Grand Haven!

Alright, this is a long post, so get comfortable. Also, I'll be adding more pictures from the last half of the week, so check back for those!

Saturday

            Saturday was a fun-filled day! After staying up chatting way later than any of us are used to (except maybe Brigham), we slept in a little bit. We went out shooting before it got too hot out, though it was still getting pretty warm by the time we were done. Shooting was fun. We went with a couple in the ward here that Mom and Dad are friends with, so between the seven of us we had two shotguns. The box was voice activated to shoot the clay pigeons out when you said “pull”, and it oscillated. I’m no sharp shooter, that’s for sure. I did hit 2 of my 25 though. More than I expected, to be honest. Haha. Spencer hit 18 of his 25, so that’s awesome. Brigham did pretty well, too. He’s working on his shotgun merit badge, and to pass it off he has to hit 12 of 25. He got close, but didn’t quite get it this time. It was fun, but I think I look slightly ridiculous holding a shotgun. J

            When we got home from shooting, Mom made us some fresh blueberry pancakes! She had a whole gallon of fresh blueberries sitting on the table when we got home on Friday, and she said she has several pounds of them frozen, too. I like taking the big bucket of blueberries around with me when we play games and stuff. They make me happy. J Spencer seemed pretty pleased with his pancakes.

            After a yummy pancake brunch, we decided to hit the water! The weather was perfect for boating! We went out on Lake Michigan, tubed for a while, and the boys all got in the water to swim. I was already dried off from tubing by then, so I didn’t get back in, but the water was great! Probably about 70 degrees, and it was warm and sunny out, too. While Spencer was swimming around the lake, he was laying on the tube and noticed his wedding ring had fallen off. I was pretty sad that we lost it, but a few minutes later Brigham noticed it on the tube!! It’s a tubing tube, so there’s no hole in the middle of it, and it must have slipped off his finger when he was climbing onto it and been underneath him. We’re very lucky it’s not sitting 80+ feet down at the bottom of Lake Michigan. Phew. Anyway, boating was so perfect. Spencer and I got a little sunburnt (a lot on my knees), and we were VERY sore for the next few days. Like, we could barely move. We’re getting old.

            Saturday night we had some shredded chicken sandwiches for dinner, about 10 cups of blueberries for snacking, and we stayed up chatting and playing games. I love family time. It’s been so fun to just hang out and chat and get all caught up.

Sunday

            Sunday was nice and relaxing. We had church in the morning. It’s nice that I’m starting to recognize and remember more people from the ward here. After church we went home and had an awesome roast beef lunch/dinner with potatoes and carrots. It was delicious and it made me think about how I should use my crockpot more often. After dinner we played games all together for a while. Spencer, Brigham, and I had a comeback and beat Mom and Dad at Pictionary. J I called Marianne for her birthday and even got a chance to google hangout with Christy!! (Christy has been in Chile on her exchange for about a week and a half now). It was so great to chat with her and hear about her adventures there. She’s doing great, and gets a lot of attention (some of which is the kind Dad probably won’t like) because she’s a beautiful blonde American girl. I told her she is absolutely not allowed to walk anywhere by herself at night. She started school this week, so I’m excited to hear how that’s going for her. We love and miss Christy.

            Anyway, back to Grand Haven. Dad had to leave for work because he works out of town a few days a week. We played more games and ate more blueberries (and chocolate and chips and snacks). We stayed up until about 1 am talking with Mom. J

           

Monday

            We had decided that we’d get up and go blueberry picking on Monday morning! This place has you-pick for $1.50 per pound! We had just about eaten the gallon at home by then, so we picked a gallon and a half more or so. We ate quite a few along the way, too. I’ve probably eaten almost a gallon of them myself since I got here. I just can’t help it! We picked for a while, and it was really nice and cool in the morning, so it was a great, relaxing way to start the day.

Does he seem a little excited about this to you?

Hooray for blueberries!

It was easy picking.

They were huge.

And plentiful!

We finished picking our share just as the rain started.

