Getting ready this morning I had some issues that finally made me laugh out loud at the irony of the feeling of deja vu I had.  Yes, I had to quickly repair a shirt to wear, I didn’t have time to eat and had to eat on the way up, there was a massive slow-down on I-15, and it was just like the old days.  I guess some things never change!

I embarked on this new indexing adventure this week and did some Illinois census records because most of the personal research I do is in that state.  I have several family lines that all converge on Illinois.  It turns out that indexing is SUPER easy, as advertised, and very intuitive.  Also fun.  The records were released on April 2 and already there are states that are completely done.  You can see a map of the progress at Family Search’s 1940 Census site, along with other information about getting started.

Happy indexing!

Monday, May 1 was the big day for Brian to leave for his summer job at the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone, MT.  He packed up his stuff and said it felt like he was leaving for a mission again with all the packing up of suitcases.  We left at 5:30 am to hit the road north and when we got up near Yellowstone, this is what it looked like outside the windshield.  

Yes, it was snowing.  Scott and I did not bring winter coats because we were driving our sedan and space was at a premium so that Brian could get all his stuff in the car.  Hmm.  We got to town with a minimum of skidding and sliding and found it a quaint, little gateway town to Yellowstone National Park.  Most of the establishments aren’t open for the season yet, but we had a lovely lunch at the Red Lotus next door to the theater.  We found the guys’ apartment and got all his stuff carried up.  Here’s Home Sweet Home for the next 4 months.

Up the stairs and in the door is the kitchen and great room, then turn left and the long part facing the camera with the white double doors is the bunkhouse for the single guys in the cast.

The kitchen has 2 refrigerators and an awesome avocado stove.  Everything a guy needs.  We left him to get all moved in and unpacked and wished him good luck on his new experience as a paid actor.  (Love the sound of getting paid for his acting.  Yes!)

Since Scott loves an adventure, he said, “Should we just drive into the park a ways since we’re all the way up here?”  I’m ALWAYS up for adventure, so I said, “Sure!!”  When we went to Zion in February we bought an NPS year pass since we knew we’d be up in Yellowstone and maybe other places this year, so we just drove in and did not pay the $25 fee.  Awesome!

Did I mention it was cold and snowing?  Yeah.  The snowing had become intermittent by then but it was still dang cold when the wind blew, which seemed to be pretty constantly.  We walked the boardwalk in the Lower Geyser Basin and saw a hot spring and bubbling mud pots.  If you look carefully on the right of the picture below you’ll see some mud bubbling up.  I had to take lots of photos of Scott to get one that actually showed it because the cold made the steam pretty impenetrable.We continued along the boardwalk and found some warmth when we were between two fumaroles giving off steam, one on each side of the boardwalk.  It was like a lovely sauna in the freezing air.

That’s me in my sweater trying to pretend my ears and nose aren’t about to fall off from frostbite.  Then we drove and drove to Old Faithful.  Along the way we saw many elk and bison so that was fun, although seeing bison isn’t the thrill it used to be now that I can see them from my front window every day of the year.  Just sayin’.

By the time we got to Old Faithful, the sky had cleared and it was a beautiful day, but the temperature hadn’t gone up.  We sat there shivering waiting for the geyser to erupt and it was just as awesome as we remembered from when we were kids, which is the last time each of us have been to Yellowstone.  Then we headed for home.  It was a long drive back and poor Scott drove all of it except about 30 minutes because that was all I could do.  We got home late but we’re ready for our big trip back to see Brian and the park in July.

(from the fb post accompanying this photo)

On Thursday, we started our day by going through the Apartheid Museum, that was a powerful display of South African history. We were then able to meet with the South African Broadcasting Company’s (SABC) choir, where we had a wonderful exchange … as seen in this photo.

They shared a few songs, we shared a few songs, then we were able to learn each other’s songs that we will be singing when they perform at our concerts in in Soweto and Pretoria. Public Affairs missionary, Elder Hatch, said “the two hours I spent with the Young Ambassadors and the SABC choir was a highlight of my mission.”

We then made our way to the Market Theatre, where we had a workshop with 40 students. These are underprivileged students who are chosen throughout South Africa who show promise in the Arts.
After our workshop we made our way to Moyo Restaurant, where we ate dinner with the Area presidency and many Church Public Affairs missionaries. The Moyo Restaurant is a traditional African Food Restaurant, where they also painted our faces in traditional African style and entertained us. It was the perfect ending to a brilliant day.

