Pioneer Day Weekend

This Pioneer Day weekend, Nate and I decided to go and see the Golden Spike Museum at Promontory Summit, and then we went to see the Spiral Jetty.
When we went, it was totally dry--no water at all around it, just hard, dry, shiny salt.
This was a stick that was entirely crusted with salt. Also, the Salt from the Salt lake is really, really salty. Much more so than just table salt.
Can you see the sparkles? It looks a lot like snow, except that it was really hard, and it was WAY too hot outside for there to be any snow.
This is a place where the salt has formed crystals on the rocks of the Spiral Jetty. In case you don't know what the Spiral Jetty is, you should go here.
This was a large metal ball. The salt has totally eroded and rusted it, and now you can break off parts of it easily if you tried. We didn't. It's pretty amazing to see what nature can do to stuff that's dumped in her.
This is the presentation of the driving of the Golden Spike.
And also, the reinactors and the engine replicas--they really run, and they're pretty, which is a funny thing to say about a massive machine, but it's true.
Nate got this action picture of them driving the last spike, which was actually a plain Iron spike. The golden spike was never actually driven.
This is Nate and I with the reinactors, each holding one of the Golden Spikes...ok, so they're replicas, but they really do have gold in them.
Here's one of our Chacos on the sand. We're not quite sure why it's so blue, but it's kind of cool.

Hope you all had some good Pioneer Day experiences. We're sure glad they came to Utah!

A Day at the Beach

We've only got two more weekends here in Tremonton, and so we decided to take advantage of some of the local attractions. We headed to Willard Bay, which is an offshoot of the Great Salt Lake, except it's freshwater. We took Indiana along to see how he'd like swimming and the beach. He was a little skeptical at first, but he got right in after sniffing around a bit.

Indiana really liked rolling around in the sand

Me and Indiana, chillin' on the Beach

Nate and Indiana, getting some sun

After swimming around, Indiana needed a drink

This picture took some effort. Indiana hasn't learned any "look at the camera" command, and we, apparently, can't handle it either.

It was a lot of fun. If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend it. Also, Indiana can swim, and well. Here's a video...in case you wanted to see it in action.

Weekend Adventures...Part 2

In which we had our camera, and simply failed to take many pictures.

First thing in the morning we headed out to the Provo Parade. There were some awesome floats and people, and music, but we just watched until the Provo missionaries came through, and then Nate wanted a picture. So we took a couple. We took Indiana with us, and towards the end this group of little girls became really interested in him. They were all trying to get his attention, and one little girl, who happened to be the littlest of the group, kept ripping up grass from the area and trying to feed it to Indiana. He happily ate what he could from them.

After the parade, we headed back to Nate's parent's house, where we got out the paper rocket launcher that I made a little while ago in a physics conference, and started launching paper rockets down the street. We also tried attaching smoke bombs to the ends of the paper rockets. It was pretty cool.

We then headed over to my parent's house for some sweet Mario Kart racing and some lunch. My parents and family then headed out to work at Stadium of Fire, while Nate and I headed back to the Murray's. I'm pretty sure that this is where we took a 2 and a half hour nap.

Yes, that's right, 2 and a half hours. Wait, no. That happened on Saturday--but it did happen.

Once back to the Murray's, there was more Mario Kart, and Nate and Abby and I went to Walmart whre I got some contacts and we got some rocket making supplies for the evening of cousins. We also got a few fireworks. And, now that I think about it...this happened on Thursday night. Regardless, there was a lot of Mario Kart this weekend.

Friday night, all of the Elison/Edwards clan came over for fireworks and food. As usual, when that group of family gathers, there were plenty of delicious things to eat. We set off fireworks galore, which was fantastic. During one session of snake lighting, Chase made the comment that the snakes were, "The Devil's Untrimmed Fingernails." This phrase was quickly adopted by other cousins present, and the snakes took on a much cooler tone to the boys who were sitting around as I lit them.

After the Elison/Edwards festivities, we went to my parent's house to light some more fireworks. Fire and family--who could ask for anything more?

Saturday morning, we got to go and see Wall-e for free. I thought it was a really interesting film. I won't go into too many things in this post, but it touched on a lot of interesting things.

Then we went to a BBQ with the same Elison/Edwards group, which was delicious. Then there was the Nap mentioned above. Then some more Mario Kart, first with the Murrays, and then with the Frosts.

Sunday we went to church with Grandpa Murray, and then we had lunch with the Murrays, and said goodbye to both families and headed back up to Tremonton. It was a great weekend, and we did a lot of things that made my Fourth of July well worth being one of my favorite holidays.

Weekend Adventures...Part 1

We had a really great fourth of July weekend. The beginning of it, however...was interesting.

Sadly, we didn't have a camera, because it was located at Nate's parents house.

So...here's a makeshift representation.

