Jenessa Graduates from High School

Hello - Marian here. Just wanted to share a couple of pictures from our Jenessa, who graduated from Brighton High School this week. I can't believe we have three graduated - blows me away how old I really am. 

 During the year, she was involved in drama. She played one of the leads in "All Shook Up". I would have put in the picture where she and this guy kiss, but she would have killed me - literally. So funny!

 She and the drama kids competed down at the Shakespeare festival in Cedar City. I can't remember the name of the play they did a scene from, nor her character, but I figured this would be a pretty safe picture to put in a family blog.

 Anyway, we wanted to take her out and do a little photo shoot for her announcement, but she was involved in her drama stuff and their last play, You Can't Take it With You, so we didn't get around to it until Memorial day weekend when we were up at Bear Lake.Then we headed out looking for some old stuff - like barns and tractors, etc. We got a ton of great pictures. But then we found this wonderful field of yellow flowers. Couldn't resist getting a couple of pictures here.

This next picture is taken at the boat harbor there and a really strange thing happened while we were there. We had just pulled up and gotten out of the car. I told Ness to walk down this ramp so we could get the sailboats in the background. Just as she got down the ramp, we see this girl across the docks in the water. Of course, if you remember Memorial Day weekend, we woke to 3 inches of snow at Bear Lake - no one was in the water. After first we thought she was just hanging out with her dog, but then she started yelling "HELP". Ness ran over there and pulled her out of the lake. Her family heard her scream about the same time we did, but we got to her first. She must have fallen in just before we got there. YIKES! not a nice day for a swim.

ANYWAY, this is a picture at the harbor.  

Also, a little less formal, Amanda completed her work  in the sixth grade and will be moving on to Jr. High school next year. I figure I have another 5 years at least to carpool or drive her to school. By the time she graduates from High School, we will look REALLY old at graduation.

So a hearty Congrats to Mary on her graduation, to Elisabeth on her engagement and everyone else for generally making it through our crazy lives. We love you all.

Let's wrap this trip up! Well, almost!

After Arizona we crossed the Colorado river which makes the Grand Canyon. We did not see the actual Grand Canyon though. Schedule! Why is the river so green?  Algae in the high mountain where it starts. Science lesson for the day.

 Here is Peter's beloved GTI. Yes, we made the whole trip in this little car. It was great! Holds a lot more than you would think. Looks so cute!

 We stayed one night in Kanab and Peter got to play golf here. He was so happy! $15!

The next day we drove to Salt Lake and enjoyed the amazing flowers on Temple Square and around the other Church buildings.

 We saw some new art at the Museum of Church History and Art. One exhibit was called Seek His Face with new pictures of the Savior. Love this one by Greg Olsen.

 This was in the quilt exhibit. Love it too! Commemorates the Priesthood being extended to all worthy males. See the arms raised to the square in all colors? See the African fabric background? Yes, I really love this!

 Another Seek His Face one. Out of order, but I can't fix it!

 Had dinner at the restaurant called, I think The Roof. Great temple view. Huge buffet. Huge! Tried to take tiny bits so we could try more things. Still could only try a fraction of the variety of dishes. Next time I am starting with dessert. Could not do them justice!  Luckily we had a gift certificate and only paid about half price. Bargain!

That was the end of our really fun trip. The next morning Peter went home and I stayed to meet Mary who was coming down that night for a dance competition. More about that fun day next time!

Arizona Pictures--I hope!

This is the kind of cactus I mean, I know it's a saguaro, just not sure if that's how you spell it. This one, sadly, does not have flowers on it's head. They all don't bloom every year.

 This is what I call a what the heck? plant. The flowers look like red pine cones dipped in gold, but they are soft. Have you ever seen anything like it? I love it!

 Jan and Vic's great kitchen.

 View from the front of their house.

 Blooming sticks!

 Back of the Mesa temple. Yes I went in the wrong way.

Jan and Vic. They are cuter than this. Why did I take 200 pictures of plants and their house and only one of them?

On to Arizona!

It's Amy.

After Santa Barbara, we drove to Carefree, Arizona, where Peter's brother Vic and his wife Jan have a home.

Notable thing that happened on the way, got a call from the Stake YW President,"Are you on your way to church?" ''Uh, no, I'm in California." Wanted to say that I planned to go to the temple in Arizona and did that count against skipping church, but for once did not blab every thought in my head.

Jan and Vic's house is gorgeous and we celebrated Peter's birthday there--he's not 100! Peter and Vic went golfing and Jan and I made pineapple upside down cake and coconut rice and shrimp and scallop kabobs.

The next day they all went hiking and armed with their GPS I drove to Mesa to the temple. I did go! I did! Cool old temple, very busy.

We were so lucky all through our trip that everything was blooming. Plants that usually just look like sticks had really odd flowers and the saguaros (I hope this is the word I mean--the cactuses that look like they should be in cartoons?) looked like they had on flower hats, or were holding flowers in their hands. I didn't get a picture of that, but will never forget it.

So somehow I am unable to put any pictures in this post. I will try to publish a new post right now that is just pictures. We'll see how that works!