After a couple of hours enjoying the pounding surf at Salt Creek and watching the surfers in wetsuits, we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.  

There was a beautiful rose garden that I just reveled in because the roses in my garden won’t be blooming until June.

The Great Stone Church was an architectural marvel that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1812 that caused it to collapse during services.  It has been stabilized and is a very impressive sight.

The Story of San Juan Capistrano’s Mission Swallows

The miracle of the “Swallows” of Capistrano takes place each year at the Mission San Juan Capistrano, on March 19th, St. Joseph’s Day.  As the faithful little birds wing their way back to the most famous Mission in California, the village of San Juan Capistrano takes on a fiesta air and the visitors from all the parts of the world, and all walks of life, gather in great numbers to witness the “miracle” of the return of the swallows.
Each year the “Scout Swallows” precede the main flock by a few days and it seems to be their chief duty to clear the way for the main flock to arrive at the “Old Mission” of Capistrano.  With the arrival of early dawn on St. Joseph’s Day, the little birds begin to arrive and begin rebuilding their mud nests, which are clinging to the ruins of the old stone church of San Juan Capistrano.  The arches of the two story, high vaulted Chapel were left bare and exposed, as the roof collapsed during the earthquake of 1812.  This Chapel, said to be the largest and most ornate in any of the missions, now has a more humble destiny: ­­ that of housing the birds that St. Francis loved so well.  After the summer spent within the sheltered walls of the Old Mission in San Juan Capistrano, the swallows take flight again, and on the Day of San Juan, October 23, they leave after circling the Mission bidding farewell to the “Jewel of the Missions”.  (from http://www.missionsjc.com/)

We visited this mission to see some more LDS history.  While the Mormon Battalion was stationed in Southern California during the Mexican War, they helped build many structures throughout the area.  One construction project was barracks at this mission.  The foundations and some of the walls can still be seen below.

The church at the mission is a beautiful building.

The Battalion later camped along Aliso Creek, which happens to run behind the apartments Brian lived in while he was on his mission and there’s a marker there behind the apartments.  So we visited it and got our picture taken by Scott.

After a fun day at Sea World, we had a quiet, relaxing morning at the beautiful San Diego Temple.

It is peaceful and quiet-looking, but just behind the building here is the freeway.  As you come around a curve, the temple is RIGHT there on the freeway and it’s quite impressive.

The grounds were landscaped with tons of blooming geraniums and other tropical plants and it was quite lovely.

The two central towers are quite impressive, inside and out, and here’s a view up at Angel Moroni.

And the other spire, showing off the stained glass.

Read TWELVE (12) mystery & suspense novels in 2012

I had fun with this one because I had some mysteries on my shelves that I wanted to read this year.  Even though I’m done with the challenge, I want to keep reading the Navajo Mysteries and Charlotte & Thomas Pitt novels because they’re just so fun.  And I’m a series reader.  Can you tell?  So without further ado, here’s what I read for this challenge and links to my reviews can be found at Book Chick City’s challenge page.

A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce #3), by Alan Bradley
I Am Half Sick Of Shadows (Flavia de Luce #4), by Alan Bradley
The Fallen Man (Navajo Mysteries, #12), by Tony Hillerman
Listening Woman (Navajo Mysteries, #3), by Tony Hillerman
The Cater Street Hangman (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #1), by Anne Perry
Callander Square (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #2), by Anne Perry
People of Darkness (Navajo Mysteries, #4), by Tony Hillerman
The Dark Wind (Navajo Mysteries, #5), by Tony Hillerman
The Ghostway (Navajo Mysteries, #6), by Tony Hillerman
Paragon Walk (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #3), by Anne Perry
Skinwalkers (Navajo Mysteries, #7), by Tony Hillerman
A Thief of Time (Navajo Mysteries, #8), by Tony Hillerman

I am doing awesome with reading challenges this year.  I have completely finished three, done the first two levels of the Mount TBR challenge and am just planning to keep going until the end of year and see how high I climb, and I’m about halfway through the 50 States Challenge.  So far with that I’ve just been marking the states I’ve happened to read, but to finish it this year I’m going to have to do some more targeted reading.