RANDOM THOUGHTS AT 2:00 A.M.

I can't sleep.  It happens sometimes.  So here are my random thoughts:

1.  I just finished reading book five of The Great and Terrible series by Chris Stewart.  They are pretty good books... but they make me think of EMPs and how wicked our world is becoming.  My friends and family think I'm becoming a bit obsessed with thinking about the end of the world as we know it.  At least I'm trying to be "prepared" for what could happen.....

2.  I'm also reading Dracula by Bram Stoker.  It was written in 1897.  It's strange.  I like reading classic novels, and I thought I'd give this one a try.  I really didn't know the story of Dracula at all... and I was surprised that the character of Van Helsing is from this book.

3.  Scott and I are huge fans of the television show, Criminal Minds.  When we "gave up" television two years ago (yes, we don't have cable or any way of watching T.V.) the only show I knew I would miss is Criminal Minds.  Luckily, every year my husband gets a gift for Christmas from his "un-sub" of the latest season's episodes.  We watch them often.

My daughters hate the show.  They think it's morbid.  (It kinda is, but I really like the FBI profilers.)  One great reason for watching the show, is it gives Scott and I alone time - neither daughter wants to watch it with us so it sends them to their bedrooms quickly....  :-)

A few months ago the girls asked us why we watched it.  My husband jokingly replied that we watched it to learn how to become serial-killers.  Since then, it has been a running-joke in our family.  K2 ask us what we have learned.  We respond that when we become murderers, we will wear gloves and give ourselves a really cool name (like Jack the Ripper and BTK did).

I didn't realize how much of the criminal behavior vocabulary the girls understood or even knew until yesterday.  Key Lime Pie informed me that when her father and I became "un-subs", we needed to make sure that we didn't have a "signature" because that is usually how the "profilers" found the bad guys.  I was so proud!  :-)

4.  My last random thought (and now it is 2:25 A.M.) is this:  If you are playing a tug-a-war game with your child about practicing their instrument, tell them that if they will practice then you will do something that you don't like doing.  I tried this with Kotten Kandy the other day and it worked!  I told her if she practiced her piano, then I would iron Scott's church shirts.  The shirts were ironed, and the practicing sounded like music to my ears!  :-)

STRAWBERRY PICKIN'

Today we picked some delicious strawberries....

 

And we turned them into:

YUMMY!

MEMORIES MADE IN OHIO

We just spent Memorial Day weekend in Ohio.  It was a fabulous trip!  Our good friend, Chris Thornton, grew up in OH and we stayed with his family.  The Thorntons are the greatest family!  We definitely want to adopt them.  (Chris and Hammond have already been "adopted" as Uncles by my daughters!)

The first day we were there, we saw lots of Amish.  Apparently, Chris grew up in an area with a large Amish population.  We had heard of Amish, but never really seen them.  It was awesome!  We loved their buggies.  And the Amish people we spoke to were very friendly.

We also enjoyed tasting many different cheeses at Heini's Place.  My personal favorite cheese was Lacy's Baby Swiss.  We had a tour and learned how they made the cheeses.  Their most famous cheeses were the yogurt cheeses.

We also got to go to the temple Friday night.  Chris was taking out his endowment and were were blessed to get to share that special experience with him and his parents.  (Chris rocks!)  The Columbus, OH temple was just like the Louisville, KY temple.  But no matter where you go to the house of the Lord is AMAZING!

Saturday the entire crew went to Cleveland.  None of us had ever seen any of the great lakes, so it was fun to see Lake Eerie.  It's huge.  It almost reminded me of the ocean since you couldn't see the other side....  

We also went to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It was pretty cool... but we all agreed that it wasn't worth the money.  It was OK to go once.  The painted guitars were neat.

Scott

Sundy

Key Lime Pie

Kotten Kandy

Sunday we went to church and then to Kirtland, OH.  

The first place we got to visit was the John Johnson Home.  It was located in a beautiful area amid rich farmland, rolling hills and wooded areas.  Joseph Smith lived there with his family from 1831 to 1832.  It was here where Joseph Smith received many revelations and was also tarred and feathered.  The Spirit of the Lord was so strong as we walked where Joseph walked and heard the inspiring stories about our beloved prophet.

 with Chris

K2 in the kitchen

Me

 Joseph Smith translated here....

After going to the Johnson Ranch, we went to the Kirtland Temple.  This temple was the first temple built in this dispensation.  So many wonderful things happened at this sacred sight.  Unfortunately, it is now owned by the Community of Christ instead of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The spiritual feelings we felt at the Johnson Ranch were missing at the temple, but it was still an amazing sight.

Next we went to the Church owned, Historic Kirtland.  Between 1831 and 1838, Joseph Smith and early members of the Church established Church headquarters in Kirtland.  Joseph Smith lived upstairs in the N.K. Whitney store.  It was inspiring.  I can't describe how awe inspiring the experience of visiting this place was.

I can't wait to go back to Ohio.  The entire family loved visiting Ohio.  This trip gets a five out of five stars.

