Jensen-Ward Family Adventures

Alaska & Canada Day 6 & 7!

2010-07-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

The sixth day of our trip was spent on the open seas. It was a long day of hanging out on the ship. To pass the time we played Mexican Train Dominoes.

We also spent quite a bit of time doing some whale watching. The whales would come up out of the water to blow through their blow hole. They would always be far enough away to where you couldn't get a picture of them. Sometimes there would be a pod of whales going up and down out of the water. Brent was the master of the binoculars and could always spot the whales first.

At 11pm there was a chocolate party in the Centrum. This is a chocolate sculpture of a king in his thrown. There were several other chocolate sculptures to look at and lots of chocolate treats to sample. What a yummy event! Maybe I should host a chocolate party at my house, could be fun!

We arrived in Victoria, Canada on July 1st. This is our last full day of our cruise. We walked from the ship toward town along the waterfront. It was a good half hour walk to the heart of the city.

It was raining all morning long. It wasn't pouring so it wasn't too bad to be out in the weather. Plus, it wasn't cold and windy.

Staying dry on our walk into town.

The first thing we did when we got into the city was tour the Victoria Parliament building. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia (just like Phoenix is the capital of Arizona). The building is made of granite walls and a copper dome roof. It is an impressive site to see.

The interior of the building was stunning. The walls had many paintings and many of the windows were stained glass windows.

This is their coat of arms.

This is where the legislatures make their laws. The majority sits on one side and the minority party sits on the other. This building was built in the 1800's. The distance between the two sides is a standard distance used in all of Canada's parliament buildings. The distance is not measured in feet or meters. The distance was two sword lengths apart. Sometimes debates could get quite heated and being two sword lengths apart was a safe distance. Our tour guide let us know that currently the legislatures leave their swords at home.

We walked a long way to get to our next tourist spot. This the Craigdarroch Castle. It was built in the 1890's. This 20,000 square foot mansion was built in three years. It has the most beautiful oak walls throughout the first floor entry way and stair case. Its amazing to witness the incredible skill the builders of this home had.

Brent is ready to enter the castle.

Many of the rooms had been restored to what they were when the castle was occupied by the original family that had it built. When the parents died, the kids couldn't afford to or weren't interested in maintaining the building. The building was used as a college, music school and even as a military hospital. Now it is a historical site to visit.

Every room of the house had a magnificent fireplace. We have 50 more pictures of the home. If you would like to see them all, just come on over sometime :)

Once we left the castle, had lunch at Subway, we decided to tour the Maritime Museum. This is a museum dedicated to the history of ships and the importance of the sea for the city of Victoria. The museum was quiet. It was filled with model ships, cannons, pirate memorabilia, and many other interesting things.

Brent thought the scuba suit was very cool!

We figured the boys would like to see the torpedo. I think it's longer than me.

Once we left the museum we wondered through the crazy town. The streets were packed with people celebrating Canada Day. Canada Day is to Canada as the 4th of July is to the United States. There were many celebrations going on all over town. With all of our walking through town, we were exhausted when we made it back to our ship.

On Day 8 we woke up as we were pulling in to Seattle, Washington. The cruise vacation was officially over as we arrived in Phoenix and were blasted with temperatures 60 degrees hotter than what it was every day on our trip. Although it was an amazing adventure, we were glad to be home.

Explore Alaska - Day 5!

2010-07-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Today we were up pretty early so we could see the Sawyer Glacier. This glacier created the Tracy Arm Fjord. A fjord is a narrow inlet from the sea between steep cliffs. The glacier carved out the fjord between the mountains. The water from the glacier helped to create the sea passage that leads back to where the glacier is today. It was COLD on deck early in the morning. I was extra bundled up. The ship moved slowly through the fjord. There were icebergs all along the way.

You can see Sawyer Glacier off in the distance between the mountains.

The glacier is magnificent. The varying shades of blue throughout the glacier are captivating to the eye.

While we were admiring the glacier, it "calved." Calving is when a piece of the glacier breaks off and falls into the water below. When it does that, there is a loud thunderous noise as it breaks away.

Brent had his binoculars out the entire time. He and another man were able to spot seals swimming in the water below and lounging on icebergs.

The cruise ship had to navigate around this island on the way to the glacier and on the way back out.

If you were to enlarge this picture, you would see two seals on the iceberg in the middle. We were looking at the seals from the 10th floor deck so it was hard to get a good picture of them.

Icebergs littered the path that the ship had to carefully navigate through.

We spent the rest of the day out on the open seas. So this night was another formal night. It was fun to get dressed up again and pose for pictures :)

Later that evening the cruise ship hosted the "Love and Marriage" game show. They needed three couples to participate. They tried to get the couple who had been married the longest to be one of the contestants. However, they declined. Fortunately, Lyn and Carole said they would go up (it was their 49th anniversary). It was fun to watch them answer questions about each other and to hear the answers the other couples gave. We had lots of laughs that evening!

Explore Alaska - Day 4!

2010-07-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Skagway, Alaska early in the morning. We had the opportunity to spend the entire day in Skagway! Skagway is a small town of 800 people year round; however, during the summer months the town population explodes to a few thousand. Our ship docked close to town. It was just a 10 minute walk to get into the heart of Skagway.
The water is this amazing green blue color. The color is from the glacier melts.

Skagway looks like a western town from the movies. The building in this picture with the "AB" on it is made entirely of driftwood. It is one of the original buildings in the town from its gold rush days in the late 1890's.

