Life is Good

Kee'e Beach

2012-01-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

We tore the girls away from the pools today. It was a nice day and we drove up to the North Shore finally ending up at Kee'e Beach. On the way we did little side trips to beaches and sights. Jeff and Mitch were looking for whales but we know what they were really looking at.

The light house was as beautiful as always!

Anini Beach

Kee'e Beach at the end of the Napoli Coast. There is nowhere prettier. Remember the Thorn Birds? Part of it was filmed here. I think I better read that book again.

Ice cold coconut milk from the coconut. Of course the roosters and chickens are always present.

Some of our Kauai secrets.

2012-01-24T22:23:00.001-07:00

Mitch had a hitch hiker jump on board.

The nightly grilling party. Mitch and Jeff cooking up some great food. They came up with some great secret recipes. The asparagus on the grill was especially good.

We had one rainy day so went for a ride and got ice cream.

Tropical paradise.

Who is that peeking out from behind Grandpa?

Maybe I should add a cool truck to my landscaping.

For three days we woke up, put on our swim suits and sat by the beach or pools. Really that was it. We did a little snorkeling and whale watching on the beach. Oh I forgot, the chickens. Mitch is feeding chickens poolside. Edie is known as the chicken whisperer. She named all the chickens running around and kept them fed. The secrets??? We enjoyed the chickens and did not dress or clean up for days. Yes, that is a vacation!

Leslie had some lip issues. Her lips were big and swollen. Mornings were especially dramatic.

Jeff napped. A lot!!!

Winter break in Kauai

2012-01-19T09:14:00.002-07:00

After a log day of travel we arrived in Lihue on the Garden Isle of Kauai. Every year someone tags along with us. This year it is the Hurst's.

The girls and I headed out onto the beach at sunrise in our pajamas to check out the beach.

We found this turtle on the beach. He is a big one.

Ella made the French toast for breakfast. It was so yummy. No lack of food on our trips.

A bunch of gringos celebrating New Years

2012-01-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

On New Years Eve I decided I was not cooking or making a mess in the kitchen for this big crowd. So we headed for Gringos the Rexburg Mexican tradition. We nearly filled the back room. Muy bien!

Out with the old in with the new

2012-01-19T08:30:00.002-07:00

Our pink bathroom is a thing of the past. While we are in Hawaii it is being demolished and new construction has begun. When we built our house I had a wild idea and had the tiler put a big Z in the shower. I am gonna miss that Z. Jeff's Dad told us we would never be able to sell the house unless Zorro wanted to buy it.

Here is the first part f the demo. We left for Hawaii so I did not get to see the rest of it. By time we get home it will be on the rebuild portion.

This is the before of our kitchen which we are repainting while we are gone. Our house is at the 20 year mark and news a bit of updating and repairs. This summer it will be new windows and garage doors.

And That's What It's All About!

2012-01-01T08:53:00.001-07:00

So the year 2011 is in the past. It was a good year. In the end it was family, good friends and fine food that put the finishing touch on our year.

The picture on our hall table shows a Christmas from many years ago. We sure looked a lot younger back then.

We found ourselves all alone on Christmas this year. I have to say it was a delightful time. We would not want to be alone every year but we did have a nice peaceful Christmas. We went visiting friends and family on Christmas Eve. We visited other friends who were alone. We laughed and shared ideas for those of us spending Christmas home alone.

The Zollinger clan gathered at Glen and Maryanne's house for a great Mexican food feast.

I guess I should say that we were not entirely alone. Kitty aka Leslie aka Creepy was with us. She is 19 years old so not sure how many more Christmases she will be with us.

Jeff has perfected scrambled eggs. He made us a perfect breakfast.

New Years Eve was not so quiet. We had a house full of family. To celebrate we had a sundae bar. It was a hit. Charlie and Jake loved the sprinkles on their sundaes.

The girls like the whipped cream.

The men liked it all.

We played games.

It was a hot night of scum. Nobody wanted to be scum. The winner got to take home the Tower of Chocolate. I vowed to be rid of all the candy by the end of the year.

Card sharks!

And the winner is....Congratulations!

Amazingly almost everyone disappeared at 5 minutes to midnight. These three guys waited to watch the ball drop and bring in 2012 with me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And that's what it's all about!

Christmas feasts

2012-01-01T08:07:00.001-07:00

Christmas this year was a never ending food fest. Simply put, we ate too much. But it was fun. A dinner party with the Providers at RMC found us at Jaker's. It was a fun laugh filled night.

My Dad and Barb came to visit. We stopped into Stockman's for a superb steak dinner. For dessert we shared a piece of chocolate cake. It was a monster so four of us shared it. It is a 7 layer fudge chocolate cake.

Before and after. We could have taken before and after pictures of our bellies from this Holiday Season. I think we will skip that photo op.

A weekend of Christmas magic

2011-12-21T09:36:00.003-07:00

I love this time of the year. We were able to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. Truly magnificent is the best description I can think of. Jane Seymour was in it along with Nathan Gunn an opera singer. The snow falling during the show was beautiful.

We had dinner with Rob, Lauren, Floyd and Fletcher. They tell me it was a great hamburger.

Little America knows how to create the perfect Christmas mood. That is Jeff at the counter in the background.

The next morning I was off to California for two days. Lily had the lead in a community play. It was "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". We all gathered in the bathroom to help her get ready. How can Lily be old enough to apply make-up?

Tod working on his art project.

All Christmas trees are beautiful.

The play was every bit as wonderful as the concert the night before. I got to see both ends of the spectrum from grand to humble and I loved them both equally.

My little short visit packed it in. We visited Candy Cane Lane. It is a community that decorates all the houses in a neighborhood. They close the street off so people can walk the streets and see the lights. Amazing what people created.

Great job Lil.

I found this cute elf and set him up on my pot rack. He is so fun....except Jeff says the elf scares him. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Wow it is half way through December already!

2011-12-11T15:06:00.001-07:00

Seems like every day there is a moment that the lighting sets off the Rexburg Temple in a new and glorious way.

This week was the annual Girlfriends Christmas shopping trip to Utah. Some years I cannot make it but this year I was able to swing it. Sometimes daughters meet up with us. The daughters are all as old as we were when our friends group started "hanging out". It was a frenzy of fitting in every ones shopping destinations. I think we got it done. We also fit in some good food. It was kind of funny to hear all of these women complaining about how tired they were from shopping and being on their feet all day. These are the same ones who hiked the Grand Canyon just a couple of months ago and knock off 20 mile hikes routinely. LOVE my friends!

I caught this shot of the Temple driving home from work. I did it from a moving car so did not get Moroni all in the shot. Sunsets here are really beautiful. They only last a few minutes so you have to be quick with the camera.

Christmas will soon be here. I think it is going to be a brown one. No snow on the ground yet and none in the forecast for the next 10 days. Only two more weeks to go. Guess we better start dreaming about that White Christmas.

Bryan

2011-12-05T23:18:00.001-07:00

This afternoon our neighbor Bryan Groom passed away. He was in a tragic hunting accident a week ago. He was an ever present neighbor living in the house between us and the Rexburg Temple. He was always outside regardless of the weather or day. We chatted most days as I walked by on my daily walks. The topics were random. We would stop to visit him in the summer as he always sat out in his front yard or he rode up on his scooter to see us. Bryan worked on his yard tirelessly. It was a work of lawn art. He would snow blow his yard off so he could start mowing. He would mow and I would shovel on the same day. Bryan was always a good neighbor and friend despite his challenges in this life. The view out our front windows and porch just won't be the same.

Now that is a big turkey

2011-12-03T22:46:00.001-07:00

Check out the turkey. No I do not mean you Dad.

Now that is a hunk...I mean Jeff not the gold.

Thanksgiving in California

2011-11-30T21:35:00.001-07:00

For Thanksgiving this year we decided it would be fun to go to California to my Dad's. He is a great cook and the weather had to be better than in Rexburg. Well the weather was not so great on arrival. Our Thanksgiving walk was in the rain.

The new doggie did not mind the rain. He was going swimming anyway.

Jeff claims that rain drops do not bother him. He just looks through them. HA!

After our walk we went back and got dinner on the table. It was a yummy turkey dinner with all of the trimmings.

There are lots of fun things to see in the area. It is gold country. Jeff checked out the biggest gold nugget in the world.

It is Dad's birthday this week so we went to Sutter Creek to celebrate.

Happy Birthday!

