washington

I love family vacation!  Who doesn't, right?  My parents took us to Washington last week.  They spent a few days in Seattle before Ben & I got there, and then Ben & I had one day in Seattle.

Dad went to the University of Washington for dental school so we used to live in Seattle when I was a wee one.  On our day in Seattle we went to church at our old ward building and then walked around the University of Washington campus . . which was incredibly gorgeous.  Maybe Ben & I should go back to school and go there . . 

We also visited our old apartment.  In my memory, there was a park right by the apartment with this awesome maze I used to run around and ride my tricycle in.  Well, the park was there all right, but the maze was a little less than awesome.  Funny memories.

Then we went to the Chihuly Glass & Gardens museum in downtown Seattle.  That was amazing.

On Monday we took the ferry from Anacortes to San Juan Island where we spent the week.

One day we did a three-hour kayak tour.  Two hours is about my max, but it was fun.

With just a little bit left, Emily fell fast asleep.  She is so funny and so cute.

This is my new favorite family picture.

British Camp.

Vacation is great for napping.

We rented a home for the week and this was our backyard.  Spectacular!

Friday Harbor.

Cattle Point Beach.

We had a lovely week with lovely people!

laughter as spiritual medicine

Our Relief Society is having a neat activity this evening.  It's entitled "Laughter as Spiritual Medicine" and it is a dinner combined with another ward, and while we eat, we get to enjoy listening to a couple of speakers about finding joy in the gospel.  There will be two "spiritual" speakers and two "funny" speakers.  Being in the Relief Society presidency, I have the inside information that multiple names were tossed around and people asked to be our "funny" speaker . . unfortunately no one said yes.  So with less than a week left, they turned to me.  How is this for a tall order:  "Please speak to us for about five minutes about how you find joy in the gospel and bring the Spirit into you life.  We would like you to be entertaining and humorous."  Sheesh!  Both of those things - I am not!  Here are *roughly* my thoughts for this evening.

Laughter as Spiritual Medicine

There are a couple of thoughts I want share with you tonight.  One is "If you can laugh at it, you can live with it" and another is "Laughter dispels anger, frustration, embarrassment, etc. which drive the Spirit of the Lord away from us."  I'm going to share a couple of anecdotes from my young married life where my husband, Ben, and I learned to "laugh things off."  A short description of Ben is he is tall, he is charming, and he is wonderful . . wonderful because he loves me in spite of all that "me" entails, as you will learn right now . . 

So, anecdote number 1.

Ben and I got married several Junes ago and then went on a week-long honeymoon.  Then we came back to my parent's home to stay for a couple of days before we moved for Ben's summer internship.  I insisted that we stay in my bedroom because it has its own bathroom and I didn't want to share a bathroom with my brothers after we'd only been married one week.  That just seemed awkward.  So while my bedroom has its own bathroom, it gets really hot in the summer and it has only a twin size bed, and as I mentioned before, Ben is tall.  We were cramped.  We slept really close together.  And, we were very newly married.  I woke up in the middle of the night and Ben had turned away from me and was giving me what we call "the butt."   I didn't like this, and in my half-asleep state, I decided that the best way to get him to pay attention to me was to elbow him in the back.  Hard.  Poor Ben, he is just trying to sleep peacefully in the cramped, stifling room, and his new bride sticks her elbow in his spine!  Ben says "WHAT IS THE DEAL?!" and I just put my head in my hands, start crying, and say "You weren't paying attention to me . . "  Long story short, we went back to sleep and when we woke up in the morning, I was mortified but Ben just started laughing and teased me about it all day long.

Anecdote number 2.

Ben and I spent another summer doing an internship and when we moved back to school in Provo, we got to move in to the exact same apartment we had left.  It was so easy and great because we knew where everything was supposed to go and the day was going really smoothly.  Because we were moving things in and walking back and forth from the car, the door was open and a bee flew in.  Terrified of anything with six or eight legs as I am, I screamed and said "A BEEE!!"  Ben said to kill it.  "With what?!"  I said.  And he said to grab the broom he was just brought in . . meaning, obviously, to sweep the bee out the door.  But instead, I grabbed the handle, aimed for the bee, and swung it like a baseball bat.  First, I just heard a loud bang, then I moved the broom and saw that I'd missed the bee by about 2 inches, and then, the window slowly shattered.  It was a huge window, by the way.  Luckily at this point we had learned a little bit about laughing things off, and the first thing I did was slap my hand to my forehead and say "I am such an idiot!"  Then, I brought Ben into the room and we just about died laughing.

