Service Wednesdays

We have been continuing our Service Wednesdays, when we've been home, I just haven't done a good job of recording them.  Let's see if I can recall all that we've done:


June 25: Daniel, Eliza and I mowed Gail Hay's yard.  She's an older woman down the street who lives by herself.  Dallin's been mowing her yard for several years, and the girls have taken over doing it, but both Dailie and Audri were at EFY, so we did it.  We tried to refuse payment, but she wouldn't let us.  I'm still counting it, especially because that yard was WAY harder to mow than it should have been.  I'm not even really sure why.


July 2: The girls and I were at camp, but we did participate in a camp service project on Friday, July 4.  We trimmed trees along trails, picked up rocks and split wood.  It felt good to give something back to the camp we had enjoyed for the week.


July 9: So, this week we actually did Service Tuesday and Thursday instead of Wednesday :).  Tuesday we helped prepare and serve the meal for the 200 members of the Utah Valley Children's Choir. They were here in Peoria and performed for us.  We also housed 8 of them and fed them breakfast the next morning.  Then, on Thursday I helped prepare and serve the meal for the missionary zone conference held here in Peoria, while the kids helped babysit for some of the moms helping with the meal.


July 16: We actually did our service on Thursday this week as well.  We watched Marinda Haga's boys for her while she received some more instruction.  She is progressively going blind and has instruction each week to learn how to deal with it.  We watched 5 year old Austin and 15 month old Gavin for her while she went.  We ended up watching Noah and Crew Christensen as well since Luke went into the hospital for asthma.  It was a house full of little boys!!


That catches me up.  Until next week!

Service Wednesdays II and III

Life has been busy getting Dallin ready to leave for his mission.  He left today.  Early this morning.  I miss him.  I want him to be where he is, but oh how I miss that boy.


Anyway, in the craziness that has been our life lately, I didn't post last week.  We did, however, do some service on Wednesday.  While a friend went to the dentist, we watched her two children, including her newborn, at our house.  They were adorable, and it didn't feel like work at all.  My girls were more than happy to hold the baby, and we all got a kick out of the two year old.


Today, I drove Anne, an acquaintance through Church (I only met her today), to the American Red Cross for her phlebotomy.  I waited for her during her appointment, and then drove her back home.  While I was there, the kids went to the home of a mom who recently had her 5th baby.  They vacuumed the whole house, washed the walls, watched the baby and played with the other children while mom took a shower and a nap.  I have some personal experience that tells me that help was priceless!

Service Wednesdays

I don't use this blog much anymore, and I don't think I have many, if any, readers left, but I wanted a place to record something, and decided this would be the place to do it. 


I've decided that this summer we (my children and I) are going to find a way to serve others every Wednesday.  Some of the ideas I've come up with are:

Midwest Food Bank

Garbage clean up

Help women who have had babies recently

Help elderly friends who are alone

Nursing homes/retirement homes

Today, we spent about an hour cleaning up garbage near the elementary school, along a sidewalk that is used by runners and walkers.  We got a lot of garbage!


If you are still reading this blog, and have some ideas of things we could do, please share them with me.  Thanks!

Italy: Day 3 Running the Appian Way, Trevi Fountain, Borghese Gallery, etc.

Monday was a busy, do lots of things in Rome day.  It started with Rick and I running on the Appian Way for 8 miles.  How cool is that?  It was so beautiful, and historical, and I'm so glad I did it.  Dailie stayed at the hotel and slept : ). 

After breakfast (which we ate at the hotel each morning), we walked to the Borghese Gallery, by way of the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and this government building, which I can't remember what it was, but the guards were cool

 

A pretty Italian street.

Please excuse my many pictures of the Trevi Fountain.  It is, after all, iconic Rome.

Tossing in our coin for a return trip to Rome!

 

One of the few pictures of the three of us in Rome.

Do you remember my Mona Lisa crowd picture from Paris?  This is the Roman equivalent.  Lots of people.  Very crowded.

 

Ah, heaven for my art loving daughter.  This was at the top of the Spanish steps.

 

A section of the Aurelian Wall, which once surrounded all of Rome.  So much of it still exists today, and I love how they have incorporated it into the modern city.  Amazing.

 

Next we went to the Borghese Gallery and Gardens.  This was taken behind the Gallery.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside the Gallery, but we were able to see many things, including several Bernini statues, paintings by artists such as Caravaggio, Raphael, and others.  It was great.  We were limited to a certain amount of time, which was probably a good thing, because we could have spent forever looking at all they had.

