Hyrum City

Ryan's sister, Heather, planned the awesome Gibby trip this August to Hyrum Lake State Park in scenic Hyrum, Utah. We kept trying to convince Hyrum that the lake was his or perhaps his shape during the weeks leading up to the trip. We were unsuccessful.


We ate good food. Ryan taught our kids the "Panda Bear Skit" and we performed it - with props! Sabrina and I played some Scandinavian fiddle tunes. We enjoyed riding on the Biddulph's jet skis. We played at the beach. We went bowling. We ate a 36" pizza at Firehouse Pizzeria. We saw some shooting stars (the Perseids Meteor shower). We played card games after dark. We slept in our Gigatent. We ate lunch at the Hyrum McDonald's - let me tell you how conspicuous it felt to keep calling Hyrum's name in the play land. We played Gibby Family Fear Factor, where Ryan actually ate 'bear guts', 'beef dinner', and 'bloody worms'. All in all, it was great to spend time with family!

Ukraine

One Sunday when Leo was too young to go to church, I sent Ryan this email:

On Apr 25, 2010 12:57 PM, "Malauna Gibby" wrote:

Dedication and Open House Dates Announced for the Kyiv Ukraine Temple

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced dates for the public open house and dedication of the nearly completed Kyiv Ukraine Temple. The public will be invited to visit the Kyiv Ukraine Temple during an open house that will run from Saturday, August 7, 2010, through Saturday, August 21, 2010. The temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, August 29, 2010.

Do YOU want to go?

Love, Malauna

Ryan sent this reply:
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:32
Subject: Re: UKRAINE!!!

I believe that I do, but I will need to study and pray.

And I sent this one back to him:

From:	Malauna Gibby
Sent:	Sun 4/25/10 3:45 PM

What are you doing sending email during church? I Love YOU!

And that set the ball rolling...he contacted former mission companions and members that he worked with as a missionary in 1993-94. He bought a plane ticket, train tickets, reserved an apartment, and reserved a driver to meet them at the airport.

Returning to the bus stop after the temple dedication.

Now he has returned, so I can blog about his trip with pictures (and his help)!

Girls Only Weekend

I got to spend an enjoyable 3 day weekend with this girl in the Bay Area.

We arrived early Friday morning, checked into our hotel and then went to Jack London Square for lunch and a tour of the USS Potomac (FDR's Floating White House). It was basically a private tour because we were the only tourists around.

FDR gave 3 of his "Fireside Chats" from the radio room of this boat. I took a picture of the gear because I thought my Father-in-law would appreciate the equipment.


Two of Ryan's sisters, one sister-in-law, and their three girls arrived later in the afternoon and we went off to the Oakland LDS Temple. What a beautiful place! Thanks again to Melissa for hanging out with Hailee and Sabrina at the Visitor's Center while we were in the Temple.



Afterwards we went to In N Out Burger for dinner. YUM!!!


On Saturday, we drove into San Francisco, following a misguided GPS affectionately named "Ophelia" (we have no idea why she wanted us to drive south from Oakland to get to San Francisco). We drove down Lombard Street, went around the block, found a place to park and then walked down Lombard Street. While everyone else walked up Lombard Street, I waited with Sabrina for them to drive down again and got in near the bottom.

Then we went to the Presidio and walked along a path leading us to the Golden Gate Bridge. There were a lot of runners on the bridge. I don't think I'd choose to run on it for two reasons: the noise, and the engine exhaust.

The reason this trip was planned by Ryan's sisters was for us to go see "Wicked". We wasted too much time looking for parking so we got to eat fast food for lunch instead of a sit-down meal. "Wicked" was enjoyable, but I found myself getting bored in the first act--thinking intermission must surely be coming soon. There were technical difficulties and so there were no moments of defying gravity during the song "Defy Gravity". I don't think it helped that a man with a big head was sitting right in front of me and I could hear the ushers talking to each other behind me. Sabrina really liked how this musical explained things from "The Wizard of Oz".

After church on Sunday, we had a few hours before our flights, so we drove back into San Francisco (ignoring Ophelia's pleas to turn around) and found Alamo Square and the famous Painted Ladies Victorian houses, that you see in the opening credits of TV's "Full House" We sang the theme song as we circled the block. There was one for sale, and Michelle called the number and asked the price...it was only $1.5 million.

