Cleveland/Kirtland Trip- Days 2 & 3. Oh, and my overzealous opinions. Enjoy!

After leaving Cleveland and getting some french fries into Eleanor, we drove the short 10 miles or so to Kirtland. We stopped first at the temple. The next tour was an hour off, so we walked around the grounds. Here are Clayton and Eleanor. She was still a happy camper at this point.

We walked through the cemetery right across the street. There are a lot of really old headstones there. Including this pretty, albeit slightly macabre one.

Hey, we know that name.

We toured the John Johnson farm the next day.

Eleanor was wearing thin after all the walking around near nap time. By the time the tour was about to start we decided to bail. Someday we will have to go back to see the inside of the temple, but without a wiggly one year old who is discovering her powers of negotiations.

We went back the next day after lunch and took a few more pictures.

Eleanor became excited by a flock of geese. She followed them for a good twenty minutes.

Our best self-timed effort.

We then headed down the street to see the town of Kirtland. The LDS church owns the town property while the Church of Christ owns the temple. I've heard people say it before, but there really is a difference in the feeling of the two. While the temple holds a lot of significance for our early church history, at the end of the day it is just a building. We went through a tour of the town. Well, most of it. Clayton had to take Eleanor out after a bit. It was impressive to walk the floors that Joseph Smith walked. To see the buildings where he taught and received inspiration and revelation from God. It really makes me appreciate the histories so much more.

Eleanor enjoying restored historical sites. It's totally one of her favorite things.

Us.

Them.

Next we drove to the John Johnson farm, where Joseph and Emma lived for over a year. It was another amazing place. I was impressed with how many original "parts" are still in these old buildings. Floor boards and mantels and so forth. The church has done an impressive job in restoring so much. Side note, the Church of Christ (that runs the temple) charge a fee for their tours to help with ongoing restoration. I have no problem with that, it's only about $3, but then my friend who knows all this stuff (Hi Julie!) told me that our church actually paid for the major restoration for them. Kinda funny. I'm glad we take that approach and don't strong-arm them into selling to us. Where the LDS church now has over 130 temples with about 20 more under construction, their church only has one operating temple and the original Kirtland temple. The one room "museum" they have is full of replicas and not much else. I'm not saying that we're God's true church and he favors us, but, oh wait, yes I am.
Suck it other churches!
Kidding! Geesh!

But really, the LDS church is God's true church. Don't just take my word* for it, I know two nice young men who can tell you all about it.

Back at the farm, we toured the inside. Eleanor was adorable, as proven here. Me? This is the picture that made me repluck my eyebrows for thirty minutes this week. Well, not this exact shot, it's actually the one after it that is in NO WAY ever being shown on this blog. Upside? My eyebrows are now looking goo-ood. Sorta.

At the end of the tour you end up outside on the front porch. We both took turns shouting REPENT to a few squirrels and birds. This is the porch where Joseph preached from one morning when he had been tarred the night before. Take that stupid mobs.

After the tour we then made our way back to East Lansing.
It was a good trip.
Up next, my parents visit Michigan and home projects!!!
Get excited folks!

*P.S. I think only I have 2 readers who are not LDS, and I am pretty sure they know when I am kidding and when I am not. And to anyone reading my blog: I hope you know I do take things seriously some times. I'm not knocking other religions. It just seems I never really get to say how awesome being a Mormon is on here without offending someone. Visiting church sites makes me incredibly proud to be a Mormon and part of such an amazing heritage. The Gospel of Jesus Christ really is the best thing in my life. It just makes everything easier and better. Any good I have is from trying to emulate Christ and any bad I have is from my less than stellar obedience to His ways. If you've known a lame Mormon sometime in your life, (I really hope it wasn't me) all I can say is that it is a perfect church filled with normal everyday people who make mistakes.

I highly recommend it.

Come Out, Come Out......

Hey all you blog friends! If you are reading my blog, I want to read yours also! I honestly read every blog in those lists over there to the right. So if you have a private blog, I would love an invitation. You can send it to me at mariannemarguerite at yahoo dot com.

I also read (stalk) a lot of blogs from our friends in common, but wont add you to my RSS feed unless we've talked about blogs or you've commented on my blog. That's so you know I know that you know... I try not to be too creepy about it all. So leave a comment here if it's ok for me to add you to my list. Thanks!

P.S. Thanks to Lexie for doing this on her blog and giving me the idea.

P.S. I am a bit of a night owl, so I read a lot of blogs. Please write more.