The town of Skagway has a strict building code. All buildings must be built to this old town time period. The sidewalks are made out of wooden planks. It was fun to go into several of the shops in this cute town.

One of the shops we visited was the Sarah Palin Store. This store was opened in honor of Governor Palin because she lived in Skagway when she was a kid.

This granite building was built by the Methodist church in the late 1890's early 1900's. They Methodist Church intended for it to be a school for girls. However, during a gold rush era, there aren't many girls in the area looking for a finishing school education. The building is currently a museum and city offices.

Near the museum, hidden in the woods, we found this abandoned steam train. It is one of the original trains that hauled gear up the mountain toward the gold fields.

Brent loved exploring this train. He climbed all over it.

This train is used for tours up the mountain. Grandma and her friends took this train on their tour up White Pass.

Brent and I took a bus tour up to White Pass. The tour stopped at several locations so we could get out and admire the amazing scenery. Skagway is at the bottom of the mountain in a valley. The reason Skagway was important to the gold rush was that it was a sea entrance to this valley. If you could climb up the mountains and make it to the lake system at the top, you could then navigate through the lakes another 300 - 500 miles to the famous Klondike Gold Mines. To make it up the treacherous and steep mountains, a railroad was built. I wasn't aware that railroads couldn't be built up steep inclines. So this railroad had to be creatively built. It was designed to travel up switchbacks through the canyon to make it up the steep pass.

There wasn't much space along side of the mountain to build the railroad.
At the top of this mountain is Goat Lake. In the center of this picture is Pitchfork Waterfall. It originates at Goat Lake and then races down this huge mountain side. Before it dumps into the river below, it splits itself into several waterfalls like a pitchfork. On the right side of the waterfall you will notice a long pipe. This is not an oil pipeline. This pipe also starts up at Goat Lake and takes in water to run the hydro-electric power plant that supplies Skagway with its electricity.

Behind Brent and I on the right is a suspension bridge. We went over this bridge on the bus. The bridge is only suspended on one side. The other side of the bridge sits on a rubber ledge. This area is right on a major earthquake line so the bridge had to be able to move during the earthquakes. Also because this area gets a good 50 feet of snow each winter, the bridge needed to be able to expand and contract without being damaged. At the top of White Pass, you can see the effects of the altitude we are at and the harsh environment we are in. The small trees you see in this picture could be 100 to 300 years old. The trees can't grow very tall in this area because of the lack of soil, sunlight, harsh wind and the extreme weather conditions. Very few plants survive in this area.
Our trip up White Pass took us into Canada. When we returned back to the United States, we had to pass through customs. Thank goodness we had our passports with us! We had to stop at the Alaska sign for a photo moment. The sign is made of wood and is in great condition. We asked our tour guide if it was new. He said it wasn't; however, each winter they take the sign down and store it. If it was to remain out all winter under several feet of snow, it would get ruined.This is the joining of two separate water systems. On the left you can see the blue green water that is from the melting of a glacier. On the right you can see blue black water that is just normal snow melt. In the middle you can see the sandy ridge that joins the two water sources together. I wish my camera could have captured the stark difference between the two.

On our way back to Skagway we stopped at a bridal fall. The water was raging down the side of the mountain. It is always impressive to witness the power of water!

On our way back into town, our tour guide took us to a look out point to where we could see the entire town as well as our cruise ship. Our cruise ship is the one on the left.

Lastly, we went to the Gold Rush Cemetery. Outside of the cemetery was this huge nugget of gold. Thankfully, it was chained to the tree so no one could run off with it. I'm sure it weighs more than a ton. Mitchell and Grant think we should have chipped some of the gold off and took it with us. ;)

After our tour and exploring the town some more, we headed back to the ship. The next day we would be going to a glacier that was located at the end of the Tracy Arm Fjord.

Explore Alaska - Day 3!

2010-07-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

When we awoke on the third day of our cruise, we were in Alaska waters. We could see the coast line of Alaska. It was a breathtaking sight!There were magnificent mountains on both sides of the ship. The mountains were covered with thick forests of trees. The water around the boat was clear and calm.We spent much of our morning on deck just taking in the sights of beautiful Alaska.We saw small fishing ships that were dwarfed by our huge cruise ship. We saw small cabins along the shore line that appeared to only have one way to get to them, the sea.Here is our first glimpse of Juneau, Alaska. Juneau is the capital of Alaska. It is a small town and their are no roads to or from Juneau. The only way you can get to Juneau is by ship or by plane. Once we left the ship, we went on a bus tour to Mendenhall Glacier. As we rode through Juneau to the glacier, our driver pointed out the capital building, the governor's mansion and several other important sites. We saw two bald eagles along our drive too.

Glaciers aren't soft billowy piles of snow. Glaciers are created by years of excessive snow fall. As the snow compacts, the oxygen is squeezed out of the individual snowflakes. This turns the snow into solid ice. The blue you see in the glacier is the densest part of the ice. This glacier has been receding for several years. As it recedes, it has carved out this valley and left a glacier lake. Floating in the glacier lake at Mendenhall Glacier are icebergs. These icebergs are parts of the glacier that broke off in a chunk. There are many icebergs floating around the lake.

Near the glacier on the side of the mountain was a roaring waterfall. We didn't have enough time to hike to the waterfall but we could hear its roar from the observation deck.

The brown you see in this glacier is dirt and rocks that the glacier has ripped up off of the mountains as it has slid down the valley. The glacier starts further up the mountain in a snowfield. Parts of this glacier are a mile thick. That's a mile of solid ice!