Backstory: Tuesday night, Nate and I were heading to the store to browse for some building materials. We get into the Mazda, and it won't start...at all. The radio doesn't work, the air conditioning isn't functioning, and everything else is just not going so great. We call our dads, and they both tell us that the battery is probably dead. We get a jump (after attempting to pop the clutch) from our apartment maintenance man, and drive about 20 miles to the nearest walmart...which is all that's open in the way of mechanics at 5:00 in this area. They're full, but they offer to give us tools to change the battery after checking to make sure that it's dead. The battery is dead. Totally, and completely dead. So we buy a new one and head home. Life is good, the car is working, and I babble on about how glad I am that we found out before we headed down to Utah County and got stuck on the side of the road somewhere along the interstate.

This brings us to Wednesday night. Nate took off a day of work, so we decided to head down early and spend a lot of time with our families. Everything was going great. We were packed up, and started heading out around 5:00 PM, confident in our new battery and the fact that the car was working. We made sure to pray before leaving, as is our standard practice before heading out on car trips.

This is us, listening to the radio, and enjoying ourselves.

This is us enjoying our air conditioning. For a 20 year old car, this air conditioning is fantastic.

Suddenly, the radio stopped working, and so did the air conditioning. This is Nate and I looking confused. Soon after that, the car stopped being able to accelerate too. At this point, we're just south of Salt Lake, in the carpool lane, and, apart from no longer being able to go faster, out turn signals also don't work, and the gas gage drops from about half full to empty. We decide to pull over to the left side of the road.

This is the Mazda, sick, tired, and not going anywhere.

Thankfully, we had cell phones, and called our parents again. My mom, who has lots of connections, got us a tow truck who took us to Midas, who fixed the car the next morning. We waited in the car for about an hour or so for the tow truck guy, which was a bit hot. The guy with the tow truck came up from Utah County, to Salt Lake County, got the mazda on the truck really quickly, and was super friendly. It was really nice, given that the situation wasn't all that great. He also gave us a discount on the tow, which was really, really helpful. The mazda is running great now, it just needed a new alternator.

More about the rest of the 4th of July later--but for now, thanks so much to everyone who helped us with the car issue--it was really helpful, and it made a very stressful situation very bearable.

Something Else Unearthed in the Fashion Show

In the magic hope chest that contained all the clothes from the previous post, we also found a fantastic cookbook that was written either by Grandma Neely or her mom. We're not quite sure who wrote it, but, in the interest of allowing the whole family to access some of these recipes, I've created another blog. I'll post a recipe or two each day, and some of them might even be recipes that I've actually tried. If not, then you're welcome to try them, and leave a comment on how they went. They'll be sorted by categories.

Hope you all enjoy. The website is elisoneats.blogspot.com.

Family History Fashion Show

On Sunday night, we did the most fun thing. We went through Grandma Elison's hope chest with her, and tried on a bunch of her, and her mom's clothing. In the process, we got to hear the stories of each of the pieces of clothing. I don't know who doesn't like to play dress up, or history, but the combination of the two was positively fantastic.

This dress was Grandma Elisons, and apart from wearing it to a wedding reception, she wore it when she played in the ballroom scene in "The Sound of Music." Richard Losee was playing Captain Von Trapp, and apparently, he was so handsome, that Grandma had a hard time remembering her line. The headband came from Grandma's mom, and apparently she wore it when she went out for a night on the town.

This was one of the dresses that we found out that Great Grandma Neely made. Like, with a sewing machine, and talent. The shawl is from Hawaii, I think. She didn't make that though. Also, there's been no alteration done to any of the dresses...Grandma Elison and Grandma Neely really were just that thin, as is Natalie.

Here's Natalie and Nate, Nate sporting Grandpa Elison's MP hat, and suit coat, Natalie adding a fabulous hat that came from a recent production of the Music Man.

Here are Mar and McKensie, sporting some fabulously handmade clothing again. Notice how the outfits actually fit both of these young ladies. The sewing on the dress that Mariel is wearing was so fun. The dress had like, a Spanish style ruffling along the bottom.

And here's Luke...wearing...a dress. After trying to convince him to wear Grandma Elison's old dance outfit, which was purple, the size of a bathing suit, and covered in lace and fabric lollipops, he picked this instead...and he's darling in it.

Not that we're endorsing cross dressing.

Lily is wearing a dress that Great Grandma Neely made for Grandma Elison for her first piano recital. There are some really cute cherries on it, and it's adorable.

Here's Uncle Kurt wearing his old letterman's jacket. It still fits...though not quite as loosely as it once did.

Karly is wearing probably the one piece of clothing that nobody knew anything about...we just found it in the closet. That my friends, is a t-shirt with American Gothic printed on it. Could you ask for anything cooler?

Here, Mar and McKensie wear dresses created again by Great Grandma Neely, with fabric that she brought back from a trip to Hawaii.

Here, Gwen is wearing a dress that Great Grandma made for Grandma, when she was in college. Apparently, Grandma Elison was going dancing at Salt Air, and she wore this dress to do it. Gwen is 10, and while the dress is a little long for her, it fits her in the waist perfectly.

Here's Grandpa Elison wearing his dad's old hat.

And here's Gavin wearing the same one, with an additional accessory.

