Burgerville, Conference Candy, Yard Sales and Thriller

Do you remember that scene near the end of Ratatouille when Anton Ego, the food critic, eats Remy's ratatouille, savors it for a second, then is transported back to his childhood and to memories of his mother dishing up a bowl of it and he's just so instantly happy with recovering the lost memory and then decides to write the good review for Gustav's and ....

Well, I had a similar scene happen to me this week while I was driving all over Florida for work. I had spent a morning in Gainesville and and had to drive to the Tampa Bay airport for a 5 p.m. flight. It was a little after lunchtime and I got hungry, so I exited and found this place called 'Steak and Shake.'

I've seen these restaurants around as I've traveled, but had never stopped for one reason or another. Well, I got the normal combo meal -- a steakburger, fries and chocolate milkshake -- and then it happened to me. I was transported to my childhood in Vancouver, Washington and eating at my favorite fastfood restaurant growing up -- Burgerville USA.

Burgerville USA is a burger and fries franchise that operates only in the Greater Portland Oregon/Vancouver Washington area. I was raised on this food, and i remember how much I liked going there because they had a small train in the lobby that you could play on and eat at. Keep in mind that this was before Happy Meals and PlayPlaces and all that marketing.

So, in some strange way, eating at Steak and Shake brought back a flood of memories of my childhood -- eating cheeseburgers and dipping my french fries in my chocolate milkshake. Mmmmm...

And yes, I got to know Florida better than most people do this week. I flew into West Palm Beach on Monday, Drove to Fort Lauderdale and then to Jacksonville on Tuesday, Drove to Orlando on Wednesday, Gainesville on Thursday and then Tampa Bay on Thursday before flying home Monday night.

Whew.

Our family enjoyed an awesome weekend of General Conference, implementing our traditional practice of breaking out the candy bowl for those who listen to the talks. We started this when the kids were younger and were struggling to pay attention for the long periods of time.

That's when we came up with the idea to bribe them into listening. What better way to enjoy conference that with a mini-sized twix bar awaiting your listening effort! By the time the session is over, our kids are nice and sugared up and I'm usually ready to take a nap!

Dallin and I enjoyed Priesthood Session -- especially the talks by Elder Scott about treating the women in our lives with the highest amount of respect and President Uctdorf's talk about 'Lifting where you Stand."

Perhaps the best part of the session was how tired Dallin was and how he rested his head on my shoulder, just like he used to do when he was young. The kids almost as tall as I am now and he still does it. Funny kid.

Katelyn got a part in the her school's production of The King and I. She gets a few speaking parts in the Chorus and had to sing in front of everyone during the audition. Katelyn tells me that her costume will be pretty amazing and she's pretty excited for that. Good job KK.

Dustin and Kristen finished up soccer this week, with both of them wishing there were a few more games left. Dustin scored two goals this week in his last game. We're going to see if we can get them into spring teams.

Krissy and two of her friends from school have a classmate who has leukemia. This friend hasn't come to school for several weeks and has spent a lot of time in the hospital. Kristen had also heard that the family doesn't have enough money to pay all the medical bills.

So, Krissy and her friends decided to do something. They gathered together some of their old toys and books, made some lemonade and purchased candy and then conducted a yard sale to benefit their friend's family. They worked hard for two days and earned $44 on the first day as then $98 the second day. Not a bad showing for three 9-year olds.

Those are the types of things that make you proud our your kids. What an amazing thing they did.

And as another reminder, Dallin's Halloween Jazz Band concert is October 30th at 7 p.m. He's very excited and will be playing Thriller and Green Onions with the band. Should be a good time. We'll even let you sit by us.

A short update this week, we'll have photos and stuff next week.