Happy Birthday to my
sweetheart Janey!
Thanksgiving in Pinetop
1 hour ago
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Visit to Utah
Cozette and Donovan having fun in
Utah
November, 2009
Playing in the Snow Saturday morning.
Off to BYU Life Science Museum. But first, a stop to eat at Wendy's.
African Turtle
Petting a snake!
Having fun at the museum
Walking back to the car in the snow.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
5 K in St. George
Dennis and Lynda invited Jack and I plus LaRee and Gary to come to St. George for the weekend to do the "Save a Sister 5 K" and to stay at their home for a mini vacation. Jack and I drove down with LaRee and Gary on Friday night and met Dennis and Lynda there, in fact we beat them there.
Here we all are early Saturday morning, ready for our races....don't we bright eyed and bushy tailed?
As many of you know, my brother Dennis has ran many marathons in the past 10 years, so he registered for the 10 K, which is 6.13 miles. Lynda has participated in several 5 Ks, which is 3.13 miles. But for the rest of us, none of us have participated in one, ( I walked in one for breast cancer in Phoenix at the beginning of the month. It hardly counts, there are so many people walking that one can hardly move, very crowded.) This was my first race where your time is posted.
I walked a 5 K every morning with Lynda so I wasn't worried.
Gary, LaRee, me and Lynda just before the start of our race.
I had ABBA on my ipod (I finally got tired of the soundtrack from "Momma Mia") and was in my personal best walking mode....Lynda was right there close by and Gary and LaRee were pulling up the rear. We each walked our personal best, keep in mind that we all are in 4 different age catagories. For example, I was in the 50 to 54 age group.
Here I am, hamming it up for my picture as I cross the finish line. See how serious I take this race? I was having fun and happy to be done. You can't see Lynda but she wasn't far behind me.
Here's my time....I finished in 100th place overall, and 6th in my age group. My time was 42:08.4 which meant I walked 13.33 minutes a mile. There were nine people in my age group and the best time in my age level was like 29 or 30 minutes. It's nice to know that I have room for improvement (I'm rolling my eyes)
Me with my walking buddy, my sister in law Lynda. I wanted to beat her but she just kept right there with me! Don't get me wrong, we both did really well, our personal best, but because of our age difference, we weren't in the same group, so while our times were the same, I was 6th place for my age group, Lynda was in 2 in her's! And she was to win an award!!!!
Lynda excepting her 2 place award, the coveted acrylic cancer awareness ribbon.
My sister LaRee won the 3rd place award for her age group, well, actually they put her in the wrong age group, made her a year younger, but that's ok, she still would have been in 3rd place and did very well.
I won nothing, but the personal satisfaction of doing my best and the determination to continue to take the opportunites to participate in future 5 Ks, maybe even venturing to 10 Ks and beyond...as I grow older to where my time will eventually be the fastest for my age group!
My brother Dennis did his personal best in his 10K, I believe he was a few minutes after us and he did 6.13 miles almost the same time as we did our 3.13! But then remember, he's a seasoned runner and I wish I could be like that. Right now, I'm still sticking to the 5Ks, and walking.
I think this picture is really cute of LaRee, Lynda and Dennis (and a bit of my profile), I believe we were giggling about the find awards they were giving out....the acrylic cut out in the shape of the breast awareness ribbon. Lynda was hoping for the pink socks.
We had so much fun on our little mini vacation! Thanks Lynda and Dennis!
Watch for us in the next 5K....we can only get better!!!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hiking Mt. Timp
I never have been very athletic, in fact, when it comes to sports, I'm a complete dork...I was the kid that almost always got chosen last for a team since I was so bad. I never have been able to hit a baseball with a bat, I can serve pretty good in volleyball, but I'm scared to death of a volleyball hurling towards me... and I duck. I can't run fast or long. I can shoot baskets, but only in a game of "horse" not in a usual basketball game. I can't hit a tennis ball to save my life, although it seems I was okay in badminton. I can swim, but only for my recreation.
I use to jog in the 70's when jogging first became a big thing, but I never got over my shins hurting so I gave it up. I do enjoy the occasional aerobic workout and I absolutely love working out on an elliptical machine. I also enjoy walking, but other then that, I'm not into sports.
Recently, I have discovered that I enjoy hiking. It all started last May when my friend Chris invited me and Cheri to hike up to the Timpanoga Cave. We had so much fun but quickly realized we needed to build up our endurance, so we went a couple of times, each time it became easier and we were faster. But this wasn't just for fun....we had a goal...to hike up to the top of Mt. Timpanogas! (dun dun DUN!)
So, one week we hiked up to Stewart Falls which is above Sundance. Another week we hiked up to Battlecreek Falls, and yet another week we hiked up to Scout Falls. All were easy hikes, maybe 3 to 5 miles round trip, not bad at all.
Sept. 19th, the long awaited day started at 6:00 am, we wanted to get an early start so that we could be up at the top we figured by noon to 1:00pm. We had a slight delay waiting for a turn to use the public bathroom because of a group of giggling college girls, but we started on the trail probably by 6:45, it was just starting to get light.