Our crazy weekends

2011-11-13T13:11:00.001-07:00

We have a busy busy life. Weekends are no exception. No sleeping in, no weekends off. This weekend had another adventure for us. We woke up early (6 ish) Saturday morning to a howling winter storm. The kind that causes the power to go out. So we decided to just go to the Temple because they did have power. We stumbled around in the dark to get ready. Jeff could not find his wallet which had both of our recommends in it. So we climbed the ladder in the garage by lantern light to release the garage door. Our plan was to go to the office to see if the wallet was there. As soon as the garage door came down we realized we could not get back in as we did not have the keys nor the garage door opener due to no power. Jeff even tried to break in through windows. No wallet to be found at the office. (We eventually found it slid down in a chair). So we sat in the driveway for quite a while waiting for power. I finally said lets go see if we can get into the Temple. Nobody answered at the Bishops or Stake Presidents. We went and as we were talking to the front desk (who had no sympathy for our story). Just then President Anderson walked out and we were able to get in.

True love makes days like this an adventure rather than a trial.

We finished just in time to dash to Idaho Falls for our first Mac (Apple) lesson. A wonderful one hour one on one lesson for us. We bought five of them in a package. The guy was amazing and we learned a lot. Can't wait for the next lesson.

Last weekend was also adventurous. We bought plane tickets to Boise for Graces baptism. We were tired from traveling and decided flying would give us a little break. Not to be. A major winter storm canceled the flight and we ended up driving. Driving in the same blizzard. We finally pulled over in Twin Falls and got a room. The next morning we got up and finished the drive to Boise.

It was a nice weekend with lots of Grand kids and family. Grace was well supported by family for her baptism.

The weekend before that was our trip back from Paraguay. This picture caused a lot of interest on Face book. People chimed in about me taking pictures from the airplane while coming in to land. The picture below was of another spectacular Rexburg sunset. The sky seemed to glow for a few minutes. Wonder what next weekend will bring?

Our very fast trip to Asuncion Paraguay

2011-11-09T18:50:00.001-07:00

The latest NRT trip took us to Asuncion Paraguay. We taught one course this time over two days. It took us two days to get there from Idaho Falls. A rather grueling trip. We have a 6 hour lay over i Sao Paulo Brazil after the overnight flight. We crashed on the couches in the Delta Crown room.

A random picture from the plane in Ciudad Del Este. They appeared to be practicing o this 747.

One thing they do very well in Asuncion is food. This was at a Parilla. They bring so many kinds of meat fresh off the grill. The best selection is the pineapple from the grill.

There was very little time to do anything but teach. It is however mandatory to make a stop at the Artisan shops. That is tourist trap in English.

We glanced up in a shadier part of town and saw these Greek statues up on the roof.

Dr. Perez chatting with the guy who is trying to sell "Rolex" watches. You know the kind they hide under their coats.

After two days of teaching we spent two days getting back home. There was a spectacular view of the Tetons on our final approach. The windmills made an interesting addition to the picture.

A beautiful change of seasons.

2011-10-27T19:03:00.000-06:00

A week ago we decided to take a last trip to Yellowstone Park. How can you live with it in your backyard and not go? The facilities were mostly closed so we kind of had the park to ourselves. We saw lots of wildlife, elk, bison and moose. The colors were bright and beautiful. Snow has already arrived in the mountains.

My Dad or Jeff ????

I have been all over the world and there is nowhere more beautiful than right where I live. That is the truth!

Dining with friends

2011-10-23T22:57:00.000-06:00

Occasionally we get invited to a dinner club as substitutes. We love to go because of a number of reasons. First is the fun friends who are there. Lots of laughing, talking and games. Then there is the FOOD! You have not eaten good food until you eat here.

Someone snapped a funny picture of us. Any funny titles out there?

A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

2011-10-18T05:46:00.001-06:00

Sunday afternoon we had a storm come through with lots of lightening and thunder. I went to the front door to see what the storm was like. This is the view that met me. We get rainbows here to the east fairly often. This is the first time I have ever seen one to the north. The rainbow appears to be ending right in the front entrance to the Rexburg Temple.

Farewell summer 2011

2011-10-08T07:43:00.001-06:00

It has been a short summer here in Rexburg. Spring was long and let's say miserable. But when summer finally comes to Rexburg it is glorious. I am adding some random photos to finish up the summer. Kind of like the deep closet cleaning I am going to do this weekend in my bedroom.

I walked and walked and walked this summer. I feel ready to be one of those pioneers.

Living by the Rexburg Temple presents unlimited opportunities for beautiful pictures from my front door and windows. This picture was taken through a dirty upstairs window with my iPhone. By the time I got my good camera the colors had faded away.

I made two trips to Arizona in one week. The first one to hike the Grand Canyon with girl friends and the second with Jeff to go to meetings. The Arizona desert really is beautiful. OK Jeff do not lean any closer to that prickly cactus. It was 105 degrees when we arrived here.

While staying at the Marriott resort the Valet parking boy had a mishap with our rental car. Oops. We never did see the golf cart that he hit head on. To apologize they brought us up a nice tray of dipped strawberries and a bottle of wine. We gave the wine away but the strawberries were yummy.

This is what greeted us when we arrived home from hot Arizona. I know that every year we scream that it came too early or that it was the earliest ever. I do think this year is the winner for the early snow storm award which arrived October 5th.

This was about mile 20 in our day in the Grand Canyon and we had the hardest 4 miles just ahead of us. One of the many lessons I learned on this trip was that I can do hard things. Those hard things can also be the most rewarding. I love my life!

Grand Canyon Rim to Rim Hike

2011-09-23T00:08:00.002-06:00

On September 20, thirteen long time girl friends tackled the Grand Canyon doing the rim to rim hike from North to South. Eleven of them continued on and returned a day later. I was not one of them. I was happy to do the one way trip.

Shan, Jenny, Suzan, Sherrie, Laura, Judy, Drexel, Terry, Cathy, Sherilee, Brenda, Charlene and Mary.

There was a mask floating around for grumpy women to wear if needed. I am not telling who is wearing it the first night.

Our first evening was beautiful and we watched the sunset over the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. After dark we were amazed at the sight of the Milky Way with no lights to distract from it.

Early morning start at the trail head.

There are tunnels and lots of bridges along the way.

The morning light was beautiful and everything glowed with the rust colored rock.

You could spot friends all along the trail.

This picture was taken from a bridge of our shadows. Unfortunately when I took the picture one of my hiking poles fell off of the bridge. Oops, I hate it when that happens. I discovered that I preferred hiking with one pole. Lucky for me as I still had 22 miles left to go.

This trail is not for anyone with a fear of heights. You can see it carved into the mountain. It is about three feet wide and who knows how deep the drop off is. I did not dare to look over it far enough to see the bottom.

When we hit the bottom of the canyon we took a side trip into Ribbon Falls to cool off. The mist was delightful.

I got out my new silly looking hat but found it to be very helpful especially when I soaked it in the creek.

We stopped at Phantom Ranch for lunch. They sell lemonade there that was the best thing I had ever tasted. Ever!!!! With big cubes of ice. It was near 100 degrees down here. We then soaked ourselves with water from the tap.

From Phantom Ranch we headed to the Bright Angel Trail. I have always been fascinated by that name. I found out that it was named to counter the Dirty Devils.

Crossing the Colorado River on a walking only suspension bridge. The temperature is now 114 according to the thermometer. The river was very muddy.

My friends are really tough. They held this rock up.

Here is one of the trail critters we ran into.

The hike ended in the dark. We spent two or three hours hiking up Bright Angel Trail in the dark. Everyone had head lights on. All I can say is it was one long steep uphill hike. You could see the lights at the top of the canyon but they never seemed to get closer. There were 4.5 miles of switch backs. I ran out of steam and it was a tough hike out for me.

My first step out of the canyon. I am feeling suddenly better. The sign is all about the dangers of the hike.

The next morning I walked over to the rim to see what the trail looked like. This is the Bright Angel Trail that we came up.

If you look closely at this picture above it shows the route from North to South. We started at the top of the picture in the canyon.

I DID IT!!!!!!!!

Now I have to put my disclaimer. I read many things over the summer about this hike. Every single one of them said...DO NOT HIKE THIS IN ONE DAY. There were signs everywhere in the canyon saying do not do this hike in one day. Although we did not have any problems we saw some others who did. So if you decide to do it be very cautious and make an educated decision.