DisneyWorld, part 1

My sister planned a family vacation to DisneyWorld. We went last week. Disney was offering free dining if you stayed at one of their resorts and we took them up on that offer. We flew on JetBlue buddy passes. We spent less money than we budgeted for the trip! That right there is success. The kids had fun and we had fun watching them have fun.

Unfortunately, we have come down with the flu and when I say we, I mean the WHOLE FAMILY! Ryan started it off on Saturday as we were checking out of the hotel and it has been slowly making the rounds through the family. I believe Sabrina is well enough for school tomorrow, but not Roderic. Hyrum started a fever tonight. I'm next. So this post is going to have to suffice until I feel a lot better.

And I have good things to talk about! Character meetings, Jedi Training Academy, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Grand Gatherings, puke on airplanes, cameras breaking, Orlando Temple. Stay tuned.

Gibby Midway Invasion

At the end of June, we took a quick trip to Midway, UT, nestled in the mountains on the East side of the Wasatch Mountains, to spend some time with Ryan's family. We ate good food, played mini-golf, played giant chess, slept in the closet (Roderic's idea), rode the Alpine Slide and Alpine Coaster in Park City, and had a lot of fun.

It Happened on the 10th of May in 1869....

That is the first line of a song that I learned in the Fourth Grade when studying about the Transcontinental Railroad. (It is the only line of the song that I remember...)

Over Memorial Day weekend, we decided to stop at Promontory Summit, Utah to see where the transcontinental railroad was completed. We've got 2 young train fans, you know. And the rest of us are fans of history.


Did you know that EVERY day from May 1 to Labor Day, they bring out the Jupiter and 119 Locomotives? And, EVERY Saturday and holiday they have live reenactments of the Last Spike ceremony? We arrived shortly before 10 am and got to watch them bring out the Jupiter. Then we got to wait a while, work on the Junior Ranger program, shop in the visitor's center, talk to the knowledgeable Fireman who works on the Jupiter - what a cool job - Ryan talked, and talked, and talked to him, and took photos. We watched them bring out the 119 and then waited some more. And then we watched the reenactment, getting a little sunburned along the way. (We had sunscreen in the van, we just didn't put any on.)

The reenactors got to wait in their period clothes.

All the kids completed their Junior Ranger requirements.

The fireman.

We got to be in the re-enactment of the "The Champagne Photo". Sabrina and Hyrum are holding the Arizona Spike and the Gold Spike. (Ryan was the photographer.)

Andrew J. Russell’s “East and West Shaking Hands at Laying of Last Rail" (aka The Champagne Photo)

Right before the reenactment began, Ryan was asked to portray the Mormon Bishop that President Brigham Young sent in his behalf (I don't remember his name). For his part, he got to stand and wave to the crowd.

It was a really neat place to visit, so when you've got a chance, go visit Golden Spike National Historic Site! We're making plans to be there in 10 years, for the sesquicentennial celebration.

Time Out for Sisters

Earlier this summer, either while I had 7 children under my care, or shortly after, I received a catalog from Deseret Book that had all of their dates listed for "Time Out for Women." I had so much fun attending with Stacy last year in Boise. And I really wanted to share it with my sisters. This got me to thinking that I'd want to go again this year. They offered "Time Out for Couples" in Boise, but it was for the weekend when Ryan was planning to be on his hike to the Sawtooths. I looked at Sacramento, to go with my sister there, but it was for the same weekend. Then I saw "Time Out for Women" was going to Portland -- and the wheels started moving in my head.

Right after Ryan came back from Scout Camp, I bought my plane ticket. Thursday afternoon through Sunday evening. Milaka had school until noon on Friday (but ended up ditching her class beginning at 10:30 am on Friday). Keturah booked her flight for Friday morning. I'm glad that Shanda decided to leave SLC early on Thursday, so we could wander around downtown Portland, and wander we did! A whole lot of walking! We went to Powell's Book World. They aren't kidding with a name like that - a multi floor store with bookshelves that go up to the ceiling. I swear the children's book area has more square footage than my entire house. This is an excerpt from their website: "Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books."


We ate some good food with some lousy table service. Rose's Bakery and Restaurant, Stanford's Seafood Grill, Red Robin, Shari's. The Onion Rings at Stanford's were huge! Definitely needed a fork and knife to get through those.



