Visit from Rachel's Parents

So, last week Rachel filled you in on most of the details of Wendy and Kelly's visit. On Monday we went to the Corning glass museum in Corning, NY where we got to see some really cool glass things and even make some of our own stuff to proudly display in our home.

After we created our own glass, we took four and a half hours to go through the museum and see the demonstrations! I never realized how much there could be in a glass museum. My favorate piece of art was a ball about the size of an extra large yoga ball. From the center to the outside it was made up of tiny strings of glass, and we were wondering if it was possible to shine a lazer light from one side to the other without touching any glass. We decided it was not possible. We also saw two demonstrations of glassmaking; using the kiln and using a technique called flameworking.

Here are some pictures of this last week:

First, we see the lovely Rachel (with lovely glasses, I must add) getting hot glass from the kiln... The kiln was 2,400 degrees and the glass had to be placed in the fire about every 45 seconds in order to keep it hot enough to work with.

Next, she forms a flower out of the molten glob of glass. It cools pretty quickly so you've got to pull hard!

Here, we see Rachel while she is "just practicing her swing" at the driving range.

Here's everybody at the Lake Erie where we played frisbee for a while on our way up to New York.

And this is Mama Santa's Pizzeria- a place everyone says is an absolute must. The pizza was all-right, but not worth all the hype. I should explain that I am holding bread in this picture- I don't normally stand like that!

Here's all of us at the Whitney store in Kirtland. After the tour we went and saw "This is Kirtland," a musical put on by our stake that was actually pretty darn good.

Well, that's all for the pictures. We are looking forward to seeing a lot of you guys next week at the Hazard Reunion.