frary peak

Mark has had this desire to hike Frary Peak for quite some time.  It is the highest peak on Antelope Island, and requires about a 7 mile round trip hike with an elevation gain of about 2000 feet.  Saturday was a cool summer day, so we decided to take advantage, and conquer the peak.  Jared was the only one brave enough to come with us.  Almost the entire hike is exposed to the sunshine, so we had to make sure and take advantage of cooler temperatures -- we started hiking at about 6:30 a.m.  The view of the Great Salt Lake and the surrounding area is amazing from the top!

  A look at some of the scenery (or lack of) along the trail.  The trail is well marked however!

 More amazing views.  This was taken along the way back down -- the teeny tiny white spot in the middle of the picture is Jared -- his long legs just propel him forward at an amazing pace!  (He's a great hiker!)

 Another picture from the top.

 Of course, a selfie at the top!

 Wahoo -- made it!

 Just to prove we were at the summit -- 6,596 feet elevation!

ryan gets braces

Ryan got braces on his teeth.  He's not happy about it.  His teeth are really hurting.  I would never even think of taking a picture! He still has two teeth that haven't come in -- so we are praying they break through soon, or he'll have to have a bit of surgery.  Hopefully he'll be done in about a year.

jacob has a birthday

 First thing Jacob wanted to do on his birthday was open presents! None of the other boys were awake yet, so he only got to open the ones from Mark & I.  He's been wanting new roller blades for a couple months now, so he was super glad to open these!

 The next gift was definitely a surprise...

 Wohoo!  A Real soccer shirt!

After opening those gifts, the other boys still weren't awake, so Jacob headed out to try the new roller blades.

 Jacob requested his favorite for breakfast -- waffles.

 Finally, the brothers were awake and let him open their gifts -- skittles, pizza flavored pringles, and Gatorade.

And last but not least, soda in awesome real glass retro bottles!

The rest of the day was pretty low-key.  Jacob wanted to celebrate by going to Boondocks with cousins, but we needed to wait a week so we could all get our schedules together -- we'll do that next week!

That night Jacob requested pizza for dinner.

 And for his birthday cake he chose a DQ ice cream cake -- oreo and fudge brownie!  Yes, there are only 2 candles on that cake -- lets just pretend that makes a #11! ( I messed up and thought I had candles on hand and really didn't)  Jacob thought the best way to blow out those two candles was by fanning the cake very vigorously.  Whatever.  It worked!

Happy Birthday Jacob! We love you!

jared & ryan go on trek

This year was the year of pioneer trek for our stake youth, ages 14-18.  Jared & Ryan both went.  The youth were set to leave on buses on Wednesday morning, but the day before we had a lot of rain in the valley and mountain snow.  About 6 inches of snow fell in the part of Wyoming where they were supposed to trek and made it so the vehicles couldn't get in there.  So, trek was postponed a day! Each person was allowed a 5-gallon bucket of personal stuff (i.e. a change of clothes, shoes, scriptures, plate, silverware) and a garbage bag with a winter coat, sleeping bag, and ground cloth. The boys are packed and ready to go:

The youth all met at the church at 7 am on Thursday morning.  The high priests group provided a wonderful breakfast for the kids -- pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, juice & milk.  Then the kids boarded a bus and headed off to Wyoming.

Once there, everyone was divided into "families". The families had boys and girls of all different ages and from different wards -- lots of mixing!  Jared's "ma & pa" were the Millett's from the Reading Ward.  One of his "brothers" was from our ward. Some of the other family members he knew, and some he didn't.  Here's a picture:

 

Ryan didn't really know any of the kids in his family, except for a couple of the girls from school. His "ma & pa" were the Jones' from the Willow Wood Ward.  Here's their picture:

Both of the boys had great families and got to know them over the course of the next couple days. They trekked a lot of miles of the next couple days -- about 26 in all!  On day two, they were awakened at 4:30 a.m by an "angry mob" and had to move out as soon as they could.  This was also the day that all of the young men and men would be called on missions and have to leave the handcart pulling to the women and girls (for a mile -- uphill).  This was a tender experience for everyone.  They went about 13 miles in total this day because the service missionaries who had mapped the trek course had had to route them differently to make up for the postponed day, and there was a "little" error of about 4 miles!  The good thing was, that when they finally reached camp that day, there was an ice cream machine and scones to greet them! Pretty sure the pioneers didn't have that luxury!

