More Gratitude Give Me

     Up!  Up!  The sun is getting up.  The sun gets up.  So up with you!...Up!  Up!  Great day for up!  Wake up every person, pig and pup till EVERYONE on Earth is up!  (Dr. Seuss)

     What with the beautiful, bright days we've currently been having, why shouldn't we be waking up happy and shiny, ready to start a new day with enthusiasm and satisfaction?...Uh, well for me probably because I'm not normally such a sunny riser.  My husband is though.  Poor guy.  Many times I keep my early morning grumpiness to myself, but occasionally he's ended up feeling the wrath of Laura when it's a bit too early and he's a bit too cheerful.  Still, I wish I was more like him.  Or Chase for that matter.  That little boy is always singing and dancing around just happy as a lark in whatever situation he's in.  Lately something he's been saying in his prayers has got me thinking.

     He's had some pretty cute or thought provoking things he says during his addresses to our Heavenly Father.  He frequently thanks the Lord for His sacrifice and dying for us, he prays for his mother's health many times, I even remember him once praying that Lyle and I would let him stay up an extra hour that night- he doesn't like going to bed much.  And once he said (talking about my sister), "Please bless Amy to feel better, even though she's dead."  It was hard not laughing at that...so innocent and thoughtful.  I love children's prayers.  

     Most of us who routinely pray notice that, sad as it is, prayers become just that...routine.  This is probably the reason we bless doughnuts and cookies so as to 'nourish and strengthen our bodies' when in reality we know it doesn't change the caloric intake or fat content of those sweets.  I admit, I'm someone who does this in my personal prayers sometimes, but Chase has one thing he says in almost every prayer that I hadn't remembered hearing in other prayers before.  After addressing the Almighty, he starts out the main body of his prayer by saying the simple words, 'Thank you for the life that we have.'  To him it's routine.  To me, it's touching.

     Chase's life isn't bad, but he's had some things he's had to see and deal with in his life that I wouldn't want for any child.  Thankfully, Chase's nature is just so normally happy...also a bit mischievous and very active...but essentially pleasant, loving and happy.  My own nature is very different.  I have struggled with depression since before I was Chase's age.  I didn't know back then what it was, and I don't mean to say that I've never been happy or that I never am now.  But I've never been a 'glass-is-half-full' kind of gal.  I think of myself as a realist, which to me means that sometimes I expect things to go good and other times bad.  But deep inside I frequently struggle to be happy and grateful.  It's always been a fight for me to see the blessings in life.  Shockingly my thoughts rarely revolve around lollipops, butterflies or sunshine.  Sometimes I truly forget to look at every part my life, not just the stressful or anxiety inducing aspects of it.

     "In the beloved children's story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the mysterious candy maker Willy Wonka hides a golden ticket in five of his candy bars and announces that whoever finds one of the tickets wins a tour of his factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate.

     " Written on each golden ticket is this message: 'Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Golden Ticket...!  Tremendous things are in store for you!  Many wonderful surprises await you!...Mystic and marvelous surprises...will...delight,...astonish, and perplex you.'

     "In this classic children's story, people all over the world desperately yearn to find a golden ticket.  Some feel that their entire future happiness depends on whether of not a golden ticket falls into their hands.  In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar.  The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket...

     "The lesson here is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.

     "This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals.  Never stop striving for the best that is within you.  Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart.  But don't close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day's ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life.

     "The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments.  They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives.  These are they who are truly happy." (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Oct 2011 'Forget Me Not')

     

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;

Behind the clouds is the sun still shining:

Thy fate is the common fate of all:

