Where did October go?

Wow this month has flown by... where did it go? So many things going on, where to begin.

Rewind a few weeks back and Morgan had her 20th birthday and it was General Conference. The next week Morgan flew home for some family time and we went to the USC football game. About that same week I was released from my calling in the Stk YW presidency. We had a Stk activity planned for Oct 15th.  The YW made a glass block temple craft and I put together a fun game of random temple trivia. Such as: Name the temples that don't have an angel Moroni on top. So I was getting used to the idea of not working with the YW and the night before our last activity I was called in to talk to President Zimmerman and was asked to serve as 1st counselor in the Stk YW Presidency. So I'm still working with the YW.  

This last weekend was Parents weekend at BYU and I flew up to Utah to attend it with Morgan. I decided to take Jake along as well. We had 2 jam packed days of BYU events. We toured the theatre department and saw more then we ever wanted to see. Our tour guide was very adventurous and took us through prop construction, several stages, sewing rooms, costume rooms, prop storage rooms, practice stages, more stages, showed us all the things she disliked about each theatre and how difficult some of these problems were for directors to work with. It was interesting at first... but 1hour and 20 min later... I was done! We also toured the bookstore and got to sample some fudge and learn a few tid bits about that area. Like they make 7000 lbs of fudge a year and the majority of that is sold during Womens Conference.

That night we attended a Luau and watched the Living Legends perform. The food was great and the entertainment even better.

Saturday we woke up early (but not early enough) and participated in a 5k. We were still at the registration table putting our numbers on when the start gun went off. We power walked and made sure we passed anyone wearing jeans. Then we were off to a very exciting football game, BYU vs UNLV it was a nail biter down to the last second. But BYU won 42-35. Truly a game of time management.

Sunday we attended church with Jarrod and Jessica and then had a yummy Hungarian dinner with them. That evening we went back to Salt Lake and stayed at Jesse's new house. Its so nice to have family that will open their home to you.  Monday Jesse took Jake and I to the airport for our return flight, which we ended up being delayed 40 min due to fog in LA. Nothing like sitting in the plane on the runway and  having the pilot shut off the engine until the fog clears in LA.  That put us late getting back, so I raced straight to work, changed into my scrubs, and apologized to my patient for being 15 min late for her appointment. Crazy crazy :)

So tonight being Tuesday I'm trying to catch up on laundry, dishes, paying bills and oh yeah we have a new enrichment leader and tonight was our first meeting at her house. And tomorrow is the trunk n treat night up at the church! So that's my life in a nut shell.  Lets hope November slows down but I doubt it!

Tag

Morgan tagged me and now I tag you... if you are not named on my list you should check out Morgan's list... Come on its fun, its silly, its a blog thing.

8 Tv shows I like to watch:            8 Things that happened yesterday:

1. My name's Earl                              * Took my car in for a service check

2. Chuck                                           * Went to breakfast with Eddie

3. Office                                            * Had no water at the house for 5 hours

4. Desperate Housewives                     * Took Jake to Ventura College

5. House                                            * Went to new Stk YW presidency meeting

6. Grey's Anatomy                              * Took 20 minute nap

7. Survivor                                         * Went to Corrales for dinner

8. LA Ink                                            * Went to movies and saw Eagle Eye

8 Favorite Places to Eat:                8 Things I'm looking forward to:

1. Sushi Marina                                  * Hanging out with Morgan next week

2. Tipps Thai                                      * Reading 3 cups of tea

3. Corrales                                         * Sleeping in this weekend

4. Panera Bread                                  * Snowboard trips

5. Snapper Jacks                                * Lucee coming home (2 wks)

6. Meredians                                      * Working with the new Stk YW President

7. I Love Sushi                                   * Jake's high school graduation

8. Urban Cafe                                     * Christmas break

8 Things I am passionate about:                  8 People I Tag:

1. My husband                                                  * Bethany

2. My children                                                  * Tricia Young

3. My testimony                                                * Linda

4. Education                                                     * John Watson

5. Being open minded                                        * Jenn Kirk

6. Living in the moment                                     * Morgan W

7. Eating well                                                   * Eli

8. Health                                                         * Jarrod

The Getty Center

Last Friday I had the opportunity to visit the Getty Center in Los Angeles. I have wanted to visit this museum for probably the last 10 years. The Getty Center is on top of a hill in the Santa Monica mountains. The museum sits on 24 acres of 110 acre site. The surrounding 600 acres have been kept in a natural state (meaning no urban sprawl)  

The only way to get up to the museum is by a 3 car tram. When you arrive at the museum entrance you are asked to park in a 7 story-deep underground parking structure at the bottom of the hill. You then take a tram to the top of the hill to the museum and gardens.