 

This white building is actually the Gallery.  Again, these gardens were behind it.

The Borghese Gallery is part of a huge park.  They had these fun bikes to rent, so we got one for an hour to explore the park.

This gazebo was one of the things we found on our excursion.

Rick and Dailie on the bike with the Borghese Gallery behind them.

 Rick's pizza for lunch!  There was one thing we decided we liked better about American pizza.  In Italy, they seem to just put the toppings on whole, or in large chunks.  I think I prefer the chopped American toppings.  But there's no competition when it comes to the crust.  So good in Italy, we can't compete with that here.

Next we visited a church that was originally part of the Baths of Diocletian.  Michelangelo was commissioned to turn it into a cathedral.  It was beautiful.  If you'd like to, you can read more about it here.

 

More statues at the National Museum, our next stop of the day.

 Including, wait for it, wait for it......

 The discus. 

Very cool.

Me, showing my form.  I did actually throw the discus, back in 7th grade, so I think I'm qualified for this photo : ).

A view of the Baths of Diocletian from the National Museum.

I am so sorry I forget where these frescos were taken from, but I thought they were very pretty and so well preserved.  

More amazing mosaics.

This is a picture of a photograph showing how they found many of these mosaics when excavating for the metro in Rome.  It was fascinating to read about, and they had MANY of the mosaics found on display in the museum.

 

One very colorful and detailed mosaic.

 

And, more pasta for dinner!!  Including gnocchi for Dailie!

 Another good day in Rome. 

Italy: Day 2, Church, the Rome, Italy temple and Roman Baths

Sunday was Easter, and my birthday.  We took a bus to a meetinghouse in Rome.  On our walk from the bus stop to Church, we passed this shop.  It was so picturesque, and different from the busy city we had been seeing.

 

 

 After Church, we asked about where the temple site was.  Some members tried to explain to us how we could get there.  We were struggling to understand.  Two missionaries overheard the conversation and offered to take us there.  We were thrilled!!  They took us on the bus and then led us on a LONG, but enjoyable walk to find the temple site.  It was so exciting to see the temple being built in Rome. 

The temple is set to be completed in 2015.  To see what it will look like when it is finished, and to learn more about it, click here. 

These are the two Elders who helped us.  Unfortunately I can't remember their names, but the one on the left is from New Zealand, and the one on the right is from Sao Paulo, Brazil.  They were so helpful and kind!  We got on the bus and headed back to our hotel.  At this point, we couldn't find any restaurants open (they shut down in the afternoon, and don't open again until dinner, usually around 6:00), so we stopped at a little shop and got some yummy sandwiches.  

 

From there, we walked to St. Peter in Chains Church, which houses Michelangelo's Moses.  I was bothered by the horns on Moses's head until I learned that Moses is depicted with horns, connoting "the radiance of the Lord", due to the similarity in the Hebrew words for "beams of light" and "horns".  Interesting.  It is very impressive. 

 

The church also houses the chains which held Peter when he was first imprisoned in Jerusalem.  I'm not sure how they actually know that, or if it has just become legend, but it is the claim, obviously where the church gets its name, and interesting to think about Peter's connection to Rome.

Next we wen to see the Roman baths of Diocletian.  These were the largest of the Roman baths, and were built around 300 AD.  This fountain was in the circle outside the baths.



 

Part of the baths house a museum.  Here you can see the size of the baths.



 

The gardens were beautiful, especially these two statues : ).

 

This is the inner courtyard.

So many statues....Plus, Dailie inside the baths. 



 

This coffin was one of many, and we really thought they were amazing.  At first, we thought you really must have been someone special to get something like this, but after seeing SO MANY of them during our time in Rome, we changed our mind.  These and statues.  Everywhere.

Do you remember my amazement with the tapestries in Paris?  In Rome, it was the mosaics.  Look at the size of this one.  Again, the planning and executing of such a project is mind boggling to me.  What patience they had to create beautiful things.  

 Speaking of beautiful things, how bout these plates of pasta?

 Yummo!  We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel, and it became a favorite (we even went back later in the week).

 And, we had the nicest waiter.  When we went back later, we requested him!

And, gelato #2.  Pineapple/coconut for Rick, raspberry/peanut for Dailie, and raspberry/chocolate for me.  So refreshing and delicious!