Monday, April 5, 2010

Friends and Family Come to Visit

A lot of people told us when we moved here that we would have a lot of visitors - friends and family calling and saying they're passing through town, can we come visit? Well, so far that's proved to be true and we LOVE it! Rob's sister, Stephanie, and her family have come a couple of times. Next my brother, Dale, and his family stayed with us. And then, we've have three families from Spokane come through.

This last week the Bises stopped by on their way home from California. We didn't tell McKenna they were coming and boy! you should have seen the look on her face when she opened the door! She was sooo excited to see two of her best friends, Cadie and Charli. They hugged and hugged and then they were off - we didn't see them again for over an hour. Even though we couldn't talk them into staying longer, we enjoyed visiting with our friends for a little while. And hopefully we talked them into coming back soon!



Also this last week, our long-time friends Jeff & Trisha Jamison and their family came to visit. We spent three great days showing them around St. George, hiking, swimming and checking out historical sites. The kids had a great time together (ours got to skip school, which they thought was fantastic!) and we're pretty sure they'll be back to visit. They loved the beauty of the red rock and especially the weather! It was 80 degrees when they arrived in St. George.





We are so very thankful for our friends and family and hope that they know they are welcome to visit anytime. Come enjoy the sunshine!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

"Pour me a Bridge!"

So we're playing a card game the other day and after the hands were dealt, someone made a comment about how lousy their hand was. Aleah pipes up and says, "Oh, pour me a bridge!" We all just about busted a gut laughing so hard. Pretty sure she got confused between "build me a bridge" or "cry me a river". Not sure where "pour" came in but that's Aleah for you. She's such a goof!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Spring Break

Spring break comes early in Utah. At least in Southern Utah it's a little warmer and nicer so the kids can get outside. My brother, Dale, and his family (Anna, Derek, David and Arianne) came to visit us. We had a great time showing them around our new area. Dale, Anna and Derek live in Kansas City. It was also the first time we had met Arianne, who is David's wife, so that was exciting. David and Arianne only live about 3 1/2 hours from us in Arizona, where he is going to school.

Some of the things we did:
Church Historical Sites -

We had all just finished reading the book "Undaunted" about the Hole-in-the-Rock Pioneers so we wanted to go to Jacob Hamblin's Home. He played a big role in the pioneer's relationships with the Indians. (Great book - would highly recommend!)


We also took them to see the Temple and temple grounds. About this time,
our visitors were able to experience a desert windstorm. Wow, was it wicked!
Here is some of the evidence of the storm.


Celebrated Lexi's 19th Birthday at Red Robin -




Ahhh, Chocolate Cherry Cobbler for a birthday cake. YUM!

Backyard Fun -






Hiking in Snow Canyon -

These lava caves were amazing. Some were very large and fun to explore.
Atop a petrified sand dune.
Let the games begin! -
Our families have always liked to play games so there are always
numerous games played when we get together. Our favorites this
time were Ticket to Ride and Bang.
The young man to the right of Lexi is Richard Wiley. He was serving
as a missionary in our ward in Spokane and just returned home the end
of February. He lives in Hurricane.
Richard says, "Bang!"

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Crazy Hair Day

Yesterday was Crazy Hair Day at McKenna's school. Lexi and Aleah helped her "fro" her hair and whew! was it crazy! She was a little nervous about going to school like that, wondering if the other kids here really got into doing wild hair-dos. But when she got to the bus stop, her fears were put to rest. All the other kids had wacky and wild hair too!

Friday, February 19, 2010

President's Cup


McKenna is excited to be playing soccer with her new team and can't believe that she's playing outdoor in February! The beginning of the year we knew we needed to find her a competitive team to play on so mom did some checking around and there just happened to be one team that was holding tryouts to fill two spots for the Spring season. So, having not had any touches on the ball since last November, she headed to tryouts to compete against three others for the two spots. Luckily, it all came back quickly and she made the team!

The team's name is the Thunder and crazy enough, they are the same colors as her old team; red and black. And they also have a yellow jersey which McKenna thought was really cool. She also thinks it's pretty funny that anytime it LOOKS like it might rain, they head indoors to practice! She calls them all sissys and has told them that in Spokane, they played outdoors come rain, snow or hail! Well, I suppose in a year or two she'll be just as big a sissy!

Last weekend, which was President's Day weekend, they played in a local tournament here in St. George. The weather was absolutely perfect for soccer: mid-60's and sunny! They played well together and against some tough teams and ended up taking second in their division. McKenna loves her new teammates and is very excited for the upcoming Spring season which starts March 6. Go Thunder!

As you can see, she is still going up against much larger girls.
Mac, you really need to put some meat on those bones!

She scores!!!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Family Update

1. Kaylyn finished up her Bachelors Degree in Business Management at Whitworth University in December. We are looking forward to attending her graduation in May and celebrating this great accomplishment with her. She is now enjoying working two jobs: one, she is working as a personal assistant to the owner of a company in downtown Spokane. She helps plan special events, does research for future investments and puts together budget plans, and two, she works in the catering department at Whitworth. Her knee is healing up well and she is looking forward to being able to play soccer again in the fall, as well as beginning her Masters program in Business. It's hard being so far away from her but we are very proud of her and her desire to be independant and work hard!


