Life has been busy....

I started this blog as a kind of journal, so that family and friends could see what I have been up to.  I have not been very good about keeping it up, but since I don't have anyone who follows it regularly, I guess it doesn't matter that much.  At the end of March I went to Texas for a couple of weeks.  I helped one of my sons to move there.  Got home and promptly got sick for a week with a relatively high fever.  Later in May I went to Mississippi for a few weeks for a new grandbaby.  Now that I am back home, I really need to work on decluttering my house and working on conquering the jungle of weeds.  But I have had a lot of fun traveling recently. Now it is time to stay home and get things done.

While in Texas, we went to the Scarborough Fair (Renaissance Fair).  As the saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas.  It seems to apply to their Renaissance Fairs, too.  It was great!  Perfect weather, too.  It was breezy, and not too hot.  I got another Renaissance Puppet, a gryphon.  Yes, the people who sell the fantasy puppets at the Maryland Renaissance Fair were at the Texas one, too.  My son and I walked into the shop, he with his gryphon, and me with my unicorn, just for fun.  The shop attendant quipped, "I've been wondering all day when you were going to stop by to see the family."  They had more buildings at that Faire, archways, a troll bridge and a mermaid pool.  We missed that last place.  We evidently missed an entire section of the Faire and didn't realize it till we were on the way home.  Hopefully we can go again some other year and see the part we missed.

In Mississippi, they were having a big 150 year commemoration of the siege of Vicksburg.  I got to go to some of the events for that.  When we arrived at the battlefield, we had just opened the car doors when a cannon was shot very, very close by!  We were all very startled and jumped!  We got to see a demonstration of rifles, and hear a little about the different weapons, etc.  It was very sobering, to think of the huge loss of life during that siege, and that was only one of many battles of the Civil 
War.

Every state has its historical sites and various events, and I enjoy visiting them.

Toy Yoda

While getting my oil changed today, I spotted an interesting license plate on another car being serviced.  As I got closer to the green Toyota Camry, I also noticed the bumper sticker and what was in the back window.  When I showed the picture to my son, he told me in his best Yoda voice, "Post it on Facebook you must."  And I did.  But not everyone I want to share it with is on Facebook, so I am posting it here, too.

I'm a missionary mom again!

Our youngest son was supposed to enter the MTC on October 31st.  Due to Hurricane Sandy, our flight got cancelled. Twice.  Josiah and I were finally able to fly out on Nov. 1st.  My in-laws picked us up at the airport, after picking up Josiah's sister.  Since Josiah was arriving a day late, we didn't just have to kick him out of the car at the curb and drive on.  We got to go inside with him.

Above:  me, Josiah, and Jeanne in front of the MTC.

Below:  Mimma, Josiah, and Grandad.

I even got to help Josiah put on his name tag, just as I had done for my other three missionary sons.  When I went to put it on, I realized his pocket of his new suit was still sewn shut.  The sister at the desk had a seam ripper handy.  I had to laugh.  I'm guessing that happens to a lot of missionaries.

My son was called to serve in the Alaska Anchorage Mission, which includes the Yukon (Canada).

His mission paperwork said to wait to buy his warm winter gear until he arrived in the mission field.

He had the Mr. Mac three-season coat, which we figured would be fine for the MTC for his short time there.  We were wrong.  It snowed within a few days.  I was staying at my daughter's apartment for awhile.

They got 18 inches, which I loved, since I don't often see that much snow where I live.  My enthusiasm was not shared by the people who lived there.  And I had to make do with layering a sweatshirt under a flannel jacket.  I had accidentally left my warm coat in my in-laws' car, and they lived about an hour's drive from my daughter's apartment, so I had to make do for about a week or so till I saw them again and could retrieve my coat.  I also did some family history research down at the big Family History Library by Temple Square, so I took some pictures of the temple and Temple Square while I was there.  Here is one of them:

The night before my visit ended, my sister and I went to see my daughter and son-in-law in "Savior of the World" at the Conference Center.  My son-in-law is the angel to the shepherds, and is one of the angels that rolls away the stone from Christ's tomb. At the very end of the production, he dons a plain robe and is able to join his lovely wife in the chorus on stage.  Afterward, cast members greet the audience.  Here they are:

It was my fourth trip to Salt Lake City in 2012. This has been an amazing year for our family!

Cox Farms 2012

This year Jon and I went to Cox Farms by ourselves.  It was a lot of fun going down the slides and doing the fun things the farm has to offer, just the two of us on a date.  It brought back a lot of memories.  We started going to Cox Farms years ago, when our kids were much younger.  We've taken our grandkids in more recent years.  Our two youngest sons both work there now, and each of them have worked for Cox Farms during their Fall Festival for many years.  It hasn't always been at the same time, but this year they are both employed there.  Josiah also works Friday and Saturday nights at their Fields of Fear.  Jon and I have no interest in the scary stuff, so we've never seen our son in that role.

The Cox Farm Fall Festival is held during a beautiful time of year, of course, and the weather was very pleasant today.  The fall colors in a farm setting are somehow extra special.