We went on a relaxing river cruise on the Willamette River. It was a 2-hour lunch cruise operated by Portland Spirit. The food was delicious. The atmosphere was great. The scenery was beautiful. The company was amazing. The price seemed reasonable to me ($36 for the cruise with lunch - it was $26 if you didn't want lunch).


And then, we were fed: spiritually and emotionally. "Time Out for Women." Wow. The theme of the entire event was "Joyful Life." On Friday night we listened to Cheiko Okazaki. She related that we can have a joyful life by following the Prophet Joseph Smith when he explained to a member of the Illinois Senate how he was able to keep the peace in such a large group of people: "Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." Then she went through a few conflicting principles that we are teaching our children, i.e. President Hinckley's charge of "Move Forward" versus the 2008 YM/YW theme "Be Steadfast and Immovable."


Saturday morning, we got to listen to Emily Watts. She shared with us one of her unfavorite Scriptures: 2 Nephi 10:23 "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." Reminding us that we don't get to control our children's reactions. And then she said something that I want cross-stitched on my wall, or at least done up on a plaque with vinyl letters: "The gospel of Jesus Christ is not insurance against pain; it is resource in event of pain." She also gave us 3 tips for having more joy with our children. 1) Refuse to engage - when a child storms off to their room and slams the door, instead of shouting or following after them with cross words, say sweetly "That will never alter my undying love for you!" 2) Repent - explain to your children "I am an imperfect mother to let you go into marriage without unrealistic expectations." 3) Don't let the straws pile up -to explode when the last straw drops on the pile. And then after she had us laughing so hard, she reminded us that being a mother gives us the opportunity to provide for "the least of these." (Matthew 25:34-40) Beautiful.

Camille Fronk Olson is now my favorite Professor of Religion at BYU. I want to search out the talks and lessons that she has given and listen to them all! She talked about the women in the old testament. The majority of the women named were barren. When you look at the Hebrew word for barren, it means lacking something. If their stories were just about not having children and then having children, the only thing we'd need to take from them was that all joy in life comes from having children. Whereas really, these women were lacking something and they went to the source, the Lord, and through Him, they were able to have their joy made full. [On my flight home, I got to sit next to a Catholic woman named Pam who was on her way home from a women's retreat. I shared this message with her.] She also likened Hannah (of 1 Samuel fame) to us as we prepare our children to serve the Lord as full-time missionaries.

Elia Gourgouris talked about what relationships need: Trust, Love, Communication, Listen, Forgiveness (do you want to be RIGHT or do you want to be HAPPY?). He also talked about Love Languages. The 5 love languages are:

1. Physical Touch
2. Words of Appreciation
3. Quality Time
4. Acts of Service
5. Gifts

I've decided that mine is Quality Time. What is yours?

Mary Ellen Edmonds is so cheerful and goofy! "Finding JOY in spite of trials." She taught us that we will find joy as we try to be budding peacemakers. She taught us some Indonesian words. To say Good Morning, you would say Selamat Pagi, which directly translated means 'Peace to you in the morning.' Juru Selamat means an Expert of Peace, and is also the name for Jesus Christ. I love that people, in their friendly greetings, are saying a part of Christ's name, what beautiful imagery that brings to mind!

We also had some good music by Kenneth Cope, The Nashville Tribute Band and Cheri Call. My favorite songs of the weekend were Believe, He Gives Flowers to Everyone, and Names by Cheri Call; With His Name and His Name is Love by Kenneth Cope; and Come, Come Ye Saints performed by Dan Truman and the Nashville Tribute Band. You can download the singles of these songs at Deseret Book Downloads.

I've been blessed with some pretty amazing parents. When Shanda discovered that all the flights from Portland to Salt Lake were sold out on Sunday evening (and she was flying on a standby pass), she made plans to leave on a Sunday morning flight, missing singing in Milaka's ward. My dad had the idea that if the flights in the evening were open to Boise, he would drive up here to pick up Shanda and then drive her home. YES, my parents drove 10 hours on Sunday, just so my sisters and I could sing "Nearer, My God to Thee" in Milaka's ward Relief Society. The musical number was amazing. The spirit was so strong. Women wanted to clap when we were done. Some of Milaka's friends who work in the primary, snuck in to hear us. Several men were outside looking in the window as we sang. I LOVE SINGING WITH MY SISTERS! Lets do another recording! I wasn't joking when I suggested that we take our music to street corners when we do another one of these outings!