We knew that we wanted to take our time, knowing that we weren't a fast group of hikers, which is one of the reason I enjoy hiking with my hiking buddies, they aren't fast. Both Cheri and Chris are excellent photographers, so they would stop to take pictures frequently, which also makes a good resting moment for us.
This is me and my friend Chris posing not long after we have started our hike. We just rolled out of bed, doesn't it look it? The morning was so fresh and clear, slighty cool, absolutely beautiful!
This is a cool wooden bridge that we cross not long after we have passed the turn off for Scout Falls, which is about 2 1/2 miles into our hike. We all really like this bridge, thought it looked really cool....I always think "trip, trap, trip, trap..." Come on, remember the story for Billy Goat Gruff?
We're still in the valley a bit here, looking up on the hill side to where we will be eventually climbing. There were only a few fall leaves, not as much as we had hoped, but still very pretty just the same. As we started to climb, we needed to take more frequent breaks to catch our breaths. Even though we've been working out all summer, and our legs were strong, it still didn't quite prepare us for the thinner air as we climbed higher, so the stops weren't for tired legs but just to get air into our lungs. I have to say, I was feeling pretty good still at this point and totally enjoying this hike.
Since it was a saturday, the trail was full of other hikers, passing us each way. We met many nice people along the way, all had very encouraging things to say to us. Some would let us know that we were "getting close to the meadow..." which meant we were almost to an area that would flatten out for awhile to give us a break from climbing before we had to really climb.
Here is the meadow! And that is my friend Cheri, who decided she needed to rest awhile. Chris and I are sitting nearby. This is where we ate our lunch and tried to get our second wind to continue on up to the top of Mt. Timp. I believe that the meadow is about 5 miles from the beginning of the hike or so. The group of trees was our toilet area....the only thing I do not enjoy about hikes by the way...
It was at this point that Chris pointed out to us how if you looked at the top of the hill, you could see these itty bitty tiny people moving around...and thats where were heading. "Oh," I thought to myself, "that looks impossibly high, and steep!" What I said out loud was, "Oh, cool." You know, we kept passing older people so even though it looks high, it much not be that hard, right?
I decided that my friends we're going too slow, so I went on ahead of them. Once we started to climb up the trail, I really didn't want to stop because I felt the longer I hiked, the less closer that mountain was getting. In other words, it was taking forever! The last 2 miles were quite a climb with switch backs like crazy....and rocky! The kind of rocks that you step on and some go sliding on down the hill. Its a mountain goat trail. Last time I looked, I was not a mountain goat. Oh, and about 2 miles ago, my right shoe broke, so I was dealing with a slight handicap.
I love this picture! This is a typical trail that you see over and over again as you're hiking on up. Even though the climb was getting rough, I was still enjoying the beauty of the whole mountain. We were high enough that you could see down to where we had been earlier, and the surrounding mountains and thick, fluffy clouds in a blue sky. It was amazingly pretty.
As I was climbing up the last few switch backs, which had become even more steep, I stopped to catch my breath and realized that the itty bitty tiny people that I had seen down in the meadow, were now normal size people and if I looked down to the meadow, people down there were quite tiny. I was amazed just how high I was and how close I was finally to the top of Mt. Timp. I could see my friends still down the trail from me so I knew they were still coming and I went on up and reached the top first! (and I'm the oldest, ha!)
And here is the view from the Saddle, which is the top of Mt. Timp....not the highest point, which is the Summit, but at this point, I was pretty impressed with myself that I had made it to this point, and a bit freaked out when I looked up to the Summit, which would have been another mile, almost straight up, and I could see how itty bitty the people looked going up there...well, I decided I didn't want that adventure. The wind was blowing so strong, it was rocky and so steep...I really couldn't see how it could possibly be safe to go on up to the Summit. The trails were incredibly small, and did I mention, steep?! While I sat and waited for my friends to reach the Saddle, I decided I wasn't going to make the climb on up to the Summit and no one was going to talk me into it.
I had almost 20 minutes to myself on the Saddle waiting for my friends to join me so I looked at the view, and watched people going back down, and it hit me how it was really great that I made it up here and all, but soon, I'll have to go back down....Watching everyone else, I realized with a sense of dread, that it didn't look easy.
Here is me and Cheri at the top of the Saddle....see how rocky and steep it looks? And look at my hair and body language....I'm braced against a very hard wind!
Cheri arrived and she told me her legs felt like jelly and how very, very tired she was, and by the way, she has a fear of heights! I thought, good, she won't want to go on up to the Summit. She called her husband to tell him we made it to the top, and after awhile (we're still waiting for Chris), Cheri handed me her back pack and said "I'll never do this again, I'm going on up!" And just like that, she left me and started up the Summit! I yelled, "don't you want to wait to see if Chris wants to go too?" But she went on ahead. I had told Cheri I wasn't going on up, so I guess she thought it'd be cool if I stayed there and waited. It was already after 3 in the afternoon by this time.
