Things that are funny....

Something funny last night happened, along with a few other things, so I thought I'd share a few things that I think are funny.


Last night we went to feed the ducks down at Capitol Lake. It's sort of our after church, after dinner, ritual. The duck feeding wasn't going so great. Mostly it was seagulls. I started to chase a runaway Dal Pal when something green caught my eye floating in the water. About 5 feet from the cement wall that seperates the water from the path. Upon further inspection I realize that it's money. And upon further inspection realized that it was NOT a dollar bill. But one of higher currency. I yell for Mason to come over. He's the one always looking on the ground at stores for loose change. Like mother like son. :) I tell him," See that money floating in the water? Go get it." Tyler comes over to see what we're up to. Upon seeing the green, he starts removing Mason's shoes and shirt. Luckily for us he had his swim suit on for some reason. Tyler lowered him down onto the steps that are hooked onto the wall. The water was waist high on Mason. He was drawing a crowd now. A few people stopped to see what he was grabbing. MY heart started beating faster. Was it ten bucks? Maybe a hundred???!!! Mason waded out into the water, picked up the money...opened it up and yelled "A MILLION DOLLARS!!! MOM IT'S A MILLION DOLLARS!" And it took me just a quick second to think 'o.k. now do they really make a million dollar bill?' No. But boy wasn't it fun?







Here's our money. Our million dollars. We'll try to not spend it all in one place.















































Funny how I always dreaded girls camp. DREAD!!! I have vivid memories of being a beehive and finding bologna floating in our cooler on the last day of camp. Back in those days, you brought up your own food as a tent. Yikes! I have vivid memories of being a four year laurel where we had to hike into camp with all our junk on our backs. NOT FUN! And yet, here I am VOLUNTEERING to go up to girls camp to help my friend cook food for the girls. For the whole stake actually. It could be fun! I'm with fun people, I get to sleep on a cot, I get to shower, I get to have a break from my kids, and I'm sure it's come a long way from when I was a mere beehive. I wonder if there'll be Smores????





We have Sister Missionaries in our ward. This is not so much funny as it is wickedly AWESOME! And with Tyler being the ward mission leader, they get to come over a lot. I have had the sweet opportunity to go on splits twice now. It was fantastic! I don't want to hog them all to ourselves, but I would have them over to eat every night if I could. They are good, they are hard working, and it makes me want to put my name tag back on and join them in a 3-some. Except that I have to be home by 8:30 to put the kids to bed. But I feel that this is my chance to give to them what people gave to me and my companions. Rides, splits, dinner, etc... I love it! Elders are good....but Sisters are AWESOME!!















I stopped by a garage sale a few weeks ago and picked up a puzzle of the United States for Mason. This kid has really learned his States. He wants to know all about them. Which States have tornados. Earthquakes, quicksand. He has informed us that his mission will be to Maine. The history channel did a special on all the states and he took notes. But what is the most awesome? He came across a picture of the U.S. where the states were not labeled. He proceeded to name the states for us. He did fantastic. He knows where Nebraska is. He pointed out Louisiana. Texas as the biggest state. Tyler and I had a super proud parent moment. Perhaps we have a geography buff on our hands.

And lastly, with all the things going on in my life as a wife and mother... I have decided to take on one more task. That being piano teacher. Some of you are thinking,"Umm Beck, you are the most nervous person at the piano I know." True, true. But teaching and playing in front of people are sooo different. And I love teaching. It is fun to me. I like counting outloud with my students, like my teacher did. I like teaching them what forte and piano mean. I love to see the improvement they have each week. I only have two students right now. And one coming after her arm gets out of the sling. So, if you know someone who wants to learn, send 'em this way.

And these are my funnies for the week!

The long awaited trip

Yep, I know we've been home for a little over a week now. But here I am, thrown back into mom mode. And it'll be o.k. as long as I plan summer activities. But about our trip! It was fabulous of course. I have a few stories, so go grab a beverage and settle in.

