Where Everybody Knows Your Name...

I have a confession. I LOVE ice cream. There, I've said it.
Sadly, I have come to realize that this may not be a good thing. Not only for the fat and calories but also because of the easy accessability. The building where I work is connected to a food court and what does every food court have? Yes, that's right, a McDonald's, where hot fudge sundaes with peanuts are offered for $1.08, including tax. I know, I'm pathetic.
You know you have frequented a certain McDonald's one too many times when they don't even ask your name when you order anymore. Granted, they didn't remember my correct name, thank heavens, because when I ordered they put my name down as "Dominic". Do I look like a "Dominic?" The first time this happened to me I was in shock! Notice that I said first? This has happened a few times now. How embarassing that a fast food restaurant practically has your order ready for you when they see you coming down the escalator? Ok, maybe it's not that bad but that's still pretty embarassing.
Oh well, I won't let that get me down. I have to have my sometimes tri-weekly fix... let's face it, these things are delicious!

Primary Quotes

I teach the CTR 5 in our ward and I am convinced that I have the best calling! The kids in the primary are so cute and so teachable. Some of my favorite quotes so far...

Lesson: Joseph Smith at age 14 and his experience in the Sacred Grove.
CTR 5 boy: (wide eyes) "You mean it's true?!"
Me: "Of course it's true!"
CTR 5 boy: "You mean it really happened?!"
Me: "Yes, it really happened!"
CTR 5 boy: "Wow!"

Sharing Time: Each class received a scripture reference and had to pick the picture on the board of who in the scripture was speaking (i.e. Joseph Smith, Nephi, etc.) and tell of whom they were speaking of. After each class chose a picture a cute CTR 4 boy went to the front of the room to tell what all of the scriptures had in common.
CTR 4 Boy: (with the same or more conviction than any Apostle) "I Testify that each of these men were testifying of Jesus Christ"... it was enough to melt anyone's heart. (Remember, this kid is only 4!) He's going to make a great missionary one day!

A New Hobby

Over the past month my cousin Cindy and I have been taking a cake decorating class. We love it! We just finished with Course 1 and believe it or not... we passed! Hurray! We learned how to make flowers, leaves and a whole lot of other designs.

This is my first attempt at decorating a cake. We were supposed to transfer a pattern onto the cake and decorate from there but I was unsure of what I wanted to do and class time was running out. So I just made the Carlson "C" and called it good.

This is my attempt at cupcakes. I may have gotten a little carried away on the flowers (we had just learned how to make them and they were so easy and fun). The best looking cupcake is the yin yang that Dave created himself at home, while he was helping me frost them.

This was my final cake of Course 1. We learned how to make roses and they are so darn fun! I could have made them all night!

Course 2 starts tomorrow! I can't wait to learn how to make a basket weave cake!

A Note to A Special Missionary

Tomorrow is my little sister Amy's birthday. She will be 22 and is currently serving as a missionary in the Pittsburgh, PA Mission. Since our birthdays are exactly a week apart we always have a joint family party but this year it was just me... and i missed her.



I hope you have a great birthday Melio! Next year I will make you ham and Benson potatoes... just the way you like them!

Carlisle?

Dave and I took a quick little trip this past weekend. We decided to get out of the freezing cold temperatures in Utah and headed to Maui (the land of 80 degrees and sunshine)! We only had Saturday there so we spent a few hours at the beach, watched some whales in the distance and ate at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina. All in all a pretty relaxing trip! But I guess the highlight of the trip would have to be when we snuck into the Four Seasons Resort and went swimming.
After the beach we needed a place to rinse off since we had already checked out of where we were staying. We parked, walked into the Four Seasons (which is huge by the way) down to the pool, swam for a while and sat in the hot tub. Then we had the audacity to sit on a lounge chair! We were approached by a waiter to see if we wanted a drink and our chairs set up. We gratefully took the water but declined on the chair covers... we weren't planning on being there long. Then we were approached again and again asked if we would like our chairs set up. When we declined for a second time the employee asked us what name our room was under. At that point Dave said the first thing that came to his mind... Carlisle.
Now, I don't know any Carlisles and am not quite sure if Dave does but when the man turned away and went to check to see if there were any "Carlisle's" registered, Dave and I stood up, grabbed our stuff and left. The only way out just happened to be next to the kiosk where we were under scrutinization. So,trying to be discrete, we walked around the back, opened some doors I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to, hopped a gate and walked as fast as we dared back to our car trying not to seem suspicious.
We laughed about that the whole way home. It wasn't fun at the time, my heart was pounding at the thought of getting stopped on our way out, but looking back on the whole scenario, it was pretty funny. I was secretly hoping that there were some Carlisle's checked in though... we still hadn't made it up to the serenity pool!

