Christmas Past...

Another amazing Christmas season has come and gone.

It's hard to believe that time can travel so fast.

We had a great one.

All of our family came over on Christmas Day

for a bountiful brunch.

The Arrival - Tony



 

The Arrival - Cody



The Arrival - Brady





The Feast





Everyone partaking




Mrs. Claus and her two elves!



Opening presents!

The Girls - Lauren, Kaitlyn and Anna

Connor showing Grandma his 'RWH' ring...
(Return With Honor)



Grandpa and Livie



                                               What a great day we had.

Merry Christmas!

Until next year....

Got Sun?

Could there be a more wonderful way to spend your 35th wedding anniversary

than taking a caribbean cruise? No.

The only thing that could've been a little better was more sun.

We sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday.

One of the reasons we decided on this particular cruise was the

stop it made on Monday at Key West.  We have never been there.

Well, the horrible storm that was hitting the southeast

just rolled on down and Monday morning Key West closed

it's port due to high winds.  And boy were they high!

The ship scrambled to provide an acceptable unexpected day at

'rough' sea.  It did OK, but our stateroom was the

preferred spot for the day.

Cozumel, Mexico was plan B for Tuesday.  The sun did shine but it

 was cold and windy.  We made the best of it by eating lunch at

a great little Mexican restaurant.

Christmas, Cozumel style

Rick on our balcony. Notice the color of the water. Gorgeous!

Wednesday was Grand Cayman.  We had reserved a tour online to go

to Stingray City, but the ship could not stop at the regular port, due

to high winds we had to stop on the other side of the island.

We had no way of reaching our tour company so we

just tendered in after lunch and sat on the beach.

Relaxing on deck.  This area was called 'Serenity'.  Love it!

On the beach at Grand Cayman.

Collecting coral on the beach at Grand Cayman.

Thursday was Jamaica.  Rain.

Need I say more?

Friday was a much deserved beautiful sunny perfect day at sea.

A much deserved day of sunshine.

Saturday was our long trip home.  Long airport delays due to bad weather.

When someone tells you to 'have a nice day', you must remember

to 'MAKE it a nice day'.  That's what we did
 and very happy memories were made.

It's That Time Again!

We purchased a new Christmas tree this year.

Our old one was way too fat.

So, we purchased a 'thinner' tree. And it is just right.

Just like life...thin, thin, thin!

With Christmas time in full swing I'm starting to feel the spirit.

This is a wonderful time of the year.

Rick and I are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary this month.

And boy are we celebrating in style!

A Caribbean cruise...yes, eat your hearts out!

We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with our family.

Our tradition is a great big Christmas brunch.

What's yours?



True Blue

Rick and I are true blue.

We've had season tickets to the BYU Football games

for over 30 years.

You know the saying "It's not what you know, but who you know"?

Well, we know somebody!

That somebody is our grandniece-in-law, Lia.

She has connections.

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to go on the field before the game.

It was so much fun.  Lots of excitement.

It was fun to see the players close-up.  It was like being around rock-stars.

And then there's COSMO! How cool is he?!

The weather was spectacular!

BYU played UNLV and won 55-7!

I was with my one true love :)

How could a day get any better?!

Rick, nephew Don, Me, Don's wife Dee, Lia, Spencer

Heavy Laden

Our Sweet Little Peach Tree...

Mid May I forced Rick to thin the almond sized peaches to 1 or 2 every 5 inches.

1/2 Home Depot orange bucket full.

It was almost shaken to death on June 1st from extreme winds....

Another 3/4 Home Depot orange bucket full of walnut sized peaches.

Normal mid-June natural 'drop' = 1/4 Home Depot orange bucket full.

I cried.  We didn't think we would have any peaches at all!

Well, we were wrong.

Our little tree was so full the branches were laying on the ground!

One large branch even broke.

I was able to put up about 3 dozen quarts of peaches, plus share

with family and friends.

After harvest, with Rick saying "are you sure?"....
We trimmed our little tree. Hopefully, no broken branches next year.

With a nice trim.

 This is our Monster 'Early Girl' Tomato Plant.

Not many 'early' tomatoes, but an abundant fall crop. 

Enough to be able to put up 10 jars of Salsa

and 5 jars of Chili base.

Our gorgeous Rosemary plant.

I dried some rosemary last year and used it all winter. 

Awesome!
I really do feel like Martha Stewart!



