Alaska, the Whole Shebang.

 (I am finally try to catch up with all of our awesome summer fun. I am doing this all in September, but setting the post as July so it lines up chronologically correct.)

My parents took my family and my sister's family on an Alaskan cruise in the last part of June. (Derek was unable to come - besides, it just wasn't quite his "thing." We missed him!) It was incredible. I think the cruise itself is really the main attraction for people - and it was quite the big deal. Alaska was more of a side-trip in many ways - but we we did experience of Alaska was beautiful and neat! As goes on my blog, my pictures are totally out of order and as I am always trying to play catch-up, I don't have the energy to put them all in order. So what you see if somewhat of an order, but also a jumble. 

We flew into Seattle on a Sunday. From there (and many hours later) we boarded our ship, the amazing and HUGE Norwegian Encore. Our cruise ship practically dwarfed all the others! It was so nice inside and the staff were the friendliest people on earth. We spent Sunday night and Monday making our way up thru the Inside Passage of Alaska. Monday was quite foggy and so we didn't see a ton. But it was just super cool being on the ship - a new experience for all of us except my parents. Tuesday we got to Juneau. We took a kayak trip and saw a glacier, plus the cute sea otters (seals, I can't remember the difference or honestly which one we saw). We also saw some whale tails and whale spouts. :) We never saw the whole whale, but the tails and spouts were always exciting. Our next port was at Sitka. We had a great hike, where we ate our fill of the tasty Salmon berries that were all along the trail. It was a great outing and I loved it! Then we cruised up Glacier Bay. The day was perfect - practically a bluebird day. The scenery was gorgeous!!! We saw glaciers, calvings, and more. Next up was Talkeetna. We toured a Totem pole park and then watched a Lumberjack show. The show was a lot of fun and the lumberjacks were so impressive! Our lost port town was Victoria, in British Columbia. We walked around the beautiful city and just had an enjoyable evening. It was an incredible trip - truly a trip of a lifetime! We felt so lucky and so grateful to our parents for taking us on such an adventure.

Lucy in Sitka, Alaska. 

Our hike in Sitka.

Emmy and a salmon berry on her finger. :)

There was this crazy water slide on the ship - you stood on a platform and it just dropped right beneath you and you plummeted down and up and over and around the slide. Only Jonas and Ben were brave enough from our group to try it (my girls didn't meet the weight requirement . . . ). Both boys agreed that it was actually quite freaky  and scarier than they had thought! And neither one did it again, ha.

Kayaking in Juneau! So pretty! My sister and Everett joined us on this adventure.

Emmy and the lumberjacks. :)

A cool totem pole.

My lovely and generous parents!

Glacier Bay.

Gorgeous.

Lots of calving happened while we were there watching. So cool.

The buffet was amazing. Seriously. As lame as it sounds, it was totally a highlight. The adults tried an actual restaurant one night and while it was good, it was no where near as fun as the buffet. So we stuck to the buffet for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. And it was delicious food - you could be as healthy or as unhealthy as you wanted to! The kids and adults loved it alike. The best part was the self-served soft ice cream cones every night. :) We had fun at each of the meals.

The ship had all sorts of activities, including Go-Carts (I didn't do them, but it was a total blast watching my kids do them), Laser Tag, an arcade, comedy shows, plays, musical performances, magic shows, etc. We didn't do as many of the shows/activities on board as maybe most people, but we tried a lot of them and enjoyed most of them (except for Kinky Boots. That was horrible.). We participated in some family games, with my family and Erin's family being winners. Ben was also so kindly nominated by his children (and perhaps his nephews?!) to participate in the magic show. Which he did. He shocked us all with his performance. Go watch it here and you will not be disappointed. What a guy.

Mile Zero. We walked around Victoria, and ended up at Mile 0. Funny. It was a pretty walk, though, in a pretty place!

The sunset was gorgeous that night!

The parliament building in Victoria. What beautiful architecture! 

And that's that! What a trip! Indeed, a trip of a lifetime!

