Summer Trip - Stage 2 - Duluth

While in Minnesota, Laretta had us drive up to Duluth, which is on Lake Superior. It took us a while to find the downtown area because all of the exits were closed. We ended up on the wrong side of town. Plus, we ended up crossing a big bridge over into Wisconsin. I had never been there, so it was nice to be there...even for about 5 minutes.

Our friend Atty (aka Miss Attitude, aka the GPS) finally got us to where we needed to go. There were lots of fun shops, a nice bridge to walk over, and lots of light houses to see. Plus, it was cooler since it was on the lake.

This is Laretta and Mom walking across the bridge.

Mom "holding" one of the lighthouses.

Me sitting on a moose (who was copping a feel) outside one of the shops downtown.

Mom getting comfy with a monkey in one of the shops.

Me standing in Superior.

Mom, Laretta, and I sitting next to Lake Superior.

Mom and Laretta by Mr. Moose.

As everyone there said, have a Superior day!

Summer Trip - Stage 1 - Gillette

My mom went on a trip the middle of July. Our first stop was Gillette to visit my brother and his family. We spent 2-3 days there before heading to Minnesota.

We had to make our stop at Perkins for dinner. This is Hayden and Hannah enjoying dessert (cookies) outside. They can only handle the inside for so long.

We went and got pedicures. Hayden and Hannah were pretty good considering we were there for over an hour. They even soaked their feet with us for a while.

Hayden took over his own chair, thinking he was all that.

Hayden towards the end. He was keeping us entertained.

The Mountain

The day after the big 4th weekend, I went to the mountain with my brother and his family as well as my cousin and his family. We had a picnic (a very windy one) and then went on a small hike down a little canyon.

This is Whitney by some snow. She thought it was pretty cool. We later had a small snowball fight--really, it was more Mike throwing them at me.

Elle and BrookLynn posing for me at the bottom of the small canyon. It was so green and pretty on the mountain.

Mike and Wilson climbing the rocks we ate by.

Such a cute picture! Elle and Whitney exploring around the rocks.

More July 4th Pictures

I didn't get all the pictures on the last post, so here are a few more.

Erik and his family watching the fireworks.

Michael and his fire. (He lit a bunch of the sparklers, and together they created this.)

More fire.

Yet more. (Mom ended up with a couple of brown spots on her grass.)

The parade of sparklers.

2010 Trip Stats

Miles traveled = 2900 (which I drove 2300 of)

States visited = 7 (Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska)

Hotels stayed in = 4 (unless you count Hotel Hendershot in Gillette, WY and Hotel Spitzenberger in Isanti, MN)

Temples visited = 3 (St. Paul, MN; Nauvoo, IL; Winter Quarters in Omaha, NE)

Times gone to Nauvoo pageant = 2

Times asked for referrals = at least 6

Pictures taken = approx. 200

Times Mississippi River crossed = 8

Times we ate out = too many to remember (probably around 15-20)

Books on tape listened to = 3

July 4th

The weekend of the 4th was a fun-filled weekend. We started on Saturday morning with the Mayes extended family yearly breakfast. It was quite the gathering. That evening, we had our family reunion at Mike's old house. We had Navajo tacos....yum, yum. I think one of our new traditions is having pinatas for the kids.

Here is Wilson and Mike taking a swing at the pinata.

Hayden enjoying some of the spoils from the pinata.

Uncle Gilbert, Aunt Loraine, and Mom

Hayden taking a swing at the pinata

Many of the kids:
(back) Emmalee, Alea, Maren, Sariah
(front) Hannah, Bekah, Nellie, Elle, BrookLynn, Bubba

On Saturday night, we did a few fireworks in front of Mom's house. I guess it was illegal to do it the night before the 4th because a cop soon showed up at the house "suggesting" that we don't light any more until the following day. It was a little ridiculous. Okay, a lot of ridiculous. So, we waited until Sunday to light the rest. (Our stake president did them on Sunday, too, so we felt like it was an okay thing for us to do. What's worse: breaking the law on Saturday or breaking the Sabbath on Sunday?)

Erik and Whitney watching the fireworks.

Sariah and her sparkler

Nicole and Wilson

Hannah

Bekah Boo

Hendershot Family Fun

At the beginning of July, our whole family was together in Lovell. Most of us were even under the same roof. My newest nephew Ethan was blessed on July 4th. I didn't get any pictures of him in his blessing outfit (darn it), but he was a cutie. This is him the night before. He's getting so long. Still a skinny little thing, though.

