Mexican Bakery (Panderia)

By: Master Mike

The whole family went to a Mexican bakery today. We all ordered some pretty wild donuts and a little pan dulce. We learned that "Quisiera pan dulce, por favor" means "I would like some sweet bread, please." While we were there we saw some pretty awesome cakes. The donuts were huge!

Megan was excited while Emma was nervous. The food was great. We all had a good time together with our family at the bakery.

Whitman Mission

By: Mom



For the past few Sundays we have woken up Eliza from her nap and carried her off to church. On the way there Derek always falls asleep. Instead of sleeping through sacrament, which would be ideal and is what Marian has chosen to do the last few weeks, he wakes up - upset. The kids have been marvelous sitting by themselves in sacrament meeting while Nathan and I are holding and rocking the babies in the foyer. Derek finally goes to sleep on the ride home, misses dinner and wakes up when it is time to go to bed. It is miserable.

This Sunday was no different and as we walked into the building, the half awake Derek was screaming and kicking. As I thought of the three children in need of a nap and the evening that lay ahead of us I let my thoughts slip out of my mouth. "Everyone back in the car. We're going on a drive!"

"Yeah, I don't get much out of that part of church anyway," came Megan's reply. (One would never guess by looking at her during the meeting. She sits so still with her arms folded and keeps her attention on the speaker.) I wonder what the librarian, who saw this whole escapade, was thinking.

I was thinking we'd just drive around for the first hour, let the kids get an adequate nap and then go back for primary. I suggested a few times, "shouldn't we turn around now?" but we ended up only stopping when Eliza woke up crying for a snack. When we stopped the car, we were in the Whitman Mission parking lot. After feeding Eliza and debating whether or not it was kosher to visit on a Sunday, driving out of the parking lot and then changing our minds and going back, we woke up a sleepy Marian and all went to the visitors center. We were there almost at closing time so at least we didn't have to pay - if that helps make it more Sunday appropriate.

Because of the fog and wintery colors it didn't quite look like the picture above, but we did see the Oregon Trail. Mostly we stayed in the visitors center. Our walk was cut short by the freezing cold.

Sometimes doing the wrong thing seems so right. We were in desperate need of some family time. It felt wonderful to be together. The kids acted so well behaved in the visitors center and had a great time being with each other in the car. I enjoyed talking to Nathan, having our family all in one little space and the beautiful foggy countryside.