We're pretty proud of the cat cake we made for Diane's birthday. The inspiration was our Lucy, who was on the tail end of her stay with her evil aunt Tinker. Lucy and Diane didn't get along very well, probably because the goop that often drains out of her ears (Lucy's) seemed to find its way onto all of Diane's walls. We didn't include any frosting goops in the cake's ears. Any cat cake must have candles as whiskers. I think this is also a great time to point out how gigantic the veins on Randy's arms have become. Look at those things. It's like the Venice of appendages.
Yep, it's another graveyard visit for our little family. This time we were on a quest for relatives in the St. George cemetery, most specifically, that of my grandma on my dad's side, who died back in 2001. After a bit of searching we finally found the plot, and had the pleasure of visiting the final resting places of some of my direct relatives who helped to settle Utah's Dixie. I really like the picture of Zoe in the middle of the cemetery with the trademark St. George red hills in the background. Boy was it a hot day...I often wonder why I always end up in St. George in the summertime.
Here's a 5-generation shot with my dad and daughter, along with dad's mom, Erma, and dad's grandpa, Wilford Woodruff. About two months ago my grandpa Rudger passed away. That's his headstone on the right, with the date of death still as blank as can be. How strange it is that I was writing about the St. George cemetary at the same time period that Grandpa Rudger died. I'm so glad that Sara and I went to visit him a year before he passed away. When I finally get to the pictures of Rudger's funeral I'll have plenty more to say, I'm sure.
Anyhow, I've been telling the tale of Summer 2009 for like the last 6 months, and we're almost to the exciting final chapter where we move to the Emerald City. But first, I need to finish up our little jaunt down south to Utah's Dixie. We all went to visit my dad's dad quite a few times while we were in St. George, and it was really awesome to get to know Rudger again. He's doing well and had lots of stories about his mission all over the Mid-West. It was interesting to hear how much and how little Chicago has changed since his time there so many decades ago. His stories all confirmed my life-long impression of him as a man of a deep and rich heritage of class and tradition. I'm sure I'd heard many of those stories when I was younger, but I was far too interested in the toy castle in his living room back then. Now I hung onto every word and wasn't in a hurry for him to stop talking. Zoe, however, was ready to go at any time, so our visits were short. My good ol' grandpas are such manly guys. They're excellent role models for me, and have given me great parents who have made all the difference in the world. I wonder if I'll ever measure up. I guess I've got 60 years to work on that.
At first we thought this would be a tough task, and we were completely prepared to use brass poles to pound our way through a giant "X" on the floor and walk through rat-ridden sewers. Instead we just walked into the Science building and looked at the first display shelf we came across, and there they all were. That's some super sleuthing, says I. The old bottles and beakers were pretty cool, but I was a big fan of the super old Cosmopolitan magazines that were found under several layers of carpet in the house of one of my great aunts. They're probably better off behind glass at Dixie College, instead of eventually finding their way to the Antiques Roadshow.
I'd like to see a real Tyrannosaurus skeleton someday. The Tyrannoskull below is just a replica. Like a big moron I've walked right next to two full skeletons in the last few years but didn't spend the few dollars and minutes to go in and check them out. There's one in the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, and another in The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Man, Tyrannosaurs are so flippin' sweet. I'd say one of the best moments of my life was when my parents let me watch Jurassic Park, my first PG-13 movie, and my first DVD...I would have loved to be eatten by one of those guys, could there be a better story to tell in heaven when people ask what did ya' in, as they're bound to do?
According to the Pastry Decoration Act of 1983 all cakes shaped like whales shall have lit candles representing water spewing from the confectionery whale's water hole thingy. This was the month that Sara's hair 
In keeping with the theme for the last week of September 2009, "Haul your kin up a mountain", Sara and I played sherpa to my mom and siblings up Ensign Peak. Yes, I know that I'm only a few postings away from a previous Ensign Peak blog, but we just can't get enough of that view! We did make a horrible error though,before our ascent we ate a ginormous pizza at The Pie...not so great planning on my part. The goal was to be at the top by sunset, and dinner beforehand made a lot of sense at the time. We all got to taste the pizza several times that night!
