Award-Winning Artist

Earlier this summer, our local newspaper had a 20-ish page coloring book-type insert in it. Each page was sponsored by a local merchant, and had a picture of either a fun summer activity or something that represented that business. Ryan looked through the book, decided the prizes he was most interested in winning, and colored the corresponding pages. One day when I was working, Papa took him around to turn them in. It was going to be a couple of weeks until judging occurred, so he patiently waited.

The first call came from Murphy’s Guitars. No, he didn’t win the grand prize – a ukulele. They awarded every participant a kazoo.His second call was from Yogi Berry, a frozen yogurt shop in NSL. He won a $10 gift card! We ALWAYS love fro-yo gift cards!Along those lines, his third call was from Orange Leaf, our favorite fro-yo place, very close to our house. He also won a $10 gift card there! (They took a picture of him with his “major award.” For those of you who frequent Orange Leaf, look for his picture to be posted!) The next time we're in there, I'll take his picture by his picture. :)Some of the merchants were going to judge at the end of the summer. We’ll keep you posted on any more winnings!

Swimming, Mining, and Parading

On Friday, July 23, we had a busy but fun day! As with the rest of the summer, we had swim team at 7:00 in the morning. Then we had the opportunity to go to the Kennecott Copper Mine with Ryan’s Webelos (Cub Scout) den. The den currently consists of Ryan and one other boy, so the two boys, their den leader and I went. Here are some interesting facts about the Kennecott Copper Mine:
•Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Mine has produced more copper than any mine in history - about 18.1 million tons.
•The mine is 2-3/4 miles across at the top and 3/4 of a mile deep. You could stack two Sears Towers (now known as the Willis Building) on top of each other and still not reach the top of the mine.
•The mine is so big, it can be seen by the space shuttle astronauts as they pass over the United States.
•By 2015, the mine will be at least 500 feet deeper than it is now.
•If you stretched out all the roads in the open pit mine, you'd have 500 miles of roadway - enough to reach from Salt Lake City to Denver.
•The giant electric shovels in the mine can scoop up as much as 98 tons in a single bite -- about the weight of 50 cars.
•The newest electric shovels each cost more than $20 million and weigh 3.2 million pounds.
•The trucks that haul the ore are larger than many houses and weigh more than a jumbo jet. They stand over 23 feet tall and can carry from 255 to 360 tons of rock.
•The truck driver rides about 18 feet above the ground -- nearly two stories high.
•Each tire on these big trucks costs from $18,000 to $26,000 and lasts just 9 months.
•The crusher in the pit takes in about 140,000 tons of ore every day and grinds it into chunks smaller than the size of a basketball.
•At 1,215 feet tall, the Kennecott smokestack is the highest structure in Utah.

We enjoyed admiring the huge tires from the dump trucks, as well as some of the old mining equipment.We had lunch at a drive-in by the mine, and then drove home. We relaxed (Ryan relaxed, I worked) for a couple of hours, and then we (Rara, Papa & I) took Ryan to his meeting spot for the parade. The Tsunami swim team walked in the parade. Their meeting spot was right by 5-Points park, so it was nice to sit in the shade while waiting. Ryan played a bit with his teammates.
When the coaches were all there, we left Ryan in their hands, went to Rumbi Island Grill for dinner, and then found a spot on Main Street to watch the parade. It was extremely long this year, with several corporate sponsors passing things out as they went by. By the time the Tsunami team went by (entry 112), we were ready to go!

The parade officially ended on 4th North and about 100 West, but every group was assigned to end at a different spot to ease congestion. The Tsunami team turned back south on 100 West, and then ended at a church at 200 West and 200 North. We took more pictures as they passed us on 100 West, and then walked with them to the church.We took Ryan to Wendy’s for dinner, and then drove up to Bountiful Boulevard to watch the fireworks.We had a fun day, but were thrilled to crash into bed when it was all over!

Molly

Another lifetime ago, when I was still a college student, I had a job every summer at “The Perfect Party,” a party supply store in Colonial Square. My best friend was Molly Hansen, and we were inseparable. We were also in the same young adult singles ward, and all of the guys referred to us as “Molanie.” The running joke was also that, yes, we WERE the “perfect party” (in a very moral way, of course).When Molly left on her mission to New England, I really had a hard time with it. Again, our friends delighted in taunting us as a few of us saw Molly off before the MTC and at the airport.Since that time, we have both lived in different states, and have five kids between us. Molly and her family now live in China. We have stayed in touch over the years, but have not seen each other in a very long time.