When we got home, Mom made us some blueberry muffins while we showered and got ready for the day. Being home is so great. After some muffins, we decided to go explore downtown. Downtown Grand Haven is really fun. There are all sorts of (expensive) shops to window shop at, there’s the pier, and there are lots of ice cream shops. I even had my very first Pronto Pup. Pronto Pups is a popular little corn dog shack that is famous in the Grand Haven area. Plenty of famous people are rumored to have been there to try one of their freshly made corn dogs. It was a good corn dog, but Spencer’s right that it’s mostly an overpriced corn dog. J One of the shops we walked by had a nice men’s jacket on display, and I’ve been thinking about getting Spencer a new jacket lately. This was kind of along the lines of what I’ve had in mind, so I wanted him to try it on to see if he liked the style. It was $475, so when the guy asked if he wanted us to get a different size out of the back, we said we wouldn’t waste his time. Haha. It was a nice walk around, and the more time I spend here, the more I think about how fun it will be to visit here year after year when we have kids. I hope Mom and Dad stay in the area.

My first Pronto Pup!

            On Monday night we had leftovers for dinner and rented a movie together and Brigham went over to a friend’s house for a sleepover.  Mom, Spencer and I watched the movie together then played some Phase 10. We actually made it through all the Phases and Spencer won. I ate more blueberries. – I think we’re each going to put on 10 pounds by the time we get back to Provo.

Tuesday

Windy day at the beach.

Brigham. :)

            Tuesday morning we got up and going. We decided to hiking at Hoffmaster’s, which I think is a state park nearby. We hiked the trails, narrowly avoided getting lost, enjoyed the beach for a few minutes, and hiked back to the car. Those trails need new maps and less confusing signing. After Hoffmaster’s we came home to pack for Bay City, where Dad works! We’re going to go up to Mackinac Island tomorrow, and I am so excited! I’ve never been there before.  

When we got into Bay City we went for a swim in the hotel pool, went out to eat at a nice steakhouse, and played some games before heading off to bed.

Wednesday

            Let’s see if I can do this without looking at all my pictures. We got up and going fairly early and made it up to Mackinaw City in time to catch the 11:00 ferry to Mackinac Island. We were a little worried about the weather the day before, but it was absolutely perfect, if not a little too hot. Mackinac was different than I had anticipated, but I’m not sure what I was really expecting. We spent some time just wandering the main street until we found the visitor’s center. We bought a map of the island and decided to go for a walk! We walked up to the fort and decided not to pay the $11 a person to see it this time, so we continued up the hill until we found skull cave! It sounded ominous and fun, and there’s a fun story about a soldier hiding there overnight and waking up in the morning to see he was sleeping on a pile of human bones. We were very disappointed. I wanted a for real cave. I guess it was all blasted, but at one point it was a real cave.

            We debated about what to do next --more like a debate over who had to make the decision. Thornock’s are not good decision makers. Myself included-- and finally decided that since nobody knew what to do we should take the carriage tour and then maybe we’d hear about something we’d come back to see later. We did take a few minutes to walk through the cemetery on the island. There’s something so peaceful about cemeteries. I like walking through them and looking at old headstones.

            The carriage ride ended up being expensive, like everything else on the island, but it was really good. We got to sit down for a while and hear some stories and legends about different parts of Mackinac, and it took us around some of the sights that were further away than we wanted to walk.

            After the carriage ride, we spent some more time walking around downtown. We found a free (they do ask for donations) museum that we walked through and one of the chapels was open to look around in. By then it was like 4:00  and we were starting to feel pretty hungry to we went off to find some food. We decided on pizza and found a buffet for a really good price, which was great. We had some snacks, but not a real lunch, and I think we all ate our fill. When we finished eating we did our final shopping around the island, which, of course, included some awesome fudge! We caught the 6:00 ferry back to the mainland and drove to our hotel Bay City. We all went swimming again before heading to bed, except Dad who had to leave for work early the next morning. It was such a fun day.

Dad, Mom and Brigham on the ferry on our way to Mackinac Island!

Mackinac bridge and some people enjoying the lake.

Spencer and Abbey on the ferry.

The Bridge

Our first view of the Island. The Grand Hotel and some HUGE private homes. 

A lovely view at the top(ish) of the hill.  

Skull cave, you disappoint all of us. :(

Brigham and Dad

Mom, Brigham and Dad on our carriage tour!

A turtle stack!

Arch Rock

Mom and Spencer. 

Cute little heart down there. :) 

Two tired and hungry boys after we finished touring the free museum. 

The boys on Main Street, Mackinac Island!

I love how clear the Great Lakes are. 

Our ferry, ready to take us back to the mainland. 

It was quite a day!