Sisters Weekend

I had the most amazing time with my sisters this weekend! I feel like I came home with my cup full-to-overflowing with joy. I'm ready again to be the best wife/mom/daughter/sister/friend I can be. Do expect more on the "Time Out for Women" conference as well as our excursions around Portland. It's good to be home!

On Vacation

As of 1:45 pm today, I am on vacation. I'm off to Portland to spend the weekend with my sisters. With the four of us living in 4 different states, (one sister lives there, another in CA and another in UT) we don't get to get together very often. We're going to attend "Time Out for Women," take a river boat cruise on the Willamette River, see some waterfalls, do some shopping, relax and enjoy eachother's company. Milaka asked the music chairperson in her ward if we could sing in Sacrament meeting, but she turned her down (their Ward Choir is singing). They don't know what they're missing. We will be singing in Relief Society, though.


Ryan will be able to handle the house and the children just fine. I'll be back on the job Sunday!

I Love to See the Temple

On our way home from Utah this past week, we stopped at the Twin Falls Temple Open House. It was well organized and executed. We didn't have tickets, which I remember being completely necessary for the Bountiful and Mt Timpanogos open houses, but no tickets were being collected. The tour started at the Stake Center next door. We waited for all of 3 minutes in the chapel for a tour, and that was only because Ryan had to run back to the car to put away our camera. The tour started with a movie about temples and LDS history in the Twin Falls area. That kept my children's interest. Then we got to see the grounds of the temple. It was beautiful, native plants, water fountains. We all got the white shoe coverings put on. They had to use rubber bands to keep them on Roderic's feet. Tonight, Roderic told his Grandpa on the phone, “we put shoe paper things to walk on the floor” in the temple. (Which is an interesting memory, because the only thing I remember about going to the Jordan River Utah Open House is putting on blue furry slippers and walking down a long hallway. I was about 4 when we went to that Open House.) We got to go throughout the whole temple, with our tour guide telling about each room. Except the Celestial room. In there, he was silent. Beautiful. Wonderful to feel the spirit of that room even before the temple dedication. I liked sitting in the Celestial Room with my whole family. I look forward to doing that again in the future. Afterwards, when talking with Sabrina about her thoughts of the temple, she said that it wasn't as magnificent as her imagination. Until the Celestial Room, where it was majestic. She was expecting it to be all white throughout the temple. In one of the endowment rooms, there is an awesome panorama of the Snake River Canyon and Shoshone Falls. Happily, my boys were pretty decently reverent throughout the whole tour. Only once did Roderic slug Sabrina in the arm. Hyrum spent the tour in Ryan's arms, and I got to carry Roderic a lot of the time. Of course, no church function is complete without refreshments. We got our choice of homemade cookies in the cultural hall, peanut butter, lemon sugar, oatmeal raisin or white chocolate macadamia nut. The Twin Falls Temple is the 128^th operating temple in the world. They had a large map of the world on one wall of the cultural hall with pins marking all of the temples of the church, in operation and under construction. They literally dot the earth. I think I'm going to try to recreate the map in my house. Using different colors to show the ones I've been to, and the ones under construction. I love temples. I'd really love to be in Ukraine in 2010 when the Kiev Temple is dedicated (that is where Ryan served his mission and we went on a trip there in 1998). I've got to be saving my money now.

Next Sunday is the dedication and they are going to broadcast it to our Stake Center. Ryan, Sabrina and I got our dedication recommends today after church, so we'll be attending it. Thanks to my awesome VT Companion for being willing to watch my boys during the dedication!

Our latest trip to Utah...

We have just spent the last week in Utah, visiting family (again). It seems as though that is the only location we know how to go to on vacation. But oh, how we love to visit our families! Our original plan was for us to visit the Twin Falls Temple open house on the way there, but that didn't work out. Ryan worked a (later than planned, due to packing) half-day and then we drove straight to Causey Reservoir, in Ogden Valley to his Uncle Brent's cabin, arriving about 9 pm. Roderic got sick on the drive down (sound familiar?) and puked in the car just after we drove over North Ogden Pass and suffered from a fever for the rest of the night. The next day he was better, thankfully, and played with more legos than he's ever seen assembled in one place. I think I know what he'll ask for for Christmas. Hyrum also enjoyed playing with the legos. Yep, legos are in my future. Definitely.