Into each life some rain must fall,

Henry Wadsworth  Longfellow

     Because it may not come to me easily to be thankful and see the good in things, I've had to teach myself how to find and hold on to the good moments.  A number of years ago, my sister Amy and I were at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for one reason or another that I don't quite remember.  We went up to the second floor of that majestic place and took in our surroundings and the beauty around us.  Then Amy decided we should sing.  Those who have had the misfortune never to have known Amy, don't know what a grateful heart she had and that she looked for the beauty in everything, so this request wasn't unusual; nor was her choice of songs: All Creatures of Our God and King.  Amy had a clear and beautiful voice and I added my alto to her soprano.  As we sang together and could hear slight echos of our music bounced back at us.  The harmonies of this song are truly magnificent and it was an amazing moment to sing aloud with my sister and praise God in such a beautiful setting.  I'll never forget that day.  Amy died a couple of years after that, but I've always remembered the peace and beauty of those moments with her, even when it hurts to think about her and even though we'll never have the chance to do it again in this life.  Consequently that hymn has become my favorite one and I can't sing it without thanks in my heart for that experience and that Heavenly Father allowed me to be her sister.

     Many other things in my life have been a struggle but through the trials, the Lord helps me find the good.  He helped me find the good in Amy's death, my divorce, and now he's helping me find things to be happy about in my infertility.  Namely, I have time to spend concentrating on my marriage, I can sleep in on weekends, I have money (though not tons) to spend on myself and have more time to myself than most moms, I think.  Though I would trade all of these for children of my own, I am determined to have something to be thankful for during this time of testing. I've also become a more compassionate person.  And the best blessing of all: it's helped me to have a closer relationship with my Savior.

     "It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way.  But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

     "Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation?  In other words, I'm suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances- whatever they may be...

     "My dear brothers and sisters, the choice is ours.  We can choose to limit our gratitude, based on the blessings we feel we lack.  Or we can choose to be like Nephi, whose grateful heart never faltered.  When his brothers tied him up on the ship- which he had built to take them to the promised land- his ankles and wrists were so sore 'they had swollen exceedingly,' and a violent storm threatened to swallow him up in the depths of the sea.  'Nevertheless,' Nephi said, 'I did look unto my God, and I did praise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions.'

     "We can choose to be like Job, who seemed to have everything but then lost it all.  Yet Job responded by saying, 'Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return...: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'

     "We can choose to be like the Mormon pioneers, who maintained a spirit of gratitude during their slow and painful trek toward the Great Salt Lake, even singing and dancing and glorying in the goodness of God.  Many of us would have been inclined to withdraw, complain, and agonize about the difficulty of the journey.

     "We can choose to be like the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, while a prisoner in  miserable conditions in Liberty Jail, penned these inspired words: 'Dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed'...

     "We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is.  How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?" (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2014 'Grateful in Any Circumstances'

     In those times when I've desired to see the blessings and have asked for divine help in finding them, they appear; and in abundance.  After all, the Lord knows exactly how much he's given each one of us, so he definitely knows how to show them to us as the blessings they are.

     "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;...To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness..." (Isaiah 61:1,3)

     Interesting that this is part of the scriptures that Jesus chose to read in the synagogue to announce that he was the Messiah.  Those the onlooking Pharisees were angered by this announcement, I'm comforted to learn that He wanted us to understand that He has the power to give us 'beauty for ashes'.  If we come to Him with a contrite heart and a desire to be grateful and we give Him our heavy burdens, He returns to us with knowledge of our blessings and greater faith to carry on.  He does then ask that we take that faith and press forward, sometimes into the darkness, in order to obey His commandments or to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  But I think it's okay if we get banged up and broken a bit while we're out there struggling in the dark, because really, if we have His spirit in us then our cracks will only shine with His light.

       So here's to my enduring efforts to be more grateful and to recognize the good things all around me. "Hast thou not seen how all thou needest hath been granted in what he ordaineth?" (Hymn 72, Praise to the Lord, the Almighty)  I want to be thankful for the life that I have.

Beautiful Places and Famous Faces

     Boy, life gets busy.  I don't blog near as often as I would like this year.  I was hoping to do this blog a couple of weeks ago, but I guess it's better late than never.

