Kay and Joseph

Traci's aunt Kay passed away on Saturday. She had been suffering from a lot of physical ailments for a while, so, even though we miss her and wish we had the chance to see her one last time, we know that she is now at peace.

I will remember two things about Kay. First, she could be really sassy. I don't think she was ever sassy to me, but I few times I witnessed that blazing fire in the Hoke blood that I love so much. Second, I will always remember when I went down for my first Hoke family reunion and how she treated me. Traci and I weren't engaged yet, and I had no idea why I had offered to go, because, despite everyone being pretty friendly, I was pretty spooked out at the level of committment I was displaying by being there. Kay, more than many other people, was extremely welcoming, friendly, and accepting of me. I'm pretty sure that she got an extra dose of schmoozing from me for that. As another part of her friendliness, after she'd known me for a few minutes, she insisted that she make me some of her famous Gumbo. She and Aunt Connie cooked it up the very next day, and it was amazing.

On Friday Traci and I went to SLC to watch the Joseph Smith movie as part of an Elder's Quorum activity. To be honest, I don't think about Joseph Smith as much as I should. I regard him as the first prophet of this dispensation, but I rarely stop to think about what that entails. I am glad we went, because the movie helped me think about Joseph in a different light.

During the movie, some of the more tender moments are when Joseph is shown playing with his children, helping putting them to sleep, being kind and loving towards his wife, and being respectful and tender with his parents and siblings. I realized that to go through everything he did--tar and featherings, being put into jail, beaten, etc.--and to submit his family and friends to similar persecution, must have meant that what he preached was true.

Lastly, we are looking forward to having Ma and Pa Sheen here this week!

Deal

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Check it out!

Happy Halloween!

Random Stuff

Best Quote ever:

(I watched Jonah and Nolan Yesterday)

Me: "Jonah, can you throw this away for me?"

Jonah: "No"

Me: "Why not?"

Jonah "Because I'm sick."

Me: "What hurts?"

Jonah: "My feelings."

So stinkin' hilarious that kid is... In other news, today Max went peepee in the potty! Such a big deal, I am SO happy he is rolling with this whole potty training thing. I was going to start next summer, but he surprised us with wanting to train earlier.. YIPEE!

Also, the whole family got the H1N1 vaccine yesterday. No shots for any of us, just the mist. It was EASY! the hard part was WAITING IN LINE FOR 3 HOURS! I woke up at 5:40 to start standing in line, and we got done at 9. There were a couple thousand people there to get the shots. and the Health Dept. was all out of the shots by 11.

Here is some pictures of the madness:
See the huge line that wraps around the building and then all the way through the parking garage...

Our little group of friends that huddled together.

Oregon Coast Trip Report

So we haven't had time to blog and arrange photos/videos from our trip last week until today. We got home Monday afternoon around 3 PM, then Traci hit class at 5:30. Max and I semi-unpacked/rested, and now Saturday is here. It's been a busy week.

OUR TRIP WAS AWESOME. MEMORIES WERE MADE! A few weeks ago we got bored and started surfing the net, ending up at a site about the top 5 aquariums in the US. The first two were a little too far from Utah, but 3rd was on the Oregon Coast in Newport. So, we decided to go. The following are some bullet points from each day to mark the highlights. We have also updated our Picasaweb albums for the first time in a really long time. Enjoy the many photos and videos from our trip here: PICTURES/VIDEO FROM OUR TRIP.

Thursday 10/15
-In Portland, OR, climb to the top of Multnomah falls (the largest year-round falls?)
-Eat at Salvador Molly's in Portland, which received recognition from Man V Food.
-Drive to Newport
-Get settled in, go to beach, see a live seal(sea lion?) on the beach. Get 20 feet away.

Friday 10/16
-Visit a national park in Newport
-Eat at a cafe/pizzeria two blocks west of our place (it was in this really, really fun historic downtown area)
-Go to Newport Aquarium. See all sorts of wicked cool animals.
-Go to Newport community halloween fest for kids. Get Max some goodies, make some crafts, etc.
-Go to beach again and play around

Saturday 10/17
-Visit Fuddy Duddy's Fudge Candy Shop in a little town north of Newport(real authentic and delicious. A guy a few feet from the register was stirring a super hot, super huge vat of double chocolate fudge mixture)
-After finding out that whale watching won't happen, we go to Lincoln City to doing some shopping/outlet malls and make out like thieves.
-Visit a lighthouse on the way back to Newport
-Eat at a really fancy restaurant for dinner. It was the kind of place not meant for kids. They had one high chair, and I believe it was being used a stool before we needed it. The food was delicious, though, and the staff was awesome. They scrounged up some paper and crayons for Max and created a special mini pasta dish for him.

Sunday 10/18
-See Portland Temple
-Drive through downtown Portland. Drive past VooDoo donuts and Chinatown.
-Spend the night with Uncle Max and Grandma Sheen

It was awesome. If we could think of any possible downer on the trip, it would be that we did not get to go on a whale watching trip. It never poured while we were there, but apparently the water and weather was just bad enough to keep our charter from going out. The saddest part, though, is the Sunday, the day we left, was (as we found out later) one of the best whale watching days in a few weeks!

It's all good though. We just can't mark that off of our list of things to do yet. California anyone? Maine?

Happy Anniversay Sweetie.....

First just let me say, Happy Birthday Wade-O!

In other news, it's our anniversary today. 3 years ago, Derrick and I went to the Houston Temple and were sealed for time and all eternity. It's one of the best things I have ever done.

3 years and 1 son later, I am still so happy that I said yes, just as happy as the first day that we meet, and more in love with Derrick. Love grows, and I am so happy to be journeying through this life with the Grizz, I love you baby.. Happy Anniversary!

Hello from Oregon!

We've been making some memories. Yesterday we climbed to the top of Multnomah Falls near Portland, OR. Multnomah, we were told, are the second largest year-round falls in the U.S. We hiked a mile and half up, almost died doing so, but had a great time!

This is us at the look out on top of the falls. This is us tired, sweaty, and achy.

We then ate at Salvador Molly's in Portland (saw it on Man vs. Food!), and headed out to Newport. We'll blog again with news on what we did today, but we love the place we are staying at, and last night at the beach (which is one small block away!), we saw a live seal that had climbmed up on the beach to take a rest! Awesome. (It's the black speck that looks like a rock, but is a seal--really!)