Father's Day 2022

1. If you had to take dad out on an adventure, what would you do to impress him?

Take him camping and pretend it's the 1800s; long hike/adventure with little supplies; to go to Maine; I would take him to Camden, Maine

2. What is something you can do better than dad? What's something dad does better than you?

I'm better at climbing/he's better of fixing people; ride a horse better/snowboard better; I can do gymnastics better but he runs faster; I can do gymnastics better/he can snowboard better

3. How are you like your father?

We are similar in what we do, say, and act; tallish; we look similar; We both like Costa Rica

4. What makes dad laugh?

Jokes, funny things; Wilford Brinley; funny jokes; my funny jokes, what I say

5. What do you think dad wants you to do with your life?

Something that will make me happy and provide for my family; be happy and successful; to live the gospel and have a good life; mature, follow the gospel, be happy

6. If you could buy dad anything, what would you buy for him?

a 1920s pierce arrow; massive sailboat; a trip to Maine; I would buy another trip to Costa Rica for him

7. What does dad like about our house? What does he dislike about our house?

He likes the looks and the history/ he doesn't like the location; old style/kids can't keep it clean; everything/how messy it gets; He hates that it is never clean, He loves . . . I'm not sure

8. What musical would you like to see your dad star in?

Mary Poppins - the chimney sweeper; Shrek the Musical; Hamilton; West Side Story

9. What is one simple thing you could do to make your dad happy?

do my schoolwork; chores on time without asking; be a good person; be kind and loving

10. What is your father's favorite color?

blue?; IDK; Green!; blue????

What's Been Happening

 June started off with us celebrating Brigham's birthday - a whopping 7 years old! In human years, I guess that's akin to 49. So he's now the oldest in our family. We are sure grateful he is a part of our family - scaredy cat-ish and all! He's a sweetie and a great running partner. He's just the best.

Jonas made some delicious rhubarb cake and so we shared some with Brigham (and of course Bella, too). Brigham scarfed it down in a nanosecond.

We had a fun rock-climbing activity for YW. We are doing the Via Ferrata as part of our YW camp in July. In order to not have to pay a guide hundreds of dollars, everyone needs to have outdoor climbing experience. So we provided an activity to give the girls this experience. The girls all rocked (pun intended) it.

I think all these pictures are of Emmy. I can't find my ones of Lucy . . .

Found them! And there's Lucy scaling the large slab of rock.

Next up for June was Trek for our three oldest. It was supposed to have happened last year (or 2020, I can't remember) but due to the pandemic, of course it didn't. So this year the plan was for the kids from our stake to go up to the Wyoming sites and trek around there. Well . . . 6 days before this group of around 200 were to go, the bus whom the church had chartered our transportation through, backed out due to "liability issues" or something or other. 6 days before! Well, miracle of miracle, someone in our stake knew of a group of stakes southwest of us who were gathering for their own Trek - on the same exact dates as ours. Calls were made and that night our stake was allowed to join this 4-stake Trek event! Usually there are 5 stakes that do this together, but one stake group had decided to do something different. So we were able to slip right in - amazing. It still came with its logistical challenges, but that was mainly for the adults. It was about 2 hours from here and so our ward's elderly rose to the occasion and transported our youth there and back.

Here they are - all clean and adorable. :)

Emmy's extra-adorable and so she gets a few-extra pictures. :) Her bonnet was made and worn by Aunt-e - so cute!

I worked the whole week the kids were gone, as did Ben. Lucy managed to hang out with a lot of her friends and had a good time and didn't miss her siblings too much. :) Lucy got to mow a couple of Emmy's lawns and earned some extra dough. Lucky her.

Ben and I "had" to go on a hike early Saturday morning - I was checking it out for YW camp. I have done it several times, but never with thinking about taking a group of YW . . . So we had a great morning hiking up Courthouse. It's hard. It's going to be a challenge for most of these young women. But they can do it.

Pictures are out of order, but this is at the top.

Ha, this is at the beginning.

And this is at the middle/close to the top.

Random picture . . . but we went out to Crash Burger Friday night and Lucy got some lovely flowers stuck in her hair as we walked down there. Our good friends and neighbors, Molly and Alex Shockley, joined us for dinner. Fun.

Saturday came and the trekkies finally got back home - way dirtier than when they had left! :)

My old friend from our Grand Junction days, Raedene - in the middle, found my daughter (whom she had never met) and grabbed this picture. Look how adorable and filthy Emmy was! The older lady is Barb Watson - she was one of our ward's amazing drivers. She's one of the best humans ever. Raedene's mom is like best-friends with Barb. So it was funny how they all connected.

They're baaaaack! Dirty but happy!

