Shelby's Graduation pics

Erika was kind enough to take Shelby's pictures for her graduation announcements.  Yes, it is less than 1 week until graduation.  I am guessing Shelby won't be using this one for her announcement, but I think I like it the best!

I'm Trying to be Like Erika

So I have really enjoyed checking in on Erika's life everyday since she has been posting a picture a day.  Unfortunately, once I got home from Maui, my life is not that exciting nor picture worthy.  I also don't really own a camera.  I have taken a couple of pics with my laptop, but that is very inconvenient and hard to aim.  So, I will post old photos until I can make myself buy a small camera to carry around with me.

Happy Birthday Kassidy!

Kassidy is the smart, soccer playing daughter, but she is also beautiful, kind, thoughtful, talented and hard-working.  I am so proud to be her mother!

Shelby Seminary Graduation

Shelby Graduated from Seminary.  She also sang at the graduation and spoke.  She gave an amazing talk!  We are so proud of her.

With her friends Mikey and Eden Jacobson

With her proud parents.

With about half of the kids from our ward and their Bishop.
Katlyn Phillips, Chelsea Barker, Zach Hosman, Shelby, Steven Petersen and Matt Tolman.
Not pictured:  Dave Giles, Becca Gramoll, Josh Hinkle and Alaric Siddoway

Stake Conference

 We had Stake Conference today.  It was a broadcast from the Conference Center to 65 stakes in Davis county.  Our first speaker was an Area Authority named Shayne Bowen.  He spoke about how great it is to enjoy all of Heavenly Father's blessings.  Most important of which is eternal families.  I couldn't find a pic of him.

Next we heard from the new General Relief Society President Linda K. Burton.  I think she spoke about Temples, but I honestly cannot remember.



Ironically, Elder Holland spoke about Conferences and why we have them.  He asked how many of us have done anything that we heard at General Conference or if we can even remember it.  He told us that the only tool we have to help others make changes are words.  That we go to conferences to hear words that will inspire, motivate and encourage us to improve ourselves.  I decided that my Blog will be used to help me set goals and keep track of blessings and tender mercies in my life.

Finally we heard from Pres. Uchtdorf.  He told us how wonderful Davis County is to live in and that he loves talking to us at the store.  I see him in Costco all of the time.  Maybe I will say "hi" next time I see him.  I was still so busy processing Elder Holland's talk that I can't really remember anything else Pres. Uchtdorf said either.  The good news is that I have lots of improvement to make conferences more beneficial to me!  It was great to go and get motivated to be better.

Last Games

This week was the end of an era for Drew and Shelby.  Shelby played her last state cup game with Forza and Drew played his last BYU lacrosse game.

Vacation is OVER!

So our stake is going on a Pioneer Trek on June 6th.  I am lucky enough to be on the food committee.  We just have to cook about 10 meals for 300 people on the "wagon trail."  Should be FUN!  Tonight we are trying a practice run at the place with all of the adult "ma's and pa's."  We are making dutch oven chicken tonight and breakfast burritos tomorrow for 60.  I am in charge of the breakfast.

The car is loaded and ready to go, but first I have to shop for the candy machines and fill the one in Orem on my way to camping out.  Just hope it doesn't rain anymore!

Home at Last

The kids did GREAT while we were gone.  Thanks to Gma and Gpa Jenson and Kass and Drew for babysitting.  Trevor and I decided that Trevor and Lulu missed us the most!

Last Day in Maui :(

The day started off harmless enough.  Dan went for a run, then I played tennis.

 We then went for a little hike along the Coastal Trail in Kapalua.

Before our trip, I ordered a swim dress from a catalog.  The model was standing on a paddle board.  I bought this lovely purple swim dress, but hadn't worn it yet.  I told Dan that we needed to go down and get a pic of me in my new swim dress standing on a paddle board.

 I have only been on the paddle board once in calm water.  It was very windy today.  I paddled out to where I was comfortable standing up.  It took forever for me to get my balance.  When I finally looked up, I had drifted very far away.  Dan took pictures with the telephoto lens, but this is as close as it got!