Because we are standing so close to a huge ice field, it was definitely chilly! I'm so glad I had a sweatshirt on!

Brent's parents came with us on this tour. Grandma and her friends came to the glacier too but they went to a creative garden first. Ask Grandma to see the pictures. You won't believe what someone did to create this unique garden!

From the observation deck we could see the visitor center. All of the land you see up to the visitor center used to be covered by this Mendenhall Glacier. Just 70 years ago, this entire area including where the visitors center is standing was all beneath thick layers of ice.

After we toured the glacier we had the bus drop us of in the thriving town of Juneau. We had lunch and then explored the tourist trap part of the town. To my surprise, 70% of the stores on this street were jewelry shops. I had no idea that so many people went on cruises to go and buy jewelry!

There isn't much room for the shops on the small street. As you look up the staircase in the middle of the picture, you will see the thick forest and a steep mountain right behind the stores. We were told that there are small homes at the top of the staircase. However, we didn't hike the stairs to find out.

Brent and I had fun shopping at a few places and enjoyed the rugged culture of the town.

After a fun afternoon exploring Juneau, we headed back to the ship for a relaxing evening of sailing to Skagway, Alaska. This is a picture of the sun finally setting. The sun didn't set until around 10:30pm. Spectacular sight!

Cruising to Alaska - Day 2!

2010-07-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

The second day of our Alaskan vacation was spent on the open seas. We couldn't see land from either side of the ship. Although we weren't in a storm, the sea was choppy and we would go up and down. Brent and I didn't get sea sick; however, there were many times that we would be standing or walking and get very wobbly.

This is a clip of what it looks like to watch the waves out on the open sea.

Part of the day was spent just watching the ocean. There were plenty of windows to look out of that were within the warmth of the ship. It was very relaxing to just sit there and watch the water.

Although we were only in our 2nd day of our vacation, Brent already looks relaxed and rejuvenated. :)

Today we had lunch at the Windjammer. This buffet restaurant was on the 9th floor of the ship. It had windows all the way around the dining area. Today was an extra special day because we were able to eat with entertaining company. Sitting at the table (from left to right) are Haley, Brent, Carole, Lyn, Elmer, Della, Eddie, and Grandma. We loved hanging out with Grandma and her friends. They always had funny stories to tell; especially, Della. Just ask her anything about her mother and you will get a great tale.

This evening was our first formal night on the ship. Brent looked great in his tuxedo and I was sporting a new purple dress. One of the activities on formal night was to meet the captain of the ship, Rick Sullivan, and get a picture taken with him. Next there was a reception in the Shall We Dance Lounge where we could have a variety of beverages and appetizers. While we were at the reception, the captain introduced the top members of his team. Then we were off to our 6 o'clock dinner in the Edelweiss Dining Hall.

Lyn and Carole Jensen looked great in blue for formal night.

After dinner, at about 8pm, Grandma and I had our picture taken on deck. It doesn't look like it is 8 o'clock in the evening. However, it is windy and COLD on the deck. I can't hide the fact that I'm freezing during this photo shoot!

After dinner we were off to another show in the Broadway Melodies Theater. On this night we were entertained by two gentleman; one was on the piano and the other was a comedian. They put on quite an act together. Sometimes I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. Great fun!

Brent and I pose for a picture on the staircase at the Broadway Melodies Theatre. Each night when we returned to our state room, we were welcomed with an animal figure made from bath towels. I think this one is a puppy. Very cute!

Exhausted from a day at sea and dressing up, we eagerly went to bed knowing that the next day we would begin our adventures in Juneau, Alaska!

Cruising to Alaska! Day 1

2010-07-03T10:37:00.001-07:00

After two years of marriage, Brent and I finally had our Honeymoon! We decided to take a cruise to Alaska!!!! Our trip started out by flying to Seattle, Washington. This is the view from the plan looking at the Grand Canyon.

Grandma and her friends at the Senior Center were on the same cruise! It was great to hang out with her and her friends. Grandma and I are modeling our custom made Alaska t-shirts created by Uncle Scott. The shirts say "Alaska 2010" on one side and each person's name on the other.

This is our spectacular cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas. The ship had 2,239 passengers plus 770 crew members.

Before getting on the ship, each person had to get their picture taken to be linked to their room card. The room card was more commonly known as your Sea Pass Card. This card was used to get on and off the ship, into your room, and to purchase anything on the ship.

Our lovely windowless state room was fairly small. This is pretty much it. Needless to say, you could go to sleep anytime in here because when the lights were out, it was pitch BLACK!

If you think the room was small, here is the itty bitty bathroom.

The hallway where our room was located was SUPER long and narrow. This is a view of only half of the hallway. Brent's parents also happened to be on the same cruise as us. After we found our rooms, we explored the ship together. Here Brent and his Dad are lounging around the deck 9 pool. This is the outside pool. Although it was heated, I didn't want to get in and out of this pool when the outside temperature was 50 degrees or less. Brrrrrr....

This is what you could look at while you were lounging around by the outside pool.

At the back end of the ship, there was a rock climbing wall. When the ship was cruising in the open seas, it was very WINDY back here.

This is the indoor pool. It was nice and warm in here. There were also ping pong tables in here. Lots of things to do.

This is the view from the Centrum. This is in the middle of the ship. Floors 5, 6, 7, and 8 have balcony's looking into this area. It is a beautiful part of the ship and a great lounging area.

This video clip will show you around the Centrum from the 4th floor where it begins.