Chris arrive maybe 10 minutes later. We were trying to see if we could tell where our neighborhood is from our view up there on the Saddle. We're at 11,000 ft or more so its almost like looking down from an airplane. Chris called one of her sons and he went to our church parking lot and flashed a mirror, then we could see that flash and see where we live. It was awesome that we could see that so far away.
We could also see storm clouds gathering in the west, almost eye level to us since we were up so high. It really made us nervous when we saw lighting, and we could see all these little dots, which were boats, on Utah Lake coming into shore, most likely because they too could see the gathering storm clouds and lighting. We needed to start down the mountain, and soon! But we needed to wait for Cheri.
We were getting a bit concern, but then I noticed that I could see what looked like to be Cheri slowly making her way back down the trail. Happily for us, Cheri wasn't able to keep climbing up to the Summit, and so within minutes, we were making our way back down the trail. Some nice people passed us and Chris thought to ask them to take our picture right then since we never did get a chance to ask anyone to take one of the three of us at the top.
So this is us just as we were starting back down from the Saddle. Even though our goal was the Summit, we agreed that we had done quite a feat to make it to the Saddle. I have to brag here that physically, I was still feeling pretty good, no tired legs or muscles....but mentally, I was a bit freaked out. This was so high and I couldn't see how so many people hike this all the time without any deaths. It's scarey up there! Pretty, but scarey! I was definitely ready to get back down. Call me chicken, I don't care.
Going down seemed to take forever! It was harder in that you really had to watch how you stepped down, some steps were very steep and so it was jarring to my feet. When we reached the meadows (remember about 5 more miles left still) I could feel I was getting blisters on the big toe and the bottom of my feet were getting very sore. Chris and Cheri said their legs were tired and they still made frequent stops. I was afraid if I stopped and sat down to rest, I'd never get up again! I would stop and wait for them to catch up simply because everyone else seemed to be gone. All those other hikers were already finished! It was getting evening and it was too quiet, so I'd wait till I could hear my friends getting close so I wouldn't be alone.
By time we got within the last maybe mile and a half, it finally hit me how incredibly exhausted I felt, how much my feet hurt, and yes, now my legs were tired too. It was dark by now and lucky for us, Chris is practically a Boy Scout (always prepared) and she had a flashlight, so we walk (stumbled) close together while Chris shined the light on the trail. We made it back to the parking lot where a Ranger was waiting to make sure we got down okay (we were impressed by that) and dragged our extremely worn out bodies to the car. It had taken us 13 1/2 hrs. to do our hike!
At one point, on our way down, I said something about feeling pretty good for a 7 mile hike and Chris pointed out its more like 15 round trip...(!) No wonder we were so tired and yay us! We did it and if we hadn't have been so tired, we would have patted ourselves on the back. Instead, we discussed hot showers, ibprofin and bed. All of which we couldn't wait to do.
Getting out of the car was hard, I could hardly move when my friends dropped me off at the house. Somehow I made it though and got a nice, hot shower. Sadly, my all terrain shoes didn't make it, I had to toss them. I felt better after a shower and a meal, although going up or down the stairs was a new experience in pain. I remember in the middle of the night, I needed to get up to go to the bathroom and I couldn't move and I wondered, "what's wrong with me? Everything hurts!" Then it all came back to me, the walking and walking and walking, etc. (brings to mind a primary song....)
At church the next day, I saw my hiking buddies. We whined about how sore we were but still so happy that we accomplished the goal. We all agreed we were definitely interested in more hiking. Chris handed me a book called, "Utah's Favorite Hiking Trails." She assigned me to look through it and decide where we should possibly hike in the future. Okay, I'll do that after church....
I open the book, and what do I read..."WARNING: HIKING INVOLVES RISK!" Now they tell me I think to myself. But then I read, "Hiking is a sport, not a pastime..." I'm thrilled! I finally found a sport I can do!!! And by Monday, I wasn't hardly sore anymore at all. Again, yay me!!!!
My hiking Buddies: Cheri and Chris
I use to jog in the 70's when jogging first became a big thing, but I never got over my shins hurting so I gave it up. I do enjoy the occasional aerobic workout and I absolutely love working out on an elliptical machine. I also enjoy walking, but other then that, I'm not into sports.
Recently, I have discovered that I enjoy hiking. It all started last May when my friend Chris invited me and Cheri to hike up to the Timpanoga Cave. We had so much fun but quickly realized we needed to build up our endurance, so we went a couple of times, each time it became easier and we were faster. But this wasn't just for fun....we had a goal...to hike up to the top of Mt. Timpanogas! (dun dun DUN!)
So, one week we hiked up to Stewart Falls which is above Sundance. Another week we hiked up to Battlecreek Falls, and yet another week we hiked up to Scout Falls. All were easy hikes, maybe 3 to 5 miles round trip, not bad at all.
Sept. 19th, the long awaited day started at 6:00 am, we wanted to get an early start so that we could be up at the top we figured by noon to 1:00pm. We had a slight delay waiting for a turn to use the public bathroom because of a group of giggling college girls, but we started on the trail probably by 6:45, it was just starting to get light.