Thursday

            Thursday morning we took our time getting up and going. We didn’t really have any plans for once we got back to Grand Haven. We got back into town early afternoon and I can’t really remember what we did. I think we just hung out at home and relaxed. Brigham went to swim and water polo practice and Mom took Spencer and I to Culver’s to get some cheese curds! I requested that we get some while we were there. It turns out that there’s a Culver’s between here and Salt Lake anyway, but I didn’t know about it before so it must be fairly new. We enjoyed our cheese curds while we looked around at the old cars that were on display in the parking lot. I think we watched a movie or something that night, too.

My and my cheese curds. Don't worry, I shared. 

Friday
            Friday was our last day and Dad was back from Bay City, so we all hit the beach! It was too windy for the boat, but that was fine with me. I like the beach. The waves were pretty big and the water was nice once you were in. We all swam out to the sand bar and had fun in the big waves, then came back to the beach to lay in the sun. I didn’t bring my camera to the beach and now I wish I had some pictures. After the beach we went home and had dinner. Dad made a delicious peach cobbler in the Dutch oven for desert, too. Then we all went to a football game at Grand Haven High School. Grand Haven was slaughtered, but it was fun anyway. There was a delay of game for thunder and I was sure it was going to downpour, but it never did. The air was so thick and humid that it felt like we were breathing water. When we got home we gathered our stuff together and spent a few more hours with Mom, Dad and Brigham. We were sad to leave Saturday morning, but we had to get back to Provo and get ready for the new semester. Thanks for hosting us Mom, Dad, and Brigham!

Surprise!!

Goodbye, Utah. Hello Mom! (And Dad and Brigham!)

Leaving Salt Lake

Sometimes flying is kind of magical.

About a month ago Spencer and I were looking into doing a big 3 or 4 day camping trip down to southern Utah or the Grand Canyon during our little summer break, and as I started crunching numbers I realized that camping is expensive! So, we decided that for not too much more we could go to Grand Haven to visit his family instead. We talked to his Dad about it to give him a chance to get off of work or something if he could, but we wanted to surprise Mom. Dad offered to buy one of our plane tickets if we flew, so we took him up on that instead of driving like we had been planning. We flew out at 6:00 am on Friday morning, so Dad got us a hotel room with his points in Salt Lake the night before. That worked out really nicely for us because we didn't have to have Josh or Katy drive us to the airport at 4 am, and we got to park our car at the hotel for free. We spent Thursday afternoon in Salt Lake City checking out the beautiful City Creek Mall. We got dinner at a greek (I think) place in the food court and then we went to Johnny Rockets for a shake and fries. Yum. :) 

Our ketchup bowls at Johnny Rockets.

Me and my strawberry-oreo shake. 

Brigham was supposed to leave for a scout canoeing trip on Friday morning, but he knew we were coming so he and Dad did a good amount of scheming to keep Mom in the dark. Dad was "bringing him to the scout thing" and Brigham "threw up in the car," so Brigham went home and had to go back to bed. haha. Anyway, we got into Grand Rapids at 2:30 in the afternoon and Dad picked us up. Dad also had to tell several other small lies to keep it a surprise, but here is our video coming home, and surprising Mom. :) Dad went in to tell her to come out and see what he just bought. 

(Sorry the video is a little crooked. My camera was sitting on the top of the car. Also, can you hear all that nature? haha) 

So we're here until Saturday and we are having a great time! 

Friday night we just hung out, chatted, and went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. :) We haven't been hungry since! We also went to walk the pier, which is so lovely as the sun starts going down. We love being home, and the more time I spend in Grand Haven, the more I love this area. It would be really fun to end up close to here for Medical school. 

P.S. Our exams were about a week and a half ago, and I never mentioned that we finished them on the blog. We both did just fine on them, and then we just worked for a week before our trip out here. School starts in another week, so we've gotta get on ordering textbooks and stuff, but we'll have a day or two back in Provo before classes start to get organized. 

Babysitting

Last weekend Spencer and I did some babysitting! On Friday night we babysat the Albrechtsen's kiddos so they could have a little date night. Carlene texted me to ask if we were available, and we were. When aren't we? Really, we don't lead very interesting lives most times. Though we did go out to get sushi for dinner before babysitting. She had already put her kids down for bed before we got there, so we just studied and did homework. Their little boy woke up a couple times though, so I did get some baby snuggles in. Easiest babysitting ever.