This is Wilson the day before he fell and scraped his head pretty badly. You can sort of see some marks that were already there.

Chelsey and I took Hayden and Hannah to the whale pool for kiddies over at the park. Hayden wasn't too sure about the water at first. He really got into it right before we left and wasn't to happy to go. I got just as wet as him. His ankle was sprained so I had to carry him all over the wade pool to get him to the different areas. What a character.

This is Hannah. (You can see the whale in the background.) She loved the pool. She went down the whale quite a few times and made some new friends while there.

This picture of Sariah is adorable. She's getting to be so tall. They had also gone to the whale pool and came over in their swim suits. She put on one of Whitney's tutus...

Sariah and Hannah...Too cute for words.

Hayden and Wilson (2 of the 3 boys) sitting in the back of Bryan's truck. Neither one of them like getting their pictures taken. Thus the side view.

Hayden, Wilson, Hannah, and Whitney in the back of B-Ry's truck.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!

Happy birthday to the most wonderful mom in the world!

Mayes Family Picnic on July 3rd

Mayes Family Picnic (Navajo Tacos)
Saturday, July 3rd
5:30 pm
173 E 5th Street (Kirk's house; Mike's old one)

We'll have Navajo tacos (like last year). Claudia will provide the meat. Geraldine will provide the scones. Please feel free to bring one of the following:

cheese
lettuce
sour cream
ranch
salsa
tomato
beans

We'll also have a pinata for the little ones under 12. We might even have something for the "older" kids. Please let Geraldine or Nicole know what you'll bring. Phone is 548-6434. See you on the 3rd!

FIRE!

I had a bit of a surprise last night. I started my dishwasher and went to do homework in the next room. After a while I noticed the dishwasher was making unusual sounds, so I went to check it out. I saw sparks flying out from the bottom of it. I quickly went over to turn it off. I opened it, thinking maybe something got stuck in the bottom. I figured opening the door had solved the problem. Well, the smell was awful, so I left the dishwasher door open and began opening my windows. I came back into the room and heard a plop. I noticed there were flames under the door. The nob from the dishwasher had fallen off and the wires were on fire. I quickly threw water on it, not remembering where my extinguisher was. I thought that was the worst of it. Then I looked in the hole where the nob had been. Major flames coming out. Freaking out, I called a neighbor asking her to run over with her extinguisher. She came in and extinguished everything. Thank goodness for good neighbors. (We later found my extinguisher in a closet I never open because it has the water heater in there....who ever uses that closet much?) Needless to say, my apartment smelled HORRIBLY. Melting plastic is not a smell that I enjoy. I opened all my windows and put fans in most of them. I turned off breakers so that it wouldn't accidentally start on fire again. I called my landlord, hoping he wouldn't somehow find me to blame for the incident. I spent the night curled into a tight, freezing ball, hoping and praying nothing else would catch on fire. All I kept thinking was "good thing I have rental insurance". Also, I was so grateful that I hadn't started it and left, as I have sometimes done in the mornings. It could have taken my whole building down. A small mercy.

Below are some of the pictures of the aftermath. It doesn't look as scary as it really was.

Here you can see the hole the fire was coming from.

This is what my floor looked like after the water and extinguisher did their things.

This is the nob that fell to the floor in flames.

The next two are of the inside of the door. You can see where it was starting to melt. (And what made the awful smell

Nephew #3

Ethan Andrew Hendershot was born June 8, 2010 (6/8/10) to Erik and Sandy. He weight 6 lbs 8 oz and was 18 inches long. (There aren't any pictures of Sandy because I didn't think she would appreciate them being posted with just having gone through surgery. Also, she was still in her hospital gown. Not very flattering for anyone.) Erik and Sandy had no idea what the sex of the baby would be, as he didn't want to show off during his ultrasound a few months ago. I think we were expecting another girl, so it was exciting to hear it was a boy. (Of course we would have been happy either way.) A while back when Bekah was asked what it would be, she said it smelled like a boy. And she was right!

First diaper change. (He was NOT happy.)

Grandma and Ethan

Aunt Shawnee, Bekah, and Ethan

Daddy with his little ones. (He can't say "his girls" anymore. Now he'll have to include his girls and a boy when he talks about his family.)

