I Believe In Santa Claus

And look at the first gift he brought me this season!!!

"Congratulations! You were selected to receive tickets for this event:.

• Number of Tickets: 4
• Event: Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square Christmas Concerts
• Performance: Thu, Dec 11 at 08:00PM"

Needless to say, getting to go to this concert for the third year in a row makes me SOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!

Better Get to Livin'

After my close call with certain death from the tornado that I barely scraped by...I continued my journey across Nebraska.
It was long.

I finally made it to Iowa!
But not before stopping at Winter Quarters.
This is a wonderful memorial to the Saints that lived and died in this area.
They built a city here, after slogging through the Iowa mud, and so many, many died here.
In just one winter (1846-7) more than 600 people were buried in the cemetery at Winter Quarters.

The Temple here is absolutely gorgeous.





There is nary a Visitors Center where I don't see someone I know!
The tradition was not broken during this visit! I walked in and said, "Well, Marian Osborne! What are you doing here?" And there she was! She lives right here in SLC in my same condo complex and is in my ward! She was so happy to see me because she is the birthday-card-giver-extraordinaire and she was worried she would miss my birthday because she hadn't sent my card off before she left with her sisters for their trip to Nauvoo!
So -- she walked out to the car and got my card!

After they left, I started talking with the missionary who was going to take me on the tour of the center and I showed her the card Sister Osborne gave me. When she saw my last name was Springer she said, "Do you know Seth?" and of course I do! It turned out she was his good friend! (So, don't tell, but I called him real quick and they got to talk for a minute!)

It was a wonderful visit to Winter Quarters! I really didn't understand what an important place this is in Church History. The Temple there is absolutely beautiful and the pioneer cemetery - breathtaking. (Remember that Seinfeld? I always think of that when someone says breathtaking.
You know you did too Maria. You.)

(Mormon Cemetery... 1846-7, 1863... It is estimated that 600 immigrants were buried here)

On the ground in front of this statue it reads,
"Gird up your loins, Fresh courage take,
Our God will never us forsake."

This little grave stone says Amy P. Poor little Amy!
I wish I knew your story!

I love that the cemetery is right there next to the Temple.
A perfect, beautiful, peaceful message.

There's my wagon I drove across the plains. The statue in the background is headed west. Recognizing the great sacrifice of the pioneers was overwhelming.
During the tour of the visitors center, Sister Henson told our little group that there was a tradition among the pioneers.
Whenever one person started singing "Come, Come Ye Saints" all the other pioneers would join them. She said there was hardly a time they weren't singing.
Then she started singing and we joined her.
Well - I tried to through my tears.

Feeling the spirit of this great place made me, So Happy.

Sunny Skies in Seattle (Day 1)

Last month I took a wonderful quick trip to Seattle for

Maria's wedding.

My friend Megan picked me up from the airport and the fun began immediately!

Our first stop... Pike Place Market!

I learned from ELJ to always drive up to the front of the parking lot closest to wherever you're going because there will probably be a parking spot waiting just for you! It almost always works!! It certainly did this day and we were so glad because it's hard (and expensive) to park in Seattle!

We made a quick pit stop and I thought this was just so Seattle -- boots and a dog in a woman's bathroom stall. Awesome. Also - how short is that door? A little privacy please!
Maybe that's why the dog was guarding. :)

Then... We were off to explore the Market!


Taste Test #1! Chocolate Linguine! Interesting!


Taste Test #2! Vinegar and Oil!

I brought home some yummy fig vinegar and
basil garlic parmesan olive oil.
Megan loved testing - so did I - but she loaded up each toothpick with like 5 (as she called them) "Sacrament Breads."


Ah, the flowers.

I always said if I got married in Seattle, I'd just send someone down to the Market on the day of the wedding. The flowers are amazingly gorgeous and giant bouquets like these cost $10-15.

Who can ever get enough of peonies???

All I can say about this guy... ewwww.

A live "razor clam." Sick.

It was dangling out of the shell all rubbery and nasty.

We did not buy these... just took a pic.

They were huge!

Sick.

Not really so happy - in fact the first not really so happy thing on the blog! Wow!

By now, (despite the nastiness) I was getting hungry so it was off to Jack's Fish Spot, where my friend Crystal used to work! They were really almost closed - but I convinced the nice, Spanish speaking employee to let me have some scallops and a crab cocktail. YUM!!!!!

Besides being a great picture of my nostrils and something black in my teeth (don't zoom in too close, please) this is also a pic of the nice man at the bar who let me eat one of his oysters. Wow! Noah would not believe it - but I ate a great big oyster! We said cheers and clinked our shells and down the hatch! Not Bad! Very sea-watery and a little chewy but not bad.

Meggy and I wanted a pic at the fish spot so the nice employee took it for us - but only if his friend could join us. Ok. Hi friend.

He was so cool, we hardly knew what to do with ourselves. Obviously. :)

Isn't this a gorgeous picture? Seattle is amazing.

CSI: Seattle.

I'm not sure what a taxi dog is either - but I thought it was a funny picture.

Some classic Seattle signs.

We almost stopped and drew a cane or walker on the senior crossing sign - but thought we'd better not. Why don't they have one on there though? It'd be so perfect!

What the heck is an Arterial? You can follow them all over Seattle. Makes me miss Colleen so much.

We headed to Dick's to have a milkshake and we were not disappointed!
Nothing like a Dick's milkshake!

And I love Target! (Pronounced Tar-jet)
It's the one in Northgate with the escalators.
Megan's so cute with her little basket on the escalator!

Target (pronounced Tar-zhay) is in Bellevue because it must be fancier over there.
Again -- So miss Colleen.







Megan and Ben are so great.
They are seriously the model of what I hope to have someday in a marriage.
(And they're kind-of twinners in this pic!)
And they are just the best friends EVER!
I won't ever forget -- "Stopping, stopping." "Dontcha wanna dance! HUH!" And so many more!
Thanks for letting me use your car! Love you guys!!!

More to come...

Megan and Ben and Seattle, obviously, make me SO HAPPY!!!!!