Field Trip

April 18 and 19 I chaperoned Eric's High School Orchestra field trip to Provo and Salt Lake. We went to a workshop at BYU and those kids were treated to a really cool session of instructions from a well-known conductor (Kory Katseanas), then they watched a rehearsal. Went to a Mall in SLC, ate out, attended the Utah Symphony concert in Abravanel hall on Friday evening.

And the fun stuff started the next day when we went to LAGOON! It's a theme park in Farmington, Utah. I hadn't been in years, and there were new roller coasters. So we rode and rode and rode. There were no crowds, so we could just walk right on the rides some of the time. THAT was fun. I don't have pictures of roller coasters, but I have a few shots of Eric and his friends. I also don't have a picture of us AFTER we rode the wettest ride in the park. I don't have a record of me looking like a drowned rat because on the "Cliff Hanger" I got water in my ears, up my nose. . .I may as well have gone swimming! I went into a bathroom and RUNG OUT all my clothing over the toilet. Honest-- ALL my clothing. It was ridiculous. Eric apologized all over for making me ride it with him. "I'm so sorry, Mom!" he kept screaming through the streams of water running down his face on the ride. ha. Yeah, well. We dried eventually.



Eric and I still love roller coasters, and since they go fast, they helped us dry off. The air quality left much to be desired. On our drive home along the Wasatch front, we could not see the mountains at all through all the dust and particles in the air. It was way windy and way bad air quality. Mostly just dust. We were so gritty. The air cleared up in the central part of the state. But driving along the freeway and NOT being able to see mountains is really weird. That might be the case during a snow storm, but this was not snow or anything wet--just dry dust and guck blowing through the valleys.




And we were exhausted when we got home. But a fun time was had by all. Eric even had enough energy to attend the Junior Prom at his school that night! He left Lagoon a little earlier than the rest of us and got home in time for that. I stayed and rode the bus home with the rest of the chaperones. It was a bus full of some really nice kids.



Show us your wettest side! And we thought we looked wet after riding "Rattle Snake Rapids." I don't think so! Can you tell I was trying hard to take a quick pix of the 8 of us in the raft before things started getting wet so I could my camera quickly away in my purse. This was before the Cliff Hanger fiasco.

Fun Run

Whoever named these "Fun Runs" must have liked running or something. Some of us just DON'T! So why do we do it? Why, for the medals and door prize drawings, of course~ and the T-shirts! ha.

Eric and I and various other family members and friends have been participants in the local ROTC Run, Walk or Get Out of the Way Fun Run (Real name: "Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way")for several years now. Nick and Katie came last year. Katie ran and Nick was the "official" photographer for our family. My friend, Nancy, has run with me before. Eric's gone with other friends. This year I was the only one with a camera while Eric and I ran. We (well, I did) won medals. I got first place in my age category. The kids keep telling me, "Mom, you don't HAVE to tell them there were only two in your age category!" ha ha. Well, there were, but I WAS first. =) And it's not the first time I've medaled--it's the age thing.



This year a few of Eric's friends and fellow cross country runners came. Can you tell it was COLD that morning? Yikes. One of Eric's friends fell and cut up her knee pretty badly on the first lap of our twice around the campus 5K run, but after a less-than-a-minute time out, she finished~and won second place in her age category! Way to go, Venice! There is a picture of Eric being a supportive friend. He actually took LOTS of gory pictures of her damaged knee. I'll spare you the details. We had to document it for her family who couldn't be there! Hers was the only injury.


Here's a nice shot of Eric stretching before the race. That kid is VERY limber!






Our best door prize was dinner for two at the Garden House Restaurant here in Cedar. I won it, but since Venice won ZERO door prizes, I gave it to Eric and he and Venice and Venice's sister all went out to eat together and had a fun time. The Jardine family has kind of adopted Eric as one of their other children. At least, that is what ERIC tells me! The Mom was one of his first violin teachers. Nice folks.


Claiming my medal. They had them made up this year to look like dog tags--appropriate for an Army Race, yes?