Every night we attended a show in the Broadway Melodies Theater. It was a huge auditorium with sofa like seating, very comfortable. The first show we attended, we sat in the balcony. The first show was a comedy act.

The first day of our trip was spent exploring the ship. We left the Seattle port around 5pm. The rest of the evening we cruised through the Puget Sound and out into the Pacific Ocean. As I have never been on a ship before, it was exciting to be out on deck watching the ship pull out of the harbor. It was cool and windy. We had beautiful views of the homes along the shoreline as well as harbors filled with sailboats. We were both anxious to see what a full day on the open sea would be like!

Chopped off my Hair

2010-06-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Now its nice and short :)

Mitchell & His Mom (I think he really does love me)

2010-06-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

In honor of Julie's wedding, Mitchell and I wore purple to the reception. Mitchell looks pretty darn good in his purple dress shirt. He picked it out for Senior pictures next week. Yes, Mitchell the senior!!! Wow, high school graduation, here we come!

Mitchell has several adoring fans. Here Madison and Andrew just can't get enough of Mitchell. They demanded that their picture had to be taken with him. It must be great to have so many people love you!

Fun in Flagstaff!

2010-06-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

This week Grant and I took a two day trip to Flagstaff. We had a ton of fun!!!! Our adventure began at the Snowbowl ski lift. The lift takes you from where you park (8000 ft above sea level) all the way to the top of the mountain (11,700 ft above sea level). It was quite a ride. Grant and Andrew are brave and ready to ride the chairlift. It was a little unsettling trying to get on without the lift stopping but we made it.

This is the view at the beginning of our ascent up the mountain. Grant hated it when the lift would stop. He felt like the cable would start to sag. I think he may have a slight fear of heights too.

It took a good 15 minutes or more to make it to the top and then jump off the lift without getting run over by the chair we just jumped off of! The temperature kept dropping as we got closer and closer to the top. At the top there was plenty of snow to make snowballs.

Grant helped Andrew climb the rest of the way to the top of the mountain.

The view from the top was amazing! You could see Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

This is the view from the chairlift from the very top of the mountain when we started our ride down.

Andrew did a good job staying seated the entire time on the lift! He loved pointing out the snow patches near the lift and telling me when to take pictures. He also had lots of good joke for the ride down; although, Grant didn't appreciate them as much as I did :)

Grant wished he had his PSP for the ride. He thought the lift was a little boring. I thought it had amazing views and am glad we took the time to do it!

Later that evening, we went indoor rock climbing with Stephen. Grant loves to climb anything and always looks for the most challenging wall to climb.

Grant found a ledge he could sit on to take a rest from his vertical climb.

Stephen and I took turns belaying. This forced me to actually climb. Out of all the times I've taken the boys indoor rock climbing, I have never climbed, I've always been the belayer. So it was a treat that I was able to climb a few times here. I was surprised at how easily I was able to get to the top. I thought for sure I was too wimpy to do it. Thanks Stephen!!!!

On Tuesday Grant, Bearett and I went to the Arboretum. This is a nature preserve and garden that showcases natural plants found in the Flagstaff area.

Bearett and Grant started their tour inside the tree ring maze. You really couldn't get lost in it but it was very cool to go through.

We went on an official tour of the facility. I was surprised how short it was. So we lengthened our tour and checked out more of the place. We heard that there was a mama duck with her ducklings around the pond. Unfortunately, we couldn't find her.

The highlight of our visit was the Birds of Prey show. This is a picture of Grant volunteering to be a mouse. He is pretending it is night and he can't see, he has ears to mimic a mouse and he is holding a squeaker. As soon as he hears an owl coming, he is supposed to squeak to warn the other mice to hide.

The owl that flew out was HUGE and very SCARY!!! This was the only part of the show that Bearett didn't like and hid in my lap. This is a falcon. If you look closely where the handler's hand is closed at, you will notice the feet of the bird the falcon is eating. It was so gross to watch him rip parts of it off and eat it during the show.

This is a hawk that has been raised in captivity. The 11 year old girl that his holding her says that this bird is so tame that it likes to be pet and handled. I still think it looks a little intimidating.

Some of the birds that came out weren't chained to a handler's hand. These birds would fly right over the audience. The problem is that they fly very low when they go across and one time the wings of one of the birds brushed my face!!!

This is another type of falcon that lives in northern Canada and Alaska. This is a big bird! This bird has beautiful coloring!

When the show was over there was a crow and two ravens in three cages. Bearett loved going up to the cages to talk to the birds. These three birds had been trained to take your dollar bill that you put through the fence and then put it in a jar. Each time they did this they received a treat. These birds were also trained to do other tricks on command. This was a great show and we would definitely go and watch it again with you!

Camping in the Mountains

2010-06-12T18:46:00.001-07:00

On Friday and Saturday this week Mitchell, Grant and I headed up north to go camping on our yearly 12 Oaks 2nd Ward Camp out. The camping location is off of highway 87 about 29 miles north of Payson (go past Pine and Strawberry). We turned off the highway right after mile marker 280. Its not a developed camp ground but it was a beautiful place to camp! Grant and I set up the big tent all by ourselves :) Unfortunately, Brent had to work and was unable to join us on the camping trip.

Mitchell didn't want to camp near Grant and I so he set up his campsite a good 50 yards away.

Mitchell slept in his hammock all night even though it was pretty cold outside. He stayed snuggly warm!

After our incredible Navajo Taco dinner, Mitchell hung out with the other teenagers and played spoons. Later on they watched a movie. Yes, a couple of the families that had been camping at this site for 2 weeks had a generator, TV and DVD player. It was like we never left home :(

Grant and his buddy, Abram, played on Abram's DS's. I guess these electronic gaming devices can link together so they played, and played and played.