2. Lexi is in her second semester at BYU in Provo and is enjoying her classes. She's getting the hang of things a little bit better now and has discovered that it's quite a bit easier to do well in the classes when you actually listen to the lectures and not try to just figure it out on your own! Go figure. It's also been the "Suite Life of Lexi" the last month. Unfortunately, a few of the condos in her complex had frozen pipes burst during a few days of freezing cold weather and her and her roommates had to move into a hotel for a month. But how bad could it have been?...having a maid to make your bed every day for you, simply walking downstairs for a gourmet breakfast every morning, getting money from the landlord for lunch and dinner every day, not having to do any cooking or cleaning or washing dishes. Rough, huh? But she is ready to give that all up and move back into her condo this week.


3. Aleah is very excited about the upcoming Pioneer Trek our Stake is doing in June. She has heard in the past about the treks her sisters and parents have been on and is thrilled to finally be able to go herself. Mom is jealous and would love to go too! They will be trekking in the Kiabab National Forest and ending up at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Cool! This month in YW they are going to be sewing their clothes that they will be wearing and she is looking forward to this a lot. She's also nearing the end of her orthodontia treatment and is looking forward to getting her braces off soon. She gets to wear the wonderful rubber bands that snap your mouth shut every time you open it. Hey, I'm not sure that's a bad thing!


4. McKenna is thrilled to be playing soccer again. She tried out for and made it on a competitive team here and she will be playing in her first tournament with them this weekend. They are the THUNDER and she is really enjoying getting to know her new teammates. She still can't believe that they can play year round outside here in Southern Utah but is loving it! Other than soccer, she is keeping busy with school, Activity Days at church, taking Cooper on hikes and playing with her neighborhood friends. At school, they had a field trip to the intermediate school she will be attending next year and BOY! is it big! She came home and said she didn't know how she was ever going to be able to find her classes at Fossil Ridge. And she doesn't think that it's very neat that she will have to start her school day earlier than Aleah next year!

5. Rob is off and running with real estate and is really enjoying it. Houses move pretty quickly here it seems, so it keeps him on his toes. He also was recently called to be Scoutmaster again, which I said was great because then I wouldn't have to update his profile. Ha! His first campout with the boys was last weekend. It was the Klondike Derby, held up Cedar Canyon where there was about five feet of snow. So much for getting away from the snow! But they all had a great time: they made a huge snow cave to sleep in, dug a fire pit all the way through the snow to the ground and carved benches out of snow around it to sit on, and of course, had great Dutch oven food! They learned quickly that Brother Plumb's cooking is the BEST! The other leader that went with them said he didn't really like chocolate, but after tasting the Chocolate Cherry Cobbler, he had TWO big servings!

6. As for me, I am still trying to unload the last of the moving boxes. I think I'm just about there but now I have to find a place to put everything and put everything in it's place! Also, I have not one, but two callings in the ward. I am the sports specialist for YW and Relief Society (a calling you would only hear about in Utah!) and also a Primary teacher. I'm thrilled to be back in Primary! We are really enjoying our new ward, which is huge and grows more and more each week. I'm also excited that I found some ladies that like to play volleyball as much as I do. We get together every Monday morning and play for about three hours. And, I'm definitely enjoying all this sunshine!!! I've found a new love: running. And I never thought I would say that but running in the beautiful red rock country on trails of soft sand has been good to me. My knees don't hurt and the drier, higher altitude agrees with me!

7. Cooper is definitely loving life in the desert! He cannot wait to go on his walk/hike every day. In fact, he will follow me around the house and just stare at me until I take him. Funny thing is, I'm not sure who enjoys it MORE; him or me! He thinks he's died and gone to heaven - the very idea of being able to pee on whatever bush or rock he sees, chase after bunny rabbits and be off the leash and go at whatever pace he wants is just too good to be true!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Anasazi Indian Petroglyphs


On the Saturday before Kaylyn and Lexi headed back to school, we went hiking with our friends the Uries. They took us to a trail outside of Santa Clara that led to some Anasazi Indian petroglyphs. It was a beautiful "winter" day and we had a great time climbing all over the rocks, discovering many different drawings, carved by these indians so long ago. Some were obvious what they were, like the goat family, but others left us curious as to their meaning. What a tough part of the country to live in hundreds of years ago. Not much food growing around there and water is very scarce! And can you imagine how HOT in the summer? This "rock canvas" must have kept the children out of trouble and quite busy. With the crude instruments they had to work with, they were actually quite talented!


McKenna & Thom with the goat family


Mara, Rob, Tad & Ellie

Leapin' Lexi

Do you like my orange drool rag? Cooper's that is!



Cooper's new friend, Teaka. By the end of the hike,
she looked like she had had a bath - in Cooper's drool!

Cooper normally sits in the back of the burb,
but for some reason he climbed over all the seats
and kids and ended up front. He was so tired he
couldn't keep his eyes open and he had to lay his
head on my shoulder. That, or he was missing
his "girlfriend" already!