Birthday Buzz

My birthday was on Sunday. (Thanks to everyone for the well wishes.) This one was very low key. I didn't do anything special except take myself to dinner. It's the week before finals, so I didn't go home to celebrate. It's all good though. It got me to thinking about other birthdays and the fun I've had.

Last year the whole family, minus a couple of adults, went swimming in Billings. It was so much fun to watch the little ones. It would have been even more fun this year because Hayden and Wilson would have enjoyed it so much more than last year.

I remember a birthday during middle school where it was on a Saturday. It falls during track season and most of my friends were in track, so I wasn't expecting to do much that day. Well, I woke up with a surprise in my room at 5 a.m. All of my friends were there to sing me happy birthday. They then kidnapped me and took me over to one of their homes for breakfast before they all left for the track meet. I was the only one in my pajamas, so it was awkward, but still fun. I remember on the walk home that my brothers saw me and started to laugh and make fun, wondering why I was still in my pajamas. I told them it was my birthday and I'd just had breakfast with my friends. They didn't believe me. I had to have my mom tell them that it really was my birthday.

I graduated from Ricks College on my birthday 12 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long! I remember thinking, "I'm 20 and graduating from Ricks College, still single. It's hopeless." I look back now and am grateful I didn't get married then....I'm still to immature to be married. But, it was a great day. My parents were both there to see me graduate. My cousin Hans graduated the same day, and I had TONS of friends graduate then, too. The next day I moved to UT and started looking for a job. Not much time between being a teenager and a responsible adult.

For that same birthday, since the actual day was going to be busy, my roommies decided to give me a little party the night before. They'd all had birthdays throughout the year and as a gag gift I had gotten them all very large underwear. For my brithday I got Depends. I have a picture with me wearing them on my head. :)

Other good memories include dinners to Texas Roadhouse, a dinner at a memer's home while on the mission, and much more. These are the ones that stick out most in my mind. I'm sure if I thought about it long enough that I could come up with many more.

Revelation

Starting about 3 months ago, it seemed that any time I read the "Ensign" or my scriptures I was bombarded with things about receiving revelation. After a few encounters of this I started wondering what was up. I was confused because I felt that I was doing what I was supposed to be doing (going to grad school) and that I would be in this situation for a while longer. I had no need to receive any personal revelation concerning any big decisions. That didn't stop the influx of information, though.

Then it happened. Someone in my program asked me why I wasn't in the PhD program. I started to think through my answer and couldn't come up with a plausible argument other than I didn't want to spend another 3 years of my life in school. During this time, I was researching some jobs and what requirements were. They would hire people with master's degrees but prefer those with PhDs. Later that week I was attending a devotional on campus. The lady started quoting President Hinckley on why we need to get as much education as we possibly can. So, I started thinking about it over the weekend. I met with my major advisor on Monday and mentioned to her my thoughts. She lit up and said that while she was doing some work on Friday, she had the impression that she needed to mention that she thought I would make a great PhD candidate. So, I considered it some more. I prayed about it. Thought about it even more. Finally, I made the decision to go to school even longer.

Pretty much the next day things started happening that made me question my decision. (Students can be mean!) I decided to think it out a little bit more. Still, messages were coming about revelation. While home last weekend, I asked my brother Bryan for a blessing. We talked a bit about my question before the blessing. During the blessing I was told that I needed to receive all the education that I could throughout my life. Basically it's so I can share the Gospel. Afterwards, Bryan and discussed it a little more. He said that before the blessing he was going to tell me to quit school as quickly as possible (after my master's) and just find a job. He said that Heavenly Father has something else in mind.

Again, pretty much the next day all chaos broke loose, making me rethink my decision. I'm pretty sure this will be an ongoing thing in my life... I need to remember the answers that I have received and go from there rather than questioning everything.

So, here I go!

Wilson and Spaghetti

My nephew Wilson LOVES food. Whenever he sees anyone with any type of food, he makes a beeline and begins his begging. He makes a grunting noise until he gets food. One night last week we had spaghetti for dinner. My sister-in-law Nicole stripped him down so he could eat by himself. He had a spoon in one hand, but used the other to shovel the spaghetti in his mouth. This is the result. (He was so messy that Mike had to rinse him off in the kitchen sink before taking him into the bath.)