The Middle East Part III: The Old City of Jerusalem

This is the last post of our trip... I promise. There was so much do in and around the Old City but one of our favorite things to do was eat off the street vendors. The food was so good! Everything comes in a pita... what's not to love about that?

This is "meat on a stick". Basically a shish-ka-bob put into a pita with salad (tomatoes and cucumbers) and some sauce... delish!

These are spinach, onions and cheese in a pastry crust... double delish!

And this is a falofel... ground chick peas and spices fried into balls and put in a pita with sauce, pickles and french fries!

We probably could have eaten a bit healthier but hey, we were on vacation. These veggies looked really good...

The marketplace shops


A pyramid made entirely out of spices. The smell of curry was strong in this city.

The Church of the Holy Seplechure. This is where the Catholics and other religions believe the Savior was tried, executed and buried. This was an interesting building.

Doesn't he look like Friar Tuck?

The lobby of our hostel

Our room. The ceiling would literally rain rocks and morter on us each night... what else do you expect from an 800 year old building?

We walked along the top of the outside wall of the city.

I just love this picture for some reason.

The Mount of Olives and BYU Jerusalem Center in the middle of the photo.

View of the City

A giant cemetary

The architecture in this city is beautiful! We ran into this on our way to the Holocaust museum.

The Damascus Gate. This is one of the main gates into the city and where basically all of the best food was that we found.

We were pretty lucky to be there over Hanukhah. This is the Western Wall on the last night of Hannukah. They were all celebrating and praying... it was really awesome to see.

This is right next to the Western Wall... I thought it looked like a movie set.

The men and women are separated when they go up to the wall. All the men have to have their heads covered. If they don't have anything there are little cardboard hats for them to use.

The highlight of our trip for me was seeing all the historical stuff we have all learned about since Primary. Being in Jerusalem, especially so close to Christmas and visiting these sites was such a spiritual experience. This is the Garden of Gethsemane. It is just a little gated grove of about 8 olive trees but 2000 years ago it must have taken up much of the hillside.

This hill is Galgotha. You will notice the skull in the mountain. This hill is right next to the Garden Tomb.

There is a bus station right below it now.

This was the most reverent part of the whole trip. I read an article in a 1972 Ensign where President Lee talks about a trip he took to the Holy Land. Read about it here. He describes this place much better than I ever could.

This is the inside of the tomb.

This really was an amazing and very humbling trip and I feel very blessed to have been able to go. It was a great experience to walk where our Savior has walked and we definitely want to go back again one day!

The Middle East Part II: Masada and the Dead Sea

Dave had been to Israel before so he made an excellent tour guide. Some of our highlights:

We noticed that everyone in Israel smokes and we figured out why... they start them young.

Yep, those are packs of cigaretts in the claw machine!

Sunrise from the balcony of our hostel in Eilat (that body of water is the Red Sea, it's crazy to believe that this is the sea that Moses parted)


We had to stop at a gas station on our way to Masada and we came across this camel all saddled up. I wanted to take him for a ride. People just ride their camels into town and tie them up while they shop.

This is a portion of Masada. This is a plateau where the Jewish people came to escape the Romans and built a little city. They were completely surrounded on each side and eventually committed a mass suicide rather than being taken prisoner or worse by the Romans... sad story but very interesting.


The ramp the Romans built to reach the top.

The rectangle is one of the many Roman camps. I swear this country is all the same color!

We spent the rest of the day at the Dead Sea and played in the mud. Don't mind my yellow shoes... oh yeah, and that's just mud on my swim suit...