Geocaching

On Labor Day Rick and I went 'Geocaching'.

Never heard of it? Well, this from the official website:

"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment."

We heard about it from Kathy and Tony and it has become

a very fun family activity for all of us.

One of the most beautiful Labor Days I can remember took us to

Adam's Canyon Trail in Kaysville, UT.  There are several 'caches' up the canyon.

The trail was unbelievably busy and crowded, but some of our

expeditions took us off trail and we enjoyed some quiet moments.

The GPS coordinates took us to this cache. You can see it buried in the rocks.

This is how you find them.  We also used our smartphones with an awsome geocaching app.

One of the 'caches' led us to this tree.  The heart was carved a LONG time ago.

This cache was down below the trail and we had the place all to ourselves.

Caches have log books that you sign when you find it.  Some of the caches contain

things that you can take if you want...but if you take you must give...

We usually just sign our geo-name with the initials TNLN/SL

Which translated is 'took nothing, left nothing/signed log'.

The canyon was spectacular!  At the top there is supposed to be a 40' waterfall.

We did not make it there.  We were pooped.  The online trail information

said that the trail was 3 miles roundtrip...but we think that it was incorrect.

It should be 3 miles 'one way'! 

We did spend alot of our 'hiking' waiting for people to pass.

The geocaching made the hike so fun and enjoyable.

Some of the caches are very difficult to find, or are very difficult to get to.

We enjoy the 'easy' ones.

If you'd like more info...go to http://www.geocaching.com/

Swiss Days

Swiss Days 2010

Heidi Wilcox, Denise Hillyard, Linda Rassmussen, Stacie Wheeler, Heidi Christensen, Me

Question: How much fun can 6 women have?

Answer:  LOTS!

Linda invited us to go with her to a condo in Midway, Utah and

join in the festivities of Swiss Days, September 2nd.

Thursday night we drove up and stayed up way past our bedtimes (ahem...2:00 a.m.!)

to play games, eat fun (un-nutritious) goodies and

 get to know each other better.

Then up early (yawn) at 6:30 a.m. so Linda could get to the wrapping paper booth.

Wrapping paper?

We arrived at 7:45 a.m. along with at least 1/2 the state of Utah and quickly

made our way to the WP booth, only to find about 20 people already in line!

We moved on...(moved is a relative term with that many people)

We scoped the booths and bought some stuff, ate the food (yum) and listened

to the fun music.  We heard yodelers and the Alpine Horn.

We had so much fun....

Can't wait for next year...

Trippin' #4 - Reunion

July 8-12 we had a Roland and Nelda Jensen Family Reunion.

We all traveled to Pine Valley, UT from California, Colorado,

and Utah and camped in a beautiful spot with

 tall pines and lots of huge

rocks and a wonderful little river called 'Blue Springs'.

The first night we set up camp and

 roasted hot dogs and made s'mores.

There's nothing like sitting around a campfire with loved ones!

Friday we spent the day at the beautiful Veyo pool. We swam, ate, hunted crawdads, read, visited and just had a great time together.

My sisters, Bonnie, Susie & me

After the pool we came back to camp and had a potluck dinner that

was organized by Kathy.  She provided sloppy joes and the rest of us provided

all the fixin's.  After dinner we did s'mores some more.

Saturday the guys went shooting and the girls stayed at camp and played

by the river.  Cousin Denise had also planned some fun around the camp games.

Saturday afternoon Aunt Susie organized our 'Hobo Pack' dinner.

Everyone brought their own meat and an item to put into the pack.  Yum!

Cheri and Stacy with the potatoes that Kathy & Judy cut...

Creating our 'masterpieces'

The Hobo packs cookin'

Sunday morning we attended church at the historic Pine Valley Chapel

The cousins....

Mike, Stacy, Cheri, Kathy and Adam

The time had come to say goodbye...never easy!  Until next time....

Kathy, Tony, Connor, Lauren and Cody in front of their new 'love shack'

The campsite....beautiful!

Grandpa Rick and Grandma Juju with the munchkins...

Crazy, happy family!

Bonnie & Dennis, Susie & Mike and Rick & Judy

We stayed for a few more days.

We hung around camp...reading, eating, sleeping...

on Thursday night we braved the 120 degree heat to

see 'Cats' at Tuachan theater.  It was fun...

Rick taking down the flag for the last time...so sad...

We missed Deanna & Sharry this year....just not the same.