Stake Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day Two

The second day of the trek we picked up our handcarts and started down the trail. We stopped at Dan's Cove for a fireside before heading into Martin's Cove. President Griggs, a counselor in the stake presidency, gave a powerful talk on the spiritual aspect of our undertaking. He encouraged us to seek a spiritual experience while in Martin's Cove. We walked through the cove in silence, each alone with their thoughts. My testimony of sacred places and the power they have was strengthened. It's difficult to comprehend what those Saints experienced while on their journey--such pain and suffering accepted willingly in order to be obedient to the prophet's call.
Rochelle and I with Martin's Cove in the background.

One of the monuments near the crossing of the Sweetwater. As the rescue parties from Salt Lake arrived, they helped get the handcart saints moving again. The Sweetwater was running high and filled with ice. Many of the Saints broke down and wept as they contemplated walking through the water. Three young men in the rescue party stepped forward and carried many of them across the water, each making frequent trips. Each of those three young men later died from complication suffered because of the crossing.

Our handcart as it entered the Sweetwater. Rochelle is behind the handcart with the purple bonnet.

The sunset from the Jackson campground where we stayed for two nights.

Youth Trek 2009-Martin's Cove Day One

Rochelle and I were called to participate in our Stake Youth Trek to Martin's Cove as a "Ma and Pa." We had an amazing experience for three days with young men and women from wards throughout the stake. We gathered at the Stake Center at 5am to divide up into families and board the buses for the six hour bus ride.


Here we are pictured with our wonderful "sons and daughters" early in the morning.


Rochelle on top of Independence Rock. We tried to find Brigham Young's name carved into the rock, but we ran out of time.

Here I am on top of Independence Rock.

Looking up Devil's Gate. Like Independence Rock, this was an important landmark for the Saints as they crossed the plains.

Rochelle and I both had ancestors cross the plains, in wagons and handcarts. I wonder what they thought as these impressive geological formations appeared in the distance and then slowly grew larger.

April Snow Day

Snow Day in April! In between grading exams I took some time out to put together a small snowman in the backyard with the boys.Emmalee was the architect and project manager for the fortress. It didn't make it much past the second level of snow blocks, but it was quite good for a first attempt.

An hour after this photo was taken the sun came out and our snowman collapsed. It started snowing again awhile later.

The snow is supposed to continue off and on through tomorrow. It should be fun!

Randon Pictures

So, I have been tagged. Sadly, I have been tagged before but haven't done anything about it but today I decided to do something about it. (Peer pressure from Alyssa.)

Anyway, the tag was to post the 6th picture in the 6th folder. Our computer situation is a little complicated. So, I decided to post a couple of random pictures.

The first one is the wild yellow rose bush that used to be in my parents yard. I think they transplanted it when they remodeled their house. I love yellow roses and this is why. This bush was always beautiful and in bloom on my birthday. I always felt like it was a great birthday present. My parents sent me this picture last year for my 30th birthday. It was my favorite present! (Amanda yours was right up there too!)

This picture is my cousin Aleesha and I at our grandma's house. Her mom recently sent this to me. I was lucky enough to have four girl cousins that were about my age! They all lived close together and I lived far away so I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked but I have great memories!

March Birthdays and Visitors

This month we were lucky enough to celebrate two birthdays and have two special visitors! We also got to have two chocolate birthday cakes and lots of fun amazing food including curry. And, all that in the space of one week!

My wonderful sister, Amanda came to visit. That means that she got to do lots of cooking which is fun for her and I got to do less cooking which is fun for me. She also does the dishes without complaining! Does it get any better than that? Her birthday fell during her visit and we were very excited. We were a little late with her birthday present (ethnic cookbooks) and poor Elijah was so concerned. She let us go on a date. We have been very bad at that lately and it was so nice. We think she made a wise choice in her spring break destination. Love you Amanda!

Carlee Ana came to visit too. Her parents (Janalee and Marcelo) decided that they needed to go on a cruise and she decided that she needed to come visit Gracee. We were thrilled. It worked out nice, she was able to fly out with Amanda. Her and Elijah had a great time during the day and when Gracee got home Carlee played with Gracee.

We actually celebrated Isaiah's birthday one day early so Carlee and Amanda could be there. We had beans and rice for dinner. (And curry for the adults!) We also had chocolate (cake) and ice cream. What more could a two year old ask for? The funniest part was him opening his presents with his teeth! His favorite present was the $3 Woody doll that I found on CraigsList.

Carlee Ana
Isn't she sweet? She had been playing very hard that day. We did clean her up a little bit before we sent her home!

Amanda and The Volcano Cake.

My creative friend Callie did a beautiful fondant cake for her son's birthday so I decided that we should try. But instead of beautiful we went for creative. You know all 25-year-olds need a volcano cake!

Amanda and I had a great time making it. The only problem was I was so focused on getting the fondant right that I forgot to frost between the layers. Sorry to everyone who had dry cake!

Isaiah is currently in love with horses (and sheep). We decided that a horse cake would be fun. I think he liked it!

Who opens presents with their mouth? And what made the boy think of that? He did it with every present!

Now the problem with opening presents with your mouth is that there is paper left in your mouth. There was a lot of spitting involved.

Woody!!! As you can see everyone was excited. Before we actually gave

Woody to Isaiah, Elijah kept telling me that he and Isaiah share all their toys. Wishful thinking!

Buzz Lightyear had to come out right away.

Sweet, Sweet Isaiah

or: Why we love Isaiah but we will let you borrow him for a couple of days.

So this is dear sweet Isaiah. Isn't he a cutie. This smile suggests that he could never do anything wrong.

But, it is all just an act. Tuesday after working out I decided that I needed a shower. So, I turned the TV on and put Elijah in charge. Elijah is usually so good about not letting too much trouble occur. He is not a big fan of disorder. After I got out, I noticed that Elijah had turned the TV off and had come upstairs. I went ahead and got dressed. A few minutes later Elijah came in and said, "Mom, you'd better go get your boy, he is into the peanut butter." I knew the peanut butter was on the counter and I assumed that Isaiah had pulled up a chair and was eating peanut butter so I finished getting dressed and then headed downstairs.

This is what I found.

Use your imaginations to guess the amount of the damage. If you look closely you can see gobs of peanut butter on the piano. There was peanut butter on the wood floor, all over the rug, on the leather chair. There was peanut butter on the duck, two horses (with hair) an empty milk jug. It was everywhere. And after I found him I rewarded him with a bath!

We sure do love him!!

Isaiah's Prayers

For past two months Isaiah has been very interested in praying. Every so often we ask him to say the prayer. Generally we get one or two recognizable words and quite a bit that is difficult to understand. After one particularly lenghty prayer, Elijah said, "He prays as long as mom does and some of it's in Chinese."

This past week his prayers have become easier to understand. Last night he did his version of:
"Heavenly Father...somethin', somethin', somethin'. Chips, dog, ball."

Elijah and I decided he was expressing gratitude for chips, dogs and balls...three of his favorite things. He also mentions Elijah in his prayers. (Quite a bit of hero worship going on.)