The photo below is a bird's eye view of part of the farm, taken from the top of the Dino Slide.  It's my favorite slide, maybe because it is fairly high up.  It's a lot of fun to slide down from there.  Sometimes you even get a little airborne while sliding down.

Before guests leave, they get to choose a small pumpkin, but the farm also sells much larger ones, and in many different varieties, such as these:

Although Josiah doesn't have his dragon puppet with him in the picture below, he and Jordan both take their Renaissance puppets to the farm on most days, to entertain the guests.  However, on Fridays and Saturdays things are too busy, so the puppets stay home.  This picture of Josiah as rope swing attendant was taken today, on a Saturday.  Jordan normally works on Saturdays, too, but today he got the day off and went back to the Renaissance Fair with Thalita.  And his gryphon puppet went with him.  Thalita thinks it's creepy, but when Jordan offered to leave the puppet home, Thalita told him to bring it.  Hopefully they'll bring back some pictures from today that I can post.

Trunk or Treat

We had a Fall Festival at church last Saturday.  So Jon and I wore our Renaissance costumes.  Who needs a Halloween costume when you have a Renaissance costume?  I never was into scary costumes, anyway.  I wore my unicorn and dragon puppets, and Jon wore Josiah's dragon puppet.  They were a hit with the kids there, and with some adults, too.  Some adults just thought they were creepy.

We also brought my "marble" posing bench to sit on for the Trunk or Treat part.  For those who may not know what a Trunk or Treat is, those participating decorate the backs of their cars (trunks or backs of vans, etc.) and hand out candy to the Trick or Treaters.  I used a stone wall decoration across the back seats, to keep the medieval theme, and I had a little ghost, with ceramic jack-o-lanterns, bat lanterns, and a candle holder with artificial candles in the back of my van.  I had the candy in a little bowl the ghost held, and a couple of spiderweb bowls.  You can't see my decorations, but here we are seated cozily on our bench, which was actually very comfortable.  It was much better than standing or sitting in the back of the van.

One of the best parts of the night, though, was having an excuse to play with my puppets in public.....and seeing everyone's reaction to them.

More Renaissance Fair pictures

For those who have never been to the Maryland Renaissance Fair, it is a lot of fun!  There are musicians, performers, shops, games, pony rides, elephant rides, and a tournament.  Our favorite performers are Johnny Fox (sword swallower) and Hilby, the Skinny German Juggling Boy.

 Above:  Johnny Fox

Below:  Hilby

Yes, that is a bowling ball that Hilby is juggling.
And a hedge trimmer (turned on) and a sword.

Above is our son Jordan, his girlfriend Thalita,
and her roommate Kellie.  

They are standing beside the weather stone.
This is how it tells the weather:

Shadow = Sunny.

No Shadow = Cloudy.

Wet = Rainy

Swinging = Windy

White = Snow

Missing = Tornado

It's also fun to see the many costumes that people come dressed in.  Some come in Scottish kilts, others in clothes that the nobility would wear.  There are pirates, monks, soldiers, wenches, fairies, and more.  And yes, some folks come in good old T-shirts and jeans.

The food at the Fair is also a bit more unique:  turkey legs, soups in bread bowls, Scotch eggs, Steak on a Stake, and more.  The turkey legs are delicious, but they take time to eat.  As long as you have plenty of napkins, you can enjoy them as you watch one of the many performances.

My husband and I went back a second time, just by ourselves, for a date.  It was so much fun, especially since we had had to leave rather suddenly the previous time due to the weather instead of staying to the end and getting to enjoy more of the Fair.  And when it was time to leave, we passed underneath the gates that say, "Until another day, fare thee well."

Yes, that's a baby unicorn on my shoulder.......

Not your usual fur baby, but I've had my eye on this one for awhile now.  Every time we go to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, there has been a shop with fun, unique fantasy puppets.  I have wanted one of the shoulder puppets for a long time, especially the blue and ice colored unicorn.

The one Jordan got was a baby gryphon.  It has more natural coloring that fooled a few people into thinking it was a live creature.  Since the puppets have a special wire that makes the head move, Jordan startled more than one person into asking, "Is it real?"  Jordan's girlfriend Thalita didn't like it.  She thought it was creepy, but her roommate Kelly, who had also come with us, thought it was really cool.

Josiah got a baby bat that clings to clothing instead of sitting on your shoulder.  So here we are with our fun little puppets.

As usual we had a ball at the Renaissance Festival, although we had to leave in a bit of a hurry due to a sudden, violent storm.  We got out before most folks because Kelly got a call from her mom who was concerned.  The storm that was headed our way was moving extremely fast, hit suddenly with almost no warning, and had spawned at least one tornado.  We left just before it got ugly.  When it hit, it was torrential rain, and the temperature dropped about 25 degrees in a matter of minutes.  As we drove westward, away from the heavy rain, it was apparent that the storm had come from the west.  The force of the rain began to subside, but branches and leaves were on the ground, and there was even a tree that had toppled completely over onto I-495, closing a couple of exit lanes.  It made a mess of the traffic, but once we got past it, we got home pretty quickly, and I'm grateful we got home safely.

Even though we didn't get to stay to the end this time the way we usually do when we go to the Fair, it was still a lot of fun!