Lunch with my girl friends

2011-09-14T08:07:00.000-06:00

There is nothing better than fall in the Teton Mountains. Summer came late this year so the wildflowers are just at their peak in the high altitudes. The trail we hiked took us behind Grand Targhee Ski Resort. It was really beautiful. We hiked about 14 miles. It was also my test hike for hiking the Grand Canyon next week. I made it just fine so guess I am going.

After three hours of uphill climbing (10,000 feet high) we made it to this beautiful lake. Lunch is always the highlight of a long hike. We share goodies and stories of hikes from years ago. I have been hiking with these ladies for about 25 years now.

My favorite flower which few have ever seen is the Elephants Head Flower. Each blossom looks like an elephants head. I only see them above 9,000 feet. If you click on the picture you will see all the cute purple elephants.

Laura was our guide for this trip. It is a good thing we had her because this hike has a poor, barely there trail. In fact crossing these flower filled meadows there was no trail to be found. So we made our way through these beautiful flowers.

I love to go a wandering among the hills so green and as I go I love to sing, my Knapp sack on my back....

That was a song I learned in grade school. I still love it.

If you look closely at the front of all these hikers you will see BEAR SPRAY hanging off of us. We keep it handy as this canyon is rumored to be the one with the most grizzly bears. We did not see any but our day was spent looking out for them.

Ten years ago today

2011-09-11T08:12:00.002-06:00

I suspect everyone is remembering where they were 10 years ago today. Who could forget. I was driving with a friend Terry Conrad to Idaho Falls. We were going on a tour to the INEL nuclear reactor sight west of Rexburg. It was part of a state wide meeting for emergency coordinators. We heard on the way down to Idaho Falls on the radio that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We continued on and boarded the bus with all of the emergency coordinators for Idaho. When we arrived out there we were greeted by security who told us we would be escorted back off of the grounds due to security. They allowed us a restroom stop and then drove us out. Back then the cell phones were just that, so the only news we received was by cell phone. A phone on the bus would ring and the person receiving the call would relay the latest news. A plane was headed for the capital, now it had crashed and on and on. The bus was eerily quiet. We all headed back to our cities and jobs, the conference ended without meeting. I went back to the hospital arriving just in time to watch the first tower collapse. My heart still breaks for that day.

So many lives lost on that day but also during the years of war since then. One of the directors over the Newborn Resuscitation Program we are involved in lost her husband Brady Howell in the Pentagon crash. Liz does amazing things for us and all those who are involved in this work.

And so time passes on. We will never forget that day and we pray that there not be a repeat in the future. Osama Bin Laden is now gone but the evil he created is not. The world will never be the same. An interesting thing is that years ago I saw an article about him in a Readers Digest. It said that he was one of the most dangerous men ever. This was before anyone had heard of him. I was so impressed that I saved the article. There was something about his face. Little did I know that he would wreak such havoc on the United States. So we pause today to remember all of those lost.

God Bless America!

How to entertain yourself when walking

2011-09-07T22:05:00.003-06:00

I have this crazy notion to go hiking. Not just a little hike but the Grand hike of all. I am planning to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim in two weeks. With about 16 of my friends. Some of these friends are very in shape. I am not able to do all the mountain hikes they are doing to train so I walk around town instead. A lot of walking. I find the biggest hills and just keep walking. This last weekend I walked about 40 miles. You have to entertain yourself to walk that much. This day I took pictures of myself in some of the fun places I walked. I have seen a lot of fun and beautiful things in Rexburg. Everyone should go walking and just look at your surroundings. It is really cool.

BYUI gardens. This guy kind of creeped me out.

This summer to help train I hiked the stadium stairs. Now that sounds fun doesn't it? I discovered another place to do stairs. Lots of them in the Conference Center. 75 stairs to be exact. They also have a nice restroom and a cold water fountain. Good tip when you are walking for hours.

I stopped in at my friends who ditched us to hang out in Bermuda. Knocked on the door for old times sake. Nobody answered. :)

Most nights I head out walking again before I go to bed. This night I saw this amazing sight. All these floating fire filled lanterns were floating up into the sky. They looked like the ones in Tangled. Turns out they are drifting up into the sky from a wedding reception in my neighborhood. Not too surprising the Fire Department showed up.

Call me Mary Gump.

Different views from the street

2011-09-04T21:27:00.000-06:00

I stood in the middle of the street in Puerto Maldonado and took a picture each direction. These are the different things I saw.

A student arriving by motor-taxi.

Heaps of garbage being sorted through in the intersection.

A small business directly across the street from the LDS Chapel.

The Church is so clean and orderly, a welcome sight to members and nonmembers alike.

Puerto Maldonado, Peru

2011-08-30T06:33:00.001-06:00

It is doubtful that many in Puerto Maldonado have ever seen snow. Jeff added a slide in his lecture to show them how much snow we had in Rexburg a couple of years ago.

We went for a little walk down to the river. On the way we discovered some cool things. Hidden up in a tree was a Sloth. I thought Sloth was just a name you gave your teenagers when they did not clean their rooms. But there he is looking cool as can be. Then I discovered that he was a she when this cute baby sloth peeked out from Mommy's arms. The Sloth's blended perfectly into the tree. In fact you can click on the picture to see this cute baby's face better.

Just a few feet away we saw this beautiful bird in a tree. It was very big and colorful.

Jeff checking out the jungle medicine.

Puerto Maldonado does not get high scores for cleanliness. We drove down this road when we arrived and I thought, surely this is just a short cut to our Hotel. Nope, this is the view from the front door of our Hotel. The rooms were fine, the surroundings dismal.

This man is across the street from our Hotel. He is trimming the grass in front of his home with a machete. My pictures in town do not depict jungle but trust me this is jungle. The town is sort of scratched out of the trees and is a hot humid dusty sometimes muddy place. It is surrounded by nothing but trees. Flying in all you can see forever are trees. No roads, clearings or anything else in sight.

Arriving back in Lima on our journey home we went to this place on the ocean for dinner. These are the two Doctors who traveled with us. They were great travel companions, friends and instructors.

Jeff can never find hats to fit his largish head. This one was perfect and we should have bought it for him. The souvenir I brought home is in my belly. Dang it anyway! Some sort of tropical disease.

Just a couple of Jeff's talents

2011-08-27T05:17:00.002-06:00

When we travel to South American countries to teach NRT one of our motto's is flexibility. You have to be able to roll with the punches down here. Yesterday morning we arrived to the Church to set up and found that the room which had all of our things in was still locked and no one had a key. Jeff calmly got up on a table and took the windows out above the door. He then took a broom and worked the door handle open through the window. He replaced the windows, got down off the table and set his room up for teaching.

Jeff you are my hero!!!

Welcome to the jungle, Puerto Maldanado

2011-08-25T22:47:00.001-06:00

Wednesday we flew from Cusco to Puerto Maldanado. About the time we took off there was a big earthquake in Peru. We did get to feel it. Puerto Maldanado is a town in the Amazon jungle. From the plane all you could see were trees and a muddy river. The town is not very attractive. When they turned down a street that was deep ruts and dirt I thought it was a short cut to our street. It wasn't. For dinner we drove out a ways from town to a little resort. They cooked in an outdoors kitchen. Not much choice but it was decent enough. After we finished eating we drove back to see the river. The sun was just setting. It was very beautiful. It sets early here around 6 pm.

This is the street in front of the Church we are teaching in.

This is looking the other direction in front of the Church.

Our team including some of the officials in town. Standing by me is Dr. Parra from Ayacucho. We taught him last year and now he is teaching all over his area.

Abancay via Cuzco Peru

2011-08-24T03:29:00.001-06:00

Flying into Cuzco Peru is an adventure. The plane basically pivots around a mountain and then drops down into the little valley surrounded by high mountains. It is beautiful. We hopped onto the bus and stopped for lunch at a Peruvian restaraunt. The view as you can see was spectacular. The soccer stadium was full of cheering fans.

The drive over mountains to Abancay was stunning. However it had solid hair pin turns and we soon found ourselves very nauseated.

The LDS Church where we taught the NRT course was 28 years old but so clean and nice. The picture below shows the difference between the Church and the building that is right next to it.

The Church ad for the area has a picture of Machu Pichu on it. How lucky they are to be able to live so close to one of the most beautiful places on earth. Abancay is a pretty town in a mountain valley. The people are very nice. We are so thankful to be able to meet so many nice people in the world.

Elk Creek Ranch Part 2

2011-08-18T18:26:00.002-06:00

As you already know we did tie dyed shirts. Can you believe how cute they all turned out? We had plenty of room for the kids (and mosquitoes) to run around.

