This cute girl recently finished reading the Book of Mormon independently for the first time. She received her own nice copy of the scriptures from Grandma Lucas for her baptism. It took her about a month and a half. I am so impressed with her. She wrote in her journal recently about how she feels the spirit when she reads the scriptures and is faithful to her goal of reading at least 15 minutes in the Book of Mormon everyday. I really hope she can keep it up. I know it will immensely bless her life if she does. I am so proud of her!
Our girls were asked to sing in stake conference this April. It was a little different from last time because it was in the Sunday morning session, and was just a normal musical number rather than a whole musical meeting. Apparently the stake president heard Eliza singing in the congregation during the women's broadcast of general conference. He said she sounded just like an angel, and he wanted the whole stake to hear her. So nice.
They sang "I Know that My Savior Loves Me." They did the sweetest job, smiling to the congregation. They did get mixed up during the second verse. I knew that was a possibility, but still chose to send them up there without words, so that they would look at people while they sang rather than a paper. I still think that was the right call. My mom was able to be in town to hear them sing. What wonderful girls!
A couple weeks later, the girls received a sweet note from a lady in the stake that we don't know. She said how much their song had touched her. She sent a small page of stickers with it too. It was so thoughtful!
At the end of April, John had some work training in Seattle. After some deliberation, we decided that we would ask a big favor of my mom and have her come watch the older girls. Holland (right before she turned two and was still free to fly) and I would fly to Seattle to go on a little trip, stay in the hotel with John, and visit for a couple days.
The three hour flight with Holland made me kind of nervous. She doesn't even sit still in Sacrament meeting for an hour. We packed lots of toys and snacks. I had a total tender mercy of having an empty seat next to me on the flight. That made it so much easier to have a little more space for her to move in! There was a man on the aisle who was pretty stoic (he was reading war and peace!) for the first while. Not smiling or looking at Holland at all, but he kept ordering some alcohol and by the end of the flight when he was probably a little buzzed, he loosened up and was smiling and engaging her a bit. Fortunately he didn't make a big deal of when she wiped slobbery crumbs on his nice suit. Definitely the hardest part ended up wandering around the airport with Holland and out of people's way/personal space/airport shops merchandise.
We ended up flying over the space needle and down town on the way there. We picked up her carseat and took the shuttle to the rental car place. That was a big headache because I knew that you shouldn't let them talk you into getting the extra insurance. However because I didn't have my car insurance card with me, they told me it was illegal for me to drive without proof of insurance so I had to buy it. :( I don't even know how much we ended up spending on the car. Oh well.
So we drove to the hotel, Holland fell asleep in the car. We waited for John to get out of class for the day and then we had to drive back to the rental car place to have John sign on to be a driver. So annoying. It was worth it though because the drive downtown was crazy! They have a section of the freeway that had three roads stacked on each other, so Google maps had a really hard time telling us where to go. But we finally made it to the Space Needle and Chihuly Museum. We bought a combo pass and barely made it time to see the Chihuly Museum.
Some people are seriously so talented. The glasswork was amazing. Not surprising because there was a museum dedicated to his work. It was fun to see the Space Needle through the glass ceiling.
The Chihuly Museum really is right next to the Space Needle. Our elevator appointment was at 8:30 (right at sunset!) so we got dinner between the museum and the space needle. Fortunately and unfortuately our only camera and directions back to the hotel (our phone) was about to run out of batteries. We ended up finding a free charging station close by next to some food (talk about lucky!) but it was in the heart of teenage hang out spot, which made me appreciate our good Mormon teenagers I am normally around. It was kind of an ordeal to get the right cable to the charger, but eventually we got it worked out and enough juice to get us home. Thank goodness.
Eventually we made it to the top of the space needle. It was so interesting to learn about its history. I loved seeing the big bay from that vantage.
Of course we had to do a couple of things in reminiscence of the Eiffel Tower--nurse a baby and take a kissing photo.
The sun went down and it was fun to see all of the city lights, but going outside in the wind was very chilly.
It was very cool lit up!
The next morning while John was in class, Holland and I decided to go take advantage of the rental car and go exploring. We visited Lincoln Park. It was so enjoyable! The weather was lovely and the park and ocean was so gorgeous. The only thing that would have made it better was if John could have been there with me.
I loved the rocky beach, although it got a little muddy down by the water. We saw other children playing there and noticed that they had rubber boots on. The only shoes I own for Holland are sandals. Clearly we live in Phoenix.
I loved all of the cool drift wood, and all of the different colors and types of smooth rocks on the beach. Holland sucked on a lot of them. I hope she didn't get any diseases.
The view across the bay was gorgeous with snowy mountain in the distance.
Up higher on the shore there was a delightful park with hiking trails and flower meadows. I liked these fun statues.
Holland didn't enjoy the hiking as much as I did, but I liked it enough for both of us.
It was so pretty! I wish we could take family photos here!
We stopped and played at this picturesque playground. Metal slides...I can't even imagine in Phoenix.
Lovely.
We went back in time for a nap and relaxing. Then it was off again with John after his class. We visited Pike's Place Market. It really is a farmers market!
It went over, around, and under. Different streets and different levels. We arrived a little easier this time, being able to anticipate the crazy roads.
We got my mom some yummy dark chocolate covered cherries, and tried a little cheesecake for ourselves (delicious, but expensive).
There was a cool view of the bay too.
We stopped for dinner right before this highly rated diner closed for the night. It was so fun, with a great view of the water!
The food was awesome and we bought a lot of it! Fish tacos, caprese salad, clam chowder (Holland loved it!), and salmon croquettes (our favorite!). I love food, and I love trying new food. It was a highlight for me!
We found the famous, disgusting gum wall. My germ-o-meter did not let me enjoy that at all. Then we walked down the hill and went for a ride on the Ferris wheel on the pier.
I loved it! They were completely enclosed little carriages which were heated and kept out the wind. It also made me a lot less nervous to have Holland up there.
The view was so fun with the bay on one side, downtown on another, and the bridges and docks on another.
Holland had fun too! So fun!
Back on the ground again. So fun and pretty.
Here we are driving back to the hotel on the stacked freeway.
A squid!
The hotel courtyard.
The next morning, we went swimming in the hotel pool. But it didn't last long because the water was cold! Cute swim baby though.
After that it was off the airport again. Our flight was delayed and Holland once again made a spectacle of herself by disregarding others' personal space. It is so funny to see how different people react to her. Some ignore her, some adore her, and some are annoyed by her (these have no souls...). She walked along this particular line on the floor for quite some time. Then she got it in her head to show people her shoes. So she would walk up to people, exclaim "shoe," and with the flexibility of a toddler put her foot up on their lap. It was hilarious/aggravating.
Unfortunately our flight was delayed a while, and Holland got pretty tired by the end. I nursed her on take off and to my surprise she fell asleep and stayed asleep all but the last few minutes of the flight. Another tender mercy was that even though they said it was a completely full flight there was another empty seat by me (the only one on a plane). This made it easier for her to fall asleep and made it much more comfortable for me not to be squished in by someone to nurse by and be able to use the armrest.
I saw Mt. St. Helens on the flight back and flew right over Ahwatukee. We were told at take off that it looked like there would be some bumps heading into Phoenix.
Unfortunately we had considerably more than just a few bumps, and I ended up getting super motion sick and vomiting during landing. I had a bag, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I sure felt shaky after. I learned that the next time I fly I am going to look into some motion sickness meds. Despite this, I am so glad I went to Seattle. I love experiencing new places with my love.
