Waiting for Calan

Brittany was so worried that Calan Baby would come early. She did not want a baby born on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, ok we were good with that. The 28 would have been nice that's my Mom's birthday. Here we are on the 30 of December and still No Calan Baby. Haylee told us he would be born on Sat. we hoped either the Sat before Christmas or the Sat after. We are all waiting so patiently. On Sat we took Brittany shopping with us just the girls. Yesterday after her Dr appointment, he told her everything is fine, then they meet me at the mall, we went out shopping and looking again. Last night Rachel came over and she told Brittany this is pure selfish on my part. Your going to the mall with us any way, I don't care that your back hurts ( even though she does care) but come on we all want Calan Baby to come. Brittany is as cute as ever being pregnant but we all want to hold and spoil him. Especially Haylee, she talks about him. She is the one who always calls him Calan Baby...not Baby Calan. Hang in there Brittany he will come soon.

Merry Christmas to All

As I sit here tonight reflecting Christmas time, I am grateful for the knowledge of the birth of Christ. The reason we celebrate this time of the year. I am thankful that Christ was born that he chose to come to earth to be our Savior. I hope everyone has a merry Christmas. Remember the Savior tomorrow, and we should throughout the rest of the year.

Traveling back

We are trying to get back home. The joys of non revenue travel. Since we fly standby which is great when weather hits...its not so great. Today is one of those weather days. They are expecting ice in St Louis. After trying to get on the non stop flight to DFW we didn't make it on that flight so we were looking to find another way home. After looking we considered going to Northwest, Bentonville Arkansas but when they cancelled that flight, I thought ok lets get out of here so... we flew to Minneapolis Minnesota. Its cold here too but sleet is not expected here. So we wait. We will get on this flight unless something major happens. I know Rick needs to be back for the ward social. I want to get back so that I can leave again and go to Colorado. My niece Lizz is having a Ice Show. She is on a synchronized skating team. This would be the first time I would get to see her perform. Courtney and her husband Steve are going to meet me in Denver to attend the temple. I'm looking forward to that. The last time I went to the temple with them was when they were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos. Mary is going to pick me up in Denver. Way fun to see them again. This is been a great week. I have enjoyed the time with Rick and then getting to see all the family in CO.

Our Trip

Rick totally surprised me. He had Rachel pack my bag. Had Amy call me over to her house to help her look at her photo book she is making for John her husband for Christmas. Took me to the church to pick up something a paper for Brett. We ordered our pizza for lunch on our way back from the church. You may ask why pizza? We have had pizza every year on our anniversary. We called a pizza place in Salt Lake on our wedding day and had it delivered..well it was not the best pizza we have ever had but it ok. That is why we have pizza on every anniversary, even if it is at the mall with just a slice. 30 years and Rick still surprises me. On our 25 anniversary, Rick gave me a beautiful ring. It is what some call and eternity ring, with 3 diamonds. This anniversary a beautiful strand of pearls. On Monday after he put our suitcases in the car he told me we were ready to go, but make sure I get a heavy coat. I got my coat and we were off. Brett went with us, because little did I know we were taking a train. We have never taken a train before, it was really neat. We had a sleeper cabin. It actually has a shower in our room, and I did take a shower. Its hard to stand and shower in a moving train. Pictures will follow.(I'm driving in the car and its hard enough trying to type.) We boarded the train and no one told me where we were going, which was surprising, even Rick was surprised that no one said anything about our destination. We were on the train for awhile before I guessed enough and then he told me that I was right. We got off in St Louis and took the metro to the rental car. We rented a car and drove through Missouri while driving down he asked me if I knew where we were going, he told me I could guess. After awhile I did guess, he took me to Nauvoo, IL. It is beautiful this time of the year. Freezing cold..14 degrees but beautiful. Not much is open here during the winter months but we stayed at the Nauvoo log Cabins. Very nice. They have gone around and gotten old cabins in fields and have refurbished them. Our cabin would actually sleep 6 I think. It had a queen bed a set of bunk beds and a futon. The floor is concrete and let me tell you it was quite cold to the feet, but they had rugs down. The bath tub is an old free standing tub. Great hot water. We went to the temple on Wednesday and did 2 sessions, the temple opens at 2pm and the last session is at 6pm. It is a beautiful temple. We got to take a little tour. We saw the baptistery and looked up the spiral staircase that is 5 stories. They told us where the marriages take place which is on the 5Th floor in 2 sealing rooms otherwise proxy sealing are done on the 4th floor. We saw Joseph Smith's sabre hanging in the recorders office, an apron and slipper that was Mary Fielding Smith's, replica keys of the first Nauvoo Temple. There had been a missionary who is a expert in making keys and he studied the original keys that are in the Quincy Museum, after his mission he went back home and crafted the keys. Its quite amazing. Rick planned and carried off a wonderful trip. I'm so blessed to have him. We have been blessed, we have 4 beautiful children, a super cute granddaughter and a grandson on the way. The Lord has certainly blessed us. Life is full of surprises, we are lucky to take the ride together. As we were in Nauvoo and with it being so cold, I couldn't help but think about the pioneers. Last night as we left the temple it was so cold. I am thankful I had my coat. As I looked out towards the Mississippi, I thought about the pioneers leaving their beautiful city and leaving behind their temple. How they worked around the clock so that so many members could have the blessings of the temple. As they left they did not know what was going to happen. They left in the bitter cold winter. They had babies, small children, elderly members, but they were willing to follow. Their testimonies were strong. Their faith not wavering. Many lost their lives, there had to be comfort to those who had been blessed to have the temple ordinances done. I am so grateful to those early pioneers who remained faithful in such trials. I am thankful for my testimony, for the knowledge of eternal families and I am thankful that as Rick and I started our journey together we started it in the right place with the right authority, so that we can be together forever. We did not know when we were married how our journey would be, But we are grateful we travel it together. Thanks Rick, I love you.