Till next year! Come and join us.

President's Day

Happy Presidents' Day last month. I'd post the picture of Abe with his birthday hat on, but I think it was deleted from our computer when it was wiped clean.
But here's some new photos to see of our hike in "Little Babylon" in Washington county



Most of the photos you'll see below are taken looking south and east. This one is taken looking WEST toward the snow-covered Pine Valley Mountains.






This is Rob taking a picture. We'd just barely started on the hike. It's a gorgeous area, just east of Leeds, Utah.






Don't you think that red rock on the left looks kind of like the petrified cockpit of the space shuttle or a jet?










I like this shot because you can see where the kids are heading and how big that hill is. Robert has a zoomed in shot of it, and we both have movies of them running down the sand hill. You'll have to click on the picture and hope it opens up big so you can see the specks that are our children climbing up the rocky slope to the top
of the hill. We told them to "GET DOWN!!" Kind of scarey.










Here's the whole group of us in front of the Sand Arch. You should have seen us trying to set the timers on our cameras, lying on the red rocks and sand, then dashing to have our pictures taken. Silly us.





The "Sand Arch" is actually a double arch. The kids are peeking through the second arch that goes under one of the sides of the BIG arch. Some more big blowey storms and the hole might be covered up eventually.












It's always so much fun to have Robert and Janet and their family come to our place for the Presidents' Day weekend. The hike we went on was actually a hike we went on about 10 years ago! But it was all like new to us. I found the pictures I have in my album from that time, but don't think I can scan them and get them posted.
Here's a photo of us enjoying our lunch together after the hike.

Baby Ella

San Diego, CA


We traveled to San Diego this past weekend to visit Damian and Tandy and family. Ella was going to be blessed! Happy occasion. Gail, Seth and Caroline also were able to travel down there.

We're still waiting for car parts from the LAST California trip (well, the one in October--we've gone there one other time since then) so we got a rental from Enterprise. It's a better deal than driving a gas hog truck down there. Mike and I left Friday Feb 1 around 4 p.m. with Caroline and Eric; Seth and Gail left closer to 5:30 with Nick (who had class until 5). We got to California about 11 their time, midnight ours. Not too bad. We don't all fit in one car, plus we're coming home different days.


Saturday was a play day. We went to the park. Tandy's camera has all those pictures. Nick played lacing games with his nieces and nephew. Mike relaxed. Damian and Tandy went grocery shopping with NO KIDS! That was an unusual occasion. Gail and Seth spent Friday and Saturday night at Aaron and Penny's house. (That's Seth's brother who is in law school in San Diego.) They took Eric and went sight-seeing at Coronado on Saturday afternoon. Gail's camera would have pictures from that trip. They actually had sunshine! It was cloudy and cool at their house.

By the time you bathe 3 or four kids and put all the toys away, the night is done. ha. Saturday night late, Lexi surprised us by throwing up all over her bed. Ugh. Poor Damian and Tandy. Mike helped out a little.

Then Sunday morning Tandy woke up quite ill. Same bug? We don't know. She felt AWFUL! So awful that going to church to have the baby blessed was out of the question. Damian went down to their ward and made arrangements for the family to gather at their home for the baby blessing. A member of the bishopric was there, too. All the family members who were supposed to be there, were. One family friend came by, too. It was nice. We took pictures of kids. All my grandchildren in one spot! Pam and her family went to church for Sacrament meeting, but the rest of us just couldn't get our acts together, so we fed the kids and kept them happy. And the Sacrament would have been over by the time we got there, anyway.

Waiting for the last arrivals at D & T's House

AND, Lexi really WAS sick! She threw up again after eating her lunch. What a day. It took Damian close to an hour to clean Lexi, himself, and the bathroom. What a site! Eric's description was quite vivid (not going to post it--too visual for words), but Damian did say, "I've never seen so much puke from a sober person." ha. And Lexi's so little. Poor gal. I cleaned her, the stairs, and tucked her into bed with her sick Mommy. Tandy totally missed the party she planned.

