1st Family Gathering

Heather and I are finally getting to that stage in life where family reunions no longer mean getting together with all your cousins, uncles, and aunts; it means getting together with your brothers and sisters. It’s kind of strange, and so I admit I’m in denial and refuse to refer to our reunions as anything but a family gathering.

So last month, the Carr family had a little gathering just outside of Forth Worth, Texas. I definitely have to give huge props to Laura and Josh for hosting this one and being our own little Marriott Courtyard, even complete with a complimentary breakfast every morning! I hope they’ve been able to put their house back together by now.

The gathering was only four days long for Heather and I, unfortunately, since I had to get back to work, but the good news is that I have more leave now for the large Carr family Christmas extravaganza. And even though we only had four days, we all made the most of it.

Among the highlights was a fantastic day at the original Six Flags (which I found out stands for Six Flags Over Texas). Heather’s dad, who I’ve decided is a real-life human encyclopedia, explained that there were a total of six flags that have flown over Texas in its history. Can anyone name them? I’ll give you a few minutes to try… Okay, the answer is... France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the US. And there you have it. Anyway, back to the story, we had a wonderful day there and did some very cool rides, like Batman, Superman, the Titan, Mr. Freeze, and Wile E. Coyote’s Grand Canyon Blaster (which was very cool, especially when I rode on it with little Ashley and Zacky).

On another day, we had a great dinner and entertainment at Medieval Times. The food was really pretty good, and even though our knight was the first to be eliminated in the battle rounds, he was by far the most skilled and so surely must have thrown the fight because he was so bored of winning all the time! Go black & white knight!

I'm the red and yellow one below.


There was also an incredible family talent show, in which all the talents became instant classics. Dave displayed his iron lung capacity, Stephanie revealed she is actually a Chinese-trained contortionist, Ashley dazzled us with her magic and little Zach with his balance, Natalie all had us laughing with her adorable singing and personality, I (as my only talent) shocked the audience with my gigantic mouth, Jenny was hilarious with her impersonations, and of course the best was my wife and company (Jenny, Christine, and Bob), who stole the show with their song and dance to “Dancing Queen.” And even Gracie had a late singing appearance via a teleconference. Even though they did not take time to do an individual talent, Laura aptly displayed her ability to juggle being a mother of three, writing a soon-to-be bestseller, giving really good public singing performances, and still keep the house spotless. And Josh…he’s been holding out on us! We were all floored with how good a photographer he is, and what a great gourmet chef, too. Makes me wonder what else he’s not telling us about.

Another fun thing was boating all day at a nearby lake. We wake boarded (which I still stink at), knee boarded, and did some battle-tubing, too. It was great. There is nothing like hanging out as a fam on the boat all day. The only problem with the day was that it revealed just how little sun our bodies have received since last summer. Despite applying two thick layers of SPF 50 and wearing a t-shirt for a couple of hours, Heather and I both came home that day with an electric red back from neck to swimsuit. I haven’t been burned this bad since I was a kid. I actually had to miss a day of work because it hurt so bad to put on a shirt. Thankfully, I’m all better now thanks to a cocktail of medicines that Bob and Christine bought me and to the patient nursing my wife gave me.

2nd Family Gathering

Not more than a week after the Carr Family Gathering, the Woodruff clan decided to repeat Church history and come from all over and gather to Nauvoo, Illinois. I forget sometimes—when I’m busy with work, my church calling, and all the other little things that fill up my day—how much I miss being around my siblings and parents. Seriously, between Heather’s and my family, we have about the two coolest families in the world: the most generous and wise parentsJ, the most adorable nieces and nephews (only to be outdone by our future kids), and the most fun and quirkiest siblings (which includes their spouses, too). Heather and I feel very fortunate.

Well, back to the gathering. Thanks to Mom and Sarena’s excellent planning, we were in Nauvoo for the last week of the pageant. So the day after most of us arrived, we all went to the pageant. There were pioneer games for the whole fam beforehand, things like horse shoe, potato sack races, log sawing races, etc. As the sky darkened, the play started. It was certainly no Broadway musical, but it was very well done and really made me think about all the sacrifices the early church members made. The pageant alone was well worth coming out to Nauvoo.

That week we spent at a rented house which sits on a hilltop and overlooks the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful location, perfect for watching the sunset, and the house and yard were a good match for all us Woodruffs. There was a pool in the back, too, which was indispensible on all the hot and muggy days.