So, I was thrilled when Molly emailed me to let me know that they were coming to Utah for a few weeks! We decided to grab take-out dinners and meet at a park with our kids. Ryan and Brigham are pretty close in age, so we hoped they would hit it off. They were slow to warm up to each other, but then wanted to spend every waking (and sleeping!) minute together for the next few days. Ryan announced that Brigham was “his best friend that didn’t live on this continent.” I feel the same way about his mom! :)Here are a few pictures from our evening at the park. We grabbed an innocent bystander to take pictures. Little did we know that she was a semi-professional photographer!The following day, Ryan and Brigham spent the day together, first for a few hours at our house, and then for a few hours at Brigham’s grandparents’ house, where Molly’s family is staying. We spent that evening at the Farmer’s Market with Molly & her family, Kristin & Abby, my mom, and Molly’s dad. We all sat on the Tabernacle lawn (all 12 of us!) and ate dinner together. It was a blast!I don’t know about Molly, but with the exception of all of the kids now with us, it seemed like the “old days!” It was so much fun to spend time with her again, and it was especially fun to have our kids develop a friendship with each other. Even as I was typing the beginning of this, Ryan and Brigham were texting each other. It was 8:00 pm here, and 10:00 am in China.

Come back soon!

Church in the Canyon

Sunday, July 18, was our second annual participation at “Church in the Canyon” with Marc, Frances, Alice & Claire. They live in the Emigration Canyon Ward, and the Sunday before Pioneer Day every year, they hold their church services at the “Cold Creek Camp,” where all of the Mormon pioneer handcart companies camped their last night before entering the Salt Lake Valley.The main speaker this year was a man who (while not Mormon) was hired to be the trail master for a reenactment of the pioneers’ journey to the West. He told of some of his experiences on the trail, and some of the stories he heard. During the time of the reenactment, he became so touched by the story of the pioneers, that he wanted to learn more about the church that so many sacrificed so much for. He ended up joining the church, and was baptized in the font at “This is the Place Heritage Park,” at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. It was neat to hear his testimony, especially some of the things that so many of us take for granted.

Of course, we enjoyed our refreshments after. (However, it wasn't as humorous as last year.) The flowers blooming around our meeting site were beautiful, and the kids looked so adorable – we couldn’t resist a few pictures!

WGU Meetings ~ July 13-17, 2010

For those of you who are long-time readers, you know that one of the highlights of my year is when my WGU co-workers come to Salt Lake City (in February and July) for our week of academic meetings and graduation.

My good friend, Jennifer, is leaving WGU, so the week was bitter-sweet. It was great to see everyone, but we knew it would be our last time with her attending the meetings.

Here are a few of the “old timers” between meetings…
The all-staff dinner and carnival were held at the Grand America. We had a lot of fun hanging out in the courtyard. Here are the “GRITS” (as Jennifer calls us) – Girls Raised In The South. I have been an honorary Southern Girl from the beginning – both by association and ancestry.My friend Cindy is currently in the middle of chemo treatments. During the raffle, she told us to rub her head for good luck. Debra, Cindy, and I all rubbed her head, and WON PRIZES! (They won an iPod Shuffle and an iPod Nano. I won a $100 American Express gift card!) Our friend, Chalu, refused to rub Cindy’s head for good luck. She didn’t win anything. :)Here are a few of the pictures from graduation. Governor Herbert (Utah) and former Governor Mike Leavitt (also former US Secretary of Health & Human Services) were honored guests. Martha Kanter, U.S. Undersecretary of Education, was the commencement speaker.Friends before graduation…Me with my one student who came to graduation this time…After graduation, Cindy, Blake, and I went to the Training Table for lunch. It has kind of become a tradition. They love being with Ryan, so Papa drove Ryan in to have lunch with us. Blake and Ryan do a semi-annual “height check.” He’s getting there!The most amazing thing of the week was the opportunity to introduce two of my good friends to each other in person. Kim and Cindy have both been going through chemo. Kim lives in my neighborhood, and Cindy lives in Mississippi, yet this was something I knew they had in common and could get through together. They have been emailing and keeping up on each other’s progress through blogs. Saturday night, the three of us went to dinner at ThaiFoon in the Gateway, and then went scarf shopping. I am so inspired by the courage and faith of these two friends. I love them, and I’m so happy they have been able to support each other through their experiences.What a wonderful week! I have amazing friends and co-workers at WGU – from New York to Florida to Washington, plus my Southern Girls in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. See you in February!

Some Watchdog!

Before we had Copper, we used to have deer in our yard almost daily. Now we only have deer every month or two. A few days ago, Rara, Ryan & I were in the kitchen, and Copper was sleeping on the back porch, when a deer entered our yard. Here is the story in pictures.

We told Copper to “go get the deer.” The look on his face seemed to ask, “You want me to WHAT?!?!”
“Oooh, but it looks so much bigger than me!” (He even took a moment to relieve himself before the attack.)“I think I can scare it out of the yard. I’ll go try.”“Run away!”The deer appears to be the winner…this time.