This is what Tandy REALLY Felt like ! Poor Tandy

It rained all day Sunday and we headed home to Cedar City after saying goodbye to the poor sick people. Pam is staying another day, so Tandy will have help with the kids, thankfully.

But Baby Ella received her baby blessing, we made it home through snow and ice (IN ST. GEORGE!) the last 50 miles. All was well at home. And Nick even made it to California and back--no unforseen incidents ;-) A happy day, we'd say.





Except for Tandy. GET WELL SOON, Sweetie!

Hawaii Here We Come!

Arrival at Kailua-Kona airport, Hawaii. Mike with his parents (and a stranger behind them). December 26, 2007.







Sherri, Gayela, John, Berenice, Linda, Mike. Enjoying breakfast together in Malulani Gardens home in Kailua- Kona, Big Island of Hawaii. January 1, 2008.









This is a view from the porch of the house where we were staying. The temple was just down the hill and across the highway. Can you see Angel Moroni "standing" on top of the lamp post?







This is another view from in front of the house where we were staying. Look closely and you can see the cruise ship moored in the bay. The view of sunsets was great, the view of the mountains up behind us was great. The weather was great . . .the house was great!







This is a picture of what Waimea always looks like--hidden in the clouds. Mike's parents spent the first half of their mission in this cute town, but seldom saw any sunshine. Always in the clouds. It's very green and is where Parker Ranch is located.









Here is Rainbow Falls, near Hilo. I tried so hard to capture the deep green shades in the falls, but the camera just wouldn't pick it up. The day was overcast, so no rainbow this time. Just lots and lots and lots of water.







We took a detour on our trip around the island and drove to the very southern-most point on US territory. The water was rough and deep and blue, the rocks very volcanic and holey. Can you tell the wind is blowing (note the sideways pony tail)??






Mauna Kea, MaunaLoa






These mountains are the main part of the volcanic island of Hawaii. They are both snow capped! Yes, Hawaii does have snow. Mauna Kea has many observatories, Mauna Loa is long and not-so-tall looking. But they were both visible! That's kind of unusual.








This is the Kona Temple. Mike and I did managed to attend a session. It took us a couple of tries, but we did OK once we got our hands on a schedule and knew when to show up.








These ferns are so gorgeous. It's like being in Jurassic Park. They are huge--we're talking 20 foot tall fern trees. This was in Volcano National Park, just a short drive from the picture below. Same area, honest!











This is a picture of me at the steaming cauldera of Kilauea volcano.








This has got to be one of the prettiest drives I've ever been on. Beautiful coastal area along the Hamakua Coast of Hawaii. This part is Onomea Bay.








We've known Mickey and Roy Bauer for many years now, and it was good to see them and catch up with their family's activities. They live in Hilo. Roy is the Hilo Stake President.







On one of our last days there, we went to the Farmer's Market. The flowers were great! I had to take some home. There were so many to choose from! This was just a fraction of the variety. I ended up with red anthuriums, some purple orchids, and some white orchid sprays. Tough choices, I must say.






Yes, we loooked like the Beverly Hillbillies as we headed to the airport. Our luggage would not fit into the tiny trunk of our cute rental car, so Mike piled it on top and tied it down with bungee cords.









Aren't these pretty flowers? We were just waiting for our flight out of Kona and the sun was shining. It was so nice and pleasant, I just walked around and took some pictures of the bright tropical flowers. This is Red Ginger.






Hawaiian Airlines has graduated since the last time we were here. When John needed assistance in getting on or off the plane, they had an old fork lift with some sort of platform attached. This time they had an actual sissor-lift type machine with a roof over it and everything. This is a picture of Mike helping his Dad onto the plane as we were departing Kona.






The Kona sunset behind one of the many cruise ships that were frequently moored in Kona Bay. This one was taken on our last Sunday in Kona.









Here's a picture of Mike's parents on the plane on their way home to freezing Cedar City! Brrrrr