     Last month we went on vacation to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills of South Dakota.  We left on a Monday morning after Lyle's dentist appointment (it's hard for me to get him in since he can't just leave work for a couple of hours to go to an appointment like most working people can, so we had to schedule it on the morning of our first vacation day).  There was Lyle and I, Annie, Taylor, Chase, my mom and Lyle's parents.  One big happy family traveling in the same car (our Pilot).  We did most of the driving the first day.  Chase did pretty well in the car considering we were packed tight and his tablet had broken 2 days before we left.  The first day we stopped at Martin's Cove.  It was early evening and too late to take the hour to hike to the actual cove but we went to the visitor's center and listened to the missionaries there tell all about the Mormon handcart pioneer's journey and their rescue in the winter when they were starving and dying from exposure.  It was interesting to stop and see the Sweetwater River and think about having to cross that in freezing temperatures and to ponder all the hardships that they went through in order to get to the Salt Lake Valley.

The Sweetwater River

Me at Martin's Cove

Chase, Annie and Taylor having
fun with a handcart

Taylor, Lyle, Annie and Chase

     We spent the night in Casper, Wyoming and got up the next day for some more driving.  Our first stop that Tuesday was Devil's Tower.  As we spotted the tower from a distance, the adults in the car started making references to the aliens landing at Devil's Tower (from Close Encounters of the Third Kind) but, unfortunately they didn't visit when we were there.  Devil's Tower was the 1st officially declared National Monument in the United States.  President Theodore Roosevelt made it so (and just for you trivia fans, Yellowstone National Park was the first National Park declared in the US, by the same president).  There are Native American legends about the tower and how it came to be there.  They are all pretty similar in that they start with Native American children who are playing and somehow encounter a gigantic bear.  They run away from the bear on to a rock which then miraculously grows and grows so that the bear cannot reach them and devour them, although he sure tried.  The columns all down the sides of the rock are said to be his claw marks as he tried to climb the tower to get at the children.  I believe the rock is actually volcanic/magma rock that pushed up though the crust and cooled into the tower we see today.We went on an easy hike around the tower.  Something I didn't know, rock climbers are legally allowed to climb on the tower (there were a few there that day).  They ask people not to climb in June because the local Native American have religious ceremonies they hold then, but they cannot legally stop them.

Devil's Tower from a distance

Strong Man Chase holding up the Monument

Picture in the visitor's center
depicting the Native American legend
of how the tower came to be

     We continued our journey into South Dakota and the beautiful Black Hills.  By the way, they get their name from the kind of Ponderosa Pine tree that is most prevalent on the hills.  This kind of tree has needles which are black on one side which makes the hills look from a distance as if they are black. 

     After a quick stop and check in at the hotel, we were off to Mount Rushmore.  They have a nightly lighting ceremony which we wanted to see.  They have an amphitheatre and everyone sits and listens to a film about each of the four presidents (Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln) whose faces appear on the mountain and one of the park rangers talks about the monument and about the presidents.  Then we rose and sang the National Anthem while a flag waved above the stage.  About at this point the torrential downpour started.  They kept going with the ceremony (they'll only stop it for lightning, not for rain) and they called all the veterans of the armed forces to come onstage and we, as a crowd, recognized their efforts to keep our freedom.  The veterans helped with the lowering of the flag as well.  Since it rained I didn't get many pics that night, and not all of them turned out well.  I didn't mind the rain so much but for most of the family it was distracting so we decided to come the next day in daylight as well.

     I found out that Mount Rushmore was named after a lawyer named Charles Rushmore.  He had visited the area and asked what the mountain was called (before it was carved) and the locals told him that it had many names and that none of them had stuck.  They then teased him that maybe they'd name the mountain after him...apparently that name did stick.  He also ended up contributing a lot of money to the carving as well, so sure, he can have a mountain/national memorial named after him...why not?  These are the pics from both days.

You can see that in the rain, the presidents look like they're crying a bit.
Notice the American flag on the bottom which was above the stage.

I thought the soldier walking toward it was a nice touch.

These columns had each of the names of the 50 states carved in them
and all 50 state flags hanging on them.

