A Day in Seattle

Happy Halloween! Now that the parade of trick-or-treaters has fizzled out, it's time for another summer memory. As August rolled around, we realized that we wouldn't have Natalie with us much longer. We were so focused on preparations for BYU, that we needed to take some time off to enjoy a day together. Our original plan was to spend a Saturday at the beach. Unfortunately, a cold front moved in that weekend with rain, wind and cold weather predicted all day. The beach was out, so we decided to spend a day in Seattle. We invited Rachael Caldwell to join us for the day and it was a lot of fun.

We started out at the Experience Music Project (EMP). It is a great museum full of hands-on activities and music memorabilia. This is a picture of Rachael, Natalie and Andrew in front of a two-story sculpture of guitars and other musical instruments.

Our next stop was the fountain near the Space Needle. The fountain moves in sync with music that is played over loudspeakers. Kids like to run down to the fountain in between songs and try to touch it without getting wet. They have some interesting benches surrounding the fountain which make a fun place for picture taking.

We left the fountain and headed towards the waterfront. We made a stop in the sculpture garden before walking along the piers. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the unusual sculptures, but we found these fun seats nearby. Don was a good sport and took a seat between the "eyes" to complete the illusion. If you look closely, you can see Natalie and Andrew making some eyelashes, too. : )

This is a view of the front of the seats. And yes, that is a giant traffic cone in the background. For some reason, there were several of them around the sculpture garden. Any idea what statement these large cones were meant to make??

Further down the waterfront we rode the carousel, played some games then headed up to the Pike Place Market to do some "window" shopping.

After all the walking, we were working up an appetite, so we headed for the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. As you can see, the cheesecake was so tempting that the guys couldn't wait for all the cheesecakes to arrive before digging in. It was heavenly... mmm....

We finished out the evening with a little more downtown shopping before heading home. It was a fun way to spend A Day in Seattle.

Youth Dance Festival

Last July 24-26, Natalie and Andrew participated in a multi-stake youth dance festival held at the Tacoma Dome. All of the stakes within the Washington Tacoma Mission were involved. I think there were around 12 stakes all together. The youth practiced for months beforehand with occasional grumbling and complaining accompanying the practices... but, by the end of it all, they were really glad that they could be part of such a fun and inspiring production. The first day (Pioneer Day) included a youth conference with inspiring speakers like Sis. Elaine Dalton, Brad Wilcox and Kenneth Cope. (Natalie, you can correct me if I got it wrong.) I was able to help that day as part of the medical team on site. There was so much work and planning that went into the conference; it was amazing to see it all come together. The dances were from different time periods and different cultures representing how the church is growing into a world-wide church. At the end, a presentation was shown on large screens demonstrating the growth of the church from the time it was organized in 1830 to the present. It was powerful.

We also had a couple of boys from a distant stake stay overnight with us during the dance festival so that they wouldn't have to travel so far every day. Not only would this have been difficult time-wise, but this was at the height of the gas prices this summer. So, we made some friends and helped to keep our planet (and their wallets) a little greener!

The main dances our stake performed were square dances. I think they were the most difficult of the stake dances and our youth did a great job. They were also involved in several group dances at the beginning and end of the performance, as well as a dance to one of the Beach Boy's songs during the middle. Since Natalie was involved in the youth choir and a specialty choir number, she was busy making costume changes and running back and forth. Since this is something she did a lot of over the past few years, she was right in her element! Andrew and several of his choir friends performed their dance again just for fun at a choir retreat held in September. The other kids thought it was great and jokingly told them that "you mormons are crazy!"

These first few pictures are of Natalie and Andrew doing their square dance. The dance move being performed in the middle is called the helicopter and the girls' feet lift off the ground as they are spinning around.

In this photo, the girls are singing a triple trio of "Boogie, Woogie Bugle Boy." Natalie sang a skat solo during the song which was a lot of fun for her and sounded great.

I heard varying numbers of the amount of youth who participated, but it was somewhere between 2,300-2,500 youth. This photo gives you an idea of how many that is. I couldn't fit all of the kids in one photo, but it was pretty close.

At the very end, the lights were turned out as the video showing the growth of the stakes of the church was shown on large screens. Gradually, the youth seated on the main floor started lighting up glow sticks. As the stakes "grew" so did the number of glowsticks, until the whole floor was glowing. Of course, at the end, the kids couldn't resist throwing their glowsticks into the air. It was cool to watch.

I hope you enjoy the continuation of the summer memories... more to come... (hopefully.)

Family Reunion

We had a great family reunion this summer with nearly all of the Hale family. We stayed at the Westgate Resort and Spa in The Canyons just north of Park City, Utah. The day before the reunion began, we met Jeff in Logan, Utah where he and Andrew participated in the Wasatch Back Relay. They were part of two Fast Running Blog teams. Jeff's team took second in the race behind BYU's team of cross country runners and Andrew's team took third. It was exciting for them to be part of these really fast teams of elite runners. Their teams were able to begin later than most other teams that participated because they were part of the "elite" teams and they still finished the run from Logan to Park City before any of the earlier teams finished. The following is a picture of the two teams together before the start of the race on June 20th. Andrew is hiding in the back row, fifth from the right. Jeff is seated in front, second from the left.