It Will All Be Updated Soon

Just a quick update! We are still in Utah for a few more days and then home to Michigan for the rest of the winter. We are having a blast out here but look forward to being in a routine again. (Read: Eleanor sleeping more than waking through the night.) Christmas was wonderful and I will post all of that soon enough. I just couldn't stand seeing the same old post at the top of our blog. Hope every one's holidays were lovely! Here is a cute shot of E that we actually took back in Michigan, but it needs to be seen.

5 Days? Oh crap, 4? Are we sure?

Surely it can't be five days away from my due date? That has to be wrong. Thursday, hmm. Ok, it's Sunday night... due on the 12th. Ya- I guess that's right. Weird. A little scary, but also just enough time to get things done. Because babies come on their due date I'm told. Kidding of course. I feel like I will go over. The last few times the doctor has checked, the baby seems to try and go higher. For all of you moms out there, you know that isn't the most pleasant sensation. And if we are going by sensations here, then she should have been born a week ago. Everything hurts. The loose joints and swelling are my two favorites right now. Good times. Also, I'm extra exhausted as of late. I slept in forever today as we forgot to set our alarms for church, AND we also forgot about daylight savings. Whoops. Thankfully the wonderful RS sisters had gotten a substitute for me a few weeks back, so I didn't have to teach. I also took a two hour nap in the afternoon. What is up? Any chance this is one of those signs that labor is imminent? No?

Anyhow, the house is coming along ok. I've got the changing table set up, the dresser painted, everything pretty much purchased, a few meals in the freezer and Clayton even put together the crib tonight. So sweet. I still have a few odds and ends to tie up, but nothing that will make me swear if my water breaks tonight. (Come ooonnnn tonight!) Do I really need to shampoo the carpet in the nursery? I imagine that might get skipped. The projects have been fun though. A lot of before and after shots. I will post pictures of all of the decorating when it is finished.

As for the baby, we still aren't finalized on a name. We are down to two, maybe three and we each have a favorite. We are waiting to look at her before we decide. I'll save that so I have something to announce when she comes. There is still time to plug your personal favorites if you want.

Tomorrow is Adam's birthday- Happy Birthday Awesome Brother!!!- and it would be super sweet to have her join him in celebrating, but I am not holding my breath.

Also- I am going to get my hair cut tomorrow as I remembered that it's been almost three years. Ya- not even a trim, unless you count my personal clippings that usually happen in desperate, dark moments of hair-hate. I think I might go back to short, but then I wistfully see a horrible Victoria Secret model whipping her mane around on tv and think twice. I need to remember that no matter how long my hair gets, IT DOESN'T EVER LOOK LIKE THAT. Repeat three times to self. You all can vote for my hair options too, at least until my appointment tomorrow night. I need to be careful making choices right now. I realize that when I am gigantic and puffy, and can't change a thing about it, then I want to change everything else. Dangerous territory.

All right- it is far too late to be blogging. Nothing clever or interesting is ever written (at least by me) after eleven pm. I am pushing one am, so it is definitely time to go. Hopefully the next blog will be ages away as a crying baby girl will occupy my time instead. Yee!!!

Four Tag

So Camille did this on her blog and I liked it. The idea is that you go to where you store your digital pictures, find your fourth folder and pick the fourth picture from it. Then describe what is happening in this picture. I cheated though. Our computer has a horrible filing system for photos, so they are actually in about seven different places. So I went to the two that I use the most and went from there.

My first thought- sweet, it's a good one. It could of been an unflattering one of me taking a bite of something. (I have a lot of those.) Of course, then I would have broken the tag rule and pretended it didn't happen. Ok, so I did sorta cheat. The first one was a shot of me and Clayton blinking, so I took the one right after it. I never said I played fair.

In the first picture Clayton and I are posing for some shots that my sister in law Jenni took when she first got her camera. We were in Hawaii and I had slicked back my newly cut bangs with tons of hairspray with so-so results. My hair was also extra yellow due to an unfortunate dye job (my work), but luckily you can't really tell in this shot. I also remember thinking that I looked huge in the white pants I was wearing. Now I can only dream about fitting into those stupid pants again. This is on the grounds of the resort Tom and Jenni were staying at. Ah memories.

My second attempt at getting a fourth picture came up with this. This is my nephew Grant. We are on a bus tour to the ruins at Tulum Mexico. This was when we were on the Disney cruise. Such a freaking fun time, and Grant was so fun to hang out with. It just goes to show how impossibly spoiled we have been that if I grab two random photos I get shots of two magical vacations we've been on. I've said it before, but we really don't deserve to have friends.

Now I am supposed to tag four friends... too hard. Instead I tag anyone that wants to play.

Three posts in one day???

