So....

Todd and I are going here later this week for our 10th anniversary!

I'm pretty darn excited because I've never been! I have always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon but we've never made it. Besides looking over the rim - is there anything you can recommend? A great restaurant? A trip to Sedona or Flagstaff, perhaps?

Any ideas?

Check out this hilarious post by Jennifer H.!

This post is very cool!

Creature the superstar

My cute niece had a photo shoot with her daughter the other day. Click HERE to see the cutest little girl in the world. I may be a little biased. =)

I was bitterly jealous and decided I wanted to have my own photo shoot. Elora's at work. Connor's in Paris. Darren's in Russia. Larissa's at grandma's. Todd said "no".

Pfft.

So, I present "Creature" to you in all of his glory. (Baby Bear didn't want to play.)

He wanted this song played during the photo shoot. His favorite!

Here is a great shot showing his love of my plants.









Here he is trying to solve the world's problems (or possibly he spotted a bug).










His sultry pose.








Having a little lunch time snack. The posing must have tuckered him out.









He wouldn't wear the rhinestone boa I tried to wrap around him.

I don't get why my brother thinks I'll be a crazy cat lady when I grow up.

Brian - have I totally embarrassed myself here? Should I hang up blogging for good?

Jan's Giveaway!

Check out Jan's Target giveaway. This is a good one!! She reached 300 posts and wants to share the love!

Jan rocks!

Joel Hills Johnson - Pioneer

Today is Pioneer Day in Utah. On this day in 1847, the first LDS pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.

My great-great-great grandfather, Joel Hills Johnson, traveled with another group of pioneers and entered the valley in 1848.

This is from his journal:

"We started from Winter Quarter in W. Richards company, on the 5th day of July for the place of our destination and after much fatigue, many hardships and difficulties, and the loss of one yoke of oxen, one heifer and twenty two sheep we arrived in the city of Great Salt Lake on the 19th day of October 1848. Having accomplished a journey of fifteen hundred miles from Knox County, Illinois to Great Salt Lake City."

And one of his many poems:

I prayed to God for faith and grace,
By night and day,
And means to leave that sickly place,
And speed away.

He heard my cry and said to me
Though sore oppressed
By cruel foes yet you shall see
A day of rest.

He blest my hands, I bought and sold
And every trade
He gave me thrice. So not with Gold
A fit out made.

I sped me then unto the west
To shun my foes.
And find a land that God had blest
Mid mountains snows.

My way was hard and rough 'tis true
Yet I possessed
Faith in my God and kept in view
A land of rest

I reached the land my heart desired
And thanked the Lord
That I so far from mobs retired
Could keep His work.

Joel Hills Johnson eventually made his home in Cannonville, near Bryce Canyon. It's no secret that I love the area of Bryce Canyon. I feel home when I am there. I'm sure this love is compounded by the fact that my ancestors roamed the valleys.

I hope I never forget their sacrifices.

Mosaic

This is a lot of fun! Give it a try. I shamelessly stole the idea from Julie's blog because I'm fresh out of blog ideas. Check out her mosaic. Thanks Julie~!

The mosaic:
1. Jodi 2. Pizza 3. Hillcrest High School 4. Salmon 5. Napoleon - duh! 6. Water 7. Macchu Picchu, Peru 8. Punkin Pie (mmm) 9. Wise 10. God and family 11. Curious 12. Redhoodoos (if I had a flickr account)

Here is how you can play too:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (kid version: favorite animal?)

Where in the world is Connor? And a TAG!

My spunky son is roaming the globe for the next two weeks! I'm missing him something fierce.



Right now he's in England touring castles.













Thursday he'll see this.


















Next week he'll SKYDIVE (!) over the Swiss Alps.

He'll end his trip in Rome.

He's my world traveler, for sure!

Hey! I was tagged by the wonderful Jan! Go see her funny post about a phone call she received. I laughed and laughed!

I'm supposed to come up with six words that describe my life. This was not easy!

Here they are:

• Changing
• Abundant
• Busy
• Fun
• Faithful
• Learning

Now I tag 5 people - and this was not easy either! I want to tag all of you.

1. Miss Mattie 2. Comcewens 3. Mother Goose 4. Tammy 5. Kitchen Ditcher

I'm hopping over to your blogs right now to let you know you've been tagged.

Have a super day!