The first night of the reunion, we all came together to celebrate Haley Johnson's first birthday. The party had a wonder woman theme and Kim made wonder woman crowns for us to wear. This is a picture of Kimia and Jeff with Haley, modeling the crowns for us.

On Sunday morning, we gathered for family pictures before church. We arranged for Natalie to sing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" at the service. We attended the visitors' sacrament meeting for Park City and the congregation was ENORMOUS. I don't think they were prepared for so many visitors and it took a really looong time to pass the sacrament. I think that everyone was grateful to be able to partake of the sacrament, though and it gave us lots of time for meditating! It was wonderful to be able to listen to Natalie sing and invite the spirit in extra measure as we attended the service together as a family. Here are a few pictures from our picture-taking session that morning. Of course, I thought the crazy pictures would show what we're really like.

On Monday we went to Temple Square with some of the family members while others went to the zoo or other activities. We were able to hear an organ recital and sound demonstration in the newly refurbished Tabernacle. Kimia shared some interesting facts about the Salt Lake Temple and we went on tours of the Beehive house and the Conference Center. After touring Temple Square, we headed to Murray Park for an even larger family reunion with the Slaven sisters and cousins who live in the Salt Lake area. It was great to see family members that we hadn't seen in years. Unfortunately, I was so busy with the meal (I was in charge of the meal for over 100 people) that I didn't pull out my camera for any pictures. Instead, I enjoyed talking with cousins and family members when the meal was finished. It was great! The following pictures are of the group on Temple Square and of Natalie and Karli in front of the Conference Center waterfall.

Swimming and pool activities were lots of fun. The kids really enjoyed the relays and water games and the adults enjoyed watching them! I had so many good pictures from the water fun, that it was hard to choose which ones to post. Here is a sampling:

Ping pong was another poolside activity that the guys seemed to enjoy. Which team do you think won?

Natalie's 18th birthday was during the reunion on June 25th. We celebrated with yummy strawberry shortcake!

The picnic in the park in Park City was a hit with kids and adults alike. This time I made sure to take my camera.

One of the fun activities near Park City was visiting the Olympic Park. The Zipline and the Alpine Slides were fun, as was watching the skiiers practice their jumps into the pool. On the final night of our reunion we had a nice dinner and program in a nearby church building. Everyone enjoyed the entertainment and time together making scrapbook pages and framed pictures to put on the fridge. The following picture is of story time. Michelle planned a fun storytime for the preschoolers to keep them entertained while moms and dads made dinner and set up the cultural hall for the dinner and program. Richard put together some great slideshows of family photos which we enjoyed, also. I want to thank everyone for making the sacrifice to get there and for coming through with assignments and meals to make this reunion one to remember!

Let's do it again- 2010!!

No More Excuses

I've been meaning to post some of our summer pictures for a while, but always had a reason to put it off. At first my excuse was that I hadn't downloaded the pics from the camera, yet, then it was all the preparations to take Natalie to school followed by the recovery time from my ear surgery. I'm sure I could have found some time in there somewhere, but it was easier to make excuses. Well, the time for excuses is over and I am finally writing this long-overdue post. I think it will be easier to post each event separately, so this post which was intended to be read first will end up at the end (if you read them from top to bottom) and will become more of a postscript. Ah, such is the life of a slacker blogger.

I've Been Randomly Tagged

I haven't played tag since I was a kid, but I figure that I'll always be a kid at heart, so here goes...

The "Random Thing" Tag Rules...
1. You link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog
3. Share six random things about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs
6. Enjoy the results

Michelle tagged me. You can read her random thoughts at www.abunchofboyds.blogspot.com.

