On the go with the folks.

My parents have been visiting from Utah this past week. We've been on the go practically the whole time. Last Tuesday, we went to the tulip festival. Since we've had such cool weather lately, the tulips are later in blooming. It's a perfect time to go right now. (I heard that they have extended through this weekend.) The daffodils are on their way out but there are still tulips that haven't even bloomed yet. It was perfect weather and the parents loved it. Here are some highlights:

My favorite picture that I took at the tulip festival.

My cute mom.

Great picture of my dad.

You gotta see it for yourself!

We stayed the night that night in Anacortes to catch the ferry to Victoria, B.C. the next morning but due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to to return home and drive back to catch the ferry early Thursday morning.

This is the closest I've been to Orcas Island.

Love this picture I took at the Orcas Island ferry stop.

Nearing Sidney, B.C.. It was much smaller than I expected.

When we arrived in Victoria, we went to Butchart Gardens. I thought they would be nice but actually they were AWESOME! Here are a few of my favorite pictures that I took. Of course the pictures do not do it justice.

After the gardens, we visited Craigsdarroch Castle near downtown Victoria. It was beautiful and had a very interesting story.

Handsome wood paneling.

Stained glass in the turret.
Many of the rooms had stained glass in them.

Elegant piano with wood inlay.

After that, we drove past Parliament and took a detour on the way back to Sidney and got lost. (We were able to find our way back after asking for directions that didn't really help at all.)

Parliament building in Victoria.

Great photo op next to Parliament.

Quaint coastal community.

We spent the night in Sidney and took the ferry home the next day, taking some bags of ketchup chips and bottles of Tylenol with codeine, which is available over the counter there, with us. (I only declared the chips :-).)

BTW, the chips were a request from Brennan. Kelly, Riley and my dad thought they were disgusting. Brennan will love them. And if you ever have a killer headache, you know where to find us!

The rest of the time my parents were here, they spent doing repairs and odd jobs. They really spoiled us and we enjoyed having them here!

Flashback Friday - Blue Moments

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. It is so beautiful, especially here in the Northwest where everything gets so green. I love all the flowers and new leaves and baby animals. All of those things are the perfect accompaniment to my idealistic personality. It seems I'm on quite a jag right now. If it's sentimental, romantic or cute, I'm watching it, writing it, reading it or looking for it. Here is something I wrote a few years ago. (Alisa, this one's for you.)

Blue Moments
Wendy Clark
4/12/01

I took one of those personality tests once. It was the kind that you answer 101 questions about yourself and then are given a color to categorize your personality. I scored pretty high on three of the four color categories but my highest score put me in the blue group.

Blue people are dreamers. They are hopeless romantics with a soft spot for three-hanky movies, cute and cuddly animals, awe-inspiring sunsets and sentimental ballads. A blue person would rather play with a child than clean house or take a leisurely walk in nature rather than run laps around a track. Creative, sensitive, passionate people belong to the blue group. Maybe you could call them the mush and gush of the human race.

I have a friend who is also an incurable blue person. She and I are more like sisters than friends but we got to skip all the sisterly tiffs and spats of having to grow up together. There probably aren’t two more blue people in the world. I think we have the market cornered on “ooohs”, “ahhhs” and “ohhhs”. We spend major portions of our time together sharing cute anecdotes, reflecting on the beauty of the great outdoors and discussing all things bright and beautiful. We refer to these times as “blue moments.” In true blue form, we created the “blue moment alert” for those times when we are just bursting to share some emotion tweaking, heart-string pulling event. Here is how typical blue moment alerts go:

HER: “Hurry and look out your back door to the west. The sunset is gorgeous!”
ME: “Wow! I’ve never seen one quite so intense.”
HER: “I love how it’s lighting up those clouds. They look like they’re on fire!”
ME: “And look how many shades there are! It goes from deep purple to bright red.”
HER: “Well, I’ve got to run. Just thought you would want to see that.”
ME: “I’m so glad you called me. Bye.”
HER: “Bye.”

ME: (After the closing song of general conference on TV) “Do you have chills?”
HER: “Yes! The hairs on my arms are standing straight up.”
ME: “That song was awesome! The organ was so powerful on those low notes.”
HER: “The choir sounded just like angels. Imagine being there in person!”
ME: “Well OK, Bye.”
HER: “Bye.”

Last week, on one of our daily walks, my friend spent almost the entire time reading me a metaphorical article about water-skiing and life and sharing excerpts from other articles as we walked. We were in awe of these excerpts, not just because of their important messages, but because they sounded so good when she read them, kind of like the letters in the movie “You’ve Got Mail.” Those letters about bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils and butterflies on the subway sound so good out loud. She read some of the excerpts twice. If that’s not blue, I don’t know what is.

On some days the blue moments are a little harder to see because I am wearing my gold personality, organized, got to stay on schedule glasses, or my orange personality, impulsive, run to and fro glasses. Today I’m going to give my friend a call. It’s snowing outside and it looks so pretty on the April blossoms. Time for a blue moment alert.

To all my blue friends and family: Saps, unite! Let's hear about your blue moments!

Happy Birthday Brennan & Valerie!

Happy Birthday to both Brennan and Valerie on Friday, April 11. Brennan is 21 and Valerie is 19. Both are gorgeous and talented and we are very proud of them.

It was weird to not have either of them here for their birthdays. When they were little we could have one cake and one party. Then when they got a little older we had to have separate parties and cakes. And the last couple of years they were both at home we had to celebrate on separate days. Now we mail them a gift and give them a phone call to sing Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday to you both.
We love you lots ! ! ! ! ! !

Thank you, thank you!

Thanks to all who gave me a good laugh and a very fun April Fool's Day! Valerie is not engaged and is not anywhere near it. Brett is her friend and the info about him is real but the picture of the ring is something I got from Photobucket and all other details were fabricated. Breathe a sigh of relief for us that we are not having another wedding so soon after Brennan's!

Another wedding!

Update: This post was an April Fool's joke!

As some of you know, Valerie has been dating this guy named Brett since January. Well, they are engaged! Things were going well but we had no idea they were going this well. She called me late last night and told me that he had taken her to the Logan Temple grounds and asked her there. No date has been set yet but they are thinking some time this summer. We are very excited to meet him when she brings him home next month! Here is a picture she sent of him a while ago and a picture of the ring. His name is Brett Struthers, from Vernal, Utah. He served a mission in Georgia.