Sometimes blurry pictures look best blurry. This was a period of time that Zoe would rather look at the carcase of a singing purple dinosaur than the front of a camera. Pictures from this phase wherein she's not looking everywhere but forward are a rarity, so the ones above and below had to find their way onto the blog. The hike down the mountain that night marked the genesis of a new Zoe phase, which I like to call the flashlight fetish. We're still waiting for this one to wear off. Also, may I add that Sara is drinking from the water bottle that I won during The Amazing Race on the cruise boat a few years ago. Its a major award!
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Thanks to our trips to Nauvoo we've seen the grave of Joseph Smith Jr., the Church's first prophet. He's buried between his brother, Hyrum, and his wife, Emma in the same plot of land where his son Joseph Smith III and his mom, Lucy Mack and his dad Joseph Smith Sr. are also buried. There's a long story about the movement of his body after his horrible and untimely death, but I'm pretty certain this is his final resting place. We probably would have got ourselves in the picture as well, but we felt a little out of place there as we weren't sure if we were allowed in the cemetery.
Between State Street and A Street on First Avenue in Salt Lake lies the Church's second president, Brigham Young. This was the first stop in our presidential gravesite evening extravaganza! Its not very often that all of my siblings and I get out to do something, and this ended up being a super fun day. The statue we're surrounding is right at the feet of Brigham's grave, and out of some weird conicidence, the very next day a pair of drunken vandals actually stole the stone book out of his hand. I swear it wasn't us!
Here's Zoe and Emery still fresh with excitement for the grave hunt. I never knew that two little kids could have so much fun looking at fancy rocks for an entire evening. Brother Brigham's grave wasn't anything more than a cement slab with a fence and plaque on it, but I think it's pretty cool that it is only a few plats away from the living quarters of the current prophet. It was cool to look at all the flowers in the little cemetery in downtown Salt Lake, but we had to get moving, there were lots more to see. 
I've posted all these in prophetic order, so that is why some of the pictures have a bit darker background then others. We were in that cemetery until after dark trying to track all these guys down. Anyhow, John Talyor came next, you know, and here's Emery and Zoe and I hangin' out with him. A lot of the prophets have really cool obelisk headstones, but for some reason all our good pictures have the pointy top parts cut off. Use your imagination. 
Here's Wilford Woodruff, another prophet buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. I've always felt a close relationship with Wilford, only because my great grandpa's name was Wilford Woodruff. I think that's a good reason. Wilford is my dad's middle name and I think we make fun of him too much about it. Or perhaps not enough. Does anyone think its weird that we had our little kids in the cemetery after dark. You gotta get all macabre with your kids sometimes.
Lorenzo Snow was a no show, as he is too busy being dead in Brigham City. Sara doesn't know about this yet, but we're going to track him down in August when we go on vacation to Utah. Next on the list is Joseph F. Smith, who is buried below the headstone that Zoe spilled her water on (sorry Joseph). His dad was Hyrum Smith who, like I mentioned above, is buried next to his brother Joseph in Nauvoo. The giant obelisk we're sitting beneath is a monument to Hyrum. I think the background on this picture is super pretty. 
After Brigham Young, Heber J. Grant was the longest serving church president. He was president through all of the Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, and World War II. Before he was church president, he worked to improve and develop The Avenues area of Salt Lake City, which is where he still spends most of his time.
It was getting mighty late when we finally found the grave of George Albert Smith. This is a summer night, so it must have been around 10:00. As we were on our way to his neck of the woods the gates of the cemetery were closing. During this picture I was getting a little nervous that we'd have to spend the night there since all the entrances we knew of had been locked shut. We couldn't just stop after all our work! Needless to say, we got outta there. 
David O. McKay served as a general authority longer than any other person. He was in the job for 64 years, and that's a super long time. I thought the headstone for the McKay family was pretty cool, as it is nice and tall and easy to find. I was kinda surprised how hard it was to find some of these graves, even with the detailed maps we had found. I guess in a 120,000 plot cemetery it wouldn't be easy to find 11 specific people, but we did it...well, almost. 
These Smith guys are easy to find, since they're right next to each other. Joseph Fielding Smith is the son of Joseph F. Smith, and thus the grandson of Hyrum Smith. George Albert Smith is not a direct relative of Joseph Smith, his grandfather was a cousin to Joseph so we had to actually search around for him. 
I don't know much about Harold B. Lee, only that he wasn't president for long. I think the look on Zoe's face is pretty cute. This is the look of elation that can only be felt by a child on a prophetic grave quest.