1. 
   

Lyle, Annie and Taylor

Chase, Taylor, Annie and Ralph

     On Wednesday morning we got up and went on a ride on the 1880s train.  A train that has restored rail cars from the 1880s and which travels between the nearby cities of Keystone and Hill City.  Lyle's dad, Ralph, is a big train lover.  It was a nice calming ride.  We were some of the last people to get on at Hill City and so were split up but for the ride back from Keystone we got seats next to each other.  They don't allow walking up and down the aisles when the train was in movement, so it was truly a boring part of the trip for Chase since he had to sit there and not move around a lot and didn't have a lot to entertain him, but I think he still enjoyed it and for my part, I loved to see some of the beautiful scenery of South Dakota.

The 1880s Train

The rail car we traveled on

Inside the rail car

Annie and Chase

     Next on Wednesday we stopped at Crazy Horse Memorial.  In 1948 Lakota Chief Standing Bear hired sculptor Korcaz Ziolkowski to create a memorial of the Native American warrior Crazy Horse in remembrance of their people and culture and which was to be sculpted out of a mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  He accepted and started work in June of that year.  This visionary sculptor had a clear idea of how he wanted this warrior represented and this scuplture/mountain became his life's work.  Twice during his lifetime he was offered money by the federal government (10 million dollars each time) to help finish the mountain but Korcaz refused both times.  He had strong feelings about the federal government having control of how this sculpture would be finished.  He had seen that Mount Rushmore had been ended when all of the faces had been sculpted out and the money for the project was then diverted by the federal government instead of finishing the mountain (apparently the 4 presidents were supposed to be sculpted all the way down to the waist) and he did not want the government to have that kind of control over this project.  So since 1948 this sculpture, which is still in progress, has been entirely funded by the public through donations, visits to the sight and the charges accrued through gifts, food, etc which can be purchased at the sight.  Korcaz died in 1982 but his wife and 7 out of his 10 kids have continued on with his work.  He knew he would never live to see it finished and so left very detailed instructions for the completion of the memorial.  When it is finished, it will be the largest sculpture in the entire world.  All 4 of the faces on Mount Rushmore could fit into just the head portion of the Crazy Horse Memorial.  There is still a lot left to go, but it's excited to see that the passion to finish the project has never failed over all these years.  I made a donation and got a piece of the rock from one of the blasts on the mountain as a souvenir.  

Crazy Horse Memorial

Crazy Horse Mountain in the distance with the model
of how it will look when finished in front.

     Part of our favorite part of the trip happened as we were leaving Crazy Horse Memorial.  After viewing the museum and the orientation film and taking pictures of the mountain and the model and, of course, eating ice cream, we sat and watched three Native Americans do tribal dancing.  Jumping Buffalo, Iron Thunder and Swift Warrior are 6th, 7th and 8th generation descendants from Chief Sitting Bull.  It was beautiful and I am thankful for these people who want to preserve their heritage and share it with those of us who would like to know more.  Iron Thunder is the 19 year old son of Jumping Buffalo.  He sat and talked with Chase for a while.  He asked Chase if he wanted to know how to say something in his language.  Chase replied with, "Are you Mexican?"  I tried so hard not to laugh loudly.  Thankfully, he wasn't offended but thought Chase was funny.  All three of the dancers made comments on how they liked Annie's pink hair.  After the dancing, we had a chance to get a photograph with them.  Chase, Annie and I wanted to do that.  Iron Thunder made sure he got to stand next to Annie and even made a kissing face at her.  