2012 DeGOOYER SUMMER BUCKET LIST

For Family Home Evening we made a Summer Bucket List!  Thought I'd share our list.  We'll try to do as many things as we can on the list.... :-)

• Go to Music Camp
• Go to LDS Girls' Camp
• Kotten Kandy's 12th Birthday Party
• Visit Ohio
• Participate in the Library Reading Program
• Weekly Picnics with Dad
• Craft and Art Projects
• Have a Monthly Family Book Club (books = "Bad Guys of the Book of Mormon" by Dennis Gaunt, "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien, and "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain)
• Swim Lots
• Go Camping
• Redo our Entry to our Home
• Go Hiking
• Garden
• Work on the Wood Shop - Teach Wood Shop Skills to K2
• Make Homemade Ice cream
• Make Kites
• BBQ Lots
• Attend County and State Fair
• Go for Walks
• Explore Cincinnati and Kentucky
• Have a Movie-a-thon
• Decorate/Organize Bed Rooms
• Have a Yard Sale
• Visit Cumberland and Red River Georg
• Do Family History and Go to the Temple for Work Together (Kotten Kandy turns 12 in June!)
• Make a Family Video
• Blog
• Go to a Bluegrass Museum/Festival
• Go Fishing
• Write Poetry
• Try International Foods Weekly
• Visit Civil War Sites
• Visit Caves
• Go to the Farmer's Market
• Take a Picture Everyday and Scrapbook
• Go Hunting
• Go for Bike Rides
• Go to a Horse Park

WE'RE DONE....

We are done with school for the year... but are we ever really done learning?!  We aren't in this family....  Although we are finished with the big subjects our summer is full of home-learning!  Here are some of our plans:

Field Trip to Salato Wild Life Center this Thursday to attend a presentation on Birds of Prey.  (We'll picnic and tour the beautiful park too.)

A short 4 day trip to Ohio this weekend to see church history sites, the rock and roll hall of fame, Amish country and the LDS temple!  (more about this trip next week....)  :-)

Key Lime Pie is going to Girl's Camp the second week of June.  The theme is Super Heroes!  She's excited!

On June 15th we get to go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Kentucky Center!
:-)  I can't wait!  It is one of my favorite musicals!

The following week is Kentucky Music Week in Bardstown, KY.  My parents are coming for the music camp and ALL five of us (Scott can't come because of work) will be attending.  I am super excited about the classes I am taking:  a guitar class, two dulcimer classes, a vocal class and a digital photography class.  Key Lime Pie is taking a penny whistle class, a mandolin class, basketry, fiddle and a dulcimer class.  Kotten Kandy's schedule is:  Penny Whistle, Mountain Dulcimer, Water Color Painting, Basketry and Digital Photography.  We can't wait for this AWESOME opportunity!

Other plans this summer are:  attending the state fair and seeing Wicked at the Kentucky Center.

TEENAGE GIRLS ARE PRICELESS

I really do enjoy my daughters!  They make me laugh!  Key Lime Pie, Kotten Kandy, and honorary daughter, Applesauce are great girls!  They love to laugh!  They know how to have fun without being rude or mean.  And they are entertaining.  Lately, they get a bit obsessed about whichever movie they are "into" at the moment.  A month ago, life was all about "The Hunger Games."  Now life revolves around "The Avengers."  They have even nick-named themselves.  Key Lime Pie is Thor.  Kotten Kandy is Captain America and Applesauce is Iron Man.  They saw the show this afternoon - wearing home-made shirts reflecting their favorite heroes (of the moment.)

Listening to them talk about these "obsessions" makes me laugh!  I was the same way in high-school....  I guess teenage girls will be teenage girls!

DeGOOYER DAY 2012

Christmas is only the SECOND favorite holiday at our house!  If you ask anyone of us what our favorite holiday is we would all unanimously shout, "DeGOOYER DAY!"  DeGooyer Day is our family's own, special holiday!  We celebrate being DeGooyers!  We celebrate being a family!  And this yearly tradition is something we look forward to!  On DeGooyer Day we PLAY!  No work is allowed.  (Not even making meals - we eat out!)  And we make matching t-shirts!  Usually we have a theme... but not always.  We sometimes go hiking.  Sometimes we go to the movies.  Sometimes we play board games, or go bowling, or go swimming, or go sight-seeing, etc. etc. etc.  The sky is the limit.  (DeGooyer Day is different than vacation - we go on family vacations also... but DeGooyer Day is usually a bit closer to home, etc.)  It's become a pretty big and important thing in our home! 

Yesterday was DeGooyer Day!  This year we chose a Super Hero theme (because of the movie, Avengers).  Each of us chose a super power from the Young Women values.  Scott was "Good Works," I was "Integrity," Key Lime Pie chose "Faith," and Kotten Kandy chose "Knowledge."  Originaly we were going to have an activity for each value - but we ended up only having time for two of the values.

First we focused on "Good Works."  Our good friend, Chris Thornton, turned 29 yesterday.  So while he was at work, we made him a cake, cleaned his house and decorated it!  We had so much fun and enjoyed creating a fun surprise of our honorary uncle.

Chris's House

After we were finished decorating we decided it was time to learn something ("Knowledge").  We went to Locust Grove.  Locust Grove is a 1790's Georgian mansion, restored and furnished to it's original appearance and situated on 55 acres.  William Croghan, an Irish immigrant, came to the Kentucky territory as a surveying partner with his future brother-in-law, George Clark.  (George Clark was the older brother or William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame.  He was also a Revolutionary war hero and founded Louisville.)  Croghan built Locust Grove.  It was amazing!  It was beautiful!  And we learned a WHOLE lot!  George Clark lived in the mansion for the last nine years of his life with his sister and husband.

George Clark's bust

Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy - cool tree!

Scott

Me

Key Lime Pie

Kotten Kandy

K2

SD2+K2 at the Locust mansion

After touring Locust Grove, we ate a late lunch (or early dinner) at Chuys.  YUM!

Mmmmmmmm! - Chuys

We finished our fun holiday at the movies.  The Avengers was AWESOME!  We love superhero movies and the Avengers did not disappoint.  In this epic feature, there are moments of pathos, feeling and surprise.  But my favorite part was the humor!  The camaraderie between the heroes was awesome!   My girls can't wait to see it again and are already quoting it incessantly.

SD2