St. George Visit

Last week I went home to my parents house. My brother Daniel just got home from his church mission to Panama. Check out his cool tie . . . a lady on his mission handmade it. It's called a Mola and you can see more examples on THIS PAGE. It's a beautiful art form, native to Panama. It was great spending time with him, he's grown so much and has gained a lot of confidence and knowlege. He gave a wonderful talk (sermon) at church and I am thrilled to see what life brings him next.

I also got to hang with 2 of my other brothers: Eric and Michael. They each took a night entertaining me since my parents are so old they go to bed early and Daniel is a dating machine. They each took a night of entertaining their middle aged sister.


The first night Eric, my parents and I went to dinner at Olive garden and then Eric and I went to "Bedtime Stories." It was a cute movie and great for kids. Eric was a good sport about being my date (since Damian and my kids had already seen it!) I'm really proud of him and love him a bunch. Of all 5 brothers, I've spent the most time with Eric and probably know him the best. He spends more time with our family than the others and I'll miss him lots when he leaves on a mission. He's so smart and funny and great with my kids. He and I are 16 years apart and I like to tease him that I'm really his mother.

Another night, I went to my newly married brother Michael's house. I just love his wife Becca. He couldn't have picked a nicer girl to marry. Or should I say TRICKED a nicer girl into marrying him. NO, I'm kidding. I do like to tease him, she really is so wonderful. They invited me to play on ROCK BAND 2 for the first time. I had a blast. I didn't evern try the guitar, it confused me. I really stink at drums and could only get a 73% on easy. I could get 100% on vocals of all the songs I knew. After playing we were supposed to go out with Daniel to the movies, but he stood us up. For his future wife, maybe??

And the crowning moment of my trip, BEATING MY DAD AT RUMMY! I've won a few games against him, but this victory was sweeter, with half of my brothers around. The last time I beat him with this much joy was in 1990, while vacationing in Mexico. . . I "Shot the Moon" at Hearts, playing him and my brother Jonathan on the balcoony overlooking the ocean in Puero Vallarta. . . so you can tell it made quite an impression on me. This time, I took a photo of the score sheet.

Another thing I really enjoyed was going for walks with my mom. Poor woman, I talked the whole time and we walked 2 hours the first day and 1.5 the next. I was teasing Michael that he talks too much and my mom schooled me by letting me know that I talk more than he does!