Here, Emma sports a shirt that Great Grandma Neely made for Grandma Elison for a picture that was going to be taken. The shirt is really cute, and totally current with today's style.

This is the dress that started it all. I wish we had more pictures of it, because it really looks fantastic on Abby. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa were part of a dancing group who would get together a few times a year for a very fancy date. Great Grandma would make these clothes to match the theme of the evening. Abby is Tiny, and so was Grandma Neely. She also had really great taste, and amazing sewing talent.

I think the best part about the whole evening was the fun that it was. It really got every one of the grandchildren there interested in where the things came from, and why they were so old, and why we had them etc. If you're looking at figuring out a way to get smaller children interested in Family History--this is a really great way to do it.

It's Been...

One year today since Nate and I got engaged officially,and since I first wore this little ring on my left hand.

This means only 2 more months until our 1 year anniversary. I hear if you can make it that far, eternity is a snap.

Story Time

Well, Since this is one of my all-time favorite stories, and it's about my all-time favorite person, I want to blog about it. Especially since he's currently doing homework, and I, miraculously, am finished with mine for tomorrow.

Where did you and your husband meet?

Well, we met at BYU, just like a large portion of the LDS population in Utah. We, however, did not meet through a FHE group, Singles Ward, Home Teaching Assignment, or living remotely close to each other. We met in Physics 121, freshman year. Nate had apparently noticed me in class and thought I seemed like a good, upstanding citizen, and decided I might be worth a few moments of his time. I saw a group of guys working together in the physics lab one Wednesday, and, being oh-so-shy and terribly sick of working on labs alone, walked up to the group and asked if I could join. As luck would have it, Nate was there in that group. He'd already finished the lab, but hung around just a little bit finishing his calculations so that we could talk.

What was the first thing you said to your husband?

"Can I work with you guys?" Was said to the general group that Nate was a part of. I believe the first brilliant thing I said to him was, "So, what's your name?" Though I can't remember who asked for whose name first.

Where was your first date?

Well, about a week after we met, I was doing homework up by the physics classroom, and I was stuck on a particular problem. As I sat trying to figure it out, Nate walked out of the classroom and turned in his homework in some slots close to where I sat. As luck would have it, I remembered his name, and intelligently said, "It's Nathan, right?" I then asked if he could help me with the homework, he did, and we talked for about 45 minutes after that. At the end of the conversation, which I had thought had gone well, Nate had to take off for a class. Thinking that Nate was a pretty cool kid, I said, "Hey, we should hang out sometime." Nate responded with a quizzical, but encouraging, "yeah?" to which I responded, "yeah." Then, Nate said, "Want to go to homecoming?" I immediately turned bright red due to being totally taken off guard, but said "yes," and gave him my contact information. Then I called my mom to tell her I had my first date at BYU that Friday. We went to homecoming at the Capitol Building in Salt Lake City, and it was great.

Where was your first kiss?

Our first kiss was October 24, 2003 up Rock Canyon...which sounds so scandalous given that neither one of us had ever kissed anyone else.

How long did you date?

We dated for about 7 months freshmen year, and I went home for the summer. We talked and e-mailed and IMed all summer, and then I came back 2 weeks before Nate left on his mission. We wrote for two years, and he came home on August 29, 2006. We then began dating again, and did so for about two months before we officially got engaged. We talked about marriage long before we got engaged though. All told, we dated for about 9 months being in each other's presence, and about 26 months long-distance...if mission writing counts at all.

Did you have a long or short engagement?

We got engaged on November 19th and married on January 12th. We thought it was plenty of time, although I think my mom almost died when she found out she had about two months.

Where did you get engaged?

Well, I got fake proposed to in the parking lot of Mountain View High School about 2 minutes before we were supposed to be in for the play Les Miserables. Nate got a ring that we'd seen while sort of looking, and gotten a bigger diamond for it, and they gave him the old setting that the new diamond had been in. So, clearly, with an empty setting, one needs to fake propose. He pulled out the box, and said, "Nicole, I'm sorry I didn't have enough money for a diamond, will you wear it anyway?" and presents me with the fake setting. I thought briefly of beating him up, and then we laughed and went into the play. Two days later we took a walk up Provo Canyon by Bridal Veil falls, and Nate proposed to me just past the falls. He got down on one knee and everything. As he got down on one knee, I said, "if this is another fake proposal..." It wasn't, and we spent the rest of the night telling people all about how real it was.

Where were you married?

We were married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple, which is gorgeous, and had a reception at my parent's church building afterwards.

How was the Reception?

The reception was nice. We spent the majority of the time...ok, all the time, standing in line, except for the time we took to cut the cake, and to say goodbye to specific family. It was nicely decorated, and tons of people came to show their love and support, which is always nice to have when you're getting married.

How was the honeymoon?

It was lovely, but short. We got married over a three-day weekend, and had to be back for school on Tuesday, and get moved in the rest of the way on Monday. We stayed at a cabin in Ogden, which is only about an hour and a half away. The cabin was really awesome though, and encouraged us both to invest in such a place when we're filthy rich.