We knew that we wanted to take our time, knowing that we weren't a fast group of hikers, which is one of the reason I enjoy hiking with my hiking buddies, they aren't fast. Both Cheri and Chris are excellent photographers, so they would stop to take pictures frequently, which also makes a good resting moment for us.
This is me and my friend Chris posing not long after we have started our hike. We just rolled out of bed, doesn't it look it? The morning was so fresh and clear, slighty cool, absolutely beautiful!
This is a cool wooden bridge that we cross not long after we have passed the turn off for Scout Falls, which is about 2 1/2 miles into our hike. We all really like this bridge, thought it looked really cool....I always think "trip, trap, trip, trap..." Come on, remember the story for Billy Goat Gruff?
We're still in the valley a bit here, looking up on the hill side to where we will be eventually climbing. There were only a few fall leaves, not as much as we had hoped, but still very pretty just the same. As we started to climb, we needed to take more frequent breaks to catch our breaths. Even though we've been working out all summer, and our legs were strong, it still didn't quite prepare us for the thinner air as we climbed higher, so the stops weren't for tired legs but just to get air into our lungs. I have to say, I was feeling pretty good still at this point and totally enjoying this hike.
Since it was a saturday, the trail was full of other hikers, passing us each way. We met many nice people along the way, all had very encouraging things to say to us. Some would let us know that we were "getting close to the meadow..." which meant we were almost to an area that would flatten out for awhile to give us a break from climbing before we had to really climb.
Here is the meadow! And that is my friend Cheri, who decided she needed to rest awhile. Chris and I are sitting nearby. This is where we ate our lunch and tried to get our second wind to continue on up to the top of Mt. Timp. I believe that the meadow is about 5 miles from the beginning of the hike or so. The group of trees was our toilet area....the only thing I do not enjoy about hikes by the way...It was at this point that Chris pointed out to us how if you looked at the top of the hill, you could see these itty bitty tiny people moving around...and thats where were heading. "Oh," I thought to myself, "that looks impossibly high, and steep!" What I said out loud was, "Oh, cool." You know, we kept passing older people so even though it looks high, it much not be that hard, right?
I decided that my friends we're going too slow, so I went on ahead of them. Once we started to climb up the trail, I really didn't want to stop because I felt the longer I hiked, the less closer that mountain was getting. In other words, it was taking forever! The last 2 miles were quite a climb with switch backs like crazy....and rocky! The kind of rocks that you step on and some go sliding on down the hill. Its a mountain goat trail. Last time I looked, I was not a mountain goat. Oh, and about 2 miles ago, my right shoe broke, so I was dealing with a slight handicap.
I love this picture! This is a typical trail that you see over and over again as you're hiking on up. Even though the climb was getting rough, I was still enjoying the beauty of the whole mountain. We were high enough that you could see down to where we had been earlier, and the surrounding mountains and thick, fluffy clouds in a blue sky. It was amazingly pretty.As I was climbing up the last few switch backs, which had become even more steep, I stopped to catch my breath and realized that the itty bitty tiny people that I had seen down in the meadow, were now normal size people and if I looked down to the meadow, people down there were quite tiny. I was amazed just how high I was and how close I was finally to the top of Mt. Timp. I could see my friends still down the trail from me so I knew they were still coming and I went on up and reached the top first! (and I'm the oldest, ha!)
And here is the view from the Saddle, which is the top of Mt. Timp....not the highest point, which is the Summit, but at this point, I was pretty impressed with myself that I had made it to this point, and a bit freaked out when I looked up to the Summit, which would have been another mile, almost straight up, and I could see how itty bitty the people looked going up there...well, I decided I didn't want that adventure. The wind was blowing so strong, it was rocky and so steep...I really couldn't see how it could possibly be safe to go on up to the Summit. The trails were incredibly small, and did I mention, steep?! While I sat and waited for my friends to reach the Saddle, I decided I wasn't going to make the climb on up to the Summit and no one was going to talk me into it.I had almost 20 minutes to myself on the Saddle waiting for my friends to join me so I looked at the view, and watched people going back down, and it hit me how it was really great that I made it up here and all, but soon, I'll have to go back down....Watching everyone else, I realized with a sense of dread, that it didn't look easy.
Here is me and Cheri at the top of the Saddle....see how rocky and steep it looks? And look at my hair and body language....I'm braced against a very hard wind!Cheri arrived and she told me her legs felt like jelly and how very, very tired she was, and by the way, she has a fear of heights! I thought, good, she won't want to go on up to the Summit. She called her husband to tell him we made it to the top, and after awhile (we're still waiting for Chris), Cheri handed me her back pack and said "I'll never do this again, I'm going on up!" And just like that, she left me and started up the Summit! I yelled, "don't you want to wait to see if Chris wants to go too?" But she went on ahead. I had told Cheri I wasn't going on up, so I guess she thought it'd be cool if I stayed there and waited. It was already after 3 in the afternoon by this time.
Chris arrive maybe 10 minutes later. We were trying to see if we could tell where our neighborhood is from our view up there on the Saddle. We're at 11,000 ft or more so its almost like looking down from an airplane. Chris called one of her sons and he went to our church parking lot and flashed a mirror, then we could see that flash and see where we live. It was awesome that we could see that so far away.
