Beautiful Midway

Fourth of July

While living in Korea, sometimes I've found myself thinking nostalgically, "Oh say, does that star spangled banner yet wave, Over the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

I can't sing this song anymore without weeping during that part.

Long may She wave! Happy Fourth of July!

Oldroyd Family Party 2010

Hiking Rock Canyon, Provo with 18 children, whew. Food at Meredith's, yumm.

It was good to be with family.

Family Photos 2010 by Shelly Geller

Here's the gal's blog who did my photos: http://www.shellygellerphotography.blogspot.com/

Can there be anything worse, or better than family photos?

Grandma's Backyard

Grandma's backyard is one of my favorite places to be in the summertime.

Mount Timpanogos

The second date I went on with Jim was hiking to the top of Mount Timpanogos. After about 2 hours of hiking I felt pretty tired, my asthma was bothering me and I sat down to catch my breath. I was surprised at how strenuous the hike was and wondered about my ability to make it to the top. Without thinking, I asked Jim "What if you took a girl on this hike and she couldn't finish it?" Without hesitating, he said a-matter-of-factly, "I'd never ask her out again". Well, I definitely didn't want this to be our last date, so I asked if he had any food in his pack. (I of course hadn't packed anything). He pulled out a peach. I scarffed if down and hoped that it would be the pick-me-up I needed to make it to the top.

Since that day I have been trying to keep up with Jim. Some days I think it is going to kill me. (It doesn't help that our children inherited his stamina).

This summer, fourteen years later, we hiked the mountain with our twelve year old, Gracie. The flowers were more beautiful than I remember, the rocks were steeper, and the hike was a lot like the journey we've been on together for the last fourteen years. During the hike I couldn't help but think, "It's about the journey, not the destination, because in this life we don't arrive, we become".

NYC

The day before my birthday, Jim and I skipped off to NYC (just the two of us) inspite of a family epidemic of strep throat.

Some of the sights we hit:

• NYC temple
• Frick Museum
• Broadway plays: Addams Family and Come Fly Away (neither one was fantastic-Addams family lacked umph and Come Fly Away was what Broadway call "sexy". I thought it was for the most part nauseating.)
• Porterhouse Steak at Frankie and Jonny's (I think I ate a half a cow)
• Strand Bookstore (18 miles of discount books=Heaven)
• King Falafel (was awful)
• Purl SoHo (yarn, yarn and more yarn=Heaven)
• biking from Battery Park over to the Brooklyn Bridge and back up the Hudson river. I tripped while riding my bike (ouch) in front of ground zero. That shook me up and slowed me down. Still, I loved the ride and getting to see lots of NYC in little time.
• Cafe Lalo (great desserts, you can try some fancy European cheeses too, just don't waste any). This romantic cafe is in "You've Got Mail"
• Riding a rickshaw through Central Park
• window shopping on 5th Avenue (Tiffany & Co.)
• falling in love between the moon and New York City

Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting my sick children!