The Thomas Family Mountain Retreat is going up for sale. We will have it on the market no later than the 15th of May. We are planning on staying here in Show Low for the foreseeable future. We will rent a house and then buy another lot and build a smaller house (don't worry it will still have space for visitors). If you want to come up for a weekend and stay in this house, you had better hurry.
The kids downloaded some video from Sammi's camera. Here's a particularly special one by Nathan. Do you know how to poo?
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Last week was Spring Break for us. So we decided to do what any good, wholesome family would do. Go to Lake Havasu for Spring Break.
Luckily we missed the crazy college kids by a week. So we had the lake to ourselves.
One of the highlights was our "Hotel Room". A rented 5th wheel from the 1970's.
It was cozy but was part of the fun.
Our friends who invited us had a new ski boat with all the toys.
My new favorite thing was Wake Surfing. This was sooo much fun. The boat has special features to create a wave behind the boat that you ride without a tow rope.
Paige and Kate water skied for the first time.
But I think they enjoyed the inner tube more.
But by far the person who had the most fun was Mindy. She had perma-grin the whole time as she wake boarded back and forth catching some air as she jumped the wakes.
We are still waiting for someone to make the long drive over to San Diego for Spring Break!!
Thomas was feeding Emerson a bottle of expressed milk, he was being very gentle with him and pretty soon I got distracted by something else and I was in the kitchen for a little while, not really paying attention. Pretty soon Thomas says, "Mom, look, I'm sharing!" I thought, "how cute, I should get the camera."
Then I realized that "sharing" meant drinking the bottle too. nice.
So after Friday's physical mountain top experience, we woke up Saturday morning to get our spiritual exercise and training. We had asked our Stake Presidency for tickets to a conference session (preferably Saturday morning so we could fly back Saturday afternoon) and they came through. Because it was to be a Solemn Assembly, I wasn't sure we would be able to get them. We were very grateful.
We parked at a garage that was noticeably vacant. I thought it was a little strange, until I realized that we were at 400 South and State. It is a long walk from there to the conference center! As we started the hike in the bitter cold wind that morning, we realized that we were going to have to hustle. If you are not in your seat by 9:30am, there is a chance it will be given away.
As we neared Temple Square, I saw the parking garage I had intended to park in...oh well :-). We decided we would ride the trolley back, so that would make up for it. As we were walking through the park between Temple Square and the Joseph Smith Building, someone called out "Hey, Brother Thomas, Brother Thomas!". I looked in the direction of the voice and was surprised to see Steven Underwood Jr. - one of my scouts from Ladera Ranch, running over to see us. I think one of his friends was Bishop Mike Grossen's son too, but I couldn't be sure...they are all getting so big! They were all there trying to find tickets into conference, along with a lot of other people. We talked for a minute or two, and Ben and Zach both remembered him...he used to baby sit for us there. Then we were off again to get in.
As we approached the Conference Center, we realized that we might not make it in in time! The lines were really long...they were moving along quickly, but were really long to get in. And there was the ever present sound of the anti's in the background preaching and railing against anything they could.
We moved forward toward the east-most entrance in what seemed to us to be the shortest line (also seemed to be the slowest moving once we were in it), when again I heard "Glenn Thomas - over here!", and turned to see Jeff Rush (one of Eldon's friends and a co-runner when we lived in Arizona and I was running with the marathon crowd). Big smiles on both of our parts. Wow! Small world.
We finally made it in, and after a lot of directions, made it to our seats. We were just right of the center in the balcony, about 15 rows up. I had forgotten to bring a pair of binoculars, but they had big screens on the wall that were gigantic...and provided all the detail of the speaker we would need.
One thing I noticed right away was how many people, despite being told numerous times on their way in, were talking on their cell phones and taking pictures. Even after President Monson and the First Presidency took their seats and after specific instructions not to take pictures over the speaker system, the flashes on the walls of the stage were telltale of the constant ignoring of this simple directive. I guess I shouldn't have been suprised then when the closing song started and many people got up, with their children in tow, and walked out. Zachary commented, "Dad, why do people do that?" The only thing I could think to say at the time was "Because they are only thinking of themselves Zachary".
Despite such occurrences, the conference was wonderful. The speakers were powerful - we all especially liked Elder Nelson's opening talk, and President Uchtdorf's reading of the names :-). The music was very beautiful. It was good to be there. And despite some confusion regarding the solemn assembly protocol, we made it through it and it was an uplifting and wonderful occasion.
After the conference was over, we slowly worked our way around looking for drinking fountains and bathrooms. At one point, we worked our way out onto the upper courtyards for this picture. It was windy and cold - can you tell?