The Jones Family

Andy and Lynn decide to do the cammo colored shirts. Can you find them in the picture? They said they did it to hide from their kids.

The Clark Family

It was non stop fun for all the girls. Do you see Big Foot in the background?

The Hurst Family

The Harris Family

Unfortunately Todd had to work this week in Taiwan. So he missed the big tie dye convention. So they held his shirt in the picture.

The Jack Zollinger Family

Every night was a full moon spectacular.

How did we get to be the oldies so quickly? At least we are hip old people.

We had the talent show and everyone took part. It was some major talent let me tell you. Not to mention all the piano solos during dinner.

The group shot. Morning sun was hard to work with. However all the kids were very cooperative.

Andy Rachel Mary Leslie in full hippie garb.

The Baldwin Family

On Saturday afternoon we rented rafts and floated down the river to Mack's Inn.

Our boat had a theme song. Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Hey hey hey gooood bye! We sang that out as we passed them by.

The kids did not mind waiting for boats. They swam, caught minnows and tadpoles.

The kids took turns riding inner tubes behind the rafts. That was sometimes an adventure when they turned up too far back. So we tied them on to the rafts.

The Dining Room. Food was plentiful and delicious. A room fit for thirty of us.

Life is Good: Elk Creek Ranch Part 1

2011-08-15T23:17:00.001-06:00

Welcome to Elk Creek Ranch. This year we decided to spend a few days with the family at this fun place in Island Park. It is owned by Jeff's cousin. Elk Creek Ranch is rustic, just like cabins should be. I have always loved lakes and docks.

There are plenty of boats and canoes so every spare minute was spent on the lake.

Most people come here to fish. That includes the birds. This Osprey caught a fish so big he had a difficult time getting it out of the water.

The dining room is lined with wild animals. This one kind of freaked me out. What is with the legs??? Do not be fooled however. The food here is the finest. Best part is no cooking or cleaning up for me or anyone else. We had Turkey dinner with all the trimmings, pork medallions and the last night Filet Mignon. Lunch and breakfast are also included. Home made rolls and desserts are included in every meal.

Grant happily rowed all the cousins around the lake.

We went on a hike at Harriman Park. Some of the kids shed their shoes at Silver Lake and went wading in the water. Jake is hanging upside down because his mom is picking leaches off of his feet.

Hiking down the road with their sack lunches. We tried but it was hard to wear this bunch of kids out.

Check out the bats hanging upside down with their heads sticking out of the bat house.

The Harriman Park tour was actually very interesting. These girl cousins were very attentive during the tour.

Mommy daughter picture.

Coming fresh off of Girls Camp I was full of activity ideas. We tie dyed 30 t-shirts. They actually all turned out really cute. A very talented bunch of tie dyers.

Fishing was amazing. If you take note their are fish on every line. Big fish. Rob and Andy are doing fish hook duty.

Two days in Los Angeles

2011-08-14T23:15:00.000-06:00

For Jeff's birthday this year I surprised him with tickets to see Hair Spray in the Hollywood Bowl. A quick flight from Idaho Falls and we were in LA in time for lunch. Jeff had seen a place called Phillipe's on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. It is famous for French Dip Sandwiches. Guess where we went for lunch?

It was in downtown LA and is kind of a dive.

The French Dips were divine. So was the chocolate cream pie.

That very night we went to a place close to Todd's work. Again a fab meal. Rachel and the girls split a Kobe beef hamburger. They say it was the best burger they had eaten. I would not know as I do not eat hamburgers. Never have, never will.

Lily had a birthday. No monkey parties any more.

We had never seen the Hollywood Bowl. It was amazing. The weather was perfect. I love Hair Spray. It was great to see it on stage. There was a star studded cast.

To top the trip off we rode the bus in from El Segundo to Hollywood. Jeff loves to ride buses. The girls not so much. That is what we did with our two days in LA.

On top of Table Rock

2011-07-31T22:12:00.002-06:00

I have done a lot of hiking in my days. However the last couple of years I have not been able to due to other obligations like work. The other morning my friend Charlene made me get up at 6:15 for a 6:30 departure to hike Table Rock. It is easily one of the most spectacular views on earth. It is a view that you have to work for as in a tough steep hike. The wildflowers were out in abundance but have not yet peaked. The snow is late this year departing and may not ever be all gone before winter comes back.

The final mile was hiked in snow. Lots of it. We were very glad we had our poles with us.

I made it. It looks like you can reach out and touch the Grand Teton Mountains. My next thing to conquer will be the Grand Canyon in September. Rim to rim in a day. Guess I better get a few more long hikes in before then.

Finally some hot summer nights!

2011-07-26T03:40:00.002-06:00

Summer in Rexburg is a wonderful thing once it arrives. It finally has arrived and we have been trying to make the most of it. Rexburg Medical Center had a fun summer party at Dr. Prince backyard. He was the burger flipper.

We had the fire department on call.

We tried to not make too many watermelon jokes for Wendy's sake.

Jaimie showed off her sunburn she got earlier in the day. The fire department might need to be called for her also.

The girls from the basement are a lot of fun.

It was a fun night with yummy food

Poor Lori. She was trimming shrubs to get ready for the party and trimmed the end of her finger. She had to have her husband sew her finger up.

Jason and his little family came for their final appearance. He is moving on to bigger better things. We will miss him. The CIA will love him. :)

Carla received the employee of the year award. She was surprised. I had a hard time convincing her that she was the person we were honoring.

Janae got the Face book votes.

We had a band come to entertain. They were really funny. An LDS rap band.

A couple of nights later Andy told us all to get our pajamas on and we were going night golfing. For those who do not know, Andy is now in charge at our house and nobody disobeys.

We gathered at the golf course in the pitch dark night. He had a bunch of glow balls that they had gathered from the ditches along the golf course. Andy spent his youth gathering the golf balls in ditches. He has passed his talent on to Christian and Isaac.

We played fun things with the glow balls. The night setting on the camera allowed you to get the motion of the glowing balls. People are a bit blurry but fun shots nonetheless.

Stay tuned for more hot summer night activities. Winter will be here before you know it.

Girl's camp...are you kidding me???

2011-07-22T22:19:00.001-06:00

In May I was asked to be the Girl's Camp Director in our ward. I have been camp director or involved in Stake Camps many times but this was a surprise. Especially as I only had several weeks to get ready and three of those weeks I would be in China. I said yes and I am so glad that I did. It was a blast. 30 girls came and 8 Women.

Our camp theme was Treasure Island. The Stake theme was "Sailing Home". The themes were fun to work with. We had this yummy Treasure Chest cake for dessert the first night in camp.

I dug out my sewing machine and whipped up a Treasure Island flag with the masts representing each of the Young Women Value colors.

Nothing like a hot dog cooked over the campfire. (I will never know).

I have to say we had some great talent in our camp. The impromptu skit was excellent and so hilarious.

The weather was perfect. We went on a hike to Packsaddle Lake which was beautiful.

Lori Prince and I showed up in our cowgirl hats.

Check out the Tetons behind the girls. I told them they were in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

There is a rope swing at the lake which was barely above freezing. You would not believe how many of the girls landed in the water in their clothes.

We had our share of silliness.

We had fearless Priesthood leaders.

I had the girls make bracelets but they had to earn the charms. They earned them for everything they did at camp. In their rare spare time they fastened the charms to their bracelets. It was a hit.

Did I mention the silliness? Someone (turned out to be Sarah the YW President) snuck rubber critters into our sleeping bags etc.

When you go on a cruise they usually have dress up night. So did we. It was really fun. I had a great hat made in Young Woman Value colors to wear to our dress up dinner.

Everyone tried the hat on. My week at Treasure Island Camp was a treasure. So glad I was able to go.

Loving summer 2011

2011-07-16T22:47:00.003-06:00

We thought summer would never come but once it did it has been glorious. What better in the summer than strawberry shortcake.

Rexburg parades are kind of cheesy but we love them.

A flyover to start the parade off.

We always go to the same area to watch the parade.

There are always good friends to run in to and reconnect with. The Spaulding's were sitting right by us.

Darth Vader and Princess Lea came to Rexburg this year.

The best part of the parade every year are the famous Ray's car wash boys. This year they have uniforms. The High School marching band does not even have uniforms.

The kids go to the parade to collect as much candy as they can. Jake turned up missing. After everyone went out to hunt for him I found him under the dining room table enjoying the candy stash all to himself.