Max loved going camping. He loved finding dropped food on the ground and licking bacon grease off of the legs of the grill. He also made several new friends. Here he is snuggling with Dominique.

On Saturday morning Grant, Abram, Dominique, Max and I went out exploring to find the cool cave. Grant and I went in the cave last year but Abram and Dominique hadn't ever been there. It is difficult to get into the cave. You have to balance on the rocks, duck, and try not to get wet while you climb in. The water was a bit higher than it was last year so I ended up getting a wet foot right away.

After you crawl inside, the cave opens up and you can stand. You have to bring a flashlight in order to find your way around.

Grant crawled up into a secondary cave. I didn't explore this upper cave last year because I couldn't find it (I never looked up into the ceiling to see the small opening). So Grant led the way through the narrow passageway. At some point I had to squeeze through an area on my belly. I would NEVER have explored this part of the cave on my own. It was a great adventure! The upper cave twists and turns and goes up and down. Eventually, it leads back to the main large room of the original cave.

We hiked our way back to camp along the creek. It was a beautiful trail.

I was sporting my "I Love Mitchell" shirt for the hike. Too bad Mitchell was asleep and didn't come with us hiking. This was a fun adventure for our little family. We really should get out of town more often. Next time I think there should be a ban on any electronic device! I am such a mean mom!!!!

Happy 2 Years!

2010-06-08T14:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, June 7th, Brent and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary! The time sure has flown by. It is truly a blessing to be married to someone as amazing as Brent. My life is so much better now that he is a permanent part of it. Since I'm not a mushy person who gushes about the people in her life, I'm not going to go on and on about how talented, smart, witty, entertaining, athletic and practical Brent is. But I will just sum it up that I am a lucky gal to be married to him!!!!

Find the HERO in You!

2010-06-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

Our theme for girls camp 2010 was "Find the Hero in You." It was a great theme to help the girls find their inner hero. I was able to work with the young women who were attending camp for the last time. These girls, "The SY's", were in charge of planning all of the evening programs and setting the tone for camp. Our journey to camp included a stop at the Payson, Jack-In-The-Box for a yummy breakfast. I believe it was Alyssa who convinced me that an Oreo Shake was the best thing on the menu and I just had to have one. She was right, it was fabulous!

Alicia just graduate from high school the night before. We are surprised she is awake in this picture. Jessica, Miranda, and the ever entertaining Madi must have been doing a great job talking her ear off!

Me, Chanel, Alyssa, and Kendall devour our high calorie breakfast! We will for-sure have plenty of energy for at least the next hour!

We paused at the entrance of camp to take a picture of the Incredible SY's!

Another photo moment in front of our super cool mural! This mural was created and painted by me with the assistance of my wonderful sister, Julie, and our very talented SY, Laurel.

On Friday night the SY's present the theme of camp in a skit. Kendall and Kailin our the instructors of Super Hero Training school. To the left of them are all of their "heroes in training." Mercedes was "Modest is Hottest Girl," Megan was "Tricep Girl," Caroline was "Brainiak", Miranda was "Monkey Girl," in the back row Alyssa was "Supersonic," Makayla was "Bitter Girl," Ashley was "Gossip Girl," and Madi was "Shape Shifter." There were several scenes in the play where the super heroes in training attempted their to use their super power to solve the situation. Some were successful and some weren't.

Monkey Girl was unsuccessful at talking the cat, Mr. Scratchy, out of the tree. :(

Jessica, the mom, and Chanel, the daughter, are having an argument over this very skimpy and shiny swimsuit. It takes several super heroes to solve this problem.

Alicia, Dominique, Danielle, Erika, Kay and Tiffany, are our back stage singers. They would peak out when it wasn't there turn on stage to sing our "I need a Hero" song.

Erika, Alicia and Kay are discussing why Tiffany supposedly doesn't like Alicia. It is a very sad moment.

Our super hero teachers, Kendall and Kailin are in tears about the previous scene and are determined to find a super hero to help Alicia. It was a really fun skit! All of the girls did a great job!

On Saturday morning, I led the 3rd year girls on a hike through Temple Canyon. It is a very challenging hike that takes at least 6 hours to complete. One of the coolest things on this hike is scaling the 20 foot cliff. Here is a picture of Alyssa making it up the cliff.

I made it out of Temple Canyon and then started the trek toward the switch backs. The trek to the switchbacks is long and boring.

After we made it down the treacherous switchbacks and down the rest of the mountain, we rested at the creek. The creek was very cool and refreshing. Some of the girls took off their shoes and cooled their hot feet in the water. From this point, the hike back into camp was a breeze!

Our Saturday night performance was dedicated to all of the Bishops in camp. This is Makayla who played "Miss Anita Mann" the hostess for Super Family Feud!

The Bishops competed for teams with a basketball shoot out. Those who made the moving basket were on the Galaxy Green Team, those who didn't were on the Yankee Doodle Yellow team. My bishop ended up on the yellow team. Each bishop received a "Super Bishop" cape so they could remember what team they were on. It was a very close game. These bishops were fierce competitors. The survey questions and responses were entertaining. In the end the Galaxy Green Team won by 2 points!

On Sunday morning, all of the SY's lined up in front of the sacred grove before church started to sing. They randomly picked out songs, completely unrehearsed, and started singing. It was a beautiful way to set the tone and spirit for the wonderful Sacrament Meeting that followed. These girls truly inspire me!