 After a very long swim/knee paddle, I was back.  Yes, this water looks calm, but I was too tired to stand up again.  Lovely dress though!

At least I lived to laugh about it.

More of the Same. . .

Today on Maui, Dan golfed 18 holes at the Kapalua Plantation Course. 

 I did cardio tennis and then played some doubles with my new friends.  Had Taco Tuesday at Maui Tacos, then took the kayak out for a little ride.  This is what the salt, wind and humidity does to my hair:

Lovely Lioness!  Who wants to brush it out when I get home?

Magnificent Monday

This morning Dan wanted to go for a hard 4 mile run.  I only wanted to go 2 or 3 easy miles so we split up and agreed to meet up in an hour.  I finished in 35 minutes so I started to walk the path that Dan would be coming back on.  I kind of got disoriented (lost) so I kept running to get back to the van.  50 minutes later I found my way back.  My iPod said I went 7.4 miles.

Kapalu Tennis Garden is awesome and sets up tennis for anyone who wants to play.  I had a doubles time that I had to go straight to after my long run.  Super Fun!

After that, we came home and tried out the stand-up paddle boards.  Did that for about 2 hours.  No pictures of the days activities, but this is how we spent the rest of the afternoon.  Dan avoids the sun and I worship it.  We are only about 5 feet apart in these pics!

Lahaina 1st Ward

These were the "refreshments" after the block of meetings.  

I think there was enough to feed the entire stake.

Janna enjoying egg salad on purple sweet bread and hot turkey and avocado on a panini.

She also received a rose for Mother's Day.

The Road to Hana

Our tour guide Kate from Lake Placid, New York

 I foolishly jumped into this pool.  It was ice cold water.  

I could not get my breath again until I got out at the waterfall. 

  

 Now I had to swim back to the other side.  NOT FUN!

Dan and I in the cave pool at Waianapanapa Cave.

 Black Sand Beach

 Waterfall in the Oheo Gulch

This little fern wilts when you touch it.  Kind of hard to tell, but super fun to do.
I guess the water from the leaves go back into the stem for about 15 minutes as a defense mechanism.

About 2 1/2 miles in from the Seven Sacred Pools is this 400 ft waterfall called Waimoku Falls.  

This was nothing for hiking nuts like us!

Mother's Day

Received these flowers while shopping in Lahaina.  The card said, "From your Favorite Daughter."  It took me a minute, but I guessed Riley.

Haleakala Sunrise and Crater Hike

 If you ever go to Maui, it is best to go the first day to watch the sunrise on Haleakala.  We had to get up at 2 am, but that is only 6 am Utah time so it's not that bad.

 It is freezing cold that early and high (10,000 feet), but Dan loves it.  He took 128 pics.  Here are a few:

 The start of the hike.  We hadn't really decided how far we would hike.  I would recommend that you decide first.  We chose the 11 mile option.

 It's pretty easy to find the trail!

 I just kept chanting, "as I walk into the shadow of the valley of death" really slowly.

I "accidentally" wore the shoes I bought for our Hana hike to the volcano.  The trail is called "sliding sands."  Not so good for shoes with holes in them.  I had to empty them out every couple of miles.

The Silversword only grows in Haleakala Crater.

This was the only one we saw in bloom.

The lowest point of the crater.  not one bit of vegetation anywhere.
Kind of felt like we were on the moon.

Beautiful scenery.  Dan's favorite hike ever!

One of 3 rental cabins in the crater.  Around mile 8 for us.  Had a picnic table and an outhouse.
Both godsends!

Cute girls from Quebec that caught up to us at the cabin.  We had lunch with them.  They were staying 5 weeks in Hawaii just cruising around.

We didn't really notice on the map that the switchbacks at the end of the hike were all UPHILL.  Killer way to finish a long hike.  We were in mist most of the time so didn't get to see how far we had come or even better, how far we had to go.

All of my practice on the balance beam paid off as I crossed this catwalk between the mountains.

Very Cool!

Another beautiful view of the crater.  Dan just kept saying, "we are in the middle of a crater on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."  This really was the best hike we have ever been on.