The architecture of the campus is amazing. The buildings are made of travertine and concrete. The day Morgan and I were there it was so sunny and bright the reflection off of the travertine stone was blinding. We were able to see an exhibit of religious paintings and sculptures and an exhibit a famous artist who did marble sculptures in Italy in the 1600's, Bernini. We enjoyed the quick film on marble carving and we found 2 sculptures reminded us of people we knew. One sculpture when we first walked in reminded us of Eddie, not the features so much but something about it. I looked for the name of the sculpture and it was called the Damned Soul (that really made us laugh) The other sculpture reminded me of Mike Ribble, and I said to Morgan, "doesnt that look like the Ribble kids Dad, Mike?" She agreed. I believe it was a cardinal or a bishop from the 1600s. Morgan is currently taking an Art History class at BYU. She had lots of interesting tid bits of information to share with me about some of the paintings we were looking at.

We ate lunch there at the Getty. We had taco salads that were very good. There are a few different eating establishments there at the museum. We chose the more economical one which was kinda cafeteria style. Lots of choices and different types of cuisine.

I have to say that the main garden was my favorite thing. We were able to walk around in this beautiful garden. The flowers were so vibrant and colorful. The intensity of colors and diversity of flowers was gorgeous.
I would love to go again to sit there and just enjoy the garden. We saw a few people who packed lunches and were enjoying the afternoon in this wonderful garden.

We also saw a very impressive cactus garden that is in bloom right now. This garden is viewed from a terrace and you overlook it. This same terrace overlooks the city. The whole layout of the museum is inspiring. The views of Los Angeles are breathtaking. I really enjoyed our afternoon. It was an easy relaxing afternoon. A great place to talk and catch up, walk around and discuss art. I will be sure to go back to the Getty Center soon. There are more buildings to explore and discover. I can't believe it took me ten years to finally go.

yearbook fun

I saw this crazy link called yearbook yourself on Susanna's blog. It was so much fun I had to post it myself.  Here are some of my yearbook pictures through the decades...

1964

1968

1974

1990

1996

Wild Thoughts

Today Morgan turns 20 years old! What a wild thought... Today I have been a Mom for half of my life... that's a wild thought too...

Birthdays for Morgan have been a little different since she is away at school. It been a challenge to make sure her special day is special up in Utah while we (myself, Eddie and Jake) are in California. But I think today will be a fun day, and Morgan will be very pampered. Morgan will be spending her afternoon at the Avenues Day Spa in Salt Lake City. 

Morgan is so much fun to be with and always has been since she was a little girl. She loves to do things, she likes to make, bake, and create. She isn't one to sit around. She enjoys scrap booking, painting, and making things in the kitchen. When we lived in South Pasadena one of my friends gave her a box of clay bead making supplies. Morgan would spend hours making beads with all kinds of interesting designs, then we would bake the beads and she would make jewelry for hours. As Morgan got older she found that her Aunt Katherine loved these types of projects and they would spend hours in Michaels looking at beads and other little crafty stuff. 

 Morgan is intelligent and beautiful. When Morgan was a toddler I could not go into a store without being stopped by someone and them telling me how pretty she was, I also was told how much she looked like the little girl in ET (Drew Barrymore) When people couldn't place who she looked like I would say "like Drew Barrymore when she was in ET?" and they would be like "YEAH that's it!"  Morgan excels in school, she loves school, and I soon realized that she retained what she learned more then I ever did.  I knew that she would be smarter then me in many ways before she was even in middle school.  

Morgan has always been a true friend. She understands the importance of listening to people and caring about what they are concerned with. She isn't afraid to tell people how she feels, especially if she sees a friend in trouble. I admire her for that. And she is always ready to celebrate the good times with her friends and family. Morgan loves to laugh, one time Morgan and I were snowboarding in Mammoth in the trees, with ALOT of powder, and we couldn't get out. We sat in these drifts for probably 10 min laughing so hard we could barely breathe! It was so much fun.

Happy 20th Birthday Morgan!

P.S. Modern technology is so fun I was just able to watch Morgan open her gifts on a video ichat!