Jonas had an okay time. I think he had a better time than he let on to us . . . :) He was part of Emmy's company (about 10 youth made a family and about 12 families made a company). Emmy said she saw him smiling and having fun. He did complain, which was 100% backed by Emmy, how this one boy from our stake just constantly was rude to him. Kids. They can sometimes be the worst. I just wish kids would just stop saying and/or doing mean things to one another. This rude boy had no idea that his parents and grandparents were praying, fasting, etc. that Jonas would have a positive experience. And who knows, but this kid and his constant rudeness, could have ruined that opportunity for Jonas. I get it - kids are kids and just don't understand and don't mean the big effects that sometimes they cause. And I get that my kids have probably been on the rude side of the fence, too, at times. But I am so over it. Anyways, Jonas did get the "Hardest Worker Award" in his family group. His "ma" stated on facebook, "Jonas was a rock star! What a great kid and hard worker! It was great getting to know him!" So at least he wasn't horrible. :) He stood up for Emmy when needed to. But also went back to napping when awoken and told that his sister was in the medical tent due to heat exhaustion - "sounds like a girl thing." And he went back to sleeping. I am sure the lady who spoke to him was impressed, haha.

Emmy LOVED trek so much! She had such a great experience and just talked to me for a good 1 1/2 hours straight about it all. She truly just had a great time and loved it all - the hard rocky mountain they had to push their cart up at 11:00pm that first night. Arriving at camp at midnight - eating dinner that late. She was part of the only company that got to participate in the Women's Pull and she loved that experience. A funny story: while she liked the boys in her group, they were kind of on the "wimpy" side. So she felt that the women's pull was easier without her "brothers!" Ha. But she appreciated the boys all lined up, hats over their hearts, at the top of the hill. She said that climb was difficult - up and up a bunch of switchbacks with no relief. But it was getting too hot and so the medical staff decided to not have a women's pull for the rest of the companies and that all were to help - men, boys, etc. She loved her "memaw" and "pepaw" and her family - especially her "sisters." She loved all the activities they did, etc. She just had a great time! Yay.

As we expected, Miles had a great time too. He was so glad they went to this area and had more physical challenges - as opposed to what Wyoming would have offered. He enjoyed his family and his "parents" and all the different activities they did. Miles is pretty easy to please and easy to enjoy things and so we knew he'd have a great time. There was a bit of drama with this mean girl and Emmy. This mean girl just can't stop bullying Emmy and it's getting really old. Anyways, something happened - which led to tears by Emmy. Which led to this mean girl "apologizing" to Emmy - but it was also done in a mean fashion . . . So Miles couldn't stand it any more and went over and told this girl to leave Emmy and our family alone. Go Miles! (It gets a bit complicated as I am this girl's YW president . . . ) I was proud of him for standing up for his sister. Emmy told me she collapsed into Miles and gave him a great big hug. :)

Many kids spoke in church today - maybe about 10-12? Most of them spoke about that challenging "hill" they had to climb that first night. It wasn't a hill, but more of a mountain. A steep mountain that the kids had to push their carts up - most of them in the darkness of the night and without having dinner yet. Many of the first company's youth assisted the later ones that came. It sounded like quite the challenging feat for sure. Emmy thought the woman's pull the next day was even harder. They were pushing these handcarts up this steep, never flattening trail, in the heat of the day. The kids all loved the other activities and just playing games and hanging out with their "family" and friends there. Each of our kids thought their parents were "awesome" and shared some of the stories that their parents shared and taught them. I am so glad they went and had this experience.

Yep, just a little dirty . . . 

Dirty, yep. But she wasn't as dirty as she'd been because she had used about 20 wipes by this point. :)

The stake YW president, Kandace Booth, sent me a few photos of Jonas. Jonas was in a family with her son. Once more are posted from the whole Trek, I will probably post a bunch. Just these for now:

May and More

We spent a Saturday (well we girls did - the boys had other things going on) going to the Monticello temple with some other youth from our ward. It's a LOOOOONG day. But it was nice to go to the temple.

This is my focacia art bread - not quite as pretty as the ones online, but still fun!

We didn't have much going on Memorial Day, but luckily Ben thought of going up to Junction. GJ has a big Junior College baseball tournament every Memorial weekend. It's called JUCO. So we got tickets and watched a game - it was pretty fun. The team Emmy and I picked won and so we were happy about that. It was a close game, though, so that made it exciting.

But the best part was that as we were driving to Junction, Ben called his brother. And guess where they were heading - to Junction for a few days! So we were able to meet up with them and go to dinner together. It was awesome.

Miles, Nicholas, Grace, Emmy, and Lucy. Jonas decided to not come with us (although he was bummed when he saw who we met up with). Sam is still away at college and Emma is still on her mission (but coming home next month!).