As we walked through Temple Square afterwards, I realized that this was my golden opportunity to get a Russian language Book of Mormon for a co-worker that I'd promised him. Sure enough, we found the right person and he produced not only a Book of Mormon, but the Proclamation on the Family, Joseph Smith's Testimony, and the Testimony of the Twelve, all in Russian. Wow!
Next, we toured the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall. Zachary's sharp eyes spied a spiral staircase on one side leading up to what we didn't know. I had never been inside this building I don't think. It was neat to explore it together. We talked with several missionary couples there who all commented how handsome Ben and Zach were and also asked if they were twins. That was the question most frequently asked on this trip - so much so that Zachary told Cindy about it when we got home...."Everyone kept asking us if we were twins!" :-).
Our flight back to Albuquerque was uneventful (I slept through some of it) until we got close and then it was very very turbulent. We all commented that it was a good thing Cindy was not here, as she has a weak stomach for such roller-coaster rides! It really was turbulent!
The flight between Albuquerque and Dallas was great...very few passengers...we all got to spread out, and they treated us like Kings - our own cans of Ginger Ale! Ben and Zach drank their fill and more :-).This weekend was a physical and spiritual feast for Benjamin, Zachary and me.
It began on Thursday morning. As usual before a big trip, I ran around like mad searching, packing and repacking till either I ran out of time, or I thought we had everything we might possibly need. Cindy thinks I'm crazy sometimes, but hey...a Scout is prepared, right?
Cindy drove us to Dallas Love Field (love that name for an airport!) where we boarded a Southwest flight through Albuquerque, NM and on to Salt Lake City. Using a service called Hotwire (http://www.hotwire.com/) we had a rental car for $23/day and a Hilton Hotel for $56 a day. What a deal! :-)
We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and went out in search of a restaurant. Now, Cindy had sworn me to not bring my laptop on this vacation. Even the boys had at one point asked "Dad, are you going to bring your laptop? (Zachary)". I told them I wouldn't, and Zachary immediately says "YES!". Can I tell you how long it has been since I've been anywhere without a laptop? It was difficult I must admit. Not that I would have worked on this vacation, but being able to Yahoo Yellow Page your restaurants in an unfamiliar place is SOOOO much better than the alternative.
But that is what we were left with. The alternative. And being male and not liking to ask directions, we set out. After all, I had been to Salt Lake before...it's all just a big grid, right? Got to be some major streets out there with restaurants!
After driving around for two hours looking for something...having visited the Temple area, Redwood Road, West Valley, East Valley, North Valley...University of Utah Campus...basically everywhere, we finally ran into Trolley Square! It was now 8:30 pm, and the boys and I are really hungry. And I couldn't for the life of me find a parking space there, let alone a restaurant that wasn't packed to the hilt.
So Zachary finally says it, "Dad, can't we just stop at that A&W Rootbeer place right there and go back to our hotel and swim?" And that's exactly what we did. It (A&W) was much better than I thought it would be. And after an hour of swimming and another hour of "How Things Work" on the Discovery Channel, we were all fast asleep in bed.
Friday morning dawned bright and beautiful. No clouds in the sky, and three eager skiers. There was one problem though. Despite all my careful planning, I still needed one more pair of ski socks for the boys, and I needed a new pair of ski goggles. I knew of a place called Canyon Sports on the way up to the ski resorts and it turned out they were having a blowout sale at one of their stores, so off we went. That combined with breakfast at Carl's Diner (a local hole in the wall but very good) got us up to Alta Ski Resort by 10am. By 10:45 we were outfitted and ready to begin.
This was Zachary's first skiing experience, and Benjamin's third. After a rough start on the bunny slope and rope pulls (big mistake) we took a chance and took the lift!
Benjamin was elated, Zachary nervous, and I was beside myself - I love skiing! And even more, I loved teaching Benjamin and now Zachary how to ski and seeing them get it. So enough of my words on the matter...see for yourself how they did:
Yes, that is a Blue - we finished the day on the Supreme Ski lift! They are not parallel skiing yet, but they both did awesome and can snowplow and even cruise with the best of them! See the video below:
and this one taken earlier in the day (Zach's just getting up from a wreck at the start, and towards the end, Ben is on the left and Zach is on the right).
All in all, we had a blast skiing and followed it up with an evening of swimming, watching TV, pillow fights, and jumping on the bed! Ahhh.....vacation!
Hi. Keep your eyes open for Glenn, Ben and Zach at the Saturday morning conference. They will all have eye glasses on (unless Zach forgets to put his on). Ben and Zach will have white long sleeved shirts on with ties. Glenn has his dark suit. (I know, I know - like nearly every male will have on a suit and white shirt!)
Their seats are located on the balcony level. They are very excited about this - last time they were on the floor and it was a bit hard to see. I think they forgot the binoculars though... oh well!
We are currently in a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm warning till 4am over here in Texas - it sure could be a long Spring and Summer!
