Stay-cation

This year we decided to stay home for spring break.  Well, not exactly home.  I (Jessica) wanted to spend some time up in L.A. exploring the sites we always hear about but which still remain mysterious and ambiguous in our minds.  L.A.’s supposed to be a really cool place, right?  I was determined to find out for myself.  And since my kids were out of school this week, I thought I’d just bring all 5 of them along.  By myself.  Ambitious?  I like to think of it as “making memories.”

We only live about an hour south of the city, but it’s really about 2 hours if you include traffic (which we hit today on our drive home, leaving L.A. at 4 pm and arriving home at 6).  I found myself planning my routes around traffic.  I’m much too impatient to live my life around traffic.  But it worked for a couple of days, and we had a good time.

We left home Monday morning and drove straight to Beau’s and Amy’s apartment in west L.A.  Amy graciously agreed to hang out with us while Beau was at work. :)  It was fun to have her around and to see their cute apartment.  First stop was the famous Hollywood sign.  While navigating the tiny pot-holed streets of Hollywood hills, we passed what looked like a filming of a commercial or something.  They had to move their van for us to get by.  As we reached the top of the hills with the sign in sight, we discovered that the road was closed and we could go no further!  So we just jumped out of the car and climbed through a fence on someone’s private property for a quick shot with the sign in the background.  It really looked a lot closer in person than the picture appears.

Next stop was Westwood Village (home of UCLA) for lunch with Beau.  Lunch was good, but what really made us happy was a stop at Diddy Riese for their famous ice cream cookie sandwiches (famous because of the taste but mostly the price at $1.50!).  We stepped inside one of the old theaters (80 years) where movie premiers are shown.  Fun place.

We said our good-byes to Amy and Beau and headed over to Santa Monica pier for some amusement.  The kids were amused by the rides and games on the pier.  Caleb has a knack for winning those cheap stuffed animals at the amusement park games.  He’s 4 for 4 in the last week, if you include the Swallows Day parade games!  It was fun to hang out at the “Original location of Muscle Beach” (see picture).  There were some guys exercising their muscles, mostly in the form of swinging like monkeys on the rings you see at the olympics gymnastics events.

After our beach fun we met Dave (who drove almost 2 hours for this FHE) and some friends at the L.A. temple visitor’s center.  We loved the whole experience there, and would highly recommend it!  After a late dinner and a good-bye to Dave, we headed back to the hotel.  Since I wasn’t about to pay $33/night for hotel parking, we found a spot on the street a couple blocks away.  I’m sure we were quite a sight for anyone driving the streets at 10:00 at night (me and 5 kids wrapped in blankets, a stroller, and a suitcase).  Ha ha!  It’s about making memories, right?  Luckily the kids fell asleep pretty quickly, and I was only woken up about 5 times during the night by coughing, crying, and throwing up (luckily not bad, just the coughing-too-hard type).  Other than that, we got a decent night’s sleep considering we all shared a room.

After enjoying some cartoons (a luxury for my kids) this morning, we found Denny’s, suffered through their poor service (but enjoyed the food), then headed back to the hotel for some swim time.  I was becoming a grumpy mama by now, but really, must I listen to any more bickering and ingratitude for my “sacrifice”?  I had to pull out the old “let’s go home and do jobs for the rest of the day”threat a few times!  I guess it worked because we made it to the La Brea Tar Pits, a museum and excavation site for fossils trapped in sticky tar from thousands of years ago.  It was definitely worth seeing.  We finished the day at the Grove, a fancy outdoor shopping area with a farmers market which has been there since 1934.  The farmer’s market turned out to be a conglomeration of pricey but yummy food stands.  We enjoyed what I would call the “best Mexican shredded beef ever” there.

So, even though my kids were driving me crazy half of the time (or more), I’m discovering that the frustrations of the moment are soon forgotten and that the memories will last forever.  I’m grateful for my mom who used to drag her 11 kids (was I complaining about 5?) all over, creating fun memories because now I’ve got a ton of them!  Stay-cations are the way to go when you live in such a wonderful place!  And it’s nice to justify the price we pay just a little.  :)

See the Hollywood sign behind our heads?

Madi is working her muscles!

Hannah and Ammon sharing a swing

On the SM pier

Lots of good stuff for kids at the visitor’s cen

I love the background of this Christus

The Sedgwicks and Hulses

yawning!

The Jerusalem room

A mammoth Mammoth :)

Lucy is posing like the fossil behind her

a tar formation

eating at the farmer’s market

Jewkes Cousin Camp Coming!

My side of the family has a tradition that our kids treasure more than anything: Cousin Camp.  This year, we’re bringing it to Jess’ side.  In order to prepare the cousins (and Aunts and Uncles) our kids sang (sometimes in tune) the camp songs so they can prepare.  Here’s a couple of them:

Jewkes cousins! For the rest of the songs, click http://kfhe.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/mixing-fhe-w-cousin-camp/ and sing along!

Parable of the Marshmallow

I initially titled this ‘Return of the Marshmallow’ and then went to link to the first time I wrote about it.  No luck.  I can’t believe I never wrote about my favorite FHE of all time.  I saw a video today that reminded me of it that I’m including at the bottom of this entry.