We could also see storm clouds gathering in the west, almost eye level to us since we were up so high. It really made us nervous when we saw lighting, and we could see all these little dots, which were boats, on Utah Lake coming into shore, most likely because they too could see the gathering storm clouds and lighting. We needed to start down the mountain, and soon! But we needed to wait for Cheri.
We were getting a bit concern, but then I noticed that I could see what looked like to be Cheri slowly making her way back down the trail. Happily for us, Cheri wasn't able to keep climbing up to the Summit, and so within minutes, we were making our way back down the trail. Some nice people passed us and Chris thought to ask them to take our picture right then since we never did get a chance to ask anyone to take one of the three of us at the top.
So this is us just as we were starting back down from the Saddle. Even though our goal was the Summit, we agreed that we had done quite a feat to make it to the Saddle. I have to brag here that physically, I was still feeling pretty good, no tired legs or muscles....but mentally, I was a bit freaked out. This was so high and I couldn't see how so many people hike this all the time without any deaths. It's scarey up there! Pretty, but scarey! I was definitely ready to get back down. Call me chicken, I don't care.Going down seemed to take forever! It was harder in that you really had to watch how you stepped down, some steps were very steep and so it was jarring to my feet. When we reached the meadows (remember about 5 more miles left still) I could feel I was getting blisters on the big toe and the bottom of my feet were getting very sore. Chris and Cheri said their legs were tired and they still made frequent stops. I was afraid if I stopped and sat down to rest, I'd never get up again! I would stop and wait for them to catch up simply because everyone else seemed to be gone. All those other hikers were already finished! It was getting evening and it was too quiet, so I'd wait till I could hear my friends getting close so I wouldn't be alone.
By time we got within the last maybe mile and a half, it finally hit me how incredibly exhausted I felt, how much my feet hurt, and yes, now my legs were tired too. It was dark by now and lucky for us, Chris is practically a Boy Scout (always prepared) and she had a flashlight, so we walk (stumbled) close together while Chris shined the light on the trail. We made it back to the parking lot where a Ranger was waiting to make sure we got down okay (we were impressed by that) and dragged our extremely worn out bodies to the car. It had taken us 13 1/2 hrs. to do our hike!
At one point, on our way down, I said something about feeling pretty good for a 7 mile hike and Chris pointed out its more like 15 round trip...(!) No wonder we were so tired and yay us! We did it and if we hadn't have been so tired, we would have patted ourselves on the back. Instead, we discussed hot showers, ibprofin and bed. All of which we couldn't wait to do.
Getting out of the car was hard, I could hardly move when my friends dropped me off at the house. Somehow I made it though and got a nice, hot shower. Sadly, my all terrain shoes didn't make it, I had to toss them. I felt better after a shower and a meal, although going up or down the stairs was a new experience in pain. I remember in the middle of the night, I needed to get up to go to the bathroom and I couldn't move and I wondered, "what's wrong with me? Everything hurts!" Then it all came back to me, the walking and walking and walking, etc. (brings to mind a primary song....)
At church the next day, I saw my hiking buddies. We whined about how sore we were but still so happy that we accomplished the goal. We all agreed we were definitely interested in more hiking. Chris handed me a book called, "Utah's Favorite Hiking Trails." She assigned me to look through it and decide where we should possibly hike in the future. Okay, I'll do that after church....
I open the book, and what do I read..."WARNING: HIKING INVOLVES RISK!" Now they tell me I think to myself. But then I read, "Hiking is a sport, not a pastime..." I'm thrilled! I finally found a sport I can do!!! And by Monday, I wasn't hardly sore anymore at all. Again, yay me!!!!
My hiking Buddies: Cheri and ChrisTuesday, August 18, 2009
Summer Vacation In Arizona
I had so much fun in Arizona this summer for my vacation, that I haven't done any blogging and now have possibly forgotten everything. I do have some pictures that hopefully will help me remember.
Everyday, I take Cozette and Donovan swimming for a couple of hours. They have a very nice private pool just down a few houses from their home, so we're able to easily walk there with all our belongings and enjoy the cool waters.
This is the only picture I have of the pool in Jared and Astrid's neighborhood where I spent hours with the kids swimming. It's really a nice, well kept area with the nicest plants and flowers and palm trees growing around the whole pool, you can see a bit of them here and a some of the ramada that has a couple of picnic tables under it. It's enclosed with a self locking fence so its nice and safe. It's like a mini paradise. Very relaxing. Although you can't tell it by the kid's expression and body language, we had hours and hours of fun swimming and laughing together! It was probably 110 or 112 out.
One Friday night, Jordan, Carly, Sam, Josh, Kortnei and I met at Chick-fila to eat, then afterwards we went to San Tan Mall and let Sam play in the splash pad, which was a hoot to watch little Sam try and get to where the water shoots out.
There was a sign warning to wear shoes, that pavement is slippery when wet. Sam did slip and fell and he just laid there like he was thinking "I'm a goner!" Made us all laugh (once we saw he wasn't hurt of course) Cute!
