Road rage

I have apparently offended someone and I don’t know how. I saw a women driving recklessly through a school zone a couple of weeks ago.  She got caught behind a car which I happened to pass and then pull in front of.  I guess this crazy women didn’t like the fact that i had passed her because she ended up following me on my car pool route for several blocks.  She went as far as to pull off and wait when I was dropping of kids. IT WAS CREAPY! Luckily she ended up leaving shortly before I headed to my house. 

It was a really unsettling experiences but I thought what’s the chances of running into her again.  Not too likely and if I do hopefully she will be in a better mood. 

One week later I was driving home from dropping off Ila at a class.  I had changed lanes and was sitting at a red light when I heard someone honking behind me. I thought they were mad at the car in front of me because the car had made a last minute decision about changing lanes after the light had turned green.  After I went through the light and was headed home i realized the person that had been honking was the crazy lady I had seen a week earlier and she was right on my bumper, honking and making obscene gestures.  I thought, maybe I unknowingly cut her off. I felt bad but kept driving thinking she would leave soon.  I made a right turn and she pulled up along side of me trying to run me off the road.  She got stopped by traffic coming the opposite direction (nearly getting in a head on collision).  I couldn’t believe what was happening but I didn’t want to stop in fear of what the lady might do.  I kept driving hoping the near wreck had convinced her to part ways with me.  I was wrong.  She quickly got right back on my bumper and then tried to pull up along side of me (this was a two lane road!) she nearly got in another head on collision.  She pulled back behind me and I saw her pull out her phone and started photographing my license plate. I arrived at a stop sign and she pulled up on the side of me and turned in front of me to cut me off.  She had me trapped.  I couldn’t go forward or backward because another car had pulled up behind me.  She had her phone out and was taking picture of me and screaming explicit language.  The car behind me began honking because she was getting impatient now also. Suddenly the lady dropped her phone and sped off like a maniac.  

I quickly drove home, pulled in the garage, and I have dreaded every time I have had to go anywhere in my car.  Hopefully that will be the last time I see her 😬

Is that my son?

I was looking on this website where Briggs and Ila take classes and this picture popped up. I didn’t even know it was him for several seconds.

Beauty

This post is all for Mom. She keeps posting beautiful pictures of the ocean in Hawaii. Here is a picture from the car window here in Utah.

The Honor is all Mine

I have been blessed to be able to pick up the church family history program quickly.  Many people in my ward that have been working on family history a lot longer then me and still struggle with different parts of the program/ research.  I started going to our ward family history class a couple of years ago to learn family history.  Now I spend most of the class time helping others learn how to do family history.

Yesterday I went to class and I saw the teacher trying to help a couple of different people.  I decided to jump in and just take over helping one of the people he was working with.  The man I was able to serve was Patriarch Lloyd Hicken.  As you already know he was the stake Patriarch for many years.  He is a retired Doctor.  He was a fighter pilot in World War 2.  He was the Bishop of our ward when they built our ward building (which he helped build with his own hands) and he will be turning 100 years old in 3 weeks.

Patriarch Hicken doesn't know how to work computers but he loves family history work.  The name of his wife, who passed away a couple of years ago, is Alice Richards Cannon Hicken.  If you know anything about church history you know the name Cannon and Richards.  Because they come from such a strong pioneer heritage it is very difficult to find work to be done in their family.

Yesterday we had an outstanding day!  We were able to find an individual that needed all his work done and we found 5 or 6 sealing that needed to be completed.  We were both so excited about the success we had.

As I work with Patriarch Hicken, which I have done a couple of times, I feel like it is such an honor to be able to work on his family line and to work with him.  It is so humbling to be in the presence of someone who has lived such a valiant life.  The spirit that he carries reminds me of the feeling I had when I was with Grandpa Larsen.

Anyway, I know I am just rambling but it is this kind of service that I can honestly say I am blessed so much more than I can give.

Extreme Weather

Last Sunday half the wards in our Stake were cancelled because we had such a horrible snow storm Saturday night. 
This weekend has been so sunny and beautiful that I have the windows of the house open. 

We recently had D. Todd Christopherson move into our ward.  Its a little different sitting on the front row of the chapel (which is where we always sit) and having an apostle sitting right in front of you.  Im glad my kids are a little better behaved then they use to be in church.
He stood up today in sacrament meeting after a missionary spoke in our ward and had some funny jokes to share about missions and then he shared a little bit about the process of calling missionaries. 

I was released from my stake calling today and I was called to be a Sunday school teacher and the scout committee chair.  After sacrament ended Elder Christopherson came to congratulate me on my scout calling.  He was laughing as he shook my hand.  He has a great sense of humor. 