It happened during June of 2009 …

The lesson was based on a 6 minute TED video that impressed me (see below).  I had Caleb  present the plan of salvation to the family, starting with the pre-mortal life … when he finished, I asked the kids if they knew what was  needed to make it to the the celestial kingdom (heaven).  They said baptism and temple marriage.  “Yes, but incomplete,” I said.  I told them I was about to teach them the secret to making it to heaven.  And, that I was going to teach them with  marshmallows!

I put them in separate rooms (living room, dining room, kitchen) and gave them each 1 marshmallow.  I told them, “you can eat this marshmallow right now or anytime you want.  But, if you wait and don’t eat the marshmallow during the next 15 minutes, then I’ll give you a second one and you’ll have 2 (when the 15 minutes is up).”  They stared at their marshmallows.  I heard this …

Caleb: “Madi, are you going to eat yours?”

Madi: “No.”

Caleb: “Me neither.”

When I came back to the kitchen, Lucy was crying.

Me: “Why are you crying  sweetheart?”

Lucy: “I took a bite.”  And then her tears really started to flow.

Me: “I said you could.  So, why are you crying?”

Lucy: Because I knew I  shouldn’t and now I don’t get the second marshmallow do I?”

Me: “No.  You don’t.  Go ahead and finish your marshmallow.”

Madi and Caleb heard  Lucy cry and yelled out, “What’s wrong Lucy?!  Did you eat it?!”  Through the sobs, “Yes I did!”  Almost in unison, “Oh Lucy you  shouldn’t have!”  “I know” (still crying).  I went to check on Caleb and Madi.  Caleb put his marshmallow in his pocket.  “Caleb, where’s yours?”  “I put it in my pocket so I won’t be tempted.”  Madi put hers far away from her on the living room table and dove into a coffee table book on the couch.  “I don’t want to smell it,” she said.

10 minutes into what turned out to be the Parable of the Marshmallow, I went back to Lucy who was sadly sitting at the kitchen table.

Me: “Lucy, if I gave you a second marshmallow right now would you promise me that you won’t eat it for another 15 minutes?”

Lucy: (looking at me hopefully) “Yes.”

Me: “OK, here’s another marshmallow.  Don’t eat it until I tell you ok?”

Lucy: “OK.”

When the first 15 minutes were up I told Madi and Caleb to meet me in the kitchen (5 feet away from Lucy).  They presented their uneaten marshmallows and I presented them with a second one (Lucy remained seated at the table, looking on).  Caleb stuffed his face with both at the same time.  Madi enjoyed both of hers with a bit more elegance.  Then we talked about what we learned …

• Caleb: “the marshmallow is temptation and we shouldn’t eat it.”
• Madi: “the second  marshmallow is the celestial kingdom and you have to have discipline to choose the right to make it there.”

We talked through both answers for a while and I was touched by their insights.  Then we looked over at Lucy, still sitting somberly at the table.  I asked Madi & Caleb if they thought that eating the marshmallow before the 15 minutes was up  meant that Lucy couldn’t have a second one and, in essence, go to heaven.  They sadly agreed that Lucy was disqualified.  I then told them that that’s not necessarily true.  In unison, “What!?”  I told them that I  had given her a second marshmallow (“What?!”) already and that she had it and had to promise to wait another 15 minutes.  I compared that to the Gospel plan and how Heavenly Father knew that none of us would be perfect and that we would all ‘eat the marshmallow’ too soon.  But, if  we repent (what does that mean guys?  Ask forgiveness.  Pray.  Promise to not do it again) we will be given second chances and have the same ability, because of Jesus’ suffering for our sins and his resurrection, to have the second marshmallow or make it to the celestial kingdom.

Me: Lucy, times up. Do you still have your marshmallow?

Lucy: Yes (she sheepishly removes the uneaten marshmallow from her pocket much to the surprise of her siblings).

Me: Go  ahead an eat it.

Everyone in the family cheered as Lucy stuffed her mouth, worthily, with the second marshmallow!

Here’s the two videos I referenced:

1st … the inspiration:

2nd … from today:

Lastly, we all thought it was really cool to watch Pres. Uchtdorf give the same lesson at General Conference in April 2010:

(side note: it should be spelled ‘marshmellow’)

Secret Service

Lucy took over FHE this week and taught us why SHE thinks service should be done in secret.  She explains and then demonstrates in the latest KFHE video:

By the way … little Ammon is still totally rockin our world in a good way.  He’s sleeping great and all of the kids adore him (for now :)

Dave's current computer desktop image

KFHE: Case Of The Missing Apricots

This KFHE video was related to our FHE this week on Provident Living (Self-Reliance, Recycling, Not Wasting). When ‘disgusting’ apricots went missing, there was only one thing to do … call Detective Lucy. She helps find the missing apricots and discover how they are being used (not wasted). Fruit Leathers! Madi wraps things up with a quick lesson on Provident Living.

KFHE Video on Provident Living

I can’t wait to see KFHE videos from our family & friends.  Come on!