The fireworks were out at the gravel pit. They were lit from the top of a gravel mountain. It was a great show. A big moon was right in the middle of the show. We all made home made ice cream in baggies. It was the best.

The warm weather was slow to come and the snow piled up deep this winter. That means flooding clear into the middle of July. This is the road in Drigg's under water. See the car spraying water.

The Clark's have been living with us for the last 6 months. Jake has about outgrown his little playpen bed.

At the end of the week we drove over to Sun Valley with David and Charlene. We took the Corvette's. It was a gorgeous weekend. It was the annual Allen and Company convention with the billionaires. The tiny Hailey airport was packed with fancy private jets. It was an amazing site to see.

We drove over the Galena Pass to beautiful Red Fish Lake. Incredibly beautiful. We rented a boat and cruised or I guess I should say putted around the lake.

Red Fish Lake is still being fed by fresh melted snow so swimming was not an option for us. However it felt good to walk in the water.

We stayed at Doug's house as there were no rooms in the entire valley. It was like staying in a cabin with all of his animals hanging around. Thanks Doug we had a nice place to stay. Not everyone has a bear in their living room. There is some antlered animal behind the bear giving it the appearance of having horns. I did not get the picture of the badger in the living room. Not sure I understand that.

Just had to share this. In Doug's garage is a urinal. How cool is that?

Driving back into Rexburg was a reminder of how beautiful the valley is. From a few miles out you can see the Tetons behind the valley overshadowing the Rexburg Temple.

I love when my roses come into bloom. I really do not do anything to them. They just grow and grow and bloom and bloom.

One of the daisy's in my front yard. I love love love summertime in Rexburg.

The Red Bus filled with good friends in China

2011-07-12T22:39:00.001-06:00

When we arrived in Hong Kong and were heading into China we were assigned to "The Red Bus". Thirty of us, mostly strangers. Some of us stranger than others. I was skeptical about bonding with this bunch. Bond we did. I loved the Red Bus Bunch. Of course we had some of our good friends with us, Chuck and Linda Porter and Shan and Gary Summers. They were perfect travel mates.

Michael Wilcox of LDS speaking and writing fame was the educator on our tour. He was a very nice person and we learned a lot from him. He is below with Jeff, Gary and Chuck.

Chuck from the window of the famed Red Bus.

In each city a guide would spend a couple of days with us and tell us all they could about their city. Nena was in Beijing and we loved her.

This was our guide in Xian. He was chastising a Buddhist monk for drinking beer.

Our buses were not really red. Just the little sign in the windows were red.

This is the man who discovered the Terracotta Warriors on his farm.

One evening we got to go to the theater and watch a great Chinese dance and music show. I think it was called the Ming Dynasty Theater.

Whenever we had a long drive on the bus we got up and told things about ourselves. One day we had to tell our most embarrassing story. You can see that Jeff really got into that.

The man below told the most embarrassing story of all. I cannot repeat it but it had to do with being ill in Egypt. We were all sworn to secrecy, you know what happens on the Red Bus stays on the Red Bus.

Spouses told stories on each other.

Gary takes his turn with the mike.

This is Trevor. He sang a song for us.

Then there was Jeff. He entertained us the whole trip. He is an audiologist from Hurricane Utah.

Reagan was another returned missionary. He was with his Mom and siblings.

We had entertainment at night that created even more embarrassing moments as this guy who dressed up as Dolly Parton.

This is Bill. Bill was a single man on the trip who's wife passed away a couple of months ago. He was a sweet man who needed some help. We took him under our wings and made sure he was where he should be and had someone to walk and talk with. He sat with us on the Red Bus.

Jeff and Gary with the locals. We learned to love the Chinese people.

Cameron is Jeff's son recently home from his mission. He had a little romance with a young lady on the bus. We started calling it the Love Bus as there were a couple of romances that started up on the bus.

Of course our Panda friend.

Carol Tyndal is the wife of Jim and they are the owners of the company. Funforless is the tour company we went with and we HIGHLY recommend them.

One morning we walked thru the park and some of our Red Bus group did some Taichai with the locals. This is Shelly, she is a single lady full of fun and energy.

Group photo of our Red Bus group.

We tried to get a group of our 6 people and Jeff and Carol Manwaring jumped into the shot. She is running by. Carol is a triathlon runner.

While we did our tourist thing the bus drivers gathered in the shade of the buses and played games.

This is Trevor who could not wait to see the Panda bears. This is his souvenir Panda Bear hat and gloves. Can you see why we loved our little group in China?

We hiked the Great Wall of China

2011-07-11T08:53:00.000-06:00

We drove an hour or so out of Beijing to one of the sights where you can see the Great Wall of China. You can see it from the road snaking across the mountains. It was a beautiful area and the views from the top were great.

This is our Red Bus group. We learned to love everyone on our bus. They were so much fun. It was fun to get the group photo in front of the Wall.

First we climbed up these tall steep steps.

So exciting to be on the Wall. It is a steep combination of steps and walk ways. Everyone goes at their own pace.

Jeff did great with his new knees.

This lady did it in some really crazy shoes. Ouch.

Jeff, Mary, Linda, Chuck, Shan and Gary

There were spots where it was very steep. Jeff sometimes had to go backwards.

It was a wonderful day. We climbed the Great Wall of China!!!!

Some everyday sights around Beijing

2011-07-10T22:11:00.001-06:00

Gary and Jeff (not my Jeff) did some hard bargaining with the ladies selling hats at the bus door. In the end they did not buy the hats.

Old Chinese neighborhood against the new high rises.

Gary Summers celebrated his birthday on the Red Bus.

Jim Tyndal, the owner of the Funforless Tour company we went with.

Taichi in the park with the locals.

The park is full of people enjoying the day. Many play games, do exercises, visit with friends. The men crochet hats and sweaters.

Jeff and Mary

Chuck and Linda

Shan and Gary

What a novel idea, wheel chair and bike combo.

Stretching in the park. The Chinese are very limber at any age.

Beijing silk rugs and the Summer Palace

2011-07-10T21:38:00.000-06:00

We had a very busy day in Beijing. After seeing the Forbidden City we went to a silk rug factory. I know they con you into buying rugs but the rug we bought is really beautiful and I love it. It has dragons on it. The rug above takes 18 months to make.

The rug showroom had hundreds of beautiful rugs.

The rug that we bought.

We had wonderful guides in each city who taught us so much about China. This is Nena in Beijing. She loves her country and told us not to feel sorry for them. She said China is evolving and getting better.

The Summer Palace was on a beautiful lake. We rode the dragon boat out to it.

This is a marble boat. Of course it does not really float. It was used for parties and outdoor dining. They said that the empress would sit with her back to the lake and a huge mirror in front of her. She would look at herself sitting in front of the beautiful lake.

There was a long covered walk way with all of these beautiful painted panels over head.

A group of cute ladies were also sight seeing at the same time as us.

This is the ceiling on the dragon boat.

The Forbidden City in Beijing

2011-07-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

Our Hotel in Beijing was within walking distance of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which is across the street from the square. The square was just that, a big square. After taking pictures we headed into the magnificent Forbidden City.

Jeff from Tiananmen Square looking across tot he Forbidden City. Here is a link to info on it. I had o idea how big and amazing it would be. 9999 rooms for the Emperors of China and their concubines. Forbidden City

Walking into the Forbidden city.

Soldiers doing marching drills.

This was our hottest day in China. We bought a bottle of frozen water at the gate and sipped on it as it melted. Jeff carried it in his pocket and it helped him stay cool.

I thought the building details were grand. I loved looking up at the ceilings and roofs.

These huge pots were used to keep water in case of fire. Apparently they had a couple of big fires over the years.

Figurines found on the corners of roofs.

Peach Popsicles. Yummy.

A giant incense burner in the concubine quarters.

Along the Yangtze River

2011-07-04T00:28:00.000-06:00

Our cruise gave us the opportunity to see another view of China. We slowly cruised down the river watching daily life. We stopped occasionally to get off and visit communities along the way. These communities have been rebuilt following the flooding due to the Three Gorges Dam.

They do not use many shopping bags. Most things purchased are carried in baskets.

These young ladies were headed home from school.

There was a farmers market we walked through. They had some of the most beautiful produce I have ever seen all displayed in neat fashion.

The chickens were seasoned with what I suspect is spicy.

A tidy little market.

These senior citizens were in the park and entertained us with local music and some American songs also.