Anecdote number 3.

A couple of months ago, Ben and I planned to go to the temple and we had a gift certificate for a nearby restaurant so we were going to go there first.  I picked Ben up from BART, and the first thing he said was "Did you bring my white shirt and tie for me to change in to?"  I said "no."  I'd forgotten it!  Then he said, "Okay, well let's go eat anyways . . I can just zip up my jacket and it looks like my dress shirt is white.  You did bring the gift certificate, right?"  I gasped and said "No!"  I'd forgotten that too.  We decided that we'd go eat anyways before we went to the temple.  When we finally got to the temple, I realized that I'd forgotten my temple bag as well!  I felt like such an idiot and after forgetting all three of those things I just felt stupid and it started to spiral down and down and down.  But, Ben didn't let that happen.  He helped me let it go and he helped us both just laugh it off.

So, in all three of these little stories it would have been so, so easy for Ben to become frustrated and angry, and it was really easy for me to feel embarrassed.  Instead, we, and mostly Ben, used LAUGHTER to lighten the situation.  We just laughed off potentially negative situations.

Elder Robert D. Hales said "The key to strengthening our families is having the Spirit of the Lord come into our homes."  When we have contention or anger or arguing, the Spirit leaves us.  In 3 Nephi 11:29, we read "He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another."

One really great and easy way to help us feel happier and to keep the Spirit with us is to turn to laughter rather than anger or frustration.  It is so important to just "laugh it off" and to not forget that "if you can laugh at it, you can live with it."

lands end

Happy Memorial Day!

Ben and I both had the day off of work, which is pretty darn rare - thank you, adult world - and we grabbed for the gusto!

We drove into the city for a fabulous brunch at our ever-favorite Dottie's True Blue Cafe.  Seriously one of the most delightful brunches I've ever partaken of!  The 45-minute wait outside in the sketchy-sketch Tenderloin district is worth it, I promise.

Then we drove over to the Sutro Baths and hiked along the Land's End trail to Eagle's point - a gorgeous and green - and very foggy - walk.  Supposedly there are great views of the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was too darn foggy to see anything!  That is how all of our San Francisco experiences seem to be, and that is why we live in the East Bay!

As you can see, I am very bundled up - very much on par for Memorial Day on the Northern California coast!  Gotta love it.

The hike was beautiful, and for a little while the fog lifted and we could see some of the pretty off-shore views!  But even when it was foggy, the path was so pretty and all of the greenery was so nice; PLUS, we got to listen to the fog horns all day which was awesome.  What fun to walk along the edge of the continent.

We drove back to Walnut Creek, then, but first we stopped at Ici's Ice Cream - a fun little joint in Berkeley and had some ice cream - Rosemary Pine Nut Praline, Cookies and Cream, Malted Vanilla - Candied Peanut, and Brown Sugar - Gingersnap flavors.  Can you really ask for anything more gourmet?  Definitely a must-have when in Berkeley.

Then dinner, and then some macarons we picked up at Miette while we were in the city.  The best one?  Rose-Geranium flavor.  Mmm-hmm.  

So yes, our day was mostly about food . . . but what day in the life of Ben and Karin is not mostly about food?  Not a one.  {We did do a little hiking in there, okay Dad??}

A very happy Memorial Day, indeed.

Destin Vacation

We just spent a glorious week in Destin, Florida with the Myers clan!  Always a great get-away.

We were only about 50 miles away from my brother Scott who is serving a mission in Florida . . that was torture, let me tell you!

One day we went for a Dolphin-watching and shell-gathering trip.

Kylene, Connor, Zach, and Ben and me. 

 Does this hat not make me look like a complete goober??  Last time we vacationed in Destin I got the worst sunburn and I was determined to not burn this time.  It was a success.  Goober hat = worth it.

Ashley, Ben, me.

Ben and April bonded.  Mostly because Ben can throw her the highest.

 Most days we spent a lot of time at the beach and a lot of time in the backyard pool.  Did I mention our week was glorious?

The original Myers fam.

There are also some awesome outlets in Destin and let's just say we enjoyed them.  [I feel like I have a new wardrobe!]

Many, many thanks to this cute couple for a great week!