My gosh you've gotten fat.*

Congratulations to Isaac for getting the last blog bucks! This puts him back in 10th place!

Memphis - one of my new favorite cities.  

Well, G-Sauce and I packed it in on Saturday in Memphis.

We started the morning at Graceland.  As we were driving there G said, "So far Graceland is living up to what I thought it was, a dump - well maybe surrounded by a dump." And Graceland is not a dump - but it is encapsulated in 1970.  But Memphis IS kind of a dump (at least all the parts we saw).

We learned that when Lisa Marie was about 8 or 9, Elvis realized that she had never seen snow - so they got on the plane and flew out to some state northwest, she played in the snow for a bit and then they got back on the plane and came home...I had to wear my PJs on backwards and inside out to see snow...

G - showing off the audio equipment

From there - we went to find parking near Beale Street.  We had a bus tour reservation at 2 and had some time so we walked around Beale and grabbed lunch at Hard Rock Cafe.

Just as with Arkansas, it was cold and rainy all day.  While we were in Hard Rock, the music suddenly started to be themed.  It started with "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" and then the next song said something about rain, and then next, and the next.  At least 5 songs before we left were all about rain.  G and I had a good laugh at that.

Then we walked around some more.  Found these gems.

Then we found the railroad...

 

And then the Mississippi River!

Then it was time for our bus tour.  We had the address but couldn't seem to find the place.  For a split second I thought maybe G had been duped by the online trip planning.  I went up to a window and asked them where the company was and the guy pointed at his notebook.  So we waited for the bus...which apparently wasn't their bus.  Their bus was having trouble.  I wish I could have seen their bus.  The one we were in was a little more than old, there was 'stuff' all over (trash, food, stains on the seats and the overwhelming feeling that I was about to sit on a cushion that had been urinated on).  Also, there was a bar above our seats and rain or something had gathered on there and dripped on me the whole time.  THE WHOLE TIME.  Good thing I was wearing a sweatshirt that covered my arms.  BUT they gave us shakers:

And we were to play the shakers whenever the tour guide started to sing. I don't know if you know this, but the shakers are MY JOB in 'family band'.  Christian plays the guitar/piano/harmonica, Ben is a backup singer when he's around, Chris tries to play the drums, Nick goes to his room, and I play the shakers.  So, I was ready for this tour.

 We saw Elvis' high school and also the place where he first performed

We saw where Martin Luther King was killed

And at the end of the tour - they took our shakers away.  Boo hiss.

Then we went to the Rock and Soul Musuem for an audio tour. 

Johnny Cash clothes!

We grabbed dinner at The Pig - almost died in the bathroom

This is the cleanest part of the bathroom.

We stopped in at a music store and while G-sauce perused the selections, I ended up dancing with a man named Smokey who called both Gretel and I "Virginia" and gave me grief for wearing a Yankee sweatshirt (Boston).


Then we went to the car to rest our dogs until the show.

We went to the Orpheum Theater to see "The Million Dollar Quartet"  LOVED IT.  Absolutely loved it.

Then a view of Beale street at night.

If you asked me my favorite part about Memphis - I couldn't say, I enjoyed so much of it!

You can't fight in here, this is the war room!*

This past weekend I was able to knock out two more states towards my 50.  Friday, G-sauce and I headed to Tennessee and Arkansas.  Our flight left at 6:00 in the a.m. and I woke up at 5...and still had to go pick up Chris cause he was going to borrow my car for the weekend (don't be so shocked...okay, be shocked).  On the way to the airport I kept thinking that G-sauce was never going to let me travel with her again!

We got through security and were on our way to the gate when they called our names.  We were the very last passengers aboard (this happened with Jordan when we went to Texas).  We got to Memphis, got the rental car, and went to Arkansas.

This is pretty much how I felt about Arkansas:

It was cold and rainy.  We grabbed lunch and then got stuck in traffic.

For a while.

First stop in Arkansas was the Clinton Library.

That must be artificial sun coming through the windows because I don't remember there being any sun.

P.S. that little man I am holding is Stanley.  He was sent to G-sauce by her nephew for a school project.  She's supposed to take pictures of him places and send them back.  What a perfect person to send this guy to, she travels a lot!

We went to the gift shop and then on to the biggest dam bridge you've ever seen.

No- really, it's a big dam bridge:

And you just thought I had a potty mouth.

The bridge is at the back of the photo.

The dam and the bridge together.

"Now down slow bikes"...what does that mean??  I never could read these things right.

We drove back to Memphis after that.  Checked in at the hotel that was impossible to get to because of the one way streets.  We went to Panera to get something to eat...we could see it from the room but because of these roads it took a long time to get there.  We were better off just running across the busy street.

Coming up: one of my new favorite places: Memphis.