Ryan and I (actually me) got to be in charge of assigning the meal/clean up crews. We ate well. Very well. There was plenty to eat. Ryan's brother-in-law, Glen (a doctor, for pete's sake), is a "serial feeder". If you are still at a table with or without a plate in front of you and there is food left, he will bring around the serving dish and forcefully put more food on your plate. There is just no saying no to him. Did I mention lots of food?

While 13 of the bigger people went on a long ATV ride, Ryan and I strapped on our backpacks and went on a practice hike. Grandma Gibby, Sabrina, Roderic, Matt, Ethan, Hailee, Jaron, Daniel, Micah Brown, Aidan Brown, and Grandma Brown went along also, but turned around when the path got less worn and more steep. It was a good practice, too, because Ryan discovered that he needed to turn the tent around in his pack so the poles wouldn't be right on his back.

Trever and Heather brought Rock Band for the 2nd annual competition. It was a hit for hours and hours. Most of the songs I've never heard of. When Melissa was helping me choose a song to sing, there were 2 that I recognized: "Roam" by the B52s and "More Than a Feeling" by Boston (thanks to Cortney). I was surprised to see my daughter sing songs that I'd never heard before; and that she'd only heard on Rock Band. In the competition, she won the trophy for the best "Little Gibby," beating out last year's champion, Ethan. Ryan is morally opposed to the computer graphics shown on Rock Band. He didn't participate in any of the practices or competition. After singing "Roam" in the preliminaries, I didn't join in the competition, for marital harmony -- and because he makes a strong point that I wouldn't allow my kids to go to a place where ladies are so scantily clad, so why will I let them watch it for hours and hours.



We went on several short rides on the ATVs that Uncle Brent and Glen & Genette brought up. Roderic didn't want to go at first. He is really scared about trying new things that aren't completely in his control. After we started going though, he had lots and lots of fun. Of course, I don't go very fast at all. I'm a scaredy-cat. Sabrina even got to drive the small one around the parking lot, with Uncle Glen as a passenger/helper (thanks to him, she didn't run into the bumper of Trever's car)!

While at the cabin, we were able to see most of Ryan's cousins on his Mom's side. Which is a rare treat. He got to play Memoir 44 with Trever and Daniel and he played Puerto Rico with Daniel, Scott, Cameron and Jeff. I worked on crocheting a baby blanket and had a great time visiting with people.

And if ever we are invited to go again, I definitely want to sleep in "the bat cave" again. Meaning one of the three bedrooms downstairs where it is dark (no windows) and quiet.

If only the cabin had satellite TV, so we could have watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Oh well.






After cleaning up from being at the cabin, I got to go with my sister-in-law Heather and mother-in-law to Bountiful to tour a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He died before it was completed. I had no idea that he had designed any houses in Utah. They sure didn't mention it in my Interior Designs or Art History classes at WSU. It was open for public tours on Saturday only, and I was one of the lucky 1500 people who got to walk through it. Thank you Heather!


While we were touring this house, Ryan and the kids met Daniel and kids and Glen, Genette and Matt and launched Rockets at the infamous Rocket Park in Layton. I got to see the final launch. It was beautiful. Then the adults went out to eat at Golden Dynasty, Glen's favorite Chinese restaurant in Ogden, owned by one of his patients. Delicious.

When my mom learned we were coming into town, she organized a family dinner on Sunday, inviting Grandpa and Harriet, (uncle)Brennan & Tammy and girls, and Shanda and family. Once again, good food, good company. It was fun to sit and talk to my relatives! We played the Farming Game, a game my parents are addicted to playing. We weren't able to play to the bitter end, but I did win, with assets worth $63,000. We also took some cute pictures of the grand kids.


So now, I'm chronologically to the most exciting part of our trip, the backpacking trip into the Uinta Mountains to the infamous Gibby Lake (which is no longer listed on any maps and has no sign due to the Forest Service's desire to make it be more wilderness-like)! Unfortunately, I need to do the things I've been neglecting today, like laundry and making dinner, so I'm going to have to post about that later.

Camping with the Christensen's 2008

I have a hard time thinking that Ryan should go to work for 2 days in one week, when he is already taking 3 days off, especially if those 2 days are Thursday and Friday. When his sister planned a Monday-Wednesday family reunion, I took it upon myself to organize a camping trip with my family for Thursday-Saturday. Shanda and her family and Cortney and his family and my parents and Carson came up to Lava Hot Springs to play with each other. It was so much fun! I can see us getting together yearly for a camping trip (maybe we'll skip the years when we have our big vacations planned, though).