Okay, random thought #1:
I like to be warm, but I'm usually cold. I'm almost always wearing a sweater, fleece, or long sleeves, even in the summer. In fact, I'm wearing a sweater now- it's August. Super cold air conditioning in hot climates can be annoying to me. Picture one of those blistering hot days where you're wearing a light-weight, short-sleeved top, shorts and flip flops. You have your hair up off of your neck and the quick jog from the car to the store results in perspiration beading up on your forehead. As you enter the store, restaurant or business a blast of cold air hits you which, initially, feels kind of nice, but within minutes goosebumps start forming on arms and legs as the cold air continues to blow on exposed flesh. Have you ever wondered why people bring sweaters to church during the summer, or why the men still wear suit coats? Well, now you know. I have learned to live with it and know now to be prepared with something to keep me warmer wherever I go.
Random thought #2: A sudoku a day keeps the brain active... in a way. I like doing the sudoku puzzle each day in the News Tribune. I always start out with a pen to see how far I can get before resorting to using a pencil and making notes in each square. The very easy, easy and medium difficulty puzzles all get done using a pen. I have done a couple of hard puzzles with a pen, too. I do enjoy the challenge of a hard or very hard puzzle. Fortunately, the hard puzzles are saved for the Saturday and Sunday issues when there is a little more time to do them. I also like the fact that there is only one puzzle each day. I don't do Sudoku on computer or play computer games because if I start, I somehow get sucked into the computer time warp and before I know it way too much time gets wasted on useless games. I decided four years ago to give up all computer games and have never regreted the decision.
Random thought #3: I have a hard time singing a song when the person leading the song is off beat. If the downbeat is off, or they are leading in the wrong time, I find myself tapping my foot or nodding my head to the beat. Usually my hand starts twitching wanting to give the song a proper downbeat. Have you ever been bothered by a backwards upbeat? That one is kind of hard to watch too, but not as bad as directing a downbeat in the wrong spot. Most of the time I just bury my head in my music and try not to look.
Random thought #4: I love to see a full moon when it is sitting low in the sky and looks like a giant, golden orb that is so close you can see details from it's surface. It never seems to last long and within minutes it is sitting high in the sky taking it's usual place overlooking the nighttime activities below. I also love to see Mt. Rainier on a clear day at sunset when it's snowy surface turns shades of pink, purple and orange. It is an amazingly beautiful sight.
Random thought #5: If people all over the world slowly started using email, blogs and text messages as their sole form of communication, would people forget how to speak? Have you noticed teenagers sitting next to each other texting back and forth? How much time would be saved if they just spoke to each other? I know that sometimes texting comes in handy, but hey, this post was for random thoughts, right?
Random thought #6: I am a night owl. I think most people know this who know me. I might feel tired during the day, but as evening comes I start to get a second wind. There is always more to do, one thing leads to another and before I know it a couple of hours have slipped by. I decided long ago that if I am tired in the morning, I refuse to allow it to affect the way I act, so I always try to have a good attitude and not allow fatigue to make me grouchy. Hopefully this has been true. I am also very fortunate to be able to sleep soundly at night (once I get to bed) so most days I am well rested.

Well, those are my six random things and now I need to tag six more people. Lets see... Sharon, Lindsay, Ann, Valerie, Jeff Mc, and Tiffany, consider yourselves tagged. I look forward to reading your random thoughts!

Look-Alike Results

Thanks to those who registered votes on my look-alike poll. It was fun to see who you thought the kids looked like.

It was interesting to see that Michelle received the most votes for looking like Don. When I look at the picture at the top of my blog, I can see why people chose her for looking more like Don than the other kids. However, Michelle looks equally like Don and myself according to the Look-Alike Meter. This was my guess before putting our pictures in the meter, so I wasn't surprised. Many people who didn't know Don would say how much Michelle looked like me and those who didn't know me would say how much she looked like her Dad. Michelle is the only one who is a true 50/50 according to the computer.

Ryan received 25% of your votes for looking more like Don. This would have been my vote too, but, the computer surprised me and said that Ryan actually looks 3% more like me than Don. Hmm..., is it his big Adam's apple or the bushy eyebrows that make him look more like me? This one is so close, that I'd say Don and I are pretty evenly represented by Ryan as well.

Jeff received another 25% of the votes for Don's look-alike, but this is where I agree more with the computer. Jeff looks 20% more like me according to the Meter. Even Kimia commented that Jeff has the same "boring cheeks" that I do! Kimia, are you the one person who voted for Jeff looking more like me in the poll? Whoever it was paired him with Michelle, so no one got the answer the computer gave for both of my look-alikes.

Michelle and Natalie received one vote for looking more like me-not too surprising. They are both girls, so naturally they would look more like me than the guys with strong jaws and facial hair, right? This answer is also half right. Natalie looks 24% more like me than Don. This answer was no surprise to me. So many people make comments about how much Natalie looks like me that I've taken to calling her my clone. If only I were as young and talented!

My biggest surprise was Andrew's results. Andrew looks 6% more like Don than me. Apparently, many of you thought he looked more like me since five of you paired him with Natalie for my look-alikes and no one guessed that Andrew was the answer for Don's look-alike poll! I guess it's hard to tell in the blog family photo since it was two years ago and he hadn't matured as much. The photos I used for the meter were from the photo of the graduation day post. I guess that 6% is still pretty close and Andrew is also a good representation of the two of us.

Look Alikes

If you check out Michelle and Jeff's blog, you'll see a Look-Alike Meter that will tell you which parent their children most resemble. I thought it would be fun to try it with my children, so I used the meter with each of the kids and found out who looks most like me and who looks most like Don. Rather than share the results immediately, I've included a poll so that you can decide how accurate the Look-Alike Meter's facial analysis is. Register your vote and when we have enough responses to make a good sampling, I'll reveal what the computer says and see how close we are. Have fun!

For those of you less familiar with the McClellan family, the family picture at the top of my blog shows all of those included in this poll (and more!) From left to right: Ryan, Natalie, Andrew, Beth, Don, baby Lydia, Michelle, Jeff Boyd (not in poll) and Jeff McClellan.