     After this, it was time to leave (we wanted to see Mount Rushmore in the daylight which is what we did next) and we were walking to the car when Annie and Taylor decided they wanted to go to the restroom before we left, so they ran inside the building again.  Iron Thunder, Swift Warrior and a young female relative were come out a separate exit and saw my kids running inside.  Iron Thunder shouted out, "Hey, Pink Hair!  Pink Hair!"  at Annie trying to get her attention.  Annie didn't hear him and continued running in towards the restroom, but I heard (couldn't help it as I was standing mere feet away from the trio at the time) and I started laughing.  They turned around and looked at me and the female said, "Hey, she's your daughter, isn't she?"  I said yes.  At this, Iron Thunder came closer to me with a curious look on his face and asked me just how old Annie was anyway. I responded, "She's 13." He blanched and hid his face behind his hand while exclaiming, "Oh, Geez!" while his companions guffawed loudly at the fact that he had a crush on a thirteen year old girl.

     Poor Annie.  She got teased the rest of the time about Iron Thunder.  "Hey Annie, you can tell everyone now that you struck Thunder!"  "Annie, if your name is Pink Hair and his is Iron Thunder, are you going to change your name to Pink Thunder after the wedding?"  This opportunity to tease Annie won't be going away any time soon.  We're having too much fun with it!

Chase speaking with Iron Thunder before the dancing

Swift Warrior, Jumping Buffalo and Iron Thunder

Iron Thunder dancing

Iron Thunder, Jumping Buffalo and Swift Warrior

Jumping Buffalo, me, Chase, Iron Thunder, Annie and Swift Warrior

   

     After visiting Mount Rushmore for the second time we went back to the hotel.  Here comes Chase's favorite part of the trip: the water park in the hotel.  Along with a regular pool and hot tub, there's an actual water park with a little kid section and water slides for the older kids (which were not only very fast, but actually pretty rough- we all came out with a few bumps from them).  Behold the fun!

Annie at the water park

The water slides are at the top of the red and yellow stairs
and come out those black holes on the right

Chase coming down from the pirate ship water slide

     Thursday morning saw us at our first stop that day: Bear Country U.S.A.  It's a wildlife park.  You pay to go in (stay in your car with your windows rolled up and only honk your horn and put on your lights in case of an emergency- you know like if a bear tries to eat you or something) and drive through sections with different wildlife.  Some of the wildlife roam free (elk, reindeer, arctic wolves, the bears of course) and some of them are behind fences (the goats...maybe they try to ram the cars?...the mountain lions, etc).  At the end there's a place to park and there's a walk through zoo area with smaller wildlife, including a section for the baby bears who are taken from their moms after a few months in order to save their lives from other adult bears who will attack them apparently.  Really fun to see the different wildlife.  The elk and reindeer wouldn't stand up for us so we got pictures of their antlers.  It was a hot day so some of the animals were in shady places and didn't want to come out either.  The arctic wolf that came trotting along stopped just as we got next to him to take a picture and started licking himself...thanks Mr. Wolf...I think I'll wait until you finish to get the pic!  One of the backups was right at the gate that marked the beginning of the section with the bears...a grizzly was sitting down in the middle of the road and wouldn't move for the cars.  Then he got up and started pacing back and forth across the road so the cars still couldn't get past; it was funny to think that maybe these animals know just how to mess with us.  The buffaloes were very close to the car and Lyle actually rolled down my window because I was getting a glare from the glass...made me a little nervous.  The baby bears were so cute.  I didn't get real great pics of them because they move around so fast that it was a bit tough to get the shots I wanted.   Fun place to go...don't miss it if you ever go to the Black Hills.

The arctic wolf scratching himself...hey better than licking himself!

Big Horn Sheep

Perfect timing, Balou.  Thanks!

Unafraid of cars, the bears would just walk up to them,
or right in front of or behind them.  It was pretty cool to see.

The closest I've ever been to a bear...and I'm okay with that.

My handsome hubby's whiskers...and a bear.

Hello Buffalo...you're REALLY BIG!

Here's the antelope that was nosing in on the buffaloes food...
brave...or crazy?

Bear Country

My little monkey...uh, I mean bear cub.

A little girl in front of us says, "I feel sorry for him.
He has all this (meaning the beautiful enclosure in which he lives)
but he has no friend!"