We started our festivities in Soda Springs. Roderic and Hyrum were SOOO excited to see "The Dinkey Engine" at the park while we waited for the others to arrive. We ate lunch at Caribou Mountain Pizza and Grill - yum. Then we saw the Geyser go off. We went out to Hooper Spring to try some straight from the ground soda water. Everyone had a taste, even Sabrina, who despises carbonated everything. Yuck. It tasted like iron and blood. (Ryan brought home a bottle of it.) Then we went to Eastman Drug to try the same soda water with sugar and flavoring at the original soda fountain. Strawberry Cream Soda tasted delicious.

We stopped at Historic Chesterfield Township. It's a Mormon ghost-town. Neat. Shanda and Dad thought it was a great place to stop and learn some history.


Camping at River's Edge campground in Lava Hot Springs left a lot to be desired. Their website said they had showers and toilets. In reality there were 4 commodes and 2 showers for women - I assume the same for men, but I didn't see those first hand - to share among the 87 camping sites. Talk about lines. We had 2 sites to share among our 4 families. Right up against a rock cliff, with a small stream and lots of rocks. At least we had shade. The thing that gets me is that they charged $20 per tent per night. If we would have all crammed into one tent that is all we had to pay, but since we had 4 tents we got to pay $80 per night. For a crummy rocky site, with no grass to play on. Just down the way there were camper trailers and 5th wheels who got to pay only $35 per night - and their sites had grass. Annoying.

One good thing about our campground was that it was right on the River's Edge and they rented tubes to float down the river. All day Friday we drove to the east end of town, got on the river and floated until we got to our campsite. The kids had a blast! The parents had a blast! I didn't take any pictures on the river. Shanda, will you post some please?

Another good thing was that we got to hear and see trains every hour during the day (and I'm told they came by every 2 hours in the night, but I didn't hear those; a perk from having slept alongside Highway 89 for 2 nights, I guess). Have I ever mentioned that I have 2 boys who are completely in love with all things train? EVERY time Hyrum would hear the train whistle, he would stop whatever he was doing, get really excited and start stomping his feet and pointing and shouting "Da do do do do do! Da do do do do!" Even Shanda's 2 year old started showing excitement by the end of our stay.


All in all, it was good food, good company, good times.

Gibby Reunion 2008

Ryan's sister, Genette was in charge of this year's Gibby Family Reunion, which was held at Bear Lake. We camped in tents at the KOA in Garden City, Utah. Our tent was perhaps 10 feet from US Highway 89. Needless to say, we were startled awake multiple times during the night by cars, trucks and semis (with their engine brakes). I swear we could hear them coming and going for 2 miles. Memo to self: if we ever stay at this campground again, we must stay in the unshaded campsites, far away from the road!

Sabrina got sick on our drive from home to Bear Lake. Puking multiple times in the car. We're not sure if it was food poisoning or a real disease. She was really weak and lethargic. She just laid on a blanket on the ground while we set up our tent, ate dinner and had family home evening. She really wanted to feel better on Tuesday, though, so she could go to the cave. And she was.

We all went to Minnetonka Cave near St. Charles, Idaho. It was so cool! (40 degrees) I carried Hyrum most of the way in the sling. Roderic walked a bit and then convinced Ryan to carry him. Approximately 440 stairs (one way).

In the afternoon, we went to Bear Lake and played on the beach and rode on Glen & Genette's wave runners. Boy was that fun. Surprisingly (not really) the children all loved playing in the sand. They constructed an amazing waterworks with dams and canals, then a hot pool. Once when a dam broke, Robbie shouted to his cousins, "Dam it! Dam it! Just dam it!" All of the mothers sitting close by heard this and were just laughing. What proper word usage. Too bad we didn't capture that moment on video. Hilarious!

We had a fun time, but we sure missed the Jones family!

Photos from Oregon

Ryan loves taking panoramic pictures with our camera and then use PhotoStitch to stitch them together. Here are some from our recent trip to Oregon.


The lighthouse at Cape Meares.


Wahclella Falls
A cliff along the hike to Wahclella Falls. And then the Falls.


Multnomah Falls
Funky 1970s colors on a shot of Multnomah Falls. The upper falls from the bridge. The bridge with Sabrina and the falls behind. Sabrina, Hyrum and I are tiny specks on the bridge in the first and last photo.