Uncle Josh couldn't resist a little kiss!
And here's Aunt Kortnei watching Sam play...then I handed her the camera and she took better pictures of Sam then I did. I have alot more of Sam playing in the water but its on my laptop that is not working and therefore I can't get to them. But they were all cute pictures!
One week, I drove up to Snowflake, which is almost a 3 hour drive, to visit Jaclyn and David. As many trips as I'm able to make to AZ, I don't always get to see Jaclyn and David because they live in Snowflake and the rest of my kids are in the valley. So, I decided to go to them. It turned out that David was going to be at his ward Scout Camp, so we were able to have a girl's week, or at least a few days together. Jaclyn already told you about what we did, and it wasn't anything special, just fun for me to hang out with my daughter, talk constantly (we're both talkers....) and laugh alot. Jaclyn and I have always enjoyed not doing much, just hanging together and it was fun to do it again for a week. Jaclyn's husband is a really great guy and I enjoy him also. I especially enjoy observing how much he loves my Jaclyn.
Here's Jaclyn cooking. Jaclyn treated me like a guest! She cooked for me, served me and made sure at every moment I was comfortable. She cooked good meals, popped popcorn, made s'mores, I loved it! I so enjoy being lazy...and eating....
Here's Jaclyn reading. She can read a book in a day....she speed reads! She's smiling cause she knew I was taking this picture, but if I could have done it without her knowing, she would have a very serious look of concentration on her face. I think she read five books while I was there, maybe six....I read, maybe one....This is one thing we've always had in common, our love for books and reading. Jaclyn is just much more faster then I.
I look a little crazy but here I am, knitting a sweater for Jaclyn.....and no, it's not done yet. But it was fun working on it. I've never knitted a sweater for a grown person, I use to knit sweaters for my kids when they were little, one each I believe. One day, I hope to finish this sweater and Jaclyn will model it, no matter how it looks, right Jaclyn?
Here's our "my space" shot, meaning we took it of ourselves. I love my Jaclyn, she's funny, sweet and kind, with the biggest heart. She and David have alot of faith and I so appreciate that about them. I had an awesome week with Jaclyn and when David was around, he was fun too. He works hard and has fun doing it. Good kids!
I drove back to the valley a day earlier then planned because Jared called and told me that he had to take Astrid to the ER that morning. He had woke up that morning and looked at her and saw that her breathing was very shallow and that she didn't look right. On closer examination, he noticed that she didn't have her insulin pump on....he didn't know why but he recognized the problem immediately as this has happened before.
She was unconscious and he had to carry her to the car. He didn't call 911 because he knew that they would take her to the closet hospital, which would have been the wrong one, and they would have air lifted her to the right one, and he felt he could get her there much faster. The dr. told Jared that was probably the smartest thing, Jared driving Astrid there himself instead of calling 911, for he'd never seen anyone as bad as Astrid was when she came in.
Once they got her all hooked up, her numbers started going down. When I was able to see her friday afternoon, she was still unconscious, hooked up on all kinds of things and in the ICU. Later that night, Astrid was awake and able to talk, although she doesn't remember us visiting her and carrying on a conversation. She lost a whole day, she couldn't remember anything.
By sat. morning, Astrid was off the breathing machine and moved into her own room. She kept getting better and was released by sunday evening to go back home. We sure are grateful that Jared woke up early friday morning and noticed Astrid and recognized that she needed prompt medical attention. I believe that Heavenly Father was watching over them. I don't have any pictures of Astrid since she was sick so much while I was in town, and I'm not sure why I don't have any of Jared. I did have dinner alone with Jared one night and we had a good visit. Jared works two jobs so he's a super busy guy!
Here are a couple of pictures of Sam playing with one of his toys. He puts a ball down a tube and it shoots up high in the air and makes all kinds of noise! He was so cute to watch while he played. Well, he's just so cute period!
I also was able to spend many afternoons swimming with all three of my grandkids at Sam's pool and Jill came too. Jill lives in Phoenix, about 48 miles away, so we took turns visiting...I'd go to meet her after work in Scottsdale and we'd spend a few hours shopping and having dinner together. Then she'd drive out to stay with me on saturdays where we'd shop and also swim. It was so much fun for me to be able to spend all this time with Jill.
One afternoon after our swim, I brought the kids back to Josh's house with me to have dinner. They were playing in the backyard on the trampoline and noticed how tall the grass was getting, so they asked Uncle Josh if they could cut the grass. At first, they busied themselves cutting the grass under the trampoline with sissors (it was shady under there). Then, once Josh was ready, he got out the lawn mower and let them go to work. Both Cozette and Donovan thought it was great fun!
Grandpa Jack is back in town, which only means one thing....he's coming to bring me back to Utah. 
Love Sam's smile!
We went out to eat on my last night in town with all the kids except for Jared's family. Jared was at work, so we stopped to see him for awhile. These two pictures are of us sitting along a fountain outside of a frozen yogurt place. Left to right, baby Sam, Jordan, Carly, me, Josh and Kortnei. Jack took this one of us.
