I decided that we girls really needed some fun time together in a real pool so three days after returning from Alaska we headed south for a few days. We had a great time shopping, swimming, eating and attending a performance of Les Mis. We had so much fun we decided to make it an annual event!

Can't wait til next year!

Bye people... have fun and watch out for the bear!
A little too much adventure for me I'm afraid.

This month has been full of adventures for me. We went with some friends to Gustavus, Alaska, stayed in a beautiful rustic lodge and were served amazing meals everyday. I must admit I was spoiled. No cooking and no cleaning for a week was great, but the best part by far was the wildlife. It made me appreciate even more the miracle of God's creations and feel so grateful that I could share the planet with such amazing animals surrounded by indescribable beauty. Gustavus is a tiny little town that has very few residents that live there year round. It actually has an 'airport' that was formerly a landing strip for the military which we flew in on. It has one flight daily in and out, but it has the most thorough security screeners I've ever seen! Just a heads up for any terrorists that might be reading my blog.
The Sunday we were there we attended church in a newly built chapel for the local branch members there. It's a 'phone in' branch. I had never heard of such a thing before, but once the meeting was started members from outlying areas called in via phone or Internet and from the podium the presiding leader did a roll call of those online. Calling each by name and asking if they were present. At the conclusion of the meeting, one of the phone-in members was asked to give the closing prayer. A very interesting experience.
We fished most of the days we were there and caught a lot of Halibut which now fills our freezer along with a little Salmon. The fishing was fun and I surely love the spoils of our efforts, but having whales breaching all around our small fishing boat was so amazing! Seeing the sea otters floating on their backs looking like little vacationers taking it easy and watching sea lions fight for a spot on a buoy or lounging around on the rocks made me feel like I was in a Planet Earth documentary. One day we ventured out on a large tour boat that took us right up to the base of some glaciers that were about 200 feet tall and we were able to watch them 'calve' the proper term for what glaciers do when they shed big chunks of ice. On that same trip we were able to watch a HUGE brown bear do a little fishing of his own. I learned that brown bears are actually the same as a grizzly except the browns live along the coast and the grizzlies tend to stay more inland. Due to this the brown bear's diet consists of more protein which causes them to grow larger than the grizzlies. We neglected to take the best camera equipment along with us on this trip, which we more than once regretted, so the pictures of the bear I've posted don't do it justice. I was watching him through binoculars which enabled me to have a better view and he was at least 10 feet tall. We also saw porpoises, seals and many majestic bald eagles. I've posted a few of our pictures... hope you enjoy the slideshow.
It was just such an amazing experience. If you ever get the opportunity to go... DO IT!

Fast Sunday can prove to be an uplifting, spiritual and sometimes entertaining day. So was today... two events during church today made me wish that I had a camera (or at least a phone with a camera) and the nerve to use it during a meeting such as this.

We were seated on the third row back from the front and a great family that I love came in and sat in front of us. The father wasn't with them today so it was just the mom and the 5 kids. In this group there is a little boy about 4 years old that is full of life and has an energizer bunny quality that I wish he would share with me. During the meeting, while his mother was looking elsewhere, this little fellow decided to work on his headstands... in the seat of the pew! So we look up to see a tiny little behind with two flailing legs attached that happened to have shoes on the wrong feet! I must admit he was quite good for he stayed in this position long enough that everyone around us was muffling giggles. It was so funny. Perhaps it's one of those stories that you just had to 'be there' to appreciate, but I knew immediately that this was going on the blog today.

The second event was involving another little boy. This one was about the same age as the first, perhaps a little younger. As is the custom in our ward, the children are usually first to the stand to bear testimonies. Here he comes proudly walking to the front of the church carrying his father's scripture case. Please keep in mind, he is too young to read and he's so little that you can barely see the top of his head as he is standing there. Up on the little step stool he climbs, plops his dad's scripture case up on the side of the podium and without saying a word starts to unzip the case and retrieve the scriptures. This process took him a little while since the scriptures were almost as big as he is! He finally gets them out, lays them on the side of the podium and then proceeds to share his testimony which was the typical, sweet testimony of a young child and only seconds long. Then he works feverishly to get the books back in the case. Fortunately, we have a kind hearted bishop that came to his rescue to help him with this process. Once they were zipped up he proudly returned to his seat.

It's a good thing I didn't have a camera because it would have been hard to know who to take a picture of first, the little boy or his dad's face. Too cute.

I'm so looking forward to being a grandma... these moments are priceless!

Yesterday found me in Logan with my two daughters. A fun day of girl time getting the youngest one ready for moving to Logan and transferring to Utah State. At one point, we stopped at a PetsMart. I know, kind of a random thing to do in the middle of college transfer prep but you'll understand if you know my oldest daughter. While inside we encounter these adorable little critters. They were some kind of pygmy dwarf rodent or something like that. The entire length of their bodies can't be anymore than two and a half inches long and no tails... anyway, I captured 9 seconds of their life on film for you to enjoy. I promise, this is in real time no speeding up the film here! The information card on the cage did say they are nearly impossible to catch if they escape and they are not really very social, so I'm not sure that they'd make great pets, but they are SO CUTE!

I've had days when I've felt like this little guy. Usually after a bit too much Pepsi!