crush in background)

DAY 2: Castaway Cay! This place is incredible! Sailing Hobiecats and snorkeling were our favorite activities on the island today. We people watched, fish watched, and character watched; sat in the sun, played in the sand, and swam in the warm , blue Bahimian water. For lunch we ate delicious fresh fruit and BBQ’d meat on the island. Our dinner was at Animators Palette. I don’t know if I can adequately describe how decked out this place is in animation and constantly changing movie screens. Crush (the REAL turtle) even swam up to us on screen and chatted with our family. He is so funny! Bjorn’s favorite meal of wild boar was tonight.

DAY 3: Nassau will be a nice city… when they finish it. Welcome to a developing country. This place was HOT HOT HOT. And no pools to jump in. My sister reminded us repeatedly that tourism is one of the main sources of income for this country, so we diligently toured a famous staircase and bought some unique souvenirs- just to help them out J. Back on deck, Pirate night was a blast! I never realized how normal it could feel to walk around a cruise ship with a bandana, earring, striped shirt…..and don’t forget the glow stick bracelets! Everyone else dressed in similar attire to enjoy the Pirate themed fireworks show and then dance party. What fun! It was great to be with all my siblings (parents retired earlier for the night), we felt like we were at a Stake Dance again.

PirateMom

when you're a professional pirate....

Bjorn keeping cool in Nassau

DAY 4: “At sea” AKA “try to find ways to keep yourself cool”. We didn’t follow this advice in the morning, but rather caused near heat stroke with a family game of basketball and mini golf on deck 12. But we stayed indoors in the afternoon. “Golden Mickey’s” show was followed by family karaoke (Disney songs of course…. Did I mention that we became overdosed with Disney songs daily? That is all that plays on the overhead speaker, constantly. Good thing I like these songs!). Dinner at the Enchanted Garden required some dressing up, which we were glad to do. Sometimes after three days of swim suits, shorts, and saltwatered hair it feels good to don a dress and a bit of make-up. Bjorn and I finally made it onto the Aquaduck near midnight. I give it 3.5 stars. Exciting, but not worth too long of a wait.

the girls

DAY 5: Last chance to stowaway at castaway cay. It didn’t work unfortunately, but we had an outstanding hobie cat experience. Complete with people falling off the boat and one true capsize. Water rushing all around us, wind in our face. Jumping from side to side to keep the boat balanced. We likely got up to 10 knots! It was epic. Yoga on the beach was only so-so… the sand is not quite as comfortable as a yoga mat, and the snorkeling was still stupendous. Bjorn really came to love snorkeling, he had never had an enjoyable experience before. It was fun for me to watch him get so excited about it. We bid our waiters farewell this final evening…. It was akin to an EFY group saying good bye to their counselors! We weren’t that bad, but some tables around us were in the group hugs and picture taking stage.

DAY 6: Disembark our beautiful ship, and sadly, slowly (we hired the cheapest shuttle we could find, which apparently meant the one with the most frequent stops), we made our way to the condo. It was actually nice to have a relaxing day, I’ll admit. And a nice, basic meal of spaghetti that lasted less than 2 hours. We had a competitive game of volleyball (10 people is such a good number to play with) and then did our souvenir shopping at downtown Disney.

the ultimate lego store: each box has a different color and size of lego piece

DAY 7: I can’t completely describe the insanity of this day. We “did” (meaning, we hit the highlights of) all 4 Disney World theme parks in one day. How we accomplished this , I am still not sure. We did have a magic phone app. that let us know wait times and fast pass times. We did have a lot of water and were even given ice chips from the Disney food vendors. We did go on as many water rides as we could find. We did drive our rental cars between 3 of the parks, and took the monorail once. We did hit Expedition Everest and the new Star Wars (lots of rebel spies in our family!). And we did go on at least 10 thrill rides (roller coasters and drop rides) throughout the course of the day. We ended up with only minimal blisters, and a boat full of memories.

my favorite park this time around

giraffe at Animal Kingdom

more animals at AK

Biker Chic

- Wednesday, June 8, 2011

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Memorial Day weekend means going on a bike. This has been a tradition in my family for years. Bjorn and I upped it this year with TWO bike rides over the weekend. I'll let him tell about Saturday's:

Last year, whilst looking for an adventure, we took our bikes to millcreek canyon (i believe there is a blog about it somewhere nearby). We loved the trail so much that we decided to go again. Last year we went over the july 4th holiday and the upper half of the canyon had just opened, having forgotten that altogether, we drove as far as we could and figuring that it can't be too much farther to the pipeline trailhead, we unloaded the bikes and started riding. We rode about half a mile before Coleen decided walking the bikes was a better idea. Soon after it was time for me to walk both bikes and about a mile and a half-ish from the car we made it to the trail (conveniently coleen was convinced it was only a 1/2 mile up canyon ride).
The pipeline trail is a 14 mile overall, down hill cycle trail that hugs a very steep canyon wall 9/10ths of the time. It has some steep rocky bits and a lot of fun winding turns. There is a set of switchbacks about halfway that requires skidding the rear tire to make or you can get off and walk. Coleen took the entire ride like a champ she even did the crazy whoops perfectly until we got to the last 1/10th which is very steep, very technical, and has many rocks, steps, and minor drop-offs. this part of the trail is called rattlesnake.
I found it exciting and adventurous, it was an absolute blast. Coleen found it, well, less enjoyable, and my bike brakes found it hot (turns out that hydraulic disk breaks are prone to heating if used constantly, they started turning colors so we stopped and let them cool for a bit). It was a great way to spend a few morning.

click here to view pictures

Monday rolled around cool and damp with not a whole ton of sun shine-y promise. Still, people were counting on us! We had committed to go. Our group of 10 met at the parking lot to the entrance of Provo Canyon, and 2 more members met us at the top of Bridal Veil Falls. It was a somewhat trecherous ride up. Definitley cool weather, a lot of rain, some hail, and a bit of wind. Luckily most of us have ridden the trail before (many times before) so we knew how quick the trip could be, and weren't as bothered by the hail and wind. Some did threaten to turn back, but we all made it to the Falls eventually.. Happily, just moments before our arrival, the sun began to peek out over the clouds! We played around the waterfall, hiking up and down and soaking up the sun. The trail down was quick and sunfilled. The Provo River Trail is beautiful! I love riding through the trees next to a roaring river (the highest I've ever seen the water this year). Thank you, nature.

to Zion and Beyond

- Saturday, May 14, 2011

<3

Another getaway weekend for the Grahams! I am very lucky to get to spend a weekend with just me and my husband. Of course this wasn't spontaneous- I'm way too much of a planner for that. We had a hotel in Saint George and also tried to see the Grand Canyon, but spent most of our time in Zion National Park.

our first stop was a hike down the road and into the river off a scenic overlook

not a real trail

the end of "watchman" hike

my hot husband

celebratory jump on completing the hike

obedient as always

a real town just outside of Zion's Park

Zion's was very different from what I remembered of my last visit 15+ years ago. They have become very eco-friendly. Which I guess, is a good thing. They don't allow bottled water to be sold in the park, they have free "water bottle filling stations" the water of which has been naturally purified by 400 feet of sandstone (*read* a little bit of grit in the water). They also don't allow cars into the upper half of the park during the spring/summer and instead have a system of busses that run on propane to take tourists around.

the waterfalls of emerald pools

I loved the waterfalls on this trip! The maps couldn't promise us any, but the visitors guide says waterfalls can just appear out of nowhere. Stopping and starting due to flash floods miles away. I was HOPING to get to see at least one, and we saw quite a few! We even saw one stop via the wind blowing the water up and over another direction. Very cool.