The local people will open their homes for tours so you can see how they live. Above is the kitchen.

This is the rest of the kitchen which is outdoors.

The family TV room.

The bathroom has the typical squat toilet. It is the hole in the floor at the far end of the room.

This is the laundry area. A stone surface to scrub the clothes on and a line to hang the clothes up.

Here is the front door of the house.

Here is where they wash the cars.

Every where you go in China people are out playing card or board games.

A rice paddy. We saw many of these. Everything we saw was neat and orderly. We learned that the Chinese do not own property. They are allowed to have it from the government. When they die it returns to the government and it is given to someone else who has just been born. Usually this is not the same family.

Dazu Rock Carvings

2011-06-22T23:28:00.001-06:00

After arriving in Chongquin we rode to the spectacular Dazu Rock Carvings.

There are over 50,000 carvings going back to ancient times. It was very beautiful there. It has only been open to the public around 30 years. Above are Linda and I in front of a peacock carved into a tree root.

Michael Wilcox taught us about the religions in China such as Buddhism, Taoism and about Confucianism.

We had fun everyday sharing our snacks for lunch. The group did not stop for lunch as it took too much valuable sight seeing time. Every day in China was a delight.

Panda Bears

2011-06-16T20:42:00.000-06:00

One of the fun things we got to do in China is go to the Panda Bear Zoo in Chongqing. They were sooooooo cute. Soooooo cuddly looking. It was Children's free day at the zoo. There were sooooo many kids there. But it was kind of fun to see.

It was dinner time. You can see they love their bamboo dinner.

Apples for the second course. Ohhh they loved their apples. I'm in love with them.

Guess what the top selling souvenir was? We did not buy one. Maybe we will have to go back to the Panda Zoo someday.

The Terracotta Warriors

2011-06-15T07:51:00.001-06:00

The Terracotta Warriors was an amazing find by the farmer in the picture. He was digging a well when he discovered the Terracotta Warriors in 1974. There are over 8,000 of them plus horses and chariots. It is fascinating to walk through the large covered building that protects them. They are still uncovering and reconstructing them. They were destroyed by another group long ago. The farmer signs books at the gift shop.

This is our first view of the army.

Each one has a unique face.

Ok no photos. Click click. The guards even took one for me of the horses that were behind a guardrail.

Reconstruction is an ongoing project.

Translations were interesting. Fire extinguisher.

Kind of eerie to see the parts that are being uncovered.

That is Chinese writing behind me.

Interesting note. Our tour company owners have a good (very good) friend in China who looks out for them. He made sure that our buses had police escorts everywhere. They stopped traffic in China for us to go through heavy traffic areas. When we got to the Terracotta Warriors place they drove us past the parking lots (20 minute walk) and parked right next to the buildings. Not one other vehicle there got to do that. It was fun to hear the story of how they became such good friends. Works for us!!!

Cruising on the Yangtze River

2011-06-10T23:27:00.000-06:00

I do not have the trip in exact order. Today I am going to show and tell a little about the Yangtze River Cruise. We were on the Century Sun, a nice ship for 5 days. We loved it. Most days we stopped and got off the boat for little shore excursions. The Yangtze River has the Three Gorges Dam on it. A few years ago it was completed. They filled the river up and displaced over a million people and hundreds of towns were under water. It was fascinating to see what happened here. The towns were rebuilt above the water line using some of the old materials. The new towns are nice towns. The people we met were happy about the relocation's. They did say the older generations had a harder time with being relocated.

One of the nice things about this trip is the fact that we rarely had to touch our luggage. They got it from our rooms when we moved and it was returned to our rooms wherever we arrived. I thought this was a clever way to move luggage. We travel so much I think I want one of these poles to help get our luggage out to the car when we leave on trips.

We had private verandas with our cabins. The boat Jeff is checking out ahead of us is the Dragon Boat.

There were many many bridges along the river.

The entire time we were on the river the ever present mist or fog gave everything an interesting look. Kind of like the mystical magical mystery tour.

We did relax for a bit on the cruise. We are parked here next to another ship. It was fun to watch the crew working on it.

Magnolia tree

Jeff, Reagan and Cameron (from the Red bus) at the Three Gorges Dam.

Dam!

Any tourists looking at the dam?

On the walk back to the ship we stopped to buy some roasted peanuts. She used a hand scale to weigh them at the little market. The peanuts were yummy.

We had an entertainer that traveled with us and did some great shows at night. He did Elvis impersonations, magic shows and comedy routines. We looked forward to seeing his nightly shows on the ship. Carey was very very talented.

Check out the steps we had to climb when we took a little excursion on shore to see one of the new relocation towns. Shan, Linda and I are planning to go to the Grand Canyon this fall so we took the opportunity to go up and down them a couple of times for training.

Our home for 5 days.

Above is a hanging coffin. They have lots of ancient coffins in little caves above the river. If you expand the picture you can see it in one of the caves.

I was fascinated by the walk way built onto the wall of the river canyon. It is a 4 mile hike with covered areas, seats and glass bottom walkway.

One day we got off of the boat and onto little "San pans". We went up a little tributary to see another view of the river. They are little wooden boats that we were happy to have life jackets on in. They did not appear to be too seaworthy but did the job. The fellow above was our crew member. He entertained us and let everyone get up front for a picture in his hat and raincoat thing I guess.

Some real Yangtze women!

Orange vested tourists.

Orange bottomed monkey. You may have to expand the pic to see it.

We fell in love with the peach Popsicle things we found along the way.

Pinch me, am I really in China cruising down the Yangtze River with the most handsome guy on the face of the earth?

Tour of the bridge. That is the term for a ships control center. We were disappointed to see the tiny little steering wheel. Where is the Popeye the Sailor Man wheel we expected to see? It was a just little 5 inch wheel. The captain is hanging onto it here.

We think the bartenders were feeling neglected by the mostly Mormon tourists on board. We made their day ordering sodas.

Our ship below the long staircase. We had to do the stairs and cross the wooden dock to get to and from the ship.

Going through Three Gorges Dam ship locks

2011-06-09T06:47:00.001-06:00

It was fun to visit the Three Gorges Dam. We got off the cruise ship and walked around looking at it. It is the largest dam in the world. A couple of years ago we saw the Itaipu dam in Paraguay and were impressed by it so Jeff was in hog heaven to see this dam also. After the visit to see the dam we got back on the ship and headed into the locks. We needed to be raised 150 feet to continue down the river. We went through five consecutive locks being raised 30 feet each time. It took about 5 hours to do this. It was quite interesting. The picture above shows us heading into the first lock.

Jeff on our cabin balcony looking at the ship next to us. There was about 18 inches between the two boats. We decided to lock our cabin door as it would be very easy for someone to jump over into our room. There were four ships at a time in each lock.

Jeff and Gary checking out the massive door to the lock. When all the ships were in and positioned they swung them shut and then filled the huge tank with water which raised us up to the level of the next one.

It was evening and the sunset was pretty. It is very hazy here with fog or smog. We never decided for sure. The locals said it was fog.

We spent most of the time up on deck watching the process. That is not dinner in Jeff's belly but his money pouch hanging under his shirt.

Check out the dragon boat behind ours.

This is a picture of the back doors closing, it taken from the upper deck of the cruise ship. A nice spot to sit and watch the river roll by.

We did take a break from the ship lock activity to eat dinner. We met many Rexburg people on the ship that we knew. Here we are with the Keller's who now live in Boise but used to be in our ward.

Shenzhen China and the Cultural Folk Village

2011-06-06T22:15:00.001-06:00

We spent a day at the Cultural Folk Village in Shenzhen which is just across the Chinese border from Hong Kong. This park is modeled after the Polynesian Cultural Center. It has miniature attractions from all over China. It was also as you can see in decked out in orange flower blooms. Very beautiful.

Jeff Chuck and Gary took a nice little break from the sites.

After walking through the beautiful park we were able to see three shows. They were each unique and fun to see the culture of China in them. The first was an outdoor horse back riding, storytelling show.

Next was a spectacular song and dance show which included some very creative productions.

We are learning a lot about China. It is a beautiful country with so much history and culture. I had no idea how nice it was going to be here.

Xian

2011-05-27T15:42:00.001-06:00

The old city of Xian has the oldest complete wall and moat in China. Very impressive. It is hot here. We flew in this afternoon. Our trip has been amazing so far. Details to come. We are all exhausted from going at such a pace. Tomorrow after seeing the Terracotta Soldiers we get a three hour break. Tonight we are staying in Xian. Another great city. It used to be the capital of China.