This is very Lisa Higginson of me. She is the super one-day blogger. I still have one giant old post to catch up on from our trip, but I just had to complete my thoughts on the Twilight books. I loved them all. I read them all so fast that I had this enormous empty feeling when I was done. (Harry Potter anyone?) I love a good fast read, and I love series. So I am asking you, all nine or so of you, for some great book recommendations. Favorite books, fast reads, hard books, funny books, children's books... I don't care. Just preferably something you have read yourself so I am getting a first person account. I love just about every type of book, so feel free to name the obscure or off the wall. I will have to soon post a list of some of my favorites. It will take a while though. In the meantime I am asking for your help. Thanks in advance.

We are going on a trip!

Wow. Like that's news for us. However, we are going to Hawaii tomorrow for a few days and then maybe somewhere else after that. Clayton is done working for a short spell so we are trying to grab this opportunity by the horns and run with it... or some idiom less mangled. And for some odd reason I am more excited than usual. Not excited enough to be packing right now, but that's what 1 am is for right?
On Tuesday Clayton joined me in Palm Springs California for a long overnight. I worked, he played. We did have some time in the morning to check out downtown and play at the pool. 45 minutes of sun and we have sunburns. That is the problem with being bundled up in 35 degree weather. You forget the power of the sun. The happy, happy power of the sun. Anyhow, I had to continue working. I went on to Calgary Canada and Clayton went to Park City to shop. Without me. (Insert frowny-face emoticon here.) Actually I am happy anytime he gets interested in fashion. So all is well, and he looks hot in his new jeans. Really. You should check him out next time you see him.
For all of our blog fans out there (the two of you) you may have noticed a change in background. I loved the Monet template I had, but it made the pictures transparent. It also hid the music player. Which is a problem if you are reading my blog and sick of the music. Now you can easily push mute or skip the track. I aim to please.
Well, I should be getting ready to go. Tonight I was going to dye my hair, give myself a pedicure, iron and do laundry. Which of these would you eliminate? You may find out which one(s) I cut out by the pictures I post of our Hawaii trip. In my defense I just got off work a little while ago. Anyhow. Call me if you want a pineapple sent to you.

Not much...

I can't find my camera cord that sends all the pictures to the computer. So this will just have to be boring old text. Christmas was wonderful on both sides of the family. We got to spend a spell in Logan and Deweyville with Clayton's family and then a day at my parents on the 26th.
We got some good news on Christmas day: we are expecting again. We are very cautious and careful with the news this time, as we can't feel comfortable until a month or so more. We are hoping and planning for the best.
In other news Clayton and I have been trading sick for a few weeks now. I think I win with a trip to the ER early Thursday morning for an ear infection. (Seriously, the most painful thing I have ever dealt with.) They gave me multiple prescriptions which are helping and one that was awful. Percocet? No thank you. Anyone want them? Just kidding. Anyhow, we are both on the mend and will be back to work soon. Too soon, but what are you going to do?
Our awesome friend Shane got married last week! We will post pics when the cord gets found. In the meantime we hope everyone is doing well and we will post more soon.

What I should be doing right now is not this.

I finally have a calling in my ward! I get to teach once a month in R.S. Best calling ever. After Nursery. Tomorrow is the big day. So I thought that I would work really hard on my lesson and prepare like crazy. Umm... ya. Blogging about, well, nothing in particular. Writing this and ripping music to our computer (right now it's all of my old Blur albums) seems to be more important than focusing on my lesson. I wonder what the topic is about? Just kidding. I read the title last week so I am way ahead of the game. I am sort of a "do it when it REEAAALLY needs to get done" kind of gal. Otherwise I just don't feel the urgency. Don't get me wrong, I love this calling and I love preparing when I finally do it, just not right now. I was this way in school too. It's odd to see that my husband has the exact same habits as I do. He won't write a 15 page paper until the night before it's due. Some day this will probably not work to our advantage. A recent case of procrastination? Two weeks ago my niece Abby asked me to help her make a dress so she could be Elizabeth the 1st for a school project. Her choice. I forgot and ended up with one day to make a nine year old into a Tudor Queen. Well miracle of miracles,I found an eighties tea length prom dress at DI, and with a little work ended up with a dress that fit her. Luck like that doesn't cure me of my problem. Oh well.
Still don't know how to rotate pictures. Isn't she cute? She's been reading up on all of the Tudor court lately. Not the best role models for a child, but at least she has an interest in history outside of what they are making her learn in school.



Well- it's now the Friday after the lesson. It went surprisingly well. Even with my late start I always end up with too much material to cover and not enough time. Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day. Is it truly the most commercial holiday? I know people spend more at Christmas, but at least there is more of a reason there. Oh well. C and I both worked so we will be having our romantic dinner on Saturday. Unless we go to Moab, in which case... ya. We don't really care because every night is a romantic dinner. Kidding. We try to lay on the 'blech' for everyone. The one right of newly-weds is to make people uncomfortable on a regular basis.