Then we took this picture with Jack using the timer on his camera. It's not the best picture, but hopefully you can see how much fun we were having. As many times as I go to visit my kids, no matter how long I stay, it's always with a heavy heart that I leave them, wishing I didn't have to go back. I love them all!
The whole time I'm playing with my kids in Az, Jack is back in Utah working and I miss him not being with me. I was glad to see him after five weeks! We took the senic drive on the way to Flagstaff, through Cottonwood and Sedona. We stopped at a senic view spot of the canyon where we took some pictures. Above is our "my space" shot.
Here's the view!
Jack wanted to take a picture of me with the canyon behind me, so I stood ready and I asked him if he could see the pretty canyon and he said "I see a pretty girl." That made me laugh...that's why I look so toothy, I was cracking up. The view was quite pretty though of the trees and canyon. We had a fun time being together after such a long separation. Jack is the sweetest guy in the world, I'm a lucky girl!
This is the only picture I have of the pool in Jared and Astrid's neighborhood where I spent hours with the kids swimming. It's really a nice, well kept area with the nicest plants and flowers and palm trees growing around the whole pool, you can see a bit of them here and a some of the ramada that has a couple of picnic tables under it. It's enclosed with a self locking fence so its nice and safe. It's like a mini paradise. Very relaxing. Although you can't tell it by the kid's expression and body language, we had hours and hours of fun swimming and laughing together! It was probably 110 or 112 out.
One Friday night, Jordan, Carly, Sam, Josh, Kortnei and I met at Chick-fila to eat, then afterwards we went to San Tan Mall and let Sam play in the splash pad, which was a hoot to watch little Sam try and get to where the water shoots out.
There was a sign warning to wear shoes, that pavement is slippery when wet. Sam did slip and fell and he just laid there like he was thinking "I'm a goner!" Made us all laugh (once we saw he wasn't hurt of course) Cute!
Uncle Josh couldn't resist a little kiss!
And here's Aunt Kortnei watching Sam play...then I handed her the camera and she took better pictures of Sam then I did. I have alot more of Sam playing in the water but its on my laptop that is not working and therefore I can't get to them. But they were all cute pictures!One week, I drove up to Snowflake, which is almost a 3 hour drive, to visit Jaclyn and David. As many trips as I'm able to make to AZ, I don't always get to see Jaclyn and David because they live in Snowflake and the rest of my kids are in the valley. So, I decided to go to them. It turned out that David was going to be at his ward Scout Camp, so we were able to have a girl's week, or at least a few days together. Jaclyn already told you about what we did, and it wasn't anything special, just fun for me to hang out with my daughter, talk constantly (we're both talkers....) and laugh alot. Jaclyn and I have always enjoyed not doing much, just hanging together and it was fun to do it again for a week. Jaclyn's husband is a really great guy and I enjoy him also. I especially enjoy observing how much he loves my Jaclyn.
Here's Jaclyn cooking. Jaclyn treated me like a guest! She cooked for me, served me and made sure at every moment I was comfortable. She cooked good meals, popped popcorn, made s'mores, I loved it! I so enjoy being lazy...and eating....
Here's Jaclyn reading. She can read a book in a day....she speed reads! She's smiling cause she knew I was taking this picture, but if I could have done it without her knowing, she would have a very serious look of concentration on her face. I think she read five books while I was there, maybe six....I read, maybe one....This is one thing we've always had in common, our love for books and reading. Jaclyn is just much more faster then I.
I look a little crazy but here I am, knitting a sweater for Jaclyn.....and no, it's not done yet. But it was fun working on it. I've never knitted a sweater for a grown person, I use to knit sweaters for my kids when they were little, one each I believe. One day, I hope to finish this sweater and Jaclyn will model it, no matter how it looks, right Jaclyn?
Here's our "my space" shot, meaning we took it of ourselves. I love my Jaclyn, she's funny, sweet and kind, with the biggest heart. She and David have alot of faith and I so appreciate that about them. I had an awesome week with Jaclyn and when David was around, he was fun too. He works hard and has fun doing it. Good kids!I drove back to the valley a day earlier then planned because Jared called and told me that he had to take Astrid to the ER that morning. He had woke up that morning and looked at her and saw that her breathing was very shallow and that she didn't look right. On closer examination, he noticed that she didn't have her insulin pump on....he didn't know why but he recognized the problem immediately as this has happened before.
She was unconscious and he had to carry her to the car. He didn't call 911 because he knew that they would take her to the closet hospital, which would have been the wrong one, and they would have air lifted her to the right one, and he felt he could get her there much faster. The dr. told Jared that was probably the smartest thing, Jared driving Astrid there himself instead of calling 911, for he'd never seen anyone as bad as Astrid was when she came in.
Once they got her all hooked up, her numbers started going down. When I was able to see her friday afternoon, she was still unconscious, hooked up on all kinds of things and in the ICU. Later that night, Astrid was awake and able to talk, although she doesn't remember us visiting her and carrying on a conversation. She lost a whole day, she couldn't remember anything.