Brother Heywood was able to get/make Missionary badges for each of the SY's. The girls decided to wear red on Sunday

Our Sunday performance was done in all white. Don't they look like angels? Their spiritual program was amazing! These are some talented young ladies!

On Monday I helped Nancy for a short period of time to select photos for the dance party slide show. There were lots of great pictures taken by many different campers!

Kailin is displaying our Super Cape that has many of the heroic acts performed by campers. The Super Cape was presented to the Stake Young Women's Presidency.

This is the "Pants on the Ground" moment right before the SY's dance number. It was fun to hear Alyssa rap the tune.

At the Dance Party every dresses up in old prom dresses. One of the lady's in our stake has two huge tubs stuffed with a variety of dresses in many different sizes and colors. One of my SY's, Madi, picked this attractive black and white dress out for me. I added my long sleeved white t-shirt to the outfit to make it a little more modest :)

Camp was a TON of work but it was also quite rewarding. I am glad I was able to be a part of it this year.

Garden Update

2010-06-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Anyone want some Zucchini??? I can't believe how insanely huge my garden is!!! I just wanted to plant a little garden; however, the zucchini plants have 2 foot wide leaves, the tomato plants are full fledged monster bushes with hundreds of tomatoes growing on them, and the sun flowers dwarf the fence!Marianne checks out the garden. The tomato plants are out of control! In a week or so we will have more tomatoes than we can use. Its a good thing Amy and Bob want some so they can make salsa!

I can't find the carrots anymore! The jungle of leaves are hard to navigate through.

Our Garden

2010-05-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

This is the first garden Brent and I planted together. Technically, I dug out the 3 years worth of weeds in the planters, tilled the soil, planted all of the seeds and watered them daily until Brent put in the drip system. I'm so glad he finally put in the water system because the plants really took off after they were on a consistent watering schedule. This is my first garden in my adult life. I'm just amazed at how big everything has grown!

We have many tomatoes growing on our 9 tomato plants. This is the only plant we transplanted.

The zucchini plant has just started to grow zucchinis. In a few more weeks I'll be begging you to have some of them!

Our GIANT sunflowers have now reached the top of the fence. By next week, they will be peeking over the fence to look at the neighbor's pool.

Lastly, we have a few carrots that popped up. I haven't read up on when to know when the carrot is ready to be pulled and eaten.

I am going to have to declare that my first gardening experience as an adult is a success. I've enjoyed watching everything grow. I'm going to enjoy watching others eat all of the vegetables that are harvested :)

I love my boys!

2010-05-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes they are normal...

Sometimes they are NOT!

Snake Bite!

2010-05-15T16:33:00.001-07:00

This weekend Grant and Brent attend our ward fathers and sons outing out on the Mogillion Rim. The campsite was very difficult to find and it was dark by the time they arrived. Grant decided not to set up his tent and ran off with the other boys to have fun.

He had a great time hanging out with the other boys his age but as it got later into the evening it kept getting colder and colder. Eventually, Grant asked Brent for the keys to the car. Brent didn't know what he needed out of the car when he handed him the keys. As it got later into the evening and everyone else had gone to bed. Brent was worried about where Grant had gone and who he was hanging out with so late at night. He looked all over camp and asked one of the other late night campers if he had seen him. Eventually, Brent went to the car and found Grant sound asleep, in fetal position. He was shivering. Brent wrapped him up in his sleeping bag and let him sleep in the car for the night.

The next morning the smell of breakfast energized Grant out of his sleep. The ward breakfasts are always soooo good. Once food had been consumed, Grant and his friends were off exploring. While they were out, they found a bull snake. It wasn't huge and Dallin decided to pick it up. Although Grant is terrified of spiders, he had no problem taking the snake from Dallin and holding it. This is when the snake bit Grant on the thumb. According to Grant, he didn't freak out; however, the snake wouldn't let go of his thumb. I think I would have freaked out!!! In the end, the snake released Grant's thumb and left him with some teeth marks. The boys took the snake back to camp to tell their story.

Here is their "vicious" snake. Thank goodness it wasn't poisonous!

Trip to Safford

2010-05-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

On May 1st our family headed out of the hot valley to the much cooler Gila Valley to visit the new temple and go through it during the open house. Brent had never been to eastern Arizona so it was quite a scenic drive. We stopped in Globe at the Jack in the Box for some lunch. To Brent's surprise he recognized the manager of the restaurant. She was someone he hadn't seen for 15 years or so. I am always amazed at how he knows someone everywhere we go! The Gila Valley Temple is absolutely beautiful. Brent, Grant and I had minimal waiting time to get into the open house even though that Saturday was extremely busy with van-loads and bus-loads of people visiting the temple that day. As we were passing through the lobby of the temple, Brent recognized and said hi to someone else he knew from a long time ago. What are the odds of that????

Outside the temple we posed for a few shots in our very casual clothes. Julie said that you didn't have to wear "Sunday" clothes and since we were traveling and doing other things during the day we didn't. At least we weren't the only ones not in "Sunday" attire.

Grant loved being inside the temple. He had lots of questions. Later in the evening he was able to go back for a second tour with Julie, Jordan, Grandma and Gramps. Lucky!

Ahhhhh....its been almost 2 years that we've been married and we still look good together :)

So after we went on our tour and were heading back to the stake center for cookies, I heard someone call my name. When I turned around, I saw Sister Hensen and her family of 5 right behind me. I used to be in Surprise Ward with them. It was great to see her and her family and it made me feel better that Brent wasn't the only one who was able to run into people he used to associate with.