Wow I wished I blogged more

I actually do, only it's on tiny scraps of paper at work. And who knows what I do with those. These scraps also contain titles of books I want to read, music to listen to or buy, words I don't understand the meaning of and want to look up, lists of things I need to do that week, lists of things I need at the grocery store etc... I find that I can produce a copious amount of lists. They are practically like journals, too bad they aren't dated. Most of the world has a better way to do it. I have a friend that uses her good old Franklin Covey planner every blessed hour. Another is so organized on her PC that if she were to have a house fire, she would never recover. Palms, magic phones that work better than Palms, even I-pods now, they keep everyone informed and on time but me. I like to stick to the random paper idea. These slips of paper end up all over my house, my car,in my purses and bags. I never find them in time to use them effectively, but I love finding them. "Oh yeah" I think, "Radiohead was going to be on Letterman last week. Bet that was good". or "Hey- I forgot to buy spray starch at the store".
Hopefully I will soon find one of my errant pieces of paper with a good blog written on it. Then maybe I can blog about something other than blogging.

It's time!!!!

It's time for the Academy Awards- that are almost always a let-down. (But not this year baby! Kir & Darrens party is going to rule!!) It's time for Paris Hilton to start wearing underwear. (I want Stacy and Clinton of What Not To Wear to rip her a new one.) ((I wish Clinton was straight.)) It's time for me to take a vacation, I am getting way too cranky at work. (Big V is so not happening, time to be out of debt, grrrr.) And most of all, it's time for everyone to take a few minutes and blog. Me included. Love to all -M

GIlbert told Anne to write about what she knows...

...So what do I know? Hotels. My job requires me to spend 2 to 4 nights a week in them. In fact I am in one right now. It has a PC(!), lovely antique-looking tables and a puffy, all-white bed that I can't wait to get into for my three and a half hours of z's. This hotel rules. Others, not so much.
Things that make a hotel awesome, in no particular order, are: Good soap-shampoo sets. The fancier the better. After five plus years of free amenities I still get some odd rush at a fancy mini lotion sitting on my bathroom counter waiting for me. Mini mouthwash? So cute! So un-neccesary! Cozy bed with clen sheets. Now I know clean sheets sounds like it should be a given, but you would be surprised. The stories I could tell, but won't. Good cable. I love the food network and hate to miss a night of Alton Brown. I like two to three channels of movies so I don't have to be stuck with the semi-porn that is always HBO. Seriously it is so stank! Wake-up calls. He-elpful! Good food nearby. I like the assortment of fast food and a few mid-range eateries like Flingers and Chachies. Mini-fridges (empty) and microwaves in the room. So handy. Birthday cake and diet coke. O.K. so I have actually never been in a room with these amenities, but a girl can dream right?
Now, things that suck or that I don't like: Germs. From dirty sheets and bathtubs to hair on the towels or crusty stuff, well, anywhere, It is all really really bad. I take a handi-wipe to all surfaces that I might touch. Controllers, phones and alarm clocks get special treatment. Um, this hotel room is nice, but I DO NOT NEED A PHONE NEXT TO THE TOILET! I barely use the one next to the bed. No way am I touching the one in there. Seriously. That's messed up. "Joey? Promise me you will never call me from that phone". Heat/air units. There is no middle of the road for these loud industrial sized horrors. You are either bone jarringly cold or menopausally hot-flashing through the night. Snooty Hotel Staff. Some are great. And some are miserable. Hotels fight very hard to win contracts from companies like mine. Yes we get a deal on the rates, but they get a guaranteed block of rooms paid for 365 days a year. We keep some hotels in business during their off season. And yet some hotel employees treat us like second rate citizens because we aren't paying for it with our own credit cards or we aren't paying "full price". Any other company that uses corporate rates gets treated like royalty. Not us, they are doing us a favor by letting us spend the night in their spare room. It's beyond annoying.
So. I had no idea that this was going to be so dull. Sorry to my two to three readers. I will try harder this month.

I can't believe I got the right password!

I have blogged all of once due to my serious attentiondeficitdisorder that prohibits me from remembering passwords or user names and what-not. However, I think I've got it! Yay me! I just giggled my way through Kir's blogs and want desperately to write something fun and interesting. Too bad. I am a glut of tired and grumpy thoughts, mainly focusing on the masochistic idea of calling up old dates or boyfriends to ask them what was the deal breaker for them? What about me is so repelent to men these days? Boo hoo, I know. It's a serious smack myself upside the head and leave the pity party kind of situation. I will write something genius (why not?) in a couple of days.