Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Women's Conference

It's that time of year again ...


Women's Conference is always a good experience for me, and each time I return I feel closer to my Savior and have a better understanding of what's important.

It'a always fun with my "Idaho" friends, and I'm grateful for their friendship. It really is wonderful to have good people to learn from. I'm very grateful for their examples.

If I could only choose one thing to share that I learned this year, it would be that as children of our Heavenly Father, we need to realize our potential for greatness. It doesn't take doing amazing things to be "amazing". It's the little things we do that make the biggest difference, whether we are improving ourselves or helping others. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass....

NCAA Anniversary

Statue of Wyatt Earp



Out back of the Court House and City Hall, they had a fenced area where they did all the hangings. Creepy...



Courtroom...hardly anything has been touched. Pretty incredible.



Court House / City Hall



Gun show...I got to kill the bad guy.



View from the Hotel



Found this while at the Air Museum....thought you would appreciate this, Dad. All that's missing is the "h". Tried to get some more info on this helicopter, but couldn't find much.



Air Museum



Chopper...



Desert Museum...some of the biggest cactus I have ever seen.



The boys were so hot and tired.



If you look closely you can see a hummingbird in it's nest.



Desert Museum Entrance...we were already sweating.



Part of the Park along the route to the Desert Museum....they are literally everywhere. It's like a forest of cacti.
Big Blue doing a little break dancing.



Goofball...



No need to explain, this picture says it all...



So Delon wanted to go to Tucson for the NCAA tournament...and being as it's been 13 yrs now, I'm well aware of the fact that I will always be competing for attention on our Anniversary weekend. We took Haydn and Riley so they could enjoy a little basketball, and I tagged along because it wouldn't be right to leave me for basketball on our Anniversary ;)

We really enjoyed the trip, and the weather was WARM and very much appreciated after this incredibly cold winter and spring. The kids really liked seeing new places and being on their own with mom and dad. But I almost believe the best part of the trip for them, was driving in the rental car...seriously.

After the game and the Aggies' loss, we took a couple of days and checked a few things out. We went to the Desert Museum (which made for a very long hike in the heat, but interesting nonetheless), the air museum (3rd largest in the country) and Tombstone (the strangest, yet friendliest place I've been to).

The boys loved the museum and it was fun to get to know a little bit more about what each of
the different planes and aircraft can do. And of course there was the infamous fighter jet used in TOP GUN....brings back great memories.

Tombstone was quite an experience.....understatement. We took a little tour to learn about Tombstone and it's famous "characters" like the Earp brothers, Doc Hollywood, etc. Apparently there are quite a few buildings there that are haunted and have been featured on TLC and Discovery channels several times. Step back Sin City...as far as corruption, sex and murder, this little place had you beat a LONG time ago.

I'm always fascinated with learning about the way people lived way back when and the little things they did to cope with everything that we now take for granted, like plumbing, medicine and organized law. Most of the structures right in town are all original, and there is a theater there (the name has slipped my mind) where everyone went to have a "good time". There are over 100 bullet holes throughout the theater as a result of several shootouts that took place inside. An appropriate name would have been "Hoochie whorehouse", but we all know that wouldn't fly.

After the tour we went to watch a little wild west skit, which I quickly became a part of because Delon wanted to sit in the front row...needless to say, I ad libbed and became the main attraction...kidding. But I think they were expecting me to stand there with nothing to say, but I had a few one-liners that got a good laugh from the audience.

The flight home was horrible and I found myself caught in a bad lifetime movie scene of passengers trying to keep their cool while the plane bounced around and the pilot kept making statements to keep everyone calm....ugh. So glad when we landed.

So, the Aggies never moved on, and it wasn't much of an "Anniversary" trip, but it was definitely worth the awful plane ride. I'm always glad to go to a place I've never been and experience things I wouldn't have otherwise...but it's always good to be home.