Cute baby bears frolicking the day away

     Next on the agenda: 4 Mile Old West Town.  There were a couple of old west towns around there and we were tempted by others.  But our time schedule didn't allow for us to go to a shoot out or a cowboy western show, and this town was open all day.  It was basically the site of an old town that had been abandoned ages ago and they had rebuilt how the buildings used to look back then.  It was an audio tour and you would listen as you went from building to building.  Very interesting some of the things they used to do back then.  The kids got into the act and had fun running in and out of nearly every shop, pretending to be old timey folks.

Taylor, Ralph, Lyle and Annie at our destination

Bwahaha!  Really?  Don't you think that's a bit drastic?

At the Saloon

I know the feeling!

An old west prairie town

The boardwalk

While I'm putting on my best trouble maker expression
Lyle says, "Yeah, you look like a real scary outlaw
in that Hello Kitty shirt, sweetheart!"  Smart Alec!

At the coops, nostalgic moment for mom;
her dad was a chicken farmer.

Wow!  He looks like one mean rascal!

Chase cashing a check for Annie at the bank.

Thank goodness their stagecoach wasn't attacked by Indians!

Schoolmarm Laura trying to teach her unruly pupils!

Ralph 'the brimstone preacher' gives his sermon.
It's time for repentin' folks!

Taylor the dentist?...um...are we sure he's the only one in town?

     On the way back to the hotel, we decided to walk along Keystone's main street.  We bought ice cream and fudge, Annie got a poncho, mom got some moccasins and we enjoyed the picturesque village.

Keystone city

     Most of the evenings we tried to keep free for some relax time...we didn't want our vacation to be so jam packed that we were exhausted when we got back.  But even though we were leaving Friday...there was one more stop we wanted to see...the Reptile Gardens.

     The Reptile Gardens is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest reptile zoo.  Including giant tortoises, botanical gardens, the giant crocodile Maniac, Cheyenne the bald eagle, a gallery of tribal art, the Sky Dome, a playground, the Komodo Dragon, bird, gator and snake shows and a village fun area, the reptile gardens was a lot of fun.  We weren't able to see everything but I'd love to go again...you know, the next time I happen to be near Rapid City, South Dakota.

     We went in the Sky Dome where there are uncaged lizards, turtles, macaws and more.  Lyle got a little nervous when he saw the empty stick next to the sign "Boa Constrictor".  He asked one of the employees where the snake was and she laughed and reassured us that no, the boa constrictor wasn't just slithering around the guests, they hadn't brought him out that day.  We went to the gator and snake snows, saw the exhibits of toads, spiders, snakes, turtles, newts, crocodiles and more.  We saw the bald eagle they have caged (and found out that it's illegal to cage a bald eagle unless it's found injured and it cannot be released into the wild again, as was the case with Cheyenne).  We petted the three gigantic tortoises: Orville (age 108 yrs), Tank (51) and Quasimodo (47).  So much to see and do.

Chase and Grace at the Reptile Gardens

Inside the Sky Dome

Beautiful Macaws

Green lizard on a stick

Gigantic sea turtle remains

At the gator show

So many crocs!

Petting Fluffy the baby gator

The trainer got snapped at a lot.  This particular female
snapped at him anytime he came anywhere near her.
He joked that she was the only female he could get to chase him.

That venomous mamba is on the ground with the stick because
it tried to crawl up the stick toward the trainer.  He decided just to
put the whole thing down rather than get bit.  Smart man.

Chase, Annie and I petting the albino Burmese Python.
Have I ever mentioned that I like snakes?
I wish there had been a smaller snake I could have handled on my own-
the non-lethal kind of course.

The Komodo Dragon: the sign next to him said that in 1989 a German
tourist got too near this specimen and that all they ever found of him
was his mangled glasses.  Is that true?  Freaky!

Me and Tank

Quasi and Orville

Cheyenne the bald eagle

Tortuga Falls

     Now back home again, I'm thankful we had a chance to see and do so many fun things and create good memories as a family.  Maybe we'll be able to go back someday and see things we weren't able to see this time.  Hope so.