On Saturday we offered to babysit for Josh and Katy so they could have a date night. Okay, I mostly wanted to see Carrina and I figured we'd give them a night out together at the same time. They went out for dinner and a movie and we had fun with that little girl. She was feeling a little under the weather because she's teething, so Spencer worked his magic and she just fell asleep in his arms, playing. It was so cute. They were playing with a little dolly (poking her in the mouth... which Carrina though was quite funny) and she just snuggled into him and fell asleep. When she woke up I fed her some baby food and grapes, and we walked her around outside for a bit. She's fun, and it was also a totally easy babysitting night. I hope she was that easy for Josh and Katy that night because it sounds like Carrina's been having a tough week or so.

What did I not get done during all that babysitting? My paper. So I finished it this morning at 5:30 while eating some delicious raspberry chocolate muffins that I made yesterday. Mmmm. Now I want to go home and eat another one. Also, today was the last day of summer classes! Hooray for no more statistics lectures!

Just Another Week

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but that's just because I haven't done much that is blog worthy. Summer term is wrapping up. Next Monday is our last day of class, Tuesday is a reading day, and our finals will be on Wednesday and Thursday. The last week has been fine. Nothing much has happened. We've just been working, going to class, and doing homework. Last weekend was taken up by a statistics exam and grocery shopping, and other than church, we didn't really do anything at all. I did make cinnamon rolls Monday night though. Finished them off this morning for breakfast.

I'm really looking forward to this term being over. All I've got left is a 2,000 word paper to finish this weekend, one more statistics quiz, some supplemental reading for New Testament and my finals. My finals should be pretty easy, but Spencer has his organic chemistry lab final, which will probably be pretty tough. So, that's it. We'll have more fun things to blog about after the term is over. :)

Thoughts on our Savior's Sacrifice

Part of the general education requirements at BYU is taking a number of religion classes and this term I've been taking a class on the second half of the New Testament. It covers Acts through Revelation. It's been a really great class, and it's been very insightful. Part of our homework is to spend 20 minutes a day reading in the second half of the New Testament. I can't say I understand everything Paul writes, but there are some amazing passages in there. Anyway, we had to write a paper on any passage of scripture from the second half. I don't really like writing papers, but I'm grateful for the chance that writing this paper has given me to reflect on the Atonement. I wrote on Hebrews 10:9-14, which stood out to me when I was reading one night. It says:

 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
 10 By the which will we are ^asanctified through the ^boffering ^cof the ^dbody of Jesus Christ ^eonce for all. 11 And every priest standeth ^adaily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away ^bsins:
 12 But this man, after he had offered one ^asacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
 13 ^aFrom henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

This passage is referring to the Law of Sacrifices, as part of the Law of Moses, being fulfilled in Christ. His sacrifice, the Atonement, is our hope and salvation. 

So, I was thinking about the different ways that we can use the Atonement in our lives. I say use because we need to make an active effort to reach out for it. Some aspects of the Atonement are granted to us, regardless of our works, but other aspects have to be actively employed in our lives. Christ is always there, willing to help us, but he allows us to choose, to use our agency to come to Him and let Him carry us. 

Sometimes we think of the Atonement only as Christ suffering and dying for our sins, so we can be forgiven and be clean. That, of course, is huge and essential, but there's more. He didn't just suffer for our sins, he suffered every one of our pains and sorrows. He suffered what we feel when someone else hurts us and when life hurts us. Sometimes we have trials and challenges that come because mortality is hard. Christ willingly suffered all of those things so he would really, truly understand us and know how to succor us. 

Think of it. He satisfied your debts, enabling you to return to your Heavenly Father. He felt your pains, sorrows, and sicknesses of every kind so he could understand you and know how to help you. He has done everything, and all you need to do is follow Him. Why would he do that for you? Because He loves you so much. Sometimes we talk about the Atonement like it's something we can divide up into pieces and say, this much was for me. This many drops of blood were shed for me. I don't really think that's the way it works. Every single drop was for you. Every single drop was for me. If you were the only person who needed the Atonement, He would have done it all for you. You are worth it to Him. That thought is both humbling and encouraging.

I love my Savior. He has carried me through hard times, guided me through impossible decisions, and blessed me in unimaginable ways. Someday I will kneel at His feet and perhaps then I will be able to express my gratitude to Him.