Jeff and Gary at a monastery

The picture below was taken in Guilan just before we flew to Xian.

Hello from Guilan!

2011-05-27T15:21:00.001-06:00

We are having a great time. Yesterday we cruised on the Li River. Words cannot describe the beauty.

We then went to the Reed Flute Cave. It was very nice.

Last night we went with a big group to do reflexology on our feet. It was heaven. We have bonded with the red bus. That is our travel group. We thought it would be a bunch of old fogies but, we have found there is a good variety in our group. There's a family who are ultra marathon runners. There are about five teenagers and everything in between. There is a man in his 70's who's wife just died and he is alone so we watch over him.

We are having an amazing time. China is beautiful and very clean. The people are all nice. We are headed to the airport right now for Xian. Here are pictures from today.

The view behind Jeff is on the Chinese money.

Li River with Chinese flag

Rice on Li River

Here are the guys with Michael Wilcox, our instructor for the trip.

The girls.

I can't even believe how beautiful it is here.

These birds are used to fish. A ring is placed around their necks so they cannot swallow fish which are then collected by the fisherman.

This is outside our hotel in Guilan.

Giant incense burner

Hong Kong part 2

2011-05-23T10:16:00.000-06:00

We got to see the Hong Kong temple today. We went into the mission office to see if my nephew was around and he wasn't, which was a bummer.

Back of the temple

Then we went to a nearby mall. Check out these crazy escalators.

Then, by some small miracle I spotted my nephew walking into the KFC at the mall! We talked for a few minutes. Kind of exciting!

This was the roof of our hotel at night. Beautiful view. That's the swimming pool that's glowing green.

Our last night in Hong Kong. Now on to China!

Hong Kong and China trip

2011-05-22T19:26:00.000-06:00

It's very difficult to use the Internet in Hong Kong. Facebook and blogs especially so I have a secret agent helping me out in the States. I'm emailing photos to her and she's blogging them for me. Thank you stealthy helper. It will probably get much more difficult when we arrive in China tomorrow.

It is 5 am here. I woke up at 4. It has been rainy, sometimes down pouring. It is still warm, though. We walk for hours sometimes in the rain. Today we are going to the Temple and try to find my nephew, Carston, who is serving in the Hong Kong mission office (located at the temple). Not sure if we'll find him.

We meet up with the tour group tonight and pick up the suits the guys ordered.

Off to China in the morning. We bus to Schenzen and see an Epcot Center type park. We'll then fly to the city called Guilan. We get on a boat the next day for a cruise on the famous Li river where all the misty rock formations are. Having lots of fun!

This picture is along the harbor from the Kowloon side. The view of Hong Kong is one of the prettiest on earth. All the buildings do light shows. They change colors and patterns. It is warm and balmy. A beautiful evening until the rain came down in torrents. There was lots of lightening adding to the beauty.

Jeff watching a boat in the harbor

This man makes these noodles by hand in an amazing display of dough and fancy finger work.

Of course we had to hit the streets to do a little shopping. Here are Jeff and Gary shopping for golden trinkets.

Reminds us of the store that burnt down in Driggs. Could use a little organization.

This is the entrance to a Buddhist temple.

Coils of burning incense. They pay for these to burn along with prayers for something they need or want.

Offerings at the alter

Our group and a friend from Hong Kong who spent the day with us showing us around.

We rode the famous escalators up. You ride them up the mountain in the day and then at night they reverse. Takes a half hour to ride them all the way up.

Here are some old steps we walked up. There are pockets of old in the modern city.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep sending photos back home to keep this updated.

Dominican Republic wrap up

2011-05-14T07:08:00.000-06:00

Here is another shot of the Missionaries mostly from Haiti just before they left the MTC in Santo Domingo.

These Doctors are looking at the new mannequins.

We hired this man to guard our vehicle while we had a little Chinese food for dinner. I can hear you all thinking this is a joke. It is not.

I spend eight hours a day in a chair doing tests, spreadsheets and making certificates. This is where I spent two days. I really cannot leave it because of the risk of things like computers being stolen. Folding chairs are hard on ones back and posture.

Some of our students. The cute lady in yellow was so determined to have a conversation with me. We managed to have a little discussion between our limited knowledge of each others language and some help from friends.

Cheryl helping teach at her practice station.

We stopped at a little stand to buy Mango's in a very poor area. Two hours later we were eating dinner in a fancy mall. They had a car show which Jeff had fun at.

Teaching NRT First Day in DR

2011-05-03T20:06:00.000-06:00

The people we meet and work with are so great. Cheryl has been with us on a couple of trips. Lynn is the Director of Humanitarian Services for the LDS Church and came with us to see for himself how NRT programs are in reality. Jeff and Cheryl taught him to intubate this afternoon. We are hoping for a smooth day tomorrow.

Pedro is one of the local Doctors who is a wonderful instructor.

Outside of our window at the course is a cashew tree. Funny little critters. I never knew how they grew.

Wade joined us from Arizona. So many talented and willing people come and donate their time and talents to teach NRT. Below are all the U.S. members. Following the course we visited the LDS Temple in Santo Domingo and then had a yummy dinner.

It rains everyday right now and my skin is soaking up all of the moisture. My hair is not doing so well. To top it off we had a power outage this morning just as I was going to put on my makeup. Unfortunately when it came back on I had forgotten to do the makeup . When I looked in a mirror this afternoon I realized what I had done. I am kind of acquiring the jungle girl look here.

Tomorrow will be a long long day as we finish up and then drive to another city called San Francisco de Maricos up north from here. I love the drives because you get to see so many different things in the country.

Elder and Sister Atkinson, Cheryl, Mary, Jeff, Wade and Lynn.

NRT trip to the Dominican Republic

2011-05-02T20:26:00.000-06:00

Today is our first day in the Dominican Republic. We took a little tour of the maternity hospital. Here is the proud dad of twins.

One of our favorite finds is this statue of a newborn baby.

We walked around in the rain so our hair and glasses were rained out. But no complaints here. It is warm rain!

Our team is wonderful as usual. We have the Director of Humanitarian Services with us on this trip.

For Family Home Evening we went to the Senior Missionary's group. There is an MTC here and a these Elders are ready to go out to there assigned countries which are either Puerto Rico or Haiti. They came and sang the Armies of Helaman for us. Part sang in French and part English. It was very nice.

Easter Bunny pictures 1973 and 2011.

2011-04-22T22:20:00.000-06:00

Thirty eight years ago Andy and I climbed up on an alien Easter Bunny's lap for this photo. What a spooky bunny. Jake tonight kept calling it a kitty. I could not convince him that it was a bunny. I also could not convince Addy that it was me and not Rachel.

So we decided (well I decided) to do another photo. Isn't it cute? Who changed the most, Mary, Andy or the Bunny?

April getaway

2011-04-17T00:32:00.000-06:00

We did a four day get away this April. Our first stop was in Salt Lake City. Snowed all the way down. We got to meet the newest Grandson...Clarence Vaughn. Margot and Charlie are looking bigger next to him.

The next stop was breakfast at the Jones. Rob was the chef. Floyd and Fletcher were cute as ever and happy with the new Mickey Mouse bouncy balls.

Down the road we stopped to see the Carl Bloch art show at BYU in Provo. It was beautiful and worth the effort to see it.

The drive to St. George was very wintry. A rare April snow storm kept us in bad weather all of the way down. This picture was taken 15 minutes from St. George.

We arrived Friday evening at our Bed and Breakfast which is called the Seven Wives Inn. It is located across the street from Brigham Young's summer home. It was a fun place to stay. We had a room that has an old car theme. Check out the car sitting in our room. It is a huge jetted tub.

One of the lights in the room is an old gasoline pump. See the old phone on the table? It actually works. Cool.

This evening we went to an REO Speedwagon concert that should have been held outside. Due to the really ugly weather we saw it in the conference center. It was a fun concert. A big room full of old hippies.

On Saturday morning we got up and headed out for a ride to Zions National Park. We drove 25 miles up to an entrance. Unfortunately we forgot to gas up before we left St. George. It was a little tense out in the middle of nowhere in a serious snowstorm. Every exit we passed said no services. Yikes. Then in the middle of nowhere there appeared a gas station. Whew.

After we gassed up we headed to the park. Road closed.

So we drove down the road to the southern entrance. It was open and we rode the shuttle into the park. We were about the only ones there and had the shuttle all to ourselves.