Once I got inside the stake center, I ran into the rest of the Surprise Ward young men, young women and their leaders. What a treat!!! I used to teach math to some of these kids. One of the 10 year old's there use to be in my Sunbeam class. It was a wonderful reunion! What are the odds that my Surprise Family would be in Gila Valley at the same time I was. This place was 200 miles from where we lived. It was so much fun catching up with all of them!!!

Once we left the temple we went to Joe and Kami's house to meet Ember. She is adorable. She is such a good baby. Loved being able to take care of her while we were there. Her brothers adore her. It was a blast to hang out with Justin. He is so funny. He claims that diaper changing is only for girls and didn't know how to address the fact that his dad had changed Ember's diaper last. All of the boys were anxious to wrestle and climb all over you. Good times!

Of course Mom (Grandma) had to hog Ember once she arrived at the house. I guess that's okay since this is her newest grand-daughter.

We stayed overnight in the luxurious Days Inn motel. Grant thought the Continental Breakfast was the coolest thing he ever had. All I need to do have at my house is lots of English muffins, dry pastries, generic donuts, and jam in little pouches and Grant will think I was the coolest person ever. On Sunday we attended Joe's ward to witness Ember's blessing. She was a perfect little angle; absolutely adorable.

It was an amazing weekend and we can hardly wait to come back for another visit.

2010 Pat's Run!

2010-04-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

This morning Brent and I ran in Pat's Run. This is an annual event that takes place at ASU where Pat Tillman played on the ASU football team. This is the 2nd time Brent and I participated in the 4.2 mile run. I am pleased to announce that we were able to jog/run the whole thing! We even beat our time last year by 4 minutes! Who knows what we will be able to do next year??? Brent and I crossed the finish line in 39 minutes and 48 seconds. I finished in 1,620th place out of the women in the race. Brent finished in 4,060th place out of the men. Overall, we finished in 5,685th and 5,689th place. There were 28,000 people signed up for the run this morning. I hate crowds! I hate the insane line of cars to get in and out of the place. And it is so annoying to start the race in the correct race bracket and have "supposedly" faster runners walking at the beginning of the race. Despite these irritations, I will be running again next year!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter egg hunt in our backyard this year. Robbie, Madi, Bearett, Andrew, Mitchell, Grant, Julie and Jordan all fought over collecting the most eggs. Madi is off to a great start finding the colorful eggs. How many eggs do you see in this picture? How many Easter baskets do you see in this picture? (Answers at the end!)

Mitchell is an awesome big cousin. Instead of finding eggs for himself, he buddied up with Andrew and helped Andrew find the most eggs. Andrew was so excited to be able to get all of the eggs that were hidden up high!

Julie is in on the action and trying to determine which ones are Easter eggs and which ones are lemons.

Andrew's egg collection bag is so weighed down that Mitchell gets to carry it!

Grant was the lucky winner of the HUGE yellow egg! There are lots of treats packed in this one!

Here are the answers to the hidden egg question:
There are 9 eggs and 2 Easter baskets!

Motorcycles!

2010-04-02T15:41:00.001-07:00

Before Brent and I were married, he started purchasing motorcycles that needed to be fixed. He ended up getting a half a dozen of them of various sizes and abilities. This last Fall he finally made time to start fixing them. It was a big undertaking and Mitchell helped where he could. Finally, in February he had a bike ready for Mitchell and a smaller bike ready for Grant to ride. (Brent already had a dirt bike that worked before this project began). Ever since the bikes became roadworthy and licensed, Mitchell and Brent have been taking off to 4 Peaks to go riding on Saturdays. They love it! They've been riding the trails, seeing the desert bloom and just having "manly" fun.

This is Sycamore Creek. The guys had to see how fast and deep it was before riding through it. It is so hot today that I think the water looks rather refreshing!

This last time Mitchell and Brent went, Brent ended up getting cholla stuck in his boot. I think this is a picture of Mitchell being the typical teenager displaying the skill of invincibility!

Grant is still learning to ride is motorcycle. He rides up and down the street in front of our house and has finally made it into 2nd gear. Eventually, he will be able to ride the trails with Mitchell and Brent!

My Baby Turned 13!

2010-03-22T18:29:00.001-07:00

This weekend Grant turned 13. Now both of my kids are teenagers! Life goes by so quickly! For Grant's birthday this year he wanted to take a few friends to Fiddlesticks, an amusement park in Tempe. Afterwards, his buddies came to our house for video games and to spend the night. The first thing all the boys wanted to do was drive the go-carts. I lost track of how many times they decided to ride on them. Later the did several rounds of miniature golf and then soaked each other on the bumper boats.

Right before we were going to leave, Grant and his friends chose to ride the "kiddie" rides. Yes, I had four teenage boys riding in dragons.

Watch the boys enjoy the Dragon Ride!

After the dizzying Dragon Ride was over, they jumped onto the train roller coaster. This one may make you throw up!

Take a look at the death defying train roller coaster!

Back at home we had ice cream and Grant's favorite cake, Jello Cake. Then the boys were off playing a variety of video games as late as their eyes would possibly let them!

As shocking as it may seem, the boys eventually stopped playing video games and went to sleep. This is the group right before the smell of pancakes woke them up!

After a hearty breakfast, Grant opened up all of his gifts. He received money and gift cards from his friends and relatives.

He received PSP games from his mom...

...as well as a PSP gaming case to house some of his fun.

Spring Break Adventure!