We also have Don Staley in our ward who was the personal assistant to President Hinkley.  He shares some great stories about the prophet.  He has been asked to be President Nielsons personal assistant. 

 (Briggs is in the plaid shirt.  His teacher is in Red)

Briggs has been thinking about joining the Ball room dance team at his school.  Im a little stressed about it because he doesn't do well with a super busy schedule and he is even worse when he doesn't get his sleep.  Many of the team practices are before school at 6:30am

One of his friends wants him to take a ballroom dance class with her on Saturdays at a dance studio in town.   Briggs decided to try out the class yesterday. 
Dance takes me out of my comfort zone.  I didn't realize the effect it had on me until yesterday.  I was watching Briggs dance.  He is so cute and all the girls are so excited to have a boy there to dance with.  But it stresses me out still.  Suddenly my watch started to beep.  I looked down to see my watch reading that my heart rate was at 124 beats per minute and it couldn't detect that I was exercising. 
I decided to go to the store until Briggs class ended.

Warm weather?

We laughed as we loaded the plane for Hawaii because we flew out of Utah just hours before the biggest snow storm of the season blew in.
We weren't laughing when we landed in Hawaii and saw the amount of rain coming down.

Every day we saw anywhere from a little to a lot of rain.  We were thankful for the days with a little rain.

The first day we had a beautiful morning.  We really lucked out because we had signed the boys up for a zip line tour.  

 Avram and Briggs have never done anything like this before and since it was so expensive we decided to just let them do it together.  Dad and I chucked as we watched everyone in the boys group fly down the line for their practice jump.  Avram and Briggs kept stepping back until everyone had gone.  When it finally came their time to jump we could see the boys hesitantly get hooked up.  Briggs called down to us, "Is this the same zip line that David Adams did?"  We yelled, "yes, and he loved it!"
I think had David Adams not gone on the zip line just two weeks previously the boys would have chickened out.  It only took one jump and they realized they were going to have a blast!

On Tuesday the kids were introduced to the different Polynesian cultures at the PCC.

 Adam performed on stage at the Togan show.  With a little darker skin you would have thought Adam was Tongan.

Adam and I have been to Oahu once so we decided to jump on an inexpensive fight and head over to Maui for two days.  We arrived in Maui at 9 am Wednesday Morning.
After a quick breakfast we took off on the road to Hana.  Because we had such a late start and very short attention spans we decided to just hit some of the top spots along the way.

 I studied out the stops and I also bought and App that performed as a tour guide through out our journey.

 Banana Bread stop

 Black Sand Beaches

 I think this little cave was Ilas favorite part simply because our app told us about a Queen that hid in this cave to escape her horrible husband.  He hunted her down and killed her in this cave.

 We decided to take a hike near the end of the road to Hana.  We hiked a 5 mile round trip to see Waimoku Falls, a 400 foot waterfall.  We hiked through a huge rain storm and a lot of mud but we made it.

 Ila led the way on the hike.  She had her bamboo walking stick and we could hardly keep up with her.

The boys weren't too happy about the hike.

We arrived at the hotel after 10 pm but we had made it around the entire island.  

Thursday morning we found an open spot on a boat for whale watching.  

 Since it is the Whale season we were able to see many whales and some dolphins.

We found a fantastic little restaurant for dinner.  We headed back to Oahu late that night.  

I think the other side of the Island had more sun than the North Side where we were staying.  Friday morning we went to Hanama Bay and enjoyed the beautiful sun shine.  

We saved our trip to the PCC night show for Friday night.  We were hoping to be a little better adjusted to the time so we could stay awake.  

The kids loved the show.

Saturday we went straight to the Dole plantation so we could get some Dole whip before the lines started.  Yum!!!

 We let the kids spend their money at the swap meet and then went to Pearl Harbor.

Sunday morning the fun continued with a visit to the north point of the island.

 Church, Temple, Visitor Center.

 I also took advantage of the opportunity to be in such a beautiful place and I took pictures of Ila for her soon to be 8 year old pictures.

Somehow Monday crept up on us.  We went to a popular Banyon tree where many films have been made.

 Finally we spent our time left in Hawaii on the beach, in the wind and rain.

We would have loved to have had another day or two with some Sunshine.  

It was hard to return to Utah and the cold.  

 Ila made friends with Mom and Dads land lords daughter, Melia.  Melia adored Ila and has already called to talk to her because she misses her.

Im so thankful we were able to go to Hawaii as a family.  It was so fun to see Mom and Dad.  It was a wonderful vacation.