In this family, the man with half a brain is king!*

January - 4

February - 3

March - 4

Total =11

March was a good month for books.  I enjoyed all of the books I was able to get in this month.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

I had a little bit of trouble getting in to this book, mostly because I didn't like the main character.  I'm still not sure how I feel about her, but I still really enjoyed the story even though she was there.  The book kind of takes you through two different stories at the same time, one in 1990 and one during and shortly after the Salem Witch Trials.  I would have loved to read more on the underlying story near the witch trials. 

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

This is the last book in a trilogy I started reading back in 2011 (I think).  A "historical fiction" based during World War I where a young girl, Deryn, dresses like a boy to join the British Air Force and she ends up on the Leviathan, a living Darwinist fabricated ship. Alec, the Austrian heir to the throne also ends up on the ship and the two become friends. The three books are about their adventures while serving on the ship (they meet people like Tesla and Hearst).  I enjoyed the trilogy a lot.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

Oh my goodness.  I don't think I can come up with the words to describe how much I absolutely loved this book.  I honestly can't think of a book that I have ever read where I kept thinking, "this is delightful!"  For one - that doesn't sound like something I would say, but it definitely came to mind several times.  It had me laughing and almost crying a few times too.  I love the character development and the way Schmidt uses Shakespeare to move us through the months of the school year and through the challenges that the main character has.  Seriously - one of my new favorites.  Read it!

Choices by Deborah Lynn Jacobs

This is a nice, quick read.  I read it in one day (of course I was traveling so I had plenty of down time).  It is an interesting concept that addresses the whole idea of the alternate universes that are created when we make a choice (anyone seen that episode of Community?) Kathleen's brother dies and suddenly she finds herself waking up in different time lines based on a decision she made at some point (sometimes the day before sometimes a few days before).  She "shifts" between the time lines (and basically different personalities) trying to heal from the lose of her brother. 

You Fantastic Fish You.*

Sunday I had the opportunity to be home taught after church. We were all a bit unorganized and none of us had read the First Presidency message yet (normally we all try to read it beforehand). So our home teacher read the title "Peace, Be Still" and we went from there. It was probably one of my favorite times being home taught...ever. I don't know if it was because we were unprepared and therefore we were more open to discuss what was on our minds as it pertained to the title of the article, but whatever it was, I feel like I heard exactly what I needed to hear.


Our home teacher likes boats, so he was explaining how some boats work. Sadly, I can't remember the name of the part he was explaining (we’ll call it fin so that I don’t keep saying “random part I can’t remember”), but he said that most boats have it, and in some you can pull it up out of the water. When the fin is bigger, it makes the boat more buoyant and better able to handle when the waters get rough. If it is small, or pulled up, the boat has greater speed (I hope I’m remembering this right). Anyway, he then compared the boats to members of the church. He said that a convert (such as himself) comes in to the water and they have a small fin and are going quickly through the water, trying to learn all they can learn. Whereas someone who has been a member of the church all of their lives as a bigger fin, so they don’t move as quickly, but when the waters get rough, they are more anchored.

Then he asked each of us what we do when the waters get rough. I thought this was a poignant question, mostly because I have been going through a rough time. When he talked about “rough waters” I truly felt like that’s what my past week or so has been, rough waters. He asked me first (cause when he asks questions, Vivienne and I look at each other to see who should answer first and I typically end up answering first). I didn’t know how to answer him, because to be honest, I hadn’t felt that I had been as anchored as he thought I might have been. I first told him it was an excellent question, then told him how I loved the analogy, and then…I tried to think about what I do when the waters get rough. It was good for me to reflect on what my options are and what I had done. I told him honestly that often times I forget about all the support that the Lord offers; Home teachers, priesthood blessings, friends who understand, a loving bishop who wants us to be happy, prayer, scriptures, etc. Last week, my dear, sweet friend reminded me that Priesthood Blessings were an option. I was in Institute at the time, so right after class I asked Christian and Chris to give me a blessing. I needed peace, I needed direction, but I got much more. I find that the Lord does that a lot, I ask for something that I feel is big and more than enough for what I need, and he offers me more, because he knows I need more. It just takes the act of asking for the one thing, for opening yourself up for his counsel, and if you let him in, he’ll give you what is best for you.
I think sometimes the devil would have you believe that you are alone, that there is no one you can turn to, but the Lord offers so many ways to find comfort. I’m not saying this as someone who has figured it out, but rather someone still trying to figure it out. What do you do when you are feeling down, when you feel that you aren’t good enough or aren’t DOING enough? What do you do when you feel like you can’t fight these negative feelings, but you know you have to?

We had excellent talks on Sunday about healing. The first speaker quoted a BYU devotional from several years ago and the woman said, “We may pray for a cure, when what we require is healing.” The speaker explained that a cure is something that is almost instantaneous, while healing is a lifelong process. Just like with my ankle, I wish it would get better quickly and I could move on with life, but it’s been a long process and it’s still not all the way back to where it was. It will take more time, more work, more pain.

The first talk ended with a quote from Russell M. Nelson.

“Real joy awaits each of us – on the other side of sorrow.”

Happy Monday