By sat. morning, Astrid was off the breathing machine and moved into her own room. She kept getting better and was released by sunday evening to go back home. We sure are grateful that Jared woke up early friday morning and noticed Astrid and recognized that she needed prompt medical attention. I believe that Heavenly Father was watching over them. I don't have any pictures of Astrid since she was sick so much while I was in town, and I'm not sure why I don't have any of Jared. I did have dinner alone with Jared one night and we had a good visit. Jared works two jobs so he's a super busy guy!
Here are a couple of pictures of Sam playing with one of his toys. He puts a ball down a tube and it shoots up high in the air and makes all kinds of noise! He was so cute to watch while he played. Well, he's just so cute period!
I also was able to spend many afternoons swimming with all three of my grandkids at Sam's pool and Jill came too. Jill lives in Phoenix, about 48 miles away, so we took turns visiting...I'd go to meet her after work in Scottsdale and we'd spend a few hours shopping and having dinner together. Then she'd drive out to stay with me on saturdays where we'd shop and also swim. It was so much fun for me to be able to spend all this time with Jill.
One afternoon after our swim, I brought the kids back to Josh's house with me to have dinner. They were playing in the backyard on the trampoline and noticed how tall the grass was getting, so they asked Uncle Josh if they could cut the grass. At first, they busied themselves cutting the grass under the trampoline with sissors (it was shady under there). Then, once Josh was ready, he got out the lawn mower and let them go to work. Both Cozette and Donovan thought it was great fun!
Grandpa Jack is back in town, which only means one thing....he's coming to bring me back to Utah. 
Love Sam's smile!
We went out to eat on my last night in town with all the kids except for Jared's family. Jared was at work, so we stopped to see him for awhile. These two pictures are of us sitting along a fountain outside of a frozen yogurt place. Left to right, baby Sam, Jordan, Carly, me, Josh and Kortnei. Jack took this one of us.
Then we took this picture with Jack using the timer on his camera. It's not the best picture, but hopefully you can see how much fun we were having. As many times as I go to visit my kids, no matter how long I stay, it's always with a heavy heart that I leave them, wishing I didn't have to go back. I love them all!
The whole time I'm playing with my kids in Az, Jack is back in Utah working and I miss him not being with me. I was glad to see him after five weeks! We took the senic drive on the way to Flagstaff, through Cottonwood and Sedona. We stopped at a senic view spot of the canyon where we took some pictures. Above is our "my space" shot.
Here's the view!
Jack wanted to take a picture of me with the canyon behind me, so I stood ready and I asked him if he could see the pretty canyon and he said "I see a pretty girl." That made me laugh...that's why I look so toothy, I was cracking up. The view was quite pretty though of the trees and canyon. We had a fun time being together after such a long separation. Jack is the sweetest guy in the world, I'm a lucky girl!Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Birthday Sam!
On Saturday, we went to a birthday/swimming party for Sam's first birthday. It was at Jordan and Carly's apartment where there is a nice area to eat and to have a bar b que.
Here's out birthday boy! Uncle Jared is holding him.It was hot so we all hit the pool immediately! This is Jill, me, David, Jaclyn, birthday boy Sam, Kristi, with twin babies Erik and David...with Donovan jumping in the pool..all enjoying the nice cool swimming pool.
While we all were cooling off in the pool, Jordan was cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for all of us. I'm sure it was 200 degrees around that grill alone, poor Jordan. Does he look hot? 
Donovan and Cozette loved the hot dogs!
Here I am holding the birthday boy....we had just got out of the pool and was waiting for out food. Poor Sam probably felt mauled as we all wanted to just hold him constantly...but look how cute he is, who could blame us.
After we ate our lunch, it was birthday cake time! Here is Carly getting the "1" candle ready while Sam and Donovan watch. Jordan is standing behing Sam, making sure he doesn't fall off the bench.
Hmmmm, good cake!
Sam was given a whole bunch of presents
Then we were all back in the pool where we all stayed till we realized we were starting to burn. We had a so much fun, it was the best party ever!
Donovan would yell "cannonball" and make the biggest splash!
Aunt Jaclyn with two of her favorite nephews.
Grandma Janey with her three sweet grandkids. You may ask, where's Grandpa Jack? He's the photographer!HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
My dad is a good, kind hearted man that has always worked hard to take care of his family the best he could. He's smart, funny, and has an awesome tenor singing voice (even in old age, he still sounds excellent). He has a love for his country and served in the Air Force as a pilot
during WWII. Dad deeply loves his family and although has been without his eternal companion for six years, he tries to find happiness in his children and grandchildren's lives. He is faithful in living a righteous life and has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He's been a good example to me my entire life and I love and admire him greatly.
Our family in 1960.
This is dad, 2 yr old Brian, and I was probably 8.
This me, mom and dad at the grand canyon probably in 1975...I think I was 19.
My wedding day.
He's been a good example to me my entire life and I love and admire him greatly.
Our family in 1960.
This is dad, 2 yr old Brian, and I was probably 8.
This me, mom and dad at the grand canyon probably in 1975...I think I was 19.
My wedding day.
Happy Father's day, dad. Thank you for always being such a good dad!
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