Mark, Jacob, Matthew, & I got to go up to meet them as they finished trek on Saturday.  We had to wait for awhile before they came over the ridge.

 Here they come over the ridge!  The parents and families lined the road to greet the trekkers.

 Here's Ryan pulling his handcart!  So happy to see that smile!

 We couldn't find Jared as the companies came down the hill, but we finally found him helping unload his family handcart at the parking area.  So very happy to find him!  He looks so different in a straw hat and glasses!

 Our happy trekkers -- ready to head home and take a shower!

 So proud of these boys for working hard to help their families make it through trek.  So very glad they both had opportunities to feel the spirit and strengthen their testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So glad they had the opportunity to learn about a few of their ancestors.  So grateful to the many men and women of our stake who gave of their time and shared their testimonies to make this a memorable event for the youth, especially our boys.  We are blessed.

hawaii - paddleboarding & last day

On Tuesday morning we decided to stop and explore the pineapple plantation.  We didn't want to pay for an extra tour or train ride through the fields, so we just wandered through the gardens and gift shop.  It's a very tourist-y place.  Our photo op in the big pineapple:

 I had no idea that pineapples came in the color red!  Apparently there are lots of varieties of pineapple.  Not sure what the taste difference would be like.

 One pineapple plant will produce 3 pineapples in its lifetime -- about 15-18 months, if I remember right.  All the pineapple planting and harvesting is done by hand.  A really good pineapple planter person can plant 1000 pineapples in one day.

 Of course we all had to have some pineapple ice cream!

Can you see the lizard on the pineapple leaf?  He blends right in!

 After our pineapple adventure, we headed over to Haliewa for our paddleboarding adventure!  We had a lot of fun learning this new sport.  This is Matthew in his lifejacket, all ready to go. He rode on a paddleboard with one of our guides, Heidi.  (She'll be in a lot of these pictures) Our other guide was Jodi and they were great!  Jodi took all the pictures.

We started out by paddling out into the ocean around a reef barrier that "separated" the ocean from a river, then onto the river, that had much smoother water.  This is Heidi with Matthew swimming along in the river behind her, holding onto the board.

 Jacob really learned to paddleboard quickly and had a great time "falling" off the board and hopping right back on!  A natural.

  More pictures of our adventure:

 

 Finally, we spotted a turtle in the river! Cool!  The first and only turtle I saw in Hawaii.  He was actually pretty big, the photo just doesn't show it that way.

When we finished our paddleboarding adventure, we took a drive out to Kaena Point.  This is a pretty remote and desert-ish part of the island -- very different.  The beach here had more waves and was more rocky.

We finished the day off by going to dinner at Kahuku Grill.  It was soooo yummy.  The kids had burgers, Mark had some grilled fish, and I had the best coconut shrimp! Too bad we didn't discover this place earlier in our trip!

 

For our last day of vacation, we got up early and headed to the beach near our condo.  Since we were there early in the morning, it was very quiet and hardly any people.  The water was still pretty warm, so we had a good time swimming and just relaxing on the beach.  After a light breakfast we checked out of the condo and drove to Honolulu to check out the swap meet at Aloha Stadium.  I loved looking at all the shops and checking out all the stuff and cheap prices.  Mark and the boys liked it too, for awhile.  Then all the shops started to look the same, so we hurried and grabbed a few souvenirs and got lunch.  Next we headed over to Chinatown.  Unfortunately, it is located in a section of town that is basically where the homeless population hang out.  It's a little seedy, what can I say?  Anyway, we found the "cultural center" -- a group of little shops & restaurants, like a mall, and Mark took Matthew into one of the shops to buy a souvenir and practice his Chinese.  Matthew chatted a bit with the shop owner and Mark enjoyed hearing him use his Chinese skills.  (The rest of us were resting on a bench in the courtyard -- lunch wasn't sitting too well).  So proud of Matthew being willing to try his language!  The shop lady was impressed.

Next we headed  back to the airport to return our rental van and wait for the plane.  Our flight was a red -eye to Salt Lake.  Jacob pretty much stayed up all night watching movies and thought it was the best thing ever!  Matthew fell asleep immediately and slept the whole flight.  The rest of us did a combination of both.  In Salt Lake, G&G Vawdrey met me, Ryan, Jacob, & Matthew at the airport and brought us home.  Mark & Jared took the next flight to Boise and spent the rest of the day driving home. 

We had a great time!  We all loved our vacation.  I think we'll remember it for a long time.  It's always fun to go new places and its always nice to come home too.