2010-03-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

Today we took a road trip to the Superstition Mountains. We drove past Lost Dutchman State Park and past Canyon Lake. We finally got out of the car when we reached Tortilla Flats. Brent and I have been here several times with our "biker gang" but never here on a weekday or arriving in a vehicle with four wheels. Grant is trilled to be out of the vehicle and ready to explore this interesting tourist trap!

My first stop was to the Ladies Room. This time I had someone take my picture while I peeked my head over the stall. All of the stalls in the Ladies Room have ladies painted on them. I've always wanted to be a "can can" dancer so I had to get my picture with this door. I wonder what pictures they have painted on the doors of the men's room ?

If you aren't a big fan of large boring museums than the museum at Tortilla Flats is for you. The entire museum is behind Grant and I and isn't more than 8 feet by 8 feet. You almost get claustrophobic while you are in there with more than three people!

Brent and I have a tradition to eat lunch at the outside patio and listen to the band. We weren't sure if the band played on weekdays. But it was our lucky day! There were crowds of people and we had to scavenger to find room at a picnic table. Brent's parents were able to join in on our Tortilla Flat traditions.

Brent and I love to eat the charbroiled burgers and then get ice cream at the the little ice cream shop. This time we both got chocolate ice cream. We had Brent's parents try the Prickly Pear Ice Cream. Don't worry, they take all the thorns out of the ice cream before you eat it!

This is the entertaining band at Tortilla Flats. They tell funny jokes and play pretty good music. The drummer had the longest drum solo I've ever heard in all my life. That was my cue to leave and get the ice cream!

At the edge of town, the creek crosses the road. Parts of the road/pavement have been heavily eroded by the fast moving creek. Grant loved hopping around all of the rocks in the creek. Brent is pointing to the waterfall that is created by the four foot drop from the road to the creek.

We left Tortilla Flats and chose to take the long way home. We drove up Highway 88 toward Roosevelt Lake. The road was 22 miles of DIRT. It wasn't paved! We stopped at Fish Creek Hill to check out a scenic view of the canyon.

Our next view from the road was of Apache Lake. This lake is between Roosevelt Lake and Canyon Lake. They are all connected by streams or creeks. Apache Lake is the smallest of the three lakes.

When the dirt road finally ended, we were at Roosevelt Damn. The water level was high enough to release water from the damn. It is amazing how fast the water is coming out!

Just watch the power of the water shooting out from the right side of the damn.

I am hoping you can see the rainbow that he water mist created. Very pretty!

Now we are on the other side of Roosevelt Damn looking at Roosevelt Lake and bridge. We ended up driving past this SUPER long lake and going to the town of Globe. From there we drove to Miami and Superior. I fell asleep at this point and woke up when we were on the Loop 202 and almost home. It was a long drive but it was great to see the desert so green, water in our Arizona lakes and a few wildflowers scattered along the side of the road.

Ostrich Festival 2010

2010-03-15T11:55:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, March 13th we attended the annual Chandler Ostrich Festival. This year Brent and I took Grant and Brent's parents to the festival. The first attraction we watched were the ostrich races. We were a little late for the event and didn't get great seats for it.

However, when the second event started, camel racing, we had a great view of the jockeys racing the camels around the track.

Brent's parents and Grant check out one of the camels after it finished the race.

All of the camels were anxious to chow down on some oats. This picture is funny because only one camel is getting the oats. The other three happen to already be chewing on some.

Camels aren't that soft to pet. Grant was careful to not get camel spit on him. As the camel chewed on various things, you could see into its mouth and see lots of saliva. Yuck! One of Grant's favorite places to visit at the festival was the petting zoo. The zoo had normal petting zoo animals like goats and sheep but it also had some unique animals too. Grant loved all of them!

This is a Watusi. It is a breed of cattle from Africa with gigantic horns. It's hard to imagine how this creature carries those huge horns around. Maybe its exhausting and this is why he is laying around the pen!

The baby goats loved Grant and Grant loved the baby goats. He truly has Robles blood running in his veins. We will have to find a way for him to have his own baby goats to raise :)

One of the last shows that we watched was all about Monkeys. This monkey is very colorful. His face changes colors depending on his mood. He looks frightening.

We are looking forward to attending the festival again next year! Maybe you'll be our next guest!

Grant and the Clarinet!

2010-03-14T11:11:00.001-07:00

Grant is a great bass clarinet player. He enjoys playing in the school band at Pueblo Middle
School. On Wednesday, March 10th he particpated in his spring band concert. His band performed three songs. His favorite of the three was Cyber Space Overture. It was very cool!

Grant will have one more band concert this year in May. We'll keep you posted on when it is so you can come!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2010-02-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

Another birthday has come and gone. The one great thing about a birthday is all the extra love people send your way.

My students sang "Happy Birthday" to me in every class period. One student even brought me a beautiful white rose. It smelt fabulous! I had many text messages with birthday wishes too. When I came home, Brent had a dozen red roses for me and we went out to the movies.

On Saturday, I was privileged to dinner at Grandma's house. She made some amazing lasagna and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I was showered with wonderful gifts from Grandma and Amy. By this point in my weekend birthday celebration, I am feeling pretty special.

However, Sunday morning everything changed from feeling special to feeling SUPER SPECIAL. Mitchell gave me his choicely selected birthday card. Here is what I saw when I got it out of the envelope.

I laughed so hard that tears started welling up in my eyes. I opened the card up and Mitchell's note to me said that his birthday gift to me was to make me laugh. He was VERY successful.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so great this year!