The sun tried to peak out of the clouds and fog. We never did see the mountains of Zion Park. Guess we will have to go back.

But we did get to make a snowman in the park with our shuttle driver.

Despite the snow it really was beautiful. We had a really nice weekend getaway.

My California Adventure

2011-04-03T23:17:00.000-06:00

This week I went to California and got to see the girls do some fun things. Ana plays in the school orchestra. She plays the French Horn and they asked her play with the grade above her. They played at Disneyland. It was great but really hot.

Lily and I checked out Toon Town.

I discovered while in Disneyland that my cell phone was missing. look where we found it later that day. It fell under the car.

We hurried back to get the girls ready for their opening night. They were both in Guys and Dolls. Ana was playing the lead.

I had heart pangs when I saw her come out in a wedding veil. She sang several solos in the play.

We checked out the pier on Manhattan Beach. Ana and I had a good girls chat.

Lily was supposed to have curly hair. So I put her hair in foam curlers and put a hat over them so she could go all day in curlers. They came out all pretty and curly but alas by the end of the play she had straight hair.

There is a fun aquarium at the pier. Being the owner of a huge aquarium I was excited to see the octopus in this one. I think we ate his relatives as appetizers for lunch.

The show was so good we went again the next night. Grandmas can do that.

Thanks for the fun weekend!

They are going to be great missionaries!

2011-03-29T22:34:00.001-06:00

Bart and Joanne did it. They signed up for 18 months.

They are heading out next week, so we had a little get together with friends. Bart is already in the swing of it.

Brent had a basket full of the things they will need in Bermuda. Funny stuff.

Have a great time. We will save a date in 18 months for dinner at Chiz's.

I love my ipad screen savers!

2011-03-13T16:31:00.000-06:00

I love blue!

I have not blogged in a couple of weeks. I have been so crazy busy that I have neglected my blog. I have not been taking pictures either. One thing I do make time for is playing scrabble on my ipad. Silly things we do with our time. So to explain the beautiful pictures on this post I need to explain something else I do that just takes a minute. I look for screen savers for my ipad. I have found some really great ones. I change them like I change my clothes. Depends on the day and my mood but they make me smile when I see them. I do have a fine collection of them. This is a small sample of them. I love them!

I love the Italian coast!

I love hearts!

I love the Z!

I love the Taj Mahal!

I love spring tulips!

I love Peace...world peace!

I love flowers especially when they include blue flowers.

I love the subtle quiet swirl on a black background. Quite elegant!

I love blue!

I love flowers with bees on them!

Beautiful Kauai

2011-02-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Every year in Kauai we make the trip to the Allerton Gardens. They are really beautiful, a hidden gem near our condo. Many TV shows and movies have been filmed here.

This year we had a great guide. Our favorite. He told Jeff he liked his Einstein t-shirt. He was a knowledgeable and entertaining guide.

There is a lily pad pond. Tons of cute not so little frogs and toads.

Our guide told us we would see this area of golden bamboo in the new Johnny Depp pirates movie. Can't wait.

Our annual photo taken in the trees that hid the dinosaur eggs in Jurassic Park.

I also love this little hide away. There is a room with a bench under this flowering canopy. I love it under there.

This year we went to a luau. There was a lot of beautiful things here. These trees are not painted. Notice Jeff wearing his collection of beads.

The little town of Hannapepe has this swinging bridge. It really gets swaying.

The sign above me says no diving. Jeff did not like me even pretending to jump off of it.

In Hawaii they eat of all things Spam. I do not get it. Mystery meat would be a better name for it. This is taken at McDonald's. Spam at McDonald's????? Creepy.

We drove up to Waimea to see the view. This is all we saw. Lots of vog. They call it vog instead of fog. Whatever it was it was thick and not going away. This is the third year we have not been able to see the view. Guess we will have to go back and try again.

Having fun in Kauai

2011-02-16T01:49:00.000-07:00

Time has slowed way down for us here in Kauai. People here know how to hang loose. However it will pass by too quickly. We will soon be back in wintry Idaho.

Whales are ever present. They have not let us down.

Valentines Day!

Mary and Beth share some fun times.

The Na Pali coast is always beautiful. It is kind of foggy/hazy here this trip.

Snorkel man getting ready to see some fishes.

Ignore me and check out the man to the left. Not sure why Jeff took his picture with me but it is funny. Check out his facial expression.

Beth and I found these cute hats. Oh and don't you love our Hilo Hattie necklaces?

How to remodel your house.

2011-02-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Twenty years in our house and we are ready to update. It has been a couple of weeks of major mess. Here is the office.

The family room is a big empty room now. We decided to put in hard wood floors. The whole thing has me a bit stressed. Lots of dust, noise, men coming and going, decisions, expenses, upheaval, can't find anything messes.

Hard to cook or eat in a kitchen piled high with all the stuff moved out of the family room. Good exercise however climbing over the piles. The back door is blocked also and requires serious climbing over things.

So we escaped the project and flew to "chicken island". Kauai is still owned by chickens. As you can see they are not about to dwindle away.

Can you find the cell phone tower? I think it should be a law that they look like this everywhere.

Check out the "man pit". Look at all these happy men grilling away. Look close and you can see Jeff focusing on the salmon. I asked what the discussion is like down in the pit but it is a big secret. I took a nap in a hammock today. It was glorious. Perfect. Restful. Garden of Edenish. Helped me forget the mess back homeish.

A weekend in Boise with the kids.

2011-01-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

We went to Boise for a fun weekend. Betty Crocker was in top form. She whipped up a Red Velvet Cake. The flour on her nose is for real.

Next she made homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs. It was a hit. It was accompanied by olive cheese bread...to die for.

Passing the time until dinner with electronics.

Ella had her dream come true. We got her a caboodle for her birthday.

Ella, Edie and Grace had their faces made up with the loot in the caboodle.

Saturday morning we all went to see Grace play basketball. She is a natural.

Go Grace Go!

We'll be back.

Wintery day in Rexburg

2011-01-16T01:02:00.000-07:00

It is really really winter here in Rexburg. Snow is piled deep and the fog is thick. We did venture out a couple of blocks to see Christian playing basketball. He might not be the tallest but he tries the hardest. Good job!

It has been snowing for days and now has turned to a mist. So my ski's are sitting idle on the front porch. The lights in the background are how far away the ski course is. Cool.

It is beautiful outside. The fog makes everything so quite and peaceful.

This weeks snowfall is piling up. More is on the way. I know every winter we think there is more than usual but really I do believe this winter is going to be an extra snowy one.

I resolve in 2011...

2011-01-08T08:21:00.003-07:00

2010 was a pretty good year as far as years go. No extreme drama (I cannot put no drama at all because drama follows us around). I am satisfied with no extreme drama.

In 2010 we traveled to some of the worlds most beautiful places and decided we like doing that. So for 2011 we chose China as our trip. We are very excited to see the sites of China. There is so much culture and history there.

I resolve to learn all that I can about this massive part of the world called China.

We are going to continue our NRT trainings. We are assigned Dominican Republic, Peru, Argentina and Paraguay. Rosetta Stone here I come. I will work on it. If I traded my Face Book time for Spanish time I could probably be fluent. I want to learn Spanish so I can communicate with all of the really nice people we work with in South America.

I resolve to learn some more Spanish.

I have been working hard on reforming my body. I am going to push myself harder and grow some real muscles. Home grown in the basement. I can do it.

I resolve to achieve the body of my imagination.

I have a multitude of mini projects going. I really really want to finish them up.

I resolve to make a list of the things I want to finish and mark them off this year.

OK I am done with my 2011 list. If I can get to these things then I am going to be really proud of myself. I will be posting my successes and struggles this year. Happy New Year!

The picture above was taken in Ayacucho Peru at the site of a famous Inca battle.

Birthday diamonds

2011-01-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

On New Years Day my Grandson Christian told me I should stay up and get a picture of the clock at 11:01 or 11:11 to go with 1-1-11. So I did. I am putting a reminder on my computer calendar to get a picture on 11-11-11 at 11:11. Maybe we should have a party for it. I will think on that one.

Today is my Birthday. I woke up to a beautiful day. It is very cold in Rexburg as in sub zero. One of the benefits of that is heavy frost on the trees. This morning the sun was shining on the branches and there were little "diamonds" all over them. They shimmered and twinkled as if they were real diamonds covering the trees. Perhaps click on the pictures to see if you can see them. Happy Birthday to me!