Part 2 of Thirty Years

Needless to say we were pulled out of the ditch. Rick made me stay there in Gallup where it was warm. I being young and most certainly in love was not thrilled to be left behind. The logical side of me knew it was the right thing to do. Rick and the guy who slid off the road went back to get the car. When they got back to Gallup we needed gas so we stopped. Did I say it had snowed so much you could not hardly see the entrances to the gas stations or anything. Well we go gas and when we left the station..Yep you guessed it we went off the curb....AND pulled the muffler off. The gas station attendant was nice enough to let us use his garage to try to straighten it and out it back on. Well it was pretty well bent, so Rick tied it up and we drove the next 12 hours with a very noisy car. We got to Provo bought a new muffler drove to Ogden and put it on at the Wade's home. Our journey together has been a good one. But not one with out bumps and big pot holes. I am so blessed to have such a great husband. My Aunt Karen and Uncle Hal were the first of my family Rick had met.
We came back to Texas and had our reception a couple of weeks later. On our honeymoon were were going to go to the Grand Canyon but the road we needed to take was flooded. So we went to Carlsbad cavern instead..it was really neat, we drove through Mesa and saw the Mesa Temple. We had a great time. Just being together and learning about one another. You have to remember we did not know one another very long before we got married. You know dated 2 weeks got engaged, engaged 2 months to the day and got married. Here we are 30 years later. Amazing

Thirty Years

Thirty years ago today Rick and I were married in the Manti Temple.  What a ride it has been.  We lived in Texas then as well, and the Dallas Temple was not built.  Rick, from the time he joined the church loved the Manti Temple.  We went to the Salt Lake Temple and took out our endowments and then 2 days later went to Manti to be married.  The people who attended our wedding was Mr Wade and Marie (Rick always called him Mr Wade and called her Marie)(not sure why he did that) Gary (Rick's brother) Diane and Michael Hepting(my Laurel advisor and her husband) Rick and Mark  (2 of Marie's Children) my Aunt Karen and Kelli and Kyllo even though none of them come into the temple (the kids were both young at the time) Karen wanted them to see and know someone who got married in the Temple. Mr Wade bought lunch for everyone they even let Aunt Karen, Kelli and Kyllo come to the cafeteria. It was wonderful. Since neither one of our parents are members they were not there. We knew it then as much as we both know it now...It is the right way to start a marriage. We drove to Utah. We traveled together with Diane (my Laurel advisor)and her husband and kids. Rick and I and a military young man who was trying to get to Utah to meet up with his family were in our car.  Diane's husband Michael washed his temple recommed and had to get a new one that morning(they realized it on our way out, we were by Ridgmar Mall) Rick and I went back to my mom's and slept for awhile while they got it taken care of. They had to get Bishop Dallof up then President Flynn our sstake President. Then we were on our way. We drove through Texas on to  New Mexico, in Albuquerque Rick was tired and the guy riding with us said he would drive. Rick told him the roads were getting a little slick due to the snow and he said its no problem.....Well it becme a HUGE problem because about 15 miles out side of Gallup New Mexico he slide off the road. Here we sat in -15 degrees below zero. It was cold.. the roads were bad so the tow trucks a were super busy...Now remember this is pre cell phone years. BUT we did have a CB radio my kids probably won't even know what that is. We called on it and the police said if they came out they would have to give us a ticket for failure to maintain control of our vehicle...BUMMER so we all piled in Diane and Michael's car and drove into Gallup...Did I say it was about 1:00 AM. They found a tow truck who said he would go out there and pull us out of the snow bank. Once they got out there they found out we were only feet away from going down about 15 foot drop. (I'm on a train so this will be in increments hope it makes sense..I'll expalin this later)

What a difference a year makes

This past year I have seen many changes, some for the better and some not. I see what a year(not quite) has made for the Eckenrode family. 1 choice 1 consequence many lives changed. Thankfully everything went ok for the family this week. It could have been a differnet tale to tell.

Final Stretch

Brett is in his final stretch for school. Yeah... We are so excited about him graduating. I know Brittany is thrilled, it has been a very long 4 months for her, she has been a trooper though. We we first met her, she was not a real big fan of flying. It made her nervous, but over these last 4 months she has become quite the experience traveler. She would get her self packed, and knew what she could and could not take on the airplane, get checked in and through security. I know she will be sooo glad when he comes home. Now Calan just needs to stay put for a couple of more weeks so that Brett will be here. If you look at Brittany from behind she does not even look like she is pregnant..what luck. Rachel told her today that if Brett not here, Aaron does a good job. But actually its Rachel who would really want to be there. So we have 2 final stretches....Brett and college and Brittany's pregnancy, both are exciting.