So we passed the week with all sorts of activities. We interviewed and recorded Mom and Dad one night, which is a great tradition that we’re starting, thanks again to Sarena and Adam. We all were able to go to the Nauvoo temple together, which was fantastic. The temple was absolutely stunning on the inside with the detailed murals and the dark and rich colors. We also spent a while in Nauvoo and Carthage seeing all the church historical sites. Carthage was a surprisingly moving experience. I am always impressed with how kind and patient Joseph Smith and Emma were to all around them, no matter the circumstance and no matter whether the people were enemies or friends. They are good examples to follow. As for restored Nauvoo, it was kind of hit and miss as far as some of the sites were concerned. Some, like the brickyard, the blacksmith, and the family activity center were very good about catering to the mob of kids we had with us. Others, most notably the bakery, seemed to lack any clue that kids need to be “entertained,” not lectured to. Thankfully, everyone survived the outdoor pioneer game station, although it was close with Dad and Tyson’s joints and back popping during the stick pull. J

To really get in the pioneer spirit, we all went on a 2-mile handcart trek to experience just a bit of what the early church members experienced when they were forced to leave Nauvoo. We crossed the mighty “Missouri” and “Mississippi” rivers (although they were actually only little creeks). It was surprising how hard it was to navigate some of those hills. It was really deceiving. On a few, I didn’t think it would be that hard and then on the way up, gravity starting giving me some trouble. Thankfully, my sturdy pioneer-like wife was beside me most of the way. And the fact that our handcarts were empty probably helped a little, too.

We also had a good time with the marshmallow guns. Tyson, our ex-FBI specialist, taught us how to construct them. And we spent a good couple of hours tagging each other with slightly moistened marshmallows. It was a great week, and just remembering it makes me a little sad that it’s over. Can’t wait for next year!

Skydiving

I’m discovering things about Heather all the time. She’s like the ocean, full of hidden mysteries and marvels. I love it. Well, a couple of months back, Heather and I were discussing what generally we wanted to do for our two-year anniversary, and I was kind of surprised by just how determined Heather was about going skydiving! I mean, skydiving is certainly on my list of things to do in life, but it’s always been one of those things that I’ll try to do next year, never this year. Well Heather was having none of that. She wanted to go now, before school started and before we started having kids. So, what my baby wants, my baby gets (when we can afford it, anyway).
We decided on West Point Skydiving, which is located just outside of Richmond. That way, as soon as we were done, we could go brag about it to Alyson and Nate!
We loved our experience. We had to wait quite a while for our turn to go up because we both wanted a photographer (if we were going to do this, then we wanted it documented), and so that took some time since there were only a limited number of photographer skydivers. But it was well worth the wait.
Our plane was small and cozy. Heather happened to be sitting next to the door when they opened it at 13,000+ feet. I’ve never seen Heather freak out quite so much before as when they opened that side door. She had reason, though; her feet were dangling a couple of miles above the earth. It was pretty funny though.
Here are some pictures to give you guys a feel for it all. I definitely recommend this to everyone.


The "calm before the storm," as my dad would say. The plane was cozy on the way up.



Heather wishing for a refund. (Definitely click to enlarge this pic; it's much funnier close up.)





Heather still losing it as she exits the plane. (I tried but couldn't rotate the pic; sorry for the weird angle.)




And away she goes!




Now she's starting to enjoy herself.



As for me, I loved the whole ride down!

The Woodruff Hotel…All Are Welcome

As anyone who occasionally looks at our blog will already know, Heather and I are cyclical bloggers, to use an economic term. We’re like the ocean tides: sometimes we post a number of entries all at once (or relatively close together), and at other times it’s kind of a dry spell. So, to make up for our lack of postings, here are a few. Over the past couple of months, we’ve had a number of visitors come and visit us. We love having company over, and we wish we had the time to devote an entry for each of guests. But since we’re just kinda lazy when it comes to blogging sometimes, we’re going to group them all together.

The first of our summer visitors were our good friends Tom and Mandy. Mandy has some family out here, and so while they were out visiting family, they spent some time with us. We had a great time checking out the Natural History Museum.








The next set of visitors was Erin and Cameron. They came for the 4th of July. And we’re glad they did because they helped us achieve one of goals. Heather and I were determined that we would see the July 4th fireworks from downtown DC while we lived here. But traffic and the metro are horrendous the night of the 4th, which I’m sure is not hard to understand. So, when we found out last summer that Erin and Cameron we’re going to be here around the 4th, we all decided to rent a hotel room downtown so after the fireworks were over, we could just walk a few blocks and hit the sack. Sure beats fighting traffic for four hours. So that’s what we did. And it was amazing! I’ve never seen a fireworks show quite so big, loud, and impressive. There’s just something about celebrating the independence of our nation while sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the Washington Memorial and the Capitol Building. Man I love this country! Before the show, we spent the day wandering around downtown seeing some of the sights. We toured the International Spy Museum and honed our secret agent skills (we even got to crawl through a heating duct in the ceiling to practice being sneaky). We also saw amazing portraits of rappers, US presidents, and other famous figures. Random, I know, to have portraits of rappers at a Smithsonian museum, but there they were all the same. Kind of out of place, if you ask me.

Our last set of visitors was my uncle Dave and his boys, Tanner and Taylor. They stayed with us for a few days then missed us so much that they came back and stayed with us a few days more! We were thrilled that they decided to stay with us for a few days while on their east coast tour. It had been way too long since I’d seen them, and boy had Tanner and Taylor changed. They’ve really grown up. We had a great time together hanging out, watching “National Treasure II,” and playing Settlers of Catan. Next time, Heather and I will have to go out to their neck of the woods.