Our plane left from Portland actually and so we were extra careful about getting to the airport on time. We were flying to LA and then meeting up with my parents, brother, sister, and their spouses to fly to Paradise together. And then we missed the plane. Now if you're like me, when you hear that someone missed the plane you think "Moron! Don't you know that you have to be at the airport at least an hour early to check in." Well, we were at the airport 2, let me repeat, 2 hours early and we still missed our flight. Story- There we are riding the car shuttle to the airport. Happy, excited, heading to Maui with my awesome family. Then we walked through the doors to find ALL of Portland flying on United. No big deal. Our plane leaves at 6 and it's 4 A.M.. We get in line and wait. And wait and wait. Then Tyler sees a sign that says, 'All gates close 45 minutes prior to take off.' Translation to us- get the heck on the plane!!! Tyler goes up to this lady and explains that we have a 6 a.m.. flight to LA that we have to be on. She hurries us up to another line where we wait some more. Finally it's our turn and we run to the counter. The ticket lady says," You've missed you flight. There's no way we can get you to your gate now." Ummm WHAT!!!? Yeah instant feeling sick. Tyler explains how long we've been in line and how we are catching a plane to Maui at 1 p.m.. She clicks around on her computer and says," The next flight going to LA is tonight at 7." Well no that won't work. Tyler runs, and I mean runs, to all the other airlines. Southwest, Delta, Alaskan, Virgin, Jet Blue etc... only to find out that all their flights to LA are booked out.

Enter now 2 panicky, sweating bullets like crazy, on the verge of tears (me) ZoBells. We are at the mercy of United. She tells us that we can get on the 7 p.m. flight to LA tonight and then on to Maui the next day at 8 a.m.. What else could we do? We accepted and then went and sat down in some chairs to survey our situation. The time? 6:15 in the morning. We wished that maybe the lady helping us would have said," O.k. listen you two. Grab what you absolutley need as a carry on and then run to your gate." We wished that all day, but we found out that night that the security line was longer than the check in line. So either way we would have missed our flight. Whewww.

So here we are at 6:15. We had our emotions go from totally up, to total dispair, to not so bad. We took advantage of the day and went to Multnomah Falls. It's the most gorgeous waterfall! We decided to hike to the top. It was a little over a mile straight up. But once we hit the top it was so pretty.

We were pretty tired when we got back down. We had been up since 2 in the morning! We found a shady spot and took a nap in the car. Then we decided to go to church. Why not? It was Sunday after all. We weren't really dressed in Sunday attire and it only took 3 minutes for someone to introduce themselves to us. Hahaha. We must have looked silly dressed in jeans and t shirts, but knowing the words to all the hymns. Then we hit the movies, had dinner, and made it back to the airport in PLENTY of time. Flew to LA, slept in a Super 8, made sure we were up and in the shuttle bus with time to spare. I was actually glad to spend the day with Tyler. It was great. We flew to Maui, and was very glad that our luggage made it there as well. We didn't waste much time either. After landing we went to the snorkel shop, got some gear, drove to our condo, and were in the ocean within an hour of landing. Snorkeling was awesome! Especially when this huge sea turtle swam right under me!! My dad made a jam sandwich that he had put in a plastic baggie. He poked a small hole in the end and spread bread crumbs in the water. Fish came out of nowhere and they were swimming so close to us. Talk about reach out and touch someone! It was so awesome.

This is what your face looks like after burning it and the top of your head too. Here's me watching my awesome Love surf.

Surfing, and hot!! What a combo! We didn't really have an agenda. It was so nice to relax on the beach, or by the pool. Cooked out on the grill, strolled along the beach front, ate really great food, played games with the family I love most, shopped, saw a magic show (not really Hawaiian but I haven't laughed that hard in a long time), Got our pictures taken for my parents living room wall, snorkeled, Tyler scuba dived, body surfed, spud busters (family name for big waves) Olympics on the sand, and overall just can't even believe what an awesome time I had.

I had such a great time and it was wonderful seeing my family again. And it was more wonderful to have Tyler all to myself with no kids!! A big huge Thank you to my fabulous mother in law for watching the kids for that week. And so for now Aloha in the goodbye sense. I've all ready started saving for the next trip.